Hey, Jack Dorsey? We Have Some Thoughts
Jack Dorsey’s return to Twitter as its CEO set the media world on fire earlier this month. Article after article after article has asked a variation of the same question: can Jack save Twitter?
I don’t know the answer to that question. I don’t even think Jack knows the answer. Only time will tell. Around the office here at Off Madison Ave, we were asking a different question last week: How in the heck is he going to (successfully) lead two huge entities with huge—and fickle—fan bases?
So, I went to two of our smarty-pants agency partners and asked them (yet another) question about Dorsey: What advice do you have for Jack? It’s interesting to see how each of their answers reflect the way their minds work.
“You are involved in many things. You are trying to restructure Twitter for success and at the same time take Square public. These are two monumental tasks.
In order to succeed at both, my first bit of input would be you need to build and maintain superior teams of people around you. These success of these companies will require having strong leadership at all levels.
Second, make the difficult decisions for the long-term. While those decisions will not be easy and you will never please everyone do what is in the best interest of the companies for the long run and not just the next quarter.
Finally, review all business options for success. Again, others will have other ideas and criticize ones you have, but gather input from a broad range of advisors and make the difficult decisions that will put the company on a path to success and build shareholder value.”
David Anderson, the brainy business guy
"If I were Jack. Well, I’d be rich and that would be cool. But I would also have two companies on my hands. It’s not an impossible task to manage both, but it is one that requires extremely strong leadership across teams.
That said, I think he may have that at Square, but Twitter? I’m not so sure. If I were Jack, I’d get a vision set for Twitter pretty damn quick. It would need to be the one that hasn’t been realized yet. To that end, I would stop treating Twitter like it wants to be Facebook. It can’t be Facebook and it doesn’t need to be. It needs to carve its own path. The way the media uses Twitter alone could provide some excellent revenue streams. Plus, it’s one of the best CRM tools out there, period. Again, possible monetization of that would be a big first step.
Lastly, I would find ways to build new audiences for Periscope and Vine and in time look to make those add to the bottom line."
Roger Hurni, resident creative mind
So there you have it. Did we leave anything out? What would you tell him?
Oh and Jack, we’re just a phone call away if you wanna talk.
