Between Huawei’s reputation, 1,000 posts, our Asia team crushing it, taking things personally and Frank Bruni’s acerbic wit, the first half of the best posts in 2019 covered a lot of ground. Here comes the second half. . . 6) Thought Leadership versus Thought Followship The communications industry has wakened to …more
You can throw out many adjectives to describe 2019. Dull won’t be one of them. Writing about the intersection of communications, journalism and branding, a never-ending stream of fodder for potential posts flew by my window every day. I wish I had more time to dig and explore. The following captures the first half …more
Six months and change into 2019, and I’ve written a grand total of one post on President Trump. I’d like to call that progress. I suppose it also reflects fatigue. This is the time of year when I take a breath, scan the body of work this year and select what I consider the best …more
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
You’ve heard the phrase, “read the room.” Huawei can’t read the room. In spite of an in-house communications team that includes talented pros from the West, they continue to make amateur mistakes. The latest comes in the form of an open letter to the U.S. media published last week in The Wall Street Journal. If …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
