How to get the CEO on board with privacy projects

Any privacy professional working within a mid- to large-sized company is likely to interact – directly or indirectly – with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of that company.

In most cases, the Privacy Office, just like other functions, will rely on the CEO to approve adequate funding, provide direction on company goals with which to align, and set the ‘tone from the top’ related to the importance of privacy and a privacy culture.

Depending on the reporting structure, the most senior privacy professional may even report to that individual. In other words, an effective relationship with the company’s CEO can make privacy goals happen, and an ineffective relationship can make reaching those goals difficult, if not impossible. Fortunately, a little foreknowledge about the CEO role and how to work effectively with a CEO can help ensure that the company supports privacy projects.  

About the CEO role

A typical CEO is responsible for the success of the company. He or she sets the goals, strategy for reaching those goals, and resources that enable the work. This means that while a CEO’s success in the end follows the company’s success, there are some common activities that the CEO must do well on the path to that success. A privacy professional who can help the CEO realize these activities will not only keep privacy a central part of the company’s strategy but also earn CEO trust and partnership along the way.  

Decision making

Though the task of implementing decisions typically falls on other people, the CEO is the individual who makes the major decisions. Though perhaps with the advice of others in the company, the CEO decides whether to acquire other companies, divest assets, develop new products or services, and invest in projects and programs.  

How privacy can support CEO decision making

Sound decisions require good data. Sound privacy decisions, like effective consent and preference management that give confidence in data uses, allow for the data flexibility and quality that power those executive decisions. The more the privacy office can show the real connection between privacy done well and the lift that data can give to good decisions, the more likely is a CEO to support privacy investments in general.  

Specific for gaining CEO support for privacy projects, making a data-driven case to help make that decision easy can make a positive difference. If a CEO cares about the company’s health, bottom line, and strategic goals, a business case that demonstrates how the privacy project supports any or, better yet, all of those will make the decision easy to make.  

Company representation

A CEO often serves as the mouthpiece of the company, speaking directly to stockholders, the marketplace, investors, and critical customers and suppliers. This is a hard job, but privacy done well can ease the burden by providing a positive, timely topic that a CEO can share with critical stakeholders. Privacy done poorly, of course, can result in brand degradation and negative media attention. Answering privacy compliance or ethical questions in that environment makes an already challenging job even harder. This means that a CEO will understand and consider how positive (or negative) privacy practices will impact the communication burden. 

How privacy can support CEO company representation

A smart privacy professional will make clear to the CEO the probable good and bad paths ahead with (or without) privacy project investments, including the difficult conversations that the CEO may face with stockholders, regulators, and customers. The positive side of this is the power of privacy as an advantage, and how strong privacy practices can add to the CEO’s narrative about the company and what it stands for.  

Financial management

A typical CEO manages the fiscal direction of the company. They create or approve budgets and approve line-item investments and costs according to business plans. At the end of the day, a CEO is a success only if the company maintains good financial health. This means that a CEO is not only facile with numbers but understands the importance of aligning costs with business goals – often tied to revenue, cost savings, and in the end, profitability.  

How privacy can support CEO financial management

A privacy pro arguing for a privacy project will find advantage in presenting the financial details. Most privacy projects, such as enhancing consent management technology or adding human resources, will result in increased revenue due to customer trust, reduce costs by increasing efficiency or decreasing workload, and reduce regulatory risk which results in cost avoidance. Making clear the probable cost benefits and cost reductions will resonate with a CEO and help him or her support beneficial privacy investments.  

Long term goal setting

One of the most important roles a CEO plays is that of setting long term goals for the company. This activity is critical to the sustainability and continued profitability of a company, as it lays the foundation for agile responses to changing market conditions. Without good long-term planning, a company risks winding up with the wrong mix of products and services, business relationships, locations, suppliers, and internal skill sets.  

How privacy can support CEO long term goal setting

A privacy office that understands and reflects a CEO’s long-term strategy – and can show how proposed projects enable that strategy – is more likely to get CEO support for proposed projects. The reverse of that equation is also true. A robust privacy program can enhance future revenue and profitability, and a privacy office that can adjust over time to reflect changes in business strategy will remain relevant, not only from a compliance perspective, but also from a goal enablement perspective.  

The importance of CEO time management

Though not a role, any discussion of how to interact with CEOs about privacy projects must consider the one overarching pressure for all individuals in that role – time management. As one study found, CEOs work relentlessly, working long hours not only on work days, but also an average of almost 4 hours over the weekend and 2.4 hours per day on vacation days. In other words, for a CEO, time is the critical, scarce resource.  

How privacy can support CEO time management

Any interaction with a CEO must make effective use of their time. The message must be time-efficient, to the point, and clear. Additionally, many CEOs do not have the time to understand the details of each decision and so rely on their direct reports and function heads to advise them. This means that time spent socializing the business case for privacy projects with the CEO’s trusted advisors and getting their support in advance is time well spent.  

Summary

In many ways, the privacy function has some advantages when it comes to getting a CEO on board for projects. Privacy not only is a must-do compliance-oriented activity, but it also helps make possible the factors that determine a CEO’s success, including freeing up good data on which to make sound decisions. Regardless, keeping in mind the success measures of a CEO when presenting a business case and showing the ways in which the project will contribute to those success measures will pave the way for a green light.