The very beginnings of my career as an “IT guy ” began at the University of California, Berkeley. In those days (mid-1970’s), the computing department used the nascent Internet Protocol (IP) to get devices to talk to each other across the campus, for example, so that a card reader in one building could send a job request to a computer in another building. The only reason this is of any interest now (aside from the obvious: “what a long, weird trip its been “), is to highlight that the protocol that is the basis of all Internet communications didn’t concern itself then with identification (after all, there was no need; we used real wires to connect the various buildings around the campus to connect two points), and it’s not much better at it now. We know now that that’s one of the big enablers for good and bad behaviors: hacking, spamming, blogging, digital marketing… and trolling (from Wikipedia: “a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion “).

Nowadays about 35% of the world’s population uses the Internet, and a lot of those people have something to say and want to participate. And that desire to participate creates a big challenge for those who purport to be leaders, including corporate leaders. My partner Paula Rosenblum recently wrote in Retail Paradox Weekly that, “the CEO can make an enormous difference … there are individuals with the rare vision and talent to infuse a company with greatness. ” As Paula mentioned in her piece, RSR studies often identify “Senior Management Championing Change ” as top-three way to overcome almost any organizational inhibitor. If you accept the premise that the entire retail industry is at a rare “reset moment ” triggered by the rapid consumer adoption of Internet-enable mobile technologies, then you probably agree with us that the need for visionary leadership in the industry is vital. But in today’s world, leaders have to watch what they say: the whole world is listening, and some people are just looking for leaders to trip up.

Think Twice About It

Famed Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle once said that “nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment. ” CEO’s don’t get to their positions by being bad at what they do, but occasionally the self confidence that comes with success can lead people to say really ill-advised things in an offhanded way that can get them- and the Brands that they represent – into a lot of trouble. Nowadays, those utterances from leaders can and often do set the digital world on fire, and draw especially unwelcomed comments from those trolls mentioned earlier. There are lots of recent examples, but here are a few noteworthy ones:

• In January 2013, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey earned the ire of environmentalists by arguing that global warming is not “that big a deal “, and that it might actually benefit humans. Given that his company appeals to those who put a high value on things organic, natural, without additives, antibiotics or pesticides, etc. etc., that was a pretty dumb thing to say. And sure enough, the Internet lit up like a Christmas tree with calls to boycott the high-end grocer.
  
• Last month, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries commented that, “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids… we go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong (in our clothes), and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. ” Oops! Money is money, no matter whose pocket it comes from. A&F dutifully issued an apology, but one disgruntled customer floated a petition on Change.org to urge the company to address the needs of plus-sized people, that garnered over 75,000 signatures by the end of May.
  
• It’s not just leaders who have to be more careful about the unintended consequences of their public utterances, but also those who challenge them in public. One particularly troubling example happened in May, when a nine-year old challenged McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson at a shareholders’ meeting to stop encouraging children to eat food that isn’t good for them by including toys in kids meal combos. The CEO responded (mildly enough) that “we don’t sell junk food “. On May 30, The Christian Science Monitor reported that the child and her family have been subjected to “an enormous backlash in comments against her child from the brand’s supporters “, with especially toxic remarks coming from anonymous internet trolls. 

The ‘Social CEO’?

This week, the online newsletter for digital media, marketing and advertising professionals, Digiday.com, published a column called “The Social CEO “. In the article, author Giselle Abramovich hypothesizes that, “There’s an opportunity that the Internet offers CEOs. It’s the ability to communicate effectively both internally and externally. It’s a means of giving the brand a human face and building credibility, while showing employees you’re human and accessible. There are more positive attributes for social CEOs. Their employees and customers find them to be good communicators, friendly and personal. ” But the article also warns that, “For those who are unsocial CEOs, they are more likely to be looked at as somewhat out of touch, formal and even stuffy. “

I think it goes a lot further than that. Back in 2009, my RSR partner Steve Rowen and I developed a benchmark report entitled, Social Media’s Impact On Customer Engagement, where we said, “… unlike a conversation between two people, on a social network a dialogue can be ‘listened to’ by potentially thousands of others, who can also chime in, which in turn generates still more dialogue. This is the network effect in action, and retailers are learning that their brand is being discussed in ways that are outside their direct control…. “

Nowhere is that more true than as regards public utterances by the top Brand Ambassador, the CEO. Although as the Digiday article says, the CEO can really promote the company’s Brand message in a good way, he or she can also trash it with a few ill-advised comments. While I’m not advising the CEOs take a vow of silence or vet every comment through the corporate communications group, it would be wise to remember that every word will be amplified far beyond anything in past. And because of the anonymous nature of the digital medium that so much of the feedback will flow through (in real-time, btw), the unwary CEO may never get the chance to reason with the accusers. While that may be unfair – it is the reality of it.

As Paula said in her piece, “…the CEO can make an enormous difference and should be rewarded handsomely when that difference goes to the good. ” Being mindful of what you say as the #1 Brand Ambassador is a key part of the job description.