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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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  • Making it easier to be a Shadow Driver

    This video from Mexico City shows two types of drivers: the Everyday Driver, who drives no matter how much it costs, and the Shadow Driver, who drives only when it’s the most convenient option. Imagine the benefits if we made it easier to be a Shadow Driver.

    This is the sort of easy-to-understand demo necessary to illustrate complex, counterintuitive concepts. I love the video: it's not flashy. Viral marketing like this should be part of every organization's toolkit. It could have been used more effectively to show alternatives to big road projects and a vision for more livable neighborhoods.

  • 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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  • Why it’s not crazy to root for Sony

    I ought to be feeling a little schadenfreude at the struggles of Sony, the legendary electronics firm that just projected its biggest ever loss of more than $6 billion.

    sony walkman, courtesy conceivablytech.com
    My first job out of college was at Panasonic (formally called Matsushita Electric) which is a bigger, older company that always had arguably better technology but lacked the marketing pizzaz of the upstart. I was taught that Sony wasn't much more than a few trendy products.

    But over the years I've been secretly hoping that Sony management would somehow find a way to integrate hardware, software and content to create a serious competitor to Apple, Microsoft and the others. That sure didn't happen. After years of drift, Sony just named a new CEO, who announced some restructuring and recalibrated direction.

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  • Seattle’s police crisis: Thanks for the feds

    With Seattle's police under federal scrutiny for using excessive force you would think everyone's top priority would be solving the problem.

    Abbott & Costello, courtesy of billy-ball.comYou would be wrong, apparently.

    It's a struggle to find something positive to say about Seattle's response to the police crisis. There's fault among the city council, the mayor, the media and unelected community leaders. It's an example of playing politics while fundamental problems fester.

    The city council. Sally Clark, Tim Burgess and Bruce Harrell (who I challenged last year) publicly sent a letter to the mayor complaining that they've been left out of the city's response to the Justice Department. All three have talked about running for mayor next year. Burgess, a former cop who oversaw the police department while the acts of excessive force occurred, only outlined a package of reform ideas on the day he rotated out of that post in January. And Harrell, who replaced Burgess as head of the public safety committee, criticized the mayor's "top-down approach" after working with the council failed to get anywhere. During the campaign his main proposal was to put a body camera on each cop and he used frustration with police as a racial wedge. Harrell reportedly didn't attend the meeting with the DOJ, mayor and other councilmembers yesterday.

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  • What it takes to transform a city

    It's exciting to see construction cranes popping up across Seattle's skyline. But it will take more than a handful of building projects to transform the city and make it sustainable.

    Seattle tower cranes, courtesy of craneblogger.comProjects such as housing in the parking lot of Seahawks/Sounders stadium and a new ferry terminal may make Seattle a "resilient city equipped to thrive in a challenging future," according to a local blog that I follow. Unfortunately most of the projects are on extremely long timelines and there's little political will to complete them to their potential.

    I'm optimistic about Seattle because the city is growing and attracting new human and economic capital. But we need to think bigger and act with a sense of urgency in order to seize on the opportunity.

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