More Free Learning

[Caution: Cable isn't out but Desperate Housewives isn't on yet, long post coming]

Let's see. One part religion, one part sexual orientation, one part politics. Mix well, stir, and pour into the public.  Or light your hair on fire. Either way, you will get a response.

One of these days you will make something like the following statement:

We value all opinions, have an open door policy, and I welcome healthy debate on all topics.

And you're likely to do it in front of your employees all eager to rally around the cause, drink the Kool-Aid and fight the good fight.

With that you just set the bar for your company.  Now, follow along for a good example of something worth watching.

A rather hot topic is happening in Washington State. There is a bill before the state legislature called the Anti-Discrimination Bill which is supposed to set the rules on Gays, etc.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote a memo to the entire company telling people why the company is not actively sponsoring it rather using it's gov't people on other topics like privacy and other items.  He's pretty clear about his personal feelings and pretty clear about what he wants the company to be.

The memo wasn't leaked rather Robert Scoble asked and got permission to post it.  He then, no surprise, responded to it with his personal feelings.

Right, and off we go. 

Two separate sets of responses are now underway.  First, there is the "Did Robert go to far" debate. You can read one of the debates here and some interesting commentary from the land down under (not Alabama) here.

Then you can watch Scoble duck (just a bit) here.  For extra credit, you can read another MS employee, Adam Barr, here basically calling out the CEO.

The other debate is the right vs. the left, pressuring corporations and this and that.  Google this one to your heart's content.

Insight one: Notice how easily "google this" flows off your tongue. "I googled ya, now you can date my daughter." Now try "20 bucks? why I msn-searched it and I found it for 18.22, damn..." See, just doesn't have the snap to it.  Next version of MSN-Search? Change the name to Snarf. I snarfed his ass and will get my damn money.. See, problem solved. Doesn't have to be a better product either.

So, the lessons for you are obvious and maybe not so obvious.

First, decide up front what the plan is with communications in/out of the company. And not some 80 page legal document either. No, something simple like, before you decide to 'go public' how about giving the family a chance to solve or get to the agree to disagree point, then off you go.  Simple and all team like.

Next, accept the fact there is no such thing as 'this is my opinion' and not that of the company. You will always get tainted and always get associated with the company regardless of the font you use in the disclaimer.  So decide, now, what that means and where you draw the line. Tell people, tell your staff, tell your team. In person; up close and personal.

And do it before you are 50,000+ employees because there is no such thing as talking directly to fifty thousand people.  A hundred, yup, a 1,000, maybe but 50,000? Not really possible.

None of this is new, by the way. Employees have been doing this open debate since Arpanet, the Source, and Compuserve. Why I remember when... never mind, the point is none of this is new.

Except this.

The old days were vertical. Compuserve people to compuserve people. Email was limited and the 'web' didn't really exist for the masses.

What that means is the old/standard ways of responding to this new and open communications may not work and may not be appropriate.

Returning to the Scoble blog.  His writings on this topic are now being seen in all parts of the globe and being sliced -n- diced by sub groups of whatever.  With apologies to Seth Godin, it's the Ideavirus with no known cure.  Scoble's boss posted a response to the original commentary which you can read here.  The comments in all of these postings are interesting and will teach you a lot.

But the big thing?

When is it enough? When do you let it go? How hard and how much time do you consume when something 'goes public?'  That's the single most important thing you will have to master. 

Yes, the answer to a fool is silence but will that work these days?

No answers from me, sorry, rather some important things that you need to think about as your business grows and grabs talent from today's world.

As a side note, read Dave Winer if you want to learn something about all of this and more. I've known/been following Dave since his first product days.  Totally in the category of way smarter then me.