Reliable Insights Blog
Thoughts on our fascinating business world by James Meadows
Blog Archives 2013
BLOG ARCHIVES 2013
This is the Blog Archives 2013 page. It contains most of my blog posts from 2013. You will not find these posts on the main blog page but you will find just a few of the most-recent 2013 posts on the main blog page.
In November 2018 I made the decision to update several aspects of my blog formatting and online support to improve design, technical stability, and functionality. Unfortunately, most of my 2013 posts were afflicted by a coding anomaly that negated their ability to be easily imported into the new system. As a Plan B, I have simply performed a rapid copy/paste/edit routine to capture those blog posts on this page.
The good news is that we at least have these posts on record for anyone interested. The bad news is that due to the original coding issues and other resource limitations, these posts are not as easy on the eyes as my normal posts on the main blog page. Within these archived posts, you will routinely see odd punctuation, grammatical, and formatting errors.
I launched this Blog in the prior year (2012). All blog posts in that 2012 calendar year are no longer available.
I apologize for the situation and I thank you very much for your understanding.
BLOG ARCHIVES 2013
PREGNANT IS NOT A MAYBE CONDITION
Posted on December 9, 2013 by James Meadows
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the part of Jordan Belfort in the soon-to-be-released movie, The Wolf of Wall Street. The flick is in the genre of the classic, Glengarry Glen Ross, depicting the life and times of business tycoons who violate ethical lines to earn a profit. Of course, Glenngarry Glen Ross was fictional whereas Belfort is a real person. Whether real persons or fictional, I always appreciate the ethical lessons taught in these kinds of films.
In real life, Belfort has changed his ways and endeavored to move forward with his life including making payments into a victim restitution fund. He will be paying a long time, given the judge ordered him to repay $110.4 million. Capitalizing on his painful past, Belfort is making a living by consulting with companies on how to implement and maintain solid ethics.
While some like to criticize people like this, declaring they are unfairly capitalizing on their crimes, I prefer to leave room for mercy and grace. Let’s give the man a chance. If indeed his life change is genuine, then his actions will prove it. Truth tends to reveal itself in time.
Sometimes, when I am helping someone make a difficult decision that requires a clear yes or no answer, I use the pregnancy example:
“You are either pregnant or you are not pregnant. It cannot be a ‘maybe.’ It is a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ situation. Which is it?”
I do this because it drives home the gravity and finality of the decision. Belfort takes a similar approach in giving ethics advice (Sheelah Kolhatkar, “The Man the Myth the Wolf” Bloomberg Businessweek, 11/11/13–11/17/13, pp. 72–76):
“You can’t be half-pregnant when it comes to ethics. Every time you step over the line and back again, the line moves a little bit. . . . There is no way to succeed in business without the highest ethical standards.” (p. 76)
I agree with Belfort. I would broaden it to say there is no way to succeed in life, personally and professionally, without the highest ethics.
WHEN FORGETTING REALLY HURTS
Posted on December 6, 2013 by James Meadows
Demographic knowledge is amazing. We have the ability to slice and dice our populations in extreme detail and complexity. From a business marketing standpoint, this is very important.
Even more amazing are the times we seem to ignore the most basic demographics. For example, how often have marketers forgotten about women (just that other gender; only half the population)?
Alyssa Milano is one women who is not about to let that happen. She has created a fan-gear fashion empire specifically for women. Along the way, she learned some interesting things. For example, just as some companies are quick to dismiss women’s role in purchases, some sports-team buyers doubted her credibility as Joel Stein reports (“She’s the Boss” Bloomberg Businessweek, 12/2/13–12/8/13, pp. 67–69):
“Her pitch meetings were a bust. She had trouble convincing team buyers that she even knew enough about sports to understand what she was selling. [Milano states] ‘It was a lot of work to validate my passion and knowledge. It’s probably what every woman goes through when she’s a sports fan.’” (p. 68)
Ultimately, Milano’s results validated her vision. This caught the attention of some of the pillars in the sportswear marketplace:
“As soon as Touch proved that women will wear jerseys in public—away from games—and around other women, the big sports apparel companies, including Nike and Reebok, came out with more fashionable lines of women’s team wear.” (p. 69)
The statistics only continued to stack up in Milano’s favor:
“More women watch the Super Bowl than the Oscars—46 percent of the viewers for that game are women, up from 14 percent in 2002. . . . As in regular stores, women do far more buying at stadiums than men.” (p. 69)
Demographics should be a bedrock to every company’s marketing strategy. Demographics can do that in some very complex and refined ways. While we should never minimize that opportunity, let us also be certain we are not ignoring some of the most obvious and significant demographic segments.
Companies will know no fury like a woman ignored.
http://touch.fanatics.com
EVERYONE AN OWNER
Posted on December 5, 2013 by James Meadows
Richard Montanez was a janitor with Frito-Lay when he created the recipe for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Years later as Pepsi’s executive vice president of multicultural sales and community activation, he has been known to say:
“There is no such thing as ‘just a janitor’ if you act like an owner.”
An owner is emotionally, mentally, financially, personally, professionally, and physically invested in the business. That investment engenders a different level of commitment than someone with the perspective of “a hired hand.” You naturally are always thinking about the welfare of the business.
When you think and act like an owner you will continuously be improving your products and services. You will maintain a high standard of quality. Your work ethic will be strong.
An ownership mentality is symbiotic. The more companies invest in their employees, the more those employees will act like owners. The more employees act like owners, the more they will invest in their companies.
Do not ever let your job title limit you; think like an owner.
MORE ONLINE MBAs
Posted on December 4, 2013 by James Meadows
Throughout higher education, complete accredited degrees are being offered via traditional campuses, online, or any combination of the two. Business schools have certainly kept up the same pace. In one of its latest annual business-school assessments, Bloomberg Businessweek addresses this important trend (Geoff Gloeckler, “The Best Business Schools of 2013” pp. 55–60):
“As in any industry, business schools are tweaking their product to reflect changing customer desires, attempting to make their programs more appealing—and convenient—by taking portions of the course work off campus and onto the Internet.” (p. 58)
Indeed, the Internet has revolutionized everything we do including higher education. I believe we have truly turned a corner in recent years. Staid academia has been shaken. This is a win-win situation no matter how you look at it. Robert Dammon is the dean of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He confirms the turning of this corner:
“‘Education has resisted the technology push for a long time. . . . That’s not the case any longer. It’s changing the way we do things.’” (p. 58)
Gloeckler affirms this truth and the resulting importance it carries for every institution of higher learning:
“This online push comes at a time when higher education is trying to find its place in an increasingly digital landscape.” (p. 58)
When it comes to large institutions in any industry, the biggest mistake they can make is to succumb to inertia. That means by default they decline participation in the new theater. In so declining, they rob themselves and their customers of all benefits that would have accrued.
The flipside is equally true and much more exciting. When it comes to large institutions in any industry, the best maneuver they can make is to counter their inertia. That means they actively participate in the new theater. In so participating, they secure for themselves and their customers all future benefits that will accrue.
MORE VALUED THAN MONEY
Posted on December 3, 2013 by James Meadows
Earlier this year Money magazine did a readers’ poll about people’s most important career-related priorities. In other words, what is the most important aspect of your job or career in terms of fulfillment? The results were interesting and revealing (Elaine Pofelot, “Lean Out” July 2013, pp. 68–73, poll results p. 71).
Earning significantly more money and gaining a promotion were selected as top priorities by 12% and 13% respectively. As we have so often heard—and hopefully learned—money is not everything.
Finding more meaning in work was selected by 16%. People genuinely want work that has psychic income and not just financial income. That said, most workers do not covet losing a job. Avoiding a layoff ranked as the top priority for 22%. Given the gyrations throughout the economy over the last several years, that one is certainly understandable.
First place for the highest ranked priority workers identified was scaling back or enjoying increased flexibility at work. This was selected by 29%. People enjoy many different aspects of their jobs, but having that ability to scale back or simply exercise some flexibility seems to have great value.
Finally, it is important to understand those looking to change careers completely or become entrepreneurs. Just 8% selected this item as their top priority. Although budding entrepreneurs and career changers are among us, they are not showing up in droves. This reminds us how entrepreneurship and complete career changeovers do demand a special kind of a person.
Armed with this information, I see two potentially smart parties here:
Smart Employees. Employees should continually assess all that comes to them in their roles as workers. Monetary reward is important, but consider the other aspects mentioned above. Failing to do so might leave you in a less satisfying position in which you are overdue for a change. By shifting some of your work priorities, you might generate much more work fulfillment than you imagined.
Smart Employers. Employers should continually assess their talent management. Perhaps some opportunity exists to broaden the overall employee-reward structure to include all the factors cited above that would improve talent attraction and retention. For example, an employer might be able to tailor employee rewards based on employee preferences where feasible. Having this awareness and creating an action plan will make your company a choice employer.
CUSTOMER RETENTION VIA CUSTOMER FLOW
Posted on December 2, 2013 by James Meadows
It is always interesting to watch how iconic companies adjust their business plans to remain in-demand players among customers. Doing so requires shrewd awareness toward trends, strategy, marketing, and customer needs.
Dell is an interesting example. Even though global shipments of PCs peaked in 2011, Dell is maintaining an emphasis on PC sales in China. On the surface, one might question the wisdom of that approach. In this case, Dell sees the bigger picture of how one product or service can lead to the use of other products or services. In those cases, the PC focus was a wise investment (Bruce Einhorn, Christina Larson, and Aaron Ricadela, “In China, Dell Clings Tightly to the Waning PC” Bloomberg Businessweek, 11/11/13–11/17/13, pp. 44–45):
“Dell says its edge lies in diversification: using PCs as a Launchpad to sell customers on servers, data-center storage, and networking gear. [Per Dell’s Jeff Clarke], two of every three Dell business clients start as PC buyers.” (p. 45)
Granted, conventional PCs are a declining market. Nevertheless, Dell is maintaining its “customer-flow awareness” or that aspect of understanding how one company connection can lead to other company connections. That is good for customer retention and that is good for business.
Customer-flow awareness can help us understand in which direction customers can move during market changes. Companies that do that well will truly be positioning themselves where the ball is going to be. And that is always a good place to be.
SETTING THE MOOD
Posted on November 27, 2013 by James Meadows
Did you know all 1,500 Chipotle’s restaurants play the same music? Chris Golub is a major reason why. Golub is the founder of Studio Orca. His company creates customized playlists for restaurants.
Chipotle’s is thrilled with the results because it is committed to doing everything necessary for the right mood. Music is a big part of that endeavor. Chris Arnold, spokesperson for Chipotle’s, explains (Claire Suddath, “D J Burrito” Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/21/13–10/27/13, pp. 87–89):
“‘We could’ve just piped in some satellite radio. It would’ve been cheaper. . . . But if you’re creating a restaurant, you need the right atmosphere. We’re sticklers for detail. We wanted something that belonged just to us.’” (p. 88)
Chipotle’s is on the right track in this emerging practice of using music for brand enhancement. Numerous studies indicate the powerful effects music has on the dining experience. It affects food enjoyment, mood, what you eat, how fast you eat, and how much you eat.
Golub regularly visits his client restaurants to observe customers, listen, and take notes. Based on that data, he creates or tweaks the playlist as needed.
So what are some of the songs on the Chipotle’s list? Here is a sampling:
Carmensita—Devendra Banhart
Cosmic Tides—Peaking Lights
Crazy In Love—Pattern Is Movement
Waiting In The Night—Forest Fire
Mean Streets—Tennis
All I can say is I have definitely had my dining experience enhanced or harmed just via the music. I am happy to see more restaurants are beginning to pay attention to this important area of the customer experience.
BYOD—MILLENNIALS LEAD THE WAY
Posted on November 26, 2013 by James Meadows
BYOD (bring your own device) is on the rise. This likely will not come as news to most people, but it seems some workers have a few issues with their company-provided IT devices and software. Imagine that! CNBCsummarizes the situation:
“Call it a movement of sorts, but employees are increasingly ditching their company issued computers and smartphones in favor of using their own devices to get work done. One big reason: Their company’s tech is, well, terrible. . . . Not surprisingly, millennials are at the forefront of the trend.”
I am not surprised that BYOD is on the rise. Workers like to get work done more efficiently and effectively. The more your job involves technology, the more likely you will adopt a BYOD approach.
I am equally not surprised millennials are taking the lead on this. They tend to be the most technology oriented and they genuinely want to do a great job in every respect.
BYOD presents companies with three interesting options:
1—Upgrade Current IT Systems. The result? Individual workers will stop feeling they are using an abacus for a PC and a set of tin cans for a phone. Yes, I realize the disruption and the cost factors are significant. On the other hand, I believe we can make a case, considering the long-term productivity and efficiency.
2—Adopt BYOD-Friendly IT Policies And Procedures. Perhaps a win-win solution is obvious. If companies create policies and technical procedures that will function well regardless of the worker’s device, then individual worker preferences will not be an issue. We have already witnessed increasing compatibility among devices and systems throughout the IT world. Why not be the company to get ahead of that curve?
3—Provide For Device Choice. Some companies have adopted a CYOD option (choose your own device). Employees are allowed to select from several employer-provided options. The strength of this option is that the employer is able to control which devices are involved as opposed to the entire universe of devices when employees just bring their own.
HIRING—BIG DATA FOR BETTER DECISIONS
Posted on November 25, 2013 by James Meadows
I have been excited to see increasing numbers of companies using big data to make smarter hiring decisions (also see “Big Data Does the Job” Blog.reliableinsights.com, October 4, 2012). Using data-crunching software to enhance talent management is continuing to present promising results that every company should consider. Hiring decisions are challenging enough in the best circumstances. Why not tap big data’s power to help?
One company that specializes in providing these services is Evolv. The San Francisco-based firm works with clients to optimize their recruiting and hiring decisions. It does this by first having hourly job candidates complete detailed questionnaires, and then it tracks new-hires’ after hiring to identify job-fit and job-performance correlations. With each bit of data collected, the overall predictive power of the software improves, thereby helping hiring managers to make smarter hiring decisions (Aki Ito, “Hiring in the Age of Big Data” Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/28/13–11/3/13, pp. 40–41):
“Since 2007 [Evolv] has collected terabytes of data tracking the results of its surveys and candidates’ real-life employment history—how long they stayed with the company and various measures of job performance such as customer satisfaction surveys. Evolv’s software translates new applicants’ results into a traffic light system for hiring managers. (Green means an applicant has ‘high potential.’)” (p. 41)
So far, the results are very promising. In one typical example, call center workers selected by Evolv’s software were absent almost a third fewer hours during their first six months with a 15% better average handle time compared to before the call center started using the software.
As the data accumulates and correlations are drawn, sometimes interesting conclusions arise that counter conventional thinking. For example, a job candidate’s history of job-hopping or unemployment is not a reliable predictor of how long that person might stay with your company. These are the kinds of insights and data points that can help a hiring manager refine personnel decisions.
Better hiring decisions are always win-win situations. While big data should never replace an interview, companies are foolish not to tap into these terrific technological tools.
QR CODES—REST IN PEACE
Posted on November 22, 2013 by James Meadows
Some marketing strategies work and some do not. Does anyone remember QR codes (Quick Response codes)? I sure do.
For a while, it seemed like anyone and everyone was scrambling to have a QR code. QR codes showed how tech savvy and up to date you were. QR codes were treasure troves of information and help to your customers. QR codes were so convenient because all you had to do was scan them with your smartphone.
So what happened?
Well, for one thing, they simply did not work. Personally, I rarely had a good experience with a QR code. That is why I simply stopped using them at all, as have most people. Scott Stratten makes the same point in his new book, QR Codes Kill Kittens: How to Alienate Customers, Dishearten Employees, and Drive Your Business Into the Ground (John Wiley and Sons, 2014) [What a great name for a book!]:
“[At best,] 3.6 percent of people scan QR codes.” (p. 53)
That is not exactly an avalanche of users.
Not everything we try in the business world is a success. Some of what we try fails. I would say QR codes are among the failures.
It was an interesting experiment, but let’s learn what we can from that failure and move on with the things that do work.
GLOBALIZATION IS A TWO-WAY STREET
Posted on November 21, 2013 by James Meadows
It is very easy to think that business globalization is a one-way street. If the media happens to present just the “bad news” side or if you happen to be someone who just lost a job, then the one-way street might be all you perceive.
The good news is business globalization is a two-way street. As countries around the globe develop and grow, like us, they seek the most economical avenues for their business, industrial, and technological growth. Sometimes that means they invest in stateside operations. The chemical industry is one excellent example of this in recent years as Jack Kaskey reports (“Chemical Companies Are Rushing to the U.S.” Bloomberg Businessweek, 7/29/13–8/4/13, pp. 16–18):
“Ships sailing north from Chile are bringing an unusual cargo to the U.S.: chemical factories. Methanex, the Canadian company that’s the world’s largest producer of methanol, is spending $1.1 billion to disassemble two of its Chilean factories and rebuild them in Geismar, La. . . . Scores of other companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Sasol plan to spend about $100 billion to build or expand chemical plants in the U.S. . . . Dow is spending $4 billion to build factories in Freeport, Tex., and reopen a plant in Hahnville, La., creating 500 manufacturing jobs and 5,000 construction jobs.” (p. 16)
We are living in a small world and it is becoming smaller every day. We are doing business together. Our two-way street is handling more traffic every day in both directions. In the big picture, the more that happens, the more opportunities are created for everyone.
EXCEPTIONS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL
Posted on November 20, 2013 by James Meadows
The bell curve is populated at every point. It is just that the populations get pretty scarce at certain extremes. Those are where the exceptional performers reside. David Karp is one of them. At age 26, Karp already founded and then sold the blogging site, Tumblr, to Yahoo for $1.1 billion. That was quite a tidy accomplishment for one so young.
But Karp was one of those exceptions. After completing his freshman year at the Bronx High School of Science, his mother gave him the opportunity to be homeschooled. Karp’s intellectual endeavors and career aspirations developed in some interesting ways from there (Beth J. Harpaz, “Wunderkind Dropouts: Too Smart for School?” The Kansas City Star, May 28, 2013, pp. D1–D2):
“Karp took Japanese classes and had a math tutor while continuing with an internship at an animation production company, but by age 16, he was working for a website and was on his way to becoming a tech entrepreneur. He never did get his diploma. Karp’s mother told the AP that she let him leave school because she realized ‘he needed the time in the day in order to create.’” (p. D2)
Again, Karp is one of the rare exceptions. I have seen many students at the high school level and the college level who were extremely smart. I have seen many students in public schools, private schools, and home schools who were extremely smart. But in no case have I ever seen one of them fare better by quitting the academic route prematurely. Is it possible one or two of them could have done so and excelled? Perhaps. It just has not been among my observations.
As we prepare young adults for higher education and for the workforce, we must walk a tightrope between erring in favor of giving them abundant formal academics and constantly remaining watchful for the rare exceptions. In so doing, we must remain deeply cognizant that rare exceptions are exactly that—rare exceptions. That means they do not apply to just anyone. Even Karp was smart enough to recognize the specialness of his situation:
“‘This is not a path that I would haphazardly recommend to kids out there. . . . I was in a very unique position of knowing exactly what I wanted to do at a time when computer science education certainly wasn’t that good in high school in New York City.’” (p. D1)
Karp speaks good words. I agree with him. For 99.9999% of the budding student body out there, maintaining the course in a formal academic program will bring immense personal and professional success.
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH FAILURE?
Posted on November 19, 2013 by James Meadows
How do you handle failure? That is an important question to ask. Personally and professionally, we can learn much about ourselves and others based on how failure is handled.
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck delves into this complicated subject in her new book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Liza Mundy reflects on Dweck’s work and makes an interesting point. The public enjoys a good failure, especially if that person finds a way to achieve some kind of redemption. Quite simply, it is a great story (“Everyone Loves a Loser” The Atlantic, October 2013, pp. 13–15):
“Other people’s failures, served up with the right ratio of struggle to eventual redemption, are interesting to watch. Failure and recovery make for a grand narrative, transforming an ordinary person or politician into something more like a literary character. Like odysseys and coming-of-age stories and parables of exile, failure gives a life or a career a pleasing dramatic arc.” (p. 15)
We all relate to this because we all have failed. Ultimately, I think the more important matter is what you do with the opportunities failure presents. Some people let their failures brand them for life. In those situations, we go from bad to worse.
There is a better way. The big question isn’t whether we will ever fail. The big question is how do we respond to our failures? Mundy summarizes Dweck’s persuasive argument:
“Successful people are not the ones who cultivate a veneer of perfection, but rather those who understand that failing is part of getting smarter and better.” (p. 13)
If we are honest, we should learn more from our failures than our successes. If we are passionate, we should never let our failures derail us. If we are focused, we should allow our failures to empower us for a better future.
Whether our own or others’, we can learn much from failure. We must ask ourselves the questions:
1—How should I respond to this failure?
2—What can I learn from this failure?
If we can respond favorably to those questions, we will drive our personal and professional growth. We will thereby drive our leadership, because as leaders, when we fail, we should set the standard in how to handle it.
STAYING ALIVE
Posted on November 18, 2013 by James Meadows
Headquartered in Kansas City, Hallmark Cards is a major company. Like every major company, Hallmark has been encountering its share of economic and business challenges. Much of this translates to its employment figures.
At various peaks, the Kansas City headquarters had 5,600 workers, a national headcount of 13,500, and a global headcount of 21,500. With ongoing reductions, when Hallmark enters 2014, those numbers will be at 3,100, 6,800, and 11,000 respectively.
Many business conditions have changed and that is the reason for the significant reduction in Hallmark’s payroll. Although Hallmark tried to accommodate these changing business conditions via strategy revision, worker attrition, and worker reassignment, job cuts finally had to be performed. The greeting card industry simply is not what it used to be. Donald Hall Jr. (CEO) summarizes the company’s status (Diane Stafford, “Hallmark Changes to Face New Realities” The Kansas City Star, November 17, 2013, pp. A1, A23):
“‘Hallmark is a different company than it was five years ago. . . . We’ve made difficult decisions. We’ve wrestled with unavoidable people decisions. We had to do it to stay viable.’” (p. A23)
As difficult as all that was and is, I appreciate Hall’s expression of commitment to the bigger picture. He obviously understands these job cuts were necessary for company viability.
Every company constantly faces these pressures. Doing the right thing by any given employee will often be the wrong thing in the bigger picture of the company. We can either selectively eliminate jobs so the company has an opportunity to retool for the future, or we can keep everyone’s jobs intact regardless of the costs, and then watch the company go bankrupt. This has always been the case throughout the history of business.
Although these situations are never easy, the decisions cannot be made based on the hard and the easy. The decisions have to be made based on the right and the wrong.
WHEN DOGS STARE
Posted on November 15, 2013 by James Meadows
We all know it is not nice to stare. Well, we know that, but there is more to the story than just that. Much depends on context, culture, and the nuances of body language. Recent studies in communications aided with eye-tracking technology provide some interesting insights. Jessica Grose gives an example (“Look Away! Eye Contact Is Overrated” Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/21/13–10/27/13, p. 92):
“Say you work in finance and take issue with a colleague’s valuation of an asset. You think it’s worth more; he thinks it’s worth less. You’re more likely to get him closer to your number if you look at his mouth, not his eyes.”
This can be very difficult for most people to do, especially when we have heard so much about how important it is to look someone in the eyes. Nevertheless, if held too long, the stare of integrity can degenerate into the stare of the creepy. That is where we have to be careful. Remember, dogs stare each other in the eyes just before they fight.
Drawing from the research, Grose cites additional practical and powerful strategies. To be maximally effective speaking in a small group requires special awareness:
“Make eye contact 50 percent or less when you’re speaking and 50 percent or more when someone else is speaking.”
This is a fascinating area of knowledge from which we can all benefit. It comes easier to some people than others. However, the important thing is to seek continuous improvement. I don’t know about you, but that will keep me busy the rest of my life.
HIGHER EDUCATION IS JUMPING FOR ENTREPRENEURS—IT’S ABOUT TIME
Posted on November 14, 2013 by James Meadows
It was not too long ago that you went to college and got a job, or you went to college and then became an entrepreneur, or you dropped out of college to become an entrepreneur, or you just became an entrepreneur without any college.
How things have changed! Increasing numbers of colleges are taking entrepreneurship seriously. First, it was just a trickle, a novel entrepreneurship course here and there among schools. Then some colleges began to create minors and even majors in entrepreneurship. Today, the academic trend is accelerating as the supply tries to keep up with the demand. Su Bacon, writing for The Kansas City Star, gives some examples (“Schooled In Startups” November 5, 2013, pp. C1, C6, C7):
“Five years ago, the College of Business [University of Kansas] introduced a major in entrepreneurship. ‘It is now the fastest growing major on campus,’ said Chad Jackson, interim director of the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship. ‘We have a waiting list for all classes.’ When a minor was offered to non-business students in 2012, more than 150 students applied for 40 openings in two days.” (p. C6)
Partially due to the economy, partially due to the fun and challenge of entrepreneurship, and partially due to some of the massive undulations throughout the workforce, workers and students alike are taking a fresh look at being an entrepreneur. I see three very smart parties here:
Students. Students are smart to seek a formal education in entrepreneurship. If they graduate college and immediately start a business, the academic training will be invaluable. If they delay their entrepreneurial dreams while working for another company, their knowledge will have taught them to think like a business owner, automatically adding value for their current employer while still preparing them for their future startups.
Workers. Workers are smart to consider the entrepreneurial route because they realize they might be handed their pink slip at any time. Although the entrepreneurial route is not for everyone, at least having that option in your back pocket will be another career resource if the unexpected happens.
Colleges. Academic institutions are smart to recognize and respond to this growing entrepreneurial trend. The smartest schools are the ones who read the demographics and trends, and adjust their offerings accordingly. I am especially happy to see how higher education is responding. I have seen too many people become entrepreneurs with insufficient training and experience, and fail miserably. I believe they would have done so much better with some focused academics behind them.
Students, workers, and colleges all come out winners on this one.
CYBERSECURITY CAREER SECURITY
Posted on November 13, 2013 by James Meadows
Career planning can take you in many interesting directions or dead ends. Knowing the trends and being able to predict where the jobs will be is not always easy. Nevertheless, one area that seems to be a growing opportunity is cybersecurity. Meg Whitman (HP CEO) gives her assessment:
“[Companies] are faced with the challenge of identifying, retaining, and educating security professionals. Quite simply, there are not enough resources to go around. 65 percent of IT security positions remain open for 9 weeks or longer. Recent reports cite U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that state that the number of IT security roles in the country will increase by approximately 22 percent between now and 2020.”
I agree with Whitman. The opportunities in this area are quite large, and I don’t see how the growth cannot continue. IT threats will never go away. I would encourage any person just starting a career or retooling a career to give careful consideration to cybersecurity. If it is something you love to do, and you have the mind for it, your future should be very promising and fulfilling.
http://www.linkedin.com/influencers/20131024194603-71744402-what-customers-are-saying-about-security
NOT YOUR TEEN’S FACEBOOK ANYMORE
Posted on November 12, 2013 by James Meadows
The secret is out. According to the latest social-media experts and Internet click counters, teens have been shifting away from Facebook as their preferred online hangout. Piper Jaffray released a survey last month indicating Twitter has taken the lead over Facebook as being teens’ most important social media (Rick Montgomery, “Teens Say ‘Meh’ to Facebook’s Drama, Flock to Other Networks” The Kansas City Star, November 3, 2013, pp. A1, A18). Many teens still keep up with Facebook, but it is not their primary peer-to-peer place to be.
Obvious to most people, in the past several years, numerous other age groups and businesses have embraced Facebook. Facebook has become their virtual neighborhood and backyard fence. I see that trend only continuing.
These changes to the Facebook clientele have led to some interesting and powerful reactions among teens. A few days after Montgomery’s article, The Kansas City Star published a letter from Natalie Nuessle, a Kansas City teen. Here are excerpts from Nuessle’s letter I felt provide the most significant insights (November 7, 2013, p. A14):
“We don’t use [Facebook] anymore because it has become so popular and so crowded that we don’t feel heard any longer. Places like Vine, Snapchat, Twitter and even Tumblr make us feel as if we have a voice in a community, one that we can’t have outside the Internet until we’re ‘respected’ adults. Earning respect and popularity with our peers is easy compared to the years or decades it takes for the rest of the world to notice us. When that world floods our networks and causes all sorts of security problems that could blur the line between our ‘inr’—in real life—personalities, we flee to somewhere safer, smaller, easier to understand. . . . Yes, we are fleeing Facebook, not because it’s popular, but because we feel it’s no longer safe.”
I admire teens for their vision, drive, and passion to be early adopters in social media. I respect them for their decisions to change their platforms when the new Facebook no longer suits their needs. I thank them for the insights they have articulated about how and why some social media sites work for them and others do not. I appreciate them for their willingness to change over time.
I think the philosopher was right when he said, you can never step in the same river twice. Some people today do not want to step in once.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM ICE SKATING
Posted on November 11, 2013 by James Meadows
Something I learned early in ice skating was many other skaters are present on the ice, and some of them might be in my path (or some might say, I in their paths!). I also painfully learned it was important to avoid colliding with them, especially when skating fast (which I love to do). My success in these endeavors rose virtually to perfection when I realized a very simple, effective decision technique.
The technique is never make eye contact with the other skater during a high-speed approach. What I discovered was the moment you make eye contact with an approaching skater, the two of you attempt to communicate with your eyes. That is the problem.
Once the eyes are locked, you are both sunk. Very minute eye signals occur followed by directional changes. Each skater immediately discerns these directional changes and then immediately makes counterdirectional changes. Now you are both making the same counterdirectional changes. This creates an endless direction-change loop until the collision! If just one of the skaters would choose to stick to a projected path, then the other skater would understand which path to avoid.
This little skating lesson has applicability to our personal growth, professional growth, and leadership. Knowing other “skaters” are on the “ice” has some value. That knowledge should inform your strategy. Businesspersons must know their competition. Professionals should enhance their development by observing others. Entrepreneurial strategy may need to emulate another company or do the opposite of another company.
We can learn a lot from other people and companies, and we should. Just remember that learning a lot from other entities does not mean they determine your direction or destination. Those matters are solely your decisions.
If we focus too intensely on another company or person, that can lead us to a nasty outcome. The superior approach is to focus on where you want to go. When you do that, your resources tend to align to support your direction while others get out of your way so you reach your destination.
As leaders, as entrepreneurs, as businesspersons, and just as people, ice skating teaches us this truth. While skating life’s crowded rink, know who is on the ice, but remain focused on your direction and destination.
GREENSPAN CHUCKLES
Posted on November 8, 2013 by James Meadows
Alan Greenspan goes down in history for his amazing 18-year reign as the Federal Reserve chairman. I always found it fascinating to track his decisions and his addresses to Congress. No one doubted the man’s intelligence. He was brilliant and everyone knew it, including Greenspan himself. In 1988, in one of his speeches, Greenspan, who often knew he was shooting over his audience’s heads, stated (as quoted in The New York Times, October 28, 2005):
“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I said.”
This is just too funny for me!
The humor does not end there. Greenspan always took his share of criticism and praise. He knew the criticism just comes with being in the saddle. On the praise side of matters, Greenspan humbly self-effaces (“Charlie Rose Talks to Alan Greenspan” Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/28/13–11/3/13, p. 62):
“Look, I got a lot of praise . . . which I didn’t deserve. . . . Many people used to come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for my 401(k).’ I didn’t know how to handle that, and I would basically say, ‘I appreciate that, but I had very little to do with your 401(k).’”
Well, it’s a good thing he told us that!
SALES SATURATION SATISFACTION SYMBIOSIS
Posted on November 7, 2013 by James Meadows
Advertisers continue to navigate the tricky balance between online ads and consumer-desired content. Of course, advertisers want to put as many ads in front of users as possible because the law of large numbers tells us the miniscule response rate nets you correspondingly larger sales. Add to that the fact that increasing numbers of users are moving toward smartphones and tablets instead of regular PCs, and mobile online advertising becomes even more important.
Zachary Karabell is the president of River Twice Research. Karabell makes the interesting observation on how important it is to understand the ad saturation point:
“As Facebook and LinkedIn executives have both noted recently, you can only saturate users with so many ads before that backfires. That saturation point also isn’t clear, but we know that if the ratio of ads trying to sell you something and content that you want, need, desire shifts too heavily toward selling stuff, not only do we tune out the ads but we may also tune out the service.”
My saturation point is often dependent on what hat I am wearing. Personally, my saturation point happens pretty fast. When I am online for any reason, ads are the last thing in which I am interested. My total focus is on whatever Web site, service, or task I need to engage to get on with my personal or professional business.
On the other hand, as a freelance corporate writer, I do frequently stop and specifically analyze ads. That is just another data feed into my professional role. Understanding what is out there is an integral part of what I do as a writer.
But because we are talking about consumers more than businesspersons, the big challenge here is to assess the saturation point from the consumer perspective. That will be a very ongoing and interesting challenge. I predict businesses will misjudge it many times . . . especially because technology and consumers are both moving targets.
SOFTWARE FIXES AND OTHER MYTHS
Posted on November 6, 2013 by James Meadows
The ongoing difficulties with healthcare.gov have captured the nation’s attention from the first folks who attempted to register to the folks who write the code and of course all the way to the folks at the White House. Much has been written analyzing the situation from numerous perspectives. I just want to comment on one angle related to the software itself.
Paul Ford wrote an article for Bloomberg Businessweek reviewing the software challenges. In it, he nicely details the interdependent and interlocking nature of large software systems, addressing the hows and whys of building them (“Failure to Launch” 10/21/13–10/27/13, pp. 68–71):
“Software systems are so large now that they can no longer exist separately from other systems. Code always depends on other code. It’s never finished: Write a piece of software today, and you’re likely to be debugging it a decade later. Modern software development is more like sustainable forestry, where you expect to keep coming back to the same grove year after year. The technology industry has come to understand that software is a process. The U.S. government, however, keeps insisting it’s a product.” (p. 71)
As Ford explains, as long as people believe the myth that software is a settled product, we will continue to have these kinds of difficulties.
Another myth is that just by throwing more software engineers at the problem, we will solve it faster. To a degree, that makes sense, until you look deeper. In Scott Rosenberg’s interesting book, Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software (Three Rivers Press, 2008), he proves the opposite. As counterintuitive as it sounds, Rosenberg describes how putting more coders on a software project consistently lengthens the time to completion. This is due to the complex nature of coding coupled with the variations in personal preferences among the coders. If you want to understand that better, I highly recommend the book. It is a great read.
Love it or hate it, we live and die with our software. Sometimes it all comes together in terrific ways and sometimes it crashes. Some days you get the elevator and some days you get the shaft. But I still believe we can greatly improve our odds when we take the time to understand the bigger picture better before we dive into these projects.
THIS COMPANY REALLY LOST ITS PANTS
Posted on November 5, 2013 by James Meadows
Within this past year, Lululemon Athletica discovered its yoga pants were so sheer that . . . well, let us just say they revealed more than most users wanted to reveal. Consequently, Lululemon Athletica responded by pulling the product. This decision cost the company millions of dollars, but it was the right thing to do. Now the company could replace the pants with a more durable product. Bravo to Lululemon Athletica for its sensitivity and responsiveness.
Unfortunately, that is when the company response turned out to be even worse than the original problem. Early reports indicate customers buying the new yoga pants soon discovered they were still overly sheer. To make matters worse, these new pants had serious quality problems involving seam strength, holes, and rapid fabric pilling.
This “revealing” problem also reveals some lessons for every businessperson:
1—Do Your Homework. If you are going to fix a problem, first ensure you have enough research to guarantee the new product meets all specifications. Sometimes just taking a supplier’s word or the shop manager’s word for something is not enough. Sometimes the preferable strategy is to do some in-person visits. Remember, you already created one problem for your customers. You do not want to give them a double header.
2—Do Your Quality Assurance. A new product line might indeed be exactly what fits the bill. Nevertheless, QA capitalizes on the old “trust, but verify” practice. A solid QA program will help catch these kinds of product malfunctions before they damage the customer experience.
These lessons might sound pretty basic. Sometimes it is the basics that keep you from losing your pants.
DRIVING WITHOUT YOUR BRAIN
Posted on November 4, 2013 by James Meadows
Well, it was bound to happen and I am so glad it did. It will be a fascinating test case. While driving in San Diego one evening last week, Cecilia Abadie was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer. The first ticket was for exceeding the speed limit. Fair enough. However, because she was wearing Google Glass, the trooper wrote a second ticket for distracted driving (Justin Pritchard “Driver Gets Ticketed for Google Glass” The Kansas City Star, November 2, 2013, p. A12).
So where do we go from here? Google Glass is specifically designed to be an integrated eyewear device that enhances our human-phone-Internet connections. These kinds of devices are not going away; they will only proliferate as the technology advances, and the demand grows.
This incident again raises the question concerning exactly where we draw that line delineating what you can or cannot do while driving your vehicle. Different states have come up with different answers to that question. In each case, I can follow their logic, but I do not necessarily agree with it.
Here is my position: One fundamental point is sometimes overlooked—individual, intelligent human volition. We should not even try to build the legislative labyrinth that would be needed to regulate every possible device and technology—all of which are ever changing—inside a vehicle. We already have laws about “reckless” driving. They cover it all. Otherwise, if we are going to be consistent, we must ban all conversations among the driver and passengers, and we must ban radios and CD players, because all that activity creates a distraction. While driving, did you ever find yourself daydreaming or needing to scratch an itch? Hey, we need to ban daydreaming and scratching!
Please do not misinterpret me—I am as much for safety on our roads as anyone is. However, in spite of prolific, moronic human failure, I highly prefer to keep these decisions in the driver’s head. Let’s let individuals define their distractions. I happen to think they will do a much better job than the government.
MAKE YOUR FOUNDATIONS WORK FOR YOU
Posted on November 1, 2013 by James Meadows
For good or for bad, all of us have had certain things infused into our past. Those things are our foundations. These are the circumstances, experiences, and influences that affected us from our birth through our preadulthood. Most of those things, by definition, are things over which we had no control—and there’s the rub. Some people almost revel in blaming their foundations for their present problems. Some people continue to feel bound by their foundations if they were negative. Some people fail to appreciate their foundations if they were positive.
I see a better way to deal with our foundations. All of us have both good and bad aspects to our foundations. The key to success with handling our foundations is to appreciate and capitalize on both the good and the bad aspects.
For those good aspects of your foundations, you can focus on the gratitude you should have for the benefits that came your way over which you had no control. Look for greater opportunities to let those good aspects of your foundations inform your professional life. That can only enhance your performance and your persona, things your clients and colleagues will all appreciate.
For those bad aspects of your foundations, reflect first upon life lessons they taught you. Yes, I realize those bad aspects might involve tremendous personal pain. Nevertheless, by reflecting upon the bigger picture, you can always find some positive lessons that arise out of that total situation. Look for ways in which you understand better how to handle certain situations, speak to certain kinds of people, manifest greater sensitivity, or deliver a sharper mental edge in tough decisions.
It is all too easy for each of us to give up. The higher path is to strive for the excellence you can produce. That can and will happen as you apply this key to appreciate and capitalize on both the good and the bad aspects of your foundations. That is exactly what Anne Beiler, founder of the multimillion-dollar pretzel chain, chose to do. Regardless of what she or anyone else thought about her foundations, Beiler was not about to miss her potential (Dinah Eng, “Soft Pretzels out of Hard Times” Fortune, July 23, 2013, pp. 23–26):
“My parents were horse-and-buggy Amish, and I grew up on a 100-acre farm in Lancaster, Pa. . . We had eight kids in our family, and we were able to have electricity to milk the cows and use in the house for necessities, but no TV or radio. . . . I never went to college. But the structure I grew up with was planted so deep that when it came to doing business, I knew how to be disciplined, create teamwork, and persevere. It set me up to be an entrepreneur and a successful franchiser.” (p. 24)
Beiler chose to appreciate and capitalize on both the good and the bad aspects of her foundations. The good news is you can do the same thing today. Please do not miss that opportunity!
IS YOUR COMPANY PREPARED FOR CYBERTERRORISM?
Posted on October 31, 2013 by James Meadows
Preet Bharara is the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. He knows a thing or two about fighting crime. He also understands crime is happening as much in the virtual world as in the real world. Consider his assessment of cyberterrorism today (Sheelah Kolhatkar, “The Interview Issue” Bloomberg Businessweek, 8/12/13–8/25/13, p. 74):
“[Cyberterrorism is] among the most sophisticated type of threat that we face, whether you’re talking about hackers who are doing it for money or you’re talking about state actors who are doing it for purposes of espionage or attacking our infrastructure. But the FBI and the Secret Service have been spending a lot of time catching up.”
We understand the score. That is already scary enough. Unfortunately, it becomes scarier. In Bharara’s mind, too many companies are not prepared with a plan for knowing how to respond when cyberterrorism strikes:
“Companies should spend time focusing on a plan. You figure out how to build a better firewall and how you’re going to cooperate with law enforcement. You need to do that in advance. And shockingly, not enough businesses have thought about it.”
This does not bode well for many companies. The day cyberterrorism strikes is not the day you want to be thinking about what your response plan should have been. That behavior guarantees your response plan will have many flaws and possibly even do more damage than good.
The superior approach, as Bharara affirms, is to prepare your cyberterrorism response plan in advance. Pull together your key personnel and think through everything that could happen. Develop a response plan that is holistic and considers all angles.
We do not necessarily enjoy thinking about a cyberterrorism disaster. Nevertheless, doing so ahead of time will ensure your organization’s ability to produce an effective response.
OUR NEW VIRTUAL TOWN SQUARE
Posted on October 30, 2013 by James Meadows
I remain fascinated by the state of journalism and news today. The Internet has turned everything upside down, the game has changed, and everyone is still trying to sort out the rules. Newspapers and magazines used to be the primary means of staying informed. Today we have TV, radio, and everything on the Internet. Dick Costolo (Twitter CEO) shares his perspective on what online communication means for us today (John Huey, Martin Nisenholtz, and Paul Sagan, “The New News Business” Fortune, July 22, 2013, pp. 78–82):
“We’re building this global town square. What I mean by that is, if you went back to ancient Greece, the way that news and information was passed around was, you went to the agora after lunch in the town square. There was this unfiltered, multidirectional exchange of information. I might go into the agora and say to Martin, ‘Hey, my aunt died.’ Martin might say, ‘Euripides’ goat passed away.’ We would exchange some information. By the way, the politicians were there. The musicians were there, etc. There was this multidirectional, unfiltered exchange of information, which was interesting in all sorts of ways.” (p. 82)
I like Costolo’s perspective because that is exactly what we are experiencing today. What you tweet, post on Facebook, publish on a Web site, or otherwise launch into the virtual world, is by definition and design multidirectional and unfiltered. This is partly on purpose and partly by accident.
Similarly, which agora you happen to wander into on any given day after lunch is dictated by factors such as preexisting relationships, geography, and motivations. These very same factors affect our online communications. Just as I have often been delighted to meet interesting people in my physical world, I have been equally delighted to meet interesting people in my virtual world. Both realms have been driven by similar factors.
On the other hand, the two big distinctions I see between the physical world and the virtual world are these:
1—Time Convenience. The physical world demands a synchronization of time with the people I meet. The virtual world renders all such meetings asynchronous. I can transmit any information, in any form, and at any time. Such capability produces tremendous convenience to all users.
2—Unbounded Geography. The physical world demands submission to geographic boundaries. Meetings implicitly negotiate geography. The virtual world instantly puts me in touch with anyone on the planet. Geography’s shackles are removed.
Our new virtual town square is quite interesting. It promises to become even more so.
WHEN LIQUIDATING ASSETS BECOMES PERSONAL
Posted on October 29, 2013 by James Meadows
Sometimes when people face tough times, they must begin selling assets. Matters can become increasingly difficult as those assets become increasingly personal. Nicholas Colas is the chief market strategist for New York-based ConvergEx Group. He recently made an interesting and disturbing observation about what many American workers are searching for on the Internet, as reported by Victoria Stilwell (“Body Parts for Sale by Desperate U.S. Workers” Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/21/13–10/27/13, pp. 22–24):
“In all but two quarters since the beginning of 2011, ‘hair,’ ‘eggs,’ and ‘kidney’ have been among the top four autofill results for the Google search query, ‘I want to sell my . . .’” (p. 22)
Although the hair and the eggs can be sold legally in the US, kidneys cross the line. Regardless, this data reveals the desperation of some workers in our nation. I hate to see anyone being in that situation, but at least if they are, the Internet facilitates the needed connections. As with so much commerce, the Internet has enhanced the opportunities. Gary Becker, a University of Chicago economics professor, affirms this dynamic:
“The Internet is responsible for much of the increased interest in cashing in on body parts.” (p. 24)
So, what body part will we decide to sell next? I hesitate to even ponder the possibilities. We all understand the proverbial, “you have to do what you have to do.” The economy has a long way to go for many. In the meantime, let’s just hope we don’t use the Internet to sell our soul.
SMALL BANKS, SMART LOANS
Posted on October 28, 2013 by James Meadows
Big does not automatically mean bad. Big can mean better, and it often does. On the other hand, big can mean bad when your bigness causes you to lose your close customer connections. If that happens, you might find yourself out of business. That is exactly what has happened with banks. FDIC data shows from 1984 through 2011, only 6% of big banks ($1 billion or more in assets) survived. During the same time, 33% of small banks (less than $1 billion in assets) survived.
A crucial reason for this difference is smaller banks (often rural banks) tend to write smarter loans. This occurs due to the more personal connections they usually develop with their customers coupled with onsite local-economy insights (Brendan Greeley, “Rural Banks Know Something Big Banks Don’t” Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/21/13–10/27/13, pp. 17–18):
“Richard Brown, the FDIC’s chief economist, says small banks have a competitive advantage with ‘nonquantitative’ (sometimes called ‘soft’) information—knowledge of their customers and the local economy.” (p. 18)
These dynamics work both ways. In a smaller or rural community where people often know each other’s business, customers tend to be more honest, conservative, and conscientious. They are less likely to default on loans.
I see two takeaways from this research:
1—Recognition Of Intrinsic Size Qualities. Regardless of what your business is, it remains important to recognize the perils or pluses of your size. That recognition should constantly inform your strategies.
2—Innovation For Enhanced Customer Connections. Regardless of what your business is, it remains important to search for innovative ways to enhance and strengthen your customer connections. Anything you can do to make the customer experience more intimate and personal will have a positive payback. The opportunities are only bounded by your imagination.
A LONG WAY FROM CHINA . . . MAYBE
Posted on October 25, 2013 by James Meadows
NQ Mobile is an interesting company. It has two global headquarters: one in Dallas and one in Beijing. Although 40% of its revenue derives from the US, most of its employees work in Beijing, leaving just three Mandarin speakers in Dallas.
First, this strategy assures labor costs are as low as possible given the China labor runs about 25 cents on the dollar to what the stateside labor is. Second, the company is being strategic and responsive to its talent management strategy and public relations. Bruce Einhorn with Kyle O’Donnell explain (“A Chinese Software Maker In a Texas State of Mind” Bloomberg Businessweek, 8/12/13–8/25/13, pp. 39–40):
“By distancing itself from its Chinese roots, NQ thinks it will be better able to recruit U.S. tech talent. The company may also be able to assuage the concerns of U.S. corporate clients uneasy about buying privacy software from a country known for its cyber-espionage activities.” (p. 40)
In spite of these legitimate concerns, the company is expanding its reach. Already, Verizon, America Movil, and Cricket are using its software. An additional deal is being executed with Target. The future is uncertain:
“It remains to be seen whether a Chinese company selling privacy and anti-hacking software can win over U.S. consumers.” (p. 40)
That does remain to be seen. After all, we are a long way from China . . . maybe.
ART FOR MONEY’S SAKE
Posted on October 24, 2013 by James Meadows
Most people going into an art career do not anticipate making much money. For many artists, a “regular job” pays the bills while their artistic endeavors become a sideline. Although this is true for many artists, it does not automatically have to be true for every artist and for every person in the art field. Other factors come into play according to David Zwirner, a contemporary art dealer.
One factor that has expanded the potential of the art world is the Internet. Zwirner explains what he is seeing (Caroline Winter, “The Interview Issue” Bloomberg Businessweek, 8/12/13–8/25/13, p. 71):
“The Internet is doing something to the consciousness of artists. It changes the way they interact with the world. I’m starting to see work where there’s something radically new in the way images are produced. Some of it’s in film and video, some of it’s in photography, some of it’s in sculpture. But we’re on the cusp of something.”
Another important factor is that people who purchase significant art works usually have a strong emotional attachment to them. Whether we like to admit it or not, our money often follows our emotions. Zwirner sees this dynamic as a positive attribute of the art industry:
“The art market is not just the trade of goods, it’s a lifestyle. People will sell their stocks and their bonds, because it’s just money. Their paintings, their relationships in the art world, are much more than that.”
I think Zwirner has valid points. These are points I had not always considered. Nevertheless, I still believe that if someone passionately desires a lucrative career in the art world, he or she must do the homework. That means lots of research, making connections, attaining prerequisite training and education, and being in the right place at the right time. If a person wants that type of career, and he or she is willing to make the effort, then I say, go for it. You will get no argument from Zwirner:
“As I’m maturing in the art world, I find it’s a fantastic place for any young person. It’s very stimulating. There are many different career paths. And you can make money.”
THE NEWS’ NEW NORMAL
Posted on October 23, 2013 by James Meadows
I remain fascinated by the state of journalism and news today. The Internet has turned everything upside down, the game has changed, and everyone is still trying to sort out the rules. Newspapers and magazines used to be the primary means of staying informed. Today we have TV, radio, and everything on the Internet.
As with every cultural and technological change, opportunity abounds for the people and the companies who envision the future. That does not mean the transition will be easy and cheap. It does mean the transition will execute to deliver a new normal.
Whatever that new normal is, it must be genuine, truthful, and reliable. Tim Berners-Lee puts that challenge in front of journalists (John Huey, Martin Nisenholtz, and Paul Sagan, “The New News Business” Fortune, July 22, 2013, pp. 78–82):
“There’s a need for journalism. People are desperate for it. People are fed up with spam. They’re fed up with just searching, using a web search tool to find a medical article, then realizing only after they have gone to the bottom of the article, and followed the advice, and bought the drugs that the whole thing was produced by the same pharmaceutical company, with an extremely slanted view . . . People are fed up with that, and journalists have got the skills and the motivation. It’s their job to solve that problem.” (p. 82)
Yes, that is a major frustration for readers. Journalists have much to do to resolve it. However, never in history have readers had literally at their fingertips the ability to fact check any news report. If you are suspicious of what one story purports, you can easily navigate to other sources to seek confirmation or correction. News consumers are becoming more empowered, and to the news purveyors, that can be either invigorating or frightening. It all depends on their ethics and their quality.
Matters will probably become more tumultuous before our transition to the new normal is complete. As it occurs, the turbulence will increase and the opportunities will abound. Huey, Nisenholtz, and Sagan conclude similarly:
“The transition from what’s left of the old legacy news business to whatever comes next is likely to be the swiftest undertow yet of the digital riptide. We’re in a period of fierce creative destruction where we are both awash in more news than ever—with glimmers of new business models emerging, such as paywalls on some news sites starting to yield significant revenue streams—and feeling the ebb of independent, verifiable, and sustainable reporting. The next full moon, the next hurricane, the next digital media breakthrough seems bound to take down a lot of familiar swimmers before it all works out somehow.” (p. 82)
It is the news’ new normal. Get used to it—until it changes again.
NEVER RELAX WITH YOUR COFFEE
Posted on October 22, 2013 by James Meadows
Sometimes, completely reimagining your company’s presentation can create some brilliant new profit avenues and an improved customer experience. Starbucks has begun doing that. Beth Kowitt explains the idea’s beginning (“Coffee Shop, Contained” Fortune, May 20, 2013, p. 24):
“In 2008 Starbucks’ chief creative officer, Arthur Rubinfeld, was asked to reimagine its retail spaces, the first major overhaul since 2003. . . . [Using repurposed shipping containers], some 60% of all new U.S. stores that Starbucks (No. 208 on the Fortune 500) has planned for the next five years will be drive-throughs.”
Because shipping containers are relatively small compared to traditional retail space, the plan promises to enlarge the company’s customer reach significantly:
“At just about 380 square feet, the micros will be among the smallest Starbucks sites in existence. The tiny footprint lets the company enter high-traffic locations previously out of reach.”
The first component of this reimagining I like is the very concept of reusing old shipping containers for a different purpose. That utility, versatility, and creativity say much about the energy at Starbucks. That alone will get some people’s attention.
The second component I like is the innovative approach to enhancing the company’s footprint. The company found a way to put stores in unlikely or unexpected spots to drive revenue and strengthen the brand. That must have been a fun brainstorming session!
Every successful businessperson knows you can never just relax with your coffee. You must constantly be advertising, marketing, assessing, researching, developing, strategizing, and executing. The coffee might be great, but there is much more to bring to the table. Starbucks is doing that in some delightfully surprising ways.
MILLENNIAL MASTERPIECES
Posted on October 21, 2013 by James Meadows
We know how easy it is to name any generation and automatically think each member is an exact replica of every other member. Although certain demographic and cultural characteristics may prevail, it is unfair to the group and the individual to pigeonhole any single member. That is why I so appreciate Rebekah Bell’s essay on this subject (“The Incredible Potential of Millennials” The Kansas City Star, 8/26/13, p. A11). Bell, herself a millennial, acknowledges the blemishes among her generation:
“I know there are some in our generation who are lazy, self-entitled and indulgent.”
Every generation experiences this, correct? I think so. Bell goes on to highlight the noble character of many millennials:
“[Millennials] have published bestselling books, found cures for diseases which baffled scientists, won Heisman trophies and Olympic gold medals, founded multimillion dollar companies, and led campaigns to end modern-day slavery. The Pew Research Center defined us as ‘confident, connected and open to change.’”
I absolutely love Bell’s expression concerning the “A word”—attitude:
“Yes, we may be facing a difficult time in history but we can consciously choose to demonstrate the kind of character, conviction and courage that is necessary to carry us into a bright future.”
Her sense of taking ownership of the future and manifesting a positive attitude about the future are crucial keys. Millions of millennials have those keys. That is what will drive their success. I do not care what your situation is. Without a sense of taking ownership and without a positive attitude, you will be dead before you hit the water. Millions of millennials are planning for success and not failure and I am one of their biggest cheerleaders.
Some interesting trends are working in the millennials’ favor. Derek Thompson points out their unemployment situation is improving (“The Millennials Stimulus Plan” The Atlantic, May 2013, p. 34):
“Although unemployment among young people remains higher than the rate for any other demographic, as is usually the case, it has been steadily declining for the past few years.”
No matter how you slice it, the millennials will be driving our economy for years to come, partially just due to their group size. At 82 million members, millennials outnumber their prior generation by 8 million and the baby boomers by 5 million. This means the more successful the millennials are, the more opportunities will be available for everyone.
THE PERILS OF OVER AND UNDER
Posted on October 18, 2013 by James Meadows
Roy Amara was a scientist with the Institute for the Future. One of his many contributions was the coining of what others have called Amara’s Law. Amara’s Law speaks to how good or bad of a job we do in assessing technologies’ effects on our future. The law states:
“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”
Amara’s Law intrigues me because it tells me I will fail twice. Nevertheless, I appreciate Amara’s Law because it challenges my critical thinking. It reminds me I can make mistakes of judgment. It heightens my awareness because I do not want to assess matters incorrectly.
As businesspeople, we make decisions every day based on technology’s effects. I am sure many of those decisions are good. I am equally sure some of those decisions are bad. Therefore, we have a powerful opportunity embedded in three crucial questions we must never stop asking:
1—What short-term technology effects am I overestimating?
2—What long-term technology effects am I underestimating?
3—How will the answers to those first two questions affect my decisions today?
HEALTHCARE CHANGES AGAIN
Posted on October 17, 2013 by James Meadows
To say healthcare is changing would be an understatement. Depending on your preferences, you might call it good, bad, or varying doses of each.
One of the more interesting changes to me has been the insurance options. In 1988, 73% of covered workers used a conventional medical insurance plan. Another 16% and 11% respectively used an HMO or a PPO. By the time we arrive at 2005, only 3% of workers were still using conventional medical insurance plans while 21% used HMOs, 61% used PPOs, and 15% used POSs.
As the new high deductible, low premium, HSA-linked insurance plans became available in the last seven years, they quickly gained market share. In 2012, 19% of workers used them while less than 1% used a conventional medical insurance plan, 16% used HMOs, 56% used PPOs, and 9% used POSs.
The new high deductible, low premium, HSA-linked insurance plans have increased in popularity every year since their advent in 2006. Part of the reason is the new plan puts the consumer more in charge of the money. Instead of watching premium dollars disappear, the consumer watches fewer dollars go to premiums while tax-free dollars begin to amass in an HSA. That process alone empowers the consumer to shop more rigorously for all healthcare products and services. This is a positive change in healthcare that growing numbers of consumers are embracing.
On the other hand, not all healthcare changes are being embraced as warmly. For example, since the October 1 rollout of state-based insurance exchanges as dictated by the Affordable Care Act, consumers, insurance companies, and the states are finding numerous glitches in the system. Drew Armstrong and Alex Nussbaum describe the disaster (“If You Think Enrolling Is Hard . . . ” Bloomberg Businessweek 9/30/13–10/6/13, p. 36):
“Each night, healthcare.gov sends files on new enrollments to insurers. Some files are being transferred with missing data. In other cases, the information being transmitted is wrong; the file says a customer signed up for a plan that doesn’t exist in the customer’s area, for example. Some files are so corrupted that insurers can’t open them. The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.”
So how’s that working for you? I think I will decline to comment.
THE CHALLENGE NEVER DISAPPEARS
Posted on October 16, 2013 by James Meadows
Work/life balance is something we all must manage. Some manage it better than others do. Regardless, the challenge never disappears for anyone.
When Joseph Pitt Hyde III was CEO of AutoZone, he struggled with work/life balance. In 1996, diagnosed with prostate cancer, he seriously reevaluated how he was managing his work/life balance. Fortunately, Hyde conquered his cancer and took a few lessons with him. Hyde describes how he changed (Dinah Eng “Interview: Putting AutoZone Into Drive” Fortune, August 12, 2013, pp. 17–18):
“Back when I was 26, the business consumed every waking moment, and I missed a lot of things with my two older children. After leaving AutoZone, I made it a point to take my younger children to school every morning, and attend their activities. I spend more time now with my wife, Barbara, the older children, and their kids.” (p. 18)
Hyde encountered the cancer scare before he decided to make meaningful changes in his life. That happens often . . . unfortunately. I say “unfortunately” because it is saddening when people require a frightful experience to put their lives in perspective.
I think a better way exists. That way is to wake up every day and newly appreciate the people around you, your opportunities, and the gift of your life. That mindset can make the difference between a life of fulfillment and a life of regrets.
Hyde took home another valuable lesson from which we can benefit. This lesson involves time management and significance. Hyde gained a better understanding of how important it is to major on the majors and minor on the minors:
“If you spend 80% of the time on the big things, and 20% on the small things, life will be much more meaningful.” (p. 18)
To do this successfully and consistently, you have to know what your priorities should be. Sometimes you have to think long and hard about your priorities. Sometimes you have to change your priorities. Nevertheless, if you can establish correct priorities, then that 80/20 rule will pay big dividends.
I admire Hyde for the changes he made. I think they were good changes. However, shouldn’t we all make those changes before the cancer scare?
THE DAWN OF A NEW INTEGRATED MARKETING ERA
Posted on October 15, 2013 by James Meadows
Much is being written lately about a new integrated marketing approach. Conventional ideas about what integrated marketing is are quickly giving way to a new perspective that focuses on the customer. I think all businesses can learn immensely from this development. Don Peppers explains his new definition:
“Today, integrated marketing must involve not just integrating your own messages and communications, but integrating your customer more directly into the marketing, sales, and service processes themselves. . . . Integrated marketing incorporates an individual customer’s own perspective into all customer-facing functions at a company, including marketing, sales, and service.”
Integrated marketing has always been intrinsically strong purely based on the premise it aligns all communication channels to convey the same message. The resulting message consistency causes the result to be greater than the sum of its parts.
What strikes me as significant about Peppers’ approach is customer centricity. Social media, mobile devices, technology, and the 21st century consumer have created an entirely new breed of customer. That is precisely what now opens the door to a higher level of customer engagement, and that is where integrated marketing takes a quantum leap.
Smart businesses will wisely surf this wave. The opportunities have never been greater.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131007140900-17102372-what-integrated-marketing-really-means
MY SECOND-GRADE DIVERSITY LESSON
Posted on October 14, 2013 by James Meadows
Although I have sat through many diversity seminars and taught many more, my first and best diversity lesson came from Clifford when I was in second grade. I first saw Clifford from across the classroom, noting his extremely large freckles and his hair that was an odd mosaic of blond and brown. I did not like the way Clifford looked. Therefore, I made it my mission to avoid Clifford. I did not like Clifford. I did not even like his name—I had never met anyone with the strange name of Clifford to that point in my young life.
My strategy worked for a while . . . until the day the teacher put Clifford and me together for a class activity. Then I realized I had to work with Clifford. I was nervous, uncomfortable, and fearful. What would happen?
Something amazing happened that day. I discovered Clifford was more than his strange name, his extremely large freckles, and his mosaic blond and brown hair—much more. Clifford was into fun—just like me. Clifford and I had a lot of fun.
Suddenly, Clifford’s name, freckles, and hair were not important or intimidating to me anymore. I liked Clifford. Clifford liked me. I sure was glad the teacher made me work with Clifford that day.
Clifford moved a couple years later and we lost touch. Nevertheless, even as a kid, I remained ever grateful to Clifford for the diversity lesson he taught me. I realized I had learned an essential life lesson. It was and still is a life lesson I carry with me today. It is a life lesson that has only grown and developed within the much larger discipline of diversity training and practice. Although Clifford had left my classroom, the diversity lesson has never left my life.
Today, whenever I deliver a diversity workshop or teaching, I continue to see many “Jims” and many “Cliffords.” However, my greatest excitement comes when I see those Jims and Cliffords suddenly having fun together.
WALGREEN PREPARES FOR ACA
Posted on October 11, 2013 by James Meadows
Walgreen has nearly a quarter-million employees and $71.6 billion in revenue. Outside the federal government, it is the largest entity that provides immunizations and vaccinations. How this drugstore chooses to respond to the Affordable Care Act is an important strategy lesson. Geoff Colvin of Fortune asked Walgreen CEO Greg Wasson that question. Wasson identified a major frontline strategic move (“A Drugstore Chain Gets a Modern Makeover” August 12, 2013, pp. 42–46):
“We’re adding nurse practitioners to many of our stores, co-locating them with our pharmacists. We have about 350 stores across the country now where we have a nurse practitioner positioned in an office next to the pharmacist that extends our services beyond pharmaceutical services to acute care, episodic care such as earaches and sore throats . . . We’ve extended into primary care.” (p. 44)
Regardless of what you think of the ACA, you have to admit Walgreen is making a positive move to accommodate the anticipated demand growth in healthcare. Where people go for primary care is changing because concerns for healthcare availability are growing.
As important as healthcare access is, I would like to see a greater emphasis on wellness. The conventional model of treating the symptoms after the disease has struck is immensely inferior to a wellness model of healthcare. Never becoming diseased in the first place will put you miles ahead in this life, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
THE REVOLUTION IS ON IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Posted on October 10, 2013 by James Meadows
Some astounding revolutions are happening in higher education. I marvel as I watch this all unfold.
Degree Program Smorgasbord. Many major universities today offer degree programs via the traditional bricks-and-mortar route, an entirely online degree program, or a hybrid of the two. You can select the option that works best for your learning preferences and your circumstances. The obvious strength of this approach is a wider market as opposed to an academic institution that limits its repertoire to just one or two models.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Harvard, Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and several other schools are now making many of their core courses freely available online. Anyone is free to enroll, view recorded lectures online, submit comments and questions, and even complete specific written assignments. The value of MOOCs is you are able to expose yourself to solid academic content from some of the best professors in the world. If you feel a need to educate yourself on a particular subject, a MOOC can do the job. The downside of a MOOC is you do not earn any formal academic credit. Everyone understands a MOOC is similar to the traditional “auditing” of a course. No one will be holding you accountable for doing the work, but you can do it should you wish.
I think these are two of the most interesting and helpful recent developments in higher education. Exactly where we go with them is anybody’s guess, but I do not believe they are passing fads. To illustrate, Southern New Hampshire University’s online degree programs are enjoying a 22% profit margin. Ironically, some of that profit feeds into the bricks-and-mortar campus facilities and programs, thereby strengthening both the online college and the traditional college.
Universities are smart to innovate in our changing environment. We are at the confluence of too many trends, movements, and industry variables to ignore innovation opportunities. For example, Clayton Christensen, professor at the Harvard Business School, sees major volatility approaching (John Hechinger “A Little College That’s a Giant Online” Bloomberg Businessweek, 5/13/13–5/19/13, pp. 22–23):
“In Christensen’s view, higher education, with its skyrocketing costs, is ripe for a revolution; he predicts that in 15 years, half of all universities will be out of business.” (p. 23)
The revolution in higher education has been and will continue to be interesting and exciting. For those institutions that embrace it and innovate through it, their best days are ahead of them.
CONTINUOUSLY CREATING THE FUTURE
Posted on October 9, 2013 by James Meadows
The company already has 305,000 employees but it plans to add 16,000 by the end of next year. Its business lines include aviation, appliances, financial services, energy, and health to name a few. It is the largest producer of commercial jet engines. Fortune has declared it one of the world’s most admired companies.
In spite of all that success, GE continues to retool for the future. The company does this because it understands how important it is to be proactive, prepositioning itself so that hindsight will declare, “perfect!” That is not easy to do. Nevertheless, GE is committed to doing it.
The company’s leadership drives that commitment. Jeff Immelt is GE’s CEO. Erika Fry describes Immelt’s passion for research and development, a commitment so many other companies have learned is crucial to long-term success (“GE Gets Back to Basics” Fortune, May 20, 2013, p. 31):
“A stat that CEO Jeff Immelt loves: GE doubled its R&D budget over the past decade. He backs that up with a pledge to be a company that can develop a new engine and gas turbine not every decade, but every year.”
Immelt’s situation offers some excellent leadership lessons:
Future Guarantees—A company’s future is never guaranteed. To be successful, leaders must constantly work to create that future. If you do not build your organization’s future, someone or something else will, but that does not mean you will like it.
Maintain Momentum—Although a company should never rest on its laurels, it can still capitalize on prior successes to fuel momentum. Leaders recognize when the wind is in their sails, and chart the course accordingly.
New Challenges—Complacency and satisfaction with the status quo are the afflictions of all human organizations. Immelt knows this. That is why he is championing a new engine or gas turbine every year. Once a decade is old news. An annual accomplishment will definitely keep everyone challenged enough to flush out complacency and satisfaction with the status quo.
BP KNOWS ITS HOME AND ITS FACTS
Posted on October 8, 2013 by James Meadows
People perceive large companies in different ways. Some of those perceptions are good and some are not so good. Sometimes the bad perceptions arise purely from a lack of information. Robert Dudley (CEO of BP) reminds us sometimes even companies perceived to be foreign can in fact be more US based than people imagine. Dudley responds to interviewer Paul M. Barrett on this point (“The Interview Issue” Bloomberg Businessweek 8/12/13–8/25/13, pp. 68–69):
“We’ve been America’s largest energy investor, and over the last five years we’ve invested $55 billion in energy, far more than any other company. People call BP a foreign company—we’re a global company. We’ve got more employees, more investment, more assets in the U.S. than any other country.” (p. 68)
I appreciate Dudley’s point and it is a good one. BP has been making and is making a significant investment in the US. The perceptions and the realities remind me of the situation with Toyota. Although Toyota is based in Japan, many people do not realize the extent of Toyota’s involvement in the US. Consider these facts: In the US alone, Toyota built 10 plants, invested $19.5 billion, produced 20 million vehicles, and purchased $27.5 billion in parts and materials. You can call Toyota a foreign company (and rightly so) but do not ignore its US footprint. Dudley reminds us of this important reality.
As globalization has proliferated, it has also reduced the divide between here and overseas. That divide becomes less important. Companies are going to spend money wherever it makes good business sense. The good news is the world keeps getting smaller. That means more places are making good business sense.
Finally, in spite of all our good intentions and efforts toward alternative energy, Dudley reminds us how important oil will remain to our total energy strategy:
“If you laid out the map of energy demand and the kinds of energy that’s produced and where the world’s going, most people are really surprised. Today about 2 percent of the world’s energy is produced by alternative energy. And it’ll be up to only 7 percent by 2030. That’s a big jump in percentage, but in terms of running the engines of the world and transportation, that’s going to be a small part of the answer.” (p. 69)
UPS RULES
Posted on October 7, 2013 by James Meadows
We all have times when we do not like to follow rules. Nevertheless, D. Scott Davis (CEO of UPS) reminds us of their value in a large company. Devin Leonard, interviewing Davis, asked him about the mountain of rules thrust upon UPS drivers (“The Interview Issue” Bloomberg Businessweek8/12/13–8/25/13, p. 94):
“Your drivers have to follow 340 rules. Why so many?”
Davis’ response emphasizes how rules direct operations, operations involve time, and time always equals money:
“We have always been perceived as one of the better operating companies in the world. Every minute is critical. Five minutes of congestion—for an average truck in the U.S. that has to wait for five minutes a day—it’s $105 million a year for UPS. We have to figure out how to do better.”
What Davis articulates is an age-old business reality. Every minute truly does count either for profit or for loss.
The challenge so often is companies develop some excellent rules to improve efficiency and effectiveness, but they fail to communicate them clearly. Employees at the bench level either never hear the rationale behind the rules or they do not understand them. In some cases, they never even hear the rules at all. These scenarios lead to misunderstanding and alienation. Employee engagement declines and everyone suffers, including the customers.
Therefore, a company should create the rules that will deliver the best performance while simultaneously clearly communicating those rules and their rationales to every employee. Only then will the company have opportunity to reach its maximum performance.
Finally, this is never a “one and done.” It is a process of continuous improvement. Wherever you find the best companies, you will find this to be true. Wherever you find the worst companies, you will find the opposite.
WHEN VIRTUAL INK DESTROYS REAL INK
Posted on October 4, 2013 by James Meadows
Certain people display some hilarious idiosyncrasies. Robert A. M. Stern (Dean at Yale School of Architecture) is one of them. Sam Grobart, interviewing Stern, asked him about his work style (“The Interview Issue” Bloomberg Businessweek 8/12/13–8/25/13, p. 89):
“I wanted to ask you about how you work personally, professionally. You don’t use a computer?”
Stern’s response was tinged with just a hint of embarrassment and was hilarious to read:
“Oh, do I have to confess that? Yes, I don’t use a computer. I get e-mail, and it gets printed out for me, and I read it as though it was a letter sent to me in the mail. I write the answer in longhand, and I get it typed.”
To each his own, but that still seems like a mountain of unnecessary work to me! What makes Stern’s statement even funnier is in the interview, it came just after he finished giving accolades to computer technology for how it made the architectural business so much more efficient and creative.
Oh, well. We all have our peculiarities. That is what keeps life fun and interesting now, isn’t it? I am going to start printing out my Tweets!
THE WISDOM OF PLACE VERSUS PERSON
Posted on October 3, 2013 by James Meadows
Some amazing wisdom has been passed down from some amazing people. Ursula Burns (CEO at Xerox) is one of them. Carol Hymowitz, interviewing Burns about her success, offered this thought (“The Interview Issue” Bloomberg Businessweek 8/12/13–8/25/13, p. 56):
“Some people have said you had three strikes against you: You are African American. You’re a woman. And you grew up poor.”
Burns’ response was sage wisdom drawn from her mom:
“My mother was amazing. I guess in our community, if you wanted to get by you had to work hard. So she cleaned offices. She did everything that you could imagine. We were really poor. But she would say, ‘Where you are is not who you are.’ And, ‘Don’t get confused when you’re rich and famous.’”
These words certainly inspire and challenge me. Here are three quick ideas that come to mind.
People Of Influence. Burns’ remarks remind us how much we learn from people of influence in our lives. So often, this can be a parent or family member, but it does not have to be. People of influence can be all around us. Look for them.
Perspective. Remembering that where you are is definitely not who you are keeps matters in perspective. Sometimes we can become so enamored with our title, our role, our position, or our accomplishments that we somehow believe all that truly defines us. We are more than all that first, and last. Keep it in perspective.
Humility. Not becoming confused is a constant challenge. Human nature is such that we all are challenged to be humble. It seems to be one of those challenges we never outgrow. At least I don’t. Keep seeking humility.
THROW LIKE A WOMAN
Posted on October 2, 2013 by James Meadows
I remember when a female with a doctorate was a rarity. Today, females earn more doctorates than men do. That is why I was especially shocked at a startling statistic about women in the advertising industry. Stephanie Holland is the Executive Creative Director for Holland+Holland Advertising, based in Trussville, Alabama. At her blog, Holland shares some amazing yet disheartening statistics:
“85 percent of all brand purchases are made by women. Incredibly only 3% of advertising agency creative directors are women.”
I would say advertising agencies have some opportunities here. This is true from a creativity perspective as well as a profit perspective. We know that diverse teams and diverse leadership enhances creativity and profit.
Why are we waiting? Imagine what could happen if half our advertising agency creative directors were women.
What will it take to get us there? And don’t just say, “47%.”
www.she-conomy.com
PERSONAL WEB SITES—THE HORROR . . . OH, THE HORROR
Posted on October 1, 2013 by James Meadows
I had to chuckle at Sam Grobart’s assessment of personal Web sites. Although many different online companies exist through which you can establish an online professional persona, Grobart has little appreciation for them (“Step Away From the URL: Sleek Personal Home Pages Are a Total Waste” Bloomberg Businessweek 9/9/13–9/15/13, p. 68):
“For the vast majority of people, personal websites are a colossal waste of time.”
In fairness, he is not talking about retail sites, business people, service providers, bloggers, and technology sites, but just the normal everyday person with a regular job. Nevertheless, I think his disdain for personal Web sites is misguided.
Today we are living in a new world and that world is online. Regardless of how “normal” or exotic your position is, grabbing your share of online real estate has important benefits. If you do not define your online professional persona, then you run the risk that someone else will. As Grobart admits:
“Most of us already exist all over the Internet, whether we like it or not.”
That is my point! Precisely because that is true, you need to assume responsibility (or regain it) for defining your online professional persona. You should tell your story first and you should keep refreshing your story. Do not just leave that to what others might publish about you. You have innumerable opportunities to establish yourself online. Do not abdicate the opportunity to random or even malicious forces.
Finally, you never know when someone will be genuinely searching the Internet for you. Perhaps a recruiter is considering you for a particular position, but does not want to initiate a false start. Perhaps someone needs just a little more information to establish your credibility for any number of reasons.
Here is my bottom line—I would rather find a person’s personal Web site, than search for one and not find it. Wouldn’t you?
CONSULTANTS—THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Posted on September 30, 2013 by James Meadows
Consultants have certainly taken their share of heat. It is easy to understand why. For every proponent you will find a critic.
Entrenched old-guard company leaders can develop blind spots. Having an outside, objective business expert fully assess that company’s processes can be a tremendously powerful opportunity. If it is done right, it becomes a win-win situation. The company can execute changes that enhance revenue and profitability for years to come while the consultant earns a fair fee.
Duff McDonald’s book, The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business, explores the development of James McKinsey’s consultancy and what it meant for American business. James McKinsey was an accountant who launched his consulting firm in 1926. McKinsey realized a crucial business-growth dynamic that was new for the era, as Adam Sternbergh explains (“We’re Here to Help: How McKinsey Created a World Full of Technocrats” Bloomberg Businessweek 9/9/13–9/15/13, p. 70):
“Instead of setting a budget based on projected expenses, you should craft a business plan first, then set the budget that will allow you to achieve it.”
Painful situations can occur if consulting is not done right. When this happens, not only is the company harmed, but the entire consulting industry is called into question. Additionally, companies will rarely officially admit their error:
“The McKinsey Man wasn’t an expert in any one industry, but a generalist valuing rational thinking and blunt talk. McKinsey fostered a reputation for attracting fresh minds that weren’t hampered by entrenched ways of thinking. Another way of looking at this is that it hired inexperienced kids and forced them to learn on the job at the client’s expense. This rarely became a problem, however, because the decision to hire McKinsey was typically made by a company’s chief executive officer, the last person to admit that he’d made a rotten decision by hiring McKinsey.”
The good, the bad, and the ugly are out there. As with most other lines of business, the adage is true for consultants: Let the buyer beware.
FOUR IMPORTANT PONDERINGS
Posted on September 27, 2013 by James Meadows
Always take time to ponder the important. Yes, your professional position is one thing, and that is definitely important, but there are much more important things. They are your faith, your family, your friends, and your future.
No matter who you are and no matter where you have been, these four things are much more important than your business or your professional position. These four things lead to wellness, wholeness, and balance. Granted, a business or a professional position is important. It is simply not the most important thing.
If we never ponder our faith, family, friends, and future, then we do a disservice to them all. I will not tell you what to do because that is intensely personal and only you must make those decisions. However, I will urge you to take some kind of positive action in these four important areas.
Pondering the important is something from which we always derive benefit. When we invest in our faith, our family, our friends, and our future, somehow our business and our professional position benefit automatically.
We are not human doings. We are human beings. Let us focus on the being before we focus on the doing. Things just work out better that way.
A LITTLE BIGGER THAN A ROWBOAT
Posted on September 26, 2013 by James Meadows
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea is building the world’s biggest boat—The Triple-E. A.P. Moller-Maersk is one of DSME’s customers, and Maersk needs 20 Triple-Es at $185 million each. And so, production is underway. The size of these boats is no small shrimp, as Drake Bennett describes (“Building the World’s Biggest Boat” Bloomberg Businessweek, 9/9/13–9/15/13, pp. 44–50):
“[These Triple-Es are] 1,312 feet long, 194 feet wide, and weigh 55,000 tons empty. Stand one on its stern next to the Empire State Building, and its bow would loom over the heads of those on the observation deck; a single link from its anchor chain weighs 500 pounds.” (p. 46)
And speaking of size, how about those propellers? They are colossal:
“In a back lot of the yard is a row of gleaming, four-bladed Triple-E propellers. They’re 32 feet in diameter and were fabricated at the Mecklenburger Metallguss foundry in Germany, the molten metal poured into molds at 2,174F and then cooled for 10 days.” (p. 49)
The improved engineering for massive size and the specific geometric design to facilitate larger cargo holds are what increasingly make overseas shipping cheap, easy, and efficient. The Triple-E is the epitome of this truth:
“Much of the efficiency will come simply from going slower. . . . The Triple-E is designed to cruise at 16 knots. Building a ship for slow steaming meant the engines could be less powerful and the hull wider, allowing for more containers. . . . The company considered 500 different hull forms.” (p. 48)
The Triple-E design and engineering incorporated many mechanisms to improve energy efficiency. For example, the excess heat from the massive engines is used to power a secondary steam turbine to generate electricity. That electricity helps power the propellers, crew quarters, and cargo refrigeration.
The technical engineering and the magnitude of the vessel are amazing. Equally amazing are the logistics of making it all happen on a schedule. Each Triple-E takes over a year to build. With overlapping production lines for the next 30 months DMSE will complete a new Triple-E every six or seven weeks.
It seems to me these ships are as seaworthy as the Ancient Mariner ever was!
LIE DETECTORS AND LEADERSHIP
Posted on September 25, 2013 by James Meadows
Sometimes drastic conditions call for drastic measures. At least that is what Michael Eggleton concluded upon his arrival as the new CEO of Eurasian Bank in Kazakhstan. (Nariman Gizitdinov and Jason Corcoran, “A Lie Detector Cleans Up a Kazakhstan Bank” Bloomberg Businessweek, 9/2/13–9/8/13, pp. 44–45):
“The bank, Kazakhstan’s 10th largest, was losing money, and Eggleton’s predecessor had been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement in connection with $1.1 billion in losses at Almaty-based Alliance Bank, which he led from 2002 to 2007. (He was later convicted.) Three other Kazakhstan lenders had just defaulted on a total of about $20 billion in debt.” (p. 44)
Although you can debate the reliability of lie detector test results, you cannot deny the seriousness with which Eggleton took his charge. This was definitely a case where the new CEO realized he needed to do some housecleaning and he was not about to do it timidly. His bravado may have paid off in many ways:
“More than 600 people left Eurasian Bank the first year the lie detector was in use, reducing the number of employees to 2,010.” (p. 44)
Interesting. Makes you wonder about those 600 ex-employees. Today, Eurasian Bank employment stands at 5,700.
Eggleton is not asking his employees to do anything he is not willing to do himself. He submits to the annual lie detector test. Employees can refuse to participate, but they disqualify themselves for promotions and bonuses. As Eggleton exclaims:
“‘I have a problem with someone who has failed the test or who won’t take it and is making decisions worth millions and millions of dollars.’” (p. 44)
Leadership is about integrity. Leadership means sometimes you have to make some novel, tough decisions for the good of your organization. Leadership means you see what needs to be done and you do it, regardless of the criticism. Leadership means you hold yourself to the same standard—if not a higher standard—to which you hold your team.
STILL DUCT-TAPING WINDOWS XP
Posted on September 24, 2013 by James Meadows
Although we have understood for some time now that Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows XP after April 2014, this is not exactly true. It is true for the public, but not necessarily true for certain red-carpet or corporate customers. Microsoft recognizes many diehard XP fans exist who are willing to pay extra for patch privileges. Although it may cost them a few hundred dollars a year for each PC, these customers will continue to receive some level of XP patch support.
From a customer-experience standpoint, I commend Microsoft for its willingness to go the second mile. Whether the annual fees they collect in so doing will justify the process is another serious question.
From the corporate customers’ perspective, I strongly question the strategy. True, the corporate customers are enjoying a measure of IT systems continuity. However, when considering productivity, maintenance, and software compatibility issues, I believe I can easily make the case the refusal to upgrade is costing those customers dearly.
By now, Windows XP is ancient. Duct tape and rubber bands will only carry you so far. Microsoft’s patch extension sounds like the last straw to me. At least I hope it is.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2047768/microsoft-will-still-patch-windows-xp-for-a-select-group.html
HOMOGENIZED SECRETS
Posted on September 23, 2013 by James Meadows
The more technology evolves, the more careful we have to be. On the one hand, technology makes us safer. On the other hand, it can make us more vulnerable. The opportunities for abuse can escalate. Nowhere is this truer than with electronic medical records. Jim Pyles is a principal with the legal firm, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville. He summarizes the magnitude of the situation (Jordan Robertson, “Your Not-So-Secret Medical History” Bloomberg Businessweek 8/12/13–8/25/13, pp. 41–42):
“Electronic health information is like nuclear energy . . . If it’s harnessed and kept under tight control, it has potential for good. But if it gets out of control, the damage is incalculable.” (p. 42)
This is where the problem can occur. Currently, hospitals share their electronic medical records with state health agencies, which in turn strip out personal-identifications and sell the composite data to various marketing companies and data miners. A determined investigator could conceivably reconstruct some aspects of the data coupled with other available information to reattach records to names. As Robertson reports, the opportunity for this to happen only grows with the data being exchanged and how state agencies choose to format the data:
“Twelve of the most populous U.S. states generated $1.91 million from 1,698 data sales in 2011, the latest year for which figures are available. . . . Washington State’s health agency sold its database 95 times that year, collecting a mere $15,950. Donn Moyer, a spokesman for the state’s health department, says it chose to release extra identifying information such as patients’ Zip Codes to make its data more useful.” (p. 42)
Could this data be misused? Could insurance rates be hiked unfairly? Could unfair job discrimination occur? Could private medical histories become public? We must never ignore these questions.
The challenge before us is to continue to facilitate technological growth in service to the medical community while simultaneously preserving individual privacy. I believe this is doable, but it will demand a constant commitment to an ethical approach. We must not allow “private data” to become an oxymoron.
HOT MESSES
Posted on September 20, 2013 by James Meadows
We are creating increasingly large and complex buildings, and we are creating buildings with quite a bit of exterior reflective glass. That is the way we design them. However, what happens when we create those buildings with contoured shapes so that the reflections of the sun’s rays converge and create a dangerously high heat condition nearby? Think magnifying glass.
Unfortunately, this dangerous peculiarity is happening with increasing frequency. Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles warmed a sidewalk to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. In Las Vegas, the Vdara hotel melted some plastic bags and scorched a guest’s hair. In London, after returning to his Jaguar, the owner discovered the Walkie Talkie tower had melted some mirror and badge pieces on the car.
Amusingly, it seems some parties would like to place all the blame on Mother Nature instead of the building’s inherent design, as in the Walkie Talkie tower case:
“The building’s developers, Land Securities Group PLC and Canary Wharf Group PLC, were quick to respond, releasing a statement blaming the car-melting rays on a particular elevation of the sun in the sky that day.”
[My speculative words]—“Ah, don’t worry ’bout it, mate. Seems it was just the sun’s funny angle that day. There, there. Go on home now and forget ’bout it.”
Ultimately, in every case so far, the building owners took responsibility for all damages. Simultaneously, they took corrective actions to prevent reoccurrences of these hot convergences. In some cases, this involved simply installing large protective canopies over the dangerous areas. In other cases, the solution was to roughen the glass surfaces to reduce their reflectivity or physically realign them slightly to destroy the light-concentrating optics effect.
Next time, let’s hope the building designers do their optical geometry first. We do not want to give anyone any reason to say, “Now that really burns me up!”
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/09/can-reflective-buildings-produce-death-rays-be-prevented/6758/
10,000 HOURS IS NOT A MAGIC NUMBER
Posted on September 19, 2013 by James Meadows
Much has been written over the past decade or so about the key to being an expert in any discipline as being 10,000 hours of practice. Initially, the early arguments seemed to have some credence. Put in 10,000 hours of practice, and you internalize that discipline so well you become an expert. Many examples were touted to illustrate the theory.
Well, now we are not so sure, and for good reason. Practice alone is not the key to every “expert” door. What you try to walk through that door with makes a big difference . . . and yes, even to the point of not being allowed through that door. Raw intellectual horsepower is a factor. Bryant Urstadt, drawing from David Epstein’s book, The Sports Gene, writes about this in Bloomberg Businessweek (“Oh, The Places You Won’t Go” 8/5/13–8/11/13, p. 68):
“Chess players do tend to reach grandmaster status in an average of 10,000 hours, but some take 3,000 hours to get there, and others need 23,000. And several players the researchers looked at ‘started early in childhood’ and ‘logged more than 25,000 hours of chess practice and study and had yet to achieve basic master status.’”
Therefore, the time itself, although certainly a major factor, is not the only factor. Innate intelligence, aptitude, and willingness are also extremely important. Additionally, physical or physiological attributes will render one person more likely to succeed in any given sport than another person not equally blessed with those same attributes:
“Ten thousand hours of practice, however, do not a professional make. Research on baseball players has found that professionals have vision that is off the charts, literally. A doctor named Louis Rosebaum, testing 87 players in the Dodgers organization in 1992, had to order new charts. The old ones tested visual acuity only down to 20/15. Nearly every player neared the theoretical maximum of about 20/12. Being able to see the ball earlier is a crucial differentiator—and not one an aspiring player can work on. And so it goes with speed in soccer and cardiovascular efficiency in cross-country skiing.”
In my opinion, we have good news and bad news here:
Bad News. Just because you invest blood, sweat, and tears into any particular discipline does not guarantee you will be a bonafide expert in that discipline. There is no mathematical formula that guarantees you expert status purely based on practice. Unfortunately, some people are adopting this false premise and relying on 10,000 hours, planning to attain an “expert” title. Although this might work for some people, many others will be sorely disappointed.
Good News. Success in life and business is predicated on a wonderful and exciting combination of many factors. Your physical and physiological composition is extremely important. You definitely want to pay attention to that mix. It will give you some guidelines concerning how far you can go and where you should not go, especially in professional sports. Understanding that ahead of time is a tremendous insight. Additionally, by carefully assessing your innate intelligence, aptitude, interests, and passions, you can do a spectacular job understanding and pursuing the roles in which you will excel. Some of that assessment you can do yourself. Some of that assessment you should seek outside resources to administer most helpfully. Sometimes friends, family, and colleagues can see things you miss. The important matter is to do the assessments and then run with the truth they reveal. Running with that truth will be immensely more important than any arbitrary 10,000 hours.
BETTER HEALTH FOR BETTER INCOME
Posted on September 18, 2013 by James Meadows
Exercise more and you will make more money. While that is not an ironclad guarantee, a positive correlation does exist. Professor Vasilios Kosteas of Cleveland State University researched the topic. His findings indicate people who work out three times or more each week earn six to nine percent more than their nonexercising peers.
Career advancement may come faster to those who handle stress better and are more productive. Folks who exercise tend to handle stress better and tend to be more productive. Do the math.
Regardless of income of course, the added physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness fit people experience more than compensate for the time and energy invested in exercising. Not only do you enjoy the fun of working out, but any additional financial gain is an added bonus.
WHO IS PHONING THE INTERNET
Posted on September 17, 2013 by James Meadows
Smartphones allow us to do much. One of the core capabilities they give us is Internet access. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center reveals the percentage of various groups that use their smartphones to access the Internet.
Gender has an almost equal breakdown. The percentage of men who use their smartphones to access the Internet is 57 and women come in at 56.
Racially, Hispanics show 66%, non-Hispanic blacks show 60%, and non-Hispanic whites show 52%.
Age correlates inversely:
18 to 29—77%
30 to 49—69%
50 to 64—40%
65 and up—13%
Internet usage via smartphones correlates positively with annual income. Nevertheless, this is only true beyond a certain income baseline:
Less than $30,000—52%
$30,000 to $49,000—51%
$50,000 to $74,999—60%
$75,000 and up—71%
Finally, education level shows a positive correlation:
No high school diploma—38%
High school diploma—47%
Some college—62%
One or more college degrees—66%
These kinds of statistics help us as businesspersons. They inform our advertising, marketing, and strategy. This is extremely important because the percentage of people accessing the Internet on mobile devices drives the percentage of people making purchases via those same devices.
Knowing the statistics is one thing; successfully predicting where they are going is even more important. My guess is the percentages will increase rather than decrease. Technology tends to do that, and that is why more businesses are designing their Web sites to be mobile friendly. I think that is another corollary on being in the right place at the right time.
YOUR FIRST SENTENCE
Posted on September 16, 2013 by James Meadows
You possibly will never recover from your first sentence. That depends on how good or bad it is. First impressions matter. They matter in many different contexts too.
Although much of our business communications can be rote and routine, occasionally we find ourselves in situations that can benefit from a bit more creativity. This is especially true when you must communicate persuasively. Whether it is a sales proposal, a marketing brochure, a business plan, or an internal message, we can learn from the creativity of other communicators. Joe Fassler wrote a piece for The Atlantic called, “Why Stephen King Spends ‘Months and Even Years’ Writing Opening Sentences.” Fassler quotes Stephen King who gives his opening sentence rationale and a great example:
“An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this. . . . This sentence from James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice certainly plunges you into a specific time and place, just as something is happening:
‘They threw me off the hay truck about noon.’
Suddenly, you’re right inside the story—the speaker takes a lift on a hay truck and gets found out. But Cain pulls off so much more than a loaded setting—and the best writers do. This sentence tells you more than you think it tells you. Nobody’s riding on the hay truck because they bought a ticket. He’s basically a drifter, someone on the outskirts, someone who’s going to steal and filch to get by. So you know a lot about him from the beginning, more than maybe registers in your conscious mind, and you start to get curious.”
King shares another splendid example of an opening sentence’s potency:
“With really good books, a powerful sense of voice is established in the first line. My favorite example is from Douglas Fairbairn’s novel, Shoot, which begins with a confrontation in the woods. There are two groups of hunters from different parts of town. One gets shot accidentally, and over time tensions escalate. Later in the book, they meet again in the woods to wage war—they reenact Vietnam, essentially. And the story begins this way:
‘This is what happened.’
For me, this has always been the quintessential opening line. It’s flat and clean as an affidavit. It establishes just what kind of speaker we’re dealing with: someone willing to say, I will tell you the truth. I’ll tell you the facts. . . . and you want to know.”
Granted, an opening sentence does not do all the work. An opening sentence, if designed well, will do the initial hard work of setting the stage, of gaining your audience’s interest. Once that is done, you have the rich opportunity to keep them.
So . . . did I recover from my first sentence?
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/why-stephen-king-spends-months-and-even-years-writing-opening-sentences/278043/
UNDISCOVERED DIGITAL INFLUENCE
Posted on September 13, 2013 by James Meadows
Companies and individuals continue to explore how best to capitalize on the opportunities of social media. Many sources provide research to help toward those ends. One of them is Technorati Media. Established over a decade ago, Technorati Media has produced a steady stream of research reports and ideas concerning the ongoing development of social media.
In its “2013 Digital Influence Report,” several interesting observations are made. The report affirms 60% of brand marketers predict about a 40% increase in social-media-related advertising. The fact these companies plan to spend more money in social media is a positive, given its ongoing growth and influence. Upon a deeper inspection though, one might question exactly how effectively those funds are being deployed. The report clarifies:
“Within their social budget, more than half goes to Facebook, followed by YouTube and Twitter, with the remaining 11 percent of their social spend going to blogs and influencers. Though blogs and influencers don’t get a large portion of brands’ digital spend, they rank high with consumers for trust, popularity and influence.”
That is the problem. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are outstanding vehicles in social media. To say anything less would be foolish. Nevertheless, many consumers turn to blogs as influential information sources when they are making purchase decisions. The report summarizes the disconnect:
“In short, where brands are spending is not fully aligned with how and where consumers are seeing value and being influenced.”
A very valid, if frustrating, reason exists for this disconnect. The blogger world is extremely vast, nonstandardized, and fragmented. It is lacking any consolidated overarching metrics system to which marketers can go. Therefore, it becomes easier to spend on the known vehicles rather than attempting to spend money on the fragmented, vast, and unmeasured world of the blogosphere. They are simply not included in the more conventional metrics of social media, and thus they become easy to ignore. This occurs more than likely to everyone’s detriment. The report gives more detail:
“At present, brands primarily look to comScore/Nielsen ranking for identifying and selecting influencers first, yet influencers are not well represented in these indices. Furthermore, when gauging the success of campaigns, where influencers are monitoring traffic/page views, brand marketers are measuring Facebook likes.”
This will be a fascinating situation to observe. It seems to me the well-informed marketer will do more to assess all the opportunities in social media. Although the big names such as Facebook are important, seeking out at least a sliver of the massive blogger world as a marketing enhancement may be very profitable.
http://technoratimedia.com/report/2013-dir/
DODGING BAMBI
Posted on September 12, 2013 by James Meadows
Get ready for more high-tech collision avoidance systems in our motor vehicles. This time we are specifically looking at dodging Bambi. About a million deer are hit annually in the US. Damages include 27,000 injuries to people (I assume you understand the deer did not do too well either) costing about three and a half billion dollars. Of course, deer are not the only critters that are hit.
It turns out collision avoidance systems have much more difficulty recognizing animals compared to people. That is starting to change. In 2014, Mercedes-Benz S-Class cars will come equipped with Night Vision Assist Plus. The car company collaborated with Autoliv, a Swedish safety-system company. The inherent technical difficulties in recognizing all types of animals demanded significant time for research, data collection, and system design. Writing in Popular Science, Lawrence Ulrich gives us this description (“Animal Avoidance: An Infrared System that Spots Wildlife from 500 Feet Away” September 2013, p. 18):
“One reason the upgrade took five years is that recognizing animals is much more difficult than recognizing people. Species vary widely in size and shape, have profiles that change drastically when they turn, and move differently. (Humans, by comparison, have more or less the same shape and move in the same way.) To train the system, Autoliv cataloged thousands of animals across five continents. Night View Assist Plus merges data from two cameras to create an illuminated view of what’s ahead. When an animal or pedestrian nears a roadway, the system highlights it on an in-dash display, and, if danger is imminent, sounds an alarm and pre-charges the car’s brakes.”
If that is not impressive enough, consider this: The data from the two cameras is merged by the system’s processor and instantly checked against 150 parameters to eliminate false positives. This is definitely a case where high-tech creates no-touch. That means the deer feel better and we do too!
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCORDING TO WALMART
Posted on September 11, 2013 by James Meadows
As a member of the Social Media Club of Kansas City, I was privileged recently to attend a meeting at which Chad Mitchell (Senior Director, Digital Communications for Walmart) was the presenter. Mitchell shared very openly on the challenges and the opportunities social media presents to the nation’s largest private employer. Here are three crucial truths about social media I took away from Mitchell’s presentation:
1—Consider All The Elements. Mitchell discussed the key elements of a social media program. These elements are the human, the strategic, the technology, and the cultural. Only by engaging all four of these elements can your company build a holistic and effective social-media program that will stand the test of time.
2—Manage To Your Story Arc. A negative story about the company tends to peak fast, and then die down very slowly. A positive story about the company tends to peak more slowly. Therefore, how and when a company manages a story via social media is extremely important. Mitchell emphasized with a negative story, you want to manage the balance and the differing viewpoints so you are as fair as possible. Reacting too quickly can be bad, but waiting too long can be equally bad. Therefore, being sensitive and responsive using all the best information can be a challenge. On the other hand, with a positive story you want to extend its lifecycle by resurrecting it at strategic moments. This allows you to get more mileage out of it, which accrues to increased company goodwill.
3—Use The Hidden Public Opportunities. Ryan offered statistics indicating much of the most negative perceptions about Walmart arise from people who have never worked for Walmart or have never shopped at Walmart. Social media presents a gentle opportunity to inform everyone. Even when you are engaging an extremely upset customer or a highly motivated critic, simply by responding, you thereby speak to the much larger audience of observers, who then become better informed. Do your job right, and over time, the public perception improves.
I am very grateful for Mitchell’s visit to Kansas City. His excellent insights can help us all refine our social-media programs.
SPAM’S LATEST FLAVORS
Posted on September 10, 2013 by James Meadows
I was reading a technical bulletin recently by Kaspersky Lab Expert, Darya Gudkova. The topic was the latest spam trends. Although we like to think we would never be fooled by any of the spammers’ tricks, remaining alert to their current strategies can provide that potent ounce of prevention. Gudkova’s report offers that, and much more. Here are some of her key observations:
1—Top Nations. Spam continues to get around the world, but certain nations earn the top spots. When spam is sourced by nation, the top four countries are China (23.1%), US (16.8%), South Korea (12.6%), and Taiwan (5.6%). The nations enjoying the largest onslaught of all that spam are US (12.0%), Russia (11.9%), Germany (9.3%), and India (5.6%).
2—Best Bang For The Buck. Although spammers are satisfied when one customer clicks through on an ad, they are thrilled when something even better happens. That “something better” is the installation of spam software onto the host PC. An infected PC is worth much more than a single product purchase. An infected PC provides an additional soldier in the botnet army. Therefore, a variety of social engineering tactics is used to convince you and me to install the spammers’ malicious software without realizing we are doing it.
3—Auto-Reply Disguises. Spammers are making a major push with emails that are disguised as corporate-account auto-replies. These include supposed delivery failure notifications and messages about the arrival of an important fax or email. When the recipient cooperates with whatever steps those emails cite, malware installation occurs.
4—Big-Name Impersonators. It comes as no surprise, but spammers continue to impersonate some of the most popular companies today. Even Walmart joins the list as one of many stores the spammers have adopted to manipulate recipient behavior.
5—E-Card Impersonators. The next time you receive a holiday or birthday e-card, be suspicious. Unfortunately, many viruses are being spread by malicious e-cards made to appear they are coming from legitimate friends and family via Hallmark. In fact, they are just another trick of the spammers.
6—Random Text Tricks. This is an old one, but it is still being used. The spammer simply inserts code into what otherwise appears to be a legitimate coupon or retail advertisement. Sometimes the additional code simply appears at the bottom of the email and other times it is set to a white font so that it is invisible to the recipient.
Gudkova’s report reminds us we must be constantly vigilant with our email. During the second quarter of 2013, spam comprised 70.7% of all email traffic. Our spam filters and security software will catch a lot of that, but never assume they will catch it all.
http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792297/spam_in_q2_2013?print_mode=1
SECRETS TO CAREER SATISFACTION AND MEANING
Posted on September 9, 2013 by James Meadows
Po Bronson is a career expert and the coauthor of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing. He was recently interviewed by Money magazine on the elusive and intriguing question of how you can bulletproof your career (“The Big Question: How Can I Bulletproof My Career?” Donna Rosato, September 2013, pp. 92–95). His insightful answers can benefit us all, especially his comments about finding career satisfaction and meaning:
“Most of what makes work feel satisfying and meaningful isn’t solved by changing your job or what field you’re in. The baseline is you need adequate challenge, and you need your contribution to be respected and honored by the people around you.” (p. 95)
I do believe people face situations in which a job change or an industry change is essential. Your personal awareness and circumstances should reveal that to you. Other than those extreme cases, Bronson’s point is genuine and powerful.
A racehorse is at its best when it is racing. A pianist is at his best when he is performing. A dentist is at her best when she is fixing teeth. Likewise, you are at your best when your skills are matched to your tasks. Too little and you will grow bored, too much and you will burn out.
Simultaneously, Bronson’s point about respect and honor are crucial. As professionals, we should constantly look for ways to respect and honor each other. Not because we are in some sick sort of mutual admiration society, but purely because such behavior is the natural outgrowth of quality professional relationships. Professionals appreciate what they bring to the table, and what others bring to the table. Moreover, when that happens, our career satisfaction and meaning skyrocket. Simple affirmation does that.
When was the last time you affirmed a colleague? When was the last time someone affirmed you? I hope you have good answers to those questions.
All this reminds us of how important it is to be in the right work environment. This means you should search first for the kind of organization in which to work before you search for a job title. Job title is important no doubt, but the people around you are the heart of the corporate culture. Who they are and how they behave will make all the difference in the world, especially if you want to bulletproof your career.
Rise to the right challenge level and select the best group!
ENERGY FOR CAREERS THAT ENDURE
Posted on September 6, 2013 by James Meadows
Po Bronson is a career expert and the coauthor of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing. He was recently interviewed by Money magazine on the elusive question of how you can bulletproof your career (“The Big Question: How Can I Bulletproof My Career?” Donna Rosato, September 2013, pp. 92–95). His insightful answers can benefit us all, especially his comments about finding the energy for your career while avoiding burnout:
“You need periods of rest and recuperation. You can get that from your personal life. An enormous amount of my time goes to my family, my kids, my volunteer work as a youth soccer coach. I get energy from those parts of my life, and that makes me better at what I do professionally. Spend time with people outside your field. . . . New ways of thinking will energize you.” (p. 94)
These are very important truths. I too find spending time with other people energizes and enhances me personally and professionally. Other people often provide insights, ideas, and perspectives I never would have produced alone.
You cannot be the sole energy producer. You must be willing to tap the energy of people around you such as colleagues, family, and friends. In so doing, you multiply your own energy. When that happens, you truly find energy for a career that endures.
WHEN THE SHORT RUN DICTATES THE LONG RUN
Posted on September 5, 2013 by James Meadows
Recently the Urban Institute did some research on the demographics and dynamics of the long-term unemployed. Matthew O’Brien wrote an article summarizing that research (“Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?” http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/who-are-the-long-term-unemployed/278964/). While the article is filled with excellent material, one particular segment stands out to me as the most potent nugget for every career professional to consider:
“It seems the stigma of getting laid off puts people near the back or the jobs line. And then, once they’ve been stuck at the back of that line for six months, the stigma of long-term unemployment keeps them there forever. It’s a powerful, and depressing, reminder that we can’t afford to ignore the short run.”
Because the short run dictates the long run, O’Brien’s summary observations underscore three imperatives for you and me as professionals:
1—Network Now. You never know what or who will be the key to your next open door, but it is more likely to be a who rather than a what. People knowing people is what makes the world go around. Networking tells us—at its most genuine level—it is not what you know, but whom you know that counts. Networking is not something you should start doing the day you lose your job; networking is something you should be doing constantly. Networking should be a regular part of your life. Therefore, if you have not started networking, then start today. If you have been networking, then keep at it.
2—Capitalize On The Short Run. If you were just laid off, recognize you are at the beginning of that “short run” O’Brien describes. You cannot afford to waste any time. The potential for great gain or great loss is high. How you handle the immediate future will largely dictate your longer-term professional outcome. That means do not sit idle. Do something! Light a fire under your butt and get moving fast. Do not move fast with panic, but with professional, passionate motivation for a better future.
3—Adopt A Dual-Role Approach. Precisely because of the dangers of long-term unemployment, adopt a dual-role approach by working two jobs: a). Treat your job hunt as a regular job. Pour yourself into it. Work your network. Apply for those positions for which you are most qualified. Find ways to get yourself in front of the decision makers. b). Create your own job. Regardless of what it is, create a position for yourself based on the skill sets you possess and the people you know. This has two significant benefits. First, you begin generating income and second, you have created a viable position for your resume that essentially removes the stigma of being among the long-term unemployed. One of two amazing things will happen. Either you will find your new self-employment endeavor blossoms so well, you decide you must make it your permanent career, or while keeping yourself happy, busy, and productive, another viable fulltime offer comes your way. Either way, you win!
Remember, when the short run dictates the long run, you absolutely must make the most of that short run so that you will make the most of that long run.
MARISSA GOES YAHOO FOR YAHOO
Posted on September 4, 2013 by James Meadows
Now in her second year as CEO, Marissa Mayer hopes to transform Yahoo into a mobile-age media company. To do so she is putting fresh blood into Yahoo’s research and development department. She has already hired 30 new PhDs this year and plans to add another 20 before the year is out. A major focus will likely be on Yahoo’s search functionalities (“Can Marissa Mayer Save Yahoo?” Brad Stone with Douglas MacMillan, Bloomberg Businessweek, 8/5/13–8/11/13, pp. 44–49):
“Although Google dominates [search] and Yahoo has had Microsoft power its search engine for the last three years, Mayer still believes Yahoo can find new ways to present search results. ‘Search is far from over,’ she says, ‘It’s physics in the 1600s or biology in the 1800s. There’s miles to go before you get to quantum physics or even a microscope. There’s a lot of that you can do once you have mobile, and we are going to be very focused on the user experience.’” (p. 48)
What Mayer claims about search-engine technology and use is probably true. However, even if Yahoo can take the lead in this arena, Mayer still has to pull it all together with monetization. This is always the challenge when it comes to online services. Mayer herself may not be the best person to take point on that:
“For all her credibility with engineers, Mayer is an unknown to Yahoo’s biggest advertisers. ‘To be out there meeting with clients and advertisers is not her thing,’ says Marla Kaplowitz, the chief of media agency MEC North America. As for its products, ‘Yahoo still needs to be a lot more nimble,’ says Kaplowitz, noting that running large ad campaigns across Yahoo’s stable of services is particularly cumbersome.” (p. 49)
The future of Yahoo is not an easy or a guaranteed ride, but it will be an interesting one. Given the circumstances, no one would expect any different. That is the challenge Marissa has engaged. For her sake, and for Yahoo’s sake, she had better be successful.
THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS
Posted on September 3, 2013 by James Meadows
I was reading a technical bulletin recently by Kaspersky Lab Expert, Marta Janus. The topic was a particular type of computer virus and how it operates. In the first paragraph of the lengthy article, Janus makes this observation:
“The malicious code can be triggered by a specially crafted DOC or RTF file for MS Office versions 2003, 2007 and 2010. Although this vulnerability was patched by Microsoft more than a year ago, it seems that not everyone cared to install the updates. And those who didn’t may be at risk of getting all their documents, pictures and databases encrypted by a new version of the Gimemo ransomware.”
Janus’ article underscores a point I have seen repeatedly. Virus makers do not always have to invent clever new viruses to break into our IT systems, although they certainly spend the lion’s share of their time doing so. Sometimes, all they have to do is resurrect some old viruses and shotgun them out to cyberspace. Every time they do that, they know they will always find some IT systems that simply are not up to date—in other words, red meat.
Ignorance is bliss does not work with cybersecurity. Ignorance quickly turns into an IT disaster. Cybersecurity is the war that never ends.
http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792298/The_curious_case_of_a_cve_2012_01
LOVING LABOR
Posted on August 30, 2013 by James Meadows
Once again we enter a Labor Day weekend, a time to celebrate labor. While I realize not everyone automatically has warm fuzzy thoughts about labor, nonetheless, I do contend labor is something to be appreciated, and even loved.
If you are fortunate enough to be in a working situation, now is a good time to be thankful you have that. Many people are still searching for a viable employment situation. Others are afflicted with any number of physical or mental ailments that rob them of the opportunity to work. Take a fresh look at your current work situation and consider how you might reapproach it to everyone’s benefit.
If you are unemployed and searching for work, be thankful you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself. As many people have experienced (me included!), many times a closed door of opportunity leads to an open door of better opportunity. And be thankful for the extra time unemployment provides just to do some serious introspection, self-assessment, and reformation of your personhood. Those endeavors are always good for our personal and professional growth.
Finally, to the degree you can, just enjoy taking some time off, paradoxically, to celebrate labor. Our rest and recreation help us to be better in our labors. “Off time” and “on time” have a symbiotic relationship. Our off time recharges our batteries for on time. Our on time challenges us sufficiently so that we appreciate our off time.
A SAILOR’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Posted on August 29, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. For the past three weeks, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com). Today is my final blog post dedicated to this year’s CareerXroads’ mystery job seeker report.
Noah has definitely given us some rich material for analysis. No doubt, we have only scratched the surface. I have deeply appreciated all Noah has taught us about the strengths and the challenges of our current online recruiting and hiring systems.
In the conclusion of Crispin’s and Mehler’s report, they make some specific recommendations companies can implement if they are serious about improving their online recruiting and hiring systems:
“Treat each candidate as unique rather than pigeonholing them based on a quick screening.
Respond to all applications within a short timeframe and provide updates on their status.
Reveal more about themselves as employers and cultivate deeper conversations with job seekers.
Continue to cut the time and effort it takes to apply for a position.
Provide more resources to educate job seekers about their cultures.
Treat the types of information that they request for screening more selectively.”
I love the first one about treating each candidate as unique instead of pigeonholing them based on a quick screening. This seems to be at the very heart of true talent management. It is only when we fully understand all that makes the job candidate unique and special that we can accurately assess a job match. The quick-screening software tools may exclude many viable candidates. This relates to the findings of Dr. Mitch Gold (“The Human Age Requires Changes” Blog.reliableinsights.com, September 24, 2012) concerning the “teachable fit” model and the looming talent deficits. The “teachable fit” model states although a person may not be the perfect fit for the job right now, we must look beyond his or her current skills and qualifications to the aptitude, attitude, and raw material of who that person is. Upon doing that, it may be we can train this person into the job over time. By so doing, everyone wins, and we mitigate talent deficits.
Providing more information to educate job seekers about the prospective company’s culture is very good. If a job seeker is not compatible with the corporate culture, then a positive hiring decision is ultimately a mistake for which everyone suffers.
Cultivating deeper conversations with job seekers is another great recommendation. Professional relationships are strengthened and enhanced when communication flows generously. By getting to know a job candidate on a more in-depth level, smarter hiring decisions can be made.
Continuing to reduce the time spent online and the follow-up processing is a given. Great strides have been made in this area, and a continued positive trend is essential. Time is everyone’s most precious yet nonrenewable resource.
Speaking of time . . . that brings us to the unavoidable challenge of implementing all these marvelous recommendations. In principle, I agree with all the recommendations. In practice, I recognize the realities of resource limitations. I fully understand how incredibly busy most HR departments are, more today than ever. Therefore, some of these ideals for which we aim, may be only partially attainable for the time being.
On the other hand, I believe the recommendations are based in solid truths. That being the case, and with some bigger-picture thinking, and maybe even some attitude adjustments, perhaps there is another route. Because I believe Noah’s findings reveal powerful truths and lessons learned, perhaps this is the beginning of a sea change. Perhaps increasing numbers of companies will read the CareerXroads’ report and light bulbs will pop. Perhaps the true leaders of the pack will invent some new best practices that take the entire online recruiting and hiring system to a completely new level. I am enough of a passionately driven optimist to believe we can find a way to take the very best of what we already have and combine it with the key CareerXroads’ findings and recommendations to create a new normal of online recruiting and hiring systems.
As important as it is continually to perfect our core competencies, products, and services, the pipeline that feeds all that is even more important. That pipeline is our online recruiting and hiring systems. That pipeline happens first and it is the true face of our business, both today and tomorrow.
An entire company can be changed for the better by just one employee. However, that one employee must first travel from the outside of the company to the inside. That will never happen if the door is not opened. My challenge is for companies to open the door.
NOAH INVITES AN ATTITUDE CHANGE
Posted on August 28, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. Within the next day or so, I will be wrapping up my blog posts dedicated to CareerXroads’ mystery job seeker report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Noah has definitely given us some rich material for analysis. No doubt, we have only scratched the surface. I have deeply appreciated all Noah has taught us about the shortcomings of our current online recruiting and hiring systems.
In the conclusion of Crispin’s and Mehler’s report, they ponder the glacial speed of positive change with online recruiting and hiring systems. They express frustration and bafflement as to why many easy fixes are apparently ignored. I am sure they represent many job seekers today.
Crispin and Mehler also address a more fundamental and difficult root cause—attitude. Attitudes can be next to impossible to change. Nevertheless, sometimes an attitude change is the only thing that can save a sinking ship. Crispin and Mehler pull no punches in their assessment:
“In some instances, what’s required is a shift in attitude—a greater understanding or acknowledgment of job seekers’ needs. This would seem to be within easy reach because it simply requires recruiters and hiring managers to put themselves in the shoes of the applicant. Most of them have already been there. Or they will be.”
The invitation for an attitude change is on the table. The only question is how many companies will accept it?
NOAH GETS ALL WET
Posted on August 27, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
As we know, communications quality says much about the sender. It also says much about what the sender thinks of the recipient. Unfortunately, Noah got all wet. He found an abundance of serious deficiencies concerning company communications to job seekers. For example:
“One hospital system’s form letter served up an information overload about which candidates needed to resubmit their resumes. Aflac’s email seeking an interview with Ark didn’t identify the company until the end.”
In another case, the company’s response letter provided a lengthy “candidate reference number” that no one would likely even try to remember. As the CareerXroads reports concludes:
“It is an empty gesture that does not prove a company’s responsiveness.”
I will not torture you with any of the lengthy texts within some of these letters. Just try to envision a personal letter written by a robot making a primitive attempt at artificial intelligence, and you will have a good idea of the communication quality. To couch it in slightly different terms, imagine you are about two walk into one of two businesses. ABC Company greets you at the door with:
“Ugh?”
XYZ Company greets you at the door with:
“Welcome to XYZ Company. How may I serve you today?”
It seems to me HR communications quality to job seekers is an area of strong opportunity. The companies that strengthen their communications at every stage of their recruiting and hiring will be the companies that attract and retain the top talent.
I am hoping we can get Noah dried out.
THE ONLINE BRAND—MORE BUMMERS THAN BRAVOS
Posted on August 26, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Noah found a mixed bag concerning employment branding as delivered by companies’ Web sites. Noah faced a key question:
“Given your understanding of ‘Employment Branding’, do you feel this site offers a quality sense of WHY people come here and Why people stay?”
Only 7% of the time did Noah respond with “really good.” Noah was able to respond “good” 33% of the time. A “neutral” response occurred 40% of the time, “bad” 13%, and “really bad” 7%.
Please understand I am thrilled 40% of the sites elicited a positive response concerning employment branding. Nevertheless, we have 60% leaving no particular impression, or worse yet, a bad impression. These are not good numbers. Liz Ryan (CEO of Human Workplace) emphasizes how this approach subtly insults job seekers (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130815041829-52594-your-job-ads-are-driving-away-talent):
“If we are not marketing to job-seekers in a job ad, then we are screaming ‘You are not worth marketing to.’ . . . We market our organizations with evangelical fervor when we’re recruiting customers. Why would we value our value-creating collaborators, a/k/a prospective employees, any less?”
Branding is a marketing concept we know more about today than ever. Companies need to realize branding for their external customers is not the only branding they do. Their employment branding is a vital component of their standing in the marketplace, both physically and virtually. I am astounded more companies are not recognizing the branding dynamic’s importance with their online job-application processes.
I think there was a time when the Internet was in its earliest days that job seekers would cut a lot of slack to companies. Job seekers realized everyone was still learning exactly how this online world works. Nowadays, I think that slack cutting will soon be over if it is not already.
Increasingly sophisticated job seekers will demand increasingly sophisticated job sites. When they do not find them, they will drop those companies from their prospect lists. When that happens, the companies will always lose.
QUESTIONING THE QUESTIONS
Posted on August 23, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Noah found 8% of companies requested a Social Security number on the initial online job application. This was a 33% increase from last year. I do understand busy HR departments like to do anything possible to save time down line in their processes. Therefore, by obtaining a Social Security number upfront, the company does not need to reach out to the applicant specifically for the Social Security number when they decide to do background checks. Nevertheless, given the sensitivity of this data, this may still be one question not worth asking until an offer has been made. HR expert Susan M. Heathfield emphasizes just because something is legal does not automatically mean it is a good idea (http://humanresources.about.com/b/2013/06/01/you-want-my-social-security-number.htm):
“Asking for the Social Security number on an application is legal in most states, but it is an extremely bad practice. . . . Why are employers asking for Social Security numbers from every applicant? Seems like such a bad idea.”
Noah found 2% of companies required a personality test. I would like to see that percentage increase. Personality is such an important element for culture-fit. We can still respect and promote diversity while simultaneously considering personality as a success predictor within a specific corporate culture. I believe if more companies did this, we would reduce the incidence of bad hires.
Interestingly, only 33% of companies asked specific questions related to the job opening itself. Perhaps certain relevant technical questions on the front end would make everyone’s job easier on the back end. It would likely expedite concentrating the viable candidate pool.
One thing is certain: As our online recruiting and hiring systems continue to evolve, we must continue to consider the question of the questions. Let us ensure we are asking smart questions, questions that genuinely predict success or failure. Let us see what we can do to honor the privacy of all applicants by asking the right questions at the right times. Finally, Let us always be willing to question our questions.
TOO MANY LEAKS ON THE ARK
Posted on August 22, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Like all of us, Noah discovered software is great stuff when it works right, but a real pain when it does not. Unfortunately, Noah found too many leaks on the ark:
“Companies are still not paying close enough attention to their software’s blind spots and breakdowns.”
What makes these software headaches even more painful is by definition, the user is a job seeker who desperately needs cooperation from the IT gods. Crashes and glitches not only mean we have a software problem, but they also mean the job seeker must spend valuable time trying to re-create profiles, applications, or personal data. Typical software problems include URLs that do not work, random typos that cannot be fixed, a final “submit” button that does not respond, and incompatibility with even the most common browsers.
Another entire category of difficulties involves the general Web site design and organization. Noah encountered cluttered Web sites that detracted from his customer experience. And, one of my favorites, the link to “career” or “jobs” was incredibly small and tucked in at the very bottom of the page. Now that one is almost as good as the herculean efforts to which some companies go to hide all phone numbers on their site. Oh, you can find them, but they are not going to make it easy for you!
If a company is going to provide an online service, it has a responsibility to ensure that service is working properly under all possible conditions of cyberspace. User testing, compatibility checks, and design review should all be performed on an ongoing basis. Browsers change, the Internet changes, and little things suddenly become big things.
Noah’s findings provide the wakeup call to companies. The only question now is, will they respond, and if so, how well?
KNOWING THE POWER BROKERS
Posted on August 21, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Noah encountered many situations in which he laboriously, tediously entered large amounts of information that was already on his uploaded resume. These experiences were painful enough, not to mention the frequent technical glitches that occurred. But after all, the company holds all the power now doesn’t it?
No it doesn’t.
Something many people forget is the job seeker is the power broker just as much as the company is. Too many job seekers become too focused on all the power the prospective employer holds. In so doing, they forget about the power they hold.
Follow the logic: Some job seekers, no matter how qualified, eventually simply refuse to participate with a company whose online system continually complicates the process. As a result, that company now has a lower-quality labor pool from which to hire. Once a company truly recognizes that, it can make positive changes to its online recruiting and hiring system.
Job seekers who understand their value in the marketplace never undersell themselves. They know in the employment world, no matter how things may appear on the surface, more than one power broker exists.
TIME FOR TALENT
Posted on August 20, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Everyone’s time is at a premium. That is exactly why online job application processes need to be as smooth and streamlined as possible. The results here, while not perfect, are certainly extremely encouraging.
With nearly half the companies to which he applied, Noah was able to complete his entire online job application in less than 10 minutes. In 24% of his applications, he was finished in less than five minutes. Noah needed about 15 minutes 27% of the time, and about 30 minutes 14% of the time. Only about 5% of the time did Noah have to spend 45 minutes to an hour or more.
Considering where companies were at when the Internet was relatively new, we have come a long way. The time factor has improved significantly and for that, every job seeker is happy. And when you are a job seeker, you look for every excuse for happiness. Likewise, companies can take heart in knowing they are helping to make the job seeker’s situation just a little bit easier.
AFLOAT WITHOUT GPS
Posted on August 19, 2013 by James Meadows
In a prior blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
In spite of his significant seafaring experience, Noah faced many navigation problems applying for jobs online. One would think navigating a Web site would be fairly intuitive, easy, visual, and logical. Unfortunately, this was not always Noah’s experience.
Noah found 20% of the time it was difficult or impossible to move from the company’s home page to the career page. Applying for the job from the job description was not possible 15% of the time. Top marks for navigation went to 40% of the sites, but this represented a 17% decrease from last year. The worst possible scores went to 8% of the sites. The 8% all by itself does not necessarily sound real bad, but it was a doubling from last year’s 4% score that is particularly disturbing.
I am willing to cut companies some slack here. For example, is it possible the growing pains of increasing numbers of companies migrating their recruiting and hiring activities online are juicing the numbers in the wrong direction? Perhaps. If so, then we might be facing a very positive trend in the long run, but with a very negative customer experience in the short run.
No matter how you look at it, job-seeker Web site navigation has a long way to go. Hopefully, it will find its destination soon. Even for Noah, the flood eventually subsided.
CLEAR AND PRESENT CONFIRMATION
Posted on August 16, 2013 by James Meadows
In last Friday’s blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
In his job search, Noah did not always receive a simple confirmation his online application had been successfully submitted. The good news is 77% of the time, he received an immediate confirmation his application had been received. That is great!
The bad news is 23% of the time Noah was left in the dark. He did not know in real time whether his application had been successfully received. This is one of those scenarios in which I simply have to ask, “I’m sorry, but how hard can it be?” In these days of supreme computer and Internet technology, to not even program a simple courteous immediate confirmation message that assures the job seeker the application found its destination is inexcusable.
It occurs to me this simple, serious lack will leave a bad taste in the job seeker’s mouth, so much so, that job seeker might choose to leave the table. Stop and think about it. If you are having such a horrid experience during your vetting process, wouldn’t that alone make you reconsider your desire to affiliate with that organization? I wonder how many times companies have lost qualified, attractive, solid candidates purely due to the manner in which those candidates were treated on the frontend.
Companies want job seekers to remember the importance of first impressions. Shouldn’t that work the other way around too? Noah reminds us it should.
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
Posted on August 15, 2013 by James Meadows
In Friday’s blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I have been devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
CareerXroads found that Noah had a better experience in a couple important areas compared to last year’s mystery job seeker. For example, overall, the online application process took less time, and companies have demonstrated enhanced efforts to convey better information about their corporate culture. These are two improvements we can definitely celebrate.
Simultaneously, Noah found some serious deficiencies in his online job-seeking process in three key areas:
1—You Are A Number. Canned responses, lack of information on status, and no screening questions all conveyed the company was looking at Noah as a number more than a person. For example, about 75% of companies communicated no information concerning Noah’s status even after 90 days.
2—We Want You To Fight With Our Online System. Noah encountered numerous online systems in which confusing error messages arose, information did not transmit correctly, and he laboriously had to input routine information already contained in his uploaded resume.
3—We Require Unrelated Personal Information. Noah had to respond to numerous questions involving personal information that had no connection to his job qualifications. For example, 8% of companies demanded Social Security numbers in the initial application step.
These three deficiencies are quite serious when you consider these companies tout their state-of-the-art, easy-to-use hiring systems. They believe they are on the cutting edge. Unfortunately, Noah’s experiences suggest something else entirely. CareerXroads summarizes the sad state of affairs:
“All this is reflecting poorly on organizations that pride themselves on their progressive attitudes toward hiring. They may be losing opportunities to recruit top workers by leaving them frustratingly in the dark. Without cultivating conversations with job seekers, they are also unable to see what’s working in their recruiting practices. Perhaps this explains the lack of progress in recent years.”
This seems to be a case in which Noah might righteously declare, “Practice what you preach!”
SOME COMPANIES CAN TAKE A JOKE
Posted on August 14, 2013 by James Meadows
In Friday’s blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As promised, I am devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
Yes indeed, the newest fictitious online job seeker was none other than Noah Z. Ark (alluding to the real Noah of biblical proportions). Once the reader would drill further down Noah’s resume, the summaries of experience became quite interesting:
“Gathered intelligence utilizing computer expertise on the migration of animals in large vessels during severe thunder storms. Contacted by the big kahuna on what to do to collect and train animals to survive during the big flood. Utilized computer modeling and decision making theory to determine which pairs of mammals could survive a long ocean voyage under catastrophic weather conditions. Exceptional negotiating skills having brokered numerous deals with foreign governments over animal rights laws.”
In the busyness of all our recruiting and hiring activity, it is nice to see some companies still know how to take a joke—or make one. I reported in an earlier blog post that six companies unmasked Noah’s true identity as a mystery job seeker. These companies are Aflac, Build-a-Bear, Container Corporation, Datamark, Quicken Loans, and Zappos. The recruiting director at Container Corporation could not resist responding in kind to Noah. I tip my hat to Container Corporation for being willing to play along:
“We are thrilled that you applied online and shared your interest in The Container Store. You applied to our Software Quality Assurance Manager position and, at this time, we are not able to move forward with you in the interviewing process for that role. We are, however, looking for someone with great leadership skills who has an expertise working with pairs—particularly if they go in two-by-two. If you have spoken to the Almighty and think a flood is coming, please let us know and we’ll talk further.”
Whatever floats your boat!
NOAH’S SECOND FLOOD
Posted on August 13, 2013 by James Meadows
In Friday’s blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads. As promised, I am devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
CareerXroads is a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As part of its research each year, the company creates an online fictitious mystery job seeker. The purpose is to assess the current state of the online job-seeker experience.
You might remember the newest fictitious online job seeker was none other than Noah Z. Ark (alluding to the real Noah of biblical proportions). Once the reader would drill further down Noah’s resume, the summaries of experience became quite interesting:
“Gathered intelligence utilizing computer expertise on the migration of animals in large vessels during severe thunder storms. Contacted by the big kahuna on what to do to collect and train animals to survive during the big flood. Utilized computer modeling and decision making theory to determine which pairs of mammals could survive a long ocean voyage under catastrophic weather conditions. Exceptional negotiating skills having brokered numerous deals with foreign governments over animal rights laws.”
Interestingly, in addition to broader online job-seeker Web sites, CareerXroads targeted the companies on Fortune’s, “100 Best Places To Work For” list. It did this for a very important reason:
“These organizations are said to be at the forefront in their recruiting systems and treatment of online job seekers, so their replies are considered a predictor of wider trends. …[we want] to determine if companies were doing more than saying the right things about how they handle online job seekers.”
CareerXroads found scattered improvements in 2013. Nevertheless, it characterized matters much more negatively than positively, to the point Noah encountered a second flood:
“We discovered pockets of improvement but a flood of inadequacy.”
These inadequacies are grouped into four key areas. Here are the four areas in which companies are not performing well:
“1—Responding to applications. Even when they do, they do not follow up with updates. Roughly three in four companies did not offer closure.
2—Sharing enough information for job candidates to make educated decisions.
3—Nurturing a serious dialogue with candidates. Two in three companies had no two-way interaction with candidates even though this is a building block of the employment brand.
4—Paying close enough attention to resumes but rather relying on their automated systems to screen candidates. Five companies out of 100 contacted Ark to schedule an interview, although CareerXroads’ intent was clear to see at the end of Ark’s resume with a disclaimer.”
I agree with CareerXroads’ assessment; this is a flood of inadequacy. Allowing an automated system to screen resumes might be a timesaver, but it limits the human touch that so often discerns the nuances of the candidate. Although I have great confidence in the power of the algorithm, I never want to dismiss the power of the person.
If companies genuinely want to change, I remain confident refinements can reverse the flood of these inadequacies. The companies that make these kinds of changes first and do them well will be standard-bearers. They will be the new pacesetters for the future. They will pioneer a bold new dynamic other companies will emulate. They will also be the companies that attract and retain top talent.
BEST DOES NOT MEAN BEST AT EVERYTHING
Posted on August 12, 2013 by James Meadows
In Friday’s blog post (“Noah’s Job Search” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 8/9/13) I introduced the fine work of Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, founders of CareerXroads. As promised, beginning today I am devoting additional blog posts to their excellent and enlightening report (“This Year’s Mystery Job Seeker: Noah Z. Ark, A Man For The Modern World” www.careerxroads.com).
CareerXroads is a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As part of its research each year, the company creates an online fictitious mystery job seeker. The purpose is to assess the current state of the online job-seeker experience.
You might remember the newest fictitious online job seeker was none other than Noah Z. Ark (alluding to the real Noah of biblical proportions). Once the reader would drill further down Noah’s resume, the summaries of experience became quite interesting:
“Gathered intelligence utilizing computer expertise on the migration of animals in large vessels during severe thunder storms. Contacted by the big kahuna on what to do to collect and train animals to survive during the big flood. Utilized computer modeling and decision making theory to determine which pairs of mammals could survive a long ocean voyage under catastrophic weather conditions. Exceptional negotiating skills having brokered numerous deals with foreign governments over animal rights laws.”
Interestingly, in addition to broader online job-seeker Web sites, CareerXroads targeted the companies on Fortune’s, “100 Best Places To Work For” list. It did this for a very important reason:
“These organizations are said to be at the forefront in their recruiting systems and treatment of online job seekers, so their replies are considered a predictor of wider trends. …[we want] to determine if companies were doing more than saying the right things about how they handle online job seekers.”
Well, here are the results of Noah Z. Ark’s online job search: Responses of any kind totaled 265. Among those responses, five companies expressed an interest in Noah, including two that requested an interview. Six companies spotted the façade of Noah Z. Ark and communicated as such.
Now here is the real kicker. In Noah’s resume, the final paragraph states:
“This is a CareerXroads Mystery Job Seeker. If you would like to know why we created this resume you can contact us atmmc@careerxroads.com or (732) 821-6652. Congratulations if you have read this far as most recruiters will not.”
Needless to say, very few companies read all the way to the end of Noah’s resume. Therefore, “best companies” does not guarantee they are the best at everything. As with most companies’ online recruiting and hiring systems, we still have a long way to go to be the best.
NOAH’S JOB SEARCH
Posted on August 9, 2013 by James Meadows
Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler are the founders of CareerXroads, a consulting company specializing in human resources, staffing, and recruiting. As part of its research, the company applies to jobs online using fictitious job seekers (think mystery shoppers). The purpose is to discover what that experience is like and how companies might improve their processes.
I admire CareerXroads’ creativity. Crispin and Mehler learned a lot, and had a few laughs along the way. For example, in their most recent “job search,” their job applicant was Noah—yes, The Noah. The name and address were obvious:
“Noah Z. Ark—CPA, MS, 80 Ocean Avenue, Deepwater, NJ”
The summaries of experience became even more interesting:
“Gathered intelligence utilizing computer expertise on the migration of animals in large vessels during severe thunder storms. Contacted by the big kahuna on what to do to collect and train animals to survive during the big flood. Utilized computer modeling and decision making theory to determine which pairs of mammals could survive a long ocean voyage under catastrophic weather conditions. Exceptional negotiating skills having brokered numerous deals with foreign governments over animal rights laws.”
I love the approach! Let’s have some fun with this. Amazingly (or perhaps not so amazingly), Noah received a few phone calls and emails asking for more information, and he even received a couple of interview requests.
As funny as this is, CareerXroads’ purpose is to help companies spot the weaknesses in their recruitment and hiring processes. Therefore, I will devote some future blog posts to some of their deeper, albeit less humorous, findings.
The next question is . . . does Noah have a LinkedIn profile?
www.careerxroads.com
STEELCASE DIVERSITY
Posted on August 8, 2013 by James Meadows
Office furniture maker, Steelcase, has performed a study of different national corporate cultures. This is important because everything about how offices are designed and outfitted revolves around those findings to ensure optimum collaboration, efficiency, and productivity.
One of the markers studied is masculine versus feminine. The meaning here is do workers tend to identify more with competition (masculine) or cooperation (feminine)? The US came out as highly masculine while the opposite end of the scale held the Netherlands and Russia.
Another marker is uncertainty tolerant versus security tolerant. Uncertainty tolerant means workers are comfortable with ambiguity. China ranks the highest here. On the other hand, security tolerant’s winner is Russia.
Autocratic versus consultative is another scale. Nations showing a preference for autocratic are India, China, and Russia. The more collaborative consultative countries include Germany, the Netherlands, and the US.
Individualist versus collectivist is another scale. The US takes top position for individualist. Collectivists nations include Morocco, China, and Russia.
These kinds of studies are all about how people are different. Diversity of culture must never be overlooked. Anytime that occurs, everyone loses. Failing to take these dynamics into consideration invariably harms workers, productivity, and job satisfaction.
Steelcase demonstrates success in its business is not just knowing how to make furniture. More importantly, success in its business is knowing about the people who will use that furniture. That goes for you in your business too. Your product or service might be stellar. Nevertheless, if you want to achieve maximum success, you absolutely must put the people first.
WHEN QUALITY ASSURANCE IS BORDERLINE
Posted on August 7, 2013 by James Meadows
In the business world, many things are an exact science. Then again, many things are more art than science, and that is where quality assurance becomes sticky. Nevertheless, aiming to identify something—anything—that can be measured, no matter how crudely, adds value. It gives you a metric to track over time. If something is important, then you should be measuring it. Tracking something is better than tracking nothing.
These concepts become quite interesting in looking at our nation’s security at the southern border. Our border agents have identified some interesting metrics to track. (Pun intended? You’ll see!). Amanda J. Crawford and Eric Martin describe the process (“Border Security, One Footprint at a Time” Bloomberg Businessweek, 5/6/13–5/12/13, pp. 29–30):
“[Agents] stalk through mountainous wilderness on foot and horseback. They also search for footprints. The agents try to identify if the shoes that formed the prints are sneakers, work boots, or other footwear; the objective is to match them with shoes worn by people caught crossing the border illegally. (The agents regularly sweep the desert floor clean so they can spot fresh tracks.) The footprints that don’t match up, along with other evidence of crossers they spot but don’t catch, are counted as ‘gotaways.’ Agents compare the number of gotaways to the number turned back or detained; the result is a percentage used to gauge the security of the border.” (p. 29)
I have to give them credit for their resourceful creativity! Those “gotaways” certainly tell the QA story.
HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN
Posted on August 6, 2013 by James Meadows
This year was the first year for Eastman Kodak to exit the Fortune 500. Its high point was sitting at number 18 during the mid-1990s. This year it slid to number 562 (“Chartist” Fortune, May 20, 2013, p. 22).
Kodak is not the only significant slide in recent years. Black and Decker used to be number 106, Bethlehem Steel used to be number 8, and Unisys used to be number 36. Each one eventually left the 500 club due to changes in strategy, the economy, the industry, or business globalization.
While some companies have been able to stay on top of the mountain for many decades, that alone never guarantees their longevity. Decisions involving leadership, marketing, and strategy are made fresh daily. Yesterday’s decisions do not necessarily have relevance today. The future will demand fresh decisions.
No company is immune to these dynamics. No company comes with any guarantees. Every company—if it wants to survive and thrive—must strategically engage its new world every single day.
KANSAS CITY PRIVATE HIRING IMPROVING
Posted on August 5, 2013 by James Meadows
Based on a survey among Kansas City’s 150 largest private companies, it appears more good news than bad is on the horizon for jobs within the next year (“Top 150 Area Private Companies: Looking Ahead” Kansas City Business Journal, 5/10/13–5/16/13, p. 21). The survey indicates 6% of private companies plan to hire to maintain staff, 71% plan to hire to increase staff, and only 23% plan to do no hiring. While a wide variety of open positions are cited, the heavy hitters involve customer service, account management, information technology, project management, and sales.
The fact that most of these companies plan to increase staff is encouraging. I remember fairly recently many companies had significant cash on their books because they were too nervous to hire anyone. They did not like the economy’s volatility and they could not stomach the uncertainty involving healthcare. While these two items certainly remain moving targets, the good news is companies are forging ahead with their expansion plans anyway. That is good news Kansas City can embrace today.
LEADERSHIP SUCCESS MEANS ABL
Posted on August 2, 2013 by James Meadows
Salespersons often use the acronym, ABC, meaning “always be closing.” They recognize the importance of continuously applying themselves to the ultimate goal of the sales process. When it comes to leadership success, we should always be learning (ABL). That is the idea that John Donahoe, the CEO of eBay emphasized in his address to Stanford’s Graduate School Class of 2013:
“The more successful you are, the more you need to learn and grow. Your commitment to learning has to be continuous and unrelenting.”
I love this concept because it links learning and leadership. Leaders are learners. Leaders are readers. Leaders continuously improve themselves. Leaders never assume they have arrived.
Opportunities to learn never disappear. As your island of knowledge enlarges, so too does your shore of ignorance—the limit of your knowledge. Moreover, it is our shores of ignorance that take us face to face once again with ABL—always be learning.
The more you value your leadership, the more you want to be learning. The less you value your leadership, the less you want to be learning. So ask yourself the question today: Are you practicing ABL or have you settled for less than you can be?
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE
Posted on August 1, 2013 by James Meadows
Productivity, education, and innovation are central to the long-term success and prosperity of developing industrial nations. Failing to address these factors results in what is known as the “middle-income trap.” Evan Applegate describes how a nation falls prey to the trap (“Correlations: The Middle-Income Trap” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6/17/13–6/23/13, p. 18):
“By deploying a cheap labor force in light manufacturing, poor nations move into the middle-income range. Wages rise, and their competitive advantage weakens. Manufacturing leaves for cheaper countries such as Bangladesh. Unable to build a knowledge economy but too costly for low-end manufacturing, nations get trapped.”
The good news is the nation has risen into the middle-income level where per capita income is between $3,000 and $13,000. That is very different from where it started. The bad news is it became stuck in that middle-income level instead of continuing to advance to the high-income level (per capita above $13,000).
This is an interesting and important phenomenon. Currently 36 nations are low income, 108 are middle income, and 70 are high income. Nations currently in this middle-income trap include Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. The trick seems to be fueling growth and development in productivity, education, and innovation. Without that additional quality growth and development, a plateau or a decline will occur.
Some nations strategize and navigate this transition successfully such as Taiwan and Korea. Their focus on creating and exporting sophisticated goods paid off. Given its current trajectory, China is projected to achieve similar standing soon.
My theory is some nations become so thrilled to experience any growth, they forget about the higher-level growth opportunity beyond the status quo. This phenomenon illustrates how and why strategy can never be ignored or assumed. Whether a nation, a company, or a person, strategy must always be a priority. Development without a strategy does not always produce desirable results. On the other hand, strategic development will move us much closer to enduring success.
SUPERSIZING THE MINIMUM WAGE
Posted on July 31, 2013 by James Meadows
Sure, let’s double the minimum wage. I mean, after all, don’t we want fast-food workers to have a livable income? Thinking very superficially, this argument might just barely make sense. However, below the surface, too much substance belies the point:
1—A Wage Is An Expense. Although I always advocate for paying workers the very best wages possible, the fact remains wages are forever on the expense side of the ledger. Business owners cannot just inflate wages without any regard for the bigger picture. Every penny paid in wages reduces the company’s profit margin. This is always true, but it is particularly, painfully true in the fast-food business where profit margins are razor thin.
2—A Wage Is Not A Handout. Workers receive wages because they work for them. Wages are not handouts. I fear some value shifts over generations have resulted in a contemporary mentality of, “you owe it to me,” when in fact I do not.
3—Pay A Fair Wage. Paying a high school student $8 an hour to flip burgers is fair. Paying an attorney $200 an hour to handle a civil lawsuit is fair. Paying workers for the value of their contribution is always fair. However, to decide arbitrarily that all fast-food workers should receive double compensation is not at all fair.
4—You Can Pay Now Or You Can Pay Later. Even if we immediately double the minimum wage for all fast-food workers, does anyone really believe that extra money materializes out of thin air? Someone always pays. In this case, it would be customers paying significantly higher prices for their fast food, restaurants laying off workers to reduce their labor costs, or some combination of the two. There is no free lunch.
5—A Wage Is A Prochoice Decision. Granted, we all have situations and circumstances beyond our control. Nevertheless, we all have a tremendous amount of situations and circumstances that are within our control. I can choose to flip burgers forever, but I can also choose to pursue my dreams for a better future. Some of those dreams might involve going to college, starting a business, working three jobs, or relocating. The more passion and dedication I bring to my dreams, the more likely I am to achieve them, and to obtain the financial reward that often accompanies them.
6—A Wage Is An Incentive. Workers do their jobs hopefully because they enjoy them, but assuredly because they value the paycheck. The paycheck allows workers to live the lifestyle they want to live. Precisely because a wage is an incentive, people pursue training, education, apprenticeships, and entrepreneurial endeavors to enlarge that wage. Part of the indirect benefit of the lower fast-food wage is the very fact it forces that worker to ponder whether he or she wants to remain in that wage bracket forever. In many cases, the worker opts to improve his or her skill sets to command a better wage. The fast-food wage itself is an incentive to advance to a better wage.
NEXT TIME, LISTEN TO MY WIFE—PART THREE
Posted on July 30, 2013 by James Meadows
As a member of the Social Media Club of Kansas City, I was privileged recently to attend a breakfast meeting at which Sean Ryan (Director of Social and Mobile Marketing for J.C. Penney) was the presenter. Coincidentally, having written two blog posts about J.C. Penney’s recent struggles with its marketing strategy (Blog.reliableinsights.com: “Next Time, Listen to My Wife” 4/10/13, “Next Time, Listen to My Wife—Part Two” 6/17/13), I had a very special interest in hearing from this particular guest.
Ryan clarified he was not officially speaking for J.C. Penney in his presentation, but rather he was present as a special guest to discuss social media, marketing, and strategy in broader terms. That said, Ryan shared from the J.C. Penney situation and offered many excellent observations helpful to anyone involved in social media and marketing. Here are a few of the most significant takeaways:
1—Know When To Begin Again. Against the advice of many, J.C. Penney chose to shut down its original Facebook page. Initially, some critics saw that action as pure folly, especially given that page represented a major presence for the company. Ryan explained the social media dynamics and metrics to demonstrate the wisdom of the approach. In reality, because so many Facebook users had chosen to hide J.C. Penney news-feed items, the original site had lost much of its power. By creating a brand new Facebook page, this created the opportunity for all Facebook users to experience the company’s presence afresh and anew. This of course is exactly what J.C. Penney wanted. It gave the company the opportunity to rebuild its following and with the strong lead of its apology message for missing exactly what its customers wanted. Sometimes, the best decision you can make in social media is the decision to begin again.
2—Use Creativity And Clarity. J.C. Penney created a Twitter hashtag for its new campaign of jcpListens. Ryan described the thorough creative process his team executed to arrive at this smart result. JcpListens is very brief yet it conveys much. It also conveys what a customer wants to hear. I think sometimes companies exercise unnecessary restraint in the interest of avoiding becoming too sappy. Although I am not advocating a saccharine sweetness, I do think the importance of authentic communication cannot be overplayed. J.C. Penney did this.
3—People Still Love Stories. Ryan provided two J.C. Penney advertisements. One was a rather boring image of a couch with a pillow. The other was a colorful picture of a child’s plastic three-wheeler. Responses, hides, likes, and shares clearly demonstrated the audience could not stand the couch and pillow ad but it loved the storyline attached to the kid’s three-wheeler. Part of the reason for that was readers connected their own stories to the image. Anytime you are able to create, resurrect, or allude to a good story, you tend to capture your audience more powerfully. Every company will do better with more stories.
I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to hear directly from Ryan. His presentation reminds us companies are waking up every day and realizing they absolutely must listen to their customers. Equally important, they are realizing the power of social media to enhance that customer experience. I think J.C. Penney has listened to Kathy.
PASSIVE VICTIM SCREENING
Posted on July 29, 2013 by James Meadows
Something is happening in the marketing world that is simultaneously pathetic, slightly genius, and somewhat humorous, but still completely evil.
We have all received those emails that are trying to look as if they came from an official location, company, or department with whom we do business, but upon careful reflection, we realize they are phishing schemes. I cannot begin to count the number of times I would have become an overnight millionaire simply by clicking the link, agreeing to deposit a large check after which I would mail a smaller cashier’s check back, or sending my checking account routing and account numbers with some authorization documentation.
In the early days of phishing emails, most were instantly identified purely by the horrific grammar employed often because they originated in foreign lands. Others were instantly identified by the outlandish claims for fast financial fortune. For example:
“Your kindness and blessed wishes may rane upon your life today. Please be kind enouoogh to render ade to Prince Makavilliao Uffermop for thie tramsfer of hers estate upon diffikutlies of the estates suitor. By sending me your cheking account credantals complete and all contracts signature, we have a SUM OF 2.3 MILLION DOLLARS to disburse for your ade.” [And on and on it would drone.]
Well, believe it or not, there is a method to their madness. It turns out many of the scams we receive by email are genuinely made to appear inauthentic on purpose. The strategy is the fraudster really is not interested in an informed respondent who will either, a). instantly dismiss the offer, or b). create more difficulty than the crime is worth by mounting a counterattack. Therefore, to improve the response rate, the fraudster knows if the pitch is set up with obvious errors throughout, it will do double duty as a splendid passive screening tool.
Only those folks who are that genuinely gullible, uninformed, or unintelligent enough not to discern the errors will become marks. Then the fraudster knows the red meat has been identified! And let’s face it: the red meat is a miniscule percentage of the total prospect list. Anything the fraudster can do to raise that fraction translates to a bigger potential payday.
Market strategy works for everyone—the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am just glad to be part of the good. (Yes, I know, I might qualify for the ugly category too).
YOUR BEST STORY
Posted on July 26, 2013 by James Meadows
Russell Gray is the managing editor of the Kansas City Business Journal. He recently articulated a truism about deadlines:
“It’s not the best story you can do; it’s the best story you can do in the allotted time.”
How true that is! It is true for more than just journalists. In our role as businesspersons, we are constantly challenged to do more with less. We are constantly called on to refine our processes and improve our performance. That constant challenge means sometimes what we produce is not genuinely our “best story,” but it is the “best story” we could do in the allotted time.
To be professionally effective (and personally effective too), one must learn to assess resources against the clock. While I might have a Boeing 747 vision for that new project, sometimes I have to settle for the Cessna vision instead. Success in life and in business means constantly making those kinds of determinations. It takes a lot of wisdom and patience. When you do it right, it also greatly reduces your stress level.
Perfectionists struggle with this—I know this is true because I am a recovering perfectionist. Remind yourself every day: you do not always have to produce your “best story,” but you should produce the “best story” you can do in the allotted time.
ATOMS TO DOLLARS
Posted on July 25, 2013 by James Meadows
This past April, Goldman Sachs hired a nuclear physicist into its mortgage finance department. That kind of a career change sometimes surprises people. Nuclear physics is not exactly the same thing as running mortgage investments and writing financial contracts. Nevertheless, the idea is a star performer (especially a math and science wizard) in one industry will tend to be a star performer in other industries too.
Smarts in one industry sometimes translate to smarts in another. But then again, not always. Although one could argue intellectual horsepower is intellectual horsepower, the full business context is a major factor in any person’s performance. The financial industry has once again been reminded of this as Stephen Gandel reports (“Wall Street Returns to Its Favorite Talent Pool” Fortune, June 10, 2013, p. 20):
“In the past few years financial firms have been less interested in so-called quants. ‘The models developed before the financial crisis proved to be pathetically inadequate,’ says Dominic Connor, a London-based recruiter who specializes in quants.”
He did not say mediocre. He said pathetically inadequate.
The challenges of the financial services sector never disappear. But then again, the opportunities to hire another quant never do either.
AI HELPS THE MD
Posted on July 24, 2013 by James Meadows
So what is a patient to do when facing a horrific disease and that patient must make major decisions about a treatment program within days? That question was the inspiration for Michael Vassar, the cofounder of MetaMed. Ashlee Vance reports on MetaMed’s role in these serious medical diagnosis and treatment situations (“Take Two of These and Call Me in the Morning” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6/17/13–6/23/13, pp. 37–38):
“[MetaMed] seeks to use data analysis techniques to better diagnose patients facing grave illnesses. At its core, MetaMed tries to offer a second opinion that’s more nuanced and more thoroughly researched than those of most general practitioners. When a patient contacts the company and provides information about his or her illness, staffers enter the data into an analysis and collaboration system that enlists a team of consultants from a growing 40-person network. In addition to physicians and medical specialists, there are chemists, molecular biologists, data scientists, librarians, and others.” (p. 37)
By enlisting help in a multidiscipline fashion, the patient stands to benefit. The idea is to leave no stone unturned. This approach is superior to the single doctor. As wonderful as doctors can be, when a patient’s life is on the line, more resources are better. MetaMed’s broader approach ensures a more thorough look at all possible treatment options for the patient:
“Researchers drawn from Google and top universities compare the patient’s case with the latest scientific studies, medical journals, and health data, seek out the procedures and hospitals that offer them the best chance at recovery, and give patients a wider look at their treatment options than a physician might provide.” (p. 37)
I think MetaMed represents a wonderful confluence of knowledge, the Internet, and patient focus. While I realize too many cooks can spoil the broth, I am also intensely aware of how important a multitude of counselors is when making life-and-death decisions. My hope is MetaMed will live long and prosper. Exactly how that path unfolds remains to be seen.
As usual, cost is a significant factor. Pricing includes $8,000 initially, with additional follow-ups running at $5,000 each. Vassar hopes the service’s value will be recognized, thereby allowing MetaMed to scale quickly for everyone’s benefit:
“[Vassar] isn’t pursuing health-care insurers to cover his MetaMed services, which aren’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. ‘We would much rather incrementally lower prices via economies of scale than work with insurance, which empirically leads to incrementally rising prices,’ he says. So far, MetaMed is relying on positive reviews and referrals from its clientele.” (p. 38)
Human intelligence is absolutely necessary in making major healthcare decisions. Nevertheless, if we can augment that process with some well-designed artificial intelligence, then we maximize our odds of arriving at the best choices.
SOCIAL MEDIA FIGHTS FRAUD
Posted on July 23, 2013 by James Meadows
We are so familiar with all the Internet horror stories about viruses, scams, identity theft, and fraud. Sometimes we forget the Internet can be used to fight fraud. That is exactly what some credit bureaus and finance companies are testing by strategically tapping social media (Danielle Kucera, “Using Social Media to Stop Fraud” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6/17/13–6/23/13, pp. 48–49).
Social media presents a tremendous amount of data about people, and it usually changes congruently with their lives. Equifax, EBay, PayPal, WePay, and Intuit anticipate the judicious mining of that data will dovetail with their corporate missions. For example, Rajib Roy is the president of Equifax Identity and Fraud Solutions. He affirms his organization’s strong interest in this freely available untapped data:
“‘We are investing a lot in how can we use unstructured data that is sitting out there in social media that can help us understand a little more about identity.’” (p. 48)
Government agencies are already collaborating with Equifax to determine applicant eligibility more effectively. As another example, Intuit is using LinkedIn professional profile data to crosscheck personal identity of new customers.
For all its effectiveness, this is not a slam-dunk. Fraudsters can create fake social media profiles purely to back up their schemes. They can also pay nefarious service providers to add fake friends to their fake Facebook accounts. Nevertheless, the ultimate effectiveness of that strategy is highly suspect. Think about it—a Facebook account that has been thrown together overnight with dozens of “friends” will not have the same date-stamped authenticity as a genuine Facebook account.
When online payment fraud is costing us $3.5 billion annually, I have a feeling this fight will not be over any time soon. In the meantime, just remember before you confirm that next friend request, not every “friend” is truly a friend.
LEADERSHIP IS IN THE DETAILS
Posted on July 22, 2013 by James Meadows
Famed storyteller, Garrison Keillor, once said (Steve Kraske, “Lake Wobegon? I Know Exactly Where That Is” The Kansas City Star, July 19, 2013, pp. A1, A9):
“I find that if I leave out enough details in my stories, the listener will fill in the blanks.” (p. A9)
Having been a listener to many of Keillor’s stories, I know exactly what he describes. My imagination fills in the blanks. That very dynamic is what endears his stories to his audience. Keillor recognizes the value of the details and the audience’s role in creating them. He allows his listeners to “opt in” and in so doing the resulting story is richer for it.
This dynamic is a fantastic lesson in creativity. In an analogous fashion, it is also a fantastic lesson in leadership. The best leaders know how to empower their people. They understand when their people self-discover, they will grow and perform more effectively than when they are simply told what to do.
Some leaders just tell their people what to do. I do not consider them true leaders. While showing the way is important at times, much more important is discovering the way. The leader should paint the big picture, define the parameters, and then turn the people loose to perform. The true leader knows his or her followers will, “fill in the blanks.”
THE BIG PLAYERS
Posted on July 19, 2013 by James Meadows
Fortune just published its “Global 500,” a list of the world’s 500 largest companies (“Global 500: The World’s Largest Corporations” July 22, 2013, pp. 133, F1–F8). Some interesting observations arise:
Big Players In Big Countries. Among the 500, the US showed 132 (26.4%) corporations and China came in with 89 (17.8%). China’s number was up from 73 the prior year. Among the top 25, the US showed eight companies (32%) and China showed three (12%). Additional nations that showed frequently included Germany, Japan, Britain, France, Switzerland, and South Korea.
More Revenue, Less Profit. The Global 500 combined showed total revenue of $30.3 trillion, which is almost a 3% increase from the prior year. Total profit however was down 5.5%. Although more revenue is often interpreted as a good thing, depending on what and how that revenue is generated, it might actually harm your profit picture. Two positives were Toyota and Volkswagen, which both reported strong profits.
Walmart Rules Supreme—Almost. America’s biggie, Walmart, came in at second place instead of first. It was beat out by behemoth Royal Dutch Shell based in the Netherlands.
The Popular Industries. Peppering the top 100 of the bunch were many companies in the automotive, oil, technology, and telecom industries. These included names such as Apple, Exxon Mobil, AT&T, BMW, and Samsung Electronics.
It is ironic. We find the world is getting smaller every day, yet it remains a very big world with some very big companies. Our top 500 corporations demonstrate that truth.
SAYING BYE TO THE BOX
Posted on July 18, 2013 by James Meadows
Most of us are used to purchasing new software that we download once or receive in a box once. Occasional updates online are fine, but at least the one and only expense is that original purchase price. Microsoft and many industry watchers are predicting that will change soon.
The anticipation is customers will pay a recurring fee for the benefit of instantly downloadable software that is maintained in the cloud. The upside of software as a service is users enjoy immediate updates as they are created. The downside is a monthly subscription fee over time may amount to a much larger total expense than a one-time single purchase.
With that understanding, I have to admit Microsoft is making a strong case for the multiPC home user. For just $99 annually, a home user will receive the latest version of the complete Office suite with continuous updates as they are issued. Moreover, here is the real draw—you can perform customized installations of that complete suite on up to five different PCs in your home. Now the money starts to look even better, once you consider the cost of individual purchases for up to five different PCs.
This will be an interesting trend to watch, especially for home users and home-office workers. Given technology’s evolution, I think it is a very understandable development. The important issue will be how much economic incentive will software makers offer? If the law of supply and demand remains in operation, I have to believe the sweet spot will be found, and increasing numbers of home users will migrate to the software-as-a-service platform.
We can argue the pros and cons all day of software as a service. Both lists would be long. That does not change the fact software as a service is the future.
PC WORLD CHANGES MY WORLD
Posted on July 17, 2013 by James Meadows
I received my August edition of PC World in the mail with an accompanying announcement explaining this would be my final hardcopy issue. Like many journals, PC World has made the decision to go completely digital. I was saddened but not surprised.
Of course, I totally understand and support the rationale for magazine and journal publishers to switch venues. That argument has been waged and won a long time ago. Digital formats allow for zero printing expenses (to the publisher anyway), much more user interactivity, and feature enrichments one would never experience in the conventional hardcopy format.
Simultaneously, I groan inwardly at losing once again the convenience of my hardcopy. This is not a matter of nostalgia; it is a matter of utility. Although I am digitally nimble and Internet savvy, and that enables me to fluidly function in cyberspace, those talents lose their luster when it comes to certain kinds of content. For material I want to engage deeply and at length, I always revel in the hardcopy. As I have said many times, I have never figured out how to curl up with a good computer.
A compromise works for me on this. Whenever I initially scan my digital journals, I quickly identify those pieces I just know I must engage deeply. I select those articles and send them to my printer. All the rest I can engage online. Works for me.
I am proud of myself for adjusting to technology’s demands. Nevertheless, I do sometimes wonder . . . how will I do with that first chip implant?
WEIGHING IN ON WELLNESS
Posted on July 16, 2013 by James Meadows
The other day I came across some interesting observations about weight and how our occupations may affect it. The data is based on a nationwide CareerBuilder survey of 3,700 respondents. Here are a few of the more interesting observations:
Most Employees Are Overweight. 55% of respondents affirm, “I’m overweight” and 41% affirm the opposite. Granted, self-reporting does not guarantee accuracy, but in this case my guess is it is pretty close.
Sitting Is A Killer. When asked for the main reason their jobs led to weight gain, the top reason cited 56% of the time was sitting. I am not surprised. When you are not moving much, you do not burn many calories. Runner-up reasons include stress eating (35%), eating out (26%), office snacks (17%), and work celebrations (17%).
Job Title Correlations. Certain job titles report higher levels of weight gain than others. First place goes to administrative assistants (69%). Perhaps they tend to do the most sitting, although I do not think that is always the case. Second place goes to engineers at 56%. Third place ties at 51% each among teachers, nurses, and IT technicians. Again, I think we see the movement (or lack thereof) connection in these findings.
Exercise Is Still Popular. The good news is 40% of us report adherence to a regular workout program. The bad news is that percentage is not higher, and 10% of us affirm we never exercise. Interestingly, salespersons reported working out the most while manufacturing workers reported working out the least. I surmise the often hard labor of manufacturing leaves workers too tired to exercise or they believe their jobs provide all the exercise they need (which may or may not be true depending on the nature of that job).
Wellness-Oriented Companies Remain A Minority. With all the hoopla about wellness the fact remains 59% of all employers do not provide any sort of health perks such as gym passes, exercise rooms, or wellness benefits. The good news is 31% of employers do. What about the other 10%? Those respondents simply do not know.
You can only go as far in your career as your body and mind will sustain you. When companies provide wellness benefits, it becomes a win-win situation. Healthy, happy employees perform better, thereby enhancing the company’s bottom line. We should all be gratified to see just how far we have come in the nation’s labor market on wellness. We should all be challenged to see our wellness progress move forward with accelerated speed. Too many companies and people need it more so than at any time in the past.
ANYTIME CAN BE A GOOD TIME
Posted on July 15, 2013 by James Meadows
When you decide to start your own business, advisors and gurus abound. Some of their input is good and some is not so good. Of course, no one would advise you to start a new business when the economy is a mess, right? Well, that might depend on whom you consult.
Here is a list of just a few businesses that launched during a recession or a bear market (www.kauffman.org): 3M, Adobe Systems, Amgen, Apple, Bath and Body Works, BET, Broadcom, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chevron, CNN, Dave and Buster’s, Disney, Electronic Arts, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Exxon Mobil, Gallup, Genentech, General Electric, Genzyme, Guess, Hyatt, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Lotus Software, Merck, Microsoft, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Pizza Hut, Princeton Review, QuikTrip, Quiznos, Scottrade, The Learning Company, United Technologies, Urban Outfitters, Valero, and Whole Foods.
This list reinforces an idea I have always endorsed—anytime can be a good time to start a business. It depends much less on the economy and much more on several other business factors. For example, here is a short (but not exhaustive) list of questions one must assess before launching a new business:
1—What is your product or service?
2—Who is your ideal customer?
3—What is your value proposition?
4—What differentiates you from your competition?
5—How will you capitalize your startup?
6—Do you understand all the legalities of running a business?
7—Who will be on your team or your advisory board?
8—How will you market and sell your product or service?
9—Are you prepared for all the demands of being a business owner?
10—Do your circumstances and your passion tell you the timing is right?
The next time you decide to start a business, do not let anyone dissuade you purely because of the economy. Address the more important questions to make your decision. If you like the answers, then it might be time to take the plunge!
MICROSOFT EXPRESSES CLARITY ON WINDOWS 8
Posted on July 12, 2013 by James Meadows
Microsoft continues to gain insights and clarity about exactly how profoundly the dawn of Windows 8 has affected its customer base and the sales of new PCs. I was one of the early critics of Windows 8 for numerous reasons (see Blog.reliableinsights.com, 10/16/12, 12/7/12, 1/30/13, 3/5/13, 6/6/13).
Ryan Nakashima reports on some of Microsoft’s recent admissions about the overreach Windows 8 represented and how important it now is to look at some revisions to demonstrate the company’s intelligent response to unhappy customers (“Microsoft Tweaks Windows 8,” The Kansas City Star, June 27, 2013, pp. A10–A11):
“At its software developers conference in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that the company pushed hard to get people to adopt a radical new tile-based ‘Modern’ user interface in Windows 8. Microsoft is now back-pedaling, making it easier to reach and use the older ‘desktop’ interface. . . . Research firm IDC said [Windows 8] actually slowed down the market. Although Microsoft says it has sold more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses so far, IDC said worldwide shipments of personal computers fell 14 percent in the first three months of this year, the worst since tracking began in 1994.” (p. A10)
I think this is Microsoft making the best of a very challenging situation. I strongly support the new direction. I, along with many other PC users, will be much happier with our next PC purchase knowing we likely will be receiving an operating system that will be much easier to use than the original Windows 8.
GOOD NEWS FOR THE KANSAS CITY ECONOMY
Posted on July 11, 2013 by James Meadows
At any given time in our nation’s economy, certain regions may be doing better than others and certain regions may be doing worse than others. Obviously, it all depends on the particular mix of the region’s industrial base, population, trends, workforce, demographics, and size.
For those of us in the Kansas City metropolitan area, we have some reasons to rejoice. With a fairly diversified local economy, we tend to be somewhat buffered from the extreme national highs and lows. Additionally, we have some developments that bode well for the region’s future economic state. Chris Hyzy is the chief investment officer for U.S. Trust (Bank of America’s wealth management group). Hyzy summarizes the positives (James Dorbrook, “Rosy Prospects for KC Economy” The Kansas City Business Journal, 6/7/13–6/13/13, p. 4):
“‘You typically talk about emerging markets being overseas, but when you look at where we are in the United States, the emerging market is right here. . . . A lot of it is because of [our] exposure to the industrial sector, railroads, logistics and transportation, automobile production, access to cheap sources of energy and the agricultural community. When you look at all that, this part of the country is in the catbird seat as it relates to the United States.’”
Knowing how your area relates to the larger scene is always important. It helps you to keep matters in proper perspective, whether your situation happens to be favorable or unfavorable. Sometimes that knowledge prompts you to relocate to a more favorable part of the country to increase your odds of long-term business and career success. Other times, it prompts you to hunker down and keep doing your best with the encouraging knowledge of favorable trends.
That same knowledge also should inform your periodic business and career SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). Knowledge indeed is power. Anytime you know the score, you will be a better player. So let’s keep playing the game, whether that is here in Kansas City or anywhere else.
SHELF LIFE AND A PR LESSON
Posted on July 10, 2013 by James Meadows
Twinkies lovers are rejoicing as production resumes under new ownership following Hostess’ bankruptcy last year. One item of note is the extended shelf life of Twinkies. When the new Twinkies hit the market next week, consumers can look forward to a 45-day shelf life instead of the prior shelf life of 26 days.
One has to wonder exactly whether that shelf-life extension is a good thing. The 26-day shelf life was long enough, and certainly everyone recognizes we are not exactly dealing with health food here. Along those lines, Hostess spokesperson Hannah Arnold was questioned about the significant shelf-life extension. According to The Associated Press:
“Arnold declined to say what changes were made to extend the shelf life.”
Really?
I suppose for true Twinkies addicts, the answer—or lack thereof—makes no difference anyway. Nonetheless, as every PR expert affirms, when you make no comment, everyone else will. I can only imagine what all the “fill in the blanks” will look like on this one!
All I can say is I’m glad I don’t eat Twinkies.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR ALL
Posted on July 9, 2013 by James Meadows
I was visiting the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation recently and browsed through some of their literature about entrepreneurs. While so doing, I came across some statistics that were quite interesting. Based on that, let me throw a quick quiz at you: Over the past decade, which age bracket has produced the largest amount of entrepreneurial activity?
A. 20–34
B. 35–44
C. 45–54
D. 55–64
If you selected the youngest age bracket, you would be in large company. Many people affirm the youngest generation is the source of most new businesses lately. However, the majority is not always right and in this case, you would be wrong.
It turns out the 55–64 age bracket is the strongest source of entrepreneurial activity. The 20–34 age bracket is the weakest source. Now do not let that comparison in any way disparage your assessment of the millennials. We also know 54% of the millennials want to start a business or have already started one. Nevertheless, it is the more mature demographic group that has surpassed the millennials’ output.
I see many reasons for these differences. For one, as we can all relate to or remember, many times youthful enthusiasm’s vigor is dimmed by youth’s insecurities. On the other hand, the older more experienced demographic simply has more resources upon which to draw—and draw they obviously do.
Another reason is in spite of the Bill Gates stories, most millennials recognize the wisdom of sticking to a more conventional college-education focus in their early years to build a better base for all future business endeavors, whether purely entrepreneurial or not. Having that sheepskin carries them a long way, and they know that.
Whether it is the millennials, the baby boomers or anyone in between, entrepreneurial activity is a marvelous win for everyone. For example, from 1980 to 2005, companies less than five years old were responsible for all net national job growth. That is a powerful statistic.
Do not make any assumptions about who our entrepreneurs could be or should be. Rather, let us affirm anyone who puts it all on the line to help drive our economy.
LAB LEATHER
Posted on July 8, 2013 by James Meadows
Father-and-son team, Gabor and Andras Forgacs launched Modern Meadow in 2011. The company is dedicated to growing leather in a petri dish, thereby dodging the need for the cow’s total commitment.
Andras is a former venture capitalist and Gabor is in charge of the University of Missouri’s biological physics lab and Clarkson University’s innovation center. Putting their heads together, the Forgacs’ hope to market the lab-grown leather to consumers. So far, the product looks, feels, and smells just like the genuine bovine article.
Additionally, the tissue-engineering technology holds promise to produce what is inside the leather. Yes, lab-grown meat is on the horizon. Nevertheless, the moment you go from furniture and clothing to foodstuff, the complicating factors increase significantly. Therefore, Modern Meadow may choose to focus on the leather side of things as Ted Greenwald reports (“A Cattle Ranch In a Petri Dish” Bloomberg Businessweek, 6/10/13–6/16/13, pp. 42–43):
“The challenges of growing meat with the right flavor, texture, and aroma in a lab are daunting. Palatability aside, Modern Meadow’s legal advisers are concerned regulation could stall sales of cultured meat for 5 to 10 years. The company is pushing forward with leather. . . . Pound for pound, leather can be more lucrative than meat, with rare hides fetching hundreds of dollars per square foot.” (pp. 42–43)
Ah, well! We thought we would never see the day when “moo” was heard from the petri dish as well as the pasture! So far, no comment from the cows.
KEEPING THE MILLENNIAL PIPELINE HEALTHY
Posted on July 3, 2013 by James Meadows
We all have a vested interest in the millennials, or we should. They are the future of our businesses, nonprofits, and institutions. Therefore, we all have a shared responsibility to invest in their lives and to inspire them onto greatness.
Catherine Newhouse writing in Christianity Today speaks to the particular dangers faced by the noncollege-bound young adults. Her research, coupled with the work of sociologist Christian Smith (author of Souls in Transition, a book about the spiritual lives of millennials and their difficult transitions into adulthood) bring certain conclusions of deep concern (“The Forgotten Millennials” June 2013, pp. 15–17):
“Working millennials are more vulnerable to poverty and unemployment . . . meaning they face some of the hardest obstacles transitioning to adulthood.” (p. 16)
To the degree our businesses and organizations have healthy young adults, our businesses and organizations will enjoy a rich talent pool and the corresponding success that accompanies it. The opposite is tragically true too.
We all have an opportunity here. Think about what your business or your organization can do to invest in the lives of teenagers and young adults. Churches, clubs, industry outreaches, mentorships, apprenticeships, and part-time jobs all offer tremendous avenues for building up our young people as they prepare for and enter the real world.
Perhaps you can influence a young person to enroll in college when he or she thought it was out of reach. Perhaps you can inspire a young person to embrace a better future than his or her circumstances would seem to dictate. Perhaps you can mentor a young person so he or she forges ahead to become a powerful contributor to our society rather than a resource drain.
I cannot dictate to you what you must do. That is your personal, private, and professional decision. I can only make that call for me. Nevertheless, the one thing I can tell you is a positive decision involving the lives of these young people will pay back rich dividends in more ways than we can even measure.
Let’s do what we can to keep the millennial pipeline—and all the succeeding generations—healthy!
LINKEDIN’s LASTING LUSTER
Posted on July 2, 2013 by James Meadows
For an online tool that just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, LinkedIn has come a long way fast. The good news is it is not slowing down. Reid Hoffman (the founder) and his team continue to push the professional social-media networking site to be as relevant as possible in today’s constantly changing business world.
The traditional recruiting industry has already been disrupted by a process that is proving to be even more effective. Writing in the current cover story for Fortune, Jesse Hempel describes the dynamic and cites the example of Citigroup (“Everything You Need to Know about LinkedIn” July 1, 2013, pp. 68–74):
“Companies are becoming more strategic about the ways LinkedIn can help them connect to employees, potential job candidates, and the professional community at large. . . . A year ago [Citigroup] partnered with LinkedIn to launch a women’s network called Connect on the LinkedIn platform. . . . Citi has seen impressive results from its LinkedIn partnership. So far, 120,000 people have joined the group.” (p. 73)
I happen to think LinkedIn is going in the right direction and for all the right reasons. Stop and consider the site now has 225 million members. Out of the Fortune 100 companies, 88 use the site’s recruiting software to find and track potential job candidates. Hempel explains:
“When everyone with a job—from a corporate salesman to a nurse practitioner to a construction manager to a fisherman—is connected and able to use those connections, then LinkedIn will provide a real-time measure of where jobs exist, where customers aren’t being served, and where people need training.” (p. 72)
The potential for exponentially enhanced collaboration and synergy is overwhelming to me. This is why I completely agree with Hempel’s assessment:
“LinkedIn has built a tool that allows it to push beyond recruiting into other business services such as sales, publishing, and technical training. In fact, it’s hard to overstate the potential power here: As it reaches critical mass, LinkedIn is becoming the dominant global forum for businesses of all kinds.” (p. 70)
Finally, in the words of Hoffman:
“‘If everyone in the country understood how to use LinkedIn, it would raise the GDP.’” (p. 71)
If you are a serious company, and you are not already using LinkedIn as an integral part of your talent management and how you do business, then I encourage you to start doing so today. If you are a serious professional, and you are not already using LinkedIn as an integral part of your career planning and how you manage your professional persona, then I encourage you to start doing so today. LinkedIn has a lasting luster, and that is good for everyone who chooses to be involved.
SAYING GOODBYE TO COUNTERS
Posted on July 1, 2013 by James Meadows
It might be time to say goodbye to the counter in certain types of stores. For both business owners and customers, this promises to be a technology-enabled, customer-appreciated blessing.
Increasing numbers of retail customers are finding the traditional counter no longer exists in many stores. For example, when a customer walks into an Apple store or a Verizon store, they typically find no counters. Instead, they find store personnel ready and waiting to assist. While free to walk around the store with the customer, the clerk uses a handheld device to check inventories, account data, and technical information. After purchase decisions are made, the clerk easily completes noncash transactions on that same device. Writing in PC World, Mark Sullivan assesses his experience with the counterless transaction (“Counter-Free Buying Is a Boon for Customers” July 2013, pp. 23–24):
“Counter service is still the rule in hotels and most other retail businesses. But while functional, the counter imposes a barrier, and can create an adversarial mentality between the two parties, especially if a problem arises during the transaction. With the counter removed, the dynamic changes. To me it feels like a more collaborative effort. And I’d argue that with no counter to provide a buffer, disagreements would not escalate as quickly. I might be less inclined to raise my voice at someone who I thought was treating me unfairly if I was standing right there on an equal footing with them.” (p. 24)
I remember the very first time this happened to me. I was initially shocked, but then very pleasantly surprised. Not only did I find what I needed, but also the customer experience was superior.
Let’s say goodbye to counters wherever we can!
KICK IN THE BUTT—BY A COMPUTER NO LESS
Posted on June 28, 2013 by James Meadows
As we know, experts have been predicting autopiloted or even driverless cars for a while now. Another small step in that direction comes from General Motors with its anticipated debut of Super Cruise in its 2016 Cadillacs.
The Super Cruise system is your cruise control on steroids. It will take control of speed, brakes, and yes, even the steering. Through a combination of video cameras, multiple radars, and lots of computer processing power, Super Cruise will drive the car for you. The system will even track driver behaviors and preferences to inform Super Cruise default settings for inputs such as preferred distances behind cars and lane positioning under various circumstances.
Super Cruise will do quite a bit. Nevertheless, as we all know, some things just are not handled as well with a computer as with a good old-fashioned flesh-and-blood human being. For example, what will Super Cruise do when it gets in over its head? Reporting for Popular Science, Lawrence Ulrich describes the backup option (“Taking the Wheel,” July 2013, p. 29):
“And if conditions get too hairy for Super Cruise to handle—say, bad weather—motors in the seat vibrate to tell the driver to take the wheel.”
Even Super Cruise understands that sometimes we just need a good kick in the butt! “Hey, Human—I need your help here or else we’re both going down!”
DOWN ON DOWNTOWN
Posted on June 27, 2013 by James Meadows
Kansas City, like many major cities, has found maintaining or reviving the downtown action can be challenging. In spite of many investments in the Kansas City urban core, convincing people and organizations to go there has often been met with the opposite effect. Reporting for The Kansas City Star, Kevin Collison summarizes some statistics about where private employers are choosing to locate—or not locate (“Jobs not Part of KC Core’s Revival,” June 16, 2013, pp. A1, A7):
“U.S. Census data shows that from 2001 to 2011, . . . greater downtown lost 19.6 percent of its private employees. That’s 16,237 fewer private jobs.”
That is a big number. I see two interlinked reasons why this sort of trend occurs in any metropolis.
The first reason is employees’ perceived quality of life. Although not automatically true, many people perceive urban areas to be more crime ridden. Therefore, as people make decisions about seeking employment, a tendency to search within suburban areas often prevails.
Second, because of the above, and because employers want to remain as competitive as possible in attracting talent, employers tend to locate sites within suburban areas.
I certainly recognize these dynamics do not necessarily apply to every situation. Some cities have simply developed such a dazzling downtown environment, people and employers are attracted to it like iron to a magnet. Nevertheless, I do contend those cases are the exception rather than the rule. Let’s face it—employers eventually have to ask themselves the question, how will we best be able to attract and retain the best talent? Unfortunately, the answer sometimes drives the geography.
OIL FLOWS BOTH WAYS
Posted on June 26, 2013 by James Meadows
Some interesting things are happening with gasoline and other petroleum products. In 2005, the United States was a net importer of petroleum products to the tune of 2.5 million barrels per day. That very long-term trend is reversing itself. In 2012, our nation shifted to exporting one million barrels per day (Steve Everly, “U.S. Becomes Net Gasoline Exporter,” The Kansas City Star, June 18, 2013, pp. C1, C7).
This change is significant for two very positive reasons. First, our refineries are operating at sufficient capacity to meet our needs. Second, our nation is less dependent on foreign oil sources and therefore less vulnerable to their whims.
I think this trend reversal sneaked up on many people, and I am one of them. Nevertheless, I am one who is not complaining either.
IT—WHERE WE ARE VULNERABLE
Posted on June 25, 2013 by James Meadows
Kaspersky is one of the leaders in antivirus and related software products and services. I always enjoy reading their reports on the state of the cyber war. They help us understand where we are vulnerable and why.
In assessing the threat level for first quarter 2013, we have some interesting war stories. A very serious global attack continues to be a threat:
“At the very beginning of the year, Kaspersky Lab published a significant report with the results of a study on the global [cyber-espionage] operation known as Red October. These attacks targeted various government agencies, diplomatic organizations and companies around the world. . . . we were able to determine several key facts. . . . In order to control and manage infected systems, they created more than 60 different domain names and several servers hosted in different countries. . . . In addition to traditional targeted attacks on workstations, Red October is also capable of stealing data from mobile devices, collecting data from network equipment, collecting files from USB drives, stealing email databases from local Outlook archives or from remote POP/IMAP servers, and extracting files from local FTP servers on the Internet.”
Obviously, Red October continues to be a major threat that is demanding ongoing vigilance. What else is new, eh?
In the mobile world, Android is the biggest target. Kaspersky found that 99.9% of new mobile threats are designed for attacking Android devices.
We know some things about which countries have Web sites that tend to be more infected with malware. Some 80+% of Web sites from which visitors pick up malware are located in just 10 countries. The number-one location at 25.1% of all infected sites is the good old United States. The major contenders are Russia (19.2%), the Netherlands (14.4%), Germany (11.5%), Ukraine (3.3%), Great Britain (3.0%), France (1.8%), and Ireland (1.1%). China and Romania are each just under 1%. Several other nations collectively make up the small balance.
The top five IT vulnerabilities are found in Adobe and Oracle products. Specifically, we are talking about Adobe’s Flash, Reader, and Shockwave, and Oracle’s Java. Sadly, these vulnerabilities are easy to fix by simply applying the software patches the manufacturers regularly issue, but too many users fail to do so:
“The most widespread vulnerabilities are found in Java and were detected on 45.26% of all computers. Also in the ratings is a relatively old but very dangerous vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player. This vulnerability was detected back in October 2010, but Kaspersky Lab is still detecting it on 11.21% of vulnerable computers.”
Kaspersky cautions us to guard against complacency about cybersecurity. This is true regardless of the fact some cyber-attacks do not necessarily generate a lot of follow-up press:
“In 2011, we witnessed mass hacking of various companies and mass user data leakages. It might seem like these attacks all came to nothing—but not so! Malicious users remain as interested as ever in hacking large companies and getting their hands on confidential data, including user information.”
Just because we do not see immediate, large-scale consequences does not mean the hackers did not acquire valuable data. Sometimes the hackers will sit on the data for an opportune time to exploit it. As with any kind of a war, we must never sleep.
http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792292/IT_Threat_Evolution_Q1_2013?print_mode=1
FROM KILOBYTES TO TERABYTES—IN 20 YEARS
Posted on June 24, 2013 by James Meadows
It just occurred to me that last month marked my 20-year anniversary of being a PC owner. I purchased my very first PC in May 1993. That first PC purchase marked the beginning of an amazing new technological era in my life, both personally and professionally. I sensed my life would never be the same again, and I was right!
Living through my 20-year PC era has definitely had its highlights and its lowlights. Like most of us, I witnessed and experienced some astonishing technology transitions, some very pleasurable and some very painful.
My first PC was a Compaq. It came with a whopping four megabytes of RAM. No, that is not gigabytes—I said correctly, four megabytes. You can imagine my sense of accomplishment when a year later I installed four additional megabytes of RAM for a grand total of eight megabytes! My PC suddenly was a lean, mean screaming machine! My hard drive was 120 megabytes. I thought I was king of the hill when I later installed a second 250-Mb hard drive.
Upon learning all my PC’s capabilities and software, I immediately began applying my newfound technology to all aspects of my life, both personally and professionally. I saw applications everywhere. I can still remember sitting in a church board meeting at the church I pastored declaring, “This has revolutionized the way I do ministry.” I received several blank looks. One of the older gentleman disinterestedly said, “My son has one of those.” I quickly learned, some people got it and some people did not.
Talk about excitement? Welcome to the wonderful world of computer viruses and malware! I remember one day suddenly noticing that every single title under my desktop icons right before my eyes was changing into a one or a zero. Obviously, I picked up something on the Internet that I wished I hadn’t. Fortunately, in that case, a reboot eliminated the problem.
Rebooting, I learned, was often the panacea for all sorts of PC problems. I remember hearing a radio talk show host emphatically declare, “No matter what problems your PC is giving you, rebooting fixes them all.” Funny, it seemed to work back in those days. Many things were simpler then, such as working in DOS or editing your AUTOEXEC.BAT. However, simple did not stay simple forever.
This annoying matter of “software conflicts” often arose. Technical support phone calls at all hours of the day or night became a common experience. I remember one software conflict that quickly degenerated so badly, I was up until 6:00 a.m. reinstalling Windows. I did not get much done that day.
Once I played an online game. After typing in a code to indicate I was turning my character 90 degrees, the game responded, “You are looking at a wall.” I did not have much patience for online games.
It has been an astonishing 20-year technological ride filled with great victories and horrific failures. Nonetheless, I am so glad I have had the experience. What I encounter today in PC technology is light-years ahead of where I started. My PC life still has its problems, but the good news is we just seem to know so much more today about how it all fits together. Problems—overall—just seem to get resolved faster and easier, and there seem to be fewer of them. I like where we are going.
I can only imagine what the next 20-year cycle will send my way.
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH—A MATTER OF DEGREE
Posted on June 21, 2013 by James Meadows
College degrees are excellent credentials for any professional person to have today. Generally, as formal educational credentials increase, salary increases and unemployment decreases. These are significant advantages to earning that sheepskin.
On the other hand, college is not for everyone in every situation. You must give careful thought to the time, expense, and strategy involved in pursuing a degree. We all know of too many folks who rambled into an academic program without any real results to show for it. For whatever reason(s), they were not in the zone.
Well, how about something sort of in between those two options? Increasing numbers of companies are recognizing the value of highly specific, short-term, concentrated training vehicles. For example, IT certifications are becoming a highly desirable credential. The student is not looking at years of academic work nor sky-high tuition either. A good example of this comes to us from training institutions such as Centriq. One of its specialized training schools is called TechSmart KC. Alyson Raletz describes the benefits of this powerful, short-term training program for people wanting to break into the professional IT field (“Transforming Training,” Kansas City Business Journal, 5/10/13–5/16/13, p. 23):
“The four-month sequence initially aimed at loading up the technology-uninitiated with skills and certifications needed to land help-desk and other entry-level IT jobs in Kansas City. . . . TechSmart students are more likely to be in their mid-20s and already have worked with computers for most of their lives. A lot of them are trying to avoid the time and money associated with traditional colleges and are attracted to an abbreviated track with a 90 percent job placement rate. The stigma of alternative education is lifting as employers of all industries compete aggressively for personnel in an IT job market that has more jobs than local skilled workers can fill.”
One size never does fit all. When it comes to your higher education and career planning, do not ignore these specialized programs. Depending on your goals, they might be exactly what you need.
WORKING THE CROWD
Posted on June 20, 2013 by James Meadows
Do you have a great idea for a new business venture, a creative new art project, or just a special dream in your life, but you cannot snag a bank loan or a venture capitalist? That is when crowdfunding comes into play. Using a crowdfunding Web site, you throw your idea to the crowds and let them decide how much they will donate. The good news is you retain full ownership of the creative idea or business. Although you will incur a small fee based on the money raised, the net is yours to keep.
This model works for an extremely wide variety of projects. Categories include dance, art, technology, games, business, theater, publishing, food, design, and fashion to name a few. Two of the more popular Web sites for crowdfunding are Kickstarter.com and Indiegogo.com. For example, here are just a few success stories related to Kickstarter:
10% of the films at Sundance.
The film, Incident in New Baghdad, was the second Kickstarter-funded film to be nominated for an Oscar.
An opera premiered at the Kennedy Center.
Kentucky sixth-graders sent a camera into space.
Publisher’s Weekly declared Kickstarter the second-leading publisher of graphic novels.
The world’s first pizza museum debuted in Philadelphia.
A photography exhibition traveled across Afghanistan.
OpenROV sent underwater robots around the globe.
Atlanta had its first squirrel census.
To give you an idea of the magnitude of crowdfunding, in 2012, Kickstarter saw nearly $275 million collected from 2.24 million contributors. Including Kickstarter, a grand total of $2.7 billion was raised through all crowdfunding organizations last year. Experts are predicting 2013 will see over $5 billion raised (Michael Lev-Ram with Kurt Wagner, “Crowdfunding Tries to Grow Up” Fortune, May 20, 2013, pp. 40–44). That is no chunk change!
So, do you have a novel, wild, wacky, innovative dream, art project, mission, or business idea? Perhaps crowdfunding is your answer. You will never know unless you try.
PART-TIME, NO TIME, OR NEW TIME
Posted on June 19, 2013 by James Meadows
When you need a fulltime job, a fulltime job is what you need. A part-time job is not a fulltime job. Unfortunately, finding that fulltime job may be getting more difficult given some economic and regulatory factors.
First, the recovery from the recession has been slow. This causes employers to be reticent to hire fulltime workers. What if the economy goes south again? Companies do not want to hire new employees only to dismiss them.
Second, the Affordable Care Act places some new requirements on employers that are based on their number of fulltime workers. For example, starting in 2014 any employer with more than 50 fulltime-equivalent employees must provide its fulltime workers with access to a medical plan or pay a $2,000 penalty per worker. Some companies are trying to get out from behind the eight ball, as Diane Stafford reports (“Trends Fueling Part-time Hiring” The Kansas City Star, May 28, 2013, pp. C1, C7, C8):
“Some employers have acknowledged they’re cutting workers’ hours because of the Affordable Care Act. Among them: Regal Entertainment Group, which operates Regal Cinemas and United Artists movie screens; a Five Guys franchise owner; an Applebee’s franchisee; the owner of Papa John’s pizza chain; and a Denny’s franchise owner.” (p. C7)
From a businessperson’s standpoint, we can understand this response based purely on economics. From a worker’s standpoint, we can feel the pain, also based purely on economics.
The necessary transitions imposed by the Affordable Care Act are not going to get any easier, for businesses or for employees. The challenge for businesses will be to adhere to the new requirements while restructuring their labor pool in a way that works. The challenge for workers will be to rethink their career paths, and perhaps even make tough decisions about new directions in their professional lives. The way I see it, adjustments will be needed in both camps, and neither camp is necessarily going to be thrilled with the outcomes.
In spite of all the difficulty, it is in times like these that new and fresh directions can arise. Just because times are tough does not automatically mean our human and corporate creativity vanish. Although not everyone or every company will be happy, I happen to be enough of an optimist to declare the future is bright. I believe we will see some companies creating some new policies and directions that will revolutionize how we manage labor and how we do healthcare. Equally so, I believe we will see some workers creating some new directions in their lives that lead them into new vistas of opportunity unlike they have ever experienced.
Today is not the day to give up. Today is the day to make a fresh start in whatever way you can.
MAYBE YOUR COMPANY SHOULD PAY YOU MORE
Posted on June 18, 2013 by James Meadows
Every businessperson knows the more you can reduce your labor cost, the better your bottom line. Well, that is a true statement, yet it is a simplistic statement that overgeneralizes. In reality, many factors affect the bottom line, and labor cost is just one of them.
We also must consider the ethics. When should a company pay its workers more, not because it must but because it can? And if it pays them more, then how much more? These are economic, business, human resources, and ethical questions for which easy answers do not always exist. Nevertheless, when it comes to paying employees, some principles ring true:
1—Pennywise And Pound Foolish. This one never seems to die. I think it has something to do with our flawed humanity. It seems every company I have ever seen that paid its workers as little as possible has been a company that eventually failed. Many positive dynamics occur when employees are well paid. As a result, quality, performance, employee engagement, the customer experience, and productivity all tend to improve. Granted, pay is not everything, but it is an important component for an employee.
2—Business People Are Ethicists. The very dynamics and challenges of business translate to serious ethical dilemmas and issues almost daily. Every businessperson must not only engage with business situations daily, but recognize they often come with ethical considerations too. Handling business absent the ethical mindset eventually harms everyone. Therefore, as a businessperson—a successful one—you must also be an ethicist. We have to think about what we do in business ethically.
3—The Sleep Test. I like to sleep at night, don’t you? We tend to do that best when our consciences are clear. Infusing a solid ethical framework throughout our business decisions does wonders for a clear conscience. Therefore, if you are having difficulty sleeping, perhaps it is symptomatic of a flawed or a neglected ethical framework.
Knight Kiplinger writes a Money and Ethics column in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. He recognizes supply and demand enter into the labor equation, not just ethics. He also recognizes well-paid employees spawn benefits to many people and institutions (June 2013, p. 13):
“Ultimately, the price of employee compensation is set by supply and demand. Companies don’t have any general moral obligation to pay more than the market dictates, but it often makes good business sense to do so if they can. Strong compensation helps attract and retain the most-talented staff, boosting performance and reducing the cost of turnover. It benefits society, too, because employees are everyone’s customers. Henry Ford, a hardnosed capitalist, said he paid higher wages because he wanted his workers to be able to afford the cars they were building.”
NEXT TIME, LISTEN TO MY WIFE—PART TWO
Posted on June 17, 2013 by James Meadows
On April 10, 2013, I published a blog post entitled, “Next Time, Listen to My Wife” (reproduced at the end of today’s blog post). In it, I addressed J.C. Penney’s recent strategic marketing decisions that were proving to be less than well received by consumers. It was not a pretty picture.
Now here is the good news: J.C. Penney listened. Its response to customers’ dissatisfaction was heartening (“Starwatch Consumer: J.C. Penney Apologizes” The Kansas City Star, May 2, 2013, p. A7):
“J.C. Penney is sorry and it wants your business back. That’s the gist of its latest ad, a public mea culpa that the midprice department store put on its YouTube and Facebook pages. . . . [the ad states] ‘Some changes you liked, and some you didn’t. But what matters with mistakes is what we learn. We learned a very simple thing, to listen to you.’”
Companies must learn a very simple, yet very powerful thing, and that is to listen to their customers. Customers are your most important stakeholder. Without them, you have no business.
J.C. Penney responded to this situation better than I thought it would. Of course, we still need to watch for the follow-through. Exactly how it executes the needed changes and revamps its strategy remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I would say from a marketing and public relations standpoint, J.C. Penney is off to a good start.
[Here is the blog post I first published April 10, 2013]—
NEXT TIME, LISTEN TO MY WIFE
Upon learning that the J.C. Penney board of directors had ousted its CEO, Ron Johnson, I have to say, I was not surprised. In his 16-month attempt to reinvent the longstanding retail giant, things did not go well. For the fiscal year, the company lost $985 million.
Johnson’s playbook included the elimination of all coupons, transitioning to a steadier but supposedly lower pricing structure, and installing specialty brand stores. The strategy was rather bold and risky. I am not saying strategies should never be bold and risky. In most cases, by definition, they have to be. Nevertheless, not every bold and risky strategy guarantees success.
Beyond all the strategic analysis, I just wish Johnson had consulted with my wife first. As I recall, she came home one day after a shopping excursion and flatly declared, “I’m not happy with what’s happening at J.C. Penney.” That was when I knew for sure the company was in trouble.
You see, Kathy was one of J.C. Penney’s average loyal customers. Not anymore. When the customer experience for Kathy changed, that alone told me more than all the business and strategy analysis in the world could have told me. It well illustrates a fundamentally important point for all businesses. If you disappoint or alienate your regular customers, that will be your undoing.
Yes, I will admit, Kathy is pretty special to me. I realize J.C. Penney may not feel the same way I do. J.C. Penney may consider Kathy to be just another average customer—no one special. In a sense, I understand J.C. Penney’s perspective; Kathy is just another average customer. But therein lies J.C. Penney’s mistake. Kathy genuinely is someone special. She is someone special because she had a customer experience that portended an ominous message. J.C. Penney somehow missed that.
Every business will miss that unless they understand how special all the “Kathys” are.
JOBS AND GRADS IN 2013
Posted on June 14, 2013 by James Meadows
Good or bad, you can always get someone to agree with your opinion on the economy if you talk to enough people. Nevertheless, I was heartened to come across some information from the National Association of Colleges and Employers concerning the job outlook for 2013 college graduates. Marking the fourth consecutive year of growth, this year employers plan to hire 13% more new graduates than last year. Additionally, hiring companies plan to increase starting salaries by over 5%. Susannah Snider identifies some of the most affected labor-pool sectors (“More Jobs for 2013 Grads” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, June 2013, pp. 11–12):
“This year’s most sought-after majors are the usual winners. At the bachelor’s and master’s degree levels, those are business, engineering and computer science. . . . There’s good news for liberal arts graduates too. Hiring is up in sales-related fields, such as public relations, communications and marketing.” (p. 11)
That sheepskin has always been important, but perhaps it is becoming even more important during these difficult days. As we also might expect, the edge will often go to the social-media savvy job seeker. Although recruiters still use the traditional job fair and college placement offices to locate talent, increasing numbers of companies are becoming more active in social media. Given the trends, this is no surprise. If an employer has two equally qualified candidates, but one is social-media savvy and one is not, who do you think is going to receive the offer? Snider affirms this trend:
“Many employers say they plan to rely more on social media this year. That next hot job tip might pop up in your Twitter feed or on LinkedIn.” (p. 12)
Overall, based on the statistics and the trends, I believe job prospects are improving. That is some good news for which we can all be thankful.
www.naceweb.org
JAPAN IS LOOKING GOOD
Posted on June 13, 2013 by James Meadows
Since the 1990s, Japan has mostly been on the bad list for investors. Numerous government corruption scandals, poor fiscal management, and various economic challenges have made it a dicey proposition. Some experts believe that is changing. Nellie S. Huang summarizes some of the latest developments due in part to the new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and his push for major economic reform (“Japan’s Rebound Is for Real” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, June 2013, pp. 34–36):
“For investors, the outcome of a July parliamentary election is key, for it will determine how much the Diet, Japan’s legislature, supports Abe’s policies. Some positive changes are already afoot. After a decade of almost no wage increases, several big companies, including Toyota Motor and convenience-store operator Lawson, announced bigger bonuses in early 2013. ‘It’s not huge, but it’s change, and that’s affecting the psyche of the Japanese consumer, which to me is big,’ says Taizo Ishida, co-manager of Matthews Japan fund. Indeed, both consumer and corporate confidence are on the rise. And Abe’s approval ratings are high, which suggests that he’s likely to stay put, at least for now.” (p. 35)
Japanese companies have been making some smart moves as they strategize for a more prosperous future. This in turn seems to be warming investor sentiment stateside:
“Corporate Japan is on surer footing these days. Companies have spent the past decade cutting costs, moving production centers to lower-cost countries in Southeast Asia, and repairing their balance sheets. . . . Some big-name U.S. firms are urging their clients to buy Japan. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management lifted its recommended allocation to Japanese stocks from zero to 5%.” (pp. 35–36)
Fundamentals are always important in investing. Market sentiment is a significant factor too. Perhaps, between the two, Japan will finally move into a new period of stock market prosperity.
THE REAL WORLD OR THE REAL WORLD—YOU PICK
Posted on June 12, 2013 by James Meadows
It should go without saying, but ongoing tragedies remind us it does not go without saying, that the Internet world and our real world have a measure of separation. Entwined though they are, an element of distinct separation exists that we as human beings must never forget. For a young couple and their little baby in South Korea, it did not go without saying and they did forget that there is “real” and there is another “real.” The reality of the Internet is one thing; the reality of your life is something else entirely. Larry Greenemeier summarizes the horrific situation (“Real World” Scientific American, June 2013, p. 24):
“In March 2010 police in South Korea arrested a husband and wife in a tragically ironic case that gained international notoriety: the couple let their three-month-old daughter, Sarang, starve to death in their apartment while they spent up to 12 hours a day nurturing a virtual daughter as part of a 3-D fantasy online role-playing game known as Prius Online.”
Unfortunately, we do not have to look far to find many similar situations in which people are emotionally, mentally, relationally, financially, or physically harmed due to personal Internet fascinations (see my blog post, “What Is Facebook Doing to Us?” Blog.reliableinsights.com, 5/15/12). The Internet has literally created a new venue for crime and tragedy. Nevertheless, that reality does not negate the reality of all the good that generates in and through the Internet. In spite of the millions of people who will use the Internet for good and noble purposes, the “criminals” of one sort or another will always exist and use it to their perverted goals.
My contention is the husband and wife who let Sarang die let the Internet become their master because of what they brought to the Internet. They brought themselves, and all the broken pieces of their lives. Those broken selves are what enabled them to enter into behavior that most of us would find reprehensible, unacceptable, and disgusting.
In the meantime, the takeaway for us is to examine our own Internet management. Is the Internet truly our servant, or have we become its servant? I can only answer that question for me. However, I know you can answer it for you.
I am all about keeping it real.
SOFTER HARDWARE FOR SOFT TISSUE
Posted on June 11, 2013 by James Meadows
Things we typically think of as hardware promise to become softer. The latest engineering research is opening some amazing new vistas for intelligent medical and biological devices that will help people while not being quite as physically fixed and intrusive. Charles Q. Choi explains the amazing application (“Soft Circuits” Scientific American, June 2013, p. 21):
“Now researchers say they have developed a type of circuit that is soft and porous—more like a net than a chip. Manufacturers could weave these circuits into an extraordinary range of materials to create ‘smart matter’ that scans and reacts to its surroundings or even ‘cyborg tissues’—human skin and organs that could report on their own health.”
These circuits could also be combined with gels comprised of human cells. This technology allows for increased integration of electronics reporting systems in our bodies. Ultimately, damaged organ replacement could occur or even enhanced human organ performance.
You probably feel the same way I do in that I want to keep all my original body parts as long as possible at full functionality. Nevertheless, it is nice to know science and technology always have innovations in the pipeline that might help us some day when our original parts bite the dust.
Repeatedly we see the adage unfold—today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science. Moreover, as each day goes by, it becomes more exciting and more difficult just to keep up with it.
DOING IT RIGHT: DARDEN RESTAURANTS
Posted on June 10, 2013 by James Meadows
Headquartered in Orlando, Darden Restaurants (includes Capital Grille, LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and others) arrived at number 65 on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Perhaps its diversity commitment had something to do with that. Minorities comprise 42% of its 180,000 employees, and its managers are 39% female. Additionally, the corporate culture is one of challenging all employees to grow continuously as Erika Fry reports for Fortune (“Serving Up the American Dream” 5/20/13, p. 34):
“[Darden Restaurants is] the only restaurant chain that has ever made our list, a designation it earned in part by building a culture that dares its employees to dream big. ‘We want our employees to recognize that everyone who walks in our doors can go all the way to the top,’ says Clarence Otis, Darden’s CEO.”
That commitment to strong talent development throughout the organization has resulted in turnover rates about 20% lower than Darden’s competitors. This is a significant number considering the typically high turnover in the food industry.
Darden’s commitment to talent development and retention is proven by numerous examples of individual employee stories. For example, Mike Stroud started as a kitchen helper but is now a senior vice president, and Lisa Hoggs started as a server but is now a managing partner.
In my experience, when it comes to talent management, many restaurant chains cannot seem to get it right. In this case, it seems Darden Restaurants has definitely broken that mold. Every organization can learn from it. When you focus on talent development and continuously challenge your people to grow, everyone stands to prosper.
CLICKING TO CATASTROPHE
Posted on June 7, 2013 by James Meadows
The other day I happened to catch a radio program in which one of the experts from Mandiant was sharing the latest trends in cybersecurity. Here are some statistics that might shock you:
1—Click-through Rates With Phishing Schemes. Mandiant has done experiments in which it constructed phishing emails that were ultimately harmless, but simply enabled the researcher to see how many people choose to click on the links. Even in cases in which the grammar was purposefully sloppy and the appearance of the email screamed VIRUS, the click-through rate ran about 20 to 25%. Some of these phishing emails were of the sort, “you won’t believe what was posted about you; click here to see it.”
2—China’s PC Infection Rate. Click-through rates help explain the situation in China where 50% of all PCs are now infected with some form of malware. It appears China’s rapid industrialization coupled with brand new PCs in so many homes made the average user a ready target. Being a growing nation with an increasingly high-tech population, I am amazed this would happen in China, but then again, human nature is the same worldwide.
Alas, as many have observed: Social engineering works because there is no patch for human stupidity.
THANKFUL FOR WINDOWS 8.1—FINALLY
Posted on June 6, 2013 by James Meadows
Windows 8 continues to generate fans and foes. I have made it no secret I am one of the foes (Blog.reliableinsights.com, 10/16/12, 12/7/12, 1/30/13, 3/5/13). Here are just a few of the latest comments from various folks more on my side of the aisle:
“It makes absolutely no sense for any business to invest in Windows 8.” (csmith, Forums, PCWorld.com, June 2013)
“Everything is hidden on Windows 8. It takes three times as long to use Windows 8 as any other Windows, even longer until you find out how to delete most of those pictures. Is it designed for slow readers? Or for children? Maybe they are copying Apple? Even turning the computer off is a mystery, and try finding the Control Panel? Thank goodness, I found the desktop and pinned the shortcut to the Start menu.” (AlaskaArtist, Forums, PCWorld.com, June 2013)
“Windows 8 remains extremely controversial among PC users.” (Forum, PC World, May 2013, p. 9)
Finally giving Windows 8 foes some respite, a recent announcement signaled a move in the right direction by Microsoft (Star News Services, “Starwatch Consumer: Windows 8.1” The Kansas City Star, May 31, 2013, p. A9):
“Microsoft is trying to fix what it got wrong with its radical makeover of Windows. It is making the operating system easier to navigate and enabling users to set up the software so it starts in a more familiar PC format. . . . The update will restore the ‘Start’ button and add search and other features.”
I am thrilled for two reasons. First, I am happy to see Microsoft finally doing something positive and practical to respond to valid criticisms by Windows 8 foes. Second, unless my Windows Vista and Windows 7 PCs manifest strong longevity, I am already resigned to the fact my next PC or laptop purchase will likely be a Windows 8 (or 9?) machine. That being the case, I am heartened to know many of the usability problems may by then be significantly minimized or eliminated.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 8
Posted on June 5, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. For the past couple weeks I have been sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series. Today’s blog post is my final one on this theme. I trust you have learned as much, and been challenged as much, as I have.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are a couple of my favorites on the sometimes-messy business of leadership:
“In King’s Landing, there are two sorts of people: the players and the pieces. . . . Every man’s a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players.” (Petyr Baelish.)
This quote reminds us regardless of our level of leadership, we ought to be concerned not so much with how the world revolves around us, but how we revolve around the world. As much as we might sometimes think we are maneuvering other people, it may be other people are maneuvering us. Arrogance, narcissism, and selfishness can override our personalities and our intelligence if we let them. Yes, undeniably we must take charge of our lives and our leadership. Nevertheless, that should never happen at the expense of our intelligence, our morals, and our ethics.
“In the game of thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you’ve planned for them.” (Petyr Baelish.)
Leadership can be a messy business. People do not always do what you would like them to do or even what they say they will do. People do not always do what is best for the organization or even what is best for them. People disappoint us . . . often. In spite of that, you cannot allow yourself to become demoralized. The superior solution is to take it all in stride, focus on the positive, and continually use it all to sharpen your own leadership.
As one of our presidents has said, no small problems ever came to his office. If it was small, then someone else had already handled it. By the time it got to his office, it was quite the mess. The principle remains true for you and me as leaders today. Leadership is, always has been, and always will be a messy business. People and situations do not always play out the way we wanted them to or even the way we thought they would. That is also part of the challenge, and yes, even the fun, of being in leadership. You get to tangle with tumultuous tasks and times. If leadership is not your calling, you will know it fast. Nevertheless, if it is your calling, then you will somehow find the strength to embrace joyfully all it brings to your door.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 7
Posted on June 4, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. For the past couple weeks I have been sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series. Today’s and tomorrow’s post will wrap up this particular theme.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are a couple of my favorites on the importance of keeping your word as a leader:
“In the end, words are just wind.” (Ser Davos Seaworth.)
In the modern vernacular, talk is cheap, or actions speak louder than words. As a leader, your credibility rises or falls on your words. Words are easy to cast, but sometimes difficult to execute. Thinking before you speak can save much pain and embarrassment later. As leaders, people should be able to count on our words.
“A Lannister always pays his debts.” (Tyrion Lannister.)
Tyrion Lannister valued his heritage and who he was as a person. Therefore, when he affirmed a Lannister always pays his debts, he was emphasizing he honored all his obligations. He wanted people to know if he said he would do something, then you could count on him to do it.
Leaders who affirm something with their words and then follow through on those words will always have a premium on their leadership. Unfortunately, we see too many examples of cheap leaders. The challenge we all face today is to exercise our leadership in such a manner that people know our words mean something. As leaders, our words must have meaning. The saddest place any leader can ever be is when onlookers know his or her words mean nothing. I value my word and my name too much to go there. I trust you do too.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 6
Posted on June 3, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. For the past couple weeks I have been sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are a couple of my favorites on the relationship between leadership and truth:
“Some day you’ll sit on the throne, and the truth will be what you make it.” (Cersei Lannister.)
This quote contains an element of truth and an element of falsehood. A leader understands the power of his or her decrees. As Max DePree states in the opening sentence of his book, Leadership Is an Art, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” The point is leaders define the realities of their domains. That is the truth element. Now, the falsehood element is this: Just because a leader decrees something does not guarantee it is based in truth. Leaders, like all people, are fallible. A person’s leadership will ultimately fall if it was never based in truth. Therefore, I contend Cersei Lannister is only half right on this one.
“People often claim to hunger for truth but seldom like the taste when it’s served up.” (Tyrion Lannister.)
Tyrion Lannister captures the old adage: the truth hurts. A significant part of a leader’s responsibility is to lead people into truth. In so doing, individual journeys are sometimes tinged with pain. Sometimes in our personal and professional growth, we must face hard truths about our circumstances or ourselves. Nevertheless, another adage is true: no pain, no gain. A leader may not always like the truth, but failing to engage it does no good to anyone.
Leadership is intrinsically linked to truth. Leaders who ignore this dynamic undermine their leadership, their own growth, and their followers’ growth. Leaders who embrace this dynamic strengthen their leadership, their own growth, and their followers’ growth.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 5
Posted on May 31, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. Starting last week, I am sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are some of my favorites on how a leader will face grave decisions:
“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” (Cersei Lannister.)
A leader understands you win or you lose. Leadership by definition is serious. On some matters, no second chances exist. At times leadership is life-and-death serious. Nevertheless, that very understanding impassions and empowers the leader to lead. The leader engages with full force precisely because of the seriousness of the situation and all that is at stake.
“A good king knows when to save his strength and when to destroy his enemies.” (Cersei Lannister.)
Just because you are a leader does not mean you must act on every situation. Not every situation calls for a response. Not every hill is a hill on which to die. Not every situation demands you call out your army. Nevertheless, when an army is called for, then you must swiftly deploy the troops.
“Those are brave men. Let’s go kill them.” (Tyrion Lannister.)
I love this line. It is as funny as it is profound. Tyrion Lannister recognized noble qualities even in his enemies, yet he was perfectly happy to kill them. A good leader thoroughly sees reality yet chooses to take the actions the situation demands. The leader makes a decision and then has the resolve to act on it.
Leaders must sometimes make grave decisions—it just goes with the territory. Not only must leaders recognize the gravity of their decisions, but also they must be equally committed to the execution of those decisions. A decision with no execution is not the mark of a genuine leader.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 4
Posted on May 30, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. Starting last Friday, I have been sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are two of my favorites on the importance of stewardship and discipline for a leader:
“There is a tool for every task and a task for every tool.” (Tywin Lannister.)
A wise leader does not try to fit a square peg into a round hole. At leadership’s core is the desire to be a good steward over all entrusted resources. This means the leader must be committed to putting the right people in the right places with the right tools at the right times. Using resources wisely and to their maximum capability is fundamental to quality leadership.
“In battle, discipline beats numbers 9 times out of 10.” (Eddard Stark.)
Eddard Stark recognizes that even in a battle in which his army is outnumbered, the discipline of his troops will often prevail and ensure the win. A small disciplined army will usually beat the larger undisciplined one. You do not rise to the privilege of leadership without discipline. Discipline is what enhances and extends all your efforts and plans. Without discipline, the leader and the organization suffer. With discipline, the leader and the organization will achieve victories others may have deemed unachievable.
Stewardship and discipline are two tremendously important leadership qualities. To the extent we demonstrate them our leadership benefits. To the extent we ignore them our leadership suffers. I find I must periodically evaluate my stewardship and my discipline if I am serious about strengthening my leadership.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 3
Posted on May 29, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. Starting last Friday, I am sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are two of my favorites on the importance of knowing how to use power and how to influence power:
“When you know what a man wants, you know who he is and how to move him.” (Petyr Baelish.)
Understanding another person’s motivations is one of the most important components to leadership. If I do not understand what drives a person, then I have no hope of influencing that person. On the other hand, when I know another person’s motives, passions, and desires, then I can adjust my approach accordingly.
“Power resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick. A shadow on the wall. And a very small man can cast a very large shadow.” (Varys.)
Although I do not endorse Varys’ allusions to deception, the fact remains a person’s deportment is extremely important to his or her leadership. Presentation is everything. Perception is reality. These truths are integral to leadership. I have met many people I anticipated would be great leaders only to be sadly disappointed. I have met many people whom for one reason or another I thought would not be leadership material, yet the way in which they comported themselves quickly convinced me otherwise.
Effective leaders must recognize and respect power. They must learn how to approach it, how to use it, and how to grant it. Missteps with power can have grave consequences, but correct steps with power can provide terrific accomplishments. Our consistent responsibility as leaders is to use our power correctly.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS PART 2
Posted on May 28, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to all these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides some challenging leadership lessons. Starting last Friday, I am sharing some leadership-related material connected with this series.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance.
The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people live on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotations create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy.
In spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are some of my favorites on the importance of relationships to our leadership:
“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.” (Eddard Stark.)
This quote reminds us we are always better off in a group than alone, especially during dangerous times. Being in a group affords a measure of protection and safety. Being alone can render us vulnerable. The most effective leaders know the importance of aligning with other people and with other groups of people. Networking is not something new in our technological times; it is an ancient art that has never lost its luster.
“A man without friends is a man without power.” (Renly Baratheon.)
A person can have a big title with much responsibility, but if he or she does not have influence, then leadership is absent. In one word, leadership is influence, and influence derives from relationship. The smart leader handles every relationship with care. Ultimately, the leader’s power will only manifest if something deeper than a big title exists. You can have position power or you can have people power. Position power is ultimately ineffective because people tend to give it lip service only. People power is always effective because people are responding to the character and integrity of the real person.
“Trust is earned. Like gold.” (Brienne of Tarth.)
Trust is not some commodity that is instantly pulled off the shelf at anyone’s command. Brienne of Tarth reminds us just as we work for our income, likewise we must work for our trust. This is essential to leadership because all leadership is based in relationship and all relationship evolves from trust. Just as gold is earned over time, trust is earned over time. The longer I have known someone in a trusting relationship, the more I know I can depend on that person, because of our mutual trust.
All genuine leadership flows out of relationship. The quality of your leadership is a reflection of the quality of your relationships. If you are not happy with your leadership, review how you handle your relationships.
GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS
Posted on May 24, 2013 by James Meadows
I love leadership lessons. They abound in so many different areas such as classic literature, religious texts, philosophers, confidantes, workplace mentors, personal experiences, and great world leaders both past and present. In addition to all these marvelous sources, I always enjoy the leadership lessons that arise in some of our contemporary movies and television programs.
Now in its third season, the HBO series, Game of Thrones, has quickly drawn a strong fan base. The genre may or may not appeal to you, but the series definitely provides us with some challenging leadership lessons. Over the next several days, I will share some leadership-related material connected with this series.
The television series is based on the original written series by George R. R. Martin entitled, Song of Ice and Fire. Set in an unusual world similar to the Middle Ages, but unlike the earth as we know it, seven major kingdoms battle for dominance. The topography is extremely interesting because it is cast in what appears to be an inverted hollow globe perhaps a quarter the size of the earth with a small sun hovering in its center as people exist on the inside surface. The sun is encased in various opaque bands that apparently by their systematic rotation create night, day, and seasons. You definitely gain a powerful sense of fantasy. Nevertheless, in spite of its fantastical and unusual setting, some rich leadership lessons arise from the plot and characters. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Logan Hill summarizes many of these leadership lessons by quoting various series characters (“The Game of Thrones Guide to Management” 4/1/13–4/7/13, pp. 82–83). Here are some of my favorites on the perils and the heavy burdens of leadership:
“If a man paints a target on his chest, he should expect that sooner or later someone will loose an arrow on him.” (Tyrion Lannister.)
This quote reminds us when you are a leader you are a target. It is unavoidable. You become the lightning rod. I can think of no leadership position others or I have filled in which this was not true. Never step into a leadership role unless you are prepared for the arrows.
“A lord may love the men that he commands, but he cannot be a friend to them. One day he may need to sit in judgment on them or send them forth to die.” (Jon Snow.)
Leadership roles remind us we are in a different relationship with those we lead. That is because we will hold them accountable. A leader must do that. A leader who does not hold his or her people accountable is violating the fundamentals of leadership and is not a true leader. That said, in my personal leadership philosophy, I allow friendships to arise. What I find is important is to maintain boundaries, manage each relationship on its merits, and never giving partial treatment to one person over another due to a friendship.
“The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.” (Eddard Stark.)
As a leader, you must understand the powerful and real consequences of your decisions. Sometimes you have to look people in the eye when you are delivering painful sentence, and you must give them your ear too. The leader’s sword can be wielded rightly or wrongly. As leaders, we must wield it rightly. Moreover, if you cannot wield it rightly, then you must reassess your motives.
The perils and the heavy burdens of leadership are many. This should give us all pause to reflect deeply upon our leadership. My guess is I am not the only one who can use some improvement.
FRAGILE COEXISTENCE: USERS AND ADVERTISERS
Posted on May 23, 2013 by James Meadows
Facebook’s market segment is continuing to shift from the desktop platform to the mobile platform. As this transition occurs, the proverbial challenge arises, as Brian Womack reports in Bloomberg Businessweek (“Facebook Struggles to Find Its Footing” 5/20/13–5/26/13, pp. 43–44):
“As it scrambles to make money from mobile, Facebook has to accommodate advertisers without alienating users.” (p. 43)
How much advertising will a user endure before pulling the ejection handle? I think this is a more difficult task on the Internet than on any other medium precisely because the Internet is highly interactive. When I go to the Internet, it is because I want something specific. I am on a mission. Therefore, I do not appreciate being interrupted by ads. I will bypass them or click out of them as fast as possible.
Facebook intensely monitors its user satisfaction. It realizes the ejection handle is available. CEO Mark Zuckerberg affirms this awareness:
“‘We continue to measure people’s satisfaction with all the content they see on Facebook, including ads.’” (pp. 43–44)
As we know, Facebook collects a tremendous amount of data on its users. My hope is Facebook will intelligently and thoughtfully tailor and target its advertising campaigns to strike the needed balance. After all, if users pull the ejection handle, then Facebook becomes a smoking hole.
A BETTER WAY TO READ JOB ADS
Posted on May 22, 2013 by James Meadows
How well do you read a job ad? That is a good question. And that is exactly what the online job-matching service, TheLadders, discovered. In its recent study using sophisticated eye-tracking technology, researchers identified how people read a job ad versus how they claim they read a job ad. The results are quite interesting:
“Despite job seekers self-reporting that they spend up to 10 minutes reviewing a job description to determine whether they are a fit, the results revealed that they devote only 10 percent of that time assessing an opportunity.”
It appears we may overestimate how much time we scrutinize a job ad. It carries over to our self-assessments in determining job-fit. Ah, yes—the human tendency to exaggerate! We know it well. Nevertheless, when faced with some hard cold facts, our self-assessments tend to become more accurate. For example, when job hunters are allowed to view anonymous collective data about their competition, they come back to reality:
“[when] job seekers [are given] an anonymous overview of who else applied for that same role, job seekers were significantly better at determining if they were a good ‘fit.’”
Focusing on your talent alone can lead to overconfidence. Understanding your talent against the larger backdrop of the talent field tempers your self-assessment, thereby helping you make more accurate job-fit determinations. This is an important task because too many recruiters and too many job hunters are frustrated as TheLadders CEO, Alex Douzet explains:
“There is so much finger-pointing in the job search, mostly by job seekers who think that overwhelmed recruiters and faulty application software are the factors behind them never hearing back. However, our eye-tracking study shows that job seekers simply need to take a better look in the mirror—and better understand their competition—before they even think of applying to that next job.”
If we would all take Douzet’s advice to heart, I suspect the recruitment process and the job-hunt process would both become a more palatable and useful experience for everyone.
http://www.theladders.com/member/press-releases/theladders-sheds-light-on-black-hole-for-job-seekers
BIAS IS AN EVERYDAY CHALLENGE
Posted on May 21, 2013 by James Meadows
Contrary to popular opinion, bias itself is not inherently wrong. The definition of bias includes (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bias):
“an inclination of temperament or outlook; especially: a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment.”
For example, I happen to have a bias about the law of gravity. My inclination or outlook is (barring supernatural intervention) the law of gravity will hold consistently. Therefore, when I am in situations involving significant heights, I endeavor to be especially careful. I allow my instinct for self-preservation to have free reign. Moreover, I am still alive! My bias about the law of gravity happens to be a good bias. It works well for me.
On the other hand, bias becomes wrong when we move into that realm of, “unreasoned judgment.” We should reject this kind of bias. Challenging unreasoned judgments should be a daily task. We might encounter this kind of bias in other people and (dare I say it?) in ourselves.
As long as we are human, unreasoned judgment will plague us. We must recognize it when it happens, and take corrective action to mitigate that bias. Writing in The Atlantic, Nicole Allan summarizes two significant studies in bias (“Karen vs. Kevin” May 2013, p. 16):
“In an oft-cited experiment from 2006, students in two New York University classes read case studies about a tech entrepreneur who in some versions was named Heidi and in others, Howard. The students rated Heidi and Howard as equally competent, but liked Heidi less and didn’t want to work with her. . . . A 2000 study found that female musicians advanced 50 percent more often in orchestra auditions when their gender was masked.”
These sorts of social and professional inequities should never occur. The sad reality is they do occur. You and I have our work cut out for us. Yes, I know sometimes this is easier said than done. Nevertheless, we must never give up the noble fight.
PUTTING IT ALL OUT THERE
Posted on May 20, 2013 by James Meadows
Today marks my tenth and final blog post on a study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School that gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbes contributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). Reflecting on the totality of the study, plus his personal and professional experience, Miller describes the mindset of the millennials and their tendency to stir everything into one pot:
“A good portion of my Facebook news feed consists of my friends sharing information about their jobs, new products their company has come out with and events their employer is doing. Even when I look back at my own timeline 90 percent of my status updates are linked to Forbes posts. This tendency to share every aspect of our lives naturally translates to our work life. What we do at the office is just as much part of our lives as who we’re dating, what we had for breakfast and who we’re in a fight with, so why not share our work life like everything else?”
Each person must find his or her own comfort level with these dynamics. Ignoring them will not make them go away. The advent of social media coupled with the generation that grew up on it, all finding its confluence in today’s workplace has changed everything. I do think we have to be careful what we share and how much we share. Too much information can create embarrassment and even harm.
On the other hand, perhaps the millennial approach challenges us to a fresh authenticity that we have not seen in a very long time. Perhaps it will paradoxically cause us to embrace a deeper caliber of professional relationship that is stronger than it would have been otherwise. I do not know. All we can do is forge ahead into our collective future and see where it takes us.
I believe each generation is born for the times in which it lives. For millennials and for us all, that has never been truer.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
Via MBA@UNC:Online Business Degree & The YEC
THREE KEYS TO MILLENNIAL RETENTION
Posted on May 17, 2013 by James Meadows
A study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbescontributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). The study summarizes three fundamentals to keeping your millennials engaged:
1—Flatter Them. Most millennials (80%) want recognition and feedback in real time as opposed to an annual performance review. Additionally, they enjoy frequent pulse checks. They genuinely want to know how they are performing and what they can do to improve. Meaningful compliments for work well done will go a long way with millennials.
2—Motivate Them. A combination of structured assignments, lots of feedback, and growth opportunities tend to motivate millennials. They also do better in environments that are comfortable, friendly, and inspire everyone to contribute. A good idea is to ask periodically, how can we make it more fun to come to work?
3—Collaborate With Them. Collaboration comes naturally for millennials. They understand how important teamwork is and they enjoy being contributors. Just ensure everyone is on the same page with business needs, boundaries, and deadlines.
By now, perhaps you would agree with me—millennial or not, these keys aid retention with any demographic group. Let’s put them into action!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
HANG ON TO YOUR MILLENNIALS—IF YOU CAN
Posted on May 16, 2013 by James Meadows
A study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbescontributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). From that study, we learn millennials are very confident about their marketability, even in our current economy. For example, 43% feel very confident to extremely confident they could find another job right now.
Now pay attention to this—70% plan to get a new job once the economy improves. Smart companies will capitalize on all the knowledge the Kenan-Flagler Business School study provides. Employee engagement is always important, but it seems especially critical with our millennials today.
Most companies do not want to experience a 70% turnover rate in an entire demographic segment within their workforce. Nevertheless, that could easily happen, and it will happen if companies do not successfully engage their millennials.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
MILLENNIAL ENTREPRENEURS GO FOR IT
Posted on May 15, 2013 by James Meadows
A study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbescontributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). From that study, we learn millennials are extremely serious about the importance of entrepreneurship. For example, in addition to their main jobs, 35% of them have already started a side business. Moreover, who says you have to wait to have a regular job to start a side business? It turns out 30% of them started a business while still earning their college degrees.
I have blogged about colleges revamping their curricula to meet the growing demand for entrepreneurial education (“Colleges with an Entrepreneurship Kick,” blog.reliableinsights.com, 10/25/12). Millennials strongly endorse this new academic paradigm. The study shows 92% of 21- to 24-year-olds believe entrepreneurship education is vital in our new economy and job market.
Now I realize some might look at these statistics and dismiss it all as youthful idealism. I am sure some element of that unavoidably exists. Nevertheless, in my observations of and encounters with this latest crop of millennial entrepreneurs, I say, go for it! The old adage is true: Aim for the stars and you might hit the moon. But oh, won’t that be dandy?
The flip side of that is I am encouraged to know millennials recognize the value and the opportunity of entrepreneurship—so much so they believe incorporating it into our academic programs is vital. In that sense, they are realists. Let’s face it—every successful entrepreneur is one less unemployed person. In today’s economy, I think we will take that!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
SATISFACTION TRUMPS SALARY
Posted on May 14, 2013 by James Meadows
A study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbescontributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). From that study, we learn 33% of millennials do not value salary as the overriding factor in choosing to accept a job offer. Three additional factors are more important to them.
The first factor is social-media freedom. This means they do not want their ability to stay connected and attentive infringed by their employer. The second factor is device flexibility. This means they want the freedom to do business using whatever electronic device might allow them to get the job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible, independent of company convention. The third factor is work mobility. No doubt, partially related to the first two factors, this means they strongly prefer not being tied to a fixed work location. Rather, they desire their jobs allow them to work from home, while traveling, at the park, on the beach, or wherever. Millennials understand all the benefits of technology and social media, and they intend to use them.
Be reminded, the above three factors are more important to 33% of millennials than salary. My guess is that percentage will continue to grow just as the nature of work continues to change. Millennials have much more invested in these business evolutions than most of their older-aged colleagues. For millennials, most of their working lives have been immersed in social media coupled with the most advanced electronic and computing devices we have ever known.
Millennials have also figured out early that what you do and its intrinsic fulfillment is more valuable than what you earn financially. This bodes well. I have never seen an engaged employee who is not productive. Somehow, these millennials have figured out how to engage. Once that happens, everything else tends to fall into place.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
ENLARGING YOUR COMPANY’S VOICE
Posted on May 13, 2013 by James Meadows
A study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbescontributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). From that study, we learn companies should revel in their millennials’ Facebook affinity, and for good reason. Simply having employees active on Facebook directly and indirectly increases your company’s digital reach. The reason is friends of fans represent a consumer group 34 times larger than the fans themselves. Do the math.
In the old days, it was word of mouth that gave people the scoop on a company. People talked about where they worked and what it was like. These days that word of mouth is just as much virtual as real. Therefore, the smart companies will delight in their employees’ social-media presence. Smart companies are increasingly realizing each employee, customer, or stakeholder—like it or not—is a company PR spokesperson. The only difference today is that PR is much more powerful than it ever used to be, given our 24/7 news cycle.
The implications are staggering. The messages we give to a millennial today will affect more than just that one millennial. In fact, the messages will affect about 34 other people. Depending on what kind of a business leader you are, that will either scare you or invigorate you.
I hope it invigorates you.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
Via MBA@UNC:Online Business Degree & The YEC
FIGHT THE FLOOD OR SURF THE WAVE
Posted on May 10, 2013 by James Meadows
A study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School gives us extensive insight about millennials along with some analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbescontributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12). From that study, we learn millennials switch their attention among media devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, and television 27 times each hour. For previous generations that number is 17. That represents an increase of more than 50%.
Are millennials just better multitaskers than their predecessors or are they moving faster but engaging less? Are they more focused or are they more distracted? What does this mean or what should it mean for our talent management?
I have read too much about multitasking to know it has its limits. Some insist it is a myth. I recognize for most of us, monitoring multiple activities simultaneously has some value and cannot be completely avoided. Nevertheless, I think we all know in our hearts and minds you cannot produce your very best output on something without a total focus on that specific something. Therefore, we must juggle—as intelligently as possible. Multitasking can accomplish some things, but not everything.
Millennials value their personal electronic devices because they value technology because they value social media because they value connection. Therefore, instead of fighting the flood, we need to surf the wave. You do not have to get distracted 27 times each hour (unless you want to do that).
As with every new generation, millennials do not do everything exactly as the prior ones. Nevertheless, if we are going to extract the full measure of millennial value, then we should all try to surf the wave. Hey, at least we will all be on the same wave.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
MILLENNIALS WANT GROWTH
Posted on May 9, 2013 by James Meadows
My blog posts since Tuesday have focused on a study from the Kenan-Flagler Business School that gives us extensive insight about millennials along with an analysis by Matt Miller, a Forbes contributor (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12).
From that study, we learn 52% of millennials state career progression opportunities make a prospective employer attractive, and 65% assert the opportunity for personal development was the most important factor in their current job.
These statistics have serious implications for you and me as businesspersons. Our organizations must pay more than just lip service to personal and professional development. Millennials are searching for people who will be positive contributors in their lives.
This of course presupposes we as individuals are already growing, both personally and professionally. We cannot lead others where we have not yet gone. Therefore, the challenge for you and me and for our organizations is continuous growth. Now is the time, more than ever, for us to be committed to growth.
I regularly assess my personal and professional growth. I always have more to learn, refine, and understand. I often reach out to mentors, peers, associates, friends, and family to gain every bit of insight possible. After all, I have my blind spots. What I miss, someone else will surely capture.
If we commit to doing this, then the future is bright for engaging our millennial generation more effectively. The challenges of business in our increasingly complex world demand we do nothing less.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
MILLENNIALS SERIOUS ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
Posted on May 8, 2013 by James Meadows
Yesterday I shared that millennials will comprise 36% of the workforce by next year, and 46% by 2020. Those figures demand some examination of the way in which we manage our millennial talent pool. Matt Miller is a Forbes contributor who agrees. He specializes in the media and tech trending with millennials. Miller refers to a study by the Kenan-Flagler Business School that gives us extensive insight about millennials (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12).
From that study, we learn 64% of millennials explore a prospective company’s social-media policies during a job interview and 24% claim it would be a major factor in deciding whether to accept a job offer. Do the math. Those numbers are significant, and they will certainly grow.
Millennials take their social media very seriously. Can we blame them? It is in their digital DNA—it is their digital DNA. They have come of age with it.
To address the topic of social media in a job interview would have been unheard of in the not-too-distant past. Nevertheless, because millennials view their virtual world as importantly as they view their physical world, to them, it just goes with the process. Therefore, if you are a company that has not given any thought to social-media policy, then you will likely be written off by the millennials. In the big picture, that will become dangerous. The superior approach is to recognize reality and capitalize on it. As Miller affirms:
“This is the first generation in history in which social communication skills have been so important. For millennials like me, using Facebook is second nature to keep up with friends and family, but employers see it as a way to spread their brand through who we talk to.”
Yes, millennials are serious about social media. Smart companies will be too.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
GETTING SMART WITH OUR MILLENNIALS
Posted on May 7, 2013 by James Meadows
Millennials will comprise 36% of the workforce by next year, and 46% by 2020. Those figures demand some examination of the way in which we manage our millennial talent pool. Matt Miller is a Forbes contributor who agrees. He specializes in the media and tech trending with millennials. Drawing from a study by the Kenan-Flagler Business School, Miller summarizes some key dynamics about millennials in the workforce today (“Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]” 7/3/12):
“According to the study, millennials are highly ambitious, with a majority placing an importance on jobs with chances for career progression and personal growth. And while it’s no surprise that these ambitious young people are plugged in through social media, the study said hiring an employee who is active on Facebook greatly increases a company’s digital reach.”
This tells us we have two significant items we cannot afford to discount when it comes to hiring and retaining millennials:
1—Personal And Professional Growth. Although this should be no surprise, tragically, some companies overlook it. They think a cog-in-the-wheel job will attract and retain this talent when nothing could be further from the truth. An organization serious about its talent management must be committed to showing these job candidates a viable, challenging, fulfilling career path. Millennials expect that; they intend to grow both personally and professionally. Organizations that fail to recognize that truth will lose millennials to those organizations that do recognize that truth.
2—Social Media Reach. I think for a very long time many companies viewed social media as a passing fad and an annoying distraction. Policy after policy was set in place to stifle the social-media world at work. Now don’t get me wrong—I will be the first to declare professional boundaries and workplace commitments must be upheld. Nevertheless, when you consider the spillover effect of a social-media savvy employee, there is much more to be gained than lost. Think about it this way: In today’s world, would you want your employees to be social-media geniuses or still stuck in the typewriter age? Our millennials will expand the reach and the influence of our companies. We cannot afford to miss that opportunity.
The study to which Miller refers is freely available as an infographic and I have incorporated it into the bottom of today’s blog post and provided the links. Given the significant insights derived from this study, I will be devoting several additional blog posts to this material.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/
Via MBA@UNC:Online Business Degree & The YEC
http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
INTEGRITY LESSONS FROM DENZEL WASHINGTON
Posted on May 6, 2013 by James Meadows
Facing our integrity means we continually assess who we are. When we come up short then we must take corrective action to improve ourselves while simultaneously reaching out to others we may have harmed. Denzel Washington’s 2012 movie, Flight, does a terrific job illustrating this integrity challenge. (No spoiler alerts here—I promise I will not spill any beans.)
Washington plays a pilot flying a multipropeller aircraft carrying more than 100 passengers and crew. He is obviously very talented in his practical aviation skills. Early in the flick, his aircraft encounters a combination of bad weather and unforeseen catastrophic mechanical failures that force him to crash land the plane. By the way, this lengthy sequence covering the catastrophic failures and the pilot’s techniques for crash landing the plane is technically and aesthetically one of the very best I have ever seen on film. Aviation buffs will especially love it.
Thanks to Washington’s efforts, almost all passengers and crew survive. Unfortunately, for Washington, his postcrash blood tests reveal drug and alcohol impairment. What’s a pilot to do?
The balance of the movie shows Washington and others struggling with that very decision. He has all kinds of personal and professional reasons why he wants to beat this rap. On the other hand, this sticky thing called the truth never changes—that is why it is the truth.
I am not sharing Washington’s ultimate decisions because I want you to enjoy the suspense. I highly recommend the movie because it forces you to take a walk down Integrity Lane as you think about yourself. In the end, independent of any drug and alcohol factors, some universal and powerful integrity lessons emerge from which we can all benefit.
Regardless of what you or I might desire, and regardless of our motives, those dynamics do not change the truth. That is the basis of integrity. Integrity intrinsically recognizes truth. For you and me as humans, we might not respond so automatically, and therein lies the challenge.
HIGH-TECH CREATIVE CATS OPEN NEW DOORS
Posted on May 3, 2013 by James Meadows
Nick Hill became fed up with all the neighborhood critters that helped themselves to his cat’s cat door. The more frustrated he became, and the more he thought about it, he decided this was an entrepreneurial opportunity (As told to John Tozzi, “Small to Big SureFlap” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/15/13–4/21/13, p. 54). Today, his cat (“Flipper”) comes and goes exclusively through the cat door, with no other critters taking advantage of it. The reason is the cat door is electronically activated to open only by Flipper’s implanted microchip.
So far, a quarter-million people, and their cats, agree. Company growth continues to be strong. In 2008, Hill launched SureFlap in the United Kingdom. He appointed Flipper to be his chief product tester. In 2010, he expanded to the US via online channels. Today, SureFlap employs 20 people and of course, one cat.
Hill asked a key entrepreneurial question: This works so well for me, will it work well for others? When the answer is yes, then you might have the seedbed of a new business.
AN MBA LESSON FOR US ALL
Posted on May 2, 2013 by James Meadows
Decades ago, Bruce Kasanoff earned an MBA from the Wharton School. Reflecting on insights gained, he identifies several key lessons (“8 Wharton MBA Lessons that Stood the Test of Time”, 3/18/13). One in particular stands out to me:
“Nothing stays the same. You have to be in tune with changes. Change is the norm.”
Things do not happen without change. Invention mean change, advancement means change, growth means change, and opportunity means change. I think the problem is too many people become too comfortable with a routine. Please do not misinterpret me—routines are good, they have their place, and they enable efficiencies. However, when we become too comfortable we begin to expect the routine to be permanent simply because it works.
If all our routines in fact became permanent, we would eliminate newness. Opportunities would evaporate and growth would cease. I do not want that for my life or your life. Every single day is a gift to be embraced to its fullest degree. A person of wholeness and health recognizes this and engages the change each new day brings.
Kasanoff articulates an excellent lesson. Sadly, too many people still have not learned it—with or without an MBA.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130318114216-36792-8-wharton-mba-lessons-that-stood-the-test-of-time
GOOGLE FIBER MIGHT INSPIRE THE COMPETITION
Posted on May 1, 2013 by James Meadows
Google Fiber’s launch in Kansas City has been phenomenally successful. Customers are thrilled to receive the wiz-bang speed along with an excellent customer experience at every step from installation to customer service. Scott Canon shares the overwhelmingly positive reviews from Google Fiber’s first customers (“Google Earns Good Grades” The Kansas City Star, 4/29/13, pp. A1, A7):
“Time and again they talk of friendly installers and helpful customer service folks—Google representatives fairly easy to reach either by email or phone. The company also responds to problems in an online forum.” (p. A7)
Given the exceptionally fast Internet speed coupled with the very positive customer experience, the local competition has new reasons to update their SWOT analyses (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). Google Fiber presents them with a level of competition hitherto unseen in Kansas City. This is significant because unfortunately for the competition, many customers have an unpleasant history with them:
“Those who buy their TV lineup from Google mostly talk about the delight of dumping predecessors, cable and phone companies that have had the chance over decades to disappoint customers.” (p. A1)
Customers’ memories run long. The traditional high-speed ISPs may begin to see an exodus. On the other hand, if they can revamp their existing technologies sufficiently and improve their customer experience, perhaps they can become more attractive than we have ever dreamed possible. Digital phone, cable, and high-speed Internet might become very interesting in Kansas City.
MOWING FOR YOUR MEAL
Posted on April 30, 2013 by James Meadows
In France, the Paris City Hall recently installed a small flock of sheep to keep its garden’s lawns mowed. This sounds like a win-win situation to me! I think the sheep would agree. A Paris farm director by the name of Marcel Collet describes the benefits (Thomas Adamson “Paris Hires Sheep as Lawnmowers” The Kansas City Star, 4/7/13, p. A26):
“It might sound funny, but animal lawnmowers are ecological, as no gasoline is required, and cost half the price of a machine. . . . And they’re so cute.”
Livestock-lawnmowing companies in France include Ecoterra and Ecomouton. The idea seems to be catching on here in the US too. For example, check out a post on the Legal Ruralism blog:
“Carlisle Area School District in Pennsylvania is using sheep to trim some of its grass and will be saving $15,000 in the process. The school district will not have to pay someone to maintain a lawn area around a collection of solar panels the district owns. According to Dan Ludwig, a grazing specialist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture who commented on the school district’s plan, leasing sheep to graze on public and private land is becoming increasingly popular.”
In addition to cited benefits, people tend to appreciate the relative quiet of the sheep compared to a conventional lawnmower. To those who might object to the animal droppings, it turns out goat and sheep feces tend to degrade quickly into an odorless powder, which then helps fertilize the lawn.
Sometimes the more modern we become, the better some of our old-time resources work. It will be interesting to see how much this business idea expands, or whether it remains more of an individualized small-scale situation.
http://legalruralism.blogspot.com/2011/11/sheep-as-lawn-mowers-just-another.html
DEATH OF THE DESKTOP
Posted on April 29, 2013 by James Meadows
Since the advent of smartphones, tablets, and other developing digital devices, the death of the desktop (and even the laptop) has been forecast by many IT pundits. Smartphones and tablets collectively are now outselling desktops, so I can understand the prediction. Matt Vella summarizes the current outlook (“Will Sexier PCs Sell?” Fortune, 4/29/13, p. 42):
“PC makers are desperate to rekindle their business. Worldwide shipments of laptops and desktops declined 3.7% last year, to 350 million units, and are likely to sink further in 2013, according to researcher IDC. A sluggish economy, pinched IT budgets, and, of course, the proliferation of do-it-all mobile gadgets are largely to blame.”
This is nothing new. As technology changes, so too will products and services demands. Businesses must appropriately adapt their business models if they want to remain solvent.
This presents an opportunity for hardware and software manufacturers to perform some fresh assessments on consumer and business needs. How are their products and services being used? What are end users criticizing or complimenting? What are end users’ ideas about opportunities for new products or services?
The smart companies will capitalize on this splendid and timely opportunity. Already many are responding with new products. For example, Lenova’s IdeaPad has a bendable screen, making it usable in four positions. Dell’s new XPS 12 laptop transforms into a tablet via a 180-degree flappable screen.
It seems to me the greatest declines in laptops and desktops are among consumers rather than businesses. Nevertheless, as the nature of work continues to change, and as traditional desktops and laptops die, businesses will gravitate toward the newer device designs. At every step in that process, device manufacturers will need to pay very close attention to costs, efficiencies, IT systems integration, ergonomics, and how the units are to be used. The challenge will be to remain a choice hardware supplier, while simultaneously producing to meet the demands of multiple and changing market segments—no easy task in anyone’s book.
LAUGHING OR CRYING IN CHINA
Posted on April 26, 2013 by James Meadows
I am afraid China presents us with some of those situations in which you do not know whether to laugh or cry, but laughing is better. As with people of all nations, we know when and how to generate some comic relief. Dexter Roberts with Jasmine Zhao collected some of the latest buzz about the challenges of life in China. Here are just a few of their best tidbits (“In China, the Humor’s Getting Darker” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/22/13–4/28/13, p. 16):
“Question: How do I guard against smog? Expert: Stay at home as much as possible, and don’t open the window. Question: How do I prevent avian flu? Expert: Open the window often for ventilation.
The two best ways to safeguard against bird flu: 1) Drink a lot of water. 2) keep the air flowing. People living in Shanghai, please ignore No. 1. People living in Beijing, please ignore No. 2
Your boss doesn’t give you a raise, but you have to be strong and keep living, because . . . the cost of graves keeps going up!”
SIMMER BEFORE SERVING
Posted on April 25, 2013 by James Meadows
Not every great idea is good at the start. Sometimes you have an idea, but it needs work. That is why incubation is important.
I remember needing to produce an important copywriting job and I thought I had a workable idea. I worked with it for a while and came up with what I thought was a viable draft. Rather than editing and finalizing it at that point, I purposefully set it aside for a short time.
When I returned to the draft, several dimensions of the approach had somehow refined themselves in my mind. Some aspects of the copy that I originally thought were brilliant did not look so brilliant. Other angles I had not conceived of suddenly appeared in my mind and tightened the message. Upon making the edits and publishing, I was told later by one of my clients it was one of the best pieces of copywriting she had ever seen.
We need to trust the incubation period. The mind tends to work just as effectively during our down times as our up times, but just in different ways. Not all work is accomplished just when the mental gearshift is engaged, but also when it is in neutral. Incubation acknowledges and allows for that process.
The next time you are involved in any creative process, be sure to allow for an incubation period. No one likes the frustration of being presented with the proverbial half-baked idea. Do not do it to someone else.
I love the way this incubation dynamic is summarized by Cheryl Strayed. Strayed had experienced some deeply personal trials and victories that served as the basis for a book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. The book did not come until many years had passed. When questioned as to why she apparently waited so long to write, Strayed explains (“A ‘Wild’ Walk toward Healing” The Kansas City Star, 4/20/13, pp. C1, C3):
“I didn’t wait. . . . I wrote about it as soon as I had something to say about it. A life experience doesn’t equal literature. Sometimes things have to simmer.”
As businesspeople, sometimes we have to let things simmer.
REPURPOSE THE SURPLUS—WITH LOTS OF HELP
Posted on April 24, 2013 by James Meadows
Sisters Betsy and Emily Nunez have created a company called Sword & Plough. It began taking orders April 15 for canvas handbags made from Army surplus canvas. Although the Nunez sisters went from concept to company relatively fast, it did not happen without a lot of help. Such is often the story of successful entrepreneurs.
While a senior at Middlebury College, Betsy entered a social entrepreneurship contest using her business concept. Following that experience, she snagged a place in Dell’s Summer Social Innovation Lab, thereby creating a finished business plan, a brand name, and a prototype. The following year, the business concept netted a $6,500-award in the Harvard’s Pitch for Change contest. About that same time, the Nunez sisters received an invitation to the Kairos Global Summit in New York. All this exposure generated some excellent networking, mentoring, and free consulting for the pair.
The Nunez sisters definitely appreciate their fortuitous circumstances in addition to their hard work. Consequently, Sword & Plough donates 10% of its profits to Veteran Green Jobs and the Wounded Warrior Project.
Entrepreneurs’ success or failure is so often contingent on the availability of a network of resources and support. Diane Brady describes how this worked for the Nunez sisters (“It Takes an Army—And Advisers” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/15/13–4/21/13, pp. 50, 52):
“The existence of Sword & Plough is a testament to the power of the growing infrastructure nationwide to support student entrepreneurship. Without the momentum provided by competitions, fellowships, and mentoring programs, Emily’s lightbulb moment may have been only that. ‘We had so much help in making this a reality,’ she says. That’s reflected in the company’s board of advisers, which includes Cosmo Fujiyama, who set up the Dell lab, and David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. ‘There were probably a few key weeks there where, if Emily hadn’t had us, she might have moved on,’ says John Isham, faculty director at Middlebury’s entrepreneurship center, who is also on the advisory board. ‘Our networks mattered.’”
Repeatedly, networking and collaboration are major keys to entrepreneurial success. It is not enough to have a great business idea. You also must have a diverse, vibrant, wise constellation of people to help you navigate your path.
At the end of the day, I am hard-pressed to say which party gets the most out of it—the entrepreneur or all the people who provided support. But then again, that is what makes the whole thing even more exciting now isn’t it?
HEALTHCARE HEADACHES
Posted on April 23, 2013 by James Meadows
Unfortunately, healthcare continues to be the source of headaches, in more ways than one. Heightened costs are overwhelming individuals, companies, nonprofits, and municipalities. Alex Wayne explains just one example (“Health Reform: Obamacare at Twice the Price” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/22/13–4/28/13, p. 27):
“The health-care law calls for exchanges where people will shop for insurance plans. Helping states build them is costing much more than the White House anticipated.”
In this case, although the White House budgeted $2 billion for this item, the cost will be closer to $4.4 billion. We have blown our budget by 120%.
I think there was a day when healthcare would heal more headaches than it created; now I’m not so sure.
LINKEDIN LINKS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Posted on April 22, 2013 by James Meadows
Since its debut in 2003, LinkedIn has been a social-media powerhouse in the professional networking world. Many companies do not even consider you a serious job candidate if you do not have a LinkedIn profile. Increasing numbers of companies advertise their open positions on LinkedIn thereby allowing you to apply with just a few mouse clicks by which your profile becomes your application. You have the option of attaching a cover letter and resume. This entire process can save hours of time compared to typical online company application sites that require you to fill out laborious education and employment-history sections.
I have been amazed to watch LinkedIn’s strategy and growth during its first decade. As with any successful company, LinkedIn is constantly assessing how it can improve. Lately, a key person involved in that endeavor is Kevin Scott, LinkedIn’s top engineer. In February, Scott instituted Operation InVersion; a major project to revamp LinkedIn’s computing architecture, which definitely needed some work.
Scott made a special effort to avoid human error during the computing architecture rebuild. Ashlee Vance describes his approach (“LinkedIn’s Hidden Horsepower” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/15/13–4/21/13, p. 34):
“Key to Scott’s InVersion project are the artificial intelligence code checkers that scour software for any errors put in by engineers. Other tech companies have their own algorithmic tools but also dispatch teams of people to oversee the process of adding new code to the companies’ live Web sites. At LinkedIn, it’s almost entirely automated. ‘Humans have largely been removed from the process,’ Scott says. ‘Humans slow you down.’”
Scott’s efforts are paying off in producing a better, smoother, more reliable Web site. For example, typical social media sites such as Google or Facebook update once every few days or at best once daily. LinkedIn is now typically updating three times every day. The additional site refinement supports what Scott sees as LinkedIn’s next level of performance:
“mining users’ economic and job data to spot trends early and advise people on advancing their careers. ‘We’ll be able to see things like where welders are migrating and what skills the successful ones are learning,’ Scott says. ‘It is great to have perfect information running in both directions.’”
As with any cutting-edge endeavor, growing pains happen. No one screamed louder than I did when the Books section of our profiles completely disappeared. On the other hand, I am sure many folks shed no tears.
Many Web sites exist for professionals to join where you can be just another name on the roster. LinkedIn is not one of them. These other sites do not have the professional breadth, depth, and utility LinkedIn does. Additionally, LinkedIn seems to be doing its best to remain the industry leader in growing a professional tool that works for everyone. It is a powerful and relevant resource in every sense of the word. That power and relevance only stand to grow stronger.
DO YOU HEAR THE MUSIC?
Posted on April 19, 2013 by James Meadows
In the 1980s, about 20 million boom boxes were the primary way people listened to music. In the 1990s, radio/tape players outpaced boom boxes. As we rolled into the new century, CD players took the lead with over 50 million sold. Around 2006, MP3 players, including iPods, became popular, but sales were still under 50 million. The reason might surprise you.
As we reached 2013, 130 million smartphones have sold and are serving as the primary vehicle for music. Ryan Bradley summarizes (“Apple’s Streaming Music Problem” Fortune, 4/8/13, pp. 35–36):
“The smartphone is also an always connected listening device; its growth has vastly outpaced that of previous music players.” (p. 36)
Based on these numbers, Apple has some decisions to make about how it wants to handle music. Music is becoming increasingly less profitable. Business analyst Horace Dediu:
“estimates that iTunes is a $17-billion-a-year business that costs $5 billion to run. Overall operating margins are growing, thanks to app sales, but Apple basically breaks even on music and video sales because of high publisher payments.”
Steve Jobs once said consumers simply are not interested in a music-subscription model. Well, last year 20 million people paid for their music subscription services. It might be time for Apple to change its approach.
IT’S NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS
Posted on April 18, 2013 by James Meadows
Whistling in the dark and trying to keep folks from seeing the egg on your face can be a tricky task. Some believe that is exactly what many major corporations are doing today when it comes to cybersecurity. We hear almost daily about security breaches and we wonder if our data is safe. Simultaneously, most companies seem to downplay the effects of these rampant attacks by saying it’s not as bad as it sounds (Chris Strohm, Eric Engleman, and Dave Michaels, “Cyber Attack? What Cyber Attack?” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/15/13–4/21/13, pp. 40–41):
“Among the 27 largest U.S. companies reporting cyber attacks—including MetLife, Coca-Cola, and Honeywell International—almost all said there has been no material impact from computer breaches.” (p. 40)
In October 2011, the SEC declared companies had an obligation to announce any information on cyber attacks that could affect investors’ decisions about buying, selling, or holding stock. My, how the plot thickens! The problem here is:
“regulators want more information about cyber attacks, yet businesses don’t want to provide hackers with a road map to their networks.” (p. 40)
Given these conflicting priorities, knowing whom to believe becomes difficult. Oh well, perhaps it’s not as bad as it sounds. Perhaps it’s worse.
REPUBLICA RIDES THE HISPANIC WAVE
Posted on April 17, 2013 by James Meadows
Most companies realize the importance of advertising and marketing, and some companies especially realize the importance of targeting every viable market segment to maximize growth. One of those segments gaining increasing attention is the Hispanic segment. Recognizing this opportunity, Jorge Plasencia established Republica, an advertising agency specializing in helping companies to appeal to the Hispanic market. Dinah Eng describes Republica’s vibrant success (“Mad Men, Miami-Style” Fortune, 4/8/13, p. 29):
“Miami-based firm, Republica, has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing independent ad agencies, according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies. . . . Since its founding in 2006, Republica has seen revenue grow roughly 40% each year, and last year it climbed to nearly $11 million.”
This segment focus is well placed. At 16% of the nation’s population, Hispanics are a strong buying block. For example, although 59% of all Americans are smartphone users, that figure is 68% for Hispanics.
Regardless of your product or service, understanding your market and submarkets is crucial to your company’s growth. Plasencia has identified a key market segment and his agency’s success is testament to that. He is riding that Hispanic wave.
Plasencia is not the only person who can ride that wave. We each have that same opportunity. The Hispanic market segment is not the only market segment producing some waves. Look around. Consider every possible group to which your business can appeal. The opportunities are endless.
DOING IT RIGHT: CARMAX
Posted on April 16, 2013 by James Meadows
Excellent ideas can come from anyone. Tom Folliard, the CEO of CarMax, has never lost that sensitivity. In an exchange with one of his frontline employees, Folliard received the suggestion to siphon gas from newly acquired wholesale cars and immediately transfer it into retail cars. Folliard looked into the idea’s feasibility and decided to implement it. To date, the company has saved more than $500,000.
This example illustrates one of the many benefits of a leadership best practice—never lose touch with your frontline staff. The moment you do, your business is in trouble. Erika Fry describes one of Folliard’s regular practices to stay in touch with his people (“How CarMax Cares” Fortune, 4/8/13, p. 21):
“Folliard visited 70 . . . stores last year, hosting grand openings, town halls, and steak cookouts for offices that met monthly sales goals (he does the grilling). He and his team use the visits to connect with associates, answer questions, and solicit feedback from the field.”
Well, traveling to and grilling for all those stores can get expensive. On the other hand, I think those $500,000 ideas that come along probably make up for it. Besides, it is just good leadership to stay in touch.
THE MIND-BODY-COMPUTER CONNECTION
Posted on April 15, 2013 by James Meadows
We used to talk much about the mind-body connection. Today we are talking much more about what I call the mind-body-computer connection (MBCC). Rapid scientific advances coupled with extremely fast computer processing power are allowing us to go down this hitherto untraveled path. The benefits promise to be inconceivable. Drake Bennett describes one of the latest astonishing examples produced by a Wisconsin company, Wicab (“Computing That Makes You Feel” Bloomberg Businessweek, 3/4/13–3/10/13, pp. 34–36):
“Wicab . . . has designed a small, square array of electrodes for the blind. When placed on the tongue like a lollipop, it turns the feed from a video camera into a pointillist pattern of tactile stimulation. The sensation is like sparkling water, or Pop Rocks candy, but after time and practice, blind users report the paradoxical sensation of seeing with their tongues.” (p. 34)
Another aspect of this developing field is the contention that a keyboard, screen, and mouse are not inherently the best means with which to interface our computing devices. All sorts of things are developing to address this. For example, Leap Motion (a San Francisco startup):
“has developed a small Kinect-like device to replace the mouse, so that pointing, dragging, dropping, and shaping forms on a screen will be something you do with your hands in space before your monitor, like a sorcerer.”
Another vanguard example, although a bit more mundane, is from Ambient Devices. Its consumer product, the Energy Orb, glows in different colors based on the real-time cost of electricity. Such coloration changes might remind folks to change the thermostat setting. Bennett calls this:
“pre-attentive processing, the ability to pick up on things beyond the margins of conscious attention.”
The MBCC is here to stay. It will likely become increasingly complex because the technological and human opportunities are limitless. To me, that means the future is bright. Harnessed correctly, the MBCC promises to make our lives more efficient and effective.
WHEN IT IS TIME TO MEASURE
Posted on April 12, 2013 by James Meadows
Dan Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, a research and consulting company. Schawbel recently interviewed Aaron McDaniel, author of the new book, The Young Professional’s Guide to Managing.
McDaniel serves up loads of good advice about management and leadership, especially for millennials. Amidst the gold, one nugget especially impressed me:
“Removing obstacles is an often forgotten responsibility of managers and driving results through others is paramount. No matter how nice or smart you are, you will be measured by the results you can get others to achieve.”
McDaniel hits the nail on the head—you will be measured by the results you can get others to achieve. That principle is intrinsic to quality leadership. Just because you are a great manager does not automatically mean you are a great leader. Great leaders stimulate respect, teamwork, admiration, and inspiration. These leaders empower their followers to accomplish exceptional victories.
When you are a great leader, not only have you made your team a success, you have made yourself a success. Remember, you will be measured by the results of your team. In the final analysis, that makes a lot of sense. After all, your team is a reflection of you.
http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2013/02/15/how-generation-y-managers-can-succeed/#ixzz2OLQgeOWr
PUBLISHING AND JOURNALISM IN THE INTERNET ERA
Posted on April 11, 2013 by James Meadows
Some have charged journalism with being in a horrible state today. Writing for Slate.com, Matthew Yglesias affirms American journalism has never been better than it is today. Although that is probably true, it does raise some questions: Does it depend on whom you ask? How might the digitization of journalism affect its quality? Is the dwindling business of hardcopy publishing a factor? We will be analyzing these good questions for a long time.
Based on the Internet’s ubiquity and technology’s power, Yglesias counters some of the current arguments that journalism quality has degraded:
“Just ask yourself: Is there more or less good material for you to read today than there was 13 years ago? The answer is, clearly, more. . . . And of course digital technology also makes it dramatically easier to produce the news. Charts and graphs can be manufactured and published in minutes.”
I agree with Yglesias’ points. The journalistic platform today is immensely superior to its predecessors. Readers have more choices than at any time in the past.
Another interesting aspect of journalism today is the permanency and availability of all published work. Rather than buying a hardcopy subscription or taking a jaunt to the right library, any reader can access almost any written work online anytime, as Yglesias elaborates:
“Any individual journalist working today can produce much more than our predecessors could in 1978. And the audience can essentially read all of our output. Not just today’s output either. Yesterday’s and last week’s and last month’s and last year’s and so forth. To the extent that the industry is suffering, it’s suffering from a crisis of productivity.”
Exactly how the publishing and journalism industry will evolve during this crisis of productivity is going to be fascinating to watch. Nevertheless, we will do more than watch it. We will experience it. We will create it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/03/pew_s_state_of_the_media_ignore_the_doomsaying_american_journalism_has_never.html
NEXT TIME, LISTEN TO MY WIFE
Posted on April 10, 2013 by James Meadows
Upon learning that the J.C. Penney board of directors had ousted its CEO, Ron Johnson, I have to say, I was not surprised. In his 16-month attempt to reinvent the longstanding retail giant, things did not go well. For the fiscal year, the company lost $985 million.
Johnson’s playbook included the elimination of all coupons, transitioning to a steadier but supposedly lower pricing structure, and installing specialty brand stores. The strategy was rather bold and risky. I am not saying strategies should never be bold and risky. In most cases, by definition, they have to be. Nevertheless, not every bold and risky strategy guarantees success.
Beyond all the strategic analysis, I just wish Johnson had consulted with my wife first. As I recall, she came home one day after a shopping excursion and flatly declared, “I’m not happy with what’s happening at J.C. Penney.” That was when I knew for sure the company was in trouble.
You see, Kathy was one of J.C. Penney’s average loyal customers. Not anymore. When the customer experience for Kathy changed, that alone told me more than all the business and strategy analysis in the world could have told me. It well illustrates a fundamentally important point for all businesses. If you disappoint or alienate your regular customers, that will be your undoing.
Yes, I will admit, Kathy is pretty special to me. I realize J.C. Penney may not feel the same way I do. J.C. Penney may consider Kathy to be just another average customer—no one special. In a sense, I understand J.C. Penney’s perspective; Kathy is just another average customer. But therein lies J.C. Penney’s mistake. Kathy genuinely is someone special. She is someone special because she had a customer experience that portended an ominous message. J.C. Penney somehow missed that.
Every business will miss that unless they understand how special all the “Kathys” are.
BUILDING TEAMS BEGINS IN THE CLASSROOM
Posted on April 9, 2013 by James Meadows
One of the most important qualities for any member of the workforce today is the ability to work in a team. The Lone Ranger mentality no longer flies in corporate America. Only those persons who have developed their human relations skills are genuinely long-term desired employees. I have witnessed this business leadership dynamic over many years. If anything, the emphasis on high-performing teams is greater today than at any prior time.
One of the latest examples of this emphasis arose from the University of Kansas Medical Center in its programs to educate doctors in preparation for the real world. Alan Bavley describes this important teamwork dynamic (“KU Med Seeks an Upgrade” The Kansas City Star, 12/29/12, pp. A4–A5):
“Medical education is adopting the same kinds of techniques used by the airline industry, training people as teams so they learn to work together, communicate better and avoid making errors. ‘That’s the future of high-stakes education’ [staff member Dr. Glen] Cox said.” (A5)
Cox is correct. Nowadays, most accredited degree programs include a learning-team component. Colleges and graduate schools recognize the importance of giving each student multiple team-immersion experiences. The most important reason for this is obvious—the real world works in teams. In corporate America, no one is an island. We need each other.
It makes no difference how smart or visionary you or I may be, unless we have the ability to collaborate successfully. Even though “team” contains no “I”, every team has a lot of “I”s. Nevertheless, synergy will never happen unless those individuals know how to work together.
NEW WORLD LEADER
Posted on April 8, 2013 by James Meadows
A new world leader has emerged. It—rather than he or she—had its genesis within the last eight years (Larry Greenemeier, “Crunch Time” Scientific American, January 2013, p. 18):
“In 2005 engineers at the U.S. department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory unveiled Jaguar, a system that would later be upgraded into a world-beating supercomputer. By 2011 it had swelled to a room-size system that used seven megawatts of energy, ran nearly 225,000 processor cores and had a peak performance of 2.3 quadrillion calculations per second.”
That is fast! Nonetheless, energy research continues to demand greater supercomputer muscle. Therefore, when studying how to enhance Jaguar, just adding more CPUs would not have been a smart strategy. Additional CPUs would have come at a very high power cost and with diminishing returns. Scientists relooked at the possible solutions and settled on enhanced GPUs (graphics processing units) as Greenemeier describes:
“In late October 2012 Jaguar became Titan, a supercomputer that leverages both CPU and GPU . . . accelerators to deliver 10 times the performance of Jaguar while consuming five times less power. It has become the world’s most powerful supercomputer.”
All that new supercomputer capability will not go to waste. Via Titan, plans are in place for improved research in such areas as nuclear power-plant neutron-behavior simulations. This project will help extend the life of nuclear power plants.
How does Titan compare with its old self, Jaguar? On the current neutron-behavior project, Jaguar would have needed 60 hours to run the simulation. Titan wraps it up in just 13.
We do indeed have a new world leader . . . and it will not be the last one.
FREE MARKETS FOR INDIA
Posted on April 5, 2013 by James Meadows
Someone is reading India the riot act. His name is Raghuram Rajan. Rajan is the chief economic advisor to the government serving under its finance minister. Rajan happens to be an Indian national educated at Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Perhaps that dual-world exposure puts him in a unique position to bring strategic input to India’s economic policies. Bruce Einhorn and Unni Krishnan describe Rajan’s charges in Bloomberg Businessweek (“Mr. Free Market Goes to India” 3/25/13–3/31/13, pp. 11–12):
“Rajan’s view of India’s problems, as stated in a number of withering speeches, is that corrupt politicians, officials, and middlemen have hobbled free markets by monopolizing licenses, government funds, infrastructure projects, and more. . . . On March 13 he told Indian broadcaster New Delhi Television that India is overregulated, and that sick companies don’t die quickly enough.” (p. 11)
Rajan is a strong believer in free markets. Therefore, he can clearly see the numerous bottlenecks in his nation’s economy. Rajan’s overarching economic plan calls for:
“Cutting the number of regulations to reduce opportunities for corruption, tearing down trade barriers to allow more foreign competition, dismantling labor laws that stifle hiring, and overhauling the financial system to make it more responsive to ordinary customers.” (p. 11)
These sweeping kinds of reforms may take decades. Nevertheless, I admire Rajan for having the bravery to identify the problems and propose solutions. If India does not relook at its economic policy, it will eventually sabotage its growth. As Rajan warns:
“‘India’s continuing on a rapid growth path is not preordained.’” (p. 12)
GENERICS BECOMING LESS GENERIC
Posted on April 4, 2013 by James Meadows
A generic drug company waits until a big-name drug comes off patent, and then begins producing essentially, chemically the same product for the healthcare market. In so doing, the generic drug manufacturer has dodged all the R&D costs associated with the original drug. Many consumers benefit from this longtime strategy.
A bit of a challenging twist has developed recently in a related segment of the market. A category known as biologics is produced via a person’s own cells as opposed to chemical reactions in a reaction chamber. Derivatives of biologics are called biosimilars. Because of this human-body interactive dynamic, the stretch from branded product to a generic equivalent becomes a bit hazier. Therefore, the normal model of an inexpensive startup for a generic drug suddenly becomes less applicable. Many stakeholders are concerned. Makiko Kitamura and David Wainer write about the dilemma in Bloomberg Businessweek (“Similar But Not the Same” 3/25/13–3/31/13, pp. 19–20):
“The challenge for the makers of biosimilars lies in the compound’s very name: They are similar to but not the same as the drugs they aim to replace. Generic drugs are chemical duplicates of existing medicines. Making exact copies of biologics is practically impossible as even batches made by the same manufacturer will have slight variability. As in winemaking, a host of factors can affect the product, such as where it was made and the temperature at the time of production. Regulatory approval of biosimilars requires . . . makers of the replicants to demonstrate through lab work and human testing that the interactions between the drug and the body are comparable to the branded drug in head-to-head trials. But that still leaves room for doctors and patients to question whether the copy is as effective as the original over time.” (p. 20)
The problem of course is who will assume the added costs associated with all this chemistry clarification and testing? If the generic drug company assumes that responsibility, it is subtracting from its profit margin. Big pharma is the player with the most well developed resources for doing it, but try bringing them to the negotiating table.
Better living through chemistry, eh? Well, it seems in this case we still have a lot of work to do on the chemistry as well as the collaboration.
BUSINESSWEEK NAMES ITS BEST 50
Posted on April 3, 2013 by James Meadows
Each year Bloomberg Businessweek selects from the S&P 500 its top 50 companies based on past performance and analysts’ future expectations. This year in the number-one position is Actavis. By sales, Actavis is now the fourth-largest generic drug manufacturer. It did this in part by expanding its footprint from a mostly domestic one to a global one. The company anticipates overseas generic sales will eventually account for about half its revenue stream.
The number-two slot goes to Salesforce.com. As an online sales-force automation service, the company concentrates on just eight countries, but with client companies of all sizes. That strategy has produced a steady growth. Lately, Salesforce.com is strongly promoting its marketing services. Instead of doing that via its own R&D, the company is using strategic acquisitions. The current CEO, Marc Benioff, explains (John Tozzi, “BBW Fifty” Bloomberg Businessweek 2/18/13–2/24/13, pp. 37–44):
“When we talk to our large customers, they are spending huge amounts in marketing—in some cases, 10 to 20 times what they spend on IT. So it’s a very exciting time in marketing. We spent approximately $1 billion in the last three years on acquisitions in the marketing area. We want to build a strong marketing product line but mostly through acquisition. We can go faster by buying.” (p. 40)
That is always the strategic question: Do we do this by ourselves or do we strategically acquire others? Benioff is obviously taking the acquisition route.
Some of the more interesting but not surprising companies that earned a spot are Amazon.com (4), Apple (9), Time Warner Cable (11), Comcast (15), Home Depot (23), Starbucks (25), Pentair (31), Whole Foods (38), Lowe’s (39), Covidien (41), Snap-on (45), and Cerner (50).
As always, it will be fascinating to watch each of these companies in 2013. Inevitably, some will lose their place on the BBW 50 and some will retain it. That is the challenge of business now isn’t it?
THE NEW CLOUD—EASY, ORGANIZED, AND ACCESSIBLE
Posted on April 2, 2013 by James Meadows
I have been increasingly impressed with how creatively and powerfully so many companies and startups are capitalizing on the cloud. This all makes sense because the cloud is only useful if you use it. You will use it more if it is easy, organized, and accessible.
Evernote is another one of those cool new companies that understand these dynamics. That understanding is a big reason 50 million people are using Evernote’s app by the same name and another 100,000 users are downloading it each month. I think Evernote’s attention to detail, its technical accuracy, and its understanding of how people want to interact with their apps are keys to Evernote’s success. Rob Walker enumerates Evernote’s complex, yet simple-to-use, functionalities (“The Cult of Evernote” Bloomberg Businessweek 3/4/12–3/10/12, pp. 60–65):
“You type, or clip or upload a new ‘note’ (an image, a recording, or a Web page) into the right-hand column; store it in a ‘notebook’ listed on the left-hand side; and browse or search in the middle. The promise is that Evernote saves your ideas, documents your meetings, archives articles, reminds you what your kid wants for Christmas, and coughs up the business card of Plaid Jacket Guy from that conference in Scottsdale. In addition to segregating such material into notebooks, users can organize it with tags, but don’t have to. Evernote’s search function, with optical character recognition that even picks up words within pictures, is impressively accurate and speedy. The effectiveness of this function is crucial, because the willingness to dump work and personal material in one place is central to Evernote’s worldview.” (p. 64)
As with many of these personal-productivity apps, for most people the free version is sufficient. Pay a few bucks a year, and you can upgrade to the versions with more storage, bells, and whistles. That approach alone has always impressed me because the bottom line is you increase your user base significantly. Your revenue stream arises from the small percentage of users who are willing to upgrade. Simultaneously, you have a growing customer base, and some of these will eventually convert to sales.
Evernote’s Web site declares its goal:
“To help the world remember everything, communicate effectively and get things done.”
Although I am not a current user of Evernote, I am beginning to give it serious consideration. Hey—I am all for more effectiveness in memory, communication, and accomplishment!
www.evernote.com
RAT CONTROL TAKES A NEW TACTIC
Posted on April 1, 2013 by James Meadows
SenesTech is a pest-control company based in Flagstaff, Arizona, with an interesting approach. It has created a new product called ContraPest which when eaten by female rates accelerates their egg loss, thereby rendering them sterile within a matter of days. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is enlisting SenesTech to deploy ContraPest to counter the subway’s rat infestation. Caroline Winter writes about the ongoing research (“Turning Rats Into Old Maids” Bloomberg Businessweek3/25/12–3/31/12, pp. 22–23):
“For the next two months, SenesTech will study rat behavior in New York subways. One goal is to pinpoint preferred foods in hopes of making the ContraPest bait more desirable than discarded pizza and candy.” (p. 22)
Interestingly, because rats are territorial, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority does not want to eliminate all rats. If that happened, new rats from surrounding territories would simply reinfest the newly vacated subways. Rather, the idea is to leave a rat population so small, rat territories are maintained, but the public rarely, if ever, sees the rats. Would this be a case where perception is not reality?
SenesTech is currently a small private company, hoping to become profitable by next year. The business plan is to license its technology to companies specializing in agriculture products and pest management. Loretta Mayer, one of the company’s cofounders, emphasizes the product is not harmful to people or the environment. She does admit one observer had concerns about rat mood swings by asking:
“‘Wow, don’t you worry? I mean, a whole bunch of large menopausal rats—aren’t they angry?’” (p. 23)
After all, you are messing with female rats’ reproductive cycles. I can almost see the movie titles now. Move over, Willard.
THE BUSINESSPERSON’S HOW-TO-O-MATIC
Posted on March 29, 2013 by James Meadows
As businesspeople, our biggest challenge every single day is knowing exactly how to accomplish a difficult task in diverse situations. To help us meet that need more effectively, Jennifer Daniel and Evan Applegate have created a one-page “How-To-O-Matic” (“The How-To-O-Matic” Bloomberg Businessweek 4/16/12–4/22/12). Using their handy dandy chart, you can look up various tasks, match them to situations, and voila, you have your solutions. Sounds like something that should be on one of those late-night infomercials, eh? From the How-To-O-Matic, here are my favorites:
Task: Play golf. Situation: You are in an elevator. Solution—Stick with putter.
Task: Capitalize on a crisis. Situation: You are in a helicopter. Solution—Impress others with knowledge of the word, “auto-rotate.”
Task: Handle stress. Situation: You are shipwrecked. Solution—Try to remember how Robinson Crusoe ended.
Task: Nail that job interview. Situation: You are in an elevator. Solution—Push all the buttons to gain extra time.
Task: Inspire your team. Situation: You are in a helicopter. Solution—Bump fists with the intern and jump out the door.
Wow. I think I have everything I need now for a successful career!
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-12/the-how-to-o-matic
A PLACE FOR ENTREPRENEURS TO PLAY
Posted on March 28, 2013 by James Meadows
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (Kansas City), among its many worthy endeavors, has done much to help entrepreneurs flourish. One of its more recent and very impressive creations in this arena is the founding almost a year ago of “1 Million Cups” (1MC). The principal idea was communities are built around coffee cups. Therefore, the more folks we can network to entrepreneurs, the better for everyone.
In that spirit, every Wednesday morning entrepreneurs and those supportive of entrepreneurs convene to hear a couple startup pitches. People can also attend live online. The audience is able to engage each presenter to ask questions and offer advice. I think this is an excellent idea to help the business community in general and entrepreneurs in particular.
What is even more exciting is 1MC has been expanding to other cities. In addition to its Kansas City home base, 1MC now includes Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Houston, Reno, and Saint Louis. Plans are in place for more growth too.
Entrepreneurship is so dependent on collaboration and idea exchange. Being able to network, field questions, and entertain alternate perspectives is extremely valuable. It seems to me 1MC has found the sweet spot in this realm. I look forward to many happy returns from 1MC.
http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/Kauffman-Labs/1-Million-Cups.aspx
MBA STUDENTS ASSESS ETHICS INTEGRATION
Posted on March 27, 2013 by James Meadows
Bloomberg Businessweek did a number of 2012 surveys with graduating MBA students. One of the topics assessed was how well their business curricula integrated ethics. The students were asked to rank their program’s ethics offerings on a scale from 1 to 6, where a 1 score means “poor” and a 6 score means “outstanding.” Here are the Bloomberg Businessweek top-rated business schools and their student-assessed ethics scores (Geoff Gloeckler “MBA Rankings: Top Schools for Ethics”):
5.87—Notre Dame (Mendoza)
5.74—Virginia (Darden)
5.63—Indiana (Kelley)
5.58—Maryland (Smith)
5.58—Yale
5.56—IESE Business School
5.55—Texas A&M (Mays)
5.42—Brigham Young (Marriott)
5.40—Dartmouth (Tuck)
5.29—Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
Those numbers look pretty good to me. Business schools are doing some things right. Professor Jared Harris with the Darden School of Business describes a required first-year MBA course on business ethics, and he is careful to clarify the weightiness of the content:
“This isn’t a course in enumerating ‘good’ and ‘bad’ business practices. Rather, its focus is on helping students build their ethical decision-making frameworks by confronting difficult, nuanced cases where values play a role.”
I greatly appreciate this approach because extremely difficult situations can and do arise that will challenge your ability and willingness to exercise your ethics. Harris’ description of the course content also emphasizes the complexity of building an ethical framework that will perform well when confronted by ethical and moral dilemmas.
I especially like the comment of Philip Negri, a Notre Dame MBA student:
“Our ethics curriculum is . . . integrated seamlessly within every course and every lesson.”
Regardless of whether your business-school curriculum has a dedicated ethics course, integrating the ethical consideration into every course is the most important objective. That approach most accurately mirrors the real world because no boundaries exist for where ethical challenges might arise. If our MBA graduates cannot address ethical issues in the real world, then all the business training only stands to be misused and abused.
The hope is all incoming students would already possess an intrinsic, positive ethical sense. Unfortunately, we know that is not always the case. By building ethics into our business-school programs, we at least have the opportunity to inculcate it where it does not exist, and refine it where it already exists.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-17/mba-rankings-top-schools-for-ethics
BETTER AND BETTER ALL THE TIME
Posted on March 26, 2013 by James Meadows
I was reading a car review recently when this segment caught my eye (Mike Hanley, “Mazda6 Is Worthy Midsize Option” The Kansas City Star, 3/22/13, pp. C1–C2):
“Apart from promising better mileage than the stick, the automatic transmission also makes the four-cylinder look good, providing low-speed smoothness and precise shifts at higher speeds. The automatic is responsive; it will kick down quickly if you mash the gas pedal.” (p. C2)
The point may be lost on some people, but definitely not me. It caused me to reflect on car history a bit. I remember the day when everyone automatically (pun intended?) knew you did not buy a car with an automatic transmission if you wanted the very best possible gas mileage. Automatics did a lot of work for the driver and that extra work demanded extra energy which demanded extra gas.
As I recall, it was not until the 1970s I saw the first article or book that purported you could achieve gas mileage from an automatic equal to that of a standard, if not better, if you knew how to finesse your driving. Many people felt particularly proud if they adjusted their driving habits with their automatics to do exactly that. Most people could not.
In these days of six-speed automatic transmissions, and even continuously variable transmissions (CVTs), mated with computer control of every aspect of the car’s power delivery systems, we are beginning to take it for granted that the stick will cost you mileage. This is a complete flip-flop from the past. Once again, we are reminded of how technology tends to make things better over time.
Someone once asked me: If you could live in any historical period, which period would you choose? My answer was, today. I appreciate all the benefits and conveniences technology brings us every single day. Keep those flip-flops coming!
GOOGLE FIBER REVOLUTIONIZES THE FUTURE
Posted on March 25, 2013 by James Meadows
The allure of Google Fiber is its incredible speed—downloading at 100 times faster than anything we have today and uploading at 1,000 times faster. Now that is fast (said the guy who remembers his first 56K dial-up modem).
It reminds me of the hilsch vortex tube. The hilsch vortex tube is an interesting invention. You blow compressed air into it, and the internal mechanism with no moving parts uses thermodynamic principles to separate the fastest molecules from the slowest ones. As a result, you have two exit ports, one blowing cold air and the other blowing hot air. It was a unique invention in the 1930s and 1940s, and folks wondered how it would ever be used. Nevertheless, a decade or two later, various applications began to arise for its use.
Needless to say, I was particularly excited about a special opportunity on Friday 3/22/13. On that day, The Freelance Exchange of Kansas City, of which I am a member, held its monthly luncheon at Google Fiber’s local office. We enjoyed a great presentation by Christina Komonce (Google Fiber Field Marketing Representative). Komonce did a marvelous job reviewing the entire history behind Google Fiber, its debut in Kansas City, and what the implications are for us all. From Komonce’s presentation, some interesting facts stood out to me:
1—Home Network Speeds In The USA. Most folks might assume because we are in the USA, we of course must have one of the world’s fastest Internet speeds among our residents. In fact, the USA comes in not even among the top ten, but place 13. We definitely have some improvement opportunities.
2—Home Network Speeds Have Plateaued. This was an extremely interesting juxtaposition. While PC hardware speeds and PC storage space have skyrocketed steadily, home Internet speeds have leveled off for several years. The time has definitely arrived for another quantum leap.
3—Home Network Speeds Affect A Home’s Market Value. Independent studies reveal that just setting up the Google Fiber drop to a home raises its market value by $2,000 to $5,000. The housing market recognizes the value and the convenience of Google Fiber.
4—Build It And They Will Come. (This is one point I specifically asked Komonce to address because I think many people overlook it.) Although some critics contend the Google Fiber speeds are so much faster than anyone needs, that does not tell the whole story. Technological development has a pace to it, and part of that pace is linked to platform availability and expansion. Let’s face it—many things we do today on high-speed Internet we would never have conceived in the days of the 56K dial-up modem. Ingenuity feeds off ingenuity. Google Fiber will catalyze associated technological development. To think of it another way, suppose motor-vehicle technology and highway developments were such that beginning tomorrow, all vehicles would drive at 600 miles per hour and with a reduced accident rate? Surely, those realities would begin to invoke changes on many fronts.
5—Competition Is Good For Everyone. Competition is always good for businesses and consumers alike. Consumers enjoy more options and businesses take advantage of opportunities to refine their strategies. One attendee pointed out Time Warner Cable has interestingly bumped all its Internet customers’ speeds up significantly for no extra charge, just to remain competitive.
My Conclusion—Google Fiber is here to stay, Kansas City is blessed to be in on the ground floor, and everyone will benefit because of it.
CALLS YOU COULD TRANSFER, BUT WON’T
Posted on March 22, 2013 by James Meadows
As businesspeople, we face challenges on a regular basis. Rising to those challenges is what separates the mediocre from the best. Occasionally, certain challenges come along you would rather avoid and you can legitimately sidestep very easily, and yet you still choose to engage because you just want to do the right thing. Such was the case one day for US District Judge Jed Rakoff.
No small-time lawyer, Rakoff presided over the recent $163 million settlement in the New York Mets’ owners’ case involving the trustee of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. In 2009, he criticized the SEC based on its poor handling of the Bank of America nondisclosure violations. Rakoff sentenced a Goldman Sachs director, Rajat Gupta, to a two-year prison term for insider trading, justifying his decision with a detailed analysis as to why it was a fair sentence when some inside traders were receiving much longer sentences.
One day Rakoff just happened to answer his office phone to find a very irate caller on the other end. Rakoff describes the interesting conversation (David A. Kaplan, “The Judge Who Rules on Business” Fortune 2/4/13, pp. 106–113):
“I had the situation where a guy who was clearly a little drunk said, ‘I saw what you did in the X case, and that was absolutely outrageous, and I’m going to kill you.’ And I realized the case wasn’t mine. It was a colleague’s. And I was so tempted to say, ‘Let me transfer your call.’” (p. 113)
What would you have done? And before you answer, let me warn you, your response may reveal more about your character than your work-efficiency concerns. I will let you decide.
On the other hand, if there was ever a reason to transfer a call—I think that was it!
SOME NEW THING
Posted on March 21, 2013 by James Meadows
You may have heard the news. Teenagers are not as enraptured with Facebook as they once were. Facebook acknowledges the trend in its annual 10-K report:
“We believe that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook. For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram.”
Some social media experts believe Facebook has simply become too big and too public for many teens. Therefore, many teens have gravitated to Instagram, Snapchat, and other more private, intimate forums.
The good news for Facebook of course is many other age groups use it besides teens. This is quite the reverse of its early days. Yet therein lies its secret to success. Why settle for just one age group when you can have them all? I can still remember early teen reactions as Facebook’s user base began to enlarge:
“Hey, what are my parents doing on Facebook?”
Well, this is the reality of all social media. People will gravitate to the platforms they desire, regardless of what a platform’s preexisting user base may think about it.
The good news for Facebook is most teens are not deleting their accounts. They are simply expanding their repertoire. When it comes to the Internet, expanding your repertoire will never be a problem.
http://www.businessinsider.com/its-official-teens-are-bored-of-facebook-2013-3#ixzz2MZuFO07Y
BRIDGING THE WISDOM-AGE GAP
Posted on March 20, 2013 by James Meadows
If I knew then what I know now! Who has not uttered that exclamation at least once, and probably many more times than that? I sure have.
Fortunately, as a very young adult I came to realize a person’s wisdom usually increases with age. That was Important Lesson Number One. Important Lesson Number Two was the realization that not everyone’s wisdom correlated with chronology. That helped me to take a much more realistic view of people. Just because a person is old does not automatically translate to wisdom and just because a person is young does not automatically translate to a lack of wisdom, because everyone is different.
As important as those two lessons were and still are to me, my biggest motivation occurred early in life when I learned Important Lesson Number Three. That lesson states if you understand the first two lessons you can do some things to gain wisdom faster. I call this bridging the wisdom-age gap. The wisdom-age gap is that wisdom differential between how wise you are at one age versus how much wiser you would be at an older age.
Important Lesson Number Three means I can intentionally focus my energies on actively searching for ways to improve who I am and how I operate. The goal is to acquire wisdom beyond my years. Why wouldn’t anyone want that? Sadly, some folks do not want that. It reminds me of a saying I once heard:
“Life is tough. But it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.”
How different might some of our businesses be today if every single decision that was made was made with an intrinsic desire to bridge the wisdom-age gap? How much better might our professional and personal lives be today, if prior decisions were made with an attempt to bridge the wisdom-age gap? How much better off might we all be if every decision we ever made was made with the long-term effect in mind instead of just the short-term effect? What can we do to bridge the wisdom-age gap? These are questions worthy of reflection.
As for me, I have been reflecting a very long time—and I don’t plan to be done any time soon.
ONLINE TOOLS I LOVE
Posted on March 19, 2013 by James Meadows
Sometimes we learn a lot from each other about the products and services we use. I have benefitted greatly via personal and business recommendations of my friends and associates. We all have our favorites. In that spirit, here are a couple of my favorites that just might be of great benefit to you:
1—Dropbox.
I find it hard to imagine how I lived before using Dropbox. This free little online application provides one of the most helpful services for anyone using more than one desktop or laptop computer. It is extremely simple. You visit dropbox.com to download and install the software on as many of your PCs as you want. Any files you place in your Dropbox folder automatically seamlessly upload to your online Dropbox storage and instantly update any other computers on which you use Dropbox. So if I happen to be on the road editing a file on my laptop, later when I am in my home office, I do not need to worry about updating the file on my desktop. Dropbox will already have updated that file.
You can imagine the tremendous amount of hassle saved by not emailing files to yourself or copying files to thumb drives to pass them to and from all your computers. For anyone who does even a small amount of creating or editing documents, spreadsheets, and other files on more than one computer, I highly recommend Dropbox. Once you experience the convenience, you will wonder how you ever got along without it.
Dropbox is free for up to a couple gigabytes of data, and after that, you would pay. My guess is for most users, the free service is more than adequate. Remember, once you anticipate a file will not likely be highly active for a long time, you can simply move it to another location on your computer’s hard drive, thereby freeing up some of that Dropbox folder storage space.
2—Carbonite.
This year marks 20 years of my PC life. Over these last two decades, I have tried all kinds of data backup strategies, products, and services. Never have I found one that is as convenient, seamless, quiet, and reliable as Carbonite. You pay a $59 annual fee for this service, but the peace of mind is well worth it.
After setting up a personal account at Carbonite.com, you then download and install the software on the specific computer for which you are purchasing the service. The software easily walks you through a setup and backup configuration process. Once that is done, you set it and forget it!
Having used Carbonite on all my computers for many years, I can attest to its quality. Fortunately, IT disasters have been rare for me. When they have occurred, Carbonite flawlessly enabled me to restore all data files that had been lost.
Carbonite also makes replacing a PC a breeze. When my wife’s aging Windows XP machine was finally replaced last year, Carbonite allowed me to restore all her files perfectly and completely to the new PC without a hitch. This was true even for those sometimes-persnickety PST files for Microsoft Outlook. I was astounded at the ease and thoroughness of the process.
Well, those are two online tools I absolutely love. I would be interested in knowing about your favorites too. Please feel free to share.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE BY DESIGN
Posted on March 18, 2013 by James Meadows
We have all faced excellent customer experience, horrid customer experience, and everything in between. Wherever your particular experience falls on that continuum, it does not happen without design. That’s right! A customer experience, whether good or bad, always happens by design.
My two most frustrating examples of bad customer experience by design range from the mundane nitty-gritty of the public restroom to the refined nuances of corporate Web sites. Here we go:
1—Public Restrooms.
The most frustrating thing to me about using a public restroom is drying my hands after washing them. I do not care what all the so-called experts say about sanitation and cleanliness, blowing hot air on my hands while damaging my hearing from the jet engine that powers the blower is never a pleasant or efficient experience to me. Please give me paper towels!
Ah, paper towels. Now that is where things really deteriorate. Did you ever notice the one-inch handle on a lever you have to push down almost two feet to dispense about six inches of paper towel? So here you are, pumping on this stupid lever up and down about six times just to obtain a useable piece of paper towel. And of course, along the way, your wet fingers slip off that little lever for complimentary damages to your hand and forearm as they crash into the surrounding stainless steel housing and frame.
Now remember, someone specifically designed this mechanism! This boggles my mind. Can you imagine the designer and the engineer planning this?
“So how can we design this paper-towel dispenser to create as much work, frustration, and inefficiency for the customer as possible? We certainly don’t want to make this dispenser easy to use.”
This is the epitome of bad customer experience by design.
2—Corporate Web Sites.
The most frustrating thing to me about some corporate Web sites involves the simplest matter: seeking an address or a phone number. I cannot begin to count the times I have visited a corporate Web site with no other purpose than to obtain a simple phone number or address. That is when the maddening search begins. Some do not even have a page or link labeled “contact” so now you are really on a wild goose chase. Equally amazing is when you do find a contact page or its equivalent, you click on it, and it takes you to a confusing labyrinth involving an automated internal message or chat system. You still do not have a phone number or an address.
Again, remember, someone specifically designed this Web site! Can you imagine the Web designer and the marketing manager discussing the dirty deed?
“Let’s be sure to tell the customer all about who we are and all our wonderful products and services, but remember: we must never ever give the customer a way to call, visit, or write us. Before we publish, let’s make sure we double check the entire Web site for any kind of a phone number or address so we can remove them.”
This too, is bad customer experience by design.
Our Responsibility.
Now we can rant and rave about this all day especially because we are all customers. Nonetheless, as businesspersons, the important thing is to learn from it. Reflect on how your business designs its customer experience. If your design is contributing to excellent customer experience, then may you live long and prosper. On the other hand, if your design is looking more like my two examples above, then some serious redesign should be your top priority.
Customer experience is always by design.
LAST CANDIDATE STANDING
Posted on March 15, 2013 by James Meadows
From what I am seeing the right companies attracting the right workers for the right jobs continues to be a bit of a quagmire. Overstuffed pipelines, uncooperative online systems, inflexible corporate policies, human limitations, and labor-market tension are all major components of that quagmire. One of the people who has articulated this best is Liz Ryan. She contends the overall recruiting and hiring process has become so complicated and stressful, as a sad result, many hiring organizations do not ultimately obtain the most talented workers, but rather the most compliant ones:
“The whole encrusted recruiting process (not to mention unfriendly, robotic auto-responders and the unending stream of honesty tests, writing tests, and other recruiting hurdles) makes it easy for organizations to hire drones, and it makes it hard for them to hire the brilliant and complex people they need to solve their problems.”
Knowing how to play the game is half the battle. Then again, if the game you are playing feels rigged, perhaps you just do not want to play. To that point, Ryan further contends due to the sheer number of hoops through which candidates must jump, you have a falling-off curve which ultimately translates to the last candidate standing. Well, that last candidate standing might be a very persistent individual, but that does not guarantee he or she is the most qualified to do the job. “Last candidate standing” is not automatically a badge of honor or a guarantee of quality. Ryan bemoans the collective frustration over corporate America’s apparent lack of desire to improve matters:
“It is strange that even though every hiring manager knows that the sharpest candidates don’t stay on the market long, corporate recruiting processes don’t change. They don’t get nimbler or faster. They don’t get less burdensome or bureaucratic. You’d think that employers hungry for talent would innovate, making their recruiting processes easier and more human.”
I completely agree with her assessment. Nevertheless, the subject is more complicated. Therefore, I offer these counterpoints:
1—Necessary Systems. As much as some candidates might hate the online systems they must use, the bottom line is they are necessary. Our 24/7 global universe of business is far too complex to think about operating without them. The system used to be walking into an office and filling out a job application; now the system is an online equivalent. Whether it is yesterday or today, a system is necessary.
2—Positive Evolution. In spite of the fact we have all seen myriad recruiting and hiring systems and processes that are ineffective, the fact remains a positive evolution, however slow, is happening. Some companies are better than others in this realm, but overall, things are evolving positively.
3—The Friendly Internet. Many of the most recently hired workers attest to the power of LinkedIn, Facebook, or some other online social media as the key that opened doors to new opportunities. Even when a company’s online systems and its recruiting and hiring policies seem glacially slow, the Internet is increasingly proving to be a job seeker’s friend. Just one key connection in the online world often has a way of accelerating all the paperwork.
4—Passive Screening. However frustrating the online hiring systems may be, the fact remains they serve as a sort of passive screening mechanism. If a job seeker cannot even navigate through an online system, I would have serious questions about his or her ability to do most jobs in corporate America today.
This is one subject that will continue to provoke diverse opinions. Nonetheless, I am hopeful that discussion will also provoke us to improve the process wherever possible. Too much talent is waiting to be tapped, and too many companies are needing that talent.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-23/why-hr-cant-innovate
SOME THINGS ARE BETTER LEFT UNSAID
Posted on March 14, 2013 by James Meadows
Sheryl Sandberg is the COO at Facebook. She recently wrote a book aimed at helping women to be more successful in their career advancement (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead). Sandberg presents various strategies beneficial to anyone concerned with equality in the workplace and career advancement. The book is receiving mixed reviews.
Although the book has many excellent points, I do find one point of advice rather surprising and counterproductive. Sandberg encourages women to open salary negotiations with a statement indicating you know women are often paid less than men are, and therefore you intend to negotiate rather than accept the first offer. Wow! I think a better path exists.
First, male or female, why would I want to open a salary negotiation with the veiled accusation my prospective employer plans to take advantage of me based on my gender? That certainly puts everyone at ease now, doesn’t it? Regardless of whether gender discrimination happens (and of course, we know it does happen and it is definitely not fair, ethical, or legal), what do I gain by raising that specific issue in a salary negotiation?
Second, again male or female, why would I want to open a salary negotiation with the blatant affirmation I have no plans to accept my prospective employer’s first offer. In so doing, I have actually weakened my negotiation position because now my prospective employer knows the score (true, some candidates do accept a first offer). Professional people understand negotiation principles without needing to state the obvious. We generally know we are not going to accept that first offer without some careful consideration, and very likely a counteroffer.
Third, a good negotiator behaves in such a manner that both parties walk away feeling like winners. Therefore, I want to avoid any behaviors that communicate an adversarial relationship. This principle is not only important in its own right, but it has serious future implications. Assuming I accept that job, now we have to work together. I do not want either party to go into that relationship with a bad taste in their mouths.
Bottom line—we can be firm, wise, and pleasant negotiators, even when it involves bringing home the bacon. In fact, being firm, wise, and pleasant might just allow that negotiator to bring home more bacon.
DEBATING DELL’S NEW DEAL
Posted on March 13, 2013 by James Meadows
Michael Dell and his backers are considering trying to pull together about $20 billion in debt and equity to seal the deal for a leveraged buyout. Dell’s stock price has declined by almost half over the last five years. The company has exhibited some difficulty with adapting to the new world of mobile devices and cloud computing. The opportunity to shift from a public company to a private one may create some financially strategic advantages (Serena Saitto, Jodi Xu, and Cristina Alesci. “Silver Lake Is Said to Be Near Financing on Dell LBO” Bloomberg.com, 1/19/13):
“Turning the computer maker into a private company would allow Michael Dell and his private-equity backers to manage the company’s finances differently, said a person familiar with the matter. For example, they could borrow money by securitizing accounts receivables, a move a public board and public shareholders would likely reject, said this person.”
This will be an interesting situation to watch. I have followed Dell closely throughout its lifecycle. The company has had its ups and downs, but I think the ups have far outweighed the downs. Then again, going private could be the first step in a real downward position. For the company’s sake and its customers’ sake, I sincerely hope not.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-17/silver-lake-is-said-to-be-near-financing-on-dell-lbo.html
SO WHO IS MARISSA?
Posted on March 12, 2013 by James Meadows
Effective this June, Marissa Mayer (Yahoo’s CEO) is asking all employees with work-from-home (WFH) arrangements to eradicate such arrangements. Mayer wants each employee to be onsite. Her rationale is having everyone physically onsite will improve collaboration, work quality, decision making, and execution.
I can understand Mayer’s thinking on this. Nevertheless, I have two objections: 1). She could be wrong. 2). One size does not fit all.
Let’s look at that first one. Ever since Mayer’s decision, I have observed the abundance of opinions being offered on both sides of the coin. Some businesspersons affirm this is a very positive decision in Yahoo’s best interest while others affirm the opposite. Mayer could definitely be wrong.
Too many experts have weighed in with too much evidence over the years. We know WFH arrangements—if managed wisely—tend to improve employee engagement and productivity. My concern therefore is Mayer may be shooting herself in the foot. At the very time her company needs the very best from its workforce, a major “pulling the rug out from under them” is happening.
What is especially ironic about this is the fact Mayer’s company is one of those leading-edge online technology companies that promise to connect people seamlessly all over the world while enhancing each person’s productivity and work/life balance. It strikes me as rather hilarious that Yahoo’s very employees are now forbidden from enjoying those fruits their company has been prophesying.
In fairness, Mayer knows her organization’s status infinitely better than most others and especially me. Perhaps her company is genuinely at a place where some deeply powerful, in-person meetings must happen to dodge death’s door. If so, then this was a tough decision that had to be made and people will have to adjust.
My second objection—one size does not fit all—emanates from a broader concern. I have been somewhat shocked and equally amused to see the number of companies that seem to be reacting to Mayer’s decision by reevaluating their own WFH policies. Some of their reactions suggest they suspect their preexisting WFH policies must somehow now be flawed purely because of Mayer’s decision. That is my point—since when did Marissa Mayer (for whom I have great respect) become the Bible of business? She is not.
Just because Mayer made this decision as one component in her company strategy does not automatically mean it is imperative for all companies to do the same. Yahoo is not the gold standard. My guess is most companies need to take no action whatsoever, a minority of companies may need to tighten the ship, and a minority of companies may need to loosen the reins. Yet these are policies and decisions that should be under review when strategically necessary, not purely because one company decided to make a change.
Here is a strategy to consider: Do what is good for your own company regardless of what some other company decides to do. What a novel thought!
NOSING AROUND FOR THE REAL NOISE
Posted on March 11, 2013 by James Meadows
Initially, some people were a bit skeptical about the idea behind Undercover Boss, the new television program in which the CEO goes undercover in his or her organization. The purpose is for the CEO to gain the inside scoop on exactly how the company is functioning. Employees interacting with the undercover CEO are given the fabricated story that the guest worker is being filmed as part of a reality-television program related to career changes. Think, “mystery shopper meets reality television on steroids.”
Me? I was never skeptical. What better way for the top dog to find out the good, the bad, and the ugly about his or her company?
Now that I have watched the entire series, both the original domestic-based one as well as the international spinoff version, I have been deeply impressed in so many ways. Here are my reflections:
1—Extreme Value. I think the entire undercover CEO approach is extremely valuable. Repeatedly, the CEOs in these programs reported the experience was, “absolutely amazing.” Often they affirmed, “I will never be the same person,” and “it changed my life forever.” Regardless of what business, which industry, or who the CEO was, he or she walked away deeply changed in a positive manner.
2—Business Improvements. When you run the business, you periodically need to get down to the bench level to achieve new insights for everyone’s benefit. Employees will say things to a colleague they won’t say to the boss. By getting down to the bench level and interacting on a daily basis with average employees, the CEO obtained powerful insights into enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the business. These improvement opportunities included areas such as training, customer service, operations, sales and marketing, public relations, employee engagement, wages and benefits, corporate culture, health and safety, HR policies, business strategy, and succession planning. In some cases, the CEO immediately stole a few minutes to make a private phone call to a key colleague to fix something that was urgent, while not blowing cover.
3—Human Element. We are all human beings with ups and downs. In getting to know regular employees on a more personal level, these undercover CEOs often discovered heart-wrenching, personal trials and tribulations plaguing their employees’ lives. In many cases, the CEO chose to become more personally involved just to see a struggling human being helped in his or her difficult situation. These extremely moving events, all caught on camera, clearly displayed the emotional, genuine, human intensity, often accompanied by tears shared between the CEO and the regular employee. Regardless of a person’s position within the organization, everyone was reminded of our universal human challenges.
4—Buried Talent. Tragically, some of the company’s best talent is its buried talent. As these CEOs navigated the various departments, offices, and locations of their organizations, in many cases they were pleasantly, positively surprised at the wisdom, passion, experience, skill, and intellect brought to bear on every work situation by their frontline workers. In some cases, the individual worker showed such marvelous performance, the CEO subsequently took specific steps to help promote that employee into higher levels of influence. The CEOs repeatedly stated they wanted these workers to be given broader growth opportunities to tap their talents more thoroughly. These developments were always beneficial to the employee, the company, and the customers.
5—Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! Ultimately, the undercover CEO approach was maximally successful simply because it created new lines of communication or repaired old lines of communication. Executives were often perplexed about a decision or a problem that became almost instantly resolvable simply by connecting a bench-level employee with a key executive. Once that connection happened, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Typically, these solutions became the genesis of major communications systems improvements.
6—Watch It. Regardless of your job title or your responsibility level in your business, I highly recommend you view the entire series of Undercover Boss. Undercover Boss consistently evokes a powerful learning experience at an intensity I have rarely experienced in the past from this type of television programming.
7—Brave Decisions. Finally, I admire each of the executives who made the brave decision to go all in on Undercover Boss. Those decisions emanated from men and women who were bold enough to try something new on the calculated hope they would gain tremendous insights. The resulting positive transformations affected every level—personal, professional, and business. These made the experience well worth the sacrifices involved. These CEOs’ companies will never be the same again.
[Today’s March 11, 2013 post (blog.reliableinsights.com) was originally published June 4, 2012. The ongoing strong success of Undercover Bossprompted me to run this post again. Independent of that decision, and purely coincidentally, I recently learned the upcoming April 12 program is featuring one of the companies for which I used to work (ADT Security Services). Needless to say, that especially caught my attention. I trust you will continue to enjoy Undercover Boss as much as I will.]
MOVING RESEARCH TO REALITY
Posted on March 8, 2013 by James Meadows
A good part of my time in the chemical industry was spent in the research labs of Eastman Kodak Company. I remember the standard jibes I used to get whenever I ventured out to other departments. “Oh, so you decided to come out to the real world?” “How is life in the Ivory Tower?”
Historically, research has carried a reputation of not consistently connecting with reality. To the extent that is true, the good news is increasing numbers of researchers are now waking up to the genuine need for connecting their research to the real world by looking ahead to business viability. It sure beats the alternative of having it sit in a library gathering dust. Lisa Stehno-Bittel is one of many scientists who testifies to that truth (Brianne Pfannenstiel, “Dual Roles: University Researchers Take on Challenge of Marketing Discoveries”Kansas City Business Journal, 1/25/13 pp. 1, 31):
“‘My postdoctoral mentor thought that research was sacred, almost, and that our goal was to find the truth, and commercialization was not the point . . . Now that I’m involved in it, I know that if you want to make an impact in health—whether that’s human health, animal health, whatever—you have to do this. You can’t just publish that research paper and hope somebody else picks it up for you. It’s just not going to happen.’” (p. 1)
The publish-or-perish mindset may persist among researchers, but at least it is being augmented toward the marketing angle too. Frank Kruse is the vice president of the Bioscience and Technology Business Center with the University of Kansas Medical Center. He definitely endorses the positive development of a marketing mindset:
“‘An increasing number of institutions are recognizing the benefits of becoming forces for economic development rather than just simply the traditional research orientation.’” (p. 31)
As a result, we are seeing more startups with their genesis within academic research labs, and we are seeing faster evolution from the test tube to the marketable product. Getting the research folks more involved in the business end has created happy collaborations.
Research is great! Research is fun! Research is exciting! Nevertheless, at the end of the day, you also need to do a good job convincing others how your results can be used. It looks like we are well on our way to doing a much better job of that.
WHY GET ORGANIZED?
Posted on March 7, 2013 by James Meadows
When GM went bankrupt, Ed Whitacre (former AT&T CEO) took over as chairperson. Approaching his first meeting at GM headquarters, although he was excited by the new opportunity, Whitacre was nervous, perhaps justifiably so. He did not know Detroit, he did not know anyone at GM, and he did not understand cars. Upon meeting Fritz Henderson, the new CEO, Whitacre was impressed with the man’s intelligence (Edward E. Whitacre Jr. with Leslie Cauley “GM On The Brink” [book excerpt], Fortune, 2/4/13 pp. 115–122):
“Fritz was an encyclopedia of facts and figures. He also knew the global car business cold—he could quote numbers backward and forward, which was impressive.” (p. 115)
That is when things became a little less impressive. Whitacre explains:
“How a business is organized is fundamental to me, so I asked for a copy of GM’s organizational chart. But Fritz didn’t have one. He said GM had done away with them. He was tracking everything in his head. That was the first red flag.”
I think I would agree—a big red flag. Failing to get organized regardless of the level is a major mistake. Without proper organization, effectively deploying resources cannot happen.
Many years ago, I remember seeing a cartoon of a couple exhausted workers practically horizontal sitting in an office that was a complete mess. The clock on the wall showed 5:00 p.m. The caption read, “Tomorrow, we have got to get organized.”
Organization does not guarantee you will be a success, but you can only maximize your success with organization. What Whitacre faced was the red flag of disorganization. Henderson was replaced very quickly. Organization improved. GM was able to move forward.
When you face the red flag of disorganization, that means it is time to make a change—at least if you want things to improve. You can work harder or you can work smarter. Organization lets you work smarter.
DON’T TAKE MY CHOCOLATE AWAY
Posted on March 6, 2013 by James Meadows
Life is rough when you cannot get your chocolate. All you chocolate lovers understand. Unfortunately, chocolate bars may become a little smaller, more expensive, and they may have more air bubbles. Reporting for Bloomberg Businessweek, Isis Almeida and Olivier Monnier, with Baudelaire Mieu explain the recent challenges in the chocolate industry (“Enjoy Those Chocolate Hearts While You Can” 2/11/13–2/17/13, pp. 19–20):
“Due to shortages and political instability, cocoa prices experienced annual swings of more than 20 percent in 10 of the past 20 years. Prices were below $1,000 a ton in the early 1970s and more than tripled by the end of that decade. By 1989 they were again below $1,000 a ton. Cocoa climbed to a 32-year high in 2011 but has since fallen 74 percent. After peaking at more than $2,700 in September, the price has slumped 18 percent to about $2,220.” (p. 20)
The wide volatility of pricing has induced some farmers to replace cocoa crops with more lucrative items such as rubber and palm oil. What’s a cocoa farmer to do?
So what does all this mean for you and me? We had better enjoy our chocolate even more, but perhaps just in smaller quantities. Oh, well . . . maybe that is a good thing.
WINDOWS 8 AND BYOD
Posted on March 5, 2013 by James Meadows
Companies both large and small often allow employees to bring in their own technology devices whenever it facilitates accomplishing work. These most commonly include thumb drives, laptops, and tablets. Generally speaking, BYOD (bring your own device) can be a great idea, especially with the mind-numbing speed of IT development. Why not allow employees to use their personal technology in service to the company, especially when they are already familiar with it, and in many cases, it is faster and more reliable than the company-issued technology?
BYOD does create some risks for the company. If employees are not attentive to safe computing with their own devices, the potential exists for the company system to become infected with malware. Employees can end up with large amounts of company data cluttering up their personal devices. In the worst case, employees could accidentally compromise or intentionally steal proprietary data.
Foreseeing this kind of challenge, Microsoft included a brilliant feature, “Windows To Go,” within its Windows 8 Enterprise operating system. Tony Bradley explains the elegant essence of how Windows To Go works (“For a Bring-Your-Own-Device World, Use Windows To Go” PC World, March 2013, p. 32):
“Windows To Go is an awesome tool for BYOD because it enables a complete, managed Windows 8 desktop to be booted from a USB thumb drive or external hard drive. The employee can bring in pretty much any laptop hardware he or she chooses, and boot up simply by using the company-issued Windows To Go. While at work, employees can use the safe, secure Windows 8 environment that the organization supplies. When they shut down and leave, their laptop is exactly as it was before they went to work. Windows To Go takes away most of the drawbacks associated with BYOD.”
As with any Windows feature, you have to remember this is only available with the Enterprise version of Windows 8 and it is not compatible with every device out there. Proper attention must be given to technical and product specifications.
One last point I do not want anyone to miss: Per several of my prior blog posts (Blog.reliableinsights.com, 1/30/13, 12/7/12, 10/16/12), I do not recommend Windows 8 for laptops and desktops, although it seems it will work well with smartphones and tablets. I strongly maintain laptop and desktop users are far better served using Windows 7. Nevertheless, in this very specific situation involving BYOD and a Windows 8 Enterprise OS, I agree with Microsoft’s innovative solution.
MEET THE HACKERS
Posted on March 4, 2013 by James Meadows
Unfortunately, hacking is one of the most constant activities of the Internet. Since the dawn of human history, crime has never been absent. Once the Internet showed up, it did not take long for crime to catch up to the new arena.
Erika Fry did some research to help us understand where all these hackers originate and what motivates them (“Who Are the Hackers?” Fortune2/25/13, p. 23). She identified six main categories of hackers:
1—State Sponsored Hackers. Yes, James Bond functions online as well as offline. Anytime any government deploys resources to gather intelligence, hacking may be involved. A classic case is the Stuxnet worm used to sabotage Iran’s nuclear centrifuge. This endeavor was supposedly the combined efforts of intelligence forces from Israel and the USA.
2—Cyber-Criminals. These are the thugs who figured out it might be easier and safer to make money on their computers rather than on the streets. The typical case is the Nigerian emails we have all received flinging us an outlandish story about how and why we must reply with all our banking account information so we can enjoy a tidy sum of money. Of course, everyone who ever fell for these ploys usually had their bank account drained without any recourse.
3—Hacktivists. These are the activists who have migrated online to correct perceived public wrongs. A classic case is Operation Payback. During this campaign, the Web sites of Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal were disrupted as punishment for companies that terminated WikiLeaks’ accounts in 2010.
4—Script Kiddies. Think bored teenagers, neighborhood vandalism, and graffiti. These are the innumerable times unprotected email accounts or Web sites were invaded, dismantled, or infected with malware. Teenagers with too much time on their hands have a way of getting into trouble offline, why not online too?
5—Vulnerability Brokers. These are the entities such as Vupen, Endgame, and Netragard. They see hacking as a legitimate business venture in which they aggressively identify online weaknesses and then conveniently offer that information for sale to the highest bidder. The classic case was when Vulpen last year hacked Google Chrome. Since then it has been selling the “key” to anyone willing to pay.
6—Insiders. These are the cases of good employees gone bad. A disgruntled employee begins stealing data on a thumb drive. An employee is terminated, but capitalizes upon all his or her IT access just prior to being walked out the door. We have all heard the horror stories.
Well, now you know who all these hackers are. . . . Altogether now, “Time to change our passwords!”
WHEN LYING IS OKAY
Posted on March 1, 2013 by James Meadows
Good public relations is one thing, but lying is another thing entirely. Protecting proprietary information, maintaining confidentialities, and adhering to legal requirements are all acceptable, expected, noble behaviors, but lying is not. And just because something is true does not mean you have an obligation to divulge it to anyone who asks. Then again, all this seems to depend on the context. For good or for bad, group ethical dynamics sometimes overwhelm individual ethical dynamics and vice versa.
Christopher Bonanos gathers some of the latest research about how and why people compromise ethics and integrity at work (“The Lies We Tell at Work: Why Dishonesty Thrives at the Office” Bloomberg Businessweek2/4/13–2/10/13, pp. 71–73). Bonanos references Robert Feldman’s work on the proverbial question of determining whether the problem is with the individual or with the group:
“Robert Feldman, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts and author of The Liar in Your Life, says that the greater the deception, the more workplace culture is likely a factor. There’s the ‘bad apple’ theory: A few crooks in an organization conduct themselves unethically, but everyone else (especially subordinates) is duped into believing that somehow what they’re seeing is OK. And then, Feldman says, there’s the ‘bad barrel’ theory: the Enron model, in which a poisoned environment, from the top down, sets up the equivalent of social norms in which cheating and lying are an accepted part of daily life. After hearing enough times about officemates expensing meals that aren’t work-related, you might start doing it, too. . . . Distrust begets distrust.” (pp. 72–73)
In some cases, just one individual, perhaps a key leader begins to compromise ethics and integrity. These behaviors become known, modeled, and even endorsed. It is okay to lie. In time, the entire organization adopts a culture of distrust. Ethics noncompliance becomes the norm. Personal and professional integrity vanish. We are too familiar with the numerous times these ethical disasters have unfolded in our 24/7 news cycle.
Whether it is the “bad apple” or the “bad barrel,” both scenarios are of course wrong. From an ethical standpoint, the higher your leadership level in the organization, the more accountable you are to correct the unethical behaviors. Nevertheless, from a personal and professional integrity level, you remain accountable too, regardless of your leadership level. If ethics and integrity have validity, then they do not go on vacation nor do they allow exceptions because of your title.
If it is a “bad apple” and you are it, then you have much work to do. Nevertheless, the payoff is you will be able to sleep much better. Your peace of mind and sense of wellness will improve dramatically. Otherwise, you become like Richard Gere in the movie, “Arbitrage” (2012). (Spoiler alert!) Throughout the entire movie, you are waiting for Gere to redeem himself in the wake of a terrible financial smokescreen he created. Then, at the very end of the movie, you come to the horrific realization that Gere has no intention to come clean. He does not care. He would rather live the rest of his life as a fraud even when the people closest to him see right through him. Is that who you want to be? I trust not.
If it is a “bad barrel” scenario, then you still have much work to do. The payoff there is you have the opportunity to be the ethics champion. If you are successful, not only will you benefit, but your entire organization will benefit. No doubt, many tough decisions will await you (Have I contributed to this? Do I stay or do I go? Is this fixable?).
It will not be easy. But ethics and integrity by definition never guarantee “easy.” They guarantee doing what is right regardless of the cost. And God knows we need more people like that in today’s business world.
DOING IT RIGHT: JOHN DEERE
Posted on February 28, 2013 by James Meadows
John Deere has certainly earned its place among the world’s most admired companies (Anne VanderMey, “World’s Most Admired Companies: Industry Leaders—John Deere Plows Ahead” Fortune, 2/25/13, p. 19). The agricultural equipment manufacturer is doing a lot of things right, from which we can all learn a few lessons:
1—Leadership Consistency. As VanderMey reports, John Deere, “has seen just nine CEOs in its 176-year history.” I am not saying special situations never exist in which a short-term leader is needed for a fast corporate correction. Nevertheless, with wise organizational-development principles, sound strategy, and excellent talent management, a company will tend to perform better if it has leadership consistency.
2—Research And Development Focus. Repeatedly I see the companies that tend to excel are the companies that tend to place a high priority on R&D. Without reinvesting some of your profits back into your creative process, you are ensuring your obsolescence. VanderMey points out, “Deere spends more on innovation: About 4% of its annual revenue goes to R&D, vs. the roughly 3% spent by its two closest competitors.”
3—Customer Connection. John Deere has been known for its strong customer loyalty. Its sales representatives are more than just sales staff; they become trusted advisors. Those dynamics are what build excellent customer loyalty. With a 50% market share, and 65,000 employees, John Deere should enjoy many future bountiful harvests.
Regardless of your market or industry, relook at your leadership approach, your R&D commitment, and your customer-connection philosophy. If you can make improvements in these three areas, then you will find a winning formula for your organization’s success.
GONE IN 10 SECONDS
Posted on February 27, 2013 by James Meadows
Just as the permanence of Internet content has reigned supreme, so too has the spirit of those wanting to counter that permanence. One of the more popular apps along these lines is Snapchat. The app allows the user to send a message or a picture that will self-destruct within 10 seconds of its initial display by the recipient.
With the Library of Congress already archiving billions of tweets and parents having warned kids about questionable or embarrassing behaviors online coming back to haunt them, apps like this were only a matter of time. Danah Boyd, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research says this development is not at all surprising (Felix Gillette, “Snapchat and the Right to Be Forgotten”Bloomberg Businessweek 2/11/13–2/17/13, pp. 42–47):
“‘This cohort has grown up with the expectation of surveillance by people who hold direct power over them. It’s not about surveillance from companies or the state. It’s surveillance from their teachers, their college admissions officers, their parents.’” (p. 45)
As another example, Reputation.com developed a Web browser extension that can encrypt your Facebook posts. Your friends would need a special key to decode your updates. Similar to Snapchat, you could also designate an expiration date for each post so that it conveniently disappears.
These developments are not surprising to me. Although by nature Internet content tends toward immortality, this recent creation of records-nullification tools merely mirrors the real world. In the real world, memories dim, books are updated, people die, credit reports drop events, youthful indiscretions become expunged, and magazines go out of print. Would we truly believe Internet content would not eventually fall under some of the same time restrictions as the physical world?
What will be very interesting to watch is how this new business segment grows and what the ramifications are socially, legally, and technologically. In the meantime, for those who remember a very old TV show, “This blog post will self-destruct in five seconds.”
BATTLING THE UNEMPLOYMENT CATCH-22
Posted on February 26, 2013 by James Meadows
Some interesting things are happening in the job market and the economy. Although job growth has been slowly picking up across the economy, and although the short-term unemployment rate is approaching normal, the long-term unemployed are finding life increasingly difficult. This is due to a heightened difficulty with finding a job if your unemployment has extended beyond six months.
Rand Ghayad (Ph.D. candidate) and his advisor, William Dickens, with Northeastern University did some research on this recently. Peter Coy writes about it in Bloomberg Businessweek (“The Sting of Long-Term Unemployment” 2/11/13–2/17/13, pp. 9–11):
“Ghayad sent out fictitious resumes to employers in 50 metro areas to see how they reacted to long spells of unemployment. He found that an ‘applicant’ out of work more than six months had little to no chance of being called back. The resumes of those out of work for less than six months drew more interest when they showed the applicants had relevant industry experience. At more than six months of no work, having industry experience didn’t help at all, Ghayad found.” (p. 11)
This phenomenon suggests a Catch-22 situation—the longer the applicant is unemployed, the less likely he or she is to be hired, and the unemployment lengthens, making it less likely he or she is to be hired . . . Now here is where it gets quite interesting as Coy reports:
“Even if employers do pass over the long-term unemployed, that’s not prima facie evidence of illegal discrimination. Employers could argue—rightly or wrongly—that being out of work signals something is wrong. It’s not illegal in most states for companies to factor in an applicant’s job status when filling a position.” (p. 11)
I can understand companies considering an applicant’s job status, but I believe that should be just one element among many. It does not tell the whole story; no single element ever does. That said, here are some strategies I suggest for you if you are among the unemployed:
1—Get A Job—Any Job. Granted, I realize how important you may believe it is to aim for the perfect fit that fully taps your skill sets. Nevertheless, sometimes just being in the game is far better in the long run than being out of the game. You can still search for a job while you have a job, and you never know when management may decide it’s about time to promote you into a position that more fully taps your talent. Sometimes you will even make connections in that marginal job that link you into another company with a much better opportunity. Getting a job—any job—keeps you connected.
2—Create Your Own Job. Depending on your preexisting skill sets, your entrepreneurial spirit, and your professional network, you might be able to freelance. Although the life of the freelance may not necessarily be your cup of tea, it would at least provide you with some income along with a legitimate position to have on your resume. In some cases folks have even gone the freelance route and then decided they had found their calling. You never know until you try.
3—Volunteer Your Passions. You cannot spend every day, all day job hunting. Take some of your available time and put it to fantastic use as a volunteer, especially for an organization for which you have a passion. Nonprofits are rarely flush with extra hands and minds. Even if that role does not perfectly translate to an “employed” status on your resume, perhaps the hiring company will temper its assessment of your prolonged unemployment in your favor. Seeing your long-term dedication to a cause communicates something about your character and your attitude—qualities many employers seek. Certainly, no guarantees exist, but I would be more impressed by a candidate who intentionally deployed his or her skill sets in more than one way during a period of unemployment or underemployment.
Long-term unemployment can be painful, but it does not have to be terminal. Ultimately, it will become what you make it.
CYBERSECURITY’S NEXT LEVEL
Posted on February 25, 2013 by James Meadows
Cybersecurity is responding to the next level of threats. This is not surprising. In January, hackers modified the code supporting the Council on Foreign Relations’ Web site so anyone visiting it would leave with a stowaway—malware. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Brad Stone and Michael Riley describe some of the increasingly internationally sophisticated cyber attacks to which no company seems immune (“Hacked? Who Ya Gonna Call?” 2/11/13–2/17/13, pp. 28–30):
“In a wave of [cyber attacks] beginning in 2009, dubbed Operation Aurora by security firm McAfee, sophisticated hackers based in China breached the corporate networks of Google, Yahoo!, Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems, and dozens of other prominent technology companies and tried to access their source code. China’s hackers seemed narrowly focused on military technology and telecommunications companies as early as 2000.” (p. 28)
In response to these new cybersecurity threats, some interesting individuals and companies are rising to the challenge. One of them is Kevin Mandia, the 42-year-old founder and CEO of Mandiant. With a graduate degree in forensic science and years of experience in the Air Force as a cybercrime investigator, Mandia saw the growing opportunity to create a company that would aggressively handle these newest waves of cyber attacks. Therefore, nearly a decade ago, Mandia formed his new company based in Alexandria, Virginia. Mandiant uses an unconventional approach to cybersecurity. It believes in expansive, network-wide onetime battles that completely eliminate the hackers’ presence:
“Teams of three to five specialists are assigned to track each victim company’s computer system, a painstaking process that can last for months. After they have identified every security hole and piece of malware in the customer’s network, Mandiant gives the bad guys the boot, in some cases by replacing every infected machine within 48 hours.” (p. 29)
Cybersecurity has become an all-out war, and companies have to respond in kind. Mandiant is definitely one of the leading new warriors on the battlefield. The company’s expertise and track record have proven its metal. Ted Schlein, a partner with the venture capital investment firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, observes:
“Outside of the NSA, I would guess that Mandiant knows more about advanced persistent threats than anyone in the world.” (p. 30)
I have to give Mandia credit as an entrepreneur. He encountered what so many entrepreneurs before him have faced. When he could not see a place for himself in conventional civilian or military employment, he built his own place:
“‘There was nowhere I could go where I belonged. . . . I felt responding to incidents had to be core, because that was the only way you could build the next-generation security company.’” (p. 30)
And thus Mandiant was birthed, just in time for cybersecurity’s next level.
CREATIVE CLASS SECRETS
Posted on February 22, 2013 by James Meadows
As we all well know, every occupation has its own dark humor. Folks who work in operating rooms or emergency rooms sometimes have a rough gallows humor to them. It is not that they are intentionally trying to be disrespectful to anyone. Rather, the incredible life-and-death stress they often face cultivates its unique brand of humor. It serves as a kind of safety-relief valve for all the horrible things bottling up inside them that they cannot always discuss with just anyone.
Folks in advertising and marketing are no different. The pressures and pitfalls of the industry—while rarely life-and-death level—still take their toll. If you are among the creative class and you occasionally yearn for an anonymous place to confess your workplace sins and struggles, the Web site of choice is The Creative Confessional (“Mad Ave Anonymous”, Bloomberg Businessweek2/11/13–2/17/13, p. 68).
Aside from the site’s therapeutic and semispiritual utility, perusing it reveals the wide range of human emotions and struggles in the creative-class workplace. Additionally, it captures many of the frustrations and struggles common throughout corporate America. Some of what you will read there is dark and disheartening, I warn you. Many entries are poignant and gripping. Some divulge depths of despair that wrench the heart. Some reveal incredible frustration at the persistent “Dilbert spirit” we have all faced. From that, my takeaway is never to forget how important it is to be a true professional with 100% integrity and caring every single moment of your day. You never know what demons your colleagues and clients may be facing, and when you can be of genuine help.
Some entries are on the lighter side and even downright hilarious. Because it is Friday, and we can all use a breather, here are some of the lighter and more humorous ones:
“The worst part about the Super Bowl is coming to work the next day and hearing the people who never produced anything good trash the ads.”
“I delay finishing projects by asking for information I should have had before I started the project.”
“We’ve hired temps to sit in empty cubes whenever clients come in.”
“I took home a magic mouse and sold it on EBay. Then I got a new one from IT and did it again.”
“I think clip art is gorgeous.”
“My bosses can’t grasp the concept of email friendly file sizes. If I get one more 25+ mb attachment, I’m going to fling monkey poo at them.”
“I click on my own banner ads.”
“If one more person mentions Don Draper in a meeting, I’m going to stab him in the throat.”
“I enjoy working on 2GB tradeshow graphics files on my laptop that’s older than Yoda.”
“I wear headphones all day long whether I am listening to music or not simply to dissuade people from asking me anything about anything.”
“Just because my desk is next to the printer does not mean I know how to fix it.”
“I want to ask the people writing car dealership commercials if ‘now’ is ever not the time to buy.”
“I was really busy the last three days. I am now officially treading water until the weekend.”
“We were told to cut $400k from our budget . . . and blew $200k just talking about it.”
Have a great weekend . . . please!
www.thecreativeconfessional.com
JOB APPLICANTS ARE STILL INDIVIDUALS
Posted on February 21, 2013 by James Meadows
I got to thinking about yesterday’s post on Billy Smith’s situation. He was wrongly convicted of a crime in Texas he did not commit. After 20 years in prison, the courts determined his innocence and set him free. One of the extreme difficulties he faced afterward was finding gainful employment.
In corporate America, this kind of a situation may have broader implications. As a businessperson, I will be the first one to say we want to be extremely careful about who we hire. Background checks, references, drug testing, and other screening measures are all extremely important. Nevertheless, let’s never forget that every single job applicant is just that—a single job applicant.
Perhaps you will find those rare times and circumstances when some of the traditional red flags need to be reexamined. And I’m not saying we hire every single person out there with a criminal record nor am I saying we hire people who simply are not qualified for the job. I am saying let’s please remember each applicant is an individual and should therefore be looked at as an individual. Each person has a story.
Granted, we have to operate within the parameters and context of our organization. Nevertheless, we have an ethical obligation to ensure we are using every possible avenue within our domain to maximize every legitimate opportunity for every possible job candidate. In doing that, we ensure the best outcome for the individual and the best outcome for the organization. That sounds like a win-win to me.
WHEN INNOCENCE PAYS EXTRA
Posted on February 20, 2013 by James Meadows
We certainly all know life doesn’t always work out perfect. Things do not always go our way. Been there, done that; right?
Nowhere is this truer than in those rare cases a person is sentenced to prison for a crime he or she did not commit. This was the case for Billy Smith who had served 19 years and 11 months in a Texas prison before he was exonerated and set free.
It is hard for me to think of a more horrible situation. Not only did Smith have nearly 20 years of his life stolen from him, but it was replaced with time that was qualitatively vastly inferior and surely will negatively affect him for the rest of his life. Regaining an active professional life—while not impossible—is extremely difficult. Tim Stelloh describes Smith’s overwhelmingly difficult path (“Big Payments for the Wrongfully Convicted” Bloomberg Businessweek, 2/4/13–2/10/13, pp. 27–28):
“Despite clearing his name, he’s never been able to find a job. ‘Who wants to hire someone who’s 61 years old and who’s an ex-convict?’ Smith says. ‘Even though I’m exonerated, people don’t consider that because I was in prison for 20 years.’” (p. 27)
In recognition of these painful consequences visited upon the innocent, 27 states have enacted policies that render some kind of compensation and aftercare to these victims. Beginning in 2009, Texas made itself the leader for just compensation. Smith, and others like him, will receive a lump sum payment linked to time served, payment for 120 hours of college credit, an annual lifetime annuity of $80,000, and a $10,000 allocation for job training services.
Money can never replace the time and the quality of a person’s life. We all understand that. Nevertheless, these kinds of provisions will go a long way to helping people who have genuinely been grossly wronged by our justice system. In whatever manner it helps these people to rebuild their lives, it will be money well spent.
Whether it’s government or corporate America, we have an obligation to right our wrongs. In the long run, that is what will engender the greatest public support and the greatest team integrity. And besides . . . it’s just the right thing to do.
PLANNING EARLY FOR BREAKFAST
Posted on February 19, 2013 by James Meadows
The peak growing season for oranges is just three months out of the year. In spite of that, Coca-Cola has used computer technology to refine and automate every single aspect of manufacturing orange juice to ensure a consistent product every day of the year. This proprietary methodology is tagged “Black Book” and it is an algorithm. Duane D. Stanford describes its astounding complexity (“Coke Has a Secret Formula for Orange Juice, Too” Bloomberg Businessweek, 2/4/13–2/10/13, pp. 19–21):
“The Black Book model includes detailed data about the myriad flavors—more than 600 in all—that make up an orange, and consumer preferences. Those data are matched to a profile detailing acidity, sweetness, and other attributes of each batch of raw juice. The algorithm then tells Coke how to blend batches to replicate a certain taste and consistency, right down to pulp content.” (p. 19)
The entire process from orange grove to grocery aisle is thoroughly modeled via Black Book. This allows additional factors to be considered such as changes in weather patterns, crop yields, and economics. When these additional factors produce a curveball, Black Book can replan the process in less than 11 minutes to ensure no pipeline interruptions or downtime for up to 15 months.
Needless to say, this is an excellent example of an industry leader using technology to optimize production. The good news is you don’t have to be an industry leader to use technology. Anything and everything you do as a businessperson should be studied to determine whether technological enhancements are an option. Technology can’t save you money unless you use it.
Well, I don’t think I can ever again taste orange juice in quite the same way. Is it breakfast time yet?
DOING IT RIGHT: BARKLEY
Posted on February 18, 2013 by James Meadows
What would you do if your business suddenly loses 50% of its revenue? How do you strategize to salvage what can be salvaged versus pioneering into new revenue streams? Do you learn any lessons from the larger implications of the disaster? If so, how do you apply them?
These are exactly the kinds of questions faced by Barkley, a Kansas City full-service ad agency. A little over two years ago, Barkley lost its biggest client. Revenue would soon drop by half.
Especially for an ad agency, when something like that occurs the instinctual reaction is to do everything possible to retain that client. Perhaps the agency can realign its approach to satisfy the client’s renewed expectations. Perhaps the relationship can be repaired. Perhaps the agency can reconstitute the creative team for a more effective product, and thus convince the client to stay. Perhaps the agency needs to do a better job communicating the long-term plan to the client.
As CEO of Barkley, Jeff King made some smart decisions to navigate the disaster in the most profitable manner possible. Rather than investing resources in trying to salvage this one large client, King elected to go on the offensive (“Turning Loss into Opportunity” Kansas City Business Journal, 1/4/13–1/10/13, pp. 11–12):
“The first decision we had to make was whether to defend or not because we were invited to defend the business. It was not an emotional decision; it was a very pragmatic decision, which was that we had a window of time. We could have spent all our time and energy and resources trying to defend, or we could we could spend the same energy and resources trying to replace revenue through other means.” (p. 12)
One of King’s strategies was to focus more heavily on Barkley’s remaining client base. King knew if Barkley continued to produce great work for them, business would naturally expand. Additional elements of his plan involved strategic acquisitions and new-client infrastructure enhancement. King elaborates on the transition the company had to execute to ensure success:
“Overnight, our business changed from one where we needed people who were really good at shepherding big clients to one that had to get really aggressive at winning business, and those aren’t necessarily the same skill sets.” (p. 12)
Although not an easy ride, these tough decisions paid off. Today, with 250 employees, Barkley has $36.7 million in revenue, and no single client represents more than 8% of that. Two things stand out to me loud and clear about this approach:
1—Barkley regrouped and retooled its workforce to navigate a changed business landscape. The company did what needed to be done to be successful in its new world. That’s what successful businesses do.
2—Barkley embraced a larger diversification of its client base. This diversification ensured the company would never be blindsided by this problem again.
Situations such as Barkley’s remind us of an important truth. As business leaders, even in the worst of times we may find the seedbed for the best success—if we are willing to search for it. King reflects:
“Sometimes an event that you think is the worst thing that’s ever happened to your business turns out to be the best thing. We never would have known that.” (p. 12)
That’s a lesson for us all. As business leaders, our job is not to wallow and whine in misery when things go wrong. Rather, our job is to capitalize on the hidden opportunities.
SMARTPHONES MIGHT BE TOO SMART
Posted on February 15, 2013 by James Meadows
Exactly how smart do you want your smartphone to be? That is an important question these days, especially given the corresponding privacy concerns. Our smartphones increasingly become the digital repository of a wealth of data about us—data that marketers would love to leverage. Accessing and leveraging this data is called reality mining. Christopher Mims writes about how powerful it can be (“Mining the Mobile Life” Scientific American, December 2012, pp. 42–43):
“Companies that parse location data emitted by our cell phones can now accurately predict where each of us will be at any point during the day. They can also figure out from phone records who our friends, family and coworkers are, when we are likely to get the flu, and what the demographics of any major metropolitan street corner will be at any moment.” (p. 42)
That sounds pretty powerful. That’s because it is. And I certainly do understand the privacy concerns. Nevertheless, I think we are sometimes too quick to look at just the threats of a technological capability rather than considering the benefits too. Mims points out the growing opportunities to use this technology for extremely humane helpful matters:
“Reality mining could become essential to how we navigate our everyday lives, not to mention enormously useful for corporations and governments. For example, work in Haiti allowed relief agencies to send texts to cell phone users whose location histories indicated that they might have been exposed to cholera.” (p. 43)
The kicker is going to be whether we get past the privacy concerns. Obviously, this won’t be an easy matter to resolve to everyone’s satisfaction. We must assess privacy rights at every step in situations like this, and we all have different feelings about our personal privacy.
Researchers tapping preexisting data have already figured out some interesting tidbits. For example, here are the three times a consumer is most likely to respond to a smartphone ad:
1—Sitting in a movie theater just before the film begins.
2—Sitting at home on a Sunday morning.
3—Waiting for a bite while fishing.
It sounds like reality mining is as real as it gets!
A PASSION FOR SLITHERING
Posted on February 14, 2013 by James Meadows
Successful entrepreneurs and innovators are always passionate people. They have made their passion their pursuit, and thereby laid the groundwork for success. Howie Choset is a good example. He designs robotic snakes. Olga Kharif writes about Choset’s passion rooted all the way back to a five-year-old boy’s observations about mechanical movement (“The Robot-Snake Charmer” Bloomberg Businessweek, 1/7/13–1/13/13, p. 34):
“Choset has been interested in how cars, trains, and people move ever since he was a 5-year-old growing up on Long Island. He says he got his first computer in eighth grade and taught himself how to program. In his junior year in high school he built a robotic car out of a shoebox. The next year, he constructed an automated vehicle with an ultrasonic sensor that prevented it from ramming into walls. The gadget made it into the finals at a national science competition.”
Did Choset’s passion serve him well? It worked as a child . . . and as an adult. Today, Choset is a professor of robotics with Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his undergraduate degree with a double major in business and computer science (University of Pennsylvania) and his Ph.D. in mathematical models for robotic movement (California Institute of Technology). Choset’s work with robotic snakes now has him involved in creating specialized robotic snakes. One model is for search and rescue of earthquake victims. Another model is for the detection of dangerous cracks in power-plant piping to prevent accidents.
When you love what you do, it no longer feels like work. That is why it is so important to pursue your passions. Has Choset gotten burned out after all this passionate concentration on robots? I don’t think so. As he says of his robots:
“Even after 20 years, I still never get bored watching them move.”
MAY I SPEAK FREELY?
Posted on February 13, 2013 by James Meadows
The public square has gone virtual. Rather than wandering to the local square and standing on your soapbox, you can simply boot up your PC and instantly publish your content for the world to see. But do the same laws and standards apply in the new square as did in the old square? That is a question many are asking today.
I would be the last person to declare easy answers. Nevertheless, I think most of us would agree net neutrality is important. The editors of Scientific American are pushing very hard for the FCC to recategorize how Internet traffic is regulated to ensure freedom of speech online (“A To-Do List for Washington” January 2013, p. 10):
“The Federal Communications Commission must enforce policies that would protect free speech on the Internet. The most powerful method at the commission’s disposal is to reverse policies enacted a decade ago by the FCC and reclassify broadband Internet service as a telecommunications service. Just as the telephone companies cannot now referee your phone conversations, the owners of broadband Internet lines should not be allowed to interfere with what online content citizens have access to.”
I see two valid yet divergent perspectives here. First, I certainly believe net neutrality is extremely important in that is falls under our First Amendment of the US Constitution. With few exceptions (the conventional ones such as not yelling “fire” in a crowded theater), my right and your right to free expression must be protected. It would be extremely unfair for your online content or my online content to be arbitrarily censored or eliminated.
Second, the Scientific American editors appeal by analogy to the privacy and protection afforded our telephone calls. Just as no one interferes with our private telephone calls, likewise no one should do the same with what we publish online.
I can understand the concern being expressed here, but I don’t quite see the logic. A big difference exists between a one-on-one phone call versus Internet-published content freely available to the public. I just don’t see the comparison. Let’s face it: there may be a lot of content between you and another person on the phone that neither party would ever want to see published on the Web. Private versus public makes all the difference in the world.
Ah, well. In the midst of this quandary much good news still lives. We can make private phone calls (unless we are suspects in a crime). We can publish content online for all to see. We don’t have to worry about the government (at least in the US) being heavy handed about what we are free to publish or access. We continue to participate in the growth of the Internet.
With the Internet comes a tremendous amount of benefit. Somehow, we have to find a way to maintain net neutrality if we wish to continue that benefit.
EMPLOYEES EQUIPPED WITH BRAINS
Posted on February 12, 2013 by James Meadows
How would you like to have your boss tell you to take one day a week and work on any pet project of your own creation? Google, LinkedIn, Apple, and a number of other companies have taken that approach or some variation on the theme. Recognizing that people genuinely are their best asset, these companies have taken a very practical, effective approach to innovation enhancement.
All research and development does not have to be by corporate decree. When individual employees are empowered to use their creativity and intellect to “go where no one has gone before,” they just might come up with something brilliant. Obviously, striking a balance here is important. Not every employee can go rogue. On the other hand, when companies grant this sort of freedom and empowerment to employees, employee engagement goes up and in many cases company profitability rises with it.
As business competition for talent increases, I believe more companies will look for creative ways to tap their existing talent. They know how costly it is to replace talent. Most companies understand keeping their existing talent happy is a better deal in the long run.
Does every company understand this dynamic? Obviously not. Nevertheless, I think we are increasingly going in the right direction.
AROMA HAS ITS ADVANTAGES
Posted on February 11, 2013 by James Meadows
The scent of hot coffee in the morning. The smell of a steak on the grill. The odor of a college locker room. For good or for bad, we all know the power of smell, don’t we?
Precisely for that reason, Dan Offerman runs a company called SmartFragrances based in Ramsey, New Jersey (Christopher Bonanos, “The Story of Four Breakthroughs—Interviews” Bloomberg Businessweek1/28/13–2/3/13, pp. 62–66). As the name implies, his company’s mission is all about smell—getting smart about the right smell. Offerman works with clients (usually retail stores or other consumer sales locations) to create just the right pleasant and enticing smell to enhance the atmosphere sensually and psychologically.
We can all think of experiences of entering a store and immediately picking up on a scent—sometimes very good, and sometimes very bad. Good or bad, it all added to our customer experience. Scents used vary widely depending on the client’s type of business and setting. Offerman elaborates:
“It depends on the customer. In the Miami area, we’re doing bookstores with a coffee fragrance. We’re also looking to do this in food, to promote things like bakeries or deli meats in grocers. Or a ship, for example: If it’s a Caribbean cruise line, is it floral? Is it passion fruit?” (p. 66)
Smell is so personal. After all, what you think you smell might be very different from what I think I smell. Therefore, Offerman brings the client directly into the scent-development process:
“We have what’s called a smart box. It’s full of little pipettes, and it allows the customer to zero in on what they like. It empowers them, and we make progress faster.”
Once the scent formulation is finalized, SmartFragrances installs an attachment unit onto the client’s ventilation system. Using a nanodiffusion process, the scent is released into the atmosphere for all to enjoy.
We certainly understand scent all by itself does not make the customer buy your product or become instantly endeared to your brand. Nevertheless, scent can be a powerful contributor to the customer experience, and anything that improves the customer experience tends to improve sales. Additionally, the customer’s brand connection intensifies:
“It’s another way of branding, tapping an additional sense to help you promote the company or a product.”
High tech has finally caught up with the real estate agent who told you to be sure to have just baked an apple pie before leaving the house for its showing. Whether it’s coffee, citrus, vanilla, or apple pie, we know it works. And it will probably keep on working for a very long time—as long as we have noses anyway.
PERSUASIVE SPEECH—PACE, PAUSE, AND PITCH
Posted on February 8, 2013 by James Meadows
Every businessperson knows how important communication is to his or her success. It affects virtually every area of your life. Therefore, anything that comes along that may help you communicate more persuasively is worth your attention. That’s what I thought when I came across a research summary by Katharine Gammon in Wired (“Cheat with Science: Persuade Someone” December 2011, p. 54).
Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed the speech of 100 interviewers on 1,380 phone calls. The interviewers were trying to persuade people to participate in a survey. Gammon identified some key takeaways. As one would expect, speed matters:
“Optimal persuasive speed is a little faster than normal—about 3.5 words per second.”
Striking a balance is important. Too fast, and you will come across as shady; too slow, and you will sound dull or didactic. With that optimum speed however, breaks remain very important. The pause that refreshes really does refresh:
“It’s best to pause about every 20 seconds.”
This makes sense. The brain has its limits. We have all had the experience of listening to the nonstop talker and we just zone out. How persuasive is that? (You’ve persuaded me to take a nap!)
Concerning enthusiasm, the study reveals you should be enthused, but not to the point of coming across as boisterous. Obviously, no one likes to feel overpowered. It also detracts from the message.
With both genders, a slightly lower pitch usually enhances persuasion. Nevertheless, a gender-linked distinction is important to note:
“Men who varied their pitch a lot were less persuasive than those who didn’t. But women who varied their pitch were more successful than those who didn’t.”
Persuasive communication is something that can help us in major ways with our colleagues, clients, friends, and family members. This is why it is so important to understand it. Equally important, we must constantly assess and improve our communication techniques. Peer review, audience critiques, video playbacks, and communication workshops are just a few ways we can do that.
Let’s face it—communication is something we will always do. The only question is how well will we do it?
AND THE TRENDS PLAY OUT
Posted on February 7, 2013 by James Meadows
February 7 means we are well into 2013. As we continue that ride, I always like to revisit some of the more interesting predictions from the corporate soothsayers. Here are the ones I think any businessperson cannot afford to miss:
1—Job Searching Is Changing Forever. Colin Day of iCIMS reports in 2011, 14.4 million people tapped social media for a new job and 73% of hiring companies located new employees the same way. This one seems a bit obvious, yet it is exceedingly important. Any individual or organization that fails to stay up to date with this trend will be hurting themselves severely.
2—Remarkable Is The New Normal. Companies can no longer afford to be run of the mill. Robert Murray (Robert Murray Management Consulting Ltd) emphasizes it is more important than ever for companies to focus on what they do better than any of their competitors. The building of emotional connections that drive repeated purchase decisions becomes so important here. I think with increased consumer choice, the bar is raised for all those choices. Why should I settle for less when another attentive competitor is just around the corner or a mouse click away? Every company needs to ask the question, “How can we make our customer experience even more remarkable?”
3—The Employee Is “Number One.” Scott DiGiammarino (Reel Potential) contends 2013 is the “year of the employee.” Given the economy, everyone is being asked to do more with less. Every single employee must be developed to his or her maximum potential. Organizations cannot afford to leave talent undeveloped or on the shelf. Every employee performing to the max and working synergistically with the team will yield maximum profits and growth.
4—Health Emphasis Continues To Grow. Catharine Arnston (Bits of Health) observes that great health is being sought by all generations and demographic groups. I see this reflected in all the companies that have created wellness programs. I see this reflected in all the consumers that have embraced alternative and complementary medicine. Mention chiropractic or acupuncture to someone a couple generations ago and they may have thought you were strange. Nowadays, tremendous numbers of people have recognized the value of a holistic approach to healthcare.
All these trends are important. What is even more important is how you and I build this knowledge into our business decisions every single day. That’s a trend we want to control!
FUN WITH DATA
Posted on February 6, 2013 by James Meadows
Since when does data by definition have to be dry and boring, especially when you are trying to display your findings? Arguing for the power of visual design, Martin Krzywinski believes we can learn some lessons from scientists and how they behave when communicating their data. Krzywinski is a scientist specializing in bioinformatics (organizing large sets of biological data graphically for optimum communication to peers and researchers). He makes a confession about his livelihood (“Am I Being Fooled into Thinking I Know Something?” Bloomberg Businessweek 1/28/13–2/3/13, p. 60):
“Scientists are very poor at communicating visually, but they’re also very poor at knowing this.”
Well, that certainly is a blind spot! In an effort to help scientists understand their blind spot, Krzywinski cites a study in which:
“doctors were asked to look at four kinds of visuals, and they were asked to rate the visuals for two things: Were they correct—were they accurate in interpreting the information—and did they have a good time? Because you should always be asking that second question.”
Interestingly, the doctors tended to rate the more mundane data displays as better (more accurate) than the more graphical data displays, even though they enjoyed (had a good time) looking at the latter more than the former. As Krzywinski wryly states:
“They were right, but they didn’t have a good time being right.”
Now I’m all for correct, accurate handling of data. But I’m all for having a good time too. Krzywinski presents a good case. I think we can empower ourselves to be more aggressive in presenting our data in ways the audience will enjoy. It doesn’t always have to be one or the other—it can be both and.
In our increasingly data-driven world, these design considerations will only become more important. Communication demands it and our audiences deserve it. Krzywinski leaves us with some stirring challenges:
“So what do we need to do? I think we have to encourage and reward effective visual communication. . . . We also need to show how design can help embrace complexity. Complex things are hard to understand. We have to make that complexity accessible. . . . Computers can help us process the data; design can help us express it.”
As we have all heard—you can be brilliant, but if you cannot communicate your work effectively, then it benefits no one.
SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP ME!
Posted on February 5, 2013 by James Meadows
We’ve all had those times when we quickly, painfully realize what we thought would be customer service is really customer disservice. Nowhere is this truer than trying to find a real phone number to talk with a real human being about an issue. Even a valid, well-attended-to email address would be better than nothing. Writing in PC World (“Skeptical Shopper: Get the Help You Need without the Hold Time” February 2013, p. 26), Anne Kandra shares a number of tools for consumers to use to climb over the castle walls so many companies knowingly or unknowingly construct. One of my favorites is gethuman.com. The Web site locates valid (but usually unpublished or otherwise difficult-to-find) customer-service email addresses and telephone numbers:
“Although GetHuman . . . can connect you to the appropriate customer service department . . . it also lists other methods to contact a company, including phone numbers and email addresses. Better still, the site ranks each contact method’s effectiveness, based on user data.”
Well, even if you make the phone call, how about those long hold times? Kandra pinpoints the perfect solution to that issue: fastcustomer.com:
“Find a company in the list of more than 3,000, click ‘Have them call me’, enter your phone number, and go about your business. A representative will call you back. The site lists a wait-time estimate.”
These tools are not only tremendous timesavers and convenience enhancers, but they both have Android and iOS apps available. I love technology.
An important takeaway exists for businesses—consumers are fed up with customer disservice. If you are not going to make telephone contact with a human more easily available, then you’d better have a pristine, responsive Web site that makes the customer King and efficiently gets the job done. Failure in these areas will send your customers to your competitors. Case in point—just last week I permanently dropped a Web service I had been using for years because I got fed up with some developing online roadblocks the company has refused to fix. Now its competitor gets all my business. And I knew from checking the various online forums (surprise!), many other folks are doing the same thing I did.
The message to business leaders is loud and clear. Customers are saying, “Somebody, please help me!” If you don’t step up to the plate, someone else will.
TALENT SEARCHING GETS MORE CREATIVE
Posted on February 4, 2013 by James Meadows
Thanks to social media, talent acquisition dynamics continue to change creatively, and at an accelerating rate. Companies are remaining alert to the importance of tapping all aspects of social media for expediting their job-candidate searches. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Olga Kharif highlights companies’ use of social media to identify passive talent (“Finding Job Candidates Who Aren’t Looking” 12/17/13–12/23/13, pp. 41–42):
“Recruiters are filling openings faster by relying on new tools that scour social networks and target workers who aren’t necessarily looking for jobs. LinkedIn got into the field early, launching Recruiter in 2008. It lets headhunters search its more than 187 million profiles and contact potential candidates. Since last year, Adobe has found more than half its new hires through LinkedIn.” (p. 41)
These developments are creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs. For example, Entelo launched in October 2012. The company is one of several talent-connection tools aiming to find more information on potential job candidates using the various online social networks. In the case of Entelo, the tool:
“trawls Twitter, Google+, and other sites, using proprietary algorithms to find candidates for specific jobs and predict which may be open to offers.” (p. 41)
Entelo’s cofounder, Jon Bischke, affirms the efficacy and growing attraction of these new techniques:
“‘We think that every major job board player is going to be looking at social data . . . A lot of them are seeing what’s happening with LinkedIn and trying to figure out how they can compete.’” (p. 42)
I think the approach has substantial merit. If the talent isn’t coming to your door, then you must go to the talent. Every businessperson understands sometimes you have to make things happen. These new talent tools create more ways in which to do exactly that.
IN SEARCH OF THE ULTIMATE PATCH
Posted on February 1, 2013 by James Meadows
I marvel at the way the IT experts are constantly monitoring cyberspace for viruses, malware, and other evil bits of code. As soon as they identify a threat, the counter tactics begin. This usually results in regular users being prompted to perform a software update or seamlessly experiencing a software update.
The bad news is the war never ends. The good news is it seems we are getting better at waging the war.
Unfortunately, no matter how knowledgeable and skilled our IT experts become, in many threat situations the weak link is the user. Someone clicks on a link, visits a Web site, or falls for a social-engineering email and thereby downloads a malevolent EXE file. Then, disaster happens.
I think our IT safety nets and measures are terrific. Nevertheless, I do not blindly assume they will always work. Furthermore, I never assume I will always get it right in cyberspace. As Benjamin Wallace once said (“Scare Tactics” Wired, October 2011, p. 120):
“That’s the insidious thing about social engineering: There isn’t any patch to fix the system threats in our gullible brains.”
Our gullible brains indeed are what we must monitor most closely if we want to remain safe in cyberspace. I hear that works in real space too.
REJECT ME—PLEASE REJECT ME
Posted on January 31, 2013 by James Meadows
Jia Jiang is a tech entrepreneur. He is also a very brave and daring soul. Finding himself in the midst of asking investors for funding for his startup, he began to ponder the emotional, physiological, and psychological dynamics of experiencing rejection.
His pondering led him to a new revelation: Precisely because we tend to avoid pain, Jiang must purposefully expose himself to rejection situations to build up resistance so he will be better equipped to continue asking investors for funding.
I think I like his logic. It still just feels a little bit masochistic, but I think I like his logic. If you expose yourself to the pain often enough, you become better at handling it.
Claire Suddath writes about Jiang’s experiences in Bloomberg Businessweek (“The No Man” 1/14/13–1/20/13, pp. 67–69). Jiang’s guaranteed-rejection situations so far have included such things as asking a hotel security guard if he could borrow $100, asking a college professor if he could lecture his class, asking a flight attendant if he could deliver the preflight safety demonstration, and (you guessed it!) asking Suddath if he could write an article for Bloomberg Businessweek. Suddath summarizes Jiang’s results:
“Jiang has discovered through 100 Days of Rejection that he can consistently come up with entertaining ideas—and that there may be more than one path forward. . . . After a month and a half of daily nos, no ways, and nevers, Jiang no longer feels the sting of that original investor’s rejection. As he puts it: ‘I feel like I have swagger now.’” (p. 69)
Well, at least I know what I need to do to get my swagger!
LOTS TO BERATE ON WINDOWS 8
Posted on January 30, 2013 by James Meadows
Although I am normally a pretty good cheerleader for Microsoft, I do have to give it low marks on Windows 8. While I don’t disagree with the strategy of using it with smartphones and tablets, forcing laptop and desktop users into Windows 8 is a big mistake. The new OS fits nicely with smartphones and tablets. It makes no sense for laptops and desktops.
Already in late December reports indicated Windows 8 sales were very disappointing. I’m not surprised. Even in PC World’s initial review of the new OS, the cautionary flag was raised (Loyd Case, “Windows 8: The Official Review” November 2012, pp. 73–82):
“Windows 8 isn’t for everyone. If you’re mostly a desktop PC user comfortable with Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 8 is probably not worthwhile.” (p. 82)
I certainly agree. Windows 8 presents a radically altered user experience, the accommodations to selecting alternative user interfaces get clumsy, you cannot easily access multiple applications running simultaneously, significant hardware upgrades will often be required, and serious questions remain concerning how well current or even new software will run on the new OS. For Microsoft to force laptop and desktop users into a Windows 8 environment after having enjoyed Windows 7’s bliss is a crime.
I have computed through multiple OS iterations from Windows 3.x to Windows 98 to Windows XP to Windows Vista to Windows 7. Take my word for it—if you are happy with Windows 7, stay put for the long haul. Windows 7 remains in my book the very best OS ever. When it comes to a desktop or a laptop computer, I just can’t see jumping into Windows 8. That would only be a step backward in your PC efficiency and effectiveness. Tim Markoski, a reader ofPC World, wrapped it up this way (February 2013, p. 9):
“Windows 8 is a product that no one asked for, that no one wants, and that no one will buy (in numbers that will make it successful).”
Tim, I couldn’t have said it better myself!
But it gets worse. David Pogue (New York Times personal-technology columnist) addresses what will surely be an ergonomic nightmare (“The Trouble with Touch Screens” Scientific American, January 2013, p. 25):
“There are three big differences between these handy touch screens and a PC’s screen: angle, distance and time interval. The screen of a phone or tablet is generally more or less horizontal. The screen of a desktop (or a laptop on a desk), however, is more or less vertical. Phone, tablet and kiosk screens, furthermore, are usually close to your body. But desktop and laptop screens are usually a couple feet away from you. You have to reach out to touch them. And then there’s the interval issue: you don’t sit there all day using a phone, tablet or airport kiosk, as you do with a PC. Finally, you’re not just tapping big, finger-friendly icons. You’re trying to make tiny, precise movements on the glass, on a vertical surface, at arm’s length.”
Pogue refers to the resulting painful condition as “gorilla arm.” I think Windows 8 will reveal many gorillas among us. Didn’t we learn our lesson with carpal tunnel syndrome? Wait until “gorilla arm” plays itself out.
Microsoft has had many good ideas. This wasn’t one of them.
WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, AND THEN SOME
Posted on January 29, 2013 by James Meadows
Seeing is better than not seeing—especially when it comes to faces looking for jobs. Nick Salter is an assistant psychology professor (Ramapo College in New Jersey) who wondered how much your profile picture influenced recruiters’ perceptions. Diane Stafford, career columnist for The Kansas City Star, recently reported on Salter’s findings:
“In a controlled experiment that offered identical professional profiles, except for the pictures, Salter found preferences to see a face, any face.”
As one might expect, an attractive face (how do we define “attractive”?, but that’s another blog post) was preferred over a less attractive face. Interestingly, even an unattractive face was preferred over the absence of a picture. Salter attributes the preference to the personal connection:
“‘A picture makes you more of a person and less of just a piece of paper.’”
This makes complete sense to me. In spite of the fact we must always be careful about illegal discrimination, and in spite of the fact many HR departments will immediately return any candidate photos so as not to be accused of illegal discrimination, the reality is we all like to see a picture. A picture really is worth a thousand words, and then some.
Presence, any presence, is better than no presence. Let’s face it—we are human. As people we enjoy and appreciate each other’s presence. It is always nice to see a person’s picture instead of just reading about that person.
The next time someone tells you, “it was good to see you,” you can take it literally. When Woody Allen said 90% of life is just showing up, little did he realize it is true in more ways than one!
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/03/3993251/any-face-is-better-than-no-face.html
ESCAPING INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Posted on January 28, 2013 by James Meadows
George Barna is the founder of The Barna Group and a founding director of the Strategenius Group. The Barna Group publishes studies on the intersection of faith and culture. The Strategenius Group is a business development and marketing firm. I recently read one of Barna’s latest books, Futurecast: What Today’s Trends Mean for Tomorrow’s World (Barna, 2011).
If you are looking for a fresh, brilliant, and expansive approach to demographics and trends, I highly recommend the book. Barna’s book covers family life, media, people groups, technology, entertainment, attitudes, values, faith, religion, social media, lifestyles, and more. In the course of performing his demographic and trend analyses, Barna speaks to the growing problem of information overload from which we find no respite:
“Although specific media choices vary by age and other demographics, the inescapable reality is that we are a nation addicted to media input. Statistics vary, but we know that the typical adult allocates more than fifty hours per week to media absorption. In fact, the only activity that takes more of our time is sleeping. Based on criteria developed by the American Psychiatric Association, our devotion to media content is literally an addiction.” (p. 11)
Perhaps this is not surprising. What are we doing right now?
I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you are addicted. Nevertheless, how do we handle this observation? Barna offers a wise understanding of how important it is to filter and sort the data for maximum benefit:
“Thanks to the Internet, the expansion of numerous other media channels, and the explosion in social-networking sites, the world is overwhelmed with information. The challenge has shifted from collecting and disseminating facts to winnowing through the multiple storehouses of available information to pluck out the useful morsels, place them in a viable context, and provide a reasonable interpretation of their meaning and application.” (p. x)
As I have heard some say, we are flooded with information yet starved for knowledge. Knowledge means we are making sense out of the vast ocean of information. Information all by itself tells us nothing. What we do with the data is what makes sense, produces meaning, and serves as the basis for helpful action.
Today, more than ever before, we must pick and choose how, where, and when we gather our information. Knowledge is too important to risk delaying its acquisition or polluting it with sloppy data gathering. The good news is we have immensely more tools to help us do this. By so doing, we can strategically swim in the ocean of information rather than letting it drown us.
THE ROBOTS ARE COMING!
Posted on January 25, 2013 by James Meadows
The American workforce has an interesting love/hate relationship with automation. Sometimes we haven’t known whether to fear or embrace technology’s benefits. Would the robots soon be our best friends or our worst enemies?
On one side of the argument, we feared technology would rob us all of jobs, creating high unemployment. On the other side, we relished the thought of robots accomplishing everything, leaving you and me to live lives of luxury. Fortunately, the reality has not approached either extreme. In fact, the reality has been much more interesting and challenging.
Fundamental to this topic is not so much the technology itself, but rather how we choose to adapt to it. Some folks have screamed “bloody murder” in the face of technology’s advancements. Others have joyfully embraced all technology has to offer. I don’t think the issue is technological as much as it is human—How do you handle change?
As we have so often heard in our modern era, the only constant is change. We’d better get used to it. Rather than fight it, let’s train ourselves to embrace it, capitalize upon it, and allow it to enrich our lives. Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Sam Grobart reports on Rodney Brooks’ perspective on robots and the associated technologies (“What Machines Can’t Do” 12/17/12–12/23/12, pp. 4–5):
“Rodney Brooks, a former MIT robotics professor, is an optimist. To Brooks, who is also founder and chairman of robot maker Rethink Robotics, these machines are going to help workers, not compete with them. He points out that personal computers didn’t get rid of office workers, they changed the jobs people did.” (p. 5)
Brooks identifies a major point about technology: Technology does not invoke a zero-sum game. Technology simply and powerfully gives us new opportunities, often in greater quantities too. So again I come back to the more implicit challenge—How do you handle change?
The more effectively you handle change, the more effective you will be in our increasingly technical world. Technology and robotics have created far more job opportunities than they have ever negated . . . for those who are ready.
Finally, I don’t think we would want technology and robotics to do everything for us. Grobart says it well:
“History has never shown that a life of idle hedonism brings out the best in human beings. We excel when we are creative and productive.” (p. 5)
LOTTERY LOSERS
Posted on January 24, 2013 by James Meadows
An amazing thing happens to many big-time lottery winners—they become big-time losers. I have read case after case of these kinds of outcomes. They tend to go broke within a couple years, their personal lives self-destruct, or both.
Jack Whittaker is just one example. An extensive article in Bloomberg Businessweek chronicled these dynamics. Although he was the winner of a $314 million Powerball in 2002, over the next several years his life took many negative detours. I will spare you the details.
Whittaker’s experience and many others’ experiences too, well illustrate the mental, emotional, and psychological pressures that come to bear in these situations. In Whittaker’s case, he was already a multimillionaire purely from his own labors long before he ever won the Powerball. He had built his own company that grew to over a hundred employees. Unfortunately, free money can often bring out the worst in us.
Mike Kosnitzky is a New York lawyer who has represented several lottery winners. His observations shed some light on the incredible stress these so-called winners face, as author David Samuels reports:
“In his experience, Kosnitzky says, most lottery winners suffer tremendous guilt as the result of their good fortune; they’re also troubled by family members and friends who feel entitled to their winnings and who become angry when they don’t get what they feel they deserve. Without access to financially and psychologically sophisticated advice, winners quickly find themselves easy marks for every kind of manipulation and often take refuge in preexisting addictions, which are compounded by seemingly inexhaustible wealth.”
A few thoughts come to mind:
1—Without even addressing the moral and spiritual elements, playing the lottery presents such an astonishingly low chance of winning, you are doing yourself a gross disservice. Before I would ever play the lottery, I would simply take my cash and drop it into a bottomless pit.
2—Sadly, a large percentage of people who do play the lottery are in the lowest income brackets and therefore can least afford to play it. Over a working lifetime, if they had simply redirected those lottery dollars into a tax-deferred investment program, their long-term financial security would virtually be guaranteed. If I was in charge (which I wouldn’t be) I would at least hold the government to truth in labeling and rename the lottery the CVSTS (Citizens’ Voluntary Supplemental Taxation System).
3—Good old hard work has never lost its power. Applying yourself to your craft, and earning a good day’s wage for a good day’s labor still works today. Hand in hand with that hard work tends to come self-discipline, integrity, commitment, dedication, honesty, and psychological balance.
I feel sorry for Whittaker and others like him. Winning a game isn’t winning if you lose in the end.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/lottery-winner-jack-whittakers-losing-ticket?campaign%5fid=ebsco
ENTRY LEVEL’S BENEFITS
Posted on January 23, 2013 by James Meadows
Walmart’s CEO, Bill Simon, was recently defending low-paying jobs in the retail sector. His focus was these jobs are the initial step in many people’s careers (“Quoted” Bloomberg Businessweek 1/21/13–1/27/13, p. 21):
“Just about everyone started out in an entry-level job. I did, and I bet you did. My first job was as a dishwasher in a restaurant for $2.10 an hour. It wasn’t a great job, but it was a great first job.”
My first job was as a hospital janitor for $2.14 per hour. That was a pretty good wage for a high school kid back in the day, especially considering minimum wage at the time was around $1.65 per hour. So although Simon’s statement makes me chuckle in remembrance, more importantly I love Simon’s statement for many reasons.
1—No Free Lunch. Especially for teenagers and others new to the workforce, Simon’s statement reminds us the proverbial free lunch is a mirage. Anything of value in this world will be things for which you work. (Granted, occasional providential gifts arise, but that is not the norm.)
2—Start Means Start. An entry-level job is exactly that—entry level. It is where you start. Whether you remain there is largely up to you. Nevertheless, we all have to start somewhere, and for most of us that means entry level.
3—Opportunity Abounds. By virtue of working an entry-level job, you quickly come to realize many additional opportunities exist for those with special skills, training, experience, ambition, and education. This results in a mind transformation from “I’m stuck in this entry-level job” to “Wow! Look at all the cool things I can do with my future!”
4—Incentives Are Good. While I do believe the love of money is the root of all evil, I also believe money must be acquired and managed well so we may accomplish those things we are called to accomplish. Therefore, money itself to a certain extent is a direct incentive because it enlarges our ability to accomplish, which is the ultimate incentive.
I understand many people like to bemoan and mock entry-level jobs. It’s about time we recognize the value and the benefits of entry-level jobs. And since it doesn’t appear we have yet arrived at Edward Bellamy’s socialist utopia (Looking Backward: 2000–1887) where everyone makes the same wage regardless of occupation, entry-level jobs are here to stay. I appreciate them for what they built into my life, and for what they built into the lives of millions of Americans.
HEADHUNTERS BECOME LESS HUNTED
Posted on January 22, 2013 by James Meadows
Headhunters are losing their luster. So say a number of HR staff members from various blue-chip corporations. They have been realizing two important realities. One is social media is a tremendous tool for locating the right candidates. The other is performing a candidate search using internal talent is much cheaper and more effective than using a headhunter. Carol Hymowitz and Jeff Green write about the recent trend in Bloomberg Businessweek (“These Days, Anybody Can Headhunt” 1/21/13–1/27/13, pp. 19–20):
“GE has built an internal recruiting staff of about 500 in the last six years. In 2012 the team, helped by LinkedIn and BranchOut, filled most of GE’s 25,000 openings, about 10 percent of which were executive and senior professional positions. They completed most searches in about 73 days, compared with the average 170 days it takes outside firms.” (p. 19)
I suspect by sticking to internal recruiters, the hiring company does a better job in terms of the job-fit and the corporate-culture fit. This makes sense because the internal staff will of course have a better finger on the pulse of these company qualities. As we know, getting these dynamics correct with every new-hire is crucial to that person’s success. It also strengthens the company’s diversity and team building. Hymowitz and Green use Coca-Cola as an example:
“Executives hired at Coca-Cola by outside recruiters are twice as likely to leave, and the diversity of candidates is about twice as high for candidates hired by the inside team.” (p. 19)
For companies seeking candidates the message is trust your inside talent! The results prove the inside HR talent knows what to do and how to do it. Capitalize on that and keep it moving forward.
For the headhunter firms the message is reengineer your business model! Already headhunter pricing wars are underway and many are recasting their suite of services in recognition of these developments.
NEWSWEEK—WHERE LIFE HAPPENS
Posted on January 18, 2013 by James Meadows
The December 31, 2012, issue of Newsweek magazine was the last print edition. After years of analysis and planning, Newsweek decided it was time to end an era and move to a purely online format.
Life, even crazy life, happens everywhere—including Newsweek. Writer/Editor Ed Kosner was kind enough to share some of the crazy stories that add levity and surprise to the magazine’s eight decades as a print publication (Romano, Andrew. “‘The First Rough Draft of History’” 12/31/12, pp. 22–30):
“Newsweek had a full cast of characters whose escapades were invariably more entertaining that the copy they wrote or edited. One back-of-the-book senior editor had a phobia about having his shirts laundered. So he simply bought new ones when he ran short and kept the dirty ones in smelly bags piled high in his office.” (p. 27)
Yuck! Can you imagine?
“Another insisted on keeping his office pitch black, with only a swing lamp creating a small circle of light on his desk, at which writers had to sit waiting for him to eviscerate their pieces.”
Talk about an interrogation! Are you an editor or a detective?
“The sports editor walked out of his office one morning and was never seen again.”
Oh, the number of strange disappearances we have seen in corporate America, eh? Hey, whatever happened to ________________?
“A back-of-the-book writer quit without telling anyone, leaving a sheet of paper in his typewriter with the lament, ‘I can’t write this story.’”
Now there’s a case of burnout if I’ve ever seen one! Well, at least he knew it was time to walk.
“The science editor couldn’t put out his section one week because he’d fallen out of a tree and broken his right arm.”
Oh, come on now! Give the guy a break . . . err, some understanding. He was probably climbing the tree to do research for that very week’s science column.
“Early arrivals often found one of the magazine’s most brilliant writers curled up in a clothing closet, blissfully sleeping off last night’s toot.”
How come I’m thinking of Mad Men right now?
Well, all I can say is some things are better told after the fact—well after the fact. Mr. Kosner has allowed us to do that today. Don’t you just wonder what other secrets he has?
UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES
Posted on January 17, 2013 by James Meadows
The December 31, 2012, issue of Newsweek magazine was the last print edition. After years of analysis and planning, Newsweek decided it was time to end an era and move to a purely online format.
In looking at all we learn from Newsweek’s history, diversity development is definitely a hot topic. In 1978 when Lynn Povich proposed a cover story on the changing role of men (as opposed to women), she was mocked by her peers. Ultimately, Povich’s idea won and the cover story went to print. The cover illustration showed a man in an apron cooking as he gazes down to a little girl clutching her doll. Reflecting on that watershed episode, Povich pondered a much larger question (“When Women Said ‘No’” 12/31/12 pp. 44–50):
“‘Were we ahead of the times or just reflecting the times?’” (p. 48)
That is always the million-dollar question, now isn’t it? Povich raises the proverbial inquiry to us all—Are we on the crest of the wave or are we just catching it after it hits the beach? Which is it?
The vanguard business leader is ahead of the times. The mediocre business leader may just be reflecting the times. I think in many cases it is a bit of a combination of both.
Being ahead of the times is where we all want to be as business leaders. Our strategies and plans bring maximum profit when that occurs. Nevertheless, there is no dishonor in merely reflecting the times. Reflecting the times at least communicates you are up to the times. The unforgiveable sin is to be behind the times. Go there, and your customers will disappear.
As businesspeople, we can all benefit from Povich’s question. Apply it to your situation today. Are you ahead of the times or just reflecting the times? Pay close attention to the answer.
NEWSWEEK DIVERSITY DEVELOPMENTS
Posted on January 16, 2013 by James Meadows
The December 31, 2012, issue of Newsweek magazine was the last print edition. After years of analysis and planning, Newsweek decided it was time to end an era and move to a purely online format.
Newsweek lived through some interesting and complex diversity developments. Eleanor Clift analyzes numerous aspects of the changing role of women in society and in Newsweek throughout the magazine’s history. She writes about a key moment in Newsweek’s evolution on the topic (“When Women Said ‘No’” 12/31/12, pp. 40–50):
“In 1978, Lynn Povich [who later became the magazine’s first female senior editor] . . . suggested a cover on ‘How Men Are Changing’ in a cover conference. The other editors mocked her, saying she must be having difficulty finding a date in her newly single status after a divorce. ‘I argued how can you change 50 percent of the population without affecting the other 50 percent?’” (pp. 46–48)
Povich’s point is well taken. Regardless of the people group, any change in one group affects everyone. Only people wearing blinders miss that reality. In my mind, diversity, demographics, and trends are some of the most important and powerful topics for study today, not only for what they tell us about the past but even more so for what they tell us about the future.
Understanding the times is a tall order. It is tough enough when you just look at things like technology and business. But if you ignore the people-group element, then you will undermine all your understanding.
Although Povich was laughed at for her idea, she was a discerner of the times. For Povich to even make the suggestion she did by definition tells us she embraced the importance of diversity, demographics, and trends. Today we know this is more important than it has ever been.
TIME TESTS ALL TRUTH
Posted on January 15, 2013 by James Meadows
The December 31, 2012, issue of Newsweek magazine was the last print edition. After eight decades the publishing giant made the determination it would no longer be maximally effective in its mission if it remained a hardcopy. Therefore, after years of analysis and planning, Newsweek decided it was time to end an era and move to a purely online format. I’ve been devoting this week’s blog posts to that final print issue.
Time is the test of all truth. Hindsight is always 20/20. The truth ultimately arises. In some cases, earlier perspectives are proven correct while in other cases they are proven incorrect. In its final print edition, Newsweek reached into its archives to share some interesting and sometimes humorous perspectives. Here are a few that stood out to me (“Perspectives” 12/31/12, p. 9):
1—From “The Internet? Bah!” February 26, 1995: “Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.”
2—From “Push-Button Age” July 9, 1990: “Not since the car radio has a technology so altered the nature of the driving experience as the cellular telephone . . . (For the record, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman says there are no statistics on accidents caused by drivers using mobile phones, and no reason to believe they are a safety problem.)”
3—From “Where the Brains Are” January 29, 1968: “In the U.S., the technetronic age has begun to take shape. Some 39,500 computers—about 65 percent of the world’s total—have already begun to reach into every facet of life.”
4—From “George, Paul, Ringo, and John” February 24, 1964: “Visually they are a nightmare . . . Musically they are a near-disaster . . . Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of ‘yeah, yeah, yeah!’) are a catastrophe.”
Well, once again we should all be humbled by the challenge of predicting the future. In some cases we get it right, in some cases we get it wrong, and woe to the seer who becomes overly emphatic before time has run its course!
Of course, I am in no way advocating we should not attempt to predict the future. Exploring the range of outcomes that might develop based on current trends, demographics, and events is crucial to business planning and strategy. Nevertheless, as we engage in that gargantuan task, let us remember it will ever be a fallible endeavor from which we should always learn . . . and laugh.
CAN’T TOUCH IT ANYMORE
Posted on January 14, 2013 by James Meadows
The December 31, 2012, issue of Newsweek magazine was the last print edition. After eight decades the publishing giant made the determination it would no longer be maximally effective in its mission if it remained a hardcopy. Therefore, after years of analysis and planning, Newsweek decided it was time to end an era and move its entire magazine to a purely online format. Because of the revolutionary and ubiquitous advent of the digital age and Newsweek’s response to it, this week I will devote my blog posts to that final print issue.
As much as I enjoy reading and handling the hardcopy, I am enough of a business-minded realist to know migrating online is often the best strategy. The onset of the digital world has made exactly that step necessary. This is true, not just for Newsweek of course, but for millions of other entities. From stores to newspapers to libraries to nonprofits, we have all come to realize much of the future will be virtual instead of real. If you don’t have some kind of an online presence today, your sustainability is in question.
I’m still not sure how much I like the new reality though. As I’ve said many times, I have never figured out how to curl up with a good computer.
Nevertheless, this is the business model Newsweek has decided it must pursue. I don’t begrudge Newsweek that decision, nor do I begrudge any one of us that decision. In business today, a commitment to function as much if not more in the virtual world as in the physical world is a nonnegotiable. The two worlds are ultimately equally real. They will be viewed with equal appreciation from diverse observation points, much like the iridescent feathers on a bird.
Rather than looking at Newsweek and grieving over the fact you cannot touch it anymore, perhaps the more profitable approach is to realize you can touch it in a new way, and maybe—dare I say it?—a better way.
YOUR HEALTHCARE IS SERVED
Posted on January 11, 2013 by James Meadows
The ongoing challenges of healthcare are driving new creative solutions. One option growing in popularity is concierge medicine. I don’t think concierge medicine is automatically the perfect option for everyone, but I do think it deserves serious consideration. Devin Leonard writes about the concierge medicine trend in Bloomberg Businessweek (“The Cash-Only Doctors’ Club” 12/3/12–12/9/12, pp. 62–67):
“Atlas MD’s two physicians, Josh Umbehr and Doug Nunamaker, don’t accept insurance. Instead, they charge most of their adult patients $50 a month for unlimited visits. They also offer free EKGs and biopsies and cut-rate prices on prescription drugs.” (p. 64)
On the surface, concierge medicine presents a promising approach. I especially like the unlimited access the patient gains. That additional time is a contributor to the patient’s overall health, instead of simply focusing on “today’s problem.” Leonard elaborates on this point:
“Proponents of concierge medicine insist that more time with each patient allows them to provide holistic care that can prevent diseases such as diabetes that are major drivers of health-care costs in America and keep people out of hospital emergency rooms.” (pp. 64–65)
The statistics are quite telling. The traditional primary-care doctor handles 3,281 patients while the typical concierge-medicine doctor handles about 400. By eliminating so much of the insurance red tape and associated costs, and by focusing more intensely and holistically on each patient, everyone wins.
The model described is certainly not the holy grail of healthcare. It will not work across the board. Nevertheless, increasing numbers of doctors are shifting into the model or one of its many variations. Given its growing positive reception, my guess is we will only see more concierge medicine and in many new flavors.
2012 PR DISASTERS
Posted on January 10, 2013 by James Meadows
When it comes to public relations, some have declared any publicity is better than no publicity. I’m not sure how true that is in every case. To that point, we can reflect on a number of 2012 PR events identified by Bloomberg Businessweek for which I’m sure someone wishes they could get a “do over” (“The Year in Crisis PR: When Businesses Made News, Whether They Wanted To or Not” 12/17/12–12/23/12, pp. 84–85). These are just a few of last year’s PR disasters:
1—(September) Apple releases the iPhone 5. It’s bigger, lighter, and faster than the last one. Just don’t try to use the maps function, because you might end up driving onto the runway at Dulles.
2—(June) “Libor” briefly becomes a household word after bankers at Barclays in London are caught fixing the influential interest rate and fined $451 million. One conspirator emails another, “Dude, I owe you big time!”
3—(March) New York-based advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty attempts to turn homeless people into Wi-Fi hotspots at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Needless to say, they soon awake to the reality that this is literally the worst idea in the world.
4—(September) Patrick Stewart takes on Time Warner Cable. The result? He tweets, “All I wanted to do was set up a new account . . . but 36hrs later, I’ve lost the will to live.”
Is there such a thing as a perfect company or a perfect businessperson? Of course not. Nevertheless, these PR disasters certainly remind us how important it is to do your homework and think matters through before taking action. Living in interesting times may have its benefits, but we don’t want them to be too interesting.
May you never drive on runways, may you owe no one big time, may all your Wi-Fi hotspots have homes, and may you never lose your will to live!
UNHEALTHY FRAUDSTERS
Posted on January 9, 2013 by James Meadows
We’ve come a long way in corporate America concerning wellness. Corporations have figured out keeping employees happy and healthy doesn’t just benefit the employees. It benefits the customers, the shareholders, and the leadership. Wellness is an idea whose time has come.
As an integral part of their benefits programs, many companies are now paying extra money to employees for participating in various wellness activities both online offline. These activities range from local fitness competitions to online medical evaluations to telephone health-coaching sessions to using online caregiver comparison tools. I say all that is pretty cool.
What isn’t cool though is when employees decide it is smart to game the system by simulating wellness-activity participation so they earn the extra bucks fraudulently. According to a front-page article in The Kansas City Star this may be exactly what occurred recently (“Wellness Fraud Alleged” 12/14/12, A1, A10):
“Federal prosecutors announced charges [December 13] against seven Kansas City and Jackson County public employees for purportedly running a lucrative scheme to cash in on an employee wellness program in which they never really participated. The employees allegedly defrauded their health insurance program of more than $300,000 by claiming cash incentives for participating in marathons, triathlons and other strenuous activities.” (p. A1)
If the allegations are true, this is one wellness program that did not end well.
The good news is most wellness programs are handled with complete integrity and accountability by all participants. They remain a growing positive force in helping workers to improve all aspects of their health. Given the ongoing challenges in our healthcare system, anything that makes us healthier is definitely a net positive.
I think wellness programs are one of the best developments ever to hit the American workplace. I genuinely hope we have only just begun.
NEVER LET YOUR GUARD DOWN
Posted on January 8, 2013 by James Meadows
Although we have left many old things in 2012 and are embracing many new things in 2013, one thing is both old and new—cyberspace security threats. They are old because, well, they happened in the past. They are new because the bad guys and girls just never relent. Nick Mediati of PC World shares many security threats to be alert to in 2013. Although the list is long, a few particularly caught my attention because they can easily affect so many users, including you and me (“2013 in Security: The Threats to Watch Out For” December 2012, pp. 43–44):
“The browser is the great equalizer. Whether you use Windows, OS X, Linux, or any of the smartphone or tablet mobile platforms, or even a browser-equipped e-reader, the browser is the one application everyone has. Email and text messages containing links to malicious websites will become virtually indistinguishable from legitimate communications. The messages will be more polished and professional.” (p. 43)
This is pretty serious. The wolves are getting better at simulating sheep. Extreme attention to every single point of contact in cyberspace is crucial to our cybersecurity. Related to this one, Mediati emphasizes the expected proliferation of social-media schemes and phishing attacks:
“The user is the weakest link in the security chain. Users frequently choose convenience and simplicity over security, and all too often fall prey to phishing schemes. Attackers continue to refine and evolve their techniques to make phishing bait seem more credible.” (p. 43)
That points the finger at you and me. Obviously, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the chain of cybersecurity, we own most of the blame. To add more fuel to the fire, the massive expansion of new tablets and smartphones has hung out a new “red meat” sign.
As with all security matters, better safe than sorry. These days, a little paranoia can be a good thing. Be safe!
TWEETING FORWARD
Posted on January 7, 2013 by James Meadows
Adam Bain is the Revenue Chief of Twitter. With his 250-member team, Bain continually strategizes the best ways to keep Twitter profitable. His team’s efforts are working. Jessi Hempel, writing in Fortune, cites Twitter’s ongoing success (“Twitter’s Adman Delivers” 12/3/12, p. 48):
“When Twitter CEO Dick Costolo recruited Bain in August 2010, the microblogging platform was the black sheep of social media sites. While LinkedIn and Facebook were building robust advertising engines in preparation for their much-anticipated initial public offerings, Twitter had a $3.7 billion valuation but no obvious business model. Bain eschewed banner ads in favor of messages that showed up directly in the stream of tweets. . . . With 140 million active users, Twitter has now become a staple for advertisers. . . . What’s more, the company launched mobile advertising in February and already brings in more revenue from that than from desktop users.” (p. 40)
As is so often the case, a medium’s success is dependent on its advertising revenue. As much as we might love these various social-media sites, if monetization doesn’t eventually occur, they will disappear. Bain has obviously found the right formula for success.
Some folks remain amazed that ads even work in cyberspace. Let’s face it—even if you never click through an ad, if you are exposed to it enough, the company’s name will stick in your head. If you later develop an interest in the product field, you will tend to remember that which you have seen the most, or even just most recently. And for those moments when you decide to click, you have instant information, and now you are potentially a new customer.
I suspect that little bird tells us lots of things.
BUILDING CLASSROOMS OR CASTLES?
Posted on January 4, 2013 by James Meadows
For about the past two decades in the USA, universities have been increasing the number of bureaucrats ten times faster than the number of tenured teachers. Is this an “ouch” or a “that’s what business conditions demand” situation? Perhaps it is a little bit of both. John Hechinger, writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, makes some interesting salary observations (“The Troubling Dean-to-Professor Ratio” 11/26/12–12/2/12, pp. 40–42):
“Purdue has a $313,000-a-year acting provost and six vice and associate vice provosts, including a $198,000-a-year chief diversity officer. Among its 16 deans and 11 vice presidents are a $235,000 marketing officer and a $433,000 business school chief. The average full professor at the public university in West Lafayette, Ind., makes $125,000.” (p. 40)
What does it say about our academic priorities when our best professors are earning a fraction of what the administrators are earning? But there is another side to the argument. Acting President Timothy Sands points out:
“‘This is a $2.2 billion operation—you’ve got to have some people involved in administering it.’” (p. 40)
Now I do understand that reality. Without qualified, skilled leaders in place, the organization will never reach its full potential. Additionally, if the law of supply and demand results in teachers making less than administrators, then so be it. That dynamic is fundamental to American capitalism.
Here is the tragically funny part of the story—former Indiana governor, Mitch Daniels, assumes Purdue’s presidential office this month. Daniels comes with an agenda to relook at every cubic inch of the university’s fiscal practices with an eye to eliminating unnecessary spending. Hechinger concludes his story:
“In anticipation of his arrival . . . and without his knowledge, the school renovated the president’s 4,000-square-foot suite. The cost was $355,000, enough to send 15 Indiana residents to Purdue for a year.”
Well, I’m sure they will be off to a good start with their new president.
TAKE A NUMBER
Posted on January 3, 2013 by James Meadows
The colossal river of business litigation is large enough already without creating new logjams. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening nationwide. Within the last three years over 80% of states’ court systems have experienced funding cuts. This means criminal cases receive top priority, and we all know how many of those exist. Peter S. Green writes about the lengthening litigation timelines and the ramifications in Bloomberg Businessweek (“In Alabama, Lady Justice Has Fridays Off” 12/3/12–12/9/12, p. 58):
“Dick Burdge, a Los Angeles attorney and president of the county bar association, says he’s been stuck for two years resolving a contract dispute between partners in a small clothing manufacturer. The courts are so backed up that the case is still stalled. It takes five months to get a court date for a discovery motion, something that used to take a few weeks.”
In many business-litigation cases, monies affected by the dispute are placed in an escrow account until the case is settled. For a small business owner this can be crippling. Funds for business expansion and even normal cash flow are no longer available.
Generally, businesses have always avoided litigation. Quite simply too much money, time, and resources stand to be lost. Given the legal logjam escalation, the stakes are going up significantly. Some players just might be forced to leave the table.
My guess is now more than ever anyone involved in any aspect of risk management will be expected to be at the top of his or her game. Simultaneously, this legal chaos creates some opportunities for the perceptive employee. You can help your organization get ahead of the curve on this one. Keep your eyes open. I know of no boss who does not appreciate a timely contribution that dodges a legal pitfall. Now is the time.
2013—SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
Posted on January 2, 2013 by James Meadows
The brand new year of 2013 is upon us. How successful you or I will be in it is largely up to us. Much of that is further determined by how open we are to moving in new directions. Moving in new directions means a lot of different things depending on our life circumstances. Here are just a few suggestions to consider to set yourself up for success:
Be Positive Regardless of Your Challenges—Yes, I know you don’t have to look far to find difficulties, roadblocks, and bad news. Nevertheless, carrying a negative attitude into those challenges never did any good, did it? On the other hand, by attacking every challenge with a positive attitude, you consciously and subconsciously unleash more resources. Those additional resources often make a significant difference in the outcome.
If You Are a Business Owner—You might come to realize 2013 demands some new strategies and policies. Will you implement them, and if so, how will you implement them? Thinking those steps through ahead of time can make all the difference in the world. Change is not always easy, but by planning for it and embracing it with a positive attitude you can make it more enjoyable and exciting.
If You Are an Employee—Think about how you can bring more value to your organization. Might you have some new approaches that will benefit your colleagues and customers? Do you have ideas or insights whose time has come? Look for new ways to enhance collaboration and success for your team.
If You Are Unemployed—How might this be an opportunity to reinvent yourself? Could this be the time you search in some totally different directions for that dream job? Although searching for a new job is a fulltime job, remember to give yourself some downtime. Perhaps now is the perfect time to dive into some of those pie-in-the-sky projects you just never had time for in the past. How might you reorganize your life for better balance going forward?
Never Discount Your Experience—You are usually your worst critic. Take a fresh look at all your experience with an eye to capitalizing upon the hidden gold. Surely there are some lessons you have learned from which you can benefit. By taking stock of those lessons now, you can build toward more solid successes for 2013. You can bring a vibrant freshness to your future.
Face Your Failures—Sometimes it is easier to hide from them. Nevertheless, denial does not equal deletion. Worse yet, it does you a disservice. Only by fully facing the things you messed up can you learn from them. You should be smarter entering 2013 than you were entering 2012.
Be Humble—I never met a person who thought he or she knew it all that learned something new. I enjoy learning new things . . . every single day. But I can’t do that if I already know it all.
Remember Your Resources—You have people around you who genuinely care about you. You have a philosophy of life, religious and spiritual convictions that sustain you. You have hidden opportunities just waiting to be discovered. You have time-tested strengths and abilities. Reach out to all those terrific resources because they are there to help you.
This year could become the most successful year of your life. Do everything possible to make that happen.