"I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator." (John McCain, New York Times Transcript 7/13/2008)
I'm sure there are executives out there - others who, like John McCain, haven't felt much need to surf the web - who don't get what all the fuss is about. They just don't see the benefit in reading the news online or checking out the blogosphere. It's easier to just pick up a phone than be inundated by email.
Does the phrase, "You don't know what you don't know" come to mind?
On a purely intellectual basis these folks understand that others find it useful. Just not them. Wasn't the same said about the microwave oven when it first came out?
So the question being asked is, can someone who is Internet illiterate be president of the United States? I would add, more generally, is web literacy now a core competence expected of any leader?
While it's true that leaders can surround themselves with others with greater hands-on experience and knowledge than themselves, I'm coming down on the side that says web literacy cannot be delegated. It is rapidly becoming as essential as reading, writing and arithmetic in terms of basic skills necessary to function effectively in daily life.
The web is not a spectator sport. McCain's comments that his wife and staffers read his email or go on the web for him are analgous to being an armchair traveller. You can read about going to a foreign country but it's not the same as experiencing it for yourself.
It's impossible for a leader who is not personally engaged in it to deeply understand why the web is so transformational to all aspects of our society and our relationships with others around the world.
We haven't heard nearly the same level of buzz about the part of McCain's statement in which he says that he doesn't expect to be a great communicator. Does that mean that the American people no longer have an expectation that leaders be good communicators?
What do you think?
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