Is your CEO a cowardly executive officer?

One CEO is talking about the fiscal cliff. One CEO is taking about trade policy. One CEO is talking about the economic issues of our time.

I had to confess to UPS speechwriter Bill Smith the other day that I was embarrassed to be printing another of his boss Scott Davis’s speeches in Vital Speeches.

But what else am I supposed to do? I want to the corporate sector’s point of view on the issues of our time represented. And at the moment, Davis is the only corporate CEO who is constently representin’.

I called Smith and asked him why Davis feels compelled, when no one else seems to, to stick his neck out on these issues. I could hear Smith shrug. Davis just thinks these issues are important: to the country, to the global economy and thus, to UPS’s business.

Perhaps Davis has more faith than other CEOs in the power of speeches to affect public opinion and move policy makers.

So maybe I ought to ask speechwriters who write for CEOs who aren’t talking about the issues of our time: Why not? —DM