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Good CSR insight - and life-saving tips! - on how to mitigate a Toyota-style disaster by my esteemed associate, Tom Peyton, Managing Director of CSR specialist firm, Enact Consulting.

We seem actively to promote fear in today's society; everybody is at it and there are few sources of advice or reassurance as to what to do when that emergency strikes. I remember being told by a US Ambassador, in one of those places where bombs used to go off occasionally, not to wash the car because it was then obvious if someone had tampered with it. It was a simple assurance that some of the risks were actually within my control. You may well ask what all this has to do with Toyota, but bear with me.....

I was, until last month, the very contented owner of  Toyota Avensis. Fortunately, it's too old to be suspected of having an accelerator fault but, nevertheless, it makes you think! Toyota has built a fantastic reputation for reliability over the years and it is well deserved. But now it's in tatters; was there anything they might have done to prevent this, once the fault had become apparent? If we consider this from a Corporate Responsibility angle, what is the most important thing to do?

Respond appropriately and reassure your customers. The recall is appropriate, but the reassurance is missing. The recall is expensive, while the reassurance is actually the cheap and easy piece. Did Toyota owners need to flood garages with enquiries, lawyers commence class actions and the press go stratospheric? Or are we just being scared irrationally once more? No, they did not and yes, we are - because the actions are quite simple.

With all the recalls, you won't get your car fixed for a while. So: do you stop driving? It might help climate change, but it won't solve your transport problem. Would you like some advice, just in case that unlikely occurrence happened to you? I think you might, because it gives you some measure of control over the situation. Clearly you will still need to get the car checked, but life doesn't have to come to a grinding halt in the meantime.

Having read more of the press coverage than is good for me, I have yet to find any advice as to what to do in an emergency. Neither the press, our over-indulgent nanny state nor our esteemed motoring organisations have announced any guidelines on what to do if it happens to you. Why not? Are they scared to advise in case they get it wrong and then find themselves to blame? Is this being responsible?

Actually, after some searching, I found that Toyota provide the answer as FAQ19 on their website. Perhaps a little more prominence might help. Like headline stuff! It would have saved them money, (not the key consideration, I agree), and helped defuse what became a crisis. Most importantly, it would have immediately addressed their customers concerns; your concerns. This is the CR aspect and it's really very simple. It's also just plain good business.

Because it really is very simple:

• Check your mirror
• Put your emergency brake lights on
• Put car in neutral (expect a horrid noise)
• Switch off
• Move to the side of the road - and coast to a halt!

It worked for me 25 years ago when my accelerator cable jammed on the M6. It was a Chrysler!

Labels: Chrysler, crisis, CSR, reputation, Toyota

Latest research by The Nielsen Company this month points to 82% year-on-year growth of global time spent on social media sites. This has clear implications for companies looking to build and protect their reputation in the online space and for those who either mismanage or underestimate the power of 'member communities'. Examples of corporate misdemeanours in this area were alluded to in my previous post: Online Reputation: Tips to Navigate Disaster.

However, it is not unreasonable to expect that many companies do not have the expertise to effectively manage their own reputations - and that they have genuine needs for wise counsel in this area. It can be a minefield finding the right expertise, however, in a PR industry that is largely self-regulating.

At a regular monthly networking meeting with the intelligent and fun folk at the Executives Association of Great Britain, I had the great coincidence - and pleasure I might add -  to be seated next to Nick Peters. As it turned out, a fellow, no-nonsense Yorkshireman (should I state, more specifically, of the East Riding). Following a colourful journalistic and broadcasting career in the UK and US, Nick recently launched and now edits and publishes Business First magazine. I have already tweeted on how content-rich and refreshingly informative his title is.....

......and that before he published my feature on pages 26-27 of this month's issue. A feature delving right into the pitfalls of dealing with the PR industry. Take a look. I'm risking contention I know with my industry peers. But it's not all bad news! Companies do have a practical guide here how to ensure they work with the best and safeguard their public integrity.


Thanks to Nick Peters, Editor-inChief/Publisher, Business First Magazine for granting link-to permission www.businessfirstmagazine.co.uk

Labels: AC Nielsen, business, Business First Magazine, EAGB, PR. reputation

With the corporate lifespan of a CEO reduced to 3.5 years, the pressure is on for close advisors to demonstrate worth beyond the cloistered confines of the Board room and into the darker recesses of the business. For decades, communication and PR professionals have fought for their place at the Board, garnering trust and necessarily close rapport with their CEOs. Rightly so. It is a place I defended rigorously during my career as a Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 corporate communications director.

However, a precarious situation arises in that intimate rapport between a senior communicator and their CEO as career fortunes become intertwined; the term departure of a CEO can mean the shunning and corporate isolation, if not sometimes dismissal, of a communications chief for no apparent reason other than their perceived over-association with the 'ancien régime'. Unfair, yes. But internal perception often prevails over business logic.

Yet bright prospects beckon. With PR professionals placed fortuitously at the ever-narrowing intersection between traditional and emergent social media, and with an increasingly volatile issues and advocacy environment that business must contend with, stars in the communications industry may be re-aligning.

In true Darwinian style, those PR agencies and individuals who flex, who broaden their skills, who actively apply their accumulated past wisdom and sate their knowledge are those most likely to outlive the short CEO life-cycle; those least disposed to change simply risk dropping out of the PR gene pool altogether.

So, with market turbulence still in prospect, what are the key attributes that will determine survival of the fittest among in-house PR executives - and agencies?

This summer, we advised Dr. John A. Caslione on the launch of his business book, 'Chaotics', written in association with global marketing guru Philip Kotler. Their case study based premise is that an era of turbulence, with chaos, risk and uncertainty, will characterize the future business landscape. Corporate communicators will correspondingly need to fine-tune their agility, composure and strength in handling the 'material' issues facing industry. Acquisitions, divestments, increased activism and the need for ever broader community engagement will test the commercial, leadership and predictive strengths of the communicator charged with bringing the outside world in to corporate strategy.

A contributive understanding of what constitutes good corporate governance, an acquired intuitive sense of consequences of corporate action, of the process and rules of engagement in exchanging meaningful dialogue with mobilising influencers are essential in this recession and post-recession environment. It will force supreme skills in building collaborative networks, in leadership and tactical diplomacy.

Communicators will need to emerge as a new breed of innovator, leading organisations through new social pathways.Too many still underestimate the need to upskill beyond their traditional media understanding. But arguably the train is already leaving the station: Twitter is establishing itself as potent social media platform among Fortune 100s and over 61 Fortune 500 CEOs are penning blogs.

Attributes such as penetrative media contacts, razor-sharp written and verbal communication skills, a motivational presence and an aesthetic eye will no longer stand out as key differentiators. In Maslow's terms, these once-lauded skills have become simple hygiene factors, though they certainly credit the evolution of the PR industry thus far. Foresight and ongoing evolution are necessary here.

For communication agencies, acquiring in-house levels of client and commercial insight will be essential. It is where I have found my reverse transition from in-house to consultancy extremely valuable. De-layering, driving economy, transparency and accountability will remain essential in these straitened times. Breaking down protectionism and forging strategic partnerships with social media, marketing and technology companies will drive integrated client solutions. Out-sourcing specialist skills and improving the short-term project offering will enhance agility.

For organisations, only those willing to attract and empower strong communications talent will see their own prospects transform, whilst resistant ones will certainly continue to require application of the communicator's more traditional powers; those of persuasion, endurance - and staunch optimism!

Labels: business, Change management, Chaotics, John A. Caslione, management, Maslow, Philip Kotler, PR, reputation, Twitter

This week I went to the Hexagon Theatre in Reading to hear The Soweto Gospel Choir. The music was powerful, authentic - and spiritually moving. Now, I recognize that I risk contention by bringing religion into my blog. I'm not sure it's appropriate. Should I even tackle it in a business context? As the evening progressed, my twin-tracking mind convinced me I must. For it was in that cocoon of kinship and celebration where I realized there is room - and necessity - for spirituality at work.

The irony of me initiating an evening to hear South African churchfolk sing divine praise was not lost on my oldest friend whom I had invited. For over 20 years she and I have sparred over our beliefs: she, a staunch Christian and avid defender of the faith, me rather on the agnostic side, finding my inspiration less in a single omnipotent entity but more in the wonder of nature that surrounds us (cif: William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey)

I am also a Myers Briggs ENTJ type. I tend to rely on tangible evidence and facts to reach conviction and judgement and this rather disposes me towards Darwinian Theory versus monotheism.

Faith, in whichever form it takes, presents a further conundrum alongside corporate practice. Many would argue (not least in the current economic climate) that the demon of wealth acquisition cannot be reconciled easily with the virtues of religion and spirituality; that the fervour with which enterprise leaders have worshipped at the altar of personal profit has irreversibly corrupted the heart and reputation of private enterprise at the expense of its people. Examples are too numerous to include here. Think Robert Maxwell, the Guinness four, fraud scandals at Enron and Parmalat, Robert Madoff. Some might argue the entire global banking hierarchy.

According to the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer which surveyed 4,500 upper income, highly educated people across 20 countries, nearly two thirds (62%) said they trust corporations less than they did a year ago.

Yet the soul of corporate enterprise is redeemed by shining examples of other business leaders whose religious grounding has moulded the spirit and direction of their companies, the successful stewardship of their people and of the communities in which they operate. Here I am not referring to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is, in any case, a reporting requirement. No. This is about the intimate religious conviction of business leaders whose core values and behaviours present no moral compatibility issue with wealth generation.

For instance Gary Grant, owner of The Entertainer - Britain's largest independent chain of toy stores - became a Christian in 1991. He refuses to open his 48 stores on Sundays recognizing it as a sacred day. Yet, whilst banning "occultist" Harry Potter and Halloween products from shelf probably contributed to the collapse of pre-tax profits last year, sales in the first half of this year have rocketed to 33% with record annual profits anticipated.

World-leading food giants Kelloggs and £10bn UK confectioner Cadburys (a recent take-over target of Kraft Foods) each trace their present day success to their strong Quaker origins. While Reverend Graham Cracker, wishing to supplant sexual appetite with the creation of a bland food diet back in 1829, invented the namesake cracker which remains a staple food today - mercifully with little known side-effect!

Whilst heading EMEA communications at imaging monolith, Kodak, I had the privilege to be mentored by a  Board member. He was a very spiritual person, a man with massive empathy but no less efficient at work; a supreme facilitator and arbiter always keen to share knowledge and nurture others' growth. He exuded calm and serenity and regularly took time out in monastic retreats. Likewise, I have witnessed the galvanising charm of a Fortune 500 leader of a profitable, multi-billion dollar business division lead change and motivate people to follow. He was also a lay preacher.

The skill leaders need to inspire people to embrace change and perform against all odds appears to be the fine business art of persuasion. Aristotle attributed this to the three key elements of Ethos (credibility, trust), Pathos (empathy) and Logos (logic/words) [1].  Yet beyond words, how can empathy be achieved - and therefore trust - without a fundamental understanding of the human condition? How can business leaders understand the motivational needs of employees facing workplace uncertainty unless they first reconnect with themselves as a fellow human creation?

Sometimes, to get to that place, we must make room for silent contemplation; to gain perspective on the personal and professional constraints, pressures and acquired (mal)practices that skew our everyday judgement and pollute our social interactions.

With that in mind, I asked a community of Linked In professionals from hedge fund management, commodity and currency markets, right through to organisational change and development, how they sought spiritual balance in the workplace. The response I got from 40 separate individuals was revealing. Whilst there was plenty of lively commentary around the carnal delights of chocolate, the spiritual importance of family and friends, the need for hobbies and exercise and the satisfaction of voluntary work, over 50% of respondents directly referenced their reliance on prayer, religious faith and meditation. Indeed I was moved to receive many personal prayers.

And whilst some pioneering companies like Google, Vodafone and Virgin Atlantic are offering employees the chance for "sleep pod" or prayer room meditation in the workplace, they remain a minority. Beyond simple work:life policy measures, perhaps organisations should be more creative to integrate the spiritual and faith needs of employees within the actual workplace; to unlock the innate potential and wellbeing of many people who, it seems, find additional motivation beyond the simple lure of material reward.

In the event it seems religion and the workplace may, after all, be an ideal union.

Labels: Business. Management, Cadbury's, Change management, CSR, Gary Grant, Kelloggs, religion, reputation, The Soweto Gospel Choir

With the OECD's Interim Economic Outlook published just last week, this has been a good time for many state officials around the world to declare visions of "green shoots" of economic recovery. Indeed Japan, France and Germany were reported officially out of recession (if you consider at least two quarters of positive domestic growth as an indicator).

If you are a British Member of Parliament, however, such an early prognosis may condemn you to Whitehall's wasteland and a very public drubbing along the lines of that received by Business Minister, Baroness Vadera, when she dared allude to prospects of an UK economic revival earlier this year.

No. For the moment at least, British MPs - and Labour pundits in particular -  are well advised to keep stumm as the country lags the overall economic trend, notwithstanding tentative signs of UK manufacturing recovery (the strongest growth in three years during July.) Whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown's address this Tuesday to the annual Trade Union Congress will raise the embargo - and thwart David Cameron's electoral ambitions in the process - remains to be seen.

This restrained approach must not, however, be aped by commercial enterprise. Just as contingency planning is necessary in advance of an imagined crisis, organizations need more than ever to anticipate and embrace the notion of resumed corporate success - even if it currently seems to be doomed prophecy. For this is not the time for bears in the boardroom if companies are to muscle their way out of the curve and seize early competitive advantage (a philosophy echoed by corporate strategy guru, Philip Kotler and CEO Dr. John A. Caslione in their latest book, 'Chaotics', whose UK launch strategy we recently advised).

Nor, must I say, is it the time for organisations to cut their communications talent. While CEOs and senior leadership teams may be bunkered down in their war rooms, good PR professionals* - in-house or agency - are those supremely qualified and adept at raising a head above the parapet, at sounding the marketplace, at taking a long-view of horizon opportunities and shaping a more bulllish internal culture to evolve corporate success.

In an earlier blog, 'The Client Brief: When PR Agencies Fail', I mentioned that strong PR advisors would tease out the essence of what makes a company viable for the future and build strategies to create subtantial corporate reputation and growth. Certainly CEOs should already be asking themselves the following questions with trusted, seasoned PR/communication advisors driving answers in a way that builds a future corporate mission that is transformative, perhaps even revolutionary, in helping an organization re-launch itself into a deeply altered landscape.

These, then, are my top 10 questions for the current climate - in no particular order and by no means definitive:

1. Learning
"What learnings - or "gems" - have we taken from being forced from our comfort zone? (What worked? What failed? What mattered to the marketplace?)

2. Innovation
Are we embedding those "gems" throughout our product service offering, talent recruitment/retention, issues intelligence and control, corporate language? (What will be the timeline and specific action points to do so?)

3. Skills
Have we upgraded our skills to achieve more with less (for our clients/customers/shoppers/users?)

4. Proximity
Have we reinvigorated our public/social and internal employee networks?

5. Dialogue
Have we evolved our understanding of, and outreach through, their connection channels? (have we clarified internal roles/responsibilities and protocols?)

6. Competitivity
How will we organise our infrastructure and processes to secure and maintain future USP innovation and agility?

7. Value
How will we (re)structure to make our client/customer value sustainable - and understood?

8. Feedback
How will we capture and feed client/customer/public/regulatory trends and response into our continuous improvement?

9. Relevance
Is our current business model still relevant to achieve all of the above - sustainably?

10. Vision
What does success look like and how will we measure it/drive accountability?

Just as slowly as doors to opportunity open, so too can they slam shut, leaving many institutions - and their consultants - on the outside if questions about the company's future shape and role are not aired in a frank, timely and trusting environment.This is where robust, proactive PR counsel matters.

We'd be very interested in hearing whether the current climate and prospects are re-shaping the way your are interrogating your business. Or that of your clients. Please do post your insights which we always enjoy reading!


Image thanks to kind contribution by Alex Nolasco http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandernolasco/382374166/

Labels: Baroness Vadera, business, CEOs, Chaotics, David Cameron, economy, Gordon Brown, John A. Caslione, marketing, OECD, Philip Kotler, politics, PR, recession., reputation, TUC

Tonight I have committed a gross, some might even say indecent act of modern communications heresy: I have deactivated my Facebook account. It was an impulsive move and one that had to be made with a sharp intake of breath, eyes shut tight with immutable dam buster spirit. Like jumping into a plunge pool of ice water, best not to think too long about it before reason prevails and forces a re-think.

In the two hours since, I have vacillated between feelings of great liberation and a gnawing doubt that I may have consigned myself somewhat rashly to the community of laggards who either fear, reject or simply cannot get to grips with emerging and evolving technology. Will I be doomed to social - and familial - obscurity? Should I even be confessing my sin to a broader, professional public who may consider my move an indictment of my proclaimed aptitude in online reputation management? By shutting down such a pioneering dialogue channel, am I in fact kicking my own professional credibility and reputation into the long grass?

In the hot forge of my decision this evening, I am writing this blog because I need to capture the raw intuition behind my decision making along with something that, I believe, passes for a rationale.

In an earlier blog, "Time to Write Off Twitter?", I was very clear about the role Facebook plays in my own social/networking mix. Unlike Linked In and Twitter, to which I remain absolutely committed on a professional level, Facebook for me was always a 'closed community' deal. One that had strict admittance criteria for close friends and family only; a forum for domestic and trivial news share that I was always very comfortable to segregate from the more academic business exchanges I've contributed to, and profited from, through my Linked In and Twitter accounts.

Facebook is an amazingly colourful, engaging tool that I have a lot of warmth for. I know I shall miss it deeply. The applications are ingenious to bring laughter, insight and collaboration into one's personal relationships. Yet, ironically, my growing sense has been that the quality of those relationships may actually be falling victim to that ingenuity.

It just seems that the more time spent with family and friends on Facebook is less time spent on human - yes, dare I say, telephone - conversation. For this is the added brilliance of Facebook. The instant text messaging facility is just so easy! And compelling. Though not confining you to a mere 140 characters, it does mean your real-time "conversations" are so much more to the point; text messaging forces conciseness. By its clinical nature, it cuts down the more fallible nature of human discourse: emotion, innuendo, political sniping. It lends a more objective, less risk-laden and therefore, I suppose, innocuous form of discussion. It's an ideal channel for those wishing to avoid the intricacies of complex humanity and family ties.

The visit today of a close friend, whom I have not seen for a long while, threw into stark relief the sense of how much I value human interaction; of how much of it was moving away as our collective addiction to Facebook text-chatter intensifies. I'm reminded, in my brutal decision this evening, that I will never escape my nature. I'm a humanist, a communicator. Words, expression, nuance have always been the make-up of my character as well as the tools of my trade - whether I've been aware of this fact up until this point, or not.

I have always been interested in human 'presence' and reaction and know from experience that reading faces, listening to tone beyond words and pure, personal chemistry form the most powerful basis for collaborative and gratifying relationships. Tonight I realized these cannot be sustained by Facebook alone.

Labels: Facebook, Linked In, PR, reputation, social media, Twitter