On Transparency

It's been a while since the last post in my communication-related blog. I've changed job at the beginning of last year and the journey so far has been fast-paced and fantastic and that's my official excuse. I'm lucky enough, however, to draw inspiration from what I do for a living. I've just been through a great week as we've had our kick-off with the executive team and the rest of the organization. This prompted me to reflect on transparency.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, transparency is: "a situation in which business and financial activities are done in an open way without secrets, so that people can trust that they are fair and honest"

This is what I've seen in this company. Executives speaking openly, clarifying the reasons for their choices and making the entire team part of the decision process. I've seen issues being addressed and fixed frankly. I've seen entire groups rejoicing together of great results as they feel part of this.

Transparency wins. It secures hearts and minds. It conquers individuals, teams and companies. Ultimately, it'll be the key to succeed.

Applying Clarke's Law to the Present Age (a Quick Tip to Foster Innovation)

Cover of Arthur C. Clarke

The British writer Arthur C. Clarke formulated three laws of prediction and, undoubtedly, these can be easily transformed to tips and tricks to foster innovation, but let's start with the rules:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. 
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. 
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I pretty much like all the laws, but I'm amazed by the 1st of them. Funny at first sight, if you scratch the surface there's something enlightening. I won't argue that youngsters are smarter than adults, that's not always the case and it would be an over-generalization.  The problem is that, once your mind gets used to see things in a certain way, changing that habit becomes difficult. In other words, if you think as you've always done, you can interpret the old days and read your present with confidence, but see the future as a reflection of past times.

I'm not sure if I can change how neurotransmission works in my brain, but I'll not raise a red flag every time my experience tells me that something is impossible. I'll also try to change the lens I see the world trough and consider thoroughly all the options before making any conclusion. Time travel anyone? ;)

Disclaimer: I've drawn the inspiration to write this post from Daniel Gilbert's "Stumbling on Happiness". If you want to read an well-written book on how the human mind works and how we tend to predict and like our future, that's a great starting point.

Related articles

• 1968 iPad (allthingsd.com)
• Arthur C. Clarke Predicts The Internet (swiss-miss.com)

Groupon, how to keep a loyal customer (UPDATED)

Dear Groupon,

I've always been a supporter of your site and when I've heard someone complaining about the quality of your services I was with you, on your side. The reason is that I really loved the concept behind Groupon: give power to people trough collective actions.
This simple idea appealed a lot to me and whenever an issue arose, I always gave you the benefit of doubt and said that it wasn't your fault.

Logo of Groupon (Wikipedia)

Then something changed... and a few months ago I bought a set of knives hoping to receive them in less than 20 days as advertised. It was back in January and, as of today, I've never got anything at my place. That could happen, could be merchant's fault.
I started to open an endless chain of tickets to your customer care department and I've usually got two answers: "we're checking with the seller" or "we're working on your refund request" and nobody ever came back to me (ticket numbers #714518, #688063, #687435, #655754, #623462, #596450, etc..). Five months passed.

This lack of meaningful communication and all the time I've spent trying to fix this trivial thing made me really, really, really unhappy. I trusted the Group Promise, what should I do now?

Regards,
Luca


UPDATE (21/05/2012):
The Groupon Team was very responsive to my tweets and provided a refund. I've changed the blog title to "How to keep a loyal customer" as it's how you deal with problems that really makes a difference.
Thanks @groupon @groupon_italia.

Italy could be a great place for start-ups

Italy is famous for its food and fashion, for sport cars and lovely places to visit, for the warm character of Italians and for fine works of art, but could Italy be the perfect place for start-ups? I think so and let me explain why.

Why should I start my company here?

Birth of Venus, Botticelli

What do you need to craft the perfect recipe? And to build the world's most desired cars? What do you need to create a fine piece of art? Creativity and passion.
What do you need to build the next big thing? Creativity and passion.
Creativity, as your idea should be disrupting and challenge the status quo. Passion as you need execution to transform an idea in a business, despite the crisis and the headwinds.

Working surrounded by wonderful sights, in the relaxing and warm atmosphere that only Italy can give, startuppers can focus on their ideas and live a meaningful live. Another important factor is the moderate cost of living, which is relatively low compared to other major European countries.

Let's change what doesn't work
There are some issues that stop entrepreneurs from moving to Italy, like the bureaucracy or the limited amount of VC funding, but that'll change quickly. Government is focusing on a digital agenda, on simplification and growth. To stimulate young talents we should organize events and conferences. We should build state-funded incubators to ensure proper support and money to early stage startups. We already have some great VCs, but many more will come when they smell the renewed energy of Italy's startup scene.

We innovated many times throughout our history and a crisis is the perfect excuse to change our skin again and adapt to the new conditions. Let's make this Country the dream of every young entrepreneur!

How to Build an International Brand

Lately I've been reading articles on how to build international brands. While it's not that easy to transform a syrup into a global brand, there are some steps that should be taken. Smaller firms can benefit from them too.

Begin at the Beginning
First things first, everyone should get it right from the beginning. Global-always-on companies are now the standard and even local brands, sooner or later, should jump into the unknown and embrace the world as a market. If the branding strategy is heading into the right direction since its infancy, time won't be lost afterward trying to re-position the image. Brand is an intangible asset that allows you to ask for a premium on your products and at the end you'll have a good return on your investment.

What Should you do Then?
There are a lot of excellent tips in Inc's article, however I dare to summarize all of them in two words: respect and knowledge. Respect local habits, styles and preferences. You won't be successful in front of a diverse audience if you consider them similar to you. Cultural sensitivity is at the heart of your branding campaign. Know the foreign market, embrace their universe and understand what makes people proud to be citizens of that country. Rely on someone who as a direct knowledge of that market. It could be a local company or a global partner with local specialization.


Success is Never Granted
It's not a given that you'll be successful in front of a foreign audience and there's no recipe that guarantees that. Your brand is a hope. You're making a promise that people are buying into and you need to deliver whatever that product or service is.You need to ensure that your customers' experiences with your product, your business, and your staff are positive and your brand will be enriched. Delude your customers and your promise will vanish.

Will you be successful? Time will tell.

What are we talking about? What's publicime?

It's the beginning of a new year and along with wishes and dreams, I'd like to start with concrete actions. I've always had two passions: technology and advertising. I devote most of my life to the first one as it helps to pay the bills and care for my family, but I realize that the latter gives me equal joy and kindles my dreams. The first is logical, the second is foolish. The first is real, the second is imaginary. One touches minds, the other moves hearts. Together, they're the essence of me.

This blog is meant to complement the logical side of me and I plan to discuss things like marketing, advertising, public relations and communication. I'm sometimes enchanted by advertisements and I believe I can reach a difficult goal: Making readers love communication and advertising! That's why I've started this blog.

I'm going to move all the non-technical content from my other blog to begin with. They'll be published with the original dates. Feel free to reach out to me, even just to say hello!
Luca

Appraising Your Investment In Enterprise Web Analytics

In the information age, everyone collaborates on this worldwide knowledge exchange channel that's called Internet. Computing devices are proliferating and all interactions are finding a common home: the net. It binds us in a way that was inconceivable only a few years ago. I can stay up to date on what my US or Japan colleagues are doing. I can read articles and thoughts written in unknown cities all around the globe.

We are all on the web. Whether you have a small niche blog or you are a famous writer in your field of expertise, you should care about analyzing your readers. This becomes more important if you are a company willing to publicize products on the web.

I just found this interesting Google sponsored Forrester research that may be captivating for all of us.

Happy reading.
Luca

Arun Sarin, former Vodafone's CEO, Sharing Leadership Tips

I've just spent an hour of my spare time watching an exceptional UC Berkeley Lecture by Arun Sarin, former Vodafone's CEO. He shared his thoughts on leadership, focusing on four major topics that a leader should always keep in mind. I'll try to summarize some points that I intend to keep in mind.

Strategy
Always look at the big picture, keep an eye on what will be your company in 5,10, 15 years. Try to understand the world and anticipate trends. Comunicate clearly through mission and vision and make sure that every step is in the right direction.

Operations
While a good leader should be strategic, never underestimate the daily operations. Make sure that your customers have a good experience with the company. Be sure that they have the needed attention if an issue arises.

People

Be an overall nice person to work with. Choose the right people in the right place and if something is not working face the issue immediately.

Cross-Culture

We cannot imagine any big corporation working only in a single country. Innovation happens everywhere and we should be acquainted with doing business all around the world. It doesn't means that you should be an expert on country history, but it means that you should respect people and care about them. 

In conclusion I appreciated a thought that he expressed: do your job wholeheartedly, whatever you are doing. If you are carrying bags for someone else, carry these bags well. This is probably the most important tip that he shared, I'll keep it in a drawer of my mind.

I admit that my summary is very short, I may have lost some important points, but you can listen to the podcast by yourself. This is not related to technology, open source or MySQL, but it helps to understand the dynamics of big companies and how the world is changing.

Happy learning,

Luca

MIT Open Courseware

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. In a few words I'll define it as a nice "open-source-like" way to share knowledge.

I've always loved these guys at MIT, obviously I'm light-years behind, but they are able to express complex matters easily and clearly. I'm used to listen in my spare time some lectures and it's really interesting to get in touch with bright minds.

I've recently listened to a nice discussion named "The World is Flat" from Thomas L. Friedman where he describes various events in our history that contributed to flattening the world. He spokes about technology, history, .com bubble and almost every aspect of our culture.

The address is:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

Have a nice learning!