I Write Letters to CEOs

I realized something scary a couple of years ago: Even if I live to be 100, I won’t have the time to pursue all of the ideas that I’ve scribbled into notebooks. That's why I decided to freely give away ideas for new products, marketing strategies and businesses. Well, almost freely. I own stock in dozens of companies and some of them may benefit from my ideas. If they win, I win. So, I mapped my ideas to my investments and drafted letters to their CEOs when I felt like I had enough to say.

Writing to a CEO is a curious thing. Executives travel a lot and many of them have assistants who screen their mail. Would my letters even be seen? Yes, it turns out.

Ian Cook, CEO of Colgate-Palmolive, wrote me a two-page letter that addressed my ideas point by point. Garry Ridge, CEO of The WD-40 Company sent me a handwritten letter and an autographed copy of his book. Gerald Shreiber, CEO of J&J Snack Foods (the maker of SuperPretzels) forwarded my ideas to his marketing leaders. Chris Killingstad, CEO of Tennant Company, sent me a cordial reply. I even received a letter back from Warren Buffett (yes, that one).

As thrilling as it was to find these letters in the mailbox, the real thrill was to discover the hidden lessons in the responses that I received:

I Don't Know Everything

I'm grateful that Ian Cook debunked many of my ideas by citing market research and Colgate-Palmolive's alternative strategies. (He did so in a kind and informative way.) It's no surprise that great companies often test and disprove ideas that sound good on paper. Thankfully, the letter that I wrote was friendly, not cocky. Acting like a know-it-all would have set me up to look like a fool.

Good Ideas Aren't Always Good Opportunities

Two executives sent me responses that praised my ideas, but said that the opportunity cost of implementing those ideas was too high. It's refreshing to see leaders who are focused and committed to pursuing what they believe are the best opportunities. I've worked for companies where the leaders were seduced by any smooth pitch or shiny thing. It never ended well.

Making Time for People Is Important

It's amazing that the leaders of multi-billion dollar companies responded to my letters. I'm not proud enough to believe that my letters were particularly special. Rather, I think the executives who responded to me are special leaders. The book that WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge sent me is about investing in people and making time for them. It's appropriately titled Helping People Win at Work.

Responsiveness Is Golden

For every CEO who wrote me back, two did not (even so, that's a great response rate!). Let's split these companies into two groups: respondents and non-respondents. From the time that I mailed my letters, the compound annual return of the respondent group is 8.97% greater than the non-respondent companies.

That's a huge difference that could mean millions of dollars in additional gains when projected over a lifetime! The sample size of this data is too small to be statistically valid, but I believe I witnessed something meaningful. Now, I look for companies whose leaders communicate well. Writing is thinking and executives who are clear in their words are likely to be clear in their thoughts.