Are we only talking about large public companies? Smaller companies where the founder is the expert or thought leader in the industry will lose a lot, if the founder does not contribute to the online conversation, I’d say its not only okay for a CEO to blog in those circumstances but imperative.

John

I have always written CEOs should not blog from their business card titles. That doesn’t mean that they DON’T blog about business, but the important part of what happens when any one of us demonstrates that we’re a talking, thinking, funny, interesting human being.

CEOs are the personification of the companies they run and the stakeholders interests the company exists to benefit. The CEO is always in this role, whether speaking in the employee lunchroom, on an earnings call, at a trade show, milling around at a chamber cocktail party or through a blog.

Unless he or she tries to do so anonymously, a CEO who blogs does so as the official voice of the company. There’s no way around this. That means everything in the blog is commercial speech, open to interpretation and reaction by investors, unhappy employees and their families, class-action lawyers, competitors and other camp-followers with an agenda that may or may not have the company’s interests at heart.

Any well-written CEO blog will eventually create expectations and demand that the author tell it like it is on relevant stakeholder issues — the movement of the stock, analyst ratings, upcoming product launches, lawsuits, competing products, the guy fired for sexual harassment, trends in the market, rumors and gossip. Because few chief executives would open the company’s hood as a gathering place for the unaccountable masses, the CEO blog by design is destined to fade away or become yet another interactive marketing brochure.

In the post-Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley environment of tell-all-or-else corporate governance, the rank-and-file CEO crowd is unlikely to embrace the idea of creating more transparency than what they already struggle to comply with every day.

As a CEO who maintains a blog — “Strategic Guy” Blog — it is incredibly difficult to carve time out of an already hectic schedule to provide content that Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) key audiences will find of value.

However, my responsibility and commitment to the organization is to serve and support the needs of clients, employees and shareholders. I’ve found my “Strategic Guy” blog an excellent vehicle to share insight, promote thought leadership and solicit opinions.

It’s well worth the time!

I think Chuck Tanowitz’s post on his blog on Bob Lutz provides a good example of what Jeneane is aiming for when she talks about revealing a CEO’s personality.

Thought Michael, I think you are right to express some concerns, maybe the issue is to think of strategies to avoid such negative PR events happening, and also how does a company respond?

John Cass

I don’t think I hyped the benefits in this article; in fact, that’s why I chose to let executives tell their own stories. I also chose to take the converse of the Why CEOs Shouldn’t Blog side of the fence.

How is it different than typical marketing hype? Well, I suppose that depends upon who is doing the hyping.