Pearse says the company's next Web gathering, a Futures Forum to explore BP's competitive environment over the next 20 years, will incorporate streaming video as well as real-time audio. It will also incorporate lessons that Pearse and his team learned during the innovation sessions. Second, he adds, you need to make it easy for people to be heard. Offering access to an event isn't enough. You also have to engage in dialogue and debate.
Employees can feel excluded.
It created shared context. Most executives, in their candid moments, would admit that they don't mind if their annual shareholders' meeting attracts only sparse attendance. After all, shareholders have been known to ask awkward questions. After going private in 1988, it went public again in 1995 in order to raise capital, boost its profile, and share the wealth with its employees. It wants to communicate with its shareholders, not to hide from them.