Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

CEO, and the ‘e’ stands for ‘ebullient’

05.08.2009 by David Murray // Leave a Comment

Yesterday Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf issued an all-employee message trumpeting Wells Fargo's passing of the regulatory "stress test." The message is as close to a joyful shout from the rooftops as you'll ever hear from the c-suite, and for that reason the whole thing is worth reading.

But the concluding paragraphs are especially good:

I have no doubt our company has emerged from these stress test results
just fine and that we'll be even stronger, even more secure, even more
dependable and reliable for our customers and communities. Let me
repeat that. I have no doubt. …

I want to thank the hundreds of team members who worked such long hours
the past several months to prepare our submissions for these tests to
our regulators, who were highly complimentary of the thoroughness and
thoughtfulness of our presentations. These team members gave so
unselfishly of their time-sacrificed so many evenings and week-ends
away from their family and friends—we can never thank them enough for
what they've done for our company.

I also want to thank all our team members for enduring all the anxiety
and uncertainty that we've all had to live with the past few months as
every day brought new rumors and more speculation from the media and
analysts about this very public process. There were many times when I
wanted to communicate to reassure you throughout this process but we
had to respect the confidentiality of our relationship with our
regulators. Now we can channel all that energy we wasted on worry and
anxiety about the outcome of this process into actions and behaviors
that really matter—satisfying all our customers' financial needs and
helping them succeed financially.

This is the kind of emotion and most execs are afraid to show.

Good Stumpf.

Categories // Uncategorized

A good employee communication company is hiring

05.07.2009 by David Murray // 1 Comment

I don't usually do job posts here, but …

We all know that as far as employee communication jobs go, the company makes all the difference. Walgreen, a company with a tradition of good employee communications, is looking for three communicators—a manager and two specialists, to work in its Operations division, in Deerfield, Ill.

"The work entails supporting the tactical and leadership communication for Operations—all 6,700 stores," says internal communications manager Brodie Bertrand.

Qualified applicants should apply here.

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We interrupt this communication blog to weigh in on the law

05.06.2009 by David Murray // 9 Comments

If, as expected, President Obama names me as the next raging liberal activist judge on the U.S. Supreme Court, I will immediately push for a new "Mulligan Law," which would give every first-time fuck-up a second chance.

What's got me thinking about this is the story about an April 29 incident where a Russian-born British art-world socialite named Galina Rusanova became "incoherent and disruptive" on a United Airlines flight from L.A. to London. According to the Chicago Tribune, she was "apparently woozy from a
combination of pills, alcohol and lavatory hand soap, allegedly tried
to bite a flight attendant in the leg."

Who among us, at one time or another, hasn't overdone it with the hand soap?

And look at the picture of the woman! You're going to give her 20 years?

"What wasn't disclosed through the affidavit is that Ms. Rusanova is a
very intelligent, charming woman," said her attorney, Matthew Erickson.
"This comes as a shock to her. … Her mistake was to mix prescription drugs with alcohol. After that, all bets were off."

Isn't it punishment enough to poor Galina that for the foreseeable eternity, any booze, pill, soap-induced ankle biting incident will be referred to as "doing the Rusanova"?

I say, let her off. (Even if you have to pry her.)

Categories // Uncategorized

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