Check out the headline in The Wall Street Journal last month. “Apple Teams with Jack Ma” The headline didn’t say “Apple Teams with Alibaba.” Why? And don’t say because the word “Alibaba” wouldn’t fit in the space for the headline. It turns out that both words take up seven characters. I think it’s because the …more
Note: A version of this essay appeared in EE Times. Beleaguered. That’s the word that seems tethered to Huawei these days. Yet, “beset with difficulties” doesn’t quite capture what the telecom giant is experiencing. As a student of communications — the type with words, not satellites — I’ve been observing Huawei from afar since …more
Here’s a quandary for communicators. Your CEO has been incognito to the media for 26 years. Rather than charge forward into the mainstream media, he prefers a gentle re-entry. This is not the time to pitch Morley Safer. Huawei’s communications team faced this very situation. Its CEO, Ren Zhengfei, was ready to meet with the …more
