When Should the CEO Join the Online Conversation?
Allen Weiss, President and CEO of NCH HealthCare System recently wrote a guest column in the Naples Daily News responding to an editorial that had been critical of the pay that he and other NCH executives received. The guest column itself is interesting, but even more interesting is the litany of comments his op-ed piece generated (scroll down past the article to read them). As of the time I’m writing this post, no representative of NCH–including Weiss–has responded to any of the comments.
Which brings us to our question–with blogs, commenting functionality on online newspapers and other ways of people interacting directly, is there a time when would behoove a CEO to hop into the proverbial trenches and communicate directly with the people? The answer is yes–and the sooner the better.
If you’re a CEO who has his/her own blog, or you have a long history of being active in forums, blogs and other communities prior to a crisis in your company occurring then addressing folks directly via these interactive mediums can go a long way toward ensuring that you can disseminate your message effectively. Why? Because you have history and credibility within the community you are attempting to influence.
If, however, your comment on a blog post or response to another commenter would be your first foray into the interactive world, you should do it anyway (the online world is too important today to ignore), but you should understand that you won’t have the immediate credibility you might want.
The lesson here is to take advantage of all of the touchpoints available to you–talking to media, analysts, customers, shareholders and others via blogs, forums, etc.–NOW before a crisis situation occurs. Take the time to build your credibility and relationships in these arenas. Use this “peace time” to build your brand and have people get to know you. Remember, your brand isn’t what you say about yourself, it is what others say about you when you’re not there. Having these mechanisms in place today will be invaluable if and when a crisis occurs in your company.
