“The rapid development of this field is remarkable”, Logos Senior Fellow Anthony Ewing tells law students at Columbia University, where he has taught Transnational Business and Human Rights since 2001. “I guarantee you will encounter these issues early on in your careers, whether you advise corporate clients, advocacy organizations, or government policymakers.”
That was not always true.
As Ewing has written,
“When companies operating in China adopted the first corporate human rights codes of conduct in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square in 1989, business managers and human rights advocates could scarcely speak the same language. By 2011, when Egyptian demonstrators filled Tahrir Square, business people and advocates alike framed the human rights issues at stake in the shared language and concepts of corporate human rights responsibilities. In just over twenty years, the field of business and human rights had come into its own.”
Along the way, for the past fifteen years, Anthony has contributed to the development of business and human rights as both a field of practice, and a field of study. As a business advisor, he helps companies to engage stakeholders, conduct due diligence, and implement policies and programs to manage the risk of adverse human rights impacts. As an academic member of the United Nations Global Compact Human Rights and Labour Working Group, Anthony works to identify and disseminate corporate responsibility best practices. He has also served as an independent corporate responsibility expert for the International Labour Organization, evaluating a program to eliminate child labor from the production of soccer balls in Pakistan.
Five years ago, Ewing co-founded the Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum, a platform for collaboration among individuals teaching business and human rights worldwide. The Forum has grown to include more than 225 members teaching business and human rights at some 115 institutions in 28 countries. Next week, the Forum’s sixth annual Teaching Business and Human Rights Workshop at Columbia University will bring together Forum members teaching at business schools, at law schools, and at schools of public policy.
“Promoting business and human rights education in every setting, and teaching it effectively, has the potential — not only to help companies meet their responsibilities and improve business performance — but to strengthen the enjoyment, protection and provision of human rights for everyone,” says Ewing.
For more about his work, please contact Anthony Ewing at: [email protected].
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/TeachBHRLogo-Color.jpg178600Logos Consulting Grouphttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngLogos Consulting Group2016-05-18 15:43:242021-09-07 23:12:36Promoting Business and Human Rights in Practice and in the Classroom
Ms. Xue spoke on April 30, 2016 in an advanced elective on crisis communication taught by Logos Institute executive director Helio Fred Garcia.
This was Ms. Xue’s fifth guest lecture in the course over the past three years. This semester she also served as capstone (thesis) advisor for three NYU graduate students. Ms. Xue is a 2014 alumna of the MS in Public Relations and Corporate Communication.
Iris Wenting Xue Teaching
The students were in the sixth of seven all-Saturday sessions in the course. In earlier sessions the students had learned a number of models of effective apology. Ms. Xue presented a model she had developed in her 2014 capstone (thesis) for the program. That model is now part of Logos Institute’s proprietary best practices inventory for use with clients and in further research.
Building Models with Explanatory and Predictive Power
One of Logos Institute’s core disciplines is development of models that help channel both experience and research into more accurate predictions about the future.
The key to a good model is that it makes predictions easier. Every business leader lives with dozens of models… or formal frameworks for how the world works. If prices go down, demand goes up; if the distance is longer, the shipping costs are higher; if advertising is targeted, consumers are more likely to buy. No model can ever predict every outcome, but a good one usually comes close. The key to consistently predicting the future is to craft experience and research into a model — our very own crystal ball.
An effective model has explanatory power — making sense of a past event — and predictive power — predicting the likelihood of something happening in the future. A big part of the work at Logos Institute, and in our fellows’ teaching NYU and other institutions, is finding models with both explanatory and predictive power.
The 10-C Checklist for an Effective Apology
Ms. Xue developed such a model in her NYU capstone “A Strategic Sorry: Studies on Leaders’ Apologies Using a 10-C Checklist.” In this work Ms. Xue joins such leaders as James Lukaszewski, whose own eight-step Lukaszewski’s Law of Trust Restoration is required reading in our NYU courses.
Ms. Xue’s model consists of ten considerations that leaders need to take seriously when they plan apologies.
Too many apologies, says Ms. Xue, are made top-of-mind, without reflecting on what both experience and research show works and doesn’t work. Her 10-C Checklist provides clarity of criteria on framing an apology that is likely to work. You can download her Capstone here.
Iris Wenting Xue Teaching the 10-C Checklist to NYU Graduate Students
In her NYU guest lecture, Ms. Xue presented the model, interspersed with examples, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, celebrity Johnny Depp, and business executives from Groupon, Lululemon, and Volkswagen North America.
—
The 10-C Checklist
by Iris Wenting Xue
Leaders contemplating an apology should reflect on ten considerations that can help the apology have its desired effect.
The ten considerations are:
Characteristic: What is the nature of the event that calls for an apology. Was it intentional or accidental? Natural or man-made? Caused by something done that shouldn’t have been done, or something not done that should have been? In other words, how much do we know about the thing for which we need to apologize?
Consequence: What is the nature of the harm? How severe is it? How widespread? Was the harm economic loss? Injury? Death? Insult? Other?
Hillary Rodham Clinton apologizing for her email scandal
Culture: What’s the cultural context in which the harm was caused and in which the apology will be made? Is apology expected? Popular? Necessary? Is it frowned upon? Is there a culturally-appropriate form of apology (e.g., ceremonial bow in Japan)?
Channel: Where should the apology be made? Directly to those affected? Through the media or social media? On video or just in writing? In person? All of the above?
Senator Bernie Sanders apologizing for staff hacking Hillary Clinton’s donor list
Content: Is it clear what is being apologized for? (E.g., what the offender did, not what the offended felt.) Is the apology complete? Does it explain how the event happened? Does it ask for forgiveness? Does it include an admission of accountability? Does it commit to take steps to prevent a recurrence? Does it offer restitution?
Customization: Is it a general or a customized apology? Is the content specifically tailored for the event in question and for those who need to hear it? Or is it just a generic statement of regret?
Actor Johnny Depp and his wife Amber Heard, apologizing ineffectively for violating Australia’s no-pet law
Change: Is the apology as drafted likely to change audiences’ attitudes towards the person apologizing, or to make matters worse? Has the person apologizing committed to changing his or her behavior in the future?
Control. When will the apology happen? Will it be seen to be spontaneous or forced? Is it at offered before being demanded? Only after demands for an apology have become public?
Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason apologizing effectively for a botched promotion in Japan
Cause: What will be the perceived incentive of the person apologizing? Is it to genuinely achieve forgiveness? Or to reduce financial harm? Or to keep one’s job that might otherwise be in jeopardy?
Charisma: Does the person apologizing enjoy good reputation? Is he or she otherwise respected and popular? How many times has he or she had to apologize before? Do those prior attempts make this one seem less sincere?
Then Volkswagen North America CEO Michael Horn apologizing effectively in the wake of the discovery of VW’s emission scandal
Reflecting on these ten considerations can help a leader, and those who advise the leader, to more likely craft an apology that will work.
More About Iris Wenting Xue
Ms. Xue graduated from New York University with her MS in Public Relations and Corporate Communication in 2014, and joined Logos Institute part time upon graduation. She became a full-time research fellow in 2015.
Ms. Xue earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Translation and Interpretation (both English and German) from Shanghai International Studies University, where she won scholarships each semester. She was named one of the “Top Ten Campus Writers in Shanghai” in 2006. While in high school she was selected to study at Munich University in a program focused on German language and culture.
In 2015 she passed the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test certified by the Japan Educational Exchanges and Services in collaboration with the American Association of Teachers of Japanese. She also earned the highest level of German Language Certificate of the Education Ministers Conference (in German: Deutsches Sprachdiplom der Kultusministerkonferenz Stufe II) in 2007. She was born in Shanghai, China. Her native languages are Mandarin and Shanghainese. She is fluent in English and understands Cantonese in professional working proficiency.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/iris_wentig_xue.jpg318318Helio Fred Garciahttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngHelio Fred Garcia2016-05-02 12:22:162021-09-07 23:08:45Logos’ Iris Wenting Xue Guest Lectures at NYU on a Model for Apologies
I’ve been consumed by organizational and corporate culture this week. It started at 8 a.m. on Monday, when I served on a breakfast panel at New York University with three other academic instructors from the School of Professional Studies Division of Programs in Business. The topic, “Organizational Culture: The Secrets to Success,” launched a rich conversation, including what it means to build culture and how culture influences the success of an organization.
Attracting more than 40 attendees (early on a Monday no less!) and fielding questions beyond our time limit — I considered the discussion a success.
That was, until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, when I received an email from ClassPass, my fitness obsession subscription service, announcing jacked up rates, from $125 to $190 a month in the NYC market. The hike came less than a year after rates rose from $99 to $125 a month.
Offense Taken
ClassPass’ 48-percent-within-less-than-a-year rate hike, which came without any explanation, left me confused, angry, and dare I say…hurt? I fired up Twitter and Facebook to find #classpass trending on both platforms. There was a collective total freak-out outpouring of emotion.
Why? WHY? WHY!!!!???? That was the question on all ClassPass members’ minds. Presumably, the “why” was a business decision, but all I could think of was, “what’s in it for me?” In fact, the new rate increase will have members paying more money for fewer classes. I took a deep breath and checked the math. Okay, I’d still be getting a reasonable discount on gyms and fitness studios compared to regular rates, but it didn’t make me feel much better and based on social media’s response, other members weren’t happy either.
The passionate and personal “why,” I’ve concluded, refers less to bemoaning why one must now choose between groceries or fitness (okay, bourgeois drama), and more to why did ClassPass forsake me, in an “injustice of it all” spirit. Members, many of whom were early adopters, are hurt. They supported, nurtured, and advocated for a company that in a mere five years went from a pea of an idea to a company with more than $100 million in funding. Appreciating that ClassPass has to build sustainable profit, members are still left with the same product for a lot more money, feeling abandoned in the bait-and-switch dust of start-up success.
If I think back to the panel discussion from Monday on organizational culture, I realized we omitted an important community in our discussion, as ClassPass did in its Wednesday announcement: external culture.
Organizational Culture, Looking Outside-In
So often, the term “corporate culture” or “organizational culture” is considered an inside-out term. People often think of team building and corporate perks within a company:
“Hey, we’re Google and we have slides. Look at the creative culture we cultivate!“
“Bring your dog to work at Zynga! We have a rooftop dog park, for when you’re not using the indoor bike park, of course. We are fun!”
While culture has always been unwieldy, it’s generally contained within the organization. With the sharing economy and business aggregators, that is changing.
Today, many companies — especially tech start-ups and disruptors — rely on the active and enthusiastic participation of their customer base to build not only revenue, but a reputation and an identity. A company’s culture can be one of its strongest assets, or one of its greatest liabilities — and external culture needs to be considered.
Customers are creating a culture around companies, and that culture can power corporate strategy and identity. If the external culture is ignored or aggrieved, then the company may suffer wrath and fury in an external cultural revolution.
In January, the company launched it’s own social media platform, Connect, accessible within the mobile app that members use to track food, share ideas, and view weight loss progress. The app is barely five months old, but already a powerful tool for Weight Watchers, which is gaining valuable insights from members as they share successes, struggles, hopes, and encouragement with each other united in the pursuit of weight loss. Connect has been an overwhelmingly judgment-free and kindness-focused platform. Members share #NSVs, or “non-scale victories,” that include wearing shorts, riding a bike, and weighing less than the fake (low) weight on a driver’s license.
Weight Watchers recognizes that Connect participants are more than “users” or even “external stakeholders.” People participating are now a valued community of the Weight Watchers company, as a whole. Member commitment and loyalty is deeper than “just” a customer — they are part of what make up the culture, in this case external. At Weight Watchers, this added element of culture reveals and inspires new programs and opportunities, including “Glowments,” a type of #NSV moment that makes one beam from within. (It’s a thing.)
Organizational Culture, Explained & Expanded
I started my week thinking that my panel cohorts and I nailed “organization culture,” but we overlooked the importance of external culture. It wasn’t until Wednesday, when my fellow ClassPass members and I got blindsided with rate hikes, did it dawn on me what an omission it was to overlook external corporate culture. Brand ambassadors, followers, enthusiasts, groupies, diehards — whatever you want to call them — the external culture matters. How a company chooses to harness the culture — or renounce it — is a strategic decision that could have far reaching impacts.
In this blog, Maura Yates explores the phenomenon of online shaming and advises victims on how to survive such an onslaught. Maura is a senior specialist in corporate communication at Con Edison and received her MS in Public Relations and Corporate Communication from New York University in December.
Maura notes that the phenomenon of public shaming is not new; what is new is the speed and reach of such shaming, and how what exists in social media is essentially permanent. But the speed and ferocity of social media shaming make an effective rebuttal virtually impossible. And she notes that most people’s instinctive self-protective responses are actually counterproductive.
You can see the complete capstone, The Rise of Online Shaming and What to Do if You’re a Target,here.
Just two decades ago, if a person was publicly shamed, whatever newspaper articles might have been written about the shameful event would have been quickly forgotten, and difficult to dig up in the future. Worst-case scenario, the person could simply relocate to a new town and start over.
Today, thanks to social media, whatever it is that the person did to get in the crosshairs of the digital mob will live on in perpetuity.
The Internet is slow to forgive, and it never forgets.
The behaviors that drive people to gang up on each other on social media are actually derived from our instinctive herd mentality that gave the earliest humans a competitive advantage. Humans for time immemorial have used the strength of a group to work together to enforce social mores and keep life predictable by shutting down people whose behaviors stray from the accepted norm. Predation is literally the result, and depending on the level of the shaming dished out, victims who step outside of the socially accepted norms can be virtually eviscerated by the crowd, their reputations shattered, their careers ended, and their lives threatened.
The Herd
While social media provides a modern, instantaneous channel for it, there is nothing novel about the human behavior that drives shaming online. Writers like Everett Dean Martin, Wilfred Trotter, and Edward Bernays explored the psychosocial roots of this behavior in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
There’s a physical safety in numbers, but there’s also a psychological sense of security when surrounding oneself with like-minded people who not only agree with one’s opinions, but concentrate them, as the group enhances their legitimacy through sheer numbers. We see this us-versus-them phenomenon all the time: Liberals versus Conservatives, NRA members versus anti-gun activists, people who are pro-choice versus people picketing a Planned Parenthood, New York Mets fans versus New York Yankees fans. The crowd dynamic allows people, whichever side of the coin they’re on, to band together and gain constant reinforcement for their beliefs from other members who share them.
Much online crowd behavior is driven by the sense that the members of the dominant crowd are somehow morally superior to their target who has somehow acted outside of the crowd’s accepted norms. Crowds form to ensure that these norms are protected. Martin wrote:
We all dread the element of the unexpected, and nowhere so much as in the conduct of our neighbors. If we could only get rid of the humanly unexpected, society would be almost fool-proof. Hence, the resistance to new truths, social change, progress, nonconformity of any sort; hence the fanaticism with which every crowd strives to keep its believers in line. Much of this insistence on regularity is positively necessary. Without it there could be no social or moral order at all. (Martin, 1919/2015, p. 70)
To overcome the crowd mentality, Martin wrote,
“The kind of people who have an inner gnawing to regulate their neighbors, the kind who cannot accept the fact of their psychic inferiority and must consequently make crowds by way of compensation, would have to be content to mind their own business.” (Martin, 1919/2015, p. 68)
That, of course, is an unlikely outcome.
Humiliation
So this us-against-them dynamic that gives crowds their power also leads people to do some really terrible things to one another online. Why? Because we like making people suffer. Los Angeles crisis consultant Jonathan Bernstein told The Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Zaslow in 2010:
“Human nature hasn’t changed. There have always been people whose aim in life was to cause pain to others. If they saw people embarrassing themselves, they got pleasure in sharing that information. Before the Internet, they had to gossip with their neighbors. Now they can gossip with the world.” (Zaslow, 2010)
With the physical buffer of a computer screen shielding a shamer from his or her victim, plus most likely not knowing the victim personally in the first place, it becomes very easy for people online to forget that their words are more than just keystrokes sent out into cyberspace. When they reach their target, there is a very real person absorbing the criticism, the threats, and the attacks.
Regardless of the route that leads to an online shaming, the following best practices can help if you ever find yourself the target.
Check Your Ego/Don’t Argue
If a crowd starts to gang up against something you posted, resist the urge to defend yourself. You won’t win. In his famous 1936 book “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie wrote:
“I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it. Avoid it as you would avoid rattlesnakes and earthquakes.” (Carnegie, 1936/2009, pg. 122)
Act Fast
Regardless of how they become Internet targets, it’s extremely difficult for victims to launch a counter-attack to hit the brakes because these movements happen so fast and are often unanticipated. As a result, victims lose out on the first- mover advantage because the damage is already being done before they can react.
If you haven’t already, set up a Google alert set for your name and set it to immediately notify you of any mentions online. This way, you can keep tabs on any potential threats and respond right away. Consider suspending posts for a while if you know you’ll be off the grid and unable to respond for a period of time.
Sincerely Apologize
It may seem counter-intuitive to consider a crowd of cybershamers as victims, but consider that they may feel hurt and offended by whatever it is they are reacting to.
If critics start piling on and it’s clear the crowd feels victimized in some way by your actions, offer a sincere apology for any harm caused. The crowd is thirsty for blood and once you prove to be an easy kill, there will be no fun left for them and they will move on.
Take Down All Social Media Profiles
After issuing the sincere apology, take all your social media accounts offline and keep them offline. Attackers won’t have a direct target to hit, and will soon lose interest. Maintain a clean and professional LinkedIn presence. Also maintain any personal blogs or professional websites that show you in a positive light, but disable any comment features while under attack.
Seek Professional Help
A very swift, sincere, and humble apology can help diffuse an online attack, but after that, it’s a matter of waiting to become yesterday’s news, and reduced to the third page of search engine results. The paradox of social media is that it takes mere nanoseconds to post something that will offend the masses and set off a digital pitchfork mob often before the poster even realizes they should have thought twice. But as little time as it takes to get into trouble, it takes a very long time for the damage to fizzle out, then stop, and start to rebuild a ruined online reputation.
Companies like Reputation.com offer to fix negative search results. With a minimum charge of $3,000 per year at this writing, the company will provide individual clients with 10 personalized websites, one unique direct website, and eight pages of professional content as a way to dilute the negative search results connected with the person’s name.
In his 2015 book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson describes how one online shaming victim who had been attacked for an insensitive photo she had posted worked with the company to flush her online presence with benign, positive blog content. Over time, search engine algorithms began turning up flattering and inoffensive photos and blog posts about animals, vacations, and music.
Wrote Ronson:
“We were creating a world where the smartest way to survive is to be bland.” (Ronson, 2015, p. 266)
Fly Under the Radar
The best defense against public shaming on the Internet is to use common sense when posting anything under your real name, particularly if the post may be considered controversial, or offensive. Keeping a positive tone will help you fly under the radar on your personal pages. If you can’t shake the urge to engage in fiery discussions on matters you feel strongly about, consider setting up a Facebook or Twitter account with a nom-de-Web.
Online posts, particularly tweets constrained to 140 characters, stand for themselves without room for explanation about what was really meant, so think twice — no, make that three times — before posting. When in doubt, ask a friend for a sanity check before you launch your comment into cyberspace.
A good rule of thumb: if you have even the slightest feeling of unease about something you’ve written, don’t post it.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Helio Fred Garciahttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngHelio Fred Garcia2016-04-26 17:34:392021-10-10 17:13:31Surviving Online Shaming, Guest Blog by Maura Yates
New York University’s School of Professional Studies (SPS), Division of Programs in Business (DPB), hosted a “Hot Topics Breakfast Series” panel Monday, April 25, titled, “Organizational Culture: The Secrets to Success.”
Other panelists included Arthur T. Matthews, adjunct assistant professor, Project Management; John O’Malley, adjunct instructor, Integrated Marketing; and Dr. Anna Tavis, adjunct instructor, Human Resources Management and Development. The panel was moderated by Terry McCarthy, adjunct instructor, Integrated Marketing.
Topics explored included the definition of culture, what it means to build culture, and how culture influences the success of an organization, among many discussion points.
The panel was attended by more than 40 students, administrators, and faculty from the SPS academic community.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Logos Consulting Grouphttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngLogos Consulting Group2016-04-25 11:42:192021-10-10 17:13:34Kristin Johnson Offers Perspective on Organizational Culture at NYU
The number of companies worldwide subject to some form of human rights reporting is increasing as states mandate corporate reporting on non-financial issues.
Ewing surveys current forms of mandatory reporting – financial, non-financial and human rights – that require companies to address their human rights policies, due diligence and impacts. The chapter highlights reporting requirements in India, Denmark, the United Kingdom (Modern Slavery Act), the European Union (Directive on Non-Financial Reporting), China and the United States (conflict minerals disclosure, California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, responsible investment in Myanmar).
At this point, according to Ewing, the objective of most mandatory reporting is information disclosure: regulations address whether companies should report on their human rights policies, not necessarily how. Current reporting requirements do not prescribe or evaluate what companies are actually doing about human rights impacts connected to their operations. Future disclosure regulations, however, may be more narrowly tailored to prescribe human rights due diligence as well as what companies must do to act on what they learn. He concludes that
“while mandatory human rights reporting has the potential to shape corporate behavior, is raising expectations of greater corporate transparency, and is beginning to produce information about corporate human rights policies and due diligence, . . . legally mandated reporting to date is not yet aimed squarely at preventing the adverse human rights impacts of corporate activities.”
Edited by Dorothée Baumann-Pauly (NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights) and Justine Nolan (Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales), Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice provides an overview of this rapidly growing area of teaching and research with contributions from more than thirty experts. The textbook outlines the business and human rights movement, explores the legal framework for business and human rights, highlights the practical implementation challenges and standard-setting frameworks in different industries and discusses the future of the business and human rights field.
Anthony’s corporate responsibility practice at Logos helps companies to engage stakeholders, conduct due diligence, and implement policies and programs that effectively manage the risk of adverse human rights impacts. He has taught corporate responsibility at Columbia University since 2001 and is a member of the United Nations Global Compact Human Rights and Labour Working Group.
For more information about our work in this area, please contact Anthony Ewing at: [email protected].
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Logos Consulting Grouphttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngLogos Consulting Group2016-04-18 09:28:172021-10-10 17:18:26New Business and Human Rights Book includes Chapter by Anthony Ewing
Graphic Design is the communication framework
through which messages about what the world is now —
and what we should aspire to — reach us.
— Rick Poynor, British writer on design and visual culture
I love fonts.
So I was delighted recently when Ogilvy New York created “TypeVoice,” a website that allows users to generate their own font with their own voice. The technology of TypeVoice records a user’s voice through a computer’s microphone and uses volume, pitch, and other audio parameters as variables and delivers to the user a customized font.
I share a deep interest in fonts, especially when I am typing or reading online content. The typeface and spacing between letters and lines can have subtle but decisive impact on my perception – almost as if good typography puts me in a good mood.
Font is something that is everywhere and at the heart of everything we do. But font is also something that we easily overlook. But font is also one realm in which a small change can shake your world.
I am intrigued by the aesthetics of typeface. But more intriguing is the science behind typography.
Now, follow me and let’s start the adventure!
The Aesthetic of Fonts
Before reading the book The Miracle of Font (フォントのふしぎ) by font designer Akira Kobayashi, I could hardly imagine that font designer was a job. I experienced fonts as pre-installed in computer systems. In his book, the font designer, who studied and worked in Japan, Germany and the U.K., shows photos of fonts and insights on how fonts communicate around the world.
For example, when we see the logo of Louis Vuitton, we immediately associate it with luxury bags and fancy fashion shows.
But in Kobayashi’s eyes, the design of the logo helps the brand to build the high-end image with its kerning – a typography term for the space between each letter. See the comparison:
During my research on logotypes, I found a blog post that describes on how luxury brands design their logos with meticulous attention to font and kerning, and know that a small change in either can cause a significantly different perception of the brand.
Why does the space between letters matter?
Kobayashi does not give us a final word, but he provides another example from ancient Rome. If you have visited the Pantheon or the Foro Romano (Roman Forum), you will be surprised that the ancient Romans did the same spacing between letters 2,000 years ago.
Kobyashi shows photos of the Roman inscriptions as follow:
From a font designer’s view, Kobayashi explains that the ancient Romans intentionally spaced letters apart from each other, and made the words at the bottom smaller than those at the top. So, when people stand in front of the inscription, all the characters appear to be the same size because of the distortion of our view caused by the horizontal and vertical distance in between the letters.
According to The Study of Greek Inscriptions by A. G. Woodhead, the letters of Greek inscriptions are closely packed horizontally, whereas a certain space is left vertically between the lines. This is artistically effective, especially when the inscription calls for variety in size.
“Experiments demonstrate that the placing of symbols within the space between words, while preserving separation in a strictly grammatical sense, greatly reduces the neurophysiological advantages of word separation and produces ocular behavior resembling that associated with un-separated text.
From the reader’s vantage point, the salient quality of intra-textual space is not its relative width in comparison with a letter, but the rapidity with which the eye can distinguish it from the spaces otherwise contained within a text, that is, the space between letters and within letters.”
So, the space between letters and the space within letters need to be intentional. Neurophysiologically, the kerning helps us read more easily, whether ancient inscriptions or modern logotypes.
Kevin Larson of Microsoft Advanced Reading Technologies and Rosalind Picard of Massachusetts Institute of Technology argue that good typeface leads to better cognition.
They prepared the same content, an article from the New Yorker, using two different typefaces. They showed one half of a study group the text in good typography and the other half the identical copy in poor typography. Participants were asked to perform cognitive tasks after reading the texts.
Those who read the good typography performed better than those who read the poor typography. In one task 4 out of 10 participants who read the good typography successfully solved the task, but 0 out of 9 participants who read the poor typography solved the task.
The Most Influential Font Around the World
The one font that influences the world the most is Helvetica.
Here is a brief list of the famous brands that apply Helvetica in their logo:
The word Helvetica itself comes from the Latin name for the pre-Roman tribes of what became Switzerland. But today it is really considered as a global font in modern font design. There is even a Helvetica documentary that explores how the typeface affects our lives.
As someone who cannot live without museums and exhibitions, I feel so regretful to miss the 50 Years of Helvetica exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Helvetica is also the first typeface acquired for MoMA’s collection.
German typographer Erik Spiekermann jokes about how much the world loves to use this typeface: “Most people who use Helvetica, use it because it’s ubiquitous. It’s like going to McDonald’s instead of thinking about food. Because it’s there, it’s on every street corner.”
Helvetica has also been used globally in the transportation system. It is the official typeface of the New York City Subway (MTA).
Helvetica has also been applied as the corporate type of Lufthansa to unify its corporate image. The German airline applies the typeface of its logo to all forms of writing, from the menu on flights, to postcards to all publications and screens in the cabin. Even “Welcome” in its brochure and screen is written in Helvetica. In this way the typeface consistently represents the corporate image of Lufthansa.
Why did Helvetica conquer the world? Here I have three answers.
First, as the description in MoMA’s exhibition reads: “Helvetica communicates with simple, well-proportioned letterforms that convey an aesthetic clarity that is at once universal, neutral, and undeniably modern.”
Second, when the designer of Helvetica died in 2014, the Guardian newspaper explained, “In 1960s America, the new discipline of corporate identity consultancy used Helvetica like a high-pressure hose, blasting away the preceding decades of cursive scripts, pictorial logos, excitable exclamation marks and general typographical chaos, and leaving in its place a world of cool, factual understatement.”
My own answer is much simpler: Helvetica was designed in the time (1957) where the post-war world was craving a change. Its simplicity and clarity is just the opposite of those old decorative fonts. That is probably also the reason why there are so many anti-Helvetica voices today. This font leads the trend of clarity and simplicity in font design for 59 years. It might be time for another change.
How Fonts affect Business
Now we know the aesthetic and science behind fonts, and we know how much love companies can show towards one particular typeface. With the background knowledge, we can easily understand why the following backlash happen:
Half year ago, Google and Apple changed their fonts one after another.
Google applied a custom geometric sans serif Product Sans to remain its “simple, friendly and approachable” style by, “combining the mathematical purity of geometric forms with the childlike simplicity of schoolbook letter printing.”
At the same time, Apple’s new system iOS 9 came equipped with the new font San Francisco – the same font used on the Apple Watch.
If you check the online comments of these two font changes, you will find predominantly negative feedback. (Since most of them contain words that are too unpleasant to share, I would suggest you read Why You Hate Google’s New Logo by The New Yorker and Why Apple Abandoned The World’s Most Beloved Typeface by Wired.) (pictures of both changes)
In 2009, IKEA changed the font of its logo from Futura to Verdana. The intention, according to Ikea’s spokesperson Monika Gocic, was that, “it’s more efficient and cost-effective.” We don’t know how much IKEA saved, but we do know that the change caused public disapproval and protests demanding the furniture retailer change back to the original logo.
In 2010, Gap Inc. also changed the font of its classic logo from Spire to Helvetica, which also evoked huge backlash. One angry designer described the new logo as “a grilled chicken without salt and pepper” because the typeface was not aligned with the brand image. Within one week, Gap Inc. gave up the new alteration and have been using the original logo ever since. (pictures of both changes)
It is no surprise that such arbitrary changes caused a public backlash. As we have learned from previous scientific theories, a good typography can induce good mood and a bad typography can induce bad mood.
In the context of changing brand logotype, consumers are angry not because of how the new font looks, but because the old one, with which they have a strong emotional connection, is gone without reasonable explanation or timely heads-up. So, don’t blame consumers, it’s not their fault, it’s the amygdala that controls their reaction.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Logos Consulting Grouphttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngLogos Consulting Group2016-04-11 10:57:322021-10-10 17:17:31The Art, Science and Business of Font
I have had the privilege of teaching Marines for 25 years.
Of all the teaching I do, it’s one of my favorite things.
But as the Talmud notes, “I have learned much from my teachers; I have learned more from my colleagues; but it is from my students that I have learned the most.”
And of all whom I teach, it is the Marines from whom I have learned the most. And so have my civilian students and clients. I am a better corporate consultant and leadership coach because of what I have learned from teaching Marines. And the more I teach the more I learn.
My teaching Marines started almost by accident.
In 1991, in my fourth year on the NYU faculty, I was teaching a continuing education course on Spokesmanship: How to Be an Effective Spokesperson. And I had a student, Walter, who was different from his classmates. Most were in their 20s. Walter had gray hair. Most were already working in PR. Walter was a Marine, just back from the first Iraq war, where he had flown helicopters in combat. He had reached an age when he had to give up flying, but he wasn’t ready to retire. So he was assigned to the New York Public Affairs office. Walter was to start his new billet in September, and was taking my summer course to get a head start – very much like a Marine.
Earlier that year I had written an article for the journal PR Quarterly (pdf). In it I reflected that the U.S. military had been guided in the war by the principles of the Nineteenth-Century military strategist Carl von Clausewitz. I noted that just as the military applied those principles in fighting the war, the Pentagon communication office had applied the principles in their public communication about the war:
“Once the touchstone of most Western military strategy, Clausewitz fell out of favor in the late 1950s, replaced by social scientists who brought us systems analysis, gradual escalation and attrition, body counts, and other sins of the Vietnam era.
In the Gulf war, Clausewitz emerged not only on the battlefield; he was also in the briefing room. We won not only the air war and the ground war; we won the battle for public opinion. A close reading of Clausewitz… provides a context for understanding both the military victory in the Gulf and the PR efforts that contributed to it.”
Walter showed the article to his commanding officer. My mentor Jim Lukaszewski, who taught Marines, had earlier recommended me to the same person.
The commanding officer called and invited me to teach at an annual meeting of newly-named Marine commanders – lieutenant colonels and colonels – who would gather in New York for a week of public affairs training. I taught my first Marine in October, 1991. I have taught at every New York Public Affairs Symposium ever since.
Leadership Factory
The United States Marine Corps is the nation’s crisis response force. The tip of the spear. It’s ready to deploy anywhere, any time, on any mission.
The Marine Corps is also a leadership factory. It instills qualities of initiative, teamwork, and dedication to mission. It pushes accountability down to the bottom of the chain of command, even as it holds leaders at the very top of the chain accountable for their subordinates’ decisions. Marines follow orders, but not blindly. Commander’s intent is an essential part of an order. Understanding a commander’s intent is the responsibility of each Marine. And making that intent clear is the responsibility of each commander, of whatever rank.
In 2001, about two months before the 9/11 attacks, I attended a Marine Corps capabilities exercise in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It was intended to show visiting dignitaries, mostly staff of congressional committees, the range of Marines’ ability to fight in many forms.
We saw, among other things:
A HALO (High-Altitude Low Opening) parachute drop where, to avoid detection, Marines dropped from very high altitude, virtually unseen, and opened their parachutes just above the tree line.
A beach landing of many amphibious landing craft, with beach masters guiding the arriving Marines as they left their craft, riding on armored personnel carriers and deploying on foot.
Marine fighter jets strafing the beach ahead of the arriving landing craft.
A simulated helicopter rescue of a downed pilot.
A hostage rescue in a simulated U.S. embassy.
A chemical weapons decontamination exercise.
A riverine assault with Marines arriving on fast rubber inflatable boats.
An infantry, armored, and air assault of a simulated urban combat environment; Marines taking a city.
It was all wildly impressive. But what impressed me more was something that happened during this capabilities exercise.
It was July, in swampy North Carolina. It was over 100 degrees, and very humid. The dignitaries were beginning to wilt. We arrived at a large field kitchen serving lunch to the hundreds of Marines.
I saw one of my contacts, a captain from the New York public affairs unit, speaking casually to some other officers. They invited me to get on the chow line. I asked whether they had eaten yet. They very matter-of-factly replied, “No, we’ll eat later.” I asked, “Aren’t you hungry?” One of the other officers replied, “We don’t eat until the enlisted Marines have eaten.” I asked, “Why not?” He responded, “Officers eat last.”
Officers Eat Last
I was taken aback. I work primarily in a corporate environment, where the idea that the senior leaders defer their own benefits to the junior ranks is not common. But I learned that it is an essential element of Marine Corps leadership. Marine leadership has two goals: 1) Accomplish the mission; 2) Attend to the welfare of your Marines.
This one human gesture, officers eat last, captured for me the essential nature of the Marines.
A Learning Organization
The Marine Corps is also at its heart a learning organization.
When they are not deployed Marines are in school. The Corps has dozens of schools, plus other professional military education programs. And an active reading program.
In 2006, during a break while teaching at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia, I wandered into the bookstore. There I discovered the Commandant’s Reading List; more than 100 titles. And as I ran through the books, I noticed some interesting things. First, many were sharply critical of the U.S. military, and of the U.S. intervention in Iraq. I was impressed that the Commandant would encourage Marines to read books by critics. Second, the books covered a broad expanse of subject matter, from history to culture to biography.
That book itself arose from my visit to the bookstore that day. In the store I found a slim volume called Warfighting: U.S. Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication No. 1. It’s required reading for every Marine. It lays out an approach to strategy and leadership that informs what all Marines do. Think of it as the Marine Corps Bible. And it is extremely well-written.
Flying home on the shuttle, I couldn’t put the book down. As I read, I realized that by changing just a few words in Warfighting l could create a conceptual framework to help civilian leaders develop a much richer and deeper understanding of effective public communication.
I decided to assign Warfighting, requiring students to read it before the first class. When I sent the syllabus to the department it raised a few eyebrows. But to his credit the academic director gave me the green light, and I posted the syllabus online.
In the first class, before discussing the book, I polled the students:
How many were confused when they saw that the first book in a communication strategy course was a Marine Corps book called Warfighting?
Nearly every hand went up.
How many were concerned?
Most hands stayed up.
How many were angry?
About a third of the hands stayed up.
How many are still angry after reading the book?
All hands came down.
I found the most counter-culture-seeming student who had just put her hand down, and asked, “Why were you angry when you saw the syllabus?” She looked me in the eye and said “I thought you were going to feed us propaganda, try to get us to like the military, to support the war in Iraq.” And now? She smiled, and said, “I love this book. I have given copies to my parents and friends. I want to know why we don’t know more about this book.” Some years after graduating, that student joined the NYU faculty, teaching the same course.
I used Warfighting for five years afterward, and not only in my NYU classroom. I used it in strategy boot camps for the public affairs department of a major insurance company, the communication staff of a large pharmaceutical company, and even with clergy and not-for-profit executives, sometimes to their initial discomfort. I urged individual CEOs, CFOs, and other corporate leaders to read it to help them both to think strategically and to communicate effectively.
In all civilian contexts, my students and clients enthusiastically embraced Warfighting, and the comments tended to cluster into these two categories:
This is one of the single most useful insights into how to be strategic in communication that I’ve ever read.
I never knew the Marines were so thoughtful.
Warfighting Deserved A Broader Audience
The usefulness of the lessons of Warfighting goes well beyond fighting wars or public affairs, but to how to think strategically. It deserved a broader audience.
So I decided to take it a step further: I asked the Marines for the adaptation rights for Warfighting, to incorporate into a book I was planning for a civilian leadership audience. The copyright was held by the Secretary of the Navy. And I asked permission to use the Marine Corps emblem, the eagle, globe, and anchor, in the book.
The Marines secured the permissions, and The Power of Communication was published in 2012.
One thing I have always been impressed by is how the Marines welcome candid feedback on what works and what doesn’t. And they institutionalize it.
Every year the Marine Corps commissions an essay that challenges Marines to perform better in the future. Past MajGen Richard C. Schulz Memorial Essayists include Jim Webb, later U.S. Senator, and Gen. Bernard Trainor, later chief military correspondent for the New York Times.
I was honored to be invited to be the 2013 Schulze essayist.
My essay was an adaptation of The Power of Communication, and it challenged Marines to see their work as winning hearts and minds as well as battles. The essay looked back at the opening moments of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and argued that Marines got the story strategically wrong.
The essay noted:
“The new battlefield is one where every action is potentially immediately public. In the battle to win the support of those who matter, both at home and in the theater of operations, Marines—from four- stars to privates fresh off of Parris Island—will have greater power than ever before, and they need to harness that power effectively. A corporal draping a flag on a statue, a handful of Marines urinating on the bodies of enemy dead, or U.S. servicemembers burning Qur’ans communicate far more loudly than any words, and they send exactly the wrong message.”
And it called on Marines up and down the chain of command to take communication as seriously as other elements of their profession.
“So the burden on commanders is high: They need to be excellent communicators in their own right, and they also need to create environments in which their Marines understand how everything they say and do—and everything they don’t say and don’t do—creates an impression that can affect the reputation of the Corps and the national security interests of the United States.”
It concluded:
“The next war is likely to be fought not on a field of battle, but on television, the Internet, and social media. The tip of the spear needs to be as competent in the modern arenas as in fields of fire.”
The Scope of Teaching and Consulting
Teaching at 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC
I first taught Marines in the New York Public Affairs Symposia. But more significant than the teaching in these individual symposia was the teaching that resulted from them.
Individual officers who were either organizers of or students in the symposia reached out to me to counsel or teach other Marine or joint military commands.
Teaching at U.S. Defense Logistics Agency
Over time I consulted with, taught, or otherwise was actively involved with a number of Marine Corps organizations, including:
U.S. Marine Corps East Coast Commanders Public Affairs Symposium, New York City: Since 1991 I have taught about 50 newly appointed commanders per year (mostly lieutenant colonels and colonels) who have assumed command East of the Mississippi river.
U.S. Marine Corps West Coast Commanders Public Affairs Symposium, Los Angeles: From 2004 to 2012 I taught about 50 newly appointed commanders per year (mostly lieutenant colonels and colonels) who have assumed command West of the Mississippi river.
U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Quantico, VA: I taught guest lectures on effective leadership communication and moderated media panels from 2005 to 2010.
U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General Select Orientation Course, Washington, DC: From 2005 to the present I have taught in the orientation course for colonels who have been selected for promotion to general.
U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, Quantico, VA: I taught a guest lecture for instructors on how to teach effectively.
U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico: I helped design and participated in training for first responders during a terrorism incident simulation.
U.S. Marine Corps Public Affairs: I consulted with a number of leaders of the public affairs function over time, both on readiness of public affairs professionals and for dealing with individual crises or issues.
II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, NC: In 2016 I taught as part of a Professional Military Education program for 250 of the senior-most leaders of II MEF, constituting about a third of all fighting Marines.
Marine Aircraft Station Cherry Point, NC: In 2016 I taught about 200 senior leaders of the 2nd Marine Air Wing.
U.S. Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools, Camp Johnson, NC: In 2016 I taught about 300 students and faculty of the various combat support schools associated with Camp Johnson.
Teaching at U.S. Defense Information School
Marine Corps referrals also led to work advising or teaching in a number of joint commands and non-U.S. institutions, including:
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Center for Security Studies, Masters In Advanced Studies in Security Policy and Crisis Management, Zurich: From 2007 until 2015 I served on the leadership faculty of this program, essentially the outsourced instruction for the Swiss General Staff College. All but six of the students were senior officers in the Swiss, German, Austrian, or other European military or intelligence services. This appointment came as the result of a Swiss officer who had attended the Marines’ Command and Staff College recommending me to his commanding officer.
Teaching at ETH Zurich
Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, Quantico, VA: From 2004 to 2009 I and my firm served as advisors to and instructors for this joint command focusing on the development and deployment of weapons that serve as the middle ground between a bullhorn and a bullet, intended to deter but not kill an adversary.
U.S. Defense Information School, Fort George Meade, MD: Since 2012 I have been a contract teacher at this school for military public affairs officers and communicators. I teach about eight times per year, the first day in the Joint Senior Public Affairs Officer Course, mostly for lieutenant colonels, colonels, and their equivalents, and the Joint Intermediate Public Affairs Officer Course, mostly for captains and majors and their equivalents.
U.S. Defense Logistics Agency: In 2015 I taught several hundred of their logisticians.
A Family Legacy
When the Marines called and asked me to teach, the decision to answer Yes was easy. It seemed to be part of the family business.
For the 25 years before he died in 1984 my Dad was a professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was recruited to leave his native Brazil to come to West Point, his young family in tow.
I grew up at West Point, during the Vietnam War, surrounded by people in uniform.
My Dad was an inspired and inspiring teacher. And all of the times I saw him teach he was teaching people wearing a uniform.
Dr. Frederick C.H. Garcia, 1928-1984
So teaching people in uniform seemed like a natural continuation of his work.
And now I’ve spent 25 years teaching Marines and others in the armed forces. Between the two of us, my Dad and I have 50 years of teaching people in uniform.
As immigrants to the United States, we are both honored and delighted to give back and to help build the capacities of those who defend our adopted nation.
Earlier this year I taught the senior-most Marines I have ever taught, 150+ senior leaders of II Marine Expeditionary Force, on the fifth day of their week-long Warfighting Series of Professional Military Education. The opening minutes, where I explain the adaptation of Warfighting to leadership communication, are in the video below.
Among the students were two major generals, a brigadier general, and lots of colonels and sergeants major.
At the end, the Commanding General of II MEF presented me with the commander’s coin for excellence.
I dedicate that coin to the memory of my Dad, Dr. Frederick C.H. Garcia, my first and best teacher, and to how between us we’ve taught people who wear the uniform of the United States for 50 years.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Helio Fred Garciahttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngHelio Fred Garcia2016-03-29 12:54:292021-10-10 17:17:47Officers Eat Last: Reflections On A Quarter Century of Teaching Marines
One year ago, I organized a four-week book tour for the Chinese edition of Power of Communication, visiting more than 15 prestigious universities and participating in many events in four Chinese cities.
During the trip, I had one day off on my birthday while we were in Beijing. As a birthday gift to myself, I visited the Yonghe Temple (also known as Yonghe Lamasery), the largest and most perfectly preserved lamasery in China. It was built more than 400 years ago and was the imperial palace of the Yongzheng Emperor, the fifth emperor of the Qing Dynasty. After the Yongzheng Emperor’s ascension to the throne, the imperial palace became a Tibetan Buddhist lamasery.
The Yonghe Temple reminded me of my old days in Tibet – admiring the way lamas debated each other to come to a clearer understanding of Buddhism. It also reminded me of watching crows lingering over the top of the mountains. The smell of the incense and the poor-quality air at the Yonghe Temple mingled together smoothly. I do not subscribe to a particular religious tradition, but I respect all faiths. As I stood there, I reflected upon how religion and history intertwine in the same way those scents mingled together.
One year later, I gave myself another special birthday gift. Last Sunday, I visited the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. I decided to visit that place because there are some very significant Chinese notables buried there, including the former First Lady of the Republic of China (ROC).
My motherland China is famous for its five thousand years of history. My hometown Shanghai is famous as “The Paris of the East” during the 1920s and 1930s, the beginning of the ROC. I love everything about the old Shanghai and read many books by Ailing Chang, Leo Ou-fan Lee, Geling Yan, Kenneth Hsien-yung Pai and other writers who are either from that era or wrote a lot about that era. Everything from that era fascinates me. That is also why when I learned that the former First Lady of the ROC, the former Premier of the ROC, the former top diplomat of the ROC, and former governors of the ROC government and Central Bank are all buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, I knew I had to go.
The world lost several distinguished leaders this spring. We lost Nancy Reagan. We lost Harper Lee. We lost Umberto Eco. We lost “China’s Nightingale” Xiaoyan Zhou. We lost Egyptian journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal. We lost Japanese writer Satoko Tsushima (daughter of the renowned Japanese writer Osama Dazai).
We are rarely able to decide the way we leave the world, but we can easily decide the way we want people to remember us. Even the space in which our bodies take our final rest connotes the way we will be remembered. For example, in the history of the ROC, some notables made their memorials very ostentatious, while others opted for more low-key resting grounds.
The three mausoleums housing the first ROC President, the first female Vice-Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the first President of modern ROC in Taiwan were all built in an extravagant way:
In his oral will, Sun Yat-sen, ROC’s founding father, wanted his remains to be embalmed for public display, just as the Soviet Union publicly displayed Lenin’s remains. But the Soviet Union did not agree to share their embalming techniques, as they believe that only Lenin can be “immortal.” In the end, China built a 80,000 square meter mausoleum for Sun in Nanjing, which is now a popular tourist attraction.
Sun’s wife, Soong Ching-ling, also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen and one of the “Soong sisters,” had served as the Vice Chairman of PRC and survived heavy criticism during the Cultural Revolution. Her tomb is located in Shanghai and has also become a tourist attraction.
Sun Yat-sen’s successor, Chiang Kai-shek, who ruled Taiwan as President of the Republic of China and General of the Kuomintang until his death in 1975, is “temporarily” resting in the Cihu Mausoleum in Taiwan. It’s temporary because he wished to be ultimately buried in his hometown in Zhejiang province once the Kuomintang recovered Mainland China from the Communists. He was not buried in the traditional way, but entombed in a black marble sarcophagus. He may end up being this way for a long time.
On the other hand, the former First Lady of the ROC, the other two of the three Soong sisters, the former Premier of the ROC, one of the most influential Chinese diplomats and core leaders of the former Chinese Central Bank are buried in a very low-key way in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York:
Chiang Kai-shek’s wife Soong May-ling, who was not only a First Lady of the ROC, but also Soong Ching-ling’s younger sister and Sun’s sister in law, is buried in a private room in the Ferncliff Mausoleum. Her lifespan covered three centuries (19th, 20th and 21st). According to The New York Times, she is the only first lady during World War II who lived into the 21st century[1]. She did not want to be buried with her older sister Song Ching-ling in Shanghai nor with her husband in Taiwan. Rather, she wanted to be buried next to her eldest sister, Soong Ai-ling, who died before her and was already buried in Ferncliff.
The eldest Soong sister, Soong Ai-ling, who was also a sister-in-law of both Sun Yat-sen and Chiang kai-shek, rests next to Soong May-ling’s private room in Ferncliff. Soong Ai-ling seemed to be the most low profile Soong compared to her Vice Chairman sister and her First Lady sister. However, she was Sun Yat-sen’s chief secretary after her graduation from Wesleyan College – all Soong sisters are Wesleyan’s alumnae – and gave the job to her younger sister Soong Ching-ling, who later became Sun’s wife. Soong Ai-ling was also the matchmaker for Chiang Kai-shek and Soong May-ling. Soong Ai-ling is buried with her husband, Kung Hsiang-hsi, and their children, making her the only Soong who is buried with her husband and has children.
Soong Ai-ling’s husband, Kung Hsiang-hsi, is buried alongside her and their children in Ferncliff Mausoleum. He was the former Premier, former Minister of Industry and Commerce, former Minister of Finance of the ROC and former Governor of the Central bank of China. He received a master’s degree in economics from Yale University.
Kung’s brother-in-law, Soong Tse-ven, is one level down in the same Mauseloum building. Soong Tse-ven was also highly influential in determining the economic and diplomatic policies of the ROC government in the 1930s and 1940s. After graduating with a master’s degree in economics from Harvard University and a doctorate degree in economics at Columbia University, Soong Tse-ven returned to China and served in the Kuomintang-controlled government as the Minister of Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank of China, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the head of the Chinese delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in 1945, which later became the United Nations. He was in charge of negotiating with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow and in charge of negotiating with the 33rdS. President Harry Truman in Washington, D.C.
The second youngest brother in the Soong family, Soong Tse-liang, is also buried in Ferncliff Cemetery. He was not as influential as his sisters and brother, but he also served as the Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the ROC government.
(Upper Left: Kung with
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten
; Upper Right: Soong Tse-ven on TIME’s cover; Bottom Left: Soong May-ling on NBC; Bottom Right: Soong Ai-ling graduated from Wesleyan College.)
The Soong sisters are not the only Chinese notables in Ferncliff Cemetery. The cemetery listed three Chinese in their Celebrites & Notables list: Madame Chiang, Soong Tse-ven and Wellington Vi Kyuin Koo. Koo was a very prominent diplomat of the ROC. He attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 as one of China’s representatives; he served as an Ambassador to France, Great Britain and the United States; he was a participant in the founding of the United Nations; he sat as a judge on the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the mid 20th Century. (Photo of the members of the commission of the League of Nations created by the Plenary Session of the Preliminary Peace Conference, Paris, France, 1919.Wellington Vi Kyuin Koo is the 4th standing from right to left.)
Koo’s daughter, Patricia Koo Tsien, a senior official in the United Nations and the founder of the Ad Hoc Group on Equal Rights for Women in the U. N. Secretariat, is buried next to her husband on the second floor of the Ferncliff Mausoleum. Another influential Chinese diplomat, Dr. Victor Chi-tsai Hoo, the first Chinese Under-Secretary of the United Nations, is buried in the same building.
(Patricia Koo Tsien in 1989. Source: Columbia Library columns)
The last unexpected name I saw in Ferncliff Cemetery is not as famous as any of the rest, but completes the puzzle of a well-known Chinese romantic epic. There was a legendary Chinese poet Xu Zhi-mo in the beginning of the ROC. He was legendary in part because of his romantic poems, and his friendship with the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, but mostly because of his romance with three Chinese women. He had two sons with his first wife, Yu-Yi Chang, a woman he never loved but who he married at his parents’ direction. Xu finished his studies at Columbia University and flew to London, and fell in love with Chinese architect and writer Lin Hui-yin. His most renowned poem is about his feelings for her and their days together in Cambridge. By the way, Lin Hui-yin’s niece is Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Xu divorced his wife, but Lin only ever saw Xu as a friend. Xu later married another Chinese artist, Lu Xiaoman. This union was regarded as unethical because two divorcees getting married was not considered appropriate in China 90 years ago. Xu died in a plane crash in 1931. Lin Hui-yin died in 1955 and is buried in Revolutionary Cemetery in Peking because she contributed to the design of the Chinese national flag, the National Emblem of the People’s Republic of China and the Monument to the People’s Heroes located in the Tiananmen Square. Lu died in 1965 and is buried in Suzhou. Chang was not as famous as Xu’s other love interests, but she had another happy marriage after her divorce with Xu and lived much longer (she died in 1988). She is buried in Ferncliff Maseoulum. And her son with Xu and daughter-in-law are buried beside her.
(Lin Hui-yin,Rabindranath Tagore and Xu Zhi-mo)
I was surprised to see so many famous Chinese names in a cemetery in Westchester County, New York. But I am not surprised to see that a part of Chinese history is buried more than 7,000 miles away from China.
I still vividly remember the squawking crows in the cemetery in Hartsdale. I had never thought of the crow as a spirit animal associated with life and death until I saw them in Tibetan lamaseries, in Japanese Shinto shrines, and now in a cemetery in Westchester County.
People rarely visit a cemetery on their birthdays. I did. And I am still not quite sure if all human beings are born equal, but I am pretty sure all human beings are equal in death. If you visit any public cemeteries, you will find that Christian crosses and Jewish Stars, Chinese names and English names are standing next to each other – sharing together this hallowed ground.
Sidebar:
Ailing Chang (1920 – 1995)
Born in Shanghai, Chang is one of the most influencial writers in modern China. Her fiction is among the best Chinese literature of her time. As University of Southern California professor Dominic Cheung says: “Had it not been for the political division between Nationalist and Communist Chinese, she would almost certainly have won a Nobel Prize[2].” Her second husband, Reyher, was among those who helped to extricate German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht and his family from Nazi Germany[3]. Chang was found dead in her Los Angles apartment where she had lived as a virtual recluse, according to New York Times Obituaries[4].
Geling Yan (1959 – )
Born in Shanghai, Yan is a renowned novelist and scriptwriter. She is a member of the Hollywood Writer’s Guild of America and the Writer’s Association of China. She served in the People’s Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution and later as a journalist in the Sino-Vietnamese War, achieving a rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.
Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung (1937 -)
Pai is a famous writer, who wrote about the Old Shanghai, Taiwan, Chicago and New York. He was born Muslim, but attended missionary Catholic schools and embraced Buddhist meditation practices. His father was a well-known Kuomintang General. Pai won the Order of Brilliant Star award for ROC for outstanding contribution.
Leo Ou-fan Lee (1942 – )
Lee is a commentator and author. He was a professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Princeton University, Indiana University, University of Chicago, University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard University. He was elected a Fellow of Academia Sinica (Chinese Academy) in Taiwan.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Logos Consulting Grouphttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngLogos Consulting Group2016-03-20 10:11:282021-10-10 17:13:51Finding The History of China in a Hartsdale Cemetery
In the spirit of advising, sharing and reaching a global community, Logos opened its doors to a conversation with Kristin Johnson and Logos colleague Iris Wenting Xue, to talk about public relations, teaching, and the pursuit of learning.
You have worked in both large PR firms and a boutique consulting group. How would you compare the experiences?
My experience at PR firms and my experience at Logos are completely different. PR firms – while all unique in culture – have a certain structure and organization that feels consistent firm to firm. In PR firms, I knew that I’d work on a team, generally have two to three clients, and work with those clients on a consistent basis to achieve a stated public relations objective. Primarily, my client was in a communication role, such as a Director of Communication, or a Marketing Communication Manager.
At Logos, I work independent and on teams, for any number of clients (though never competing) for both limited and long-term engagements to address larger business objectives using communication strategy. Additionally, I spend quite a bit of my day reading, researching, and developing new models and approaches for helping clients identify, reach, and maintain their business goals. My clients are sometimes in a communication role, but more often they are experts in their ‘non-communication’ roles who need to be effective communicators in order to fulfill their leadership function. C-suite and senior executives, attorneys, doctors, non-profit and NGO leaders are all examples of clients.
I will say that at both PR firms and in my consulting work, I’ve had the great privilege of working with clients who welcome me into their world and trust me as an advisor and partner to help them solve critical business challenges.
You are simultaneously a senior advisor at Logos Consulting Group and an instructor at NYU. What is the relationship between these two identities?
My work at Logos Consulting Group and Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, as well as my work at NYU, all focus on building executive communication and leadership skills.
At Logos, on the consulting side, I often help clients identify communication gaps that expose business vulnerabilities. For example, a client wanted to know if his/her company was prepared to address a crisis stemming from social media discussions. My team and I cooked up a realistic scenario of escalating proportion, based on the client’s business, and then put the client and client’s team through a realistic simulation. The outcome of the simulation revealed where the team’s response was weak, and allowed us to provide recommendations for improved preparedness.
On the Institute side of Logos, I work with senior level professionals from all industries to strengthen the effectiveness of their communication in preparation for high stakes presentations, such as media interviews or keynote addresses. I have a strong background in healthcare communication so one example is that I often work with medical researchers to simplify complex concepts for the lay community. There is a temptation for technical experts to be…well, technical. So my clients come to me to help them convey their messages to their audience simply, yet without sacrificing the significance of the scientific contribution.
At NYU, my students have varied work and industry experience, so I try to tailor each semester to class needs just as I tailor my coaching for my clients’ needs. In fact, I tell my students that I will treat them as my clients. However, unlike my Logos clients, I ask my students to treat me as if I were their client.
For any advising or coaching I do – be it clients or students – it’s important to define the objective of the project and establish expectations at the onset. If those two criteria are met, it will be a successful engagement.
There are lots of books about PR and about consulting, but you want to write a book about PR consulting. How did that come to mind?
I teach a class at NYU called, “PR Consulting.” It’s a course in the School of Professional Studies, as part of the elective options in the master’s program in public relations and corporate communication. I had the liberty to design the course when I started teaching in the Fall of 2014, and immediately looked to see what material existed on the topic. I was astonished to learn that while there are many books on management consulting, and many books on public relations, there is not one book that provides theory or practical structure for public relations consulting. When I think of PR consulting, I see it as a marriage between a public relations practice and all that entails, along with the art of effective client service and management. Based on student feedback the past few semesters, and feedback from others who I’ve counseled on starting a PR consultancy, I’m convinced there is appetite for a book that expands on this topic.
You were recently a student yourself. I know you earned your CFA certificate. With a communication background, was that difficult?
Well to back up, the Claritas® Investment certificate is a non-credit certification awarded by the CFA Institute. The CFA Institute is the same body that governs and administers the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, which is one of the most rigorous certification programs for investment managers worldwide.
I am not an investment manager, nor do I aspire to be one! However, many of my clients are leaders in the financial community. I didn’t have more than an advanced lay understanding of the investment industry when I joined Logos, so I set out to know it well. The Claritas program provides a comprehensive foundational understanding of the global investment industry. It involves about 100 hours of independent study on everything from economics to investment instruments. There is a two-hour, pass/fail, proctored exam at the end of the studies.
I passed! The exam part was a bit nerve-wracking, but the actual studying was fascinating. It provided me with a behind-the-scenes peek at the systems and structures that keep world markets moving. It was an excellent overview and allowed me to better appreciate not only my financial sector clients’ work, but also business drivers in general from the financial perspective. The more perspective and knowledge I have, the better equipped I am to advise clients.
Congratulations on your 2015 NYC Marathon achievement! Did you bring any of your business skills to the race? Do you have any more races planned?
Thank you! It was my first marathon! I am a bit shy about the finish, since I didn’t achieve the time I wanted. During my 18-mile training run, about six weeks before the marathon, I injured my IT band. As a result, I was in PT twice a week leading up to the run. I was concerned I may not be able participate at all, but opted to complete the race with the expectation that I’d need to stop and stretch every mile.
What kept me going was a little gift that I left for myself at the finish line…another chance. New York Road Runners, which hosts the marathon, has a marathon qualifying program where runners who run nine qualifying races and volunteer for a race are eligible to run in the following year’s marathon. It’s called the “9+1” program. I arranged for the 2015 marathon to be my ninth qualifying race for the 2016 marathon, so I knew that no matter how well I did, crossing the finish line would guarantee me an opportunity to run in the next marathon…this year! I would say that goal setting, with a clear strategy for achieving the goal, is how my consulting work translated into my training. In advance of this November’s marathon, I’m running the Brooklyn half marathon in May, Napa to Sonoma half marathon in July, and of course some smaller qualifying races to secure my 9+1 for the 2017 NYC Marathon. The irony is that while I absolutely love the discipline of training, the camaraderie of races, and the joy of surpassing my limits, I don’t necessarily love the act of running. I have yet to regret a run, however, so I think I’ll keep going.
I think that’s a good note to end on. Thank you for your time.
Thank you! It’s usually my clients who are in the interviewee seat, so this was fun.
https://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Logos-Consulting-Group-practices-social-distancing-with-personal-touch-covid19-maidazeng.jpg9601054Logos Consulting Grouphttps://www.logosconsulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HQ-Lambda-Consulting-Lockup-1030x562.pngLogos Consulting Group2016-03-16 17:01:032021-10-10 17:17:04Logos Conversation Series: An Interview with Kristin Johnson
(Photo of the members of the commission of the League of Nations created by the Plenary Session of the Preliminary Peace Conference, Paris, France, 1919.Wellington Vi Kyuin Koo is the 4th standing from right to left.)
(Patricia Koo Tsien in 1989. Source: Columbia Library columns)
