10/1 UPDATE: Both open positions have now closed. We’ll be contacting candidates for interviews soon. In case you’re interested, there are two open Best Buy communications jobs posted on the company’s careers page and on IABC’s Job Centre. I know of a few people who have tracked me down via LinkedIn or by “Googling” me – and that led them here  to learn more about the jobs and/or the hiring manager (c’est moi), so I figured maybe I should offer my visitors (presumably, you) a little help when they show up.

First, the job listings. I should mention that unfortunately, we are not offering relocation with either position. However, the salaries are pretty darn good, and the cost of living in these parts can be quite manageable, so come to Minnesota! [More]

A few of us here at the old Best Buy put our heads together a while back and came up with an employee communications heirarchy along the lines of what Abraham Maslow did in his 1943 Theory of Human Motivation. You know Maslow’s Hierarchy, which plots people’s needs on a continuum beginning with food, water and air at the bottom, and moving up through safety, belonging and self-esteem to self-actualization (vitality, creativity and meaningfulness) at the very top. When one need is fulfilled, it no longer motivates and the next need takes its place.

We applied the concept behind Maslow’s work to organizational communications, and what employees need from the companies for which they work. The bulk of our effort was aimed at answering the question, “What do our employees need from us (as a corporate communications function)?” and evaluating our work to see how well (or not) we align – structurally and strategically – to our audiences’ needs and wants. Secondarily, it was instructive to really see that responsibility for the most foundational aspects of our employees’ communication needs fall outside our purview.

Here’s what we came up with:

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I’m all for companies saving money to improve the bottom line. But there has to be a better way to cut expenses than forcing frustrated customers to call Bangalore, Mumbai or Wherever-the-Heck, India, for help.

Before I rant, a disclaimer: Yes, I know those folks in the call centers are just doing their jobs. I believe they actually want to be helpful and resolve my issues. They’re undoubtedly proud of their work and, to one degree or another, the companies for which they work.

The problem is they’re too detached from the actual problems we consumers face with the products and services they represent (being a couple oceans away and all), and they’re woefully unprepared (not their fault) to analyze problems outside the binder full of scripts on the desk in front of them (“have you tried plugging in the unit? Please plug it in now”). And, of course, there are the language barriers that often result in frustration on all sides as phone reps and customers struggle to understand one another. All that said, teaching Indian nationals to apologize for American companies’ shortcomings does not create a positive customer experience!

So back to my story.

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Ask anyone. I’m a broken record for aligning our corporate brand and strategy messaging at Best Buy – for trying to get communications, HR, marketing and everyone else who communicates brand and/or strategic intent to align around a single message (and while I’ve proposed messages, I’m not married to mine; I’m married to the notion that we need to have one and only one).

While some folks are no doubt sick of listening to me …

• Everyone I talk to agrees we’re misaligned and have many inconsistent, competing messages.
• Everyone I talk to agrees there’s incredible value in alignment.
• Everyone I talk to says it’s work we need to do.
• Everyone I talk to acknowledges we’re not very good at it.

BUT …

• Everyone I talk to says it’s difficult, counter-cultural work here at Best Buy. That said, we all nod knowingly, go back to our cubes and do the same old things – because while alignment on a single, clear compelling message is a good idea, it’s too tough to tackle. The people doing the messaging are going to protect their turf and won’t “play ball” because they don’t have to. So why bother?

Last year, we launched a “brand coalition” and invited various owners of brand-related communicators to come together to hash out issues, draft a single story and align our efforts. Passive aggressive. Disinterest. Fizzle. Crash. Burn. This company has always rewarded those who “do.” Doing thoughtfully hasn’t been a necessary piece of the equation.

The thing is, message misalignment makes it difficult to achieve our strategic goals; wastes the money spent to support competing, overlapping initiatives (in an environment where we’re constantly challenged to reduce SG&A expenses); and frustrates the heck out of customers and employees who haven’t already tuned us out.

So my questions are these:

• If we agree it’s a good idea, why not just do it?
• If we agree that we should do it, why not start now?
• If not now, when?

We all know a brand means, in essence, what its customers say it means. A company can shout from the rooftops what it stands for and bellow the fine-point details of its customer-centric promises, but all the best marketing and PR in the world can’t save a brand from lack of follow-through on the part of customer-facing employees. Am I right?

In Branded Customer Service, by Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart, the authors turn the equation upside-down and pose the question, “What do brands think about their customers?”

Barlow and Stewart offer as an example, Rolex. What does Rolex think of its customers – in my case, me? Their conclusion: I’m not good enough for a Rolex. While I might be tempted to quibble with the notion of falling short of a standard of good enough, there’s no doubt I’m not wealthy enough to drop $10,000 on a luxury watch. Nonetheless, The point is well taken: Rolex’s demographic is limited, I’m not in it, and the brand is perfectly comfortable with me knowing it.

That got me thinking, what does Best Buy (my employer) think of its customers? [More]

All this social media chatter about personal branding reminds me of the dot-com bubble-and-burst of the late ’90s and early double-nots, when entrepreneurs put marketing and advertising in front of anything resembling business fundamentals and watched their stock prices skyrocket … until someone said, “Hey, wait a minute …”

Fast forward to today. Social media is on fire with advice for staking out your little place in the spotlight and promoting your personal brand via personal websites, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. It’s not terrible advice if that’s your thing, but as was the case in the dot-com era, the focus too often is marketing and advertising, with fundamentals again getting short shrift.

If you need evidence, check out the Twitter widget at right. Read the personal branding tweets as they appear. You’ll see things like, “7 key ways to promote your personal brand,” “10 indispensable tools for personal branding,” “Building personal brand within the social media landscape,” and on and on.

Someone needs to say it, so it might as well be me: “Hey, wait a minute …” [More]