Monthly Archives: February 2011

Runaway Journalist Attacks Again

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This last week he had another article on the leaders in Afghanistan byMichael Hastings of The Rolling Stone.  The target of this article is the three-star general who heads the training for Afghans – William B. Caldwell.  General Caldwell is a past associate of mine who I briefly profiled here back in August.  I worked for his father, then a BG in Germany, and I met his son William IV and helped to prepare him for West Point just before I left the service in 1972.  His father was an exceptional officer, and I have followed his son’s career with some personal pride.

All of those things came into play when I read the article “Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators” published in The Rolling Stone last week.  Where do I begin?  The article is aimed at bringing down another General – Caldwell, and also takes on Gen. David Petraeus who is waging what he calls – King David’s War.  After my years of service is a junior Army officer I grew to have a strong distaste for the Vietnam War, and for all war in general.  I think we should not be in Afghanistan, having written against the Russian incursions years before when I was a graduate student in Russian history.

I don’t know all the facts of the incidents purported by Hastings in his article, but I do know a hasty mob lynching when I see it.  Part of my career today is helping executives manage their reputations and those of their company’s on the Web.  This was a quick and vicious hit aimed at the integrity of the man and the Army, and it was quickly adopted by a larger media frenzy who saw a story that brought out the very worst in people’s opinions.  Ninety-five percent of all the comments on the articles regarding General Caldwell had him drummed out immediately.  New facts are coming to light now that show a different side to the situation.  Far from using brainwashing techniques on visiting Senators and Congressmen, it appears to be the use of very modern tools we see everyday in our online and print media used to sway opinions.

Why is this important to me, and to you?  For me it is about the man first, and the truth later.  In our immediate world when everything can go viral in a nano-second, reputations can be smashed in an instant.  That certainly happened here.  No matter the outcome of the facts that will be reviewed at the highest levels – Caldwell’s career has either ended,or hit a dead end.  These kinds of events in the military have major consequences.

Tomorrow I’ll talk further about this situation, reputation management and the future of our military with thoughts from Robert Gates from a recent West Point address to the Cadets.

The Digital Revolution Continues

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The saga continues.  When we last spoke the Egyptian regime of Mubarak had fallen after a 30-year reign.  We toasted to the triumph of the revolution that we hope will bring a democratic regime to Egypt sometime in the near future.  Now the embers from that revolution have spread, and it appears that it has developed into a wildfire throughout the region.

We now know that this began in Tunis with the death of the Tunisian fruit vendor who killed himself as an act of protest.  It spread to Egypt and Yemen and then to Bahrain and now to Libya.  Syria is also threatened from local uprisings.  We said that this had become a Facebook and Twitter revolution since these tools had been used, actually used by both sides of the conflict, to spread the message.  What was relatively easy in Egypt is now looking hard in Libya where Gaddafi is trying hard to stay in powers and vows to die in the attempt.

I speak to the business community in my missives, though I am a bit of a policy wonk, personally.  What does this mean to business?  Three thoughts for today in your search for understanding:

Disruptive technology – disrupts! Our digital tools and social media have changed things forever.  This week we see the “B’s” – Borders and Blockbuster going down in flames.  Bookstores and the local distributor of videos are not viable in this new digital age when everything can be distributed on-line…or at least purchased on line – Amazon does it all.

Once the Revolution has started – it will continue! Once we head down the path there is no turning back.  This is the lesson you will find in all of the recent books on innovation and technology including “What Technology Wants” by Kevin Kelly – a great read.  If you aren’t on board with the new digital revolution you will be run over.  Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch are driving the bus that will be hitting you very soon.

The status quo – doesn’t exist beyond this moment! I was taught a long time ago – “If it ain’t broke – then break it.”  I always loved that slogan, and actually used it to my advantage in practive a number of times.  But I too find myself resisting change in my daily life, and it isn’t pleasant.  I’ve got that slogan up on the wall just over my computer monitor so I can see it many times each day – I am a slow learner.

In this interconnected digital age – change is the only constant.  Adapt to new technology, every day.  Tomorrow will be different, enjoy.  Kind of like the weather in Texas, wait 5 minutes and it will change.  I guess that kind of makes me the ‘happy weatherman’ to my clients.

An End to Denial on the Nile

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Former King of the Nile

Revolution...what revolution? My people love me!

The end has come…finally…and hopefully.  It has just been announced on the news that Mubarak has relented this morning (in America) and will step down.  For several weeks we have followed the ups and downs of this true social media revolution in Egypt.  All sides of the conflict used social media, as well as legacy media, to communicate to their followers.  Everyone was listening in on this ‘party’ line and was able to anticipate the moves of the other side.  This helped, in some degree, to keep the violence levels down though significant blood was shed.  There was only one person who was not in on the party line call – President Mubarak.

Why do I ramble on about this?  Well, I am a little of a scholar of foreign policy, a life long love of mine, but even more it told me about how the tools of our own ‘digital revolution’ are being used.  As a leader in the ‘legacy media’ in the U.S. I have witnessed my own businesses suffer as the times and media have changed.  Newspapers were once incredibly effective in reaching their audience – they owned their local markets, and were effectively monopolies.  It was a great time to have been a monopolists – raising rates at will.  Those days are gone, and digital media is the new king of the hill.

Both communications and selling have changed along with the media tools, and everything is now dependent on a ‘conversation’ – that means a real two-way conversation.  All of the digital tools rely on this fact.  Companies talk and their prospects and clients listen, and the companies MUST be listening to that side of the conversation.  If not they are not relevant and the client will move on to someone else who will listen and play to their needs.

What happened in Egypt?  Everyone was listening, even our President Obama, and our CIA Director Leon Panetta, were both listening.  The only one person would not listen, Mubarak.  This is like some of the companies I have consulted with.  Everyone is in, ears at the ready, but the guy in the corner office might not be listening.  The cause, and one many are prone to is – denial.  Richard Tedlow in his book “Denial – Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face – and What to Do About It.”  I use this in my practice and I recommend it to all who face similar situation.  I guess in the case of Egypt we could call it – “Denial on the Nile!”  Enough said – Long Live the Digital Revolution!

Google Does Egypt

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Wael Ghonim - Google's Egyptian Scarlet Pimpernal

Wael Ghonim - Google's Egyptian Scarlet Pimpernal

After weeks of unrest and revolution in Egypt that has been fed by the use of Twitter and Facebook to coordinate both sides we now find out that one of the key leaders is a Google executive who lives in Dubai.  That would appear to be a trifecta of the Internet world today.  For a clean sweep all we need now is Apple and Microsoft to rip off their Scarlet Pimpernel cloaks and reveal how they too are helping to guide this revolution.  Perhaps this is why Steve Jobs had to step down, hummm?

Wael Ghonim, the Google exec in question, born in Egypt, lives in Dubai with his wife and children, but came back to Egypt to help lead the early protests that led up to the January 25 protest event that brought the whole struggle to the fore.  Arrested and detained for 10 days he has been released and is now revealing many of the details of the early events as well as the nature of his detention.

Human Rights Watch, a former client of mine in fundraising world, said that the total deaths attributed to the uprising has now reached 302 in Egypt, with most coming in Cairo, through protests have also occurred throughout Egypt, mostly in urban centers.

What does this mean to our world today?  Well it means that the changes we have scene in business and politics in the U.S., the digitization and socialization, not to be confused with ‘socialism’ are now also fully engaged in the great wide world, not just the world wide web.  All of the tools for ‘linking’, ‘friending’, and networking are alive, well and now being used on all sides of the Revolution.  The world will never be the same.  Put that in your pipe and Tweet it!  To all of my clients and business friends out there, it’s not to late to jump on board this social revolution of communications.  Your customers are there shouldn’t you be?

Sweet Tweets for Egypt

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Well the revolution is still on in Egypt, but the pace has slowed down after days of protest.   This revolution is slow rolling to an inevitable transition for the Egyptian people and Mubarak, the leader for the last 30 years has announced he will leave at the end of his “term” in September…perhaps sooner.  We know what, we just don’t know when.

How did all play out?  The ‘disruptive technology’ of Twitter and Facebook appear to have guided the actions of the protesters and allowed them to coordinate their actions.  As the dictator’s playbook directs – the counter action is to cut the lines of communications – in old days the telephones and telegraph lines – in today’s world, it was to shut down the internet connections in the country.  That didn’t last long, and was soon restored.  Why?

Taking a look at the new world order playbook – best encapsulated in “The Net Delusion, The Dark Side of Internet Freedom” by Evgeny Morozov, an American scholar of Belarus descent.  His proposition is that the incumbents can also use the disruptive technology to keep track of the dissidents, and to even disrupt their actions by use of the same electronic tools to communicate.  There is a lot of evidence to this including both in Russia and China today where the current powers are using these same tools including Twitter to feed their messages to the same audiences.  They have found that ‘silence is not golden’ and it’s better to keep communicating…and disrupting rather that silence the tom-toms.

How did this play out over the last several days in Egypt.  The protesters were able to keep out their drum beats, but the Mubarak crowd was also able to use the same tools to bring out loyalists and to coordinate their actions.  Perhaps even better the tools were used by the middlemen in this conflict – the Egyptian military who kept cool and calm – and above the fray.  Everyone knew what was going on, and everyone was able to avoid a bigger show of bloodshed.  This could have really gotten out of control, but it didn’t.  Change will come, but everyone is now listening in to their party line.  Secrecy,  or lack of information, didn’t  fan the fires of the events.   I guess it is a little like getting used to Facebook.  When you understand there is no privacy, and everything you do is known by others, you alter your actions.  We live in a Facebook world, in the U.S., and now in Egypt as well.  I guess I need to find some new Egyptians to ‘friend’ so I won’t be out of the loop.

Happy Data Privacy Day!

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With all of the holidays we celebrate, both solem and profane, in the United States I knew I could not keep track of them, but today I found the ultimate topper.  Today is the fourth annual celebration of (ta dah!!) Data Privacy Day!  Not only is this a U.S. holiday, but it is celebrated around the world as well – who knew.

I found out about this special day on the Google website in a missive from Alma Whitten who is the Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering, Google.  She’ll be celebrating the day in Washington, D.C., the home of all of our best secrets and secret keepers.  If you can’t attend any of the meetings that will be held today and this week while she is in Washington, don’t worry, Google will make the data and images available online later.  So much for secret.

I know that Google does have dozens of privacy initiatives that should help protect our data and passwords, but I find it a little ironic that these meetings are being held in the most secret porous places on earth.  With hundreds of thousands of ‘Secret” and “Top Secret” clearances the place should be a virtual vault, but the Julian Assange provide it to be more like a colander.

Before the Web it was easier to keep secrets, and fewer people had access.  As a junior Army officer I held a NATO Crypto Top Secret clearance.  When I read those documents, which were on paper, I had to read them in a secure room – one with no windows.  Now I can see the same stuff on laptop, and hope I don’t leave it behind at Starbucks.  Thank goodness my clearance stayed behind when I mustered out of the Army at the end of my term.

Enough rambling – get out the confetti and noise makers – and Happy Data Privacy Day from your friends at Google – what’s a little secret among friends anyway!