Schaffner Media Partners

As Anthony Weiner resigned yesterday, ensnared by his sexting scandal, it’s easy to forget that people often use social media networks to express deeply held values. A new book, We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World, (Palgrave 2011) argues businesses can tap the power of social media to transform ordinary corporate philanthropy into passion for their brand, and attract many more consumers in the process.

Author Simon Mainwaring is a former Nike creative at Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, and worldwide creative director for Motorola at Ogilvy, and founder of We First, a branding consultancy. Mainwaring is among those who argue corporations need to build purpose and values into their business practices and partner with consumers on social causes.

Mainwaring believes social media are the tool for doing this through what he dubs “contributory capitalism.” Companies could make a philanthropic donation from every single transaction and use social media to share and track those transactions with total transparency. Imagine, for example, consumers scanning a barcode with a smartphone app that shows them how that single purchase will result in charitable transactions–say a dollar contribution to each of three corporation-supported charities–with a data picture updating how much has been given.

Read more: http://www.bnet.com/blog/best-business-books/is-your-business-a-force-for-good/624#ixzz1QUCuHBt4

Welcome to the 21st century workplace where every job, including yours, is temporary. New realities have led to a fundamentally and permanently changed corporate environment, and the sooner you accept these new realities and manage your work and team accordingly, the better off you will be.

That is the message of a guide offering detailed scripts for handling dozens of the toughest situations at work, authored by bestselling author, and veteran life coach and career expert Stephen Pollan and his coauthor Mark Levine: Workscripts: Perfect Phrases for High-Stakes Conversations (Wiley 2011). (Disclosure: I was Stephen and Mark’s editor in the early 2000s at HarperBusiness).

The authors fatefully pin the year of the transition to the beginning of the Great Recession: “In 2008 the workplace changed forever, forcing me to rethink and revise all the office communications advice I’ve been offering over the years.” Pollan concluded that “five elements” are driving the new workplace.

Read more: http://www.bnet.com/blog/best-business-books/why-your-job-has-an-expiration-date/647#ixzz1QUCX2Eyr

Need some insights on how to foster collaboration between coworkers with clashing styles–say, the family values churchgoer and the vegan yoga enthusiast? One place to get some insights is Discovery Channel’s fabulous survival reality series, Dual Survival.

I’d never recommend you adopt survival techniques from a popular television show, but you can learn about people under duress and what makes them effective. While I am no hardcore woodsman, my sons and I enjoy the outdoors, and on a recent fishing trip Gabriel and I were resting in our tiny upstate NY motel room when we caught our first look at Dual Survival. The show teams up (it was concepted this way) two bushcraft gurus with different cultures and styles: Cody Lundin, an off-the-grid “wilderness hippie,” and Dave Canterbury, an ex-sniper, “military guy” survival specialist. Unusual for me, I fell in love with the show on the spot. [CONTINUE READING]

The bad news about the unemployment rate uptick to 9.1% spurs the question: are corporations under investing in the American worker? After all, capital markets and corporate profits are recovering faster than paychecks and people.

It’s true that new improvements in process redesign and advanced technology have delivered more productivity during the recession, squeezing more output from fewer staff, while managers learn to function with uncomfortably low staffing levels. As of the first quarter of 2011, output productivity was up over 3 percent for the economy from last year, and 10 percent for durable manufacturing!

Still millions of workers fear for their jobs, and managers are concerned about maintaining productive teams and employee morale when key pillars of job security are damaged or missing. Workforce turnover is high, wage growth is elusive, and companies continue to move millions of jobs and major operations overseas. National surveys identify outsourcing as a source of public fear and anger that few companies address. [CONTINUE READING]

Just a few weeks ago, at the urging of client Facebook, two executives at Burson-Marsteller tried to spread an anti-Google smear campaign suggesting that bloggers and advocates criticize Google’s privacy policy. Rather than stir up media outrage, their awkward emails were turned against them by the same bloggers and newspapers they were pitching. Three brands were hurt–who is recovering?

Just a few weeks ago, Sony’s Playstation network was hacked, compromising the identities and credit card numbers of millions of customers. The event stirred anti-Sony reaction worldwide among techies and gamers. What has Sony done to inform the global audience of tech consumers that it is ensuring the online gaming economy is secure?

Just a few days ago, The New York Times and other media reported on a brand crisis for the consumer review site, Yelp: underground entrepreneurs are selling fake ‘good’ restaurant and product reviews and corrupting Yelp’s credibility. Haven’t many consumers already wised up to spamming and astroturf of consumer reviews?

Protecting and managing brand reputation is a major issue for leaders and marketers in every business. A new book offers valuable strategies and tactics to help you protect your brand, manage risk, and stage a recovery from attacks in our hyper-connected info-economy. CONTINUE READING…