Polishing (Re-packaging and Re-publishing) Gems

I have written more than once about why I think it would be smart for senior managers and executives in business to engage more with blogging .. whether writing one of their own, or reading here and there, or even just using an RSS aggregator to create their own mass-customized competitive intelligence online "clipping" service.

Let's put all that, and the endlessly possible riffs thereupon, under the general rubric "leading and managing by blogging around" (with a tip o' the beanie to the venerable management concept of MBWA (managing by walking around).

Jeneane Sessum, a business blogging Hall of Famer, has re-published a strongly and clearly argued clarion call to "get with the program".  After all, "they" aren't taking the Intertubes down anytime soon, and it's use will penetrate and pervade more of the enterprise than it does today in a couple of short years .

Here (excerpt below) is her essay titled "Why Executives Should Blog".

And further, I am fond of repeating that the workers entering the workforce from now on by and large understand and use hyperlinks.

So why in the world would CEOs take on the extra task of blogging—a communication medium with a tentative ROI that remains largely unproven?

Marketing pundit and best-selling author Seth Godin says they shouldn’t. According to Godin, blogs work when they are based on candor, urgency, timeliness, pithiness, and controversy. “Does this sound like a CEO to you?" Godin asks. “Short and sweet, folks: If you can’t be at least four of the five things listed above, please don’t bother . . . save the fluff for the annual report."

As blogging evolves, however, many of today’s CEOs-turned-bloggers in fact are making the time—and having a good time—using the very characteristics Godin lists as what makes blogging successful.

Time to Blog?

Bob Cramer, CEO of Marlborough, Mass.-based LiveVault, sees blogging not as an extra activity, but as something inherent to his business.

“The essence of our business is leveraging the Internet to transform how organizations run the process of data backup," he says. “Since our business model is based around the net, blogging is a natural fit for us." Cramer, who uses Six Apart’s Movable Type blog tool, manages the time demands of blogging by loosely scheduling time for writing.

[Snip ...]

Blogging Is “Complementary To"—Not a “Replacement For"

Natural Logic’s Gil Friend sees blogging as one of many communication pathways for his organization and its constituents. Friend, who has been online since the late 1970s, when he participated in EIES (the Electronic Information Exchange System), one of the early computer communications projects outside DARPA, puts blogging into perspective as a powerful tool for participating in the larger conversation.

“As a CEO, I write, speak and meet, and I see blogging as short-form writing that has its place in how I communicate," he says. “I do a longer monthly piece called “The New Bottom Line", regular pieces at WorldChanging (http://www.worldchanging.com) and GreenBiz, as well as articles for traditional media like The Wall Street Journal. Blogging is more informal, and makes it easy to link other relevant items and bring people into the conversation. People can engage at their own pace and at their own convenience. And with RSS and blogrolls, reading blogs becomes even easier."

The conversation is the point, according to Friend. And the more dimensions to it, the better.

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