Reuters CEO Tom Glocer thinks it is no longer either/or. He writes on blogging, Facebooking etc:
…it could be argued, I suppose, that imagination and experimentation should be left to more junior or younger staff, and the chief executive should only perform “serious” duties like strategy formulation and ordering people around.
I think this is a lousy and disconnected way to lead. I believe that unless one interacts with and plays with the leading technology of the age, it is impossible to dream the big dreams, and difficult to create an environment in which creative individuals will feel at home.
This does not mean that the CEO needs to program a third-party app on Facebook, but I believe it is ultimately more useful in understanding business concepts like viral marketing, crowd-sourcing or federated development to use a live example rather than wait for the Harvard Business Review article to appear in three years time.
2 responses to “Should CEOs be bloggers or bosses?”
Hmm, I think its better if we judge this guy by his actions than his words. So many CEO’s are coming with similar statements, but do they mean it?
Do bosses realise that the technology (rather like the media) is more powerful (dangerous?) than they are? Of course they should experiment but with lots of care.