Philip Sheldrake

Tag: transparency (page 1 of 1)

10 September 2012 / 0 Comments

Social media are the eggs in the social business cake

A thrill of working in a fast changing market is the opportunity to innovate. A burden of working in a fast changing market is the need to bend existing language to new concepts. And of course, evoking existing language evokes existing meaning ... both an advantage and disadvantage.

So, we've been working with social media for the past decade; as if all preceding media was anti-social. And during the past couple of years, we've been tasking our tongue to the topic of social business; as if business previously attracted loners.

Well I for one consider social business to be quite distinct from social media. Others use the terms synonymously. The lexicon battle is underway and it will be some years hence before the dictionaries document the victory. For now then, allow me the airtime to support the assertion ... social media are the eggs in the social business cake.

The video here is my take on social business.

20 May 2012 / 0 Comments

CIPR TV on ethics

This week's CIPR TV addressed the topic of ethics, and 'spin'. Joining me in the studio were Eliane Glaser, Guardian columnist and author of Get Real: How to tell it like it is in a world of illusions (Amazon, Waterstones), and Dr Jon White, PR consultant, strategist, and author of the CIPR's PR2020 report (PDF).

It appears the world of public relations has a reputation problem. It's almost schizophrenic, with one camp entrenched in persuasive 'spin', or perhaps publicity, and the other in working towards open, transparent, mutual understanding between the organisation and stakeholders. Max Clifford for example, whilst often introduced by the British mass media as a PR consultant, is actually a publicist; a distinction indeed that the Wikipedia community is able to make at the time of writing.

It's a fascinating topic and we had a lot of ground to cover in 20 minutes. Hit play and find out more.

11 November 2011 / 0 Comments

Your vital role in the economic recovery

[Written for the CIPR Friday Roundup]

There will be an economic recovery and best practice public relations will play its part.

Economists may not agree on the how, but they are agreed on the what – we need economic growth. And economic growth comes from organisations that are more productive, and productivity is partly driven by improving mutual understanding between the organisation and its stakeholders – ie, the excellence model of PR.

An organisation that better understands all stakeholders will be more sensitive to its market and more agile and appropriate in its response.

Last week, the UK government announced an initiative with twenty six major organisations "working together to deliver a new era of consumer empowerment". The programme, midata, "will give consumers increasing access to their personal data in a portable, electronic format."

This is a world first as far as I know, although the prospect has been discussed for several years. It's often referred to as vendor relationship management (VRM), the other side of the CRM coin if you like.

Will your organisation join this revolution in customer data? Will you play your part in the economic recovery?

Best regards, Philip and The Conversation team. Read more