Corporate Leader Daily § Keeping the Roof Dry

FRIDAY MARCH 21
Keeping the Roof Dry

By: Jeff Heilman
March 2008

As Shakespeare might have said, "Get thee to a bloggery." After another harrowing week, something lighter for Friday--a look at how some of your peers are approaching the art of corporate blogging.

Divided into nine categories, from diversity to environmental, hospitality giant Marriott's On the Move blog is a pleasant experience. Able host CEO Bill Marriott puts a friendly, fatherly face on topics such as sales success through relationships, thinking outside the box and service improvements through cross-training. Ever the savvy marketer, Marriott is getting into bed with artful lodger Ian Schrager to launch a new boutique brand called Edition. In sum, the blog is readily accessible to all.

A different experience awaits at Digital Straight Talk from Cox Communications. To the cognescenti of broadband communications, the blog is relevant enough, but there's still a bit of work involved in focusing the eye and the mind on the content.

CIOs especially will enjoy the just-launched blog from Forrester Research chief, George Colony. Hand on chin, his smiling mug masts "CounterIntuitive" musings on the economics of Web advertising and how IT is helping "save" General Motors. Check out his particularly good entry on how companies use "Social Sigma" feedback from social networks to improve products.

I also like Open Mike from Pitney Bowes executive chairman Mike Critelli. Passionate about intellectual honesty, he delivers sagacious perspective on corporate leadership issues. From his Why I Blog: "At Pitney Bowes, I always told people we want to maintain the roof so it never leaks, rather than being heroes in repairing it as it is about to leak."

There, the world feels better already.