The HP Mark Hurd saga has provided a nice diversion to BP’s fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been interesting to follow the debate on whether HP’s Board of Directors did the right thing, the power of various advisors in the decision and whether the woman at the center of the controversy was merely an actress or an actress and Playboy model.

After all the stories and blogs on the incident and its aftermath along with the damage to HP’s share price and reputation, you’d think the company would do all it can to help the story fade away. Once it’s in the past, HP can get back to business, focus on its customers and enhance shareholder value.

When news broke earlier this week that Hurd is joining Oracle as co-president, many of us wondered how HP would react. After all, HP and Oracle are business partners in some areas and Hurd apparently was not subject to a non-compete clause. While California is reticent to impede employees from choosing a new employer, HP is pressing forward with a lawsuit challenging the hiring on trade secret and other concerns.

Legal pundits say the HP case has little chance of success in the courtroom. But in the court of public opinion (shareholders, customers, partners, employees and the Silicon Valley wags), HP is keeping the Hurd discussion alive. Whatever the motivation for the lawsuit (are there real business reasons or just revenge), HP may not have thought through the communications and reputational consequences of its actions.

As a start, Larry Ellison issued a statement that seemingly brings the future of the HP-Oracle partnership into play. More importantly, the lawsuit provides another opportunity for reporters, bloggers, financial analysts and others to rehash the details of the story up to now and speculate anew on HP’s future.

Stoking the controversy and prolonging the story may not be the best thing for HP in terms of reputation and relations with some key constituencies but it does allow the publication of more fetching photos of Jodie Fisher and adds to her 15 minutes of fame.

rtauberman General Corporate BP, HP, Mark Hurd, Oracle

Women around the world have been extolling the beauty of Eat, Pray, Love. To be honest, I only read Eat and Pray…never got to the Love part. But the concept of exiting your current life to go on an existential, all for yourself journey is something that many 30-something and 40-something working moms like me would fantasize about. Cast Julia Roberts as the poor, exhausted heroine in need of battery re-charging, and you’ve got a winner.

For those in the agency business….or men who don’t want to tie up the journey with a pretty, romance-novel inspired bow, check this out.

If you don’t know the name Alex Bogusky, you know his work. He’s the genius behind the reinvention of Burger King, including the much imitated, but never quite replicated subservient chicken. He made Crispin Porter & Bogusky the Ad Age agency of the decade.

And he stood up one day, and walked away from it.

Fast Company is chronicling his search for self….it’s a great read.

cwinters General Corporate Alex Bogusky, Burger King, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Eat Pray Love

I remember when the most common thing I heard about Bill Gates came from the IT guy in our office. Frustrated by a bug in the latest version edition of Windows or some other Microsoft product, he’d mutter, “Bill Gates is the devil.”

What a difference a decade makes.

Bill Gates has become our generation’s most influential and admired business person. He drove the creation of one of the world’s most successful enterprises and in doing so, he spun off legions of Microsoft millionaires who are out there, starting businesses and charitable foundations or in the case of Paul Allen, otherwise disrupting the marketplace.

This may be the most dramatic reputation 180 ever.

Needless to say, the guy has some clout. A shout-out, a nod or any sort of recognition from Gates – real or implied – is the ultimate endorsement. Just ask Sal Kahn, hedge fund guy turned Internet educator. At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Gates gave a shout-out to Kahn’s online education channel.

Almost immediately, Khan Academy’s viewership spiked to 70,000 viewers a day and is the most popular education site online. He’s gone from working in his closet for free to paying himself a six-figure salary, with money people in hot pursuit.

Like another famous Bill who started a little movement known as CGI, Gates has become more like-able and more influential in his “retirement” than he was in leading one of the most disruptive and transformative companies in America since the industrial revolution. He’s transformed philanthropy with his foundation and joined forces with Warren Buffet to challenge the uber-wealthy to give half of their fortunes away in life or at death. He’s even making nuclear power cool.

Is there anything Gates can’t do? And is there anyone more influential today?

cwinters General Corporate Aspen Ideas Festival, Bill Gates, CGI, Khan Academy, Microsoft, Warren Buffet

This week I am on PTO….and I’ve readied this post in advance as a challenge to myself, to see if I can stay at least somewhat disconnected…except for emergencies. The question is…what is an emergency, when you are an addict?

The funny thing is, I resisted getting a Blackberry. When our then head of IT arrived in my office with it, I reminded him I hadn’t ordered one, and didn’t want one. I told our CEO that I didn’t need to be efficient in the morning car pool line, because I am multitasking all day long, and maybe five minutes of simply listening to the radio each day would be good for my psyche, my stress level or both. I was ahead of my time…today Oprah would hail me as a hero for not wanting to text and drive. (Note to clients desperately trying to get on Oprah’s last season….Think long and hard. Because she is going to make you take this pledge.)

Today, I am a Crackberry addict. When it doesn’t work, I panic. I check it at red lights (Oprah, if the car isn’t moving, is that OK?) If I forget my headset at home, I worry about calls I need to make from my car. Every minute of the day is scheduled…OK overscheduled. And being disconnected makes me anxious. I was fascinated by the story about people (including a PR person!) who lived without Blackberries for 72 hours. Being disconnected adds to my long list of complaints about business travel….no e-mail in the air.

So my heart leapt when I saw this headline:

Making Connections at 35,000 Feet.

Finally, someone was going to stop requiring me from turning off my non-approved electronic devices.

Except this story isn’t about Wi-Fi in the air. It’s about the joy of an unexpected connection made by conversing with people you meet while traveling.

cwinters General Corporate Blackberry, Oprah

My job has gotten me up close and personal to lots of CEOs….so I’ve observed and counseled leaders of all kinds. And while my job is technically to advise them on communications strategy, there is often great crossover between leadership and communications. I’ve had those tough moments when I’ve had to tell clients that they don’t have a communications problem – they have a policy problem, a culture problem or a leadership problem. I’ve been there when CEOs have halved their salaries to save jobs. And when they’ve “let them eat cake.”

In the past week I’ve come across a number of articles with a common theme – the power of what’s personal…and often free. This piece in Fast Company makes a case for saying Thank You, calling thanks the most neglected form of compensation. The Corner Office in Sunday’s NYT with the CEO of Henkels expands on the theme with an assertion that e-mail is disruptive to culture, and that people shouldn’t e-mail when they can interact…pointing out that people next door to each other are e-mailing rather than walking to the next office. Here are a two of Kasper Rorsted’s leadership rules to live by:

• Use e-mail like text messaging – good for short, informative information. Anything else should be done in person
• Don’t read anything where he is CC’d – because that is just someone trying to cover their you know what.

Finally, these video interviews with Vanguards’ CEO talked about how they weathered the financial crisis by providing security to their employees. Rather than laying off employees when their assets, and ultimately fees, declined, they issued a positive message to their employees that Vanguard would be fine, there would be no layoffs….and they should focus on customers. They felt that the distraction of worrying about their jobs would preclude great customer service…and their strategy for recovery. While it isn’t always possible to opt out of lay-offs….it is possible to provide clarity to employees about your strategy and their role. Information is free….and powerful.

What’s the net message here? Effective leaders treat their teams like colleagues and people….they interact with them face to face; they acknowledge a job well done; and make sure that they have the information they need to do their job well.

Thank you for reading.

cwinters General Corporate E-mail, Fast Company, Henkels, Vanguard

How long does it take for a professional athlete to lose his good name in the wake of a bad decision? If you apologize immediately, you take your hits but ultimately lose nothing. If your ego gets in the way, there is no turning back.

As Roger Clemens’ indictment came down yesterday for perjury before Congress about his steroid use, I can only think how far he has fallen. Throughout his career, Clemens was beloved in four cities for doing all the right things. However, ever since his name has been linked to steroids, he has continued to admit his wrongdoings which have led to his downfall as an individual. He even Tweeted after the indictment yesterday that he “never took HGH or Steroids” and he “did not lie to Congress.”

He, like other baseball players linked to steroids that refuse to admit they are wrong, have lost the reputation they gained while playing. Others, like Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi, have admitted their steroid use and still have developed new ground to stand on.

In the “Summer of LeBron,” we need to be reminded that our own egos can destroy us, especially when we are wrong.

gbarone General Corporate Andy Pettitte, Baseball, Jason Giambi, LeBron James, Roger Clemens, Steroids

This morning I heard an interesting survey on the radio about people who don’t take their vacation time….apparently almost 50% of Americans aren’t taking their vacation time due to fears about job security. Sounded ridiculous to me…at first. And then I remembered a client telling me that their employees were not utilizing their summer Fridays because the leadership team doesn’t leave early. Employees think using those Fridays when their boss is in the office somehow reflects poorly on them.

Leaders lead by example, even when they aren’t trying to. So every time you cancel your vacation (something I’ve been known to do, especially when my plan is to hang by the pool rather than head to the airport) you are setting an example. When you sneak out to a soccer game, and give people the impression you are at a meeting, you are sending a signal. And it isn’t a good one. I haven’t been able to find the specific study I heard about today, but Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation survey suggests that this is not a recent trend…apparently Americans have been vacation deprived for a long time. Maybe the economy is just a convenient excuse…a habit we learn from an early age.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been worrying about my 15-year-old daughter who is showing early signs of being a work-a-holic at her first job as a lifeguard. She says yes to any request to sub for a fellow guard. She took on lifeguard hours as soon as she got certified, but didn’t give up her “box” hours taking cards at the gate. She is working 6 and 7 days every week, plus her basketball workouts and volleyball practices. I wonder where she learned that? (What is the equivalent for sarcasm?) Maybe from her mother who routinely cancels vacation days? Or her father who is on his BB day and night?

The data for the benefits of vacation exists. People who take their vacation avoid burnout, are more productive and happier in their jobs, and their lives. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, some companies believe so strongly in the importance of vacation, they offer unlimited PTO. They don’t limit time off because they trust their employees to get the job done, to manage their time, and to be responsible.

Maybe it’s time to lead by example…and take some vacation.

cwinters General Corporate Expedia, PTO, Summer Fridays, Vacations

Apologies in advance for this long post…but you’ve got to hear it all to believe it.

Air travel has become positively uncivilized….and really, when you pack hundreds of people into a flying tin can, there are bound to be issues. Add a lengthy security process, crowded cabins (I know airlines are all touting leg room, but I’d really like some elbow room, please),crowded skies which lead to all kinds of delays and lost luggage, it is no wonder that any time there is an issue in the air, it makes big news.

From what I remember about Economics 101 (which isn’t much), deregulation is supposed to drive prices lower, and increase competitiveness of an industry. We got the lower fares, no doubt. But somehow, the kind of service you’d expect from competitiveness just isn’t happening.

I’ve worked with airlines as clients for most of my career, and I am generally sympathetic to their plight. But sometimes, an airline earns its bad reputation. Take American Airlines….big, aloof, arrogant. And the experience I had with them last month is so outrageous, you couldn’t make it up. Like millions on the Internet, I now believe that American/American Eagle is the worst airline on the planet.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in July, I (over)packed my wheelie bag and headed to the airport for a trip to Springfield, Missouri via Chicago O’Hare. My general rule of thumb is this, “If you need to make a connection to get there, I don’t need to go.” And connections via O’Hare usually spell trouble. But sometimes, clients pick locations that don’t have non-stop options. The ticket agent asked if I would check my bag, as the flight was very full…and I reluctantly agreed – I didn’t want to be difficult, and since I was arriving on Sunday night, I wouldn’t be in a rush.

Despite the blue skies, thunderstorms in the Midwest were causing havoc all over the system. Weather delay number 1. Stuff happens. Not their fault. When we arrive in Chicago, the flight attendant announces connecting gates – and while we are very late, I figure this means that the flight to Springfield is also very delayed. After a fellow passenger dropped the luggage that they didn’t ask him to check on my flip-flopped foot, I de-plane and hobble my way to the gate, which is in an entirely different concourse….only to learn that this flight left long ago. The gate agent advised that he could not help me rebook, and that I needed to go to the rebooking center, where they will rebook me and provide me with a hotel voucher. By now, my big toe is swollen and black…so I gimp it back to the rebooking center (which is back where I started, and if you’ve ever been to O’Hare you know that I’ve covered a lot of distance at this point).

The rebooking center is a BANK OF PHONES…no humans in sight. And no hotel vouchers in sight. So I hobble out to the ticket counter. After a minor scuffle with a duty manager, they agree to get my bag for me (originally they wanted to hold it and send through to Springfield – but I explained that I could not arrive at my meeting tomorrow in a juicy sweat-suit.) I get rebooked – they tell me the first flight of the day is sold out (but I later learned it left with 4 empty seats)…and book me on the next one. I’ll be a little late for my meeting, but it will have to do.

Monday morning comes, and my flight to Springfield is cancelled, Mechanical Number 1. Rebooked on the next flight. That flight gets delayed due to a Mechanical. Mechanical Number 2.

I finally arrive in Springfield, several hours late for my all day meeting, and wearing flip flops because I can’t get a shoe on. 26 plus hours after I left home. Not a great showing, but stuff happens.

Tuesday comes, we wrap up our meetings and head back to the airport. I’ve re-booked my ticket to go through Dallas, because I am thinking that O’Hare has bad karma for me. That flight gets cancelled. Mechanical number 3. Rebook back to the original flight through O’Hare. We board, get ready to push back, and they can’t close the door. Mechanical Number 4….we get deplaned, sit in the gate, and they announce re-boarding. Here is where the wheels really fell off.

This is my 4th mechanical in 24 hours. I am starting to worry about the maintenance competency of AA. And I am getting worried about being stranded overnight for the 2nd time in as many days. As we board, I asked the ramp agent in a weary voice if we were really leaving this time…because a Delta flight is leaving shortly and I don’t want to get stuck in Springfield. She responded very sarcastically, “Well, we are boarding you aren’t we?” (As if I hadn’t already boarded and de-planed 30 minutes earlier.). Silly me, I thought I might get an “I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad experience, I hope you have a good flight home.”

So in a calm but annoyed voice I said, “Well, I’ve had 4 mechanicals in 24 hours, which seems statistically impossible. Since you seem to be running the worst airline on the planet, I thought I’d ask before I miss the last flight of the day out of Springfield.” In hindsight, perhaps the calmness of my reaction was a problem…but more on that. She gives me a very snide “gee, thanks for sharing” response, and I head onto the aircraft, settle into my seat, turn off my BB and put on my iPod.

I see Julie the flight attendant approaching me, and she indicates that she’s heard I had “a problem with the gate representative”….silly me, I think she is there to apologize. Like Julie McCoy of Love Boat fame, I think she wants to have a perky chat with me and smooth things over. Anticipating this desire to be helpful, I decide to be gracious. I smile and tell her, “You can’t even imagine how many bad things have happened to me on your airline in the past 2 days…but there is no point in talking about it, I really just want to get home and put this trip behind me.”

It was then I realize that she wasn’t there to apologize….she proceeds to tell me that she is going to get the captain, and that I am in the exit row and she doesn’t think I am capable of serving those duties due to my “mental state.” (You know, if you curse and scream at a flight attendant they pop the chute and quit…but if you calmly tell them you’ve had a bad experience, you are the crazy one.)

“Really, you think I would refuse to open the door and let this entire airplane full of people die because I think you run a crappy airline? By all means, if you feel you need to get the captain, go ahead….but I think these people would really like to go home.”

She comes back….alone….and advises me (and the entire aircraft) that she thinks I am mentally unstable and that I need to move to a seat alone in the first row near the captain.

Now I am upset, angry and humiliated, but I know better than to argue with her….because I want to get home today. So I tell her, calmly, that I would be happy to move so that I can be the first one off her airplane. Once I am in my new seat, and she is “guarding me” in the galley, she advises me that she is filling out a report to the FAA because I’VE CAUSED A DELAY!!!!!!!!!!

So I am still speaking in a low voice, but I told her I’d be sending a report of my own to the DOT and that I’d like her name….because she may not like it, but I am certainly entitled to tell them that I am dissatisfied with the experience I’ve had on their airline, and that doesn’t make me unstable or the cause of her delay, and considering that I’ve been booked on 5 flights in 48 hours and not one of them has been on time, I didn’t think her argument would wash. She declines to give me her full name (“against company policy”) and the captain tells her to sit down and stop arguing with me so we can leave.

I arrive in Chicago, take another delay and finally get home to Newark.

Now, throughout the trip I tweeted and used my FB status….and the only thing I got was e-mail from friends at other airlines asking if they could sAAve me. Nothing from American. I got auto-emails from AA telling me that the flight had been delayed to a time that had already passed (so a message that we were delayed until 6 p.m., for example, arrived at 6:15)

I wait a week. Then I send a letter to American Airlines. Not because I want anything from them – heck, lifetime Gold Elite status wouldn’t make up for the bad experience I’ve had. But I would like to know that the flight attendant in question has been advised that she didn’t handle the situation well.
Nothing. Literally. In fact, I haven’t even been able to get the miles posted to my account for that hellacious trip.

72 hours of hell in the air – or in this case, mostly on the ground. 4 mechanicals. 2 other delays. 1 nasty flight attendant. A host of rude, incompetent people. Sorry American Airlines…you have a bad reputation, and as far as I’m concerned, you’ve earned it.

cwinters General Corporate American Airlines, American Eagle, O'Hare Airport, reputation

And now, for a break from our usual commentary about CEO resignations….

They say that things happen in three’s – and the resignation of GM’s CEO makes the third this week – HP, Sara Lee and now GM. And in the words of Forest Gump, that’s all I am going to say about that – because I feel like I’ve written enough about the role of CEO’s in building trust this week.

Instead, I thought I’d share this really interesting item on the MSNBC video “Top Tens.”

• 4 out of our last 5 President’s have this in common…
• It is what ties Bill Gates to Michaelangelo; Oprah Winfrey to Fidel Castro….
• It is more likely to happen if your mother is over 40 when you are born…
• And more likely to come with an IQ of 140 or higher…
• And it only occurs in 10% of the population.

Left handedness.

According to this piece, lefties are also more likely to use counterintuitive solutions to problems – making them trailblazers, leaders and game changers.

I’ve also heard that lefties were often twins at conception – which means I would have two of my 10-year son, Jack…..which is too mind boggling to even consider.

They say that people in PR make great dinner party guests because they are always full of interesting or unusual factoids. And they have something to say about just about everything.

Call me the queen of useless information…but I think I just lived up to that reputation.

cwinters General Corporate Bill Gates, GM, HP, Lefties, Oprah, Sara Lee

Okay, we confess – we took the bait about Jenny and her white-board flame job of her boss, Spencer. Turns out it was all a hoax.

But we were in good company. Word is that Leno’s people were scrambling around yesterday, trying to find Jenny in order to get her on his show. Ditto for Good Morning, America. In fact, Gawker called it “The Quitting Tale that Suckered the Whole Internet.” Including them!

It reminds me of the day that the New York Mets listed Sidd Finch on their 1985 spring training roster, but at least Sports Illustrated and George Plimpton had the decency to pull off that prank on April Fools Day.

All kidding aside, our points about reputation and social media still stand. In an era when news can spread instantly from a variety of sources, executives can’t be too careful, corporations have to keep their crisis protocols / plans fresh and their crisis teams, internal and external, have to be ready to respond on a dime. You never know when a real Jenny will turn up on the Internet with her white board.

bsilver Employee Engagement, General Corporate Hoax, reputation, Sidd Finch