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Friday, October 14, 2016

5 Leadership Lessons for CEOs from LeBron James
by Dale Buss
LeBron James is the King of Cleveland and maybe Greater Ohio, at least for the next year. Bringing home the promised NBA Championship trophy—to a city that suffered without a major sports championship for 52 years—will get you such a coronation.

But behind James’ orchestration of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ dramatic, come-from-behind, 93-89 Game 7 win over the Golden State Warriors with a Finals MVP performance, some deeper leadership lessons lurk. Here are 5.

1. Comebacks can be sweet. For the past several years, one of the most compelling story lines in professional basketball would be whether its best player of the era really would be able to keep his promise and bring a championship to his home-state Cavaliers after he returned to the team in 2014 from the Miami Heat.

And while the Cavaliers were in the finals with the Warriors last year too, it looked for all the world in 2016 as though maybe James’ opportunity to fulfill his boast had passed by him, and Cleveland. That was because a new MVP kid on the block, rainbow-shooting Steph Curry, and the Warriors, had become the league’s dominant force.

But even many long-time James haters had to give him credit for the 2016 series comeback and for making good on his promise with the performance—and leadership exercise—of a lifetime. Some CEOs could agree that the second time around can be a charm, especially when you come back to your old company with the purpose of setting things right and a vision for how to accomplish it.

Think of Bob Iger in his current second stint running Walt Disney, or Myron Ullman, who took back the helm of J.C. Penney a few years ago and made it a viable retailer again. And A.G. Lafley came out of retirement to run Procter & Gamble again, better equipping it for a more challenging future.

2. Plan and execute over the long-term. Cavaliers owner and billionaire Rock Financial CEO Dan Gilbert rhetorically torched James for abandoning the Cavaliers and going to Miami. But whether it was always in James’ plans to return to Cleveland or not is academic.

And some argue that he learned what he needed from helping win championships in Miami in 2012 and 2013, with a strong supporting cast, to help James help the Cavaliers get over the hump after he returned. “I knew what I learned [while] I was gone, and I knew if I had to—when I came back—I knew I had the right ingredients and the right blueprint to help this franchise get back to a place that we’ve never been.”

Boeing executive Alan Mulally took a similar long-term approach when he agreed 10 years ago to become CEO of a shaky Ford that was about to head into the Great Recession. But he focused on self-financing the company through the bailout era and on addressing long-term fundamentals that, today, two years after his retirement from the company, Mulally’s legacy is one of the best in the history of the auto industry.

3. Choose your best performances for the most important times. The final game was rightly billed as a showdown between James and Curry, each of whom had shined at times during the previous six games in the series. But while Curry faltered and faded a bit under the most intense spotlight of his career, James famously rose to the occasion. The tighter the game got, the more brilliantly he came through. The Block and The Freethrow now are etched in NBA lore. “I came back for a reason,” James said. “I came back to bring a championship to our city. I knew what I was capable of doing.”

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has come through similarly successfully over the last few years, helming the company’s continued diversification and helping it negotiate the difficult better-for-you era in foods and beverages. One way Nooyi has done so is to tether the company’s future to other brands and products than the flagship Pepsi franchise, which has proven to be the right decision as sugary drinks became vilified. Yet she also heeded calls to boost marketing of the Pepsi brand when it was flagging.

4. Don’t make a promise you can’t keep. James never faltered in promising to bring a title to the championship-starved team and city. And in the end, he came through on his vow. That vaulted him from being considered simply one of the best basketball players of all time to strong consideration as the best of all time. “There will still be naysayers, but I know it doesn’t matter to him,” said Cavs teammate Kyrie Irving. “All that matters is we’re champions, and our whole team is etched in history.”

James Braggadocio in advance of the title is reminiscent of the bold and far-flung promises of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who among other things has vowed to take over the global electric-vehicle market and to send humans to Mars within a few years. But there are two big differences between James and Musk. First, Musk still has a lot to prove when it comes to his biggest promises. And, second, Musk has been pretty bad at keeping some important promises so far, such as when he’s going to bring out new Tesla models.

5. Don’t assume a burnt bridge can’t be rebuilt. James and Gilbert went through one of sports’ messiest divorces after the star bolted the Cavs in free agency for the Heat in 2010. Gilbert responded with an incendiary email which called James’ move a “cowardly betrayal” and in which he promised the Cavaliers would win a championship before James anyway. When James wanted to return in 2013, both men knew that nothing short of a championship would completely heal such a wide rift.

So after his James-led team won its first championship, Gilbert iterated exactly that lesson. “Everybody made mistakes for years, but by making them everybody learned, myself, the franchise, coaches, players, LeBron, everybody,” the CEO said. “And now, here we are, only because we learned”.

Source: Chief Executive

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.·. Miguel Ángel MEDINA CASABELLA, MSM, MBA, SMHS .·.
Especialista en Management Estratégico, Gestión del Cambio e Inversiones
Representante de The George Washington University en Foros y Ferias de LatAm desde 2001
Representante de The George Washington University Medical Center para los Países de LatAm desde 1996
Ex Director Académico y Profesor de Gestión del Cambio del HSML Program para LatAm en GWU School of Medicine & Health Sciences (Washington DC)
CEO, MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm
TE Oficina: ( 0054) 11 - 3532 - 0510
TE Móvil (Local): ( 011 ) 15 - 4420 - 5103
TE Móvil (Int´l): ( 0054) 911 - 4420 - 5103
Skype: medinacasabella


MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm ©
(mamc.latam@gmail.com; +5411-3532-0510)
es una Consultora Interdisciplinaria cuya Misión es proveer
soluciones integrales, eficientes y operativas en todas las áreas vinculadas a:

Estrategias Multiculturales y Transculturales, Organizacionales y Competitivas,
Management Estratégico,
Gestión del Cambio,
Marketing Estratégico,
Inversiones,
Gestión Educativa,
Capacitación

de Latino América (LatAm), para los Sectores:

a) Salud, Farma y Biotech,
b) Industria y Servicios,
c) Universidades y Centros de Capacitación,
d) Gobierno y ONGs.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2016

New GWU Postdoctoral Association will Focus on Community, Networking and Career Building
by Kristen Mitchell
Postdoctoral fellows now have the opportunity to join the newly formed George Washington University Postdoc Association, designed to focus on networking, professional development, and social engagement.

“A strong postdoc support system will encourage the most talented young investigators to join the workforce of the university and contribute significantly to our intellectual environment” – Robert Miller, M.D., associate dean for research at GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences (GW SMHS).

 Concentrated in his own world of research, postdoctoral fellow George Younes said he went months without meeting new colleagues in the Department of Physics, let alone anyone else at the university.

“Most of the interactions we have as postdocs is with our mentors, principal investigators and probably some colleagues we work closely with,” he said. “Research requires a lot of time commitment, and we don’t have the time to go out and network.”

Dr. Younes said it didn’t have to be that way though, and with support from the university decided to form the George Washington University Postdoc Association, an organization that will focus on networking, professional development and social engagement across fields and school boundaries. Postdoctoral fellows participate in temporary mentored research and training for a set length of time.

Supported by the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Office of the Vice President for Research, the association is officially launching this month with an event during National Postdoc Appreciation Week Sept. 19 to Sept. 23.

Interested postdocs can meet in the Science and Engineering Hall room B1167 on Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. for a private kickoff event, where sweets and drinks will be served. Attendees should RSVP in advance.

GW SMHS is taking an active role in supporting and mentoring the association. Associate Dean for Research Bob Miller said postdocs represent the creative and innovation hub of research, and that the position is one of both learning and significant contribution.

“A strong postdoc support system will encourage the most talented young investigators to join the workforce of the university and contribute significantly to our intellectual environment,” he said.

Dr. Younes said when many Ph.D. students graduate from universities, they are entering a workforce where the faculty jobs that were abundant for previous generations are scarce. With more people than ever getting doctoral degrees, there is more competition for faculty positions, leaving many qualified candidates looking for jobs outside of academia in the private and public sectors.

The GW association will focus in part on job search skills for those seeking less traditional paths.

“It would be nice to introduce these postdocs to opening their own nonprofit organizations, their own startups,” Dr. Younes said.

The organization will also act as a link between postdoctoral fellows and the university administration, Dr. Younes said.

The university encouraged the association’s creation and has provided funding, Dr. Younes said.

"Postdocs are an important and growing part of the university’s research enterprise,” said Gina Lohr, associate vice president for research. “The Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to support the formation of the GW Postdoc Association as well as its goals of professional development and building a sense of community among its members".

Source: The George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences

DEEPLY PROUD of celebrating 20 years of uninterrupted work REPRESENTING BOTH The George Washington University at LatAm Forums since 2001 & The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences for LatAm Countries since 1996, and even PROUDER OF BEING the Former Academic Director and Change Management Professor of the HSML Program for LatAm, at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences at Washington DC.


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.·. Miguel Ángel MEDINA CASABELLA, MSM, MBA, SMHS .·.
Especialista en Management Estratégico, Gestión del Cambio e Inversiones
Representante de The George Washington University en Foros y Ferias de LatAm desde 2001
Representante de The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences para los Países de LatAm desde 1996
Ex Director Académico y Profesor de Gestión del Cambio del HSML Program para LatAm en GWU School of Medicine & Health Sciences (Washington DC)
CEO, MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm
TE Oficina: ( 0054) 11 - 3532 - 0510
TE Móvil (Local): ( 011 ) 15 - 4420 - 5103
TE Móvil (Int´l): ( 0054) 911 - 4420 - 5103
Skype: medinacasabella


MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm ©
(mamc.latam@gmail.com; +5411-3532-0510)
es una Consultora Interdisciplinaria cuya Misión es proveer
soluciones integrales, eficientes y operativas en todas las áreas vinculadas a:

Estrategias Multiculturales y Transculturales, Organizacionales y Competitivas,
Management Estratégico,
Gestión del Cambio,
Marketing Estratégico,
Inversiones,
Gestión Educativa,
Capacitación

de Latino América (LatAm), para los Sectores:

a) Salud, Farma y Biotech,
b) Industria y Servicios,
c) Universidades y Centros de Capacitación,
d) Gobierno y ONGs.
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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Elon Musk: how to be a Visionary 
without overpromising and underdelivering
by Dale Buss
There may be no more fascinating CEO in the world right now than Elon Musk, a true visionary. He heads a series of dynamic, game-changing technology companies—Tesla, SpaceX, Hyperloop and SolarCity—and is worshiped by many as the next Steve Jobs, yet he’s making mistakes in everyday business that are calling into question whether his full potential as a true visionary can be realized.

In relatively short order over the last few years, Elon Musk, the native South African and visionary co-founder of PayPal, has established and built companies that already have begun creating new industries or rewriting the rules of old ones. He is dazzling customers and fans with his ability to commercialize technologies that not long ago ranked as fantasies.

Tesla has made expensive electric vehicles cool and promises to make EVs affordable. SpaceX has shown that, while still a work in progress, commercial enterprises can handle our extraterrestrial needs. Hyperloop is experimenting with very-high-speed, ground-based mass transport. And SolarCity is helping Americans unplug from the grid with its solar technology.

But while egotistical and never self-doubting, Musk likes to think of himself as more than fallible in the nitty-gritty of running these businesses, where his pride, and perhaps arrogance, has gotten him into trouble.

The most recent such episode is his defense of the Tesla self-driving system, Autopilot, after a Florida driver’s reliance on it got him killed. But there have been others lately as well, including an apparent self-dealing in Tesla’s plan to acquire SolarCity, and Musk’s penchant for promising Tesla investors that the company will meet sales and production targets—which it then misses, and which Musk then excuses.

Musk “pushes boundaries, sometimes to the breaking point,” noted Wall Street Journal columnist Christopher Mims, “renew[ing] questions about whether Musk’s reach may exceed his grasp—and that he is pushing beyond reasonable risk.

Yet, it isn’t clear whether Musk ultimately will demonstrate hubris that leads to severe difficulties for him and his enterprises in the months and years ahead, whether he will pull back on some of his Trumpesque excesses and conduct himself more conventionally—or whether he will continue the way he is leading today, and will quickly blow past his current difficulties to whole new levels of success.

Here are 4 things other CEOs—who, are encouraged to think of themselves as infallible visionaries—might learn from the current travails of Musk.

1. Don’t turn customers into guinea pigs. Although Tesla was clearly a leader in all-electric cars, in the self-driving derby, it was a follower. Then last year Musk revealed the company’s “Autopilot” technology, an iterative autonomous-driving system which he deemed superior to the competition.
Tesla stressed to its customers that they should never solely rely on Autopilot and always be ready to resume control of their vehicle; but Musk also personally encouraged Tesla drivers to rely on Autopilot, saying that even in its early form it is “twice as good” as any human driver. Tesla also stressed that it was “beta testing” Autopilot, like any new software program—though clearly human lives were on the line.

2. Beware the consequences of a cultish following. In a related learning, Musk has to know—and indeed encourages—customers, followers and fans to believe deeply that he is not only a technology savant but also as an uber visionary who sees so much further into the future than others that, well, surely he must be right about something as pedestrian as the present. Little wonder, then, that Joshua Brown, the Tesla owner who was fated to die, believed implicitly that Autopilot would keep him out of any danger and perhaps that the company’s warnings about an over-reliance on the system were mere boilerplate.  In fact, not that long ago, he’d made a YouTube video which demonstrated how the system had helped him avoid a previous potential crash.

3. Be truly honest and transparent. Musk makes a big deal of the fact that he communicates via blog and tweet at a moment’s notice, creating an impression that he’s one of the world’s most transparent business leaders of importance. Yet this is faux honesty, and Musk also has proven no more trustworthy than other obsessed visionaries when realities get in the way of their dreams. For instance, Musk has defended his proposal to combine Tesla and SolarCity as far-sighted vertical engineering; but while that may be, it also looks like a garden-variety example of nepotism and self-dealing, because Musk heads both money-losing companies, and his cousin is chairman of the solar-panel maker. Also, Tesla reportedly decided not to publicly disclose the Florida fatality before a $2-billion share sale because, the company said, it wasn’t a “material event.” A decision that important—as well as that obviously disingenuous—had to be made at the top of the company.

4. Know that the media giveth … and taketh away. According to reports by insiders, nothing irks Musk more than when news media make a big deal out of supposedly one-off events that, while reflecting poorly on Tesla, seem to be insignificant in the long run or statistically. These have included a New York Times review of an early Tesla Model S that lost power in a frigid Northeast winter; reports of isolated battery fires in the cars; even the Autopilot fatality which, Tesla noted from the beginning, was the first “in more than 130 million miles of driving” using the system.

Elon Musk may yet prove that his ideas are so big, the details of achieving them pale in comparison. Beware, however. Other CEOs have thought that, too.

Source: Chief Executive

Haciendo click en cada uno de los links siguientes, Contenidos de nuestros 
TALLERES DE CAPACITACIÓN IN COMPANY, "A MEDIDA" 
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Consultas al mail: mamc.latam@gmail.com
ó al TE: +5411.3532.0510


.·. Miguel Ángel MEDINA CASABELLA, MSM, MBA, SMHS .·.
Especialista en Management Estratégico, Gestión del Cambio e Inversiones
Representante de The George Washington University en Foros y Ferias de LatAm desde 2001
Representante de The George Washington University Medical Center para los Países de LatAm desde 1996
Ex Director Académico y Profesor de Gestión del Cambio del HSML Program para LatAm en GWU School of Medicine & Health Sciences (Washington DC)
CEO, MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm
TE Oficina: ( 0054) 11 - 3532 - 0510
TE Móvil (Local): ( 011 ) 15 - 4420 - 5103
TE Móvil (Int´l): ( 0054) 911 - 4420 - 5103
Skype: medinacasabella


MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm ©
(mamc.latam@gmail.com; +5411-3532-0510)
es una Consultora Interdisciplinaria cuya Misión es proveer
soluciones integrales, eficientes y operativas en todas las áreas vinculadas a:

Estrategias Multiculturales y Transculturales, Organizacionales y Competitivas,
Management Estratégico,
Gestión del Cambio,
Marketing Estratégico,
Inversiones,
Gestión Educativa,
Capacitación

de Latino América (LatAm), para los Sectores:

a) Salud, Farma y Biotech,
b) Industria y Servicios,
c) Universidades y Centros de Capacitación,
d) Gobierno y ONGs.
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Nation Branding: Perception Can Be Reality - So Manage It 


“The fashion is unbelievable. The people are stylish and fit, and the beaches and nightlife are out of this world. It’s a very fun country,” says Wharton marketing professor Dave Reibstein.
What nation might he be referring to? Brazil? Spain? Some exotic island?

He actually means Israel, although you might not have guessed correctly without personal experience of the country. Most people’s impression of Israel, says Reibstein, is formed by what they see in the news media. And he notes that according to a recent study, 96% of all coverage about Israel is about war and terrorism. “People routinely see bomb sites and murders. It’s not a beautiful and sexy image that’s portrayed around the world.”

He also notes that Israel is not generally thought of as an innovative nation, despite the fact that its technology industry is “probably second only to Silicon Valley.” In order to avoid political controversies, products designed or manufactured in Israel are often not branded as such. Consequently, people outside of Israel are largely unaware of the country’s technological prowess, and they may be stumped when asked to name a single Israeli product.

Notes Reibstein: “Israel has a much different reality than what the common perception is. This gap hurts their economy significantly.”

Popular perceptions about Israel along with 59 other countries are reflected in the “Best Countries” report published earlier this year by Reibstein and Wharton in collaboration with U. S. News & World Report and BAV Consulting. For the report, Reibstein and colleagues surveyed 16,500 global citizens about 65 different national attributes. The attributes were then grouped into nine sub-rankings: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power, and Quality of Life.

Widely held ideas about a country’s scenic beauty, “sexiness” or safety — justified or not — impact its tourism industry, points out Reibstein. Moreover, the impressions people have of a nation’s innovativeness, receptiveness to entrepreneurship, financial infrastructure and related matters affect its success in attracting foreign trade and foreign direct investment. This relationship between impressions and financial success is why, according to Reibstein, countries may want to consider mounting nation-branding campaigns.

“If you’re not making a concerted effort to brand your nation, other people might do it for you - and for their own purposes”
(Tom Lincoln)

 The cost nations can incur when they don’t promote their brand was spotlighted by the flap over the 2006 international hit comedy Borat. The film starred Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, a bumbling, clueless, racist journalist from Kazakhstan. “[The movie] painted the country as being filled with people like Borat,” says Philadelphia-based consultant Tom Lincoln, director of the Wharton Nation Brand Conference scheduled for October in Philadelphia. “For a while the Kazakhstanis had to struggle against this portrayal.”

Kazakhstan’s government denounced the film and poured millions into a promotional campaign to try to counteract its effects. Although over the next several years tourism to Kazakhstan actually increased because of the film’s notoriety, it was a far-from-ideal way for a country to arrive on the map. The Best Countries report notes that one of the ongoing challenges faced by Kazakhstan is “creating a national identity.”

Lincoln commented, “If you’re not making a concerted effort to brand your nation, other people might do it for you and for their own purposes.”

Nation-branding Success Stories

Reibstein notes that nation-branding campaigns can be focused on either attracting overseas investment and trade, or attracting tourists, and different strategies may be used depending on the focus of the campaign.

India’s “Make in India” campaign provides a useful example of a nation branding strategy that focuses on attracting foreign businesses. Launched by Prime Minister Modi in late 2014, the initiative promotes India as a manufacturing hub, with the idea of competing with manufacturing giant China as well as emerging centers such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. The move represents a continuing trend away from India’s protectionist past.

Reibstein observes that the campaign’s name is “very conscious on their part…. It’s not ‘Made in India,’ which is what they would use to appeal to consumers. It’s ‘Make in India.’ This is an appeal to businesses to move their manufacturing operations and sourcing to India.”

The Wall Street Journal evaluated the program favorably one year after launch, citing a surge in foreign direct investment, increases in India’s industrial production numbers, and investment announcements by Foxconn, GM, and Uber. Moreover, a “Make in India Week” last February generated $222 billion in investment pledges, according to Forbes. The article commented that the campaign appeared to be “catching fire.”

"Dubai did a masterful job of creating a brand of nowhere"
(David Rebstein)

In Reibstein’s view, another standout country for nation-branding when it comes to foreign investment and trade is South Korea. “South Korea did not have a good brand [originally],” he notes. “It had an image of low-quality, low-priced products.” But the country changed its image (and its reality) over the past few decades, he says, by “riding primarily on the shoulders of Samsung” and associating this wildly successful brand with the nation where Samsung is headquartered.

“There was no question that Samsung was South Korean. They didn’t try to hide it; it was widely known and widely publicized,” he notes. “And just as Samsung has served people with high-quality products, so has South Korea. You could say the same thing about LG and Hyundai.”

South Korea’s nation-branding success is reflected in the Best Countries report. In the Power sub-ranking — a metric that includes perceptions of being economically influential — it ranks number 10 of 60 countries. For Entrepreneurship it ranks highly too, at number 12. One can also see evidence of its branding strategy having been business-oriented rather than tourism-oriented: in the Adventure category it falls near the bottom, at number 50.

Reibstein has been keeping an eye on South Korea’s latest branding strategies. Take, for example, Hyundai’s 2015 launch of a high-end luxury car. He points out that Hyundai and South Korea have long been associated with affordable automobiles, not high-end luxury cars. So how would the car be marketed? “They kept the Korean name … and they introduced it as the Hyundai Genesis.”

Industry publications rated the car’s quality favorably: equal or superior to a Lexus. But, notes Reibstein, the company “ended up having to price it significantly below a Lexus” because it carried the Hyundai name. Nevertheless, he asserts, having a well-made luxury car to its name will enhance not only Hyundai’s brand but also South Korea’s.

“As people buy that car and say ‘Whoa, this is really a high-quality car,’ that has a spillover effect…. As you produce really good products and they are associated with a particular country, that success strengthens the nation’s brand.”

A “Glamorous Playground”

Another nation-branding success story, this one about tourism, involves the United Arab Emirates () and its two most populous emirates Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Reibstein observes that the UAE, which is not even 50 years old (and in the case of Dubai, has little oil wealth) has managed to turn itself into a tourism powerhouse.

“If you want to go on a wild and fun vacation, go to Dubai,” says Reibstein. This year the city was ranked number 12 on Euromonitor’s “Top 100 City Destinations,” and is characterized by the popular travel site Lonely Planet as “a glamorous playground.” Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi is developing itself as a center of culture. It has signed deals to open branches of both the Guggenheim and the Louvre.

“Victory is not on the military battlefield … it’s on the information battlefield”
(Richard Stengel)

Reibstein says that in order to promote Dubai, the UAE invested in communications, hosted tour groups and celebrities, and generally aimed to make Dubai a city that attracted buzz. They created a world-class airport, a high-end airline (Emirates, ranked this year as the world’s top airline) and the world’s first-ever seven-star hotel. A very photogenic resort features artificial islands created to look like a world map. One island was purchased several years ago by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Reibstein recounts publicity stunts such as bringing in Andre Agassi and Roger Federer to play tennis at the Burj Al Arab hotel in 2005 on a helipad suspended 1,000 feet above the Persian Gulf. And one of Dubai’s newest temptations for upscale travelers is a chain of luxury floating villas called “seahorses” that feature glassed-in underwater bedrooms.

“Dubai did a masterful job of creating a brand out of nowhere,” comments Reibstein. “If we looked 15 or 20 years ago, we probably could not have found Dubai on a map”.

Enter the Internet

Although many assume nation-branding is a contemporary phenomenon, the concept is far from new, points out Lincoln. One only need think of ancient Rome touting the glory of its emperors by imprinting their images on coins, or post-Revolution France designing a new flag, anthem, and other symbols to represent the new Republic to the world. And in 1953, the now-defunct United States Information Agency was created to engage in positive public diplomacy during the Cold War.

Yet some of the tools are new. Social media, for example, is being used by Russia to attack perceived enemies and spread pro-Russia messages widely on the Internet, according to Lincoln. “What it’s doing in a way is muddying the conversation; it’s trying to distract from valid criticisms of the Russian government.”

The New York Times, reporting on “Russia’s troll army” in May, described how a Finnish journalist has been victimized by “a vicious retaliatory campaign of harassment and insults” for trying to investigate the phenomenon. The article also noted that Russia’s online presence is so aggressive and disruptive that both NATO and the EU are becoming increasingly concerned about the damaging effects and possible security risk.

Lincoln points out that ISIS also uses the Internet for nation branding and to gain new recruits -and unfortunately has been tremendously successful. What he finds interesting (and disturbing) about its strategy is that it tries to present a positive message about “building a new caliphate in the war-torn regions of Syria and Iraq,” rather than solely a negative message about destroying its enemies. ISIS propaganda might show an image of a basket of apples, for example, with words about how the caliphate will create a wonderful new society where there will be plenty for all members.

Lincoln paraphrases Richard Stengel, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, who spoke in May at the Schieffer Series at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “We — the entire West and our allies — have to do a good job of telling a better story of whowe are and why people would want to support us instead of ISIS.” Stengel noted, in a video of the event available on YouTube, that “Victory is not on the military battlefield…. it’s on the information battlefield”.

Social media in nation branding can also mean everyday posts by ordinary individuals reflecting their experiences in different countries. This can go either positively or negatively for nations, says Reibstein.  Travelers may share snapshots of beautiful landscapes, friendly locals, historic buildings and exotic wildlife; or conversely, travelers may report that a country seemed dirty or that they got mugged there. “These casual reports can spread pretty easily.”.

With respect to successful nation branding, there is a bottom line recommendation: If you are trying to make your country a great place to invest in and visit, don’t forget to make the rest of the world aware of your country’s best characteristics. Countries ignore brand building at their own peril, in Lincoln’s opinion. He observes, “The way you destroy your own brand is largely by not paying attention to it…. You’re leaving it to chance and the vagaries of international relations”.
Source: Wharton, University of Pennsylvania

Haciendo click en cada uno de los links siguientes, Contenidos de nuestros 
TALLERES DE CAPACITACIÓN IN COMPANY, "A MEDIDA" 
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Consultas al mail: mamc.latam@gmail.com
ó al TE: +5411.3532.0510


.·. Miguel Ángel MEDINA CASABELLA, MSM, MBA, SMHS .·.
Especialista en Management Estratégico, Gestión del Cambio e Inversiones
Representante de The George Washington University en Foros y Ferias de LatAm desde 2001
Representante de The George Washington University Medical Center para los Países de LatAm desde 1996
Ex Director Académico y Profesor de Gestión del Cambio del HSML Program para LatAm en GWU School of Medicine & Health Sciences (Washington DC)
CEO, MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm
TE Oficina: ( 0054) 11 - 3532 - 0510
TE Móvil (Local): ( 011 ) 15 - 4420 - 5103
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MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm ©
(mamc.latam@gmail.com; +5411-3532-0510)
es una Consultora Interdisciplinaria cuya Misión es proveer
soluciones integrales, eficientes y operativas en todas las áreas vinculadas a:

Estrategias Multiculturales y Transculturales, Organizacionales y Competitivas,
Management Estratégico,
Gestión del Cambio,
Marketing Estratégico,
Inversiones,
Gestión Educativa,
Capacitación

de Latino América (LatAm), para los Sectores:

a) Salud, Farma y Biotech,
b) Industria y Servicios,
c) Universidades y Centros de Capacitación,
d) Gobierno y ONGs.
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