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PRing A CEO: why your company leader must have empathy
There’s a limit to how much you can spin something
CEOs are the face, brand, and identity of any company. As Tesla stock currently crashes through the floor and makes a beeline to their products becoming unsellable, I don’t need to prove that. Your ideal CEO should be a bit boring, bland, affable, and have very little desire to do more than read off the PR statement and wish everyone a happy new year. The worst, most volatile, stupid hire for CEO imaginable? Worse than someone who had flunked math and business school?
Someone without empathy.
Historically (no one I’m working with currently!), I’ve met some horrible CEOs in my time in the reputation and marketing sector. Absolute sociopathic beasts. Successful, sure, knows their sector, absolutely, but shockingly selfish, cruel, shameless, and evil individuals. Naturally, it’s my job to keep a fixed smile on my face, keep my voice gentle, and not look visibly disgusted. I’m very good at not letting on how much the stench of rot in someone’s soul disturbs me. But yeah. The kind of guy who makes you want to ask them what went wrong in their childhood, how much modafinil they’re snorting, or what steroids they’re taking. You get the idea. You wouldn’t want to know these guys.
