Bob Lutz, as you might expect, is a busy guy. He’s the vice chairman of General Motors, and the top executive focused on cars. He’s also a blogger, but every now and then, the demands of the job preclude his taking the time to contribute to Fastlane. During a recent absence, several critics assumed he was blogged out, blogfading, that he’d lost interest.

Lutz put those assertions to rest in his recent post, a terrific example of an executive engaging in the conversation:

The tone of some of the comments posted lately ??? that Bob is bored with blogging, that the GM blog is a failure, that management feels the blog has backfired, that GM is pulling out of the blog business ??? has been, frankly, bordering on ridiculous…In short, I am not bored with blogging, far from it. And I???m not going to let the comments of an extreme subset turn me off to it, either. I will continue to do it, whenever I can, and as long as it seems people want to read it. And by the way, GM thinks its blogs are a success, too, and will forge ahead with all of them and more.

Engaging in the conversation doesn’t necessarily mean being concilatory. If you think someone has said something “ridiculous,” there’s nothing wrong with saying so. Conversations are messy, something Lutz seems to understand better than most executive bloggers. While many executives wring their hands and worry what to do when the conversations takes a nasty turn, Lutz has no such concerns. He just tells them what he’d tell them in person. What could be more authentic?

I’m not alone in my praise. Over at AutoBlog, the editors write, “we applaud Lutz for addressing and brushing them off his thickly skinned back. Remember Bob, they comment because they care so much.”