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Lessson 12 Making a Difference

June 12, 2010 by larrylauer

As I looked out over my class of undergraduates in London this year I found myself thinking: “How many, if any, will go from here determined to make a real difference with their lives?

It’s common knowledge that many current college students come from families where their parents made success easy for them.  These so-called “helicopter parents” meant well as they helped their children excel with class assignments, sports competitions, social relationships, and even with getting into college.

But now, these kids are about to face the most complex and confusing economy, changing job market, and threatening social and international issues one can imagine.  So in this international setting I could not help but thinking: “Who among them will be both motivated and capable of stepping up to these challenges?”

I went on to tell them: “You will need to find and live your special personal strengths. You will need to persist and stay focused day and night. Yes, you can play hard and have a strong family life, but to make a difference in this complex world you will have to be able to carry a dream of achievement with you day and night.”

In the last two years I have been able to witness this kind of successful integration of professional and social life among the very smart and talented people in the Washington think-tank and association world. These are driven people, to be sure, but most also have strong families and know how to have fun!

So, I went on to suggest: “Find an enterprise or industry related to your strengths.  Make it your cause. Take on an innovative attitude. Embrace truly smart and creative people and put yourself around them. And learn to love the politics related to building support for your passion.”

Even so, as I said goodbye to head back to the USA, I was really worried that all of us, parents and professors, may be leaving them unprepared for real personal achievement, and for what it will truly take to make a significant difference in this complex and perplexing world.

Posted in Leadership, Lessons Learned | 1 Comment »

Lesson 11 International is Always Local

June 3, 2010 by larrylauer

In revising the material for the course in international and intercultural communication I am teaching in London this summer, I was reminded once again that all international communication is really local.

Indeed all the analytical skills we use in integrated and strategic marketing and communication apply when working internationally. We must understand the specific needs, behaviors and social trends of our target markets; we must understand the media protocols and expectations of the region; we must know all relevant laws or regulations, we must identify the preferred media of each audience, we must take into account the controversies currently on the public agenda, and we must understand dramatically different customs and special cultural traits.

Indeed, in internatonal communication, cultural values and traditions are especially important.  But that is also true in every domestic communication situation.  Every organization, city, region, and country has distinct cultural characteristics that define its identity and communication parameters. The longer I do this work both at home and abroad the more I realize just how much these dynamic and emotional local intangibles defne success or failure.   

So what makes international communication different? For me, its mostly coming to grips with just how much local help I need when contemplating working in a totally “foreign” environment. It’s fully comprehending that a little knowlege about a country or culture can be dangerous. And it’s coming to a complete understanding of just how fast communication breaks down.

In the final analysis, studying international communication is an exercise in learning how much attention to local detail matters.  And it is also an exercise in experiencing how different those cultures can be, and therefore how important it is to know how to find those local people that can help you.

Posted in International, Lessons Learned, Public Affairs | Leave a Comment »

Lesson 10 Don’t Always Call it “Marketing”

May 27, 2010 by larrylauer

Recently, I participated in an executive retreat where everyone immediately began raising questions and making comments about how the organization was perceived in the world. 

Comments ranged from identifying top reputation-defining programs to assessing the social trends most likely to impact the future. Participants even referenced the many communication challenges they will be facing in order to meet their goals.

But no one ever seemed to realize that what they were talking about was marketing 101. Everyone clearly accepted that dealing with these issues was their job, and yet no one ever turned to the marketing executive to ask what she would do.  

Reflecting on all this I thought: “The best way I could bring a big chill over this room would be to mention the “M” word right here and now! So I never did.

Rather, I noted to myself that sometimes you don’t even mention that word.  You let people talk about “their passion,” and then over time you help them see that what they were really talking about all along is called “strategic marketing!”

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Planning | Leave a Comment »

Lesson 9 Beware of Benchmarking!

May 20, 2010 by larrylauer

Many university and nonprofit executives begin strategic planning by first listing the other similar institutions they admire– often referred to as “aspirant” institutions. They also list their direct competitors. Then they carefully study all the operations from top to bottom.

They study structures, staffing, salaries, HR practices, policies, marketing programs, budgets, all numerical success indicators, and more.

But this kind of benchmarking can be dangerous and misleading.  It can mislead because it can steer you directly into copying “best practices” and  blindly becoming just like the organizations on your aspirant and competitor lists.  When that happens your institution will always be number two and never have a truly distinct market position. 

Your study of other organizations should therefore be focused firmly on finding out how you can distinguish your institution from the others. You must find specific ways to behave differently. You should be searching for that very special market niche that allows you to be both different and better in some unique and compelling way.

Insead business school professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne wrote a book called Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant.   It is a brilliant description of how your organization with enough determination can find and reinforce that special difference that will allow you not to meet the competition head-on,  but rather to find the “blue ocean” and sail right past all your competitors on your way to an uncontested  number one!

Being the best in the world is simply a matter of finding your difference, being damn good at developing and polishing it, and then mobilizing  everyone inside and out to help tell the story!

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning | 1 Comment »

Lesson 8 New Book Coming Soon!

May 14, 2010 by larrylauer

It takes me about four or five years to produce a new book. 

First, an idea comes to me during a seminar I am teaching, or in a conversation with a colleague, or while auditing an institution’s marketing program. Then, I begin talking to colleagues and collecting notes. Eventually an outline emerges in my head. And finally, when I feel I can pull it all together in a meaningful way I commit to a marathon period of writing.

The idea for this book came when teaching in the CASE Summer Institute in Marketing and Communication.  At the end of each institute the faculty would ask the participants what was on their minds as they headed back to their jobs. Collectively, each summer they would say: “If I did not have to deal with the damn politics, I could do a great job!”

Hearing this repeatedly I soon found myself responding: “There is no way to avoid the politics. It can take half or more of your time. You better accept it, and maybe even learn to love it.”

But I quickly realized that dealing with insitutional politics is the one big part of our work that we didn’t learn anything about in school. And it is indeed difficult to find pertinent subject matter, especially material that speaks directly to academic and non-profit institutions.

Learning to Love the Politics: How to Develop Institutional Support for Advancement, will be launched by CASE Books at the Annual CASE Leaderhip Summit in NYC in July.  It describes universities as small cities, analyzes what it takes to teach their citizens what they need to know about marketing and advancement, identifiies their major internal political issues, and suggests some approaches for dealing with those issues.

Come to the CASE Summit and join me in a session on the topic and/or at the book signing.  Afterwards I will take up some of the issues in this blog,  where you can also join in the conversation and maybe even add some of your own war stories.

Some colleagues tell me that while the book’s point of departure is academic institutions, the content really applies to all types of institutions, domestic and international. Let me know what you think. As our markets become more global, this may be just the beginning of my writing about this topic.

Posted in Internal Politics, Lessons Learned | 5 Comments »

Lesson 7 Big Future for Institutional Advancement

May 7, 2010 by larrylauer

Last weekend I was invited to attend a meeting at Duke University. It was an especially enriching opportunity to meet some truly exciting scholars and academics who reminded me rather dramatically what my work in advancement is all about. In this time of extreme political polarization there are indeed some truly smart people around us who really do know how to make the world a better place.

Those attending met Dan Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics, who not only made behavioral research exciting, but made it relevant to everyday human problem-solving.  We met Michael Merson, Director of the Duke Global Health Institute, who demonstrated how creative interdisciplinary projects can mobilize virtually all academic disciplines to focus on solving major global problems. Cathy Davidson, Professor of English and Interdisplinary Studies, explained how the new media world is bringing left and right brain together to change how a whole generation is thinking about everything.  And we met many more people at Duke who are just as exciting and relevant to today’s pressing issues.

With the roles of governments changing and big budget cuts a reality the work of supporting these scholars, and the many like them everywhere, is becoming more and more essential every year. 

Indeed, this kind of interdisciplinary global education is actually public diplomacy of the first order, and the mobilization of our best talent to address our biggest problems will be critical to saving the planet.

When politicians insist on always going to the extemes of ideology which plunge us into constant conflict, the global challenge of educational and nonprofit institutions will be to bring people together to find real solutions.

I certainly came away from Duke last weekend more energized than ever about my work.

Posted in International, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Planning | 3 Comments »

Lesson 6 The Power of Partnerships

May 1, 2010 by larrylauer

This week I had the pleasure of spending time with David Wheeler, Managing Editor-International, at the Chronicle of Higher Education.  For months David has been traveling the world assessing how the Chronicle can become the news source for higher education world-wide and happily he agreed to make TCU the only U.S. campus he will visit this year. So this week he met with TCU leaders to share what he is learning about the globilization of our industry and discussed everything from specific country trends to changing admissions and fund raising patterns.

The Chronicle will be launching a web-based international site that will have editorial contributions from all parts of the world. You will learn every aspect about how higher education is rapidly becoming a global enterprise and the impact that will have on your institution, family and friends.  It will change curriculum, where students choose to go to school, the role of governments, and how funds are raised. The Chronicle site should appear soon.

Questions for Wheeler centered around what institutions should consider when becoming more international.  As I listened, I listed these basic approaches: 1. Estabish your own campus abroad; 2. Expand traditional study abroad programs; 3. Initiate faculty/student/staff exchanges; 4. Form partnerships between institutions, or programs, or researchers.

Obviously there are pluses and minuses for each of these. Many institutions with foreign campuses are dealing with unanticipated issues and difficulties. People exchanges can be off or on depending on professional and personal compatibility. Expanding study abroad and international student recruiting seems to be the answer for many, but forming key partnerships is the most intriguing to me.

I have long recognized the power of strong partnerhips when advancing institutions. And lessons learned in the U.S. suggest that when going international there are at least three extremely important considerations: 1. Will forming this partnerhip result in more visibility and enhanced reputation for your institution? 2. Are the partners comparable in objectives, interests and programs? 3. Will management and leadership remain stable enough to enable a long-term relationship?

Many international partnerhships come and go or even fail completely with changes in leadership or financial support. Others prove to be incompatible because of unanticipated cultural or academic differences. Problems can also arise when the partner organization proves to have no capacity to bring new visibility or prestige to yours. 

But there is no doubt that a well negotiated partnership with a top quality institution has the potential to immediately lift visibility, extend market penetration, bring higher quality to academic and other programs,  enrich and expand research projects, and enhance the overall prestige of both organizations.  This is as true in other parts of the world as it is at home, and so partnerships just might be your best overall approach when considering going global.

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, International, Lessons Learned | Leave a Comment »

Lesson 5 What makes communication strategic?

April 23, 2010 by larrylauer

This week I met with the students that will go with me and my colleagues to London in June. Each year as I prepare to teach “International and Intercultural Communication” I am reminded that the principles of strategic communication are the same no matter where I am.

Organizations and individuals, be they domestic or international, require the same kind of analytical thinking. It is true that market segment analysis, cultural norms, and preferred media tools vary from group to group and country to country, but strategic thinking processes remain the same.

Just as I do back home, I begin the class in London by discussing the importance of source credibility. That is the starting point in strategic communication for any organization or individual, at home or abroad.

Next, I describe the power of a differentiated brand identity for individuals and organizations everywhere. Then, we discuss how the meanings of words really reside inside each person, no matter where that person lives or works.

For example, when I use a word like “democacy” the receiver hears only a strange sound. The meaning of that sound is actually added  by the listener based on past experiences and beliefs.  And what makes it even more complicated is that when my message is retold only about 50% of it gets through, and the listener chooses which 50%.  Plus, the listener adds his or her own creative twist in the transfer. And just as in domestic situations, differing beliefs and values are to blame for many of the world’s misunderstandings.

This tendency for communication to break down makes it all the more important to have constant feedback and opportunities to respond. And it also underscores the importance of knowing what media each market segement prefers and how to use all the “tools” that will best cut through noise and clutter.

Connecting with each target market requires knowing their needs and trends. In fact, connecting by demonstrating a deep knowledge of  “the way we do things,” and “what we believe”  just may be the most critical factor of all in making communication successful anywhere in the world.

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning | Leave a Comment »

Lesson 4 Credibility of the “the source”

April 16, 2010 by larrylauer

I had the honor this week to moderate a panel on “Public Diplomacy in an Age of New Media” for The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars.  More than 300 students from all over the country attended, and the panel was the best Washington has to offer:

Juan Zarate, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Combating Terrorism; Jared Cohen, member of Secretary of State Clinton’s Policy Planning Staff; David Nassar, Executive Director of the Alliance for Youth Movements; and Helle Dale, Senior Fellow for Pubilc Diplomacy at the Heritage Foundation.

The basic question was how to make America better understood around the world at a time when governments have little credibility as trustworthy communicators.

The challenge for our government is how best to communicate “the fundamental idea of America” and to counter extremist rhetoric when terrorists find it possible to steal the news media agenda even when they fail.  Indeed, the “underwear bomber” at Chistmas failed in his misson but still made headlines that frightened travelers all over the world!

The panel members who were or are now in government argued that empowering third parties outside of government to use new and social media is the best approach. Facebook, Twitter, and cell phones enable groups and indviduals to communicate basic values and ideas interactively.  Thus messages can flow in and out of places like Iran and North Korea, and they have more credibility when the source is not the government.

This fundamental truth about the credibility of “the messenger” has led some of us to yearn again for an organization like the US Information Agency. The USIA, which was eliminated by the Clinton administration, was an agency of government that communicated the “idea of America” around the world, pretty much people to people.  It was independent of the State Department, which was and is still seen as the communicator of the foreign policy of the administration in power. 

“Diplomacy” can be defined as “government to government” communication, and “public diplomacy” can be defined as either government to people OR people to people communication. 

I believe the best way for the US to communicate with maximum credibility around the world is to reinstate a USIA-like organization as the organizer of a more neutral people to people initiative. There are a number of compelling ideas floating around Washington that are public private partnerships, or even private foundations. 

One thing for sure: The credibiity of the source, be it an individual or an organization, either reinforces or totally cancels out the message.

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning, Public Affairs | 3 Comments »

Lesson 3 Nonprofits and Associations

April 8, 2010 by larrylauer

In recent years I have focused my attention mostly on academic institutions. So I am often asked if the lessons I learned will apply to nonprofits and other organizations.

Simply put, integrated marketing is “a way of thinking”  and it certainly will apply to any organization. But it always must be adapted.

In fact, before I focused on colleges and universities I was thinking mostly about other nonprofits.  My first book, Communication Power (1997), is really a strategic communication manuel for nonprofit executives. 

A student of mine is working now with a homeless shelter on the branding of a “social enterprise” project.  The project is a home cleaning service, and the marketing challenge is to demonstrate that these homeless workers will do a professioal job cleaning your home. She is using integrated processes to help the staff clarify a credible brand identity.

In past years I was the volunteer president of both a community theater and a human services agency. Both responded well to a more integrated marketing approach clarifying their competitive differentiation. In the case of the human service agency the challenge was also to clarify sub-brand identities for its many separate services.

As co-chair of the board and marketing chair of the Fort Worth Convention and Visitor’s Bureau we used interactive integrated processes by involving a cross section of the city’s leadership to clarify the city’s brand, Cowboys and Culture.

As chair of the membershp committee of the board of a major higher education association we applied market segementation analysis to set membership objectives and strategies.

Integrated marketing turns mission, vision and values into a differentiated brand identity. This both enhances an organization’s visibility and competitive advantage. It uses group process to get as many people as possible “on the same page,” “telling the same story, “generating a captivating buzz.” Group process is also used to identify market segments, needs and trends, and the best media platforms to converge on specific markets and build relationships.

Each organizaton is different, to be sure. Some have divisions or programs that should be treated as sub-brands, while others have a single cause.  Differing management cultures must be taken into account when designing processes and timeframes.  And some have more roadblocks to change than others.

At present, besides serving my university I am working with a think tank, a higher education association, a citizen-to-citizen internatonal nonprofit, and am also involved in a network of professionals considering new strategies for American public diplomacy. 

Make no mistake, integrated marketing combined with dynamic leadership can transform most any kind of organization.

Posted in Lessons Learned, Planning | 1 Comment »

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