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Not much news of interest to communicators is reported over the holidays, so Ayelet Baron, Eden Spodek, and Brad Whitworth joined host Shel Holtz for a higher-level conversation on these topics:

• Science kits from GE integrate with the Amazon Echo. How far can this kind of integration of cloud-based AI voice tech and real-world products go?
• Mark Zuckerberg admits Facebook is a media company, albeit a new kind of media company. What might this mean for fake news (in the wake of a nuclear threat in response to a fake news story)?
• Is creating a startup a realistic goal for your very first job?
• How can companies attract young workers who are more inclined to try the startup path? (Is a 10-second Snap Spectacles video enough?)
• Dan York reports on Facebook Live Audio.
• Only about half of employees embrace their companies’ strategic narrative. Communicators have their work cut out for them.
• A new report says companies in crisis should apologize quickly, but corporate cultures have to change before CEOs will take that step.
• And speaking of corporate cultures, can they change enough to allow for whistleblowers and prevent suicide from overwork?

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @ayeletb, @edenspodek, and @bradwhitworth.

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

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

FIR is recorded using Zencastr.

About today’s panel:

Ayelet Baron is the author of  “Our Journey To Corporate Sanity: Transformational Stories from the Frontiers of 21st Century,” published just last month. She is co-creator of CreatingIs LLC. Ayelet is passionate about ushering a new path for business as a force of good by helping 21st century leaders imagine what’s possible. She has been building community her entire life and believes trust, relationships and community are the new currencies for today’s human-to-human purpose and experience driven era. Author of Our Journey to Business Common Sense. She spent 15 years at Cisco Systems, most recently as Vice President  of Strategy, Innovation and Transformation for Cisco Systems Canada. Ayelet recently was honored with Watermark’s Women Who Make the Mark Award. She was an innovator in residence at Roche, working on the product development innovation leadership team designing and implementing a connected network strategy.

Eden Spodek, founder & CEO, Eden Spodek Inc. is an award-winning digital communications and social media marketing strategist with more than 25 years of experience on the client and agency side in several verticals. In 2010, she launched her own digital consultancy practice and is a blogger, podcaster and community leader. In 2015, she worked tirelessly on a successful Kickstarter campaign and has been invited to advise on others. Eden co-developed the Digital Strategy and Communications Management certificate program at University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. This week, Eden is hosting a free webinar, the A to Z Blueprint for Planning, Building and Launching a Crowdfunding Campaign. She’s an active participant in the digital community and was lead co-organizer of PodCamp Toronto for five years. A sought-after speaker, Eden is frequently invited to join panel discussions and speak at a variety of workshops and conferences. Eden is the co-host of the technology podcast, Ada’s Sisters.

Brad Whitworth, a communication coach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, was most recently senior communication manager at Cisco Systems. Brad joined Cisco in 2007 and today leads integrated communication for the part of the company that builds partner ecosystems for new markets. Before Cisco, Brad led communication programs at HP, PeopleSoft and AAA. He earned undergraduate degrees in both journalism and speech at the University of Missouri and an MBA at Santa Clara University. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad has a long history with IABC, including serving as chairman of the international board and president of two local chapters. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication.

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