Did You Just Ask If I Can Blog?

A client of mine recently asked if I could write some blogs for their CEO. "Of course," I replied. This company has only ever asked me to write longer-form white papers for them so maybe it's understandable that they never realised I could write blogs for them.

Then again, maybe it's my own fault that they didn't realise I could do it. I don't really do a lot of self-promotion because most of my corporate work comes from executives I am working with leaving their company, starting a new job, then calling me up and saying, "let's do it all again here."

So, please excuse this blog - it's an exception...

A lot of people search for my details online and find that I have written 17 books about technology, contributed to Reuters, The BBC, The FT, The Observer, The Huffington Post, and host my own CX podcast - I guess they don't find much about me blogging.

I have been blogging for twenty years. When Billie Eilish, the singer of the new James Bond theme song No Time To Die, was born I had already been blogging for a couple of years.

• When ministers in the Tony Blair government wanted help preparing speeches about technology they would ask me to ghost their content
• When astronaut Neil Armstrong was about to speak on his experience of going to the moon to a Las Vegas audience, he asked me to help add some tech jokes so the tech-industry audience would laugh more
• When several London-based ambassadors and High Commissioners wanted to write an article or make a speech about tech, they would ask me to ghost the articles
• When the United Nations wanted to train bloggers in Bangladesh in techniques they could use to promote their local business globally (trade not aid) they sent me
• When the London 2012 Olympics appointed 100 official bloggers for the games, they chose me
• When the UK Department of Education needed to hire their first ever professional blogger so they could advise schools on future careers in tech, they called me

Before I moved to Brazil in 2011 I used to blog regularly for Computing and Computer Weekly magazines - both tech journals based in the UK. Being a visible blogger in the tech industry I was often asked by PRs and marketing managers "hey, could you ghost the blogs for our CEO?" It was a whole new experience for me, but one that I found interesting.

Now I have ghosted blogs and content for executives - usually in tech or CX - in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. Nobody in Antarctica has contracted me yet unfortunately. That's right, over the past 15 years or so many of the words of leading CEOs you have read and believed were actually written by me.

Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC Technology Editor, even interviewed me about this on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme about 10 or 11 years ago. Even then I was asked if ghost-blogging is inappropriate. I answered that it's just the same as politicians asking an expert to write their speech. They say the words and they manage the ongoing discussion afterwards so the speech (or blog) just starts the debate. As I said then, and still believe, where it would get sneaky is if a CEO asked me to write a blog for them AND THEN answer any comments or tweets as if I were still pretending to be that person. I don't do that - even if you offer good money for it.

Why do CEOs hire me to write their words instead of a PR or marketing agency?

The answer is simple. They want someone who thinks deeply about their industry to come up with ideas and thoughts on their behalf. They may have time to throw a few comments or some guidance on topics my way, but they don't have time to plan the detailed content of each blog or check each comma once a draft is ready. They just want to know that it will always be good - and will read more like an article they would share rather than some marketing guff.

One British CEO I worked with was named the best executive blogger in his industry and he had never written a word - he probably couldn't even login to his own blogging platform. He thought it was hilarious.

I believe that my background in management has helped me to do this work ghosting for executives. I was never in marketing or PR. I studied software engineering (I did also get an MBA and I started a PhD in psychology, but quit once I realised it's pretty useless unless you plan to teach). My first few jobs were in coding. Soon I rose up to manage all the equity trading tech for a major bank with a big budget, suppliers, and direct reports across 8 countries. I went from there to heading European tech for an American company. I played the corporate game and I held senior positions.

Then, after I wrote my first book I just tired of the City grind. I wanted more flexibility, to be paid for what I deliver, not how many hours I spend in an office. I spent a couple of years heading tech research for an NGO before breaking away from offices entirely and just started writing - books, journalism, and blogs...

So yes, I have been writing blogs a long time. In my name, and in the name of several CEOs you probably know - and some you may come to know in future. So if your company wants a ghost that can actually think like your CEO and write content that is opinionated and funny then get in touch. If you want some copy that describes the hilarious party planned for your new office launch then feel free to just keep on Googling for PR advice.

Photo by Milind Alvares licensed under Creative Commons