Month: September 2013

Always ask, “who could be offended by this?”

When launching a major promo for a product, it’s Crisis Management 101, it’s very important to do your homework to ensure that you won’t be creating an ugly situation in the process. After reading about Coca-Cola’s latest marketing #fail there should be no doubts as to why. Here’s what went down, as reported by PRDaily’s Kevin Allen:

Coca-Cola is apologizing profusely (and rightfully so) after a Canadian girl opened a bottle of Vitaminwater to find the words “You Retard” printed under the cap.

Blake Loates and her family were especially offended due to the fact that Loates’ younger sister, 11-year-old Fiona, has cerebral palsy and autism.

Her father, Doug, sent a strongly worded letter:

“What would you do if you opened up your bottle of Vitamin Water and on the bottom of the lid it read, “YOU RETARD”? Think about it. I bet you’d be pissed off if you had a Fiona in your life… Can you imagine if SHE had opened this bottle?”

In a public apology from the beverage distributor, Coca-Cola spokesperson Shannon Denny told ABC News:

“We have spoken to the family to offer our sincerest apologies and to explain the production process to them. This is certainly not an excuse in any way for what has occurred. We wanted them to know that this was in no way intentional and was a mistake on our part during the review process. We also wanted to share that the promotion has since been cancelled and we are no longer producing bottles with those caps.”

OK on the apology. Well done there, but Coca-Cola’s explanation for the mistake was simply ridiculous:

Representatives for Coca-Cola have since stated that the language inside of the cap was the product of a competition pairing one random English word with a second random French word. In French, “retard” means “late” or “delayed.”

To make matters worse, Coca-Cola already had warning that their marketing trick could have unintended consequences. According to GlobalPost.com, “Coca-Cola got a similar complaint from another consumer who had the word “douche” printed on a bottle cap. In French, that’s the word for shower.”

We understand the enormous pressure that’s being exerted upon advertising departments to push out the next edgy, viral campaign, but slow your roll, people. Nobody enjoys having their “brilliant” ideas shot down, but you really do need that guy in the room who’s always asking who could be offended, how other cultures might interpret things, or, just to take a totally random idea, researching what might come up when you combine words from your English and French word lists for a bottle cap promo…

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

The Only Form of Problem-Solving

What would you say if I were to say there are no secret processes to be had–just the basic process we can apply to every plan we have to make and every problem we have to solve? I hope you would be flabbergasted, but believe me when I say it is true.

I am talking about process improvement as a result, by not only simplifying the process, but by ensuring more correct answers.

Remember, how were we expected to approach the manager stereotypes of old? There were four character types, but these two are the ones that concern us the most. One expected you “to get the job done,” while the other expected you “to get the job done right.” The latter is our goal. I have always been in that court anyway.

Using our brains, by letting our personal biological computers help us problem-solve is one way, if not the best way “to get the job done right.”

To make effective use of The Process, we use the following 4 ways to solve a problem, form a clear idea, build a plan, etc.–

1. We gather the information
2. We organize the information
3. We deep think, cogitate, meditate or pray about the information, and finally
4. We regurgitate the information in an interesting, and hopefully, creative form, designed for success

Easy, right? I going to make it even easier.

Ever have an obsessive idea about something, one that won’t leave? It’s a little like your “physical” computer when it wants to finish the first action before performing the second action. The issue or ideas are still there in your mind. You may have put up a “wall,” but your mind via your brain is trying help you resolve the issues or complete the idea.

Now, comes the time to deep think, cogitate, meditate or pray. Any will do–whichever makes you most comfortable. Cogitate defines the act best for me, but each term performs a similar action–that of relaxing the brain. Our way of simplifying the process is to let is it rest and you might say, “sleep on it.” What we are doing is letting the facts and ideas come together with our desires, both conscious and un- to complete the Gestalt–the picture.

To cogitate means to think deeply, to contemplate, to meditate on a subject or an idea. In other words, keep the idea general. Don’t connect all the dots just yet. Keep the amounts of information you’ve researched moving via brain waves to various parts of the brain we know nothing about to stir things up until it yields value.

Beforehand, only jot down the basic notes you need to keep the assignment on course.

We all talk about organizing and learning as if there is a best way to gather, organize and regurgitate information. No matter what you’ve been taught about how to process, you still process inside in a way unique to your brain, even though you will perform outwardly what you’ve been taught. You hold onto your thoughts. And, if you can, allow some time for those thoughts to work on their own to help you do what you have to do.

Praying, meditation or just sleeping on a subject does the same thing as cogitating; it allows an idea to roll around in your mind without expectations, without manipulation until a subconscious answer comes to mind. Think about any problem-solving course of training that uses one of these methods. They all allow for a concentration on a verbal or nonverbal, auditory or inaudible statement of thoughts.

Not only that, but holding on to those thoughts instead of worrying about them is a good stress reliever, according to Dr Willis McCann, Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Missouri Western State University. He held a doctorate in psychology, a juris doctorate and a doctor of divinity degree. He taught Mental Health among other subjects while I was there.

We often organize by writing points down as we learn them, taking notes, or do we? But how do you put them in the right order? Note cards? I’ve heard some speakers do that. Cut and paste. Writers do that. I do that. The germ of the idea may come out first. Or, the strongest idea or the best phrase. Or, the solution to a business problem. All the while the brain is listening. Is the brain responsible for the order created out of chaos or are you going to take credit for that?

Ultimately, it will be the internal process that comes up with the answer you really need. After all, you only use 10 percent of your computer brain, but the rest of it is there and we don’t know of what it is capable, especially when you give it a chance to focus. Imagine if you could use all the memory and knowledge stored in your computer to solve just one problem.

So, keep an open mind about what you have formally written. You may want to change it later before someone else comes up with the better idea.

For me, it may be a new scene, a solution to problem in novel itself, or a new character that I hadn’t thought of but was there in my subconscious. See where that cogitating can be helpful. I included “thinking,” “meditating,” and “praying” because the result is the same: relaxing the mind so that it has time to help you put ideas together. Remember, your brain is a computer, too. Of course, like any computer, it’s only as good as the input you put in, but your biological computer can be affected by outside factors, including emotions and health, for example.

Sleeping on ideas can help, but only if worry or agitation don’t get in the way.

Imagine the insight that can come to one man or woman working alone. Imagine you are that one man or woman who has thought this problem through consciously (and subconsciously) and come to the meeting ready to provide good creative feedback. You will be confident and prepared.

I am not advocating never taking notes or never putting anything in writing until that last minute; I am saying it’s better to get it “done right,” instead of “just get it done.” Leave the ending open and flexible so you can change the answer easily. Make your deadline, and if nothing changes, you will know you’ve done your best and stress free.

My approach is often looking at training and development from outside. By doing so I hope to shed light on areas that may not be noticeable to the players involved. In this case, even though my experiences are different, our minds work the the same way.

I write commentary. That is not to say, I am clueless about training. I have been a trainer, training developer and training manager at the corporate-level, and freelanced my training services as well as coached executives in speech for many years. However, my background is unusual. I hope that gives me unusual insight as well. I may go off on a tangent to keep us all on our toes, but I try to leave readers with something to think about.

Feel free to contact me with a comment, or with a request to be a guest writer. I welcome opposing views, and trainers who wish to speak on other topics. Be generic and talk about the industry you represent without selling your own services. We will, however, link to you and your company with the hope you will link back to us.

*Just a short note to let you know I have shut down my website and re-named my Acting Smarts blog to Shaw’s Reality, which reflects my more eclectic writing these days and I use instead of my website. Still doing some acting, directing and performance criticism; however, I am more involved in writing these days and want to focus there. I promise straight talk and to be cryptic about anything on my site, which is meant to enlighten those who read between the lines. Harry’s Reality is still on sale at Amazon will be available through all other ebook distributors and directly through Smashwords in all digital formats after September 30th.

Happy training.

For more resources about training, see the Training library.

A Guest Post by Tony Poderis

In my opinion, there are limits (compared to the business sector) for nonprofit organizations regarding the building of their markets, the percent return on activities, investment for the future, general operational efficiencies, and some business practices and tools.

There are things nonprofit organizations simply cannot do, which are second nature to businesses seeking to improve their bottom line. To my way of thinking, nonprofits cannot operate like businesses, but they certainly can work in a businesslike manner.

There are indeed many similar and interchangeable tools and components comprising the marketing of a commercial product and the services provided by a nonprofit organization – and for fundraising. But at the beginning and the end of that marketing process the differences are as wide apart as they can be. And they are practical and understandable. That’s why we have the for-profit and nonprofit sectors in the first place.

— A for-profit (business) has a Mission to serve the market, which means its reason for being is to provide something of value and at the best price and quality in the marketplace.

A business is bottom-line-driven. The results are based on a goal to profit and a return on investment for its shareholders. (Easy to quantify and measure.)

— A nonprofit (charity) has a Mission for the public good, its reason for being is to provide something of value in life.

A nonprofit is not bottom-line-driven. The results are based on a goal to provide needed services and to increase and better the quality of life for the beneficiaries. (Highly subjective, next to impossible to measure.)

To operate at optimum effectiveness, a nonprofit needs to work to maximize its potential to produce income – within the confines of its Mission Statement. This is a very important distinction from a business free to retool and reposition and downsize in the market at any time.

Act more like a business, or be more businesslike?

At the Cleveland Orchestra, when we were asked about our limited profit-making capabilities, vis-à-vis those of local businesses/corporations, we responded (half-jokingly) that we could not increase our productivity or efficiency with an eye to greater product management, even if we played a Beethoven symphony faster than it was played 200 years ago.

We could not speed up our assembly line, nor could we reduce the number of violinists required through automation. If what we produced was symphonic music, we could not cut costs by turning ourselves into a chamber orchestra and still produce our symphonic-music.

Unlike a business having a “loss leader,” we had nothing to “sell” below cost in the hope that “customers” who bought it would also buy other profit-making things.

Unlike for-profits, which usually thrive and aggressively pursue new and expanding markets, our Cleveland orchestra could not work to build market demand outside of our area of service. We would have been in competition with like organizations performing in their own communities. Those other communities’ civic pride would always win out. And, duplication of effort does not work well with the wishes and guidelines of donors and other granting entities.

We had no money, nor the need, for future “R & D,” when our hard and fixed costs were at home, year after year paying the salaries of 105 of the world’s best musicians.

Businesslike, yes. Like a business? Not a chance.

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Have a question or comment about the above posting? You can Ask Tony. There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website: Raise-Funds.com .

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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks? They’re easy to read, to the point, and cheap ($1.99 – $3.99)

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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Here’s a suggested framework from my colleague Jim Kucher (founder/managing director, Income for Outcomes).

A viable social enterprise must have:

• A viable social change theory (what makes you think you can actually effect the change you seek)
• Market opportunity analysis (both social and commercial – who is in this space, what are they doing, why is that not working)
• Venture feasibility study (again, social and commercial – are there enough customers, can you price competitively, etc.)
• Match to mission (sadly, not focused on nearly enough IMHO)
• Capital access plan (ok,so who’s gonna pay for this, and what is the plan for return on investment)
• Exit strategy (not just financial but social- how will you know when you have effected the change you seek)

Therefore, assisting in developing each of these becomes our work, and the way we go about that work becomes the “code”.

USDA and meat industry ignoring massive warning signs

A pilot program meant to more rapidly identify contamination in the plants which process the meat we eat on a daily basis has been an utter failure, yet still may be implemented as the USDA standard. The Washington Post’s Kimberly Kindy explains:

The program allows meat producers to increase the speed of processing lines by as much as 20 percent and cuts the number of USDA safety inspectors at each plant in half, replacing them with private inspectors employed by meat companies. The approach has been used for more than a decade by five American hog plants under a pilot program.

But three of these plants were among the 10 worst offenders in the country for health and safety violations, with serious lapses that included failing to remove fecal matter from meat, according to a report this spring by the USDA inspector general. The plant with the worst record by far was one of the five in the pilot program.

Worried yet? How about this fact – the USDA has allowed other countries to use a similar process in plants exporting red meat to the U.S. for at least the past two years, if not more.

Now, part of the reason pilot programs are run is to test, and that means it’s not uncommon for there to be failures. What’s really frightening about this case from a crisis management standpoint is that, despite the negative findings from the pilot program, the USDA seems determined to move forward without stopping up the holes in the process.

Of course, all it takes is one read through this quote, from the same Washington Post article, to see how the USDA feels about crisis prevention:

In interviews, six USDA inspectors working in the pilot plants raised health concerns. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they believed their jobs would be in jeopardy otherwise.

Several said company and government workers are yelled at, threatened and shunned if they try to slow down or stop the accelerated processing lines or complain too aggressively about inadequate safety checks. They also warned that the reduction in the ranks of government inspectors in the plants has compromised the safety of the meat.

“We are no longer in charge of safety,” said an inspector with more than 15 years of experience. “That’s what the public needs to know.”

Mindless backing of a failed policy, greed pushing operations to unsafe speeds, and a culture that punishes those who dare to speak out about the dangers involved…sounds like a recipe for disaster.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]