Claims vs. Behaviors

What Women Want from Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg

February 7, 2012

Tweet Facebook has a gender problem. We want Sheryl Sandberg to fix it. Facebook has had a gender problem since its beginning. Now, with the publicity around Facebook’s upcoming IPO, business analysts, portfolio managers, potential investors, and feminist businesspeople are calling attention to the most glaring symptom of Facebook’s gender problem: Facebook has only white […]

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Why Do Meritocracies Hurt Women?

November 7, 2011

Tweet When it comes to discriminating against women, you’d think that only sexist organizations would be involved.   But did you ever imagine that meritocracies would encourage managers to discriminate against women? Research conducted by Emilio Castilla and Stephen Benard, published last year in Administrative Science Quarterly, documents a disturbing dynamic that the authors call “The […]

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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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Action Branding: Using activity streams to authenticate identity claims

March 23, 2011

Tweet Action Branding is the concept that brands are the sum of their actions. — Extending this concept to personal brands and organizational brands, action branding helps individuals and organizations demonstrate, and thus authenticate, the character, values and purpose they claim to have. — Social media creates opportunities for individuals and organizations to track, organize […]

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Can an organization be too different?: The Strategic Value of Optimal Distinctiveness

February 18, 2011

Tweet Can an organization be too different? I spend a lot of time with organizations that are trying to strengthen the perception that they are different, so that they can distinguish themselves from their competition. They want their customers to see that they offer something that no other organization can. Because being different is critical […]

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CSR that Improves the World But Leaves Your Damaging Business Model Intact: Authentic or not?

February 9, 2011

Tweet How can your organization claim to be making the world better, when your business model depends on making the world worse? This question about corporate social responsibility efforts has bugged me for decades — pretty much since I learned what capitalism was. The question came up again for me Tuesday during the conversation at […]

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How Social Media Reveals Invisible Work

January 27, 2011

Tweet Social Media helps us get work done. And, Social Media has a unique ability to show us something about how we get work done that we often overlook. It allows us to see both conventional work and “invisible work”. What is invisible work? Invisible work includes all kinds of energy and tasks that contribute […]

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Rethinking a Work Life Fit Issue: Am I late again, or on some other schedule?

January 4, 2011

Tweet As I was gearing up this morning to look over the past year’s blog posts, I found myself being pulled down by that feeling that I was “late again”. It seems as though I missed another key seasonal window … while other bloggers spent the time between Cristmas and New Year’s crafting recaps of […]

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Want More Women on Tech & TED Panels? Reject Meritocracy and Embrace Curation

October 27, 2010

Tweet Are there enough women¹ being included in public lineups of remarkable business people? Are enough women being selected for conference panels on Technology & Entrepreneurship, for the roster of the annual TED conferences, or even for the Silicon Alley Daily’s 100 Coolest New York Tech people? No. There are not enough² women being chosen […]

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