Why CEOs can't blog

David Meerman Scott comes up an interesting theory on why CEOs can't blog:

"When CEOs are in a meeting, everyone defers to them. At conferences, people clap at CEO speeches even if they suck. CEOs talk about their company, its products, and nothing else. CEOs happily ignore email and phone calls because nobody expects a personal answer back. CEOs direct others to do their work for them.

"These are precisely the things that make for crappy blogs.

"CEOs and executives expect that the world will stop everything and pay attention and The Wall Street Journal will write about them as soon as they put out their first blog post. The posts they do write shout: look at me! CEOs don’t comment on other people's blogs or link outside their own little world. Yeah, a few ass kissers might comment but unless the CEO is saying something interesting, the blog will fail to gain traction. Then the executive will quit blogging.

"There are notable exceptions like Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems.

"Great bloggers participate. They link to other bloggers. They comment on other people's blog real estate. They blog because they want to, not because they have to. They talk about things other than their own products and services.

"Attention corporate executives: check your ego at the door if you want to be a successful blogger.

MORE. | CEO blog list | Fortune 500 Business Blogs