Insight article
It’s a blogger’s world
My attention was recently drawn to a particular blog from the MD of Waitrose. Apart from being most entertaining, it was a great example of leadership role-modelling, not to mention an excellent tool to bring the MD closer to his employees and customers as well as providing a great platform for health and nutrition for both customers and employees alike. As the battle of the bulge lives on following the indulgences of Christmas, what can be a better example of the promotion of healthy living from the leader of a major supermarket as Mark diarises the dietary choices he makes (and sometimes the struggles he faces) on a daily basis? More and more CEO’s are choosing to use a blog as a channel of communication with their employees. Blogs don’t have the formality of an e-mail, invite dialogue and contain a degree of honesty and humanity that is so much more engaging than a formal piece of writing.
I can think of a few CEO’s who surround themselves with advisors and stay firmly put in their ivory tower once they walk through the doors of business. No matter that they have just spent an hour reading Jack and The Beanstalk to their offspring….. what is it about corporate life that changes the way they act and speak once they are in the office? Suddenly human narrative becomes jargon, graphs, bullets and management speak. Having mingled with everyday folk on the street back at home, they seek the solace and luxury of an executive car and then the carpeted lift to the executive floor. The familiar mug shot appears might appear now and again in a newsletter and you just might be one of the honoured few who are spoken to on a rare site visit……but that’s just about how close you ever get to the man or woman who runs the place where you spend most of your life.
OK, I’m exaggerating. Senior leaders today do make themselves much more accessible to their people and communicate much better and more frequently. I’m just making the point that blogging can do wonders for personal perception and reinforcing, and if you want people to follow your lead, it’s a great way of setting an example.
Just off for a run now….
