CEO Bloggers

On the NBC Nightly News tonight, I caught part of a piece about how executives of large, established companies are blogging. They interviewed Bill Marriott as an example of a CEO who is really into blogging; although, he hand-writes his blog because he says he can’t type.

His blog, Marriott on the Move, has become quite successful. Brad Nelson, vice president and culinary chef also of Marriott International has his own enticing blog, Marriott in the Kitchen (warning: don’t look at this one if you are hungry!).

According to NBC, many high-powered corporate officers have turned to blogging because “it’s the most interactive forum.”

A Hoi Polloi Report quotes Marriott from an appearance he made at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) International conference in New York in June as saying he “finds it a way to listen to others, and communicate better with the thousands of employees and customers around 68 countries.” Hoi Polloi says, “His advice to other CEOs:
Make it personal
Stay away from out and out advertising
Talk about what you are passionate about.”

He’s pretty good at it; in fact, I found this older gentleman’s excitement about blogging very refreshing. Instead of bemoaning how the world has changed or the “demise of journalism”, he and other top dogs have embraced blogging as that interactive forum; they enjoy the communication shared with their employees and customers.

In my grandparents’ day, President Franklin Roosevelt used radio and his fireside chats as a forum for sharing his thoughts, encouragement and just sounding like he was sitting in your kitchen, having a conversation.These blogs have the same “folksiness” to them. It’s fun to look through them and realize the communication effort is still present in many people…and technology has made it even better.