Charlene Li
“Cultural sharing, what we feel comfortable sharing, has really changed and that has changed how we look at relationships in the workplace.” Charlene Li, author of the book, Groundswell, opened Wednesday’s Digital Capital Week schedule up with inspired musings during
“Buzz2010: Social Media for Trade Associations” co-hosted by SmartBrief and SocialFish. Her presentation was the first of an upcoming three-part summer breakfast series for trade association and nonprofit execs.
Buzz2010 is a series offered to audience of senior- and C-level executives of associations and non-profits so the room was packed with recognizable non-profit social media practioners. The focus of Li’s talk was on building relationships with association members and the public, rather than on the social media tools used to communicate and engage.
Li spoke about the importance of openness, the subject of her latest book, Open Leadership, and each attendee received a copy of her book. She shared an “Openness Audit” exercise with the audience and wrapped up the event with five basic actions to inspire open leadership within:
- Align openness with your strategic goals
- Calculate the new lifetime value of a “customer”
- Find and develop your open leaders
- Prepare your organization
- Embrace failure
Follow up events for the summer breakfast series include:
- Managing Risk, July 20–Risk is a reality on the social web, whether you choose to engage or not. So what is your tolerance for social media risk and how do you manage it? What do you need to do as a leader to ensure that your organization is taking the proper course to manage your unique risks?
- Social Media ROI, August 18–With all the talk around social media, the question of ROI is the most vexing. Why should you pour your organization’s time and resources into something so unproven? And how do you make sure that the resources you do apply create business value?
”Be transparent” seems to be the battle cry of the social web. But what does that really mean? How open is too open? Li’s present
ation for the Buzz2010 panel offered keen insights on how can you lead your organization towards an open strategy that makes business sen
se.
Thanks to KiKi L’Italien, of Buzz2010 for the write up! Follow Buzz-related events at #Buzz2010! 
