When a Flack does his own PR
This morning's National Post has a good-sized piece on executive blogs and bloggers, page FW5 in the FP Weekend section (online edition starts here, but it's stuck behind a paywall, alas).
It's a pretty well-balanced story, looking at how "Blogging Comes To The Corner Office" - why CEOs and other senior execs should consider blogging, and why so few, particularly in Canada, have taken the plunge.
I'm quoted, sounding slightly intelligent, and I'm thrilled that the writer spoke to each of the people I suggested she should ping. Some excellent points made by Rick Segal, Tim Bray, and Ned Blinick.
Rick's closing quote in the article makes very good sense, I think:
"I don't expect to see a lot out of the existing crop of CEOs [blogging] ... as the younger generation takes over those executive seats, it will become more normal to do things like blogging and other forms of communications to customers."
I've had a warm feeling of what I can only describe as "mudita" over the way this thing worked out. Mudita is the closest term I can find to characterise the opposite of schadenfreude - it's a Buddhist concept, describing that state of pure happiness at seeing another's success in life. Pretty much a defining emotion for PR people and publicists.
I spent over an hour on the phone with the writer, Gigi Suhanic, early in the week. Thought I said some reasonably sensible things, but - as a natural born flack - I couldn't help spending much of the discussion pointing away from myself to other, much smarter (and frankly better suited) subjects for the story. So Gigi was able to source some real Canadian executive bloggers for the majority of the piece (but she's still kind enough to give me quick plug too).
This is what happens when a PR guy gets a chance to promote himself. Too busy boosting others to stop and say "hire me!"
:-)
It's a pretty well-balanced story, looking at how "Blogging Comes To The Corner Office" - why CEOs and other senior execs should consider blogging, and why so few, particularly in Canada, have taken the plunge.
I'm quoted, sounding slightly intelligent, and I'm thrilled that the writer spoke to each of the people I suggested she should ping. Some excellent points made by Rick Segal, Tim Bray, and Ned Blinick.
Rick's closing quote in the article makes very good sense, I think:
"I don't expect to see a lot out of the existing crop of CEOs [blogging] ... as the younger generation takes over those executive seats, it will become more normal to do things like blogging and other forms of communications to customers."
I've had a warm feeling of what I can only describe as "mudita" over the way this thing worked out. Mudita is the closest term I can find to characterise the opposite of schadenfreude - it's a Buddhist concept, describing that state of pure happiness at seeing another's success in life. Pretty much a defining emotion for PR people and publicists.
I spent over an hour on the phone with the writer, Gigi Suhanic, early in the week. Thought I said some reasonably sensible things, but - as a natural born flack - I couldn't help spending much of the discussion pointing away from myself to other, much smarter (and frankly better suited) subjects for the story. So Gigi was able to source some real Canadian executive bloggers for the majority of the piece (but she's still kind enough to give me quick plug too).
This is what happens when a PR guy gets a chance to promote himself. Too busy boosting others to stop and say "hire me!"
:-)
