Why Executives Don't Blog...

A blog I wrote for FC Now got pinged and I got intrigued and stumbled across the topic of "Why Don't Executives Blog?"

In a recent blog, Robert Scoble expressed his dismay that executives are not blogging. When he asks execs when they are going to start a blog the usual answer he recieves is that they're too busy.

Sure, lack of time is an issue, but maybe this could be solved by "audblogging" -- an idea proposed by Phil Wolff.

Besides the lack of time, I see the following as major reasons why execs don't blog:

1. UNAWARE. Most execs outside of high-tech are unaware of blogs.

2. HUGE RISK FACTOR. Due to the viral nature of blogs, any comment from an exec could spread so far/so wide/so fast and if that comment was contrary or damaging to their company, then they would have some explaining to do. The potential for bad PR would scare off most execs from blogging.

3. TEMPTATION TO OVER-SHARE. Execs are fearful that they may over-share proprietary and confidential company information and with the wide reach of the web… competitors could be reading.

4. DON'T APPRECIATE THE VALUE. Execs do not appreciate the value of blogging. They have not learned that by engaging in conversation with the blog community, that they might learn something new or might gain inspiration for news ideas and new solutions.

5. BEHAVIOR NOT BECOMING. I bet that many execs would prefer not to engage in blogging simply because they would perceive blogging to be for underlings and not for senior leadership types.

I would classify myself as an executive and in the very short time that I have been blogging, I have been amazed at how much more I am on my game and engaged at work. In my marketing role I do not interact with a lot thinkers. Instead, I interact with a lot of "doers". So, blogging is filling my void for creative inspiration and creative thinking.

Comments

[mrG]

When I proposed a blog for the XML Team Solutions CEO Alan Karben, he was initially skeptical for many of the reasons you mentioned, but he also had a real need: His products are new, innovative and desireable to his market, but his market is dominated by some pretty hefty competition who can shout louder at the trade shows.

Alan also had another essential ingredient: He's passionate about the subject of his business, sports statistics, and thus he was a natural. I'm happy to report that not only has he taken to blogging, but http://www.xmlteam.com/statsology is also a useful and informative bit of blogging for the topic area.