Michelle Carvill
In 1996 I ventured to business school to undertake a Master’s in Business. Every book on the reading list and every lecture I attended included the concept of ‘the paradigm shift’ – ‘an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way’.1
Over the last twenty years this sometimes-overplayed corporate management term has truly played out, and there’s now no denying that business has changed more quickly and dramatically than at any other time since the Industrial Revolution. The internet has totally revolutionized the way we connect and communicate.
We’ve seen technological advancements that have changed the way we work, learn, connect and communicate in ways that, not so long ago, would have seemed more like science fiction.
Self-driving cars, wearable tech, smart devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), crypto, blockchain, augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and the quest for ‘conscious’ robots (as I witnessed recently when meeting the enchanting (and just a tad creepy) Sophia the Robot). Suffice to say, we’re only just scratching the surface when it comes to how humans and machines collaborate.
As discussed throughout this book, social technologies have played a big part in changing the way we connect and communicate.
While many still refer to social media as ‘new’, if we think about the pace of change – and just how long the majority of social networks have actually been active (which ranges between fourteen and seventeen years) – it’s clear to see that (1) they are not so ‘new’ after all and (2) they have clearly been key enablers in driving collaborative connection and conversation.
At the time of writing, more than three billion people around the world choose social networks as their preferred mode to connect and converse daily. And thanks to mobile technology and the ease of accessing these networks – and the simplicity and fun aspect of engaging via social networks – the number of hours a day people actually spend connecting and conversing continues to increase. Currently sitting at around two to two and a half hours a day – and closer to three and a half hours a day in some demographics – social media is a significant part of our daily ‘online’ attention.
From an ‘expectation’ perspective, it’s simple to tune in and communicate with people, regardless of who they are – be they a world leader, a CEO, a member of royalty or a celebrity.
Any barriers to entry are nowadays well and truly broken down. The ordinary person is a broadcaster, interviewer and potential influencer, with an ever-increasing expectation to be heard. Our conscious and socially mobilized consumers, influencers, employees, stakeholders and potential consumers all have an expectation to be able to converse with just about anyone.
Greater expectations
Similar to the continuous learning afforded by AI, we clever humans have absorbed and embraced these new technologies and have adapted into what I like to refer to as ‘Superpowered People’.
We’ve moved beyond being merely savvy and ‘hyper-connected’ consumers. Our ‘consciousness’ is now playing a part in our expectation of the roles that organizations, brands and leaders play. We now expect them – especially the leaders – to solve much bigger problems than speedier response times to questions or gripes via Twitter.
In 2017, Edelman’s study ‘Beyond No Brand’s Land’, with 14,000 respondents across fourteen countries, identified that 57 per cent of consumers are buying or boycotting brands based on the brand’s position on a social or political issue – 30 per cent more than three years earlier.
Brandfog’s ‘Brands and Stands: Social Purpose is the New Black’ report found that, of the 64 per cent of those who believe that it’s extremely important for a company to take a stand on social issues, they were also very likely to purchase a product based on that commitment.
For our ever-increasing superpowered people, silence is not an option. The report adds that 67 per cent bought a brand for the first time because of its position on a controversial or social issue, and 65 per cent stated that they would not buy a brand if it stayed silent on an issue it had an obligation to address.
In the UK, thanks to a noisy backlash on social media surrounding a banned Christmas Advert by the food discount retail chain Iceland,2 in which the company struck a deal with Greenpeace to broadcast an animated short film about the effect of palm oil production on orangutans (which then escalated across the majority of UK media outlets, both on and offline), I – newly educated and curious about their much publicized and celebrated environmental stance – visited one of their stores for the first time and made a number of purchases, having walked past it for the previous fifteen years. My behaviour nestled nicely into the above ‘67 per cent bought a brand for the first time’ statistic.
All change
What does all this change mean for leaders and the future of leadership?
In many ways everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed. Our inherent desire to connect, communicate and progress remains the same. It’s just the landscape, tools and expectations that have evolved.
‘Superpowered people’, regardless of demographics (although more prevalent in those generations waiting to rise through the ranks), are more comfortable challenging and questioning authority. They also dismiss hierarchy and demand straight-talking honesty from those we trust to run our organizations, countries and lives.
By superpowered people I mean your c ustomers, your employees, your stakeholders, your supporters, your investors, your competitors, your competitors’ employees and customers, your potential customers, your potential employees, your family, your peers and your friends. Effectively, people. Period.
#FollowTheLeader
To lead, you need people to follow you. And in the age of the connected superpowered human, there is a growing desire for leaders to drop the ‘locked away, hidden from view’ command and control stance and become more collaborative, open, accessible and transparent. They need to lead from the front, both internally and externally.
We have already witnessed an increasing number of CEOs and leaders being ‘called out’ by the public on social media. In a world fogged by ‘fake news’, people (and, again, that means both employees and external stakeholders) want to hear news, updates and what’s really going on directly from the ‘horse’s mouth’.
For leaders, this means metaphorically stepping out of the boardroom and, from an internal perspective, stepping into the open plan office, walking the floor, being accessible, interested, caring and transparent; and for an external audience, it means stepping out into the spotlight and doing exactly the same. Overall, it means being fully ‘tuned in’ and accountable – reconnecting the disconnect and building trust.
Talking of trust
In 2017, The Edelman Trust Barometer reported that trust in CEOs was at an all-time low of just 37 per cent. A year later, their ‘The Battle for Truth’ 2018 Trust Barometer showed a small rise in trust in CEOs (rising to 43 per cent) attributed to the impact of more leaders and experts speaking out against ‘fake news’.
What I think is more interesting, however, is the statistic that 70 per cent believed the number one role of the CEO is to build trust in their organization.
To build trust, it’s no longer good enough to leave all corporate communications and customer service communications in the polished (and often over-scripted) hands of the customer-service, marketing, public relations and communications teams.
Communication is personal. There’s an expectation from audiences, both internal (employees, colleagues) and external, to have more direct and open conversations with the people who lead them or who lead the organizations they care about or buy from. Indeed, Brandfog’s 2016 Brand Reputation and Leadership Trust report identified that
• 78 per cent of people would prefer to work for an organization whose leadership is active on social media and
• 81 per cent believed that CEOs who engage in social media are better equipped than their peers to lead an organization in this digital age.
What’s stopping you?
So, given our changing landscape and all the evidence contained within this book, the question is this: What’s stopping more leaders from getting involved?
From my experience, key challenges usually focus around these four areas:
• Overwhelm – not clear on how to use the technologies, what to say or how to say it
• Time – don’t have the time to fit social media into their working day
• Return on investment (ROI) – unclear of justifying the actual return on investment
And last, but most certainly not least – and encompassing all of the above reasons:
• Fear – fear of getting it wrong, fear of making a fool of themselves, fear of losing face, fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of no one engaging, fear of making mistakes.
Overwhelm, ROI and time (and indeed some aspects of fear) can all be accounted for with good training, processes, guidelines and support. After all, the channels themselves have been designed to be as user friendly as possible – and are all easily accessible via apps on your smartphone.
Fear is the biggest challenge for many – and I’ve coached a handful of leaders totally anonymously for this very reason. But, of course, these fears are not purely the domain of social media. The bigger challenge for leaders is that such fears are indeed a very real component of the traditional command and control leadership environment. In this environment, there isn’t the culture (or safety net) to get creative and vulnerable and collaborate and ask others for help.
Stepping up, stepping out and sharing your voice in an authentic way takes a mindset shift and sometimes a cultural shift. And that often takes a bit longer. But in a world where communication and expectation continue to change at a blistering speed, those that fold their arms and say ‘not for me’ are going to continue to fall even further behind those already embracing change.
There’s nothing quite like ‘doing’ to overcome fear. And social media offers you the perfect opportunity to listen and learn – to tune in to what your audience, your peers and those you admire are saying and doing in the social media space.
I’m a big advocate of learning from others as there’s nothing quite like real-world experience. This is why, when researching my book Get Social, like Damian I also interviewed a number of leaders who really do ‘get’ social and see their time and activity on these channels as fundamental to their own development and the development of the organizations they work for or lead.
Like many have already cited in earlier chapters, these are leaders that have stepped outside their comfort zones. They have shared how they manage their time, their content, their message, their engagement and their ups and downs – all in a way that fits into their life and brings value and, fundamentally, a return to their business.
So here are some useful lessons I learned from them – lessons that are likely to be useful for you too:
1 Listen. Without exception, all leaders I interviewed cited ‘listening’ as a key benefit of their social media activity. Getting close to the front line, staying tuned in. Brian J Dunn, former CEO of Best Buy and a pioneering social CEO, told me: ‘Listening in helps me to see round corners.’ Being ‘tuned in’ and ‘contextual’ is most definitely a leadership trait to nurture.
2 Master one channel at a time. You don’t have to do it all. Figure out what makes sense for you, be objectively driven, choose the right tools for the job and do one thing really well. And then, if relevant, move on to other things.
3 Weave it into your life. Being ‘social’ is something you are rather than something you do. Build your activity into your life. Review your feeds over breakfast, catch up on the latest news and updates when travelling or commuting – or block twenty minutes out of your diary in the morning and afternoon to check what’s happening. Make tuning in and conversing a part of what you do. Just like sending an email, checking your social channels should become part of your day-to-day activity. As John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile USA, told me, ‘Any leader that doesn’t make time for social media is missing a huge opportunity.’
4 Get support. You’re not on your own, and nor do you need to be. The landscape has changed and learning how these tools can help you become a better leader is part of leadership development. Get ‘authentic’ – you can’t know it all. This is my world and I don’t know it all. There’s no shame in that. Ask your leadership and development teams for help, find the right courses, training, coaching, support. Collaborate with others. Kevin Burrowes, Head of Clients and Markets at PwC, told me that he plans time with his PA weekly to review his social media activity, getting help with content, managing his plan and finding ideas and topical news to share.
5 Be authentic. It has to be you. Your social activity has to be your voice. Again, without exception, every leader I interviewed told me just how important it is that the bulk of any engagement is done by them. Your views, your voice. While you can – and indeed should – get all the support you need, your voice really isn’t something you should be outsourcing.
My view, and indeed the views of the leaders I interviewed and continue to interview and talk with, is that being active on social media makes for a better leader. For me, social media literacy and the future of leadership are inextricably linked.
When determining social media literacy, from my perspective, it is these social behaviours that are most important. They are simply facilitated by technology:
• Collaboration
• Consciousness/tuning in
• Customer, stakeholder and employee engagement
• Co-creation
• Communication
• Transparency
• Accessibility
• Authenticity
These are traits that could also be defined as key skills for the modern leader.
While I’ve read a lot about the changing face of leadership, greater minds than mine talk about the skills required for this new age of leadership. The brilliant book Why Should Anyone Be Led By You by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, and indeed 4D Leadership and Coherence by Dr Alan Watkins, are some of many that very much align with my own thinking and beliefs around what it now takes to be a great leader.
Around ten years ago, I recall reading a piece of research from Cisco predicting that the leaders of the future would be those that were the most ‘socially enabled’. There are significant parallels between what it takes to succeed on social media and what it takes to be an effective leader today and in the future.
I therefore stand by my hypothesis that getting social really does aid and teach you to become a better leader.
Yet, to echo the sentiment of Brian Solis in the foreword to this book, social technologies are purely systems. It’s how you fuel them that really matters. And that comes from you.
I’ll end with a warning that, whether on social media or in leadership, you can’t fake sincerity.