Blog

In Defense of Collaboration

Posted by Admin on Feb 5, 2012 in Featured, Strategic Management | 0 comments

Susan Cain, in her article, “The Rise of the New Groupthink” (The New York Times Sunday Review, Sunday, January 15, 2012) advances the provocative notion that collaboration is not conducive to creativity. I do not disagree with Cain’s well-researched argument that solitude, not group collaboration leads to innovation. To a point. Original thinking is, of course, a solitary endeavor, but not necessarily an independent achievement. Creativity and innovation do not spring forth from a vacuum, but from a confluence of inputs based on ideas...

Senate support collapses for PIPA, SOPA rival introduced to House

Posted by Admin on Jan 20, 2012 in Public Relations | 0 comments

As thirteen senators announced their opposition to PIPA, the controversial bill before the United States senate that aimed to address non-US websites that pirated movies, music and more, a new bill has been introduced. The Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), which has been called the Stop Online Piracy Act’s (SOPA) sister legislation, aimed to prevent US companies from assistance to foreign websites that hosted pirated content, with assistance including funding, advertising and links, the Wall Street Journal reported. Both bills have...

SOPA & PIPA: threats to our national interests

Posted by Admin on Jan 20, 2012 in Featured, Public Relations | 0 comments

Kiwis get all upset at the slightest suggestion of a foreign government trying to influence our domestic law-making. The US government and others do so to further their national interests. We now have the mirror opposite situation. UPDATE: Congress shelves SOPA – but InternetNZ warns threats remain I’d like to see the NZ government work within accepted diplomatic boundaries to at least express concerns at two US laws in the making- SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act before the House of Representatives) and PIPA or the PROTECT IP Act (Preventing...

The Key to Everything

Posted by Admin on Jul 20, 2011 in Featured, Marketing | 0 comments

“Who you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you say.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson Reputation Management: The Key to Everything When I talk to clients about the importance of reputation management, I often get knowing and dismissive nods. The responses are almost uniformly lukewarm. “Yes, we know it’s important, but…” The “but” always seems to be related to the shiny new social media technologies of marketing and the single-minded focus of driving bottom line results. Responses often sound like...

Social Media Fatigue

Posted by Admin on Jul 3, 2011 in Featured, Social Networking | 0 comments

Just when I think I’m getting a handle on all the whiz-bang apps, platforms and social media sites, something new arrives on the scene. This past week it was the announcement of Google-Plus, which according to the hype, is designed to organize our connections better and feel more distinctive (my word) than Facebook (FB) My first thought after reading the announcement about Google-Plus was, “Oh great, another social networking opportunity that will eat my time and dull my gray matter…” And then I caught myself—I was experiencing a...

Observations About Shanghai

Posted by Admin on Apr 10, 2011 in Featured, Public Relations | 1 comment

China Review #1: Pudong Airport, Shanghai, 10:00 a.m., March 31. I’m sitting in the airport café waiting for my flight back to the United States. I’ve just completed my first trip (hopefully, of many) to China and I want to write down my observations before they fade. One of the great things about traveling somewhere for the first time is that it takes you out of your comfort zone. Everything is new, different, confusing, intense, and surprising. If you go back to the same place, you are generally more comfortable because you know what...

The Midnight Buffet

Posted by Admin on Oct 29, 2010 in Featured, Public Relations | 1 comment

Everywhere you turned, there was something brilliant being discussed on one of several jumbotrons in the convention center....

Thank You, Maria

Posted by Admin on Oct 26, 2010 in Featured, Public Relations | 0 comments

When her mother did speak to her, it was not from above, but from deep inside her. Maria shared her fear of the unknown...

Heck of Day…

Posted by Admin on Sep 15, 2010 in Featured, Public Relations | 0 comments

There is something about The Women’s Conference that is different from any other conference I have ever experienced. First of all, there’s energy throughout the convention center that is simply electrifying. You can see it in the participants’ faces—joy, anticipation, hope, and openness. You pass a woman and exchange a look that asks, “Do I know you?” Everybody feels so familiar here…like we are already friends; we just haven’t been formally introduced yet. This is the only place I have ever been where strangers want...