Dear Steve: Do "Unpolished" Emails From CEOs Hurt the Firm?
Steve Jobs returns emails to select customers who take the time to write. Yes, his replies may be curt, maybe even insulting. Some probably make Apple's legal department wince, and others his PR department gasp.
Here's one example, courtesy of the site Emails From Steve Jobs.
Q. In IOS 4.2 for iPad is the switch on the side going to be the mute and not screen orientation lock from now on?
A: Yep.
Sent from my iPhone
Q: Are you planning to make that a changeable option?
A: Nope.
Is Jobs helping or hurting the company's cause? Is it in the best interest of a company for the CEO to "go rogue" on email? Here are two opinions, the first from fellow BNET blogger Jim Edwards. He recalls the well reported messages between Jobs and a college journalist who was bugging him for a comment on the iPad after Apple's PR department allegedly failed to answer her. After some back-and-forth, Jobs wrote, "Please leave us alone."
Edwards writes: "And with that, Jobs and his minions confirmed their well-earned reputation as executives who literally don't care about their customers or their public image. Lesson: If your CEO has no patience for public conversations, don't let him or her have them."
On the other side of the argument is economics professor Joshua Gans, writing on HBR.org in the post The Steve Jobs Theory of Customer Relations.
"This is not exactly high level stuff, and Jobs' replies aren't those that would have been crafted by some marketing exec. But there is no doubt that the information contained is useful, and it is widely reported when it occurs. Not to mention the fact that the recipients are no doubt very pleased to have had a response at all."
My feeling? I think Edwards goes a little overboard suggesting that Jobs doesn't care about customers--the large volume of emails confirms just the opposite to be true. I also don't agree with Gans' belief that Jobs quickness to hit the reply button is some sort of orchestrated crowd sourcing mechanism to gather advance intelligence on potential problems.
What I like about Jobs here is that he is being authentic. He gives you as much time and information as he thinks you deserve in the limited time that he has to give. I don't know many other Fortune 50 CEOs who would do the same, and in fact have met a number of chief executives who would rather have their dirty laundry outed by WikiLeaks than have a one-on-one encounter with a customer. So I believe "Dear Steve" wins Apple more long-term customers than costs them.
What do you say? CEOs on email: yes or no?