CEOs should take the lead in web strategy
reproduced, with permission from Boston Business Journal July 28, 2000:
by W. David Stephenson
The Boston Business Journal recently published an editorial titled “Dot-coms have much to learn about business.” Indeed, the infrastructure problems that dot-com companies face are making bricks and mortar companies more attractive again. However, established companies’ strategies to transition to the web economy have usually been delegated to the information-technology or marketing departments, and therefore haven’t been fully integrated into overall corporate strategy.
There’s a simple explanation why this happened: most CEOs haven’t been at the table when corporate web strategy is decided. What can a CEO accomplish by being directly involved in creating and executing a web strategy that can’t be done by even the most talented subordinates?
The answer is equal parts symbolism and substance.
First, the involvement of the chief executive officer is a signal to everyone in the company that the web is now a critical part of corporate strategy. Perhaps no single statement about the web reverberated as loudly throughout corporate America as when GE CEO Jack Welch — often rated as the nation’s most admired businessman — said that the Internet was “number one, two, three and four” on his priority list. You can bet it assumed the same ranking for many of his assistants — and their counterparts in other firms. Subordinates now realize that their own careers will depend in part on whether they also play an active role in web strategy.
Also, since chief executive officers of bricks-and-mortar firms tend to be older, their involvement encourages older workers to integrate the web into their daily routines. Indeed, GE credits a program in which Welch and the company’s top 1000 executives were mentored by young GE enthusiasts as a major factor in overcoming their fear of the unknown and instead become comfortable with the web.
Finally, and most importantly, is a very substantive change.The CEO’s involvement can be the catalyst to capitalize on the full extent of the web’s power to transform corporate operations. The CEO is the only one who is paid to look out for every aspect of corporate operations. In this regard, the web and CEOs were made for each other. Precisely because its technology inherently promotes cooperation and sharing of information and because any processes that are digital can — at least in theory, that is — be linked through it, the World Wide Web can be the CEO’s best tool to rethink now-obsolete processes and create a more unified, efficient organization.
