It’s hard to believe that five years ago there was no twitter.    In a society where we are uber-connected, but task saturated and inundated with content, the simple 140 character format provides the ability to make a statement…quickly.  If its beauty is simplicity, its relevance stems from the access it gives us to celebrities, luminaries and thought leaders outside our normal sphere of influence.  You can follow Ashton, Queen Noor, the White House and Bill Gates.  It provides a feeling of equality and accessibility to all.

The other key to twitter’s success, in my opinion, has been its authenticity.  It’s why characters like Captain Morgan never took off…and why parody twitter handles need to be defined as such. 

Twitter’s unprecedented success lies in its adherence, thus far, to a simple formula – trust + relevance = action. It applies to pretty much every business – and in this case, the millions of people who opened, and use their accounts is the kind of action most brands only dream of.

Yesterday, twitter changed its approach to promoted tweets.  Getting a promoted tweet from a brand or cause I follow is one thing.    Yes, making it stick to the top of my timeline might be a little annoying – but if I’m following you, I’ve pretty much invited your marketing.   But inserting unwelcome, promoted tweets from whomever the twitter algorithm thinks I should hear from seems like crossing the line.  It violates the trust twitter has worked so hard to build – and puts those tweets into the same category as spam.  Will people do the equivalent of an inbox “delete all?”  Too soon to say. 

No doubt many brands will be rushing to get in on the action, and fill twitter’s coffers to access a new marketing channel that might prove to be effective.  But at what price to twitter’s reputation?

cwinters Social Media Ashton Kutcher, Bill Gates, Promoted tweets, Queen Noor, Twitter, White House

I’ve never been much of a Bill Gates fan. Nothing personal. Maybe it is because I’ve spent more years with the “Bill Gates is the Devil” era than the Gates as a philanthropist era…or because geek chic just isn’t my thing. But as a student of leadership, his is a fascinating case. Today, this “devil” who had control of everything, and protected his turf with litigious fervor is one of global health’s elder statesmen, is redefining what it means to be a philanthropist – and raising the bar for the billionaires among us.

What is the biggest change? A shift in tone that embraces optimism. I could argue that it is easy to be optimistic when you are Bill Gates. But it isn’t easy to be optimistic about ending AIDS in Africa. Or lifting children out of poverty via vaccinations in places where modern conveniences like telecommunications and necessities like clean, safe water are scarce. Or fixing a big, bureaucratic education system. The Gates Foundation’s core belief — all lives have equal value – is inherently optimistic.

This is in sharp contrast with Donald Trump’s so-called consideration of a run for President. He was all about being the anti-candidate – dragging others down in an exhibition of self-promotion that has become as much his signature as his hairdo and his frown.

I’m not opposed to leaders being provocative or contrarian – but you can’t define yourself solely as being against someone or something else.

Remember the formula: Trust + Relevance = Action. A negative approach may be about relevant issues, but it’s relevance without trust…which typically yields the wrong kind of action. Realistic optimism is a key attribute of trustworthiness. People, by their very nature, are inspired and motivated by hope and optimism more than fear and negativity.

The concept of the economics of happiness is gaining traction…could it be that the economics of optimism is one of the keys to the economic recovery? Because it is certainly a key to earning trust and remaining relevant.

cwinters General Corporate Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Optimism, Relevance

It’s hard to break through the clutter and make real news….and even harder to make a real difference. In the recent past, we’ve seen iconic Companies and leaders make the biggest, boldest predictions ever…Warren Buffet is going to get billionaires to give away half of their wealth. Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation are going to end HIV in Africa and Reinvent Education, among other things; and Google was going to reinvent philanthropy with Google.org (DotOrg).

These are major initiatives – the kind that get e-mailed about in ALL CAPS. They garner big headlines, and the kind of in-depth media coverage and ongoing discussion that is hard to accomplish in a world where stakeholders lose interest in seconds and minutes, not hours or days. They underscore your position as a game changer, a mega-influencer and certainly, a leader.

But what happens when you can’t deliver? Is it better to get credit for taking on the biggest, most unsolvable problems? Or better to tackle something smaller and succeed?

The easy answer is – it depends. One factor to consider when making such bold pronouncements is this:

Do you have the kind of leader who can pull this off? Who has enough gravitas to change the way others think, and act? And enough influence to get others to follow, and to play by your “new rules.”

Consider the three examples we began with:

Buffet’s fellow billionaire’s are jumping on his bandwagon. Not all of them, but enough of them to make a credible case that he is changing the notion of philanthropy among those who have the resources to make the biggest impact.

Gates is tackling far more complex problems than Buffet…things that have plagued the world for generations (on the short end) and even centuries. Has he solved one of those problems entirely? Not yet. Is he making an impact…I think so. And the Gates “likeability factor” has risen exponentially in the process.

Google’s Dot Org project is another story altogether. They’ve made good on their promise to commit their financial and human capital resources to reinventing philanthropy….but it’s hard to say they are actually succeeding in the bold, game-changing way they originally envisioned. The reasons for this are complicated….and in part due to a mismatch between the Google “silver bullet” model of change, and the nature of the problems they’ve tried to tackle. (This piece from the NYT does a great job in discussing the DotOrg issues). But I would argue it is also about their lack of a leader who really owns it, and is a meaningful “face” to both the Google brand and the DotOrg mission.

The moral of the story – big, bold pronouncements need a big, bold pronouncer.

cwinters CSR Bill Gates, Google.org, Warren Buffett

Twenty years ago this month I put on my new Ann Taylor suit, accessorized with a scarf (flight attendant style) and began my entry level job at a little PR firm in NJ that no one had ever heard of. Those were the days when press releases were mailed (yes, my 20-something colleagues, you read that right), executives carried beepers, and you waited for the giant Burelles envelopes to come in the mail with your clips.

MWW Group was a startup – we’d just opened our 2nd office in Trenton, NJ, (of all places) and had a whopping staff of 5. I did it all….answered the phones, pretended to be our CEO’s assistant (he couldn’t’ afford one), made media lists…and got my first “hit” in The New York Times. Back then Bill Gates was “the devil” – not the hero-philanthropist of today. Gordon Gecko told us (the first time) that greed was good. And the overnight news cycle ruled the day.

A lot has changed in our business since then, and I guess I’ve changed a lot, too. I’ve worked in every practice in the firm – yes, consumer marketing and public affairs, too. I’ve held every position (ok almost every position…I haven’t run the finance department or been CEO). And I’ve seen some of the most dramatic changes possible… The (original) real estate bubble. The rise of the Internet. The dot com boom, and bust. Strategic Philanthropy has given way to CSR, employee communications is now employee engagement. Visibility became buzz and then, conversation.

But there are some universal truths that haven’t changed since I was an Account Coordinator. When it comes to the PR business, and building, enhancing, and protecting reputations these 5 things are constants:

1. We trust people, not companies. Back then, the Celebrity CEOs ruled…Iaccocca, Welch, Crandall. But we knew that putting a face on a company was a good thing…and we understood that it was important to have a story and a POV beyond just your own Company.

2. Third parties tip the scale. What others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

3. A mistake in the initial response of a crisis can damage your reputation forever.

4. The only way to build a great media list is to work the phone. Whether using today’s databases, or my trusty old 1992 edition of NY Publicity Outlets…nothing substitutes for direct conversation.

5. If you want to learn to write a great headline, read the NY Post. And in our 140 character ecosystem, headline writing is more important than ever.

Another universal truth — my family still doesn’t understand what I do. Except now, when someone says I am in advertising, I don’t argue about it.

I’m thinking these might still be the same 20 years from now.

cwinters General Corporate Bill Gates, Crisis Communications, Executive Visibility, Internet, Public Relations

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

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