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I don’t want to be “that guy”

I live in fear of being “that guy.”

You know who I’m talking about - “that guy” who HAS to play on his iPhone while at the playground with his kids instead of playing with his kids while at the playground; “that guy” who HAS to bring his own Starbuck’s coffee to any and every meeting; “that guy” who HAS to wear blue dress shirts with white collars because that’s what’s being worn on Mad Men (in fact, I bet it wouldn’t be hard to find pictures of that guy from a few years ago wearing a green tie with a green shirt a la Regis); “that guy” who HAS to “go hard or go home” in the summer softball league even though he couldn’t make the varsity baseball team in High School… you know “that guy,” right?

Well, I’m not going to be “that guy” who has got his head so far up his own… errr… blog… that he can’t simply acknowledge when someone else makes a lot of sense.

So… let me say this loud and clear: Anil Dilawri, I salute you. Your recent blog post regarding IR sites being treated like a member of the team is so right it’s wrong. I could not agree more and I’m not just saying that because I’m H&K alum. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times: companies need to view their IR website as a 24-hour call center for investors rather than an online repository for old news releases. Love the way you framed the concept.

There - that wasn’t so hard. Honestly, I am amazed at the number of bloggers who can’t even acknowledge people who leave comments on a particular post, let alone blog positively about another blogger. Talk about “that guy”!!??! 

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Is it too early to start planning for next year’s proxy season?

While waiting for my panel to begin at the Shareholders Communications Symposium in Chicago, I was able to catch Ron Schneider of BNY Mellon speak about the upcoming proxy season. He said that companies ought to brace themselves for the fact that the changes in broker voting rules (among others) will transform proxy contests into proxy campaigns, which will require ongoing communications with shareholders in order to win. He went so far as to say that soon there will be no “routine” proxy items.

I hadn’t thought about it that way but, after some of the proxy battles I went through last season, it makes a lot of sense to me. Companies are going to have to work harder to get the support (read: votes) they need. That’s one reason why I feel so strongly about the concept we announced last week about educating and engaging investors via the Web in 2010 and beyond. Is this how you see it playing out? And, if so, then when is too early to start planning for next year’s proxy season?

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IR for the Coming Recovery (part III)

I find it interesting that of all conversation our latest piece sparked - thank you Holmes Report and WCW inSIGHT for the reprints - no one has mentioned the need to rethink how IROs are using the Web, the online media and social media.

Given the dearth of actual examples of companies employing fully formed Web strategies within their IR programs, I cannot believe everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid on this. Were you hoping the subject would go away if you didn’t mention it? Using the Web for IR purposes is not something to fear - why the silent treatment?

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