Among the few things I remember from Philosophy 201 is the quote from the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne: “It is good to rub and polish one’s brain against those of others.”

But for most of us grown-ups (personally, despite my advanced age I still feel compelled to add italics when thinking of myself that way), our days are spent in a mode of relentless multi-tasking—constantly putting out three fires at once, but hardly ever thinking.  How sad is it to be absent-mindedly checking your Blackberry while another person is standing there in the room trying to talk to you?  But we’ve all done it.

OK, constant distraction probably won’t kill you (smashing into a tree “texting while driving” being one notable exception), but to lead a truly satisfying life, it’s important for all of us to occasionally slow down and make the time to THINK.  To have a “spa day” to polish your brain.

That’s why this is one of our favorite times of the year at CEC—because we’ve just now opened up registration for our 2010 executive meeting series, Influencing Stakeholders in a Networked Environment. Read More »

According to Time, the best single guarantee of sales success—of any sort—is to get yourself booked on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Communicators will tend to agree, as they’ve spent years building relationships with their own Oprahs: journalists, industry experts, you name it. This approach made total sense in the old world of communication.   But I’m increasingly convinced that it’s not that cut and dry in today’s communication environment. Here’s why:

We live in a highly networked information environment—audiences can now seek out multiple opinions at the touch of a button before they make their own mind up, and they’re increasingly likely to believe “someone like them.”  Both trends we’ve seen for a few years in the Edelman Trust data.

In the past, our job has been to make sure the top of the communication hierarchy gets the right information.  In a network you can’t stop there—it’s all about enabling information “flows”—and that appears to have a whole different set of rules. Read More »

By Evelyn Ostrovsky 

What do cupcakes, the American Red Cross, and best practices have in common? Clever ways to encourage participation, of course.

A few weeks ago, we were lucky to have Wendy Harman, the Red Cross’s Social Media Manager, join a CEC webinar on innovative approaches to social media. At the event, Wendy shared some great stories about how the organization overcame a “crippling fear” of social media and learned to motivate supporters to spread the Red Cross’s message through their personal social networks.

(At this point, you might be asking, “So where do cupcakes figure in to this equation?” Well, they were our small way of saying thanks to the lovely Wendy—and perhaps of motivating other communicators to participate in a future CEC panel!  Ahem.)

Admittedly, there are (allegedly) better ways than the “cupcake method” to motivate people to support your company.  The Red Cross provides a great example of these techniques, which I think are highly transferable across all types of organizations. Read More »

By Lisa Schievelbein

Deep down, every communicator is a voyeur.

 How do I know?  For the last few months, Kayleigh and I have been analyzing the organizational design of CEC member teams, and let me tell you—communicators just love peeking at org charts. They have different reasons for this, but I think one is particularly powerful: a hope that some formula for success can be found in the neat boxes and lines on a PowerPoint slide.  (As you can imagine, the let-down factor is inevitable.)
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Free Willy was one of my all-time favorite childhood movies. In addition to a love for MJ’s classic song “Will You Be There,” this movie established my lifelong dream to swim with the orcas.  Willy was anything but “Killer,” and it’s hard to believe “Shamu” would be either.

I’ve been following the story of the recent tragic death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau—both due to my personal interest in the relationships between humans and animals in captivity, and my professional interest in how SeaWorld would respond to this crisis situation.  As a curious millennial, the first thing I did was log on to the SeaWorld website to see what they had to say about the incident.

Day 1 after the incident, I visit the SeaWorld press room—nothing.
Day 2, I try the press room again—still nothing.
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Economics writer Tim Harford wrote an interesting opinion piece in the Financial Times last week, urging readers to “Listen to the bearers of bad news.”  Though politicians were the primary examples, the piece’s fundamental message—“any leader needs frank advice, and the biggest obstacle to receiving it is often the leader himself”—applies equally to business. Harford says as much, citing the reality television show Undercover Boss.

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