The summer has been distracting with vacations and glorious hot days. Our postings have not been as frequent but we still muse about advocacy all the time. Thanks for your patience and followship.
Thinking about advocates, in an article in the recent McKinsey Quarterly on leading business and technology trends, advocacy of course came up. In the article, they mention that 70% of executives said that their comapnies created value through Web communities, the ultimate advocacy network.
One example given was from Intuit which is worth mentioning here. Intuit hosts customer support groups for its financial and tax return products where more experienced customers provide advice and support to those in need of help. These Intuit advocates build their reputation credibility by noting the number of questions they answer and the number of thank yous they get from those they help.
Thought this was a great way of using advocates to help build loyalty to products and generate good vibes. McKinsey has the numbers to prove it. They found that when customer communities of advocates handle an issue, the per-contact cost can be as low as 10% of the cost to resolve the issue through traditional call centers. That’s a good ROI for advocacy.
Worth mentioning here on the advocacy blog.
Tags: Advocacy, advocates, communities, Intuit, McKinsey
I read a really interesting idea in an article on digital diplomacy in The New York Times magazine section one week ago. The article was about Jared Cohen and Alec Ross, two State department employees who are taking digital to new horizons. The former is the youngest member of the State Department’s policy planning staff and the latter is the first senior adivser for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Twitter is a mainstay of their assault on diplomacy red tape and I was surprised by the remarkable amount of freedom they have to change public affairs through social networking. Kudos to Hillary Clinton for letting their digital diplomacy flow. They are truly advocates for the next generation of politics.
The article mentioned their “techdels” which are technology delegations that they lead in various countries. As the article points out, they invite software engineers, entrepreneurs and tech CEOs to come together and think of innovative ways to support democracy and spread the word about freedom. One example they give is figuring out how to crowd source an end to human trafficking in Russia.
The article mentioned one idea that came up in a meeting with billionnaire Carlos Slim. The techdel was musing about how people in Mexico City all have cell phones and text all the time, no matter how poor they are. Someone suggested the idea of having a short text code to report a crime. The SMS would strip out all personal information but the reported crime would show up in a database that the police could monitor and the public could see mapped online. The idea is that these advocate crime reporters would be anonymous but crime around the world would be more transparent and possibly stoppable. As an advocacy idea, this is a good one. Thought it was worth mentioning here.
Tags: advocates online, Mexico City, state department, techdel
There is a group in France called La Barbe or “The Beard” that advocates for more women on boards in that country. Apparently the women show up in disguise (yes, wearing beards!) at annual meetings to let these female-few companies hear a piece of their minds. The women wear the beards for fear of retribution and being found out. French lawmakers are giving some thought to requiring at least 40% of boards to be made up of women within six years. A similar law exists in Norway where quotas exist. In France, 9 1/2 percent of boards have women compared to 12.2% in the US and 34% in Norway. Learned about this in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Interesting way to advocate for greater gender equality in the board room or should I say beard room. Advocacy exists in all places and for all kinds of causes. Advocacy is genderless.
Tags: Advocacy, board members, La Barbe
We just completed a survey on civility in America. The survey was conducted with Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate and KRC Research. We decided to dig deep into the tone and level of discourse in this country and surveyed 1,000 Americans online. I’d like to share with you some of the findings which point to an erosion in how people communicate with each other and with our public institutions. Since being informed is so fundamental to our democracy, our research might make people think twice before cancelling out other people’s opinions online and offline. You might also want to take a look at how Politico framed our research and underscored our point even further. As advocates for strong public discourse and hearing both sides of an issue, here are a few select findings: [For more information, please go to this link for the press release and here for the executive summary.]
- Two-out-of-three Americans consider a general lack of civility to be a major problem for the nation and 72 percent think that poor behavior has gotten worse in recent years.While the American people believe their friends, family and places of worship are bucking the trend toward incivility, a majority of the public sees uncivil behavior throughout society – especially in politics and high schools; on talk radio and our nation’s highways; in Hollywood and professional sports.
- Seventy-two percent of Americans view the political world and government as uncivil – the highest percentage recorded in the poll – and the absence of civility appears to be having an impact on participation and interest in the political process among broad swaths of the public.
- Nearly half the American people (49%) are tuning out government and politics, and almost two-thirds of those people (63%) cite the general tone and level of civility as a major factor in their decision. Forty-six percent of the people are tuning out opinion pieces and editorials in the media, and 45 percent cite incivility as a major factor. Thirty-eight percent are tuning out news coverage and reporting and half of them (50%) attribute their actions to the lack of civility.
- Each major political party gives the other low marks on civility. Seventy-one percent of Democrats view Republicans as uncivil, and 74 percent of Republicans view Democrats as uncivil. Political independents regard Congressional Republicans more uncivil than Congressional Democrats, although they rate both parties more uncivil than civil (58 and 50 percent, respectively).“Our research provides hard evidence that constituents and consumers alike are fed up with the polarization of our political system and the uncivil tone of our country as a whole,” said Jack Leslie, Chairman of Weber Shandwick. “As a result, Americans are tuning out and turning away from news, information and informed opinions that make up the very foundation of American democracy.”
Tags: advocates, civility, discourse, government, KRC Research, politics, Powell Tate, Weber Shandwick
Have you heard of the Giving Pledge? I had not heard of it and there is good reason–I am not wealthy. The Giving Pledge is a new organization whereby wealthy (uber-wealthy) Americans pledge to donate 50% or more of their fortune to philantrophy. Warren Buffet just signed his pledge to donate his wealth and others are being encouraged to join this noteworthy movement of advocates for philanthrocates (a new word I just made up). There will even be a “Great Givers” annual meeting where the wealthy will gather to discuss how to best make use of their wealth giving. A very worthwhile cause to aid the world solve some of the most intractable problems and help people in greater need. Thank goodness there are people with a head on their shoulders. Here is how it is explained on the website.
The Giving Pledge is an effort to invite the wealthiest individuals and families in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to the philanthropic causes and charitable organizations of their choice either during their lifetime or after their death.
Each person who chooses to pledge will make this statement publicly, along with a letter explaining their decision to pledge. At an annual event, those who take the pledge will come together to share ideas and learn from each other.
The Pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting a particular set of causes or organizations.
While the Giving Pledge is specifically focused on billionaires, the idea takes its inspiration from efforts in the past and at present that encourage and recognize givers of all financial means and backgrounds. We are inspired by the example set by millions of Americans who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place.
Tags: philantrophy, the Giving Pledge, Warren Buffet
I came across a survey conducted among Americans who have a leadership role in their communities. You might call them engaged advocates. The survey was about philantrophic organizations which we all know something about but obviously not much as you will soon read. The survey by the Packard Foundation with Harris Interactive found that foundations are largely invisible, even among those who should know better. Only 43% of these engaged Americans were able to name a foundation on their first try. Whereas 13% consider themselves to be very or extremely informed about foundations, 60% feel somewhat or not at all informed about them. The results are just plain scary — only 15% can cite an example of how a foundation has impacted their community. The survey results add up to one plain fact which is that foundations need to communicate better to their best customers, community advocates, because they are the ones who are most likely to spread the word and keep their good work front and center in the public domain. Greater communications are clearly in order here.
I never thought about it but when I searched, I found nearly 1.4 million quotes about advocacy. And on the site I just linked to, there were several about social entrepreneurs which is a good way of talking about advocates. The one below is short and to the point about advocacy. However, sometimes just giving a fish can make all the difference in the world.
“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”
—
Bill Drayton (
Leading Social Entrepreneurs Changing the World)
Fast Company just issued their list of most innovative companies and new on the list is Patients Like Me. It is a very smart idea that benefits many and provides patients with their own advocate communities to discuss chronic ailments and treatment. Patients can absolutely benefit from each other’s experiences. The idea is so simple but so profound. Patients are given the power to control their disease and to share what they learn with others. It was started by three MIT engineers in 2004. They are working to share data with doctors, pharma companies, research organizations, nonprofits and others.
Again, another example of how advocacy communities can benefit each other and possibly provide feedback to pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession. Moreover, it a treatment is not working, here is a good forum to seeing how others are affected and get patient to patient advice.
Tags: Advocacy, community groups, medical profession
Advocates for the truth. Interesting article about an organization that helps debunk rumors and urban legends….snopes.com. A site like this certainly has a place in this shifting and shifty online world. Take a read about how two individuals started their web site exploring urban legends and ended up being one of the first sites that sift the truth for us. A noble endeavor for advocates in defending reputations.
Tags: Advocacy, reputation, snopes.com
Interesting idea regarding what Advocates could accomplish. And the idea comes from Kenya. A well known Kenyan professional returned to her homeland and because of death threats, she went elsewhere. In her blog, she mentioned how great it would be if there was an online tool to let people anonymously report violence and bad behavior. Some tech savvy Advocates saw her post and built something from her idea for her….Ushahidi. The site today uses cell phone reports of violence, riots, rapes, death threats and plots them on a map. Ushahidi is Swahili for “testimony.” Ushahidi has taken off and was most recently used when the Haitian earthquake struck and people were using SMS to report on individuals unable to get out of damaged buildings.
In this New York Times article where I first found this information, the idea surfaced about using this type of reporting to gather information on where Osama bin Laden might be hiding. Wouldn’t that be amazing. Ushahidi could be the foundation for building a crisis map of the world manned by global volunteer advocates. “With every new application, Ushahidi is quietly transforming the notion of bearing witness in tragedy. “
Tags: advocates, crisis, Kenya, Ushahidi
