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August 31, 2007

Work/Life: Labor (Day) Pains

Labor Day is 125 years old this weekend. And the American Psychological Association is urging us all to leave the workplace behind until Monday. They did a recent survey that showed nearly one third of us have trouble balancing our work and family lives.

They also point out that Labor Day as we know it was originally intended as a full day of relaxation in celebration of the American worker. Back in 1882, apparently, a workforce engaged mostly in factory and agricultural tasks could happily leave their jobs behind, and no text messages, e-mails or cell phone calls would arrive to summon them back to their place of business. Suggesting we all turn off our Blackberries this weekend, a spokesperson for the APA pointed out that our reliance on technology is contributing significantly to our levels of stress.

So, it sounds like we should all take a few days to party like it’s 1882. And why stop with just ditching the modern technology. Let’s go the full boat, and cast ourselves back to a simpler time. Here are a few ideas on how to effectively boost the 1882 experience:

Throw a party to commemorate 1882, in which John D. Rockefeller consolidated all of his petroleum holdings into Standard Oil Trust. Remember to hire a valet for the horse and carriage overflow, since the commercial automobile was not yet widely used.

When preparing for the above party, do not worry so much about being clean. People back then did not bathe all that often, and soap was used mostly for laundry. Sticklers for 1882 history will point out that Ivory Soap was introduced in that year, so the freshest-smelling guests at your gathering will clearly be the most well-informed. Make sure there’s plenty of t.p. in the outhouse, too.

The Hibachi is a long way from being invented, so it’s up to you how you sear the meat. And don’t even think about veggie burgers.

Similarly, shorts and flip-flops are right out. No matter how hot it is, you will probably be wearing at least three layers of heavy clothing. But, at least none of it will involve pants hanging down below your underwear. And don’t even think about crocks.

Topics of discussion should include the assassination of Jesse James (April 3rd), the founding of the Knights of Columbus (March 29th), the outlawing of polygamy by Congress (March 22nd) and of course the Urabi revolt in Egypt (June 11th). Oh, and someone might want to make a caustic joke about natural selection in honor of Charles Darwin’s recent death (April 19th)

Guests might also marvel at the recent opening up of a railway line between Buffalo and Chicago, and, again, no jokes about not being able to take more than 2 oz. of liquid on board.

Yes, take yourself back to a time before we could take our work home with us. We all sweated and stank a lot more, and thought nothing of setting aside a couple of days to get from Buffalo to Chicago. The point is, we weren’t afraid to leave our busy lives behind, and the word “overachieving” was not yet in our vocabulary. Except maybe for people like Rockefeller, the guys who built the railroads, and Thomas Edison, who by 1882 had already taken out over a thousand patents. Given the non-stop attention to business that the big boys had back then, something tells me one of those inventions was an early version of the Blackberry.

Will you be able to kick back this Labor Day?

Posted by Tom Stern at 5:45 AM | Add Comment

August 30, 2007

Careers: Web 2.0 and Personal Branding

You’d have to have spent the last year holed up in a cave not to have heard the phrase, Web 2.0. Like most buzzwords of the moment it carries a connotation of “getting it.” Don’t worry about the buzzword, however. The key is what it means.

I particularly like the phrase Andrew DiFiore Jr., Creative Director of answerYES Interactive uses to refer to the whole shebang subsumed under Web 2.0 -- “digital sales representative.” Web 2.0, says DiFore, “is all about furthering your brand, product and service and getting people to relate to you one-on-one and giving you feedback.” Suddenly, thanks to web sites and interactive tools like blogs, podcasts and video, you have the opportunity for seemingly gazillions of people (over a billion folks today are online) to know about you and your brand. Frankly, if you’re not taking advantage of this, you’re not truly marketing.

Sadly, most US companies are grossly under spending online. Consider this statistic from Nielson/Net Ratings Ad Relevance, courtesy of Michael Westcott, president of social media company, The Concentric Group: US companies on average are spending a measly 6.6% of their marketing budgets online. But this is changing as marketers shift more ad dollars online from other media. Internet advertising revenue (pure play and traditional media platforms) in the US alone grew 36% in 2006, reaching $23.7 billion billion, according to the VSS Communications Industry Forecast 2007-2011.

Let’s not shed any tears for now since this creates all the more opportunity for the rest of us. The fact is that every time someone visits your website or blog or engages with you online, you’re furthering your brand. Consider, for example, a web site for a chiropractor. If you’re like me, you may have received a pushy phone call from your local chiropractor’s office suggesting your well being is at risk unless you schedule an appointment. Compare that to a site DiFore designed for Dr. Brian Yomtov where he turned the tables to let the user take charge. Every page of the site has a form for you to ask the doctor a question. “It’s free advice to help generate a reputation,” says DiFore. “You not only want to get your name out there and be knowledgeable but also accessible.”

The Internet every day is providing new ways to help you build your personal brand. Leadership consultant and personal branding expert Rob Cuesta, for example, has his own personal branding store on Amazon. It’s a great way to promote himself and pocket a little affiliate revenue from Amazon. And, better yet, anyone can easily do this.

Of course, you shouldn’t willy-nilly try a Web 2.0 tool just as you wouldn’t blindly buy a radio or TV spot. “Don’t just do a blog because everyone is doing one,” says DiFore. “It may not be the best use of your time and money.” What’s important is to develop an online strategy or hire an expert to help you. And then measure everything you do. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that you know in the time it takes to click if what you’re doing is working. Now start clicking your way to reputation building.

Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc.

Posted by Wendy Marx at 8:29 AM | 4 Comments

Innovation: Plaxo Says Customers ARE in Charge of Their Data

Yesterday, Plaxo launched its new online data aggregator. Pulse let’s you move your data from one platform to another. Joseph Smarr and John McCrea of Plaxo talked about the technology and portability on the Scoble Show v/blog (25’+ minutes). While the technical speak and passion around microformating eluded me, one immediate benefit is that with this product the person in charge of you data is, well you.

Continue reading "Innovation: Plaxo Says Customers ARE in Charge of Their Data"

Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:42 AM | 6 Comments

August 29, 2007

Leadership: Kick Back and Relax

The ability to relax! That’s what presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, advises as a necessary attribute of presidential leadership. Kearns, who consults for NBC and was speaking on Tim Russert’s CNBC show, presented a list of attributes that she feels are important to presidential leadership. Withstanding adversity, decisiveness, and selection of good advisers are key, but so is the ability to kick back.

Teddy Roosevelt loved to hunt and camp. Harry Truman played poker. John Kennedy sailed. And Ronald Reagan cut brush on his ranch. In each instance, these activities allow the president to disengage from the hurly-burly and to recharge his batteries but also to gain perspective on the issues of the day.

Corporate leaders are famous for relaxation. Scott McNealy of Sun is a scratch golfer. Ted Turner was a world-class sailor who won the America’s Cup. And a friend of mine, Dan Denison, races Formula Ford cars, and his company, Denison Consulting has its own racing team. Other execs fly planes or play tennis. And Ted Kooser, poet laureate from 2004 to 2006, was a successful insurance executive who wrote poetry on the side.

Continue reading "Leadership: Kick Back and Relax"

Posted by John Baldoni at 12:30 PM | 1 Comment

Leadership: Today I Will...

This week I will….

Will you? Best laid intentions…How many leaders brainstorm about changes that have to be made to move an organization forward, arrange endless meetings and retreats and perhaps actually dialogue about what those changes should look like, only to park it all and live with the status quo?

It happens more often than you think. What stops a leader from jumping in with both feet to make it happen? There’s a chemistry that happens in an organization and if your enthusiasm for the results that change might bring isn’t contagious, it won’t be sustainable. So how do you make sure it is? How does everyone have to ‘get it’ according to them so there’s buy in? If the leader hesitates, that in itself sends a message and the ripple effect could make the difference between engagement and having a fight on their hands.

We look at successful leaders as people who move organizations forward and take them on the road to continued success. Some organizations continue to fly and others might succeed for a short while but that success is not sustained. Why do you think that is? Are leaders measured by organizational success or by their style and staff engagement? Is it possible to separate the two? Or can a leader be successful for one organization but bomb in another? A group of us were in conversation about that just last week. Some say successful leaders are measured by who they are, not but the success of the organization they’re working in, yet how in the world can one be separated from the other? If you lead people to failure, yes, you might be great at leading but that gets into good leadership and bad leadership and everything in-between.

Leaders need more than necessary skills sets and a wealth of knowledge to lead an organization into the future. It’s a combination of chemistry, people connectedness and vision. Articulating that vision in such a way where the staff really gets it, owns it and wants to make it happen is the key, so when they say “This week I will _______” or “This year I want to make _____happen” they’ll have the power with people to make it so.

However just because they’re able to do with one group, doesn’t necessarily mean that leader will be embraced by the next. What does a leader have to do give him/her a fighting chance?

Donna Karlin • Executive and Political Shadow Coach™ • Ottawa, Canada • •www.abetterperspective.com

Posted by Donna Karlin at 12:12 PM | Add Comment

Careers: What's New on My Social Network?

I'd like to announce the launch of AfterRusty, a social networking site for my friends, fans, relatives, creditors and associates. You may have heard about corporate alumni networks where ex-employees bitch about their old company. I want to start a social network for people who survive me - while I'm still alive - if it's all the same to you.

AfterRusty is for people who know me, wish they knew me, or thought they did.

For a limited time, I will waive the $50 annual fee, at least until my viral campaign escalates to Facebook proportions. So-called "alumni social networking" sounds hip and trendy, but by the time I die it will "tip" to an epidemic.

It's a virtuous circle: If I prosper, AfterRusty membership will have even more cachet than it does now. Sure, there's competition for your social networking capital, but if you only have time for one network, then this one is it. Here's why:

• I know some cool people and they know some really cool people
• I lived a happening life - from the Apple II to the iPhone. Technically it's not over - so there's still scads of upside

What will AfterRusty members talk about once I am permanently "offline"? You know me! I have compiled a handy list of things to do and discuss:

• Rusty's career. There is a lot of material to excavate. The word is some direct reports, creditors and ex-girlfriends are still in therapy and I haven't even retired yet. I recently joined several corporate alumni networks and while they're terrific, let's face it, they're not all about me.
• Ex-girlfriend stories. My friend David will moderate this group since he once listened to my tragic-comic tales in a taxi ride between San Francisco and Oakland - although he claims it absorbed a thirteen hour road trip to Las Vegas.
• Group blog. Don't assume that news stops once I'm six feet under! On the contrary, that's when the juicy bits will really surface. To fuel the discussion, I plan to dish my friends in a multimedia diatribe to be released upon my demise.
• Raw footage. Photos, videos, and surveillance tapes go into this bucket. This is the most convenient place to stash those pesky transcripts, flaming e-mails, and unedited articles, too.

Like any world-class social network mine begins with a set of questions aimed at lubricating links between AfterRusty members.

1. What was running through your mind when you first met Rusty? (essay)
2. What's your current relationship with Rusty? (multiple choice)
3. What was your most memorable experience with Rusty? (provide URL, videotapes or other admissible evidence)

I am here for you now, but I won't always be. That's why I'm inviting you to join my alumni social network. Find out what you have in common with other people I have thrilled - or pissed off - over the years.

Rusty Weston, My Global Career • San Francisco, Ca • http://www.myglobalcareer.com/ •

Posted by Rusty Weston at 2:43 AM | 1 Comment

August 28, 2007

Second Life: Missionary Work for Business

Analyst forecast the rise of Second Life and other virtual worlds worlds to come as dominate consumer and corporate collaborative and community ecosystems of the future.

Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internet Users Will Have A "Second Life" in the Virtual World by the End of 2011. This validation of Second Life by Garntner and exploratory work by IBM Business Center and Jesuits venturing into the emerging space is enabling new dialog and clearing other barriers to communication. With community and commerce - how can you avoid delaying being part of this emerging conversation? How will you do business in your other world?

Posted by Peter Fasano at 10:44 AM | Add Comment

Leadership: What's The Matter With WaMu?

I have been struck by the branding effort by Washington Mutual to reduce its name to WaMu. Washington Mutual is the monster financial institution and retail bank. When I was traveling in California recently, my two kids, both teens, had a field day shouting WAAAAMUUUU! as if they were caged animals every time a commercial for it came on. They then would laugh. It does sound like an exotic creature one might find at a zoo. And I don’t think that’s the bank’s intention.

The problem with the word is that it blends two sounds that sound ugly and unpleasant when combined in such a way. It doesn’t sound like English. Washington Mutual actually holds my home mortgage so I’ve been aware of the WaMu thing for some time. It’s been their domain name for years. But now it looks as if it is embarking on an effort to replace what is an elegant sounding pair of words with something much less so.

I suspect this is a result of current thinking in marketing that shorter is better than longer. The words Washington Mutual are a combined six syllables whereas WaMu is only two. Perhaps they were thinking of others who have done it successfully: International Business Machines became IBM, Macintosh became Mac and even Dairy Queen is headed toward the abbreviated DQ. It is also the result of our wish for ease when thumbing those text messages. I mean it would be difficult to type out Washington Mutual each and every time. Maybe WaMu is a result of insiders’ shorthand.

Still, wherever it originates, I don’t like it. It just doesn’t sound right. Why would I want to go to a bank named WaMu when I could go to one named Washington Mutual? Why would anyone go to WaMu when they could go to Fleet or People’s or Chase or Citi? Every single one of those sounds a lot better and more like a place I would like to do business.

What do you think?

Ruth Sherman • Ruth Sherman Associates, LLC • Greenwich, CT • www.ruthsherman.com

Posted by Ruth Sherman at 10:04 AM | 9 Comments

Careers: 4 Keys to Effective 360s

About a year ago, I completed my first official 360 review, an assessment that collects feedback from a broad sampling of sources in addition to my manager. I put a lot of time into making sure I picked people that 1) would give honest and open feedback and 2) knew me well enough that they could speak to the quality of my work. Because it was part of a formal program offered by human resources, I was also lucky enough to have a chance to sit down with someone to review the results and to develop a strategy for addressing opportunities for improvement. After having a chance to address the feedback from my last review, I’m getting ready to go through the process again to see how far I’ve come. But before I do, I thought I’d share four keys to an effective 360.

1. If it doesn’t gather feedback from a sampling of everyone you work with, it’s not a 360. I hear a lot of people talk about using a 360, but it’s probably more like an 80 because it only gathers feedback from one of the many groups the person works with. If an 80 suits your needs, that’s fine, but you might not want to refer to it as a 360. To be effective, the review should gather feedback from your boss, peers, direct reports, and any clients you work with on a regular basis.

2. 360s should be used for professional development, not performance reviews. Depending on the set up, results may only be seen by human resources or they could also be seen by your manager. This one is open for debate, but the best way to ensure your employees are going to provide you with a random sample of names to complete the 360 is to make sure it isn’t tied to them being fired or missing out on a performance-based raise.

3. Different strokes for different folks. There are a ton of 360 tools out there. Be sure to evaluate which one you choose based on the needs of your employees. One that focuses on leading and managing won’t add a lot of value when the people you are reviewing don’t really lead or manage. Nothing says meaningless like a report that’s made up of “not applicable” responses.

As part of the management development program assessment, we used an assessment called a Leadership Mirror which was created by Development Dimensions International.

4. Schedule time to review the results. Without it, your employees won’t be able to talk through the results both good and bad. They won’t be able to identify where any negative perceptions might be coming from and what they can do to address them and that can make working in a tight-knit team a “little” awkward to say the least. Reviewing the results with a trained professional allows your employees to look at the good and the bad and to decipher what was legitimate and what wasn’t.

Without a doubt, completing a 360 was one of the single most important things I’ve done in my career. I learned about the importance of knowing your blind spots and how you are perceived by your coworkers. And, as part of the review process, I was able to use the feedback as an opportunity to open a dialog with my coworkers about how to work more effectively as a part of our team.

If you don’t already do so, I encourage you to provide an opportunity for every employee to complete a 360 as a part of their individualized professional development plan. The exercise can be the single best resource for their personal and professional growth.

Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).

Posted by Shawn Graham at 9:08 AM | Add Comment

Work/Life: Can We Ever Give Up the Work/Life Ghost?

CEO Dad’s Tuesday Tirade

I’ve learned that we’re in the right time of the lunar month for Hong Kong’s annual Festival of the Hungry Ghost. Tradition holds that during this time, ghosts are given the opportunity to come down from heaven and roam around, and the festival is a way for those observing the aforementioned tradition to honor the ghosts with gifts. This fine treatment of the spirits means those who give will themselves be gifted with good fortune for the year.

To symbolize the gifting, elaborate bamboo and paper models of objects are constructed, some of them worth over a thousand dollars U.S., and made by hand. These objects are then symbolically burned in pyres and sent up to the ghosts, so that they will be appeased in their afterlife, and not come back to cause trouble during the later period of Yue Laan—when for another lunar month, ghosts from hell are allowed to roam the earth.

The thinking behind this is symbolically sound, and I found myself getting behind it. The work/life side of me especially liked the burning of material objects to indicate their ultimate impermanence. But it turns out there is another rationale behind this annual ritual. The idea is that we on earth are making the ghosts happy with these items so they won’t lose it and come back to bite us on the butt. Fair enough. But what objects in effigy are we building for them? Well, as it turns out, stuff like houses, sports cars, plasma TVs, computers and cell phones, as this archive article describes.

So, those of you who thought dying would finally free you of your work/life imbalance, and your cravings for a Crackberry, I’ve got news for you: it’s even worse in the afterlife. If this ancient tradition is accurate, then the dead are just as distracted from connecting with their loved ones (and let’s face it, you’re going to have an eternity to squeeze in some quality time, it shouldn’t really be a problem) as they are down here. “Oh, honey, it’s so nice to be reunited with you in heaven,” says your significant other. “What’s say we take a day trip through this beautiful cloud bank, flip down the tailgate and just sit and watch a constellation or two?”

To which you respond, “Love to, darling, but someone’s beaming me up an IPhone. I never saw one of those while I was alive, and I hear they are to die for. Oh, sorry.”

I guess the good news is that, courtesy of someone down on earth, you could finally end up with your dream house once you get to heaven. And I’m assuming, since heaven is perfect, that they haven’t got anything as irritating as sub-prime mortgages.

Posted by Tom Stern at 6:09 AM | Add Comment

August 27, 2007

Innovation: Why Tokyo Executives Never Eat Alone

In its Saturday "Power Tables" column, the Wall Street Journal recently highlighted the sushi bar at Kyubey in Tokyo's Ginza downtown. I can say from experience that the sushi there is exceptional: I recall fondly a lunch whose highlights inlcuded a piece of botan-ebi shrimp taken from a tank under the bar, and killed and served so swiftly that it continued to writhe in my mouth. (A surprising touch was an amuse-like sandwich of shiso and plum paste between slices of daikon radish, a hint of English-tea service at the sushi bar.)

I didn't recognize anybody sitting aside me that day, but I feel that if I were a more astute reader of the Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, I would have recalled the day's company as keenly as its food. As the Journal notes, Kyubey (also written frequently as Kyubei) the bar's regulars include Tokyo's corporate elite, including top executives from Toyota, Canon and Sony.

This is important for reasons beyond people-watching. As I learned while exploring sushi's rise from Tokyo street snack to global luxury dish for my book The Sushi Economy, Japanese corporate executives were key in expanding sushi's reach. Kyubey opened in the 1930s, by the father of current chef Yosuke Imada, one of the first of the old sidewalk vendors to set up a bar indoors. Unlike many Tokyo restaurants, it managed to remain in business during the war and the famine that followed. When Japan's economy began to modernize in the 1960s -- creating not only advanced industry, but a new, hierarchical corporate culture to oversee it -- sushi bars became the preferred venue for business meetings and power lunches. If you ask a middle-aged Japanese person now about the sushi-eating habits of his or her youth, you're likely to hear that visits to a sushi bar were reserved for special occasions like birthdays; only politicians and businesspeople went more than a couple of times a year. (In this respect, I think the sushi bar has filled a role in Japanese culture much like the steakhouse's in the United States.) Kyubey not only had a reputation for the quality of its food, but a perfect location: in south Ginza, squarely in the neighborhood that would become, by the heights of Japan's Bubble economy in the 1980s, the world's leading business district, and one of its most expensive. Sushi bars that opened around the world -- in Los Angeles, in New York, in Amsterdam, in Hong Kong -- tended, too, to be near the offices of Japanese business interests, where expat managers and visiting executives wanted to power-lunch the way they did at home. The inexpensive sushi bars that today litter many of our city blocks and suburban strip malls followed the high-priced places: trickle-down eat-onomics at work.

I thought of all this as the book Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi, becomes one of the season's popular pieces of business advice. The book's title refers to the business lunch as an opportunity for networking and connection, but Kyubey's invaluable contribution to sushi's expansion suggests we all benefit if you make plans to go out for lunch. Most of us probably wouldn't be eating sushi today if it hadn't moved around the world incubated in clubby, expensive bars subsidized directly by Mitsubishi and Ricoh budgets. In heeding Ferrazzi's advice, you might be advancing not only your own career, but spreading the world's next great cuisine. Make sure your expense accounts are ready for the challenge.

Read about Sasha Issenberg's The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy at www.thesushieconomy.com. Or buy it here.

Posted by Sasha Issenberg at 5:11 AM | 1 Comment

August 26, 2007

Change Management: Urban 2.0?

The urban online community dipped well before the urban music industry. The urban online effort crumbled with the rest of the dot-bust in 2001. But several recent sites signal that Urban 2.0 is on the horizon.

Soundblaze calls itself, "the first private network for the music industry." But from what I've seen of the still in Beta site, it will be much more than that. It comes complete with a very robust offering for consumers, and is built by music and marketing industry veteran Chuck Baker and his team. Impressively, much the same team that took aim at the space with Urban Box Office at the turn of the century. While the site still sits behind an invite-only wall, their blog The Blaze Report is keeping the industry humming.

And then there is Global Grind. Another walled-off offering still in Alpha. Rumor has it that Russell Simmons is helping to incubate the project, which seems to be a form of portal-play.

Add to that the robust redux of All Hip Hop, the current King of urban on-line by most measures. The re-designed site now joins the Internet-as-Television revolution with a much more robust streaming media offering. Speaking of television You Are TV, is not necessarily urban-focused and not in Beta, but is developed by entrepreneur/programmer David Dundas, who the urban community can claim even if he's not calling what he does "urban." YouAreTV is a solid general market play, and that's a smart strategy given the ubiquity of cross-over culture.

All this in of itself would be an impressive set of developments with this just being a few that have crossed my desk. Then the 800lb gorilla, Joost, developed by the founders of Skype, with an impressive $45 million round under the belt, added the Urban 1.0 brand 88HipHop to their channel selection, giving Randy Nkonoki-Ward a very solid platform to work with. The Joost experience will have people turning off their televisions.

Who knows what will come out of these Alpha's and Beta's, but it looks good. And is equally good to see Urban 1.0 executives back at it with improved products and, I'm sure, a healthy respect for all-important robust revenue models needed to power-up these businesses.

Posted by John N. Pasmore at 11:14 PM | 1 Comment

Technology: Better Business Through Blogging

I'm unhappy to say that I'm leaving FC Experts just as I was hoping to dig into the topic of the business of blogging.

However I can certainly leave you with a few relevant links on that topic before saying goodbye.

I recently discussed DrJays.com Blog as an excellent example of a fashion retailer posting content about their lines and about the celebrities involved with lines they carry as well as content that's related to youth fashion. DrJays.com has the added benefit of actual celebrity visits that they leverage in a surprisingly tasteful manner given the typical online treatment of such folks.

A related post, ReyShizz The Student: Self Promotion w/A Video Blog, focuses on a young artist's use of a blog to publically develop as an artist while simultaneously marketing himself. It's a nice example of a blog that makes use of a variety of Web 2.0 tools and related services.

For those looking for responses to corporate blogs, Mack Collier of The Viral Garden began a Company Blog Checkup Series over a year ago and it's well worth a look. I'd lost touch with Mack's blog so it was nice to see how his work has developed over time.

And with those few links, I must bid my Fast Company readers adieu.

Special thanks to Lynne d Johnson for bringing me on board.

Feel free to be in touch:
clyde(at)prohiphop(dot)com

Clyde Smith • ProHipHop: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News

Posted by Clyde Smith at 8:53 PM | Add Comment

August 25, 2007

Work/Life: When did you last give your customer some business?

I recently sat through a 1 hour family musical co-written by one of my customers, Karl Greenburg. It was a low-budget NY Fringe Festival production called Angela's Flying Bed.

Now what was I, a single income no kidder with an aversion to musicals doing at this PG-rated pantomime on my day off, with so many other bleeding edge options on within NY cabbing distance?

Not only did I sit with a grin on my face throughout, I posted a mini-review on my personal blog and encouraged all our customers in the area to go see it.

Karl wrote to me very excited, telling me that, despite its lack of sugarcoat, my review was 'the best he'd ever had', and forwarded it to others.

Karl wasn't my only customer doing his shtick in NYC. Puppeteer Jennifer Levine was performing her show Miracle on Monroe St at the same festival. She says she uses her Bike Friday to tow her puppetry paraphernalia to her gigs and 'always arrives with a smile on her face'. I ran out of time to catch her show, but made sure I let our community know.

Am I 'sucking up' to my customers big time? Perhaps, dear cynic. To me, it's a no-brainer, and just another hour in my 24/7 seamless worklife.

Continue reading "Work/Life: When did you last give your customer some business?"

Posted by Lynette Chiang at 8:30 AM | 3 Comments

August 24, 2007

Work/Life: Breaking Up Is Not So Hard To Do

A new study out of Northwestern University has found that couples tend to overestimate how devastating any potential break-up might be. The researchers have concluded that most of us tend to not realize how well-equipped we are to survive heartbreak.

This is significant news for those of us who have been considering getting our work-life priorities in order. We’ve been coupled with our work for a long time now, and breaking it off just seems like it would be so painful. But if a team of hotshot university types has figured out that both dumper and dumpee are hard-wired to make it through the tough times, then why can’t we contemplate a long-desired end to our dysfunctional relationship with what we do to earn a living?

With that in mind, I have composed a Dear John letter like no other. Feel free to use it as a template if you so desire. (My lawyers will be in touch about usage fees…oh, they will be nominal, really.)

Dear Work,

It’s not you, it’s me. I’m just going through some stuff right now, and it feels to me as if we have grown in different directions. When we first met, I treasured our time together. I saw so much of you, from early in the morning until sometimes late at night, and each encounter felt new, charged with possibilities. You were all I needed. I went to sleep thinking about what I could do with you tomorrow, and I awakened looking forward to spending the day with you once again. Our weekends apart became unbearable for me, and it wasn’t long before I started taking you home so that we could do some things together on Saturday and Sunday, too. Not only that, you were directly responsible for my being able to afford the plasma screen TV, and my daughter’s braces. But lately, something has changed. Sometimes I look in the eyes of those I love, and I get rewards that I never got from our relationship. I know that might seem cruel, and I know how you took it so hard when I didn’t bring the laptop to my sister’s wedding so I could prepare that Excel spreadsheet, but you didn’t seem so important compared to her needs that day. Around the same time, my wife and I took that trip to the mountains, and I began to prefer the sound of chirping birds and running water to the sound of fax machines, vibrating cell phones and IM alert bleeps. I’m aware of how these sounds are so much a part of your world, so don’t get me wrong. I still want to spend time with you. I still need you. You provide things that are crucial to my existence, like the satisfaction of a job well done, and the opportunity to interact with peers and yes, you do support me financially. So it’s not over completely. We can still be friends. I just don’t want to be in bed with you anymore. I know you’ll understand. And if you don’t, tough luck.

My lasting affection,

Life

So, what would your work brush-off letter say?

Posted by Tom Stern at 6:21 AM | Add Comment

August 23, 2007

Innovation: Want to Make Customers Stay? TALK to Them

It may sound simplistic and inefficient, especially in an age when we’d like to eliminate people from the equation, at least the high cost factor of having people involved. Yet, all the enrollment programs will not work if once your new customers are in they find no reason to stay. And there is eventually a finite number of customers to woo.

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Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:29 AM | 4 Comments

August 22, 2007

Leadership: Space, A Precious Commodity

Space. Was your first reaction to the word accommodations? Office space? Closet or cupboard space? For many storage space is at a premium so that’s the first thing that comes to mind.

That is not the space I’m referring to. I’m talking about space of time.

I’m currently working on a Time Mastery program that looks at time. It’s not about cramming more into a day than you did before, or scheduling, using a PDA or BlackBerry. It’s about time, the concept of time and how we respect it and ourselves in relation to time. We’re in the midst of looking at leaders and how they seem to fly through their days, directing, delegating, strategizing, making decisions and yes, calling endless back to back meetings.

So I took some time to look at time and see its dynamics. I then started asking my clients what they thought of first when they heard the term “buying time”. In one way or another, the answers revolved around having more time to do things, see things, to play and shelve work for the time being. It was hearing “I wish I could clone myself so I could do more” and “I wish I had more time to…”

Truthfully it had nothing whatsoever to do with having more time or saving time so something else could be slotted into that chunk of time. Rather, what they weren’t saying but meant was they wished they had time. Extra time. Unplanned time. They wanted space….nothingness, quiet time, time to just be, to let the thoughts fly in any direction, to think, imagine and explore possibility.

They wanted creative time, time to conceptualize, to strategize, to play, learn, and get to know others. They wanted time to unwind and relax. Many had forgotten how. They couldn’t remember the last time they just relaxed or didn’t rush to do something else in that tiny bit of time that appeared unexpectedly. They felt guilty if they took time for themselves, so they didn’t. Instead they did something for someone else or worked. Time, space, is such a precious commodity, heaven forbid they couldn’t waste it! And was doing nothing or planning nothing during that short period actually be wasting time or valuing it and themselves? Relax? What’s that? They didn’t remember how to relax. They were wired all the time, literally and figuratively.

People don’t know how to do nothing. They forgot how.

Donna Karlin • Executive and Political Shadow Coach™ • Ottawa, Canada • •www.abetterperspective.com

Posted by Donna Karlin at 7:35 PM | 2 Comments

Leadership: Energy Boost

Good friends make for good company, as well as a boost of energy. So it was with me the other day when friends of ours, Jerry and Mary, whom we had not seen in 17 years rolled into town. In moments the years peeled away and we caught up with life, kids and careers. And it is the latter – careers – that I want to focus on because Jerry and Mary have had more careers between them than most extended families put together. With them starting a new venture is second nature and I think worthy of exploration.

First, you need to know that Mary began her career as a nurse; she met Jerry while she was studying for the California Bar. Jerry was working in a hospital as a bio-medical photographer and cardiac technician, back before there was really such a thing. Mary subsequently went to work as corporate counsel for various companies where she spent more than 25 years. Jerry meanwhile started his own business producing multimedia shows; he later went into sales, everything from cars to businesses. And ten years ago they moved to a lovely beach town in Central California and started over again. They began in real estate and later bought a coffee shop, and now have the freedom to do pretty much as they please. Hence the long road trip across America.

Jerry and Mary to me epitomize what you can do when you put your mind to it. They don’t climb mountains – though Jerry has run marathons. They don’t invent new things – though Mary is an expert knitter with her own loom. They simply embrace life; they make things happen and in the process make life better for them and others. Here’s what I've learned from them.

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Posted by John Baldoni at 12:00 PM | 1 Comment

Careers: Personal Branding and Teens

Like the eternal chicken and egg question, what comes first, the personal brand or the product?

I recently read about two teens with no prior connections or money who are blogging and "webbing" their way to fame -- and in one case taking it all the way to the bank. James Kurisunkal, an 18-year-old Illinois college student, runs Park Avenue Peerage, a blog chronicling the comings and goings of NYC’s social elite. He does it all from his University of Illinois College dorm room.

Or take 17-year-old Ashley Qualls, who runs whateverlife.com, a destination site for teenage girls. Chronicled in this month’s Fast Company, Ashley reportedly generates a cool $50,000 to $70,000 a month from advertising on her site.

Both James and Ashley have not worked to create personal brands but have achieved success by tying themselves to well-known brands. In James’ case, he has given socialites (a brand in a sense) a site to showcase themselves. In Qualls’ case, she has profited from MySpace’s success by providing customized layouts for teenage girls' MySpace pages.

As the Fast Company article explains,

“Ashley is evidence of the meritocracy on the Internet that allows even companies run by neophyte entrepreneurs to compete, regardless of funding, location, size, or experience--and she's a reminder that ingenuity is ageless. She has taken in more than $1 million, thanks to a now-familiar Web-friendly business model. Her MySpace page layouts are available for the bargain price of...nothing. They're free for the taking. Her only significant source of revenue so far is advertising.”

So what can we learn from Ashley and James? The fact is that whether you initially ally yourself with a known brand or create your own brand from scratch, you need to create your own unique vision that resonates with your audience. Ashley’s teen audience trusts her judgment while socialites appreciate that James is careful not to put socialites in an unflattering light.

Over time, I bet Ashley and James will become well-known brands. But they are a reminder that no matter how valuable your personal brand is at the end of the day you need to be sure you are filling a need.

What teens do you know who are blogging their way to success?

Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc.

Posted by Wendy Marx at 9:50 AM | 2 Comments

Innovation: Today's Time Tunnel

For one storied season just 40 short summers ago, a sci-fi show called "The Time Tunnel" held sway on ABC-TV. Created by "Poseidon Adventure" film and TV producer Irwin Allen, the aforementioned Time Tunnel was a secret government machine (naturally!) for traveling back in time. Only problem was, each week the show's characters — including star James Darren — were lost in time. (Unfortunately for our intrepid heroes, they never quite made it back to their government laboratory before the show was cancelled.)

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Posted by Robert Buckman at 9:18 AM | Add Comment

August 21, 2007

Careers: From Babysitter to Astronaut

Until recently none of my babysitters made much news. I think one turned out to be a minor league baseball player. The others are mostly forgotten.

I want to give a shout out today to Barbara Radding Morgan, a babysitter, brilliant student, school teacher, parent, and astronaut. You may recall that she was the alternate for teacher Christa McAuliffe, who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster.

It would be tempting to say that Barbara always reached for the stars, but it wasn't like that. My parents told my sister and me that the Stanford grad was a bit of a hippie when she opted to become a school teacher and move to Idaho.

There weren't a lot of hippies in Fresno, Ca. and we were certain that this wasn't a great career move.

After Endeavor landed today, Barbara was quoted as saying "The room is still spinning a little bit but that's ok. It's actually pretty interesting if you could be in my body."

Barbara is all about giving back. She's returning to Idaho next week to meet former students at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School, where she taught English and mathematics before joining NASA's astronaut corps. It's hard to imagine how many students or teachers she has inspired.

Rusty Weston, My Global Career • San Francisco, Ca • http://www.myglobalcareer.com/ •

Posted by Rusty Weston at 7:48 PM | Add Comment

Leadership: Netflix’s New Idea: A Customer Service Call-Center

Netflix, the mail-order film rental giant, has set up a customer service call-center. No longer will customers be relegated to the Internet to get their problems solved. Under competitive pressure from Blockbuster, Netflix executives, including the CEO, Reed Hastings, decided that bringing human beings and their voices back into the mix would be a competitive advantage. That remains to be seen, as the transition to phone-based service is relatively new, but to me, this strategy sounds like a winner.

But there’s more good news. According to an article in the New York Times, Netflix’s web-based customer service has been eliminated. Furthermore, the center is in the U.S., near Portland, Oregon of all places, where Netflix determined people are nicer than in traditional U.S. call-center locations like Phoenix and Las Vegas, even though they have to pay higher salaries. This move is in striking contrast to years of companies not only making it virtually impossible to speak to a human being about problems with the products they sell, but when customers do finally get someone on the horn, the individual is often not a native-speaker, difficult to understand resulting in an unbelievably frustrating experience for the customer with no service in sight.

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Posted by Ruth Sherman at 9:40 AM | 3 Comments

Work/Life: The Mind of the Working Person, Part Two: Social-Isms

The CEO Dad Tuesday Tirade is on a brief vacation, so that we may complete the thoughts generated last Friday. I know you were breathless with anticipation, so read on.

Some of you may have followed last week's link to learn about the new book “150 Best Jobs For Your Skills” by Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin. On Friday, we learned how Farr and Shatkin uncovered the number one requirement for the highest-paid jobs these days as good thought-processing skills. Now, we’ll look at how they also identified social skills as the number one requirement for the fastest-growing opportunities out there.

(By the way, when visiting the book publisher’s site, I learned that they offer several “Webinars,” the newest thing in teleconferencing. There’s something not quite right about this new hybrid term, as if “web” and “seminar” had a one-night stand and decided not to pursue anything the next morning. One can see the intention behind the term, but perhaps this one would have been better left in separate beds.)

Anyway, this social skills stuff is a potentially frightening arena for all of us. There is nothing like an ongoing quest for work/life balance to highlight our lack of social skills. We may not be proud of going into a fetal position underneath our desk when a deal goes south, or the fact that our spouses now know the eleven different version of grunt with which we communicate over breakfast each morning, but that’s how we’ve learned to live. Yet, as with last week’s entry, it need not be. Another round of Googling has turned up several helpful suggestions for improving our social skills, such as:

1. IMPROVE SELF-CONFIDENCE THROUGH EYE CONTACT. Apparently, if you don’t look a person in the eye, you could be revealing disinterest, or even be lying. Luckily, you can avoid working on this social skill by always sending e-mails.
2. SHOW INTEREST IN THE OTHER PERSON. Rather than dominating the conversation with stories about yourself, encourage reciprocation by starting a little back and forth. This allows both you AND the other party to take turns fighting boredom while the other idiot is talking.
3. ASK EVOCATIVE QUESTIONS. Inquiries which prompt a simple yes or no answer stop things dead. Rather than asking “did you have a good flight?” try “what was the in-flight movie?” You’d be surprised how much of a connection can be made with another person simply by establishing a mutual disdain for Ben Affleck.
4. LISTEN. Really take in what the other person is saying, and respond directly to it. It does no good to stand there while a client talks about his strategy for expanding market awareness and then blurt out “who doesn’t love cheese?”
5. BE WELL-READ AND KNOWLEDGEABLE. Note: no longer a requirement in politics.
6. TAKE RISKS. I assume this means asking for what you want in a forthright and pleasant manner, and not appearing at a staff meeting wearing nothing but your Tasmanian Devil tie.
7. MOVE AT YOUR OWN PACE. It’s important to know that developing better social skills is a long process, and that you will make mistakes. Try out your new communication techniques on your children, because if you fail with them, the humiliation they will heap upon you will be far greater than anything some silly old client could dish out.

Now, we’re all ready to leap some new hurdles and compete in the job market with our top-notch social skills. Well, I better go, the man in the drive-up window is yelling at me.

Any other suggestions for being a smooth operator?

Posted by Tom Stern at 6:02 AM | Add Comment

Change Management: Will IBM be India's Biggest IT Company?

Well known management guru Jagdish ‘Jag’ Sheth says that successful Indian companies are becoming arrogant and complacent, and this arrogance may eventually bring them down. He predicts that in 2 years we may not see an Indian IT goliath. He predicts IBM will be India’s biggest IT company.

Elaborating on the problems that will plague Indian IT companies, he talks about the lack of diversity of leadership. Very few Indian IT companies would have a non-Indian heading their company. At Wipro, it was he who told them that the board is all-Indian, and finally got a non-Indian on the board. Infosys, according to him, is even worse. In fact, all senior leaders are not just Indians, they are south Indians. There's not a single north Indian in the top leadership of Infosys. To become truly global, Sheth believes that Indian IT companies need to build in more cultural diversity in their leadership.

Sheth can’t stop talking about how serious IBM is on its India strategy. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano deliberately held the annual get-together of all his worldwide analysts in Bangalore . He invited 10,000 people. He also announced that he'll invest $6 billion in India in three years. That's $2 billion a year. Two billion a year is 50 per cent of the revenues of Infosys. So he has made a commitment.

IBM’s clarity of thought and vision seems admirable. Given the volume of procurement from China , they shifted the whole global sourcing from the US to Shenzhen (China), where they'll have their own subsidiary. India will be their base for capturing talent and resources.

Sometime ago, Palmisano said he believed that the next CEO of IBM does not have to be an American. "If my market is going to be Asia , then it's likely that it should be Chinese or Indian or Asian.” He also believes that the headquarters of IBM should be relocated. Sheth feels that IBM is really thinking differently, something he does not see in Indian corporations.

Anupam Mukerji • Bangalore, India • www.mmi-india.com

Posted by Anupam Mukerji at 2:52 AM | 1 Comment

August 20, 2007

Careers: Overhaul Your Job Postings

Last week a reader, Steve, responded to an issue I raised by drawing a parallel to the need for a better fax machine. Thanks, Steve. For a while I thought I was the only one who wondered why there hasn’t been one improvement to fax machines in 20 years. They still make that weird sound when the fax is being transmitted and it can still take forever for a fax to go through even though emails and phone calls are almost instantaneous. I don’t mean to call out folks working in product development, but come on people--it’s time to step up to the plate.

This week I want to talk about more than my love of fax machine enhancements. If there’s one thing I think we all enjoy, it’s the logistics of recruiting a new employee; posting job descriptions, screening resumes, interviewing, following up with candidates who weren’t selected. My department is looking to fill a newly created position and, as part of that process, we spent a considerable amount of time crafting and tweaking the job description. Because it’s one of the first touches we have with potential candidates, it’s important to think about how we’re going to market the job and our office. Based on what I’ve heard from job seekers and recruiters over the years, I’ve narrowed down what can make or break a job posting to the following:

The locationally challenged. I don’t care where you’re located, with the right marketing touch you can overcome any obstacle. For example, I grew up near Sharon, Pennsylvania—home of the world’s largest shoe store and the world’s largest candy store (am I the only one who ever wonders who verifies this stuff?) Whether your company is headquartered at the North Pole, Death Valley, or points in between, when you create your job description it’s important to focus on positive aspects of your location. For example, if you’re in an area where it snows year round, highlight how much new employees will save on air conditioning bills.

Too many/few requirements. Be specific. If you are looking for an MBA, say so. Many candidates pass over openings that don’t specify minimum educational requirements and also, on the flip side, those that list too many requirements. Take an honest look at the skills and experience candidates must possess to be successful in the position. Include nothing more or nothing less. If you’re job description is five pages long, you’re doing something wrong.

The “arbitrary years of experience” stipulation. This one always kills me. Minimum 11 years of experience required. So you’re saying someone with 10 years and 10 months of experience can’t do the job but in a mere 3 months they’ll be an expert? I know we have to set cut offs or else everyone under the sun will apply, but wouldn’t it be a better idea to focus on relevant experience and accomplishments instead of an arbitrary number?

Infinite deadlines. Candidates need a sense of urgency. Posting a position with an application deadline six months from now we’ll cost you strong candidates for two reasons; 1) because most people put off for five months what they can do today and in that time there’s a pretty good chance the opening will fall through the cracks, and 2) if they’re looking for something more immediate, the rolling application deadline will likely scare them away. Try two to four weeks.

Advertising. Depending on the scope of your search, posting openings through local media outlets might work but that should just be one part of an overall campaign. I’m becoming more and more of a fan of the job posting section of LinkedIn. A recruiter looking for referrals forwarded an opening to me last week and I was able to circulate it to colleagues in other departments quickly and easily.

Monster and CareerBuilder are okay, but most candidates I speak to feel as though applying to openings on job boards and company websites is like throwing your application into a black hole. Remember—this wouldn’t be the case if more companies would follow up with candidates to 1) acknowledge receipt of their application and 2) to let them know whether or not they were selected for an interview. Sorry, I’ll get off my soap box about the importance of following up with candidates.

Also, don’t forget about professional associations and alumni career offices at colleges and universities in your area. They generally offer low cost alternatives for advertising your openings. Plus, depending on what you’re looking for, you’re less likely to get bombarded by hundreds of applications from candidates without the right background that you would if you were posting on huge job boards.

The next time you have an opening in your organization, don’t just dust off the job description you used four years ago and throw it on a few websites. Take a subjective look at what you say from the eyes of a potential candidate and ask yourself, “if I were looking for a job right now, would this job description pique my interest?”

Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).

Posted by Shawn Graham at 11:27 AM | 6 Comments

August 17, 2007

Work/Life: The Mind of the Working Person, Part One: Perish the Thought

According to the new book “150 Best Jobs For Your Skills” by Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin, the highest-paid jobs these days are the ones which require, above all, thought-processing skills. Now, I always assumed we were born with thought- processing skills. For example, “perhaps I shouldn’t plunge my hand into that engine fan,” or “oh, look, a brick wall,” are thoughts we are often forced to process on a daily basis. But it turns out there’s more to it, and that you can actually do things to improve your thought-processing skills. You’ll be sad to know they don’t involve watching “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” or even trying to figure out html code. No, they are common, everyday things we can all do to keep our synapses firing. A quick search around the ever-reliable Internet revealed these mind-massaging techniques:

1. JOURNALING. If your first journal entry is “this is a bunch of Oprah b.s.,” then perhaps you are not ready to let this technique work for you. Also, be careful of Wall Street Journaling, a work-obsessed, carpal tunnel condition that will no longer be covered by your health plan once Rupert Murdoch takes over.
2. POWER NAPS. You’d be surprised how refreshing ten minutes of sleep can be. And the Monday morning meeting usually supplies just the right motivation.
3. MEDITATION. A simple discipline that requires sitting still and thinking the same thought over and over again for an hour. A simple discipline that requires sitting still and thinking the same thought over and over again for an hour. A simple discipline that requires sitting still and thinking the same thought over and over again for an hour.
4. EXERCISE. Good news! Yes, golf counts! No, really, I checked!
5. BRAIN TEASERS. A crossword puzzle or Sudoku game can really remind you of how stupid you are. I save the kids’ brain teasers from the Sunday comics and do those instead.
6. EAT BETTER. Studies show that an improved diet also helps improve cognitive function. Now put down that double cheeseburger, pick up the dictionary and look up “cognitive function.”
7. READ A BOOK. Good news! Yes, Harry Potter counts! No, really, I checked!

Well, that covers thought-processing. However, the authors of “150 Best Jobs For Your Skills” have not only looked into the criteria for high-paying work, but have also tracked the fastest-growing jobs out there. They say that the number one requirement for these new positions is “social skills.” But, we’ll go into that next time, I’m not up to dealing with anybody right now.

Meantime, how do you keep your brain up to par? (Oops, another golf reference, sorry.)

Posted by Tom Stern at 6:56 AM | 1 Comment

August 16, 2007

Innovation: COMCAST Says “It’s Not My Job”

They claim they are the country’s largest provider of cable services – and one of the leading communication companies. They say they’re focused on broadband cable, commerce, and content. They deliver digital services, provide faster Internet and clearer broadband phone service, and develop and deliver innovative programming.

Those are the first paragraphs of the about section on Comcast’s Web site -- they assume of course that we know which country we’re talking about. Since this is a post I file under innovation, I thought it useful to take a look and the current customer conversations with the company.

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Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:57 AM | 14 Comments

Careers: Misadventures on Facebook

If my friends hear me utter the word Facebook one more time they are going to excommunicate me from their buddy lists.

I'm adding to the noise only because Facebook demands the immediate attention of all 30 million of us members. Today's poll reads: Which brand is the best toothpaste?

Frankly, if I could entice 30 million people to take a poll, that wouldn't be it. At first glance, it may seem improbable that a site serving up this kind of fluff could advance your career or put you back in touch with a funny former co-worker, but there you have it.

Sometimes I feel that Facebook is AOL on steroids, or that I'm having a Prodigy flashback. Weren't there about 30 million AOL members back in the dial-up days?

I wholeheartedly agree with Newsweek's Steve Levy when he writes that "At this point, though, much of the grammar of the site (as well as much of the first wave of applications) is still tilted toward student life."

Today I was greeted by a request from a stranger whom I recently added to my 'friends' list. I forget why we connected. She asks whether I want to become one of her "Top Friends." Becoming a Top Friend, I learn, requires that I install an application that enables me to rank all of my connections.

Because your friends need to know where they rank it says. By rank, they literally mean one through one hundred or whatever. (I do not wish to know this information.) What if one of my friends is my boss and another is my wife. Which one should I rank higher? Of course, the smarter idea is not to install the application.

Trying to connect to another adult who isn't a co-worker or a member of a Facebook network (group) is fast but a bit awkward. But I quibble (professionally).

My blogging guru, whose site's pageviews are like mine multiplied by the population of Rio de Janeiro explains to me that he's on Facebook, but not under his real name. Only his family & friends know his real Facebook address.

While he's not looking to Facebook to advance his career he is trying to utilize its communication strengths. Facebook, like other social networking sites, is good at keeping track of members who bother to update their status and latest achievements.

For those people interested in using social networks to advance their career or manage professional relationships the main case for Facebook isn't that it's a perfect site. For better or worse, it's the site seeing the most rapid growth and functional innovations (mostly by third-party developers). Despite its apparent immaturity, Facebook is arguably the place to be.

Rusty Weston, My Global Career • San Francisco, Ca • http://www.myglobalcareer.com/ •

Posted by Rusty Weston at 4:20 AM | 3 Comments

August 15, 2007

Leadership: What People Want

Are you inspiring your staff or motivating them one task, one project at a time? One is sustainable and energizing and the other is task oriented and expensive energy. There have been many studies undertaken over the years to look at employee retention, growth of rising stars, employee satisfaction and morale etc, and most of them generate the same conclusions. These studies look at why morale might be low and how the organizational culture might enable poor staff retention. It’s just as important to look at what’s being done to counteract and reverse those trends as it is to study the dynamics and reactions because of them. But is leadership paying attention to studies about their people or just about ones that relate to cutting edge trends and the bottom line? Are the same groups and organizations polled a year or so after the results are in to see if there has been any sustainable change in the status quo? How about again a year after that? And if nothing was done to implement and ensure change, what were the ramifications? Those are the studies I'd love to see.

One of the key research papers by Terry Bacon that we analyzed and discussed at last year’s International Coach Federation Research Symposium delved into what people wanted from their workplace relationships. It was an in depth, brilliant paper that looked at, among other topics, cultural differences, gender, age and level of position. There were quite a few commonalities between the 20 year olds and the 60 year olds, one of which was they wanted to be respected. The younger age group wanted to be respected even though they were the new up and comings and the older, pre-retirement aged group wanted respect because of their experience and wealth and depth of knowledge and weren’t quite ready to be put out to pasture just yet.

Continue reading "Leadership: What People Want"

Posted by Donna Karlin at 2:07 PM | 1 Comment

Leadership: Dealing with What You Don't Know

How do you lead when you don’t know all the facts? That’s a question that Don Vandergriff and George Reed explore in a thought-provoking new article “Old Dogs and New Tricks: Setting the Tone for Adaptability,” published in Army Magazine. The authors, both retired Army officers, discuss the challenges the Army is facing as it continues being a command-centric organization engaged in a world and in battlefields that demands on-the-spot thinking, reacting and action all in split second time.

The article opens with a metaphor that former Chief of Staff, General Pete Schoomaker, used in describing the Army’s transformation as a cattle drive that was less about destination and more about the journey. Cowboys moving from the high country of Wyoming to the flat lands of Kansas knew they were moving southeast, but they did not know what or whom they would encounter on the trek. The landscape and stars pointed them