Musselman’s Applesauce Refocusing on Its Core Identity

November 17, 2008

Claiming your authentic identity can be good for your organization.
Sometimes, getting back to the core of "who you are" can help your organization create a distinctive position relative to competitors.
This is the reasoning behind the new ad campaign by Musselman’s (the company           [...]

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If Stephen Colbert were the CEO of Zappos: Explaining a layoff to your employees

November 13, 2008

On The Colbert Report , it’s called "The Word".  In Web 2.0, it’s called "transparency ".
Historically, it’s called "telling the truth".
As I was working on a more serious post about Zappos , I could not push aside my annoyance at the contradiction between the way the Zappos layoff has been discussed in the general [...]

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Authentic Responses to Recession? Try Alternatives to Layoffs

November 10, 2008

The latest report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that in September 2008 alone, 2,269 companies executed a "mass layoff" . (A "mass layoff" is defined as firing at least 50 employees at one time from the organization.) This is the highest number of organizations executing a mass layoff since September of 2001.
While [...]

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The Secret to Obama’s Social Media Success? The Campaign was one step behind.

November 5, 2008

Everybody’s talking about how Obama’s campaign has revolutionized politics , due in large part to the way that the Campaign employed social media. But as much as it’s true that the Obama Campaign was one step ahead of McCain (and anyone else) in using social media, it was also one step behind [...]

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Faking an Identity: How Inauthentic Organizations Dress Up

October 31, 2008

Special Halloween Edition
In the spirit of Halloween, a time of costumes, treats and tricks, I’m inspired to start a list of ways that organizations dress themselves up so that they appear to be what they are not. Some of these terms and concepts are familiar. Some terms I’ve invented (4, 5, 6) [...]

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Can Organizations Regain Authenticity by Bringing Back Their Original Visionaries?: Where to, Starbucks?

October 30, 2008

Too many organizations feel inauthentic. Some organizations never had authenticity, and they feel empty. Other organizations had authenticity once but have since lost it. These organizations feel hollow.

In an effort to address its own hollowness, Starbucks has over the last year brought back not one but two of its original visionaries, Howard Schultz and now [...]

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McCain Campaign Exploits the Race of Their Hired Help

October 28, 2008

The McCain Campaign has hired Obama supporters to work as as "paid volunteers ."  As reported by Tom Baldwin in the UK Times, and picked up by The Huffington Post and the Daily Kos, the McCain Campaign is paying temp workers $10 an hour to go door to door handing out absentee ballot [...]

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Organizational Identity, Employee Branding and Political Contributions: Should you care if The Body Shop leans Republican?

October 27, 2008

The Body Shop is Republican? Anita Roddick must be rolling over in her grave.
Released last week were the results of a study that shows how organizations have supported the Republican and Democratic parties. The data include direct corporate support (through Political Action Committees) and/or the support of [...]

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The Lyin’, the Which? , and The Wardrobe: Palin’s new clothes cost her more than $150,000

October 23, 2008

Sarah , Sarah , Sarah . Just when I’m ready to move on to other topics, you serve up yet another opportunity to understand organizations and authenticity. This time, the lessons are all about image, and the relationship between how we present ourselves and who we really are.
If Palin’s wardrobe upgrade [...]

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6 Reasons Why Taking Responsibility is Good for Your Organization

October 22, 2008

In my previous post, Can Taking Responsibility for the Financial Crisis Be Good For You ?,  I argue that taking responsibility is the one thing that you and your organization can do , right now, to improve your organization’s financial future.
When an organization takes responsibility, it shifts how it sees itself. It moves [...]

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