Emmy Award-winning former CBS Network News correspondent David Henderson has written a timely book for CEOs and communications pros on how to tap into the tremendous power of the news media in the digital age.

Becoming a media savvy leader in today’s technological world requires an ongoing commitment of time and effort. Henderson refers to the book as a “practical field guide on how to capture your share of the spotlight in front of the media and then effectively deliver your news and messages in a manner that boosts the value of your organization – and your own success at the same time – in the Internet age.”

Henderson’s broad experience in network news and as a communications professional is evident.

As a journalist-cum-communications pro, he knows how vital it is for CEOs to be the face and voice of their companies. They should heed the advice of communications departments and respect journalists. More importantly, they must remain credible when communicating with the media. This is especially good advice for companies facing devastating layoffs and profit declines during the current economic crisis.

Click here to read the full review.

Trying to figure out the new online world? Web 2.0, blogs, social media, Twitter? What’s the value, and where’s it all headed?

I’ve just written a new and free ebook that delivers valuable perspective and helpful guidance, and you can download the new ebook here.

Please feel free to download, and share with your friends and colleagues. It’s free. This link to “Media Savvy in the Internet Era” brings you directly to the PDF of the ebook with no registration or email required.

Hope you enjoy it! Thanks, David

The Internet has been an essential communications tool for Cuban’s business empire. As a high-profile executive, he’s actively online and involved in conversations through his personal blog, BlogMaverick.com. Cuban is in control of his image and that of his business.

“In the Internet age,” Cuban told me, “executives have to learn how to shape information about themselves and their companies, or the Internet will do it for them, and it won’t be pretty.”

Traditional marketing is broken

The once-effective support structure for executives and leaders—such as public relations, marketing, and advertising agencies—has been shockingly slow to learn the new and ever-changing trends of how to use the Internet … how to harness the interactivity of Web 2.0 to engage audiences in conversations that benefit clients.

We are living today in a new era when conventional methods of getting an organization’s messages communicated through the media are either broken or less effective.

There is chaos within the mainstream media. Traditional newspapers are cutting back because revenue and audiences have swarmed online. There are fewer viewers of conventional TV news program. At the same time, the number of online news choices is exploding at an amazing pace. The challenge for anyone in marketing is to locate audiences.

PR, advertising and marketing, for the most part, have not kept up with the trend, locked in old-school methods, and focused on maximizing billable hours.

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is just one of many media savvy leaders to say that today, it is up a CEO, executive or leader to personally take the initiative and responsibility to get savvy about the Internet, and the new ways of communicating in today’s online world.

Media leadership: 5 easy steps

In the new world of media—with the erosion of mainstream media and the dramatic rise of online media—there is more responsibility on CEOs, leaders and executives to take charge of communicating the vision of their organizations in a clear, compelling and transparent way. The days of delegating that important role are over. Here are my 5 steps to seize control and become a media savvy leader during these challenging times and beyond:

1. Develop personal and trusted media contacts
2. Communicate through captivating storytelling and memorable messages
3. Become the credible voice and face of the organization
4. Learn new trends in media, especially online
5. Get involved in conversations online with customers and stakeholders

The Media Savvy Leader: Visibility, Influence, and Results in a Competitive World delivers the answers, and the solutions. Now available at booksellers everywhere.

Check out Nick’s website – www.Audio4U.net. He is also the creator of the fun www.TwitterBreak.com.

Click here to listen.

In another time, in the cowboy film, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, John Wayne growled “never apologize, and never explain.” But that was then—more than 50 years ago in a macho western. This is now. Today apologies can do wonders.

Consider this example: “Gov. John Rowland changed his story and acknowledged that friends—including some under suspicion in a federal corruption investigation—paid for work on his summer home,” reported Susan Haigh of the Associated Press. “Rowland’s admission, made public in a statement, came ten days after he insisted he alone had paid for improvements on the house at Bantam Lake.”

Another politician confirms what we believe about most politicians: that they accept payoffs. We hear it all the time these days. Yet in this case, Rowland exacerbated his situation by lying, then changing his story, and announcing it in a written statement. A statement! Who’s going to believe a written statement? Why not just come clean and stand up in front of the microphones and reporters with notebooks and say something that begins with, “I’ve made a terrible mistake. I apologize, and I’m going to do everything possible to make it right.”

Rowland was later found guilty and went to prison.

Equally astonishing is the absolute refusal by some organizations and titans of industry to ever admit to any mistakes, even when their hands are caught in the cookie jar. In fact, it seems that the larger the scope of misdoings and more egregious misconduct, the more likely that arrogance will prevent the perpetrators from even considering the value of an apology.

It must be something in the American ethos that a guy who makes an apology is some sort of “girlie man,” to borrow Arnold Schwarzenegger’s words. Attorneys advise clients to shun the actual word apology in favor of regret.

Did you ever hear an apology from Enron, Global Crossing, or Worldcom? Nope. The message we heard was one of blame and excuses, seemingly driven by greed and arrogance. We were left with the impression that many of those titans of business were just well-compensated crooks.

Another example: Hurricane Isabel cut a destructive swath up the east coast of the United States, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with no power for days. Several of the power companies were slow to restore service. It was disclosed in the media that they had cut back the number of repair crews needed to upgrade power lines in order to show a better bottom line to investors.

Rather than standing up in a news conference and saying simply, “We made a mistake. We apologize, and we are now working feverishly to restore electricity to your homes,” the power-company executives attempted to defend their decisions. They did battle with the news media. They made the media their enemy rather than saying they screwed up. It was classic John Wayne behavior, circa 1950.

Yet today such behavior comes off as incompetence and appears to emphasize greed over a clear focus on customer service. It wasn’t smart, and the companies were broiled by the public, the media, the politicians and … the investors.

There are unfortunately far too many executives and attorneys who choose to duke it out (pun intended) with tough stances. The worse the situation, the greater the arrogance—and often the greater the media feast of one story after another. Denying responsibility or twisting facts, especially in the face of evidence to the contrary, will actually create a news story. Hey, just apologize, make amends, and move forward.

President George W. Bush managed to reduce damage to the reputation of his administration by accepting responsibility, albeit belatedly, for incompetence by the Federal Emergency Management Administration in responding to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A week after the hurricane, people were still dying along the Gulf Coast, and the region was in chaos, because no aid had arrived from the federal government. When it was apparent that the government had no plan and the administration was being scalded by everyone from the media to both Republicans and Democrats, Mr. Bush essentially said, “We were wrong, we made mistakes, but here’s what we are doing now …” and outlined a plan for assistance.

Sadly, though, his apology was not subsequently linked to concrete actions and timely relief for those whose lives were devastated by the hurricane, giving rise to what some Bush administration observers called Bush’s “smirk factor,” a habit of making an apology or statement that is, in reality, neither sincere nor backed up by action.

Connecticut-based communications strategist Jane Genova counsels organizations on the value of creating goodwill through an apology. She said non-apologizers might be smart to explore using mea culpa as a power tool and she shared these examples from her work:

1. Just observe. When anyone makes a sincere apology, we listen. “I landed an assignment in the mega competitive hospitality industry by recognizing that even the most unhappy guest will be turned around by an authentic and detailed apology,” she said.
2. Give up on the “cult of the self.” Did the inward, self-focus theory ever work? It’s questionable. In an interconnected, volatile global economy, who can go it alone? That’s why the eastern philosophy of “no-self” is catching on rapidly. If we aren’t defending the self, apology comes naturally.
3. Decide if we want to be right, appear to be right, or be successful. Surrendering on this one is the necessary inner paradigm shift that makes apology possible.
4. Ignore the lawyers, initially. We can apologize in ways that won’t invite legal action or strengthen the case of the opposition. After we make a decision to do a mea culpa, then we should listen to the lawyers.
5. Try out apologizing. When we get the favorable attention of others out there, we know we’re doing it right.

When talk show host Oprah Winfrey realized she had been duped by one of her chosen authors, James Frey, she accused him on live television of lying about the supposed facts in his book, A Million Little Pieces, and she apologized to her audience for originally endorsing the book. The high-profile celebrity knew the power of an apology; done right, it became disarming.

Unquestionably, a sincere apology has become an effective tool in practicing communications. Most everyone will give a break or second chance to someone who admits a mistake. We are human. We do our best. We are not perfect. We make honest mistakes. In extremely difficult times, an apology can be an effective and proven method of controlling what the media says about you.