Every week, if not everyday, we hear of more newspapers failing or struggling to stay alive. Newsrooms are cutting staffs, cutting sections, cutting pages. Papers are trying to find a silver bullet to attract more readers and larger revenue streams online. They are not having much luck so far.

Faced with the reality of changing needs of traditional journalists, a broadcast media that has become more entertainment than news, and today’s fast-developing online world of social media, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, how do we attract attention and communicate accurately, effectively and clearly?

Here are six suggestions for organizational leadership in today’s competitive world:

• Advocate change – Learn the styles, trends and new protocols of today’s mainstream and online media as it shifts and jockeys to find a niche. Champion change in your own organization. Old habits die hard at many organizations, slowing them from learning new styles and embracing new techniques. While it might be an old habit and more comfortable, for example, to send out a press release, that kind of outreach has become less effective in today’s competitive world.
• Embrace storytelling – Learn how to tell what your organization has to say in an appealing story. Storytelling is the singular most powerful technique for any organization or business to attract attention and trigger word of mouth buzz that will ultimately enhance leadership positioning. The media, whether mainstream or online, is always looking for a good story.
• Think plain language – The communications clarity of business and organizations is too often polluted by obfuscated language of industry short-hand or over-worked business school jargon. As a communicator, translate opaque into plain and clear language that everyone will understand.
• Reach out to few to achieve more – Develop working relationships with those individuals – whether journalists, bloggers, analysts or others – who are opinion-leaders in your industry or business sector. Chances are the list of authentic influencers is astonishingly short. Become a valued and trusted resource aside from promoting your own organization. The payoff will be exponential because of enhanced credibility, and the fact that the top thought-leaders in your industry will begin turning to you and your organization to learn more. With regard to the media, the days of blasting out press releases to thousands of people are fast coming to an end for the simple reason that a release sent to everyone is the antithesis of what any journalist wants or needs for a story.
• Stop marketing and promoting, start listening – We are living and working in a new world influenced by vast choices online, a world of diminished influence for traditional advertising, marketing and promotion. This is the hardest thing for many organizations to grasp – that we must let go of old ways, and listen to the people who matter most to our organizations – customers, clients, buyers, stakeholders, the media – and get into conversations with them. There’s an old belief that the best kind of promotion is when a third-party person says something nice about you … and it’s never been truer than today. Listening and conversations lead to those who matter most to your organization telling others nice things about you. They become an army of ambassadors who build the best kind of awareness.
• Become the credible voice and face of your organization and industry – Look around at today’s most respected organizations. In many cases, the top executives have high visibility, and are recognized as leaders – Tony Hsieh of Zappos, John Chambers of Cisco, Richard Branson of Virgin, Steve Jobs of Apple. They define and differentiate the image, integrity and reputation of their organizations through their own consistent openness and transparency as industry leaders, often leaving less outward CEOs to stand in the shadows.

It is not that difficult to achieve organizational leadership to capitalize on all the changes around us. It begins with the discipline of letting go of old habits that often no longer work, and recognizing that if we do not get more savvy as communicators, we might wake up some day to find that our competitors have.

What one single quality distinguishes a good leader in today’s world?

My answer, based on research for my book and my own experience, is always the same – the ability to listen.

If there is a common thread between today’s outstanding leaders – from President Obama to Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh – it is the ability to listen. Listen to staff, listen to customers, listen to audiences, listen to the media. Just listen. They rarely act without first listening.

It makes me wonder about the CEOs of the Big Three troubled automakers. They appear to be only in sell mode, and not listeners. Or, the CEOs of the big financial and insurance companies that are now falling like dominos. Did they listen to anyone? I suspect that hubris got in the way of listening.

The subject of listening also reminds me of the worse boss I ever had. It was after I sold my PR agency and had gone to work for a global manufacturing company as head of worldwide communications. The CEO there never listened. His favorite phrase was, “I’m on transmit; you’re on receive,” which meant he didn’t want anyone to respond to his orders, just obey him … or else. You may have met one of those guys.

He fancied himself like a Top Gun ace, complete with large photo of a fighter jet on his office wall. He labeled staff meetings, “Roll-Downs,” because, he said, “s**t always rolls down the hill.”  He never listened.

I suspect there are a lot of CEOs similar to him still in corner offices. They may have fooled a board of directors into hiring them for a big salary package, but they are not, however, leaders.

Listening to him for months, he’s consistent, and his style of leadership is a big change from Presidential-speak of the last eight years.

Consulting for companies and organizations, I often advise not talking about yourself … your company or organization because … and this is the bitter pill for an ego, but … no one cares. People only care about the value and benefit that an organization’s services or products bring to everyday lives.

Mr. Obama in the White House is thrilling on many levels for our nation and the world but most of all, I believe, he is going to restore the We in, We the People. His presidency, I predict, will be a great spiritual journey for all of us.

While at the Changing Times Conference this past Christmas Holiday I attended a workshop lead by Holiday Reinhorn (who just so happens also to be Rainn Wilson’s AMAZING wife). She is also an award-winning author in her own right. We did some writing exercises to get our writing juices flowing and this is one of the pieces that I did. For each piece we were literally given 5-7 min so please bear that in mind… well, i also did clean mine up more than a wee bit, so bear that in mind too. Despite doing my PhD, which by default means that I should be a good writer I am not a writer. One of the ‘comments’ that I was given by my dear Professor during my Master’s degree was, “Clare, your writing is a breath of fresh air because you write very parochial, you write using very basic English”. I decided to take it as a compliment and embrace the fact that my writing is very simple, like many other things about me.

Forgotten Remembrances

I remember. I remember giving away the only thing that I thought I had left to give. I remember love.

And then I seem to have forgotten…

I remember counting down the days left till my period of service days I had given, wishing they would soon come to an end.

I remember the bugs in my bed, the green mamba I tried to catch and the friendly dog I named Rafiki, meaning friend.

I remember the Earth’s skin was turned red.

I remember the IVs in my arm, I remember the hospitals I frequented and the endless injections in my bum

I remember the tears, i wonder if I ever forget them or the sad puddle they formed in my path, and yet I fear that one day I will not remember them anymore and I will forget.

I remember the pain, the pain and the pain. I remember the days of endless nights.

I remember the shame that I felt, the shame of not being being perfect, of wanting to run away, of being tired of pioneering and ready for comfort and change.

Every morning as I would open my eyes it was first the foreign visions that filled up my mind. I would ask myself, as I did everyday, “why is it again that you wake up to these sights?” and then I would remember, I am here in love for You. And I was happy and tried to see the beauty where I didn’t see it before.

Every month as I got sick and visited the hospital with bucket in hand and fever on brow, I would ask myself, over and over again, “What do you love more than you love yourself?” and then I would remember, I am here in my love for You. And I was happy and waited for the sickness to pass.

Every time I had a lonely moment, and I had a lot of those, I Would ask myself, “why is it that you are here and not at home in the company of friends and family?” and then I would remember, I am here because of my love for You. And I was happy and tried to make friends.

I remember now that it was my pain, my tears and my discomfort that helped me to remember, when I started to forget, that it was my love for You that made me a pioneer. And I am happy once more.

Please visit Clare’s blog, Football and Faith.

They, like so many others, read the job postings but they become disillusioned at the lack of distinction. What these young adults – with degrees from places like MIT and Oxford – see is not a description for a career but rather a boilerplate of human resources gobbledegook to simply find someone to fill a slot.

The problem seems endemic to the United States. Here’s an example of what they were talking about. It’s for a mid-level position in communications for Sodexo USA, but the oblique language has become standard, regardless of the position:

In this role, you will:

• Create strategy for internal (multi-directional – multi media) communications which serve as a key driver/enabler of corporate strategy
• Segment communication by targeted audience (including senior management to front line) through management of communication channels (i.e. intranet, face to face meetings, webinars, video conference, etc.)
• Create and implement a strategy to evolve the intranet into a knowledge management tool for all management
• Lead the design and development of creative publications/presentations for all levels of management
• Coach senior management and their teams on effective communications that will support their business objectives
• Manage communication projects and materials, e.g., articles, brochures, newsletters, collateral material
• Analyze thematic company-wide issues and create and implement communication strategies to address them
• Assure company-wide communications/messages are uniform and consistent with corporate brand strategy
• Direct and advise on the most appropriate media and strategies for various types of communication and business objectives

This isn’t a vision for a career; it’s an unattainable checklist, given the position level.

How can you counsel someone who has an intimidating IQ and more achievements by the age of 25 than most people achieve by 40 about a job that has unrealistic mediocrity written all over it? While the descriptions are grand to read, corporate realities are different.

How can business and organizations find the best and brightest if all the HR people are able to do is cut and paste together essentially meaningless language for job announcements, and then rely on computer programs to search for keywords in resumes to find possible matches?

My old friend, Dr. Bill Charland, wrote a book called “Life-Work: A Career Guide for Idealists” while a professor at the University of Denver. He took a sort of utopian approach that bright people should only strive for and accept work that fulfills their personal quests and dreams, and never accept a job that inanely just fills a slot because that will never bring happiness.

So, even though he lives in New Mexico now and didn’t know it, Bill’s idealism was guiding me when I counseled those amazing future leaders to be wary of and avoid HR gobbledegook, perhaps the greatest impediment to leadership.

What the world needs, instead, is their intelligence … and their dreams.

I spoke about gaining a voice of leadership and integrity in a world of message clutter, and also led a workshop on blogging. So, almost by fate, I read Chris Brogan’s stimulating and relevant blog essay today, 27 Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community. In today’s Internet Era, this is a meaningful read that I want to excerpt here, along with a link to the full post on Chris’ blog.

Starter Moves

1. An intriguing title goes a long way towards getting people to the blog. Failing that, posts with numbers seem to work. Especially weird or odd numbers. 27 is odd.
2. A picture per blog post has been my trick for a while. It draws your eye, whether or not you want it to. We’re wired for it. I use Flickr Creative Commons photos to do that. (Make sure you give them adequate credit. I show that in this post, too.)
3. Did you ever notice most of my posts open by asking a question? That’s a secret. When I do that, you stop and think about the question. But more importantly, it shifts your mind to the “what’s in it for me” sphere that you started reading from in the first place. Make sense?
4. Break things up visually. Notice that I have an H3 tag (html speak) title repeating the top title, and that I’m using a list to give your eye some natural “chunking.” Go back and read cafe-shaped conversations for an example.
5. Oh, maybe I should’ve started the post by saying that it helps if you write something useful for people. People want posts they can use to improve themselves or their business.
6. Brevity rules. I mention this a lot. People just don’t read long posts (usually). There are exceptions. I read every word Ann Handley writes, and often wish for more.

Click read to read the rest at ChrisBrogan.com … and Happy New Year!

The five organizers all have “day jobs” yet have found the time to communicate and coordinate … mostly by email … a major conference that focuses on defining visionary leadership principles. In the process, they have attracted speakers from all over the world, ranging from actor Rainn Wilson and Italian business leader Giuseppe Robiati to Dr. Moshe Sharon, a distinguished scholar from Hebrew University.

It’s intense – daily lectures and workshops for eight to 12 hours.

I have never before seen, known or participated in such a meaningful conference. My wife, Kit Bigelow, who is one of the speakers, has described the event simply as, “humorously soul uplifting.” I look at the faces of the young adults, and see the world’s future.

Here’s another animation, created by Animoto …

A few of the speakers include Dr. Moshe Sharon from Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Italian business leader Giuseppe Robiati; Mr. Ian Semple; Mr. Burhaniddin Afshin; actor Phillip Hinton; award-winning fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn; and, the popular American actor, Rainn Wilson.

I will be blogging about Changing Times over the next few days. In the meantime, here are some photos.

There are a bunch of books out there about media relations but almost all are flawed. The books to avoid are either written A) by some MBA-professor type with no real-world experience B) by a journalist with no background working in corporate communications for a company, nonprofit or government agency C) written exclusively from the media relations perspective (like a sales book) with nothing about what a journalist needs to do their job D) written as if we’re in 1985 and there is no such thing as the Internet.

The Media Savvy Leader is terrific because David Henderson has been a success both as a journalist and as a media-relations practitioner. He is an Emmy Award-winning former CBS network news correspondent so he knows what it is like to be a working journalist. And as a media-relations advisor and strategist, he has been responsible for such stunning successes as generating massive national media attention on little Branson, MO. And Henderson knows the online world. He writes a terrific blog and knows how online communications fits into the mix.

If you are in media relations or corporate communications you got to read this book. Now. If you’re a CEO who wants to influence the media the way Steve Jobs does at Apple it is a must read. I found the discussions on how and why it is essential to take media relations in-house and not trust your reputation to a bloated PR agency to be absolutely essential information.

David Meerman Scott

While agencies today, whether advertising or PR, charge hefty fees, many have not kept up-to-date on the skills needed to effectively communicate in the Internet era.

They might be huge, employ a lot of people, have multiple offices (which is usually accomplished through the purchase of existing agencies), and make tons of money, but they still operate in silos, and the level of expertise among offices is inconsistent. It’s a sadly dismal yet accurate picture.

On the other hand, such an environment presents tremendous opportunities for the C-level executive who wants to learn how to capture the media spotlight and establish a reputation as a compelling and charismatic leader.

Please click here to read the whole story.