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

Our CEO sent me this great piece about the 5 Commandments for Brands in the post-crash economy that was posted by Fast Company.

At its heart, the piece suggests that brands must help consumers achieve balance – defined as a move toward simplicity – and must be trustworthy. In fact, much of the piece reads like a primer for how to approach CSR.

One of the things I love about this piece is its simplicity – one of the core values it recommends for brands, by the way. And for me it crystallized a concept about CSR that has been on my mind.

I recently had a discussion with a colleague who is an expert in consumer marketing, and to her, CSR is all about branding, with a heavy emphasis on cause.

For me (and many of my co-contributors to this blog), CSR is all about reputation…about engaging employees and building a culture, about growing your business (and its value) and about earning the trust of key stakeholders in government, community, industry and the consumer marketplace.

It could be that when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But I think that what this really means is that we are both right.

At MWW Group, we’ve always advocated a total stakeholder approach. As CSR continues to drive further convergence of corporate reputation and brand, this approach will be more important than ever.

cwinters CSR Balance, CSR, Fast Company, reputation