Lack of blogging by CEO’s

In today’s New York Times: All the Internet’s a Stage. Why Don’t C.E.O.’s Use It? by Randall Stross.

(That link should work, even if you’re not logged in with a username.)

The headline’s a bit deceiving. The article is all about the lack of CEO’s blogging, not about their general lack of use of the internet.

He focuses much of the piece on Jonathan Schwartz, the blogging CEO of Sun Microsystems:

When Mr. Schwartz was promoted to the top job at Sun this spring, he automatically became a member of an elite group: Fortune 500 C.E.O. bloggers. He is the only active member. Where is everyone else? Capital markets function as they should when the flow of information is strong and unimpeded. Mr. Schwartz has shown ably that for the chief executive sincerely interested in increasing information flow to the fullest range of stakeholders, a blog is a hydraulic wonder.

I blogged about Schwartz a couple of weeks ago as part of my ongoing Leaders Who Blog series. But Stross’ article shows why he’s a journalist and I’m not. To wit:

Assuming that other chief executives are willing to make their thoughts just as visible as Mr. Schwartz’s, the blog provides a highly efficient medium of publication. Mr. Schwartz, for instance, simultaneously reaches shareholders, software developers and current and prospective customers. With posted responses, these groups easily reach him as well as one another.

and…

WHEN an employee of a publicly traded company publishes regularly on a business blog, something valuable for outside observers is created: a firsthand chronicle. This deserves to be called something special, a primary blog – that is, a primary source, created by a participant or eyewitness – that distinguishes it from all the other blogs (and, yes, from all other newspaper columns, too) that are written at a remove by commentators. Primary blogs maintained by Fortune 500 C.E.O.’s would provide the most vital information to investors.

I didn’t know about this, but Stross notes that Schwartz wrote a one-page piece titled If you want to lead, blog for the Harvard Business Review last Nov. It’s available for $6 online. This blogger has a summary.

Stross cites Debbie Weil (author of The Corporate Blogging Book – to be released this week) as trying to make the case for blogging by persuading “reluctant executives with the argument that blogging would save the time they now spend on hundreds of daily e-mail exchanges.”

I cite this as well, though as one of the strategies in the How to blog effectively section of my Leadership Blogging Guide. I don’t think of this as a reason to blog. CEO’s and other leaders need more rationale than that. I’ve ordered Weil’s book to see if she addresses the Why, but if I had to sum up why more CEO’s don’t blog, it would be:

1. lack of knowledge of the leadership benefits

2. fear of the time comittment

3. fear of the interaction

4. lack of confidence in how to convey the transparency and authenticity required

5. a reluctance to undermine/ruffle the feathers of the corporate communications and legal departments

A good weblog coach can help address all these concerns.