Hi Tommy,
It will be hard for me to cover everything I want to say in this email response. I will provide some brief background to the topic and may be (if you are interested) we can talk on phone and explore this further
Here are few things to think about when creating “policies” on this issue
1. Think from the Employee Angle:
If I am an “ambitious” employee, ONE way for me to think - I want to build a brand separately (and in conjunction) with the brand of the company. So it would make sense for me to show my affiliation to the company on my personal blog. I cannot be “forced” to contribute to the company because there is no “permanent” employment or even there is no “permanence” to the company (Company can be acquired or the company blogging policies might change). I want to have control on my content.
2. Building separate brands is in fact beneficial to the organization
Unless EVERY single blog post on a company blog is spectacular (think about “37 Signals") or the company is a giant, it will be hard to assume that the company blog will gain quick traction. Even when it does, the employee brands get sort of “diluted” in the name of the company. Think about it - it is in fact, beneficial to the company to have HUGE personal brands. The company’s brand automatically gets elevated when a set of people respected by the industry are affiliated with the company.
3. There is less overhead on the company to build personal brands
Starting a blog is easy but maintaining one is VERY hard. It took me more than 3 years to get 1000+ blog posts on my blog Life Beyond Code. For an ambitious employee, all you have to do is to highlight to him the benefits of a personal brand and the value of blogs and he or she will take it up from there. For a company blog, you need way more than that.
4. The keywords are “Alignment” and “Leverage”
If we can crack the code of “alignment” and “leverage” - meaning choosing a set of activities that will enhance the company and the personal brands of consultants while they continue to work on their projects and leverage their work, we can score a home run.
5. The company can provide the platform to build personal brands
My favorite is for the company to act as a platform to provide the necessary resources, infrastructure and connections to help consultants build personal brands. It is on the other extreme but it is the fastest way to win in the long-term.
I can go on as this is a topic close to my heart. You can also take a look at one of my (free) eBooks titled “Personal Branding for Technology Professionals”
Have a great week ahead.
Best,
Rajesh
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