It is a site for disgruntled users of Apple PowerBooks with faulty screens to post their grievances in spite of Apple’s efforts at censoring these complaints on their official sites.

“Apple constantly close down, lock or delete any threads containing manufactoring[sic] information, photographs or links to external sites discussing this problem on their forums!”

“…they are aware of a known defect, do not want to address it and are scared of the bad publicity that would result…”

“Apple’s blatant censorship and refusal to address this problem [is] unpalatable…”

Reading this brings back to mind my own battles with Apple years ago over my first and last Powerbook.

Apple may well be creative and innovative in their product design development. Behaviour like these do seem to point to a rather more “conservative” approach to their PR and customer relationship activities. Deleting genuine posts made by frustrated loyal users is about as rude as you can get - tantamount to in-your-face denial. I fail to see how this can possible help Apple’s cause.

It would have been more honest to step up to the mark and say “hey, we know there’s a problem, and here’s what we are doing about it.” Sure, some customers will still be unhappy. But I reckon they would have lost less loyalty overall that way.

Incidentally, the potential impact of negative blog postings on companies in China is significant enough to warrant the existence of services that trawl the blogosphere for negative comments so as to get these companies to fix any potential customer relationship issues before the comments pick up critical mass. See this BusinessWeek article Inside the War Against China’s Blogs.

Points of note:

• Without our emotions, we will have difficulty making decisions.
• Strong emotions like fear can adversely affect our decisions.
• The more we deny our emotions, the less able we are to make a decision; regardless of how much info we have.
• Relying on our gut instincts is important.
• Women make better decisions - because women are more in touch with their emotions.
• We are not Vulcans.

All this points to what I talk about a lot on this blog - good businesses need leaders who have well-rounded, integrated personalities. These are people who are not only in touch with, but actively embrace their emotive side, their humanity. These are people who are as aware of market trends as they are of their own emotional state and health.

They make for better people overall too! And stand a better chance of living happier, more fulfilled lives. It’s a win-win really.

Thanks to Jany for this heads-up.

The very act of us discussing the very topic of transparency is transparency at work! Isn’t it ironic.

If I were a more conventional business, I would not be engaging in this discussion. And certainly not in public and with someone who could become a potential customer (ie someone I have to impress at all costs). Discussion this would threaten my need to maintain an “I know best” perception. I would not have a blog as that would mean I risk exposing my humanity, my fallibility, and God-forbid show some emotions and passion. I may *gasp* accidentally reveal my true nature, my true values.

A blog is a public forum, open for all to see. A blog is informal, genuine, and personal. I debated over posting this piece on the authenticity of the Catholic Church because I thought it would be too personal and less relevant to the business-related stuff I talk about here. As my friend Stilgherrian wisely said “All views are personal views … If [your] blog represents your daily thoughts of how authenticity, transparency etc affect our lives, why is this issue any different?”

More and more companies are blogging, engaging in a never-before-seen level of transparent dialogue with their customers. Customers are invited to look inside these businesses, inside the thoughts and conversations going on right now in those organisations. Complaints and compliments flow directly and immediately. Businesses are stepping up and being transparently accountable for their actions, their successes and their failures.

Ideas and insights flow freely. People feel engaged, heard and valued. Customers like that. So do the people inside these businesses.

Contrast this with the fear-driven, cover our backsides, everything IS perfect conventional business world. These businesses will never get the idea of a blog. They are too fearful. They will have nothing real to say because everything is perfect, everything they do is right, and everything they say is the divine word. Little wonder that none of the big banks in Australia run blogs.

In conventional business practice, it is far safer to remain faceless. I could remember when I started out on my own 10 years ago. Many well-intended advice were along the lines of how to come across as a big business – get a PO Box address, or a box in a big city building, use a virtual PA service, etc.

My customers have always known I tend to operate as a single individual, That there is no big office with teams of people. Attempting to project otherwise will be akin to someone who weights 55kg describing themselves as “cuddly” on their personals ad.

This blog would not exist if I did not believe in the value of authentic engagement and transparency. Instead, all that would exist would be a single page telling you how right and perfect I am (and that I am a BIG corporation).

The “Missing T” refers to Richard Florida’s three T’s required to jump start a creative economy: Technology, Talent and Tolerance. McElhinney argues that Singapore’s key challenge is the historical suppression of the last T.

On the subject of tolerance, here’s a nice quote from Max DePree, former CEO of Herman Miller Inc.:

“If you want the best things to happen in corporate life, you have to find ways to be hospitable to the unusual person. You don’t get innovation as a democratic process.”

So what can you change today? Right now?

Given the ubiquity of phones, and the forgetfulness (or deliberate recalcitrance) of humans, I am sure many an aircraft fly perfectly well with transmitting mobile phones on board. After all, if transmitting devices were a real threat, the airlines would surely insist all devices be turned off and checked-in.

But anyway… here’s the interesting thought if this were a charade: The organisational unity required to consistently pull off this charade would be incredible. Imagine what this same commitment applied to more worthwhile causes!

I personally don’t care – not having passengers shouring on their mobile phones on flights is a blessing.

If the language:

• is rich with borrowed words;
• is open to playful metamorphosis by the majority of the population and not just the hyper- educated elite;
• is actively used by many people in diverse (but not isolated) geographical regions so has to promote both variation and cross pollination);
• has been in use for a significant time period and remain sufficiently unchanged so as to enable multigenerational access to history and stories;
• has enough mechanisms to enable feed the brains of visual, aural and kinaesthetic thinkers…

Consider:
“There are about 540,000 words in the English language, about 5 times as many during shakespeare’s time.” From Shift Happens.

Does anyone have other stats for other languages?

Here’s a great collection of various aircraft livery designs, appropriately categorised as Airplane porn.

Well worth a look, especially if you are a small business.

Talk about desperation. LG obviously had to really go low this time to get noticed. What is the message here? LG - the phone for peeping toms?

Yet another example of “ground breaking creativity” by some ad agency no doubt.

Fail.