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Jack Is Back

Posted on October 13, 2015, at 10:15 p.m.
by Tatum Roessler.

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Photo Courtesy of JD Lasica | Flickr

Everything old is new, at least for Twitter — Jack is back. Jack Dorsey, that is, founder and former (and now new) CEO of Twitter.

On Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, in true Twitter fashion, board member Peter Currie tweeted that the board confirmed Dorsey as Twitter’s new and permanent CEO.

Keep in mind Dorsey was fired from his own company when Twitter first started in 2008, for allegedly leaving the office early to go to yoga classes and on other excursions. He has sat on the board of directors since then and became the acting CEO of Twitter when Dick Costolo, the former CEO, stepped down. To add to Dorsey’s résumé, he’s also the CEO of Square Inc. and will continue to manage both entities.

So what does this all mean for Twitter? The company recently made some changes to its site’s features — such as removing the 140-character limit for direct messages — and now has made a major leadership change. What’s shocking to most is that the CEO who was fired for what the Twitter board cited as poor leadership is now the CEO of two major companies.

One could say that Dorsey (who started Twitter when he was only 29) has grown up and changed for the better. To ease concerns of investors and other key publics, Dorsey posted a series of tweets from his personal account assuring followers that the purpose and values of Twitter are here to stay.

Dorsey serves as a valuable PR lesson. Twitter was extremely transparent with the transition, as board members tweeted from their own accounts of his appointment, and Dorsey’s tweets aided in the transparency.

2205421272_4c64d3c2d7_zHis tweets set the tone for what investors and others can expect from this transition. Many people dislike change, but he took the necessary steps to reassure everyone that Twitter will be better than ever … and that he probably won’t be cutting out early for yoga sessions.

Dorsey is often a hot topic, but we should look past his previous antics to see what he is doing now. It takes quite a lot to successfully manage two separate billion-dollar companies, and Dorsey brought in change like a pro.

Change is inevitable, but transparency is the key to surviving it. Brands and companies alike can always be honest and forthcoming with their consumers when it occurs. Jack is back and teaching us lessons in PR.

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