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Vol. 69: Blog me a river …and start now!

Blogging is the cornerstone of your Social Media strategy

Online product displays are fine; but how are you really making a connection?

“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.– Lee Iacocca

When I visit the websites of many of my Bay Area clients, I often find broad product offerings and detailed product specifications, accompanied by routine background and contact information … but rarely do I find a blog with which the company communicates with its customers.

Social media has exploded

The world of social media has blown the doors off traditional means of communicating with customers and employees. YouTube is now receiving more than one hour of recorded video for each minute on the clock – with over 2 billion page views – and it just celebrated only its fifth anniversary. In just over six years, Facebook has garnered more than 400 million subscribers and continues to grow.

With powerful social media tools like these, as well as LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, Digg, del.icio.us, Buzz, etc., most middle-market companies are overwhelmed by the choices. But most of them are not moving fast enough because – be dead sure of this – these tools, advancing at an increasingly faster pace every day, are here to stay and flourish. If you’re not part of that conversation, (more…)

Vol. 68: The Keys to an Apology

Integrity, vulnerability and humility: keys to an apology

“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.” — Ezra Taft Benson

I was ready to return to our series on strategic finance after my last column about the integrity of umpire Jim Joyce and the accountability of BP… until I read a comment in the Washington Post by Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University.

Citing Henry Ford’s infamous quote, “Never complain, never explain,” as the preferred way for business leaders to deal with disasters like the Gulf oil spill took me by surprise.

BP is the poster child for a failed apology

In appearing to criticize BP’s CEO Tony Hayward for apologizing for BP’s actions, Mr. Pfeffer extols the value of being on the “winning side,” that people respect strength and diffidence does not convey winning or power. Research in social psychology, he continues, “shows that acting embarrassed or remorseful conveys less power and results in less favorable impressions than acting angry.”

In the context of BP’s PR debacle, those comments seem wildly misplaced. Does Mr. Pfeffer think BP would have won our hearts and minds by taking no responsibility, “never explaining,” and that he should have acted like he was angry that people blamed BP for this unexpected accident? I can’t imagine worse advice than if I recommended that you chase down every meal with a quart of engine oil.

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Why are you in business?

Everyone knows WHAT they're doing ... no exceptions ... and most know HOW they're doing it ... but few know WHY they're doing it! Simon Sinek argues that people make…

Happy Birthday, America!

Today is usually a day for hot dogs, parades and festive celebrations of the birth of this wonderful nation we inhabit.

In that spirit, I’d like to dedicate this holiday to a dear family friend, Cpt. Kevin Mott, an Army Ranger who was badly wounded in Afghanistan this week and is returning to the U.S. for treatment. Our hearts and prayers are with him and his family for a rapid and full recovery.

Another day, we can debate the wisdom of our foreign policy and the wars in which we’re currently engaged … but today, I’d like to pay tribute to Kevin and the men and women with whom he serves. We stand straighter because of their bravery and commitment and shed tears for their innocence and selflessness as they put themselves in harms way for the country to which they give so much and from which they ask so little.

They aren’t encamped on a comfortable bar stool celebrating Independence Day. They’re carrying out their mission in the unforgiving terrain of the Korengal Valley and Kunar Province of Afghanistan, without electricity, plumbing or running water, (more…)