Blog

A Good Way To Engage The Public

Carl Setzer

Just read Ragan’s post about Southwest’s engagement via social media. They clearly get social media, how it’s about listening. I love seeing stuff like this.

I found their desire to name their PR command center “The Listening Post” particularly telling. Compare it, if you will, with Wal-Mart’s choice of “War Room”. One implies collaborative, engagement, respectful of it’s customers; while the other immediately screams adversarial. Seems clear which will be the best at mollifying the energy of critics.

This attitude works best to build ambassadors for your brand. These fans will be infinitely better at defusing potential crisis then even the best PR pros.

Your fans are a key asset. Invest in them.

My Email Frustration Du Jour

Carl Setzer

Let’s all agree to start using the “To:” line correctly.

Senders:

  •  Put people in the “To” line who have action items, or are otherwise the direct focus of the email. E.g.: “Carl, please take care of this”…blah, blah. Use the “CC:” line for people on the email for informational purposes. 

Readers:

  • Look in the address header to see where you fit in before you read. Then you’ll have a solid idea of whether you are being asked for information or action, or whether you’re being informed of a status, data, what-have-you.

 If we can all start following email 101, maybe we can de-confuse the world some.

Maybe…

Restarts

Carl Setzer

I’ve been considering my blog theme for some time. Though I love poetry (and still plan on writing), my interests are much more varied.

My career has progressed over a wide array of industries and functions, all within the basic “general business administration” category. I’ve worried about shifting my focus, though. I’ve never been much for “profit hunting”. Business, though, impacts so many areas of our society, and we all are impacted by this institution. The variety in my background, from differing sectors (non-profits, Fortune 500, small and mid-sized business) to types (retail, technology, religious, advocacy, distribution, wholesale….) provides me with a remarkable perspective.

All this blends into a particular viewpoint. I take a long-term view. Sustainability is critical (both for individual institutions and society en masse). Project management tools and disciplines are master strokes of intellectual achievement.

Trolls and Vile Vitriol

Carl Setzer

https://twitter.com/aesthethica/status/287692133371109377

This troll’s comment gave me pause. What’s the best response? Public humiliation & shame? Just ignoring them? Gentle correction? Or???

I find it hard to sit silently when I witness cruelty, even as I recognize that response is exactly what the troll seeks. Certainly don’t want to reward deviant behavior. However, what’s effective?

Fame At Any Cost? Why?

Carl Setzer

Our culture promotes fame. I’ve never understood the why. Why are we compelled to garner as much attention as possible?

Fame is so compelling that we’re quite comfortable with infamy. We’re comfortable with the horrified gaze, or at least the incredulous one.

My main evidence? The full spate of “reality” tv stars. Whether Honey Boo Boo right now, or what’s-his-name Huang American Idle, er Idol a few years back. Both people willing to abandon every shred of dignity for attention. Though annoying on so many levels, it presents for fascinating psychoanalysis. If you’re geeky like me, that is.

Random 2:00 AM Post

Carl Setzer

Came up with a new word.

Gesticfoolcate – those bizarre gestures meant to intimidate but actually make you want to howl w/laughter. I mainly am thinking of those gangster poses.

Yep, the wonderful things that come out if my brain at 2:00 am.

Enjoy!

Food and Food Systems

Carl Setzer

I just finished “The Wisdom of the Radish“, by Lynda Hopkins. Once working in business practices and environmental affairs for a large coffee company in Seattle, sustainability is part of my ethos. Thus, this work connected with me. Additionally, I have been reflecting on our food system. Concerned with how much poverty one finds interwoven; about the “additives” into our food system, enabling us to transfer food across the globe, wondering if that’s good or ill; and about our ability to sustain the rapidly growing population on this planet. I must write about such soon.

A different type of insight than you get from Michael Pollan’s works, yet still very insightful. Lynda’s book takes you into the mind of the farmer, one trying to implement sustainable and humane practices. For a nerd like myself, I enjoy the deeper dives into practices and issues they face. The poet in me delights in her stories, word style and structure and wit.

If you are a fan of farmer’s markets, care about ways to make our food system more sustainable, then you should block time to read this. Local farming will take on a new look, and respect.

*You can read my Amazon review for this one here.

’twas the Cold Before Christmas

Carl Setzer

’twas the night before Christmas,
And all through the house
We all were coughing and wheezing
Especially my spouse.

My son was wheezing
And coughing up goo.
We’re hot and then freezing
Just feeling like poo.

Medicines arranged
On the counter darn well,
With hopes these germs
Would be blasted to hell.

My wife with Kleenex
I had some too.
So often we sneezed,
Then the well worn “bless you”.

Bumped into the table,
Drugs all go a clatter.
Onto the ground,
This stuff that just matters.

As I pick up the junk,
I hear a strange sound.
Santa, it seems,
Well, a sniffling sound.

Lite coughing I hear,
I feel bad that I gripe,
When his nose I see,
Upon his sleeve he gently does wipe.

I hand some Kleenex,
The stuff with lite lotion.
He pats my left shoulder,
Quiet emotion.

Up the chimney he goes,
With a cough and a sneeze.
I look out the window,
He then says out to me.

“Hair we fish sticks, do awe,
Odd may comfort find ewe.
Germs go awayed,
My node cleared up too.”

Questing

Carl Setzer

Resisting the gate-keepers of mediocrity.
Crafting a life, unique.
Freed from fetters of mundanity.
This life I seek, eventually.