By The Executive Producer · June 8, 2025
Introduction
The request comes from on high: “We need a video from the CEO.” It seems like a no-brainer. Who better to represent the company’s vision and authority than the person in the corner office? So you set up a camera in a conference room, hand your CEO a script, and press record. The result is almost always a disaster: a stiff, robotic, and utterly unconvincing performance. My contrarian stance is that putting an unprepared executive on camera is one of the fastest ways to damage their credibility and your brand. Your CEO doesn’t belong on camera—until they’ve been professionally directed and produced.
The Current State of Things
The prevailing wisdom is that executive presence in the boardroom translates directly to presence on camera. We assume that a leader who is dynamic and persuasive in front of a small group will naturally be the same on video. The typical production process for these videos is minimal. An internal communications or marketing team writes a script, an in-house crew or a low-budget vendor sets up basic lighting, and the executive is expected to simply “be themselves” and deliver the message. It’s seen as a simple, top-down communication task.
The Immediate Risk
The immediate risk is that your brilliant leader comes across as a bumbling amateur. A respected CEO of a large logistics company, known for his passionate and off-the-cuff speeches at company town halls, was asked to record a message for their website. Without professional direction, he was lost. He stared rigidly at the teleprompter, his natural energy vanished, and his delivery was monotone. The company posted the video, and the feedback was brutal. One commenter on LinkedIn wrote, “He looks like he’s being held against his will. Doesn’t inspire much confidence.”
The Problem Is That a Camera Is a Magnifying Glass for Insecurity
The camera is an unnatural environment. It is not a conversation; it is a one-way communication device that offers no feedback. For someone not trained to be on camera, this is deeply unnerving. The skills that make a great CEO—leading meetings, negotiating deals, responding to live Q&A—are completely different from the skills needed to connect with an invisible audience through a lens. The camera ruthlessly magnifies every flicker of discomfort, every awkward pause, and every moment of uncertainty. It takes a confident leader and makes them look insecure.
The Problem Deepens When the Message Is Lost to the Poor Delivery
The logistics CEO’s video contained an important announcement about a new green initiative the company was launching. But no one heard the message. The audience was too distracted by the poor delivery. They were focused on his stilted performance, not his words. This is a common phenomenon known as “cognitive dissonance.” When the delivery of a message is out of sync with the intended tone (e.g., a passionate speech delivered in a monotone), the audience experiences mental discomfort and is more likely to reject the message entirely. The medium didn’t just obscure the message; it destroyed it.
The Far-Reaching Implications Are a Crisis of Leadership Authenticity
When companies consistently put their unprepared leaders on camera, it creates a landscape of inauthentic executive communication. It trains the public and employees to see their leaders not as genuine human beings, but as awkward corporate mouthpieces. This erodes trust from the top down. If a CEO cannot communicate a simple message on video with conviction and humanity, how can their employees trust them to lead the company through challenging times? It creates a caricature of leadership that is all business school jargon and no genuine connection.
The Counterintuitive Solution Is to Treat Your CEO Like an Actor
The solution is not to hide your CEO. It’s to produce them. You must hire a production team with a skilled *director* whose job is to make your executive comfortable, confident, and compelling on camera. A good director will not just point a camera; they will work with the executive beforehand, breaking down the script, finding the emotional core of the message, and giving them techniques to connect with the lens. They will transform the sterile filming environment into a space for a genuine performance. They treat the CEO not as a boss to be feared, but as a talented actor who needs direction to deliver their best work.
But Our CEO Is a Busy Person and Doesn’t Have Time for ‘Acting Lessons’
The objection is that executives are too important and too busy for this level of coaching and production. This is a failure of priorities. What is a more valuable use of your CEO’s time: spending two hours in a professionally directed session to create a powerful asset that will be seen by thousands of customers and employees, or spending 30 minutes on a botched video that damages their credibility and has to be pulled offline? A small investment of time in preparation saves countless hours of damage control later. A good director knows how to be incredibly efficient, turning a one-hour session into a masterclass in on-camera communication.
Final Thoughts
Your CEO is the ultimate spokesperson for your brand, but the camera is not their natural habitat. Putting them in front of a lens without professional support is not just unfair to them; it’s malpractice for your brand. Stop treating executive videos as a simple recording task and start treating them as the high-stakes productions they are. Invest in a director who can transform your leader’s vision into a captivating performance.
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