Claims vs. Behaviors

Authentic Corporate Reputations: The Real PR Challenge

May 27, 2011

Tweet To craft a corporate reputation that seems authentic, claims about the organization’s character must be anchored in real features of the organization. It’s the organization’s job to demonstrate a link between reputation claims and real features, and it’s the PR professional’s job to explain a link between claims and real features. (This post is […]

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5 Tips About Realigning Organizations I Learned by Falling Off A Horse

September 20, 2010

Tweet (No, it was not “Get right back on.” Everybody knows that.) Sustaining organizational authenticity requires continually realigning organizational identity, purpose and action. But realigning can be harder to do than you’d think. I learned recently, after falling off a horse, that getting back into action was only the start of a longer, harder realignment […]

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Target Misses the Mark on Diversity: Corporate Donation equals Corporate Homophobia

July 28, 2010

Tweet How do you know whether an organization is racist, or sexist, or homophobic? You can use my 6 Degrees test, or you can use an even simpler method: You can watch where they put their money. Target has put its money behind the campaign of a homophobe who’s against same-sex marriage. This single action […]

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Should Non-Profits Buy $800 Chairs?

July 12, 2010

Tweet During a meeting in a downtown conference room at a non profit a few weeks ago, I noticed we were all sitting in Aeron chairs. These are geeky-stylish, ergonomically adjustable office chairs that retail for about $800 a pop. There were 12 of us in the conference room, sitting on a total of about […]

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Walmart vs Girl Scouts: South Carolina Walmart Store bans Fundraisers

September 26, 2009

Tweet When I got an email last month from a reader who wanted me to know that some Wal-marts in Arizona had forbidden ceased to allow Girls Scout Troops to set up cookie selling booths in front of their stores, I didn’t believe it. “What a dumb move,” I thought. “There’s no way this could […]

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8 Ways to be Authentic: Tyson Foods suggests how

September 2, 2008

Tweet Tyson Food claims that, as part of its core values, it is “striving to be faith friendly”. But, if Tyson’s handling of the brouhaha over recognizing an Islamic holy day in the labor contract of its plant in Shelbyville, TN, is any indication, Tyson is having a hard time finding ways to demonstrate its […]

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Broken promises hurt twice as much

August 27, 2008

Tweet What hurts more: (a) An offensive organizational action or (b) an offensive action that displays inauthenticity? I vote for (b). An offensive action that displays inauthenticity hurts more than an action that is simply offensive.  Why? Because an offensive inauthentic action represents a broken promise. When an organization makes a claim to be a […]

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