The Good, The Bad, The Spin

Read all about it at the Las Vegas Sun.

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Jim Lukaszewski: Doing things in real time is really important because the boss has three fundamental goals as leader. The first thing they have to do is to find new places to go. They’re the person that goes over the horizon to see where it is we have to be heading based on where we are today. Their job is then to come back and tell us about it. So the major role that any leader has is to be the chief strategist. Strategy is all about tomorrow–where we’re headed. This person is head strategist in the organization.

The second thing these people have to do is once they’ve decided on new destinations, is to prime the people to get the job done. When you look at where the organizations fail on leadership, it is either they pick crummy destinations or they fail to influence the people to get the vision accomplished.

The third thing these people have to do is go into the organization—and this is communication—and teach and coach and reiterate and remind them of what the mission is, where we’re headed, why we’re going there, why people should be motivated and energized to get these things done.

The remaining roles of these leaders is to monitor, to tweak things, to identify where they have to change direction to modify what their findings were and that sort of thing. A lot of this is communication.

(more…)

If true, Target’s snubbing of “non-traditional media outlets” raises poignant questions about the emerging reality of how information gets disseminated–and how perceptions are formed.

It’s indisputable that bloggers not only break news, they are increasingly the shapers of opinion (especially if what Murphy’s Law says is true).

At my day job, I spend more and more time pitching stories to and sending releases to “non-traditional media outlets.” The traditional news media is no longer an emphasis–and some days, isn’t even an afterthought. It is instead another audience with which to bridge messages to constituents. And, it is often the case that “non-traditional” outlets are the only ones to run stories the news media ignore.

Target, though, makes a good point. There’s a call to be made about when and when not to respond to bloggers and incessant Internet idiots. In frequent cases, it’s simply another instance of a whiny consumer—and Target (as well as most organizations) is correct to ignore such commentary.

For Target to respond in the manner conveyed at Consumerist, however, smacks of arrogance, especially the lie that “we are unable to respond” and the unfitting corporate jargon in the term “core guest” That phrase alone is the understandable reason for Target to take a hit in this situation.