The Vocal CEO

Key Findings

• Fast growth companies are virtually synonymous with CEOs who prioritize communication – over 80% had a brand: Of the 100 top-performing companies that we evaluated, we found that the vast majority, or 81 percent, are currently led by CEOs who consistently communicate and have a distinct brand.
• CEOs with a distinct brand better withstood the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis, protecting US$260 billion in shareholder value: CEOs who had a brand and communicated regularly performed better than their industry peers during the COVID-19 pandemic by an average of two percent – this stronger investor confidence translates into US$260 billion in additional shareholder value. The CEOs with no brand and the ones who only communicated about their business and bottom line had stock price performances that were closer to their industry averages. Furthermore, out of the pool of CEOs that had a brand, those CEOs who embraced the growing importance of ESG and ‘stakeholder capitalism’ outperformed their industry peers by an average of 3.75 percent.
• Even before COVID-19, many of the best- performing CEOs increased their emphasis on communication over the last 5 years: Fast-growing companies have increasingly embraced communication as a tool to support their businesses’ growth over the years. This was true even before the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies either choosing more vocal leaders or leaders becoming more vocal over time.
• Stakeholder capitalism trend already strongly embedded among fastest growing companies: While conversations around ESG and stakeholder capitalism have steadily gained pace among the business community, many of the fastest growing companies led by example. Of the CEOs valuing communications, nearly 40 percent can be considered as ‘stakeholder CEOs’ or CEOs who have publicly taken a stance about issues that were not directly related to their business, such as social, political or environmental issues.
• Communication a priority for leaders across all sectors: Vocal CEOs were a feature of fast-growing companies in all sectors except for basic materials – this is true even of industries that are highly regulated and traditionally discrete. While leaders in the healthcare sector are traditionally perceived to eschew the vocal communications styles of more consumer-facing companies, the growth leaders in healthcare bucked this trend. Of the 22 CEOs of the fastest-growing healthcare companies we evaluated, 19 were vocal and had a brand
• Vocal CEOs a phenomenon across geographies: Most studies looking into CEO communications tend to focus on US companies, with some coining the term ‘CEO Activists’ for CEOs playing an active role in the US political process*. Our research shows that while American CEOs more frequently take a stance on controversial issues, European leaders are no less vocal. In fact, the Euro Stoxx index had the largest share of active vocal CEOs.
• Communication a priority for all female CEOs: All women who held the highest position in their company considered communication an important part of their leadership. While significantly underrepresented – of the 128 CEOs evaluated here, only 6 of them were women (4.7%) – all women CEOs in our study had a distinct brand and communication style.
• Social media communication has become a key tool for CEOs: More CEOs are actively engaging on social media than ever before. Over 40% of CEOs across the FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX 30 are now actively engaging on LinkedIn, Twitter and/or Instagram. In the first eight months of 2020, 69 CEOs in our study collectively posted on social media a total of 3,224 times, or an average of 47 times per active CEO. Five CEOs posted over 20 times per month. ‘Generalist’ CEOs who engage on a range of topics gain the most traction - the broader the range of topics CEOs cover, the greater the engagement across their posts.
• Business leaders believe they should publicly engage with social and political discourse: The ability of businesses to handle crises has been a defining factor in their success during the pandemic. Although 97% claim to be taking actions or investments over the next 12 months to prepare for future crises and 87% agree that their leaders are better prepared for future crises. Over the coming year, G20 companies expect to face the heaviest scrutiny in relation to their employee wellbeing, data privacy arrangements and ESG practices. To try and influence the narrative surrounding these factors, 82% of G20 business leaders believe they should publicly engage with pressing social or political discourse.