How to Become Zen Master of Social Media

04 Tuesday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Consulting, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, New Business World, parenting, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter

by Paul Kiser

Three States of Being: Taking In, Reflecting, and Giving Out

Today I read two articles that sparked a ‘Zen’ moment for me. It hit me that the ideal for a person who seeks to be Social Media Leader (or Master, if you prefer) is one who balances three different states of being.

Before I go into the three states of being I want to credit the two articles that led me to this enlightenment because I think they are well worth the read. The first article is by Tanveer Naseer titled, The Power of Reflection in Leadership. In the article he discusses the need for leaders to schedule reflection time in her or his day. I am a regular reader of Mr. Naseer’s blog because he has great insight on a wide variety of topics.

(Link to The Power of Reflection in Leadership)

The second article I came across via LinkedIn and the Social Media Network titled, The Two Essential Steps to Becoming a Thought Leader by Brandon Cox. His points are simple, but the idea of becoming a Thought Leader is an important concept for anyone who wishes to be more than a do-what-your-told drone.

(Link to The Two Essential Steps to Becoming a Thought Leader)

I want to clarify that I don’t see myself as a Zen Master of Social Media, just one who wants to walk the path, but the combination of these two articles gave me a moment of clarity about what is needed for anyone who strives to be more than a user of Social Media.

Because Social Media is a new evolution in individual communication and is constantly transforming it is necessary for a leader in Social Media to research and observe. The Zen Master of Social Media must first be a Seeker of knowledge. As Naseer puts it, he or she must climb the mountain, but the mountain of Social Media has no summit. Like so many hikes I have taken in Colorado, the top of one summit only allows you to see the next summit.

A leader of Social Media must also be a Reflector of Social Media. Learning about the function of a tool is important, but one must use the tool to truly understand the value of the it. Being a Reflector allows others to observe and learn best practices, and then to innovate new practices from the foundation laid by the ‘master’.

Finally, a leader of Social Media must be a Mentor. Giving out the knowledge gained from being a Seeker and a Reflector is an essential function of a leader. Teaching helps others to learn, but as any Teacher can tell you, their knowledge of a subject becomes solidified as they organize their thoughts to present the information to their students.

By being equal parts of a Seeker, Reflector, and Mentor the Social Media Leader will find balance and continuous growth as they seek to reach a perfect Zen state….and then they need to shut off his or her computer and go play with their children.

A Zen of a Different Kind

A Post Script: While researching for this blog I came across a new book titled, The Zen of Social Media by Shama Kabani, published by BellaBooks. I have downloaded it off of Amazon.com. I may add a follow-up blog once I have read her book, but it looks interesting!

More blogs

United and Continental Airlines: Merger with the Devil

03 Monday May 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Customer Relations, Customer Service, Human Resources, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Media Relations, Tom Peters

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Blogs, Customer Service, Management Practices, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser – CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

They are not too big to fail and personally that is the only viable option I see for United Airlines. I apologize for my tone, but United Airlines is the worst of the worst and I’m not alone in my opinion.

Today it was announced that United Airlines and Continental Airlines are officially merging. What a dumb move on Continental’s part. Here are some of the comments I picked up about this merger:

“United is nothing but a mediocre airline, I don’t think I want to be combined with that work force. Continental has better customer service, it has a better product.” (1)

A Continental Airlines pilot that didn’t want to be identified

This is a sad day…united sucks…continental is an awesome airline. Some asshole will get a HUGE bonus for this and we travelers will get sh*t for service and surly b**ches at check in from united. I really hate American business nowadays. (2)

Comment to a Blog (I masked the worst of the vulgarity)

The worst kept secret in the airline industry is that United is a dysfunctional, uncaring, arrogant, and consistently bad air carrier. It has the public image of GM when Congress was considering bailing the car maker out in 2009. Songs have been written about United’s poor customer service.

(Listen to United Breaks Guitars by David Carroll)

United Airline service can best be summarized by this slogan: “We don’t care, we don’t have to.”

United is destined for failure and this merger seems to confirm that UAL continues to take action for all the wrong reasons. This merger is done for one purpose and one purpose only: a desperate attempt to show the investors that it is doing something, anything, to avoid certain death.

United demise has been a slow, painful process of false promises, betrayals, and really, really bad management. United employees have been jerked around so many times that they no longer care about customer service. I have interacted with them enough to see that UAL has institutionalized poor customer service.

One example happened to me last year at Denver International Airport. I was flying with my four year-old boy and we were checking in for a flight from Denver to Reno on United. As we approached the ticketing area we walked past 80 or more ticket kiosks that were wide open. They were all reserved for the handful of passengers with no baggage or for international travelers, while passengers with baggage were only offered ten or so kiosks and a 30 minute wait in a long line. They had more people directing traffic for the long line than they had assisting passengers. That is not poor customer service, that’s customer loathing. United employees have heard it all, seen it all, and they see no reason to care.

My guess is that new employees at United are trained by people who are so cynical about their management and customers that they drive out any spark of hope in the rookies. That level of institutionalized hate for your job can’t be fixed without massive changes in staff. It would take a complete wipe of all levels of management and dismissal of almost all rank and file employees to excise the environment of customer hate that exists at United. A merger may make investors happy but it changes nothing in the poisonous environment that will spread to Continental after the merger.

Is there any hope? Not likely. The company name will stay United, so people will associate Continental employees with the sour employees at United. That’s not good. Jeffery A. Smisek, the CEO of Continental, will be the CEO of the new company, but United’s headquarters in Chicago will be the HQ for the new organization, which means the United ongoing leadership attitudes and problems will be retained.

Regarding the merger, Smisek said, “This combination brings together the best of both organizations and cultures to create a world-class airline with tremendous and enduring strengths.” and added, “Together, we will have the financial strength necessary to make critical investments to continue to improve our products and services and to achieve and sustain profitability.”(3)

Note that Smisek says nothing, not a word, about the 800-pound gorilla in United’s Operations, which is bad, really bad, customer service. United Airlines wouldn’t be out looking for a merger if it wasn’t a house of cards ready to collapse, but the new CEO seems blissfully ignorant that most flyers would fly anything but United.

All this is good for the customer because it will probably lead to the demise of a mega airline within 36 months after the completion of the merger and the equipment will be sold off to smaller carriers.

However, I can see a small opportunity for a turnaround, but it would be a miracle. First, it is that Public Relations professionals dream because they can go no where but up. Second, all public image is local, so it would take massive retraining of the staff to do a Tom Peters’ Re-Imagine! of the company. The extreme makeover would have to happen at the rank and file level. If they don’t buy into a 10.0 seismic shift in customer service the makeover is doomed. Investors be damned, everything would have to be done to make the passenger a VIP. No baggage fees, no accountants counting nickels and dimes.

Realistically the dynamics at United make the task impossible. Labor unions, cynical employees, authoritarian managers, accountant infestation and investor worship, all would work against the goal of excellent customer service, so that leaves the obvious option: let United die. It is unfortunate that United will take Continental down with them, but I guess they asked for it. Dumb move.

(1) Top News Article: http://topnews.us/content/218898-continental-airlines-worried-about-merging-united-airlines

(2) Joe.My.God Blog: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/05/united-and-continental-airlines-to.html

(3) American Headline News: http://abh-news.com/united-and-continental-airlines-merge-2738.html

More blogs

Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service

30 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Auto, Auto Dealerships, Camry, Car, Car Dealerships, Carson City, Carson City Toyota, Nevada, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Recall, Rotary, Starbucks, Tom Peters, Toyota, Value-added

by Paul Kiser

Car Dealerships: A Scorpion on the Fox’s Back

The world revolves around certain truths and we hold these truths to be self-evident. One absolute truth is that interactions with a car dealership will leave the customer feeling soiled, dirty…robbed. It’s bad enough to buy a car from a dealership, but then to have to go back for regular servicing is rubbing metal shavings in the wound. Bad customer service at a car dealership is a fact, like the sun rising in the morning, or traffic lights always being red when you’re late for a critical appointment.

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

Last year we bought a car and admittedly the experience was not what I expected. I attributed the unusually positive experience to the fact that we had our loan pre-approved through USAA and to already completing an Internet search for the car we wanted. The dealership we finally did business with was located in Carson City, Nevada and they were willing to close the deal over the phone (and fax)…with no haggling. I gave them the results of my search through USAA and they found a car with most of the features, gave me a price that was close to what I expected and we were done. It was a freak situation.

However, regular servicing on the car would still force us to go back to the dealership, so despite our positive experience, I set my expectations appropriately low for return visits. I should note that our car is a Toyota Camry and yes, part of the service I had done this week was the accelerator assembly recall work. I didn’t get upset about the recall. Cars are incredibly sophisticated systems and I’m amazed that we don’t have more problems. I know other people are outraged, but honestly, if this had been a problem with GM cars we would have all said, “GM cars still suck.” But because is was Toyota, we all had higher expectations.

I am confident that our Camry is a quality product, but experience has trained me to expect the dealerships to behave like the scorpion who stings the fox. The story is about a scorpion hitching a ride on the fox so that both of them can cross a river, but partway across the scorpion stings the fox, dooming both of them. In one version of the story, when the fox asks why the scorpion stung him he answers that it is in his nature. Likewise, bad customer service is in a car dealership’s nature.

Carson City Toyota: Do They Not Understand? Their Supposed to be Bad!

On Monday I called to make an appointment. They asked me when I wanted to bring it in. “Thursday,” I said, expecting a response that this week was booked, maybe next week. Instead he responded, “What time do you want to bring it in?” This guy had to be new, because he didn’t understand how the game works in the auto service world. He apparently didn’t know that the customer doesn’t schedule the appointment time. The dealership always schedules the time and they always manage to find the most inconvenient time of the day to drop the car off. But I wasn’t going to tell him his job so I said, “10 AM?” He said, “That will work fine.” Now I knew this guy was not only new, this was probably his first day.

My plan was to go in and drop off the car and go to a Starbucks for the rest of the day. They said it would take three to four hours, which is car dealership speak for six to eight hours. I hoped to drop it off and get out of there as quickly as possible. Most car dealerships can be scary places and the Service Waiting Area is usually a modified storage room with an old TV that is tuned to Fox News or a Soap Opera.

Carson City Toyota just prior to opening the new location.

I knew that Carson City Toyota had just moved into a new facility and I expected to be a new version of the same old thing.

My first shock was that instead of parking the car outside and turning over the keys to some overworked and poorly paid clerk at a counter, this dealership has a huge, fully enclosed car drop off area. I pulled my car inside and the service person immediately met me, introduced himself (Greg), asked all the questions, looked over the car, and then took me to his office to enter in all the information needed to pass to the service staff. I decided that he must be the new guy I talked to on the phone because he was entirely too attentive and efficient for a seasoned car service professional. He confirmed it would be three to four hours for all the work to be done.

I told him I was going to walk to the nearby Starbucks and he said that would be fine, or if I needed a shuttle somewhere he could have me dropped off. He showed me how to go through the new building to get to the front but as he walked me into the heart of the dealership we came to the ‘Waiting Area’.

A Waiting Area for VIP’s…the Customer?

I looked over the room and thought, “Mother of God!” This was not what a Waiting Area in a car dealership is supposed to be! The waiting area was the size of two or three Starbucks. There was a floor to ceiling stone wall with a fireplace and a large flat screen TV. In front of the wall were 12 or so sofa-type chairs with a desk-like arm on the side, all facing the fireplace/TV wall. To one side was a cafeteria-style refreshment area with a variety of coffee/tea offerings and free small pastries. I was impressed!

I walked through this beautiful tiled lounge area only to discover that I had only observed half of the waiting area. On the other side was the mirror image with another 12 or so sofa-type chairs. The only difference was that instead of a refreshment station along the wall they had installed a laptop computer counter with power outlets and bar stools. They even had free WiFi!

Carson City Toyota is a car dealership that obviously values their customers and treats the customer with kindness! What is wrong with them!

I was committed to my Starbucks Chai Tea, so I walked the block to the store and settled into my normal routine. At three hours on-the-dot Greg called and said, “I’m sorry Mr. Kiser, but they do not have the car ready yet.” Yep, he’s new. Rule No. 1 in the world of auto service is that you don’t keep the customer informed because if you do it once, the customer will expect it all the time. I told Greg that I was settled in and it was not a problem. He told me he would call me when it was ready.

A little over an hour later Greg called me again and said that the car was almost ready. I wrapped up what I was doing and walked back to the dealership. When I got there I learned that my car was being washed…at no charge. I settled the bill and a few minutes later my car was ready for me…parked as close as possible without driving it into the waiting area.

It’s been 24 hours and I’m in still in awe. One thing I know is that the experience we had last year when we bought the car was not a fluke. Customer Service is not an accident at Carson City Toyota.

For decades Tom Peters has been preaching about things like ‘taking care of the customer’, ‘creating a new paradigm’, and rising above the customer’s expectations. Peters wrote the book on Re-Imagining the business. It appears to me that Carson City Toyota has read the book and is writing their own chapter.

(This blog was not paid for, nor solicited, nor approved by Carson City Toyota.)

More blogs

Aristotle’s General Rules of Social Media

27 Tuesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Communication, Ethics, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, New Business World, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rules of Social Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Stereotypes online, Twitter

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

We learn the rules as we gain new experiences

Most people would not walk up to a stranger on the street and say, “I’m so f*&king happy! I just got laid!”; however, there are many people who might say this, or some other inappropriate remark on Facebook, Twitter, or more likely, MySpace. It sometimes can be easy to think that writing online is his or her online diary, but the reality is that when sharing your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter, you are sharing to the general public, and those thoughts will be recorded for all time. Unfortunately, there are no rules of etiquette, except that abusers (as defined by other Users) can be identified and the operators of the service can ‘de-member’ them.

(Blog – Social Media: What is it and why should you care?)

However, Social Media (SM) is the ultimate democracy in that it is self-correcting. On most Social Media tools members choose who they want to ‘friend’ or ‘follow’, so if someone is offended by the posts or practices of another member they can stop including them in his or her circle of friends. That is why there is significant peer pressure to abide by the unwritten rules.

How Rules are Formed in New Media
Historically, when any new method of communicating is established the rules of the media are created by the people who use the media. It is a system of experimentation where new concepts are tested and those that work become the unwritten rules. A good example is Western theatre which was formalized by the Greek civilization. The Greek playwrights established the characteristics of comedy and tragedy, but it was later observers, like Aristotle, who saw patterns in the different genres of plays and put these ‘rules’ down in writing for others to understand and follow.

Social Media has started out in the same way, with the Users creating unwritten rules and observers trying to identify and discuss those rules. The difference with the Social Media tools is that everyone has different pet peeves, which means the rules vary from User to User. Still, by using personal experiences and listening to the experiences of others it is possible to identify general traits and rules of Social Media.

User Types
There are some stereotypes that seem to find a home in one or more of the online social networks. Here are a few:

Sit-Down Comic – This person has posts about everyday life and can often find the absurdity in her or his life to present to others. For the older crowd, think Erma Bombeck and for the younger crowd, think Paula Poundstone as examples.
The Informer – This person typically posts informative items on a topic and may provide links to blogs or websites that elaborate on the subject. Often this is the person who wants to establish/brand themselves as the expert on the subject and uses SM to gather a following of believers.
All About Me – This person is not at the level of humor of the Sit-Down Comic but tends to have a running dialogue about his or her life. It would be easy to identify this person with the teenage girl, but to varying degrees you can usually find people of both genders and all ages who fall into this category. To most, this User can be annoying; however, her or his circle of friends is often compact and consists of other Users who want to hear the diary of a friend.
Pollyanna – This person seems driven to spread good cheer to all. Typically they quote others, but the quotes are always positive and uplifting. However, if the posts are used a vehicle for the person to preach and pray online then the User risks being unfriended by those who are not as zealous.

Some photos should just go away

The Photo Op – This person loves their camera, or at least photos. Often they are one of the other stereotypes I’ve mentioned, but they like to dress their posts with pictures. It can be great if they are a good photographer showing interesting photos…or bad if it is all pictures of them in varying states of embarrassing or incriminating poses.
The Observer – This is the most mysterious User. They never comment or post, they just read other User’s posts. In some ways they can be creepy if they are male, but bizarrely okay if they are female.

There are some stereotypes in SM that are often seen as bad or annoying. They typically have a high loss rate in friends/followers:

The Hoser – This person floods the network with posts. Sometimes it is for a short period of time each day (an hour or so) and sometimes it’s for multiple times during the day. This is the person who wants to dominate the conversation. It may be that these users just need to be loved, but my money is that they just need therapy.
The Political Nazi – This person has an opinion and wants everyone know what that opinion. It can be appropriate if all of their friends are like-minded, but if not, their connections will soon shrink to just the like-minded.
The Salesman – For most, the fastest unfriend/unfollow is the Salesman. People like the Social Media tools because they want to connect to real people, and not to someone trying to sell something. I’m amazed by people who just don’t get that SM is not a billboard for their use, but everyday someone tries to Amway/Mary Kay their friends or promote their service.
Tally Ho – This person believes that quantity of friends=success, and so they are driven by getting the most friends or followers. They will do or try anything to get their numbers up. They are a number Ho.
Prime Time Host – This person creates the impression that they are the person in charge and you are on his or her show. They tend to be online and connected all the time, ready to make comment on anything. They have a life….and it is spent watching you!

Typically a user of SM does not fit into one single stereotype, but is a combination of many online personalities. Regardless of the characteristics of the User, the unwritten rules have more control over all User types. These rules are mostly common-sense concepts.

Aristotle’s General Rules of Social Media

Chart 1 - Social Appreciation Scale

Overposting and/or Underposting – This is when a User is too visible or not visible enough on the media. On Chart 1 is a best guess at what turns Users on, or turns them off regarding the volume of posts by other Users. There is no good way to measure this value in the real world because most people just react when they’ve seen too many posts from one person and unfriend them. I would guess that an average of one or two posts an hour is near the ideal. Too few posts and a User becomes invisible, and posting excessively makes a User is too visible. The scale is a 1 to 10 rating with 10 being the ideal.

Be Interesting, Be Fun – It’s one thing to inform people, but if all your posts are a lecture delivered in 48 parts, then you become boring. Crossing over different stereotypes throughout the day makes for more interesting reading.

NEVER, EVER, EVER SELL on Social Media – Be the expert, inform, but anything that smacks of advertising will be interpreted as spam.

Age Mismatches – It’s okay to follow or friend younger or older Users, but older Users need to be restrained in commenting on younger Users posts. It will always be interpreted as creepy regardless of the intention. Yes, you have wisdom, but younger people don’t care to have another father or mother watching over them and it’s more likely to be seen as a sexual come-on.

Be Real, but Not Too Real – It’s okay for people to know your political and religious opinions, but they should be showing like a bra strap and not like exposed underwear. Passion is great, but it is exhausting and uncomfortable for others. The same goes for emotions, unprofessional conduct (drunk photos) and mating behavior (sexy talk, photos).

It’s Forever – Jimmy Buffet has a song that refers to a tattoo as a “permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.” That’s a good way to think about the Social Media. Anything written online is there to stay…forever. That scares many people, but if you just remember that your online self is just an extension of who you are in a public place like a mall or church, then you can keep your comments and emotions in perspective.

Social Media is the most empowering personal tool that has been invented since the automobile. It has the potential to change a person’s life…for better or worse. For years, the Social Media as been making or breaking the public and political figures that we all look up to, or down on. Companies and governments are being heavily influenced by the impact of SM. It is hard to overstate what tools like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are having on our lives, but the people who participate will have an advantage over those who don’t and those that participate need to know the rules.

More Articles

Rotary: New Polio Strategy in the Works

23 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Membership Retention, Public Relations, Rotary, Rotary@105

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Club Members, History of Rotary, Membership Retention, Polio, Polio Eradication, Public Image, Public Relations, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Rotary International, WHO, World Health Organization

by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - Rotary District 5190 Public Relations Chair - RC of Reno Sunrise, NV

Is the fight against polio too narrow? A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article by Robert A. Guth suggests that Bill Gates, a recent champion of eradicating polio, and other major players in the polio fight are reconsidering the focus on eradicating one disease in favor of a broader based approach.

(Read the WSJ article here.)

Since the 1980’s Rotarians have been closely involved in the attempt to eradicate polio with the belief that it would be accomplished by the year 2000. But that didn’t happen despite major efforts of Rotary International, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and our own Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Polio Worldwide Cases

By the year 2000 the new cases of polio were down to less than a 1000, and the hope was that a strong second effort would eliminate polio. For the last ten years millions of dollars have been raised to accomplish the goal and in the past few years the Bill Gates Foundation has joined the effort. Despite all the dedicated effort we are no closer to eradication than we were in 2000, in fact, we may be farther behind.

However, there is ample evidence that the money and effort spent over the last ten years have not been in vain. When efforts have been halted due to political and/or religious issues the number of new cases skyrockets, and not just in the local region. It is no exaggeration to say that a polio outbreak in the United States is only 14 hours away. So are we locked in a never-ending battle with polio?

That is part of the reason the major players in the fight against polio are considering a different strategy. Polio is able to keep a foothold in the world, in part, because of larger health issues in many countries. A lack of clean water, proper treatment of human waste, poor health care, and other diseases that weaken human resistance, all create an environment where polio can thrive. If we can improve the health standards in rest of the world we can not only make progress against eradicating polio, but also deal a blow to a wide range of diseases that have plagued those who are least able to fight back.

According to the WSJ article, next month the nations of the WHO will be asked to vote on a revised strategy. The battle against polio will be remain at the center of the strategy, but additional efforts to improve health in affected regions will be part of the effort. The hope is to choke off the conditions that allow polio to breed.

It will be a big challenge as the polio fight is currently $1.2 billion short in meeting the budget for the next three years; however, the risk of not taking action could be much more expensive for all of us.

Other Rotary Blog Posts

Social Media: What is It and Why Should You Care?

21 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Branding, Information Technology, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, New Business World, Public Image, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter

by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

“It’s a big waste of time,” is the most common reaction I hear when discussing Social Media (SM) with a novice or rookie user. That statement is followed by, “How do you have the time?” It’s hard to discuss the topic with non-believers of the SM tools like Facebook or Twitter because the subject is difficult to comprehend if one does not understand the impact of the new world of communication created by the Internet.

The best place to start would be to attempt to define the term ‘Social Media.’

Social Media is the personal interactive use of Internet through fixed and portable devices (computers, phones, etc.) that allow text, voice, and/or visual communication and sharing of information that is accessible to multiple people in real-time, near real-time, or available as a file location at a web address.

Note that phone calls on cell phones don’t fall into the Social Media category; however, a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) call using the Internet is subject to debate. My take on the issue is that a VoIP call falls in the Social Media category because it bypasses the traditional phone system and it is personal interaction that can include multiple people.

Still not clear? Here’s a Kiser Rule of Thumb: If it allows a user comment or user response then it is a Social Media tool. That includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, personal blogs, instant messaging, Flickr, email, music and video sharing sites, etc. under the Social Media umbrella. Wikipedia has a great list of Social Media tools.

(Wikipedia – Social Media Definition and Examples)

Why is Social Media NOT a Waste of Time?

To understand the value of Social Media you have to understand what has changed for individual communication over the last 40 years. For simplicity I’ll do it in chunks of 20 years.

1970 – The height of the Age of Mass Communication. Individual remote (not face-to-face) communication was possible only by phone and postal service mail. Long distance phone calls were expensive and mail was slow. Mass communication was possible through one-way, strictly controlled, expensive media like newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio, and television. Society’s flow of communication was primarily one-way and the individual was a receiver.

1990 – The dawn of the Age of Interactive Communication. Individual remote communication was possible via phone, postal service mail, and email. Email allowed rapid personal interactions that avoided the long-distance fees of the traditional phone company and the sloth-like speed of the postal service. This made email it an inexpensive and rapid method of personal communication. Internet websites offered a new type of mass communication that bypassed the control and expense of newspapers, radio, and television. Society’s flow of communication was beginning to become two-way.

The Age of Omni Communication connects people

2010 – The Age of Omni Communication. Individual remote communication has become group remote communication with random conversations between strangers who often find they have similar interests. Communication has few geographic barriers only economic, political, and geographic technology disparities. Discussions between people on social media sites influence micro groups of people who may be observers, but don’t necessarily engage in the conversation; however, they gain new insight and understanding by being a silent third-party. A person can now express her or his ideas through blogs and social media sites that allow freedom of expression and opinion never known in the history of the world. Mass communications now struggles to compete with free market communication and finds itself too slow and too expensive. Society’s flow of information is moving in multiple directions at the same time creating a flood of knowledge for those who are connected.

People can choose not to engage in the new Social Media tools, but a person will likely become more and more frustrated and mystified by a world that seems to ignore him or her. The best analogy of what non-SM users will experience by staying disconnected is that of a classroom where some people are in on a joke and the teacher is wondering why everyone is laughing.

Next > Aristotle’s Rules of Social Media

Other Blogs about Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media 2020: Keep it Personal

19 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Human Resources, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Tom Peters

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Employee privacy, Employment, Facebook, HR, LinkedIn, Management Practices, Marketing Yourself, New Business World, Public Image, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, Tom Peters, Twitter

by Paul Kiser

Part of the challenge in learning new things is getting enough information until you can hit that magic ‘A-HA!’ moment when the information starts falling into place. Most of my ‘A-HA!’ moments occur when listening to someone who has insight on the topic AND they can frame the information in such a way that it makes everything else I’ve learned fall into place.

For over 20 years many of my A-HA! moments have come after reading Tom Peters, but recently my A-HA! moments on Social Media have come from listening to people like Dr. Bret Simmons.

(www.bretlsimmons.com)

Dr. Bret Simmons http://www.bretlsimmons.com

He is well ahead of me on the learning curve of Social Media, but I am finding my course in the digital jungle easier by the path he is blazing for the rest of us common fools. He has a unique perspective that I appreciate, and it doesn’t hurt that we both share a mutual distaste for archaic human and public relations management practices.

A few months ago I listened to him talk to a group of young professionals. During the talk he caused an A-HA moment for me. He said, “use your name” in the Social Media arena. That seems terribly simple, but it is a foreign concept to many. He went on to say that the message that a person conveys to him by not using their real name is that they don’t value him enough to share his or her identity.

(Listen to Dr. Bret Simmons talk about Personal Branding)

I go farther than Dr. Bret, because when someone doesn’t use their own name..full name..I wonder what they are hiding. I can certainly understand situations where using a full first and last name may be a personal security issue; however, if you’re in the business world and you want to build your individual brand then you must use your real name.

My father’s generation expected to work for one or two employers during their career. In the past 40 years that concept has died. What has replaced it is an attitude by employers of a one-way contract. They want the employee to pledge complete loyalty, but in return they have no obligation of offering the employee job security. Building your personal brand is the only job security you have in today’s market.

In today’s environment your name should be the address for your website, the title of your blog, and identify you on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Your resume is not what you have on paper, it is what you have out on the Internet and the quicker you accept that fact, the faster you can start working on developing your public image and engage in the today’s market.

Does that mean you risk embarrassing yourself? YES! Get over it. With each embarrassment you will become a little better at self-monitoring, both online and face to face. We are human beings and if you don’t get a job because of something you said two years ago then you have dodged a bullet. Any employer who is looking for the perfect employee is going to be staffed with people who don’t risk failure and that is not the company to be associated with in today’s world.

You owe it to yourself and the rest of the world to create your own personal brand. If you don’t then expect your tag line to be, “would you like fries with that, sir?”

Other Blogs about Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media 2020: Who Shouldn’t Be Teaching Social Media

18 Sunday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Information Technology, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

LinkedIn, New Business World, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary District 5190, Rotary International, Seminars, Social Media, Social Networking, Teaching

In Social Media, wading is okay for amateurs

by Paul Kiser

If you take 100 people to a nice sunny beach a certain percentage will sunbathe and never touch the water, another percentage will get ankle-deep, another group will go waist deep, and so on until you get to the group that is swimming in the water all day until it’s time to go home.

In the ocean we know as Social Media there are some who fear it and avoid it; there are some who will create an account but not even complete their profiles; and there will be some who are very careful who they ‘friend’ or follow, avoiding anyone not vetted. Finally, there are the people who dive in and will connect up with almost anyone who follows or friends them.

Personally, I’m in the latter group. I try to friend or follow as many as possible. I do have some standards. If someone follows me on Twitter I go to their page and check out the posts. If the posts are all ads/commercials then I don’t follow them. If the posts seem like they are a real person who isn’t desperately trying to sell me something, I follow them.

I certainly respect someone who tries to limit her or his social connections to people they know because that is within most people’s comfort zone, but it does tell me that the person is not really into the Social Media as a serious participant.

Ironically, people who adopt this limited connection philosophy are sometimes being selected to teach others on how to use the Social Media and this is scary to me. Think of it this way, who would you rather have teach you how to cook? A person who lives and breathes food and does it everyday and knows the kitchen like they were born there, or the person who only knows a few recipes, cooks occasionally, and always sticks to the recipes they know.

For people who fear cooking, they may want the less adventurous cook, but for people who need to understand cooking, they need to learn from the person who knows it best. The same is true for Social Media.

Both intellectually and emotionally, Social Media presents the opportunity to grow and expand, but you have to get all the way in order to reap the benefits. There may be a person out there in the digital world who has a lead to a great job, or a lead to the customer that could double a company’s business, but the person who limits his or her connections is never going to know about the opportunities missed because they have rejected the person who has the information they need. Staying in your comfort zone is tidy, but not useful and it makes a person less competitive and less knowledgeable.

So, if your attending a seminar on Social Media and an ‘expert’ tells you to keep to people you know, then that is the sure sign that this person doesn’t understand Social Media. It also means that the person who selected this ‘expert’ is afraid of Social Media and was looking for someone to justify her or his fear of it.

What should you do in this situation? Just smile at them and then tweet me ASAP. I want to know who is serving up snake oil.

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

Other Blogs about Social Media and Public Relations

Rotary@105: April 24th – Donald M. Carter Day

17 Saturday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Rotary@105

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Club Members, History of Rotary, Paul Harris, Public Relations, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary District 5190, Rotary International, Rotary policies

by Paul Kiser

For 364 Days a year, thousands of Rotary Clubs around the world are involved in programs and projects to help the local, regional, national, and international communities, but on one day, EVERY Rotary Club is asked to do a community service project. This year that day will be April 24, 2010.

Throughout Rotary we know this day as Rotarians at Work Day, but I like to think of it as Donald M. Carter Day. Who was Donald M. Carter?

If you do a Google search for him you will find a few articles that mention his name. You might find out that he was a patent attorney and that he was involved in attempting to obtain a patent on the Rotary cog icon, but that would hardly justify naming a day after him. If fact, to most Rotarians, Donald M. Carter is no one special….unless they know the early history of Rotary.

When Rotary was formed in 1905, Rotarians in the inaugural club established two reasons as the ‘purpose’ of Rotary. They were as follows:

The promotion of the business interests of its members
The promotion of good fellowship and other desiderata ordinarily incident to social clubs.

In 1905, Rotary was a networking club that promoted business within the membership. The organization was established for the sole benefit of the members.

In April of 1906, a patent attorney named Donald M. Carter was approached by Frederick Tweed, a new Rotarian, and encouraged to join. Carter was interested and asked about the objectives of the club. When told of the two stated purposes of Rotary and shown the newly created Club Constitution, he declined and said that a club should have a higher ideal, some ‘civic’ purpose. Tweed then suggested that Carter join and propose the new purpose to the club.

At this moment Carter could have just said ‘no’. He could have thanked Tweed and sent him off with a handshake. Rotary might have remained a business networking club existing solely for the benefit of the members…but Carter didn’t say ‘no’ to Tweed, or ‘no’ to his desire for a higher ideal for the organization.

The next month Donald M. Carter became a member of Rotary and later that year he composed the third purpose of Rotary:

3. The advancement of the best interests of Chicago and the spreading of the spirit of civic pride and loyalty among its citizens.

The third purpose was adopted in 1907 and Rotary ceased to become an inward focused group of business men. It became a group of people who promoted service and pride in the larger community outside of business and Rotary.

So on April 24, 2010, let’s give a nod and a smile to Donald M. Carter who gave Rotary a challenge to be more than a pursuit of the personal interests of the members, and instilled the value of community service and civic pride into every member.

Thanks Donald. I glad you were a Rotarian!

A Century of Service by David C. Forward

(Special thanks to David C. Forward and his book, A Century of Service: The story of Rotary International. Book is available at www.shop.rotary.org)

Other Rotary Blog Posts

Social Media 2020: Did Women Legitimize the Social Media?

14 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Random, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Women

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Facebook, Internet, LinkedIn, New Business World, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, Tom Peters, Twitter, Women

Here’s a question for you to ponder.

Would Social Interactive Media (SIM) be where it is today if women hadn’t put their stamp of approval by becoming active users?

: Did Women make Social Media acceptable to the World?

I’m not talking about numbers, because 60% of Facebook users are women, so it’s obvious that they have had an important impact in the volume of users, but I’m talking about legitimizing it for everyone else. I don’t want to get into stereotyping, but as George Clooney’s character in Up In the Air said, “It’s faster.”

Consider that, with the exception of having sex, most men need a reason for becoming involved in an activity. Men don’t shopping; they go to a store to purchase. A man may say that he plays golf just for the enjoyment of the game, but don’t let anyone kid you, a man’s golf score can make or break his day.

Women, by contrast, don’t need to have a reason to go to the store or play golf. They can find pleasure in just doing the activity. For a woman, life doesn’t need justification to be enjoyed.

Now look at the Social Media arena. I often find that men are the most phobic when it comes to participating in Social Media. They mistrust and fear it. Often the comment is, “I just don’t understand what the purpose is!” And there lies the stereotyped gender difference. Men need a reason (and they tend to leave their participles dangling.)

Women don’t need a reason. The format of sharing information and ideas is in their comfort zone and that’s all they need. Women are accustomed to be judged by others, so they don’t fear being judged online. Women are also better self-monitors, so they know how to control their emotions when they post and tweet.

I believe that it was the acceptance of Social Media by women that pushed it into the mainstream. Now, men are just trying to keep up…and trying to find a justification, a ‘reason’, to explain why participation in Social Media is important….hmmm…how’s that working out for us, guys?

Other Blogs on Social Media and Public Relations

Social Media 2020: Public Relations 2001 vs Social Media Relations 2010

Social Media 2020: Who Moved My Public Relations?

Publishing Industry to End 2012

Who uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & LinkedIn?

Fear of Public Relations

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…Oh My!

Does Anybody Really Understand PR?

Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

25 Thursday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Public Relations, Rotary

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

PR, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rotary, Rotary District 5190, Rotary International

by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - District Public Relations Chair - Rotary District 5190

Rotary is challenged in the role of Public Relations. For almost a century we didn’t see a need for Public Relations. There are good reasons why this was the case, but now we recognize the need for a Public Relations function.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of many smart and skilled people we are still in the infancy of fully incorporating Public Relations into the hearts and minds of the organization. In the recommended Club Leadership Plan published by Rotary International, every other club function has a list of its sub-functions, except Public Relations which is blank. That should not be surprising considering how little time Public Relations has had to evolve in the organization. The idea to establish PR as a separate club function was a bold step, and it has taken years for the basic concept of Public Relations to take hold.

However, it is time we take another bold act and fully incorporate the function of Public Relations into the soul of the club. The reason to act is simple: the survival of the organization depends on it.

Rotary International - 105 Years of Service Above Self

Rotary and Public Relations: History
When Rotary was first formed in 1905, it was a small club of four members. The membership grew rapidly but it remained one club started by young professionals who sought to exchange business based on ethical practices. There was no need to be concerned about Public Relations because it was just a group of people ‘doing their own thing’. The change came in 1906, when a prospective member suggested that he saw no reason to join unless the club was doing something worthwhile for the community. The club members agreed and in 1907 Rotary completed the first community project by building public toilets in downtown Chicago. It was at that moment that Rotary began interacting with the community, thus Rotary Public Relations was born, but not recognized.

As the decades passed, individual Rotary clubs continued to interact with the local, regional, national, and international communities around them and yet the understanding that Rotary was involved in Public Relations with each interaction did not fully sink in with the clubs, nor the larger organization of Rotary International. Some clubs equated Public Relations to be ‘publicity’ and shunned the idea of bragging or boasting about the community project and programs, not understanding the publicity is only a part of Public Relations.

The Rotary Theme Logo for 2009-10

What Changed?
As Rotary approached its Centennial a realization came about the need for Public Relations; however, this need was still thought of as publicity. Many clubs were experiencing a slow loss of membership and it became apparent that the organization needed to make people more aware of Rotary in order to continue to attract new members. The idea of ‘getting the word out’ was the driving force behind adopting a Public Relations strategy, which is why the efforts have been focused on publicity. This is probably why the Public Relations function is somewhat of an orphan in the Club’s organization because the priority has been on external communication.

Public Relations: A Holistic Approach
Rotary Public Relations should involve the development of a relationship between the Club and the community. It does involve getting the message out (publicity) but to do that a Club must understand how that message will be perceived. This can only be done if a Club is already aware of their TRUE public image in the community. Public Relations is a two-way relationship that requires listening to the community’s perceptions before sending out a message. If the Club does not know what the community perceives about Rotary, the message could be misunderstood leading to a negative Public Relations outcome.

In order to listen to the community a Club must be accessible to the public. This can be a major problem as a Rotary Club only exists for 1 1/2 hours per week. Most clubs have no office, nor any physical presence outside of the Club’s weekly meeting. The only way for the public to access a Club is by creating a presence that can be accessed 24/7/365. Fortunately a Club website can provide that presence, but many clubs do not have an updated website and many more don’t have a website at all.

The other problem is that public image is formed primarily by what a person experiences on a personal level. An airline can say it loves its passengers in a national ad campaign, but the passenger will determine her or his image of the airline based upon the experience with the people met when purchasing tickets, boarding, and flying. Thus, people perceive Rotary based on the interactions with the members and their Club.

Rotary Public Relations: The Next Level

The Rotary Theme Logo for 2010-11

To move to the next level Rotary Clubs should ask questions of non-Rotarians in the communities about their perceptions of Rotary and the Rotary Club. This should be done in a way that the person does not feel like they need to make the ‘nice comment’, but rather allow the person to be completely honest. The Club should be prepared to hear information that may be unexpected and equally prepared to take appropriate action to work to repair any misconceptions or misunderstandings. Correcting misconceptions is the role of publicity, but it must happen after the Club is aware of the existing public image.

The Club should work to be accessible to members and the public with an active and updated website. The website should offer information about upcoming programs and projects, contact information via email or phone, and information about the Club, the Area, the District, and Rotary International.

To establish a plan for the Club Public Relations the Bulletin/Newsletter Editor, Programs Chair, Webmaster, along with other key Club leadership should meet to discuss Club goals and how the Club’s Internal message tools can be used to assist in communicating those goals. Using the resources for Club planning available from Rotary International, the Club Public Relations Committee can establish short-term, annual, and long-term goals.

The key is understanding that all Public Relations is local and that public image is what non-Rotarians perceive about Rotary.

Rotary related blogs by Paul Kiser

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win

Rotary@105: Our 1st Rotary Dropout

Best Practices: Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win

22 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Rotary, Rotary District 5190

by Paul Kiser
Public Relations Chair
Rotary District 5190

Any organization must continue to grow and evolve over time and Rotary is no different. Rotary is a vital organization that has an impact throughout the world with Polio vaccinations; Health, Hunger, and Humanity grants; Rotary Youth programs; and community service projects. It is an organization that has a legacy of Service Above Self and as Rotarians we must do our part to fulfill the work done by those before us. Here are eight suggestions to use Club Public Relations and Membership as a team effort to maintain and promote the local Rotary Club.

Over 32,000 Rotary Clubs Worldwide

STEP 1. SELF EXAMINATION
Examine your Club’s public image. What do non-Rotarians think/know about Rotary and your Club? Ask every member find three people who are business professionals (of every age, gender, and race) and ask them five or six questions about Rotary. Questions for a non-Rotarian like:

What qualifications DO YOU THINK are required to join Rotary?
What do you think is the purpose of Rotary?
Describe your image of the typical Rotarian?
Why would you be interested/not interested in joining Rotary?
Do you have to belong to a political party to be a Rotarian?

Note: THIS IS NOT A RECRUITMENT EFFORT, ONLY FACT FINDING. Document the answers and discuss them at a Club Assembly. Determine what kind of public image your Club has among non-Rotarians. What issues keep potential Rotarians from being interested? Does the public image of your Club vary based upon the age/gender/race of the person asked? If so, what are the members doing that might cause that?

Paul Kiser - Public Relations Chair - Rotary District 5190 (Northeast CA/Northern NV

STEP 2. BRANDING
Armed with a better understanding of the public image determine:

How you can respond to incorrect perceptions using various internal and external Public Relations tools.
What, if any, negative perceptions are being generated by the acts of club members and how they can be made aware of their negative influence on Club PR (e.g.; telling political or religious jokes in club meetings)
Discuss how members can raise awareness of themselves as Rotarians (e.g.; wearing Rotary pin, Rotary license plate holders, posting membership certificate on the wall at work, etc.)
Review the methods that a person can find out more about the club (e.g.; Can the club website be found by a Google search?)

STEP 3. IMPROVE THE INTERNAL MESSAGE
Determine if club members are passionate about their Rotary club. If not, what internal communication tools can be used to boost excitement about the club (e.g.; speakers/programs, newsletter, website, Facebook, LinkedIn).

STEP 4. GET OUT OF THE BOX
Seriously review your Club’s ability to adapt and incorporate new and different ideas. The acid test: If a new member started suggesting new ideas would they be seriously considered, or would the current leadership tend to be offended by the brashness of the new member? Try anything and celebrate failure as the next step to success!

STEP 5. LET THE POTENTIAL MEMBER KNOW YOU CARE
Use three to five members to recruit one member. Make the recruit feel wanted by the club.

STEP 6. NEW MEMBERS AS A CLASS
Every month (or every quarter) inductee’s are a new class. All the members inducted in May of 2010 are the Class of May 2010 and they all work together to complete the New Member orientation and requirements to achieve their blue badge. Each class has a ‘Den Mother’: A Rotarian that is their advisor of all things Rotary.

STEP 7. FAMILY, FAMILY, FAMILY
Every member’s family to be involved in the club. The line between member and spouse to be almost invisible. Look for ways to communicate to spouse, children, and members. (Why shouldn’t a member’s children know as much or more about YES/RYE and RYLA than the member?)

STEP 8. ELEVATE THE CLUB PRESIDENT
Use a three-year succession plan to ensure the Club President plans for her/his year in advance. Create an atmosphere where the Club President is a respected leader, not the butt of member jokes during the meetings.

Rotary related blogs by Paul Kiser

Rotary@105: Our 1st Rotary Dropout

Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

Best Practices: Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations

Rotary: A Tradition of Humanity

05 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Rotary

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Community Service, Giving back, History of Rotary, Paul Harris, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary International

“I know they say we’re in a recession, I just choose not to participate.”

Gary Foote
Past President – Rotary Club of Reno Sunrise, Nevada, USA

The financial turmoil of 2008-10 has impacted almost every part of the world, and as members of the world community Rotarians are no different. It is rare to have a discussion about membership recruitment and retention without the subject of economic hard times creeping into the conversation. However, it is in times like these that we should remember that Rotary has gone through many world-wide upheavals in its one hundred-year plus history and survived. More significantly, it has been in the darkest times of the 20th Century that Rotary has shined the brightest.

War and Rotary
Since 1905, the world has experienced many wars, but World Wars I and II were the greatest tests for our international organization. In August of 1910 the sixteen loosely organized clubs of Rotary met at their first convention to create the National Association of Rotary Clubs of America. Three months later the new organization discovered that a Rotary club had been created in Winnipeg, Canada and now they had the opportunity to become an international organization. A little over a year later the Winnipeg club was officially recognized and the organization became The International Association of Rotary Clubs.

In the years that followed, Rotary expanded in many countries, but as the War to End All Wars consumed Europe, Rotary’s rapid growth became stymied in those countries most affected. Even the chartered clubs faced challenges that threatened their existence. When rationing limited British resources a Rotarian suggested to the British Rotary Secretary that the Rotary lunches would likely have to stop. The Secretary replied, “Absolutely not! Rotary means SERVICE. Not only with a capital ‘S’, but all capitals, and if there were ever a time for SERVICE, it is now!”

Carefully avoiding involvement in the machines of war, Rotary assumed the role of providing compassionate support for troops and citizens alike. Clubs took on projects to assist in caring for the wounded, helping the victims of war and, in America, became the forerunner of the USO for American troops waiting to be shipped overseas.

As challenging as World War I was for Rotary, World War II had even greater impact. By the mid- to late 1930’s Rotary International was a much larger organization with clubs in all the major countries involved in conflict. The Nazi party began a campaign against Rotary, insisting that the organization was a Jewish linked organization and banned Nazi’s from being members. By October of 1937, the German Rotary clubs were forced to disband. By the time America entered the conflict, 484 clubs had been forced to close in countries allied with or subjugated by Germany. During World War II, some Rotarians in Axis countries were imprisoned and in some cases died because of their affiliation with Rotary.

Still, Rotary clubs found ways to survive during the war by becoming ‘singing’ societies, or golfing associations to disguise their reason for meeting. When peace and sanity returned to Europe, so did Rotary. In fact, Rotary not only survived in Europe, but enjoyed a rapid expansion in the decade that followed. As in World War I, Rotary clubs had demonstrated a dedication to the concept of service. Many clubs organized a wide range of local and international relief efforts, even as the war was taking a personal toll on many Rotarians. Service above Self aptly described the sacrifices made both during and after the war.

The Great Depression
The financial disaster of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s brought about a terrible challenge to the fledgling organization of Rotary. As businesses failed almost overnight many Rotarians found themselves without the means to pay their own expenses, let alone help others, yet help they did. In the 1931 Rotarian magazine, Roy L. Smith wrote:

“No nation becomes great by becoming rich; neither does a man find enduring satisfaction in life by owning something – only by becoming something. This Depression has cost us some of the things we created, but it has robbed us of none of our power to create.”

Rotarians helped establish soup kitchens, fed and supplied schoolchildren, and created work programs for their communities. While Rotary clubs struggled to survive during one of the bleakest times in the 20th Century, the desire to help others, including fellow Rotarians held a greater power than despair.

Lessons for Today
There is no doubt that most Rotarians have felt the effects of the 2007-09 Recession and we face many challenges in the months ahead. But as we have seen before, now is the time for Rotary to shine. While many of us face difficult choices, Rotarians have learned that giving hope and helping others is the best cure for moving beyond our own difficulties. The history of Rotary shows us that one Rotarian can make a difference. It all starts with helping one person or starting one project, and the rest will fall into place. Paul Harris reminds us of the challenge we have been given in his words from the 1914 RI Convention:

“Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves”

(A special thanks to David Forward’s book, A Century of Service: The History of Rotary International.)

Paul Kiser is a member of the Rotary Club of Reno Sunrise, Nevada, USA and Past President and former charter member of the RC of Sparks Centennial Sunrise, a Paul Harris Fellow and serves as the Public Relations Chair for Rotary District 5190.

Windows Office 2010: What to Do?

01 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Management Practices, Rotary

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Management Practices, New Business World, Rotarians, Rotary

by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO 2020 Enterprise Technologies

(NOTE: This blog was originally published on March 1, 2010-Microsoft released Office 2010 on June 22, 2010)

In the next few months Microsoft will officially launch the next generation of Windows Office (Office 2010, code-named Office 14) and it will create new dilemmas for many business owners, Information Technology (IT) managers and users of Windows Office. Consider the following issues:

Microsoft Office 2010

Windows Office commands the office productivity software market with some claiming that Windows Office has a 95% market share, or better.
Once available to the general public, Office 2010 will be competing with its own predecessors. Office 2003 and Office 2007 are approximately equal in the number of users.
Although it is over seven years old, Office 2003 is still actively used in businesses because Office 2007 introduced dramatic changes that made the product more like a new product, rather than a new version. This caused many users to stick with the 2003 version, rather than trying to learn the updated product. (As of February 2009, users of Office 2003 still exceeded users of Office 2007.)
There are three different versions of the Windows platforms (Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7) actively being used in the business world.
Microsoft conceded to business last year by delaying the ‘Stop Sell’ date of Windows XP from June 30, 2009 to June 30, 2010, but the platform will not likely receive another stay of execution.

What faces the business world is a dilemma of what Windows platforms and versions of Office should be used in their work environment. This issue will become acute with the purchase of new computers, but will there be communication and document sharing issues between old computers and new computers and software?

The issue boils down to the individual user versus IT and management. From an IT perspective having everyone on one system is more efficient in terms of training and maintenance. Management usually prefers equipment to be interchangeable and using different versions of office productivity software could lead to minor conflicts when sharing files. However, individual users (including management) of Office 2003 are often adamant about staying with what they know.

The stark reality is that with the early success of Windows 7 and positive reviews about Office 2010 Beta, the old software (Windows XP, Vista, and Office 2003) have a limited business life. It is reasonable to think that by 2012, all PC’s will come with Windows 7 and Office 2010, and prior versions will not be an option. That is certainly the road that Microsoft would prefer and ultimately they will decide when all prior versions will 1) no longer be sold, and 2) no longer be supported.

How Did This Happen?
This issue has come to the surface for several reasons. First and foremost is the success of Office 2003. The version, originally named Office 11, built on the success of previous versions and coupled with the adoption of the Windows XP platform became the productivity software of choice during the years of 2004-07. When Microsoft introduced its new Vista platform and Office 2007 (code name Office 12) it anticipated a steady transition of business users from Office 2003 to Office 2007.

Unfortunately, Microsoft miscalculated by trying to make a major re-creation of its platform with Vista and, at the same time, introducing a ‘Mac’ like look to its software that required users to re-learn the software. The bugs of Vista and the new look of the productivity software gave a bad reputation in the business world to the revised software versions. Microsoft then pushed to bring out a newer platform version (Windows 7) to overcome the perceptions of Vista, but that did not overcome the negative impression of Office 2007. Office 2010 or Office 14 (the name ‘Office 13’ was skipped for obvious reasons) is Microsoft’s hope to get most users back on one version of its productivity software. It is a major gamble because the door is open for another software company to try and capitalize on users who don’t want to be forced to adapt the new look of Office; however, most businesses have invested too much into Microsoft products to change over now.

What to do about Office 2010?
The one inescapable fact is that Office 2003 is at the end of its business life. Yes, people will continue to use it and five years from now there will be a small group of people who are fiercely proud that they still use Office 2003; however, based on early reactions to the Beta version and the reality that new computers will soon come with Office 2010, it seems plausible that Office 2010 will rapidly eclipse both Office 2007 and Office 2003. In three years it would not be surprising to see Office 2010 have 60% to 70% of the market, so logically it would make sense for businesses to prepare to make the change.

But just because it is logical doesn’t mean the adoption of Office 2010 will be accepted by business users. Some companies will take a passive approach and let individuals learn Office 2010 as they purchase new computers. This approach is not recommended for larger companies or companies that have a high degree of internal and external communications. Having staff on different versions of office productivity software can create unexpected and time-consuming problems.

Each organization will have to make their own evaluation of what will work best for their situation; however, as Windows 7 and Office 2010 begin to dominate the market, staying with older version will seem less like an option and more like a liability for the company.

More Articles

Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit

21 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Retention, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Attrition, Blogging, Blogs, Club Members, Customer Loyalty, Employee evaluations, Employment, Executive Management, exit interviews, HR, Management Practices, Membership Retention, New Business World, Public Relations, quitting, retention, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Value-added, volunteer organizations

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] Skype: kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Why Did John Quit?
In my years in management, human resources, and service club involvement I have watched many people leave organizations and periodically someone in the organization starts throwing around the ‘R’ word: Retention. What follows are committee meetings, calls for surveys, and finger-pointing. The search usually turns up discovery of a plausible single cause for the problem based upon limited evidence, followed by a shrug of shoulders because the alledged cause is almost always determined to be a reason that is out of control of the organization.

Finding the real reason for attrition for any organization is elusive because there is almost never just one reason for someone to quit. The decision to quit is typically after the person has accumulated multiple ‘dissatisfiers‘ or negative experiences that finally caused the person to make a change by leaving. Dissatisfiers can be issues about pay, benefits, or other tangible reasons; however, most negative experiences are intangible acts that weaken (or fail to strengthen) a person’s perception of belonging to the organization.

A Dissatisfier may be something small, like a person not getting thanked for his or her contribution to a special project, or something more significant, like a lack of a desired promotion. As each Dissatisfier is added the person gets closer to the decision that the organization is not meeting his or her needs.

While a group or organization may be unaware of their actions that cause a Dissatisfier for an individual, people often consciously use Dissatisfiers to drive away a member or employee from a group because it is a subtle form of discrimination that is difficult to detect and easy to blame the victim as being overly sensitive. We learn this tactic at a young age and often as a byproduct of sibling rivalry when one child torments another by subtlety annoying them until they react violently. In adults, the behavior is rarely as overt, nor does it result in violence, but can be very effective in weeding out diversity in the group.

When the Dissatisfiers are not the result of a conscious effort against a person, but rather the failure to include the person, the result can be the same. Over time the person may ultimately decide to quit for a better opportunity, or, in the case of a volunteer organization, leave for no other opportunity.

The Perfect Environment to Study Dissatisfiers
Volunteer organizations are an ideal environment to study the effect of Dissatisfiers because the issue of compensation and/or benefits (tangible rewards) can be ruled out as factors for attrition. While some may conclude that because there is no tangible rewards for a volunteer, his or her involvement is tenuous all the time; however, often an individual has a deeper commitment to a volunteer organization simply because they are involved for more meaningful reasons. That reason may be as simple as wanting to be a part of an organization that seeks to do good, but for many people who need is often more powerful than monetary gain.

Members of a volunteer organization should feel that the work they perform not only gives them a sense of accomplishment; but also gives them a sense of worth, belonging (or friendship) and pride. For a member to leave that organization means that the group failed to provide or connect the member to the key rewards of volunteer service. Attrition in a volunteer organization is often blamed on a single external factor (a bad economy) or the person (not in the organization for the right reasons) rather than examine the Dissatisfiers that they might have been able to address that would have retained that member.

To improve retention organizations need to stop looking for the single factor for attrition, and start looking for the list of Dissatisfiers that led to the decision to quit. In volunteer organizations, a member’s involvement is to fill a need of belonging and attrition can only be attributed to internal Dissatisfiers, not external factors.

More Articles

Rotary and Club Public Relations

19 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Public Relations, Rotary

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Club Members, Public Relations, Rotary, Rotary policies

Eight Rotary Policies that Shape Club Public Relations

In the past year I have discovered two important facts of Rotary Public Relations. The first fact is that all Public Relations is local. Simply put, Rotary’s public image will always be determined by the actions of the club and member, and not by billboards and radio spots. That is a two-edged sword, because the acts of individual members can either make Rotary look great, or not so great. The second fact is that Public Relations is a function of Membership. For Public Relations to be a success it should benefit membership retention and recruitment. If Public Relations does not assist the efforts of Membership it is failing to meet its primary objective.

Recently I reviewed Rotary’s Manuel of Procedure and the Rotary Code of Policies to research a Public Relations question and was reminded that many of our policies reinforce and guide clubs to improve membership goals and address Public Relations at the local (club and member) level. Here are eight Rotary policies that can help clubs focus on membership and improve club Public Relations:

1. Policy on including the Family in Rotary – Manual of Procedure page 14

“All Rotary clubs and Rotarians should take into account the spouses and families of Rotary club members when planning activities.”

2. Policy on including Recruiting Young Professionals – Manual of Procedure page 12

“Clubs should remember the importance of seeking out younger persons…who are qualified for membership. Clubs should find methods of increasing the appeal of membership to the growing number of young men and women who are occupying positions of responsibility in businesses and professions.”

3. Policy on including Invocations – Manual of Procedure page 16

“Rotary clubs throughout the world include members who have many religious beliefs and values and are united in service to humanity. Each Rotary club…conducting its meetings in a manner that reflects Rotary’s basic principle of tolerance….”

4. Policy on Membership Growth – Manual of Procedure page 19

“…It is inappropriate and inconsistent with the principles of Rotary for any club to establish arbitrary limits on the number of members in the club or to fail to increase its membership…”

5. Policy on Individual PR Responsibility – Manual of Procedure page 21

“Rotarians are urged to help their clubs become more identifiable in their communities by personally informing others about what Rotary is and does, in order to improve and expand Rotary growth and service.”

6. Policy Prohibiting Partisan Politics – Manual of Procedure page 24

“…clubs must refrain from issuing partisan political statements. Rotarians are prohibited from adopting statements with a view to exerting any corporate pressure on governments or political authorities…”

7. Policy on Diversification of Membership – Manual of Procedure page 20

“A club’s membership should fully reflect the community it serves.”

8. Policy Prohibiting Offensive Jokes – Code of Policies 7.020.1

“No story, stunt, joke or entertainment is proper or fit to be placed before any Rotarian or any gathering of Rotarians which would not be perfectly proper and fit to place before such Rotarians if each one were accompanied by one’s parents, spouse or children. No story or joke is fit to be told or repeated by any individual Rotarian unless such joke or story might properly be repeated before such Rotarian’s family.”

It is important that we keep aware that public image is not what Rotarians think about Rotary, but what non-Rotarians think about Rotary. People who visit the club meeting and observe actions that violate Rotary policies will judge all members by the act of one member; therefore, it is critical that all members fully understand Rotary policies and address situations that negatively impact the Club’s public image.

By Paul Kiser
District Public Relations Chair
Rotary District 5190 NE California/No. Nevada
pakiser@sbcglobal.net

3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

Tag Archives: Rotary

Car Dealership Re-Imagines Customer Service

Rotary: New Polio Strategy in the Works

Rotary@105: April 24th – Donald M. Carter Day

Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win

Rotary: A Tradition of Humanity

Windows Office 2010: What to Do?

Rotary and Club Public Relations