Michael Dell with DellCap Customers
Last week I shared with you a series of CEO quotes that came from the most recent CEO Connection Boot Camp in New York City. At these day-long events, CEOs of companies with more than $100 million in revenues gather to discuss their most pressing challenges, and to share experiences and advice.
From these discussions I was able to share with you 19 revealing CEO leadership quotes and 10 insightful CEO social media quotes that provide a peek into the world of today’s CEO, and some insight into what’s currently on their minds.
I noticed there were a few quotes in each blog post that were consistently resonating with people, and I realized there was a reason for this…:
Leadership Quotes:
- “When we wrote a mission statement at the corporate level the words didn’t resonate with our employees. So we asked the employees to rewrite it in a way that made sense for all of us.”
- “We created a new brand promise and our sales force resisted it. I asked them to take ownership and rewrite it, and was actually very touched by what they wrote.”
- “How many of your employees woke up this morning with the express intention of doing a crappy job? Probably very few. But if they feel left out, or have a fear of failure or uncertainty, they are less able to succeed.”
- “I want people to say they work with me and not for me.”
Social Media Quotes:
- “I recently started tweeting and my employees love it; they can’t get enough of it. I tweet about the meetings I’m in and general observations, which seems basic, but they better understand what I do.”
- “Our employees’ wives love our Facebook page and are our most active group on it. They’re our advocates.”
- “I recently started blogging and every time I meet with employees they implore me not to stop. They really love it.”
- “We advise our employees that when they’re using social media they should use social grace – and we trust them to do so.”
Have you already guessed what these quotes have in common? They come from the very same, small group of CEOs.
These CEOs understand engagement at its deepest level; it springs from a genuine feeling of trust and a sense of responsibility. They are actively interested in engaging their employees and their quotes show that they trust them and want them to succeed. This interest and trust naturally translate into a willingness to actively engage them via social media.
And these are the CEOs that are encouraging their teams to embrace active social media engagement with their customers.
The CEO Becomes the Rock Star
I was genuinely encouraged to discover this among these CEOs and it reminded me of the premise Mack Collier has been advocating; think like rock stars do by embracing your fans. As Mack says, “note what Rockstars do; They focus on the people that already love them… this group has a strong degree of loyalty for the rockstar. So much so, that they will go out and actively recruit people from the OTHER groups to the left to come join them. And yes, we have stats to back that up as well.”
Now, let’s put CEOs in the Rock Stars shoes. CEOs that actively engage with their employees in the way rock stars do with their fans will reap the same benefits: they’ll cultivate loyal employee evangelists who will be trusted to tell the company’s story in social media and who will ultimately “recruit” customers to join them in their love for the company and its products.
But it all starts with a natural leadership proclivity to engage, to trust, and to want others to succeed that comes from the top.
That’s my theory, at least. What do you think?
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RELATED POST:
3 Things CEOs Should Never Lose Sight of in Social Media
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Photo of Michael Dell at DellCap with customers by Mack Collier. (Michael Dell was not at the CEO Connection event I reference in this post.)
19 Response Comments
I wonder, we all hear the ‘stories of success’ of rock stars and rock star ceo’s (Jack Welch comes immediately to mind).
Better stock performance, better revenue, larger customer base, decreased costs, waste eliminated and more are all a part of their CEO Rock Star legends.
I don’t dispute that these CEO’s in your post are clocking in stellar accomplishments by engaging and inspiring their people to care about their customer.
My question, why isn’t their value contribution being told as part of their story?
I can see (and have too often heard) the argument that all that ‘mushy soft skills’ doesn’t matter when the chips are down. I have too often seen companies reach for the layoff lever and jettison their ‘best people’ when they need to cut costs.
I doubt these CEO’s have a need to ‘cut costs’ or resort to layoffs because they outperform their competitors.
Perhaps we should have them on stage singing ballads of success, full on with laser shows and fireworks? (just kidding) Truthfully though, I can see how people could read the thread and narrative of these posts and dismiss it as ‘fluffy’ because caring about your employees is bad for business – or at the very least does not produce financial results. I would (like to) think these CEO’s are turning in stellar performance, but since that has not been part of the thread, readers can safely assume that their ‘fluffy’ leadership is not good for business.
(Disclaimer: I do not personally hold that view).
Alan,
That’s a great question and point. I’m not purposefully leaving out part of the equation, it’s simply that I can’t share specifics about these companies. What I can say is this, these CEOs are working just as ardently to drive financial results as they are at engaging their employees. I believe they understand and see the connection between the two! And though this post solely focuses on the CEOs who were in the room, I can tell you that my conversations with CEOs who are pulling in the best numbers I’ve ever seen in this economy, and who were not in the room, are *very* actively engaging their employees and getting them involved with vision and planning! Thanks for raising this great point, Alan!
Hey Lisa, thanks so much for the mentions! As I was reading those quotes and you asked what they had in common, I was thinking ‘they are all involving and empowering the employees’. I think all employees want to be involved and to feel like their work is valued. Years ago when I was finishing grad school, I left a job where I was completely anonymous, to take one where I would be ‘my own boss’. It was a job as a vendor, and part of the job involved actually being in stores on the weekends and selling to customers directly, something I had never done, and that I originally HATED the idea of. But I took the job because as it was explained to me, I was going to be my own boss. I was going to be responsible for my own success, and it was a complete disconnect from my former job where I wasn’t empowered at all, and my job did nothing to capitalize on my skillsets. In fact at the job as a vendor, I was so successful selling that we led the nation in sales for multiple product categories, and I tripled my salary from the previous job where I was ‘anonymous’.
So much of business simply goes back to acknowledging the value and the potential of others. Whether its employees or customers. We all want to know that our contributions matter, and it seems like the CEOs you highlighted in this post get that!
Mack,
What a brilliant example of what seems like such a simple concept, yet often gets lost when an organization gets large enough to have multiple layers and employees get removed from top management. I love that you not only proved how important it is *financially* for employees to be empowered (helping your company lead the nation in sales) but in the process you learned about a skillset you didn’t realize you’d excel at (working directly with customers in the stores). I think that might have been your inner introvert talking!
It seems so obvious that when employees feel genuine ownership, that loyalty, commitment and drive will follow. I think management often understands that in a theoretical sense, but is reluctant to “give up control.” Thanks so much for paving the way with the message that giving up control (to fans and employees) is the smartest thing companies can do!
For 15 years, I managed a product support group at a Big 4 company where the work was ardous and stressful. Of course I would have turnover. But how did I minimize that turnover? I treated my staff like they were worth something. I let them have their opinions and allowed them to talk to me. I tried to take the stress off of them by keeping a light and happy workplace environment. They felt free to make suggestions and actually run the place instead of me. In fact, my direct boss, during one of my appriasals, said that was was happening.
What a difference it made! Many normal managers would not think of doing things that way. We bonded as a group, and I say we because I considered my self and treated myself one of them. We became more productive. We became recognized as being outstanding performers.
So I think that way of managing with open communications from the boss and open communications by the staff can lead to better and more productive teams and eventually better and more productive and more profitable companies.
Henry, I absolutely love this example! It reminds me of the particular CEO quote of wanting his people to say they work with him and not for him. You exemplified this beautifully! Thanks for letting readers know that not only did it create a better work environment for everyone, but your entire team was recognized as being outstanding performers. The approach was directly linked to results. Kudos to you! Thanks for sharing, Henry.
Interesting. The first set of quotes suggests that things like mission statements and branding are best when they come from the bottom up. Most of the quotes in the second set suggest that social media engagement works from the top down.
A conundrum? Maybe not. The common thread is that in both cases the CEO is creating a culture of engagement and participation, where everyone feels like they have a stake in the organization’s success. I suspect that every CEO in the second set of quotes is fully supportive of his or her employees using social media (bottom up) and is simply opening the door for that to happen.
Absolutely! I think that’s what is wonderful about these folks. They genuinely want that engagement to take place, and they are trusting their employees to go out and engage with their customers. I love your words, “opening the door.” That’s exactly it – and out of trust, not fear like so many are expressing when it comes to social media. Thanks so much for your insights, Larry!
One more sign that “top-down” is on it’s last legs. The trust factor seems to be the biggest sticking point. And for good reason. When you’re the CEO everything starts and ends with you. Which is why hiring and training are so critical. You have to trust that you hired well and trained better. If you don’t trust that, you won’t trust engagement by employees and you won’t trust that employees can be a part of developing the mission and vision.
Beautifully said, Greg! I agree with you about trust – and going with Mack’s rock star analogy – they trust their fans enough to jump off the stage and into their arms! Thanks so much, as always!
I know what you are getting at, Lisa, and I completely agree. But I sure have difficulty with the Rock Star analogy. Do they really embrace their fans? In my view, America has lost its sense of values when it comes to those we idolize – Rock Stars, Athletes, Hollywood Celebrities. If they are truly talented in their field, let us admire them for that, like we did Mozart, Da Vinci and Brando. But as models of engagement? Some are: I suspect most are not.
John,
Well, you raise an important issue that we certainly can’t generalize – whether it be “leaders,” ‘CEOs,” or “rock stars.” I do think that Mack has some excellent examples in his blog post and particularly in his slide deck of stars like Sarah McLachlan who are embracing and connecting with their fans while making a difference in the world.
And though I think it’s a whole different conversation…I’m with you in regard to values, and it is a concern of mine. Thanks for being here and for sharing your thoughts so openly.
Ironic that you mention Sara McLachlan, Lisa – she lives in my neighborhood. Who she is and how she acts is the epitomy of a celebrity entertainer grounded in moral values.
John,
What beautiful validation of what we, who do not know her, can only assume. Thanks for sharing.
Hey John! I think this is a fascinating question that raises an interesting issue of how rockstars relate to their fans BEFORE they ‘make it big’ and if they change after they have done so. I think when rockstars begin their careers, they almost have to embrace and connect with their fans simply to survive. But you are correct in that as rockstars become more popular, some do lose that close connection with their fans.
But I don’t think this is simply reserved for rockstars, even looking at the social media space, I know some people that were far more engaged with their readers/metwork before they became ‘known’, but now they aren’t as connected.
But in general, I think most rockstars geniunely appreciate and even thrive off a close connection to their fans. And I think most companies and organizations can learn from their examples.