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I Write Letters to CEOs

johnwdefeo.com

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Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#111

Post by darkerside »

jacquesm wrote: post #108
bjelkeman-again wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being too busy is of course a legitimate reason. Without knowing why he declined it is silly to criticise it, I think.

Not too busy to send letters to the CEO. I never get this: you start a conversation and then when the other party engages you disengage. The CEO's response was about as good as you could wish for and would give an opportunity to influence the view of the company at the level where it matters. That's what you intend when you write to the CEO, you do that because they are the people that can make stuff happen, includin…

To be fair, I don't think the district manager would likely have been totally engaged in what he'd view as babysitting an irate customer. Now if Paul had also offered to accompany the tour, there you're getting meaningful engagement.

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#112

Post by jacquesm »

darkerside wrote: post #111
jacquesm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not too busy to send letters to the CEO. I never get this: you start a conversation and then when the other party engages you disengage. The CEO's response was about as good as you could wish for and would give an opportunity to influence the view of the company at the level where it matters. That's what you intend when you write to the CEO, you do that because they are the people that can make stuff happen, includin…

To be fair, I don't think the district manager would likely have been totally engaged in what he'd view as babysitting an irate customer. Now if Paul had also offered to accompany the tour, there you're getting meaningful engagement.

I don't know about that. If it was just to 'babysit an irate customer' that would be one thing, but there is a fair chance that the CEO would have required a debrief after the tour to get a handle on whether the letter writer had a point. A district manager's time isn't free and you don't throw away resources like that as if they are customer support.

Also: Paul may simply not have been the right person to be there because he's too far removed from the floor to make a meaningful contribution. Delegation to the right person in the org is the hallmark of a good manager.

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#113

Post by darkerside »

jakobegger wrote: post #100
afarrell wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In order to meaningfully answer this question, we need a much more well-articulated definition of "asshole". People's definitions vary widely. For example, suppose you see someone broadcast online about being very distressed about a problem and your response is to point them toward resources that might be useful to solve the problem -- some set of people would consider you an asshole for that pattern of behavior. Som…

Being an asshole has a lot more to do with the tone of the message than with the content. In my experience, most people will accept feedback if you do it in a respectful manner. You can tell someone they are underperforming without insulting them. Respect your employees. Even when you tell people to read the manual, you can do so in a way that doesn’t feel insulting. There’s a world of a difference between “RTFM!” an…

This is way more difficult in person than it is online in writing. And the fear of getting it wrong can increase with each time that you actually do get it wrong (leading to you replaying the event in your head, eg).

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#114

Post by zafka »

anoncoward111 wrote: post #24
ordinaryperson wrote: post #19

Years ago I wrote a letter to Paul Raines, then the CEO of Gamestop. Mainly I complained how terrible the store experience was. Whereas Apple stores feel like an avant-garde museum Gamestops feel like the inside of a Chuck E. Cheese circa 1987 -- games everywhere, no real organization, no marketing of individual titles or genres, it's just grabbag nonsense of plastic container after plastic container. Days after I se…

this is an incredible story and has personally made an impact on me i didn't know paul before he died (on my birthday even), but because of your comment, i researched his story i work in sales, so rejection and silence are very frequent. it is rare for anyone to connect through writing or through voice, and quite often i feel like nobody desires to brainstorm and have fun thinking about ideas in a low pressure enviro…

Your username caught my eye. Anon or a non ? Regards, Jim

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#115

Post by shubb »

zafka wrote: post #114
anoncoward111 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is an incredible story and has personally made an impact on me i didn't know paul before he died (on my birthday even), but because of your comment, i researched his story i work in sales, so rejection and silence are very frequent. it is rare for anyone to connect through writing or through voice, and quite often i feel like nobody desires to brainstorm and have fun thinking about ideas in a low pressure enviro…

Your username caught my eye. Anon or a non ? Regards, Jim

If you don't want your name next to a coment on theregister.co.uk, you get that username

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#116

Post by jccalhoun »

Orangeair wrote: post #20
winter_blue wrote: post #7

How do some of these CEOs have the time to respond so throughly to random letters? Is it possible that someone is ghostwriting for them?

I believe that they're actually responding. Gabe Newell (the CEO of Valve) is worth billions[1], and has been known to respond to emails personally[2]. [1] https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-is-worth-55-billion-acco... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2keaco/i_sent...

About 15 years ago I emailed Gabe Newell about something and got a response. It was just "Thanks, I forwarded this to someone in department x" and then the person in that department helped me but it was still cool to get that single sentence back.

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#117

Post by mkirklions »

mysterypie wrote: post #63
groby_b wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The time cost for CEOs to respond to your letters is likely zero - they've got staff to handle that. And so replies are really a proxy for "how deeply does the company care about its customers"

> they've got staff to handle that The author is certain that the CEOs responded personally. He says, "[CEO] wrote me a two-page letter that addressed my ideas point by point", "[CEO] sent me a handwritten letter", and "[CEO] forwarded my ideas to his marketing leaders".

The CEO might dictate it and sign it, but I dont think they are writing.

I try my best not to write anymore, I have interns that can do this. I need to be putting my resources to my expertise, coding.

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#118

Post by simias »

jacquesm wrote: post #108
bjelkeman-again wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being too busy is of course a legitimate reason. Without knowing why he declined it is silly to criticise it, I think.

Not too busy to send letters to the CEO. I never get this: you start a conversation and then when the other party engages you disengage. The CEO's response was about as good as you could wish for and would give an opportunity to influence the view of the company at the level where it matters. That's what you intend when you write to the CEO, you do that because they are the people that can make stuff happen, includin…

It's one thing to complain about poor service, it's an other to brainstorm with district manager to improve the location. It's hard to know exactly what was being proposed without more details but the way it's described by the parent I think I would've refused as well unless I had a genuine curiosity to visit a videogame store with a backstage pass.

I mean it's a bit as if you complained in a restaurant that the food was bad and they proposed that you visited the kitchen and told them what you'd do differently. I don't want to do that, actually I'm probably not even qualified to do that and if I was I probably wouldn't do it for free.

It's very kind and considerate for the CEO to take time to schedule something like that but I don't find it weird at all that he declined the offer.

Re: I Write Letters to CEOs

#120

Post by exelius »

rmason wrote: post #62

My late father had great success in writing CEO's and receiving a direct reply. But I think times have changed because I've done it a few times and never had any luck. There's a local automotive specialty repair chain in Michigan. My family has always done business with them. When they opened their first store which was in Detroit my grandfather took a picture of all the cars lined up. They were giving away two gallo…

I’ve had great success with e-mailing CEOs. I have engaged in (respectful) debates with them, and on more than one occasion they have come around to my point of view enough to actually implement changes at their companies.

Most CEOs are actually dying to know what their customers think of them. The hardest part of being a CEO at a major company is getting honest feedback without someone blowing smoke up your ass, so most good CEOs will make time to read direct feedback. Customers rarely have a political agenda the way a CEOs direct reports might.

That’s why I think these companies perform better. A responsive CEO is more interested in hearing the unfiltered voice of the customer. That’s a mindset that carries through to all parts of the business.

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