Recently, I began researching effective employee training programs for Wise Words, a monthly newsletter I write for Wise Ways Consulting.
I seek credible sources of information: academic, industry-related, and professional in the trenches. I draft the stories, cite my sources, and the articles are reviewed and edited by WWC staff.
A Google search led me to a professional article from the Forbes Business Development Council @Forbesbizdev.
So far so good, the article reiterated information I was gleaning from other sources. Still, I wanted something fresh. When I got to the attribution of this think tank of experts, the content no longer mattered. It no longer mattered how smart these fifteen people are or how expert and successful they seem in their industries. (Though truth be told, I'm sure none of them were interviewed for the article.)
Forbes blew it. I had an editorial blunder laugh. The idea of blow (yes, both in the missing it big time and x-rated sense) was too much for me to overlook. I couldn't move beyond it, especially as I was researching employee training.
Being a good Internet-using citizen, I searched for someone at the Forbes Business Council to alert. I'm often told of typos and mistakes. The web has a great feature, content can be revised and republished. The problematic boilerplate material was missing the letter "e". Easy and effortless to fix with an economy of work and enormous results.
This is what I heard back:
Maybe I didn't find the correct email address (feedback@forbescouncils.com ) or my message landed in spam, or no one checks it, or what may also be true, no one cares.
No one cares about reputations? Doesn't it matter to have your name and face attributed to something wrong and easily fixed? Are these fifteen people so honored to be part of the Business Council as a credential that they overlook how it matters to the public?
I've covered their faces to protect their identities. Though the original image is alive and well on the Internet.
Mistakes happen. I probably made a few in this post. If you find one, please let me know so I can easily fix it. I care about my reputation and my clients. It matters.