One of the essential lessons delivered by successful implementations of social media is that leadership sets the tone.

This week, Canadians experienced first hand the tone set by one of the highest profile social media success stories: President Barack Obama. The integration of social media into his campaign has been well documented, famously broadening his capacity to make a powerful connection with people.

His desire to touch hearts and minds was captured by a quotation splashed in several Canadian newspaper headlines: “I love this country.”

One of the experts on Obama’s use of new technology is Barry Libert, co-author of Barack, Inc. Libert was a presenter in a webinar hosted by enterprise social media vendor Mzinga the day before Obama’s Canadian visit.

Libert noted that Obama frequently tells adoring crowds that “I love you back,” recognizing his responsibility to make a personal connection with the multitude that follows him. He knows that touching their hearts and minds is necessary in order to build a culture of connection.

Obama’s success demonstrates that successfully utilizing social media tools requires that culture, strategy and technology integrate seamlessly, observed Libert, meaning that social media is fundamentally a leadership issue because it’s not about enabling technology, it’s about building a culture and assigning strategic goals.

While it would be inappropriate for most business leaders to say I Love You to the people they lead—the statement could potentially result in remedial diversity training—every business leader should be thinking about the culture of connection they must establish with their employees, and evaluating how emerging technology can enable them to do so more efficiently.

Are they taking on this responsibility by setting an affectionate tone toward social media? When it comes to measuring attitudes of IT leadership, the answer is no. A majority of CIOs are ignoring the potential benefits that Intranet 2.0 offers their organization.

Obama’s campaign redefined political leadership, and business leaders are absorbing the lessons provided by Libert and others. While we shouldn’t expect them to lead off meetings by declaring their love for staff, we shouldn’t be surprised if more of them establish a connection with their own blog, or even allow staff to connect with each other through a social networking tool.

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Reserve your spot Putting Social Media to work in your Intranet Strategy (February 26th, 2009, 12PM EST). Reserve your spot today.

While driving through Michigan last Thursday, I learned something new and was reminded of something important. And that got me thinking about intranet strategy: (Someone has to make these connections. And anyway, it’s a long drive).

The fresh piece of information was that Michigan is pretty big, which I discovered when driving past Flint on the I-75 and chatting to a friend who lives in the state. He informed me that we couldn’t meet for coffee because he was several hours away in Grand Rapids (Google Maps contained the same data, but I was so focused on the route that I missed the big picture—there must be a metaphor in there somewhere).

He also reminded me that even in a terrible economy, there are opportunities for companies and individuals who take a strategic approach to seeking them.

My friend rejoined the ranks of the employed after a brief period between jobs, becoming a product manager with a large imaging company. His new employer was among the many companies that had recently announced lay-offs in some areas of the business, but the CEO had ensured that a message went out through their intranet that the company was also investing in growth areas, which included adding head count.

Today, in Digg, hundreds tagged an item from Reader’s Digest called Nine Recession Proof Careers, which provides a useful source of data on where job opportunities still exist. The list included Energy, Environment, Government and perhaps surprisingly, Financial Services: “Rising from the ashes of a very bad year, financial services have a bright future. Corporate America’s wretched excesses mean more government regulation. Workers who are retiring will need advice on how to make their money last. Small businesses may outsource accounting services. As we get to the middle of the recession, there will be a wave of mergers and acquisitions.”

Which brings me to intranet strategy. You’ll have noted that the CEO at my friend’s company was able to connect with employees through a well utilized intranet, which is an invaluable business tool during times of corporate stress.

And, within the nine sectors mentioned by Reader’s Digest, an effective, well utilized intranet will be a crucial means for companies to engage with existing employees, ramp up new hires and employees joining the firms though acquisitions and enable staff to collaborate with one another.

Unfortunately, as Toby Ward points out in an article called “Selling an Intranet Redesign”, too many organizations are failing to make a connection between business opportunities and their intranet. “While there is hope that more executives will realize the intranet's value to their organization, there is still a pause for concern. The study finds that only 14% of the respondents consider the intranet as ‘business critical.’ This is unfortunate because the intranet is a key business tool. Other organizations may not have allowed the intranet to become business critical, because senior management believes they should not invest in the intranet or a redesign.”

Not everyone will have the luxury provided by a long drive through rural Michigan to reflect on the connection between the current economy and an intranet strategy. But it’s still a connection worth making. Your company’s ability to execute on its strategy in this economy will benefit.

FREE WEBINAR:

Reserve your spot Putting Social Media to work in your Intranet Strategy (February 26th, 2009, 12PM EST). Reserve your spot today.