Where Do You Stand?

If you’re a regular “Where Do You Stand?” reader, you may have noticed that I’m a rather, shall we say, conversational writer. Some would attribute that to my country hick Southern heritage, while others might accuse call it unprofessional unconventional. On a number of occasions, I’ve been asked to “fluff up” a document or “give it some of that emotional stuff you’re good at.”

Now I could take this personally and consider it a knock to my professionalism (and a massive ego blow), but since the sky in my world is a lovely shade of chartreuse, I’ll take it as a compliment. And here’s why.

In the communications arena, we’ve been given incredible power - the power of using just the right words to start or add something valuable to a conversation. If our words achieve superpower status, they evoke the response we’re hoping for: choosing a certain school or hospital, supporting a company’s employee program, learning the facts about a controversial issue and overcoming a bias, or contributing to a worthy charitable cause. 

The problem with this power is that so very many people have the chance to try their hand at it, especially today. We’re practically conversing in our sleep these days (and I’m sure some dream-sucking brain wave iMind device is just around the corner), so it’s more difficult than ever to bring the power of words to life. To have an impact, our words need to do much more than appeal to logic (sorry, Dr. Spock) and be grammatically correct; they need to make people care.

Our words need to have passion and feeling and conviction to rise above the chaff. To achieve superpower status, though, they also need truth. While the former makes for good reading/listening, the latter separates the hucksters (and let’s face it, most politicians) from those whose words can make life better, healthier, easier, more exciting, more meaningful and more fun. The challenge of taking my writing to higher levels and mastering that superpower is why I love my job - and why I’m trying to come up with a great “X-Men” mutant name for myself. (”Thesaurus” has kind of a nice ring, huh?)

So the next time you want something “fluffed,” bring it on. I’m not ashamed to say that if you give me the facts and some good reasons why people should care, chances are I’ll write something that will make the people you care about laugh, cry, get motivated, get healthier or just generally get better.

And chances are, I’m the only writer you know who’ll work while in a superhero suit. Or at least a mask - I need a couple more months at the gym before I break out the full suit. Anyone know the number for Halle Berry’s trainer?

In just a short while, Standing will welcome a very junior member to its ever-expanding family –my newborn baby. For several months now, many people have asked us what our plans are in naming our baby. My husband and I have determined that this decision takes careful thought and methodical planning much like we “in the biz” accomplish when counseling clients in branding strategies – understanding & research, discovery, strategy, planning, implementation and evaluation.

As is the case with any branding project, this branding team (in this case, my husband and I) have researched long and hard and often squabbled over the perfect moniker for our tiny impending creation. We have strategized memorializing family names or succumbing to the trendy names of today. We have steered away from including additional team members in this deadline-stricken project as they all have different opinions and want the baby to be named after them (SI, you know who you are). With the recent baby boom in Hollywood, we have been impressed by the celebrities’ creative yet unconventional tactics when naming their offspring, but often have wondered how these children will be treated by their peers and colleagues in the long run. I mean, how can you say with a straight face - “Apple, please get me this week’s operations report?” As parents we are solely responsible for shaping the lives of our children and it begins with a single image, in this case, a name. But, is it possible we could be overthinking this internal project of ours and should just go with what our heart is telling us?

The Olympics are now over, so China’s time in the spotlight will slowly fade away. The games in Beijing served as a PR opportunity for the country – a chance to put reputation management skills to the test and show the world that it’s more than just home to a Communist government. The Games left viewers with images of the Bird’s Nest, Yao Ming holding a young hero from a devastating earthquake, the dominance of the Chinese diving team and the excellent 12-year-old Chinese gymnasts.

But was the entire image of China a sleight-of-hand, created in a masterful PR stroke to portray a false sense of reality? Did the glitz and flash convince Westerners to overlook the country’s records on pollution and human rights? Or did we all realize it was just a show, like that little girl behind the curtains at the opening ceremony with the “crooked baby teeth and chubby face” (not my words; these are from The Los Angeles Times) who provided the voice for the lip-synching, much prettier Lin Miaoke?

Some experts have commented on the mixed messages presented by China. “China is trying to present itself as nonthreatening and in a lot of ways nonsocialist,” Michael Dutton, an academic at Australia’s Griffith University’s Asia Institute who studies political cultures, told The Associated Press. “They’ve gone all out to try and present a country that’s ancient yet super-modern.”

So what do you think? Has your opinion of China changed due to the Olympics?

We’re often asked in our business if “building relationships” reaps ROI in the long term. I could give countless examples of how positive relationships can buoy companies during downturns, how Southwest Airlines has risen to the top of its industry by cultivating employee support, how journalists’ ability to tell a compelling story can either lead to increased interest in a company or an absolutely smeared reputation. (A bit of warning before you watch this clip: it’s not for the weak-stomached.)

This morning I was drawn to the story of Leroy Sievers, an National Public Radio blogger, decorated news correspondent and cancer patient. He died this past weekend. Candidly, I didn’t follow his blog, My Cancer, while he was living. An avid NPR listener, I had simply popped onto NPR’s web site to catch up on political news… and I’m forever touched by his words of strength, encouragement and, gulp, his own farewell. 

Check out a recent comment, left today by one of his readers:

Leroy taught me that is not true, life is a gift and like every gift, each one is different, some people get a huge, brightly decorated box that may or may not contain something that they want. Others get a small box, packed inside with the one thing that they had wanted more than anything.

Leroy’s box may not have been as large as some others, but it was packed, right to the end with all of the things that he loved.

We should understand that as humans we don’t have the gift of life or death, all we have is what is contained within the box. Enjoy your gift to the fullest, no matter its size.

I now plan to read the blog backwards, keeping in mind that his words created an international community of support. It’s compelling proof that relationships matter.

At Standing Partnership, a reputation management firm, we are regularly advising our clients on creative and effective ways to develop and maintain a positive reputation in the community.

Recently, on my trek to work – a wonderful 45 minutes or more thanks to the Hwy. 40 closure – I was hit (almost literally) with how challenging it can be to maintain a positive reputation every day. A man driving a branded truck from a local plumbing company cut me and two other drivers off while changing lanes. My immediate thought was: What kind of message is his reckless driving sending to the drivers around him? Does his company not care about public safety, and are they bound to be as rude to you as a customer as they are to other drivers?

In a related instance, I was asked to contact a local company via phone to gather information for a client. I was greeted by the receptionist with a not-so-friendly attitude. When I asked to speak with someone within the company, she insisted on knowing my name, company and the reason for my call. While the information requested of me was understandable (I’m sure she was screening calls for this person), her attitude certainly was not. How would her rudeness have affected a potential customer’s decision to conduct business with her company?

By one employee choosing to act in a manner inconsistent with a company’s values and mission, they can be damaging public perception of that company. It is important for all employees and management within an organization to understand the value of a positive reputation and work collectively to reinforce and retain positive public perception.

I’ve been catching up on my industry reading (thanks to del.ici.ous and my ever-informed colleagues) and came across this piece in Business Week. Legitimate and respected news sources are now doing their editing, layout and yes, even LOCAL NEWS reporting from Mumbai.  In the spirit of The Olympic Games, I’m all for sharing best practices and maximizing efficiencies… but come on! I think this insults the profession of journalism and adds another layer of doubt that we, as communicators, have to overcome. “Pay no attention to that editor behind the curtain, er, hemisphere.” Sheesh.

Francisco Dao, a blogger for Fast Company, is taking story idea submissions through his Web site, The Killer Pitch (click on the button at the top-right corner). That’s pretty cool, but the novel thing here is that Francisco lets readers review all of the pitch submissions and vote on their favorites.

So how can this get any more cool, innovative and interactive, you might ask? Well, Francisco not only selects pitches he’s interested in writing about, he also writes about those submissions that garner the community vote.

PR practitioners know what to do. Submit some good story ideas (don’t throw something lame on there and waste everybody’s time). Vote for your favorites. Tell your friends. Watch for the coverage. And thank Francisco for coming up with a “killer” idea.

A New York Times article today caught my attention for two reasons: it contained the words “Goodbye” and “Passwords.” Can you imagine a world where passwords were not needed? Here at Standing Partnership, we’ve developed a process in which our passwords change on a monthly basis. This simple security step has struck fear into the lives of many in our office.

The change to our normal routine of password swapping has been a struggle for all of us. Previously, all you had to do to change your password was to simply add a number at the end of the set password. For example, set password “jenny” turned into current password “jenny1”. You may laugh, but as “IT person” at our office, this was quite common. I get it though - we’re all busy and one more thing to remember isn’t always convenient.

Our password process has changed dramatically. Gone are the days when you could use a form of your previous password. Also, you are required to have a mixture of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. I’d like to make one thing clear to my colleagues: I did not have any part of this mayhem. Believe me; it took me 10 minutes to think of my own password! But, we’re a creative bunch, so I have the utmost faith in you.

Being able to say ‘Goodbye’ to passwords would be a miracle sent from above. As Randall Stross explains in the article, we need to move towards a more secure system where machines “talk” to each other rather than relying on a familiar phrase like “jenny1.” I think I saw something like this before in 1984. It was a movie called “The Terminator.” Hopefully once all the big players in the Web site world and IT world get on board, we can all say in our most obnoxious Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation, “Hasta la vista, passwords.”

Recently I attended Bulldog Reporter’s PR Universtiy “Social Media Bootcamp” for PR professsionals. I’m still digesting all I learned and trying to experiment with a few things to keep them the top-of-mind.  One (of many) tools trainer Sally Falkow demonstrated was Nielson BuzzMetrics’ Blog Pulse. This site has several intriguing tools (and I’ve only begun to explore them myself) that help measure the visibility of blogs, the frequency of blog posts by keywords, how blogposts generate ‘conversations’ across mutliple sites (and where those conversations are taking place) and much, much more.

Here are just a few ideas I had on how I might use this site: Say one of my clients wants to know who the influential bloggers are on a subject…enter a keyword and see who pops up by ranking, track their conversations to other sources and keep an eye on what they post. (Yes, I know Technorati does some of this too). Now let’s imagine I need to know how much blog volume takes place on a subject. Enter a keyword (I entered Brett Favre, who I just love) and presto! a graph pops up indicating in early March and early August people were talking about Brett. (Hmm, no surprise there.) If I click on a date, I can find out what people were saying about him. Nice little tool to keep an eye on conversations, competition and communicators (bloggers). 

For now, the services I explored are free.  Let’s hope they stay that way.

In a July 21 article titled “Flexible schedules work best when thought out, detailed,” Chicago Tribune reporter Barbara Rose looks at the pros/cons of flextime in the business world. She points out that rising fuel prices may be spurring some organizations to be more flexible about - flexibility.

I’ve been flexing at Standing Partnership since 2002. I generally work four days a week and try to work from home a couple of days out of the month.

The key words are “generally” and “try.” In order for this to work for my employer, clients and me, I have to be flexible too. That might mean taking a call or an assignment on my day off, or adjusting my days to meet a client need.

Making sure this works for my colleages is equally important, so once a year we survey all employess (about many things) and include questions about how flex schedules are working.

We also make sure that our office hours are covered during normal business hours. Today, that means a colleague and I have volunteered to answer the office phones since we have the option (during summer Fridays) to allow the staff to leave early if they have completed their assignments and are not otherwise needed.

What are some ways your business is adding flexibility to its work week?  What’s working? What’s not?  Gotta run - the phone’s ringing!