Mike’s Points

The University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Daily had a great recap and many great points following a panel discussion about blogs and politics. (Found courtesy of Poynter’s Romenesko.)

Among those on the panel was New York Times reporter David Carr (the Times’ first blogger, and an alumnus of the U of Minnesota). One brief line in the article by Carr echoed something I think is easy to see in bloggers:

Carr said he was afraid that blogs may become “typed talk radio.”

That’s an observation I made a day short of a year ago:

We’re all just the online versions of talk radio hosts. Think about it. Talk show hosts:
> Give opinion.
> Give news (typically via interviews).
> Invite listener call in.
Isn’t that what blogs are all about?

Other interesting points from the story include:
1) “These are people (bloggers) who don’t just want to cover the outcome,” Carr said. “They want to help determine it.”

But Carr also said blogs are heavily polarized and don’t really provide much of a middle ground for political thought. [ME: That’s when bloggers having a thick skin and being open minded can be beneficial and really develop blogging into a conversation.]

2) (Star Tribune reporter Eric) Black said that his goal would be for the blogosphere to inject more journalistic values into its reporting. Blogs, he said, reinforce the beliefs of their readers, instead of challenging them. [ME: Amen. While opinion is valid and desired, a level of fairness, or least open-mindedness is healthy, too.]

3) Carr said the mainstream media can’t be everywhere at all times, but the blogosphere has an army of “Web crawlers” who can pick up the slack.

“The idea that it has to be in the Star Tribune to be valid is crazy,” Carr said. [ME: Yes, count blogs among the growing media tree to reach our audiences.]

– Mike

Technorati tags: blogging, politiics

As I noted in the inaugural “How’d you get there?” story, I’m curious about how successful people became successful — in otherwords, how they got there. Below is the story of Dr. Jeffrey Docking and how he became president of Adrian College, Adrian, Mich. (my alma mater) — about 13 years younger than the average age of new college presidents.

If you want to be considered for the series or know (of) someone who would make a great story, please contact me.

So, as I have learned some valuable lessons from talking with Christine Brennan and Dr. Docking, I hope you will, too.

Mentor, key lessons lead to success for college president
By Michael Driehorst

Sometimes, it seems it takes awhile to “find yourself” – that is, discovering what you want to do in life. Then one day it hits you: Rather than wandering, you realize that everything you’ve done to that point actually was leading you to just the place you intended to go all along.

Dr. Jeffrey Docking (left).
In spring 2005, Dr. Jeffrey Docking, at the still young age of 44, was named the 17th president of Adrian College, Adrian, Mich. That’s no small accomplishment, especially given the fact that the average age of new presidents is 54.7 years, according to a 2002 survey by the American Council on Education.

With achieving such a lofty position at a young age, you would think that Docking focused on that goal throughout his professional life. Read on and discover for yourself.

Pieces of the puzzle
A native of East Lansing, Mich., Docking graduated from Michigan State University in 1983. His first job was as a TV news reporter and part-time anchorman for WFSL-TV (now WSYM) in Lansing. (Actually, his first job was delivering newspapers at the age of 12, but more on that later.)

After one year with WFSL-TV, Docking felt a higher calling than the 6 p.m. news, and joined the seminary to become a minister. Docking earned a master of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1987. After deciding the ministry wasn’t his calling, Docking looked to be a teacher, and attended Boston University. He graduated from BU in 1996 with doctorate in Social Ethics but decided to forego teaching in favor of college administration.

“I’m the opposite of a person with a plan,” Docking said. “But, I realized that all these different pieces were part of the larger puzzle. So, at the age of 35, I finally realized both what I loved and what I was good at. I realized I wanted to be a college president.”

The mentor
Docking’s path to Adrian College president began in 1997 as dean of student affairs at Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Pa. It was there, in his second year, that he met Brian C. Mitchell who was named the new school president. (Mitchell is now president of Bucknell University.)

“He took a liking to me. Brian asked that, if I would make a commitment to the school for three or four years, he would help me be a college president,” Docking said.

During his time at W&J, Docking was promoted from dean to vice president of student affairs to vice president and special assistant to the president. He traveled to Harvard twice to take classes on leadership. He also shadowed President Jared Cohen at Carnegie Mellon University as an American Council on Education Fellow.

“During my time at W&J, I received exposure to the decision-making process and was involved in all important decisions,” Docking said.

In addition to having a mentor like Mitchell, Docking attributes the following traits and experiences to his success:
Perseverance. Docking’s first lesson in perseverance started on his newspaper route when he was 12, awaking every morning at 6 a.m., 365 days a year. “I always tell my kids that perseverance is the most important word in the English language. Perseverance with an unrelenting tenacity can move mountains.

“Others are more capable, but they don’t have the stick-to-it-iveness; they don’t have the tenacity,” Docking said.

Being “on.” While a reporter with WFSL, Docking often served as the anchor for the news updates between programs. When the camera was on, Docking said he had to be “on – there were no days off.” That has helped him in public speaking and similar situations when he needs to be “on” – no matter what.
RIGHT: Dr. Docking had to be “on” during a September news conference when he announced that the school is breaking ground on the Arrington Ice Arena, a $5.5 million indoor facility.

A good listener. Being a reporter also taught Docking that “being a good listener is more important than speaking. Good presidents are good learners, and we can only learn by listening.”

Be very passionate. “In picking a career, I tell my kids don’t try to figure out what career you want, pick your passion. After I finished my Ph.D., I finally knew what I was passionate about. When I was younger, I couldn’t find my passion. But, once I did find my passion, I never ‘worked’ a day in my life.”

Have a genuine respect for human beings. “No matter the gender or the wealth of a person, assume that all people deserve respect,” Docking said. “That’s been a key ingredient to my success.

“People don’t need to earn respect,” he explained. “You give it to them immediately and then they can only lose it. When you give people respect, they want to work hard for you.”

Another key trait Docking said he has found to be helpful is impatience.

“Patience is the antithesis of getting things done. I want my staff to be impatient. They shouldn’t take no for an answer,” Docking said. “It’s a competitive world, and it’s easy to procrastinate if you are not impatient.”

More goals
While Docking has found and accomplished his professional passion, there are still other goals:
“My professional goals are tied to the institution,” Docking explained. “I’ve been around the students at Adrian College and have taken classes at Harvard, and the people are pretty much the same.

“I want to create a culture of excellence at Adrian College. I want Adrian to be the best small college in Michigan,” Docking said.

Personally, Docking and his wife, Elizabeth, have been married 20 years, and have four children, ages 11-18.
“For better or worse, I’m a worker,” he said. “I’m just as happy every Monday at 9 a.m. as I am at 5 p.m. Friday. I don’t have any specific personal goals except to remain active and involved with my children’s lives and with my wife.”
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Technorati tags: How’d you get there?, Dr. Jeffrey Docking, Adrian College, Mike’s Points

Ketchum Senior Partner and CEO Raymond L. Kotcher had a nice piece in today’s Barks & Bites of the Bulldog Reporter (”Old and New Media Will Coexist, but Traditional Reporters Must Begin to Consider Bloggers as Trade Journalist Sources“).

He opens with:

Let’s get real. New media—blogs and other Internet sites, podcasts, RSS and the like—won’t replace traditional media. Mass media won’t vanish. The old and the new simply will continue to coexist and even coincide.

But, then he goes on to give bloggers a bit too much credit:

Most (bloggers) are experts, self described or otherwise, in the field they focus on and many, like trade journalists, are first to break important news scoops or identify fresh trends.

Traditional journalists are beginning to find they must compete against bloggers for scoops.

No. Traditional journalists don’t really have a lot to fear from bloggers about being scooped. Yes, bloggers will break news every once in awhile. But, most bloggers are not journalistic-oriented. They are focused on an industry or subject. And, because of that, with newsrooms being more and more understaffed, bloggers will scoop their journalistic brethren. But, rarely.

He, rightly, goes on to talk about the need for journalists — and those in PR — to build relations with bloggers. The key word? Relationships. It’s through mutually respected relationships that you truly build success.

One word of caution for journalists: If you use bloggers as story sources, please, please, PLEASE as you do with other sources, verify when you can. It’s too easy to blog. So, it’s awfully easy to set up a blog with a certain political or other objectives. So, don’t take a blogger’s word as the gospel.

Journalists don’t just need to be first with a scoop. But, journalists do need to be accurate.
– Mike

Technorati tags: journalism, bloggers, Ketchum, public relations, PR

Awhile ago, I published a post about this time being the dawning of the age of transparency — or actually, honesty.

A great post by John Wagner/OnMessage Thursday reminded me of that, and helped to continue that line of thinking:

While good public relations is not about deception, it is about being more behind the curtain than about being out front. But, in the age of transparency, full disclosure is expected of PR pros — good PR pros.

It’s our job to stay in the background while we help clients or our employer to be out in front. Get the media exposure. Spread good will. Develop and implement programs that improve their respective reputations. Educate their audiences.

But, when our counsel, strategy and tactics takes our clients or employer into the world of social media, the ground rules are a bit different.

It’s almost as if we’re right along side, with clients in sharing blog time, acting on their behalf — and stating the relationship — monitoring boards, blogs and other sites.

We’re right there in front of the curtain; not directing things from behind it.

That’s a different mind set for most of us. And, as we’ve seen with Edelman, Pierce Mattie and others, switching from behind to in front of the curtain, there will be some stumbling along the way. But, as long as we learn from mistakes — ours and others since the blogosphere can be pretty unforgiving at times — we’ll get there.

– Mike

Technorati tags: social media, public relations, PR, transparency

This OGP post is short, but still worth your time (I hope). So, for your browsing, pleasure, I offer the following:

A visual thought on Walmart, Edelman and blogging, Colin McKay/CanuckFlack. Colin seems to have a unique perspective, or at least a unique way of saying what’s on his mind. This is by far, one of the best, if not most succinct blog posts on the Edelman-Wal-Mart-flog episode.

TFP: Charalambous, Lidle, and The Escape, Matt Sussman/The Futon Report. This is a brief intro. to Matt’s weekly column in the “Toledo (OH) Free Press.” It’s a great reminder about how important — yet unimportant — sports is in our lives.

Reuters opens virtual news bureau in Second Life. The point here is not so much Reuter’s SL bureau, but as a continuing example of SL being referred to as “game” site. From my relatively little time “there,” SL is not a game. It’s set up to be exactly what it says: a second life.

Dooce/Heather Armstrong. Okay, I’ve never been much of a Dooce reader, until the past week. The post about Heather and her husband having a story in the Salt Lake Tribune and recent posts caught my eye. But, then it hit me: You can’t leave comments on dooce. Guess, if a blogger gets popular enough, he/she becomes a media entity, and the communication goes one-way. Though I would think the blog should allow comments, but if my blog started attracting 800,000+ readers a month, guess I’d look to turn off comments, too. I can only hope.

(UPDATED 10-17-06, 8:20 a.m.: Added a Point to Ponder at the bottom.)

Okay, after less than a week — an enternity to some — Richard Edelman finally came out with a statement on the whole Wal-Marting Across America fake blog fiasco.

What I found most interesting is not what Mr. Edelman posted, but in what he stated in a comment (more than one):

“Note that I waited to post until we had all of the facts but I am absolutely clear that we were wrong and have to do better.”

That leads me to believe that Mr. Edelman was very lightly involved in the project — if at all.

I understand and agree with not responding until all the facts were known. But, if he had to wait “until we had all of the facts,” then I assume that Mr. Edelman was not too involved in the campaign. It’s really none of our business who lead the project, but it seems that person was very naive and/or arrogant to think that

1) the fake blog would not be uncovered — given the Wal-Mart haters out there — and
2) to even initiate a fake blog in the first place given the high-profile stance Edelman et al has taken in transparency and ethics in blogs and public relations.

What can we learn?

That, while we should appreciate the leadership role Edelman has taken in social media — helping build credibility in that area of PR practice — the big PR firms are by no means perfect. They can contribute to the poor reputation PR has as much as the out-of-control sole practitioner can. We must police ourselves for the improvement of the PR industry.

No matter how much we preach the transparency gospel, the bottomline goal of making money and serving clients still can rule the day. Money doesn’t talk, it screams as my high school teacher, Mr. Daniel Foote would say. It can be hard to fight the desire to generate exposure for clients/employers at any cost, but we must continue to strive for ethical practices.

Also, as typical, Constantin Basturea’s PR meets the WWW has a good round up and commentary on the Edelman-Wal-Mart issue.

Point to ponder: Many PR bloggers are rightfully giving credit to Mr. Edelman for fessing up to the WalMartingAcrossAmerica fake blog. Taking the high-road and making all warm-and-fuzzy. I’m sure these sentiments are sincere. However, I wonder how many of these same PR pros as well as other PR pros will use the fake blog incident against Edelman when going up against it to win new/retain business? All’s fair in love, war and PR business?

– Mike

Technorati tags: Edelman, blogging, flog, WalMartingAcrossAmerica, ethics, PR

Courtesy of Poynter’s Letters to Romenesko, a great read for newspapers is John Walter’s 15 ways to reenergize newspaper readers.

I give a whole-hearted AMEN!

My three favorites:

2. Fire any reporter or editor who refuses to learn how to use the Web to its greatest advantage, or to experiment with what works on Web vs. what works in print.

3. Increase the distinctions between Web and print — but make both, in their own fashion, complete.

9. Run obituaries and weddings for free, and increase the type size in classified.

15. Forget about reenergizing readers; it’s the paper that needs fixing.

Okay, that’s really four, but #s 2 and 3 are awfully similar.

– Mike

Technorati tags: newspaper business, journalism

Steve Rubel/MicroPersuasion has a column this week in “Advertising Age” (and on his blog) about brand engagement being a myth.

Now, I’m not going to get into his points and definition of engagement. What I definitely have an issue with is what “we, as marketers” should do:

[W]e shouldn’t care about brand engagement. Instead we should focus on how we get people connected with each other and measure the number of times we helped them do so. That’s why venues such as Second Life, YouTube, Facebook and other social networks are so hot: They allow people to connect with each other.

If you want to see engagement, find the right communities, build programs that empower people to connect, then get out of the way. Your brand will get a lift purely through association.

While relationships can play an important role for branding and businesses, businesses are not successful solely “through association.”

Enough of focusing on social networking and relationships. Ask for the darn sale.

Don’t get me wrong. Companies communicating with — even engaging and conversing with — customers and prospects is good. It helps build trust, credibility and even with some products and on some level, a degree of emotional attachment (but those are very few).

But, companies still need to ask for the sale. Offer the service. Hear the cash register cling.

Sales — which generate revenue which is ultimately why companies are in business — won’t come through association.
– Mike

Technorati tags: engagement, selling, Steve Rubel

My heart went a flutter this week after reading a few articles that DID NOT forecast the downfall of America’s newspapers, and gave newspapers some hope.

First, “Deseret Morning News” Editor and COO John Hughes has an excellent piece in the “Christian Science Monitor,” entitled, “Newspaper survival guide: Be tech savvy and ethically sound.”

Before summarizing what newspapers need to do, he makes several good points, one being:“[T]here is typically no news on the Internet without a news organization, usually a newspaper, to provide it.”

With few exceptions, news comes from professionals, or at least established media organizations. While there is increasing competition for media organizations — i.e., bloggers and citizen journalists — the bulk of news and information comes from established media outlets.

The main jist of Hughes’ column is this:

“The two biggest challenges confronting newspapers today are first, this pace of new technology (MY ADD: and making money off it), and second, the erosion of journalistic ethics on the part of some ambitious but ruthless journalists.”

In more than one post, I’ve suggested what newspapers need to do to be more relavant and survive. That ethics one, I guess, should be assumed.

Another piece of good news is that online readership of newspaper sites increased “by nearly a third in the first half of 2006.”

The story was based on a study by the Newspaper Association of America. The results can be found here.

While online visitors to large newspapers fell, the overall results are positive. And, they mean that newspapers should be — but unfortunately aren’t — seeing financial benefit from that rise in online readership.

“Newspaper Web sites have become a significant addition to the print product, and are driving large audience growth,” said John Kimball, the association’s chief marketing officer.

Duh, Mr. Kimball. Most anyone could’ve told you that. But, still newspapers still are not generating more revenue to compact poor financial performance.

And, don’t give me any BS about having a hard time reaching younger audiences:

“Overall, Newspaper Web sites helped drive a 15-percent increase in the total newspaper audience for 25- to 34-year olds and a 10-percent increase for 18- to 24-year olds, the association said.”

The final piece of inspiring news, was that the Los Angeles Times publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson, “resigned at the request” of the LAT’s parent company, Tribune Co. (i.e., forced out) because he and Editor Dean Baquet “publicly resisted pressure from Tribune management to make a new round of job cuts.”

Thank goodness that someone is making an effort to promote editorial quality over financial desires. You CAN have both. In fact, you NEED both.

– Mike

Technorati tags: newspapers, newspaper business, John Hughes , Jeffrey M. Johnson, Newspaper Association of America

Since I started my education and career as a journalist and I’m now in public relations, I guess I’m naturally nosey. One of the things I’ve always been curious — okay, nosey — about is how company presidents, leaders in their respective fields, and others who have achieved success got there.

What classes they took in school, was the success planned, what factors, people and events were instrumental in their journey — and what can I learn from them. So, I decided to go back to my nosey journalistic roots.

This is the first in a periodic series of interviews with successful people, detailing how they achieved their success. The first is below. The second will be out in a couple or few weeks. In the meantime, if you want to be considered for the series or know (of) someone who would make a great story, please contact me.

Photo by Jennie and Leslie Backoff.
Christine Brennan, 48, is a pioneering female sports columnist – and one of the top sports columnists male or female in America. A native of Toledo, Ohio, Brennan graduated from Northwestern University with bachelor and master’s degrees in journalism in 1980 and 1981, respectively. After graduation, she became the first female sports writer hired by the “Miami Herald,” and covered college and professional football. In 1984, she moved to the “Washington Post,” where she covered the Olympics and, for three years the Washington Redskins. She has authored six books, and the success of her book “Inside Edge” gave her the freedom to walk away from the “Post” in 1996. She began as a USA Today sports columnist in 1997, as well as a sports analyst for ABC Sports and ESPN, and NPR. Her current book is “Best Seat in the House: A Father, a Daughter, a Journey Through Sports.”

Seizing opportunity leads to freedom for pioneering sports columnist

By Michael Driehorst

Sometimes success comes from simply taking action while others simply watch.

In 1992, Christine Brennan had just finished working with tennis star Tracy Austin on an autobiography (“Beyond Center Court: My Story”) and was covering the U.S. Figure Skating Championships as part of the winter Olympic trials in Orlando, Fla.

“I saw so much richness and so much going on that I thought it’d be a great book,” Brennan said.

Two years later at the 1994 Olympics, Brennan was covering figure skating in Lillehammer, Norway, and kept thinking about that book.

After the Olympics, Brennan contacted Lisa Drew, an editor at Scribner who had worked on the Austin autobiography, and asked her about the book idea. “She loved the idea,” Brennan said. “It’s not that I knew any more about skating than anyone else covering it, but just saw an opportunity,” she said.

That book – “Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure Skating” – became best-seller. The success of “Inside Edge” allowed Brennan to walk away from the “Washington Post” in 1996.

“I never would have dreamed ever that my career has turned out the way it has,” Brennan said. “I’ve always loved sports, and have always loved writing. Growing up, I loved reading the sports in the newspaper.

“It’s a dream come true to be able to do the things I love the most, and combine them in a career. I never dreamed I’d been able to cover 12 straight winter and summer Olympic Games and travel the world covering sports.”

While not every one of us can write a best-selling book like Christine Brennan, we can still benefit and learn from “how she got there.”

First, Brennan attributes much of her success to her supportive family, and her parents in particular:
“Nothing could’ve sounded stranger for a girl growing up in Toledo, Ohio, in the 1960 and 1970s to say she wanted to be a sports writer,” Brennan said. “There were no role models, but my parents encouraged me. They gave me the opportunity most parents would not have given their daughters during that era.

“They still are the two most important people in my life.”

Secondly, Brennan said to succeed, you need to work hard.“You need to work harder than anyone else. Success is no secret,” Brennan said. “It’s the same advantage in the country today as it was 100 years ago. You have to be willing to put in the time, and willing to be prepared.”

Brennan’s third piece of advice is to treat people right.
“Everything is a people business. It’s not only good manners, but it’s the proper way to have success because you never know when the way you treat others will come back to you,” she said.

As an example, Brennan said that in September 2005, she spoke during a Northwestern University luncheon, and had the opportunity to meet and talk with then football coach Randy Walker and his wife, Tammy. On June 29, 2006, Coach Walker died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 52.

In the couple weeks leading up to this year’s college football season, Brennan wanted to talk with Tammy Walker for a USA Today column. She had a positive reply to her request within 12 hours.

“Treat people right, and they’ll treat you right back,” she said.

Christine Brennan (right) signs her latest book (left) during a Toledo Storm playoff hockey game last May. Brennan often returns to her Toledo hometown for a variety of events and appearances. Right photo by Kurt Nielsen.

Future goals
Now, at what some may call the pinnacle of her career, what is there left for Christine Brennan to do?

Brennan said she wants to continue her work as a columnist and a TV sports analyst, as well as writing books and crisscrossing the county with public speaking engagements.

“I love talking to kids and people. If I can inspire people, then that will be the most important piece of my life,” Brennan said.

“I don’t think I’m so important, but it seems I have been given the opportunity to have a public voice and to reach people. I want to take advantage of that. I want to talk about parents who lived through the Depression, and worked to raise a family, and about caring along the way.

“I want to continue to feel very good and fulfilled about my role in life.”
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Technorati tag: Christine Brennan, How’d you get there?, Mike’s Points, sports, authors