Concerns over privacy, workplace culture, and social responsibility have required the chiefs of Silicon Valley's biggest firms to defend themselves in unfamiliar forums, said Ben LaBolt, a partner at Bully Pulpit, an image consulting firm.
As tech companies face greater public scrutiny, and Congress considers regulation, LaBolt said executives must show they're sympathetic as well as diligent.
"A lot of it is as much style as it is substance," said LaBolt, a former campaign press secretary for President Obama. " It's showing respect for the members of Congress, talking to the broader public, not just the people in the room."
LaBolt said Monday in an interview with Cheddar that the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress earlier this month was an example of the new requirements for Silicon Valley executives. Public hearings can test an executive's judgment in different ways than he or she is used to.
"I think starting with 'I'm sorry' is always a good place to start, but it's usually not enough," said LaBolt. "People need to see accountability."
He cited the case of Uber's former chief executive, Travis Kalanick, who was forced out after reports of combative behavior and a toxic work environment. Uber is a Bully Pulpit client, and since Dara Khosrowshahi took over the company, LaBolt said he has heard more from his client about efforts to change company's culture than he has negative stories about Uber being a difficult place to work.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/image-and-branding-in-the-digital-era).
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The holiday season is here and it could be a stressful time as people plan shopping, cooking and traveling. Sally Holmes, editor-in-chief of InStyle Magazine, joined Cheddar News to discuss a new social media trend #Treatculture that helps people take a moment to treat themselves and how that is a psychological benefit to relieve stress.
English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT (yes, the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today).
Wikipedia has released its list of most viewed articles for 2023 with the site seeing over 84 billion visits. The most searched topic was ChatGPT with nearly 50 billion page views
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