Bloomberg LP’s recent disclosure that certain subscriber data for the company’s terminals were previously available to its journalists has ignited a firestorm in the national media, financial industry and Capitol Hill. It also provides a perfect example of how a company must respond in the face of a crisis that is embedded in the very technology that we rely on everyday.

While Bloomberg isn’t necessarily a financial services company, its terminal business is heavily ingrained and relied upon in the industry. The two most important trust building attributes for a financial services company, as identified by the Trust Barometer, are being able to listen to customer needs and feedback (65 percent) and taking responsible actions to address an issue or a crisis (63 percent). In immediate response to customer complaints, Bloomberg restricted its journalists from accessing information about terminal subscribers, Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff issued an apology and provided assurance that the issue had been resolved via the Bloomberg website, Bloomberg news editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler reinforced Doctoroff’s messaging by reiterating company policies through an op-ed and address at a global editorial meeting and the company also appointed Steve Ross, a senior executive, to a new client data-compliance position, asking him to review and, if necessary, enhance its policies for keeping customer data confidential.

In a crisis, it always prudent to identify the audience most affected and do whatever is necessary to meet their needs. Credit should be afforded to Bloomberg for delivering a swift and decisive response to its customers concerns and putting senior members front and center of the issue. According to the Trust Barometer, a company’s employee is considered the MOST able to provide credible and honest information in a time of crisis (35 percent).

The question is whether these actions will ultimately convince customers that Bloomberg has provided adequate transparency and that this breach of privacy is being taken seriously. While the national media and clients will continue to raise questions, the coming weeks and months will be critical to Bloomberg’s rebound. Bloomberg should strongly consider enlisting a third party of technical advisors to conduct an audit of their systems and processes and make those findings available to the public. The Trust Barometer indicates that utilizing technical experts as spokesman can provide the highest level of trust in the financial services industry (74 percent).

They say the best crisis communications plan is the one that you never need to take off the shelf and, for now, one could argue that Bloomberg’s response has been a close second. Bloomberg’s executive leadership demonstrated that they are committed to resolving the situation, and most importantly, made it a priority to dispel doubt among clients. Only time will tell if these tactics will sustain Bloomberg’s terminal businesses for the long term.

Adam Federer is a senior account executive on Edelman New York’s Corporate Public Affairs team.

Image by nathanmac87.

“I have to fill my own shoes.”

I looked at her quizzically. “Ah, I know you’ve been gone for a while but the blog is actually called ‘Yes, I Can Walk in These.’”

“No,” she said. “I have to fill my own shoes. I have to be like I was before I had the baby. I have to live up to my own reputation.”

The honesty and insight of her statement lingered with me. I wondered why women seem to be so hard on ourselves? In an article appropriately titled “Why ARE Women so Hard on Ourselves? from the Daily Mail, Professor Kristin Neff made an interesting observation: “Research shows that women are generally kinder, more nurturing and empathetic to others than men. At the same time, they’re meaner, more dismissive, and critical of themselves.”

Returning to work after maternity leave is an emotionally charged life moment and companies, like Edelman, are working hard to make the transition back easier… and better.  We’ve adjusted our Leave of Absence policy in the U.S. to now include a phased return to work schedule, enabling new moms to return part-time for the first few weeks back on the job. Yahoo! recently extended their paid maternity leave, doubling the time new parents can take after the birth of a child.

In a recent review of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In”  Forbes reporter Susan Adams offers, “In my own experience, carrying my son on the subway every day so that he could go to a daycare that was a half block from my office, and I could run over and nurse him when he got hungry, was both exhausting and satisfying. I wanted to do it but there was no way I could work flat out and advance my career much while I was pursuing that schedule. Fortunately, Forbes kept me on while I kept my hours in check. I couldn’t have imagined ‘leaning in’ while my son was a baby, nor did I want to try.”

Adams added, “My assumption was that Sandberg wanted women to tough it out and push ahead with their careers while their kids were young… but now that I’ve read Sandberg’s book, I see that she is much more sensitive to the pull of mothering and how it conflicts with the demands of work”

Sure, the now famous book – and call to action – may be up for debate, but in my opinion, women could – and should – lean in more.  Yet, like all else in life, timing is important.  Managing a career and motherhood is challenging and the journey can be filled with slight detours, altered plans and both missed and captured opportunities.  Finding the right time to lean in – without toppling over – is key to success.

Leaning in is not a constant state of being, but one that ebbs and flows with the other elements of our lives. For me, that balance has always been best exemplified by a stove-top – sometimes things must be on the front burners, while others simmer slowly on the back. It’s hard to have everything going at the same time without something boiling over.

I recently heard Alison Miller, PhD challenge an audience of women with the following question:

“If you spoke to your friends the way you speak to yourself – would you have any friends?”

If like many, you’d end up friendless, consider going a bit easier on yourself, especially at times when a pot or two may be boiling over.  Most importantly, create a list of people you can lean on while you’re leaning in…and put yourself at the top of that list. As for my assistant, I hope she includes me too.

Gail Becker is chair of Canada, Latin America and U.S. Western Region.

In the end, companies realized that there is only so much advertising noise a consumer can process and that for him, it is the experience with and personal relevance of a brand or product that sets it apart from others. One of the first industries to go that way was the mobile industry: emailing, browsing and video recording were available long before the smartphones, but when companies started to promote the experience and the relevance of those features for people’s lives instead of just naming them, they pushed awareness for smartphones beyond the geeks and nerds.

Instead of trying to scream the loudest today, the goal of most corporations is to scream with more voices by building relationships with consumers, stimulating discussions, creating experiences and offering shareable, relevant and newsworthy content no matter what the channel. But shouldn’t it go beyond that? Although some doors are open, others are still closed and too strong to get knocked down by communities.

What does beyond mean?

According to GoGetFunding, crowdfunding platforms are expected to raise 5.1 billion USD in 2013, nearly 100 percent more than 2012. The growing success of crowdfunding supports a trend that has evolved in the past years: people want to be part of something. And to be, they share, create and even fund products or brands they love or that offer them a meaningful experience. They are willing to be as much a consumer as they are to be an employee, a shareholder, a community activist or an avid user of products eager to advise on design. Just like Andrew Kim, who criticized the design of Microsoft’s* “The Next Microsoft” by creating a design study on his own and found himself employed by the company later on. As Chris Armstrong writes, “hiring Andrew Kim is an example of how Microsoft uses this same process internally — the company is not afraid to hire quirky designers who propose radical changes to their branding.”

Beyond means that corporations need to build even deeper relationships, generate meaningful experiences and offer the mutual creation of content. Beyond also means, that brands need to leave the traditional product, Point of Sales and service experience behind. Some companies already embrace this, like Nike with their fuelband, making the brand an integral part of a user’s life. They created shared and shareable meaningful experiences with and for consumers and enabled users to tell their own personal stories to share with friends and families.

If brands open this door in communication, they can expect to be more relevant to their customers. They will also gain more knowledge about their customers with which they will be able to create more personal services and experiences. At a minimum, the benefits corporations receive by investing in engagement and shared and shareable experiences are more loyal customers that feel valued and embrace the company in return. It is time to stop just informing and get involved.

*Edelman client

Marco Dautel is an account director, Technology in Munich.

Image by DeWitt Clinton.

Peacock brings an impressive background to Edelman with more than 20 years of experience in traditional and digital media and communications and marketing, and has proven leadership skills in mobilizing teams for results-driven growth and change. Her strategic, corporate and operational strengths stem from firsthand brand experience and are assets that are hugely valued by the Edelman team. She has led teams and offices in every major market in Canada, as well as developed national and international marketing strategies for some of the biggest brands in the world.

“I’m a company builder, my passion lies in determining what a company needs to be able to grow, establishing a vision and goals and leading a powerful team to meet those goals,” said Peacock. “Over the last several years, Vancouver has evolved to become a strong commercial, creative and tech-driven hub, and Calgary continues to be a market of tremendous opportunity in the industries of oil and gas and natural resources. With the competitive advantage of the Edelman network, we have the ability to be much closer to global trends and be true thought and practice leaders in this region.”

Peacock will assume a leadership role in furthering the agency’s continued growth by not only leveraging the expertise and service offerings of Edelman’s global network for existing clients and business development, but also by promoting its expanded digital media capabilities and integrated full-service communications model. Increasing the foothold of the Calgary office, with a focus on Canada’s energy sector, will also be a key priority.

“This was a very important position to fill given the strategic importance of the Western region, and Patti Schom-Moffatt and Paul Welsh have done a phenomenal job in building the company’s presence,” says John Clinton, CEO, Edelman Canada. “The Vancouver and Calgary offices need strong leadership and Kim has this, along with a great sense of drive, and is highly capable of building on the success that has been achieved over the years. She is also a Westerner and her deep knowledge of both the market and business community is a winning combination for us.”

Vancouver’s biggest PR firm started as a one-person, home-based social policy consulting service called Karyo Communications, run by Schom-Moffatt. In 1995, Welsh joined Schom-Moffatt as her business partner and Karyo Communications continued to grow in number until a pivotal point when Edelman bought a majority interest in Karyo in 2007. Schom-Moffatt and Welsh stayed on as co-general managers and have played an influential role in the communications industry across Western Canada ever since.

Peacock replaces Schom-Moffatt, who now assumes the national role of chief client officer for Edelman Canada, while Welsh takes on the responsibility of chief commercial officer for the company.

About Edelman Canada West

With offices in Vancouver and Calgary, Edelman Canada West provides service in strategic communications, public and media relations, social media strategy and development, stakeholder and public consultation, government relations, consumer marketing, web development, creative and digital services, and event management. Edelman Canada West is joined by offices in Toronto and Montreal to make up the Edelman Canada network.

About Edelman

Edelman is the world’s largest public relations firm, with 67 offices and more than 4,800 employees worldwide, as well as affiliates in more than 30 cities. Edelman was named Advertising Age’s top-ranked PR firm of the decade in 2009 and one of its “A-List Agencies” in both 2010 and 2011; Adweek’s “2011 PR Agency of the Year;” PRWeek’s “2011 Large PR Agency of the Year;” and The Holmes Report’s “2011 Global Agency of the Year” and its 2012 “Digital Agency of the Year.” Edelman was named one of the “Best Places to Work” by Advertising Age in 2010 and 2012 and among Glassdoor’s top ten “Best Places to Work” in 2011 and 2012. Edelman owns specialty firms Edelman Berland (research), Blue (advertising), BioScience Communications (medical communications), and agencies Edelman Significa (Brazil), and Pegasus (China). Visit http://www.edelman.com for more information.

For further information contact:
Megan Johnson
Edelman Vancouver
(604) 648-3411
megan.johnson@edelman.com

The context for her remarks is important. We had just entered the Great Recession. Harvard Business School graduates, as always, were in charge of some of the center piece companies involved in the drama, from GM to JP Morgan Chase to Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Jeff Skilling, CEO of Enron, had been convicted of securities fraud following the collapse of that company. As I sat in the audience, I thought, bravo for President Faust. Now what will she do about it?

She named a new Dean of Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria, in 2010. Dean Nohria has undertaken a profound reshaping of the curriculum to achieve the goal of encouraging teamwork and cooperation. Among his innovations: a consulting project in a developing country for two weeks and an entrepreneurial venture that lasts for a semester (some are being commercialized).

My eldest child, Margot, is in the first class of HBS graduates under the new system. I had the opportunity to visit with seven soon-to-be graduates over the weekend at our home.

President Kagame addresses Michael Porter’s class on Rwanda’s economic transformation at the Harvard Business School.

Again, context is vital when you consider their comments. In my era at HBS, you enrolled in the West Point of business schools. It was a stated objective to flunk out 5 to 7 percent of the class, affectionately known as “hitting the screen.” There was a mandatory curve in which the bottom 10 percent in each course received a mark of low pass, in other words, flunking the course. We had three business cases a day, every day for two years. Each case required 90 minutes of preparatory work, including a full explication of your recommendation for the company strategy followed by numerical support. You met with your study group for an hour to go over your conclusions, to debate the case. The total was five-and-a-half hours of preparatory work plus four-and-a-half hours of class. Every other Thursday evening, you had a case that you had to solve in a five-page paper, with numbers attached, the famous Written and Oral Communication, due on Friday at midnight.

And what a classroom experience it was. You lived in mortal terror of the cold call, where the professor asked you to open the class by laying out your strategy and appropriate numbers. As soon as you were finished, the sharks descended. Your classmates offered alternative approaches, superior theories and more definitive financial models. I had to burn a few shirts ruined by perspiration after these ordeals. The case method with 90 students orchestrated by a professor was a hard way to learn accounting and finance in particular, because you swiveled your head for the entire class following the debate, then had a three-minute wrap-up on the solution.

You came out of HBS with great confidence, borne of surviving the most intense experience of your life. It was like basic training in the military, hard work every day, putting you in the best shape of your life. You put your head down and put forth more effort than you ever had before because it was the only way to get through. And afterwards you never panicked, whatever the work load or personal stress level, because you had been through far worse at HBS.

The recent graduates have had a much different experience. All of them said that HBS was easier than their college experience in terms of workload and stress. They found the classroom to be enjoyable, a place of learning, where students were willing to take chances with their opinions without fear of ridicule. They had several cases in each subject area that involved ethical decisions, to underline the school’s concern about graduates such as Skilling. They got a lot out of the consulting project overseas and the entrepreneurial start-up, assigning tasks to team members based on skills and interests, getting to an excellent work product. They also made friends for life because they had the time to travel together, to socialize and have fun.

And yet, there was a keen sense of disappointment in not having been pushed harder. These kids are thoroughbreds who got to HBS by dint of hard work and yes, competition. One of them was particularly outspoken about the experience. He told me that the real world is going to be a lot more “cut-throat” than HBS, that his classmates had better be ready for their first boss tossing back a recommendation in their faces with salty language and threats.

There is no one way to bake a cake. Many of these soon-to-be graduates had worked 16 hours a day at private equity or Wall Street firms banging out spreadsheets; that is an unrealistic baseline for an academic institution with a diverse class. But the essence of business is competition, inspiration and hard work. The results of the change will be seen in 20 years when these students are running global companies. I believe that Dean Nohria is prescient in seeing that these young people needed to over-index on the cooperation; the competition part will come naturally to them.

Richard Edelman is president and CEO.

Image by Janet Lindenmuth.

We call those experts HCP lite and we have enormous success engaging with mutual benefits.

Of course, we all know that at a certain point their expertise doesn’t match medical education, but honestly we trust them and we believe in their experience and expertise a lot.

That’s why I would like to encourage you to think out of the box next time you’re looking for potential stakeholders to engage with in order to start a conversation on health issues. Of course you are working with doctors and pharmacists, often with nurses, etc., but what is the next level?

The German Health Team has successfully – and in award-winning campaigns – engaged with physiotherapists, midwifes, estheticians, podiatrists, pharmacy assistants and others. And we have seen that those HCP lite are eager to be further educated, to learn and train, to engage in meaningful dialogues, to cooperate with “real” HCPs and to share health information with their customers and patients.

But don’t take them as simple amplification for marketing messages! If you seriously want to engage, you have to be open, transparent and willing to invest in a partnership – by listening to their needs, learning about their daily work and understanding ways, you can help them to do a better job!

Martin Floerkemeier is the managing director of Edelman Frankfurt, Health.

I’m grateful for Edelman’s support of a place I’ve seen impact the health and wellness of the San Francisco community first hand. The organization provides important services and support for a diverse San Francisco audience, particularly for underserved communities. Edelman’s support is important in two key ways:

1. The grant expands the organization’s successful “Wellness Clinic” mobile HIV testing operations to underserved and marginalized audiences. A&PI Wellness Center will be able to bring these mobile testing efforts to more places and more people in Northern California.
2. Edelman’s support demonstrates our focus on fostering a workplace rich with diverse experiences. A&PI Wellness Center’s programs most strongly impact people of color, who make up 70 percent of the HIV epidemic in the United States.

The organization’s support for my best friend was the beginning of my volunteer journey with their programs. My former Edelman colleague Bao Nguyen, also a volunteer, connected me to the opportunities. I have a great sense of pride watching their efforts expand and experiencing my own personal growth from the involvement… and what makes that sweeter? Edelman is along for the ride.

Clark Hsu is a global client knowledge manager and is in his fourth year with Edelman San Francisco. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @clarkhsu23

My youngest daughter just graduated from the College of William & Mary. It was a weekend marked by extraordinary traditions, as William & Mary, chartered in 1693, is the second oldest college in the country. The contrast of tradition with the future-facing graduates was quite striking and for this Dad, more than a little bittersweet.

My mother often told me: “the only constant in life is change.” As the rate of change accelerates, the graduates of 2013 — and the rest of us — have but one thing to do: embrace it.

Fumbling for words of wisdom of my own to share with my daughter later, I wondered what I wished I had known at my own graduation to prepare me for the many changes that lay ahead. As I looked out at the mosaic of caps and gowns, I wondered, if I could turn back the clock, what would I tell 22-year-old me as I graduated from Denison University? Here are five things I wish I knew at 22.

1. Relish the sense of possibility. There is nothing quite like this particular life moment, being in one’s 20s and starting the journey of work and adult life. This sense is captured beautifully in the book, Rules of Civility, A Novel by Amor Towles. Set in 1930s Manhattan, the book follows a young woman who is striking out and seeking to make her mark. Serendipitous opportunity is around every corner. This time is one to be relished, not rushed. It’s one of life’s glories.

2. Channels change, core skills and common sense don’t. When I joined Edelman 29 years ago, public relations was pretty straightforward. For example, we sent an earnings release to BusinessWire, Dow Jones or Reuters. Now, the SEC has issued new guidelines that permit transmission of corporate news via Twitter or Facebook. Tomorrow, who knows what the media options might be. But one thing is certain: the need for thoughtful communications is critical, no matter the medium. Keeping a laser-focus on objectives instead of shiny objects will continue to achieve results.

3. A global mindset is not optional. It’s critical to stay informed about what’s going on in places far from where you live. Read international publications or a local paper that isn’t your own, and watch trends emerging across the planet. For example, in Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, an entire generation of public relations methodologies are being leapfrogged as the power of social media, the availability of mobile phones and the entrepreneurial profusion of new apps is connecting brands to consumers directly. I follow and engage in these trends in order to better counsel our clients.

4. Be a perpetual student. Graduation doesn’t mean one stops being a student. We continue to study our clients’ businesses and our own business as digital and other emerging channels and technologies continue to disrupt the status quo. When we maintain the mindset of a student, we have the ability to adapt to change.

5. Don’t strive to be celebrated. As I pulled away from the William & Mary campus with wagon loaded from floor to ceiling (how is it our daughter managed to be on the top floor of every dorm all four years?!) I pondered the common thread of remarks from commencement speakers, FBI Director Robert Mueller and the student speaker Devin Braun. Mueller said: “We must all find ways to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. We must cultivate patience, each and every day. We must maintain a sense of humility. And most importantly, we must never, ever sacrifice our integrity.”

Braun offered that while relatively few will become the celebrated for their achievements, all should strive to contribute to society. In a world of “liking” and “sharing” there is value in not being famous. He said, “I’ve realized there are a lot of people who really make a positive difference in the world around them without anyone really necessarily knowing who they are. It is possible to be a positive agent for change without being famous.”

Embrace change, live a life of integrity and don’t strive to be celebrated.

Matthew Harrington is the global chief operating officer.

Edelman’s Employee Engagement team explored this theme in greater detail and uncovered several insights, including:

• Employees – especially those with technical expertise – are among a company’s most trusted spokespeople on a variety of topics, even more so than CEOs and official company spokespeople.
• Employees are THE trusted authority on a company’s culture, programs, integrity, working conditions and related issues.
• “Treating employees well” is a higher priority for rank-and-file employees than for executives: Out of 16 attributes that build trust in a company, executives ranked “treating employees well” fifth in importance, while regular employees put it third, close behind offering quality products and listening to customers.
• Regular employees are far more skeptical than executives across the board: They are 15 percent less likely to trust the CEO than those in in top leadership positions. Moreover, regular employees trust even each other less than executives do.
• Executives and employees blame different issues for distrusting business, but culture is at the heart of the problem. Leaders point to a lack of transparent communication, while regular employees fault companies for driving behavior with the wrong incentives.

While this lack of trust may be discouraging, there are a variety of actions companies can take to rebuild relationships within and beyond their organization, including:

• Encouraging a culture of inclusive management, which could entail allowing employees to vote on decisions that affect them (such as which benefits to keep), regularly monitoring sentiment on external job-rating sites or using an online discussion platform such as Yammer as an ongoing focus group.
• Reinforcing organizational values and integrity through storytelling. Leaders are far more believable when they illustrate key messages with stories from their own experience instead of reciting talking points. Communicators can coach executives to mine their lives for memorable anecdotes that demonstrate what company values, ethics and integrity mean to them.
• Tapping employees as ambassadors for the company’s culture and working environment, such as in recruiting communications. Since the credibility of internal technical experts is equal to that of the CEO on the topic of innovation, consider showcasing the “people behind the products” for new product development and launch story-lines.

 
Tamara Snyder is VP and group manager of Employee Engagement.

Please visit the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer page for information about the global study.