Businesses today are met with unique challenges and opportunities that necessitate pause. For years, management models were developed to optimize the pursuit of business objectives. Processes were established and hierarchies, technologies and reporting systems supported them. Everything was business as usual until it wasn’t. Nothing is permanent. As in life, things change. And so is true in the world of business. The models and practices that have been taught for generations are tested in a time when customer and employee…
Your Workforce is Disengaged: Here’s What To Do About it
Change is in the air. With disruptive technologies hitting businesses from the outside in and the inside out, how companies invest in technology and ultimately how people use it to get work done is under significant re-evaluation. At the same time, the rising workforce clash between older and younger generations is also pushing HR to radically reform management processes and education programs. Indeed, change is the air. In fact it’s imminent. But change is never programmatic nor is it ever…
Made in Detroit: How Shinola’s Good Ole Fashioned Business Values Outperform the Status Quo
You don’t know shit from Shinola. Ever heard that saying before? This World War II era colloquialism caused a movement to revive the American watchmaking industry and with it bring to Detroit yet another chapter in its storied history in manufacturing. This year at SXSWV2V, I was fortunate enough to interview Shinola president Jacques Panis live on the main stage. He’s not only the president of a thriving lifestyle company contributing to the resurgence of Detroit, he’s also incredibly genuine and…
Let Digital Natives Be Your Guide in Defining the Future of Work
Don’t let complacency undermine your company’s hyperconnected present and future. Pervasive technology fundamentally changes how people communicate, discover and connect. With smartphones and tablets serving as digital appendages, we focus on small screens throughout our day, every day and in all we do. Technology’s biggest impact, however, is not so much on the devices or the apps we use, but on our behavior. Specifically, it affects how we learn, how we buy, how we work, and how we influence and…
The 2014 State of Digital Transformation
Today, I’m proud to announce the release of Altimeter Group’s second report on Digital Transformation. This new report is aimed at executives and digital strategists to help them (you) further understand the state of digital transformation as you plan your next steps and investments. In our initial report, “Digital Transformation: Why and How Companies are Investing in New Business Models to Lead Digital Customer Experiences (DCX),” we learned that digital transformation was as much about technology as it was about…
Live Your Brand the Way Your Customers Do
I recently spent some time with PRNews editor Steve Goldstein. As part of a fireside chat we’re doing at the upcoming 20/20 Summit in San Francisco, Steve asked a few questions that lead to a pretty deep conversation. I wanted to share it with you here. Digital Darwinism is Real: Compete for the Future (Compete for You) Now PR News: In your book “What’s the Future of Business?” you suggest that while it’s a good thing that companies are investing…
The Disconnect in Connecting the Workplace
There’s a lot of talk about the future of work… Technology is indeed connecting us in ways that improve communication, discovery and connectivity. The world is becoming a much smaller place as a result. Chances are that you are connected in one network or another to people in at least 12 other countries. Although social networking and smartphones are relatively new as a staple in the everyday life of adults and kids, how we as consumers use these networks and…
The Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies on LinkedIn Invest in Employee and Customer Relationships
LinkedIn and Altimeter Group published a joint report on the value of corporate social media and its role in customer and employee engagement. To do, we formed a baseline of companies that were actively engaged on a platform we could effectively study. After eight months of research, we assembled a list of the Top 25 Socially Engaged Companies based on how they use LinkedIn to engage employees and customers in the following areas: 1. Content marketing 2. Employee engagement 3….
Social Media is Lost Without a Social Compass
Marcia W. DiStaso and Denise Sevick Bortree recently published a university-level textbook to address an important topic by the same name, The Ethical Practice of Social Media in Public Relations. As they were wrapping up the editing of the book, I was asked to contribute the foreword. Upon reading some of the manuscript, the answer was, YES! Of course, I asked if I could share it here with you and I’m happy to announce that it’s included below… About The…
Broadcast Yourself(ie): If You Think Gen Y is Different, Wait Until You Meet Generation Z
How teens use social media and why it matters to you. Generation Z = (Today’s Teens, Preteens and Children) If you want a glimpse of the future of technology and its impact on society, study how younger generations interact with one another today. While everyone is talking about Millennials these days, there’s another, potential more disruptive generation behind them…Generation Z. With the sting of a face palm, you’ll experience a sheer rush of humility as you realize that everything you…
