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| CEOs should blog |
March 9, 2007 |
But be careful, and don't be boring
By Ian Harvey
We tend to expect miracles from CEOs. Not only must they deliver a monetary return to shareholders, they must keep stock analysts happy, employees motivated and products or services at the forefront of their sector. They must be part accountant, part pit boss, part Dr. Phil and part visionary.
And now, we expect them to be communicators, because in the age of the blog anyone without important things to say is a little suspect.
Many high-level executives have unfurled their blog banners in the last few years, including entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who opines at www.blogmaverick.com, and Jonathan Schwartz,
(http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan) of Sun Microsystems who has continued to blog since being promoted to CEO. Schwartz blogs about every 10 days, often offering insight into the daily travails of a CEO, a world most will likely never see first-hand.
There is also the CEO Bloggers’ Club (http://prplanet.typepad.com/ceobloggers) and a radio show about corporate blogging and CEOs on Voice of America hosted by blog guru Debbie Weil (www.debbieweil.com and http://blogwriteforceos.com). Weil is also the author of The Corporate Blogging Book.
Blogs as selling tools
With all this attention, is the bubble ready to burst? The theory is that when every CEO is blogging, it must have jumped the shark.
Not really. In fact, it’s becoming more expected. Done right, a CEO blog can not only open new markets, it can strengthen an organization from within, said Jim Estill, CEO of SYNNEX Canada, a company with annual sales of $1 billion worth of computer equipment.
“It takes about 80 minutes a week to update three or four times,” he said of his blog at www.jimestill.com. “I write maybe 300 to 400 words. I have to write diligently—many people burn out and don’t keep up their blog.”
He writes not about his own company as much as personal development issues, specifically leadership and time management, subject areas where he believes he brings value.
“Some 20 per cent (of readers) are my staff, up to 40 per cent clients, say 10 per cent are suppliers and the rest general public,” he said. “I [write] about 15 per cent personal, because you have to humanize it and that’s what people want, and 80 per cent business, because that’s the value.”
The blog is an effective communications tool both inside and outside the company, he said, adding it drives sales because the overall effect is to personalize him to employees and clients.
“I think the communication helps me to sell and win business,” Estill said. “It humanizes me. It’s easier to hang up on a faceless person, but when customers feel they know you it’s different. The only downside is that it makes you more of a public figure and you have more people approaching you and you have to manage your time even more diligently.”
His blog is a way to maintain a conversation within the company as well. “It makes me less of a mystery man,” he said, “but then I also get e-mails with pictures of kids’ birthdays, because people think they know me.”
Blogs as risk
There are, understandably, many hurdles to executive blogging, some practical, some imagined and some intellectual. To blog well—to create a community of interest—the blogger must be able to write well.
“It’s trendy for CEOs to blog but it’s not true that every CEO needs to have a blog,” Weil said. “The prerequisite is passion, commitment and a writing ability. If you can write a coherent e-mail, you could be a reasonably good blogger. But there are still many CEOs who don’t use a computer, or e-mail.”
Fears of accidentally blabbing confidential information are overblown, she said, but pointed to a bigger risk: being boring, or even worse, using a ghost blogger.
“Finding a voice is the most important thing,” she said. Blogs are supposed to be informal, chatty conversation but many CEOs don’t have the time or the ability to knock off 500 words and keep it light, tight and bright.
Enter the ghost blogger, a corporate communications resource who steps up to pen the missives under the boss’ name.
“This is uncharted territory,” she said. “Some might feel it’s okay for a CEO to write something or dictate some ideas and then have someone else tweak their words. Purists would disagree.”
Done well, the CEO blog can address employee concerns, map out strategy and vision, single out those deserving praise and potentially defuse bad press when things go south. Just as vital as keeping the blog fresh, though, is the ability to listen and react to feedback, because it is an interactive conversation. And that’s where extra resources can help, Weil said, since most CEOs can’t read all the blog postings. Staff who filter the most interesting responses can help keep the whole thing fresh and interactive, which is also important.
The reality though, Weil said, is most corporations aren’t that nimble and the average CEO isn’t able to jump on every issue.
“It really depends on the corporate culture and the CEOs themselves,” Weil said, adding video is emerging as the next must-have feature on blogs. “Look at what (Senator) Hillary Clinton has on her site.”
Whether the blogger is the CEO or a rank-and-file employee, rules need to be set, said Michael Fitzgibbon, a partner with Borden, Ladner Gervais LLP who blogs at www.labourlawblog.typepad.com.
“There needs to be clear policies in place, as you would for personal use of phones, e-mail or Internet access,” Fitzgibbon said, though noting most of those rules will be common sense.
It’s no more acceptable in the corporate world to log on to porn sites at work than it is for an employee to slag he boss in his blog. “A blog is really no different than getting up to give a speech or write an article for a publication,” he said. “It’s just a lot more immediate.”
But while there is risk, Fitzgibbon said the benefits are worth it. “I’ve made some absolutely fantastic contacts in the States and developed a network that is sending business,” he said. “In that way it really has helped me broaden my network and raise interest.”
Blogs as corporate voice
Estill’s blog carries a disclaimer noting the content is his own opinion and not that of SYNNEX, but most people probably see it as the voice of the company.
Sass Peress (www.sassperess.com) blogs about things that matter to him, but he knows even personal content is always viewed through the corporate filter. “There’s no such thing as a personal blog for a CEO; no matter what, it will always reflect on your company,” said Peress, the CEO of ICP Solar, a Montreal-based company developing, manufacturing and selling solar panels and systems. For example, his musings will always be of interest to competitors, employees and customers.
“For me it’s a very public place to say thank you to people or to look at what’s right and wrong with our industry. But it’s me. I don’t blog through a lawyer, but I began to understand I can’t tell people more in a blog than I do in a conference or e-mail. I have to be careful about what I say.”
But the time and the risks are worth it, Peress said, because it allows him to engage in a public debate. The bigger sin for a CEO blogger, he said, is to be dull. “It has to be thought-provoking, you can’t just write about the same thing. What I want is to create a face for this industry and an understanding in everyday people.”
Like anyone who publishes their work, CEO bloggers crave feedback because it’s a form of recognition. “I wouldn’t keep going if I wasn’t getting positive feedback,” Peress said, noting just sitting in high-level meetings with clients who have read his blog fosters a better understanding of who he is, what his business is about and his strategic vision. “At the end of the day it’s simply another way to create a personality.”
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