More importantly, we will never have much success with changing minds if we hold on to our continued obsession with tools. Social media is not a particular technology. An analogy to “voicemail” or “email” is especially painful, because these are simply new mediums, not entire paradigms.

At its core, social media is about respect. This dialogue in these blog comments is a genuine interaction between people that contributes to brand value and can ultimately help influence real sales. An executive who dismisses a particular conversation as irrelevant due to the medium of exchange is actually dismissing the people in the interaction. He’s saying that those people don’t matter because they are not talking in the manner he prefers.

If we’re going to draw a comparison between the adoption of social media and past movements in business, we shouldn’t look to technological changes. Instead we should consider social upheavals to the culture of business practice. Prejudice against social media is prejudice against society. We should treat it with the same disdain that we treat racism, sexism and ageism. These CEOs are leaders who refuse to accept people for who they are and how they choose to express themselves.

That’s a reason to be proud to quit a job: especially if we tell the executive that we’re leaving because we’d rather be unemployed than work in a culture which doesn’t hold respect for people in the highest regard.

@robbyslaughter

He’s just going to say “Meh. F— him. Quitter.” and then go back to CEOing and doing whatever it is that captains of industry do.

If you can’t get your CEO to understand social media, then maybe it’s your problem. You haven’t been convincing enough.

Social media is not a fad; it’s not even new. It’s an umbrella term for describing the fundamental and inescapable propensity for connection between human beings. It’s the fearless acknowledgment that technology does not drive us apart, but brings us closer together. Social media is the assertion that people are social and that organizations should leverage their own humanity to connect with their constituents.

It might seem pedantic, but an executive who does not value social media is admitting that he does not care that his customers are human beings. A discrimination against social media is a discrimination against society. Companies are made up of people, not cold equations and lifeless inventory. Their leaders should unflaggingly believe in building relationships through whatever medium arises.

If your CEO “doesn’t get” social media, quit your job. There is no stronger hallmark of personal conviction than the statement that I would rather be paid nothing than remain here with you.