Southwest Airlines has been on Fortune's most admired list for 24 consecutive years. For much of that time, Ginger Hardage was Senior VP of Culture and Communications establishing and sustaining Southwest’s legendary culture around three key values. Her team of 150 people were responsible for Southwest’s internal and external branding, which included public relations, social media, emergency response, charitable giving and cultural activities.
In a recent interview with Ethan McCarty, the CEO of Integral Communications, Tribe CEO Vern Oakley was asked about the link between authenticity, trust, and the bottom-line:
I believe the leadership, particularly the CEO, becomes the lightning rod for trust.
In order to help save its reputation, Uber has made its new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, the eloquent star of its latest video advertising in a bid to rebuild trust. Uber is certainly not the first organization to employ the strategy of featuring one of their corporate leaders on-camera, and with good reason.
Klaus Schiang-Franck, owner of the film company Citizen Dane, vies for one-on-one time with senior leaders before filming. He often starts a shoot by asking the executive to tell him, without looking at a script, what he or she is going to talk about.
How do you take a complex global business and simplify it to communicate its pure essence? This was the problem facing Sumitomo Corporation of Americas when they needed to distill their history and values into a 2-minute corporate brand video.
Video is one of the most effective tools for leaders. The best CEO videos are not simply a way to share the latest news; they’re a way to call people to action. Before employees and stakeholders heed your call, they first need to connect with you. Here are 11 tips on how to be authentic on camera or, as we like to say, how to find your groove.
To be a great CEO at the helm of a company that is considered a “best place to work” requires leadership skills that inspire employees at all levels. Making others feel included and important within the organization is key, as is superb communication.
Warren Buffett's offer to a class of business students at Columbia University was pretty compelling:
"Right now, I would pay $100,000 for 10 percent of the future earnings of any of you, so if you're interested, see me after class.
The following is a chapter from Tribe CEO Vern Oakley's recent book, Leadership in Focus: Bringing Out Your Best on Camera. It makes the case for leaders to attempt to show their true authentic selves on video (as opposed to what they think others want to see). This excerpt also recounts the story of the King's Speech, about King George VI.
Speak from Your Heart: Connect with Millions—Key Ideas
Forget what you think a leader should look like on camera.
A classic problem of marketing small, independent liberal arts colleges is that after a while, let’s face it, they tend to sound the same. It’s routine to tout the small class size, access to professors, a beautiful campus, academic rigor, the plethora of student activities, personalized curriculum, alumni success stories, etc.