CEOs Blogging, Sometimes Awkwardly
by Brian Reich | 22 Jan 2007, 2:00am
I want to give a little shout out to Jason Goldberg, the CEO of Jobster. (Full transparency, Jason is also a friend of mine - we used to work together).
Jason has become, with help from the mainstream media, the poster child for why CEOs should not blog. First the two local papers - the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Jobster is HQ’d in Seattle) dinged Goldberg, presumably for not scooping them before releasing his comments to the blogosphere. Today, the New York Times gets into the act, reporting on Jason’s blogging with the following lede:
Some executives, like Jonathan I. Schwartz of Sun Microsystems, pull it off with aplomb. Others, like Jason Goldberg of the online recruiting company Jobster, have had more difficulty.
The article isn’t that bad - mostly straight reporting - but the examples that the reporter, Damon Darling, chose seem to imply Jason is struggling. He doesn’t mention the countless posts where Jason talks about good hiring practices and shares his personal theories on business leadership. I don’t see a lot of CEOs offering that information up for free on a blog - or even offering it up at all in most cases.
Jason deserves a lot of credit for using his blog to help explain some major changes at Jobster over the past few months - including the downsizing of nearly half the staff. Most CEOs would hide behind a press release, a spokesperson, or not say anything at all. Most CEOs wouldn’t try to explain their actions, let alone submit to questioning from the general public.
At times Jason’s blogging has been awkward – at first denying there was any trouble, only to later change tune. He explained that his obfuscation was a necessary measure designed to give the employees of Jobster first knowledge of the impending changes. That seems plausible to me, and at least he came up with a reason — not your typical CEO move.
Don’t let them get you down, Jason. The press hasn’t figured out yet how to report on CEOs who blog, and more importantly, tell the truth about what is happening in their companies. Other CEOs should take a page from your book.
Update: Jason sent me this ‘Confessions of a CEO Blogger” video he put together. Good to see he’s not taking all the criticism too seriously.
TAGS
: Blogging Corporate From the Trenches
