Peter Merholz of Adaptive Path has a kick-ass essay on the importance of letting go:
The Web’s lesson is that we have to let go, to exert as little control as necessary. What are the fewest necessary rules that we can provide to shape the experience? Where do people, tools, and content come together? How do we let go in a way that’s meaningful and relevant to our business?
...Relinquishing control is a scary prospect because it diminishes certainty. With control comes predictable outcomes that you can bank on. But in this increasingly complex, messy, and option-filled world, we must acknowledge that our customers hold the reins. Attempts to control their experience will lead to abandonment for the less onerous alternative. What we can do is provide the best tools and content that they can fit into their lives, and their ways.
Blogs fit perfectly into this new, uncontrolled management model. People at all levels of an organization have the ability to speak directly to each other, to management, to customers and to competitors. No one's staying "on message," and a lot of dirty laundry is getting exposed. It's enough to give a traditional, top-down, command-and-control manager a heart attack.
But it's also a much more effective way of sharing information, of learning from customers and other stakeholders, and of engaging them in the organization's success. Perhaps a better understanding of the opportunities that are created by letting go will help organizations overcome their fear of blogging.