Women and Leadership

I belong to several groups in Linkedin; the Professional Women’sNetwork is one I enjoy visiting often. A recent discussion revolved around this statement:  "My biggest struggle as a Professional woman is ___." Members of the group are asked to fill in the blank. The replies and comments were some that I expected and have experienced myself. I was disappointed that since my professional career began almost 40 years ago, not much has changed. A common thread was choices and priorities—having to choose between family and job. Sheryl Sandberg, in a TED Talk, mentions this same concern; women “face harder choices.” Making these choices is very difficult, but many of the Linkedin commenters said finding a balance is the key.

A second concern mentioned several times was the inequity of the corporate world as it applies to promotions, salaries, and opportunities.  Sandberg says the percentage of women in the corporate world who hold C-level jobs or board seats is about 15% to 16%. I encountered this in the beginning of my professional career and see that it is still a concern for women of the 21^st century.

John Maeda and Becky Bermont have a leadership design that compares traditional leadership with creative leadership. Creative leadership is characterized by being interactive, improvising when appropriate, learning from mistakes and taking risks. Their traditional leadership is characterized by one way action with others, following the manual, avoiding mistakes, and sustaining order. The creative leadership descriptors are more open, more about thinking out of the box, but both genders can fit into either set of descriptions.

Let’s break out of the kind of thinking that limits our choices for leaders and holds us back as we apply for those positions ourselves. I have six granddaughters ranging in age from 13 down to two. All six are energetic, active children who enjoy all kinds of activities. Their parents and grandparents encourage them to be the best at whatever they try to do. We also tell them they can be or do whatever they wish when they grow up. My dream is that they find many doors open to them—doors open based on their abilities—not their gender.

When in doubt, sit it out--Concussion Awareness Campaigns

Cheerleading injuries have often made the headlines; however, few epidemiological studies that correctly use participation and exposure data have been conducted to give a detailed analysis that accurately reports injuries and provides data to minimize risk. That has now changed as Nationwide Children's Hospital conducts such studies for most high school sports, including cheerleading. These studies, along with others, highlight areas of concern--those types of injuries that statistically indicate more needs to be done to promote awareness and prevention. Concussion, a type of traumatic brain injury, is a health concern that has dominated the news for the past few years. One study reports that concussions account for 15% of injuries in high school sports. The effects of concussion injuries can be long lasting and life changing. Groups from all sports, including cheerleading, have called for better attention to concussion awareness. This has led to concussion awareness campaigns that cross all sports' boundaries. With the participation of parent groups, state athletic boards, safety groups, and medical professionals, the awareness campaigns have enabled coaches, parents, and athletes to be prepared to know signs and symptoms of concussion, danger signs of concussion, how to get help, and what to expect in return to play policies.

While I cannot give the financial costs of the various awareness campaigns or the different campaign plans launched, I can detail some of the methods used to promote awareness. After middle schooler Zackery Lystedt was severely injured in a football game, his parents, state representative Jay Rodne, and other interested groups campaigned for stricter guidelines concerning sports-related concussions. In 2009, three years after Lystedt's injury, the state of Washington (the first state to enact such a law) enacted the Zackery Lystedt Law which mandated specific concussion policies for youth and school sports. The law includes the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association in the development of educational information and policies. Since then, forty-two other states and the District of Columbia have enacted similar laws. In my home state of Alabama, the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) has a concussion policy that requires any athlete removed from play due to suspected concussion injury cannot return to play until released by a medical doctor. The AHSAA website also has other information pertinent to concussions free to anyone.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has collaborated with over 26 groups to develop their "Heads Up:  Concussion" educational training. What makes the CDC's efforts heartening is that they have information geared toward athletes, parents, teachers, and physicians. They provide free educational material, promotional material, videos, podcasts, and radio public service announcements. They provide a free online training course for those involved in youth sports in which anyone can participate. You even get a certificate for passing the course.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) teamed up with the CDC to provide quality information and education for coaches, parents, students, and officials on the topic of concussion safety. Their course is free and provides information on the effects of concussion injury, recognizing the signs and symptoms of concussions, protocols to follow and return to play procedures.

 The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches & Administrators (AACCA) is another one of those groups collaborating with the CDC for concussion safety awareness. AACCA offers safety training for cheer coaches online and in classroom settings. AACCA is also in the forefront in making safety guidelines and supporting research in injury prevention. AACCA joined the "Heads Up" campaign to promote concussion awareness. AACCA produced cards with adhesive backs so coaches could put these on clipboards, notebooks, etc. The card, shown at the left, gives the signs of a concussion which can be observed by a coach and the symptoms that may be reported by the athlete. The card also gives an action plan for the coach and a place to list important phone numbers that may be needed if an injury occurs. The card says, "It's better to miss one game than the whole season." These cards are distributed to coaches at summer camps, workshops, when participating in AACCA or NCSSE courses and at competitions. AACCA's website offers concussion management information and return to play protocol with downloads and additional resources hot linked to their respective pages.

The concussion awareness campaigns all have similar features that help make the campaigns relevant and useful. They appeal to several important groups--not just coaches or parents.  Much work has been done to make the individual athlete knowledgeable and responsible for his or her own safety. Athletes are given information that emphasizes the concerns related to concussions--this is a brain injury. The athlete is encouraged to report signs or symptoms of injury to responsible adults. The athlete is given information that emphasizes how harmful concussions can be--not just for now but for a lifetime--so they understand the importance of reporting how they feel. This information also encourages friends of injured athletes to talk with an adult if they suspect a concussion. Parents have an opportunity to access information that is easy to understand and not loaded with medical terms. Parents are encouraged to know the warning signs of a concussion injury and are given the steps for what to do next. Much of the information available encourages parents to find medical practitioners who are specially trained in neurology. Parents are informed of the importance of following return to play policies and the risks of additional head injuries. Coaches are given all of the information listed above and guidelines from their state associations. In states with specific concussion guidelines, coaches are required to take a concussion safety course. School teachers have been included in concussion awareness campaigns as students suffering from moderate to severe concussion may have problems with memory, reasoning, communicating, and other functions associated with school work.

All of us concerned with an athlete's safety should understand that the brain needs time to heal after a concussion. Ignoring the signs or doing too much too soon can cause more problems. The awareness campaigns have contributed much to the understanding of concussions and the importance of reporting any signs to a responsible adult. The days of joking about "he got his bell rung" are long gone. We all have a responsibility to work to keep our athletes safe. It is gratifying to see so many groups join in concussion awareness campaigns. Safer sports mean safer athletes.

Crisis Communication Planning

My interest in crisis communication stems from my work with cheerleading safety. When I think of crisis as related to cheerleading, my early thoughts were of catastrophic injury, but my definition through the years has expanded to such crises as inappropriate behavior of coaches, cheerleaders, and parents as well as other major problems that affect cheer programs. My interest in crisis communication has grown to include disasters that severely impact communities such as weather disasters, chemical disasters, etc. All of these situations need a crisis communications plan--a plan that details who, what, when, and where as it pertains to the individual disaster or crisis.  In my experience with cheer gyms and programs, very few are prepared to handle the communications needed during a crisis. I am probably safe in saying few small businesses are prepared to do the same.

My interest in crisis communications and helping communities has led to my participating in CERT--Community Emergency Response Team. CERT training helps citizens become better prepared to respond to disasters through education, training and volunteer service. I also sit on the board of the Recovery Organization of Coffee County (ROCC). ROCC is a type of VOAD (Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster), a group whose job is to assist in coordinating voluntary relief efforts in times of disaster. Without VOAD groups, assistance to survivors of disasters might be haphazard and of little help. You can imagine the chaos that would ensue if these groups had no crisis communication plans.

Recently I completed FEMA course G288--Local Volunteer and Donations Management. Almost every unit of the manual devoted some space to communications. Social media was discussed in great detail as being an aid to crisis communications and as being a hindrance. In FEMA's publication, Social Media Strategy: Virtual Social Media Working Group, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate emphasizes the importance of social media:  ". . .it helps to facilitate the vital two-way communication between emergency management agencies and the public, and it allows us to quickly and specifically share information with state and local governments as well as the public." After Hurricane Sandy, FEMA published Lessons Learned--Social Media and Hurricane Sandy: Virtual Social Media Working Group. This publication details multiple uses of social media by government agencies and private groups. Collaboration with a variety of agencies allowed for centralization of information and sharing of information, social media allowed the media to provide information to the public and to gather information from the public, social media enabled rumors to run rampant but also helped to give space to controlling rumors.

If it is possible before a disaster is declared, vital communications should take place--what are the evacuation routes, where are the locations of shelters, what family needs should be taken care of (cash, medicine, diapers, formula, water, pet food, etc.), and other relevant messages. These messages should be delivered through traditional means (radio, television, newspaper) if time allows and also through social media. Local EMA Facebook and website pages should contain this information; city governments' websites and Facebook pages should also have this information. Friends and family may use Twitter, Facebook, and texting to relay information to their loved ones. Pre-disaster information is valuable in keeping people safe and in enabling citizens to prepare. It is important that those groups who issue the pre-disaster communications have a plan in place and practice for the next disaster. Reviewing and revising those plans should be a regular exercise. Continual monitoring of social media is important as information changes.

After the disaster, communication is necessary to assist people in responding and recovering. Most of our communities are ready to help our neighbors and even respond to help other communities close by or in another state. We volunteer our assistance for a variety of reasons:  genuinely want to help, have survived a similar incidence, or want to be part of a larger cause. We donate to causes for similar reasons, but we may have selfish reasons to donate--seeking a tax break or ridding our homes of excess goods. Communications directed to volunteer efforts and donation efforts can greatly assist local EMAs and VOAD groups. This is an opportunity to educate the public (that truly wants to help) what volunteer help is needed and where donations will be collected. In the FEMA course G288 I learned that financial donations to reputable volunteer organizations are the best method of giving to the recovery effort. Some people see disaster donations as a way to clean out their closets and get rid of their clutter. The last thing a disaster victim needs is someone's used clothing or broken/used furniture or appliances. During the class everyone had a story of really useless things donated to a recovery effort and the reactions of folks when their "treasures" were rejected. Reputable voluntary organizations have experience in disaster recovery, and they know what is needed. Financial contributions allow the voluntary organizations to purchase items needed locally, thereby assisting the local economy. This makes so much sense. Donated items must be packed, labeled, and transported to a distribution center--costing valuable time and money.

Communications in the responding and recovery phase related to volunteers and donations should clearly state where donations can be made, where volunteers should go to register for disaster work, and what type of assistance is needed. Social media is very useful to get these messages to the public. Websites, Twitter, and Facebook are useful as they give an opportunity for two-way communication; questions can be answered, rumors squashed, and updates posted. These communications should be coordinated with all groups involved--local government officials, the media, and EMA should all have much the same information. The mayor should be giving the same donation and volunteer information as the VOAD or the Red Cross. Monitoring the various social media sites will help ensure the messages are correct, consistent and updated.

Planning communications before a disaster occurs gives groups the time to compose messages that educate and detail what needs to be communicated. Having templates set up for a variety of disasters may make communications a bit easier or at least give you a head start. We can't prepare for everything, but we can prepare for incidents that are typical for our area.

SIGN SIGN EVERYWHERE A SIGN

Sign Sign everywhere a sign

Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind

Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign

This song by the 5 Man Electric Band relays what many of us think about the proliferation of advertising. Advertising is everywhere—signs on the fence at baseball fields, billboards dotting the highways, buses, race cars and pop-up advertising on websites. Advertising extends to branding college bowl games with the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Tangerine Bowl and the Florida Citrus Bowl), the Chick-fil-A Bowl (formerly the Peach Bowl), the Allstate Sugar Bowl (formerly Sugar Bowl which is played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome). You can see the clever advertising angles here. What else is fair game for an advertising medium? Will we one day brand hurricanes, stars in the sky, newly found planets, etc.? 

In the current digital age, advertising has taken on new forms and means of reaching an audience, even a specific segment of an audience. Search advertising and digital display advertising are the top two forms of digital advertising, according to The State of the News Media 2013. This report predicts that by 2016, digital display advertising will be the top form of digital advertising. No surprise as to which search company leads in digital advertising—Google. Tibken, a writer for CNET News, reports that in the first half of 2012, Google made more money than all U.S. print media combined—at least $20.8 billion. To be fair, Google is a world-wide entity, but these numbers surely stand out as a testament to the popularity of digital advertising. An eMarketer report said that digital global advertising spending as a whole topped $100 billion in 2012 and predicts the next few years will see much growth.

From my readings and research I have learned that about 40% to 50% of adults own a smart phone. Those of us who do are familiar with some form digital advertising through the phone.  My WSFA weather app has banner advertising at the top that changes every time I open the app. My AP mobile app has banner advertising at the bottom. As noisome as these may be, we learn to live with them; they are part of the digital landscape. Smart phones have given advertisers a new frontier—location-based advertising. Our phones are mobile; they go with us from location to location. Why not have advertising that also goes from location to location—ads change to fit our surroundings. Adfonic’s Geo-location White Paper uses the terms geo-targeting, meaning a “geographically recognised region, such as a State or city” and ringfencing which is the ability to direct ads bases on a specific location such as retail outlet or hotel chain.  Many of us have used our phone’s navigation apps. We know we must turn on the GPS signal of our phone in order for the navigation app to locate the phone and direct us to our destination. On a recent trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, I found location-based ads appeared on several of my phone’s apps along with coupons for tourist attractions in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Groupon, LivingSocial, and many other apps direct specials and coupons to our phones directed by our location.

Lauren Hockenson article, “Bright Lights, Big City,” has an overview of the latest in digital display options.  One of the coolest digital displays available are the displays that resemble a hologram—a virtual assistant display. Several of these are already in use at airports in Washington, D. C., Dubai, and Edinburgh. Tensator’s Virtual Assistants can be located in airports to assist passengers, retail locations to build sales, or anywhere to assist with information, guidance or purchase ideas. They speak any language, and motion sensors can be integrated so that the assistants are not continually repeating a message. Tensator says their Virtual Assistant is “completely customizable.” This brings audience entertainment as well as information--increasing sales and foot traffic. Casio has a Virtual Presenter that is described as an interactive display that is also “completely customizable.” Casio’s Virtual Presenter will run for almost ten years without taking a break! Wow! The uses for these virtual assistants seem unlimited.  

 Another type of digital display is one found on street corners—an intelligent lamppost. The developer of the lamppost, Ron Harwood, worked at Disney before developing his intelligent lamppost. Intellistreets is a lamppost with built-in signage and has the capability to alert passersby to possible safety concerns or directions. The lamppost has a camera and a microphone to sense problems in the area. The lamppost can play music, announcements, count pedestrian traffic, and, yes, it offers street lighting. Cities can install these not only to assist citizens, but also to sell advertising. There is some controversy about these being a "Big Brother" tool, but Howard says, "If you look at all the city services that could be accomplished wirelessly and all the budgets that are being accomplished to do these things, including gunshot detection and traffic cameras, we are layering costs that Intellistreets solves with one unit." These innovations take digital displays to new hieghts, and they offer an amazing technology.

I don’t know that anyone can predict where this technology will go in the next few years, but it is clear that our world has embraced digital technology and digital advertising. Remember our first mobile phones—those huge bag phones we lugged around? We thought those were the best invention! Now we use our smart phones as our mobile laptop computer. Personally, I can’t wait to see what’s next in the digital world!