A Day in The Life: Podcast series

Theresa and Cindy, aka TCW, our customer service mavens share their tips for better conference calls and stories of serving our customers.

  (right click this graphic to subscribe.)

In their first recording (mp3 file) they share their number one tip for customers: *0. Contact the operator. When anything goes wrong on your conference call, press *0. An operator will come on the phone immediately with the means to address any technical problem real or perceived, even if it's user-error. (Our customers are always right. But sometimes it may appear a feature is incorrectly used.)

The point here is less to discuss our services and the features available for our customers use. It's more to share my excitement about this new podcast series. The initiative for this came from Theresa and Cindy themselves. They want to use this resource, podcasting, to share their stories and help our customers.

They're a delight! Our customers love 'em. We do, too. And...and...now with podcasting we have a resource where others can have a sample of these 2 people and why they're such an  asset to our company: our customers and each other.

The Best Workplace Democracies

The Best Workplace Democracies by Renuka Rayasam

The criteria for a democratic workplace include: purpose, transparency, dialogue, fairness, accountability, individual voice, choice, integrity, decentralization, and evaluation.

All the criteria you'd use to judge employees' passion and engagement with a brand, with their company, with their peers, with their customers...and even with their community.  If I had more time...(Renuka, this is a hint for you for future articles and research...) I'd research the financial performance of these companies and then compare it to Fortune's Most Admired Companies and Fortune's Best Companies to Work For list.  I riff'd briefly on this idea y'day at What Defines a Top Company?

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/smallbizscene/070321/rating_the_best_workplace_demo.htm

What Defines a Top Company?

Fortune's latest edition reached my desk this week. It's about The Top 100 Most Admired Companies...by industry analysts, industry peers and fellow corporate executives. (There's no link, as of 1 PM Central, March 25. ) The Top Five Most Admired Companies, as chosen by industry analysts and peers and corporate executives are, in order of rankings:

*  GE, Starbucks, Toyota, Berkshire Hathaway*** and Southwest Airlines

Here's a quick snapshot of their growth from Q1, 2006 to Q4, 2006.

* Gross Revenue: 15.5%,

* Stockholder's Equity: 6.4%,

* Net Cash from Operations 90.9%  ( This figure changes to a negative 33.8% if you remove GE's whopping 1520.6% increase.) 

***Berkshire Hathaway's results are not included becuase of the lack of complete data on the site at Fortune which we used to compile the data for this albeit brief and incomplete comparison.

There's another list from Fortune of Top 100 Companies...to Work For. This list has very different corporate names. It's a list of the best places to work at, by the people who work there, the employees.  Top 100 Companies...to Work For, in order of rankings, are:

* Google, Genentech, Wegmans Food Markets*, Container Store*, and Whole Foods Market.

Here's a quick snapshot of their growth from Q1, 2006 to Q4, 2006.

* Gross Revenue: 40%,

* Stockholder's Equity: 43.5%,

* Net Cash from Continuing Operations 319% 

* Wegmans and Container Store are private companies and their financial results aren't included.

Disclaimer: It's but a snapshot I present here. And a small one at that. And with incomplete data. But...it appears that employees' well being at a company is a key sign of its success creating value for the other stakeholders: executives, analysts and shareholders.

It's certainly worth a closer look by analysts and consulting groups who have that type of analysis as their mission.

Google's New Privacy Policy

Google announced they were taking steps to further our privacy practices. The post is is written by their Privacy Counsel-Europe and their Deputy General Counsel.

It reads like corporate spin. ( You know what I mean. You get a slight headache when someone's smiling, nodding their head like a toy puppy dog in the back window of your grandparent's car, all the time spinning a tale you know belies the sweet words and the smiling facades.)

Keeping my search records for only ...18-24 months is protecting my privacy ...how?

See what I mean?

We're protecting your privacy by keeping your records...for only 18-24 months. 18-24...something like that.

We now have the web 2.0 version of war is peace; peace is war with:

We maintain your search records so we can better protect your privacy; We better protect your privacy when we maintain your search records.

Orwell's gotta be in their marketing or legal department somewheres. Check around their foosball tables. He's the ol' guy with the British accent.

...a business with one employee, you.

Accept that no matter where you go to work, you are not an emloyee - you are a business with one employee, you. - Andy Grove, CEO, Intel.

Link from Shawn Frey, The Broom Wizards blog.

You're right Shawn; it's a great quote.

Social Networking's Next Phase

Social Networking's Next Phase

Next week Cisco Systems, a Silicon Valley heavyweight, plans to announce one of its most unusual deals: it is buying the technology assets of Tribe.net, a mostly forgotten social networking site, according to people close to the companies’ discussions.

Cisco: 38,000 employees

Tribe: 8 employees, about our size. 

You can picture it almost as the corporate version of the Saturday morning cartoon with the great big dog 'allowing' the little dog to tag along; then it's the great big dog tagging along with the little dog. 

...the deal will give Cisco the technology to help large corporate clients create services resembling MySpace or YouTube to bring their customers together online.

See what I mean?

This online social networking phenomenon is huge. America's always been about social networking. It's called Freedom of Assembly by some. It's kinda like our country's founding raison d'etre. Our ancestors, illegal immigrants all,  came here looking for the right to create a social network of their choosing. Maybe they wanted to create a community of people looking for a 2nd chance (Georgia...lots and lots of folks went there when they couldn't pay their taxes in the home country. My near relatives are from Georgia; I can say that. 's family. ) or to worship how they wanted or a first chance...to create a business and own some land and farm the way they wanted or they just wanted to make fun of ol' King George. Whatever. However. They wanted the opportunity to congregate, associate, re-late, gesticulate at/with their own social network.

And here we are way past our 2nd century, still leading the way in making it possible to associate, congregate, associate, re-late, gesticulate at/with their own social network.  Now we can do it in our jammies, if we want.  Old blogging issue from back in the early days...2005. ( For the record, I'm not. But as cold and windy as it is today, it hardly makes sense to get dressed, certainly not to go out. )

The article's a good read. And just remember, social networking sounds all new and recent and very buzz-worthy. But it's been our country's driving force since way before General George crossed the Delaware River. New name, same dream: freedom to assemble, freedom to dream, freedom to create, freedom to innovate.

And online social networking is the resource that keeps the little dog at the front holding the leash, not the other way around.

National ID Card Rules Unveiled

National ID Card Rules Unveiled.

Homeland Security officials released long-delayed guidelines that turn state-issued identification cards into de facto internal passports Thursday, estimating the changes will cost states and individuals $23 billion over 10 years.

Huh.

The guidelines are 162 pages long.

$23 billion a year over 10 years means $2.3 Billion per year or $40 million per state per year for 10 years. I wonder how many states have an extra $40 million in their budget...for one year, much less 10 years consecutively. As we see budget cutbacks for all social programs related to education and health care...as our infrastructure begs for repair...as more children go without health care...I wonder what's the best use of $40 million per state for 10 years. Would it include a plan to manage an ID program for the citizens of their states.

The good news is that we're getting another 3 years to consider this project. That's a good thing. Someone can get credit for proposing this thing today. Now they can ride off into the sunset.

And within the next 3 years someone can get credit for asking What's it for? Who's it for? Are they going to pay for it? And after answering those questions we can get back to asking how do we fund the things we need: better schools, better roads, wireless/broadband access, incentives for growth and innovation ie job creation, maintaining global competitive leadership, affordable health care for everyone, energy self-sufficiency, clean air and water, etc. 

Podcast Interview Re: New Communications Forum

(Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion)

Here's a podcast interview PRWeb conducted with me where I discuss for about 5 minutes the role of Corporate Culture in the Success of Social Media. I'm speaking on that topic next week at the 3rd Annual New Communications Forum held in Las Vegas next week.

What's interesting is less the shameless self-promotion than the use of multi-media to expand the reach of your message, using more than one format that increases the likelihood of impacting the audience.

PRWeb's a great resource. You can read my shout for PRWeb over here. 55,000 people have seen the press release; 700 downloads from PR, media companies.

I've been tagged for 5 Reasons I Blog

Troy White*, from Rich Writers Blog, tags me and 4 others to share 5 reasons we blog.

* It helps manage the voices in my head. Blogging helps me collect, articulate, refine, correct, toss out, reject the ideas (aka voices) rumbling, rattling around in my head while I'm driving or running or idly watching TV or sleeping. It's possibly the best, most cost-effective,  exercise in articulating an ever-changing strategy and tactics without bogging others down in spinning a story, our story.

* I can use the practice writing. I'm an art major. After that my only practice in writing was with emails. Short, cryptic, task-oriented, data-oriented. Blogging daily has improved my writing skills. That's helped in so-o-o-o-o many ways with leading our company through change and more change. The more I blog, the better I write. At some point, I'll retire, maybe...if that's possible at that point...and pick up the crayons again. But until then, I'll blog and be better for it.

* I drink too much coffee.  See Point Number 1.

* Our business depends on blogging. Blogging is the ultimate social networking, social media, resource. You can't find a bigger audience; you can't find your audience with  greater efficiency than with blogging. You can't find your voice ( See reason number 2.) with greater ease to connect with your desired audience than you can with blogging. End of story.

* Bloggers are the best people. The community of bloggers has been so helpful right from the start. And they continue being among the most helpful, positive, encouraging, creative, generous, supportive crew you'll ever find. Then when you realize most are people I've never met in person...it's even more amazing.

Now, who do I tag next?

Shawn Frey, Broom Wizards

Sandy Renshaw, Purple Wren

Andy Brudtkuhl, Get a New Browser

Paul Chaney, Blogging Systems

Yvonne Divita, Lip-Sticking

* I blog with Troy, also, at Duct Tape Marketing Blog Channel. Troy's blog is about Word Wealth.

Disclaimer: Those tagged are friends, colleagues, a couple of customers.