Photo courtesy of BrandRepublic.com

I recently read the Wall Street Journal column, Managing Your Career about a 63-year old veteran turnaround executive who wants to broaden his reach through online strategies. George Langis is a conventional networker and admits he was skeptical about integrating what I call, Networking 2.0 tactics into his traditional methods.

“Dinosaurs do dance,” he said. “I lead change in companies. I can certainly change.”

The article made me think of two dinosaurs in my network – and for the record I am using dinosaur affectionately and not in a mean spirited manner. I am also using fictitious names to protect their identities.  

Dinosaur #1

Lonnie is a senior manager at a large telecommunications company. Like Mr. Langis, she is a conventional networker. In the 15-plus years that she has been with the company she has risen through the ranks to her current position. Her advancement is the result of her talent, super intelligence, hard work and being noticed by the right people within her organization at the right time. All of this has helped to expand her network – both inside and outside the company.

Lonnie has a LinkedIn profile but rarely uses it. About 3 or 4 years ago, she and other managers were asked to create a Facebook profile. Many of her colleagues did so, but Lonnie hasn’t because she doesn’t see the need for it.

So, it was quite funny when I received an email from Lonnie last month that said she was attending a senior leadership conference with other managers from her company and learned that she was among the 25% who did NOT have a Facebook profile.

“Social Media is taking over!” she exclaimed.

Dinosaur #2

Allison is a former senior executive for a financial services company. She holds a master’s and a doctorate degree. In 2002 she left the company to start her own consulting practice providing leadership development for company executives and boards of directors.

Allison is a conventional networker too. Most of her work comes through referrals. However, Allison wants to create a business development strategy to grow her business. I did a Google search and discovered Allison has a presence online, but the information is old and outdated and none of it speaks to her current area of expertise.

I presented Allison with a plan to extend her personal brand. It includes maximizing use of her LinkedIn profile (she has received numerous invites to connect online but has ignored most of them) and a website with a built-in lead generation form.

Allison is reluctant to use online resources as part of the strategy because, like Lonnie, she doesn’t understand the need for it. But I have convinced Allison that what I am proposing is most appropriate for her. I intentionally did not suggest Twitter or Facebook because she needs to take baby steps with this. Our efforts to increase her exposure and grow her consulting practice are just now getting underway.

Will Leaders of Change Make the Change?

I suspect there are a lot more dinosaurs out there than we realize. And whether they see a need to manage their personal and professional brands is up to them. Researchers are finding that senior level execs are beginning to see the value of social networking to manage their professional brand:

•  The average professional belongs to 3-5 online networks for business use; LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are among the top used.
• There is a convergence of Internet, mobile and social media taking significant shape among professionals as decision-makers are broadening their reach to gather information.
• Professional networks are emerging as decision-support tools.

The two middle-age professionals in my network have achieved a level of success without having a presence in social networking, but for how long?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yep, I remember being glued to the television watching the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team defeat the Soviet Union in the Winter Olympics. Back then I was not — and I am still not — a hockey fan, yet I was drawn to the match. It’s funny cause I could barely keep up with watching the hockey puck on the granular television we had back then.

However, I do remember sitting in my marketing class the next day talking about it with a fellow student. We both got reprimanded by the professor for disrupting class. Everyone sitting around us got engaged in our conversation and we all thought, ‘What’s his problem? Didn’t he realize that hockey match was far more interesting than whatever it was he thought was important at the time?’

Thinking about it I laugh because I was fond of that marketing professor. He was pretty cool. I owe him a debt of gratitude for introducing me to a radio career that was most rewarding.

Wonder where he is now?

TaylorYou is written and managed by Cathy Y. Taylor, managing director for Vocii, LLC a brand consultancy that focuses on filling the gap between human resources, marketing and communications to align employee behaviors with company strategies. The Vocii mission is to help companies engage employees and customers in conversations that help to build long-term trust in the organizational brand.

Ford is dedicating a lot of resources to engage consumers and  to introduce the Fiesta in the United States.  The car has been available in Europe for years. But when Ford decided to launch it stateside, the automaker was flooded with four thousand applications to become Ford Fiesta ‘agents’. Only 100 were selected for the Fiesta Movement to drive the car for six months and document their experiences. Ford provided each agent with a gas card to help offset some of the expenses.

Meanwhile, we will begin seeing television commercials promoting the new Ford Fiesta. When the commercials debut, the music will play a big part in establishing the Ford Fiesta brand. But will music help make the emotional connection with consumers?

Music Makes the Brand

MarketingProfs, a resource for entrepreneurs, small businesses and marketers, published an article in December that documented research on the importance of music in commercials to help define the brand. In the article, Ruth Simmons referenced a research study from the 1990’s which found that ‘consumers are 24% more likely to buy a product with music that they recall, like and fits the brand compared with 8% where the opposite applies.’

As a result, marketers are evaluating how the music of the brand connects and resonates with consumers. So, that becomes a tall order for accomplished musicians like LaShawn Gary of Chicago who was tapped by Ford to write a commercial jingle for the Fiesta.

Developing the Music Asset

Mr. Gary says he is honored to be selected to provide music for consideration by Ford marketers. A native of Detroit, he has several family members who have worked for the automaker.  He studied music at Southern University in Louisiana, earning his undergrad and went on to pursue a Masters degree. Mr. Gary works as an educator in Chicago Public Schools, teaching music which is his first love. In his 17 year career, he has arranged and written commercial jingles for brands like Crest and Suave and collaborated with the legendary Four Tops on an arrangement for Happy’s Pizza.

After test-driving the Ford Fiesta, Mr. Gary stepped into his recording studio and began looking for sounds that represented what he felt when he drove the car. He thought about driving his Ford Fiesta along Chicago’s scenic Lake Shore Drive and from that came a nice urban beat.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brian Hendrix is a product development engineer with Ford who is working with Mr. Gary on the creative process. “LaShawn was selected based on his proven musical ability and track record for completing projects,” he said. When Mr. Hendrix came to Chicago, he learned about a second jingle – a vibe that represents the emotional connection Mr. Gary drew upon as a father and husband. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

According to Mr. Hendrix, the videos will circulate on Ford’s internal website, along with a longer version of each that captures Mr. Gary’s thoughts and motivations.

The Ford Fiesta Music Brand

Mr. Gary is among many musicians chosen to provide arrangements for the Ford Fiesta. Marketers at the automaker will undoubtedly review each arrangement and ask, “What does the Ford Fiesta Brand sound like?”

Given all the resources Ford has already dedicated to the Fiesta, the decision to get the right music is just as important as making sure the right images and messaging are conveyed to consumers. But as Ms. Simmons writes in MarketingProfs, “The time has come to let music play a real role in a brand’s equity.”

TaylorYou is written and managed by Cathy Y. Taylor, managing director for Vocii, LLC a brand consultancy that focuses on filling the gap between human resources, marketing and communications to align employee behaviors with company strategies. The Vocii mission is to help companies engage employees and customers in conversations that help to build long-term trust in the organizational brand.

What does it take to write a commercial jingle for a car that’s not on the road yet?

Find out Monday when TaylorYou talks with an accomplished musician who is sharing his talents with the Ford Motor Company.

I received a lot of feedback to a recent blog post entitled ‘LinkedIn Maintains its Place in Social Networking’ after distributing the link on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. One of the questions I raised in the earlier post was whether anyone had ever leveraged LinkedIn to get a job or land a business opportunity.

A LinkedIn success story

Of all the comments regarding preferences and uses of LinkedIn, Barbara Maldonado responded on Twitter that LinkedIn was the key to landing her current job as business development director for Marketing Resources Incorporated near Chicago.  

Barbara Maldonado is a LinkedIn advocate

Ms. Maldonado describes herself as a ‘gigantic advocate’ for LinkedIn. Her original strategy was to participate in group discussions. As group members posed questions instead of offering a self-promoting response, Ms. Maldonado says she would provide answers based on her knowledge or expertise of the subject matter. “Answering the question shows thought leadership,” said Ms. Maldonado.

Ms. Maldonado says LinkedIn is a wonderful tool for reputation management. She remains visible and active in discussion groups and integrates LinkedIn with her presence on Twitter. It has worked to her advantage as she is being sought out by high-level marketing executives to connect on LinkedIn. Ms. Maldonado also uses LinkedIn as a credibility check by including a link to her profile in her email communications. “I want people to access my profile and know that I am serious about doing business with them,” she said.

How to leverage LinkedIn

Ms. Maldonado’s story is an illustration that LinkedIn is one of many strategic methods to gaining new employment, especially in a market where job candidates are seeking to break through the clutter to get noticed.  

Social media expert Nathan Kievman, wrote an e-book about how to make the best use of LinkedIn to advance your career. Mr. Kievman offers five strategies to get noticed and strengthen your expert status:  

1. Own (or start) a LinkedIn group
2. Create and share high quality valuable resources – post links to a blog or resources, videos, white papers that will be of value to LinkedIn users
3. Post relevant news topics –  post links to a blog or news articles, again that create value to users
4. Post answers to questions – be brief, compelling, relevant and professional
5. Create engagement and conversation – build trust through open communication

Reputation management and personal branding will become increasingly more relevant in 2010. LinkedIn is perhaps one of many channels to consider as a way to add value, help others, engage others and connect with others.

TaylorYou is written and managed by Cathy Y. Taylor, managing director for Vocii, LLC a brand consultancy that focuses on filling the gap between human resources, marketing and communications to align employee behaviors with company strategies. The Vocii mission is to help companies engage employees and customers in conversations that help to build long-term trust in the organizational brand.

I have to admit, when I first created a profile on LinkedIn six years ago, I suspected it was something different. It was my first experience with ‘social networking’ even though it wasn’t referred to as such in 2004. Instead it was labeled a professional networking site.

Then along came Facebook, MySpace and all the others but none seemed to be a threat to LinkedIn because it had carved out a specific niche.

Until Facebook grew up and became a destination for Boomers to reconnect with long lost friends, high school buddies, college classmates – and yes – connections with potential employers.

So, it wasn’t surprising when I read the Wall Street Journal article about how leaders at LinkedIn are positioning the site to compete with Facebook in terms of stickiness – or better put – the amount of time visitors spend on the site. And let’s face it if you have a LinkedIn profile and you’re active on Facebook, you know how much time you’re spending on each site. Something like 13 minutes on LinkedIn vs. 213 minutes on Facebook, according to third-party research.

However, it doesn’t take much to figure out that some of the functionality available on Facebook is slowly making its way to LinkedIn, which threatens to disrupt the professionalism of LinkedIn’s character. Hardly anyone ever updated their status on LinkedIn the same way they do on Facebook until recently. And now with the integration of Twitter, users can tweet a LinkedIn status update seamlessly.  

But with all of the practical and professional uses of LinkedIn, I want to explore some aspects of the site with the following questions:  

1. Do LinkedIn users want to interface with professional connections the same as they do with friends on Facebook?

The answer to this question is obvious as there is a difference between professional contacts and friends. And the comments to the WSJ article bear that out. Most people believe LinkedIn should remain a ‘business networking tool’ while others commented that connections on LinkedIn are not the same as friends on Facebook.

There was a subsequent discussion recently in the Social Media Today group on LinkedIn started by blogger J. Paul Duplantis regarding the proper etiquette in ‘friending’ someone on LinkedIn. In three days the topic drew over 98 comments (and counting), including mine, on what is perceived as the proper way to accept or reject a request to ‘join my network.’  Reading some of the responses it was clear that the differentiation between Facebook and LinkedIn is starting to blur a little bit when it comes to building connections.

 2. How do you make effective use of LinkedIn for business?

For those using LinkedIn to source business contacts, there is a new feature called Faceted Search, which allows you to refine or drill down when searching for people based on specific ‘facets.’ Bottom line, you get a much more relevant search using this functionality.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. Has anyone ever landed a job or an awesome business deal through LinkedIn?

The answer to this question is really a demonstration of LinkedIn’s value in professional online networking. In light of some of the improvements that are being added to LinkedIn, there are a number of professionals like myself who are taking a second look at LinkedIn as a viable option. And let’s not forget the hundreds of consultants who are doing training sessions on how to make better use of LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is not Facebook. It’s not MySpace and it’s certainly not Twitter. To paraphrase former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green: LinkedIn is what we thought it was…a social networking tool for professionals.

The last and final question: Is LinkedIn a valuable resource to you? Why or why not?

“There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.”

-Washington Irving, Tales of a Traveler (1824)

Several days ago, I did a blog post on the cultural changes taking place at General Motors. It was based on something as simple as a dress code policy in which employees in the corporate office can wear jeans to work. I gave a lot of credit to former GM CEO Fritz Henderson, who by all media accounts, seemed to be the agent for change that GM needed to emerge from the brink of disaster. One day later, news came that Henderson resigned, presumably because the changes he implemented were not happening fast enough for the GM board of directors.

GM officials won’t share specifics about the board’s displeasure with Henderson but now chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre is on record as saying he is working to remove the long-standing walls of bureaucracy in GM and empowering employees to usher in culture change. Whitacre told the New York Times, “I want to make sure people understand that the responsibility for this company to be successful is not just with the C.E.O. It’s them.”

Change is not easy

In this new economy change is not easy but it’s necessary to survive. As an example, both General Motors and Ford are launching new initiatives to increase small car sales to consumers. Ford has hired a social media strategist to help connect buyers to online efforts. GM is training its sales force to speed up response times to online shoppers. And GM is also taking what appears to be a page out of the Wal Mart playbook by hiring receptionists to greet potential car buyers in place of a salesman.

These are small cultural shifts that could obviously have some impact on customer engagement. However, the strength in any company transformation lies in employee engagement.

Measuring the impact of change

With all of the work companies are putting into cultural change and brand strategy, what if there was a way to align the employee behaviors to the company strategies? There are unique opportunities to truly bring company strategies to life rather than have them reside on paper only.

Most company leaders recognize they cannot deploy the same change initiatives that were used in the past. Social networking tools have ripped the cover off and exposed weaknesses that leaders have been trying to hide for years. As a way of shoring up these weaknesses, companies can engage workers in meaningful dialogue and collaboration to discover solutions to these problems. Put a social media policy in place and train workers on how to be brand ambassadors on networking sites. This is a strategic approach to enabling employees to join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and other sites and drive customer engagement.

It’s a Team Effort

Identifying and communicating the core values of the company in conjunction with the change management can be reinforced through performance management tools that connect brand behaviors to each core value. The beauty of this begins to take shape when management takes a more active role in employee engagement instead of leaving it solely to human resources. The key, though, is taking action on issues that are brought to the attention of management.

Working as a team to improve communications between the C-suite, managers and employees is a crucial part of culture change. Experts say top leaders must break down barriers and bureaucracy to connect with lower-level employees to develop what’s called, ‘listening downwards.’ Employee behavior tools allow for that to happen because employees are engaged with each other, managers and ultimately company leaders. Connect these behaviors to corporate strategies and align it with customer engagement and the team is strengthen to take on the competition.

Is your company experiencing a culture change? How would you assess the ability of leadership to drive the change?

When it comes to customer experience most people place at the top of their lists Starbucks, Apple, Nordstrom and the Ritz Carlton. Up until recently, I had experienced all of these except Apple. That changed when I convinced my cousin recently to upgrade to the iPhone. So we headed off to the Apple Store at the Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, GA.

Upon arrival, I quickly understood why one blogger wrote this about his experience at an Apple Store:

In many ways, it’s more a community gathering for Apple customers and potential customers than it is a retail store.

We spent about an hour in the Apple Store and the experience was quite impressive. The concierge, Peaches, had us engaged from the moment we entered the store and everyone else we encountered paid attention to our needs to make sure we had a good experience. I am more likely to tell a friend – or to blog about — my experience at the Apple Store and encourage others to visit a store in the near future.

A visit to an Atlanta restaurant icon

The experience several hours later at KC Pit BBQ in Sandy Springs, GA not far from The Apple Store was a total contrast. After arriving, we learned the restaurant was apparently featured in the Tyler Perry film ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman.’ Wow! That was interesting.

The KC Pit BBQ website states the restaurant is committed to

…serve you in a manner that is efficient and friendly.

So when it took over 2 hours to get our meal delivered to the table my impressions were tainted. It no longer mattered to me that this restaurant was featured in a really good movie. Nor did I believe the brand promise on the website about being served in an efficient and friendly manner.

Why?

Because customer service was lacking at KC Pit BBQ. The employees were not equipped or empowered to deliver on the brand promise and as a result, we were left to become disengaged customers.

We can only assume the wait staff, the kitchen staff, the bar tending staff and the management of this restaurant experienced a communications breakdown because service from these three functions was deplorable. We were not afforded the opportunity to be engaged in the process. There was no initiation on the part of the manager or the wait staff to inform us of the status of our meal. We were offered a 25% discount but no personal apology was extended.

The Cost of Poor Customer Service

You can put this in perspective after reading a study commissioned by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories which found that poor customer service cost companies over $330 billion in lost business. That’s an aggregate total based on surveys of over 8,000 customers in 16 countries but the result is still the same, poor customer service costs money.

The comparison of an experience at the Apple Store to that of KC Pit BBQ is an apples to oranges comparison. Even still, studies like the one above are evidence that customer engagement can drive business results, whereas a bad customer experience results in lost revenues. 

Solutions to the Problem 

Better training of the restaurant staff is a good place to start. Those involved in meal preparation must understand how their actions impact the wait staff. Better communication between food preparation, the wait staff and management could have been a deal breaker for KC Pit BBQ. More importantly, communication with the customer was needed to ensure a repeat visit.

An investment in technology to help the entire staff better communicate can elevate this chain of restaurants into a strong competitor in Atlanta. Give employees a chance to identify problems and offer solutions. After all, the employees are on the front line and see first-hand where the breakdown in communication occurs. Management can provide training so that employees know how to respond in a way that does not alienate the customer but builds customer loyalty.

Given the growth in social media and the ability of customers to share more openly with others in their network means word can travel fast when there’s a good customer experience and consequently, when there’s a bad customer experience. There are companies that know the value of customer service. Unfortunately, others don’t learn until they see revenues start to slide and wonder what they can do about it.

UPDATE: In a surprise move, GM chief executive Fritz Henderson announced his resignation on Dec. 1, 2009. GM chairman Ed Whitacre will assume responsibilities until a replacement is found. After reading this blog post, one may wonder why Henderson called it quits so abruptly. Whitacre told reporters, “While momentum has been building over the past several months, all agreed that changes needed to be made.” 

I recently posted a status update to my Facebook page expressing delight with General Motors’ new dress code. The company’s VP of global human resources was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying the automaker’s buttoned-down dress code was loosening up to the point that, when appropriate, employees could wear jeans to work. The VP fielded several calls from long-time GM employees who found this hard to believe.

This story was especially interesting to me  because I recently worked for legacy organization where jeans were not allowed except on casual Friday’s, usually held once a quarter. I’ve also worked for major corporations where blue jeans were allowed any day of the week as long as employees were not meeting with clients.

Judging by some of the comments in the Detroit Free Press article, I’m guessing the relaxed dress code is a big deal for some GM employees and probably not a big deal for others. The bigger issue though is, what is happening to foster a change in culture that enables a 150+ year old organization to relax it’s dress code?

A Hierarchical Culture is not easy to change

You have to go back to earlier in the year when we all woke up one morning to discover the federal government had fired former GM chief executive Rick Waggoner. GM was at the brink of going out of business which would have further exacerbated our fragile economy devastated the global economy. In order to keep from going out of business, the automaker requested a huge cash infusion of taxpayer money to stay in business. The feds, after much wrangling, said yes to the request for money but with stipulations: Waggoner had to go.

Enter Fritz Henderson the new CEO. Only Henderson wasn’t exactly new. His father was a GM sales exec and Henderson himself had been with GM most of his professional career. Not too many people thought this was such a good idea afterall, GM like most legacy organizations, had a hierarchical culture that fostered anything but quick decision making, customer and employee engagement, transparency and leadership not afraid to take a risk.

Needless to say, Henderson had his work cut out for him.

Changing Culture to Survive

Let’s be honest. General Motors is in survival mode and the culture change is a big part of the survival mechanism.  The automaker has fewer brands, has reduced the number of execs in the U.S. by 35% and under the leadership of  Henderson, a once sluggish and insular corporate culture is being transformed. Back in July, Henderson told The Washington Post, “It’s a new era, and everyone associated with the company must realize this and be prepared to change, and fast.”

In order to get his executives to understand the urgency of change, Henderson emphasized that doing things the same way and expecting different results was not realistic. It reminded me of what Satchel Paige of the old Negro Baseball League used to say, “If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.” Not exactly grammatically correct but very profound.

A Culture that Focuses on Solutions

Experts say GM has to build a culture that fosters innovation and quickness in order to compete. As part of the transformation, Henderson has assigned eight people to an executive committee in order to speed up the decision making process. Focusing on products and customers, believe it or not, is another part of the transformation at General Motors. And just to emphasize how important culture change is to the automaker, the board of directors receives a monthly update on the company’s progress.

The bigger issue to culture change, though, is how it is received by the employees. Because if GM wants to engage customers it has to engage the employees even in the midst of a workforce reduction. Christine Oster was tapped by Henderson to oversee the revitalization of the coroproate culture. She explained to the Detroit Free Press that measures have been put in place to drive desired behaviors which are required for success. “Pride Builders” are workers identified throughout the company who are chosen to brainstorm new ideas and encourage others to embrace change.  And company officials say according to quarterly surveys of the workforce, 60% to 70% of workers say the company is on the right track.

Social Media integrated into Cultural Change

There’s a transparency model at work in General Motors as well. An internal company blog gets credit for reversing a change in vacation benefits that was viewed as unpopular by employees. The company launched a new website, Tell Fritz, which allows consumers to send comments to company executives. Here’s an excerpt from the website suggsting GM make accommodations to loyal Saturn owners:

I suggest that GM put a focus on wooing Saturn buyers over to the Chevy brand products (special offers, events, sales literature mapping the Chevys which meet the Saturn brand promise, etc). The Saturn customers are loyal and need to be in GM vehicles!

Response:

Thank you for your suggestion. We agree that we need to keep our Saturn owners in the GM family. We are developing a plan specifically for Saturn owners that includes much of what you are suggesting. I appreciate you sending in your thoughts to us.

-Susan Docherty, GM Vice President, U.S. Sales

 

I am now more inclined to root for GM’s success because if the company is able to successfully emerge from bankruptcy — and payback the money they borrowed from taxpayers — it will be one of the most inspiring transformations of all time. And it will serve as an example to other legacy organizations that with transparency, employee and customer engagement and leadership that has the courage to take risks, an old dog can learn new tricks to survive.