Like Debbie Weil (a highly regarded online marketing consultant specializing in new media strategies), I couldn’t feel more strongly that fear is what’s keeping many Fortune 500 companies from staking a rightful – and long overdue – claim in the blogosphere.
To blog or not to blog is largely a top-down, C-level decision, and those in the front offices, executive suites and boardrooms of corporate America are typically conservative and cautious about trying almost anything new.
With that said, I’m reminded of a parable I’ve heard many times before (which you can read in its entirety here) about a spy who had been captured by the enemy and sentenced to death. To make a long story short, the condemned man was given the choice between the firing squad and the black door, and he ultimately chose the former because he was so afraid of the latter, which represented the unknown.
Here’s how I think this story would go if it were about business today instead of war…
A New Blog (A Parable)
Let me tell you a story. It’s about a CEO who, because he had been unsuccessful in positioning his company as a leader in the marketplace, was about to be dismissed by his board of directors. The board, however, permitted the beleaguered executive to choose between being fired and publishing a new blog.
As the moment of termination drew near, the board ordered the CEO to be brought before them to receive the hapless man’s decision. It was not an easy decision, and the executive hesitated, but he soon made it known that he preferred to be fired. Not long thereafter, a few tears and good cries around the water cooler announced that the bold decision to let the CEO go had been fulfilled.
The company’s marketing director then turned to her assistant and said, “You see how it is with CEOs. They will always prefer the known way to the unknown. It is characteristic of most C-level executives to be afraid of the undefined. And yet he was given a choice!”
“What lies beyond the launch of a new blog?” asked the assistant.
“Transparency,” replied the marketing director, “and I’ve seen only a few corporate Americans brave enough to communicate that way.”
Now, there are two messages to this story.
The first, of course, is that the average business man or woman will often choose a familiar means of communications, even if it is undesirable, over an unknown way, which might represent a wonderful opportunity.
And second, that few among us in the business world are brave enough to choose transparency.
I’m not saying that corporate America should stop using the traditional press release, newsletters, direct mail, email and Web sites to get the word out — not by any means. But those of us in business – especially the business of marketing, advertising and public relations – should at least question the usual tools of the trade and challenge the status quo.
Just because it’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s effective, or even the right thing to do – especially in this day and age.
Oh sure, you’re probably saying to yourself, “If I were the CEO, I would have chosen to publish a new blog. I would have had nothing to lose. Getting fired is not going to help anyone’s career!”
But actually faced with the choice, would you really? How many times in the last year or two have we passed up the chance to launch a blog because we tend to cling so fiercely to any number of more conventional ways of communicating with our customers, prospects and industry peers?
Think about it. How many times during the course of our careers have bold, new ways of communicating been introduced to us that later on proved to be gainful? Each of them – like a blog – was a new platform which we eventually used to communicate better than ever before with those who mean the most to us. But at the time, due to apprehension and fear, we may have settled on a more comfortable method of communications.
It is good to remember that it is often those things we worry about and are afraid of most as business men and women that turn out to be blessings in disguise for our careers and companies.
I’m sure many of you might be reluctant to establish a presence in the blogosphere. To communicate in such a timely, comprehensive manner. To engage your constituents in such open, honest dialogue.
But once you do, will it not add greater freedom – and, ultimately, profits – to your lives as professionals? For many of you, I’m sure, blogging will be the beginning of not just a new way of communicating, but a new era of success.
So I urge all of you C-level executives to not resist change, to not fear the unknown and to not be afraid to launch a new corporate blog today.
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