‘Nowhere to hide': Why more chief executives are fronting videos

Irish Times

29-05-2025

In a relaxed sweater, holding her mobile phone at arm's length, Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel Four, recorded herself announcing her resignation last month. She posted the heartfelt video on
LinkedIn
, telling her 84,000 followers the decision 'slightly breaks my heart'.
Mahon is one of an increasing number of
business leaders
making short, usually unscripted, social media videos as a way to communicate directly with viewers. In the past two years, the number of posts shared by chief executives on LinkedIn has risen by 52 per cent, according to the platform's own statistics, and, among users overall, video is growing at twice the rate of other formats.
While social video on TikTok and other sites has been booming for many years, it has only recently started to take off among corporate users.
Executives see the format as a way to reach shareholders and customers on their own terms. Short clips, often filmed on their phones, can be a low-cost way of building their personal brand and achieving a level of informality and even intimacy with stakeholders that can help project a warmer, more human image.
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William Peake, global managing partner of law firm Harneys and a regular video poster, contrasts the trend for self-made, often imperfect, 60-90-second recordings with the polished corporate messaging typical of chief executives. The latter allows bosses to 'hide behind heavily curated copy that people who are good with words write on their behalf', says Peake. 'Video content has a real honesty to it, because there's nowhere to run and there's nowhere to hide.'
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He talks to his followers about topics such as work-life balance (he doesn't have any) and legal sector issues. One recent video on how lawyers need to think more from a customer service perspective racked up 250,000 views.
Some chief executives are using video to update and reassure customers during a crisis – for example when British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle spoke about the
power outage
at Heathrow airport in March.
Others are focusing on their company's performance. Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase, posted his first short video last month, in which he summed up the key messages in his annual letter to shareholders. Dimon was not holding his phone but the feel was still surprisingly informal: he was dressed casually and a couple of stumbles were left in.
There are, of course, many bosses for whom talking to camera does not come naturally. Communications coach Jonathan Blake, a former BBC journalist who is now a director at PR consultancy Headland, says requests from corporate clients for help with video skills are becoming more frequent.
'They are seeing their peers posting on LinkedIn, and they want to try it,' he says.
His advice to video-curious leaders is to find a way of 'projecting yourself that is appropriate for the business you lead, but also shows a bit of your personality and that makes people want to watch'.
You don't have to go through layers of sign-off, or write an email no one will read
—
Jonathan Blake
Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer at Blackstone, has made 'talking-while-running' his signature video format, while LinkedIn's chief operating officer, Daniel Shapero, often records while walking around his leafy California neighbourhood.
Those who prefer something more professional could choose an approach that sits between the informality of a wobbly iPhone video and corporate puffery.
One example comes from Sainsbury's, which marked its 2024-2025 results with a snappy video in the style of a news report. The supermarket's chief executive, Simon Roberts, acts as a presenter, visiting a store to talk to staff about new products and innovations.
It is on-trend in showing him as an informal and down-to-earth boss, but the production values are high.
Blake tells executives who want to get on-screen that consistency is important – they will have to post regularly to build a following, which is time consuming and requires commitment. He also suggests video newcomers keep in mind a further 'three Cs': 'clarity, confidence and connection.'
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Blake adds that leaders must think about how their messages will land with 'the audience at large'. But the real value, for many bosses, is that video gives them a direct line to their staff. 'You don't have to go through layers of sign-off, or write an email no one will read,' he says.
Shapero at LinkedIn says: 'I usually figure out the key message I want to say, and I might even pick a tagline, a couple of words I want to make sure I get just right ... Beyond that, I'm really just doing it from a basic structure in my mind. It's not scripted.'
He says he has found that 'somewhere [around] two or three takes, I get it just right. It feels natural, but not overly rehearsed.'
One bonus of making video has been a change in his relationship with colleagues. 'People engage with me differently,' he says. 'They open themselves up a little bit more to me. They talk to me like they know me.'
Chief executives are to some degree playing catch-up with younger employees, who have been sharing their working lives through TikTok 'quiet-quitting' and 'come-to-work-with-me' videos, and even elaborate dance routines riffing on 'performance-based' salaries.
Social video focused on more mature professionals' lives has taken longer to get going, but that is now changing fast.
'You have got to be out there,' says Daniel Roth, LinkedIn's editor-in-chief and vice-president of content development. 'The CEO's job has always been being out front, and video is an easier way for you to connect with employees, customers, investors.'
Dancing, however, does not seem to have caught on quite yet.
Tips for would-be video stars
Dos
✅ Experiment before you post, and check content with colleagues.
✅ Pay for training if you aren't at ease in front of a camera.
✅ Know what you want to say: what's the message? Who is the audience?
✅ Keep it short: 60-90 seconds.
✅ Accept the odd stumble. Even Jamie Dimon leaves them in.
✅ Reply to comments after you post your videos. Nobody likes those who 'post and ghost'.
✅ Learn from accomplished performers: Nicholas Thompson at the Atlantic and Spotify's Daniel Ek are informal. For a more polished take, watch Thasunda Brown Duckett of TIAA, a big financial services company.
Don'ts
❌ Don't read from a script.
❌ Don't overload the content: less is more.
❌ Don't overthink it.
❌ Don't make it all about yourself.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025