CEC Insider

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 »

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 »

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.

Read More »

Last week, I learned a firsthand (and inadvertent) lesson about the new rules of media relations.  Here’s the story timeline:

• Washington DC has a series of blizzards across the week, leaving behind more than 50 inches of snow.
• Mid-blizzard, CEB (parent company of CEC) sends out an email stating that the office would be open regular hours, but to let your manager know if you were unable to come in.
• I laugh in disbelief.
• In aforementioned state of disbelief, I sign on to my personal Twitter account and tweet about it.
• Thursday morning I wake up to find that my seemingly personal and innocuous tweet has been cited in the Washington Post (PRINT AND ONLINE VERSIONS) with the context below—my own emphasis added:

Some Washington businesses that urged employees’ attendance have been getting pounded on washingtonpost.com and Twitter. Employees of Rosslyn-based Corporate Executive Board expressed exasperation that their office was initially open: “bec54″ wrote, “Boycotting CEB’s decision to stay open today by sitting on the couch in my fleece onesie. This snow is INSANE.”

[INSERT PANIC]  Pounded!?!  My fleece ONESIE?!?!  NOOOOooooo! Read More »

It may say something about me (the voyeur/research geek) that I’ve been eagerly awaiting the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer results to see how the recession has impacted trust in business. I have to admit, I was surprised at how quickly trust seems to be bouncing back from the gutter that was 2009 (caveat: 70% of respondents think companies will go back to “business as usual” once conditions improve). For Comms, the most important finding may be the last one, focused on how companies can really earn that trust.  Long story short: engage with everyone, all the time.

This conclusion would probably bring even the most superhuman communicators to their knees. Something has got to give. In my humble opinion, Comms needs to stop trying to push more messages into more channels in an outdated hub-and-spoke model.  Instead, Comms needs to motivate stakeholders to share information about the company with their peers. This not only makes universal, 24/7 engagement more physically possible; it also happens to be a more effective way to generate trust and support for your organization. Read More »

Like most political junkies, I spent last Tuesday night following the returns of the Massachusetts “special election.”  Among hundreds of potential reasons for the upset cited, many pointed to Scott Brown’s effective use of social media.  This significant event in the application of social media to politics followed a more symbolic event the day before.  On January 18^th, 2010, Barack Obama sent his first tweet. (I found this shocking because I would have put the over/under on his total tweets at around 100, but this was the first from the President himself.)

These developments reminded me of three recent member conversations on the following question:  Will social media erode the line between traditional lobbying and public relations?   I won’t predict the future, but I’ve seen enough smoke lately from some very credible parties to suggest the potential for a significant fire.    Read More »

I hate TV commercials. When we first got a DVR (greatest feature = the “skip ahead 30 seconds” button), I vowed to reduce my intake of commercials by 100%. Nothing gives me more giddy joy than watching a full hour of American Idol in 42 minutes. I feel like I’m getting away with something (gotta say, I do love that feeling!).

But despite my heavy-handed imposition of a “zero tolerance policy” at home, a few TV commercials do slip in from time-to-time (mostly when another family member is commanding the remote). Good thing, actually. Cause one I have seen recently is the new Domino’s Pizza ad campaign. Have you seen it?

Essentially, their message covers five points:

• We’ve been asking you what you think of our product.
• You say it sucks (crust like cardboard, sauce like ketchup).
• And you know what? We agree.
• So, we’ve used your input to reinvent our product. Thank you.
• We hope you like the changes. Again, thank you.

What Domino’s is communicating, (in the most publicly naked way ever!) is a magical quality that virtually all of the world’s great companies share. Humility. Read More »

Around this time every year, I get a bit obsessed about one thing: what is the biggest challenge that communicators are wrestling with right now? As Ev mentioned last week, our members have a lot of interest in new media, and they’re especially keen to discuss its impact on traditional PR. There’s one big question underlying these conversations: Is this just an adjustment period or a fundamental shift? There’s definitely evidence on both sides, but I’m currently inclined to think (to paraphrase REM), it could well be the end of the world as we know it.

In this blog, I’ll be looking to share some of the more interesting material we’re discovering in our research process. On that note, I saw some analogous lessons for PR in this HBR blog post about the eroding value of traditional networking (vs. social networking). Here are two important points: Read More »