Thought Leadership
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"Reputation Matters" White Papers seek to offer deeper insight on a wide range of topics we help clients address.
Specialists in marketing through ideas, information, and insight, Temin and Company turns clients’ intellectual capital into true thought leadership.
We also seek to practice what we preach.
Temin and Company’s own thought leadership includes white papers, yearly client letters and podcasts, published articles, a Forbes.com column – Reputation Matters, Huffington Post and American Banker articles, and appearances in other news articles and broadcasts.
Further, Davia Temin is a frequent public speaker and moderator – for clients, their own client events, and their “high potential” training programs. She also presents regularly at CEO conferences, and has developed a range of “Crisis Game” role play simulations to prepare CEOs, Boards, and client companies for real-life crisis situations.
Mary Barra’s Defining Moment: Can GM Become The Next Tylenol?
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, April 2, 2014
Leaders rarely get to choose their defining moments. The issues that will eventually define their reputations are most often thrust upon them…and usually those issues are far, far different from what the leaders would have chosen if it were up to them.
And so it is with Mary Barra. Only three months into her CEO stint at General Motors, her defining issue has found her; and it is a crisis that she most certainly did not choose.
When departing CEO Dan Akerson announced why he had recommended Ms. Barra for CEO, he said that she had an uncanny ability to “make order out of chaos.” Today we surely wonder if he had any inkling of just how much chaos there would be in her first 100 days. Let’s hope he did not. […read more]
Should CEOs Tweet?
“Reputation Matters” Newsletter, Winter 2014
CEOs and other leaders are under increasing pressure to engage their customers and the public on social media. But should they?
Facing the reality that nearly 70% of CEOs have stayed away from social media so far, many marketing executives don’t want their companies to be left behind in the chase for digital mindshare, especially when they see the followings of CEOs like Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Marc Benioff or Marissa Mayer.
Social media in general, and Twitter in particular, are superb ways to establish a dominant thought leadership position, reinforce and reinvigorate a brand, and join the “global conversation” and marketplace of ideas.
If you’d like to read the newsletter, please click here (pdf).»
Don’t Kill Off Your Website — Use It As The Hub For Your Social Media Presence
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, January 9, 2014
The questions plaguing many corporate leaders these days about social media include: How can we take best advantage of this continually-changing platform for business, sales, and reputation enhancement? How do we choose which platforms to engage on? Where does our website fit in among all the emerging social media options? What about mobile? Must we do it all? And, is the effort it takes worth the investment, risk, and loss of control?
In fact, loss of control may be the most worrisome. There aren’t many places left where organizations can have total control over what is said about them, especially on the internet. But corporate websites can provide a still center of control, continuity and clarity of message. A website – compellingly done – can capture a brand, and encapsulate its positioning for all to see. A stake in the reputational ground, the best websites showcase their organizations’ aspirations and best selves as well as their brand. […read more]
Target’s Worst PR Nightmare: 7 Lessons From Target’s Well-Meant But Flawed Crisis Response
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, December 30, 2013
Target is living up to its name in a way I am sure they never meant to do.
They have become the newest target case of how not to respond in a crisis. Although they have done many things right in their response to the second-largest retailer data breach on record, they have made some classic mistakes that have not only compromised their reputation, but the trust of their customers, employees, and the public.
In fact, by needing to retract on Friday earlier assurances to customers that their PIN numbers had not been stolen, Target effectively has morphed in the eyes of the public from a victim of crime to a co-conspirator. Not a good move brand-wise, trust-wise, reputation-wise, or business-wise. […read more]
Don’t Waste Money – Make Your Social Media Advertising Smarter, More Original, More Effective
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, December 3, 2013
“Advertising is the price companies pay for being un-original,” designer Yves Behar has said.
But on social media, originality in advertising actually has found a new canvas, a new playground to explore. And the profession itself is being redesigned in real time.
Just as television was a disruptive force for print advertising, so social media is shaking up the entire ad industry – providing us with some best and worse examples of how to leverage the medium. […read more]
Don’t Think You’re Anonymous – Unless You’re Really Anonymous: #4 Of ’10 More Don’ts Of Corporate Social Media’
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, November 26, 2013
Social media and the Internet are rapidly changing our expectations of both privacy and anonymity. This has profound implications for corporations, governments, and individuals alike.
What is more important, privacy (the ability to keep private information or conversation out of the hands of anyone but those for whom it was intended) or transparency (the right of the public to know the facts and motivations behind actions that affect them)? As a society, which do we value more – truth-telling (which can easily turn into lies and hate talk) or named accountability (which can stop revelations from taking place because of possible repercussions to the teller)?
These days we seem to be ambivalent – or to want it all: privacy when it suits us; transparency, when it feels right; anonymity when we can choose it; but accountability when others are posting anonymously about us, or those things we care about.
Yet we all suspect that there is almost no such thing as privacy anymore, or real anonymity on the Internet. What does this mean for corporations and other organizations? […read more]
Don’t Waste Your Time(line) – Maximizing Your Own Viral Potential For Thought Leadership: #3 Of ’10 More Don’ts Of Corporate Social Media’
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, November 22, 2013
Thought leadership – the purest form of content – is a valuable currency on social media. Done innovatively, strategically, and well, it can build brand loyalty for organizations and individuals, and help to attract new clients. Done poorly or carelessly, it can do the exact opposite, and turn off these same customers.
How does any thought leadership gain traction today? Social media’s increasing influence is now changing the entire game, compelling profound changes in content and sharing – affecting how, when, where, and why certain posts turn viral. […read more]
Don’t Confuse ‘Thought Leadership’ With ‘Branded Content’ or ‘Native Advertising’ — #2 Of ’10 More Don’ts Of Corporate Social Media’
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, November 21, 2013
Thought leadership, branded content, content marketing, and native advertising are all stops along the continuum of how ideas are expressed, and products are marketed, over the Internet.
But it is getting awfully hard for the public — and even some marketers — to tell the difference. […read more]
Don’t Ignore Your Best Co-Branding Opportunity — Your Employees: #1 Of ’10 More Don’ts Of Corporate Social Media’
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, November 20, 2013
We all know employees can be both brand ambassadors and brand detractors. But what we haven’t wrapped our heads around is that they are also our most important co-branding opportunity. This is #1 in our series of “10 More Don’ts of Corporate Social Media,” introduced yesterday.
Corporate co-branding is a marketing staple: Companies co-brand with one another (Apple + Nike; Betty Crocker + Hershey’s; Dell + Intel); for-profits co-brand with non-profits (Nestle + The Girl Scouts; Pampers + UNICEF; American Express, Apple, Converse, etc. + The Global Fund – RED); and all of the above co-brand with movies, music, and sports (Aston Martin + James Bond; PINK + NFL; Apple + U2).
But in this ever-evolving world of social media – where almost everyone is thinking about how to “brand” himself or herself personally over social media – organizations can leverage the trend as their biggest co-branding opportunity of all. In other words, since there is no stopping the personal branding efforts of employees on social media, if you can’t beat them, you might as well join them. […read more]
Introducing ’10 More Don’ts Of Corporate Social Media’
Leadership, “Reputation Matters” Forbes, November 19, 2013
Every company, corporation, and organization is struggling to get its corporate social media right.
Boards are putting it on their agendas, as a reputational risk and opportunity. CEOs are puzzling over how to lead and evaluate their companies’ efforts, as well as debating what their own social media profile should be. Executive Committees are reviewing metrics and messaging, and still wondering which are meaningful. Human Resource Directors are competing for Chief Digital Officers from a small pool, without always knowing who will be good for their organizations – or what “good” really looks like. And Chief Marketing Officers are trying to be cutting edge and to add value, while juggling competing demands from all stakeholders – consumers, followers, shareholders, management, and an ever-fickle and sometimes malicious public.
And everyone is trying to figure out what the right “content” is, anyway. […read more]
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"Reputation Matters" White Papers seek to offer deeper insight on a wide range of topics we help clients address.