Covalence, an ethical reputation tracking company out of Geneva, released its quarterly “ethical reputation ranking” today which highlights the highest ranked companies in addition to those that have made the most progress. Their process is interesting as a chunk of it is based on the number of positive and negative news reports on that company [...]

Everyone is running around these days talking about social community this and online connections that. I get invited to join a new “community” every frakin’ day from people I haven’t even heard of before. I’m sure you do, too. And it’s great. The whole Web 2.0 thing. I buy it. I get it.
So why is [...]

Who’s up for some traveling? How does Sonoma, CA April 22-25 and Miami, FL May 8-9 sound? I’ve got some pretty challenging speaking and facilitating sessions at these two upcoming events.
At the New Comm Forum 2008 I’m speaking in the second track: New Communications Strategies for Marketing & Advertising. My track title is “Digging [...]

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side-by-side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a [...]

It’s Masters Weekend and the the sports world has turned its attention to one amazing man in one amazing place.  If I were among those competing against him, I’d probably be thinking, “Second place rocks!” Or as Ricky Bobby says, ” If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
But hey, I can beat Tiger.
Now, of course I’d [...]

Yesterday we held our second annual FIRE Sessions in our own INNOVATE Building here in downtown Greenville. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you may remember last year’s FIRE Sessions, when none other than Brand Autopsy’s John Moore and Church of the Customer’s Jackie Huba came to facilitate conversations around our “Sharing [...]

They’re back. And after good ol’ USAA winning the first one, I’m going to go from big-and-worthy to small-and-worthy with this one.
Who could it be? None other than Arborwear.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of this company. And here’s why:
1) A stellar product. Arborwear is specifically made for the tree-climber [...]

And you should buy a copy. Why? It’s all about “Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies.”
And besides, Brains on Fire and the Fiskateer movement are highlighted in it! Wa-hoo!
The bad mamma-jamma Forrester Research team of Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li put it together and Harvard Business Press picked it up. So we’re in [...]

Continuing on with the naming theme, Wired published an article this week praising electronic companies (specifically cellphone makers) for finally seeing the light and laying those long, inane alphanumeric names to rest.
Names like iPhone, RAZR, and Voloptuator Sexamajig are iconic, interesting, and stick in your mind. (Yes, I made that last one up.) And many [...]

No, I’m not kidding. Via Brand New (via Nation’s Restaurant News):
In a potential departure from its long heritage, KFC Corp. will give franchisees the option of rebranding their stores “Kentucky Fried & Grilled Chicken” as part of the scheduled rollout of a nonfried product now in widespread tests.
Does anyone else find this ridiculous? How about [...]