One of the most exciting developments of recent months is the emergence of blogging corporate leaders. There aren't many of them, certainly, but it is starting to happen. Look at GM's gmblogs or Edelman.
Why's this a big deal? Leaders in business have become distant. Even in small companies they are mediated through PAs, managers, PR officers etc. CEOs take the credit and the flack for performance (whether in equal proportion is a different discussion) but have little real connection to many people in their companies, still less to customers and other stakeholders.
Blogs could be an opportunity to re-establish this link. But good blogs are extensions of character: they are revealing and peel back the layers. The blogger is more vulnerable because most often there is right to reply. The blog becomes the conversation. (And Hugh 'Gapingvoid' Macleod is very hot on the importance of conversations for marketing.)
This conversation opens up the company, tearing a hole in corporate fabric which over decades has built up the layers to protect sensitive strategies from 'misapprehension'. This offers scope to address corporate responsibility issues: the GM blogs discusses fuel economy of its cars, Richard Edelman considers the ethics of his industry.
What this means, however, is that these high-power bloggers are going to have to engage with their audiences. If PRs write their blogs they will lose credibility soon. Respect will go to those who explain themselves and are willing, from time to time, to say, 'I dunno, what do you think?'
Blogs can offer a window into the thinking of the people behind a company, but they will have to accept that the rules are different, there are fewer places to hide in the blogosphere.
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