Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, September 7, 2013

We’re a small business. They tell us that we are the backbone of the American economy. What do we need to compete and win at this challenging moment in time? (And they are all challenging of course.) Wonderful, smart people? Check. A valuable, viable business proposition and a record of success? Check. A profound care for our clients and an indefatigable work ethic? Check. A great website, superb intellectual capital, a highly responsive, real-time communications strategy? Check, check, check.

And a reliable, customer-friendly Internet Service Provider to host our email and point folks to our website? NO CHECK!

In fact, our ISP — one that specializes in small businesses — has had three systemic outages in 2 months, leaving us — and a huge percentage of small businesses in America — high and dry.

XO Communications is breaking every crisis management rule in the book. […read more]