Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand by Shel Holtz, John C. Havens
Organizations are under a microscope as never before, and thanks to the Internet and the growing use of high-speed connections, word of misdeeds and mistakes can spread to millions with unprecedented speed, causing untold damage to an organization’s reputation and share price. No longer just a “nice-to-know” concept, transparency has become a state of mind for thousands of CEOs, managers, employees, and customers around the globe. The flood of social media has brought in an age of digital transparency that is?putting the power to create or destroy a reputation into the hands of consumers. Every business today must speak the language and meet the expectations of a new digital population.
While exposing the risks inherent in maintaining a nontransparent relationship with customers, Tactical Transparency provides a methodology that will help organizations create their own unique plans to bring greater authenticity to their companies and brands. Drawn largely from interviews with leaders in companies that have achieved measurable success in this arena, authors Shel Holtz and John C. Havens provide step-by-step details on how executives and professional communicators can create a transparency strategy that will keep their organizations competitive in the twenty-first century. The authors show how organizations can evaluate their readiness for transparency, what they need to do to get ready, and how?to effectively communicate their transparency strategy to their customers and employees. They also identify aspects of blog/new media “netiquette”—an important but often misunderstood part of engaging in transparency.
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About the Author
Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. His clients have included Intel, Sears, PepsiCo, Petrobras, Aetna, John Deere, Manulife Financial, Hewitt Associates, General Mills, USAA, Applied Materials, Symantec, Raytheon, The World Bank, Petrobras, Amdocs, Disney, FedEx, Freescale Semiconductor, The International Monetary Fund, National Geographic, The American Red Cross and Monsanto.
Before forming Holtz Communication + Technology in February 1996, Shel was senior communications consultant and the communications practice leader for Alexander & Alexander Consulting Group in San Francisco, California. (A&ACG has since been acquired by Aon Consulting.)
Shel has more than 30 years of organizational communications experience in both corporate and consulting environments. He is experienced in employee communications, compensation and benefits communications, corporate public relations, media relations, financial communications, investor relations, and marketing communications.
In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, communicating business initiatives, and communications research.
Other books:
- How to Do Everything with Podcasting–co-written with Neville Hobson
- Blogging for Business–co-written with Ted Demopoulos
- Corporate Conversations–a guide to employee communications
