It was a typical flying day,New Yorkwas all messed up, lots of cancellations and holds, and I, of course, had to be there that evening. I arrived at the airport 90 minutes early, made it through security, got to the gate and my cell phone rang. It was a happy androgynous voice from Delta Airlines telling me my flight would be delayed about two hours, no further explanations. That was my last contact with the Delta androgyny.

Two Delta reps showed up to stand at the boarding counter and provided absolutely no information whatever. The guy in the red coat, probably a supervisor, had an accent so dense, combined with practically swallowing the microphone, that no one could understand what he said even if you three feet away at the counter.  He looked out the window with his back to customers and continued speaking. The woman gate agent was so nervous, due to growing customer agitation, that half the time she spoke, her voice dropped off even though her lips were moving.

Despite the delay the crowd seemed really quite docile, but concern was growing. Then Delta dropped the hammer. LaGuardia had called a ground stop, which tossed out every airplane’s schedule with absolutely no indication of when things might begin again. Now a buzz was really beginning. That’s when the miracle occurred.

The captain of the flight came off the plane up the ramp and came to the rostrum. He took the mic and calmly, adding a couple small jokes, explained what was happening. I have not seen this happen in 35 years of flying. Everyone quieted down, and many gathered around the rostrum to listen more carefully.  In a couple minutes he explained the situation, told us that the ground stop was a very serious indication, but he was determined to get the plane and all of us out of there if it was at all possible.

Calmness reigned. But, the miracle continued. The Captain stayed in the boarding area visiting with customers, holding a couple babies for pictures, and even walked one or two older customers down to the Delta customer service desk. We were now more than two hours late.

After about 30 minutes the Captain, still in the gate area, got a phone call on his cell, went to the rostrum and told everyone his plan. It took 20 minutes to board the airplane; we sat on the tarmac for another 20 minutes or so and finally took off fromNew York. The flight was smooth but the weather inNew Yorkwas really bad. It took two nerve-racking tries to land the plane.

I told the captain as the passengers debarked, that his performance inMinneapoliswas amazing and enormously appreciated. Yeah, the landing was tough and scary, but this day this man earned his pay on both ends of the flight.

They didn’t give his name, but it was daily Delta flight 2296,Minneapolisto LaGuardia, 5:14 PM (theoretically). I told the pilot I hoped somebody would remember how he handled this flight, the crucial role the captain played in calming concerned passengers, and that maybe this ought to be taught in Captain’s school. It was pure, powerful leadership in action.

Bravo Delta Airlines.

Cybercrime has come a long way since it was mostly a digital form of vandalism. It has developed into a criminal business operated for financial gain and is now worth billions.

In its Community Powered Threat Report for Q3 2011, AVG focuses on some of the most notable cybercrime developments in the last quarter.

Stealing Digital Currency
Digital Currency has become very popular in a short time. Facebook Credits, Xbox Points, Zynga coins and Bitcoin now play a vital role in a multibillion dollar global gaming economy. Far from being just of virtual value, many of these currencies are actively traded for real currency. This has not gone unnoticed by cyber criminals, now aiming to steal digital wallets from people’s computers. In June a digital wallet containing close to US $500,000 was stolen when someone broke into the victim’s computer and transferred most, but not all, of the money out of his wallet.

Outsourcing the Hard Part, Collecting the Money
In a bid to outsource the hassle and risks of collecting the money, cyber criminals are moving beyond credit cards details and are increasingly using mobile phone operators to do the collecting for them. A criminal might install a Trojan on to a victim’s Smartphone that sends premium SMS messages when the owner is asleep. They might use a Face book scam to get hold of people’s phone numbers and sign them up for an expensive monthly phone charge. A victim’s mobile operator will process the charges and transfer the money to the criminal organization, even if they reside on the other side of the world. If and when a victim notices the charge and the mobile operator is alerted to stop processing payments, considerable amounts may already have been stolen. If the amounts are small enough, many victims may not even notice for months.

Eavesdropping on Android
With Android taking almost 50 percent of the world’s Smartphone market share, it is no wonder that cyber criminals consider the platform an attractive target. Most Android malware focuses on making money from premium SMS. However, in July AVG investigated a Trojan that records a victim’s phone conversation and SMS messages and sends them to the attacker’s servers for analysis to identify potential confidential data. This clearly demonstrates the power of modern mobile operating systems but also the tremendous risks unprotected mobile users are open to.

Other key findings in the report:
• Rogue AV Scanner is currently the most active threat on the web
• Exploit Toolkits account for over 30% of all threat activity on malicious websites (‘Fragus’ is most popular, closely followed by ‘Blackhole’)
• Angry Birds Rio Unlocker is the most popular malicious Android application
• The USA is still the largest source of spam, followed by India and Brazil.
“In Q3 we started to see a clear trend in cybercriminals shifting their focus to simplifying money collection,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Chief Technology Officer, AVG Technologies. “Well-organized criminal gangs are now letting mobile phone operators handle the money collecting part by focusing on mobile phones and setting victims up for charges that will appear on their phone bill some time later. Not only is it a lot easier, it also scales to tremendous volumes making money by stealing small amounts from very large groups of victims.”

A recent report authored by the research agency The Future Laboratory reveals that while cybercriminals and malicious programs are becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect, users are, alarmingly, becoming the weakest link as they are less vigilant about protecting their online devices. The combination of these two factors presents a potentially disastrous cybercrime scenario.

For more details about each of these threats, download the AVG report.

Here’s how he talks (From his speech to the 93rd Annual Convention, American Legion, Minneapolis, August 30, 2011.

“Don’t give up!

We Americans have been through tough times before, much tougher times than these. And we didn’t just get through them, we emerged stronger than before. Not by luck. Not by chance. But because in hard times, Americans don’t quit. We don’t give up. We summon the spirit that says, when we come together, we choose to move forward together, there’s absolutely nothing we can’t achieve.”

68 words, 8 negatives. Mobilizing language is the most powerful tool any leader has. Obama has shown a consistent pattern of disabling his most significant ideas and constructive concepts with needless, negative, demotivational language.

Here’s what he should have said:

Americans have been through tough times before, much tougher times than these. And every time we emerged stronger than before. We made our own luck. We took some chances. That’s because in hard times, Americans always stay the course or choose a new one. We have always joined in a common spirit that when we choose to move forward together, we can overcome any obstacle, any barrier, any distraction to achieve what ever we set our minds and collective energies to accomplishing. It’s time for every American to ask themselves what they can do for America, today and just do it.

Abraham Lincoln knew how to use negative words as powerful image energizers and memorability enhancers.

Here’s the Gettysburg Address:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

277 words, 7 negative words or phrases, but what a difference.

To be fair, let’s look at what Lincoln could have said had I edited out his negatives:

But, in a larger sense, only the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, can adequately consecrate this ground. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it must remember what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the work that remains to be done which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall have died so this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall last forever.

You can decide on this one.

In the case of Richard Nixon’s famous, “I am not a crook.” If we remove the negative we get, “I am a crook.” The truth.

With President Clinton’s remark, “I did not have sex with that woman.” My edit would have changed history, “I had sex with that woman.” The truth, again.

The lesson: Negative language is always erroneous, error prone, confusing, unclear, wrong, and leads away from the truth. Negative language starts or prolongs all arguments, contentious situations, divorces, and wars. Test it your self.

Leaders who lead avoid negative language or, like Lincoln, truly know how to use these flammable words correctly.

1. Comcast: If you subscribed to any of its services, you have learned that the primary way to communicate with this company is through an android voice on a toll free number that tries to probe you for information and determine how it can pass you on to the next android voice or phone tree. It is extremely hard to get a person on the phone at Comcast. It is hard to imagine how this company can continue to promote itself with self-glorifying and self-satisfied comments about customer service when its every move is away from customers and providing direct help. Don’t get me started about its “service guarantee,” hogwash.

2. JD Power Awards: I bet the last time you took your car to the repair service, as you paid the bill, there was a large sign there warning you about how to fill out the customer satisfaction form when it arrives by email, or by mail. There was undoubtedly also a note that if there was any category in which you couldn’t mark excellent, to talk to someone at the repair shop to get that fixed, so you could mark it excellent. These customer service excellence awards are institutional baloney, and total put-up jobs. If you purchase JD Power Services, you are guaranteed of getting a good result, because you bought it, you performed according to their specifications, and you will therefore own the result. It’s not about customer service; it’s about getting the customers to submit to a disingenuous process. Has JD Power ever published a list of those companies who failed? Any companies admitted it?

3. Smart Stuff: Whenever you see the adjective “smart” tied to something else, you can count on two things, whatever it is that supposed to be smart probably really isn’t all that smart, and the company providing it is still figuring out what they really mean. This concept is especially prevalent in the utility industry which is talking about all kinds of smart activities from meters that can control your appliances to helping (forcing?) you to manage your energy consumption. There will be bigger bills, sometimes much bigger. Seems the age old monitoring methods and the meters are inaccurate and generally favor the customer. Smart meters work perfectly, remember everything, and will catch every photon of energy you use . . . Many of these ‘smart” services have yet to be invented, even though they are being talked about as if they exist today.

4. Your local pharmacy:  Whether you go to Target, Walgreens, CVS, or any of your major pharmacy, you find that you almost invariably make a second trip. Their inventories are so low, and so thin, probably forced on them by shareholder pressure that they too just assume that you will make a second trip, because, what else are you going to do? And yet, every one of them talks about being your family friendly pharmacy, being a member of your family, being your friend when you are in need, protecting you against dosage error and conflicting medications. Is that how your pharmacy makes you feel? I thought family members bent over backwards to help.

5. The Email Avalanche: If you have given your email address to any outlet retail, service, or otherwise, you will see an immediate bolus of emails which seems to be unstoppable. Since when does customer service mean filling our emailboxes. We need a “do not send” law, with teeth.

6. My favorite this month is Wells Fargo Bank’s elimination of the deposit envelope. “Go Green” they say, but now, instead of just putting your deposit in a free envelope, then into the friendly 24/7 deposit slot, now you have to use your credit card, stand there and mess around with your deposit put it in the slot yourself in a certain way thus doing the bank’s job for it. That’s the goal. Eliminate more people (the envelop tellers) and make the customer do the work. What gets greener are the bonuses of the bankers who find ways to fire more employees.

7. Call centers are fading away. Taking customer calls cost money. Turns out that off shoring call centers has caused other unintended problems. It’s pretty easy to recognize that you are talking to someone from say India or another country. Language problems have become a prime customer irritant. Seniors, who are generally hard of hearing, have difficulty hearing people with accents. The solution has become eliminating people altogether, make the customer go to a web site and figure everything out for themselves. You can “talk live” but it’s really a typing exercise that often ends with the machine telling you to call the 800 number. And the androids take over.

It’s about time someone developed a universal code of customer service so that if a company actually used it, and lived up to it, customers would know, and maybe recommend them.

Here is my attempt at a simple sensible Customer Service Manifesto.

1. Rather than interpose digital services and servants, genuinely move towards customers and personal contact. The other night my wife and I went to a local spaghetti place, which we do about every six weeks. The waitress came over, smiled and then simply repeated our usual order, then asked if we wanted to make any changes. She apologized for not remembering our drink order but that she probably would by the time we came in again.  Holy cow, who cares? What a performance. She was having fun and so were we.
2. Employ truly independent monitors and service measurement techniques to give the customers an appropriate and accurate assessment of customer service by reliable outside sources. Stop brow beating customers with telephone, web, and other survey techniques.
3. Set a maximum of one email per week, the criteria being something that is genuinely a bargain, new information, or that customers truly must have to be safer, improve their living circumstances, or their quality of life.
4. Keep merchandise in stock. Measure and report publically the number of times customers have to return because stocks were too low. Self penalize when customers don’t get what they ask for. Report this information visibly in store and on website dashboards. Monitor and report customer accountability.
5. Actually like customers, want them around, appreciate the relationship. Post examples of specific customer friendly, customer service-oriented actions, policies, outcomes and expectations. Show your customer what to expect of you.
6. Make “live” chats truly live. If they are cyber-chats, then call them cyber-chats. Publish comparison data contrasting true satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels as registered by participants, without prompting.
7. Be disclosive and candid. Provide lightly moderated forums where customers can freely and publically chat about their experiences.

What would be in your manifesto for customer service? What are your stories of customer abuse? Or obvious goofiness?

 At a recent RMPR meeting we wanted to reflect on the career advice from employers, teachers and friends that has stuck with us and how we have applied it to our professional development.

You will only fail if you don’t try. This is something I learned from my family when picking a career path. It taught me to be determined in achieving what I want for my career and not fear the outcome. I have used this throughout the years by putting my best effort into my work and trying to achieve not only the results that I want, but what my superiors expect of me, as well.

Early on, Laura G. was told to show enthusiasm for learning because no career is static. This has taught Laura to not be afraid to take on an assignment that she may be unfamiliar with. Within her career, Laura knows that no matter how much she has learned, there will always be something new for her to discover.

Whoever told you it would be easy? Andrew learned this perspective from one of his college professors. It taught Andrew that no matter how much he learned in school, applying it in the career world may not always come right away. Andrew has realized no profession is stagnant, and even though it may challenge him he looks forward to the journey.

When Laura W. started as an intern at RMPR she learned quickly to always take notes. This has shown Laura the importance of capturing others thoughts. This has allowed her to become thorough and efficient with her client work.

Always be kind. When working with clients Andrea is able to take a positive and professional approach in addressing client needs. She has the ability to take client opinions and put a creative spin on it to help her produce deliverable work.

What’s the worst thing that could happen? Whether its smoothies or strikes, Rose has served a variety of clients over the years and is willing to run with what is thrown her way. Rose has set aside her fears of the unknown and has taken her experience to fit each and every client’s unique needs.

Joel learned from his superiors to stop, look and reflect. Whether it’s impressing his boss or making sure he is on track with client projects, Joel knows the importance of taking a step back to reflect on his progress to make sure everything is cohesive.

Here’s a smart guy who shot a huge torpedo into the guts of his company, watched it blow up, and is still assessing the damages. So, he decides that what his departing customers need to hear, rather than an apology, is a bunch of management school gibberish that fails to answer two big questions: What were they thinking? And Do they really care anyway?

Instead of apologizing (although Hastings uses the word three times), working to mollify both the thousands who have left, and the thousands who will leave, he writes a letter that says essentially,” I love myself. I am really really smart and you should love me too. Let me count the ways for you.”

What follows is the mantra of American business today: never apologize, never, never, never. If you want to look like a sissy, apologize. If you want to look weak, apologize. If you want to look like a cave-in to the lesser mortals, apologize. Want to look utterly silly in front of your business school buddies (male or female), apologize. If you’re a coward, apologize.

When will these business types begin to understand the two crucial ingredients of the relationship with any and all constituencies? Trust is based on providing information before the potential victims need it. Netflix failed here. And a sincere apology is actually the atomic energy of empathy, and can prevent or at least moderate the creation of critics and victims, while detoxifying bad news.

A credible apology has five principal components:

1. An admission that harm was done through the actions of the perpetrator.
2. The perpetrator explains and shows evidence of understanding the nature of the harm caused.
3. The perpetrator’s statement of profound regret, remorse, and recognition contains some of the lessons the perpetrator has learned that will help avoid similar harmful circumstances in the future.
4. The perpetrator humbly asks for forgiveness from all those affected.
5. The perpetrator voluntarily imposes some serious penance for the benefit of those adversely affected, and may even invite in outside oversight to ensure that appropriate measures have been taken to resolve the matter, and prevent future mistakes.

Instead, in what has become the classic style of business faux apology, Mr. Hastings does the following:

1. Attempt to explain what the company is doing and why. The question is: Why we should care?
2. He talks about what was “not their intent” by explaining that in fact all this turmoil was their intent “it wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it (telling you about it) would have been the right thing to do.” What on earth does this mean?
3. He talks about himself throughout the entire letter, which was supposed to be, one presumes, to help customers adjust to the company’s screw-up. Mr. Hastings uses “I” a dozen times. What incredible arrogance.
4. He continues his devastating customer discussion by mentioning that there will be two websites and to make it more complicated for customers these sites will be separate and incompatible. Why doesn’t he just say that they want their DVD customers to take a hike to the thousands of little red one dollar machines on every street corner?
5. He pulls the same stunt so many business perpetrators do by issuing, what amounts to a fourth phony apology at the end of the letter, “ . . . And to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly”. Thoughtlessly? The company’s action caused tens of thousands of families to sacrifice a small but crucial personal pleasure due to the yet to be plausibly explained greed of his company.

Failure to apologize effectively always leaves far more questions than answers. Yet, does Mr. Hastings respectfully invite additional inquiries and promise additional explanations?

His last sentence essentially says it all, “The Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. [How? By splitting the service in two and making everything more complicated and expensive?] We know it will not be overnight. [How many more arrogant screw-ups do you have in store?] Actions speak louder than words. [Tell us about it.] But words help people to understand actions.” [Maybe it’s time to take an empathy course, probably at a small school in Minnesota. You won’t find it in any business school curriculum.]

Translation: Up yours, strong message (We only care about ourselves.) to follow.

Rarely in the annals of a successful consumer franchise like Netflix can its legacy be so quickly and permanently stained. Yes, permanently . . . this goofy decision and its self- inflicted consequences will always be included in stories, discussions, and analyses of this company.

Bad news ripens badly. And this story and this product will still be decaying for a while.

During a recent RMPR team meeting, a spur-of-the-moment conversation about difficult situations we’ve encountered at past jobs allowed us to reflect on lessons we’ve learned and how we apply them everyday in our jobs as public relations professionals.  Keep reading to learn more about our past lives and how we apply them to our jobs today!

Keeping cool under pressure is something I learned during my high school summers as a lifeguard.  Yes, a lifeguard…the dream job of high schoolers everywhere.  What could be better than getting paid above minimum wage to sit and tan for eight hours a day?  I quickly learned why our training was hands on.  Two fellow employees in one week failed to jump in to save a distressed swimmer.  Both resulted in 911 calls.  Thanks to the calm swift action of the rest of the team, the swimmers survived.

From Failblog.org

Working as a dietary aide during high school, Samantha learned the importance of paying attention to details.  A mistake in a person’s diet could have negative implications.  Today, Samantha makes sure to triple check all of her work because one mistake could snowball into something much bigger.  Attention to detail is an important part of effective communication.

Laura W. worked for her parents, who own a property management company, where she helped communicate with residents about lock changes on over 200 units.  Thanks to effective and open communication no one was locked out of their apartments, a great accomplishment that taught Laura what proactive communication can do.

Doing the job right the first time is something Andrea learned working on her family’s farm.  She was in charge of supervising other local kids that her family hired.  Of course, weeding farm fields probably isn’t what most teenagers wanted to be doing, and maybe they slacked a little.  Knowing that doing a sloppy job would make weeds reappear at the end of the growing season, she learned how important it was to do things right the first time .

Andrea’s experience is similar to the lesson of accountability that Laura G. learned growing up.  She learned through various customer service jobs that you need to be accountable for your own work, and you need to hold others accountable for what they do.

Growing up in a small town, Joel had one choice for his first job: McDonalds.  When you go to McDonalds, you expect your food fast.  Promptness is exactly what Joel learned in his first job.  You can work quickly, accurately, and with a smile.  It’s a skill that’s almost as desirable as a Big Mac.

Whether you work in Public Relations or your family farm, the biggest lesson, and one that Laura R. learned working at a law firm, is the power of a positive attitude.  People are more receptive to your ideas if you present them using positive constructive language.

All of these lessons have one thing in common: we can apply them to our personal and professional lives everyday.  Take a minute and reflect on the lessons you’ve learned.  Are you applying them to your life today, or are you still missing the weeds in the soybean field?

So far, the record for the profession in either arena is mixed. There have been some successes, some strikeouts, some absolute no-hitters and some MIAs. That’s because business and other leaders have lost or ignored their responsibility to build and rebuild integrity as a workplace principle — a workplace guiding force.

Legislators continue to pass laws imposing extensive compliance requirements and an ever-increasing stack of regulations, restrictions and oversight requirements, in addition to internal and self-imposed monitoring. Virtually none of these can restore public, investor, employee, customer or individual trust. Restoration of trust begins by focusing and rebuilding the most essential element of an ethical reputation: integrity.
The foundation for integrity is organizational trust.

Need to Restore Trust

The PR profession — if it chooses to — can play a vital role in restoring and enhancing trust. Lawyers aggressively oversee the areas of compliance and codes of conduct. That’s where the monitoring is; that’s where the police are; and that’s where the detection, deterrence and disclosure of infractions occurs.

Restoring trust and maintaining an environment of integrity occurs in an organization along two powerful tracks: the principles that guide daily processes and decisions, and uncompromising vigilance.

Here are some examples of trust-building organizational principles:

• Our goal is integrity.
• We have constructive aspirations.
• We live a philosophy of integrity.
• We have a commitment to compliance and good conduct.
• We recognize those who achieve the best work in the best way.
• Our vigilance is driven by our principles, priorities, and our conscience.
• Everyone is committed to integrity.
• Everyone is a corporate conscience.

Uncompromising vigilance means to clearly define, dramatically emphasize and relentlessly enforce organizational values and beliefs. It is the organization’s unconditional commitment to prevent, detect, deter, or ultimately, expose and learn from those activities that run counter to the ethics of the organization.

Integrity is barely taught in business schools. It is something the boss is rarely compensated for. This is a perfect place for the PR practitioner to provide extraordinary counsel. Constructive leadership depends upon integrity. If there’s one thing public relations strives to provide, it is constructive counsel to leaders.

‘Sissy Stuff’
One problem is that many bosses think integrity is “sissy stuff.” They have a hard time seeing themselves at their country club having their buddies in the locker room kid them about how they caved in to those who would rather sell out than sell up.

Standing for integrity means standing up. Standing for integrity means helping an organization unlearn inappropriate behaviors. It means helping others learn how to handle ethical dilemmas and difficult issues. Integrity also teaches how to bring out the best in an organization — the best people, the best products, the best relationships, the best work and the best practices.

If there ever was a growth area for PR — one in which most of us absolutely, positively fit — it is guiding and inspiring the relentless quest for integrity: behaving with honor; expecting everyone else to do the same; and helping everyone become a corporate conscience.