Press Conference Palooza

The secret to a successful press conference is to make sure it coincides with a planned visit by the Governor. Yes, Michigan Governor Granholm was in Auburn Hills today - and so were the majority of local media outlets. The event was threefold: the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new world headquarters of US Farathane, the rebirth of the 200+ acre Oakland Technology Park where US Farathane will soon be located, and the reminder to corporations near and far that Auburn Hills, the global business address - is open for business.

General Development purchased the land from Chrysler in early 2010 following the Chrysler bankruptcy. The land has been unavailable for development since 1995, but no longer. It's a new day in Auburn Hills. Using Auburn Hills fast track development approach, along with incentives at the state and local level, US Farathane broke ground in March on a project that first appeared before the Auburn Hills City Council in late January 2010.

As the 60+ attendees happily sweltered in today's 85 degree sun, the earth moved in Auburn Hills - with the assistance of about 10 earth movers. That's right folks, construction equipment was operational ( and not working on roads). Next up? Cranes in Auburn Hills. I'll alert the media.

Social Revolution at a Glance

I'm not new to blogging, tweeting, Linkedin or facebook, but I wasn't aware of all the statistics on users, purchases, marriages, etc. emanating from the use of social media. If you have four minutes to get up to date,click on the link below for a fast-paced, funky beat video that puts you in the know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Celebrating Sisterhood: March 8th is International Women's Day

My friend and colleague, Anne Doyle, sends along a reminder that Monday, March 8th is International Women's Day. Learn more at http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

What a fitting introduction to congratulate two of my favorite women: attorneys and law partners Patricia Nemeth and Linda Burwell. These two legal powerhouses have helped create Michigan's largest, woman-owned management side labor and employment law firm, Nemeth Burwell, P.C. They were honored, along with seven other highly accomplished women, at the Michigan Business and Professionals Association 14th annual women and leadership conference on Thursday, March 4th. The accompanying picture was taken at the event. Linda is on the left and Pat is on the right.

Everyday PR Can Ward Off Crisis PR

According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, Toyota has called in the big PR guns to manage its quality crisis (crisis is a powerful word but seems like an understatement here.) I contend that good public relations is everyday public relations. It's communicating with internal and external audiences regularly to maintain a positive, open and honest relationship.

When a company tells its story regularly, even when that means admitting to some hiccups along the way, significant good will is created. When goodwill among the public and stakeholders exists, the power to avert a crisis is strong. Again, as mentioned in previous posts, this requires immediate, full disclosure of any serious problem and a sincere desire and strategy to tackle the issue fully and with urgency. Hiding problems for months and years is sure to lead to a PR crisis. Practicing everyday PR can avert one.

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?