How is CEO communication shaping and disrupting reputations in the digital age?

Nowadays the general public is quite aware of company wrongdoing, and its opinions of companies are often influenced by what CEOs and other executives say and do.

When oil and energy company BP’s former CEO Tony Hayward responded to a reporter about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, his words were heard around the world:

“There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back.”

Those last five words were not only displayed in headlines and endlessly broadcast, but spread like wildfire on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, text, blogs, and via word of mouth, and are still referenced by the media as an example of a major PR mistake.

What CEOs say or don’t say, where they say it, and to whom they say it increasingly makes or breaks reputations and disrupts job security.

Reputation is being shaped by new forces that require greater CEO engagement and presence.

Although social media has placed nearly every CEO and company in the spotlight for good and bad, it has also given CEOs a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell their company stories in unimaginable and untold ways.