Thursday November 28, 2024

Forgive Us

It’s not often a CEO starts his tenure with an apology, but the CEO of United has done so.  He is asking forgiveness for the mess his predecessor made of a merger. Note that he doesn’t name his predecessor nor does he refer to him in his letter of apology, but it doesn’t take reading […]

How Hard Is It?

How hard is it to communicate through the web?  Try a billion times to be heard above the noise. Or, to be more precise 935,950,654, give or take a few tens of thousands.  Those of us who have long memories and can recall the early days of the web are gobsmacked by its growth and […]

Perils Of The Known

Everyone knew the shale oil boom would last for years.  ”Consider the price of oil,”  they said.  ”It won’t drop below $50 a barrel even with the extensive drilling in North Dakota.”  That was then.  Now, North Dakota has thousands of dwellings under construction with no one to put into them.  Man-camps have disbanded.  Thousands […]

A PR Disaster?

This could be a PR disaster when it starts on Oct. 1.  Forcing doctors to use 140,000 codes to describe an illness or injury is far too much specificity.  It will be difficult enough for a specialist to master the codes in his area.  What about internists on the front line of medicine who see […]

Blame The Media

One way for a politician to avoid responsibility for his acts is to blame the media for reporting on them.  This is what Bill Clinton has done on behalf of his wife.  However, the problem remains that she did use a private e-mail server rather than the State department system.  No matter, it is easier […]

Internal Revolt

It happens in politics, in business and elsewhere — the internal revolt. Dissidents rise in protest over an organization’s actions and sometimes go public directly, such as Edward Snowden or indirectly through whispering to the media.  There isn’t much one can do from a public relations perspective.  It is up to the CEO or organizational […]

Dribble, Dribble

Hillary Clinton violated a norm of public relations and is suffering a self-inflicted wound that isn’t getting better.  Yes, it is about her State Department e-mails and use of a private server.  New information keeps dribbling out to reignite the story and damage her reputation.  Her favorability numbers have tanked and the door is open […]

Pigeonholing A Pope

This article shows why it is hard to pigeonhole the pope along American political lines.  He doesn’t fit neatly into the categories of liberal or conservative.  He is his own man, an independent thinker and believer.  The effort to pigeonhole him demonstrates the human tendency to put things into boxes in order to deal with them more […]

Apple, Facebook & Google: An Emerging Trend Index

When it comes to your top technology, business or general news sources, I can probably assume The Wall Street Journal and/or New York Times are on your list. And in less than five years, I’m willing to bet Apple, Facebook or Google are also on your list…if they aren’t already. The three brands are in […]

What Were They Thinking?

The story out of Volkswagen is so strange that it is nearly unbelievable.  That a car company would have the audacity to fudge tests on its engines and then sell tens of thousands of them before the EPA caught on is putting a loaded gun to the head and pulling the trigger.  Didn’t anyone in the […]