My Best CEOs Use Email and Rarely Text

I’ve been serving CEOs as a consultant since the early 2000s. Here’s one truth I can hang my hat on: they are skilled at crafting effective emails. That includes blue-collar owners who likely struggled with their writing and grammar in high school.

Those who hate email might think, “Well, CEOs in bigger companies are more likely to use email.” I find zero correlation with that opinion.

I’ll be transparent by stating I prefer email over texting because I view it as being far more professional. But let’s check in on three CEOs I admire and respect and see if they agree.

Bill Apologizes When He’s Late in Responding to Email

Bill is the most outstanding CEO I’ve ever served. About fifteen years ago, I helped him reveal the core values in his trading business: have fun, never make excuses, and go the extra mile.

Not only do his team members live that way, but so does Bill. And it shows in his email practices.

Bill started his business from a bedroom office, and now he’s a $100 million brand, and he’s having a ton of fun.

And just because he’s a prominent business person, it doesn’t give him a big head. He’s swamped and spends a considerable amount of time on the phone, as that’s his business. You see, he’s the top dog in his company by matching buyers and sellers in his industry. I used to track his call logs in Tableau monthly, and phone and cell providers think, “Oh no, here comes Bill again.”

Yet, Bill responds to every Email he receives promptly, and sometimes at night. He even apologizes if it takes him more than an hour to respond to an Email.

Questions for those who prefer texting:

1. Why does Bill prefer emailing over texting? You’ll need to guess.
2. Do you think Bill would be more effective in his communications if he used texting for his internal and external communications? Why?
3. If you love to text, what advice would you give Bill? Remember, this guy is successful. He’s created multiple millionaires in his company, his staff loves him, and so do his bankers. Oh, and so do vendors and customers.

Shawn Can’t Only Write Great Email Messages, But He also Wrote a Book Too

When I took on Shawn as a client, I noticed he was a great writer. I knew that because he’d write long emails, whether they were ones he initiated or those he responded to. And these were not overly wordy. Every word counted.

I’ve never asked him, but I think he’d provide a funny response if I told him, “No more emailing. Instead, you need to text everything you’d write.”

Like Bill, he responds to every email he receives. I wouldn’t be surprised if he responds to more than 100 messages daily. He became more efficient by hiring a virtual assistant to respond to every message, except those explicitly flagged for him.

Is he similar to Bill in that he responds to every message within one hour? Not always, but I’ll always receive a response within 24 hours.

Shawn may not realize this, but he’s showing professionalism, respect, and care when he uses email. Email causes him to think before he hits the send button. That’s why his writing is so good.

Due to these email practices, I created a website for him under his name, which was available. I’d then give him questions to answer, and those became his blog articles. A few years later, his blog posts were compiled into a book, for which I wrote the foreword.

I’m not saying you’ll become a best-selling author if you use email, but several skills will be elevated in the process:

1. Because thinking precedes writing, your ability to convey clarity of thought will grow. I’ve never witnessed a growing and profitable business flourish without goal clarity, which begins with thoughts and continues with the written word.
2. Writing is hard. It’s hard for best-selling authors. But the email editor is designed for editing, deleting, and recomposing. Show me a lazy CEO, and I’ll show you a CEO who does not write. I can’t prove this, but my theory is that great CEOs have strong writing skills and are not afraid to work at writing.
3. Similar to the first item, writing is clear thinking on the digital email editor. For one day, try writing down all of your great ideas in a journal. You’ll find that many are not that good. Writing fleshes out the bad ideas while retaining the good ones. That’s the power of writing, even if it’s in a few sentences when responding to an employee’s email question.

Scott Also Responds to Every Email Too

While Bill is the most successful CEO I’ve ever served, Scott is my favorite. And I can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps we’re kindred spirits, sharing a taste for good books, similar interests in investments, and a common understanding of what constitutes phenomenal customer service.

Scott is in the retail business, so many of his emails are to/from staff members and vendors. Like Bill and Shawn above, Scott responds to every message he receives, even when he’s skiing the slopes in Colorado and on weekends.

Scott views emailing as a form of respect and a demonstration of professionalism. I’m more likely to receive a text from Scott than the other two. But when I do, it’s always personal. Interesting.

In case you are curious, here are Scott’s email practices:

1. He responds quickly. If he’s late, he apologizes.
2. My favorite is that he responds to everything (more on that below).
3. Not every message is long, only if it needs to be.

I wish email had a like button or something similar to a “Mark, I’ve got it.” I always do because I sense the loop is not closed until that response is made. Email experts call this hogging up another person’s inbox. Instead, I call this respect for the other person. I think Scott does too.

Scott is probably the best at closing the loop on every email. Even if he does not need to respond, he’ll finish the thread with a thank-you message or a ‘got it.’ I always appreciate that.

Three Simple Reasons to Email Instead of Text

If you decide you hate Email and will continue to text, why? Laziness? Is it easier for you? You think it’s easier than email?

Here are the reasons I choose email over texting. I love my phone, and I like the apps I have on it. But I also value the power of email when working with CEOs who want to build a transformational enterprise.

1. Email is stronger with search capabilities for past messages.
2. Email allows me to attach files or critical links to others easily.
3. Obviously, the written editor has more functionality.
4. Typing on a keyboard is easier than using my fat fingers on a phone.
5. As mentioned earlier, emailing is better for thinking.

For those who love to text, I just handed text lovers great arguments on why not to use email. Texting is faster. It probably is. I’ve served more than 130 CEOs since the early 2000s. I’m not sure they would agree with you.

My advice to those who love to text is to try using email for three weeks. Develop a habit. Without developing a habit, you’ll never know why one form of communication is better than the other.

Revisiting the Purpose of a Business

The number one job of a business is to create a customer and to keep that customer, and as Bill would say, by going the extra mile for them while having a lot of fun in the process. Agree, 100%.

If that’s a true statement, the way we communicate is a critical process in achieving that purpose. We can either adopt a country club style of communication or be a bit more rigorous without being bureaucratic, which is the approach taken via email.

If you are a texter, find ten other CEOs you look up to. What communications tool do they use? Why?

Texting is fine with family and friends, but don’t underestimate the power and extended positive consequences for you and the entire team when you opt for email instead.