The TikTok Hearing Through C-suite Eyes

Last week’s Congressional TikTok hearing will have a long shelf life.?An underprepared CEO walked into a bipartisan phalanx defending against Communist Chinese tech malevolence.?Good luck.?The members of Congress tagged teamed like professional wrestlers and dominated the witness. Set aside your view of TikTok; this hearing resonated.

For those of us who interact with C-suite executives, it will make it more difficult to persuade them to engage with Congress moving forward.?The challenge is that the executives who view the Hill askance do so because they think three things are true:

1) It’s a Bucket of Crazy

The executives catch provocative statements on cable shows made by lawmakers trolling for clicks and headlines.?You know the types of members of Congress I am talking about — their trademark is hyperbolic statements sprinkled gratuitous invective.?For the executives, it reinforces their long held view they developed in high school.?They didn’t like the student government crowd then, and they still don’t.?They roll their eyes and move on.

2) It’s Corrupt?

They see stories of investigations, subpoenas, allegations, grand juries, ethics complaints, and depositions.?They are convinced that it’s all money grubbing, and if they stay away they can avoid the drama.

3) It’s Intimidating

They will not admit it, but the vocabulary and process can be intimidating.?We talk of mark ups, whips, questions for the record, sine die, en bloc, super majorities, CBO, JCT, MTRs, and PQs. Sprinkle the lingo in with Congressional personalities and back stories, and it feels like starting a complicated Netflix foreign language drama in episode four.?And let’s face it, type A personalities at the top of their game are not attracted to environments where they don’t know exactly what’s going on.

So if you’re in government relations for your company or trade association, what are you to do?

Explain these four things to the boss:

1) The TikTok hearing was a perfect storm.?The poor witness preparation and lack of friends on the dais is difficult to replicate.?It was an outlier.

2) While invective sells on cable tv, there are many serious lawmakers who can go deep on policy.

3) Corruption is a problem in many institutions.?Politics just tends to be more public.?Seek out the honest lawmakers. There are plenty of them.?

4) They do not need to know the technical, procedural jargon to make an impact.?They need you for that.

Bottom line??The TikTok hearing is an opportunity for you to communicate to your C-suite that Washington has a wonderful plan for their lives, and they should actively participate in it.

Need help strategizing on that??Send me a message or email to [email protected].