It’s not just kids who can get themselves into trouble on social media.
This week we have, yet again, seen just how grave the consequences can be when experienced senior company directors spend too much time on social media. Rob Campbell has lost his position as chair of newly-established health authority Te Whatu Ora due to comments made on LinkedIn, an established social network which is surging in popularity for wealthy older businessmen scouting for a forum to air their opinions on the issues of the day.
While designed as a professional network and online CV, due to the algorithms which promote or bury content according to how much engagement it generates, many experienced company directors can find themselves chasing “thumbs up”, “love heart” or “clapping symbol”, even at the expense of their careers – as Campbell discovered yesterday, after being summarily fired from one of his jobs. These directors are in some ways radicalised by this environment, and might start posting pictures of themselves on motorcycles, as Campbell has done, or valuing comments and reactions from their online friends even more than the mundane day-to-day constraints of their job.
In this case, colleagues and whānau might want to try and have an honest conversation with the famous and highly-regarded organisation chair in their life, to help them see how while their actions online might be fun and get them a dopamine hit of cascading notifications, once they start to impact their real world employment prospects, perhaps it’s time to consider how they use these networks – or even taking a little break.
One of the most insidious dangers of social media networks like LinkedIn is vulnerable people not understanding that even when they think they’re just chatting with their buddies on the internet, their statements are often public – and their employer might be listening. While many company directors have decades of experience in governance, they are at a vulnerable stage of their lives, and might not understand how social networks operate, or what excessive use can do to a still-developing mind.
Campbell seems to have thought he was simply sharing a news story about a new National policy, and offering his opinion as a private citizen that it was a “thin disguise for a dog whistle on co-governance” and casually referring to its “stupidity on climate change”. Unfortunately, because he was doing it on a social media platform which is explicitly a living CV, and a place where former MPs have “looking for work” in their profile pictures, many others saw it as manifestly linked to his part-time job chairing a giant new government entity. When the urge to generate free content for Microsoft overrides the need to fix a broken health system, it might be time to consider whether your priorities are in the right order.
Rob Campbell is professional director, who was until recently chair of SkyCity as well as Te Whatu Ora. (What greater example of the circular economy is there than creating problem gamblers with one job, and dealing with the consequences in another!) It’s sad to see him lose the huge income associated with one of his many part-time jobs. But it’s worth using this as a teachable moment to help other high-powered directors understand the dangers lurking beneath the surface of LinkedIn.
Like many of those in positions of enormous power, Campbell is used to people agreeing with his statements, and the rules being what he says they are. Unfortunately even wealthy board chairs have a boss – in this case health minister Ayesha Verrall. She referred to the code of conduct for public servants, which states that senior officials must operate in a politically neutral manner. Campbell made his comments on LinkedIn, where his job was listed as “director”, but claimed that he was acting as a private citizen at the time – a confusion which can arise in qualified and vastly experienced governance experts as they navigate the murky waters of social networking sites.
While many might look at Campbell’s fate and think someone of his wealth and decades in corporate life should have known better, we should respond with empathy for a demographic which is at a singular stage of their lives. While outwardly hugely successful, they might be lacking validation at work, and seek it from other CEOs or directors online, making statements which they don’t realise are damaging their careers. If they are spending too much time on LinkedIn, there’s a chance that they lose perspective, and forget that their employer can often see everything they say on social networking sites. They might think they’re just chatting with new friends – but they should always read their contracts to make sure they know what the consequences might be.
Some company directors of enormous employers might even display signs of addiction, including anger at the idea there might be problems with their behaviour. The idea that their job of setting up a new health system might conflict with their desire to have an opinion on an unrelated piece of opposition policy could cause titans of industry to get belligerent, as Campbell seemed when Kim Hill read the code of conduct to him this morning on RNZ.
When confronted about their actions, they may become confrontational, and care must be taken to explain to them why their behaviour does not just impact them, it impacts the whole healthcare community. By reaching out to the multi-board chair in your life to offer some free and frank advice, you might save them from a lifetime of real-world consequences from their online habits.
Follow Duncan Greive’s NZ media podcast The Fold on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app.