Episode summary
Authenticity Is The New Media Strategy
Bangers Only Podcast
· · Guests: Ted Merz
Summary
Ted Merz argues that executive communications have shifted from a media-gatekeeper model to a direct, personal, social-media-driven model, and that CEOs who still rely mainly on press releases, CNBC hits, or the Wall Street Journal are falling behind. He says the modern standard is for leaders to communicate in their own voice, with authenticity, consistency, and enough personality that people want to follow them.
He uses his own post-Bloomberg reinvention as proof of the broader shift. After his position was eliminated, he began writing publicly, building a new network, and posting about fintech, startups, his Bloomberg experience, and his father’s life lessons. That mix, he says, led to unexpected relationships, private messages, and even business inquiries, showing that personal writing can create professional opportunity.
Merz’s company, Principles Media, helps executives adapt to that environment by finding stories that work online and coaching them to be more visible. He says the key is not to copy a press release onto LinkedIn, but to tell a human story that resonates. In his view, executives who learn this will be more effective with employees, investors, and customers, because people connect with people.
Key takeaways
- Ted Merz says CEO communication is moving from gatekeepers like Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal to direct posting on LinkedIn, X, and video.
- Merz argues that executives over 50 often find social media uncomfortable, but he expects it to become a core part of leadership within five to ten years.
- He says writing about his father and his own career generated strong engagement, private DMs, and even business inquiries.
- Merz believes companies fail online when they post press-release language instead of a human story people actually want to read.
- He says executives should choose a few themes and repeat them, because online identity is built through consistency and focus.
Notable quotes
“we're seeing this complete sea change in communications”
“What we're seeing now though is that reliance on a gatekeeper like the media is no longer necessary because you can directly communicate with your stakeholders”
“there's this been there's an evolution of the CEO or executives in general becoming more visible to stakeholders, first to analysts, then investors, then the general public”
“You can't write a press release style post, put it on social media, and expect anyone to read it”
“I think the powerful way to understand that is that you become what you write and you become what you write”
How the episode opens
Welcome to the Bangers Only podcast, where Tom Leiden and his band of experts make money talk exciting. Here's your host, Tom Leiden. Welcome to the Bangers Only podcast.
I'm Tom Leiden. Life is short. We've got to keep things simple.
Use your time to focus on what's most important. That's what Bangers Only is all about. Today, I'm honored to have a good friend Ted MS with us.
Ted, it's great having you on Bangers Only. It's great to see you, Tom. Ted, tell us about your career because you had an incredible career at Bloomberg.
So, um, my career at Bloomberg, I was there 32 years, which obviously is a lifetime. I had two major jobs there. I worked in the editorial group and when I started at Bloomberg I was the 15th news reporter hired back in 1990 and the company was had been around for a few years but was really operating like a startup you know very fast growth.
Michael Bloomberg was right there on the floor very exciting and Bloomberg News was just starting out and it was nothing like it was going to become the huge operation it became. I mean working working with Michael Bloomberg must have been incredible. I mean, back at that time, I I've had the honor to meet him a couple times.
He's he's pretty electric. So, I'd say I worked near Michael Bloomberg rather than with Michael Bloomberg, just to be clear. Yeah.
I was like at the bottom of the totem pole as a reporter. I fortunately got to work with him more directly much later in my career when I worked as a product manager, but initially I was a reporter and I worked on Latin America. I worked on I became eventually New York bureau chief and then the managing editor for the Americas and so everything to do with like business coverage, finance coverage, markets.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- executive communication
- authenticity in media
- social media vs traditional media
- content creation strategy
- corporate messaging
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Bloomberg
Watch the episode
Watch “Authenticity Is The New Media Strategy” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Bangers Only Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to Tom Lydon. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
