Archive for November, 2008
Building Trust with Transparency
by Kermit Pattison
The article highlights author John C. Haven’s book “Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand”. The article does goes through an interview with Mr. Haven where he describes the positive effects of transparency which can not only impacts PR but also internal productivity. One method that really intrigued me was opening traditionally closed channels of communication between the company and the customer. Here he gives an example of a successful implementation of the method:
“There’s a huge business case in terms of trust. One example of a very clear businesses advantage, sort of an R&D use of transparency, is the Southwest Airlines blog. On the blog people were saying, would you please start your summer airline rates sooner because there wasn’t a long enough window for customers to buy the tickets they wanted because Southwest had some internal reason. When they opened up that window, they ended up selling a lot more tickets, making a lot more money, because they responded to a consumer request.”
He strongly believes that blogs equal transparency and creates a excellent platform for a real dialog between the company and customer. Hint hint Detroit.
Here’s the article.
Source FastCompany.com / Getty Images
Collections
Every so often I run into images online that grab my attention. Sometimes I refer to them for inspiration and sometimes they just make me laugh. Here’s a taste-
Source Everywhere
Recharging AA’s Using Wind
Brilliant. The Febot Concept. By Korean Designers Ji-yun Kim, Soon-young Yang and Hwan-ju Jeon
Source Gizmodo
Advice For President-Elect Obama
An Article by Bruce Nussbaum
It’s all a bit narcissistic to find articles that reenforce your choice of career but I found this article especially enlightening because it not only fed my designer ego but it also illuminated the possibility of expanding the conventional role of a “design thinker”. The article describes a broad stroked idea that President-Elect Barack Obama should take into consideration when choosing his administration. Get fresh people with fresh ideas. After all his campaign ran on a platform of change. It does sort of make sense. Governments simply can’t keep up with the complexities and innovations involved in the global free market with recycled ideas. They’ll need innovative solutions to these issues and what better resource than from individuals trained to creatively problem solve, designers.
Source BusinessWeek.com
Bittersweet
No Republican, Independent, or Democrat will argue the historic nature of yesterday’s election results. Barack Obama has become the manifestation of the American Dream in nearly every sense. From his upbringing to the tremendous momentum he’s had, grasping the highest office in the free world. He has transcended racial barriers that were up little more than 40 years ago and has ushered in a new era in American politics. As John Stewart put it last night “There are very few countries that live up to their creed. That live up to the documents of their founding, that all men are created equal. And tonight America has proven itself on a world stage as a show country, not a tell country.”
But with all that was gained yesterday some things were tragically lost. In California Prop 8 passed banning the basic civil liberty of marriage to gay and lesbian couples. Now imposed on every homosexual couple in California is the out of date religious ideology of out of State interests groups including Utah’s Mormon Church and the Knight of Columbus Organization. They spent well over $75 million on fear mongering ads describing the absolute lie that gay marriage would be taught in schools. In no part of the proposition’s description was there any mention of schools or restructuring of subjects taught. Even after California’s superintendent specifically denounced these claims, homophobic parents still believed it would happen. This goes to the much larger issue California and the rest of the United States will have to address: understanding homosexuality and breaking down the stigmas associated with the culture. For many Americans, even some who normally vote liberal, homosexuality is seen as a choice. Why would you choose to be ridiculed and discriminated against? Wouldn’t it be easier to be heterosexual in a country largely non-sympathetic to gay rights? And in a twisted bit of irony polls showed that 69% of African Americans voted yes on the proposition while also overwhelming voting for Barack who’s grandparents didn’t want their daughter to married a black man because of the conditioned stigma that blacks were sub-human. Like civil rights, gay rights will one day parallel everyone else’s. It’s just a matter of how much decency and compassion toward our fellow man we lose before that time comes.
One More Day
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written in history of this generation….It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.“
-RFK
The 2008 F1 World Champion
It all came down to the last corner, on the last lap, in the last race of season and Lewis Hamilton pulled it off. Not only did he out drive his competition the entire season but drove against an unprecedented amount of hatred and racism. Great job Lewis!
Source Formula.com/Sutton Images
