Wired 15.04: The See-Through CEO. Fire the publicist. Go off message. Let all your employees blab and blog. In the new world of radical transparency, the path to business success is clear. By Clive ThompsonPage 1 of 1 Pretend for a second that you're a CEO. Would you reveal your deepest, darkest secrets online? Would you confess that you're an indecisive weakling, that your colleagues are inept, that you're not really sure if you can meet payroll? Story Tools Story Images Click thumbnails for full-size image: ESSAY Unlocking the rebel genius of Einstein.ATLAS Where in the world can I buy a heart?
PLAYLIST Modest Mouse keeps its indie cred.GAMES Push your PS3 with MotorStorm.HOME Rotterdam's Succulent Skyscraper.TEST Ultralight laptops, plus a Dyson handheld vac that really sucks.More » Posts ENTREPRENEURS The Ivory Coast's penny video arcade.TOURISM Visit America's largest collection of nuclear waste.TELEVISION 30 Rock tackles the fine print of hi-def.More » His enemies got nervous. But customers loved it. And many have. Corporate Tweets and the SEC: Sometimes It's Better To Keep Your Mouth Shut. Last year, I covered the landmark SEC decision to recognize corporate blogs and potentially other forms of Social Media as a recognized form of meeting public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) – in some cases.
It was a significant validation of a widely recognized medium for sharing information between publicly-traded companies and stakeholders. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun, among many others, successfully lobbied over the years for official recognition of blogs and the SEC finally took notice. The real question is, did other public companies and their communications and Investor Relations teams take notice? Just under a year later, all was quiet on the social IR front until recently. But questions are swirling. It’s time to bring this discussion into the spotlight again in order to connect IR, PR, and legal in the dialogue that will prompt new policy and regulation to better serve investors, customers, and influencers.
Analyzing SEC Guidelines Public Relations. The Leadership Playlist: Gen X in the workplace: Stuck in the middle - On Leadership at washingtonpost.com. Trust: From Fortress To Wedge. Edelman's 2011 Trust Barometer was officially launched yesterday and as usual it generates a lot of coverage and conversation. I always like to wait a little bit after announcements like this, after the dust has settled to see if there is a nugget which hasn't been covered much. From what I've seen both in the press and social networks, much of the discussion has been around the findings of the US having a generally low trust rating. Colleague Steve Rubel, did a nice job capturing insights around why trust in "friends" is dipping from previous years while trust in experts is rising.
Also, a rise in trust (or willingness to trust) a CEO has been widely covered. But there was less analysis on what I think is truly insightful and that is the shift from how organizations used to try to establish trust and a newer way of looking at it. The FortressIn this model, an organization attempts to build an impenetrable fortress which is focused on protecting their reputation on their terms. The Coming Decade of Radical Transparency. It is customary at this time of year to look back and reflect on the year that was. But this year is different. Not only was it the end of the first decade of the new Millennium, but it represents the full point at the end of a decade whose crie de coeur must be radical transparency. This palpable demand for unprecedented disclosure is destined to transform government, business and our own lives as social networks, marketers and hackers pierce ever deeper into our professional and personal lives and make that information publicly available.
We can no more stop this than we can turn back the Internet. Nor will it ever go away. As Aaron Sorkin aptly wrote in The Social Network movie, "The Internet's not written in pencil ... it's written in ink. " Radical transparency has an enormous impact on our personal lives. The challenges for CEOs, business and government are equally daunting. There is no simple answer to this issue. Do you think full transparency is a good thing? Associations Now Mag (Mobile) - Article - Detail - American Society of Association Executives. ASSOCIATIONS NOW, November 2010 By:Kristin Clarke A data-driven organization doesn't just gather data; it grapples with that information and digs down to understand what it really means. But real success comes from going a step further and disseminating those findings to senior leaders, staff, and stakeholders alike.
Author and former healthcare executive Quint Studer says that it's time for organizations to get real. Quint Studer, named as one of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" and author of two BusinessWeek bestselling leadership books, focuses on "creating systems and process that hold people accountable for executing well" in his latest book, Straight A Leadership: Alignment, Action, Accountability. Here, as a supplement to "The New Look of Transparency," ASAE's Kristin Clarke talks with Studer about what true transparency means and why it is vital to long-term success. Then we started honing in on what the association members want, and it became very clear what that was.
GM's Christopher Barger: 'We're headed toward a social media version of the dotcom bubble burst' Christopher Barger knows first-hand the challenges the automotive industry has faced in recent years. As General Motors' director of global social media, Barger is in a unique position of determining social programs while also remaining active in the communities that his company has built. As he says, "Let's face it the auto industry, and GM in particular, have given people plenty to be unhappy about in the past few years. " As the industry and GM have focused on rebuilding, however, social has become a significant part of that. Barger is passionate and adamant about the importance and influence of community. In the latest installment of 100 Brains, the former IBM blogger-in-chief talks about his own social transition, how GM and the auto industry are using social media to help in a rebirth, and his prediction that social "gurus" will be found out and create a leveling of the social media industry as a whole.
Q. A. Q. A. You mentioned scale... that's going to be the biggest challenge. Social Media Business Council | Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit. This document is a series of checklists to help companies, their employees, and their agencies create social media policies. Our goal is not to create or propose new industry standards or rules. These checklists are open-source training tools designed to help educate employees on the appropriate ways to interact with the social media community and comply with the law. When we first released the Toolkit in July 2008, many members of the social media community saw these issues as a matter of opinion or intellectual debate. With the FTC’s October 2010 release of the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, it’s clear that proper social media ethics are a matter of law, not personal preference.
SocialMedia.org’s Three Guides for Safe Social Media Outreach summarizes the fundamental obligations required for marketers to stay safe: How to Use This Toolkit The Toolkit is not a policy or ethics code. Frequently Asked Questions Are these rules mandatory or binding? The New Look of Transparency. The New Look of Transparency ASSOCIATIONS NOW, November 2010, Feature A board member calls for a meeting to move into executive session. Under what circumstances do you, as CEO, voice opposition? The membership department receives several inquiries about the percentage gap between your CEO's compensation and that of your lowest-paid employee. Do you share that information?
A potential donor asks your organization to provide a copy of its whistleblower policy. These examples are real. Finances, of course, top the list for scrutiny, followed closely by governance and communication. According to SOX coauthor and former senator Mike Oxley, airing the inner workings of nonprofits was never part of any discussions by lawmakers. And Congress may yet change its mind about the scope of SOX. Says Ron Noden, chair of the Council for Non-Profit Accountability, "[Transparency] is an issue that will continue to get attention in the nation's capital and in state houses around the country.
"Why not? " 1. How Social Media Create Organizational Meaning. Social media tools can transform an organization. One of the things I enjoy so much about social media is the chance to be (more often) the person I am, with my specific sets of talents, interests, and goals. Every time I extend myself out on social media, I get to choose what I’ll say, how I’ll represent an idea, and how I’ll demonstrate what that idea means to me. The same is true for organizations. Each time an organization reaches out to share a message, it is aiming to create an impression on its audience(s) that conveys a sense of who that organization is and what it cares about. Historically, this reaching out, this extension of the organizational ‘self by creating meaning,’ happened in one of three ways: formal corporate communication,advertising (either for products or for corporate), andCEO presentations (e.g., interviews, speeches).
What makes social media so interesting as a tool for creating meaning about an organization and within an organization is that: 1.) See also: Community Values. As part of our work assessing where we are as a community and where we want to be, we articulated a set of values that we want the NTEN community to embody - in spirit, in program, and in action. They are We are practical dreamers. We believe in the power of technology to make the world a better and more just place for all.
We are the community where people involved in nonprofit technology connect to share ideas, tools, and resources. Authenticity in Corporate Social Responsibility. Social media continues to impact businesses and nonprofits in unforeseen ways. Perhaps the greatest trend of the moment is the fusion of corporate and philanthropic interests , which in turn is producing growing pains and change. It’s likely that the requirements of online transparency will demand a new era of authenticity in corporate community investment efforts.
This trend results from demands for better corporate citizenship and community participation, transparency digressions, and frankly, very public cause marketing and corporate social responsibility programs that have exposed weaknesses in the social media realms . It’s a problem that keeps coming up , and won’t go away. This will force organizations and companies to become much more mindful about how they invest in their communities. Many companies blur the lines now between cause marketing and corporate social responsibility , which in turn creates problems. Every company tries to market something.