I learn a lot by new questions that come up, then keep coming up. The most recent of them is "How do I get my CEO to blog?"
My short answer is: "Don't."
First, it is usually unwise and occasionally career-shortening to try to force your CEO to do anything he does not wish to do. Second, with very few exceptions, CEOs do not make the best company bloggers. Product managers and other people who are passionate and knowledgeable about the details of a product are often better.
CEOs of public companies are hamstrung by security and other regulatory restrictions. Even if the company is private, the CEO's primary accountability is to investors. A product manager, on the other hand, is mostly loyal to his or her product and accountable to customers. The CEO's future is tied to company growth and profits. The product manager's is often tied to happy customers.
Product managers also speak in a language closer to everyday people. While their are many exceptions, most CEOs are fluent in corpspeak a language most of us neither trust nor understand.
The bottom line: CEOs should nurture cultures that encourage blogging. They should encourage the open culture and using blogs to get closer with customers.
Let them spend what little spare time they have with their families or playing golf.
