The fire emanates from the leader

I love this quote from Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, on the importance of being involved in employee training. Bernie could just as easily have been talking about the importance of the founder blogging for his/her startup:

The most important thing to remember is that you must be actively involved in all of the training that goes on in your company. The fire of the entrepreneur is very difficult to translate down the line. Too often, CEOs hand over responsibility to people who may seem to represent them well on the surface but rarely do. By keeping a hand in the training process, you expose everybody, including your trainers, to your philosophies. In order to keep a company culture alive, you have to make sure it emanates from the leader.