By Gregory Miller
At about the same time that the noun "Google" transitioned into the verb "to Google," the ever-evolving Internet created a new problem for C-level executives and their senior
PR handlers - dealing with an explosion of personal information about CEOs on the Web that threatens their privacy as well as the potential safety of their families.
Take CEO X. He's a talented executive who, in his early 50s, burst into the top ranks of corporate America after a career in public service and second-in-command status at a
private company bought out by a major financial-services conglomerate.
While not exactly Donald Trump-esque in his pursuit of publicity, he has clearly benefited from positioning efforts by his PR team that highlighted his rapid career rise and
high-profile assignments.
As a result, a Google News (http://news.google.com) search provides the obvious information - how much he makes, where he went to school, board memberships, etc. But
it also gives details of his marriage (to his high school sweetheart), how he gets to work in midtown Manhattan (commutes on Metro North), how many children he has (four), what he
does for fun on weekends (coaches soccer), what else he does on the weekend (the family's grocery shopping) as well as favorite professional sports team (New York Jets).
Want to see what disgruntled shareholders and aggressive short sellers are saying about CEO X in chat rooms? Go to Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com). Want what
the media won't include, even if you're a disgraced executive like Bernie Ebbers or Richard Scrushy? Why not go to Info.com to find CEO X's home address and telephone
number (http://whitepages.info.com)? Curious about CEO X's political leanings? Check out FundRace 2004 Neighbor Search (http://www.fundrace.org) to find out whom he backed in the 2004 election. Had enough? Well, if not, the nice folks at
PeopleData (http://www.peopledata.com) will sell you information about CEO X and members of his family, including his wife and at least one of his
four children.
What does this all mean? It means the PR game has changed forever. It means that any piece of information about your CEO is on the record - and not just on the record,
but permanently on the record, with details available online through a few keystrokes.
What can we do, as practitioners of the arcane art of public relations?
Start from the assumption that nothing is a secret on the Web.
- Go to Google and Google News before any interview or media outreach - the reporter doing the interview will.
- Use the information in prepping for the interview, inserting talking points that address or clarify existing misinformation on the Web.
Implement a "Google strategy."
- Audit what's available on the Web about your CEO and correct what you know is incorrect.
- Let your CEO know about the rest, particularly the stuff that talks about spouses, children and hobbies.
- Create "data base stuffers" that highlight the information you want to emphasize, your CEO's charitable work or opinion-leader activities -- to support overall positioning and
push "bad" Google citations further down into the data base.
Be honest with your CEO.
- Tell the truth - that virtually all of the personal and sensitive information that gets into media coverage comes from his or her own mouth, whether in interviews on
corporate issues or on non-corporate activities like hobbies, clubs and schools...as well as divorces and litigation. - And just because they say it in an interview with their friendly hometown newspaper or sympathetic trade magazine doesn't mean that it won't get picked up by Google or one of
its many competitors -- because it will.
But what lesson does all of this have for the rest of us, both in our business and personal lives? Just this -- anything you say or do, any form you sign or donation you
make, anything your kids' schools say about them (and schools have enthusiastically embraced the Google universe) is available to anyone, at any time, either free or for a nominal
charge. That's life in the Google universe. Get used to it.
Contact: Gregory Miller is president of Miller DeMartine Group, a full-service PR and marketing communications firm based in Westport, Conn. He can be reached at
203.221.2790; [email protected].