CEO gets social with fans
As you probably know, Bill McNabb, our chairman and chief executive officer, spent part of Monday, January 23, interacting with Vanguard clients via social media—”taking over” our Twitter and Facebook channels.
“It’s not every day that a CEO reaches out to their client-base. The information has been valuable,” wrote one fan.
“Why not get social every day?” another fan commented.
Actually, it’s not all that uncommon for Bill to interact with clients. It’s part of Vanguard’s culture.
Bill’s been talking to clients for years as CEO and, before that, as leader of divisions that serve our clients. Each year, he spends much of his time on the road meeting with clients, and when he’s “home” at his office in Malvern, Pennsylvania, he’s connecting with clients via e-mail, letters, or over the phone.
Vanguard has always been a “virtual” company—not wishing to burden clients with the expense of a national network of branch offices. So it’s always been vital to have other ways to stay in touch with our investors—hearing their concerns, viewpoints, and questions. This is especially true in periods when economic and financial market conditions are so uncertain.
The response on Monday from fans and followers weighing in on our social channels was overwhelmingly positive.
“Congratulations for stepping out and connecting with your customers this way,” one fan wrote on Vanguard’s Facebook wall. “You are setting a great example for the rest of the industry. Who says financial firms don’t get social business?!”
“This honesty and transparency are exactly what I, a young investor, want to see from a company that I’m considering making my investment company for life,” another fan wrote.
Although we operate virtually, Bill and other leaders of the company do attend in-person meetings with clients at various spots around the nation and world. Bill also hears directly from clients by taking calls as part of our Swiss Army (our internal “reserve unit” of crew who help out on the phones or in processing transactions during especially busy periods). Those old “social media” forms of interaction will continue, of course, along with corresponding with clients via e-mails and letters. And now—based on the reaction from Vanguard investors (and the boss!)—it looks as if the “social media day” will be repeated too.
“The questions that have come in have just been terrific,” Mr. McNabb said in a video that was posted on Facebook. “They really help us understand what’s on your mind as clients. I can assure you I will be back doing this again.”
not on blog per se.
I do want to say that I find the new format for researching stocks and bonds funds to be problematic.and unworkable. I am not able to pull the data I want comparing funds and scrolling through them.
Your site assumes that your investor is ignorant,.
it doesn’t work well for someone who is searching your funds. If there is a way i can bypass and find the fund families I want, I would be interested. . I have been a Vanguard fan until now.
Competition is a wonderful equalizer, unless, you have a captive audience such as the financial industry has. Where else can a private sector worker planning for retirement go other then by investing, the answer is no where!
Institutions even like Vanguard does not do enough for the small investor. Spouses can not use their aggregate savings to maximize cost under the guise of its co-mingling. Thats hogwash!!
Vanguard should be more aggressive in confronting grossly excessive salaries, bonuses, perks that corporations execs are rewarded by corp. boards.
Vanguard should be the vanguard in aligning institutions like themselves in using their proxies in reining in this gross excess! The stockmarket, investing for retirement, has changed dramaticly and the status quo of public corporations must change. Leadership in this area by institutions like Vanguard is still sorely lacking. Small investors looking to retirement are being hurt badly.
Facts speak for themselves and what has happened in the financial world the last ten years could have been a softer landing had corporate greed been held a little more in check through oversight. Who does the small investor have looking out for him or her, no one and Its a disgrace!
Vanguard, do more!! Thank you,,,,
I have been a member of Vanguard for some time and have always felt that they were looking out for my interests as well as that of other members. Certainly this is true in the significantly lower fees that they charge. However, they are not the SEC and cannot act as such as is what is really being suggested in the above comment.
Also, Vanguard does not own the shares, we as investors do. Could they make suggestions to large corporations on our behalf? I suppose they could but they cannot mandate any of them to change in any way.
I do have a suggestion for improving the website. It would be very good in your performance section to be able to go beyond five years. I have had my portfoloio with you for longer than that. It would be great to extend it to 10, 15, 20, and 25 years.
Thanks.
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Why does Vanguard (or any other company for that matter) need anything like Twitter or Facebook at all? You’ve got your own website. Just do everything on that.