The Rising Influence of Blogs

Posted on July 28, 2008 | 1 Comments

Some things really are changing in our world. I spent an afternoon last weekend joining part of the BlogHer Conference in San Francisco.

BlogHer is a network of more than 13,000 mostly female bloggers, representing over 10,000 blogs. They collaborate to share learnings; 2,200 of their editorially-vetted blogs join in an advertising network. I was introduced to this organization originally by Lisa Stone, BlogHer's CEO. Together with partners Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins, the three women formed BlogHer in February, 2005.

I joined for a portion…

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Opportunity for the Chief Communication Officer

Posted on July 18, 2008 | 1 Comments

A few weeks back, I had the chance to co-host, with Jon Iwata of IBM, Roger Bolton of APCO and Jolie Hunt of Thompson Reuters, a dinner discussion on The Authentic Enterprise with some of the best agency minds in our profession.

Joining us for the evening were Richard Edelman of Edelman Worldwide, Mark Penn from Burson-Marsteller, Ray Kotcher from Ketchum, Aedhmar Hynes from Text 100 and Keith Yamashita, the principal of Read More

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An Intelligent Design of Our Time—The Authentic Enterprise

Posted on July 15, 2008 | 6 Comments

With apologies to intelligent design adherents and wishful thinkers of the public relations industry, I want to propose that the fancied idea of an Authentic Enterprise, as promulgated by fellow members of the Arthur W. Page Society, is an alluring but untenable thesis. We are better off positioning the corporate communication function as a competitive enterprise and serving as its principled advocates, not its brokers of values. To do otherwise is to apply a sentimental moral imperative on what is a bedrock but fast-evolving function of business.

I have five concerns about the much-discussed Read More

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The Flak over Flacks—and Hacks

Posted on July 11, 2008 | 6 Comments

Among the many thousands of responses to the recent diatribe against public relations by CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen on the CBS News program "Sunday Morning" recently, two stand out.

In case you missed them, the first is by the dean of public relations, Harold Burson, who sensibly argues in his blog that while interpretations of facts may lead to disagreements over what's true and what's not, "... after all is said and done, the public gets it right." Bottom line: "... lying doesn't work in a Democratic society." Harold bemoans the…

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How Does The Authentic Enterprise Travel?

Posted on July 08, 2008 | 0 Comments

So many have been engaged in the work of developing the Authenic Enterprise that I am sure there's probably been a time - particularly among the team that did so much of the heavy lifting - that one may wonder if the forest is clearly visible through all those trees! We all know the experience; investing so much of one's experience, perspective and passion that sometimes a step back to listen to others react is just the right thing to do to maintain a healthy, objective attitude.

Therefore, it was in this spirit that…

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What Communicators Can Learn From Obama-McCain

Posted on July 07, 2008 | 0 Comments

In my travels, I've discovered that you cannot go anywhere without the US presidential elections popping up in the conversation, even in seemingly unrelated topics or circumstances. The most recent example happened in New York at the end of June when Echo ran the first in a series of round-tables for the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) to inform its Gold Paper on Globalization and Public Diplomacy. The theme clearly parallels Page's Authentic Enterprise conclusions, and considers the drivers and implications from the perspective of those at the PR helm of global corporations. Representing some…

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Engaging Millennials in the Authentic Enterprise

Posted on July 03, 2008 | 0 Comments

As a advocate for the quality of thought and effort that went into creating the Authentic Enterprise white paper, I have shared it with a number of Boomer colleagues who also hold it in high regard. However, I recently discussed it with some Millennials, and I was surprised with their assessment which ranged from "duh" to "corporate B.S." One young man said it was stating the obvious, while another simply opined that "All companies will have to be authentic or perish. They have no choice."

Since I write a blog aimed at Millennials pursuing careers in…

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