Image & Reputation

Why So Much Anger at the Girl Scouts?

February 22, 2010

Tweet Ever since I poked the beehive back in August with my post about Walmart and Girl Scout cookies, my blog and I have been receiving angry comments from people who just hate the Girl Scouts. It’s one thing to be angry at Walmart, but the Girl Scouts? I don’t understand… Why is there so […]

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Fix the Brand of Men’s Figure Skating: Send Out the Clowns, and get me Johnny Weir

February 19, 2010

Tweet The ‘Brand of Men’s Figure Skating’ is broken. The brand lacks coherence, it isn’t compelling, and sometimes it isn’t even attractive. And it’s all because of what those guys wear. In an ideal world, the Brand of Men’s Figure Skating reflects a hearty frisson between between the brand’s two defining attributes: Athleticism & Artistry. […]

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Does the iPad Signal a Change in Apple’s Core Brand & Identity?

February 2, 2010

Tweet If products reflect an organization’s values and an organization’s identity, does Apple’s new iPad tell us something about where Apple as a company is headed? And, if that’s where Apple is going, do we all want to go there too? Here’s a proposition: Apple as an organization is changing, from an organization that’s “about” […]

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Mockulation ®: Regulating Wall Street Using the Psychology of Public Mockery

December 31, 2009

Tweet What does it take to rein in the outrageous compensation of CEOs? The absurd bonuses of Investment Bankers? The “bail us out so we can award ourselves bonuses”-behavior characterizing Wall Street this year? Do we need more transparency? More shareholder oversight? More whistle-blowing? More government regulation? How about just a little bit more public […]

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Why Does Social Media Interaction Lead Us To Protect an Organization’s Reputation?

December 2, 2009

Tweet I have been struggling to write a (scholarly) book chapter on Corporate Reputation, social media and authenticity. As I have been writing myself around and around the issue(s), there is one thing that I cannot get my finger on, and that is: Why does having interacted with an organization through social media make us […]

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Crafting Business Avatars: An Authenticity Exercise

October 19, 2009

Tweet We all need to stop playing around with how we represent ourselves visually online, at least where work is concerned. That’s what Gartner Consulting advises. They released a report last week proclaiming that Enterprises Must Get Control of Their Avatars. The animated avatars that an organization’s employees use when they participate as organization members […]

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The 10 Day Boycott: A S.M.A.R.T. response to Whole Foods’ CEO Mackey

August 27, 2009

Tweet Boycotts don’t work. Boycotts rarely, if ever, achieve the goal(s) set out for them, in large part because boycott organizers lack clear goals for what response the boycott is supposed to trigger and especially for what the boycotting action has to demonstrate in order to be seen as “successful”. So I’ve got a proposal, […]

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The Two-Faced CEO: Citizen or Whole Foods Shareholder?

August 24, 2009

Tweet In today’s transparent and political economy, the two-faced CEO can’t catch a break. When he acts as a Citizen, he might damage his organization’s reputation. When he acts as a Shareholder, he  might limit his own participation in our political conversation.  Neither option is good.  What’s a CEO to do? The broohaa over the […]

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Can Walmart Earn the Girl Scouts’ Good Citizenship Award?

August 14, 2009

Tweet You don’t earn a merit badge for Good Citizenship by picking on the Girl Scouts. But what if Wal-mart wanted to? Commenters here and on other blogs that picked up my story that Wal-mart has chosen to compete with the Girl Scouts by knocking off the Girls Scouts’ two most popular cookies have criticized […]

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Defend Your Personal Brand. Barbara Boxer shows how.

June 19, 2009

Tweet What can we learn from Senator Barbara Boxer and her interaction with Brigadier General Michael Walsh? 1. Defend your personal brand. 2. Ask to be treated in a way that reflects who you are, what you have accomplished, and what you stand for. 3. To do anything else is to allow your personal brand […]

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