CEO Bloggers' Club

Culture, language and thinking

I sometimes think that people in areas like Europe, where the mix – and sometimes clash – of multiple languages and cultures are a part of daily life, might think differently than people who dwell in more culturally homogeneous areas like the US.

Languages are not simply words, but reflections of world views. To understand and speak multiple languages requires an ability to think in multiple languages. This kind of fluency forces people to see and understand other perspectives.

In the US we don’t have that fluency. The Atlanticand Pacific oceans, plus the size of our continent, serve to isolate us culturally, and I think our relationship with the global community often suffers because of our failure to fully understand other points of view.

I would be interested in hearing other points of view on the subject. Agree? Disagree?

Firefox & Google : kill Bill

“Only the paranoiacs survive,” a phrase constantly repeated by Emperor Silicon 1st (1). In following this motto, the young emperor Gates launched numerous battles around the world: mobile telephones, game consoles … he managed to push back the frontiers of the empire to protect the heart of the system.

Programmers, lawyers, lobbies – Bill financed the best and didn’t pay attention to the cost. The very idea of taking on his armies discouraged even the noblest of us. Surrender or die; for many, rage turned into allegiance.

But today Rome is under siege.  Barbarians are at the gate: viral attacks, browser wars, desktop wars.  Will we see the fall of the empire?

The coronation of Firefox

Does too much freedom kill creativity ?

I am wondering whether it would be perhaps a good idea to give some guidelines to publish notes on our blog, as it seems that it is quite difficult for many of you to initiate or launch new debates, except for some regular authors that I'd like to thank for their work by the way.

Then I'd like to get your feedback on two followings idea:

- giving the exclusivity of publication to members of a same country during 10 days, to give us an overview of their local vision of the blogosphere, how big is the awareness around corporate blogging in their country, what are the best local corporate blogs they know, how are blogs mainly used from now, what would certainly not happen with blogs, etc.... Every ten days, the editor team is moving to an other country. All other members can only post comments but are not authorize to publish articles.

- giving the exclusivity to specific topics during 10 days. Everyone can publish notes or just comment, but only on the ongoing topic. Ex.: Blogs and HR, blogs and management, blogs and CRM, blogs to manage crisis, blogs as collaborative tools, best of blogs, what a blog should never be, best books/articles/survey around blog, ...and so much more.

- ... does someone have an other idea ?

The idea is launched, give me your feedback, let's make it together. This is an "open source" blog.

Customers need Romance

The old brands are using “macho” communication.
“Just buy it,” they say.

They are talking to me the old way:
“Do what I say, not what I’m doing.”
But inside, customers are waiting for soft, gentle and sincere words.

The seventies liberated the body.
Today our souls are oppressed.
The system wants to keep our minds focused on the TV screens.
It’s an Orwellian world.

With the Internet, youth is hearing free voices.
They now have the tools to “think different.”

This is the end my friend, the end of a period.
This century might be the liberation of the soul.
Is it a time of awakening?

New brands are coming.
Open the Doors and “Let the children play”

Thanks to Jennifer, Elisabeth and Evelyn.

I don’t remember who said it, but the future of the man is women ;)

Climbing Everest

The old way :
- Build a big team (Minimum one hundred people)
- Bring a ton of food and material
- Wait for months before reaching the summit
- Don't take risks

The new way :
- Small team with commando spirit (10 people is enough)
- The lighter the better
- Speed is the key factor
- Use latest technlogies

If the world is your playground, take a look at skype and
how they became a world wide company in less than a
year.

There is extreme programming.
Some people are talking about extreme democracy.
Let's start talking about extreme management ?

Research Brief Weblogs in Marketing and PR -- Concept, opportunities and challenges

Today a German study regarding chances and opportunities for Corporate Blogs was published by Berlcon Resarch and caused kind of various feedbackin the blogsphere here.
It seems Berlcon did some slightly optimistic counts for the actual amount of german blogs being published at these days (they counted 60.000 to 75.000), but the main focus is still correct. The usage of corporate blogging will increase, the advantages for companies and readers is more than obvious.
Did you come across studies like that in other countries or regions?

Corporate blogging – blogging with a muzzle?

Steve Rubel reports, that the latest issue of Fortune takes a balanced look at Sun Microsystems' corporate bloggers, including CEO Jonathan Schwartz. In that interview Schwartz points out, that the company will soon require employees to agree to specific guidelines before starting their own weblogs. There is no further information available what kind of guidelines this will be. On the other hand Schwartz (who´s personal blog is read by about 35,000 readers per month) sees a huge marketing and communication potential in the 100 blogging sun employees. On the other hand, there needs to be a clear-cut line, that is never to be crossed by the bloggers. Fortune writes “Companies are also worried about unflattering portrayals and leaks. Last year a Microsoft contract employee posted a photo of the company receiving a dockful of Apple computers; he was promptly fired.“

A good corporate blogging culture possibly needs both elements – precise guidelines what kind of infomation need to be kept inside and a breeding ground that motivates employees to write about their job, the company and it´s products.

Poor Management Cause of Low Productivity?

I read this blog post today that discusses a Wall Street Journal Europe article from the beginning of September. Apparently, an extensive study of European employees demonstrates that low productivity (vs. the US), rather than being a function of technological inferiority, is more strongly correlated with "insufficient management planning and control and of providing inadequate supervision."

At the end of the post, the author asks, "If jobs in the U.S. are migrating to Asia, well then what the heck is going to happen in Europe? They have a whole lot of heavy lifting to do to catch up with us in terms of productivity -- and, apparently, a lot fewer days each year and hours each week to accomplish it . . . "

So, what do you think about this?

On Language

One of the great challenges of an international blog like this is language. With authors from many countries who wish to converse with each other and a wider audience, the core requirement is understanding.

When we produced the Global PR Blog Week, we had only two authors who chose to blog in both their native languages (Spanish and Hungarian) and English. This worked quite well. However, with the sheer number of authors and, therefore, languages represented, that approach would quickly become unwieldy here. [In fact, I venture to guess that this blog might be groundbreaking in its international scope!] Thus, Guillaume has requested that posting be in English, the de facto language of business.

Because so many people here are not native English speakers, this will probably mean that the phrasing and grammar may not be perfect. Well, you rarely find that on native English speakers' blogs either!

The important thing here is exchange of the ideas and knowledge.

So, fellow authors and visitors, if there is something you read here that you don't understand, please speak up so we can clarify. Also, if you simply cannot get the words out in English, by all means write them in your own language, and we, as a community, will translate as best we can.

Personally, I hope that people use phrases and terminology in their own languages, with a translation following, so we can learn these things from each other too.

A "corporate blogging" blogroll ?

I was wondering wether a "corporate blogging" blogroll might be usefull to provide here... We certainly all know few blogs on this issue, as between many others:

Corporateblogging.info ou "Business Blogs for Business Applications"

What do you think about it ? Which ones do you know ?

Posting Etiquette

As a group standard, please make every attempt to adhere to the following points when posting, editing and commenting. We are all relying on each others' best judgment and all authors, their posts or comments, will be held to the following standards:

- No badmouthing of competition although, be aware that, if you use this site as a venue for pure promotion of your own services/companies, we will not hesitate to out you in the comments.
- Posts should tend towards the "informational" and "educational" vs. sales pitches.
- We are aiming for an informal conversational tone, but slang and profanity should be avoided. This is, after all, a business blog.