By Daniel Aronson
Adapted from my forthcoming book The Value of Values.
Available fall 2023 from MIT Press.
All was quiet at Twitter until new owner Elon Musk made it so anyone with eight bucks and a grudge could receive Twitter’s “blue check” verified account status without the benefit of actual vetting. This left thousands of organizations vulnerable to any impersonator, prankster, provocateur, or government actor with an agenda or a score to settle. And troll they did.
A verified account appearing to be that of basketball star LeBron James said he’d been traded. Another, appearing to be Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, included a concession speech the election-denying candidate had not made (and perhaps will never make). And fake posts by accounts nearly identical to those of Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin caused tens of billions in market cap losses for the companies and their investors.
This type of vulnerability, and a sheaf of other modern dangers, only add to the portfolio of standard business threats companies must cope with and plan for. Yet, most firms have no comprehensive framework for vulnerability. But Valutus does: the V Model of vulnerability, so named because it encompasses Variability, Volume, Velocity, Variety, Visibility, Vitality and, as Mr. Musk just reminded us, Validity.
For an in-depth look at the V Model, click here for our article in Sustainable Brands.