Marvin Odum the President of Shell Oil Company was interviewed on stage at the World Business Forum by Eric Pooley the Editor of Bloomberg Businessweek to discuss Shell’s leadership role in the global energy marketplace.

As the President of an oil company, Marvin faces a number of challenges in today’s environment. On one hand, oil companies are routinely demonized for their role in climate change and oil spills. On the other hand, the world that we live in today needs oil in order to function.

So what does the president of an oil company do to help maintain a positive reputation?

Marvin said that as an oil company, they’re fully committed to researching and developing alternative sources of energy. They’re allocating a lot of their resources to developing everything from bio-fuels to methods for carbon capture and storage. By exploring these alternative energy sources, Shell is not only practicing good business, but they’re also working to ensure that they will be seen as innovators in the field of alternative energy and thus helping to strengthen their reputation.

admin MWW Group alternative energy sources, reputation, shell oil company

I attended the World Business Forum today, and MWW Group hosted a terrific panel discussion on leadership. So it’s been the topic on my mind for the past few weeks.

It was on the WBF speakers’ minds, too. Over the course of the day, all of the speakers were talking about leadership, in one way or another. Jim Collins, Jack Welch, and David Gergen are leadership gurus. They offered words of wisdom to President Obama, the Board of HP, and the audience at World Business Forum. Jack Welch told us to hire people smarter than ourselves. David Gergen pronounced that there is a crisis in leadership today, and people don’t know who to trust. Jim Collins warned that successful leaders should be focused on responsibilities and outcomes, not jobs or titles, because the environment would continue to be tough for leaders:

“I don’t think we will have a new normal, I think we will have a continuous series of not normals.”

Thought provoking, for sure. And exactly what I hoped and expected them to speak about. But some of the others, like Charline Li (social networks), Martin Lindstrom (marketing) and Joseph Grenny (influence), it wasn’t what I was expecting. And it begs the question…is success in business – any business – fundamentally about leadership?

Here are some of my favorite takeaways about leadership from today’s discussions:

“No matter how sound the process, if you can’t influence people to execute, it is worthless” – Joseph Grenny

“Leadership isn’t just about setting direction, but about inspiring people to follow.” – Charlene Li

“Leadership requires making a connection with those who follow.” Jim Quigley
“You have moments of truth every day, all day. And your customers vote after every one of them.” Arkadi Kuhlman

“To sustain leadership, brands need to tap into your senses: sound + vision = emotional engagement, which ultimately equals brand preference” – Martin Lindstrom.

Tune in tomorrow for more from World Business Forum 2010.

cwinters MWW Group Leadership, World Business Forum

What makes great leadership? More importantly, what makes great leadership sustainable?

A panel of experts kicked that topic around for a while this afternoon during the lunch break Tuesday at the 2010 World Business Forum. Compelling topics, to be sure, and the team at MWW Group assembled an equally compelling panel that did it justice.

David Gergen. Advisor to four presidents. Editor at U.S. News & World Report.

Arkadi Kuhlmann. President of ING DIRECT USA. Author of a soon-to-be-published book on values-driven leadership.

Jim Quigley. CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Leader of a world-renowned consulting firm that today was named the leader in its field.

And Michael W. Kempner. President and founder of MWW Group. A classic entrepreneur who has built one of the nation’s leading PR firms.

In short, these guys know the topic and it was great to hear them strut it over the course of an hour. I’ve transcribed some snippets below, but to get the full experience, stop by www.mww.com and dial up the video of the session, which is archived on the Web site.

Kempner started things off with introductions, and then set the stage with some salient comments. “What do we need from our leaders to maintain the quality of life for citizens and employees, and to sustain greatness among our companies,” he asked. “What we have to do as organizations to keep up and compete in these extraordinary times? No one expected these challenges. No one would have anticipated this recessionary economy or the true impact of globalization, the shift to knowledge-based economy and speed of change. The only thing we know for certain is that change will continue.”

Kempner then asked the panelists to define leadership, and Kuhlman set the bar. “Leadership takes doubt out of the situation,” he said. “Leadership can eliminate doubt by being authentic, galvanizing emotions and having a vision that people can aspire to. People have a huge hunger for this – they’re looking forward it across the board.

“The questions become, how well can you articulate your values? Who you stand for and what you stand for? That’s what’s critically important, as it constantly resonates with people you work with. “

Added Quigley: “Sustainable leadership is leadership that works through the entire business cycle. It’s effective when you are rebooting your company and sustainable going forward. Leadership that’s all about this month’s numbers is not sustainable. “

Quigley talked at some length about values-based leadership, which is based on “sound principles that become timeless.” In it, leaders actually walk the talk and make people want to become part of the enterprise. That’s what people are looking for – belief in their leader.”

Kempner’s next question: What are the greatest challenges facing this generation of leadership?

Quigley: “It’s all about the people side of the equation. Leaders have to collaborate and communicate. And play ball. They have to have the ability to create teams and interact.”

Gergen: “Reputation for excellence matters. It’s about trust and continual refreshing of what you’re doing. Without that, it’s easy to be seen as yesterday.”

Kuhlmann: “The gap between what you say and what you do is much shorter than it was, in large part due to social media. The alignment of what you say and what you do is absolutely critical. It’s the only way to get through the noise and support a brand. And the most effective way to do this is to get on the side of the consumer through social media.”

Kempner wrapped things up with one final question. What are the skills necessary for a 21st Century leader.?

Gergen: “Trust and capacity to inspire others. Leaders have to lead beyond their own boundaries.”

Kuhlmann: “Be authentic. Have a willingness to commit and become vulnerable. Accept notion that you are vulnerable and risk failure.”

Quigley: “Trust, authenticity and nimbleness. Leadership and corporate reputation is linked together. The CEO must be the keeper of the flame.”

bsilver MWW Group Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, ING Direct, Leadership, World Business Forum

Back in my reporting days, I spent a lot of time in the press box at some big events – Super Bowl, Olympics, NBA Finals, World Series. Regardless of the event or venue, the feeling before the clock started was always the same. There was a buzz, an undercurrent of energy, that was almost palatable. It’s a little like that this morning at Radio City Music Hall, about 10 minutes before the initial speaker, Jim Collins (author of Good to Great), gets things started. A hum, a crackle, a buzz. You gotta love it.

We’re really excited here at MWW Group to be part of this. There’s a killer agenda today with speakers like Charlene Li and David Gergen that will could easily satisfy a business information junkie. But the real excitement is going to happen away from the stage – great networking during the two days of the event, all kinds of information exchange among the bloggers and journalists in the Blogger Hub high above the main stage, and events that are being held around the actual Forum agenda.

MWW is proud to be sponsoring one of those events this afternoon – a luncheon hosted by our CEO, Michael W. Kempner. Stay tuned on this blog, www.returnonreputation.com, and on our Web site, www.mww.com, for a live stream. It’s going to be most excellent.

bsilver MWW Group World Business Forum

T-minus 16 hours and counting … give or take a few. That’s when the 2010 World Business Forum kicks off at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan.

It promises to be a full and scintillating couple of days, from Jim Collins’ opening session on how great companies sustain great results Tuesday morning to Wednesday afternoon’s closing presentation on creativity by filmmaker James Cameron. Sandwiched in between is an incredible agenda that includes presentations by leaders and business visionaries such as Al Gore, A.G. Lafley, Joseph Stiglitz, Jack Welch and Vijay Govindarajan.

At MWW Group, we’re honored to be a sponsor of the 2010 World Business Forum and particularly excited about Tuesday’s luncheon activities, when we’ll host a panel discussion on Sustainable Leadership.

The panel will be led by our CEO, Michael W. Kempner, and will feature former White House advisor David Gergen, Jim Quigley, CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Arkadi Kuhlmann, president of ING DIRECT USA.

The panel will explore the challenges of leadership today and the leadership imperatives of tomorrow, especially the importance of trust and transparency, increased globalization, rapid innovation and the notion of leadership democratization. In conjunction with the panel’s presentation, MWW will be releasing a white paper on sustainable leadership as well as results from an informal survey on the topic. Both will be available at www.mww.com.

All in all, it should make for a compelling theater, and you can have a front row seat. The panel will be streamed live at www.mww.com and you can follow along as well as submit questions to the panelists in real time through the conference hash tag, #WBF10. Additionally, a summary of the panel discussion will be posted on MWW’s Return on Reputation blog and video of the presentation will be archived on the MWW website.

bsilver MWW Group Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, ING Direct, World Business Forum

MWW Group is sponsoring a luncheon and panel discussion on Sustainable Leadership next week at the 2010 World Business Forum. As we’ve developed the content and panel topic, I’ve been reading and thinking about the topic of leadership pretty much around the clock. If you haven’t been down that aisle at the book store lately, there are hundreds, if not thousands of books that attempt to teach people how to be great leaders. Many of them enjoy 15 minutes of fame, some of them even endure.

So in addition to a stack of books on my credenza just waiting to be read (yes, I still like to hold an actual book in my hand … and do often judge books by their covers), I’ve been wondering how leaders become leaders. Can leadership be taught, yes or no? Or is it simply enhanced in individuals who are born to be leaders?

Are great leaders born or made? Can anyone be a leader? Or are those without natural leadership qualities destined to fail, no matter how hard they try?

These are great questions, and ones we’ll discuss next week with our panelists. Join the conversation and help shape the debate by participating in our survey – it takes less than a minute to answer the four questions. Or tune in to the live stream Tuesday at the special WBF2010 section on the MWW website and join the conversation via Twitter #wbf10.

cwinters General Corporate, MWW Group Leadership, World Business Forum

As agency people, we spend hours each day thinking about clients and acting on their behalf. And for the corporate communications team at MWW Group, that means the ongoing Reputation Management activities for our clients.

Last night, at the PRWeek Awards, MWW Group’s own reputation got some care and feeding of its own. We were finalists for three client programs:

• Our labor and employee engagement work for Harrah’s Entertainment.
• Our deal work for Emerisque in their acquisition of Hartmarx
• Special event work for IKEA

We took home the prize in two out of three – Emerisque and Ikea.

Congrats to the agency for a great showing last night, and our colleagues in consumer marketing for the Ikea win. And a very special shout out to my colleagues on the corporate team who worked on these two very high profile, intense programs where the stakes were high, the nights were long and the challenges were plentiful.

I’d also like to thank Emerisque for being the ideal client – they are strategic about the use of communications and gave us a seat at the table. They are willing to take a risk when the payoff potential is great. And they appreciate great work, and make it fun along the way. It doesn’t get better than that.

For most of us, the most important metric of success is client satisfaction. But it is always great to be recognized by your peers. Thanks PRWeek!

Carreen Winters can be reached at cwinters@mww.com.

cwinters MWW Group awards, Emerisque, Harrah's, Ikea, PRWeek

Pleased to see the following news from our CEO, Michael Kempner:

MWW Group: CarbonFree for Three Years Running

I am very pleased to report that MWW Group is once again CarbonFree through our partnership with Carbonfund.org, a leader in carbon reduction and offset solutions. For the past three years, MWW Group has offset the total carbon emissions of its operations, roughly 4,600 metric tons of C02 (2009 certificate below) for that three-year period. That’s an amazing amount, particularly for an organization of our size. It represents more than 10 million pounds of C02, the emissions equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil or taking 850 cars off the road for a year. And while the entire MWW Group team can take pride in this accomplishment, we’re by no means finished.

As an organization we believe that without a well-trained workforce, the promise of clean energy is unattainable. Therefore in 2009 and beyond, MWW Group will extend its partnership with Carbonfund.org and support specific, verifiable renewable energy projects that create the infrastructure and skills necessary to drive a global, clean energy economy and further reduce carbon emissions. This year MWW Group will support the Iowa Lakes Wind Energy and Turbine Program, an initiative of Iowa Lakes Community College responding to the growing demand for skilled technicians who can install, maintain, and service modern wind turbines. Information on the program can be found here x men origins download download dragonball evolution dvd .

taken online

MWW Group remains firmly committed to doing our part to protect and preserve the environment. We challenge our peers in the industry, as well as our clients and partners, to join with us in this important work, or to adopt your own programs to help bring about a clean energy economy.

msacks MWW Group Green, Sustainability