It is probably rare in companies of any real size that the quotes in a press release, that involve the president or CEO, have actually been uttered by that person.

It is probably almost as rare that the release gets distributed with the quoted person actually having seen what he or she has supposedly said. So these quotes are often innocuous and irrelevant, and therefore not going to get anyone in trouble.

The problem is that these sorts of quotes are just about useless and can actually, in their useless glory,  cast the boss in a bad light. Consider quotes you see all the time that read something like this:

“We’re really excited to be working with Acme DooDads on this project,” says  Brand X CEO Bob Jones.

That sort of thing is suggesting to me that Bob has only the most fleeting awareness of the project, particularly since the  most insightful thing he can come up with is that he’s getting goosebumps.

When you are cooking up a quote from your boss, first of all make it sound like a quote. But more to the point, make it relevant, and something that advances the story. For example: “We know Acme DooDads weighed a lot of options before selecting Brand X,” says Bob Jones, the CEO of Brand X,  “and we’ll be working closely with Acme to ensure we’re helping them hit the business goals we all identified.”

That’s actually making a statement that Brand X came out ahead of a lot of competing companies, and the Brand X is less a vendor and more a partner.

Innocuous nothing quotes, on the other hand, are big red Stop signs that tell a reader, “OK, we’re done with the interesting stuff and we’re into the Blah Blah Blah. Time to move on.”

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