How do the world‘s craziest CEOs act?

• November 19, 2014
• 37577x

No, I’m not crazy. I have very good reasons to accept invitations on both social networks and I find them reasonable. It's exactly ten of them:

1. “Privacy? What’s that?”

   I never understood those heated debates about privacy on the Internet. What do people have on me? Nothing! Only I am in control of how much I share about myself on Facebook and elsewhere. So what’s the big deal?

2. Recommendations

   Surely you already know that the best way to find a great job is to have a personal recommendation from somebody. If I ever wanted to work for somebody, my chances to land a job would be much higher due to my wide web of connections.

3. Personal brand

   Most people probably find out about me through my company, Teahouse. By connecting it with me, they no longer perceive Teahouse as some anonymous brand – it gains a personal dimension and becomes more trustworthy

4. Asking advice

   Two heads know more than one. All I have to do is ask a question or seek advice on Facebook or LinkedIn. In minutes (or hours), I have a plethora of feedback from people – what they think of this or that decision or what they would do similarly or differently in my shoes, etc.

5. Higher engagement

   When people connect with my personal account, they are more likely to participate and engage (in discussions, debates, comment sections, contests…) – than when they favorite ‘just’ the company page of Teahouse Transport.

6. Simplicity

   I really don’t have time to spare and I just don’t want to waste my effort on managing two accounts on every social network: one personal and one ‘public persona’. Now I have everything comfortably tied up in just one and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

7. Assurance for customers

   Tell me: when you have some CEO in your friends list, you feel more confident, don’t you? This way, you always have somebody higher up to turn to in case you aren’t happy with their customer service. (If you actually are unhappy with Teahouse, be sure to let me know – I will take all steps to resolve the situation. And I really mean that!)

8. Adventure!

   When somebody loves online marketing like I do, then this is an open challenge to experiment – to try things for yourself. I leave caution for old age. I’m just too curious not to try something like this.

9. Klout score

   The more people I connect to on social networks, the more circles I have to share my content with – and a the more I increase my Klout score on the side. I may not be Barack Obama … but I’m not aiming for that. I hope.

10. Vitamin B

    “Wait, what? A vitamin?” It’s like this: The efficient Germans use a euphemism ‘Vitamin B’ (Beziehung) to describe a sort of privilege – when looking for a job, for example. Having the CEO of Teahouse on your friends list may not help you much in life…

… but not having him there is 100% guaranteed not to help you with anything ever.

So are you ready to test if I really do accept every connection request, or not?

Add me on LinkedIn.

Or on Facebook.

Jaroslav Šedivý, CEO, Teahouse Transport