After attending a session at a recent conference where I was speaking, a communicator was so enthusiastic about the prospects for a blog by her CEO that she immediately dashed off an email to him with her proposal. Her idea was well-thought-out and strategic. So she was deflated when the two-word response came back to her on her Blackberry:

“No time.”

This, in fact, seems to be one of the main reasons a lot of executives don’t take up blogging. There are a lot of legitimate reasons a CEO or other senior executive might choose to not blog. Lack of time isn’t one of them.

First, I would argue the opposite: If blogging is an appropriate tool and you’re the right person to do it, then you don’t have the time not to blog. I interviewed Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deconness Hospital in Boston, author of the blog, “Running a Hospital,” for my upcoming book “Tactical Transparency” (co-authored with John C. Havens). Levy expressed surprise that there are executives who reject blogging. ““Part of the job of a CEO is to explain your mission and actions to the public,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you use one of the greatest communication tools that exists to do that?”

(You can hear the entire interview here.)

I remember speaking to a CEO who told me his board has expressed concern over the amount of time they perceived he must be spending on his blog. His answer to them: He was spending no more time communicating today than he was before blogging. He had simply reallocated some of the time devoted to other communiation channels to the blog. The reason is the very same one Levy expressed: Blogging is a useful tool that didn’t exist 10 years ago. In some instances, it’s better than a phone call or conference call, better than a speech at an industry conference, better than an email missive.

There’s no doubt that senior company leaders are busy people. But, as Levy noted, communication is one of the things they’re supposed to be busy with. A CEO I once interviewed told me thought CEO should stand for “customers, employees, and owners,” the three audiences on which he needed to focus most of his attention. Blogs are ideal tools for reaching, certainly, the first two, and a growing number of companies see value in talking to investors and the financial community through blogs, too.

Blogs don’t replace phone calls, road shows, speeches, letters, email and the rest of the tools in the communications toolbox. When making the choice of tools to use, though, blogging should be assessed based on its strengths. Identifying the return on time invested an executive would accrue, that time commitment could seem like a far less daunting obstacle. Blogging, in fact, could ultimately take less time than using all the other channels that are less effective in some circumstances.

Finally, a lot of the worry about the time involved comes from a misconception: Blog posts from executives, many company leaders assume, need to be lengthy, carefully crafted essays, not unlike a shareholder’s letter or one of those “From the CEO” columns that used to appear on the inside front cover of so many magazines. Truthfully, most readers of blogs aren’t interested in 2,000-word columns. A one- or two-paragraph observation, question, or commentary would be far more effective. “A radio report I heard in the car on the way to the office this morning got me thinking…” is a fine introduction, and “I’d like to know what you think” is a great conclusion to a brief, pithy post.

Rather than accept the “no time” argument, let’s help our executives understand the value of blogging, the activities it can replace, and the nature of the effort involved.