Everyday Influence

The Dynamics of Social Influence: A New Perspective and Agenda

While on vacation last week in Kauai I sat beachside relaxed and entranced by the awesome power of the ocean.  

I was entertained watching wave after wave hit the beach, toppling kids and adults as they played in the water.  As I sat there, I became curious about how waves are formed.  So I turned on my smart phone  and went to the Internet in search of an answer. In a matter of minutes, I learned that waves are formed (in part) by the force of wind and in some cases (such as tsunamis) by the affects of massive earthquakes that occur in the ocean.

I then went to YouTube (from my smart phone) to find videos of the most powerful waves recorded. Many of the videos found were associated with the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 that killed over 300,000 people including 168,000 in Indonesia alone. The videos told a power story about the tsunami straight from the people affected by it. It was a very powerful education. I then searched for blogs to find stories about this tsunami. Many blog posts that I found were written by people from around the world who were traveling in/around or lived in Indonesia at the time.

Within an hour, I learned how waves are created including the power and devastation of tsunamis - through the experiences (words and video) of people who were affected by one of history's most powerful and destructive, on record.

That same afternoon our beach was met by a couple of visitors from the ocean - Hawaiian Monk Seals.  This stirred great excitement among the people on the beach. Within minutes, a crowed formed around the seals and local environmentalists arrived to place a rope barrier around the seals.

I wanted to learn more!

Again, using my smart phone I went to the Internet and found a number of educational videos on YouTube and blogs about these endangered mammals. Through Twitter I was even able to see where other seals (35 known to the island) had been spotted over the past few days.

My search also led me to the website of a local organization that supports the protection of monk seals. As I explored the website I was motivated to make a donation to help protect and educate the public about these beautiful and endangered mammals.

At the end of the day, I was amazed at the speed and accessibility that I had to a vast amount of information regarding these two 'curiosities' while sitting on the beach in Kauai.

Through my smart phone I was seamlessly connected to a wealth of information on the Internet and the social web (blogs, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) that in the case of seals, motivated me to take action and give.  Just amazing.

This impressed upon me the power of Web 2.0 technology and social media’s increasing importance to society.

During my day job I spend a lot of time designing and executing marketing and communication programs that combine the power of the 'social web' with traditional ‘offline’ practices to engage customers and other external stakeholders (analysts, academia, bloggers, thought leaders, etc.) to help accelerate sales and the adoption of SAP products and solutions.  

My ‘social media’ experience while on vacation gave me a new perspective as a marketing and communications professional working to adapt and lead change against a new set of rules of engagement in the industry.

For instance, a great deal has been written about how social media has forever challenged the traditional business and syndication models of mainstream media (newspapers, publications, broadcast media).

There are also many famous examples of how social media has helped to bring new meaning to words like 'transparency,' 'trust,' and 'accountability' that has forced the evolution of traditional business models and beliefs of marketing and communications (as professions), sales and relationship management (personal, citizen and customer), politics, philanthropy and general business management.

Web 2.0 technologies and social media has transformed society in many ways.  It has provided a platform for everyday people to participate in the creation and syndication of educational and business content and 'news' that is accessible to the world – instantaneously.  We are also seeing the proliferation of online social networks and communities designed to connect people in powerful and influential ways.  This connection of people has changed the dynamics and the process of influence in our society  - how people source information and make and influence decisions of others. It has strengthened the rules and social contract of 'trust' by forcing accountability (of individuals, businesses, governments, etc) to words and actions.

As I think about this I am inspired to look more deeply at how social media has affected the dynamics and rules of 'social influence' across a number of areas of society (business, politics, philanthropy/giving, personal productivity/advancement, etc.). To understand how the phenomena has affected the behaviors and motivations of people for greater benefit and activism.

Over the course of the next few months I will focus on this (through my blog) with an eye toward identifying best practices of successful use of social media and the real impact (as much as I can identify) across each of the below segments. 

Politics: The 2008 U.S. Presidential election legitimized the use of social media in U.S. politics that will have a lasting impact. Through the masterful use of social media tools like blogs, twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, President Barack Obama strengthened the ideological and emotional connections with voters and the general public (U.S. and Global) – in ways that traditional media would not have allowed.

Key Questions: How are other governments and politicians successfully using or abusing social media for policy and political advancement?  What are the implications of social media on politics in the future (2020 and 2030)?  How has social media challenged governments and politicians through new rules of open/public scrutiny toward trust, transparency and accountability?

Social Causes: Non-profits and philanthropists have used social media to raise awareness and advocate change to support very important social, economic, and environmental issues.  As an example, organizations like DonnorsChoose.org have redefined approaches to charitable giving and fundraising. DonnorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects people and business to classrooms in need.  It has famously used social media to organize people and fundraise millions of dollars for a good cause.

Key Questions: What are the social media tools and techniques that successful non-profit organizations/institutions use to advance awareness and motivate people, governments and businesses to take action and affect positive change (giving of time and money), creation of policy, etc.?  How has social media impacted the nature of philanthropic design and social responsibility (local and global)?

Individuals: Social media has empowered individuals by giving them a platform to amplify their voices in ways that have forced accountability on corporations and governments regarding important issues around policy, products (quality and design) and services.

Individuals have also used social media to expand their personal and professional networks that have helped to secure new jobs and business opportunities; develop new friendships (romantic, social and professional); and accelerated education and productivity as a great complement to their ‘offline’ networks and activities.

Key Questions: How do people use social media and social networks to address personal concerns and support better decision making?  How has social media affected trust and relationships between people and organizations?  What are the implications to future generations of individuals (who today share everything about themselves) on politics and business? What are the most effective tools used by people to influence change in business and government?

Mainstream Media: Smart media organizations (newspapers, broadcast media, etc.) have embraced the social web by incorporating tools such as Twitter, blogs, social networks, and podcasts into their portfolio of news and information dissemination and exchange to build community/readership and citizen journalists.  CNN, Wall Street Journal and New York Times are shining examples of mainstream U.S. media that have adapted successfully.  There are also many examples of mainstream media that have not adapted fast enough or at all – that have gone or are going out of business.

Key Questions: What new syndication and business models have emerged for mainstream media today – to adapt to the phenomena of the social web?  How has the influence of mainstream media changed as a result of social media?

Business: Businesses are using social media to redefine service and customer support; improve and in some cases accelerate innovations of products and services; build new sales and marketing channels as part of a shift to Business-to-Person relationship management.

Key Questions:  How has social media and social networks affected professional/business decision-making?  What approaches and tools are business using to ‘listen,’ ‘interact’ and ‘engage’ more with their core audiences to improve the way they do business? How as social media affected and transformed traditional marketing and communication beliefs and strategies?

There are certainly more questions and ideas to explore regarding how social media has affected change across society (business, social, and political).

In my mind, the common factor is the importance on ‘the individual’ (person, employee, citizen, customer, etc.) at the center of engagement.  The empowerment of the individual has given social media amazing credibility forcing disruption and disintermediation of long-standing business and cultural beliefs.

Social media is without a doubt fluctuating through the hype cycle on its way to maturity.  Privacy issues are at the core of many debates taking place right now - helping to shape the policy of social networks such as Facebook. As social media tools become more mature and more actively used by people, we will undoubtedly see new levels of misuse, corruption and deceit – that will challenge the social contract of trust with this evolving medium (although the people who misuse will be weeded out).

It is also my belief that the ‘generational’ affect of social media will not be realized for another decade or two.  As millennials and Gen Y’ers share more information about themselves – posting pictures/videos, creating detailed personal profiles on social networks, and using blogs as an open diary of their lives that will live forever on the social web.  All of this makes anonymity and privacy very hard to control.  What will be the affect on the next generation in business and politics?

I will tap into the expert minds of colleagues and Fellows at The Society for New Communication Research (SNCR) and others in the industry who follow these issues more closely - to support future posts. If you have expertise, or questions that should be explored, links to information/research, or would like to collaborate on any of these topics/issues - please leave a comment or send me an email at don_bulmer@yahoo.com.

My Personal Branding Interview with Dan Schawbel

I had the great pleasure to be interviewed this week by Dan Schawbel. 

Dan is a leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He is the author of the bestselling career book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009).  The interview was for his blog which is syndicated by Reuters, Forbes, Hoovers, Fox Business and The Chicago Sun-Times, among others. 

Dan has interviewed over 160 success individuals such as Marcus Buckingham, Tony Hsieh, John C. Maxwell, Ken Blanchard, Phil Town, Don Tapscott, Marshall Goldsmith, David Allen, Larry Winget, John Kotter, Robert B. Cialdini, Keith Ferrazzi, Carmine Gallo, Matt Mullenweg, Steven Baker, David Meerman Scott, Mark Sanborn, Tucker Max, and many others.  To be among this impressive group of renowned industry experts interviewed by Dan is a great honor!

Through the interview we discussed the following topics:

• The best way to build ones personal brand with social media
• The most important aspect of my personal brand
• How social media has impacted the landscape of business and marketing communications - with the emergence of business-to-person (B2P) marketing
• The pitfalls and best practices in managing the demanding set of ‘crowed rules’ inherent in social media and the Web 2.0 environment.

The full interview can be found on Dan’s Blog.  I want to thank Dan for the great exchange, and opportunity to be profiled!

Leadership: Making the Tough Decisions

Business leaders and managers at all levels are faced with making 'tough' decisions on a regular basis.  This is especially true in today's economic environment.

I have always been fascinated by the process that leaders (both good and bad) go though in making the ‘tough call.’

As an example, I have worked with some leaders who base their decisions on raw emotion (usually the bad leaders); others are gifted with great insight (based on experience) and let intuition be their guide; others base decisions purely on facts; and most good leaders that I have worked with make decisions based on a combination of facts and intuition.

In today's economic environment, there are very few historical precedents or experiences that can fully support a decision that many business leaders are faced with.  There are certainly good lessons that can be derived from history, but very few business and political leaders today have first hand experience in leading through the type of environment that we are in today. 

What about the facts?  Given the rapid and constant change we have experienced over the past four months, many facts become outdated as quickly as they are presented. 

So what to do?

Below are three basic steps that I have come to appreciate as I have grown in my professional career.  These are derived from both my own experiences and from working with great leaders over the years.

1. First, it is important to understand the 'core issue' associated with the business challenge that you are dealing with and gather as many facts and insights surrounding the issue as possible.   At this stage in the process, it is important to separate ‘facts’ from ‘opinions.’ 

As a leader, you are often presented with 'facts' that are presented to support a specific argument or point of view - which by default make them adverse.  This is not to say that these adverse or 'position-based' facts are not valid, but they seldom represent a fully informed view of the core issue that needs to be addressed.

2. Second, it is important to look at your decision options from all angles and perspectives.   Many tough business decisions will have a broad affect on your business which might include: brand; reputation; relationships with employees, customers, partners, governments, etc.   It is very common to overlook the total impact that a tough decision will have on your business.  This is why it is important to consider many options – as you weigh the impact and trade-offs that most important decisions will require. 

As a leader, this is where intuition and experience play a big role. 

3. Third, it is important to ask a lot of questions.  This will help you to understand the options on the table as you make sense of the facts and sift through potential agendas/motives of people involved.  Asking the right questions also helps you to measure the risk and impact that your decision will have on your business and with key relationships. 

You may even consider speaking with trusted representatives from affected internal or external groups (customers, employees, partners, etc.) to get their perspective.  This interaction will also help secure support and buy-in (by all parties) of your final decision once you are ready to communicate.

The ‘tougher’ the decision the more challenges you can expect to face as you communicate and implement.  You will need to be prepared to help affected parties understand the rationale behind the decision and even share some of the alternatives considered and why you chose a different path. 

These are three ‘basic’ steps that I have found to be helpful in making good and informed decisions.

If all else fails, you can always resort to the good ole’ fashioned coin toss!

Additionally, here is a link to a great paper that I recently found called MAKING TOUGH CHOICES: A SIX STEP PLAN FOR MAKING TOUGH BUSINESS DECISIONS authored by Phil Thompson a business lawyer in Canada.  This paper outlines a good and complimentary blueprint for decision making with a bit more detail and additional perspective.

SAP University Alliances – A Standard for Experience-Based Community Design

Today SAP announced the launch of the SAP University Alliances community.  I am honored to have responsibility for the University Alliances program as part of the larger Industry and Influencer Relations organization, at SAP.

 

The newly launched SAP University Alliances community is an advanced portal (hosted on the SAP community network) designed for the academic population worldwide (faculty and students) to access the latest academic resources that bring real-life SAP knowledge and skills into university classrooms. It provides a forum for SAP to deliver higher education content supplied by SAP and community participants, including interactive academic resources, such as course lectures, case studies, exercises, demonstrations and videos; thought leadership forums; and community blogs. The community is designed to facilitate faculty and student collaboration and contribution, job posting and search, as well as networking with SAP customers and partners. Skills development and career opportunities for university students, professors and other community participants are the central focus of the site.

 

Through this effort, SAP University Alliances member faculty and students now have the ability to collaborate and interact with an active group of 1.5 million SAP customers, partners and employees that make up the larger SAP community network.

 

The new community is a central component of the long-standing SAP University Alliances program that today works with nearly 900 member campuses in more than 40 countries supported by 3,500+ professors and university faculty who provide 185,000+ students first-hand experience with SAP software each year.  Our goal with this community is to dramatically increase the number of universities that participate in the University Alliances program to bring 1,000,000+ students into the greater SAP ecosystem over the next three years.

 

The announcement today represents a great milestone not only for SAP University Alliances but also for SAP’s Industry and Influencer Relations program, as a whole.  As I discussed in a blog post last year (The Evolution of Industry and Influencer Relations at SAP – Part Two), universities play a unique and important role in the global economy and represent perhaps the most strategic component of the larger Industry and Influencer program design.

 

Today’s announcement is the result of tremendous effort and milestone that will benefit not only SAP but also our larger and very much valued ecosystem of customers and partners!

Marketing and Communication Opportunities – in a Period of Recession

I have received several emails from colleagues and peers in the industry wondering ‘why I have been dark’ on my blog for the past two months.

 

Like many marketing and communications professionals I have been heads down in business - making adjustments to programs and activities for the remainder of 2008 and planning for 2009.

 

To say the least, the affects of the financial crises and daunting uncertainty across global markets has put significant pressure on companies to aggressively manage both the bottom line (expenses and operational budgets) and top line growth (sales and revenue generation).  This intensive thrust to ‘back to basics’ management impacts all departments and organizations.  Managers are required to make adjustments to their operations to become laser focused and efficient AND deliver more value and results (and some cases - much more) with less resources (and in some cases - much less).

 

These circumstances pose a number of challenges for many marketing and communications professionals to adapt to.

 

I personally have an optimistic view of the situation.  Looking back at history, the market goes through a correction once every 10-15 years (e.g. recession in the late 80s; and the dot.com bubble bust in 2001).  Our current situation is definitely the worst ‘correction’ in several decades, but nonetheless a correction it is.

 

Although tough and challenging to go through, what history shows is that numerous product, service and technology innovations tend to emerge out of each market correction or crisis.  All of which fuel new business models and market and career opportunities.  These innovations come (in part) through a flushing of inefficiencies, consolidation of ‘players/companies,’ and a refocus on creating and providing more value. The companies that plan and adapt appropriately will be the big winners (both old and new companies).

 

As a communications executive, I see this as a great opportunity.  The power of thought leadership, relationships and collaborative industry influence that largely extends from programs driven by communications departments is a great ‘currency’ that gains tremendous value in any economic recession or down turn.  As communication practitioners, our role in helping to guide the market renewal process is critical.

 

What do I mean?

 

The results delivered through well structured communication and influence programs do not require huge budgets or mega teams to drive.

 

The effects of positive ‘unpaid media,’ external thought leadership and word-of-mouth and advocacy programs delivered through successful press, analyst, blogger, customer, employee, community and other influencer relations programs costs very little to execute AND generates very high returns for your company.  The benefits can be realized through the advancement of your company’s competitive position; positive reputation management; validation of new market/business opportunities; and 3rd party education, thought leadership and best practices that increase visibility and confidence that your business is a valuable and smart investment (for shareholders, customers, partners and employees).

 

Further to this, the use of existing technologies and social media strategies (among other things) offer marketing and communication professionals a tremendous and low cost way to disseminate messages with great scale and build awareness and maintain relationships with influencers (internal and external) in an increasingly global and dynamic business environment.

 

I believe that 2009 will bring a number of significant and positive changes to the marketing and communication profession.  I predict that we will see greater adoption and more innovative use of social media; new designs of communication and marketing organizations that adapt to a new influence ecosystem; more focus on customer and ‘community’ engagement; new metrics and measurement designs; and increased ‘insight’ programs to support corporate decision making.  These changes will contribute to a much needed renewal of marketing and communications that will help to evolve our profession to become more strategic, vibrant and valued across all industry sectors and geographies.

 

I encourage all of my industry peers and colleagues to take advantage of this opportunity with an optimistic outlook.  Challenge yourselves to better understand your business and industry environment. 

 

Look for new opportunities to provide value. Understand how to better use the ‘process’ of communications and the power of relationships to advance your company’s position in the industry and drive positive awareness, thought leadership and confidence back into the market!  And lastly - be bold, be proactive, and be proud!!!

The Authentic Enterprise

I was recently introduced to a whitepaper published by the Arthur W. Page Society called The Authentic Enterprise.  The Arthur W. Page Society is a professional association for senior public relations and corporate communications executives who seek to enrich and strengthen their profession.

The membership of the Page Society consists primarily of chief communications officers of Fortune 500 corporations, the CEOs of the world's largest public relations agencies, and leading academics from the top business and communications schools in the United States who have distinguished themselves teaching corporate communications.

The Authentic Enterprise white paper was published to promote thought leadership and education about challenges and issues that increased transparency bring to managing trust and reputation within the corporation. The paper also looks to define the role and mandate of the communication function and the Chief Communication Officer (CCO) to manage such challenges.

The white paper does a good job articulating a basic and largely realized view of communication challenges today - but falls short of providing a complete perspective that can be used to advance the agenda and the role of communication departments in corporations over the months and years to come.  

 

I assert that ‘authenticity’ is an absolute requisite part of any communication mandate that must be managed BUT in hyper competitive markets (pick one) fueled by a global recession (impacting communication budgets) - authenticity does not pay the bills.  

 

Every communication professional is a steward of brand and reputation, no doubt.  However, the key challenge for communication leaders today is to deliver against increasing pressure to solve bigger problems for our companies.  In the spirit of authenticity, these problems may be associated with managing risk, compliance and transparency, but more times than not it is about helping the company to grow leadership, accelerate sales and increase competitive advantage in our respective markets.  

 

Government regulation of business practices, globalization and democratization of information have certainly made the challenge of managing authenticity more complex, but not to the extent where managing authenticity should be the overriding mandate of the communication department - as the white paper suggests.

 

Much has changed but many things remain the same.

 

In my 14 year career as a communications professional, I have seen marginal advancement in the design and execution of the corporate communication function.

 

Many communication departments today still fight the perception of being mostly associated with the production of press releases and success of the department is determined by the effectiveness of media relations.  This is despite the many other critical areas supported by most communication departments, such as internal communications, analyst relations, investor relations and government relations - to name a few.

 

Business is about people and relationships. 

 

The internal and external audiences that many communication departments are tasked to manage have increased with dramatic scope over the last few years.  Since the rise of the Internet we have gone from the luxury of being able to manage one-to-one relationships with a handful of the ‘most important’ editors, analysts and policy makers, to having to manage relationships with numerous communities, social networks, and crowds of citizen journalists and industry experts of all sorts – which are now starting to blur between internal and external audiences, thanks to Web 2.0 tools.

 

The challenges have grown to be quite phenomenal and formidable for communication departments to manage, indeed.  However, to say that we have lost control (as the white paper suggests) is a cope out.  Communications departments and professionals must adapt to new audience engagement models, practices, technologies, communication tactics, and organizational designs.

 

The industry relationship management component of the communication charter distinguishes the function from all others.

 

Communication professionals (perhaps more than any other function) are best positioned to support a company’s strategic needs in an increasingly transparent and competitive world, based on our innate ability to cultivate positive perceptions and experiences for our company’s products, services, brands, and leadership personalities. 

 

Among other things, the key to managing the scale and unique demands of a growing and dynamic audience (internal and external) requires that we adapt to more interactive programs and strategies that allow for the exchange of ‘insights’ and facilitation of ‘conversations’ that influence both our targeted audiences and the corporation. 

 

Done well, this will improve the valuation of the communication function as we reach and influence vast audiences of shareholders, policy makers, customers, partners, journalists, analysts, and employees in impressive and highly scaleable fashion.   At SAP, the communication department manages relationships with external audiences that have a $54B impact (against a $75B market opportunity) on purchase decisions for business software, annually.  Put into this perspective, the opportunity is ripe and table is perfectly set for communications teams to use the ‘advantage of relationships’ to support company growth (sales and market share) and to advance the competitive position for our companies.

 

The white paper is indeed good work by the Page Society as it provides a level-set of important issues that need to be part of every communications management agenda in today’s world.  However, we must remember that modern day communications (as it has evolved from the innovations of Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee in the early 19^th century) helped to advance companies through the industrial revolution in ways that helped to establish new market opportunities and changed the way in which business was done - well before modern day marketing came to exist.

 

As we enter a sea change among industries, the chief communication officer must play a more prominent role in supporting business growth and market advancement.  If not, the communication function will be marginalized by the ‘business driven’ prowess of marketing and other corporate functions and initiatives.

 

Perhaps the ‘next chapter’ of the Authentic Enterprise series might focus on the Advancement of the Authentic Enterprise, providing tangible examples, practical strategies and tactics to help communication professionals at companies of all size, scope and geography be more competitive and strategic in their roles.

Stanford Entrepreneurial Series

 Over the last year, I have amassed a great source of business, marketing and leadership podcasts that 
 I listen to on a regular basis which I have found to be extremely helpful in stimulating ideas, provoking 
 thought and grounding me on core principles of marketing and business management. I would like to share 
 one podcast that I have found to be among the best. It is produced by Stanford University and is called 
 the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture Series.

 On a weekly basis during the spring, fall, winter and summer semesters, Stanford brings in some of 
 their most famous alumni and successful business men and women across a variety of industry segments
 (technology, media,banking/finance, venture capital, bio tech, etc.) to speak to students in entrepreneurial
 studies on their experiences in building and leading companies, in some cases from 'idea' to muti million 
 and billion dollar companies. Yahoo, Google, HP are a few of the highlighted companies. 

 
 The podcast is about an hour long and consists of a 30-45 min presentation by the guest speaker (extremely
 easy to follow via audio) and ends with open Q&A with the live audience. 

 
 Some of my best ideas (influence relations, leadership, and business development) have been stimulated 
 by the stories and experiences of the sage business leaders. I highly recommend to anyone with interest in
 business and entrepreneurship to subscribe to this podcast. You can find information about it at 
 Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Lecture Series.

 

Team Leadership Practices

Below are invaluable leadership practices and principles that I have learned over the years.  I will add more over time…but these are a good start. I would be interested in your thoughts on leadership practices and principles, too:

·     Be accessible to your team and to stakeholders

o    As you move up in management you must not loose sight of the issues and reality of challenges being managed on the front lines - by your team and internal/external stakeholders

o    To avoid the ivory tower label of ineffective management – be present and interact often with the your team and stakeholders

·     Be demanding but fair

·     Be an enabler of success

o    Your success as a leader is based on the success of your team and their success is only as good as your ability to enable it

o    Provide air cover for your team (limit distractions, buffer politics and complexities of management and business)

·     Take care of your people

o    Generously reward and recognize outstanding results

o    Manage the mediocrity of low performers and underachievers

·     Design MBOs that require collaboration to be successful

·     Establish metrics that reinforce the strategic value proposition of your team

o    Understand the difference between KPIs and metrics…

·     Establish a ‘reality’ with your team that is based on value and enablement

·     Establish a clear direction of strategy and purpose - and then 'get out of the way!'

o    Don’t micro manage - allow your team to innovate and execute

·     Share and promote success!