Musings

Reflections on life lived by a coast

  • Home
  • Travel
  • Yoga
You are here: Home / Marketing / Conflicts Looming? Personal Brands versus Corporate

Conflicts Looming? Personal Brands versus Corporate

January 9, 2009 •

If you’ve read the Clue­train Man­i­festo, you know that blog­ging orig­i­nated from people’s burn­ing desire to let their authen­tic voice be heard. Early blog­gers were react­ing against the watered-down, polit­i­cally cor­rect mes­sages they were read­ing in the pub­lic media or writ­ing for their employ­ers.

I’m now start­ing to run into clients who want their employ­ees to be more proac­tively engaged in the blo­gos­phere – active par­tic­i­pants in the inter­ac­tions between the com­pany and its part­ners, or the com­pany and its cus­tomers. It’s a praise­wor­thy goal on the part of these com­pa­nies. It’s chal­leng­ing them to think quite dif­fer­ently about inbound and out­bound com­mu­ni­ca­tions, to revisit cor­po­rate poli­cies, etc., etc.

But I can’t help but won­der what will hap­pen when peo­ple who are writ­ing out of their authen­tic hearts and minds inevitably get into con­flict with their employ­ers. In some cases that con­flict will arise out of the employee’s desire to tell the unvar­nished truth – the rea­sons for an uncor­rected prod­uct defect or late deliv­ery to mar­ket. In extreme cases this will take the form of whis­tle blow­ing – some­thing that can ben­e­fit all of us if a com­pany has been behav­ing egre­giously. (Think Enron…)

Less defen­si­ble, of course, are sit­u­a­tions when an employee know­ingly or inad­ver­tently reveals a company’s trade secrets. Or exposes the com­pany to increased com­pet­i­tive threat by drop­ping enough clues to enable smart rivals to have a “win­dow” into the company’s plans.

His­tor­i­cally when con­flicts like this have emerged, all the power has been vested in the com­pany. At best the employee is warned and gets a black mark in his employee file. If the sit­u­a­tion war­rants it, the employee may well be ter­mi­nated.

But what hap­pens when the employee’s blog entries develop such a large fol­low­ing that they start to affect the company’s search rank­ings or its rep­u­ta­tion? What hap­pens when indi­vid­u­als’ per­sonal brand asso­ci­a­tions are trans­ferred to their employer?

I can imag­ine some very inter­est­ing con­ver­sa­tions and pol­icy debates between HR man­agers and CMOs over the months and years to come.

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

Recent Posts

  • Wet Sand, Wet Boots, Birds
  • Living with Vintage Items
  • Slowing Down
  • Reflections on My Camino
  • Going Off the Beaten Track in France

© 2020 by Christine Thompson. All rights reserved. • Log in