For decades, CEOs were trained to assess risk and opportunity within a familiar terrain: markets, competitors, capital, regulation, and technology. That terrain is still there—but it’s surrounded by an entirely new ecosystem.
Social media, artificial intelligence, and the unpredictable currents of culture are the air above every one of these terrains now, shaping how companies breathe, move, and survive. It’s the same story in politics. An entirely new atmosphere, and it’s increasingly toxic. I know how to take a deep breath.
Head scratchingly, most executives still treat these forces as peripheral—communications problems to be handled after the real business decisions are made. But increasingly, they are the environment itself.
Many CEOs and politicians treat culture as background noise. In reality, its become one of the most powerful prisms shaping both corporate and political outcomes. Social media has collapsed the distance between a company’s operations and the public’s reaction to them altogether. What was once a slow-moving reputational ripple can now become a market-moving wave within hours.
Consider the numbers. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 70% of Americans use social media. Platforms like Twitter (I still call it that), Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn influence hundreds of millions of daily conversations about brands, leadership, politics, and institutions. Meanwhile, Edelman’s 2024 Trust Barometer found that 63% of consumers buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values, while roughly two-thirds of respondents say CEOs should engage publicly on societal issues.
