ahem....

The FT's Lucy Kellaway gets stuck into CEO's who blog (and Reuters Tom Glocer in particular) and people who sign-off emails with "best"...so that's guilty on both counts then! Part of the World Service's Business Daily annual awards for business jargon

Comments

[James Ollerenshaw]

I agree and disagree with Lucy Kellaway on these issues. I agree that 'Best' is a rather meaningless way to sign off an email, though my feelings on the matter are not strong. I disagree that CEOs cannot and should not blog. Here, my feelings are much more profound.

No, we don’t need to know Tom Glocer’s taste in music or that he has a dog called Luna. That stuff is pointless and the man should know better (or at least his PR people should have tipped him off). Here, Lucy is quite right.

Yet her definition of blogging is at best out of date, or otherwise just plain wrong. Yes, the style is usually chatty, but who says a CEO can’t write that way – the title does not preclude conversation? Sure, a bit of controversy into the mix makes the content interesting, but what’s to stop a CEO using a blog to air or confront a point of view. And since when was blogging democratic?

The most important factor in a blog, as Lucy says, is that it is “full of stuff that one wants to read”. I couldn’t agree more, and can’t stress enough that CEOs are full of stuff people want to read. The problem is that most CEOs don’t realise this, or if they do, they don’t know what people want to know. Hence we hear about irrelevancies such as pets and music.

Through a blog, a CEO has a rare – perhaps unique – opportunity to enter into a dialogue with customers, prospects, shareholders, staff, and the wider world. The topics at issue should relate only to the business or brand for which he or she is responsible and must be relevant to the blog’s target audience at all times. This may mean the subject matter becomes very narrow. Great! A good CEO blog should never be an online scrap book of assorted thoughts and ideas; music and pets should only feature if you run a record label or pet store.

By sticking to the point, raising and debating matters of interest to the audience, making use of the built-in capability for interactive communication, and combining this with other elements of the marketing strategy, digital and traditional, a blog can be a tool that wins business, solves problems and can even save a company altogether. Believe me, I have the proof.