Essays

Putting a happy face on the sometimes ugly side of transformative change is more about communications and appearances than it is about strategy. Here’s a take on the leadership change at VW.

Sasha Baron Cohen’s fictional character Borat is a lout from Kazakhstan who says “very nice!” after saying and doing not-so-nice things. The real Kazakhstan has embraced it, and I think it’s a brilliant stunt. I must admit that I wasn’t even sure Kazakhstan was a real country when the first Borat movie came out in 2006, and Read more…

Former Apple design guru Jony Ive is working with Airbnb to “design new products” prior to its upcoming IPO. Last week’s story was covered extensively across mainstream and tech media. What’s the big news? Airbnb plans to redesign its app and website. There’s a lesson to be learned here: All that matters is the Read more…

A few weeks ago, Estee Lauder sent 10 bottles of Advanced Night Repair lotion to a photo shoot on the International Space Station (“ISS”), if all went accordingly to plan, and the images will find their way into social media marketing. The New York Post reported comments the company’s president made about it Read more…

IBM has announced its carving off its tech services business because it sees the future in cloud computing and AI. In this New York Times article, Ginni Rometty, IBM’s executive chair and former chief executive, said cloud computing, enhanced by artificial intelligence, “is now IBM’s enduring platform.” I can just imagine the management Read more…

We used to take trust for granted, and we depended on that unmentioned certainty. Then the Internet blew it up. We need to reclaim it. Traditionally, our institutions did little to earn trust. They asserted it and people gave it, presuming that governments, news media, academia, financial institutions and markets, Read more…

If the content on company websites was complete and truthful, you’d have to conclude that we’re turning the corner on climate change and social injustice. Only it’s not, and we’re not. Yes, corporate sustainability has a credibility problem. The recent news about Coca-Cola is a good example. A special interest Read more…

Corporate communicators are working hard to make programs work in a ‘new normal’ of changed expectations and, generally, constrained budgets. I worry that not enough of them are experimenting with new ones. Who could blame them? All of us are being challenged to do more with less, and do it Read more…