11 Inspiring Nelson Mandela Quotations

In honor of Nelson Mandela on this the day of his funeral we wanted to share 11 of his most memorable and important quotations.  These serve as words to live by for all professional communicators and most importantly, people in general.

The anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner, and first-ever black president of South Africa was an avid writer and speaker who often shared his considerable wisdom about how to communicate, effective leadership, and methods of dealing with one’s enemies.

• “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

• “Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.”

• “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”

• “Lead from the back—and let others believe they are in front.”

• “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

• “Unlike some politicians, I can admit to a mistake.”

• “One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.”

• “It is wise to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea.”

• “Know your enemy—and learn about his favorite sport.”

• “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

• “Appearances matter—and remember to smile.”

• “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

ALM Launches 14 Apps

by Monica Bay

Texas Lawyer

ALM on June 25 launched 14 smartphone apps for use on Apple Inc.'s iPhones, iPods and iPads. The apps provide content from the company's national and regional web and print publications, and support iOS 6.1 and above.

The LTN and Corporate Counsel apps are free; for a limited time the other 12 apps will provide free access to all editorial content in their publications, made possible by sponsors who are identified within the app. Three publications also retain their existing digital magazine apps, powered by Texterity, which offer PDF versions of the print magazines: Law Technology News, The American Lawyer, and Corporate Counsel. The sites are:

The American Lawyer
Corporate Counsel
Law Technology News
The National Law Journal
Connecticut Law Tribune
Daily Business Review
Daily Report Online
Delaware Business Court Insider
Delaware Law Weekly
New Jersey Law Journal
New York Law Journal
Texas Lawyer
The Legal Intelligencer
The Recorder 

Readers' preferences were at the heart of ALM's decision to create the new apps, said ALM officials.
"In the past the first place our readers would turn to in the morning was our legal newspapers. Today, the first thing they reach for is their smartphone and tablet," observed Bill Carter, ALM's president and CEO. "With the launch of these 14 native apps, we now offer unparalleled access to ALM news and insights for the time-conscious and news hungry legal professional. This marks a big step in ALM's transition to being a digital-first media company that delivers relevant, timely, news and insights to lawyers throughout the day, no matter where their practice takes them — from the office to the courtroom," he said.

Over the last two years, surveys and studies have documented a surging demand by lawyers to "bring your own device" to work (BYOD), and for connectivity on demand. "As lawyers are increasingly mobile, it's crucial to provide the news and information they need in the formats they prefer," said ALM's David Brown, vice president and editor in chief. "When news breaks, minutes can matter to legal professionals who are protecting and serving clients."

Jeffrey Litvack, who June 25 was promoted to chief digital officer at ALM, was the leader of the project.

"The introduction of these 14 native apps is just the latest component of our digital-first initiative, he said. "We have focused our digital strategy on meeting our readers' preferences and now provide a portfolio of options for readers to access ALM's up to date legal news and information on smartphones and tablets." The apps project followed an upgrade of about 50 ALM newsletters, optimizing layouts for reading on mobile devices; as well as a renovation of ALM's websites, said Litvack.

"In the last year, the number of visitors to ALM's online news sites who are using mobile devices has increased nearly 60 percent, far outpacing the growth in desktops and laptops," observed Litvack. "More specifically, litigators — who are often out of the office and otherwise on the go — make up the largest percentage of mobile readers on ALM's Web sites, now representing more than 45 percent of unique visitors," Litvack said.

"These native apps place online legal news into the palms of readers who use iPhones and iPads as part of their daily routine," he said. "The apps offer a superior and faster reading experience than what is possible through a smartphone or tablet web browser."

Litvack cited ease of use and touch access as key factors in the new apps. Users can easily find decisions, news and public notices, and move quickly from one article to the next. The apps integrate with Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn and email, said Litvack. The apps cache front page stories and decisions and maintain your Favorites to read offline.

"We know our readers want to read The American Lawyer and The Am Law Daily when and where it's convenient for them and our new cutting-edge app lets them do that," added Robin Sparkman, editor-in-chief of the two publications.

The team decided to launch initially on Apple's iOS because of its strong popularity among lawyers. According to the 2012 Am Law Tech Survey, when it comes to reading legal news, Apple's iPad holds a 98 percent share of the legal market. Android and BlackBerry versions will follow.

Test Drive

LTN's technology editor Sean Doherty got a sneak preview on June 24 of the New York Law Journal app. It defaults to the front page, which lists the top stories; the most recently published stories appear at the top, he notes.

"Click the menu in the upper left-hand side of the screen to navigate to decisions and most viewed articles and to filter content by practice area or topic," he explains. "When you drill down to an article, the article page provides options to save the story as a Favorite to access it from the Favorites item on the menu, email the story to a colleague or client, or post it to your choice of social networks that include Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter." From the main menu, publications such as the NYLJ, TLI, and DBR also provide access to Public Notices with search and filter options by date range, he notes. Users also can customize the apps: "The article page also provides the option to adjust the font at the touch of a button."

Of course, no launch would be without some minor glitches, and Litvack said his team is still tweaking.

"The easiest way to find our apps is to link from our website," he said. "Right now searching from the App Store can be challenging; we are working to fix that." And he reminds users to follow Apple's advice to keep your software current. "The apps were built for iOS 6.1 and above. Readers who haven't updated may experience some challenges in that content may be cut off."

ALM is the parent company of Texas Lawyer.

Firms Need to Work Harder Online to Get GCs' Business and Attention

Hubbard One, a provider of marketing and business development software and solutions for law firms, aimed to answer a key question for outside counsel in its new report, “Building Relationships with Global General Counsel: How Firms Can Use Targeted Content and Experience to Win and Retain Business.”

The question flows from the recent economic downturn that impacted the way general counsel and outside law firms do business together. Law firms have beefed up their marketing and business development, especially on the web, but have they been successful in catching the attention of the GCs?

The answer is mixed. “There is a gap between what the general counsel want and what is being provided on the web by law firms,” explains John Simpson, the senior director of interactive marketing at Hubbard who worked on the report.

The report surveyed more than 40 in-house legal officers working at multinational corporations headquartered in the United States, the United Kingdom, and across Europe. The results show in-house lawyers are looking for more customized methods of communication with their outside service providers, including emails and web content. The burden is now on the law firms to prove their capabilities.

The 2012 report builds on a 2009 study [PDF], which showed how GCs use law firm websites to find outside counsel, but focused primarily on how the firms were using the Internet and social media to attract work from corporate clients.

Since the economic turmoil of 2008 and beyond, tighter budgets have limited general counsel’s ability to hire outside help, Simpson says. Hubbard’s surveyors expected that pricing for services would be an important factor for general counsel, but something else trumped price, Simpson says: “We’ve heard from general counsel that expert knowledge of a company’s sector is more important than pricing now.”

For law firms, this creates an extra burden to use online tools to showcase their knowledge of specific business sectors. The most important features of a law firm’s website are clear and usable navigation, and relevant and valuable content, according to the report. The study found attorney profiles are the single most important destination on law firm sites.

Many of the companies interviewed were multinational corporations that conduct business in many countries, Simpson says. GCs noted that searching for counsel in the U.S. was easy, but in the international sphere, it was much more difficult for GCs to find firms that could practice where they need them to. “It was like searching for a needle in a haystack,” Simpson says.

The key for law firms to take from this report, Simpson explains, is the need for more targeted communication. GCs don’t want to work to find the information they need—they don’t want more communication, they need better communication.

See also: “Hiring International Outside Counsel? Better Do Your Homework,” CorpCounsel, June 2012.

The Sperminator vs. What Really Matters

The U.S. government has hit its debt ceiling and Tim Geithner is now raiding federal employees pensions so politicians can keep overspending. Is this the most talked-about and certainly important story of the week? After all, it affects every single American. NO- we are all fixated on a certain California governor and his love child.

Sigh, journalism has hit a new low this week. ABC news is paying a woman $10,000 who lies about giving her daughter Botox without doing any fact checking, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, hero pilot is now suddenly a journalist and was just hired as aviation/safety correspondent for CBS news and instead of trying to help Americans understand the real dangers of stealing from pension systems everyone wants to know how many other love children Arnold is hiding. Its Kabuki theater at its best.

Maybe I'm jaded and cynical, and I guess being on both sides of the camera all my professional life will do that to you but this is just exhausting. Until Americans insist on better coverage of news by tuning out the freak show we don't deserve Edward R. Murrow quality journalism. Info-tainment is all we will be served. I'm glad today is Friday and I can take a break from consuming news for a couple days. Much like the American media consumer, I need a break

Online Reputation Management

Did you know according to a Microsoft survey report 75% of employers say they do online Google and Facebook research on all new job applicants. If you haven't set a Google alert for yourself or your law firm do it today. Its very simple, visit this link: http://www.google.com/alerts and set one up.

Also- double check all pictures posted to your online profiles on Facebook, Linkedin and photos other people have "tagged" of you. Basically the rule of thumb is, if you wouldn't want a picture published in a national magazine, don't post it on a social website.

Embattled Judge Feels Liberal Heat

In today's Houston Chronicle I read this article by Lisa Falkenberg regarding a juvenile court judge's attempts at damage control and found it very interesting- a good real-life example of why its dangerous to make enemies of the Fourth Estate.

From Falkenberg's article:

"To my fellow conservatives,” reads the letter, followed directly by the headline “CONFRONTING THE LIBERAL MEDIA.”

Juvenile court Judge John Phillips is the ill-tempered, perpetually misunderstood jurist I’ve written about who removed two young boys from the home of their 50-something grandmother and step-grandfather last year after he remarked from the bench that the couple was too old to raise the children.

The judge has since removed himself from the case after the grandparents’ attorney learned he was being investigated by the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission.

Phillips has always claimed his decision to remove the boys was based not on age, but on drug allegations against the grandparents that emerged coincidentally, and conveniently, late. And after glowing reports from Child Protective Services and other child advocates about the happy environment Yolanda and Arnold Del Bosque were providing in their La Porte mobile home.

In Phillips’ e-mail, sent last month to the president of Clear Lake Republicans, he reminds voters that he’s in his seventh year on the bench and may soon face a difficult re-election bid.

After all, Phillips writes, “the confrontations with a liberal agenda are much more serious than I ever anticipated when I was first elected.”

The Del Bosque case is one example.

Phillips states that “all the various advocates for the children” recommended removing them from the home. In fact, the CPS caseworker most familiar with the case, Brian LeStrapp, never advocated the removal and even risked his job by testifying later that he disagreed with his agency’s stance. CPS’ stance, supporting removal, came about only after children had been removed and after I started asking questions.

Phillips writes that advocates “pointed out” in open court that “their information was the step-grandfather bragged of being a drug dealer, provided cocaine to the children’s mother, fondled one of the boys, and had a large judgment for failure to pay child support for his own children.”

Arnold says he made some child support payments directly to his wife but couldn’t afford to make all. But the rest is as accurate as a tabloid headline.

While Arnold often talks about his past, it is his past. He did cocaine 20 years ago and sold it for a while to support his habit. The claim that he provided cocaine to the children’s drug-addicted mother was soon debunked by none other than the children’s mother.

The fondling accusation was a tickling habit that CPS investigated and dismissed as a “cultural” thing that could be resolved by educating Arnold about appropriate touching.

In his last example of liberal conspiracy, Phillips recounts how he was asked “to approve a placement of an infant with a same-sex couple consisting of two 30-year-old men.” He writes that when he asked CPS about a traditional home, he later received threats of media coverage.

I don’t know who made the threats, but, yes, if I’d known about the case, I would have written about it. The couple, according to CPS, went through extensive training, as well as background checks and home studies. The placement was approved by the nonprofit DePelchin Children’s Center and CPS: “We did place this child in a home that we felt was the most appropriate and the best foster home placement for him,” said CPS spokeswoman Estella Olguin.

And many organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, cite evidence showing children raised by same-gender parents fare as well as those raised by heterosexual parents.

Phillips writes in the third paragraph: “The law says that the best interest of the child is my primary consideration. That is my job, period, and I follow the law.”

Further down, he asks Republican voters to help him “keep conservatism alive in Harris County.”

If Phillips loses his seat it won’t be because of some liberal conspiracy. It will be because he doesn’t know the difference between discretion and discrimination. Phillips’ “primary consideration” should be guided by the evidence and the law, not personal bias or the Republican Party platform.

Why There is Nothing Worse Than Saying "No Comment"

Last week, Rick Santelli and CNBC learned the hard way why avoiding the press can backfire.

On Feb. 19, the CNBC reporter went on a rant from the Chicago Board of Trade floor, claiming that President Obama's plan to bail out people whose homes were going to be foreclosed was "promoting bad behavior."

The display was not TV journalism's finest moment; a reporter's personal opinions have no place in a forum like that. Either it should have been labeled as commentary or moved to an opinion segment on the network.

The flare-up was the buzz of the social media world. Santelli’s “report” on CNBC's Web site attracted enough traffic to fill the borough of Manhattan, and it prompted an invitation from Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" to talk about the spontaneous outburst.

Santelli was booked for the show last Thursday night, but on Friday he backed out. CNBC spokesperson Brian Steel said, "We all made a decision that it was just time to move on to the next story."

Santelli and CNBC broke one of the cardinal rules of Michael Sitrick, author of “Spin: How to Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage”: Always respond, and respond fully, to a press inquiry, no matter how off base.

When you turn down an invitation from a high-profile satirist like Jon Stewart, you know you are going to take your lumps really badly, far worse than anything he could possibly say if you were sitting across from him.

And boy, did Jon Stewart go to town — not only on Santelli, but on the entire CNBC network, mocking them for butt kissing CEOs. Stewart made CNBC look like the national platform for liars and buffoons. It was very funny, incredibly nasty and it hit home hard.

Click here to watch Stewart rip CNBC a new one.

Thanks to Drew Kerr, president and founder of Four Corners Communications, Inc., a New York City-based public relations consultancy for this blog posting!

Even Facebook is Not Immune to the Social Media Revolution

Back in the old days when folks wanted to organize a revolt it took months of planning, thousands of fliers and countless meetings to organize enough like-minded people to push social change. These days, thanks to a piece of equipment found in nearly every American home it can be done with a few clicks of a mouse.

Yet another great example recently emerged that typifies how very important and influential the interconnectedness of social networks on the Internet are. The target this time: the Web's largest social network: Facebook. As Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post writes; the Palo Alto, Calif., company revised its terms of service, which govern how more than 175 million people use the site, in early February.

Many Facebook users quickly saw things they hated in the new deal. In particular, it no longer addressed what Facebook could do with words, pictures and other content posted to the site by people who later closed their accounts.

The remaining text, in turn, granted Facebook "an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license" to "use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute" things you post on Facebook, subject only to your privacy settings.

The Consumerist blog offered a pithy, but inaccurate, summary of the terms: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."

Users quickly organized, speculating furiously that Facebook was reserving the right to resell anything they'd ever posted on the site (something its standard privacy settings would have blocked). Some vowed to cancel their Facebook accounts. Tens of thousands employed one of the site's most popular features to voice their dissent; they set up a Facebook group to protest its changes.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tried to quiet the unrest with a post on the company's blog portraying the changes as the equivalent of a minor bookkeeping adjustment. "In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want," he assured.

Users were not assured, nor should they have been. Contracts trump "we're nice people" statements. After a week or so of this public relations meltdown, Facebook gave in, reinstated the old terms and vowed to consult with its users as it rewrites what it now wants to call the "Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities."

Is Passing on Third party Emails Defamation?

Ever get one of those emails from a friend making fun of someone or a business? If its funny or juicy enough, many of us can't wait to pass it on- well rest easy because the 9th Circuit Court's jurisdiction- (Hawaii, Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana) the US Court of Appeals ruled that someone just passing on an email accusing someone else of a crime was not guilty of defamation.

While this ruling got plenty of misplaced attention when someone (erroneously) interpreted it to mean bloggers could libel anyone they wanted, it was still an important statement about the liability of third party publishing done online. Now, the US Supreme Court has declined to hear the case, meaning that the Appeals Court ruling stands, and third parties are free of libel or defamation claims for items written by others.

While I doubt it will stop people from trying to file lawsuits for third party comments on sites (which we've been threatened with way too many times) at least it gives people a clear ruling they can point to in telling those people to go away.

Of course a different Circuit Court could come to a different conclusion in the future. This is called a "split in the circuits." If that happens the Supreme Court very well might hear the later case in order to resolve the split. Stay tuned.

Fox News Runs Press Release as Straight News

With all the media layoffs- many in the PR world joke about the day when our jobs will become so easy our press releases will be used as straight news. This has always been a joke- until it recently actually happened. Fox News ran an entire Republican Party press releases—typos and all—during a recent newscast without disclosing the source.

Is that so bad?

Ragan.com's blog PR Junkie flagged the event after media watchdogs Media Matters caught Fox News in the act:

In purporting to ‘take a look back’ at how the economic recovery plan ‘grew, and grew, and grew, Fox News’ Jon Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods—all of which came directly from a Senate Republican Communications Center press release. A Fox News on-screen graphic even reproduced a typo contained in the Republican press release.

Here’s the graphic. Can you find the typo?

My knee-jerk reaction is moral indignation. How dare they bamboozle us?

But PR pros strive to write great press releases. Ragan counsels them on it. Instead of flogging Fox News, maybe the PR industry should celebrate the GOP for writing a terrific news release.

Lawyers With Banker Clients Beware!

According to the President of the United States your clients are in a PR nightmare. Do what you can immediately to proactively save their messaging!

Ragan.com's Christine Kent tells us today what to do

Months of news reports about million-dollar office renovations (Merrill Lynch), Super Bowl carnival parties (Bank of America), and junkets to Palm Beach and Las Vegas (Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo respectively) have raised the ire of the media and the public to apoplectic levels.

“Companies that have gotten bailouts continue to make a mockery of taxpayers,” said New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd earlier this month. And President Obama, discussing the enormous bonuses that bank execs received in 2008, said, “That is the height of irresponsibility ... It is shameful.”

How, oh how, could financial institutions possibly extricate themselves from this PR debacle? There are short-term fixes, and then there are long-term fixes, say PR professionals—assuming the banks really want to improve their reputation. Here’s the prescription for getting financial institutions ahead of this fast-moving story.

Uncover problem activities before the media does: “The communications people need to be in a position to hear about things beforehand,” says Don Middleberg, CEO of New York’s Middleberg Communications, which has a financial services practice group. “They need the authority to go to people before dumb things happen, and say, ‘You can’t do that.’”

By now, says Middleberg, any PR person for a financial services company should be asking whether execs are involved in certain “hot-button activities.” It’s not too hard to come up with a list of key words that PR pros should be asking banking execs about—items like “junkets,” “Vegas” and “private planes” should set off alarms.

Bring PR into the boardroom: And how do PR people get the advance word on potentially stupid moves by their employers? They need to be working at the highest levels of the company—something that PR people have been demanding for decades.

“I do not understand why PR people are not on boards of directors,” says Middleberg. “Given the damage that’s been done, wouldn’t it have made sense to stop the damage before it happens?”

John Thain

Take pains to explain: Contrary to the example set by former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, who didn’t even bother trying to explain why he spent $1.2 million on redecorating his office, financial institutions need to talk about why they’re taking certain steps that come across as extravagant or consumer-unfriendly.

For instance, says Matt Wolfrom, executive VP of the corporate practice at PR agency Cohn & Wolfe, banks have been raising credit card interest rates to boost weak profits—and media coverage has been less than sympathetic. “It’s a necessary business activity, but it’s one that’s not being explained,” says Wolfrom.

Show some sympathy: “Right off the bat, you need to tell the press that austerity measures are in place and you understand the public’s concern,” says Joseph Dans, a former banker and credit union exec who is now president of Rogue Wave PR in Warwick, N.Y. “Once that’s done and trust is built up—and you are making money—you can remind the press and other folks that certain marketing expenditures are legitimate.”

Become see-through: “Banks should focus on being transparent about what they’re doing with their bailout money,” says Abigail Gouverneur Carr, managing director of BlissPR in New York. “The public is craving information on what these banks are doing with their money.”

Carr’s firm is currently working with a bank that’s getting some bailout money, and has taken pains to produce data showing that the bank has loaned 10 times the amount of funding that it has received. “It’s not easy to get these numbers,” Carr acknowledges, given the complexities of financial reporting. But better that you crunch the numbers before the media does.

Offer a healthy dose of reality: Well-paid execs who fly around in private planes aren’t exactly new, says Carr. Some of the activity that has so inflamed the public “is business as usual—we’re coming off several years of a bull market,” she explains. “But the external world changed quickly, and the institutions didn’t change quickly enough.”

It’s up to the PR pros to offer some straight talk to financial execs who seem baffled about why they can’t party like it’s 2003. A new Cohn & Wolfe study shows that 64 percent of consumers say they’re pessimistic about the economy, while only 20 percent of financial services employees feel the same way. “It’s clear that there’s a wide gulf in perceptions,” says Cohn & Wolfe’s Wolfrom.

Speak in one voice: Mark Kollar, partner at CJP Communications, a New York firm specializing in financial services accounts, says banks won’t get ahead of this fast-moving story unless they’re consistent. “We’ve been made well aware of what a global economy we have,” says Kollar. “The banks need to make sure their PR messages are the same in New York as they are in London as they are in Tokyo.”

Enlist employees: In tandem with getting consistent messaging, adds Kollar, make sure employees are getting the same messages—and that you’re not ignoring their concerns or complaints about the institution’s financial challenges.

“Those who have the jobs in the company are the ones who can help rebuild the brand,” Kollar says. The flip side of this, he adds, is that unhappy and uninformed employees can also drag the brand deeper into the muck (via blogging, for example).

Talk up the good stuff: “There’s a real appetite now for good news,” says Carr. Where they can, banks should tell stories about what they’re doing to help businesses and individuals get through tough times.

Chillax! Counseling Clients During Economic Turmoil

Any lawyer thats been in the business awhile knows often the first job of a good counselor is to be a... counselor. Clients will come to you with worries, personal, professional and legal. During these gut wrenching times now is your opportunity to calm client fears and win loyalty for life. How does a legal professional make that connection? Here are some tips courtesy of PR pro Corey duBrowa, President, North America, Waggener Edstrom.

• Explain the reality: The financial markets have become a complex ecosystem. The universe the government is attempting to regulate is so complex that's it's going to take time to set things right. In the meantime, it's not the job of regulators to fix everything. Instead, it's about all the players taking control.

• Double down on employee communications. We have found that a constant open dialog between leaders and employees is even more essential during economic uncertainty to ensure your talent is confident of your vision—and that you attract the type of talent that sometimes moves around during times of uncertainty. Mark Anderson, who publishes the Strategic News Service newsletter at Washington State, calls it "Going into the tunnel and coming out of the tunnel." Brands that sustain momentum and thrive will keep internal communications strong while also communicating the brand externally. Disciplined employee communications is key to that because employees really are your brand ambassadors in good and bad times.

• Don't utilize every communications channel at your disposal. Counseling clients to develop networks of relationships is key—use digital tools and increase direct dialog with people. Then also continue your "story" with mainstream media.

• Embrace the notion that being authentic is important every day—not just in bad times. We need to create a business environment that allows stakeholders to see into the company. Sustaining all of these behaviors over time can help to create permanent change. Go back to your client or company's core values and remind them to be representative of who they are. Authenticity is essential for growing, sustainable companies and brands—especially if you want to inspire confidence and credibility during tough economic times.

When we talk with clients and prospects, what we're trying to tease out is, "What is your innovation." We focus on the "Three I's": What are they doing to Influence markets, Inspire customers or Improve lives?

If we can help clients self-identify those things and wrap a narrative around it—especially one that creates an emotional connection with stakeholders—then they win and we win. When Microsoft talked about putting a PC on every desktop—well, that was audacious. But they did it in large measure.

It's the ability to translate your data to a narrative that informs an emotional connection. That's what we aspire to do and that's what you must do, especially in times like these.

Blago Takes The Stand- On Larry King

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment circus, I mean trial, is well underway and the embattled lawmaker is trying his best to "razzle-dazzle" us away from understandingon what he is accused of.

So far, the Illinois governor has refused to take part, calling the trial “a trampling of the [US] Constitution.” His lawyers have labeled the impeachment a “lynching,” and declared a week ago that they wouldn’t take part.

Mr. Blagojevich has missed every deadline for requesting or challenging witnesses or evidence. He appears instead to be trying to make his case via a national media blitz, hiring a PR firm and appearing Monday on the TV programs “Good Morning America,” “The View,” and “Larry King Live.”

“It makes you wonder what’s going on. Blagojevich has a rationality all his own,” says Christopher Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois in Springfield.

Among the possibilities: His legal team doesn’t know how to defend him and, by not showing up, hopes to argue that it’s an unfair system; or it wants to focus its efforts on the criminal trial, because almost everyone expects the impeachment trial to result in a conviction, Professor Mooney says.

It’s also possible that Blagojevich has simply run out of money to pay lawyers, lacks a staff to develop a coherent strategy, and has let deadlines slide by without knowing what to do, he adds.

“Who knows what goes on in his head,” says Mooney, echoing the thoughts of many Illinoisans as they watched their governor relaunch his PR campaign Friday with a press conference and radio and newspaper interviews. In them, the two-term Democratic governor suggested that the impeachment process was part of a scheme by the legislature and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to raise income taxes in the state and to oust him because of his independent streak.

Lead defense lawyer quits

Blagojevich also called on local newspapers – particularly the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times – to defend him and to attack the trial in editorials. The plea was not without irony, as the Tribune noted in an editorial Saturday, in that part of the criminal complaint against the governor alleges that he tried to have members of the Tribune’s editorial page fired this fall for criticizing him.

The media blitz appears to be one reason Blagojevich’s lead lawyer, Ed Genson, quit Friday, saying, “I never require a client to do what I say, but I do require them to at least listen.”

At the heart of Blagojevich’s arguments is his position that the trial is stacked against him and denies him the means to effectively defend himself.

Public must see trial as fair

Although the Senate is permitted to set its own rules for the trial, the proceedings still must be perceived as fair, say many observers, so that the office of governor isn’t weakened by a dangerous precedent. In that sense, the lawmakers have been thrown a bit of a curveball by the governor’s apparent refusal to participate.

“If that [refusal] persists, it’s a source of considerable disappointment and concern,” says Dawn Clark Netsch, a former Illinois comptroller, candidate for governor in 1994, and currently a law school professor at Northwestern University.

Sarah Palin Needs Media Trainer ASAP

Thanks to Ragan.com's PR Junkie blog for this post- I think it is right on the money:

Sarah Palin is back in the spotlight. I hope her PR pro is somewhere pining for anti-anxiety medication.

In an interview with conservative filmmaker John Ziegler, Palin …

• Insisted bloggers aren’t credible news sources;
• Implied mainstream reporters are lazy*;
• Questioned why McCain staffers sent her back for more interviews with Couric after bombing the first one;
• Suggested CBS misrepresented her in those interviews;
• Responded, after watching a clip of Tina Fey impersonating her on Saturday Night Live, “The grizzly rises up in me hearing things like that”;
• Said people would have “loved” her if she were Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate.

And then she set her sights on Katie Couric.

Remember Palin’s answer to Couric’s interview question about which newspapers and magazines she reads? The governor said, “I’ve read most of them, again, with an appreciation for the press, for the media.”

Couric pressed, “Specifically, which ones …”

“Um, all of them,” Palin said. “Any of them that have been in front of me over all these years. I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country where it’s kind of suggested it seems like, wow, how could you keep in touch with the rest of Washington, D.C., maybe thinking and doing? Believe me, Alaska is a microcosm of America.”

Palin told Ziegler why she didn’t answer that question—and she channeled a high school drama queen to do it.

“Because Katie you’re not the center of everyone’s universe,” Palin said.

Snap!

She continued, “Of course, I read newspapers. I read publications. I spend a lot of time, of course, reading our local papers, the highly-circulated publications here in Alaska because that’s my job is to know the business of Alaska and our communities but also USA Today, yes, and New York Times.

What Do Hooters Girls Have to do With Class Action Abuse Legislation?

Why would a man want to be a Hooter's girl? Today's article in the Houston Chronicle attempts to answer this question- but we say the bigger issue is not the wings, but the potential for dangerous class action reform.

Martin Shellist, an employment lawyer with Shellist Lazarz, is representing a 22-year-old college student who applied to be a server at Hooters in Corpus Christi but was rejected because he’s a man, according to the lawsuit.

“He doesn’t want to be a Hooters Girl. He just wants to be a waiter,” said Shellist, referring to the women in orange shorts and tight shirts who serve food and drinks to customers, occasionally breaking to twirl hula hoops.

From all appearances, Hooters is gunning for the fight.

“This move, of course, begs the question, ‘Why would a man want to be a Hooters Girl?’ ” according to a written statement from Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Hooters of America. “In our opinion, he doesn’t, and he is simply looking for an opportunity to be the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit so he can try and make some money without working for it.”

If Hooters loses, he argued, America loses.

“If we lose this go-around, you can next expect hairy-legged guys in the Rockettes lineup and male models in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue,” according to McNeil. “You wonder why people just can’t leave good things alone.”

Brilliant PR strategy on Hooter’s part- but they are missing the big angle- its not about hairy legged waiters in hot pants- its about the public perception of class action abuse. If people can sue representing plaintiffs who ordinarily wouldn’t be caught dead doing the job they are supposedly upset about being discriminated against- then it sends a chilling effect that often results in much the same way as tort reform. A lot of anti-class action warriors will be hoping this goes through because then they’ll have an excuse to do something legislatively about what they call class action abuse. Bad news for plaintiff attorneys.

It is important here to spin the message the right way before the plaintiff becomes a burned McDonald’s coffee drinker example of abuse.

It just didn’t seem right, Grushevski said. What if Hooters’ clientele only liked young blond women? Would that mean that it wouldn’t hire black or Hispanic servers or those over age 40?

“I know it’s not a gentleman’s club. It’s a family restaurant,” said Grushevski, who hasn’t been back since he was denied a job.

Previous attempts

This isn’t the first time a man has tried to break into the food servers’ ranks at Hooters.

Back in 1991, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched an investigation claiming the chain’s hiring practices discriminate against men, according to Hooters.

The chain sponsored a Hooters Girl march on Washington, D.C., blasted the inquiry as an example of government waste and elicited support from its customers. Twenty-three members of Congress ended up asking the EEOC to drop the investigation, according to Hooters, and since then, the chain assumed the matter was dead.

In 1997, a group of men turned down for employment in Chicago reached a $3.8  million settlement with Hooters, which agreed to open some restaurant jobs evenly to males but kept its servers all-female.

Texas Monthly 2009 Bumsteer of the Year

Yikes. Does anybody remember Clemens was only investigated? That he was only investigated and so far we haven't heard any concrete proof that he took performance-enhancing drugs? Nope. Wanna know why? Because no one on his legal defense team ever bothered to take into account the big picture- the court of public opinion.

Meanwhile not only has Texas Monthly chosen Clemens as their poster boy for bad behavior, the New York Daily News named him their Anti-Sportsman of the year, the Memorial Herman Medical Center announced last Thursday they were removing Roger Clemens' name from the Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine. The same Clemens who donated $3 million to the hospital's pediatric wing at the hospital. And let's not forget the restaurant franchise Clemens had planned to debut at the Houston Galleria bearing his name and infamous #22. Kaput- not even going to break ground now.

Somehow it was mistakenly assumed that Roger's stellar reputation would protect him through the investigation and no attention needed to be paid to his message to the public. The result? Read the excerpt below about why Texas Monthly chose Roger as their "Bum Steer" award winner for 2008.

Nothing compared with the enhanced performance turned in by our Bum Steer of the Year: Roger Clemens. Here’s the dope: Not long ago, the former Longhorns and Astros star was a legitimate candidate for best pitcher in the history of the universe. Then Major League Baseball’s Mitchell Report identified him as a steroid user. Batter up!

Huffing and puffing, Clemens traveled to Washington, where members of Congress found his protestations so unpersuasive they asked the FBI to investigate him for perjury. Strike one!

Faced with damning testimony from Yankee southpaw Andy Pettitte, Clemens first discredited his longtime friend and then implied that the drugs had been for his wife. Strike two! And just when it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse, the New York Daily News reported that Clemens had carried on a long-term affair with singer Mindy McCready that had started when she was fifteen years old. Yer outta here! And you’re our Bum Steer—make that Bum Steeroid—of the Year.

Learn from this unbeatable superstar- reputation is a critical asset to be protected AT ALL COSTS during litigation- and in the thick of battle attorneys need an outside perspective about what the public is saying about your client.

GM Execs Blow Their "Poor Us" Image

When you come looking for a handout, don't arrive in a three thousand dollar suit. This bit of news struck me as so similar to that scene in Steve Martin's "the Jerk" when he keeps getting hit up for donations from the rich as well as poor. I love the scene where the Texas millionaire with the private plane comes begging for cash to replace the cracked leather of his seats. Steve Martin, in tears from the man's sob story writes him a check. Pretty funny in a comedy but it could never happen in real life right? Well it has.

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation's capital Tuesday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy. Even as their companies fail, Ford and GE CEOs continue lavish lifestyles.The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough.

All three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler - exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM's $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.

Someone, anyone in their PR department or marketing department really should have told them to remain consistent with their messaging. Remember two contradictory messages always cancel each other out! Today lame-duck President George Bush announced he has "no appetite" for a big three bailout.

Obama's Use of Technology to Communicate Didn't End With Election

Friday, we talked about Obama's new website, change.gov and what it means for the new frontier of communications. Sunday in the Houston Chronicle, journalists Richard Dunham and Dwight Silverman took a more comprehensive look at Obama's Web 2.0 strategy and how it beat out traditional thinking about press releases, press conferences and media kits. Here is an excerpt every lawyer should read as it heralds the beginning of a whole new way of communicating not with the media, but directly with your audience:

The next president's Internet strategy could allow him to bypass mainstream media outlets and talk radio, alike. But his technological prowess could foster resentment among the media and lawmakers on the receiving end of messages from the White House Web machine.

Obama's advisers are willing to take that chance.

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 46 percent of Americans used the Internet, e-mail or text messaging to get information about the 2008 campaign or to mobilize others.

That's more than the 34 percent who read newspapers daily, the 39 percent who watch cable news or the 29 percent who view network TV news, Pew found.

And though the 47-year-old Obama is older than Bill Clinton was when he became president in 1993, the BlackBerry addict from Illinois is much more in sync with the emerging technology than the two relatively young presidents he follows: Clinton and George W. Bush.

Already, Change.gov sends a clear signal that Obama plans to replace the largely static Web sites of the Clinton and Bush years with an interactive venture.

The president-elect's Web site declares that the goal of his efforts is to create "a new level of transparency, accountability and participation for America's citizens."

For example, Obama has promised to give the American public an online "comment period" before he signs all non-emergency legislation.

"I think you're going to see an extraordinary reinvention of how the president connects with the people," said Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a tech-savvy Democratic group. "President Obama will be using a whole array of 21st century tools to define his relationship with the American people."

Social networking

A clue that Obama wanted to be on the cutting edge of political communication was his campaign's hiring of Chris Hughes, the 24-year-old co-founder of the phenomenally successful Facebook social networking site, to be a top strategist.

The Obama campaign has collected about 10 million e-mail addresses, and its database contains details of the issues of concern to many of those citizens.

Although federal election law may not permit Obama to transfer the data to government computers, PoliticsOnline's Noble thinks more than 50 million Americans would sign up for Obama's www.whitehouse.gov Web site within six months.

Another likely scenario: a new federal government "smartphone" application. This could allow Americans with mobile devices or home computers to access government services quickly — ranging from applying for welfare to checking campaign finance documents.

What's more, an agency like the Federal Emergency Management Agency could create a smartphone application that makes it easy to apply for and track the status of assistance requests.

More than any politician since the Internet was opened to the public in 1990, Obama has leveraged the online world effectively.

On www.barackobama.com, there are links to 16 social networks where Obama has a presence. They include familiar names such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, as well as more specialized networks, including BlackPlanet, Faithbase, MiGente, MyBatanga and AsianAve.

On Flickr, there are photos of Obama volunteers working in regional headquarters, shots from the convention and on the campaign trail, and photos of the Obama family watching election returns on Tuesday.

Public input

The core of Obama's strategy was my.barackobama.com, a social network that let followers and volunteers share organizational tips, discuss successes and failures, and plan local events.

Knowing that many younger voters rely on their cell phones and PDAs to communicate, the Obama campaign used tools such as text messaging for those who were away from their computers.

More than 3 million people signed up to receive the announcement of Obama's running mate. The campaign then tapped those numbers for the rest of the campaign.

Obama's staff also created an application for Apple's iPhone, timed to be available as a free download when the latest model was released in July.

The application tapped into the contact list on a user's iPhone, urging calls to friends who live in battleground states. It sorted the contact list by state, based on area code, then noted whether the owner had already called that person.

In the end, Obama won the votes of 66 percent of voters under the age of 30, according to CNN exit polls.

"It's not the victory of the gadgets," said Jim Henson, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. "It's the victory of a sophisticated media strategy. And that's what you're going to see continued."

Kyle Pendergast of the Chronicle Washington bureau contributed to this report.

The Ultimate Website Example

Many political pundits believe it was Barack Obama' Chief Campaign strategist, David Plouffe who can take a bulk of the credit for his election. How Plouffe did it is a process that should be studied by communications experts for years to come. Plouffe not only utilized web 2.0 techniques, he embraced them and redefined what a campaign for the Presidency could look like. Even though the campaign is over Plouffe's winning strategy is still being utilized by the administration. Case in point: change.gov.

This website is incredibly clean, simple and user-friendly. It is familiar to those who visited the barackobama.com campaign website. The site allows the viewer to get a real-time look at the formation of Obama's administration as it happens. Features include uploaded speeches, a newsroom, a place to apply for a job, volunteer opportunities, bios of appointees, the administration's agenda and time lines for completion, a blog, upcoming events and a transition directory. There is even an opportunity for the visitor to weigh in on what they'd like to see in a section called:

It’s Your America: Share Your Ideas

The story of the campaign and this historic moment has been your story. Share your story and your ideas, and be part of bringing positive lasting change to this country.

This website is the penultimate example of how to cut out the media and share you and your Firm's message to the target market. No misquotes, no chance for spin, just direct interactive information. Check it out!

Online Press Rooms: For Your Firm and Your Client

Make your Firm's and client's web site reporter-friendly, today we discuss ways to make an online pressroom more than just a

dumping ground for marketing material that journalists don't really need—and don't have enough of the brief, easy-to-scan info that reporters want.
Here are some tips to make your online press room a place that reporters can easily access for information that results in positive publicity!

1. Organization: The online pressroom for Entergy is a great example of organization. Press releases are organized by year, with press releases going back only a few years on the same screen.
   
2. No PDF files: Some organizations post press materials as PDF documents, which need to be opened using the Adobe Acrobat plug-in. But in some newsrooms, reporters can't launch plug-ins, so they'd have to download the PDF, and open it elsewhere. Reporters don't have time to do that.
3. One-click access: Too many Web sites force reporters to guess where the pressroom is hiding. Is it in the "About" section? "Company"? Make sure there's a direct link off of your company's home page.
4. News on the home page: Bell Canada Enterprises' Web site, has news releases right on the home page. When you do that, not only are you serving your media audience, but you're serving investors as well.
5. After-hours contacts: Sure, no PR person really wants to post her cell phone number to a public Web site, but some sort of after-work contact info is essential as news cycles are 24/7.
6. Useful search functions: Sure, you post press releases, but are they searchable? They have to be, because reporters work by beats. At the very least, allow them to be organized by subject matter: lists are out, and categorization is in.
7. Fact sheets: Where have the bulleted, easy-to-read facts sheets gone? Fact sheets are a brilliant tool for time-pressed journalists.
8. Newsletter formats: Too many pressrooms are set up to look like lists. We like the varied newsletter-like design of Visteon's Web newsroom, which presents visiting journalists with all sorts of useful tools: press kits, events, media contacts and executive head shots.
9. Printer-friendly: It's a small touch, but one many Web sites neglect. Do you offer pressroom visitors a printer-friendly option, or do you force them to print out extra pages and waste ink?
10. Executive speeches and articles: Reporters don't want stale quotes from your press releases. They want to find something on their own from a speech—something that hasn't been used by everyone else.
11. FAQs: Create a simple factual information sheet like how many employees you have, etc.
12. Downloadable logos: Many reporters will just end up taking the logo off the home page if they need it. You're better off providing high-resolution versions.