Chief Everything Officers Do It Better
Midst hurricane-related downpours yesterday in Manhattan, AOL/media networks put on a fun event to launch their appropriately titled “insight series.” They announced the findings of AOL/Roper Public Affairs 2004 research, which included these facts: This new “CEO” is a vanguard group of parents that not only take charge of and manage everything in the home, but these folks report that they do so smoothly and effectively (i.e. they aren’t feeling hugely stressed and anxious as some advertisers portray parents these days). 41% of parents fall into this category – representing about 28 million Americans. While the majority of these CEOs are women (63%), it may be more surprising to see that 37% are men.
Why do we care? Because these are JUST the types of people who wil be the biggest word-of-mouthers. These new CEOs are influencers with family and friends, and are more likely than other parents to be asked their opinions and advice on a range of topics. 76% of them are seen as experts on raising children, 11 percentage points higher than other parents.
There was lots of other great research, but one thing I’d assumed to be true, that these folks were likely the more affluent or elite of Americans, wasn’t. Rather, Chief Everything Officers fall into a decidedly mainstream group of parents: average age is 38 and they are usually in a dual-income, middle class family. Their median household income is $47,600 and 73% are married with 74% employed.
Just Sue and John Johnson from around the corner – in other words.
I will revisit this information, expand on it and interview some of the panelists in future posts. Maria Shriver was a great keynote (she represents an uber version of this sort of CEO, but reminded the audience repeatedly to honor themselves as the CEOs many of them were as well.) Paul Bennett, who leads IDEO’s Consumer Experience practice, advised brands to be “empathic, edited and relevant” to consumers. I plan a longer interview with him soon, as his work is fascinating and IDEO’s methodology full of clues for how others can approach their customers and deliver a better experience. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of Creating A Life and Director of the Gender and Public Policy Program at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, had some additional research to share on the concept of flextime in the workplace and how it fits so very well into the Chief Everything Officer lifestyle. I plan to interview her in the near future as well, so stay tuned.
Jean Chatzky, editor-at-large of Money Magazine and AOL’s Money Coach, among many other things, was also on the panel – as was Deborah Roberts of ABC’s 20/20. Debbie had a good sort of clincher comment near the end of the presentation to the effect of (paraphrased, as I didn’t have a tape recorder to get her exact words): when does a Chief Everything Officer say ‘enough’ and not try to accomplish more and more and more just because they can (i.e. technology is there to help them do it)?
For brands, it should be about facilitation and not creation (of new things and new gadgets etc..).
This CEO study should make all of us re-consider any parenting/household managing assumptions that may have been carried over from company research files of years ago. It is so very different today.
More on all of this – and future conversations/interviews with a few of the panelists – to come.
