Posts Tagged ‘blogging’

  Last night I was asked how long I had been blogging. I threw out a number without thinking about it.  However, since I was not sure, I went online to determine how long it might actually be and I was curious about whether I had hit an anniversary of sorts. Should I be celebrating my 5th or 8th or 10th year anniversary of blogging about reputation?

My first web site was CEOgo.com.   I defined it as “The premier site on chief executive officers, leadership and management trends.” Actually, there was no other comparable site so I could have easily said it was “The site on chief executive officers, leadership and management trends.”  CEOgo is no longer live since it was closed down after I left my previous position and I joined Weber Shandwick, starting anew with reputationXchange.  I started CEOgo in February 2000 (according to when it was registered) which answers my question on how long I’ve been blogging — 11+ years. Who would have thought I had so much to say on CEOs, CEO reputation, corporate reputation, CEO transitions, leadership and all things reputation-related. CEOgo was the site to go to on CEO turnover, whether CEOs were insiders or outsiders, average tenure, reasons for departure, reputation-building, etc.  It certainly chronicled my thought leadership in this area and eventually rolled itself all up into my book, CEO Capital. And although much has changed (the more common division of the Chairman and CEO role for one), much has stayed the same. It is among the hardest jobs there is, next to being President of the U.S.

I have anniversaries on my mind today because I am looking at my five-year anniversary at Weber Shandwick. Although I like to think that annniversaries come and go and corporate life has its good-and-plenty ups and downs, I have to say that my past half decade at Weber Shandwick has been fulfulling, productive and full of pleasurable surprises. The leadership and collegiality are truly the real deal and I am thankful for what I have been encouraged to accomplish. And I have also been lucky enough to work with Liz and Jen who make all the difference to my ability to face those very early mornings that are my habit.

It is important not to let important milestones just pass — whether 11 years of blogging about reputation or 5 years at Weber Shandwick. I consider myself lucky.

To say the least, the article in yesterday’s New York Times on blogging made me wince.

“According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.” 

I obviously fit into the 5% that keep blogging (or sticks to their knitting). Is there something wrong with me?  What distinguishes this 5%? When I finished my dissertation many years ago, I realized that there were many fellow students who never completed the degree. I thought to myself then that there must be something wrong with me for toiling all those years  when others just made the decision to move on. I guess I don’t move on well.

Back to my blog, two interesting tidbits for my posting this evening. 

First, I read that the pre-presidential Obama administration asked the following of applicants: “If you have ever sent an…email, text message or instant message…that could…be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family or the President-elect if it were made public, please describe.”  We should all be adding similar questions to our employment applications. Social media is key to reputation-building and reputation-busting whether you are in public or private business. [This appeared in the Economist, April 18th, 2009 and cannot find the article.]

The second item I saved recently has to do with the CEO of online shoe store Zappos.  CEO Tony Hsieh is the new Jeff Bezos.  You may have heard this story if you follow social media tales among the executive set like I do.  Hsieh’s Twitters are now quite famous and the company receives extraordinarily high marks in terms of its reputation for extreme customer service (“deliver WOW through service”).  What I particularly like is this story about Hsieh’s team focus.  Since talent is so important, recruiting at Zappos is heightened.  Imagine this. Hsieh offers new employees $2,000 to quit their call center trainee jobs in order to weed out those who won’t make the grade.  As reported, three people took the money and ran last year.

Blizzard of cities. After I last wrote in Barcelona, traveled to Munich, the Hauge/Amsterdam, Brussels and Geneva. Finally back in New York. Barely had time to blog so catching up with my travels now. Each meeting raised different items about online reputation management: How do you manage when you are getting 2, 500 Tweets per day? Should CEOs blog? What do you do when a bad bad bad blogger posting is among the top five hits on Google? How do you manage online reputation management when senior management does not see the ROI?  Why are senior executives less worried about their professional reputations than their corporate reputations? Should CEOs Twitter? How do you convince your senior management that online reputation management is important to follow? What’s ahead three years from now?  Financial institutions have legal restrictions that prevent them from disclosing too much information, what choices are there? Interestingly, no one questioned the value of reputation online or offline. I guess they would not have attended our discussions if they did. But no one mentioned that their CEOs were disbelievers. What became clear is that there are no set in stone rules of engagement when it comes to online reputation management. Just like crises overall, the best prevention is preparation. 

In each meeting, I asked people how many people had sent an email to someone by mistake. Nearly everyone raised their hand. Confirms our finding that 87% of senior executives have sent an email to the wrong person or received one not intended for themselves. I also asked how many had social media profiles in sites such as Facebook. The majority raised their hands. Twitter was the dividing line where there were some haves and have-nots. 

Few things worth mentioning now that I am back in New York. Fortune came out with its World’s Most Admired Companies survey. They have consolidated the two versions – America’s Most Admired and World’s Most Admired — into one World’s Most Admired.  Senior editor Geoff Colvin’s article quoted me saying that “The leader still makes or breaks a company’s reputation – we should never forget that.”

Caught up on some reading about managing in a recession by managment guru and writer Jim Collins. He mentions a few important factors that keep some companies great and some….not so great or ungreat (not a word I know). Here are a few interesting thoughts to keep in mind as companies pursue the most admired mantle in these mean times:

• The more challenged you are, the more you have to have your values.
• If’s there’s a storm on the mountain, more important than the plan are the people you have with you.
• Turbulence is your friend.

When I came through Immigration last night (early this morning European time), the guy checking my passport said to me, “hey lady, tell your boss you need a rest.” I’m taking a nap.