Philip Sheldrake

Attenzi – a social business story

// May 15th, 2013 // No Comments » // Social business

My new ebook is out today.

I'm really excited about it because I'm excited about its topic, social business. With a foreword by Adam Pisoni, Microsoft Yammer co-founder and CTO, here's how the book is presented.

Attenzi – a social business story shines a light on social business that goes beyond the all too typical homages to social media. It’s a relatively short and easy read intended to help readers explore what social business means for their organization, marketplace, communities and career.

The story is designed to galvanize the organization.

As the tale unfolds, you’ll consider aspects of organizational design, business performance management, marketing, public relations, branding, complexity, and the imminent empowerment of the individuals that make up any and all organizations. In fact, although you’ll likely be reading the book in a professional capacity, you’ll be noting the implications for your other roles in life too.

Perhaps most controversially, the story begins to explore the evolution of the customer-centric mindset that has dominated management thinking for the past two decades.

I could write more here, but I've been doing a lot of that lately, so perhaps I should just invite you to click over to the ebook now.

What is social business?

// April 26th, 2013 // No Comments » // Social business

[Originally written for the CIPR Friday Roundup.]

I've been writing Friday Roundups for five and a half years and this is my last one. The circulation has grown from eleven to nearly eleven thousand, we merged it into the CIPR three years ago, and I'm delighted it's carrying on in their safe hands.

We have covered the full gamut of PR topics in this time, but a tag cloud of the 275 roundups would probably need to render "social media" in font size 100!

Increasingly however accomplished social media practitioners are asking a most pertinent question – now what? Well, it appears the answer to that is acquiring the name "social business", and it's increasingly been my focus of recent times. You might say social media are the eggs in the social business cake.

I've tried to design one question to both convey what social business might be exactly and to give the person attempting an answer real pause for thought in relation to their own organisation. I think I'm making progress with the following question, what do you think?... Continue Reading

How dare they!

// April 5th, 2013 // No Comments » // Digital Media Relations, Public Relations, Website/New Media

[Written originally for the CIPR Friday Roundup.]

You should not make edits to a Wikipedia entry when you have a conflict of interest, as any PR practitioner does in relation to their employer or client. Simple.

This Wikipedia rule is reflected precisely in the CIPR's Wikipedia guidance, published by the social media panel last summer and supported by PR bodies in Canada, Australia and South Africa. (Although not yet in the US.) Continue Reading

Influence – request for comments

// March 27th, 2013 // 4 Comments » // Measurement & Analysis

I'm chairing a session at midday today at the Social Media Measurement & Monitoring conference on selecting social media metrics. Joining me on the panel are Katie Delahaye Paine, Andrew Smith, Matt Owen, and Jacqui Taylor.

See you there?

To coincide with this event, I'm calling for comments regarding the standards setting process for the concept of influence ahead of the AMEC European Summit in June. Please take a look at this stack, and influence proceedings :-)

‘Masterclass’ at Bournemouth University

// March 4th, 2013 // No Comments » // Public Relations

Professor Tom Watson (@tomwatson1709, @historyofpr) invited me to deliver a 'masterclass' lecture at Bournemouth University on Friday. (When asked about PR higher education in the UK, most people would mention Bournemouth and Leeds Metropolitan.)

Student elections were at fever pitch, and there was a real energy about campus. The students at The Media School were on top form – in fact, I usually only get the calibre of questions they threw at me days or weeks after someone has digested my book or a presentation. So thanks to everyone who attended and participated.

HT to @lauramanninen, @kbadders, @hannaherowley, @edinjel, @JessicaNorthPR, @lottsGC, @FleurieFM, @morellopr, @BenjaminDeacon.

Here's the stack.

Dell Social Media Predictions 2013

// March 1st, 2013 // No Comments » // Communities/Social Networks, Public Relations

I enjoy Full Gesture Communication™ in Unaugmented Reality™ (#fauxtrademarks). As amazing as social media is becoming, it's still no full substitute for eye-to-eye interaction. I met the co-founding CTO of Yammer this week, Adam Pisoni, and our conversation came to life immediately in a way that I don't believe would be as easy to kindle pixel-to-pixel.

Here's an interesting question I think. Can you distinguish in your mind the kinds of online relationships you have with people you see physically from time to time from those you've yet to meet? I believe you probably can, and probably do.

This topic just cropped up again for me this morning. It may be a sixth of the way through 2013, but Dell has just published a little slidestack quoting some pundits, including yours truly, on some development aspects of social media this year. Geoff Livingston is quoted as saying: "I really believe in events. Online becomes much more substantial when someone meets you face to face. Try to create ways to meet your stakeholders in person so you can cultivate a deeper substantial relationship."

Do you think digital technologies can help crack this nut? How? When?

Social Media Predictions for 2013 from Dell Social Media

GREAT (PR)ODUCT

// February 22nd, 2013 // 3 Comments » // Public Relations

I have asked six people with senior positions in techie professions who they thought "does great PR" in the tech sector. Now these individuals are not in marketing and PR functions, so you'll forgive my casual turn of phrase I hope.

You might know I detest the idea that you might "PR something", as if PR is as tactical and atomic as picking up the phone or putting a release on a wire, but I deliberately didn't wish to infect them with my view of public relations excellence. I wanted to hear what they'd say unprompted, unguided.

Each proffered two or three companies. Samsung and IBM were mentioned twice. Google thrice. But out front with four mentions was Apple.

Now anyone who follows the world's first or second largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization (it swaps places regularly with Exxon Mobil) will know that they're actually quite a secretive bunch. Steve Jobs infected the company with the idea that it knows what's best for the customer, and any idea that it should work with the rest of us in defining future products and services appears plain counter-cultural.

If you, like me, define public relations as pursuing mutual understanding to build goodwill, the PR function at Apple appears quite asymmetric. As and when it suits its agenda, they'll tell you. Otherwise get back in line. End of. I always feel a reluctance on Apple's part to discuss its contractors' labour practices, its own environmental and business practices, and the occasional product mess up. Continue Reading

Setting the standards for influence

// February 11th, 2013 // 1 Comment » // Digital Media Relations, Measurement & Analysis, Social business, Technology

I'm a special advisor to AMEC (the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication), wearing a CIPR hat as and when. I'm part of a working group assembling recommendations on the topic of influence for deliberation at the AMEC European Summit in Madrid this June. We have input from IPR, PRSA, Womma, SNCR, IAB and other groups, associations and institutes.

I took an action to create "something to shoot at", and I distributed the following over the weekend. On the basis that we're an open and transparent working group, I thought I'd post it here too. Do get in touch if you'd like to tell me what you think. Now's the time for dialogue – particularly if you can't attend the Madrid summit – ahead of the standards setting. Continue Reading

A Measure Of Influence – IABC Communication World magazine

// January 28th, 2013 // No Comments » // Digital Media Relations, Measurement & Analysis, Public Relations

Jessica Burnette-Lemon is Senior Editor of Communication World, the IABC's member magazine. I had the pleasure of talking with Jessica on the topical and some might say controversial topic of influence (in the context of marketing and PR of course).

The resultant article appears in the current issue of the magazine, but because it's a publication for members' eyes only, I can't add a link here.

Fortunately, Jessica has given me permission to reproduce the article right here, "A Measure Of Influence" (PDF). I hope you find it interesting.

The article pulls out one quote up front. At the risk of stating the obvious:

The best way to exert useful influence remains to deliver great products and services so that your customers evangelize your brand to friends and family, and to be a well-run organization so that your employees and partners evangelize working with you.

Do you believe it?

// January 18th, 2013 // No Comments » // Public Relations

[Originally written for the CIPR Friday Roundup.]

The 2007 report from the Arthur W. Page Society, The Authentic Enterprise, identified four new leadership priorities and skills demanded of the Chief Communications Officer:

• Leadership in defining and instilling company values
• Leadership in building and managing multi-stakeholder relationships
• Leadership in enabling the enterprise with ‘new media’ skills and tools; and
• Leadership in building and managing trust, in all its dimensions.

The report marked the beginning of a rethink at the Society that culminated last year in Building Belief: A New Model.

I'm a fan of the Society and made sure to reference the four leadership priorities in my book The Business of Influence. I'm slightly obsessed with defining the role, skills and traits of CCOs, if only because this matter appears to be mission critical when it comes to making an organisation fit for the 21st Century. If you share this interest, do take time to familiarise yourself with Building Belief if you haven't already done so.

As we approach the first anniversary of Building Belief, I'm very interested in gathering reports of the model in practice, particularly as it complements aspects of the Six Influence Flows model. If you have a story to tell in this regard, do please drop me a line.

Arthur W. Page Society Chairman, Jon Iwata, on Building Belief