Tag Archives: CEOs

Online reputation management, , , , , ,
Reputation Communications

As we grapple with this “new normal,” one thing is clear: now we are all virtual.

Even after COVID-19 is under control, most of us will continue to promote our expertise and stature on the internet. We will have as many real-time video meetings as we are now. That, too, will be the “new normal.”

In this new world, your digital presence is the new you. Remember that, more than ever, you are who Google says you are. This is the perfect time for you to plan, evaluate and, if necessary, reboot your online reputation.

Here’s a brief checklist:

How is your personal branding website? How about your biography and, if you are preparing to pivot, your resume? Have you wanted to write articles, start a blog or contribute an Op-Ed piece to a major media outlet? Or to Medium, Jeff Bezos’ thought-leadership platform of choice? Have you mastered the teleconferencing platform Zoom? (If not, check out their filter that makes you look your best as well as their backgrounds, which display an image or video. You can also upload your own.)

As virtual reputation experts we offer these free resources to help you strategize: Digital Reputation Management for CEOs & the C-Suite. It’s short and to the point. We also have the ultimate insider’s guide, Reputation Reboot: What Every Business Leader, Rising Star and VIP Needs to Know.

For those of you who have wanted to engage our help in attaining an influential Google reset, we are fully operational. As always, we are here if you need us.

If you have high school or college students marooned indoors during this time, please be sure and have them do a thorough check of their social media posts. If they have ever shared or written posts that can be interpreted as being racist, sexist, or discriminatory, they may lose their future opportunities as interns, employees and college students. Our article, Inside the Social Media Screening Industry explains the risks they face.

 
 
Online reputation management, , , , , , ,
Reputation Reboot by Shannon Wilkinson

Our exclusive new guide to taking ownership of your online image is out. How to Look Better Online: Online Reputation Management for CEOs, Rising Stars, VIPs and Their Organizations was written by our founder, Shannon M. Wilkinson, in collaboration with our editing, content and design team.

How to Look Better Online draws upon our experiences improving and preventing the online reputation issues faced by a range of our clients. It is available as a downloadable eBook for all platforms. You can see a preview, learn more details and order a copy here.

 
 
Social Media, , , , , , , , ,
Wall Street Journal interview with Shannon Wilkinson

The Wall Street Journal has published an interview with Shannon Wilkinson, our founder and CEO. Here are highlights from the article, CEOs Face Reputation Pitfalls If They Avoid Social Media:

What are a few of the most common mistakes CEOs and top executives make that can lead to reputation damage to them and their organizations?

Ms. Wilkinson:  Many CEOs…they don’t own a lot of real estate in their name online, and they have not been proactive in creating a strategy to publish information about them on the Internet. When that happens the world creates your profile online, or Internet bots do. Whatever information third parties publish about you–whether credible or not, whether quality or not–will fill out the top pages of the Google search in your name and you have no control over that. The longer that stays the more difficult it is to replace it with more relevant  information.

Are these the same issues they were dealing with a few years ago? How has the reputation risk landscape changed?

Ms. Wilkinson: The reputation risk landscape has gone through three developments. The first, which CEOs noticed around 2005, was the first wave of proliferation of anonymous malicious commentary that appeared widely on the Internet and was often directed toward companies, toward CEOs. The second wave was the proliferation of consumer reviews online, particularly geared toward customer service and complaints. The third phase we’re in now is the lack of privacy online, the continual spills of confidential in-house memos and emails, and of course the hacking.

What are some best practices executives and organizations can take to make it less likely they will fall victim to reputation slip-ups?

Ms. Wilkinson: The first is to look at the company’s internal culture. A lot of negativity comes from employees so it’s a good time to look inside at the opportunities employees have, and to look at diversity and inclusion, particularly providing women with opportunities. This is really the hot seat CEOs face now. This is going to be an issue for every company—employees, consumers are looking at how equitable companies are at providing opportunities for women, minorities, the LGBT group.

What makes top executives susceptible to engaging on social media in a way that can cause them reputation headaches?

Ms. Wilkinson: Some lack an understanding of how many people use social media and how they use it. I think most CEOs don’t encounter issues because of what they say on social media, it’s what is said on social media in response to their actions, that is the bigger threat. They’re so scrutinized and it’s so easy for a comment to be taken out of context.

 
 
Crisis Management, , , , , , , ,
Crisis management

Every day, it seems, another major American brand experiences a crisis. Despite a large and experienced  industry of experts that fix them, they don’t seem to be going away. Last fall the CEO of Microsoft became one of many corporate leaders to unwittingly create one.

Why are so many CEOs stumbling in the diversity department? The problem often starts internally. Statements and actions by CEOs and other leaders portray them as out of touch with the people their companies target as consumers. Outrage ignites online, goes viral, and then lands on prime-time news. CEOs and boards are surprised over the impact of their actions or statements. They are often puzzled as to why a backlash occurred at all.

If you are a CEO, there are several steps you can take to ensure you don’t become the next target of online backlash. The first is to understand why these crises are happening so often and what they share in common.

My recent Forbes.com piece,  The Most Successful CEOs Embrace Customer Diversity, sheds light on the problem. How else can CEOs incorporate a more well-balanced blend of diversity within their corporate cultures? Conduct a search for #diversity and you will find plenty of suggestions.

 
 
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CEOs and Online Reputation Risks

“It seems that just about every day a chief executive, politician or other prominent figure is apologizing for something,” Aaron Sorkin observed in a Dealbook post announcing his new “Apology Watch” coverage and hashtag, which we mentioned a couple weeks ago. This “personal and public exploration of the authentic apology,” as Sorkin’s collaborator Dov Seidman describes it, will be a fascinating project to follow. They’ve decided to focus on the “apologizing,” but that’s only half of the equation. The other half is the “something” that made an apology necessary.

Behind the stream of apologies that Sorkin references are statements and actions that expose some CEOs and other leaders as out of touch with the opinions—and feelings—of the people their companies target as consumers. Tweeting about venture capitalist Tom Perkins’ much-criticized Wall Street Journal letter, economist Justin Wolfers describes this problem as the “rich-dude bubble.”

Perkins, a Silicon Valley pioneer who commissioned the world’s largest private sailing yacht and authored a romance novel titled Sex and the Single Zillionaire, has continued to defend his letter, but that’s a perilous position for many other leaders.

The human element

Take AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, for example. In linking changes in AOL’s 401(k) plan to the health care costs of “two AOL-ers that had distressed babies,” Armstrong focused on the bottom line while overlooking the important human element, which was later described in detail by Deanna Fei, one of the babies’ mothers. And last year Armstrong faced extensive criticism for firing an employee during a conference call while around 1,000 others listened. Sorkin’s “Apology Watch” analysis found the CEO’s most recent apology to be sincere. His article’s concluded with a quote from Fei. “I think it’s legitimate and necessary to have a public discussion about health care expenditures, but this has to be done with sensitivity and mindfulness of the human lives at stake,” she said.

Echoing Sorkin, Bloomberg.com’s Jeff Green says Armstrong “is on a long list of corporate bosses who put their trust in an apology to contain fallout from an embarrassing public statement.” Green offers a list of similarly problematic episodes. They included AIG CEO Robert Menmosche “equating congressional criticism of the insurer’s bonuses during the financial crisis with lynchings in the Deep South.”And Google’s Eric Schmidt, who suggested “that people who worried Google Street view was invading their privacy by taking pictures of their homes should ‘just move.’” Fortune’s Claire Zillman observes that business executives seem to be replacing politicians as “the ones who seem to be truly disconnected from everyday Americans,” citing astronomical executive pay and how wealth can distort one’s outlook as the likely cause.

Fallout

“If the CEO is getting mostly negative publicity, it is very hard to get positive coverage on the organization as a whole,” according to a study by the Institute for Public Relations. Given that connection, today’s CEOs may be well advised to cultivate an outlook that addresses the values and concerns of the broader public. In stark contrast to Tom Perkins, for instance, venture capitalist and early Amazon investor Nick Hanauer has advocated for raising the minimum wage. And, in Zillman’s Fortune article, Harry Kraemer, clinical professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, offers some practical advice for staying grounded: “You better have a few people—a spouse, best friend, or sibling—who won’t let you forget who you really are and where you came from.”