I have written before on social media use, misuse and abuse, targeted more as a tool kit for HR Managers.  I also have written about personal brands “what is your brand”.  The other day something very interesting happened to me.  I was scrolling my facebook feed as most of us do and I came across a meme that jumped out at me (posted below).  I was instantly horrified and sad at the same time, it’s 2018 for crying out loud and considering the massive wave of gun violence in the United States I found it very distasteful.

Then I saw who posted it.  A comedian, jokester, YouTube star that I had followed since his career first started, In all his videos and posts he has always stayed away from politics, religion, etc.  I always looked up to him for that and thought being a younger guy he would be for equality and inclusion.  I posted a comment on the thread basically sharing my upset and disappointment, then I read the hundreds of comments.  There were a small few bigoted comments in support of the meme and post but there were many dozens and dozens that clearly felt the same way I did, many with the comment “unfollowing you”.

Lance is a very popular YouTuber and I never expected him to reply to my comment and I was still so dumbfounded that someone would post something so mean.  I took to twitter, Lance has over 826,000 followers there, mine is measly but the power of social media can be amazing.  I shared the meme, tagged Lance in it and spoke out about how bigoted and hateful this was and that there are children all around the world that kill themselves because they aren’t accepted for who they are. 

Lance responded.  He immediately apologized and shared with me something that I had already assumed.  Lance is his own business and social media is his platform so he does have staffers that help to manage his various social media platforms, one of them had decided to re-share the meme from another site and Lance had no idea it was even posted.  Lance immediately regained my respect as a fan of his, he was so upset about it and assured me this was nowhere close to his outlook or opinion.

This was an interesting lesson though and Lance and I had a back and fourth text discussion about it.  He “is” his own brand as @Lance210, in his face on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.  The general public has no idea if it is him posting, or someone doing it for him, with an impressive 11.3 million facebook followers he has earned a lot of fans, this is his income.  Social media gurus make money from many of these platforms it is literally their careers.  The lesson here is that even ONE tweet, post, pic or meme can tarnish your brand, badly.  How many hundreds or even thousands of fans unfollowed Lance that day?  

Some fans were so outraged they reported the post to facebook internal security as an inappropriate post.  Imagine the impact if his page had been shut down by facebook? You just lost the ability to communicate to your 11.3 million fans who are your customers and who you rely on for your well being.

In this day and age, it does not matter if your brand is just about you, a small company or a large corporation with thousands of employees.  One single post to social media can damage that brand, very quickly.  Lance managed it very well, reacted immediately, apologized and investigated how it all happened in the first place.  If I am one of his customers then he did the absolute right thing and went into customer recovery mode, I am an even more eager fan than I was before. 

So where do we go from here? Education, Education, Education and ensuring that we closely monitor what we are posting ourselves and what others might be posting on our behalf.  I always ask myself before I post anything “would my mother be proud of me for posting this?” If I cannot give an emphatic YES, then I don’t post it.  If you are a blogger and you have help managing your social media image make sure they know your moral code and brand standard.  

Let me know what you think, feel free to comment below.

Practice Safe Social Media,

Jeff

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Like I said, Lance is actually a cool funny guy.  Check out one of his recent prank videos here.  You can follow him as @Lance210 or Lance Stewart. 

By now you have all seen the headline, or even watched the jarring video of a male passenger being dragged off of an aircraft, screaming and bloodied.  The United Airlines flight 3411 incident that took place in Chicago was very interesting to me.  I spent 12 years in the airline industry so I tend to view aviation related events through a few different lenses.

When the story first broke, it seemed like the usual overly sensational news about another unruly passenger being removed from an aircraft.  This does not sway me as this happens if not hundreds, but thousands of times a day around the world.  I watched the main video that was all over social media and aside from the chaos that took place in the cabin of that aircraft I was floored to see the explosive way that this story spread not only on traditional media, but the wildfire it created on Facebook, Twitter etc.  The comment threads that I reviewed were angry, judgmental, and very opinionated.  The whole sphere of social media was out for blood and the mass online condemnation caused United Airlines stock to plummet in value by one billion dollars in the first 24 hours.  

United tried in vain to turn the tide, releasing several statements that were not received by the public well, the first was supportive of the employees and their actions and this caused mass anger again towards the airline.  The public hatred towards United Airlines did not begin to turn around until the CEO came out and took full blame for the event, announced major procedural promises and changes and offered compensation to every passenger onboard flight 3411, the airline had dug themselves into a hole with no way out and had to make unrealistic promises that it cannot keep.  What surprised me most by this point, was that although the poor finesse of how this situation was handled, United Airlines was actually in the right.  I am not defending the injuries sustained by the gentleman involved, the fact is, based on federal law and established policy United had every right to take all the steps that they did, and yet because of the prevalence of smart phones and social media, being right or wrong did not matter, the public made up their mind and wanted to punish United for it. 

But why did the public turn so negatively toward United? Because of the social media firestorm.  People were posting and re-posting articles and videos with highly sensational, angry, opinionated statements.  People like to be heard and with social media, everyone has their own soapbox,  truth, facts, and objectivity ceased to matter.  This issue is not going to go away, since the United 3411 incident there have been several other airline related incidents that have also played out on social media.  Recently JetBlue was the subject of this amazing hyped up headline “Family kicked off flight to Vegas for stowing birthday cake in overhead bin”.  This could have gone poorly for JetBlue but it didn’t, there are several factors.  JetBlue has clearly established policies, procedures and training in place that are good for both the company AND the customer.  JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes was even interviewed on a morning news programme and was eloquently able to defend his employees and the decisions they made, he backed this up with facts related to the case, the training provided to the employees and the applicable laws and regulations.  

In todays world we are literally surrounded by smart phone technology where anyone can film or photograph whatever is happening around them.  So, how do we prepare for this new world where social media can take one incident and ruin a person or a companies reputation?  We will explore strategies for this in Part II of this topic. 

#TweetWell​

Jeff

I have written many blog posts about how to be an effective leader largely based on leading your team or those that you are responsible for. What happens when you are doing everything you can for your team, yet struggle under someone above you?

In the industry we call this managing or leading up.  Yes, believe it or not you can manage your manager.  Some may call this finding a way to “win-win” or finding a way to yes.


           Executive Coach - Kyle Kalloo 

When might you have to lead up?  There are several instances that come to mind;

 - A new manger to the organization unfamiliar with the corporate culture or processes; 
 - An experienced manager that is comfortable (stuck) in their usual (old) ways;
 - A manager that lacks big picture thinking; 
 - A manager fearful and protective of their “turf”

I pondered this idea for a while and in order to share the best possible practices with you I realized I needed to reach out to a subject matter expert, Kyle Kalloo is an executive with many years of experience and was the first person I know to bring up the concept of leading up.  I invited Kyle to do an interview with me and here is what we learned. 

Jeff - Kyle, tell us a little bit about you first.  Your career history and experience. 

Kyle – It has been a while I have been asked that question, because most people now tend to google me before meeting (laughing). I have been in leadership for just over 20 years now. It wasn’t something I planned on, I’d like to think I am an accidental leader. Most times I find companies tend to put me in that role. McDonald’s Canada was my first job and first leadership position. After 8 years with McDonald’s, I continued my leadership at Famous Players in Toronto, before moving on to WestJet based out of Calgary, for just over 10 years. And now the CFO, COO, Executive and Business Coach with Change My Life Coaching. Just recently, I was speaking with my younger brother about some of my elementary school report cards he and my mother found.  Apparently one of those report cards identified a teacher that wrote, something to the effect, they wished I was focus more on my school work instead of trying to run a business. Naturally, that made me pause. Those that know me well, aren’t surprised by that, yet I was. 

Jeff - What does “leading up” mean to you, how would you define that for others?

Kyle – I believe they are two concepts to this; I think people are still confused about the difference between managers and leaders. I support the notion that managers know how to plan, budget, organize, staff, control, and problem solve. Pretty tactful and hands on. Where as leaders tend to create and communicate visions and strategies. They think big and allow the managers to focus on the details. With that said, managing up would be specific and tactful, while leading up is more about being strategic. 

Jeff - How does one know when they may need to start leading up? what are the signs?

Kyle – In simple terms, lack of clarity. When leaders are not clear with their ask or what finish looks like, are great opportunities to start the process of leading up. Often times you hear phrases such as, “Could you take care of this,” and “I need this ASAP,” When they are not clear with the expectations, they believe they are empowering the employee, but they are not. Without being clear, a lot of time is wasted with going back and forth - unproductive. This is not about being spoon fed by the manager/leader, on the contrary, it is more about spoon feeding the manager/leader. And sometimes that is necessary for a few reasons; gaining clarity and leading their expectations. 

Jeff - What would you say are your hands down best practices for leading up?

Kyle – Get specifics. When this is around a project, assignment, or task, it is necessary to seek clarity by asking the right questions. By what time and what day. Do you want me to stop doing what I am already working on to make this a priority. What does finish look like. The manager/leader might not know, and this is a great opportunity for you to suggest. Often times as leaders we don’t live in the details as someone working the front line, in the trenches, so to speak. This is a great opportunity to lead up. Be clear with your priorities. You are responsible for your workload, learning, and development. Don’t get frustrated with additional tasks being put on your plate, often times the manager/leader is not aware and their ask doesn’t’ come from a place to frustrate you.  Keep them informed that something else will have to stop to prioritize another item they need. This will start outlining expectations, so when you go back asking for an extension there will be no surprises. My mother often says, “before it’s a reason, after it’s an excuse”, so if you say you are going to get it done on said date, make sure it’s done or ask for an extension prior to said date.  

Jeff - What if I am trying to lead up, but my boss is resistant? 

Kyle – This is a common question. I think it is for a few reasons; in my experience I find people try to do this right away without first understanding the company’s mission, vision, and values. There is something to be said for doing your time and truly understanding the business first. Regardless of your years of experience in a field or expertise, it is necessary to invest time (conditioning) and understanding in your organization or department. Do not expect to start leading up off the bat. Get to know your team, your leader, and your industry. Foster effective relationships first! Often times, when someone doesn’t agree with me – which is often, I am reminded of two things, 1) because I am not always in the details, they might not have access to all the information.  And that is my opportunity as a leader to involve them and provide said details. Or 2) I don’t have access to all the information and it’s my responsibility to ask the right questions. In my experience, if the above is properly executed and there is still resistance, then the leader is leading from a fear base anxiety, scarcity. 

Jeff - What are your additional thoughts?

Kyle – When I speak with other leaders, I am told I am pretty hard on them.  I think rightfully so, because it is their responsibility to inspire and tap into the natural resources of people that want to do meaningful work.  Our best years of our lives are spent at work, mostly working for someone else. And in the absence of a process people will create their own. Leaders have an opportunity to create and influence an environment that provides meaningful work and a safe environment for their employees. Employees’s responsibilities are pretty simple, do the work you were hired to do first, participate in your own learning and development, ask for what you need, and help others.  

As you can see, Kyle has great insight for the concept of leading up.  As a professional coach Kyle can be contacted at:
​
Kyle Kalloo,
CFO, COO, Executive and Business Coach,
Changemylifecoaching.ca 844-910-7111

Lead up, down and all around.  Most importantly, lead always,

Jeff