*March 14, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. Organizational silos don't need busting. They need ventilating. I swear, if I hear someone taking about "breaking down silos" one more time... I'm convinced that those who embrace this weary old metaphor don't understand organizations or silos. In most organizations, silos are necessary to do what silos do: contain resources. Without them, resource allocation would be difficult and inefficient and teams wouldn't be able to act nimbly. It ...Continue Reading

*March 7, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. Sharing is the New Buying: The first substantive report on the burgeoning collaborative economy Crowd Companies founder Jeremiah Owyang issued a substantive report on the state of the collaborative/sharing economy, and the news is good. The growth of sharing as an alternative to buying is significant, with younger consumers embracing it as a lifestyle choice rather than an alternative to be abandoned when more money is available. The report offers ...Continue Reading

*February 28, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. This week on FIR [*]On episode 744 of the Hobson and Holtz Report: Latest CIPR State of the Profession survey prompts a challenge to communicators from CIPR President Stephen Waddington; companies hunt for employees with clout; five tips from BuzzFeed on making content shareable; is it possible to cultivate idea carriers?; Chevron apologizes for fracking well explosion with free pizza coupons, Virgin Galactic looking for a PR agency, Groupon cl ...Continue Reading

*February 21, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. Where does the telephone belong in your organization? Once again, bloggers are discussing which department should be responsible for social media, with the usual suspects trotted out, including PR and marketing. But these days, social media isn't just a tool for reaching markets. Every employee has a potential use for social media, even those in engineering, product design, accounts receivable and HR. It's a tool for communicating with individu ...Continue Reading

*February 14, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. Threats and intimidation won’t forge workforce passion, but conversation will PayPal's president set off a firestorm when an internal memo leaked. In the memo, David Marcus told employees that they should either download the PayPal app to their own phones or consider finding a job somewhere else. It's easy to see why leaders want their employees to be as passionate about the brand as they are, but the way to build that enthusi ...Continue Reading

*February 7, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. How rough will the road be to wearable tech in the workplace? While there isn't a groundswell of enthusiasm for Google Glass, and most people scoff at the idea of wearing a mobile device on your wrist, wearables are coming and the workplace may be where they reach a tipping point. Few companies are addressing the issues that will create, ranging from the need for policies to heading off privacy concerns. Read more This week on FIR [*]On episod ...Continue Reading

*February 7, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. How rough will the road be to wearable tech in the workplace? While there isn't a groundswell of enthusiasm for Google Glass, and most people scoff at the idea of wearing a mobile device on your wrist, wearables are coming and the workplace may be where they reach a tipping point. Few companies are addressing the issues that will create, ranging from the need for policies to heading off privacy concerns. Read more This week on FIR [*]On episod ...Continue Reading

*January 31, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. The solution to employees lying on surveys is to address the underlying cause A post revealed that a significant number of employees lie on the demographic section of internal surveys. The author suggests the solution is to collect the data behind the scenes rather than to ask employees to complete that part of the questionnaire. Bad advice, I say, since it undermines the primary goal of the survey. Read more Your employees don't have the infor ...Continue Reading

*January 24, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. Is creating a video for just one customer a sound strategy? Warby Parker sends videos by email to customers asking questions, and posts them to YouTube so they can provide a link to those asking questions via twitter. NatWest, a British bank, has created a pool of Vine videos that answer routine customer service questions; they send the link in response to queries on Twitter. Is it a viable content marketing strategy? Read more This week on FIR ...Continue Reading

*January 17, 2014* Want to unsubscribe from this newsletter? Click here. Zula could be the internal messaging app you've been waiting for Zula lets you message with groups of 18 people -- about the number that fits around a conference table. It's not just text messages and images; you can add a poll, share an event, send an attachment, and initiate a phone call. You can even search the entire discussion thread. This could be the enterprise mobile messaging app that gets widespread adoption in the enterprise. Read mor ...Continue Reading