The accidental sending of a press release to Bloomberg News Tuesday, forced Dow Chemical to release it’s third quarter earnings Tuesday evening, rather on Thursday, as scheduled. ‘Inadvertent premature release’ is bad enough, but when that release is bad news? A mistake goes from bad to worse. The press release contained information that Dow Chemical was going to undergo ‘restructuring’ after the release of the third quarter earnings; also known as layoffs. Despite having surpassed sales expectations, Dow Chemical plans on cutting 2,400 jobs and shutting down 20 plants. This ‘restructuring’ is estimated to save the company $500 million dollars. This news, actually cause stock prices to jump.

The company’s response? To release the third quarter earnings early.

Dow used traditional newswire and it’s own website to release the earnings, rather than filing straight with the government, as search engine Google did last week, resulting in a PR nightmare.

Jeff Corbin, CEO of KCSA Strategic Communications attributes Dow Chemicals success to the adherence to the investor relations best practice.

What can we learn from both Google and Dow Chemical?

Referring back to our PR Toolkit, when dealing with PR issues, it is important to remember who you are trying to reach. Dow Chemical, despite having potentially damaging news leaked early, they chose to inform their audience (their investors) via newswire. Conversely, when Google’s potentially devastating news leaked early, their choice to not inform their investors, caused their stocks to drop, indicating that investors.

To Google, I would suggest that they re-evaluate their internal communications process. This incident indicates that they do not include their investors as a part of the company, and that they could benefit from a way to communicate with this audience. If they wish to continue filing earnings directly with the government, I would suggest that they strategize on a  more effective Crisis communications plan, to help minimize the effect a situation like this has on the company in the future.

Lots of times you hear about negative PR and how bad some PR can be. I decided to go ahead and quickly post a topic about a good PR solution for a company. This good PR can be used to really make them look good if they decide to go ahead and use it right.

The very first male model was allowed to be on the Price is right. I think that the price is right can easily take this situation extract some fantastic PR from it. I think that this is really a groundbreaking moment for the modeling industry. The industry has been mainly dominated by females and now males are starting to appear on the scene. The price is right could easily put on there social media networks how they support equal treatment of the sexes. They could also elaborate on different topics and how they do not judge in any way like some other TV shows might. The price is right could also go on to say how the other female models were very welcoming of a male model. This would also be great if they decided to go ahead and talk about how the price is right is managed by people with open minds. When people hear the stereotype “model” they generally assume something like a Victoria’s Secret model. This is a very good idea because it really makes the price is right look good.

Red bull had posted a comment about Felix Baumgartner who recently set a world record 24 mile high sky dive. They were careless and did not check their twitter spelling before they posted. Sure this was a careless mistake but the company does not want to convey that they are careless. They should have simply done a spell check before they decided to tweet. This could also convey to followers that Red-Bull does not care about using profanity and that they have no respect for their younger users. It is hard to think that they really did miss the spelling and created a profanation word out of their misspelling. I think that this might have been on purpose but if they did do it on accident they should quickly delete it and respond with a small apology.

A staff member of the dealership accidentally sold the vehicle for less than he should have, and when they realized the mistake, they tried to get the Danny Sawyer to sign a new, more costly contract for the same vehicle.

Sawyer refused to sign the contract, arguing that he signed the previous one under the agreement of the first price and would not purchase the vehicle for the new price. The company responded by calling local police officials claiming Sawyer had stolen the car.”

Read more at http://www.autoworldnews.com/articles/2453/20121005/car-dealer-buyer-arrested.htm#7WkKvmR2VG6YmPTo.99

This is a classic example of what not to do. The dealership must be very mismanaged and corrupt to allow this to happen. This is clearly very bad public relations for the car dealership, not to mention General Motors, parent company to Chevrolet

Clearly the car was not stolen and Danny’s civil rights have been completely violated because he was wrongfully imprisoned. I worked in the automotive sales business for Chevrolet in the past and one of the biggest things especially being a car dealership is not receiving any negative publicity. Most likely what will happen when they go to trial is that the car dealership will realize that they made a mistake and they will try to settle as soon as possible so that the car dealership is not essentially dragged through the mud with court proceedings and litigation.

I can almost guarantee that their sales are going to drop substantially because of this negative publicity. A lesson learned here for all businesses is that if the business makes a mistake they need to own up to it. I would not be surprised if the car dealership is actually shut down or the management is completely re-staffed because of this problem. With the car dealership needs to remember is that they’re not only representing their own name but they are representing Chevrolet. Chevrolet is not happy with the car dealer and Chevrolet will not let them sell their cars anymore.

No matter where you are in business always keep your morals and check. I was pretty surprised to hear that a car dealership would actually go ahead and call the police. If you ask me on a personal level they essentially cut their own rope. Danny is definitely doing the right thing by filing a lawsuit because this kind of behavior should definitely not be tolerated in any business field. What astounds me is that they reported a car stolen when there was a clear paper trail. When confronted with the problem that might turn into some kind of a lawsuit you must really take small baby steps to figure out what you can do to make it right. The dealership could have called up Danny and explain to him the problem and might have paid the $5600. Now because of ignorance and mismanagement of $5600 problem turned into a $2.2 million problem in a very short amount of time which is why you always take baby steps making sure what your next move is so you do not step on the wrong stone.

You may ask yourself, “What does music have to do with leadership and psychology?” Well I think there are two very good correlations between the two.

Leadership on music.

You hear many different leadership quotes come from different musicians throughout history. A musician has a different connection with his followers and inspires them through his music and sometimes actions. A good person to look at is Ludwig Van Beethoven. Beethoven was the connection that led from the Classical era of music in to the romantic era. Up until then, his music was very symmetrical and organized. He was an inspiration to all because he would look at music from a different aspect.

Beethoven wrote and performed the 9th Symphony while he was completely deaf. His leadership style was very tyrannical as he often was very rude to princes and various dukes. His followers were very careful not to make him angry as his temper was fierce. He really carried an immense disliking towards aristocracy. So if he had so many negative qualities why did people keep flocking to him? The answer was that he was very driven with his music and he was very different. He was also a very moral person. I would say he started the romantic era in music.

So what can we learn from Beethoven about leadership? Do not be afraid to take a different approach toward leadership in general. Different leaders are often remembered. We also clearly see that Beethoven was very passionate about his work showing no fear to write music and perform it while completely deaf. He was known to be a protectionist as well. We can see that as I said in my other posts that a leader must have drive and passion for what he is doing.

Music on Psychology

Why do you do better on tests while listening to music? The truth is that is unites both the left and right sides of your brain. The passages between them become stimulated and you are able to send and receive information better.

For more information on music and psychology or Musicology please take a moment to check out this pod cast. They explain what happens in the brain step by step when music is being played. It is a little over an hour long.

You can find help with your leadership style in a lot of unusual places. Music is a great tool to have in your arsenal because it will help stimulate thought. Playing a little music in the background while working in a group to brainstorm ideas will help.

In the world we live in  today we are accustom to seeing a lot of corruption and dishonesty. In various places we see that the motives of leaders are for just the leader’s self interest. A leader must have clear motives and he or she must be able to expect arguments, debates, or challenges by their followers. This is an expectation of being a leader.

Your team and others will question the ways you go about completing a task or goal.  You must remember that arguing, debating and challenging others is the only way one learns (according to Socrates). Socrates also said that we must do this to learn from one another.

You also see this in the animal kingdom with the alpha male in various groups of animals. This is a natural thing that species do.

Lets look at a wolf pack for example. They have an alpha male currently who has been the leader of the pack for the past ten years. Well here comes a younger and bigger male wanting to become the leader of the pack. They both challenge one another but the older dominant male wins based on experience. It is a basic function to be challenged being in the position of a leader.

Look at Socrates and some of his debates that he had with other challengers. So to sum it up if you are going to be leading expect this to happen. Ways to reduce how much this happens would be in a few short an easy steps.

• Always make sure you are very knowledgeable about the task at hand
• Make sure your motives are good and you are working towards the goals for the right reasons
• keep open communication with your followers and keep convincing them that your way is the best way
• Make sure you show passion and an overwhelming interest in the task that has been trusted to you

 With these four simple steps you can become a great leader where your group is less likely to question your leadership abilities.

Challanging a Leader

Aristotle was the student of Plato, who was the student of Socrates

I’m a very big fan of Socrates, essentially the ‘Godfather’ of philosophy. He was the equivalent of Sigmund Freud with psychology. Socrates meant the world to his followers but he never published anything or wrote down any of his works. This is where Aristotle comes into play because he was one of Plato’s best students. Plato was one of Socrates’ students. Aristotle learned a great deal from Plato and subsequently Socrates and came up with his own philosophy.

Three quotes really come to my mind when thinking about Aristotle and Socrates and what we can learn from them about leadership. The first being, “a friend to all is a friend to none” and the second, from his metaphysics, is ,”being qua being”. The first quote is not all that hard to decipher but the second one is deeper. “Being qua being.” When you break it down it means essentially, ‘what is the essence of oneself?’ What is your makeup? What has made you the way you are today? The last quote is from Socrates in the Crito, (which Plato wrote) where he says before he drinks the sap from the hemlock, “It is not living that is important, but living rightly.”

The quote a friend to all is a friend to none really applies to leadership in many different ways. The way I would decipher something like this would be to treat everyone on your team the same, and make sure whenever you are trying to accomplish a common goal that you are honest and sincere. Make sure that you look at everything with an open mind and a level head. A leader that is friendly to all people is not being true to himself. A good leader rarely says yes to everything. Do not be afraid to question or to disagree. This is what ties philosophy and leadership so close together. In leadership and philosophy, you’re always asking the question, ‘why?’ If one of your followers comes up to you and proposes a different solution than you will ask the question why.

The second quote, ‘being qua being,’ falls along the same lines as the one above. However, it goes in and digs a little deeper. I would decipher it essentially the same way and being true to oneself. You can also decipher it and relate it to leadership in a way that would mean, ‘do something that you are interested in’. If you do not have interest in your common goal your followers are not have interest you would need to find what you are passionate about. Something that you’re passionate about often times plays a strong role in one year essences what is your make up?

The last quote from Socrates applies to leadership in a very broad way. If you are wanting to be a leader you are simply going to have to do things the right way. That means living the right way in making sure that your motives are good, and your head is in the right place. Many times, leaders are just motivated by money and that’s not a good motivation. As a society we are questioning our leaders more than ever. Due to corruption, greed, and untrustworthy people in our government our companies and throughout the world. If you are looking at becoming rich off of being a leader that he will not go too far because your morals and your motives are not in the right place. Remember what Socrates said ” it is not living that is important but living rightly”. The best leaders are often good people at heart lookout for the best interests of their followers and set a good example for them.

In conclusion these are three very important quotes that I take into consideration when I leading a group of people. If I am not honest and sincere with my followers and I do not show the slightest bit of good morals and judgment then my group will not perform in the goal will not be reached.

Louis Armstrong

What terms come to mind when you think of Louis Armstrong? A great musician, a very peaceful honest person, or perhaps a leader. His music is definitely among some of my favorite and if you’ve ever read about Louis Armstrong, you would know that he has some of the key building blocks to being a great leader. Through his music, he has inspired many.

A favorite quote of mine by Duke Ellington comes to mind when thinking of Louis Armstrong. “He was born poor, but died rich, and never hurt anyone along the way”. To everyone around Louis Armstrong he brought a deeper meaning of life them. Through his numerous contributions to the people he defended and helped he would go down in history as a legend.

At this point I bet you’re asking yourself what does Louis Armstrong really have to do with leadership? He was not a president, a king, a religious icon, or world peacemaker.

I was going through some of my music collection the other day, when I ran across his greatest hits CD. I tossed it in the CD player and quick turned it to “A Wonderful World“. In the beginning, he talks about how people have been coming up and telling him that this world isn’t really great but Louis did not let that get him down. He says, “It would be a wonderful world if only we would give it a chance.” He also says, “If lots more of us loved each other, then we would solve lots more problems”. Personally, I believe that these are two of the greatest leadership quotes that could ever be conveyed.

The first quote really applies to leadership because if you’re assembling a team and there’s just one weak link (who might have a bad outlook on the task) the team’s performance will be greatly reduced. Most often, people are affected by the moods around them. If every person in your group is not on board with a positive outlook about the task at hand, then it will make it that much more difficult to reach your final goal. It is a leader’s job to make sure that everyone on the team is ready to work with one another, and that they are passionate about the task that the leader has given them.

The second quote is slightly similar to the first quote, but it touches a little bit more on everybody working together, instead of having just one weak link. You see, great things are accomplished when everyone puts aside their petty differences and takes an active role in accomplishing the same goal. Everyone in the team has to have an understanding and an open mind to other team members’ ideas. It is a leader’s job to establish peace boundaries within the team.

One of the greatest examples of a great running team is the International Space Station. I believe this helps contribute to global peace, as each country has put aside their petty differences and are working together towards the same common goal. There are people from all walks of life, from all over the world, that make up this flawless team. This team has set an example for the rest of the world to follow. Imagine what we could accomplish if the world would work together.

Leadership can be found in any aspect of life. Lois Armstrong is a great example and we can learn a lot from a simple musician’s outlook on life. We just have to be open to it.

During my undergraduate coursework, I worked with a professor who was a leadership guru. He was always quoting Peter Drucker. One of the quotes that stuck out the most, was “leadership has nothing to do with charisma”.  The most charismatic leaders of the 20th century, were also the worst.

In your history books you’ve read about people like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin and what kind of things they did. Despite their morals and their motives being in the wrong, both of them were able to brainwash their followers to do their bidding.

What key elements must a leader have, in order to become a good leader?

What is leadership built off of? How does a person become a good leader? Leadership is mainly built based on different things like character, honesty, humbleness, credibility, communication skills, virtue, good motives and, above all, passion.

Passion is something that you cannot purchase and you cannot learn. It is something that will separate the good leaders from the bad. Passion is a natural ability that sometimes comes and goes, depending on the project that a leader and his team are working on. You will notice that a good leader will often not lead a compartmentalized life. They  simply integrate aspects of their lives together. A leader that shows passion is going to talk to his friends, his family, and his coworkers about what his next big project is or currently working on.

Another good thing that makes a good leader would be adaptation. A leader that adapts to a new project is not afraid of change. A leader should love competition, because the world is can be forever changing. You can look at bigger corporations that have fallen behind as examples, because they did not adapt very well. Take for instance, Media Play, Circuit City, or perhaps Blockbuster. Music and videos were not being sold in stores anymore music was being downloaded off of the Internet.  These companies did not implicate change to their environment  fast enough. That is the biggest reason why they failed.

Today, if you go into a Best Buy you see a wide array of products you see everything from dishwashers to games to televisions to car stereos to books cell phones and so on. This was their way of adapting and this is a reason why they’re one of the biggest competitors in their market field is because corporate Best Buy saw the need to change.

Nature or Nurture?

There has always been a debate on whether leadership a learned topic. Can leadership be taught to people who are not a natural born leaders? Or is being a leader an unnatural thing that people are born with that they develop, as they work their way through life.

I strongly believe that leadership is a combination of both, but weighing heavily on the learned side.

Conclusion

Every aspect that makes a good leader is hard for any one person to excel at. In society we often think that leaders are charismatic and natural born. I tend to disagree.  What I think makes a good leader is to take other leaders traits and build your own leadership style. I believe another attribute to being a good leader is to be able to put people where they belong. Leaders can assemble a team of different people so they can get the task accomplished without any hesitation any problems or any fallbacks. Leaders should also be flexible and adapt to change. By studying and learning other leadership styles, you will naturally develop a system that specifically fits your unique style, taking your natural innate leadership abilities and forming them into learned leadership styles.

Most of the time, the best leaders have a very good grasp on psychology. There are many psychological theories that coincide with leadership as well. A good site to learn about these theories is Leadership Theories in Psychology by Brittany Olivarez on Helping Psychology.

This article is also great in finding out what key features you need to posses to become a good potential leader. They also go through and depict some key features that you might want to develop as you walk down the leadership road. They provide you with answers on why psychology is so important when becoming an effective leader. Learning what makes people function and how to use their psychological make up to your advantage. I often go through and judge people based on a few factors. What kind of work experience have they done in their background? What is their speaking style & how good of a communicator are they? What kind of degree do they posses? How do they interact with a team and how successful was that team? What kind of ethics do they have? Do they show passion when talking about a future goal? What kind of personality do they have? These all should be taken in to consideration when determining where to put a leader and what to put them in charge of.

The most important theory in the article is relationship theory. Too often, people get mixed messages about what to think about their boss. A good way to be an effective leader is to use relationship theory to help understand what your followers think about you. Break down those communication barriers and try to get a sense of understanding for what your group is going through. Try to imagine what it is like to walk in the shoes of your group members. Make sure you convey to your group that you have the best intentions and that you care about them. A group is often very motivational and driven when they have passion about what they are doing.

A good example is when I did the Ride for Roswell in 2011. I was able to raise a good amount of money and I wanted to help out because cancer is a serious illness. We all know someone whose life has been effected by it. I had passion about raising money and being able to ride my bike 21 miles. It gives you a feeling of self worth. If your group has a feeling of self worth they will be able to become very effective and efficient. So in a nutshell the people who were in charge of the Ride for Roswell were passionate about raising money so they could help find a cure. Since I saw that there motives were in the right place then it inspired me to work harder to raise as much money as possible. Relationship theory proves that if a leader is passionate and that there motives are in the right place then the followers will be equally as passionate.