The complete transcript of the brand ambassador interview with Jörg Ehmer
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:10 am
Ehmer: That's a good question to start with. I would like to answer it like this: The most important quality of a CEO is certainly that he is social - or at least a very important quality. Of course, a CEO like that has to know where he wants to take the company and have the necessary tools and knowledge. But it is always important for a CEO to interact socially. And that was the case long before digitalization. People interacted analogue and now a new dimension has been added. That is the digital dimension. And anyone who couldn't interact analogue in the past will probably find it difficult to do so digitally today.
Hoffmann: You were already blogging, but nobody was talking about social CEOs. I think we did the first interview in 2015. Now there are always new rankings about social CEOs, who are appearing in large numbers on LinkedIn. I also think it's a good thing that CEOs are making themselves visible to companies. How do you assess this development? For a long time, people said that there were far too few German board members and management on social media. Now there are a lot of them. How do you assess this, given your long experience, first as a blogger and then on social networks?
Ehmer: Mixed, to be honest. Well, there are colleagues where you get the impression: finally! It's good cryptocurrency data for them, it's good for the company. They have something to broadcast. They represent their opinions credibly and in doing so, shed the right light on themselves and on the company for which they are responsible. That's good for everyone involved. But I also see colleagues where you can almost feel that they were pressured into it, that the content doesn't come from them, that it doesn't really come from the heart, and then the authenticity suffers, and that doesn't help anyone afterwards.
So from this point of view: I think it's basically good that more and more managers - not just CEOs, but C-level - and employees in general are getting involved and showing their company's colors. I like the ones who do it because they enjoy it and who are authentic.
Hoffmann: An important point that you have raised: It's not just about board members and CEOs, but also about employees. That means that as CEO you are always a role model for everyone else in the company. What does that mean for employees if you are very visible as a beacon?
Ehmer: I think it's always nice for people when they have someone they can work with who they can see is passionate about what they do, and who says what they say to them not just in private or in a small meeting, but also when they are present in public. And in doing so, they may of course also be presenting themselves in a completely different kind of discussion than they do in the company.
And that is something that naturally happens when you, as a manager – and this does not just apply to the CEO – become active on social media and post your opinion there, be it on immediate company topics or simply on topics that concern you. Then you are of course opening yourself up to being spoken to, but also to discussion. And that is a different type of communication to classic internal communication, where you are actually – although I don’t like the word, but I am using it intentionally in this context – unassailable. Of course you are not. It is just that often enough it is not said that someone has a different opinion. In that context, because people may think: You are not allowed to say that.
Hoffmann: You were already blogging, but nobody was talking about social CEOs. I think we did the first interview in 2015. Now there are always new rankings about social CEOs, who are appearing in large numbers on LinkedIn. I also think it's a good thing that CEOs are making themselves visible to companies. How do you assess this development? For a long time, people said that there were far too few German board members and management on social media. Now there are a lot of them. How do you assess this, given your long experience, first as a blogger and then on social networks?
Ehmer: Mixed, to be honest. Well, there are colleagues where you get the impression: finally! It's good cryptocurrency data for them, it's good for the company. They have something to broadcast. They represent their opinions credibly and in doing so, shed the right light on themselves and on the company for which they are responsible. That's good for everyone involved. But I also see colleagues where you can almost feel that they were pressured into it, that the content doesn't come from them, that it doesn't really come from the heart, and then the authenticity suffers, and that doesn't help anyone afterwards.
So from this point of view: I think it's basically good that more and more managers - not just CEOs, but C-level - and employees in general are getting involved and showing their company's colors. I like the ones who do it because they enjoy it and who are authentic.
Hoffmann: An important point that you have raised: It's not just about board members and CEOs, but also about employees. That means that as CEO you are always a role model for everyone else in the company. What does that mean for employees if you are very visible as a beacon?
Ehmer: I think it's always nice for people when they have someone they can work with who they can see is passionate about what they do, and who says what they say to them not just in private or in a small meeting, but also when they are present in public. And in doing so, they may of course also be presenting themselves in a completely different kind of discussion than they do in the company.
And that is something that naturally happens when you, as a manager – and this does not just apply to the CEO – become active on social media and post your opinion there, be it on immediate company topics or simply on topics that concern you. Then you are of course opening yourself up to being spoken to, but also to discussion. And that is a different type of communication to classic internal communication, where you are actually – although I don’t like the word, but I am using it intentionally in this context – unassailable. Of course you are not. It is just that often enough it is not said that someone has a different opinion. In that context, because people may think: You are not allowed to say that.