Wearable Technology and the CEO’s Health
We risk creating undue fear amongst shareholders of companies whose CEOs share wearable health data with their friends by email, social media or on a closed platform.
In Andrew Hill’s July 7th column “Beware what wearable technology tells the market about CEO health” published in the Financial Times, Mr. Hill touches on the sensitive topic of disclosure and the CEO’s health.
Mr. Hill’s well written column was a stark reminder that we are jumping to incorrect conclusions about the current functionality of wearable technology and our health.
Today, wearable health technology does not provide actionable data that a physician can use to benefit the care of his or her patient.
In the future, as wearable technology evolves and becomes “smarter”, physicians will be able to act upon the data gathered as it will be more reliable.
We risk creating undue fear amongst shareholders of companies whose CEOs share wearable health data with their friends by email, social media or on a closed platform.
This data could misinterpreted by shareholders either in a positive or negative sense which could falsely send a company’s share price up or down depending on how the data is interpreted.
Most shareholders today will not understand the data gathered by wearable health devices which will cause them to misunderstand the health of the CEO and misinterpret the overall health of the company.
As we move towards a society in which wearable health technology is commonplace, we must not be drawn in by the temptations of gamification.
We must proceed with caution all without losing sight of the future and the positive impact that wearable health technology will have on our health.