View Courtney Hunt's profileThis SMinOrgs News Digest focuses on “social leadership.” It includes ten recent articles/blog posts with a variety of perspectives on leadership and social media, ranging from societal issues to organizational, group, and individual challenges.
You can read the Introduction below for an overview of the posts and/or scroll down to see a snapshot of and brief commentary about each item.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on the items in this News digest directly via the blog, or start or join the dialogue on LinkedIn. We especially welcome other examples of social media leadership. We also appreciate your bringing items on other topics to our attention via LI, Twitter, or FB, or by emailing a link to news@sminorgs.net. Thanks!
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Introduction
The first item is a blog post that introduces the “Gutenberg conundrum,” the challenges leaders face resulting from the advent of new technology that has the potential to create dramatic shifts in the balance of power.
The next three pieces look at organizational social leadership. The first of these reports the results of research that identifies the differentiating characteristics of social media “veterans” and “rookies.” The second, reflecting on other recently-released research (shared in the 26-Nov-2010 News Digest), provides guidance for leading external communities. And the third provides helps CEOs understand and prepare their organizations for the emerging phenomenon of cyber-vigilantism.
In the next four items, the focus shifts from the external to the internal, but stays at the executive level. First is a blog post reflecting on what social media means for the Boards of Directors of top executives of publicly-held companies. Next is an essay about the challenges top leaders face in trying to make the changes to their organizations that social media initiatives may require, which is followed by a piece about whether executives should directly engage in social media and then one providing specific Twitter tips for CEOs.
The final two items focus on leadership at the non-executive level. The first is a reflection from a Community Manager at Alcoa about his role and responsibilities, and the second discusses whether business skills or technical comfort/know-how are more important characteristics for a social media manager.
For additional articles that address related issues, click on terms of interest in the category cloud.
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Title: Social Leadership and the Gutenberg Conundrum
Source: Visceral Business
Author: Anne McCrossan
Lead Paragraph: There’s an aspect of social leadership for businesses and brands, and how it develops, that could be called the Gutenberg conundrum.
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
This piece provides great food for thought for both individuals and organizations. Though I agree with the defining characteristics of the leadership style(s) likely to be most effective in the Digital Era, it’s worth noting that many of them reflect commonly-accepted leadership ideals. The most important twist now may be that the accountability social media creates puts real pressure on leaders to live up to those ideals and “walk their talk.”
Categories: best practices, challenges, leadership
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Title: What Separates Social-Media Veterans from Rookies?
Source: SmartBlog on Social Media
Author: Jesse Stanchak
Lead Paragraph: Earlier this year, SmartBrief and Summus Limited asked the readers of various SmartBrief newsletters to complete a survey about their businesses’ use of social media. We heard back from about 6,500 readers and compiled their answers into a report: “The State of Social Media for Business.”
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
Although the participants in this study may not reflect the characteristics of (the majority of) enterprises that have not begun to leverage social media, with an impressive sample size of 6500 respondents the results provide reliable insights into some of the key social media success factors for organizations that have engaged. And even though experience alone isn’t the best teacher, it appears from the summary report that the “veterans” are reflecting, learning, and adopting. You’ll have to purchase the report to get more in-depth insights, but the price seems reasonable.
Categories: applications, best practices, leadership, research
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Title: Next Step for Organizations in Social is Leadership
Source: Experience Curve
Author: Karl Long
Lead Paragraph: In the current landscape lots of companies are listening to their communities, and some are participating but few are providing the leadership required to cultivate, nurture and shape that community over the long term. The “2010 Social Media Benchmarking Study” from Ketchum and FedEx documents that only 10% of companies are providing real leadership (by their definition).
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
This reflection is a nice extension of the results reported by Ketchum/FedEx. Karl’s ideas reinforce the importance of leveraging social media to listen, which can get lost in all the recommendations for creating and sharing content. I think it’s also important to remember that the culture of an external community can be nurtured and encouraged, but not forced. And finally, we should be careful not to assume that large size and rapid growth are the primary hallmarks of a strong community. Quality is more important than quantity, and the normal growth curve for most communities is likely to be flat rather than steep.
Categories: applications, best practices, community, leadership, marketing/branding/sales, strategy
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Title: Leadership: Vigilantism 2.0
Source: Fast Company
Author: Ann Charles
Lead Paragraph: Imagine that you're the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, running a multi-billion dollar organization with its many moving parts. One day your Google alert shows an article stating that your company's operations in Asia are employing child labor, with young children working long days in harsh conditions. By the next morning there are 62 articles and 305 mentions of this story. By afternoon there's a Facebook boycott with 10,000 fans. The Twittersphere has lit up with Tweets and hashtags like #slavelabor, #boycott, and #savethechildren--terms that are now unfortunately tied to your brand. You've been "Inter.outed," a term used to describe how a company is "outed" on the Internet for doing very bad things.
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
In Part 2 of the Social Media Primer, I describe four mental shifts leaders have to make to be successful in the Digital Era. Two of these relate to recognizing shifts in the balance of power and loss of control. This post provides a good example of those ideas in action, as well as solid advice for how CEOs can “prepare for the era of total transparency.”
Categories: best practices, challenges, leadership, social media primer
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Title: Technology, Democracy and the End of Top-Down Leadership?
Source: National Association of Corporate Directors
Author: Liz Barron
Lead Paragraph: A recent conversation with one of our members via the NACD LinkedIn Group has prompted me to think about how social media might affect the work of companies, the behavior of shareowners, and thus the leadership of boards of directors.
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
“Neil’s” comments reflect one of the biggest challenges we face with social media today: an (almost complete) lack of understanding of what social media is and what it means for organizations. Although this lack of understanding impacts people at all ranks in organizations, it is particularly problematic among the leadership ranks. Both BoD members and executives in publicly-held enterprises have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to be aware of significant trends that can potentially impact them. Not only is social media one of these trends, it also offers a set of enabling technologies for monitoring and responding to trends in other areas. We need to better educate leaders so they can make social media a strategic priority and provide the necessary resources to their organizations and employees. And even if they’re not intimately involved in the details of those efforts, Directors should understand the technologies and their implications sufficiently to provide oversight and accountability of the executive team.
Categories: challenges, leadership, social media primer, strategy
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Title: Social Media Integration and Change Management: Overcoming the Most Basic Obstacles of All
Source: The Brandbuilder Blog
Author: Olivier Blanchard
Lead Paragraph: Months ago, Sonny Gill left a comment on my post about “Becoming P2P: Principal characteristics of the new social business” that drew my interest…
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
This piece offers some great reflections. I share similar ideas in Part 7 of the Social Media Primer: The SAPLING Approach to Leveraging Social Media.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about the cultural issues. Just as Olivier argues we shouldn’t sell change, I wonder if we also should dial back on pushing the need for different cultural values. In Part 4 of the Social Media Primer, I emphasize the link between cultural values and social media, but I lead with performance values, which are generally embraced in most organizations and are much easier to get leaders to accept as reasons to move forward. My basic approach is to try to work with the existing culture and use where they are today as a starting point. Even in a culture that isn’t fully committed to innovation and /or engagement, social media can produce significant benefits – and as those benefits accrue, the underlying values will evolve to enable further successes. That approach won’t work in all cases, but it can enable organizations that have potential but a relatively weak starting point to still move forward and grow stronger as they increase their engagement.
One other thing that I give a lot of thought to, which Olivier also alludes to, is the fact that leaders are insufficiently trained (either through education or experience) to know how to provide the kind of strategic perspective their organizations need. Even when they’re well intentioned and motivated to succeed, they don’t seem to have the requisite skills to look beyond the short-term, tactical urgencies to focus on longer-term, strategic priorities. Even the hardest working leaders don’t work as smartly as they could or should.
Categories: challenges, leadership, social media primer, strategy
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Title: Do CEO’s Need “Social” Leadership Instructions?
Source: The Relationship Economy
Author: Jay Deragon
Lead Paragraph: In McKinsey’s article titled “Leadership Lessons For Hard Times” the leaders of 14 major companies, all seasoned CEOs or chairmen, were interviewed, asking them to reflect on what they felt they learned during hard times.
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
Though I think there is value in having executives engage directly with social media, I don’t think they have to do it to provide the strategic leadership their organizations need. They do need to understand social media at a level that is appropriate for their position, however, and leverage that understanding to provide direction, set priorities, and create the necessary capacity to move forward. Unfortunately, however, today’s strong focus on social media tactics and short-term approaches allows too many leaders to give themselves an excuse to not engage. That’s not in an organization’s long-term best interests. As Jay notes: At best, non-social CEO’s are clueless; at worst, negligent. Neither position is a strategically intelligent representation of the companies they lead and aim to grow.
Categories: challenges, individual engagement, leadership, strategy
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Title: What Should CEOs Tweet? 7 Tips to Become More "Socially" Active
Source: Fast Company
Author: Reid Carr
Lead Paragraph: It's disappointing to me that while businesses try to be more open with consumers, studies show that CEOs have little to no involvement with a company website or a social media presence. That might mean executives are told to tweet, but simply don't know what to say. They might not understand the ROI or that social media can effectively manage and optimize an image.
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
This article provides some great tips for organizational leaders to leverage Twitter effectively. I particularly like the “wi-five” recommendation, which was new to me. And the need for authenticity is critical – I still shake my head when I think about that Ford video where an executive is dictating a tweet to a social media manager…
I would offer some cautions around “having fun” and “sharing news,” however. Like other Twitter users, oversharing banal and arcane updates can be a real turn-off, as can misunderstood jokes. Plenty of experienced Twitter users have been burned by their own tweets, so rookies should be especially careful.
Categories: best practices, individual engagement, leadership
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Title: On Becoming a Community Manager
Source: Next Things Next
Author: Joe Crumpler and Brian Tullus
Lead Paragraph: It is an odd feeling, that “ah ha” or “oh snap” moment when you realize that you are out of sync with a larger community of people in your profession. It does not happen often, and for me it feels like discovering a hidden chapter to a well read book. I simply can’t believe I missed chapter 11, it was right there between chapters 10 and 12. I felt this odd but familiar sensation when sitting in on sessions at the recent Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, where I heard the term “community manager” used to describe a large part of what I do. The world shifted a little and suddenly I realized that most of the work I do to manage projects falls under the title of community manager.
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
I love the reflective nature of this post, and the insights it provides into what tactical social leadership means. Joe provides a great example of a leader who takes the time to step back, think about the effectiveness of his efforts and activities, and revise them when necessary. As an apparent “servant leader,” he also has high stakeholder awareness and continuously strives to serve them in the best ways possible. Finally, his efforts demonstrate that committing to good leadership doesn’t have to require a huge investment in time – and can in fact be a way to save time by increasing efficiency. Well done.
Categories: best practices, community, leadership
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Title: It’s the Social Media Age – Now How Old Should That Be?
Source: Freedmarketer.com
Author: Kevin Houghwaut
Lead Paragraph: At almost every conference and Meetup I attend, there’s a discussion about who in an organization should be responsible for social media. Normally, the argument is about departments (i.e., should it be owned by marketing, PR, customer service, or even human resources), but sometimes the point of contention is generation. In other words, how old should your social media manager be?
Brief Commentary from SMinOrgs
In the context of external applications like marketing, branding, and customer service, I equate social media with flying: hours of “boredom” punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Too often people think success with social media is based on someone’s ability to be a peppy brand ambassador who can cyber-chat with the best of them. In reality, true success is defined by how individuals manage the crises that occur. Nestle’s Facebook debacle earlier this year is a great example of social media managers who failed to respond in appropriate ways to the challenges that were presented not just by Greenpeace, but by other detractors and even supporters.
In the end, content trumps technology. Though it may not be easy at first, social media technologies are wicked simple to learn. Wisdom and judgment, however, are the hard-earned result of experience. The limitations of Millennials as social media managers has virtually nothing to do with their generational characteristics and everything to do with their lack of experience.
To me the issue goes beyond the staffing question. There also needs to be sound guidelines for engagement and procedures for handling brand challenges, criticisms, and other crises.
Categories: human resources, leadership, marketing/branding/sales
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