Dinner with the Crescenzos

My wife Kate and I had a great dinner the other night with my old friend Steve Crescenzo, author of the infamous blog, Corporate Hallucinations, and his wonderful wife Cindy. Steve and Cindy were in our neck of the woods (the Lower Mainland of British Columbia) to do some consulting work.  In between bites of venison, steamed mussels with coconut chile sauce and shredded beef short ribs, and gulps of well-crafted martinis and good red wine, we talked about Steve's blog, and social media, and the future of employee communications.

In a field where many senior communicators and pundits preach the gospel of strategic communication based on statistical research and disciplined measurement of results, Steve's practical, no-nonsense approach is a breath of fresh air. For him, measurement is overrated, and there's nothing more powerful and effective than plain old good reporting. What matters are snappy, clever headlines, great photos, lively, imaginative writing, and a commitment to telling it like it is.

Steve's mentor, the late Larry Ragan, beleived there is no better corporate communication strategy than common sense and good editorial judgement, and it's hard to disagree.

Comments

[John Wagner]

Amen, Ron. While measurement has its place -- and it's an important one -- it's just a tool. The real "guts" of any communications program is the quality, skill and judgment of the people involved.

[Ron Shewchuk]

Thanks John. Measurement can indeed be very important. But the fact is, so many organizations don't do it at all that we need to find meaning in other things, too.