Posted in the Huffington Post earlier today
We're living in a transparent world today. Everything your write or
share online is public and you cannot hide. Anything you say outside (or
in) the privacy of your home can be recorded. Anything you do can be
video taped and posted on YouTube.
But somehow executives can
forget this--and more now than ever before the CEO is indistinguishable
from the brand of the company. If the recent uproar over the Clippers' Donald Sterling, Mozilla's Brendan Eich and RadiumOne's Gurbaksh Chahal
has taught us anything (besides that it doesn't pay to be hateful or
beat up your girlfriend), it's that, in this age of social media, the
world sees the CEO as a key element of the brand, with the associated
advantage and liability.
In a recent article about Target's
dismissal of it's CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, writer George Bradt wrote that
"any of you doubting the importance of your brand in this age of
complete transparency should take a look at what's going on at Target...
Steinhafel has not done the job he needed to do as brand steward."
Unlike the CEOs I previously mentioned, Steinhafel's personal beliefs
or actions didn't cause a scandal--but his point that the CEO is the
"brand steward" resonates across every industry. Starbucks' Howard
Schultz and Zappos' Tony Hsieh pioneered this to the positive as
social media first emerged.
Companies need to differentiate
themselves from their competitors and establish their brand as
representing something special. In tech, where innovation and brainpower
are the driving currency, companies and their CEOs work hard to
establish themselves as thought leaders on the industry they are
serving. This means that the CEO has become hyper-visible; he tweets,
goes on TV, writes blogs, posts on Facebook and speaks at events. While
that is certainly by design, hyper-visibility curries a public
fascination with all aspects of their lives -- just look at celebrities.
And with this "age of complete transparency" being what it is,
anything, whether a recorded off-color remark or a campaign donation,
can be shared and seen by millions in a matter of hours.
So what
does that mean for your company's CEO? Even though the argument rages on
about whether it's right that her private life should have any effect
on her qualifications in business, it is abundantly clear that it does
make a difference to the brand. The new CEO may have a successful
business history and a visionary mind, but if customers mistrust her,
they will be less likely to use the products, or do business with the
company -- and sales will fall.
But in contrast to the CEOs whose
actions and exposure hurt the company, some CEOs are harnessing the
power of their pulpit to be a force for good, and strengthen the brand
of their company at the same time. In the midst of the social unrest in
San Francisco, brought about by tech boom and subsequent rapid increase
in rent (and evictions), Marc Benioff has been leading San Francisco
tech companies to donate $10 million to SF Gives
and help fight poverty in the city by the Bay--and in doing so he has
reminded the world of the strong role philanthropy plays in Salesforce's culture and brand.
So
good or bad, whether we think it's fair or not, our new world of 24/7
transparency and social media has thrust CEOs into the public eye and
made them an integral part of their company's brand. Their actions,
their political beliefs, and if they are even slightly careless, their
behaviors in their private lives, have consequences for their business.
Something every brand manager, and CEO, must remember.
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