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Category: Communications

  • Why Iran deal faces rough sailing in U.S.

    Months into my campaign for Seattle city council, a neighborhood business owner invited me to meet voters (and potential donors) after the service at his synagogue.
     
    Doing my best schmoozing, I introduced myself hundreds of times. The synagogue had fantastic food, ranging from stuffed grape leaves to sweets — certainly much better than the donuDavid-sipress-i-m-north-korea-he-s-iran-new-yorker-cartoon, courtesy of condenaststore.comts-and-coffee affairs I remember after St. Philomena masses when I was a kid.
     
    Eventually I was introduced to a woman, conservatively dressed in black, who supposedly pulled purse strings throughout the community. I explained my proposals to improve transit, create more walkable neighborhoods, provide broadband internet and address homelessness as convincingly as possible. Then I asked which Seattle issues mattered most to her.
     
    "Well, Israel, of course," she said, as if it were completely obvious.
     
    I stammered something about being a big supporter of Israel and having the deepest possible respect for that country's accomplishments, cultural and economic. However, um, policy on Israel isn't really within the purview of the city council, I thought.
     
    This experience came to mind again this week in the lead-up to the groundbreaking agreement with Iran, when politicians of every stripe voiced pro-Israel support. Consider the reports of bipartisan near-consensus against even the concept of negotiations (for example, Foreign Policy: "When war breaks out with Iran, blame this New Jersey Democrat"). Is the awesome blowback, starting minutes after announcement of the deal, merely domestic U.S. political opposition?
     
    The fact that campaign contributions never materialized from the Seattle synagogue I visited isn't the point. It was one indication of an impressive integrated strategic communications apparatus that starts at the grassroots level. It may be unmatched and is certainly more relevant than ever.

  • 5 terms to leave back in 2012

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    One of the best pieces of advice I've seen this year-end season is to read more broadly. As you may know, I couldn't agree more.

    If I'm asking people to read more, it follows that writers should up their game. More precise writing is high on my list of New Year's wishes, which hopefully would lead to less of the following terms:

    Fiscal cliff. This is a masterful phrase because it gives a Washington, D.C. budget standoff the drama of a Roadrunner cartoon. Nevermind that the reality is more of a fiscal slope, with a gradual drop in spending, and that voters support more progressive taxation in general. The breathless will-they-or-won't-they news stories are a disservice because they create a false equivalency between the two sides.

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  • What “Cathedral” can teach about communicating

    One of the dirty secrets of the PR and communications business is that many people who work in it can’t really write. PowerPoint and “talking points” are no substitute for crafting paragraphs.

    Carver-at-the-typewriterOne of the best ways to get better at writing is to read, and read widely — from all kinds news to literature. It was frustrating to see the lunch table at a corporate communications department where I worked littered with puffy photo magazines like US Weekly and People — and no sign of a New Yorker, Economist … or even a Vanity Fair.

    This has been on my mind recently while taking a short story reading class at Seattle’s Richard Hugo House. Instead of focusing on high school English topics like symbolism, the idea is to focus on how a writer assembles a story, their word choice and approach to dialog. We’ve read great writers from the U.S., Germany, Argentina and elsewhere. (I was on the board of Hugo House for seven years.)

    Anyone who cares about writing needs to be reading and pushing their personal boundaries.

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  • When critics lack the courage to sign their name

    Anyone who sticks their neck out knows one of the downsides of modern media: anonymous online comments.

    Internet-anonymity.jpg"They are ugly, they are racist," said former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels during a conversation on KUOW radio. Until recently, "you had letters to the editor where you had to sign your name and they checked whether you actually existed. I think we need to bring back some of that civility back to our civic discourse."

    People don't think twice about saying something online that they would never dream of in person. So what do you do about it?

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  • 5 communications lessons from my campaign

    My campaign for Seattle City Council was a fantastic professional development experience. And it offers several takeaways that can help anyone get their message out.

    Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonI learned to better articulate policy ideas, of course, by doorbelling thousands of households and speaking to community groups across the city every day. At first I was terrified to go in front of a crowd (imagine me nervously reciting my speech as I drove to introduce myself at a community center), but 10 months later speaking to 200+ people was actually fun.

    After being involved in campaigns for years I had thought I knew what I needed to, but the adage that you lose 50 points of IQ when you become a candidate may well have been true with me. Don't let the same happen to you.

    Here are five communications lessons to follow:

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  • Why the death of newspapers is a good thing

    Today's announcement of big changes at the venerable New Orleans Times-Picayune — cutting 1/3 of its staff and printing just three days a week — is the latest in a long slide for metropolitan newspapers that once tried to be all things to all people. The industry downsizing has cost thousands of jobs and left a void in news coverage.

    gus the newspaper editor in the wireYet what matters is journalism, and that's no longer synonymous with newspapers. In fact, the demise of big newspapers will disrupt a broken industry, allow new entrants to thrive and, hopefully, lead to better reporting and writing.

    I used to have ink running through my veins, so this has been a big adjustment. I started my first newspaper in elementary school and eventually worked to become a foreign correspondent. When I lived in Asia I would purposely route return trips to the U.S. through LAX so I could buy a print metro edition of the Los Angeles Times — then America's best newspaper. I still get the Sunday New York Times in print and have paid subscriptions to many periodicals.

    Yet, the downfall of the metro newspapers, which for decades held quasi-monopolies in their areas, exposes major flaws and uneven quality. When he was editor of The New York Times, Howell Raines realized that it needed to be faster (have a "higher metabolism," in his phrase) and more rigorous in order to be truly national. His missteps (e.g., Jayson Blair) caused his downfall, the pace of change slowed and, as a result, the paper is still not as good as it could be.

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  • Advice for Amazon

    Amazon is discovering a truism: the more successful you become, the more you're a target.

    Fulfillment shipping, courtesy of malvernsys.comIn Seattle the company is increasingly criticized for keeping a low community profile. The hometown daily recently spent four days amplifying criticism of its philanthropy and business practices, adding to a string of controversies.

    Amazon shouldn't ignore this. Remember that Microsoft focused on building its business in the 1990s, thumbing its nose at public perceptions until the Department of Justice threatened to break it up. The resulting dramatic shift in strategy arguably blunted its "hard core" edge.

    Does this mean that Amazon needs to change its culture, plaster ads all over public spaces and hire legions of lobbyists and flacks? Assuming it fundatmentally doesn't want to change, here are some suggestions:

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  • What matters more than “likes” in social media

    Shell has received promient attention for its efforts on Facebook, including laudatory coverage by The Wall Street Journal. It looks like another company confusing tactics for a true strategy to engage with its stakeholders.

    Penguins jumping off cliff, courtesy rickbutts.comSince May 2011, when the oil company launched its Facebook page, it's gained 946,000 "likes." This sounds impressive but the quality of those followers is suspect. Apparently 224,000 come from Malaysia and only 1,000 from The Netherlands, where the company has 10,000 staff, not to mention families and friends. It's impossible to know who is behind the current "likes." The FB page is a smorgasboard of not particularly coherent content.

    For a more holistic approach, consider McDonald's. This story in the New York Times Magazine is one of the best I've seen about social media recently because it talks about social media as part of a comprehensive strategy, not a goal on its own.

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  • No way to run a school system

    Now that two of three candidates to lead Seattle's public schools have dropped out of contention, the appointment of a new superintendant is a mere formality

    parent meeting at school, courtesy of westseattleblog.comAs with Seattle's national search for a police chief two years ago, when our interim chief was the last man standing, this was really no choice.

    Obviously any process that can't encourage top talent to Seattle highlights problems, but the important thing is moving forward. The new superintendant has a huge job and will need to put a premium on communications in order to succeed.

    As the parent of a toddler in neighborhood that's often called "transitional," it's clear that nothing is more important to the future of the city than quality schools. I know parents who are moving away (or plan to) because of the perception that local schools fall short. Some say they can deal with elementary school but no way will they send their kids to city middle or high schools. Others come to the Seattle area for work and immediately settle in the suburbs. We need these people and the economic base they form to make the city stronger.

    Assuming the new super is on top of the management basics, strong communications will make or break the job. Here are a few ideas:

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  • What’s the matter with Walmart

    It's tempting to shrug off the report that Walmart illegally bribed government officials abroad in order to open new stores as yet another scandal around a company with a rapacious reputation.

    Walmart smile, courtesy of cashmiracle.comU.S. companies are bound by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal to bribe foreign officials. That law originated partly in response to the 1970s scandal where Lockheed bribed Japanese officials in order to sell its L-1011 aircraft. As in that case, it looks like executives at Walmart tried to cover up $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials in order to thwart competition.

    But it's a lot more complex than that to me personally. I started my career at Panasonic, working with Japanese colleagues who did business every day in Indonesia, Tanzania, Peru and other places where there were plenty of temptations to fudge the rules. As a reporter, I wrote about Weyerhaeuser's operations in Uruguay, where it competed with less scrupulous rivals. For the right price, it's easy for officials to ignore safety warnings on pesticides or look the other way at labor violations.

    Now as a communicator I see this sort of thing as a new challenge. So far, two issues seem most interesting:

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