Tactical Transparency

Andy Sernovitz at BlogWell Conference

Graco and other large brands at Blogwell

I'm at the BlogWell conference in San Jose. Listening to Lindsay Lebresco of Graco talking about a cool initiative they're doing called, "Graco Get Togethers." Essentially they've done a number of live events with influential bloggers which ended up leading to (amongst other things) a spot on the Today show. But the focus is on getting involved in a relevant way with Mom communities to expose people to their brand. Very cool.

When does Being Nice turn to Kissing Butt?

I just went to a meeting and we brought snacks which people seemed to love. We joked about it ('no sugar crashing during our presentation) and we were memorable (although our presentation had been really honed as well). What do you think? When is offering a gesture construed as kissing butt and how can you be authentic versus smarmy in the process?

Talking Religion at Work - Yes or No?

Everyone says you're not supposed to talk about politics and religion but people generally talk politics at work or in other "off limits" settings. I'm wondering why if someone mentions their faith at work (unless they're mentioning a holiday they're taking off) people immediately clam up and just nod their head?

I realize it's not politically correct to get too specific about faith issues at work, but it seems strange to me. If a person's faith/world belief is so central to who they are, wouldn't their views/beliefs be helpful to elucidate in certain settings in the workplace? Perhaps an ethics discussion in HR in a gray area issue? Or in discussing a client that has a religious focus to their organization? I'm sure these types of talks may come up but you know what I mean.

What do you think? If people were to talk about their faith at work, what would be the best context and why? Where would it be helpful and where would it hinder?

You can let me know here or email me at: johnhavens AT blogtalkradio DOT com. Oh, and please join our Facebook Group for the book. We're getting a nice membership and would love to have your thoughts. Best, JCH

McCain and Transparency via VA Records Online

I just read a great post on Daily Kos (McCain Tonight: "Put Health Care Records Online" You First, Sir)that discusses the merits (or lack thereof) of promoting this kind of transparency in regards to information that could benefit the American people. 

I had a great interview for the book with Micah Sifry, Senior Editor of Personal Democracy Forum where we discussed issues of transparency in government that were a bit more palatable than having private medical records listed online.  Sifry and organizations like The Sunlight Foundation are trying to get public records already online out of PDF format so they'll be searchable/taggable.  Sifry also notes how some Senators and other public officials use public Google Calendars/maps to let their constituents know where they'll be and when which is pretty amazing.  As Sifry noted in our interview, "if they work for us, why shouldn't we know what they're doing?"

I applaud McCain's use of the word transparency a number of times last night but the medical records comment makes me think he's not actively pursuing ways to truly make government more open online.  But the more I can't find information that I should about government via the Internet, the more I'll wonder what people are trying to hide.

Shel and John's Video about Transparency

Shel and I put together a video about our book describing some of the central themes and attributes of transparency. We recorded it before our talk at the New Media Expo mentioned below.