The Social CEO: How Social Media Can Make You A Stronger Leader by Damian Corbet

LeadingStrategic LeadershipPersonal and Professional Growth

Oct 22

Written By Socrates - Head of School Team

Think you might want to read this book?

In The Social CEO, Damain Corbet produces a collection of advice from leading CEOs across a breadth of industries on how CEOs can and MUST leverage social media in order to connect with all stakeholders, from parents and community partners to board members and — especially — employees. While each CEO’s story and industry is unique, there is a similar thread hammered home chapter after chapter in regards to the need for leaders to put fear or reticence aside and show up on social media regularly and authentically. If you are wondering how or why school leaders need to embrace social media, this book is a must-read. If you aren’t wondering about these things, Corbert argues you should be or you will be left behind: “It [social media] is the listening platform that flattens hierarchies and connects stakeholders directly to positions of power… and has dramatically altered the expectations people have of organizational leaders.” This is a great read for any educational leader looking to match those expectations.

What Would Socrates Ask?

Radical transparency has been slow to reach the office of many Heads of School, but the time to act is now and the advice from Corbet’s collection of social mentors is a great place to start. If you just don’t have the time to dig in, most of the contributors have listed five tips at the end of their chapter on how to tackle social media from the C-suite.

How transparent is the leadership coming out of the Head of School’s office to all stakeholders?
How are we connecting with the educational sphere beyond our school in order to keep learning?
How are we vetting the plethora of information in our sector so we know what to spend time on and who to listen to for our own and our school’s development?
What do we need to move education forward? How can we use social media to move the needle?
How can we understand the impact social media — or extrapolate from that how to educate our students about it — if we aren’t participating ourselves?
How can we predict/prepare for organizational challenges if we don’t have our ear to the ground?
How do we use social media to listen to those who feel otherwise unheard — often youth — in order to understand the world they will inherit?
Can we use social media to connect more deeply to the community within and beyond our school?
Is the risk of being absent from social media actually greater than the risk of being present?
Are we connecting to educational thought leaders around the world?
Are we amplifying our own students’ voices and initiatives through our social media platforms?
How are we telling our school’s most inspiring stories?
How can we leverage social media to bring mission-aligned staff to our doorstep?
Are we training our teachers on how to be school ambassadors through social media? Are we training students?
How are we connecting to a generation of digital natives in their digital space?
Are we a readily available resource to our community?
How do we navigate the space between connecting with students online and maintaining professional boundaries?

Research

“According to Harvard Business Review, by 2025, approximately 75 percent of the global workforce will be millennials. This will be a digitally native generation that expects digital working practices as standard.”

Research shows that 80 percent of customers are more likely to trust a company if the CEO has a strong social media presence. Additionally, more than 70 percent of people feel that a CEO’s social media activity helps with effective communications, building better relationships with employees and customers, boosting the social presence of the company and enhancing profitability and customer acquisition.”
“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.”

Concepts

If we aren’t showing up on social media, we aren’t leading.

Being on social media is just as much about listening, learning and connecting as it is about sharing. To reach our audience, we must be inside their “bubble of trust”. How can we really connect to youth if we aren’t on the platforms where they share their concerns and exercise their voice?
We must show up authentically- it has to be YOUR voice and views. They also remind us to always remember we represent a larger organization. It can be a tricky tight-rope to walk.

Quotes from the author and co-authors

“Transparent, open leadership is a relatively new concept — and one that has really started to take off with the advent of social media. It’s a revolution, no doubt. Where this revolution is leading is difficult to say, but now the genie is out of the bottle there’s no going back.”

“A new generation of leaders are embracing the openness that social media allows - and they are running with it. ... Those leaders who have embraced social media have, metaphorically, moved from the corner office into the lobby. By relocating, they can see their customers, partners, supporters, employees and competitors come and go and hear their conversations, gripes, needs and aspirations. You don’t get that kind of exposure if you’re locked away from the real world with an executive assistant guarding your door (and your email).”
“In the end it’s not about having a million followers. It’s about building a direct connection with the right people — the ones who care about the things you care about and who can share your message further.”
“Young people engage when they find authenticity, transparency, honesty, responsiveness — in the brands they follow and the leaders that represent them.”
“[On social] You can see the conversations taking place that would previously have happened around the water cooler. You can see where tensions are rising before they become a problem.”
“Failing to appear on a Google search for your name will make people think twice about your credibility, and the first thing most people do when they encounter someone new at work is look up their LinkedIn profile.”
“The challenge of being in dialogue with non-privileged viewpoints, whether or not I agree with them, is incredibly valuable for my ongoing thinking and personal development as a leader.”
“Put your audience at the centre of your content.”
“You can’t fake sincerity.”
“We are now in the Social Age of ‘working out loud’, but we are facing a crisis of trust. … It is therefore a time for leaders to step up and become social CEOs — with a mindset of serving their audience, where they are, in a meaningful and authentic way.”
“When people express the fear that social media means a loss of control, I counter this with the argument that they never had control. They had the appearance of control; they owned the channels, they had the authority, but if no one read their memos or forty-page reports, then they had no control whatsoever.”