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We’re thinking of Cindy Crescenzo as she deals with a difficult time and had to bow out of this week’s episode, but David Grossman and Mark Story still joined me for a stimulating conversation about these topics…

• Another brand — this time, Tic Tac — that dealt in close to real time with an unwelcome cultural reference
• A survey that found nearly 70% of company staffs don’t know what the company strategy is (and bad communication is the top reason)
• As CCOs and CMOs face the shift to digital, a study from Pew Research Center finds that a lot of people in our audiences aren’t ready, especially to learn via digital channels
• A growing number of companies are applying sentiment analysis to internal communication. Is that good or is it to Big Brother-like for employees?
• Dan York’s Tech report covers the changes to iMessage (part of the iOS 10 update), Facebook’s introduction of the Marketplace (taking on CraigsList), and DuoLingo’s introduction of bots to help you learn a new language
• Another survey found 91% of executives believe their organizations’ change initiatives fail (largely due to failed communication)
• Google studied its teams to find out what made some work and others falter, lessons that could be applied if they decided to acquire Twitter (which they’re passing on but Bloomberg thinks they should pursue)
• Young adults prefer reading news to watching it on video. How does that affect your news strategy?

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @ThoughtPartner and @MarkStory_.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

About today’s panel:

David Grossman is founder and CEO of The Grossman Group, an award-winning Chicago-based communications consultancy focusing on organizational consulting, strategic leadership development and internal communications. For nearly 30 years, David has counseled leaders on the importance of effective leadership communication to drive employee engagement and business results, and served as a thoughtpartner™ to top organizations including AOL, DuPont Pioneer, Eastman Chemical Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Hill-Rom, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Motel 6 and Tyco, among others. He also teaches Internal Engagement to graduate students as an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York City.

Mark Story is a one-time contributor to FIR. Mark currently works as communication counsel and social media lead for the National Cancer Institute, and he was director of International Corporate Affairs for the Alibaba Group in Hong Kong, and the first-ever director of New Media for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mark also put in time on the agency side as a senior VP for Fleishman-Hillard and a vice president at APCO Worldwide. Mark is also the author of the book, “Starting Your Career as a Social Media Manager,” which was published in 2012.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio