CEO columns through time: no changes in platitudes
From an essay I edited yesterday for Ragan's Journal of Employee Communication Management, Canada Post employee communication director Barbara Leimsner writes,
"CEO columns often have the following attributes: they use corporate jargon or technical language, are impersonal, stuffy, express no emotion, repeat formulaic messages, and use 'we/they'" paternalistic language."
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
But Leimnser is right, of course. CEO columns are almost universally bad.
On a Frontier Airlines flight recently, I got bored and opened the in-flight magazine, Wild Blue Yonder. I came across the CEO's letter. Unlike most CEO passengers, who wouldn't read such an obvious puff piece if they were stranded with it on a desert island, I stopped for a look.
You see, I'm something of an aficionado of CEO columns. I delight in reading bad ones葉he challenges! the opportunities! the synergies! the strategies!預nd I hope eternally to come across an interesting one.
Reading the Potter piece, I thought maybe I had found my Holy Grail: "Tired of the traditional airline cheerleader letter," the introduction irreverently began, "Frontier's president and CEO, Jeff Potter, decided that Frontier's passengers would rather read about questions, ideas, or concepts that were of interest to them. As a result, in each issue of WILD Blue Yonder magazine, Potter addresses a passenger's question about the airline or industry."
Holy mackerel! Here we go! Two-way communication! Honest answers to real questions everyone wants to ask an airline CEO. Questions like:
� "Is it hard to take a day off or rest when you know that millions of pounds of your airplanes and jet fuel and passengers are hurtling around the country at all times?"
� "You're not ever, ever, ever, ever, ever allow people to use cell phones during flights, right?"
� "Do you actually fly coach? And if so, why?"
Nope. The question concerns the airline's tagline: "What does 'a whole different animal' mean? Is it just a catchy tagline?'"
As much as I tried to imagine a passenger hitting the flight attendant call button to ask an asinine question like that, I couldn't fathom it. Clearly, the question was made up by the writer to pitch to himself in order to tee up some platitudes. Which he or she does. Potter's so-called answer to this so-called question includes the following bromides:
� "And it's our goal to be different預nd better擁n the service we provide you, our guests."
� "But the real stars at Frontier are the employees �."
� "They are committed to fulfilling our customer promise to be 'a whole different animal' and they are what sets us apart."
This CEO is a whole different animal, all right預 platitudipus, to be precise.
Question of the Week: Has anybody managed to consistently (or even inconsistently) write a CEO's letter that sings? If so, send it to me預nd tell me how you did it.
Comments (4)
Our CEO asked for a letter that basically said get out and vote or stop your whining. This is what I came up with. We live in Oregon, where you vote through the mail, hence the last paragraph.
There are many ways to express your beliefs. You can make your opinion heard through your words, a letter to the editor, an eye roll or a grumble. Here痴 a better choice, and one that has immediate results � VOTE.
I don稚 know about you, but I believe when people vote, they have earned the right to express enthusiasm, relief and even disappointment with the various outcomes. But when a person doesn稚 vote, it痴 hard to listen to their complaints, given that he or she didn稚 take the opportunity to make a difference in the first place. It痴 a lot easier to sit back and criticize than it is to take the initiative, learn the issues and vote.
That痴 why I encourage you to educate yourselves on the issues, evaluate your values and cast your vote. This election will have a huge impact on health care specifically, even more reason to become involved.
In New Jersey, we used to say, 鉄ee you at the polls� around election time. As an Oregonian, I need to change that to 鉄ee you at the mailbox.� Either way, I am so very thankful that we all have the freedom and right to vote and make a difference in our country, state, county, and city.
Posted by EB | April 7, 2005 11:26 AM
Posted on April 7, 2005 11:26
I do a "regular" column from our CEO aimed at employees that's distributed via our Intranet portal...maybe 2-3 times a month. It's always hard to come up with content that doesn't sound like a bunch of corporate blah blah blah. Here's an example of the kind of thing I try to do, tying our chairman's personal experiences back to a corporate message of some sort.
One of the things I like most about this company (and something many of us take for granted) is the respect we have around the world. People associate us with quality, integrity, and professionalism預nd they want to be associated with us.
Here痴 just one recent example: I was asked to speak at an event in Washington, D.C., last week honoring U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, a professional solider and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What an honor for our company to be invited to pay tribute to one of the most respected Americans of our time預nd what a responsibility to introduce Secretary Powell to an audience of more than 350 people, including several Cabinet officials and ambassadors!
To prepare my remarks, I did a search for quotes Secretary Powell had made over the years. I壇 like to share a couple of the most interesting ones with you:
典he day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.�
徹rganization doesn稚 really accomplish anything. Plans don稚 accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don稚 much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.�
滴ave fun in your command. Don稚 always run at breakneck pace. Take leave when you致e earned it. Spend time with your families. Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.�
I believe we can all learn something from these words預nd take pride in the fact that our company was selected to honor the man who said them.
Posted by Becky | April 7, 2005 4:31 PM
Posted on April 7, 2005 16:31
You know what I notice in both of these, aside from the IMPORTANT fact that they strike a humble, human tone? They're SHORT.
Asking a CEO (or a ghostwriter) to write 750 words regularly (whether he or she has anything pressing to say or not) might be problem #1.
250-400 seems more like it.
Agree?
Posted by David Murray | April 8, 2005 7:48 AM
Posted on April 8, 2005 07:48
I agree about the best columns being short and to the point. I've seen a dramatic improvement in these types of columns since many of them went online. Unlike in print----when you have to "fill the page"----an online column can be a couple of paragraphs. You don't have to fill it with extra words just to fill out the page.
Steve
Posted by steve c. | April 11, 2005 6:28 AM
Posted on April 11, 2005 06:28