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Dave Taylor recently wrote an article about why CEO’s shouldn’t blog. As a CEO that does blog, I thought I’d share my comments:

Dave states,

And the Chief Executive Officer? Their primary role is to raise money for the company. They are the lead on strategic planning (along with the Board of Directors) and are somewhat involved in corporate tactics (though that’s really the purview of the President of the company), but notice that I didn’t say anything about “communicating the company message” or even “inspiring the employees” or “engaging customers”. For companies of any size, CEOs have more important tasks than writing articles for the company weblog.

95% of the businesses in the United States are small and I would disagree with Dave’s comment. Most of us small CEO’s aren’t responsible for raising money – we’re responsible for leadership and direction setting (as mentioned after the money quip). Setting tone and focus through a company blog can lend great value to the overall strategic direction.

He then continues to write,

In an entrepreneurial setting, companies turn out to not have a CEO, in fact, and there’s something profoundly offputting about a startup whose head has accepted the title of CEO.

Where does he think these ‘large’ companies started? Most (if not all) started as an entrepreneurial endeavor where multiple people had to play multiple roles. Rather than use terms like ‘offputting’, I think it would be better to float back down to earth and see that 95% of the businesses are in this boat.

Finally, he makes a point:

the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, among others, keep a very close eye on what executives at companies share with their investors and customers. Forward looking comments can lead to trouble, but disparaging a competitor in a parenthetical remark can burst into a major corporate wildfire without warning too, not because the remark might be extraordinary, but because it’s the CEO who is saying it.

This is a real concern and I think that all CEO’s should be aware of such risks. The difference in risk for a private and public firm is significant – so public firm CEO’s may have a more difficult decision when it comes to blogging.

Ultimately, I believe all CEO’s have a duty to communicate with their employees & customers on a regular basis. Whether that’s through an annual report or a blog, it doesn’t matter. The same duty of care should be maintained for each.

I’ve already typed why I made the decision to embrace a company blog. You can read it here. I also found (via Dave’s article), a great article on why CEO’s should blog by Jeneane D. Sessum. She interviews many CEO’s around the country and asks them why they blog, etc.

Her article lists blogs from CEO’s & Executives such as:
Bob Cramer, CEO of LiveVault
Karen Christensen, CEO of Berkshire Publishing
Gil Friend, CEO of Natural Logic
Phil Libin, CEO of CoreStreet
Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path
Christopher Locke, CBO (Chief Blogging Officer – yes, its a real title) of Highbeam
Bob Lutz, Vice President of General Motors
Jonathan Schwartz, CEO/President of Sun Microsystems
Mark Cuban, Business Mogul and Owner of Dallas Mavericks

Original Article found on IT ToolBox.