Hint: It Takes Talent to Grow a Business
The role of the CEO is to lead the organization to sustained success. Absent market forces not in the control of employees, the success of any organization is in the hands of its employees under the leadership of the CEO.
So, if a CEO’s role is to develop a plan for sustained success to be carried out by the employees, then fundamentally the CEO is the tip of the spear in recruiting and retaining top talent.
The Connected Age
There is no denying that we live in the connected age. The world no longer has geographic or time zone boundaries due to our ability to connect and engage with people around the globe through digital and telecommunications technology 24/7/365. This fact of course is no news flash. Maybe...
Then, why do so many CEOs choose not to participate in the biggest element of our 24/7 global economy, namely social media? Is it because they are reluctant to be accessible? Are they afraid of being stalked? Are they unwilling to be an unfiltered spokesperson for their brand? Are they concerned about the risk of saying something that can create a PR nightmare? Or, are they just afraid of this paradigm shift?
A recent survey published by BRANDfog states that 83% and 73% of U.S. and UK respondents respectively believe that CEO participation in social media can build better connections with customers, employees and investors.
Source: BRANDfog 2014 Global CEO Survey
Another survey from CEO.com shows that 68 percent of Fortune 500© CEOs have absolutely no presence on any of the major social networks. Last year, that number was 70 percent. The biggest social media presence among CEOs is LinkedIn (no surprise).
Source: CEO.com August 7, 2013
CEOs Are Too Busy
Among the many reasons given for CEO's not participating on social media, the one we hear most often is that they are simply too busy. While, it's certainly understood that CEOs maintain a hectic schedule, let’s be a little more honest. For some (not all) CEOs, being on social media is considered beneath them. For these CEOs, social media is for the marketing department. While we're being brutally honest, let's consider another truism. Other CEOs secretly want to be on social media but they don’t know how or where to start and they're unwilling to admit it to their staff. In those cases, their 20-something-age kids are often influential on helping the CEO break the ice.
CEOs on Social Media
I’m not one to rant on this topic without offering examples of behavior that might inspire other CEOs to take action. Below I profile three CEOs who are active on social media.
Barry Salzberg
Barry Salzberg is CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, aka Deloitte Global, an international 200,000 employee tax, audit and consulting organization. Mr. Salzberg is active in Deloitte’s internal social collaboration efforts, which are mostly privately to their employees. Externally, Mr. Salzberg is a LinkedIn Influencer with nearly 16,000 followers where he posts articles on various topics. One of his most popular articles What Millennials Want (And Why Employers Should Take Notice) has been viewed by more than 127,000 and has more than 3,500 shares on LinkedIn. Mr. Salzberg has been vocal about the role of social media in business. He chooses to limit his use of social media to LinkedIn and internal social collaboration. To learn more about Deloitte’s growing use of social media among other executives and staff, listen to my podcast interview with Janet Chang, Deloitte Global’s Social Media Manager.
Tony DiBenedetto
Tony DiBenedetto is CEO of Tribridge, a technology services firm with 600 employees specializing in business applications and cloud solutions, and a four time Microsoft Partner of the year award recipient. I've had the privilege of knowing Tony and watching him grow Tribridge to a formidable business that Inc. Magazine ranks #55 among the top 100 private businesses in the U.S. Tony maintains as grueling a schedule as any CEO. He participates in social media through his blog, where he writes about leadership topics, as well as his Twitter account. As a technology services firm, recruiting top talent is a constant goal for Tribridge. Tony's participation in social media helps communicate both to current and to future employees his professional thoughts and ideals. Tony has dedicated his entire career to the areas of business innovation, customer advocacy and servant leadership. His active participation in social media provides more than a glimpse into who he is. Humanizing a CEO goes a long way toward recruiting top talent.
Jack Salzwedel
If you're thinking that only B2B or tech centric CEOs use social media, look at Jack Salzwedel, CEO and Chairman of American Family Insurance. Mr. Salzwedel has risen through the ranks, beginning his career at American Family Insurance as a claims adjuster in 1983, to being named CEO in 2011. In his blog, Beyond the Tweet, he says: "I created this blog to discuss ideas about leadership, culture, innovation, social media and more. This is a chance to continue the conversation we’ve had on Twitter, and explore topics with a little more detail and depth." He is also active on Twitter. How does the CEO of a 10,000 employee company have time to write blog content and tweet? I didn't interview him for this article. Therefore, I don't know the specific answer to this question. But, I am willing to suggest that Mr. Salzwedel considers his blog and Twitter activity as an important enough method of communication that he makes time for both.
Common Threads
I've intentionally highlighted three CEOs you may not read about in mainstream media. They span different industries and different company sizes. What they have in common is an understanding that as a CEO in the modern business era where people are digitally connected they need to lead by example to motivate their employees to use social media in productive ways. And, what these CEOs also realize is that attracting and retaining talent is influenced to some degree by their willingness to communicate and engage in social media.
To summarize the title of this article, two of many reasons for CEOs to use social media is to attract and retain top talent.
By Bernie Borges
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