Can your CEO blog? (USA Today front-page article poses the question)
... and quotes yours truly.
Can your CEO blog? Maybe. Maybe not. The May 10, 2005 cover story notes that while CEOs of smaller tech companies and PR firms are blogging, so far no Fortune 1000 CEO or chairman has launched a blog.
(I'm pretty sure this is accurate.)
Inside skinny on the USA Today article
USA Today reporter Del Jones phoned me weeks ago to say he was working on an article about CEOs who blog. I'd forgotten that we'd spoken. So didn't notice at first that he quotes me:
"Corporate blogging consultant Debbie Weil says there's an untapped opportunity for an early CEO adopter with the right touch. A blog would seem a nice fit for Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who writes annual letters to shareholders with a blogger's flair..."
And further on:
"I would be really disappointed to think that CEOs couldn't blog," Weil says. "But it is a lot more difficult for a CEO to be that open."
Why aren't big-company CEOs blogging?
As reporter Del Jones puts it, it's hard to walk the line between "risk and readability." CEOs would have to acknowledge "the elephant in the room" whether it's a drop in share price or an earnings forecast.
A CEO is not allowed to make "forward-looking" statements, nor say anything that might violate the new stricter Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for internal financial controls and reporting.
Too much time and effort?
It takes a fair amount of time to blog effectively and well - another deterrent for CEO bloggers. Though it's still not impossible.
But read the article for yourself. It quotes senior executive/bloggers from Sun Microsystems, HP, Boeing, Corning and other companies.
Links to USA Today May 10, 2005 cover story: CEOs refuse to get tangled up in messy blogs
President/Publisher, WordBiz.com, Inc.
MonaLisaOfBlogging.com
NEW! Corporate Blog Consulting
+1 202.333.2022 land
email: debbie.weil@gmail.com
 P.S. Need a dynamite speaker or consultant on the what, why,how and whether of corporate blogging? Recent clients include HP and Intermec.
Speaking topics include:
- Blogging as the New Strategy for Internal Corporate Communications
- How To Get Your CEO or Other Top Exec to Blog... and Why He or She Should
Call me at 202.333.2022 or email debbie.weil@gmail.com.
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