In the same way that there are many top businesses that we are familiar with, there are many of them whose CEOs are well-known to the public. In fact, these CEOs act as both the public representation and private leadership of the company. Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, for example, are the public faces of their companies and public figures. But would it be good to have a crypto CEO in the same vein?
As a company in the crypto space, having a charismatic CEO who is very public-facing comes with its upsides and downsides, both of which we’ll explore in this article.
Pros
Creating Consumer Connections to Your Brand
As a business, you want your customers to like your brand and feel connected to it. This connection can be made by having a public face connected to your brand. After all, this is the entire basis of celebrity spokespersons for different brands. In the context of a crypto CEO, customers’ love of and loyalty to your CEO translates to the brand as well. As far as every Elon Musk fan is concerned, Teslas are the best cars to ever be made and will be the cars they aspire to buy.
By pushing a charismatic CEO to the forefront, you can deepen customer loyalty.
Publicity
When your charismatic CEO is the face of your brand, whatever publicity they generate trickles down to the business. Every time Rihanna steps out looking good, people become more curious about the beauty products she uses, leading to more interest in her beauty brands. A charismatic crypto CEO will, ideally, have a public persona separate but linked to the business and as their public profile is raised, so will the profile of the business.
If you follow the charismatic CEO route, have them be as public-facing as possible, with social media and real-life appearances.
Market Influence
Ultimately, your business is trying to make money and having a charismatic crypto CEO is a way to do this. As we said earlier, customers having a connection and interest in your CEO (and your business by extension) means that they’re more likely to buy your products and services. Say you have such a CEO and your business launches a new line of crypto miners. When your CEO speaks to their audience about it, it’s not a businessperson trying to sell them something. Instead, it is their friend recommending something to them. With a good enough connection between the CEO and customers, sales can be multiplied.
Reinforcing Brand Identity
Brand identity is one of the most delicate parts of running a business. If you can sell a certain brand identity, you can sell pretty much anything. Using a charismatic crypto CEO, a certain perception of your brand can be reinforced. If your CEO is considered a cool and suave tech bro, that must mean that your products are for cool tech bros, right? This is why brands shell out millions to have pop stars and movie stars become their spokespeople.
The image of many global brands has been constructed partially because of the people associated with them and your CEO is a great way to do this.
Cons
Tying Goodwill to a Single Crypto CEO
We’ve talked about how a crypto CEO can bring a lot of goodwill to a company if they are well-liked. The downside is that your company’s goodwill can end up too closely tied to a single person. Imagine if all of Fenty Beauty’s credibility was tied to Rihanna as a person with no other leg to stand on. This would mean that should she leave her position or the brand be renamed to something else, that goodwill would evaporate. CEOs come and go all the time, especially in the crypto space. This creates an added layer of complexity to the issue and some level of risk.
The Risk of Scandals
Another possible issue with a crypto CEO being the face of the brand is the effect of scandals. CEOs are human, after all, and humans get caught up in bad situations. If the public turns on a charismatic CEO, they might also turn on the business they represent. This is especially true in the current era of coordinated boycotts. The best way to mitigate this is to establish a balance between making your CEO the public face of the business while also not being over-reliant on them for goodwill. This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run,
Personality Eclipsing Product
The end goal of having a charismatic crypto CEO is to boost your business. But while doing so, there is the risk of the CEO’s personality becoming a bigger talking point than the business and what it is selling. The thing about charismatic people is that they attract an audience but it is then up to your team to convert this audience into bonafide customers and not just fans.
If your CEO is always in scandal and spends more time engaging with fans than pushing the company they represent, there is bound to be an issue.
Personality Mismatch
At the end of the day, a charismatic crypto CEO is not the route for everyone. Your customers might not be interested in engaging with your CEO and might just want your products and services. Your CEO, in turn, might have little interest in being much of a public figure. Their personality might not even be suited to such duties. As much as we have businesses whose CEOs we connect with as people, there are many businesses we buy from whose CEOs’ names are not even known to us. Do not try to force a charismatic crypto CEO persona on your business if it isn’t working.
Conclusion
A crypto CEO can be a bridge that connects a business to its customers in a new and innovative way. On the flip side, it runs the risk of damaging the business if the public persona is not well-managed. Ultimately, it is up to every business to decide whether this is the right path for them.