What's a poor CEO to do?
Indeed, poor CEO.
What that CEO needs to do is to listen to hisher "canaries-in-the-mine" with an active, open ear.
S/he needs to know where the long-term risks to profit (and even the organization's mere existence) are, send out the message to employees first, that inappropriate risk will not be tolerated, enact a protective safety reporting policy that is responsive, accept that mistakes will be made but that they will be made on the side of caution not risk, educate the shareholders that while aviation is a business with risk associated with it that such risk is being robustly managed in a healthy, fully-supported manner (upon which s/he comprehends and can intelligently report) and finally invite the media in to show how well the organization is managing the business in all it's aspects and not just the eye-candy-for-shareholders-and-passengers side.
Truth plays well in today's corporate environment but few CEOs are willing to risk public displays of safety conciousness because of the perception of "protesting too much". In my view, honesty and dealing straight is a better strategy...up to a reasonable point. It's part of the business, but so is all the rest and rightly so.
Now....tall order I know, especially with the last point regarding the media. But in Canada, a newspaper series last year took the industry strongly to task for ignoring this aspect of the travel business. Airlines reaction was defensive, sometimes to the point of emotive rather than rational response and it made them look as though they were hiding things. The public is smart and deserve better.
So long as the message is, "cost is king and profit is first", employees and shareholders alike will assume that safety is being looked after under SMS and will prioritize accordingly until a very bad surprise awakens everyone to the truth. Unless awareness and then change in the form of balanced priorities occurs, that is the path we are on at present - it is only a matter of time.