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Archives for June 2011

The Four Principles of Sustainability

OK quick survey: who here’s an Elvis fan?  Really? Wow, that’s more than I expected!

Still, you’ll notice my hand didn’t go up.  That’s because I’m not a fan .. not that I dislike the music, it’s just not me.  However I came across an interesting sustainability blog which brought Elvis to mind the other day.

The blog is about sustainability in the meetings industry, and is called Less Conversation, More Action.  Yes, rather witty that, and I do like the turtle-and-rocket image they use.

However what really grabbed me about the blog was a post about the four sustainability principles of the Sweden based organisation The Natural Step.

So off I scurried to The Natural Step’s website, and this is what I found…

[Read more…] about The Four Principles of Sustainability

The Apple Brand Just Keeps Growing

Who would have thought 10 years ago that Apple would be worth more than Microsoft and Intel combined (not many based on an article on The Register)? It happened last week, and won’t change soon based on Steve Jobs’ announcement yesterday about the new Apple iCloud service which ties Apple customers even closer to the brand for the long-haul.

So how did Apple do it? How did a brand that catered strictly to designers move from a niche brand to a global powerhouse?

I think there are three key parts to the answer to that question:

1. Innovation

Let’s face it. Over the past decade, the Apple brand has been all about launching innovative products that meet the needs of changing consumer lifestyles (or become catalysts for changing consumer lifestyles). Remember when Bill Gates said he envisioned a day when everyone would have a computer on their desks? That’s exactly the kind of thinking Apple has done over the past decade. The brand moved from being all about designers’ cliques to being the brand that catapulted the mobile market from phone calls to — everything!

2. Complacency

Let me make something clear. I want Microsoft to succeed. I want to see the innovation the company was known for 20 years ago back in the game. However, this is a brand that got complacent — a common trap for the market leader and pioneer. In the article from The Register that I reference at the beginning of this post, writer Rik Myslewski offers a quote from Bill Gates that demonstrates the beginning of Microsoft’s period of complacency that they’re regretting today. Rik wrote, “Then there’s the quote from a recently unearthed unpublished 1998 interview with Bill Gates that MacDailyNews reminded us of on Friday: ‘What I can’t figure out is why [Steve Jobs] is even trying [to be the CEO of Apple]?’ Gates said. ‘He knows he can’t win.'”

3. Change

Consumers a decade ago were very different from consumers today. Microsoft made the mistake of thinking what they’d been doing would continue to work for years to come. On the other hand, Apple looked for ways to change products, to change markets, to change consumers, and to change the game.

To sum this all up in a sentence: Innovative Apple stole the title of “Game-Changer” from complacent Microsoft over the past 10 years. It’s Microsoft’s time to make a play that puts the brand back into the game and into a position to regain its leadership position. The question is whether or not the company can do it under its current leadership. What do you think?

I’m rooting for you Microsoft. It’s time for a comeback before the clock runs out!

Image: Flickr

Systems Thinking: No Man is an Island

On Wednesday evening, I saw a play (in the world’s oldest surviving music hall) about the revolution of thought in the 16th century: that we are not at the centre of the universe, but merely a part of it.

This inversion resulted in a loss of certainty and belief; and for some, a loss of power. Against this background was enacted John Donne’s struggle for authenticity (consistency in belief and action) set against his financial responsibilities.

Not a typical Wednesday evening for me, but it was followed by a Thursday at the most recent Social Media in a Corporate Context conference, and there was a surprising similarity in theme: disruption and change; financial drivers; authenticity.

Much of the discussion was about social media as a disruptive influence, and the effect that this is having on organisations:

  • the need to work together as a networked system, rather than in a command-and-control structure
  • the need to restructure to accommodate changes in communication styles and audience expectations
  • the importance of the financial dimension
  • the need for both transparency and authenticity: show it how it really is.

A curious synchronicity.

Highlights

Highlights of #SMCC2011 for me were:

Simon Tucker, CEO of AIM listed marine communications specialist Software Radio Technology, who talked about using a live webcast to communicate with his shareholders. He used RNS to alert people to the webcast, and asked people to email in questions to drive the content of the webcast. He received 600 emails, and hundreds tuned in. Trading volume doubled within a week of the webcast; the shareholder base went up by 30% over the four weeks after the webcast; and the share price went up.

Key phrase: ‘social media has to generate financial benefit’

John Shewell, Head of Comms at Brighton and Hove City Council, talking about mending the disconnect between how people felt about Brighton, and how they perceived the council, beginning by mapping out the local social networks and communities, and trying to understand the residents real concerns rather than making assumptions: a genuine listening exercise and opening up of dialogue. Then a real empowerment of staff, making them curators, rather than controllers, of community assets. He’s now writing the new operating model for a networked council.

Key phrases: ‘relinquishing power’ and ‘restructuring’

Paul Taylor, Team Head at Central Office of Information, talking about using mobile and social media for recruiting. The RAF has set up 8 people in the RAF team with mobiles to keep potential recruits up to date with RAF life using Flickr & Twitter. The RAF also uses YouTube, Bebo, Facebook, live chat and embeddable widgets to meet potential recruits where they are online.

Key phrase: ‘blurred boundaries’

Not all the sessions can be shared in detail, or the speakers named (and some of these were excellent – make sure you’re there next time) but other snippets, both small and large in impact, include:

  • an organisation preapproving blog posts, but tweets—which obviously need immediacy—are reviewed weekly by management to see if they are on track
  • another one restructuring internally as a result of social media; the boundaries between the audiences collapsed
  • an organisation becoming less territorial as a result of global communications
  • a note that a company retweeting a customer would fall within the Advertising Standards Authority remit

Three soundbites from the day:

  • social media is like a barometer: not the most accurate tool, but gives a good idea of what the weather is like out there
  • social media is not a strategy but a tactic to change behaviour and improve an organisations reputation
  • the role of communicators is changing
  • large corporations are the last bastion of feudalism

They made us work too: creating an iPad app in a day. We spent 20 minutes in groups discussing one question each, and coming up with video or text content which a team of developers converted into an app within hours. Our table played an unspoken game of Hearts with the pen – guess who ended up documenting our discussion? You can see a PDF version via the TKGB blog.

Thanks to Communicate Magazine for another excellent event.

Corporate Eye Summary June 4, 2011

  • Negative Feedback as Motivation
    A guest post from Lindsay about negative feedback: something nobody wants, but we all have to deal with at some point. And if your organisation engages in social media, it is more likely that you’ll find out what people really think: negative as well as positive. So: how do you deal with it? How Do […]


  • Top 50 Branded Facebook Fan Pages for May 2011
    Ignite Social Media has published the May 2011 results of its monthly Top 50 Branded Facebook Fan Pages list. This month’s list saw a big jump by Starbucks, a loss by Victoria’s Secret, and a debut by Playboy (yes, there is still value in the Playboy brand). The top spot goes to Facebook with nearly […]


  • Financial Brands Enjoy Mobile Banking Growth in Europe
    In a new study from comScore, it was reported that mobile banking is on the rise among European consumers. In fact, 8.5% of mobile subscribers in the top five European markets (United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy) accessed their bank accounts via a mobile phone in March 2011. That’s 20 million mobile users. It […]


  • Corporate Eye Summary May 28, 2011
    Lessons from Social Media Mistakes I hope you’re enjoying our series of occasional guest posts; I know I am. It’s always interesting to hear a fresh perspective. This post is from Jamie Davies. Three Case Studies Big Business Can Learn From If you follow all the popular media outlets online, then you might have recently […]


  • Microsoft, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and the Story of a Brand Champion Successor
    I’ve written about brand champions on the Corporate Eye blog before. While I think Hugh Hefner of Playboy is the ultimate brand champion, I also believe that Steve Jobs of Apple is an excellent example of a brand champion. You can read some of my thoughts about Steve Jobs as a brand champion in: The […]


Let the Popularity Contest Begin – Google and Twitter Launch Follow and +1 Buttons

This week, both Twitter and Google officially launched social buttons that webmasters’ can insert directly into any page on their sites and blogs by simply copying and pasting some HTML code. Following is an overview of what these buttons do.

Twitter Follow Button

The Twitter Follow Button enables people to make a single click on the button when they find it on a web page (see an example below) in order to follow that profile on Twitter. If they’re logged into their Twitter account when the button is clicked, they automatically start following that person. It’s as easy as that and takes just minutes to complete the Twitter Follow Button form to create your customized button and insert it into your website or blog.

Google +1 Button

The Google +1 Button enables people to make a single click to identify content that they recommend to their friends and contacts. This button is particularly important because it also affects Google search results (if people recommend content, Google’s algorithm will identify that content higher in its keyword results rankings than content that no one recommends). People will be able to see recommendations from their friends and contacts within their own Google keyword search results when they’re logged into their own Google accounts. You can get your own custom Google +1 button and embed it on any page on your website or blog by filling out the simple Google +1 Your Website form and inserting the code into your website. Below is a short video from Google that explains the Google +1 button in more detail.


It’s always a good idea to make it as easy as possible for people to share your content and engage with you across the social web to give your brand the most exposure possible. Just as the Facebook Like button has become a website standard, the Twitter Follow Button and Google +1 Button are equally important, particularly since the Google +1 button can affect your search engine rankings and traffic. If you’re not using them yet, go check them out and at minimum, add the Google +1 button to your blog posts. Your brand will thank you for it.

Image: Twitter

Negative Feedback as Motivation

A guest post from Lindsay about negative feedback: something nobody wants, but we all have to deal with at some point. And if your organisation engages in social media, it is more likely that you’ll find out what people really think: negative as well as positive. So: how do you deal with it?

How Do You Deal with Negative Feedback?

Wouldn’t it be nice if all we ever heard were statements of reassurance and encouragement? Imagine a world devoid of criticism, misconception and condemnation. It would be a world full of warm fuzzies and butterflies and shiny happy people. But of course we don’t live in that world. We live in a reality that is often filled with more naysayers than supporters.

It’s how we deal with negativity that defines who we are, as individuals and as a business. Sometimes the critiques are warranted, and constructive. Other times, they are disheartening and destructive. But in any case we all need mechanisms to cope with negative feedback whether it comes from outside sources or inside our own minds. How we process and deal with criticism may in many ways define who we are.

From Customers

Every business depends on their customers to survive. We’ve all heard the expression that “the customer is always right.” But does that apply to when they tell us that we’re wrong? When a customer has a negative experience do you have a system of recourse for an individual to inform the appropriate parties? And is it widely publicized? A hotline number printed on a receipt isn’t always enough to let a customer know you care about what they have to say. When a customer is fired up enough to want to complain about something, they will. And if you don’t offer them a way to do it directly, they will find another outlet, and the internet is all too happy to oblige. From copious review sites, to social media there are plenty for channels for dissatisfied customers to vent. And if it winds up on the web, it may be there forever. With the recent insurgence of integrated local results complete with customer comments, keeping online buzz positive is more important than ever.

While sometimes it’s easier to chalk an unhappy customer up to an isolated incident, that assumption is usually a tactic for burying your head in the sand. If it happened to one person, it’s probably happened before and probably will again. That’s why collecting consumer feedback is one of the most crucial points for any business development plan. Finding out where your strengths and weaknesses are in the customer’s eyes is probably the most valuable insight any company can have. We need that external perspective both positive and negative to determine what areas still need work. If you aren’t readily accepting complaints, and dealing with them in a meaningful way, then you may be ignoring a huge problem. Taking the time to address negative comments is good for improving customer service as well as improving internal functions.

From Employees

No company has blissful employees all the time. We all grumble about the day to day grind and our petty quibbles with the corporate machine. But there’s a difference between meaningless grumbling and legitimate employee unrest. You hear phrases like ‘open door policy’ and ‘anonymous suggestion box’ but how true are these really? Is the boss’s door really open for innovators or just yes-men? Is the suggestion box really anonymous or is it right outside the nosy General Manager’s door? Are you really open to taking negative employee feedback, or are employees who offer constructive criticism viewed as ‘complainers’ and ‘pot-stirrers’? The truth is, many companies don’t have a place for employees to redress their deepest concerns.

Management sometimes has an unfortunate tendency to assume that they know best. But it’s the guys who are knee deep in the trenches that often have the most realistic view of where the biggest problems lie. Employees often have the most precise ideas about how to fix a flawed system. They know where the road blocks are or where efficiency can be improved. But that intel is only as useful as the internal process for collecting it. If all employee complaints fall on deaf ears that just don’t want to deal with ‘whiners’ you may be missing out on the innovation that could revolutionize your business.

From Ourselves

Sometimes the worst negative feedback comes from within. Our own insecurities can be the most crippling cynicism we face. How do we cope when the voices telling us that we’re struggling, are in our own heads? Obviously, math doesn’t lie and numbers don’t sugar coat the news if your bottom line is plummeting. That’s not the kind of negativity I mean. This has more to do with fear. Change is scary, and when it comes to taking the next big step in business sometime the only thing holding us back is our own doubts. Questions like ‘If I try something and fail, can I recover?’, ‘Why re-invent the wheel if what we have now is working?’, ‘If the company grows can we keep the small business culture we all love so much?’. While these are all pretty specific, they represent different areas of running a company that often come up for examination. Whether it’s offering a new product or service, changing an internal structure or expanding the staff these every day challenges can pose major anxieties.

There are always specific issues that we shy away from because they carry risk and taking risks is frightening. But the fact is if you’re thinking about making changes to your business, and you have been taking in regular feedback from customers and employees, you may already know everything you need. Their opinions and views can often drive the changes that your company needs to make, and when you base decisions based on research then it become a lot less terrifying. If the demand is there from your customers, then a new product or service has a market. If tasks are falling through the cracks in the office, that’s a mandate for an organizational alteration. If your people are overworked, then expanding the staff is essential.

Dealing with negative feedback is something every business must face. But deciding how and when to use negativity as motivation is what allows businesses to thrive. So the question of ‘how do you deal with negative feedback?’ is really a question of how do you accept criticism and use it to learn and become better. Sure, we all must filter out the white noise from what is legitimately helpful, but being able to make that distinction is crucial. And whether the negativity is from customers, employees or yourself figuring out what is valid and what can make you better is what truly characterizes a great business with a bright future.

Lindsay is a Corporate Journalist at i-Sight, an Investigation Software program designed to help increase corporate efficiency dealing with internal and external feedback Lindsay has worked as an internet marketer, freelance writer, brand consultant and manager.