Author’s note: As local and national officials struggled to respond to the recent Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio and its effects, it reminded us of another public official, Teddy Roosevelt, who faced and effectively averted a different public crisis. We are revisiting this blog which is among the most popular we’ve published. Best-selling author and historian Doris Kearns [...]
Many portfolio managers, analysts and advisors tell us they are too busy to take the time to explain what they do. Many are also concerned about sharing their “secret sauce,” that what they say might be proprietary. But we tell our clients that they need to “lift the curtain” to transparently explain what they do and what they’ve consistently [...]
When our clients ask us how to increase their social media reach and engagement, we counsel them to look first at whether and how much their own employees share and like their corporate or thought leaders’ posts. The Twitter and LinkedIn algorithms that determine what is shown on a user’s feed favor posts that quickly attract high levels of [...]
Deciding whether to post commentary during a severe and fast-moving crisis, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, can be a conundrum. Asset managers may be reluctant to make macro calls. Wealth managers may have qualms about commenting on changes to portfolio composition. For both, hesitations boil down to these three reasons: You don’t want to be wrong. You don’t want [...]
Recently a client was quoted in a prominent trade publication for financial advisors, in an article focused squarely on a narrow topic perfectly aligned with the firm’s strategic objectives. The topic is controversial among advisors. On the whole, the journalist approached the topic with a great degree of skepticism, whereas our client had a strongly positive view. Still, it [...]
As vulnerability and transparency became a theme and “casual" became the new corporate, the historic implications of 2020 and COVID-19 will resound for generations. In a socially distanced year, we grew closer to our computers, and social media expanded engagement with our now distant communities. Greater screen time increased the desire to explore new economic realms and had an unprecedented effect on trading and markets, with many Main [...]
“Can you get me on CNBC?” This is a frequent request we get from advisors and financial experts who want media attention, despite the fact that most advisors can’t and won’t talk about the public company stocks that are the stock and trade of financial TV news. We’ve also heard many variations of the question, “How can I get the Podunk Journal to write about me?” We once [...]
It’s not exactly a trade secret that media organizations are working to make their newsrooms more diverse, with the ultimate goal of creating content that’s more representative of their audience. Through internship opportunities, targeted recruiting initiatives and thoughtful mentoring programs for underrepresented groups, the wheel is beginning to turn, albeit slowly. (Among the many challenges is the shrinking of news staff; how does a well-meaning editor or executive producer recruit for diversity when they are simultaneously being told to reduce headcount?) Obviously, the push [...]
I have absolutely no skin in this game – I have never owned GameStop nor have I ever shorted a stock – it is still instructive to speculate about the reputation management strategies of the various players in last week’s astonishing events. An internet inspired mob orchestrated a short squeeze that led to a maddening crowd of Main Street investors buying up the stock of a fundamentally struggling company and forcing a comeuppance on [...]
Theodore Roosevelt Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, draws leadership lessons from her presidential subjects. Best known for the bestseller Team of Rivals focused on Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet and her Pulitzer-prize winning No Ordinary Time about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during the war years, Kearns Goodwin has spent her life studying these and other [...]
