90 Days of BzzAgent

It’s a nasty question, but Dave himself posed it.

First, let’s talk etymology. The Oxford English Dictionary lists six definitions for the word “dick” including a riding whip, a leather apron, a ditch and, of course, a policeman.

However, I think we all know the meaning that Andy Sernovitz, CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), had in mind when he rashly applied it to Balter in a conversation with BzzAgent PR maestro, Joe Chernov. The discussion had to do with BzzAgent’s allegedly suffocating overexposure in the WOM industry. (See Dave’s post in the BeeLog for full details.)

Seeking an answer to this fundamental question, I conducted an informal, unscientific, random sampling of Hive denizens. They responded thusly:

Only one person answered with an unqualified, “Yes.” But s/he said it with a kind of knowing smirk, as if to suggest that Balter’s particular version of dickdom (if that’s indeed what it is) is essentially an admirable state of being.

I received at least ten “No” answers, some of them quite emphatic, as in “absolutely not.”

There were at least two, “No, although he is a pain in the ass.” But this description, I was assured, was meant in a positive way, as in, “he sweats the details and gets things done.”

Or as another denizen put it, “Sometimes you have to be a dick to be on top.”

Others variously characterized Dave as challenging, intense, a goof, open and blunt, a Tourette’s sufferer, and “looking like a beaver.”

One said that asking the question was similar to asking, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

Many echoed the sentiment of another of their colleagues who described Dave as “enthusiastic, empathetic, visionary.”

My opinion is that Dave is just dicky enough to make people suspect he could have stirred up this controversy just to get people talking even more about the company he loves and the industry he has helped to shape — but not so dicky that he actually would.