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Feature

Greg Miller
Founder and President
MarketcomPR

Have You Googled Your CEO Lately?
What board members need to know about protecting your CEO, your company, and yourself in the Google universe.

(Editor's note: Our next Boardroom Briefing, on The Wired Board, will be in the mail in June. Information security--and privacy--is just one element of the wired world. We'll also look at how technology can enable boards to better do their jobs from a variety of perspectives).

Remember what life was like before Google?

I do, and it wasn’t that long ago. And at about the same time that the noun “Google” evolved into the verb “to Google,” the ever-evolving Internet created a new problem for senior executives and people like me, who handle their PR – 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.

And this is not just the usual corporate information – salaries, board memberships, greatest hits. No, this is personal stuff. Like kids’ names. Home addresses. Private club memberships.

Sure, some of that stuff leaches into media coverage about high-profile CEOs. And Hollywood celebrities have always been tabloid bait. But gone are the days when a diplomatic publicist could lean over and say to the reporter, “Gee, do you think you could keep that out of the story?” Once it’s out there in the Google universe, it’s staying out there, where it blends with a surprisingly large amount of other information.

In Search of CEO X
Take CEO X. He’s a talented executive who, in his early 50s, burst into the top ranks of Corporate America after a long career in public service and second-in-command status at a private company bought out by a major financial services conglomerate.

While by no means Donald Trump-like in his pursuit of publicity, CEO X has not been shy in talking to the media, and has clearly benefited from positioning efforts by his corporate PR handlers highlighting his rapid career rise and high-profile assignments. As a result, a Google News (http://news.google.com) search gives 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 childhood 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 (does the family’s grocery shopping), as well as his favorite professional sports team (the New York Jets).

All of this can be gleaned from coverage in publications ranging from The Washington Post to USA Today to Newsweek. And Google serves it up in a minute or less time online.

Deeper Penetration
Want better and deeper penetration of trade publications, news websites, and other online media? Go to NewsTrove.com (http://www.newstrove.com), which claims to troll more than 200,000 websites every day. Or try AllTheWeb.com (http://alltheweb.com) for pictures, video and audio searches on top of the usual media and web searches.

Want to see what disgruntled shareholders and aggressive short sellers are saying about CEO X and his company in chat rooms? Go to Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com), enter the company’s stock symbol, and next tap into the message board. It may not be pleasant.

Want more? Want what the media won’t include, even if you’re a disgraced executive like Ken Lay or Phil Bennett? Why not go to Info.com to find CEO X’s home address and telephone number (http://whitepages.info.com)? And since you already know from your Google News search that his kids may go to public school, why not use Yahoo’s map function (http://maps.yahoo.com) to find out where the schools are?

The Kids’ Trail
And speaking of kids, why not search for information about them that their schools and extracurricular organizations freely hand out. An alumni web page affiliated with the local high school cheerfully tells you where one of his children goes to college, what his school email address is, and what fraternity he’s in. Another search offers up a college article written by one of his other children, complete with college email address. Google strikes again.

Curious about CEO X’s political leanings? Well, go to FundRace 2004 Neighbor Search (http://www.fundrace.org) to find out who he backed in the 2004 election (John Edwards, with a $1,000 contribution). Neighbor Search also conveniently links his home address to a map-search function.

Had enough? Well, if not, the nice folks at PeopleData (http://www.zabasearch.com) will sell you information about CEO X and members of his family, including his wife and at least one of his four children. Pay for premium service and you’ll get all available public records found for CEO X, delivered by e-mail in 24 hours or less. Information includes: criminal records, family members, unlisted telephone numbers, current and previous addresses, home ownership, real property values, lawsuits, liens, judgments, current and previous roommates and neighbors.

And there are also “net detective” services – try http://www.netdetective.com, http://www.web-detective.com or http://www.IntelSpy.com -- that offer to “snoop” for you on such matters as driving records, credit history, and other formerly private information held by CEO X, his family, the rest of your board, and you.

The PR Game Has Changed
What does all of this mean? It means the PR game has changed forever. It means that any piece of information about your CEO – and about you and other members of the board -- is on the record. And not just on the record, but permanently on the record, with details available online through a few keystrokes on your keyboard. Most of it’s free. And it all lives forever in the Google universe.

So what do you need to know, as a board member, about protecting your CEO, your company, and yourself in the Google universe? Here’s my list:

Implement a Google Strategy: Ask your management team how it is using communications – both defensively and offensively – to position the company, support its branding, and communicate value and credibility to key audiences and constituencies.

Challenge Mistakes and Misperceptions: Audit what’s available on the Web about your company and management, and correct what you know is incorrect.

Understand that There Are No Secrets in the Google Universe: Work with management to set standards on what the company will release about its personnel in any venue, whether public comments by managers about themselves or the company or materials disclosed by the company itself.

What lessons does all of this have for all of us, in both 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.

Because that’s life in the Google universe.

Greg Miller is founder and president of MarketcomPR (http://www.marketcomPR.com.)