Blog Line

Recently while surfing I stumbled across a great site www.poptech.com. This is the site for Pop!Tech! a “thinkers” conference that happens every September in Camden, Maine. Apparently it is an eclectic (and electric) gathering of technologists, innovators, industry leaders, scientists, artists and educators. A Fortune 500 CEO can be found chatting about solar energy to an artist and according to the site “while an African blogger is deep in conversation with a polar explorer”.

I have now put attending Pop!Tech! on my “life list of musts”.

In the meantime, Pop!Tech! provides aptly named Pop!Casts! on its site. Through Creative Commons, the conference podcasts are available and the list of speakers is amazing - Malcolm Gladwell (”Blink”), Chris Anderson (”The Long Tail”).

For our last GCI book club session, we downloaded Thomas Friedman (”The World is Flat) sharing is argument with Pop!Tech! delegates on the inverse relationship between the price of oil and human rights. Compelling and provocative.

Check out Pop!Tech!. It’s great brain food.

Best wishes all for a Happy Canada.

Recently I took part in a two-day kayaking course at the Toronto Harbourfront. As I paddled furiously, battling sunstroke, I looked up at one point and saw two Muslim teenage girls laughing and gliding smoothly by in a canoe. I was reminded of Canadian historian Pierre Berton’s quote; “A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe.” An amusing and trifle uncomfortable image.

But as I saw them pass, enjoying themselves and dressed in head scarves and jibabs, I was also reminded of a recent conversation I had had with a nonCanadian business colleague of mine. He was asking me about Canada generally and Toronto specifically. He was surprised at the city’s degree of diversity and asked me what impact that had on society, how well people worked and lived together etc…. At the time, I told him Canada was like being in a lifeboat. It wasn’t perfect but at the same time everyone was doing their best to figure it out and paddle in the same direction. Instead of lifeboat maybe I should have said canoe. Pierre Burton would have and likely the two teenagers in jibabs would have too.

GCI is very proud to be part a new program by Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada. Willow is an amazing Canadian breast cancer education and support organization. We have partnered with them to develop a series of podcasts providing a unque perspective on what it means to be touched by the disease. The podcast medium allows those interested in listening to the series to choose their own time - at home, at the office or strolling with their IPOD. To learn more about the podcast series or refer it to a friend please visit www.willow.org.

Well, admittedly it has been a long time since my last post. While I continue to be a struggling blogger, it is not for lack of activity. Over the past month GCI Canada has been a bit of a whirlwind with activity for Dell, Mattel, Shell and TD Canada Trust particularly.

In the past week alone we helped to launch a joint program by Mattel and the Toronto Hilton to offer children the opportunity to enjoy a stay in a customized Barbie or Hot Wheels room with a portion of the room fee going to support the work of the Toronto Sick Kids Foundation.

Later in the week we also helped to launch Dell’s new Inspiron laptop line. For anyone going off to university in the Fall or thinking of sporting a laptop in a cool color then an Inspiron would be the way to go.

One of the benefits of being an alumnus of Jospeh L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto is receiving their quarterly management magazine “Rotman”. The entire Spring issue is dedicated to risk - evaluating risk in making strategic decisions, the danger of not taking any risks, managing risk in complex financial transactions and the increasing risk for individuals and enterprises as organizations, economies and eco-systems become more integrated with rapid globalization. The issue is excellent and the topic fascinating. Roger Martin, Rotman’s Dean, argues in the article “Underestimating the Risk of Status Quo” that doing nothing or maintaining the status quo is a hugely risky venture. He believes that this is a particular danger for Canadian companies in a global economy.

Charles Fremes, CEO of Edelman’s Canadian operations passed away from a heart attack last evening. Word has spread quickly within the Canadian public relations community as he enjoyed a very high profile and successful career. Charles was 57, fit and a gentlemen who embraced life with a wink and a very dry sense of humour. I had the opportunity to be in Charles’ company several times and I always found the conversation very fun and eclectic. It was impossible to turn down a lunch invitation with such a jolly companion. One of his favourite haunts was the Kit Kat Club on King W. and his regular attendance could be judged by the waiter’s quick exchange of a paper napkin for a linen one and both would laugh.

Our sympathies go out to our Edelman Canada colleagues as well as his wife and daughter.

No, I am not a voyeur. The title of this post reflects some comments I made at a recent Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) seminar on crisis communications. My co-presenter was David Willis, of Media Profile. David is a great guy and made a solid presentation. We tag teamed somewhat in that David concentrated on traditional media and I attempted to address the impact of new media on traditional crisis comms. Obviously the biggest impact has been the contraction in time or the “five minute news cycle”. On that front blackberries or running a close second or vice versa with blogs. Basically, there are only a few questions to ask yourself, today. Is there a culture of quick response in your organization? Traditional organizations are used to dealing with traditional deadlines and longtime executives are trained to work within this established culture of responsiveness - particularly organizations that modeled on conventional hierachies. This leads to - Can you reach everyone required at any time? Specifically, if there were a crisis at 2 am could you reach your CEO, Executive Director - whatever the case may be? If you don’t know the answer to that question today, I would advise you to find out. This then leads to - Could you put up a blog or podcast within hours if you needed to? Find out the answer first thing. It is the same as having a flashlight, candles, and a first aid kit in case of a natural disaster.

The posting that generated the most response was in regard to the GCI Canada book club. We finished “The Long Tail” earlier in the year and we are now striding through “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. Friedman’s book has been out for a few years now and in fact maybe on its second or third update. It is very well written but what is most interesting is the conversation that it incites in our boardroom. During the most recent book club session there was rabid debate amongst GCIers as to whether brands were becoming less or more important as outsourcing grew and the types of activities being outsourced continued to expand. Some in the room that brands were irrelevant. Others insisted brands ruled and were more important than ever. It was interesting to bring the discussion into the realm of current events using the recent Menu Pet fFood example. Menu Foods is the outsourced manufacturer for several prominant pet food companies. Very few could have anticipated what befell Menu Foods and then thereby their own company brands. For all companies in the outsourcing chain whether at the beginning or the end, individual reputations are dependent on each member of the chain.

Since I haven’t made a post in two months maybe I could win the title of the world’s worst blogger. I hardly every win at anything so it could be something to aspire too. I could say that it is because I’m too busy but everyone is that. What I would say is that I find everyday to be a whirlwind and I am often astonished by how much time has gone by since I last looked up. I originally thought it has been a two weeks or so (admittedly unacceptable) since my last post but I was shocked to see it was actually two months. Fortunately the whirlwind has been a positive one of great assignments and exciting new business opportunities.

If anything illustrates the new global economy and the impact of technology on our everyday lves it is yesterday’s dramatic drop in world markets driven by stock tumbles in China The old saying when the “US sneezes the rest of the world gets a cold” now applies to other growing world economies as well The Wall St Journal is reporting today that part of the dramatic drop can also be attributed to technology glitches that hampered the calculation of Dow industrial averages Basically the system got overheated and couldn’t keep up. It should be an interesting day today to see if what any type of correction might look like and also likely more reporting and commentary regarding the technology failings