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Made in China Label Torn

Can we trust products and services with the made in China label?

Fifty years ago, we asked a similar question about labels reading Made in Japan. Such a label, indicated  to Americans poor quality. But that all changed in the '70s, when the Japanese doubled their efforts with new quality control measures, technology and production models that since have put a huge dent in sales of American-made products. But does the Chinese culture, philosophy and political structure create a backdrop for the creation of safe and great products?

A headline on today's CNN.com says: China declares 'war' on tainted products. According to the article,  Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi says China has launched launched a four-month "war" on tainted food, drugs and exports that will "focus on problem products that have badly dented domestic and foreign consumers' confidence in the 'Made in China' label.

"This is a special battle to protect the health and personal interests of the public and to protect the reputation of Chinese goods and the national image," Wu said, according to the government Web site.
http://www.gov.cn/

Is it possible? Is this a political ploy or a real concern for product safety? Can a Communist economy create a workforce capable of passion and caring?

P.S. Roger is discussing the story as well at China Looks to Stop Damage.

Building Relationships and Trust: The Good and the Bad

My friend Valeria recently ran a post here at the Fix that made me think, always a good thing. Called Why Let Friendship Get in the Way?, Valeria shares this: Over the years, I had a couple of instances in which hiring a third party to do a job who was also a friend bit me in the tail.

You can read the entire post over at the Daily Fix.

It's Going to be One of Those Days: Was Sharing this a Mistake?

Yesterday, I posted  an article titled It's Going to be One of Those Days. In it, I admitted that my firm  had transmitted a press release for a client that contained an error. Although the client was interviewed twice and we wrote the release from that interview, and then the client reviewed and revised the release three times before we transmitted it, we accepted the responsibility and accountability for the error.

I believe that a client hires us to not only do the best we can but to create honest and credible content that is 100% accurate. And while the client gave us the information that was wrong, we need to take the blame for publishing a release that contained the error. There are questions we should have answered and steps we could have taken that would have avoided the mistake. We did neither, trusting that the client gave us error-free information and reviewed the copy carefully. At the very least, we made an error in judgment.

After posting the story, one of our readers, a very smart fellow who I greatly admire and respect, said he was surprised that we shared our error with our reading audience. Frankly, it never occurred to me not to share it. I think a primary purpose of blogging (and all communication) is to share the good and the bad. My intent for writing the post was to let others know that making errors doesn't make us bad at what we do. When I oversaw communications at Starbucks and at Puget Sound Energy, my mantra to the executives was to share the good and the bad, even though the bad makes us look human and shows our imperfections. At the end of the day, our readers will respect us for our honesty and our courage.

Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. But no one has ever shown me evidence that my philosophy makes us look bad to subordinates, superiors, clients or customers. And I believe that authenticity requires us to share our warts. Not all of them, but those that have lessons to learn embedded within them. None of us walk on water. And we make mistakes. As one of the readers said,

"Hang in there, my friend! We are human. Our clients are human. Ergo -- mistakes. All we can do is own up to them if they're ours. Be gracious if they are theirs. And in either case -- fix it. You do all of that with integrity and tomorrow will be a better day."

I believe Drew is right, and that when we screw up we should step up to the plate and accept responsibility for our mistakes. In corporate communications, that means sharing those mistakes with employees. In the blogosphere, my readers are you. And I feel that sharing my mistake with you is a way to show that I believe you are smart, savvy, caring, kind, forgiving, understanding, and empathic.

I also believe that future clients who appreciate honesty and who want a passionate and committed consultant will still consider us. Those who prefer that mistakes are covered under a sheet and believe that they themselves never make a mistake won't hire us. I prefer the first kind of client, so it is a win/win.

What are your thoughts? Am I totally naive about this? Is my head in the clouds? Is there such a thing as being too open?

This is my brand story. We are authentic and honest even when it hurts. See what Seth has to say about stories.

Business Without Trust is Bad Business

Most of us learned in Business 101 or during on-the-job training that businesses have to build market trust and credibility in themselves as well as their products and services. If we succeed in doing so, business grows. If we fail to do so, business doesn't grow or at best grows slowly. But how do we build trust and credibility within our markets and within our audiences?

Read the entire post at the Daily Fix.

Does Taking A Freebie Mean You Can't Trust Me?

Of course not. But I wonder if it impacts our credibility.

This has come up before and each time I take the same stance: Accepting freebies is unacceptable. Now  that's my position, and it isn't a rule that others have to accept.

First, I come out of the newspaper world where accepting anything, including lunch, was forbidden. I also served as an Executive Editor on several magazines, and I did not permit my writers to accept anything free. Finally, when I worked as a free-lance travel writer, nearly all of the pubs I wrote for forbid us writers from accepting free travel or free accommodations. (Not all publications do that.)

The reason we writers refuse free gifts is because it might taint our credibility, and that is a writer's cache. As a consultant, I still refuse freebies, even from my clients. Now, I urge you to read another point of view, which is as valid as mine, but more risky. This just in from one of my favorite people, bloggers and blogs, Mack at The Viral Garden, who I would never suspect of dishonesty:

Nikon's Blogger Outreach Program for D80 Already Generating Buzz

"When you tell a group of bloggers that you're going to send them a thousand dollar camera to play with, it's not hard to imagine them blogging about it ASAP. That's just what I and many of the 50 other bloggers that have been selected to participate in Nikon's blogger outreach program for the D80 have done."

That is Mack's opening paragraph. Please read the entire article and the comments. Here is my second comment:

"Mack,

"As I e-mailed to CK, I love and respect you, and trust your credibility impeccably. I worry, however, that the majority of readers who don't know us will paint us with broad strokes when we take freebies. It reminds me of payola in the record industry.

"Now, I have to admit something: I have been on the road for several days and did not see your earlier post saying that the camera is a loaner. I suspect that would be true of many of your readers, as we don't read every post.

"I don't have a problem with loaners; however, six months seems too much of a reward for reviewers, and that worries me. As one who actually has won a few photography contests, my experience tells me it doesn't take six months to discover a camera's good and bad points.

"At the end of the day, I prefer that writers not accept any freebies, except loaners, and that every post, every article, every photograph in this case, carry a disclaimer when the product is a loaner.

"My gut tells me, however, that for me, reviewing products that I did not purchase or businesses that I have a personal stake in, is just not the right thing to do."

In my mind, this issue is as important as any that we writers, including bloggers, face. What we say is only of value if our readers can trust us to be 100 percent honest, 100 percent of the time. Does that mean we can or cannot accept freebies of any kind? Frankly, that depends on you. Which side of this discussion do you find yourself?