Go Lean Commentary
“In 2 minutes a computer can make as many mistakes as 20 men in 20 years” – Murphy’s Law on Technology.
“Once posted, you can’t take it back” – Social Media Harsh Reality.
These two expressions are the new normal. Social media can be an effective communication tool to reach the general public and/or a dedicated controlled group. This can be a blessing and a curse. This fact was demonstrated after the recent World Cup Elimination Game between Mexico and The Netherlands. Mexico lost! In its haste to capitalize on all the fanfare, representatives at Dutch airline KLM committed this PR blunder of denigrating Mexican fans:
By: AP Writer Alan Clendenning
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — What was meant to be a joke has turned into a PR blunder for Dutch airline KLM after it angered Mexican soccer fans by taking to Twitter to celebrate the Netherlands’ dramatic comeback victory in the World Cup.Within minutes of the Netherlands’ 2-1 victory over the Tri, KLM let loose on its Twitter feed a picture of an airport departures sign under the heading “Adios Amigos!” Next to the word “Departures” is the image of a man with a mustache wearing a sombrero.
The post immediately went viral, with A-list Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal using not one but two expletives in a 140-character Tweet to tell his 2 million-plus followers that he’ll never fly the carrier again. Amid the widespread protest online, the post was pulled a half-hour later without an explanation.
“It was meant to be a joke,” KLM spokeswoman Lisette Ebeling Koning told The Associated Press, adding that the airline never intended to offend Mexicans, which it serves via a daily direct flight between Mexico City and Amsterdam. “But there was too much negative reaction.”
KLM issued a formal apology late Sunday.
“In the best of sportsmanship, we offer our heartfelt apologies to those who have been offended by the comment,” said Marnix Fruitema, director general of KLM in North America.
For its part, Mexican national carrier AeroMexico is also getting in on the fun, broadcasting on Twitter its support for the country’s soccer team under an arrivals sign.
“Thank you for this great championship,” AeroMexico said. “You’ve made us proud and we’re waiting for you at home.”
Associated Press (AP) News Wire Service (Retrieved 06/30/2014) –
http://news.yahoo.com/bad-tweet-dutch-airline-angers-mexico-soccer-fans-205929269.html
The expression “the post immediately went viral” could be a good thing or a bad thing. The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that the power of social media must be harnessed strategically and tactically in order to explore all the benefits of Internet Communications Technologies. The book further asserts that the internet can be a great equalizer between large and small economy states, that talent and value can readily be searched and discovered.
The foregoing article depicts a Bad Tweet; then proceeds to describe how impactful response tweets can be, especially when wielded by an “Influencer” – a person with at least 100,000 followers – such as A-list Mexican celebrity Gael Garcia Bernal.
The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This effort will launch the Caribbean Postal Union to facilitate the region’s “mail” functionality. In 2014, the mail delivery cannot be seriously mentioned without considering electronic messaging options. Social media is an electronic messaging scheme. The CPU will administer the domain for www.myCaribbean.gov. The universe for this domain is scoped at 130 million unique users.
This strategy will elevate Caribbean society, and image. There is the need for a sentinel role for Caribbean image, as there are a lot of times that Caribbean life and people are denigrated in works of media arts: film, TV, books, magazines. Consider the example of Jamaican “Yardies”, or Dominican Cartels. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to assume that role.
The CU, using cutting edge delivery of best practices, will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The Go Lean book speaks of a Caribbean crisis and posits that this crisis can be averted, the same way the non-malevolent jest on social media by KLM was quickly averted using stronger social media tactics. Considering the events in the foregoing article, an undeniable credo is reiterated that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the entire Caribbean economic/security/governance eco-system. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12 & 14) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:
xv. Whereas the business of the Federation and the commercial interest in the region cannot prosper without an efficient facilitation of postal services, the Caribbean Union must allow for the integration of the existing mail operations of the governments of the member-states into a consolidated Caribbean Postal Union, allowing for the adoption of best practices and technical advances to deliver foreign/domestic mail in the region.
xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.
xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.
The Go Lean book details a lot more, a series of assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to garner the benefits of ICT in the Caribbean region:
| Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Return on Investments | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future | Page 26 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius | Page 27 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development | Page 30 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide | Page 31 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Strategy – Vision – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union | Page 45 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Postal Union | Page 78 |
| Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change | Page 101 |
| Implementation – Ways to Improve Mail Services | Page 108 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media | Page 111 |
| Planning – Ways to Improve Image | Page 133 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy | Page 151 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs | Page 152 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology | Page 197 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce | Page 198 |
| Appendix – Measuring Media Consumption | Page 265 |
Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. There is reason to believe that these empowerment efforts can be successful. The Go Lean roadmap conveys how single causes/advocacies have successfully been forged throughout the world (Page 122 – Anatomy of Advocacies). With social media deployments, millions of people can be advocates. No defamation of Caribbean image will go unchallenged. We, in the Caribbean, can do the same as the Mexican power brokers when bad sportsmanship was displayed by the KLM airline.
The Caribbean can succeed in the advocacy to improve the Caribbean image and deployments of social media in the region. There are previous blog commentaries that delve into aspects of these same issues:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1416 | Amazon’s new FIRE Smartphone |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1404 | Facebook goes down across multiple countries |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=857 | Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks |
Congratulation to the Netherlands football/soccer national team in their pursuits of the FIFA World Cup. There is room for good sportsmanship for all.