In the News–Leadership & Strategy
GM’s Barra Showing Compassion Contrasts With Mishandlers
Matt Townsend, Bloomberg, March 20, 2014
GM CEO Mary Barra took a critical step this week in framing herself as a compassionate leader, invoking the fact she’s a mother as she said she was sorry for the lives lost in accidents linked to a defect that spurred the recall of 1.6 million cars. It was in stark contrast to the seemingly unempathetic response by Hayward to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill when he was BP Plc (BP)’s CEO and declared “I’d like to have my life back” amid the unfolding crisis.
Her next step, according to Davia Temin who shares her thoughts on GM’s latest crisis, is “to shift into action mode or at least into making statements about what she’ll do to right what’s wrong.” […read more]
GM’s Barra Saying Sorry Seeks to Limit Fallout on Recall
Jeff Green, Bloomberg, March 19, 2014
General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra apologized for the lives lost in accidents linked to an ignition defect and pledged an aggressive probe into why a recall took so long, in her boldest effort yet to limit damage from safety lapses at the largest U.S. automaker. Her apology is just the start, says Davia Temin. “She will be judged on how she handles the next 95 percent of it.” […read more]
The Crisis of Trust and Rebuilding Trust After Crisis
Barbara Kimmel, Trust Across America, February 19, 2014
Reputation and trust. Disaster recovery and disaster prevention. Crisis response and the crisis of trust. Davia Temin and Charlie Green connect on these and related topics.
In this program they exchange, explore and examine these critical issues, such as: Why do organizations create their own public relations disasters? What’s trust got to do with it? What’s the connection between personal and corporate trust? Why is trust in companies down so far? What can companies do about it? What can individuals do about it? Whom should you trust? Whom shouldn’t you trust? What companies have a well-deserved (positive) reputation, and how did they get there? How can you recover from a trashed reputation, and how can you recover from broken trust? What’s the relationship between those two? […read more]
Levo League’s New Model for Millennial Media
Diane Brady, Bloomberg Businessweek, February 17, 2014
With so many companies chasing gen Y women, why is Levo League getting so much buzz? Sure, Levo Chief Executive Caroline Ghosn is the daughter of Carlos Ghosn, who runs both Nissan Motor and Renault . Ms. Ghosn and her Levo co-founder, Amanda Pouchot, are both millennials themselves. And it helps to have support and $1.25 million of seed money from such investors as Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and AOL’s Susan Lyne. Scoring interviews with such folks as Warren Buffett will also put you on the map.
But Levo has built an audience of 8 million since 2012 by filling a need, not attracting big names. Its mission to empower young women in the first 10 years of their careers is backed up by a breezy mix of self-help articles, digital access to mentors, job postings, and live chats with prominent role models. The group also has 23 local chapters to connect offline.
Now, armed with $7 million in venture funding, Ghosn is launching Levo 2.0. The goal: to turn what she calls a “self-serve buffet” of mainly U.S. content into a global “recommendation engine for your career.” If Ghosn succeeds, Levo could become a model for using data to create more meaningful and lucrative ties with customers. […read more]
AOL’s Armstrong Joins Parade of CEOs Apologizing
Jeff Green, Bloomberg, February 10, 2014
AOL Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong is on a long list of corporate bosses who put their trust in an apology to contain fallout from an embarrassing public statement. Armstrong said he was sorry and backtracked on a 401(k) policy change days after he cited the cost of “distressed babies” on the AOL health-care plan as a reason the company needed to save some money.
The best outcome for Armstrong would be if the uproar blows over. But, according to Davia Temin, now that blunders move at the speed of the Internet, even executives with strong boardroom support sometimes can’t bounce back when they trip up in a very public way. […read more]
Target CEO opens up about data breach
Jena McGregor, The Washington Post, January 13, 2014
Crisis communications experts weigh in on Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel’s interview with CNBC in which he discusses the massive security breach that happened last December. Davia Temin was among those who thought it was a solid effort but also felt that the company may need to do more. […read more]
Corporate Social Media Savvy: Temin And Company Launches Series Of “10 MORE Don’ts Of Corporate Social Media” On Forbes.com
T&C Press Release, The Street, December 9, 2013
“All corporations, organizations, CEOs and boards I know are struggling to define their optimal presence on social media,” says Davia Temin , CEO of Temin and Company. “The field is changing so rapidly, and there are so many conflicting ideas of how to best deploy resources that very few know the best way to go. And people are making mistakes. We created this series of deep-dive articles on corporate use of social media to explore not only best practices, but worst practices – not only the ‘do’s’ but the ‘don’ts’ – in this emerging field.”
“The trillion dollar question is ‘How do organizations think about communicating to the public now that the public communicates back?'” say Ms. Temin and her co-author, Ian Anderson , Social Media Strategist at Temin and Company. Each article in the series answers this question from a different focus. Most popular to date have been #1: Don’t Ignore Your Best Co-Branding Opportunity – Your Employees, trending on the Harvard Business Review LinkedIn group, and the most recent article, #5: Don’t Waste Money – Make Your Social Media Advertising Smarter, More Original, More Effective, a new look at advertising creativity on social media – what works, what doesn’t, and what the future holds. […read more]
How much is an apology worth?
Kate Davidson, Marketplace, November 12, 2013
Marketplace Radio‘s Kate Davidson interviews Davia Temin on the “Faux-pology” – when an apology really isn’t an apology. […read more]
“Rebuilding Trust in the Financial Markets” – Still a Concern 5+ Years Later
T&C Press Release, Reuters, November 1, 2013
“Only 22 percent of Americans trust the financial system. Despite a broad stock market rally since the financial crisis officially ended, public distrust of banks and investment banks has not fully abated,” says reputation strategist Davia Temin. “In fact, in some cases, it has deepened.”
Ms. Temin’s essay, “Rebuilding Trust in the Financial Markets,” is featured in Barbara Brooks Kimmel’s new book Trust Inc.: Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset, published today. […read more]
10 leadership lessons for crisis management
Davia Temin, ABA Banking Journal, September 27, 2013
The financial industry has seen its fair share of crises in the last decades. And clearly, leaders have not always responded correctly. But as leaders not only in the financial sector, but in almost every sector, have come under increasing attack from their angry publics, perhaps it is time to take a fresh look at the leader’s conundrum in crisis. […read more]
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