The Social Business Mandate

"As venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has said, 'Software is eating the world.' We live in an age in which every aspect of our lives from physical devices to offline services is being digitized; the impact of social media on consumers and business alike today is as profound as the rise of Google 15 years ago. Yet, many business leaders and CEOs are thinking about what I call Social Business in exactly the WRONG ways. The mistake leaders make is over-delegating social and digital efforts to fairly entry-level marketing and customer service teams. Senior executives then confuse having a social media team with having a social business, and have a detrimental misconception that these efforts are far from the business's core initiatives. In reality, business leaders need to personally own and drive these digital and social initiatives. To fully become a Social Business, an organization must truly embrace digital opportunities on every platform; and this transformation must be led by C-Suite Executives."