Stalos.Org

Most people do not realize that a contract, any contract, drawn and negotiated within the borders of the United States, is a 3 WAY contract (and perhaps more), not a 2 way contract. Besides the obvious 2 parties involved, the third person involved is the Federal Government, whose power flows from the mighty Federal Courts. And there are potentially other players: State Courts, Municipal Courts, Appellate Courts, and so on. Each one of these courts can have a ruling on a contract…any contract. And not only can one of these courts cast a ruling, each court can have their own separate ruling on the same contract! They can do so, because each court can parse a contract for jurisdiction issues. For instance, in battling home foreclosure, Federal Laws prohibit fraud, while Texas State laws prohibit possession of equity for a certain amount in a house. Both of these laws can be be used to dispute one single contract, and at the same time!

So? What does that mean? How can that help you? If you think anyone, or any company, has wronged you on any transaction of any kind, no matter how small, a civil action can be brought against them. If you are sold a car that you don’t like, you can negotiate in court. If you were overcharged on a credit card, you negotiate in court. If you are not allowed to return your sweater, you negotiate in court. If your car has been impounded, you negotiate in court. Read more →

Online reputation management is now a big reality for all professionals, even for the most cubicle ensconced employee. Despite the great progress that has been made in establishing online reputation as a credible discipline, I find that most individuals and organizations continue to manage their online presence without assuming key principles.

That is why I have compiled this list of the six biggest mistakes that can be made and must be seriously avoided, if we want to grow a proud list of clients, and avoid the wrath of the blogosphere, and other networks.

# 1: Inappropriate postings.

Every action we take and everything we publish online – either a photo, a video, a post or a simple comment – helps to build, configure and strengthen our personal or corporate branding. Every human being is their own brand, imbedded within one large classless virtual network. (Is this a Marxist Utopia, or a Anarchic nightmare?…who knows yet.) It is ironic that many have not thought out, before embarking on social media networks, on what they themselves are trying to convey.

The lack of a strategy – or, even worse, not being true to oneself, is arguably the first and most serious mistake. Cognitive congruency is a virtue nowadays, and so is Internet Congruency, heeding the well know Seth Godin remark. that “All marketing is lying .” It’s important to keep things real. What’s your company, product or brand? What is your Modus Operandi. These are questions that must be answered convincingly before getting into the web. Summarizing our branding in a sentence is an excellent start

 
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A typical reputation crisis follows established guidelines that have been studied both in social psychology and corporate communications, standards by which we should understand,  in order to adapt our response to get the best possible outcomes. 

We have previously warned of the dangers of “goody-two-shoes-ism” and of not offering a proactive and vigorous defense of our brand when we are attacked unfairly and maliciously, or we become the spotlight by factors that have little or nothing to do with possible errors and / or deficiencies by the company in carrying out its functions within the public, political and media pressures, etc.. Most companies (especially in some sectors such as biotechnology, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, etc..) are subjected to these problems from time to time.
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