Business leaders who use reputation specialists and chiefs of staff become unable to hear dissenting voices or handle public criticism, speechwriter and author Lucinda Holdforth says.

Ms Holdforth – a former speechwriter for ex-Qantas chiefs Geoff Dixon and Alan Joyce, as well as a former adviser to insurer IAG, financial services company AMP and the ABC – said top chief executives who surrounded themselves with “yes people” were unable to calmly present their arguments in public forums such as Senate committees, annual shareholder meetings and media interviews.