2020 has shaken society as a pandemic, and civil unrest over racist behavior has led to company spotlighting. Consumers have the most time to spend browsing or interacting with content. Ensuring that your business and team are focusing on and paying the correct amount of attention to valuable tasks are critical.

The past week has shown when leaders and companies focus incorrectly; it leads to undesirable outcomes. I doubt anyone in the commerce industry had any ideas about what happened at eBay and Zalando. 

Attention and Focus

Attention is the most valuable commodity that is both critical for growth but has risks with it. Mentors have made me believe in the 2-second rule for online behavior. If a page does not load inside 2 seconds, the consumer is gone and never coming back. We all pay with our attention to news, constant marketing messages, and content available. We pay attention to our families, employees, partners, and use cues to create responses. Failure to attend to anything leads to unhappiness. 

I will never forget one of my professors commenting on content related to consumer behavior. “Relevance like beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and it’s rare to appease your entire community. 

Marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Zalando have made headlines for the wrong reasons. How they treat partners, newsletter writers, and models have become public news and, in cases, lead to legal action.

Your focus is always on the group and never on an individual. Understanding that staff bring their life and problems to work is something that certain leaders never understand. I remember wondering why corporates need to have email archive policies and provide annual ethics training. We assume our staff have ethics and are ethical but predatory leadership leads to inappropriate behavior. Using graduate staff to do work that you won’t do yourself is never an option. Employees are not to be in cotton wool, but not everyone can say no. It took me a decade post-graduation to be able to say no. You can’t make everyone happy.

Leadership is not about you

As we work in teams, we take cues from team members on what behavior is acceptable. If you work for a listed company, the most likely situation is that a code of conduct is available. Leading people is hard. Interacting with parties such as media, partners, or investors is harder. Knowing what to say to the correct audience takes experience and, in most cases, skill.

If your salary is dependent on meeting targets, KPI’s, or OKRs, and it involved other team members, it can lead to grey areas. Ensure a clear understanding of roles and dependencies are transparent for all involved.

Leaders do not need their pictures on the walls. Neither do they need to be in the public spotlight all the time? We are human, and certain parts of your life are private. I fear that Steve Jobs has made it okay to mistreat people (yes, he was an innovator but not a great manager).

Leading is about helping others grow and then setting them free for new adventures. I have had great leaders who have helped me become a better version of myself. Do you do that for your team?

Marketplaces have many parts

Marketplaces have many elements that are in cases dependent on scorecards, ratings to be on the platform. Not replying to consumer questions, not shipping fast, etc. all count against partners. In cases, the marketplace has little incentive to work with partners who they are generating revenue from, or it is in the process of resolving an issue. Focus on your team, consumers buying from your sellers, and helping every part be successful. Chasing headlines or GMV is never a good idea.

Perception

Marketplaces, like any business, is dependent on perception. Media coverage is essential to ensure that the company remains in the mind of all relevant stakeholders. There is a reason why reporters/bloggers/newsletter creators are writing about you. For a multi-billion dollar marketplace to target a two-person publication is mind-altering. Have we become so primitive that writing an email or making a phone call is hard work? Public company CEOs have teams of people at their ready, but they can’t do what is right?

I remember saying that Chinese consumers would not stop using a marketplace which faced a bad press in 2019. Consumers are in a position to pick and choose who they want to fulfill their next order. The news this week related to eBay and Zalando will likely pass and lead to more evidence of improper behavior or not. Will it impact the company’s perception for consumers who, in cases, have no idea who leads the platform they shop on?

The point is, no-one is above the law and producing truthful content is something every writer tries to do. We get anonymous tips, tip-offs, look at quarterly results, and determine whether it is a story. Is the news important or have the substance that impacts many? That is why I stopped writing about funding, as in most cases, it’s not adding any value.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Who are your key stakeholders, and how do you treat them?
• How do you manage your direct reports, and what is your relationship with suppliers and the media?
• Have you defined what acceptable and unacceptable behavior is? 
• Are you ensuring that compliance is more than a document, read quarterly?
• When last, have you looked at a list of vendors and whether they act appropriately? 
• How is external communication managed? Who can and cannot speak to the press. I remember having a long conversation with a director (a decade ago) on what I can and can’t write about on this blog. I think its better for all involved if that is clear.
• In a previous life, I worked in professional sports and saw first-hand how committees can lead to nothing. What are the purpose of your board and special committees? 
• Does your business have transparent behavior modification processes? The severity of the transgression l may or may not lead to termination.
• Who does the communication for the marketplace amid public scrutiny? Please note ex-CEOs talking to the press is never a good idea.

Reputations are built over the years and tarnished in minutes. That was in an HR handout I got when I worked for a Fortune 100 company and remains true today.

Content is available in minutes and shared via social media in a manner that makes it impossible to undo the harm created for parties involved. The Internet never forgets.