Analyzing a Column Chart
A Bloomberg article shows Manhattan resale home prices in a declining column chart. At a glance, the graph shows a clear, fairly steady decline since 2017.
When you mouseover the chart on the website (not here), the date and percentage appear.
Discussion:
Assess the chart title, “How Low Can They Go?” Why would the author or copywriter choose this title? How effective is it for the audience of business news readers?
Assess the chart format. What works well, and what could be improved?
What’s your view of using the mouseover instead of labeling bars. What other choices could work well?
Polite Answers Are Perceived as Higher Quality
A study published in Management Information Systems found that the more polite an answer is, the more likely it is to be viewed as a good answer. Researchers studied conversations in Stack Exchange, a community site for posting questions and answers, on which question posters rate responses.
The only exception to this finding is when the person posting the response is considered to be an expert. Then politeness doesn’t seem to matter.
To avoid this “politeness bias,” which could falsely elevate responses, the researchers propose giving more weight to ratings by users other than the poster. And rather than marking a response as “best answer,” responses could be marked “accepted.”
In the example, below, Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) workers discuss bank transfers.
We can see that the impolite answer is harsh, telling the poster to check instructions before asking a question, as if to say, “You’re wasting my time.” However, that answer provides almost identical information with one exception: “go to the Earnings page.” I’m not sure how helpful this is, but otherwise, the responses—at least in terms of clear instruction—are very similar.
This study reminds me of another that found well-written online reviews to increase sales—even if the review was negative. Although this is more about writing style and grammar than tone, both have implications for getting ideas accepted online.
Discussion:
How would you assess the two responses above? Could you see the questioner selecting the polite answer over the impolite answer for “best answer”?
How, if at all, are you influenced by writing style, grammar, and tone in online discussions and reviews?
Restaurant Owner Forgives Manager for $4,710 Mistake
The manager of Hawksmoor Manchester steakhouse accidentally served a $5,000 bottle of wine when the guests ordered one priced at $290. The owner forgave her publicly, on Twitter.
Naturally, the conversation doesn’t end there. Jokes abound, one announcing that the manager has since been placed in an “on-site incinerator.”
Others pounced on the expensive wine and criticized the restaurant, to which the owner responded in a tweet:
I’m sure you’re all getting tired of this now, so one last thing, to the people who put homelessness in Manchester next to ‘£4500 wine?!’ and suggesting we have no values: we’ve raised well over £1m for @ACF_UK, work with @WoodSt_Mission and @notjustsoupMCR. We have values.
Discussion:
What leadership character dimensions are demonstrated by this story?
How well did the owner respond to criticism?
Uber CEO Explains Disappointing IPO
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sent email to employees about the company’s disappointing IPO. Shares sold for $45 but dropped the next day to a low of $37.08. In his email, Khosrowshahi encourages employees to take a long-term view and compares the company to Amazon and Facebook, which he says also experienced trouble after their openings.
Team Uber:
I’m looking forward to being in front of you at the All Hands tomorrow, but I wanted to send you a quick note in the meantime.
First off, I want to thank you all for your passion for and commitment to Uber. We simply would not be here without you.
Like all periods of transition, there are ups and downs. Obviously our stock did not trade as well as we had hoped post-IPO. Today is another tough day in the market, and I expect the same as it relates to our stock.
But it is essential for us to keep our eye on the long-term value of Uber for our customers, partners, drivers and investors.
Every stock is valued based on the projected future cash flows/profits that the company is expected to generate over its lifetime. There are many versions of our future that are highly profitable and valuable, and there are of course some that are less so. During times of negative market sentiment, the pessimistic voices get louder, and the optimistic voices pull back.
We will make certain that we communicate our incredible value as a company that is changing the way the world moves, but also the value that we are building for our owners. But there is one simple way for us to succeed – focus on the work at hand and execute against our plans effectively.
Remember that the Facebook and Amazon post-IPO trading was incredibly difficult for those companies. And look at how they have delivered since.
Our road will be the same. Sentiment does not change overnight, and I expect some tough public market times over the coming months. But we have all the capital we need to demonstrate a path to improved margins and profits. As the market sees evidence, sentiment will improve, and as sentiment improves, the stock will follow. We will not be able to control timing, but we will be able to control the outcome.
We will be judged long-term on our performance, and I welcome that. It’s all in our hands.
I look forward to being there at the All Hands to answer Qs and tell you more.
Discussion:
Why would Khosrowshahi write an email in advance of an employee meeting?
What persuasive strategies does he use to explain the IPO performance?
Which arguments do you find least and most convincing?
OpenTable Announces Privacy Changes
An email from OpenTable summarizes changes to the privacy policy and directs readers to the entire policy on the website. The company is using a lighthearted approach to convey what information is shared and how users will have better control over what they are willing to share.
We can view this as a positive message, although it uses some persuasive strategies. Overall, the company is trying to simplify a complex issue—and the email simplifies the far more complex policy.
Discussion:
Analyze the message. Who is the primary audience, and what are the communication objectives? How would you describe the tone and writing style? What organizational strategies are used?
What persuasive strategies does the message use?
Overall, how effective is the message in meeting its communication objectives? What, if anything, could OpenTable do differently?
How New Grad Jobs Have Changed
A Wall Street Journal article warns new graduates that they “will be thrown right into the fray.” According to the article, entry-level jobs used to be lower level, but today they involve more important work, and employers expect more from recent grads.
Technology handles more routine tasks, so even new entrants into the job market may find themselves meeting with clients and making presentations. These jobs more commonly include external components.
The article also blames organizations’ “cost-cutting and flattening,” so training and close supervision are no longer available. New grads have to figure things out on their own.
Fortunately, students feel more prepared today because universities focus more on career preparation. Also, as a new grad, you’ll have more autonomy and can design the job you want. But you have to be self-reliant and have strong communication and influence skills.
Discussion:
What’s your reaction to this article? Does it excite you, scare you, or something else?
How does this relate to your internship experiences? What were the expectations, and how well did you achieve them on the job?
Typo on Australian Banknote
Australia printed 400 million $50 bills with a typo, and about 46 million of them are in use.
On the front of the bill, we see a picture of Edith Cowan, who was a social reformer and Australia’s first female parliamentarian. Near her shoulder, we also see a transcript of her first speech to the the Western Australian Parliament. In tiny print, but clear when it’s enlarged, is a misspelling of “responsibility,” missing the third “i.” The bills were in circulation for about six months before discovered by a radio station.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has since confirmed the mistake, saying it will correct the error in the next print run. A spokesperson explained the error:
“The process of designing and printing a banknote is complex and iterative. We have strict quality assurance processes, but like any manufacturing process, errors can occur. We have reviewed our processes to remove the likelihood of such an error occurring in the future.”
Discussion:
How does an error like this happen? How could it have been prevented?
How do you assess the bank’s response? Who is the audience, and what are the communication objectives? What, if anything, should the bank say or do differently now?
Leadership Challenge at Uber
A New York Times article describes discomfort among Uber’s leadership as the company plans to go public. Founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick wanted to join the company to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a tradition for IPOs. Kalanick still holds a seat on the board and, as founder, he wanted to participate in the company’s joyous moment—and to bring his father.
Current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi denied the request. For two years, Khosrowshahi has been trying to shed negative public perceptions of Uber, partly attributed to Kalanick’s leadership style and the company’s “bro-culture.”
The article describes a fractured board that didn’t fully support Khosrowshahi and a company that has yet to turn a profit, losing revenue on almost every car ride. Uber follows Lyft’s recent IPO, which has lost about $26 per share since its IPO in March.
Discussion:
Did Khosrowshahi make the right decision? Why or why not?
Consider Kalanick’s perspective. What’s his point of view? Should he have asked at all?
What leadership character dimensions are illustrated by this situation?
Facebook Announces Plans for Privacy
After several scandals and escalating criticism, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new products and several new features to move from public posting to private conversations. The new Facebook design focuses on groups instead of the newsfeed and adds interactivity, such as posting jobs. Some of these features, of course, compete with existing social platforms, such as LinkedIn.
In a post, Facebook described the focus of its two-day conference: “how we’re building a more privacy-focused social platform — giving people spaces where they can express themselves freely and feel connected to the people and communities that matter most.”
Communication, friends, and community are themes in the message. Zuckerberg’s keynote is titled, “The Future Is Private.”
Discussion:
Assess Zuckerberg’s keynote. Who are his primary and secondary audiences? What are his communication objectives? To what extent does he meet them? How would you describe his delivery skills? Does he convince you that Facebook is addressing criticism? Do you think Facebook is moving in the right direction?
Zuckerberg opens his keynote by saying, “Privacy gives us the freedom to be ourselves.” How does this relate to concepts of authenticity? Do you agree with his conclusion?
Also assess the post announcing changes for Facebook and other apps. Which features or new products most and least excite you?
Whistleblowers at Boeing
On The Daily podcast, a former quality manager at Boeing describes safety concerns and efforts to report them. He is one of more than 12 employees the New York Times reporter interviewed who had raised issues internally and with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before the 737 MAX crashes—and dating back to the 787 Dreamliner, which was introduced in 2007.
Employees complained about debris left inside aircrafts, even as planes were going on test flights and getting ready for delivery, and about missing and doctored defective parts. The reporter describes a company under pressure taking serious safety shortcuts.
According to U.S. Department of Labor data, whistleblowers have little success. This chart shows a very small percentage of government-reported cases considered of “merit,” although in the table below the chart, the author tells us that cases that are “settled” or “settled other” (a nonstandard procedure) should also be considered winners. Still, it’s a small percentage in light of what it takes to come forward to file a complaint.
Discussion:
What’s your view of Boeing? Some employees say they felt proud when they first worked at the company, and now they are embarrassed. How, if at all, does this news change your perception of the company?
What does it take to be a whistleblower? What is at stake, and what are the potential rewards?
Assess the chart. Who is the audience, and what are the communication objectives? How could you change the chart to improve readability? For example, consider how the 3D effect might change how we interpret the data.
Boeing's Crisis Response
At a shareholder’s meeting, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg addressed 737 Max safety concerns following two fatal crashes. He started, as predicted, with an apology and sympathy for the “loss of life,” acknowledging the “devastation.” He contrasted these losses with the many Boeing flights that run safely—”roughly every 1.5 seconds.”
Muilenburg didn’t explicitly address issues raised in the past couple of days, particularly a Wall Street Journal article the previous day accusing Boeing of failing to report the safety feature shut-off to airlines (including pilots) and the FAA.
When asked during the Q&A about accountability, Muilenburg spoke mostly about plans going forward. When asked whether he would resign, he talked about his and his employees’ commitment to safety.
At about 9:00 on the video, a reporter asks about whistle-blowers at Boeing, referring to recent reports that employees tried to alert senior management and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Muilenburg says the question is “fair” but doesn’t quite respond to the accountability issue. At about 14:15, a reporter asks, “Can you admit that the design was flawed?” This is after Muilenburg skirts the previous question, blaming a “chain of events.” Still, he would not admit to a design flaw.
And then he ends the news conference, as a reporter shouts, “Sir, 346 died. Can you answer a few questions here about that?” Earlier, another reporter noted that this was the first time they had a chance to meet with him to ask questions.
Discussion:
Assess Muilenburg’s delivery skills. What does he do well, and what suggestions would you have for his future news conferences?
How well did Muilenburg address reporters’ questions? What, if anything, could he have said differently?
What leadership character dimensions are illustrated by this story? How well did Muilenburg demonstrate them?
Do Women Apologize Too Much?
The short answer is yes. But the reasons are important. A New York Times writer distinguishes between apologizing as “an acknowledgment of an offense or failure” and other reasons to say “I’m sorry.”
Women are more likely to apologize when it’s not their fault. I was in another woman’s path in a doorway, and she said, “I’m sorry.” She did nothing wrong—and neither did I, but she meant it as a sign of politeness. In these situations, “Excuse me” may be more fitting.
Worse, some women seem to apologize by habit. If I accidentally step on your foot, please don’t apologize. That’s squarely on me.
But apologizes also express sympathy or empathy. The author gives an example of a woman who dropped her bag in a puddle. She said to the woman, “I’m sorry,” and was told not to apologize. But it wasn’t that kind of apology. She really meant, “That’s too bad your bag is all wet,” which is an expression of sympathy. And maybe, “I’ve been there and can relate,” which is closer to empathy. Similarly, we say, “I’m sorry,” as an expression of sympathy when someone dies.
The article references studies published in Psychological Science that conclude, “[M]en apologize less frequently than women because they have a higher threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior.” Good point, but that’s not what all apologies imply. The Times author suggests understanding why you apologize and gives us permission to apologize just for politeness, at times. This may be more expected of women, anyway.
Discussion:
Do you observe women apologizing more than men do? In what situations?
Write down all of your apologies for a week—in person and in writing. Assess the reason for each. What do you conclude about how and how often you apologize?
How do apologizes demonstrate accountability as a leadership character dimension?
Philippines Town Bans Gossip
Could this work at companies? Or schools? Binalonan, a small town in the Philippines, passed an ordinance that bans idle gossip. Locals say the summer heat drives people beneath acacia trees to chismis, or gossip. Offenders are charged the equivalent of about $10 and will have to pick up trash if they repeat the crime.
Local officials believe much of the gossip is caused by conflicts, and they are trying to encourage people to resolve differences directly instead. I’m not sure it’s the same in organizations, where people tend to gossip when they have idle time and are missing more meaningful communication from company leaders.
Of course, gossip has a few positive benefits, including increasing our knowledge and understand of others and improving social relationships.
Discussion:
Seriously, could a gossip ban work in companies? What could be the benefits and downsides? How could it be enforced?
When have you seen gossip used negatively and positively?
What are, perhaps, better ways to communicate?
What leadership character dimensions may be failing if we rely too much on gossip?
A Pie Chart Totals 128%
A pie chart represents part of a whole, so how can numbers total more than 100%? They can’t. On Twitter, Dorsa Amir identifies additional problems.
The caption is also concerning: “High Support for Legalizing Marijuana.” Do we see evidence to prove this claim?
Note: This chart was created as a joke and posted on a sub-reddit.
Discussion:
What is the point of the chart?
What data would prove the point, and how could the designer have presented data differently?
Carlos Ghosn Responds to Charges
The former CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, who has been arrested four times on charges related to financial misconduct, responded in a video message. The key point: “I’m innocent of all the charges.” Ghosn also claims that accusations are “all biased, taken out of context, twisted.”
Ghosn was a celebrated business executive in Japan. His success in growing Nissan is “incontrovertible,” according to a New York Times podcast. He gained a reputation as a serious cost-cutter ("Le Cost Killer"), a strategy that was questioned at the time but brought about great profits for the company, placing it second in the list of Japanese automakers behind Toyota and ahead of Honda. Ghosn was CEO from 2001 - 2017, when he became chairman. He was then removed from the board in 2018, after his first arrest.
Charges against Ghosn include using company funds for multiple personal residences, hiding about half of his compensation, shifting $16.6 million in person losses to the company, and other accounting issues.
Nissan management responded to Ghosn’s video message:
“The sole cause of this chain of events is the misconduct led by Ghosn and Kelly. Aside from any criminal matters, Nissan's internal investigation has uncovered substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct. This resulted in a unanimous board vote to discharge Ghosn and Kelly as chairman and representative director, followed by a shareholder vote to discharge them from the board. Further discoveries related to Ghosn’s misconduct continue to emerge. The company's focus remains on addressing weaknesses in governance that failed to prevent this misconduct.”
Discussion:
What persuasive communication strategies does Ghosn demonstrate in his video message?
What are the most and least convincing statements?
Assess his Ghosn’s delivery skills.
Which leadership character dimensions are illustrated by this situation?
Fisher-Price Recall
At first, the company stood by their product, but after 10 infant deaths since 2015, Fisher-Price voluntarily recalled its Rock ‘n Play sleeper. The decision affects 4.7 million products, and the notice is now prominently displayed on the Fisher-Price homepage. When you follow the link, you see the page at right, which lists all “Recall & Safety Alerts.”
The announcement on April 5 points to a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) alert, which suggests that customers stop using the product for infants more than three months old, when they can turn over and suffocate.
The announcement on April 12 is a full recall, which urges customers to “immediately stop using the product” and return it for a refund.
Discussion:
Analyze the communication situation. Who are the primary and secondary audiences of Fisher-Price’s messages? What information do those audiences need? How might they react emotionally? What are the company’s communication objectives?
Product recall messages typically follow a particular structure and provide specific content. What do you observe from this message?
Should Fisher-Price have issued the recall earlier? Why or why not?
Charts About Uber and Lyft
A New York Times article compares Uber and Lyft in four simple charts. As you might expect, Uber leads in bookings and revenue, but it has greater losses and expenses.
The graphics are traditional bar charts, which are horizontal. Although we call vertical graphics bar charts, technically they are column charts. Either way, the charts are easy to read and compare, but can they be improved?
Discussion:
How else can data about the two companies be compared? For example, would side-by-side bar charts work better? Or vertical instead of horizontal bars?
Can you think of a way to show all four categories of information in one chart? Would that help understanding or not?
What other suggestions would you make to the NYT designer?
Boeing's Apology Dilemma
A Yahoo Finance article describes Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg’s decision to apologize for the 737 MAX tragedies and speculates that he may open the company up to lawsuits. However, for crisis communication, his apology is the right decision.
After a report found the planes to blame, Muilenburg admitted, “but with the release of the preliminary report of the Ethiopian Flight 302 accident investigation, it is apparent that in both flights, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MCAS, activated in response to erroneous angle of attack information." He’s not telling us anything we don’t already know, and Boeing will likely get sued anyway.
He also apologized: “We at Boeing are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 accidents and are relentlessly focused on safety to ensure tragedies like this never happen again.” The apology is critical—and too late in my opinion. Research on apologies indicate that they often reduce lawsuits, time to agree on settlements, and settlement pay.
Discussion:
Do you agree with the assessment that the CEO did the right thing by apologizing?
How does this situation illustrate vulnerability as a positive leadership character dimension?
What other character dimensions are illustrated by this situation?
Views About Social Media
Is social media influencing over lives positively or negatively? A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that Americans see more problems than benefits to society, although 70% of respondents use social media sites every day.
Respondents also don’t have high trust in technology companies, rating the federal government as more trustworthy, with Facebook getting particularly low grades. This is tough news for the tech firms considering Gallup’s research on confidence in institutions. Given a list of 15 institutions, including small business, the police, and the military, Americans have consistently rated Congress last.
Discussion:
Do these survey results surprise you? Why or why not?
The Gallup question is different, asking about “confidence” rather than “trust.” Could the wording make a difference in responses? Why or why not?
Evaluate these Wall Street Journal graphics. How well do they convey the information? What could be improved?
United Changes Rewards Program
United Airlines promises more flexibility and better options for reward travel. In an email to loyalty members, the company summarizes changes.
I’m not sure why they focus on the “award chart,” but that probably means more to a frequent traveler who manages points more closely than I do.
Discussion:
How clearly and concisely does United communicate the news?
What else, if anything, should the company include in the message?