Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • May 27, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com EDITOR'S TAKE Leadership best practices from Greater Hartford's top leaders I n our opinion-and-commentary section each week, we often get contributed columns about leadership. There are many expert opinions on what makes a great leader. It's someone who can inspire. Be innovative. Outwit and outlast the competition. Someone who cares deeply about the well-being of their employees. The truth is, no matter what people say, leaders come in all different shapes, sizes and backgrounds, and their styles and philosophies can differ considerably. Nowhere was that more evident than at Hartford Busi- ness Journal's recent "90 Ideas in 90 Minutes" event held at the Hartford Club. I rarely flak HBJ events, but this one seems to move the audience each year like no other, and it's worth attending if you are a veteran executive or aspiring leader. For those who are unfamiliar with the event, we invite nine CEOs to share their 10 ideas for leadership best practices. Each participant is given five min- utes to present their ideas in any manner they see fit. What was striking about this year's event was the diversity in personalities and viewpoints. There was the aspirational and uplifting leader — Sam Gray, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club. The down-to-earth executive — Drew Andrews, managing partner and CEO of Hartford-based accounting firm Whittlesey. There were also the innovative leaders — Dr. Edison Liu and Shana Schlossberg, CEOs of The Jackson Labora- tory and Upward Hartford, respectively. One common thread among all the speakers was the passion they had for their jobs. Well, "jobs" actually isn't the right word. None of the speakers viewed themselves as having a job, per se. They view their CEO roles as an extension of who they are and that's what drives them to be successful leaders. Only event attendees received the booklet that listed all 90 ideas shared by the speakers, but here's a peek at a few of them. It's a worthwhile exercise to com- pare your leadership playbook to theirs. People can be forced to walk, but they can only be inspired to fly. Heroes act because of a higher cause and truly successful organizations are driven by an inspiring vision. — Dr. Edison Liu, President & CEO, The Jackson Laboratory Make self-examination a habit. In life and in business, you will go through many phases, you will make mistakes and you will come across countless obsta- cles on your way to achieving your goals. If you do not examine yourself, you risk living a stagnant life. — Sam Gray, President & CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford. Don't be married to your budget. Budgets are like training wheels. They help new players learn to bike, but experienced players know their business and adapt in real time to real factors. — Bruce Mandell, Chairman & CEO, Hartford Athletic; President, Data-Mail. Invest in the next generation of leaders. Sharing your time and talent with emerging leaders is the best way to repay the generosity of each person who invested human capital in you. — Lynn Ricci, President & CEO, Hospital for Special Care. Think controversially. Be a fearless disrupter — challenge everything around you. — Shana Schlossberg, CEO, Upward Hartford. Foster mutual respect. Everyone's ideas, thoughts, comments, feedback, etc., should be welcome and respected regardless of position, title or tenure. — Ray Pineault, President & General Manager, Mohegan Sun. Don't let long-term goals interfere with short-term thinking. I never set long-term goals. I set a general direction and manage toward that. — Curt Cam- eron, President, Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. Trust your judgement. Feedback and best practices are important references. But, at the end of the day, trust your experiences and instincts. — Min Jung Kim, Director & CEO, New Britain Museum of American Art. Always tell the truth. Honesty and integrity above all. — Drew Andrews, Man- aging Partner & CEO, Whittlesey. OTHER VOICES Facebook's future impact on businesses By Adam Chiara T he times are a-changing, and so is Facebook. It's no wonder many businesses are unnerved with Facebook's instability. After all, businesses of all sizes have built much (if not their entire) mar- keting and PR strategy around the platform. With uncertainty brewing because of global and national issues facing the company, it's a worthwhile exercise to ana- lyze Facebook's situation and evaluate what the impact could be on its users. I recently moderated a fireside chat at West Hartford Coworking with David Ryan Polgar, a pioneering tech ethicist, global speaker, and founder of All Tech is Human. Polgar highlighted some of the prominent and problem- atic issues facing the platform. Here are a few key takeaways. Don't put all your eggs in one platform Facebook's advertising capabilities are unmatched. Businesses realize that with a small budget they can target the exact customer they want and deliver a personalized message that can be measured. It seems too good to be true. But, as the old saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, well, you know where this is going. Legal problems have come to light because of Facebook's advertising methods. From racial discrimination to providing inflated and misleading met- rics, Facebook has lost a great deal of trust with how it conducts its business. Companies that have built their entire communication effort around amassing likes and followers should be leery of the actual success that it brings and the ethical dilemmas it can force. If Polgar was advising a business on how to use Facebook now, he would suggest approaching it as a tool to gather leads and information that can be used for other time-test- ed methods of communication. For example, "Email is like the cockroach," Polgar says. It has not only survived through the social media revolution, it has thrived. It is not as susceptible to the spamming, inaccurate metrics, and other chal- lenges found on social media. Polgar's advice is that Facebook and other social media can be a great way to help build an email list that you own and have more control over. The "R" word It looks inevitable — regulation is coming for Facebook. In an op-ed, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has even asked for it. The question now is not so much will Facebook be regulated, but when will it happen and how stringent will it be? It may even come to the point where big tech companies like Facebook are broken up. Some believe Facebook is too monopolistic because of the other giant companies they have acquired, like Instagram and Whatsapp. Another consider- ation is that Facebook and other plat- forms might be treated as a public utility instead of a private company. If it rises to that level, it is unlikely Facebook will be able to maintain the same level of advertising prowess it had before. That means if a business' main marketing strategy is Face- book, it will be weakened. While this is a doomsday scenario for Facebook, even minor regulation, which is more likely, could create disruptions with the way businesses use the platform to advertise. It is definitely a development to follow and be prepared for. Read the fine print In a York University/UConn study, researchers found that 98 percent of people would give their first-born child away because of not reading the user agreement. Polgar says not only do we not know what's in the user agreements that we automatically click "yes" to, but we also fail to recognize that the contracts often have some kind of language de- claring that the platforms can change the agreement at any time. The takeaway — platforms have almost total control over you (and might even own your first-born). We just assume that our social media pages are our property when really it's more like we are renting property from the platforms. So, understand that if you build your entire communication op- eration on Facebook, you are at the mercy of the landlord. Just another reason to diversify your communica- tion efforts — even if it means using the more traditional, unsexy meth- ods of reaching your audience. Of course, none of this is to say Face- book should be abandoned. It is still one of the most powerful tools available, but it is just a tool and not a panacea. So, just make sure that as it's chang- ing you do, too. Adam Chiara is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Hartford. Opinion & Commentary Greg Bordonaro Editor Adam Chiara

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