To Blog..or not to Blog ? when you blogger friends are asking tough questions...

I had a talk with my old friend Tuvia Marmarelli, an adept salesman, on producing a newsletter for his customers. He, as a business man and as a High-Tech target-oriented person, wanted it 'here, now and effective'... I raised the issue that what he really wants is an a effective way of communicating with his customers, suppliers and business partners. I suggested that he would start to write a blog. I also mention that it is a very efficient environment for Knowledge Management, sharing and collaborating. I know Tuvia for more than thirty years now. He is on of the most creative, foreseeing and talented persons I have ever met. But somehow, eventhough he immediately adopt my idea ('I am going to do it only for you' he said...), I found it difficult to persuade him that his business audience would want to read stories, his stories, and - that these stories will be much more effective for them, than other forms of information and communication. I myself was convinced in this idea: I devote my PhD. research to the topic of 'Executives as Storytellers'. I am also a blogger in Hebrew and in English. I write in my blogs on Storytelling in the enterprise and the business scene. I know that he is not unique in his attitude towards stories. You can read what Keith Coats wrote about this issue only a week ago. It is so odd: executives we often here, are insightful storytellers - when they meet their people within the enterprise, when they talk in conferences, when they share teir ides in interviews in the media. I recall that I attended a conference in which I heard a very famous and senior Israeli executive of an international corporation delivering a lecture on Leadership. After he finished, he got down from the podium, and I approach to say hello and talk awhile. We know each other for years. Israel is a small country, as you all know. I said: "It was a great lecture, and you are a hell of a storyteller!". I was astonished by his response. He stared at me with a dry look in his eyes and said: "Me? a storyteller? Do you think I spend this time to tell people stories? you know I am running a business! you did not understand my lecture. It was on leadership, not telling stories!...". He turn his back to me ,and went away... What it is about stories? people like to hear stories - and in the business scene stories sometime function as nursery rhymes in difficult times or as encouraging efforts towards business challenges. Stories bear and carry unique and significant knowledge which cannot be accessed, possessed or learnt in any other way. This knowledge is sometime critic to the corporate success. So why executives deny their abilities as storytellers? Any way. back to my friend Tuvia. not many hours passed since we first raised the issue of Blogging. and he sent me an E-Mail with a link to his new blog. I remmembered that he asked me what to write about. I recall him telling me about meeting Imelda Markos few weeks ago. I urged him to share this story with his readers. Yesterday, we met again. Of course the blog issue was brought up. But, I felt that he is still not sure with this idea...I suggested him to raised his Pro and Con arguments in another post. And he did. So now, it is really interesting to see what will happen? will he continue posting? What can we do to raise the significance and the understanding of the use of stories in the business scene? So, what do you say?