In case you missed it, here's an MSNBC report that ran on the NBC Nightly News last night about CEO's getting involved in blogging. Check out the description of Bill Marriott's blogging technique ... but don't you dare laugh: "Marriott says his blog [Marriott on the move] is responsible for more than $4 Million in bookings" for the hotel chain, since he started it last year!
Okay, okay, C-level executives blogging is old news to many of us ... our friend Greg pointed me to yet another, the aptly named Tom Glocer's blog by the CEO of Thomson Reuters, who recently offered this explanation of why he sees blogging as "a very worthwhile investment" of his time.
But we've been watching with amusement and even contributing to (Yvonne's comment; Tom's comment) a discussion over at Alan Weiss' Contrarian Consulting blog, where he posted and continues trying to defend the assertion that consultants (Alan's niche ... in case you've never heard of him) should not waste their time blogging, because "a blog without a pre-established brand does nothing for the executive-level buyers one needs to reach." Among the sillier reasons he gives for his claim is that executives are too busy to read, write, or otherwise engage with blogs and social media. He writes in one comment:
Can you really picture a corporate executive spending his or her time searching the Internet for blog and Twitter and clutter? Don’t you think they may have a few other things to occupy their day, such as strategy, critical decisions, succession planning, profit, and marketing?
Steve Roesler adds in support of Alan's position:
No C-level person has ever engaged me as a result of my blog or the internet. C-level people don’t have time, even if they are fascinated by the technology.
In the here and now — which is where they and I prefer to live — blogs are not a reasonable way to get into the executive suite. Period.
Hmmm ... if the C-Level executives these guys know are too busy to engage in and figure out how to use a medium that can generate $4 Million in bookings for Marriott Hotels, maybe their shareholders should be clamoring for new executives.
And if Alan and Steve are the consultants responsible for them seeing themselves as too busy ...?
BTW, I have read Alan's book, The Ultimate Consultant, and recommended it to others dozens of times. So as you'll note in my comment on his blog, I'm still not at all sure he's serious about his claim, as opposed to "stirring the pot" to get traffic. He is, after all, recommending against blogging on his own blog. Reminds me of Bob Bly and the "Blyopia" fun we had a while back (Blyopia Part I; Blyopia Part II; and Blyopia Part III) ... and not to be left out of the fun, Bob chimed in to warn Alan about those pesky "social media enthusiasts and blogging evangelists"!
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