Terakeet. Woof. Reading bad stuff about people in your industry should rarely be viewed as a positive, but it’s truly excellent when bad actors are called out.

An industry’s weakest link holds everyone back, so I always believe it a duty to talk when someone or something crosses a line in the communications world.

Republication of an opinion column for WeSpeakIoT.com:

At approximately $1 trillion, the IoT industry is well established with an incredibly bright future. It’s also among the least respected by political officials, financial markets, tech leaders and the news media. An industry rebrand is desperately needed.

There are three stats about comms that the smartest CEOs know well:

• 63 percent of a company's market value comes from its overall reputation (Source: Weber Shandwick)

• Nearly 70 percent of leaders report facing a true crisis in the past five years (Source: PwC)

• Only 1-in-3 have a crisis management plan in place (Source: PwC)

SoFi, a $30 billion private financial institution, today sent out an email about a hack of consumer personally identifiable information (PII)...from three weeks earlier….

That’s sketchy.

No comment. It’s one of the absolute worst possible responses you can give when faced with a question from a reporter. We’ve all seen it on TV when the lawyer walking outside the courtroom says “no comment” on behalf of their client. This amps up the dramatic stakes and tension for the viewer — but it’s never ever ever ever a good thing.