Turnabout isn't Fair Play?

I was surprised to hear a well known automotive insider comment Friday that Ford and GM were being "predatory" in their attempts to take advantage of the massive Toyota recall in order to sell domestic cars. Why not? The quality issue - which the domestics have fought for years and sometimes rightly so - has been one of Toyota's key selling points. From a PR perspective, where timing is everything, why would any car company, regardless of country of origin, not step up to the plate and tout its products?

I feel a personal connection to this developing story because I was once the owner of a Lexus ES-350. I had three unexplained acceleration experiences, the scariest of which occurred on 1-75 north in the winter of 2008. I was driving my then 14 year-old daughter, Lucie, and her best friend skiing at Pine Knob. Suddenly, the car lurched past 70 to 85 and 90. I wish I could say I remained calm, but I'd be lying. I was screaming for the girls not to worry because I'd figure this out, but I had no idea what was happening. Did I hit the cruise control by mistake? How could I stop the car, given that using the brake was producing zero results? I think I must have jimmied the floor mat in my frenzy to try something, anything, to slow the car down. The car then resumed normal speed and we survived unscathed.

It deeply concerns me that this dangerous acceleration problem has been identified in 8 Toyota models, especially with one of my sisters driving an Avalon and another a brand new RAV 4. The problem needs to be resolved immediately. In the meantime, with car safety top of mind, manufacturers with cars with no known safety issues do need to tell their story loud and often. (By the way, I love my 2009 Lincoln MKZ.)

It's About TIME

A belated thank you to TIME magazine and its other national titles for focusing on Detroit and surrounding areas for an extended period. I heard TIME editor Ann S. Moore speak at an INFORUM event on January 15th and it was hard not to feel a sense of pride in Detroit, both from the success this region has historically known and the potential to innovate our way back to the top again.

Women Executives Rock

An article in this week's Crain's Detroit Business highlights the recent findings that women are woefully under-represented on corporate boards and among Michigan's highly compensated executive ranks (http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20091022/EMAIL01/310229992/-1#). Hmm, can't help but wonder if more women are forgoing the big business route and doing their own thing.

I raise the question because of my current seven clients, three of the organizations are owned and/or led by women. A fourth, Plante & Moran, has always ranked highly on lists touting an impressive percentage of women partners among the nation's largest public accounting firms. I've always had a high percentage of women business owners as clients. Part of the reason is that other women often refer business to me. I can see any of my women clients heading up large organizations and serving on corporate boards, but speaking to the former, my guess is they wouldn't trade their current role for the hassles of the corporate world. That's not the point though. Do Michigan's largest companies know what type of dynamic talent they are missing? Or are they content to let good leaders slip away?

Detroit is Hot

It may be late September, with temperatures this week slated for the 60's, but Detroit is hot. Media-wise, I can't recall in my ten + years as an independent PR consultant a time when national media found Detroit even remotely newsworthy. As a matter of fact, pitching Detroit-area stories to national media has been one of my greatest challenges. Perhaps no longer, though.

Detroit is a topic in this week's FORTUNE, a cover story in Time magazine, and the subject of Time's new Detroit House project blog. Time even bought a house in the city to "embed" a reporter there. (Is that a war zone implication?) Further, a lengthy story in Saturday's (9/26) Wall Street Journal on the historical demise of a home in Detroit's Boston Edison District was the most e-mailed article of the day on WSJ.com. (Okay - I didn't say these were positive stories about Detroit!) There's a counter to that, though. A few months ago, one of my clients was featured in a CNN.com piece on "Why I love Detroit." In all, it's a good time to be a Detroit PR guru.

Don't Use That Language with Me!

I'm hip! I'm happening! I'm up-to-date with the lingo. Okay, I better stop now. Still, I was encouraged to learn that I only use two of the twelve tech-based words that have been banned from use at the office for fear that one will appear to be woefully behind the times. But now these two words, used however sparingly by me, must go. They are: web surfing and Intranet. (On a related note, I believe it's important to add here that I have not used "state of the art" in a news release or any marketing collateral piece since 2002.)

Click here to see if you are a tech-word dinosaur.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107602/12-words-you-can-never-say-in-the-office.html

Passing on the Pope?

Should one pass on the Pope? Swimmer Michael Phelps did, or will, or might, in order to rest up for his next meet. If that's the case, it seems like a PR gaffe to me, or severe egomania, especially if it's true that the Pope is meeting with 100 swimmers. This could be a great teachable moment for the Pope, though. (Hmmm,our leaders are big on teachable moments these days...)Yes, he could be like the shepherd who, despite having nearly his whole flock present, goes to look for the one lost sheep. If he's looking for a wolf in sheep's clothing, here's a hint: he's the one wearing the Speedo.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-worlds-phelps-benedict&prov=ap&type=lgns

Linked In and Liking It

I'm back in the fold with long-time client and former employer of 12 years, Plante & Moran (www.plantemoran.com)and I can't help but feel smarter because of the association. Why? As I've always said, Plante & Moran does a lot of things right. In helping them tell their stories, I am enriched by and engaged in a corporate culture that stresses putting the client first and offering staff the best professional experience, mentoring and training. Best of all, I learn right along with my P&M colleagues, who bring me up to date on the latest trends in corporate and HR strategies.

It's the latter that I've been working on recently,as I share the message that Plante & Moran has added Linkedin to its formal training program for practice staff. This brilliant idea was the brainchild of Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Antaya. Again, Plante & Moran is leading the way with its HR practices, this time on the web. Guess that's one of the reasons they have been on FORTUNE's 100 Best Places to Work List for the past 11 years.