May Issue - FOH Online

Existential Angst, Corporate Style EN
But the CEO took a huge leap of faith, and
instead of trying to cut a backroom deal or hide
his company’s problems (and they were close
to going under), he started blogging about the
business and revealing all of the things most
real estate agents would prefer to keep quiet.
He even took shots at himself when he sat at
a jobfair all day and had not a single student
even stop at his booth. What resulted was not
as simple as a “Voila! Everything is better now”
deal, but things did begin to improve. By the
beginning of this year, Redfi n had gone from
struggling to close any deals to closing several
deals a day for clients who came to them because
of this “radical transparency.”
It is a trend that is starting to get legs, and
an increasing number of large companies
have gone from issuing press releases that
have been approved by fi ve levels of management
to allowing — and even encouraging
— its employees to post uncensored text and
even video discussing projects they are working
on and all kinds of other things. Southwest
Airlines has an online “water cooler” where 30
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Editor’s Note
Get Naked It’s a much scarier thought for me than it is for Jenna Fischer
I
was reading the most current issue of Wired
the other day and was struck by something
they called “radical transparency” — the
notion of being totally open and honest with
your customers as a way of inspiring loyalty.
(It is very much an extension of the kind of
bottom-up hierarchy that I discovered in the
books Out of Control and The Cluetrain Manifesto,
both of which I wrote about a good two
years ago.)
As an example of the idea, they used a
guy who started an online real estate business
called Redfi n whose model was to cut costs by
operating largely virtually and passing those
savings on to customers in the form of refunds
of large portions of the commissions generally
paid to real estate agents. Said agents, to be
kind, were less than pleased. They started boycotting
the new company by refusing to sell to
a buyer who was using them, which put a big
crimp in the new company’s plans.
4
employees from up and down the org chart
post regularly about their jobs and their personal
lives.
Shedding Light on Audio EN
These are all good ideas, especially since
— let’s face it — if there’s an industry that
needs some transparency, pro audio is it.
As many of you have already seen, we
have recently done a full-on revamping of
the www.fohonline.com Web site, including
a few regular blogs that readers can comment
on. We also need to recruit you for
a couple things we’re starting — our own
versions of some great stuff I have seen others
doing online. (I may not be very original,
but I know a good idea when I see it. Other
pro audio mags have borrowed stuff from
us, and I hope they will continue to if they
find something worthwhile that they can
put their own spin on. I figure that makes it
OK for me to do likewise.)
The first is our own version of that online
water cooler called “In the Back of the Bus.” I
am looking to recruit a dozen or so live audio
pros as volunteers (as in you don’t get
paid) to post once a week about the business
and whatever else is on their minds.
This is open to anyone working in the biz
— from a lowly stagehand to a soundco
owner to an engineer or exec working for a
manufacturer. The only people not eligible
are PR types (both internal and freelance)
working in any capacity in the pro audio
business.
The catch is that you can’t use this area
to shamelessly plug your own products or
services. This is a place for FOH readers to
hang out and dish about the biz and life in
general. (By the way, if you do go down the
self-promotion road, we will kill the post. Do
it twice and we’ll ask you not to return, either
to post or to comment. And if we fi nd anyone
using a ringer — a PR type operating under
another name — we will not only drop them,
but we will out the company that pulled the
stunt. Just full disclosure.)
MAY 2007 www.fohonline.com
By BillEvans
Somewhere, a place for us. . . EN
On the other hand, we are creating a space
where we want contributions from the industry.
In fact, we need the industry’s support. It’s
an idea I am fl at out stealing from someone
who I admire a lot. I have been reading Craig
Anderton’s stuff since I was a teenager and was
fortunate enough to get to know him a little at
another company. In fact, FOH columnist Mark
Amundson was introduced to me by Craig.
I recently discovered something Craig
is doing on Harmony Central called “Pro Reviews,”
which are basically product reviews
done as a kind of forum. Craig takes a piece
of gear and starts to write about it a little at a
time as he uses it and learns more about it. As
he does so, readers pop in with questions and
comments. That’s where we need you, and
here’s where the industry comes in: In these
reviews, manufacturers even chime in with explanations
and clarifi cations on features and
operation. It is — hands down — the most
useful format I have ever seen for product reviews.
And we are taking the concept to the
live event audio world. This one is going to
take some time to get off the ground, so it may
not be up and going by the time you read this,
but we are working on it and will have it soon.
Let’s be very clear here (oh, that was a bad
pun), the whole idea of secrecy these days is
kind of a joke. A few months back FOH broke
some news that one company had wished
we had not found out. But we got internal
memos forwarded to us within 15 minutes of
them being issued.
This is a huge shift not just in business, but
in the overall culture of things. These additions
are just an extension of the FOH commitment
to really telling our readers what is happening
in the business. While disrobed sound guys
may not be the most attractive idea around,
the idea of an unclothed business environment
and transparent communication is very
attractive. It’s time to get naked.
Better transparency through
bevans@fohonline.com.
Publisher
Terry Lowe
tlowe@fohonline.com
Editor
Bill Evans
bevans@fohonline.com
Managing Editor
Jacob Coakley
jcoakley@fohonline.com
Associate Editor
David McGinnis
dmcginnis@fohonline.com
Technical Editor
Mark Amundson
mamundson@fohonline.com
Contributing Writers
Jerry Cobb, Brian Cassell,
Dan Daley, Jamie Rio,
Steve LaCerra, Nort Johnson,
David John Farinella,
Ted Leamy, Baker Lee,
Bryan Reesman, Tony Mah
Photographer
Steve Jennings
Art Director
Garret Petrov
gpetrov@fohonline.com
Production Manager
Linda Evans
levans@fohonline.com
Graphic Designer
Crystal Franklin
cfranklin@fohonline.com
David Alan
dalan@fohonline.com
Web Master
Josh Harris
jharris@fohonline.com
National Sales Manager
Peggy Blaze
pblaze@fohonline.com
National Advertising Director
Gregory Gallardo
gregg@fohonline.com
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William Hamilton Vanyo
wvanyo@fohonline.com
Executive Administrative
Assistant
Mindy LeFort
mlefort@fohonline.com
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