I first met Elizabeth when she was engaged by NACHRI (the former name of the Children’s Hospital Association) as part of a three person consulting team to review our IT processes in the summer of 2007. We were immediately impressed with Elizabeth’s communication skills, her understanding of our needs and environment, and her ability to synthesize issues and provide constructive feedback. She brought both insight and professionalism to the project, and produced a report with actionable recommendations that made a measurable impact.
Perhaps most important to me, Elizabeth has always demonstrated a strong and consistent level of ethics that produce a deep trust in her professional judgment and her word. She consistently produces excellent results and is flexible in her ability to adapt and change course as needed to meet the needs of those she serves.
Kristi Donovan says:
Unfortunately, I think your second question can be construed by some to mean, “Everyone else is doing it, we need to too!”
Call me naive, but I always wonder why we don't focus on the 99% of people, give or take a few percentage points, who will, and want to, do the right thing. I mean, if someone steals your mailing list from your community site (a totally random example I heard recently), you can a) warn them b) serve up a penalty c) remove them, d) let the community take care of reprimanding them and/or e) know they will pay for their bad behavior in the end (a.k.a. bad karma will fall upon them).
The problem is, we are so afraid of confrontation and dare I say, crucial conversations, that we cater to the 1% who screw up. Participating in social media means you have to be willing to talk to folks in good times and bad… some people have a very hard time with the latter.
It's a cultural issue.
Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE says:
+10, Kristi – I love the idea of “prepare for the worst, but assume the best.” Particularly in places where it's hard to hide your real identity (which is increasingly “the entire Internet” these days), most people are pretty inclined to behave themselves so as not be (deservedly) labeled douchebags.