Summertime and the CEO blogging is…not so easy

By Linda VandeVrede on July 20th, 2009 In Social Media

It’s summertime, when a CEO’s thoughts often turn to…blogging.   If your CEO is on vacation right now, chances are he or she is relaxing, coming up with new ideas, and thinking about putting a toe into the big social media pool.   The question is, should they blog?  

Only if they follow these rules, according to Seth Godin (found via Cindy Kim’s blogpost):

Candor
Urgency
Timeliness
Pithiness and
Controversy

As Cindy points out (and Cindy is PR Director at Lumension here in Scottsdale), “Let’s face it: most CEOs don’t have the time nor patience to write blog posts on a consistent basis. While there is demand for more CEOs and senior executives to join and engage in the online conversation, they have greater pressures at hand: growing the business, meeting or exceeding profitability for their shareholders and managing the overall business goals and objectives for the company.”

I would add a couple more criteria to Seth’s list — for one, “dedication” (aka consistency).   Blogging is like dyeing your hair – if you’re going to go for it, then go for it.   It’s more enlightening if an executive blogs frequently.  Once a week is boring.   To Cindy’s point, however, too much blogging might raise the issue of, “if the CEO is blogging so often, maybe they’re not paying attention to running the company!”  

The second item I would add is “transparency” (or authenticity). Ghostblogging sucks.   I don’t like it when I find out that a CEO blog was actually written by someone else.  I want to hear from the CEO, not a marketing representative. 

Who are the best CEO bloggers in Arizona? 

 

Summertime and the CEO blogging is…not so easy

Comments

Brian Camen Says:
July 20th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

Hey Linda,

Great post as usual. I know this may come off as self promotion, but it’s not, I am truly impressed with my President’s blogging.

I work in the communications department at Thunderbird School of Global Management. Our President (who is our highest ranking official, like a CEO or a Dean) has a blog “Global Leaders Can Be Made,” which he has been updating almost weekly since September.

He is authentic, honest and timely in his blogging. He blogs about global hot topics and of course business education. He travels a lot and provides insights to different projects that he and Thunderbird are involved in around the world. It’s just really interesting reading his posts from The World Economic Forum or having reporters calling saying they just read his blog and would like comments for a story they are working on.

In case you want to check it out, Dr. Cabrera’s blog is on Thunderbird’s Knowledge Network:

http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/cabrera/

Linda VandeVrede Says:
July 20th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

Brian, you’re right, this is a very good blog. Interesting to see business ethics discussed.
Any others out there in AZ, folks? Since Arizona doesn’t have comparatively as many companies headaquartered here as some other states do, it would stand to reason that we have fewer CEO bloggers.

Add your Comment


Want Your Picture Icon? Go to gravatar.com and set a picture up to your email address for free. It also works on thousands of other websites, too!