The assessment is based upon a tool with four categories.

• Purposeful Leadership. The executive team needs to act consistently with a clear, widely communicated set of values.
• Compelling Brand Values. The company needs to translate its brand attributes into requirements for every customer interaction.
• Employee Engagement. Employees need to be committed to the goals and values of the company.
• Customer Connectedness. Customer insight and feedback needs to be deeply engrained in all processes and decisions.

Customer Experience Competency Self Test

nto a customer-centric organization that can sustain a long-term differential in customer loyalty.

Bottom Ten Customer Compentencies

The authors of the Proceeding National Academy of Social Academy of the United States (PNAS) have asserted in there research however there are unusual “bandwagon effects” where popularity of a download hits a threshold where it can skyrocket. This is reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwells’s “tipping -point” premise from his book, “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.”

The popularity threshold of a download can skyrocket through independent action by a user and without outside influence like in the non online world or the real world (why am I having Matrix flashbacks as I write this post).  I have provided a link to the PNAS abstract for their article, “Spontaneous emergency of social influence in online systems” along with supporting information.

The researchers (Jukka-Pekka Onnela and Felix Reed-Tsochas) gathered data in mid-2007 and used apps whose downloads were advertised to the Facebook community and user’s apps were visible to friends and the friends were notified when an app was downloaded that the unusual “bandwagon effect” occurred (Facebook no longer provides this information).  We see this in the Itunes store, where popularity indexes drive free downloads.

So, what does this mean? First, the popularity threshold is influenced by the choices of others particularly friends who we trust.  Second, the behavior by all of us is only influenced by the choices of our online friends. This research is consistent with Social Media statistics about the influence of friends recommendations on brands in the +80% range.

Why do you think we as users are so heavily and solely influenced by the choices of friends?

When the online era took off, didn’t many of us believe that this was the medium in which we could express our unique individuality and find what uniquely appeals to us?

Check out BBC News Science & Environment article Facebook app downloads show  unique “bandwagon effect”

The Khan Academy has 1800 videos in the areas of math, science, humanities & other, test prep, and talks & interviews on their website (www.khanacademy.org).

Khan Academy is the brain child of Salman Khan, a 33 former hedge fund analyst, who left his job to create the Khan Academy.

Take a look at the following video clips of Bill Gates talking about Khan Academy, an Khan Academy About Us video, and a PBS video about Salman and his Academy.

This is great stuff. You have to check out the videos and spread the word!

It is interesting to hear “information” discussed in this framework and the differing country opinions and implication for tools like Twitter.  It is also a very familiar discussion in how the same types of view by countries that have existed since before the cold war are now used for information.  Listen to the story.  If the player is taking too long to load, go directly to NPR web article link.

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you (like many) need to find a better way to manage your email effectively and spend less time doing it. Here is an approach worth considering for your daily email battle.  Check out this Google Tech Talks video where Merlin Mann talks about Inbox Zero.

After you watch the video, comment on Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero approach.

From the category of be careful what you wish for because in the social media world you are having a two way conversation with your customers….AT&T customers provided extremely direct feedback on the AT&T Facebook page like an “Angry Mob.” To AT&T’s credit, as a policy they do not delete Facebook comments and they are answering the questions directly.

Obviously, you core values as a leader are constant and you must remain consistent and true and maintain the trust and integrity as a leader.  I do believe that several key characteristics that can yield the most for all stakeholders that are not often mentioned or emphasized in the aforementioned works are the ability to be self reflective, to have self doubt, and to be adaptive in both your approach, style, vision, and plan.

Having said all of that, what I do find perhaps more compelling to think about and discuss is the biggest mistakes a leader can make.  The Harvard Business Review has a thought provoking seven minute video where they posed the question , “What is the biggest mistake a leader can make?” to nine leaders.  The real value in this video is nine different perspectives and voices for the same question.   I recommend you watch the video at your appointed time  and share your thoughts on the video and your answer to the question.

What put me on this thought process this morning was a pop quiz question posed by Nick Bilton in his NY Times article, “The Price of Facebook Privacy?“, where he asked. “Which is longer, the United States Constitution or Facebook’s Privacy Policy?”   I am sure your probably guessed Facebook.  And you are right.   He points out in the article, the length in words of Facebook’s Privacy Policy is 5,830 words long.  Does that sound like a lot?  Now consider this, the Facebook Privacy Policy is now 1,287 words longer than the United States Constitution minus the amendments (4,453 words).  Think about that for a moment…..interesting isn’t it.  Further, the article provides a word count in the user ” Facebook Center” for privacy-related FAQ of 45,000 words.

We can assume the amount of words has grown with the recent security additions in response to the recent congressional interest in Facebook privacy  (new congressional concern over Facebook policy) and the growing concerns of groups demanding simple to use options which provide more granular controls over privacy.   With the addition of the new Facebook security opt-out features there are now more than 50 privacy buttons, which then require choosing among a total of more than 170 options.

You may ask if the features are here, what is the problem?  Well, the time required to understand complexity of the new features coupled with how your implement it with your community of friends which are comprised of family, friends, associates, business partners, etc….is beyond the patience, desire, or understanding of a number of members.

The challenge Facebook has is that everyone wants “Apple style” functionality with simplicity and intuitiveness.  There is not a silver bullet for this simplicity on the Facebook platform.  The complexity for these features is the trade-off made for comprehensive versus granular on this platform.

Let’s put Facebook into proper perspsective.  We all know that if Facebook members were a country, it would be the 3rd largest country on earth at more than 400 million people behind China and India.   How big is Facebook? Facebook Privacy made the  Time Magazine cover for the issue that hits the streets on May 31.  The Facebook  growing chart is astronomical, so I am sure there is a study projecting when Facebook membership will pass India for 2nd. The secret to the viral growth is the comprehensive community design and feel where you join an connect your universe or community of friends which interconnect to mine and their and so forth.

So, what is the takeaway from this post?  Mark your calendar so you can look back on this time with the current Facebook privacy debate (now that Congress is involved) as the event that sparked the movement to closed affinity group based micro sites.   The privacy needs desired by the folks shouting the loudest will not be addressed by Facebook, so they and others will look to closed affinity group based micro sites which will spark the growth of this segment.  Now this spark will be the net effect will likely not be noticed on Facebook which will enjoy a meteoric rise for the quite sometime, but this will popularize closed micro sites for affinity groups.

So, what are closed affinity group based micro sites you ask?  Well, an affinity group is a group of like minded individuals organized for a social (i.e. fraternities, sororities, hobbyists, alumni associations) or professional (i.e. doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc…) purpose of any size or geographical scope.  A micro site or mini site is designed for a specific purpose only and the private and secure member invitation only site application is the outgrowth of the current demand for more privacy.  With this type of site, privacy is assured and members can sleep soundly knowing they have the freedom to share information, photos, experiences with their group without the entire planet having visibility.  The closed affinity group micro site solves the natural security trade-offs that Facebook faces and will continue to balance between comprehensive (community/site wide/internet wide) and granular (personal only).