Northern Trust communicators turn CEO into chief blogger

How and why communicators convinced their CEO to start an internal blog

It began with the same issue many executive communications departments face today: Employees wanted more access to executives.

“We did an internal communications audit and through that employees stated they wanted to hear more from senior executives,” said Diane Treuthart, VP and director of internal and corporate communications for Northern Trust. “They also wanted to hear more about the bigger picture, the strategy and how their jobs related to key issues.”

But this seemingly typical situation took an atypical and innovative turn—communicators at Northern Trust asked CEO Rick Waddell to start blogging with employees … and he said yes.

“Based on the results of the communications audit and employees’ identified desire for a two-way dialogue with senior management, [corporate communications chief] Kelly Mannard suggested the blog to Rick,” Treuthart said. “He was excited about connecting to employees in an innovative and inviting way.”

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