Andy Wibbels

Curse of the CEO Blog

Seth Godin says it best (as always):

Here’s the problem. Blogs work when they are based on:

  1. Candor
  2. Urgency
  3. Timeliness
  4. Pithiness
  5. Controversy

Does this sound like a CEO to you?

It does pain me to try and propose blogging to entrepeneurs who seem to lead very boring lives. It’s like having a dead brand. I used to encourage my clients to be provocative and irreverent but some of them backed away from that type of ballsy-ness (eggsy-ness?). So I moved to advocating provocative attitude and/or passion.
CEOs don’t show passion. Shareholders get nervous when CEOs show too much passion. Plus, a blogger is sort of a ‘in your free time’ type of pursuit. If your CEO has all this time to blog – shouldn’t he be running the company instead?

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Andy Wibbels

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4 responses to “Curse of the CEO Blog”

  1. m-c Avatar
    m-c

    CEOs don’t show passion. Shareholders get nervous when CEOs show too much passion.
    Well said.
    And not every CEO has the gift to be a good (and interesting) communicator.
    Plus, a blogger is sort of a ‘in your free time’ type of pursuit. If your CEO has all this time to blog – shouldn’t he be running the company instead?
    Passion for what they do + passion to communicate their thoughts & ideas will lead any CEO to find the time to blog – i think.

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  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I think you’ve got a bonus point there – blogs have helped to humanize companies – Microsoft for instance. I guess I was assuming crotchety old white men blogging because it’s the New New Thing instead of honestly wanting to share their passion with their customers, employees and shareholders.

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  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    But would honesty be a high cost to CEO’s blogging about their up AND down?
    That is a difficult thing, to let people know about your great thoughts and adventures in the business world, but what about rough times? What about shareholder’s trust in you, customers, etc etc…
    The agency i am working for do not use my private online portfolio to show to potential clients since i have added a link to my weblog to it. I do understand, but in my case, i like things to be crisp and clean, so i wouldnt mind client knowing how i feel beside my working life.
    But this might be a woman thing – men aren’t so emotional as we.. 😉

    Reply
  4. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Thanks! That’s what I was trying to capture earlier. We all know that vulnerability is this big fear in the corporate world and to actually admit a mistake as it’s happening might be seen as wreckless.

    Reply

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