Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

Herman Cain

November 16th, 2011

Posted under General, Leadership, News, Strategic Communications & PR

Buying your way out of trouble rarely works.

Quite often when a spokesperson panics they try to “bully” their way through the china shop.

It’s a mistake, whether you are rampaging through Wedgewood plates or a phalanx of reporters. When you flail around like a madman, something’s going to get damaged, and it will most likely be your reputation.

Herman Cain is in panic mode, as evidenced by his naive assumption he can do or say whatever he wants face to face with journalists, and then simply fix it by futilely buying space on Google to prevent people who search his name from seeing information he’s desperate to hide.

Buying search results to divert people to the information you want them to see is like trying to drain the ocean. As soon as you pump out one bucket of dirty water, ten more gallons rush in to take its place.

During the week of November 7, 2011, presidential hopeful Herman Cain bought adwords from Google that would pop up when anyone searched the keywords, “Cain Sharon Bialek.” Bialek is one of the women accusing Cain of sexual harassment.

Cain was trying to GAME the system, and it worked, for about ten seconds mid-week, but the reality is that people doing Google searches look first to the “organic” search results, not paid advertising. Someone in the Cain camp naively thought the average person would blindly ignore everything being published about Cain in the mainstream news and in the center “organic” Google column.

Not only would the ad-buy have cost Cain a fortune, money which would have been better spent on his campaign promoting positive stories, but the ad-buy was also very short-lived.

Instead of trying to hide information, Cain should have dissipated the allegations as soon as they popped up. He could have told people about all the good he would do when he’s president, and issued statements like “Because of political correctness, Americans are so careful about what they say that our freedom of speech is in jeopardy. Twenty years ago I made the mistake of complimenting women on their appearance” – providing that’s all he did.

Cain instead acted like he was guilty and tried to hide what everyone was saying about him.

The link below will take you to a story on a New York Times blog, The Caucus, written by Jennifer Preston that explains in detail how Cain “bought” and tried to direct the masses to his version of the story published on the official Cain web site entitled, “Get the Truth About Herman Cain.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/cain-camp-turns-accuser-searches-to-their-benefit/

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Rick Perry and the Blank Mind

November 15th, 2011

Posted under General, Leadership, Speaking Industry, Strategic Communications & PR

Guest blog from Nick Morgan

Like many Americans, I was riveted by debater Rick Perry’s apparent brain freeze, as he attempted to talk about the three cabinet departments he would kill if elected president. As a speech coach, I sympathize, having seen clients do the same thing many times – and done it myself.

What I recommend is having a minimal set of notes as a safety net so that if your mind does go blank, you’ve got something to fall back on. Knowing that the safety net is there will usually help the brain relax and therefore avoid the problem in the first place. The presidential debaters get paper and pens; Rick should scribble down a few key ideas to help him relax and get through those endless Republican debates with no more flubs.

What really happened to Perry? We’ve all been there, when a combination of stress, fatigue, and lack of focus makes us forget that name, that date, or that trivia question. Adrenaline plays havoc with our normal waking mind, and in an effort to keep us alive, shuts down many of our ordinary cranial activities. We’re focused on getting ready to escape danger, not calmly detailing lists of 3 items.

That fight-or-flight response is something we’ve evolved to help us in crises; unfortunately the modern era is full of moments that invoke the adrenaline response but aren’t really suited to actual fighting or fleeing. (Neither of those two options was available to Rick on TV.) The result can be embarrassing – but usually not as embarrassing as Perry’s because the stakes are not as high.

Perry and his handlers came back gamely with an appearance on Letterman designed to push us all to laugh the whole thing off. Unfortunately, the net result will be to laugh the whole Rick Perry campaign off in the long run.

Here’s the truth. Perry’s campaign is over. He just doesn’t know it yet.

Why? Two reasons. First, this whole episode feeds the developing Perry narrative, that he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. That will kill his campaign no matter how much we are willing to laugh at a specific mistake, or how amusing the comeback attempt.

Second, most people’s perception of the presidency is that it’s serious business. You can’t self-deprecate your way to the White House. When it comes to pulling the voting lever, Americans opt for someone they think can actually handle the job.

But the Perry kerfuffle does raise a larger question: are debates a good way to test the mettle of a presidential candidate? After all, once you’re in the White House, it’s not about remembering stuff moment to moment – you’ve got aides for that.

I think the short answer is that, as Winston Churchill said of democracies, they’re the worst possible system – except for all the others. Highly imperfect, debates are nonetheless the only glimpse most of us get of presidential candidates in something approaching a real, unscripted moment. Hence their fascination – and the importance of moments like Rick Perry’s.

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Winning Teams Have Effective Core Leadership

November 9th, 2011

Posted under General, Leadership, The Olympics

Guest blog from Dr. Saul Miller

I was again reminded of this fact while working with three teams in Europe over the past month. It was clear that the level of core leadership on each team directly correlated with that team’s success.

Before my trip, I discussed this very point with team leaders at an Own The Podium Conference in preparation for Team Canada’s participation in the 2012 Olympics. I reminded them of that, while coaches and executives select talent and create a game plan, that’s clearly not enough. Some members of the rank and file (whether it’s players on the bench, or members of the management or sales team) must step up and lead their teammates by example.

Working with teams is always a fascinating learning experience. One of the major challenges of establishing core leadership on a team is inspiring the would-be leaders to exercise their “response-ability,” embrace the challenge, and model team-first behavior. This creates a success culture, one where talented people are excited and committed to performing at the highest level… and encouraging those around them to do so as well.

One winning NHL coach once said, “a team can win with a good coach and even in spite of a weak coach… however you need that core group of guys in the room to make it happen.”

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Touch The Ground Lightly. Embrace The Temporary. Say Yes To Impermanence And Portability

October 24th, 2011

Posted under General, Leadership

Guest blog from Mike Lipkin

If you have a body, you’re an athlete, says Nike. We’re all competitors in the game of life and 2011 has been an amazing race, but it’s almost over. It’s a sprint to the finish line. It’s also a sprint to the starting line of 2012 – The year of the London Olympics. That’s what I’m training for. I want to be higher, faster, stronger, lighter, fresher, edgier, newer, sharper, gutsier and nicer. I have to be. 2012 will demand a whole new level of execution. I believe it will be a breakout year. The winners of 2011 will be heading into 2012 with the FLAME – Focused, Lean, Adaptive, Magical, and Entrepreneurial. Magical means the ability to amaze customers with unprecedented functionality and joy, while entrepreneurial means the ability to create new possibilities out of anything – ahead of the competition.

I know I’ll be ready for the surprises, crises, cataclysms and shocks of 2012 on one condition: I have to let go of everything that doesn’t serve me anymore. I have to travel light. That’s the only way I’ll get to my goals, and that’s why I loved the article on the London Olympics in the September 23 issue of the Globe And Mail. It stated:

Never have the modern Olympics paid so much attention to the ideas of impermanence and portability. In a radical departure from the edifice complex that has blighted previous Summer Games, London 2012 is shaping up as the first Lego Olympics. ‘Touching the ground lightly’ is the phrase we use,” says Chris Jopson, a senior architect at Populous, the London firm that’s responsible for the overall design of the Olympic Park and its main stadium. The firm has a motto for building the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which begin on July 27 next year: “Embrace the temporary.”

Take the Olympic stadium. It is 75 per cent lighter than a typical stadium of its size, it was built of a new type of concrete that requires less carbon to manufacture, and its top deck is partly constructed of gas pipes left over from a failed pipeline project. Even more crucial, it comes apart, like a very large piece of Lego. During the Olympics and Paralympics, when it will be full to bursting for the athletics competitions and opening and closing ceremonies, it will hold 80,000 spectators. Afterwards, the top decks can be removed, down to 25,000 seats. It will probably end up at 55,000 seats, when its new tenant, West Ham football club, moves in after the Olympics.

LEGO. In my language, it’s short for letting go, taking apart, putting together, and connecting the blocks. It`s about Reducing, Repurposing, Reinventing, and Being Remarkable. It`s about being able to fast forward by acting now – knowing that failure leads to winning and winning requires more failure. It`s also about resilience and idealism in equal measure. The one is the bodyguard of the other. Everyone is enthusiastic at the start of the game, but it`s how they play to the end that counts. As Vince Lombardi said, fatigue makes cowards of us all. Trying to hold on to what`s past will ruin one’s future. There is only what works right here, right now. That’s why my new mantra is “Touch The Ground Lightly. Embrace The Temporary. Say Yes To Impermanence And Portability. “

What do you need to let go of? How can you be remarkable? What do you need to reduce, repurpose or reinvent? How are you building your resilience for a phenomenal 2012? What will it take to bring magic and joy to your colleagues and customers? I’m doing my best to answer these questions. That’s why I’m creating this message. And that’s why I’m recreating every assignment and every engagement for every client. If it’s not customized, crisp and fresh, it’s a waste of time. And that’s the ultimate sin where time is the resource we’re all competing for.

I hope the rest of 2011 is the best time of your life – why would you have it any other way? Choose to make it so. Be a model of what’s possible. Others will follow your lead while you follow theirs. It’s never too late if you begin now.

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Steve

October 6th, 2011

Posted under Digital Marketing, Innovative Thinking, Leadership, Marketing & Branding, News, Technology

Guest blog from Mitch Joel – President of Twist Image & author of Six Pixels of Separation

Original post can be found on Mitch’s blog here

Do you remember being in your teens and buying a ticket to a concert?

I was (and still am) a huge fan of music. My genre of choice is anything loud, hard and aggressive, but I’ve mellowed over the years and get as much joy out of jazz, classic rock and stuff in between. I can remember being in my early teens and hearing that a band that I loved was coming to town. First, I would wait weeks for the tickets to go on sale and then, after waiting in line for hours on end, I would post the ticket to a corkboard in my room and stare at the date for months until the band finally came to town. People often forget that a lot of the joy derived from the concert experience is actually in the waiting, anticipation and getting ready for the big day.

Do you remember the first time you ever saw a personal computer?

I grew up in a typical middle class environment. I was given everything I needed (and more) but not to excess and I was never spoiled. My parents worked very hard to give me and my three brothers the best life possible (funny enough, they still work hard and push us to create our best lives possible, to this very day). Instead of individual gifts for every occasion, the money was pooled together for something that we could all share. From the first versions of Pong and the Atari 2600 to our first personal computer: Atari 800. As technology advanced, we were one of the first families to own a PC (IBM clone) and when modems entered the market, I was right there busting the piggybank to get connected. Around the same time that I was deep diving into my first PC, two of my best friends got Apple Macintosh computers. Most people didn’t even know why anyone would need a computer in their home (this was the early days of the early adopters). True story: I once got into trouble at elementary school because I had written a book review on the computer and handed in a print-out from the dot matrix printer instead of writing it by hand. The teacher forced me to transcribe the printed page by hand on to loose leaf paper.

Old habits die hard.

I never really used Apple products much growing up and into my adult life. Don’t get me wrong, I have always been around Apple: I knew the brand, I knew the product lines, I could fumble my way through it, but since the early eighties, I was on a PC. During Christmas of last year, I changed everything. I decided to drop the BlackBerry and the PC laptops and switch to Apple only: iPhone, iPad and MacBook. I wanted to understand, feel and learn what it’s like to be completely uncomfortable with technology by causing disruption in my life. I even had a plan: I was going to start with my smartphone. I bought the iPhone on a Saturday morning and figured I would carry both devices around until I was comfortable with just the iPhone. Bad plan. By Saturday afternoon, my BlackBerry was in the drawer and I have not looked back since. Same with my computer. I traded in my Sony Vaio and Dell notebooks in for a MacBook Pro. Again, within hours, there was no looking back. Apple’s marvel was not in technology or design, it was in making technology through design a completely comfortable experience.

Recently…

Recently, I switched from my MacBook Pro to the new MacBook Air (13 inch). In case you didn’t know, I rarely mention brands, products or services, but my MacBook Air is such an amazing computer that I was actually considering writing a Blog post review of my laptop (and, as someone who changes their computer more times than I care to admit, that is really saying something). I love my MacBook Air so much, that I was recently telling both Julien Smith and Hugh McGuire that it is making me a better writer. I simply enjoy the writing process and experience on my new laptop so much more because of how great of a computer it is. Imagine that. In fact, I’ve been a huge advocate for the iPad, but since I’ve been working on my MacBook Air, there hasn’t really been a need to use the iPad as well.

Thanks, Steve.

I’ve been down about the news that Steve Jobs has resigned from Apple. As a business owner and entrepreneur, I know that the business will roll on and that Apple will continue to innovate and change how we use technology and media. I too marvel at everything that Apple has accomplished under Jobs’ command, but I’m more down about how somber and morbid both the news analysis and punditry is. Most of the media reads like an obituary. I’m down because I can’t imagine what it took for Jobs to write that letter of resignation. To be at the point where he feels like he can’t complete his daily duties. It’s sad. Not because the world needs more iPhones. It’s sad because I’m sure he still wants to go to work every day, to think about what his customers might not even know that they want and to push people (and himself) to create the future (or, as he says, “make a dent in the universe.”). Jobs is obviously focusing on a very serious personal fight for his health and it’s not hard to link his resignation with how tough of a battle his health is putting him through.

Thanks, Steve.

I don’t know about you, but it’s fun to be a grown adult, with a family of my own and to still get that feeling that I used to get when it was announced that one of my favorites rock bands was coming to town, but now it’s about the stuff that Apple is doing. It’s funny how life changes. The rock stars in my life are now people like Steve Jobs.

I’m cool with that.

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog

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