CEO opinions: Why do they matter?
aug 15, 2023
One of my biggest bugbears when I was a tech journalist at the BBC was op-eds from CEOs, sent to me out of the blue. For one, the BBC doesn’t, as a rule, publish op-eds - that’s the preserve of editors of the national newspapers (the name itself means opposite the editorial page, in a throwback to the old days of print). And for two, it is a little insulting to a journalist that the job they have honed over many years can be done better by someone else.
The exception to this would be if the op-ed is coming from a big name - obviously, if Elon Musk wanted to publish his opinions on the BBC instead of Twitter (X), then I’d have to give that serious thought!
Generally speaking, if a journalist wants to hear from the CEO of a particular company, then they should contact the PR and set up the interview. And often the insights they will gain are not necessarily the ones the CEO would have penned in an op-ed.
But that said, the news cycle is frenetic and some stories are so fast-moving that there simply isn’t time to set up interviews. Then an email from a PR with a ‘voice’ for a story can be a godsend. One of the most common examples of this in my experience is when there is a big hack attack. Sure as night follows day, my inbox would begin to fill with commentary from security experts pretty much as soon as the hack is announced.
And then what I’m looking for is something that stands out, either information that tells me something that moves the story on, or a really colourful quote.
There is obvious merit in CEOs talking about their company or the wider industry they are a part of. They live and breathe it and will have valuable things to say. The question is - how to get that across to a journalist?
Recently all the chat has been about generative AI and I have lost count of the firms that have offered commentary on this. But much of it was basically the same comment said in a different way - general comments about how the technology was exciting but also carried risks.
What I needed in this instance was something that moved the story on. So eventually when I spoke to a CEO who had been using the technology for several years and could explain exactly how it helped his business, alongside tips for businesses that were planning to use the tech, that was useful commentary. As was someone outlining the policies they had implemented at their firm over staff use of AI systems. Practical examples are the best.
Blogs and thought leadership pieces on company websites are a great way to get across messages from CEOs. When I am researching a new topic, I will often google it, and if I get blogs from people who are clearly leaders in the space in the results, that will pique my interest, especially if they are prepared to stick their heads above the parapet and say something controversial!
So, for instance, I recently wrote an article on the use of AI in waste management (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66042169) and I used the comments from a blog Footprint’s CEO Troy Swope had written which said that recycling currently was something of a “myth”.
Not only did that offer me another voice for the piece but it gave the company an airing on the BBC website!
So my advice on CEO commentary would be three-fold.
If a story is big enough and breaking, connect the journalists you know are writing on it with comments that will move the story on
Get your CEOs to write blogs tackling the issues in their industry, but say something no one else is saying
No one wants bland statements - be prepared to be controversial or forthright!