Maybe Your CEO Shouldn’t Blog.

I was asked once if CEOs should blog. I started by saying that there are a lot of CEOs who should not… (I then caught myself) There are a lot of people who will never and should never blog and there are many CEOs who fit in that description.

I firmly believe that the answer to the question depends on the CEO. There are a lot of brilliant CEOs who just don’t have the personality to blog.

I have repeatedly stated that social media does not make you a better person. It just makes you more you. It amplifies whatever it is that you are. If you’re a jerk in real life, you’ll be a jerk online. If you’re super smart, but boring, a blog won’t make you super interesting. Just smart with no one reading your blog.

I have worked for and with some amazing CEOs of publicly traded companies but not all of them would author a compelling blog.

I do NOT believe a CEO blog should be ghost written. If they don’t have the time or inclination to blog then they shouldn’t have a blog. Period.

But there is another potential problem with CEOs blogging. Jeffrey M. Stibel has a post over at HBR about leaders speaking their mind that hits on the issue.

Should a CEO Speak His Mind? – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review

Our leaders have grown far too powerful and exercise that influence with more freedom than ever. This means that a leader’s thoughts, opinions, misgivings, and mishaps are all critically important for us to truly understand how they will influence their day jobs. Whether it is alcoholism, a hatred of Microsoft, objectivist philosophy, a cigar in the oval office, or someone who believes the Internet is a brain and knowledge is just a bit overrated, they inevitably influence a leader’s day job. We cannot uncouple the leader from the individual.

Companies move too fast. Very few people inside a large company have a clear road map of the strategy, let alone anyone outside of a company. Because of that shareholders, press and analysts put a lot of stock in the abilities and vision of the CEO.

If a CEO were to speak their mind, especially when they may be uncertain about something that could cause people to loose faith in the CEO and therefore the company.

Jeff goes on to propose an alternative solution to our current CEO focused leadership style:

There is an alternative solution but, in Dr. Suess’ words, it is a “wonderful, awful idea.” Wonderful in that it is simple, elegant, and accurate. Terrible in that it is practically impossible until we rid our society of the obsession with idols and icons. The idea — and this has my vote — is to reevaluate our focus on individual leadership and focus on the value of teams and teamwork.

While it may be awhile before we get to this point, I think that other executives blogging is a great way to build confidence in a companies “bench talent.”

If you’re CEO isn’t right for blogging there are probably several CXOs and SVPs that could carry the torch.

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