Bad Branding: Sarah Palin's Reversal on the Use of the "R" Word.

Dear Friends:

Sarah Palin has aspirations of becoming the next president of the United States, although she conducts her branding campaign with all of the finesse of tightrope walker with a middle ear infection (it's a "visual") and a rectal itch.

Firstly, as a sensitive mother and an advocate of special needs children, she seizes upon a wonderful press opportunity to "right a social wrong" (and I'm inclined to agree, in principal with ceasing this informal and highly derrogatory use of the word 'retarded,' just as I greatly prefer the term 'challenged' to the older term of 'handicapped' for many reasons)  demands Rahm Emanuel's firing from his staff position at the White House.

Secondly, when entertainer (using the term with a grin as I write it) and political commntator Rush Limbaugh uses the "R" word repeatedly, she drops down on him, showing conviction and something resembling consistency, strength and ideological integrity. It was, indeed, too good to last.

Thirdly, she ultimately winds up backpedaling to qualify (and excuse) Limbaugh's use of the offensive term. She is clearly demonstrating whorish ambivalence because she feels that her principles must take a back seat to her political aspirations -- she does not want to lose the voting power of Limbaugh's following, so she applied healing unguent on her potential offense to the notably delicate Rush Limbaugh.

Was this a good political move? Maybe, as the American public has a notoriously short memory and a macroscopically horizontal learning curve. But from a branding perspective, some of the worst things that you can do are to 1) appear inconsistent, 2) appear weak and subservient to the more powerful, 3) act in such a manner so as to cast doubt upon your integrity.

From a personal branding perspective, Sarah Palin took an opportunity to appeal to the sensitivities and hunger for integrity of the already-disillusioned US populace, and downgraded her brand from being a statesman and a champion of decency to being a mere, typical politician. Palin -- your best branding opportunity, your chance to define yourself as more than a simplistic, ambitious, attention-craving knucklehead in search of press coverage, book royalties and a fancy title, was scuttled. What a loss!

While I am certainly glad that you are not my client, I will not  rescind my invitation to let you become a member of the National Networker Companies GICBC. I think you could learn something. It's http://twitlik.com/IN . Perhaps you should have someone click on the link for you.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. An interesting interview from MSNBC follows. Just click on:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-sarah-palin-has-d_b_451927.html


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The National Networker Newsletter - Updates, Articles and Intel: February, 2010, Week 1

The National Networker Newsletter - Updates, Articles and Intel: February, 2010, Week 1

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: Five Years of TNNW

Adam J. Kovitz

 

TNNW UPDATES!

Update Bulletin - New Developments - The National Networker Companies - 02.07.2010

In the Spotlight:  Special Featured Articles

DOUGLAS CASTLE RANTS: Generation XX - Women Rising to Greater Power and Influence

Douglas Castle

THE POINT: “Anyone can buy a truck.” No, Mr. President, they can’t.

Brenda Krueger Huffman






Featured Columns

BEYOND THE CUBICLE - CORPORATE CULTURE: Tweeple, Twibes and Tweets…the culture of virtual communities

Teri Aulph


VENTURE FINANCING - REALITY VERSUS RUMOR: Understanding VC's
Dick Brown

SALES AND MARKETING: Social Marketing -- Online or Face-to-Face?

Bill Doerr

 

BEING THERE WHEN IT COUNTS: How far removed are you?

Rick Itzowich

 

BECAUSE I CAN: State of the GICBC, 2010

Adam J. Kovitz

 

CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: Ten Tips to get your referral message across (Part One)

Andy Lopata

 

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL GUIDE TO ENTERTAINMENT: Hallmark Cards Celebrates 100 Years of Greetings: What We Can Learn From Them

Sandy McKee

 

POWER THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Wise Dominion, Part 1

Patricia Parham, Ph.D.

 

KARL SMITH: Networking lessons from President Barack Obama

Karl Smith

####

Update Bulletin - New Developments - The National Networker Companies - 02.07.2010

Free Membership and Subscription? Click HERE.
Free RSS Newsfeed? Click HERE.
Free Daily Email Supplement? Click HERE.

Dear Friends:

This is the TNNWC Update Bulletin! for the first week of February, 2010. We have made incredible progress since our inception five years ago as the first "Consumer Reports" of the Networking Industry. The first subscribers to the TNNW Newsletter signed on because of their sharing Adam J. Kovitz' vision of the potential in networking, connecting and building Relationship Capital. Adam and his wife, Wendy, recruited our first writers, as well as our first readers and sponsors by themselves, as a labor of love. They published the first issue, and have overseen the publication of every single issue since.

Fast forward five years ... We are now The National Networker Companies, with:

• Two publications -- The National Networker Newsletter and The Blue Monday Report;
• A growing media machine -- with radio programs, news releases, special featured reports, multiple RSS feeds, Buzzworks, Blogworks and The National Newspicker Page -- we have the full complement of widgets, blidgets, buttons, feeds, with growing marketshare, higher visibility, both in the United States and internationally... we have been re-published in The Wall Street Journal [Europe], the BNI Newsletter [New Zealand] and in a tremendous number of e-media venues;
• The world's very first Global Interworked Cooperative Business Community (GICBC), destined to set a new socio-economic model for a world in need of some serious attitude adjustment;
• A Suite of the best, most unique and most useful (did we neglect to mention most cost-effective?) Professional and Business Development Services for all of our Members. Basic Membership is still free, as are our publications;
• Fabulous writers representing all types of vertical specialties from around the world... Alaska, Africa, China, France... we have a phenomenal crew of brilliant, edgy, opinionated and outspoken writers (but we don't mean to brag).

To say that we have made progress is an understatement.

Our mission has changed - The National Networker Companies, as a group, is a provider of news, intelligence, unique content and business development services to the professional, corporate and entrepreneurial sectors.

Our orientation has changed - Networking is only the beginning - TNNWC is not just about "networking" (which has become a vast term with multiple meanings to many people; where every person believes that he or she is an "***EXPERT***") -- we are all about increasing revenues and productivity by creating viable, real connections; building partnerships (domestically and globally); providing interactive forums; and furnishing services to increase your roster of clients, your buzz, your branding, your market presence (in existing and new, emerging and potential markets) and your sales by every means possible. We live to inform, assist, interact with and promote every member's business, practice or cause.

Our structure has changed - We are an information producer, cross-media broadcaster and a promotion mega-machine. We make things happen for our members, and for our clients.

We've got some things for you to look at, too - the items which follow have been posted, re-posted, tweeted, digged (dug?) and otherwise promulgated. Read them. Click on a few links. Then come back here. We're patient. We'll be waiting...

1. Before you fill that prescription... http://twitlik.com/DrugWatch. Through our Links 4 Life public service site, we have now formed a strategic alliance with Drugwatch.com. TNNWC is a major provider of Public Service Announcements in the interest of promoting exemplary corporate citizenship. Peace, Prosperity and Health.  

2. Hot, highly buzzed TNNW themes and fresh ideas from BlogCatalog, a blog search engine. Visit them at http://twitlik.com/TNNWHeat . Our ideas about jumping the turnstiles of the status quo, being unique, being proactive and being collaborative are getting us attention. That's the point, isn't it?

3. TNNW is ever-grateful to Graham Southwell of BNI New Zealand, and Dr. Ivan Misner (the Founder of BNI and the father of organized business networking) for talking about the need for activism amidst apathy. http://twitlik.com/BNI . They are re-publishing some of our most exciting content.

4. We recently had an article about The Ten Essential Principles of Networking published in the Wall Street Journal (European Edition). It is a "must read!" at 
http://www.wsje-flp.com/articles.php/65/business-networking-ten-essential-principles . Going further, we are building a fabulous relationship with the international leaders of the future through our budding alliance with THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE FUTURE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE. 

5. The articles in this week's issue of The National Networker Newsletter... they're coming up.


Help us build the world's biggest subscriber list -- Forward this article (or this email) to a friend, colleague or business associate.


As always, thank you. You've let us become a part of your life. Through our GICBC (details unfolding rapidly), you will be able to become a stakeholder in The National Networker Companies. Our Growth Will Guarantee Yours.


With All of Our Best,


Adam J. Kovitz and Douglas Castle





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DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for Links 4 Life [Public Service Announcement]

DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for LINKS 4 LIFE

Dear Friends:

A growing percentage of the U.S. population, including and increasing number of young children and teens, is taking prescription medications. Many of these individuals are taking several different prescription drugs simultaneously, for treatment of conditions ranging from ADHD to osteoporosis. More and more of us are taking antidepressents and antianxiety medications - sometimes, in a potentially dangerous scenario, we are taking several different drugs for several different purposes prescribed by several different healthcare practitioners.

Without passing judgment on the large pharmaceutical companies, the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) and the healthcare community, the sobering reality is that many of these drugs have dangerous side effects, dangerous (and potentially lethal) contraindications when combined with other medications (both prescription and over-the-counter nutrients). Due to a healthcare sytem in need of some logistical and ethical realignment, each of us, as a patient, or as a friend or family member who cares for someone who takes prescription medications, must be his or her own researcher and advocate.

While there are many sources of information about the side effects, contraindications and interactions associated with medications, most of the information available is provided by the large pharmaceutical companies -- the same companies which sponsor most drug research and testing -- the same companies which stand to profit by maximizing drug sales through expanding the prescription drug culture through lobbying in Washington and at the "grassroots level" -- hospitals, physicians and other healthcare practitioners are inundated with marketing materials and attention from representatives of drug companies eager to increase marketshare by increasing awareness on the part of practitioners of the availability of new drugs, each packed with a very substantial margin of profit while under patent.

There is a potentially dangerous conflict of interest when drug companies yield such sway over the Legislature and over the healthcare practitioners and virtually all of their professional organizations. Go into any practitioner's office and you will see an array of sticky notes, scribble pads, paperweights, pamphlets, pens and advertising specialties bearing the names of various new drugs or drug manufacturers.

Your doctor might have free "starter samples" of various drugs given to him to encourage him to give them out to his or her patients as if they were treats, or Halloween candy. Doctors' offices and healthcare institutions are beseiged by representatives from these companies every single day, and they are courted for their "business" non-stop. 

Before you fill a prescription for yourself, or for someone in your family, you must get unbiased, uncompromised information from some reliable sources about what the potential is for negative effects from those drugs, either when taken alone, or when taken in conjuction with other substances. If you have certain health problems, some of these drugs have the potential to make them worse. Certain people can have allergic reactions or suffer terrible, irreversible side effects when given either the wrong medications, or doses which are simply too high for safety's sake. Be your own advocate, and an advocate for those whom you love.

Before you take any medication, even if your doctor strongly advised you to take it, get information about the medication. Firstly, ask your doctor -- he or she has an obligation to advise you, to the best of his or her knowledge and ability, as to how important it is that you take the medication, the appropriate range of dosages, possible side effects and potentially harmful drug interactions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. and after you have gotten some information from the prescriber, do your own research.

An excellent new resource for information of about drug dangers, interactions, side effects can be found at http://www.DrugWatch.com. They are a self-funded organization without affiliations with any medical associations or pharmaceutical companies, and they have a constantly updated data base of information about all of the most commonly prescribed medications. I have found their information to be well-detailed, well-researched (well-supported by evidence) and organized in a very user-friendly and accessible fashion..

As of today, LINKS 4 LIFE is adding DrugWatch.com to its resource list. We'll be placing a direct link to their website on this site and on other sites and media with which we have an affiliation. Please note that neither LINKS 4 LIFE nor any of its sponsors has any financial or other business interest in DrugWatch.com.

I would also suggest that you make a list of the prescription medications which you are taking (as well as the prescribed dosages), and look them up on DrugWatch.com's site. It pays to educate yourself, and when it comes to matters of your health, sooner is always better than later.

Their information follows below:

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

LINKS 4 LIFE is sponsored by The National Networker Companies, The Castle Consultancy and Global Edge Technologies Group LLC.

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Drug Information – DrugWatch.com provides up-to-date information on the side effects of common prescription and over-the-counter medications.

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Labels, Terms and Tags: drug contraindications, drug dosages, drug interactions, drug precaustions, drug side-effects, DrugWatch.com, Links 4 Life, medications, The National Networker Companies

Receive your free Membership and Subscription to The National Networker Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY REPORT. Click on this thing: [[*][^][*]]

Hot TNNW themes and fresh ideas from BlogCatalog. Visit http://twitlik.com/TNNWHeat Join us for free at http://twitlik.com/IN TNNW GICBC

Hot TNNW Themes From BlogCatalog:

Hot TNNW Themes From BlogCatalog: 

Have a quick look.

• avatar
• divided we fall
• united we stand
• emotional depression
• tnnw
• articles by douglas castle
• links 4 life
• the power of persistence
• beat the bullies
• trailblazers among us

And of course, there is our a wonderful post on the blog for BNI of New Zealand, for which we are very, very grateful. We might just get this world united yet!

Visit their link at http://twitlik.com/BNI . Our Thanks to Graham Southwell and Dr. Ivan Misner.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle



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"PROSPECTING...Let's Get Real!" My Friend Gabe Barks at me.

"PROSPECTING...Let's Get Real!" My Friend Gabe Barks at me.

Dear Friends:

My friend, Gabriel Siegel and I frequently meet for lunch or dinner together for an old-fashioned discussion about whatever is on our minds. The conversation typically starts casually, revs up into a discussion about socio-economics and the nature of the Human psyche, and then heats up into an argument, after which one of us picks up the check, and we agree to do it again.

He's cantankerous. My suspicion is that he thinks to much, and would (get this!) like to see his thoughts put into motion. Although I am a bit of a sociopath, Gabe (somewhere underneath his bullet-proof exterior) is a good soul, and wants to help make the World a better place. He is very intelligent (he'd even admit that to you), and has some insight-filled and experience-vulcanized ideas for things that The National Networker Companies should be doing in order to better serve business.

Yesterday, Gabe and I agreed that all this networking stuff is necessary but inadequate to complete the selling and success cycle. Networking, by itself is not an answer -- it is merely a component of the solution.

Misquoting Gabe, he barked, "Let's get real, Douglas. If I asked any of your people about prospecting, they would say that they are already doing it! And they wouldn't even know what prospecting means. If people don't prospect, the entrepreneurial sector is going to plummet!"

Adding fuel to the fire, I barked back (turning a fine restaurant into a kennel at this point), "I go one step further. I'll wager that if you asked most networkers what prospecting means, they couldn't provide you with a definition. They'll probably be thing of some fellow panning in a stream for gold." In my response, I unknowingly came up with an apt metaphor.

You can be certain that my friend Gabe will be involved in moderating a forum and the creation of some programs for the members of The National Networker GICBC (Google that acronym) relating to prospecting -- the interpersonal part of marketing where the real person-to-person transformation magic takes place.

Think you're exempt, you technophiles? You aren't. In this challenging economy, you'll have to prospect or simply fade into the rubble of entrepreneurial enterprises that couldn't compete.

Keep Watching.

By the way, you can get a free membership in The National Networker by clicking on http://twitlik.com/IN . I recommend it.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

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Labels, Terms and Tags: Articles by Douglas Castle, business survival, competing for marketshare, Gabriel Siegel, prospecting, The National Networker Companies






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