CEC Insider

“What’s the most resilient parasite?”  Moviegoers will recognize this question from Christopher Nolan’s recent psychological thriller, Inception, and respond, “An idea!”

Perhaps it’s indicative of a London summer turned dreary (yes, I know, I shouldn’t be surprised!), but living in Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard’s dream world for two hours in the Chelsea cinema this past Saturday was, I’m not ashamed to say, my weekend highlight.

Despite criticism that the film was either too complex or not deep enough, the fast-paced, action-packed drama was entertaining.  Nolan captivates his audience with a world in which it is possible to share dreams – that is, enter into another person’s dream while you are both sleeping – and steal deep secrets metaphorically locked in a safe or other secure location.   But extracting knowledge isn’t enough for the ambitious cast in Nolan’s film; instead the group is challenged to perform inception – to plant an idea in someone’s mind.

This is a particularly dangerous – some say impossible – task because, as one character explains, “the subject’s mind always knows the genesis of an idea.”  In other words, it is not enough to give someone an idea; for them to truly believe and act on it, they need to consider themselves the originator of that idea.

And here is where I can’t help but notice a link to Communications – we can no longer be successful if we solely focus on cascading our messages through channels to reach our audiences.  If the goal is for  stakeholders to act on our messages, we must find a way for them to feel they discovered these messages (and by consequence, discovered us). Read More »

In my life, I’ve known a few people who’ve struggled to overcome various personal demons (smokeables, drinkables, snortables).

In fact, I had a college roommate who was so heavily into the sauce that he regularly overslept his 4:00pm classes.  (A gifted baseball/softball player, I watched him play center field during one game in which I personally KNOW he was at least 3+ sheets to the wind—and wouldn’t ya know it, with the game on the line, the final play was a high fly to dead center.  As he was weaving to position himself under it, my other roommate shouted to him, “Earl! Just catch the middle ball!” Amazingly, he did.)

(BTW: How do you suppose he celebrated afterward?)

While I have concern and empathy for anyone struggling with a chemical addiction, I don’t feel like I have any kind of expertise to help people who are in that kind of mess.  Dr. Drew, I defer to you.

But just recently I’ve had two separate conversations with long-time friends, who’ve each told me, “I can no longer escape the fact that am ADDICTED to email/my Blackberry/iPhone/Facebook/Twitter.”  And since they know I’m a life-long communications professional, there’s some expectation that I should be able to help, somehow. Read More »

As I’m getting more and more “Out of Office” auto-messages from CEC members away on their summer vacations, I started thinking about my own upcoming trips and what books to bring along with me.  In the spirit of sharing, here are a few selections from my own summer reading list.  Some are business-related; another is personal; one is borrowed from What Salespeople Should Read This Summer; none are from the Twilight series. 

Please help contribute to What Communicators Should Read this Summer—what’s missing from my list? Or does anyone have opinions on the books listed below?

(1) Strengths Finder 2.0—Wouldn’t you like a list of your customized strengths?  And wouldn’t it be great to  find opportunities to leverage those strengths more often?  This book guides you through its philosophy that you should spend more time developing and enjoying what you’re good at—and less time “fixing” the things that are “wrong” with you.  To help you diagnose your natural aptitudes, the book has a handy online assessment, which—if you’re like me—you’ll quickly skip to FIRST and THEN go back and read about the philosophy/implications.  It could be helpful for Comms team members to each take the assessment and then reconvene to explore ways to animate different strengths across the team. It’s also helpful for some solo reflection time by the pool with a notebook in hand. Read More »

Sometimes you see something, and you just have to share it.  When I caught this movie trailer earlier today thanks to my favorite geek-friendly blog, Techland, that’s what I had to do. That’s also what this movie is all about—how the power of social networking and viral growth led to the meteoric rise of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg as a major media player.  It seems to me like it may be a “must-see” for corporate communicators this fall.

Communicators, I have to be honest and say that I really just wanted you to see this and don’t have much to add in terms of commentary beyond surprise that Justin Timberlake has a film career (did you know he was in Shrek the Third?) and mild interest in how many “likes” the trailer will get on Facebook.  It’ll be interesting to see if the movie will have the same sort of pull that the network itself did and if the PR team at Sony can harness those same emotional triggers to promote the film.  That brings me to our diversion for today:

If you were on Sony’s PR team for The Social Network, how would you promote it?

I love social media, I really do.  BUT sometimes I think about certain sites and wonder, “WHY in the world do people (read: me) do this??? It’s so creepy!”  Now, I say this a little tongue-in-cheek, but it’s shocking how much people are willing to sacrifice in terms of privacy for a little dose of pleasure.  You can see exactly what “friends” are doing via their Facebook wall, photo albums, and Twitter updates.  It’s a treasure trove for marketers and communicators because of all the personal insights it gives about stakeholders’ lives.  It’s also a jackpot for every stalker/burglar/psycho ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend out there trying to track down someone’s whereabouts (!).  It’s just plain creepy if you think about it.  I mean, is there no limit to the amount of information people are willing to share?  I recently read an article in the NYTimes about people posting photos of their food each time before they sat down to eat it.  Really???

So, with that said, here is my list of the Top 3 Creepiest Social Networking Tools.  Drumroll please…

#1: Foursquare

Foursquare is a mobile application that enables you to “check in” to a place when you’re there.  It then lets friends know where you are, tracks the history of where you’ve been, and sees who you’ve been with. Read More »

Whenever I need inspiration, I visit Big Think, a global forum that “put[s] you in contact with the ideas of very smart people.” There, I’ve watched short videos and read articles that prompt me to question my life assumptions; some of my favorites include Learning from Failure, Why You Can’t Work at Work, and Why You Can’t Get a Date. Apparently, there is a mathematical theorem that proves that dating in large cities is difficult and frustrating. Amen. It’s not just me .

One of the more interesting videos I’ve watched on Big Think is about “Unleashing the Creative Economic Revolution”. It’s an interview with Richard Florida, an academic and author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. Florida theorizes that the “creative class”—basically knowledge workers with an added dash of pizazz, flexibility, and creativity—is vital to the growth of society. He sees a lot of this “creative class” participating in science, technology, arts and entertainment, and film making design.

Now, most of you reading this post aren’t scientists, techies, or rock stars. You’re communicators. But, guess what? YOU, communicator, are part not merely part of this exciting “creative class,” but the potential leaders of it.  Hear me out. We need not all be Lady Gaga to be considered “creative.”  Simply approach your daily work with a fresh, open perspective, and  you’ll capitalize on opportunities to discover new talents, devise better solutions to tired problems, and help your business in the process.

Sound like a bunch of idealistic Millennial hogwash? Leading the “creative class” is a lot easier than you think; in fact, you’re already active in the “creative class” business. Here’s what you do EVERY SINGLE DAY to stamp your creativity all over your organization:

• You invent.
  You don’t employ traditional tactics to build your reputation and differentiate your brand. You think about your audience, goals, and available tools to create customized communication plans. For a cool innovation that we like, check out TheFordStory.com to see how they’ve invited customers to tell the company’s story.
• You consult.
  You solve strategic problems with creative communications solutions. We’re seeing more executive communicators report directly to the CEO, highlighting the importance of communication in achieving company goals. Moreover, CEOs are looking to you to determine fresh ways for them to engage with stakeholders. Check out the CEC Employee Communications Forum for creative ideas for executive virtual engagement.
• You enable. You help others express their creativity. I’ve been impressed by your efforts to help employees start blogging, Tweeting, and creating content. Inside the organization, you’ve been working hard to implement the internal collaboration tools necessary for employees to connect and engage with one another. If you haven’t yet seen the inner workings of Sabre’s internal platform, SabreTown, check it out on video today.

See? You’re creative! And cool. And a communicator. Rise up and take your place among the artists and filmmakers, the professionals who leave their personal mark on everything they produce! Rise up and take your rightful place as leaders of the “creative class.”

Done something especially creative in your work recently? We’d love to hear stories!

It’s May, and you know what that means—graduation season! Congrats, new grad! Now, what are you going to do with your life? If you’re thinking of a career in communications, be forewarned: your social-media savvy and ability to condense complex thoughts into 140 characters won’t be enough to stand out.

Yep, even toddlers are tweeting now. You, college grad, need to bring something else to the table to shine through in this ultra-competitive environment. But what?

Two critical things you need to be able to excel at as a communicator are:

1. Project management skills &
2. Listening skills.

You may be a master of these skills now, but some of you may need to work on them. Here’s a quick litmus test based on your college years: Read More »

By Lisa Schievelbein

Tuesday, April 27, 2010: 11:57 p.m.

The cursor blinks on a blank Word doc. I’m in my pajamas (note: *not* a onesie) on the couch, zonked from 14 high-adrenaline hours in the office, and trying to think of something good to blog about. And just like that, I have what any reasonable person might consider an epiphany.  In this moment, the only words that will do are these:

“Hi, my name is Lisa, and I’m a communicator.”
[Anyone who feels comfortable is welcome to respond with a little “Hi, Lisa.”]

At the risk of being too revelatory (but we’re in a safe space, yes?), I’ll just say it. I love to write. I need to write. In fact, I tend to forget to eat when I’m in a really good writing groove. And as a CEC researcher, I make much of my living by writing about…well…writing. (This is not unlike a diabetic owning a candy shop.)

So, here’s my conflict. Right now, I could make extremely quick work of this blog post. I could share some verbatim comments from a member conversation thread on CEC Discussions.  I could link to a Wide Angle post about a very cool social media webinar that MLC is hosting next week. (By the way, CEC members, you’re invited.) Hell, I could shoot fish in a barrel blindfolded by inviting PowerPoint haters to comment on this interesting NYT piece.

But I don’t want to. I want to write something new, fresh, clever, and ALL BY ME. There, I said it.

I trust this strikes a chord with many of you, my fellow night-owl writers. But there’s a reason why this post has a confessional tone. Writing too much (especially nocturnally) is a bad habit that we both have to break. Read More »

Springtime means new energy, new chances, and a fresh outlook.  I’m a sucker for spring cleaning—and pretty much any opportunity for a new start.  (Case-in-point: I was the Catholic school kid who actually looked forward to going to confession.)  Spring in DC especially brings out this tendency in me—the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the sun is finally shining after a very snowy and cold winter!

I think spring is also a great time for Communications to do a bit of cleaning and starting-over. To inspire your spring cleaning spree, I wanted to give you a few tips and ideas:

Spring Cleaning Checklist

• Clean out your list of projects. If you’re like many communicators, you have a habit of piling on activities and to-do’s without asking yourself, “Is this just clutter?  What’s the value of doing this?”  To strip out the inessentials, just copy this easy idea from PepsiCo.  Each year PepsiCo‘s Head of Communications challenges staff to fill out a worksheet with activities that they believe no longer merit Communications’ support.  This simple exercise has “turned off” ~15% of work volume for their function.  CEC members can access that worksheet here (page 15). Read More »

In retrospect, it seems pretty funny that social media’s permanence was debated in the not-so-distant past.  (“It’s a trend.” “This will all blow over.” “Make it stop.” Etc.)  It’s clear today that social media has created a paradigm shift in how people communicate—and consequently businesses as well. It’s important for Communications to evolve with the times, of course, and CEC has seen quite a few members make fantastic use of blogs, video, Twitter and wikis both internally and externally.  That said, I’m personally fascinated by the notion that communication behaviors originating in social media can create a ripple effect on in-person communication.  So why not get creative in adapting our in-person employee communications to better tap into the same motivators that draw people to social media?

In that spirit, here are 3 social media features that can be re-imagined for the “real world” of any employee—wired or not:

Read More »