Scott Stevener (Corporate Research Team Lead, Monsanto)

By Rebecca Canan

Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs personality test?  (If not, here’s a link to a free mini-version)  What personality type are you?

A couple years ago, we looked at various personality types and which are suited to which type of profession.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the combinations who were likely drawn to Communications included:

• ESFP (Extroverted Sensing, Aided by Feeling)
• ENFP (Extroverted Intuitive, Aided by Feeling)

One great excerpt about ESFPs: “ [Do] not generally enjoy the world of business, especially the corporate world…they often enjoy public relations.”  Or this one about ENFPs: “ Conventional business world is usually not appealing to ENFPs because they dislike excessive rules, regulations, or standard operating procedures.”

Hmm, sound at all familiar?  Maybe like you or your team members?

Now, this isn’t to say that we can’t come up with processes, rules, and data-driven approaches…it’s just not what we prefer to do.  It’s more natural to go on instinct, gut feel, or our inherent creativity.   That said, many of our business partners demand more data and analytics when it comes to our Communications activities and our value to the organization.  Wouldn’t it be great if someone could teach us how to apply data in a smarter way within Communications?  And tell us a story about how it’s actually worked?

Please join us on August 12th for a conversation with Scott Stevener, Corporate Research Team Lead at Monsanto.  Along with Linda Locke (former SVP at MasterCard) and Karin Kane (from Evolve24), Scott will share his experiences using a stakeholder-centric media monitoring system that has enabled his team to more proactively manage Monsanto’s reputation…and more accurately predict (with data! gasp!) how a given stakeholder group will receive and behave in response to company messages.  See below for a preview of Scott’s story in a quick Q&A.  And CEC members, please join us on August 12th!

Rebecca (CEC): How has Monsanto reaped the rewards of its different in kind monitoring approach?

Scott: Using a stakeholder-centric monitoring model has helped us understand the impact media activities have on reputation; to quickly plan and make adjustments based on real data – not just gut feelings; which improves our ability to set expectations and resourcing needs.

Rebecca: Where do you see a lot of companies getting this “wrong” or missing out on some of the benefits?

Scott: I think the biggest thing that companies not using a stakeholder-centric monitoring model are missing is the ability to see how a company, topic or idea is positioned to each stakeholder group.  If you look at all stakeholder groups combined you’ll get a feeling of the general thinking and a general idea of what needs attention.  However, if you break the information out by stakeholder group you get a very clear picture of which specific ideas or reputation areas need to be addressed and where.

Rebecca: What was the biggest surprise as you got started with this technique?

Scott: The biggest surprise we saw when we started using a stakeholder-centric monitoring model was the uniqueness of the various stakeholder groups.  It became clear very quickly that some of the “good news” we were telling the world was received as good news by only a small segment of our overall audience, having very little impact on the majority and was actually frustrating some of our most important stakeholders.

The other big surprise was realizing a latent demand for information.  Once word got out about what we were doing, the requests came pouring in from all over the place.

Rebecca: Very interesting.  To wrap up, can you tell us one fun fact about yourself and/or background?

Scott: I’ve run a mile in 4 minutes and 6 seconds. I was a four year letterman in track and cross country at Missouri State University (Division 1).

(Rebecca: Wow.)