FC Experts Blogs

Bloggers Directory

Archives › September 2007

September 28, 2007

Work/Life: Selling a dream? Don't make returning it a nightmare

For my birthday, a thoughtful friend bought me the Wolford Fatal dress. This killer dress is basically a long tube you can wear any which way, but not loose. A pricey toob at that - $165. There is a picture of it at the bottom of this blog if anyone cares.

But oh, how versatile for a work/life road warriorette, who doesn't want to look like she's sold her soul to REI/MEI and those beige pants with zip off shorts that scream 'I been to Annapurna too'.

You can wear the Fatal as a skirt, a long dress, a top, maybe even a turban, and best of all, you can ruche it nicely around your tummy for days when you leave your washboard on the kitchen sink.

I'm a big Wolford fan. As in, I have a pair of stay-up stockings that are 15 years old with zero holes, ladders or pilling. I can't afford much else in this premium store, but I endorse it based on my tiny sliver of experience – a quality product that simply stands the test of time. Or so I thought.

Continue reading "Work/Life: Selling a dream? Don't make returning it a nightmare"

Posted by Lynette Chiang at 6:17 PM | 5 Comments

Change Management: What's the Divorce Rate in Your Company?

We live in a promiscuous era, don’t we? America is experiencing a divorce epidemic and the future of the American family is at stake. Is this statement a myth or reality? Turns out it’s a myth. The divorce rate in America has dropped for more than a quarter century and is now one-third lower than it was in 1981.

OK, if that’s the case, then maybe all these stories we hear about employees, customers, and investors being short-term oriented and less loyal are also myths. Actually, while marriage may be making a comeback, sorry to say loyalty in the workplace is become a quaint old notion. The average length of tenure of an American employee has dropped by 6% in the past twenty years (it’s dropped by 17% among men and actually has gone up among women as they have stayed in the workforce longer). In the era of the Internet, customer brand loyalty has plummeted, especially amongst products that are seen as commodities in the marketplace. If employees and customers are defecting, it’s not surprising that investors have decreased their loyalty as the average length of holding a public stock has tumbled from more than six years to approximately one year. Promiscuity (or at least divorce) may be on the decline in homes across America, but the workplace seems to have become a “rent-a-relationship” kind of world.

Fred Reichheld has written a number of books on the value of loyalty in the workplace and he’s proven that building lasting relationships with employees, customers, and investors creates a more sustainable business model for any company. One of his most illuminating studies found that a 5 percent increase in customer retention rates led to increased profits between 25 and 95 percent depending upon the industry. So, if “Loyalty Rules” (as one of Fred’s books is named), why do companies put so little attention on the quality of the relationships that are being created in the workplace?

I’m a bit of an Abraham Maslow junkie and have long marveled at how his “Hierarchy of Needs,” introduced more than fifty years ago, seems to have universal relevance. Most of us are familiar with the idea that we all have base, survival needs like food, water, sleep, and safety and, as we satisfy those needs, we can focus on our social/belonging or esteem needs….in essence, the way we connect with others and see ourselves in the world. For a lucky few, self-actualization is that transformative need at the peak of the pyramid that allows certain people to have continuous peak experiences in their lives. Being a Northern Californian, all this kind of inspirational talk is familiar. What’s ironic is that many business leaders are introduced to (or reacquainted with) Maslow in business school or in corporate universities.

My own reconnection with Dr. Abe occurred when my company was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the post-dot-com, post-9/11 world, being a San Francisco Bay Area boutique hotelier was a struggle and, if I didn’t learn a thing or two about loyalty during that time, I knew I was going to be out of business. Each day during the early part of 2002, when there seemed to be no limit to the depths the Bay Area hotel industry could fall, I would come home from work weary and a little battered and crack open another Maslow book. His theory of human motivation has an awful lot to do with actualizing potential or, as the U.S. Army says “be all you can be” (the phrase came from their internal Task Force Delta team which sort of ripped off Maslow’s quote: “what man can be, he must be”).

I’ve always believed a great leader knows how to tap into potential and actualize it into reality. What Abe Maslow helped me realize is that a great business leader deeply understands the motivations of their employees, customers, and investors. And, from that I started to realize that there was a Hierarchy of Needs pyramid for employees, customers, and investors. But, unfortunately, most companies get so caught up with the base survival needs in these relationships that they lose track of the higher needs of each of these three groups. Business has a natural tendency toward the tangible which impedes many companies from moving to the priceless (to use a MasterCard word) intangible elements at the peak of the employee, customer, or investor pyramids.

I’m thrilled to be blogging for Fast Company about this subject of how creating “peak experiences” can create peak performance for any company. At the very least, I might be able to help reduce your company’s divorce rate with these three important constituencies: employees, customers, and investors. Psychologist John Gottman created a landmark study on marriage and found that successful relationships averaged a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. Other studies in the business world have put this ratio at 3 to 1 with respect to what drives productivity in employees. If your workplace is more focused on giving feedback only when something is going wrong, as opposed to celebrating what’s going right, you may end up with a high divorce rate with your employees (I’m proud to say that at Joie de Vivre, our employee turnover rate is one-fourth the hospitality industry average). These same ratios can also apply to your relationships with your customers, and, miraculously to your investors too (although I know many of you don’t believe a human Hierarchy of Needs may have anything to do with the Return on Investment Robots we call investors).

Maslow posited that studying healthy functioning humans told us more about psychology than studying unhealthy dysfunctional humans (Freud). Similarly, most of us believe that studying best practices in business teaches us more than studying worst practices. I believe there’s a qualitative difference between a human not being sick versus actually feeling healthy or truly alive. Similarly, this idea can be applied to companies. Think of a company that’s not sick but not really alive. Then, imagine a company that’s living up to its potential and is full of a spirit of being alive. If humans aspire to self-actualization, why can’t companies – which are really just a collection of people – aspire to this peak, too? The self-actualized company creates deep relationships with its employees, customers, and investors, and, in so doing, develops a workplace that has a remarkably low divorce rate. The health of any organization is simply the accumulated health of the individual relationships that constitute it. This is true for families and it’s true for companies.

Posted by Chip Conley at 12:56 PM | 13 Comments

Work/Life: If Confucius Were Alive Today

Today is the birth anniversary of Confucius. The influential philosopher was born in 551 BC, and, unlike me, is pretty much synonymous with sage advice and deep meaning. The very phrase “Confucius say…” prepares us for something profound. Not so the phrase “Tom Stern say…” but what is the blogosphere if not a place to try and make an impact on the history of human thought?

I like to think each of us who seek balance in our lives carries within us the heart of a poet/philosopher. True, most of my attempts at poetry begin with something like “There once was a man from Nantucket,” but in honor of a great thinker I have compiled a Top Ten list of Confucius-like sayings that may, if fate is kind, also be quoted thousands of years later by people trying to get a grip on their over-reliance on work.

Of course, the hope is that we will have actually achieved work/life balance in a few thousand years, so in the best-case scenario they won’t be needed at all. Why, that far into the future we’ll probably all be living until we’re two hundred in giant biospheres, getting our nutrition through tubes that reconstitute the contents of landfills into delicious nutrient shakes, making it unnecessary to ever leave home or have a job again. Or, maybe not. In any case, here’s my humble contribution to the here and now.

Tom Stern Say:

1. It is not the length of your commute that matters; it is the quality of your Books-On-Tape.
2. Skip not breakfast.
3. Your baby’s first steps only happen once. But the pain of being kicked in the groin for missing them radiates outward for hours.
4. We humans control nothing, and are ultimately powerless. Deal with it.
5. No act of kindness is ever wasted. Unless purchased at the last minute from flowers.com in a pathetic attempt to apologize for your latest transgression.
6. Wise is the person who uses Power Point and Excel to schedule quality time with loved ones instead of for boring old cost analysis spreadsheets.
7. For it is said that companies with in-house day care should win the Nobel Peace Prize.
8. Fear not, for one day, soccer will not be so incredibly popular, and you will have one less pick-up/drop-off responsibility about which to stress.
9. Our children require only our support and love, no matter what life endeavor they choose to pursue. Unless it’s being a musician.
10. Foolish man mistakenly cleans out bank account when attempting to do an online trade at same time as talking with spouse on speaker phone.

Words to live by. Well, maybe. Perhaps you have some Confucian wisdom of your own?

Posted by Tom Stern at 5:17 AM | 3 Comments

September 27, 2007

Innovation: When the REAL Customer is not the One in Front of You

It’s months until the first primary, and they’re everywhere.

Campaign ads. You’ve probably already seen them: On TV, in newspapers, and plastered across your favorite websites. Thanks to the rise of social media, you’ll even have to wade through snarky political ads while you’re searching for that video of the Britney Guy.

2008 is likely to be the biggest-spending election yet. Why would the candidates be spending so much, so far in advance of the first vote? Money is going to talk in 2008. According to this article by The Washington Post, at the tune of hundreds of millions, well beyond the cap imposed for accepting public funding. And thus the current race and ad spending spree.

Continue reading "Innovation: When the REAL Customer is not the One in Front of You"

Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 7:14 AM | Add Comment

September 26, 2007

Innovation: The Air Up There

Decades ago, the airship was touted as the wave of the future in travel, with the Hindenburg zeppelin poised to be the proof of that prophecy. The largest airship ever built, the Hindenburg offered the height of luxury travel and was capable of carrying 2,656 people across the Atlantic.

But on May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg burst into flames in a mid-air disaster that would essentially mark the end the era of the dirigible.

Continue reading "Innovation: The Air Up There"

Posted by Robert Buckman at 9:35 PM | 1 Comment

Leadership: Hard to Imagine What It's Like to Not Know What We Know

I recently reviewed the book "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die," by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

In it, they state "To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize. Saying something short isn’t the mission — sound bites aren’t the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound. “A one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning it. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it’s like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us."

This hit home. This sentence, so profound that a “one could spend a lifetime learning it”, being able to live that would be a dream come true for a coach. As a Shadow Coach™ I have a finite amount of time available for me to coach my clients as we run, as clients live in a world that’s at the center of complex challenges in chaotic times (their definition, not mine). Unlike most coaching sessions, mine are sometimes a matter of moments, two or three minutes where all I have time for is a laser session that zeros in on one dynamic, one situation or moment in time.

Continue reading "Leadership: Hard to Imagine What It's Like to Not Know What We Know"

Posted by Donna Karlin at 8:17 PM | 7 Comments

Leadership: Watching "The War"

There was a time when I was growing up in the early Sixties when it seemed that every dad I knew had fought in “the War.” Viewed from the point of view of a child who squeezed in games of “war” between games of baseball and football, the Second World War was a touchstone, an affirmation that good guys always won. That attitude changed with the violence of the Vietnam, and the cold reality that so many young men, little older than me and eventually my own age, were going there, some never to return.

And so it is that subsequent generations have forgotten the sacrifices that their fathers and grandfathers made in that War. Those sacrifices come alive again, night after night in Ken Burns new series The War, through the stories of people in four different American cities. Their remembrances remind me of the men I knew, who went into the conflict and thankfully survived.

This War, like all wars, comes down to commitment honed by sacrifice for a greater cause. But as grand as the goals may seem, wars are not fought in “war rooms,” they are waged on the ground, at sea, and in the air by soldiers called to service. From them we learn lessons, such as:

Saying good-bye. For many young men, leaving home for the first time was an adventure, perhaps a lark. For those with wives and children it was more poignant. However, in time, all would feel the pain of separation whether they were stateside or overseas, they all had one thing in common – separation from all they had known till then.

Continue reading "Leadership: Watching "The War""

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

Careers: Personal Branding Stories

Tell me a story.

You may not think story telling and business have a lot in common until you talk to Joe Raasch.

This master story teller and senior organizational development consultant at Carlson, owner of Radisson Hotels & Resorts and T.G.I.Friday’s ® among numerous other hospitality brands, figured out that story telling is just the ticket business people need to stand out from the crowd.

By story telling I’m not talking about weaving fiction but succinctly presenting your information in the simple arc of a story with a beginning, middle and end. “The reason this works is that you’re turning a hodgepodge of data into information,” says Raasch.

Don’t worry that you need the writing talents of an Ernest Hemmingway to make this effective. You just need to put on your storyteller hat and pretend you’re talking to a friend.

It all started for Raasch when he realized that some of the managers at Carlson weren’t getting the information they needed. They were either inundated with too much data or not getting enough. To get their teams to appropriately manage up, Raasch got them thinking in terms of mission statements and stories. For example, Carlson’s computer service folks realized that their mission could be summarized in just one word, “up.” It then became easy for them to tell their story around the concept of “up.” That meant communicating things like “How many outages are there in the system?" "How long was it down?" "What are upcoming planned outages?" "How are those outages being communicated?" All centered around the idea of keeping the system…I bet you can complete the sentence…up.

All of which can be a great way of thinking about your personal brand. Another way to get your arms around this is to reframe it as a problem, solution and results. Here is a particular problem, this is what you did to solve it and as a result a company saved X amount of money or time or made X amount more money. You can fill in the blanks.

So stop thinking about how you did this job or that piece of work. Instead start presenting your accomplishments as a story and see how much more interest you generate. How do you present your personal brand in terms of a story? I’d love to hear from you.

Wendy Marx, PR and Marketing Communications, Marx Communications, Inc.

Posted by Wendy Marx at 8:38 AM | 2 Comments

September 25, 2007

Careers: Forget the Laws of Supply and Demand

It's no joke: there really are too many lawyers. And there are too few nurses and accountants. At least, that's the employment outlook this year.

What if you could glimpse the future and foresee low demand for your skills in 2012? Would you change careers based on that data or would you continue to chase your dream?

Most of us would pursue our passion - after all, we only get one shot at life. Still, amid an oversupply of lawyers (was it ever otherwise?), many of whom are struggling to pay off six-figure law school debts, you have to wonder shouldn't they have seen this coming?

The trouble is most of us lack "visibility" into both the supply & demand sides of our chosen profession. Either that or - and this is my theory - no one pays attention to job forecasts anyway.

Why? A friend of mine who handles public relations for several financial services firms calls this rationale "The bigger fool theory. You can get a job even if the other guy won't," he explains.

Perhaps he is right, but are there sufficient, credible sources of job forecasting data? I searched the web and found a few associations that forecast job demand for specific industries. Most of these studies forecast one year ahead - not much use if you're in the career planning stage. (If you have sources you trust for specific industries, let us know.)

Fortunately, there is a notable exception, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is both free and searchable. The online report contains valuable insights about the fastest growing occupations and goes in-depth with information about specific careers such as:

• the training and education needed
• earnings
• expected job prospects (demand forecast)
• what workers do on the job
• working conditions

BLS job forecasts also include projections by zip code, which is nice if you can wade through that much data. Of course, these facts and figures exclude intangibles such as quality of life or your career connections.

Is there a handbook that can tell you whether it is better to launch your web production or teaching career in Austin or Dallas? I haven't found one, but if you didn't want to live someplace, the odds are you would discount the study's conclusions anyway - that's human nature.

Even though we are better off knowing the outlook for our chosen profession, for better or worse, most of us wouldn't change a thing.

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

Posted by Rusty Weston at 8:07 PM | 1 Comments

What's In Your Attic?

I put my fax machine in the attic over the weekend.

The fax machine works just fine. There was nothing wrong with it. My wife and I were cleaning out our home office to make room for baby (which arrives in November). And, we just didn’t use it any more. The attic seemed like a natural (final?) resting place.

Farewell my fax machine.

Continue reading "What's In Your Attic?"

Posted by Brian Reich at 9:13 AM | 4 Comments

You Want Fries With That Work/Life?

CEO Dad’s Tuesday Tirade....

The Associated Press revealed over the weekend that McDonald’s, a company that had been suffering a public image slump and decreasing sales, has, over the past few years achieved a major comeback.

The restaurant chain has successfully repositioned itself, offering such fare as salads and yogurt parfaits to let people know they now have options when choosing Mickey D’s. One marketing analyst said that McDonald’s has done a good job of adding healthier products to its menu without straying too far from its burgers-and-fries roots.

And that, dear friends, is a metaphor for life. What we all need to do is start exploring healthier options while not straying too far from our roots.

Picture your work/life balance issues as a fast food restaurant. You wait in line, staring up at the big, well-lit menu, deciding what to get. A cheery associate in a paper hat chirps, “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, may I take your order?” You think out loud. Let’s see, there’s the Big Worker, the one with two all-work patties, special martyrdom sauce, extra hours and, ultimately, a big pickle. With a side of hands-free Bluetooth and a large Choke. But you know, you’ve been ordering that for years, and maybe it’s clogging up, if not your arteries, certainly your soul. How about a McCalm shake instead? And that Tossed Priorities Salad looks yummy. It’s got all your basic balance food groups: a few deep breaths, turning off the phone, scheduling alone time with your spouse, taking a walk for a change, and it’s all served on a bed of bumping the supposedly life-or-death Power Point nonsense until tomorrow. For dessert, of course, there’s Hot Humble Pie, but please don’t sue us if you get burned.

And once you’ve ordered off the new menu, you’ll be ready to get something for the kids. Why not try the Happiest Meal, which features a more emotionally present parent, one mandatory attendance at a school function, and a family DVD night, plus a special surprise: it won’t contain any cheap plastic toy tie-in from a big animated movie that’s trying to get your kids to eat something bad for them.

And the only thing your new, healthier work/life menu will NOT have is a drive-up window. No way are you multi-tasking on our watch.

So, if you were a fast food item, what would you be? (And it’s not enough to simply have zero trans-fat. That is so 2006.)

Posted by Tom Stern at 5:49 AM | 1 Comment

September 24, 2007

Yahoo: One Company, One Hundred Designs

If you are a business person I am sure you would like to get a crack at running Yahoo!. Maybe you are a designer and what better feeling would it be than to get the opportunity to redesign all of Yahoo? In either case you would be in for a bumpy ride considering the size of the actual site. It is hard to tell how large the site is just by looking at the homepage, but you would have to imagine they have hundreds of independent sections now each with a different design. A couple of years ago I longed for the day that a global internet power like Yahoo would change their ways and put more behind their designs.

About a year ago they finally embraced the importance of design and branding and worked on improving some sections. For example, Yahoo! Finance received an excellent makeover giving the site a much cleaner feel than before. With this example you can see the problem is not whether Yahoo is aware of design or even capable of pulling it off, but that there is so much to design they now have an inconsistent site with various designs all around.

The perfect example can be seen on Yahoo! News Politics. Here you can see the basic news page which is not that bad, but then again can be greatly improved. In the same section you also have People of the Web and the Democratic Candidate Mashup, which in my opinion are lightyears ahead when it comes to design. Three pages and three different designs all under the same section. If you removed the Yahoo logo you would think that they were three different sites.

Now with a strong, recognizable brand like Yahoo! having such fragmented designs across your whole site is not that damaging, but for your business and site it can be fatal. This does not mean that every page should share the exact same design, but the branding across the site should remain consistent and the only case of finding that on Yahoo is the logo.

In today's world where people get to know a company by their online presence more than anything it is vital to make sure all of the pieces fit in the same puzzle. Building a brand can be hard enough so try not to make it even harder for your audience by making each section a site by itself. A great example of this would be Apple where each section is unique, but each section has that Apple feel and branding behind it.

Posted by Paul Scrivens at 12:49 PM | 2 Comments

Careers: Unwanted Company?

Sometimes the toughest interview questions seem like the ones that should be the easiest to answer. “Based on your research, what makes us uniquely different from our competitors?” Time and time again, it amazes me how many people get tripped up by this question. It’s easier to swallow when the candidate is a newly-minted undergrad or grad student, but candidates looking to make a mid-career move are just as likely to make the same mistake.

With links to thousands of articles, databases, and the treasure trove that is the web, you’d think that everyone would be able to answer it. But most can’t. And that led me to wonder…if interviewees can’t answer the question, should you automatically disqualify them? I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this one but I usually think it does because it’s a direct reflection of a candidate’s interview acumen or lack thereof.

What could not being able to answer that question say about an interviewee?

They’re not that into the company. If they were, they would have taken the time to do their homework. Thanks to Google, there’s really no excuse not to know a little bit about the company before an interview. Typically, candidates don’t have to know the middle names of the past five CEOs or what the stock is trading at on the day of their interview, but they should have a firm grasp of what products or services you offer, who some of your key leaders are, and how your company differentiates itself from some of your top competitors. If they’re not into your company, you don’t want to hire them. Simple as that.

They don’t “get it.” Show me a company that doesn’t value common sense, and I’ll show you a company that will soon be shutting its doors. They don’t have to be the most experienced interviewees in the world to realize that they should do a little research before the interview—it’s common sense in every shape of the word. If they don’t understand that, I suggest you show them the door 1) because they might not be able to find it on their own and 2) so you can avoid having them waste any more of your time.

They’re overconfident. Because of their background, they might think they’re a lock for the job so they decide not to do any research. Again, thinking someone is going to hand them a job on their laurels says a lot about where their collective heads are…and I’d fathom a guess it’s somewhere in the clouds. Not good. Even if they think they’ll be handed the job, they should still take the time to figure out if the company and job are a good fit. Overconfident now could mean big headaches later. Next!

Nerves. This is one you can almost always forgive. We’ve all been there. We know the answer, but we let our nerves get the best of us and we freeze up. This one is easy to identify if you just come back to the question later in the interview. In most cases, those who have done their due diligence will be able to knock the question out of the park. Within reason, there’s nothing wrong with being a little nervous. However, if you ask “why our company” and an interviewee starts to hyperventilate, it’s probably a good idea to consider other candidates.

Companies are made up of people and those people typically take pride in their companies and in their jobs. We want to know that the candidates we’re hiring to join our teams share the same passion for the company and the position as we do. I’m not saying you should reject candidates who can’t tell you what makes your company unique, but I am saying that should raise a SERIOUS red flag.

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 11:04 AM | 4 Comments

Leadership: “It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear” - Frank Luntz

I’m in the middle of reading a fabulous book, Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear, by Frank Luntz. Luntz has made his fortune advising Republican politicians on communication strategy and crafting their messages. Luntz is responsible for converting “estate tax” to “death tax,” and “drilling for oil” to “energy exploration.” His handiwork teaches important lessons about the power of language to motivate and persuade.

If you are in the business of persuasion (and if you aren’t, you are not really in business), you MUST read this book. If your politics lean more leftward, don’t let it stop you. Luntz is a master and he lets us in on his many secrets here.

What Luntz writes about so knowledgeably is that to persuade, a number of linguistic issues must be considered. He mentions 10 “musts,” but I’m going to focus on the four that I think are the most important.

Continue reading "Leadership: “It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear” - Frank Luntz"

Posted by Ruth Sherman at 9:09 AM | 2 Comments

September 23, 2007

Technology: Livecasting

My excellent friend ActionGirl hung out with me today. We did a dual-channel livecast using ustream.tv.

Livecasting, if you're not familiar, is one of the newest internet fads, but it's also NOT new. Technology has advanced to the point that the average joe has the ability to broadcast his or her life effortlessly and without cost (except for the obvious costs of computer, webcam, broadband connection, etc).

Continue reading "Technology: Livecasting"

Posted by Bill Cammack at 11:54 PM | 1 Comment

September 21, 2007

Work/Life: The Seven-Year Glitch

Perhaps you have heard about the female politician in Germany who provoked outrage in her party by suggesting that marriages should have a time limit of seven years.

It’s no surprise that this kind of grandstanding should create a stir, but as with most headlines, the shock value is what grabs us, and the finer points are left out. The truth is, Gabriele Pauli did also suggest that couples should, after each seven-year period, apply to have their marriage extended. And I think there is a hint of real innovation in that idea. Right up there with whoever came up with the squeezable ketchup bottle. If we can applaud the invention of something that makes a long-aggravating condiment easier to get out of the bottle, why can’t we think twice about something that may make it easier to maintain a healthy relationship?

We now treat the phrase “seven-year itch” with highly negative connotations, mostly because it has come to mean the urge to stray and ruin the foundations upon which marriage is built. But if there really was a provision by which couples had to reapply for a marriage license after a certain amount of time, it could actually work to keep them together. It’s like a kindly umbrella organization forcing you into couples’ counseling for a tune-up, and at the price of license renewal fee, that’s a lot cheaper than a bunch of years with a Jungian trying to get you to see that the dream about the cabbage soup is a metaphor for your strained relationship.

All of us need some time to step back. We have six-month reviews at work, why not a seven-year review of a marriage? And most people at an employee review come in wanting to keep their jobs—I think most people would come in wanting to keep their marriages, too. You might even find it makes you more inclined to make things work. It’s not an opportunity to divorce, to cut and run, it’s an opportunity to take stock, address areas for improvement, and increase performance and productivity. (Though if you’ve already produced a few children, you may want to re-think the productivity aspect…without cutting down on performance, of course.)

You can even ask the same questions at a seven-year marriage review that you might ask at workplace review. Are you happy here? Do you enjoy coming in every day? What areas need improvement? Are you satisfied with the salary and benefits? (Okay, maybe not the salary part.)

Anyway, don’t let’s write off new ideas just because they are calculated to grab headlines. With the possible exception of whatever new idea was responsible for Britney’s performance at the VMA’s.

What might come up at your seven-year review?

Posted by Tom Stern at 6:41 AM | 1 Comment

September 20, 2007

Innovation: The Future Is Here

Although signed earlier this year, the new Open Skies agreement for free movement of flights between U.S. and European cities, which kicks in starting in March 2008, is still developing momentum among the world's airlines.

Continue reading "Innovation: The Future Is Here"

Posted by Robert Buckman at 5:33 PM | Add Comment

Innovation: How DELL is Using Social Media to Regain its Mojo

It’s 2004 you are Dell computers and you’re king of the world. But to be frank, you were also a bit boring. A year ago, Dells had the reputation as the cheap, utilitarian PC that you buy when price is everything. Dell was the ultimate commodity brand – serviceable, cost-effective, and a little dull. Along comes HP. In the course of a couple of years, HP using superior retail channels muscled past Dell to capture the number one position in the consumer PC marketplace.

So how does Dell react?

Continue reading "Innovation: How DELL is Using Social Media to Regain its Mojo"

Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:35 AM | 6 Comments

September 19, 2007

Careers: Be a Snake in the Grass

This weekend, I was scanning the radio when I landed on NPR and an interview with Josh Swiller, author of The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness in Africa. The interviewer read an excerpt from the book; after only a few lines, I was hooked. The words he chose to paint the picture of his experiences working for the Peace Corps in Zambia were unlike anything I’d heard before. But, more than his descriptive language, there was one story from the book that got my wheels turning.

During the interview, Josh mentioned he got into quite a bit of trouble including a few fights during his time in Africa. Part of the cause was due to his deafness but often times the larger part was due to his lack of cultural awareness. He told a story of how his “in your face” approach to get things done often offended the locals. They preferred what they called “the snake in the grass”—not coming right out and saying or demanding what you want, rather slither around a bit before you go for the kill. His approach was all wrong. Has that ever happened to you on the job? Sure, the cultural differences within a company might not be as big of a chasm as the ones Josh faced in Zambia, but they can still undermine your ability to get the job done.

Josh was a “liger,” an animal made famous by the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Part lion and part tiger, a liger roars first and asks questions later. Instead of paying attention to their habitat, they often pound, or eat, the table until they get their way. But even though they get things done, they often create friction with coworkers, clients, and higher ups. If you’re going to be a liger, do so sparingly. If not, you might just growl your way out of a job.

When Josh told the story about the “snake in the grass,” it was the first time I’d heard the phrase used in a positive light. The phrase obviously has a completely different, and albeit negative, connotation in our culture. And you’ll get no arguments here. I’m not a huge fan of snakes, but especially not snakes in the grass. They’ve got to be the worst kind. As I think about how to approach situations in the workplace, the snake in the grass analogy holds water. Instead of going in for the kill, they move slowly about until they’re in a position to make their move. When was the last time you tried to persuade someone to adopt an idea? Did you go through a period of time building rapport and developing trust before you asked them to consider your proposal?

Continually improve your cultural awareness both of your work group and the company as a whole. But instead of using venom, learn what buttons to push with what people. And watch out for lawnmowers—the second leading killer of snakes in the grass.

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 8:51 PM | Add Comment

Careers: Working Abroad is Less Foreign to Women

Will working abroad fast-track your career? The answer has often been yes for men, but a question mark for women who used to be passed over for foreign assignments.

In the book Get Ahead by Going Abroad authors C. Perry Yeatman and Stacie Berdan contend that women are better suited for foreign assignments than men - and they have the results to prove it.

"It comes down to a couple of personality traits as well as skills," says Berdan. "Women have great communication skills, team building, and adaptability - the things we have noticed successful women overseas have." According to their research, "The success rate is 15-to-20 percent higher for women as opposed to men. That's pretty astounding."

A former media executive, Berdan says that her career blossomed as a result of a successful overseas assignment that began in her late 20s. Berdan, who consults multinationals on how to prepare employees for overseas assignments, moved to Hong Kong the day after she was married. Her "trailing spouse" to use the vernacular of globe-trotting executives, is a writer who could work from anywhere. Often it's the trailing spouse - particularly those that don't work - who torpedoes an otherwise invaluable career and life experience.

Berdan and Yeatman say that their personal experiences, combined with several hundred interviews in preparation for the book, revealed to them that women possess soft skills that can make a foreign assignment successful. It's also true that these two network with a lot of successful people. Berdan's co-author, C. Perry Yeatman is a SVP of Kraft Foods, who had the experience of working in Singapore, Moscow, and London.

In researching the book, "83% of the people said [their foreign assignment] was successful," says Berdan. "Everyone said it was hard and had their share of failures along the way. Many were very personal stories a lot to do with gender stereotyping and female roles around the world. "

Berdan's former employer, WPP is an example of a company that understands how to manage globally-distributed employees. "They have 70,000 employees all over the place and they treat them like global employees, not expats," she explains. She says that unfortunately many companies have HR departments that lack empathy for workers on foreign assignments. "If you have never been in the situation," of working overseas, she says, "It's hard to understand how crazy" life abroad can be.

How do you know if you're ready to embark on a global career or a foreign assignment? The authors suggest that you ask yourself these questions first - if you can answer yes or even "somewhat" to most of them, you may have right aptitude to succeed.

Do You Have the Right Stuff?
(From Get Ahead By Going Abroad - Harper Collins 2007)

• Do you have a real sense of adventure? Do you enjoy the unknown, the different, and the unexpected?
• Do you operate well outside your comfort zone, even if you are feeling alone and isolated from all things normal for you?
• Do you thrive on diversity - language, ethnicity, religion, currency, culture, social norms, foods, politics - lots of it and all at the same time?
• Do you consider yourself extremely flexible?
• Can you build relationships - even if you have to communicate in your or someone else's second language?
• Do you know how to really listen? Can you read between the lines and understand what is being said even if the faces you're reading look like blank pages - and vice versa, i.e., when the facial expressions are clear but the words are confusing?
• Can you handle failure and learn from it? Can you keep it in perspective? Do you have a sense of humor about it?

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

Posted by Rusty Weston at 3:07 PM | Add Comment

Leadership: Organizational Authenticity vs. Integrity

This afternoon I answered the question “What does it mean for an organization to be authentic? A few answers came to mind one of which involved whether or not there’s a difference between Organizational Authenticity and Organizational Integrity. Is there a difference or are they one and the same?

An organization can be in alignment with its vision, mission and mandate but walk all over people to stay authentic to that. At the same time, that organization can also align with human values and ethics creating an entirely different organizational culture. Is that what it means to have organizational integrity? Or not?

I’d love your opinions on this.

Along with looking at this question, I’d like to bring to the table organizational sustainability. Does an organization have to exist from a basis of integrity to be sustainable and successful? Or do the ‘cut throats’ ultimately win out and force the ‘good guys’ out of business?

I think if we asked the same question in many different fields and professions, diametrically opposed opinions will emerge. If you’re leading in any capacity, this is a question that needs answering at some point. If you don’t define it, someone else will.

Care to play and discuss this?

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

Posted by Donna Karlin at 2:59 PM | 10 Comments

Leadership: Heroes Redefined

“We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission though.” Those words were thrown into poignant relief the other day when it became known that two of the men who penned those words were killed in Baghdad. Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora, both sergeants in the 82nd Airborne, died in a roadside accident when their five-ton truck overturned.

Gray and Mora were two of seven soldiers who had written an Op Ed piece, “The War as We Saw It,” published by the New York Times that questioned the successes that senior military and civilian administrators were claiming. “[O]ur presence may have released the Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but it has also robbed them of their self respect… [T]o regain dignity is to call [U.S. forces] what we are – an army of occupation – and force our withdrawal.”

The 82nd Airborne is an elite group of paratroopers. Their mettle was proven at D-Day and their rigorous conditioning and training continues to this day. They are true professionals; they know combat up close and way too personal. The media is fond of calling them, and their brethren serving in Iraq, heroes. I do not disagree with that term, but I think that to use the term objectifies them in ways that deprives soldiers of their humanity. Why? Because like the term “saint,” “hero” implies that these people are some how special and can do extraordinary things. They can, but they are not super human. They are all too human. They bleed when they are wounded and they die when their injuries overpower the flesh. They are also all-too cognizant of the reality around them; they know the odds. Yet day after day, mission after mission, they put themselves in harm’s way because someone in the chain of command told them to do so.

Continue reading "Leadership: Heroes Redefined"

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

Careers: Taking Personal Branding to the Road

Someone was complaining to me the other day about his boss, a high level apparel executive, who never takes time to visit a customer. The boss' world has become his desk and computer.

Which made me think that while everyone talks today about how the Internet has expanded our world, in some ways ironically it has made it smaller.

Given the ease of emailing, text messaging, webinaring, teleseminaring and ecommercing, we’re taking less and less time to hit the road and viscerally connect with customers and prospects.

If you’re like me you believe in the dictum of “listening to the customer.” But are we truly listening from the confines of our offices? There’s an excellent article with the wonderful title, “See for Yourself,” in the fall issue of Strategy and Business, that makes the point for firsthand observation with this pithy quote:

“What exercise is to weight loss, firsthand observation is to corporate success.”

The article argues that executives and companies that have a culture of face-to-face interactions have a superior mindset. The authors Tim Laseter and Larry Laseter write:

“Embracing firsthand observation as an integral part of your personal management style and embedding it in a company’s culture can break the fad cycle…and produce enduring results rather than just temporary improvement.”

You need to continually refreshen your personal brand by staying on the frontlines of your customers and prospects. Otherwise your brand will develop a musty, academic smell that has as much value as yesterday’s leftovers.

What are doing to keep your brand fresh?

Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc. • wendy@marxcommunications.com

Posted by Wendy Marx at 9:27 AM | 3 Comments

Back to Nature: Enter Natural Language and Human Powered Search

Have you grown tired of the growing index of search results? Across the search engines of your choice, the results are gathered via keywords, metadata and algorithms. The American Customer Satisfaction Index shows that at best the engines are scoring a solid C average.

Now enter two new approaches. Powerset Labs is in early release of its natural language search engine. Via user ratings and natural language search, sites are indexed, scored and delivered. In this case it is a quality result that is the goal rather then quantity. Powerset Powerset launches Powerset Labs at TechCrunch40 If you are not one of th privileged kick the tires at the Tech Crunch 40 this week then you will need to wait for your invite code over the next weeks.

Another approach is offered by Mahalo, the world's first human-powered search engine. Yes - out with the always on spiders and in with the coders that are hand building search result pages for the top 30% of web searches. FC goes behind the servers to talk with founder Jason Calacanis about the venture.

With access to search coming from your TV, mobile, computer and more - do you have a a preferred search for your location or search type or do your rely on the one size fits all approach?

Posted by Peter Fasano at 12:10 AM | 1 Comments

September 18, 2007

The Wins of the Fathers

Ceo Dad’s Tuesday Tirade....

Take comfort, work-obsessed individuals. America is actually ahead of Asia in work/life awareness. According to a new report, only one half of one percent of men in Japan take time off to be with their families.

This has not gone unnoticed by the Japanese non-profit organization “Fathering Japan,” who are currently urging their country’s male workforce to take the “Daddy Exam.” It’s a test filled with questions designed to highlight the men’s lack of knowledge in parenting, and serve as a wake-up call. The good news is that Japanese statistics show many younger men are starting to work less and spend time with their families, and men’s parenting magazines are enjoying brisk sales.

But, let’s not gloat. Only 14 percent of American men are cutting down on work to spend time with their families. That leaves 86 percent who aren’t. Thinking on my feet, I have started the paperwork on my own non-profit organization. (Please don’t tell my father—I was raised in a decidedly for-profit home, and if he found out about this he might need medication.) (Oh, and don’t worry, he won’t find out about it here, he never reads my blog.) (A point not lost on my therapist.) Where was I?

Oh, yes, my non-profit. It’s called “Dumbbell Daddies (501c3).” And I’ve developed my own “Daddy Exam,” just like the folks in Japan. See how you do.

1. Your wife is giving birth to your first child at the same time as a make-or-break deal with a powerful client who’s only in town for the night is pending. Baby or Big Shot?
2. It’s time for your child to be toilet trained. Do you: a) read the literature and learn how to work in tandem with your spouse to handle this transition smoothy, b) run screaming from the room, c) run screaming from the car if that’s where you first got the news, or c) stand in one place and scream.
3. Every time your child asks for permission to do something, you respond “ask your mother.” Is this effective parenting? (Hint: don’t answer “yes.”)
4. It’s getting difficult to deal with the acting out, the testing of limits and the inability to accept it when things don’t go as planned. Should your wife cope with you being an idiot first, or start with the other two-year old in the family?
5. Once again, you are late picking up your child at soccer practice. Is there some way for you to blame this on anyone else? (Hint: see hint #3, above).

Answers: 1. Baby, 2. a, 3. No. , 4. She should tell you off first. 5. No

HOW DID YOU DO?

5 correct - Whoa, Daddy!
3 to 4 correct – Still welcome at the PTA
2 or less correct – Can you say couples counseling?

Thank you for taking this simple quiz. Watch this space for easy ways to make donations to my non-profit. (Just kidding, Dad!) (Oh, wait, I forgot, you don’t read these things anyway.)

Posted by Tom Stern at 6:12 AM | Add Comment

Work/Life: This post is not about the iPhone (really)

I've just spent a week riding my bike 80-100 miles a day with 2000 customers and other folks on Cycle Oregon. I was looking forward to impressively blogging last week from the saddle using my new, all-singing-all-dancing iPhone, but it turned out to be a mute, club-footed wallflower.

On the few occasions I managed to get a connection, the entire emailing process was so slow I basically gave up. I have tiny fingers, yet couldn't string letters together without making loads of mistakes. Somehow along the way the talk mechanism got discombobulated when I plugged in the headphones to listen to the iPod function, and even my former Apple developer pal who's on dinner dating terms with Steve J couldn't recombobulate it. And the number of times I accidentally brushed that shiny glass keypad and called the same person 10 times, or restarted a song 10 times ... but it did come in handy as a mirror to get at the spinach stuck in my teeth.

Bah, it was worth the 10% restocking fee to try it out, but I'll gladly revive my old Crackberry for now. For serious handheld wordsmithing, it's hard to beat. (I just wish I could get PocketMac to sync my 1000+ addresses instead of choking at 350).

Continue reading "Work/Life: This post is not about the iPhone (really)"

Posted by Lynette Chiang at 2:21 AM | 1 Comment

September 14, 2007

Work/Life: Hi-Yo Work/Life, Away!

Today is the birth anniversary of Clayton Moore. At my age, I’m on the fringes of people who might still have an awareness of who he was, and it would be unreasonable to expect anyone from Generation X or younger to have Clayton in their consciousness. Of course, those of us who feel old can take comfort in the fact that in fifty years’ time, these very Gen-X’ers will be saying things to their own kids like, “You mean you don’t know who Britney Spears was?” (Oh, how I pray they will be saying that.)

Clayton Moore played the Lone Ranger on television quite a few years ago. Why should this find its way into my blog, you ask? The answer is simple. The Lone Ranger is a symbol of the American psyche that we still can’t shake. His name alone implies, well, aloneness. The idea of being a loner, of being able to single-handedly right all the wrongs out there while still claiming allegiance to no one remains attractive to the work/life challenged. The Lone Ranger did have Tonto, it’s true, but you never caught this trusted guide and advisor suggesting that Kemo Sabe might want to cut back on the dinner meetings.

I think a lot of us overachievers still fancy ourselves out there on the plains, the only ones with the real plan to set everything right. And if we could only be freed of our pesky encumbrances, we could make history in our chosen fields. “….yes, a fiery Acura with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty ‘hi-yo spreadsheet!’ It’s the Lone Worker! Guided by his trusty personal assistant Melvin, the Lone Worker obsesses about every aspect of his job, knowing that being number one is all that counts, and that he does it all for those he loves [even though he never sees them]!"

Let’s join the Lone Worker now, as he and Melvin prepare for a merger and acquisition:

MELVIN: Kemo Sabe, here is the Excel document needed to impress the client with our amazing quarterly earnings.

LR: Thank you, Melvin. In moments, we will find the bad men who want to compete with us, and bring them around to our corporate vision.

MELVIN: Yes, Kemo Sabe. Then, all of the inadequacies you have been repressing since childhood will once again be soothed, and you can pretend to have no emotional needs until the next time we do this.

LR: Listen, Melvin, I think you’re taking this “wise old advisor” thing a little too seriously.

MELVIN: Your wife is on 2.

LR: Shut up, Melvin.

So, on this auspicious day of Clayton Moore’s birth, let’s re-think those instincts to strap on the gun belts, hop on the horse and gallop across the prairie with our tunnel vision intact. Anyone else feel the need to give their inner Lone Worker a talking to?

Posted by Tom Stern at 5:50 AM | Add Comment

September 13, 2007

Innovation: Lessons From a Car Shopping Experience

My wife and I are shopping for a new car. We know what features we want and have narrowed the field to three different vehicles -- the Acura MDX, the Honda Pilot, and the Toyota Highlander (ideally a hybrid). This past weekend we set out to test drive all three vehicles to help determine which of the three vehicle best presented those features – and hopefully move us closer to a final decision.

Before I tell you what happened, let me share a quick thought about sales and marketing.

In my view, every interaction between an organization and an individual member of their audience is a transaction, of equal importance to the one immediately prior or the one to follow. Every review, every welcome you receive when you first enter an office, every e-mail or phone call to customer service impacts the decision-making process of your audience on an equally important level. Do that well, and you will be successful. Make mistakes and they will haunt you.

Our experience at the car dealership showed me how true this really is in practice.

Here is what happened:

Continue reading "Innovation: Lessons From a Car Shopping Experience"

Posted by Brian Reich at 10:26 AM | 9 Comments

Innovation: Value-based Customer Service is not Lip Service

Anita Roddick died this week, leaving a tremendous legacy -- the creation and establishment of a small brand that reshaped cosmetic retailing, firstly in the UK and then globally. She anticipated the values of her customers, super served them and never wavered. Her success followed naturally.

The Body Shop grew from one store to 1,980 serving over 77 million customers in 50 different markets, 25 languages and 12 time zones. In the process, the stores offered fun, novelty and excitement. The business became an example of responsible and ethical trading and, through Ms. Roddick, gained and developed a voice.

Continue reading "Innovation: Value-based Customer Service is not Lip Service"

Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:42 AM | 2 Comments

September 12, 2007

Leadership: Lasting Lessons

So what can a retired collegiate football coach who has not coached a game since the 1989 season teach us about leadership? Plenty, if you are Bo Schembechler, head coach at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1989.

His lessons are brought to life in vivid stories -- some poignant, some funny -- that will enlighten every leader’s repertoire. Collected in book form by John U. Bacon who collaborated with Schembechler in Bo’s Lasting Lessons. Schembechler who died last November strides across these pages in full form dispensing wisdom that rings true to leaders at every level, most often of those who never set foot on the gridiron. Here are some of those lessons.

Respect the institution. When Schembechler became head coach of Michigan football team, he laid down the law on his expectations – for players, coaches, and staff. He was tough but sincere. He also built upon the foundation of what had come before him. As much as he pushed for change, he couched it within the Michigan’s institutional values of integrity, excellence and education.

Continue reading "Leadership: Lasting Lessons"

Posted by John Baldoni at 11:27 AM | Add Comment

Careers: Emulating the Best for Your Personal Brand

My dad would always tell me what Abe Lincoln or some other sage would have said or done in a situation and I would laugh it off. I’m sure your folks had their own favorite paragons of behavior.

I was thinking of this recently when I came across an article in Fast Company by David Teten and Scott Allen on making yourself into an expert. Their advice is so blindingly simple it is brilliant:

“If you want to be perceived as an expert, act like a true expert."

The authors raise the question: “Are [experts] necessarily the most knowledgeable on the topic? No. But they have the best reputations and are generally far more financially successful than the wanna-bes.”

I’ve written before about the Young Turks of the Internet blazing a path where older folks have held back. And it struck me that a lot of what they do is assume the mantle of expert without having spent years in the trenches trying to prove themselves.

Part of acting like an expert is creating an allure about what you do. It’s no good being an expert if only your mother appreciates – or knows – what you do. Sort of like the cachet of donning expensive duds, expert behavior signals that you have the smarts and goods to carry off a task nobly.

While the Fast Company article pertains to establishing your reputation online, it’s more than relevant to the offline world as well. So how do experts act? Here are a few thoughts courtesy of Teten and Allen:

• They’re extremely careful about what they say: They know that people are paying attention to them, and that has two consequences. First of all, they know that their reputation is on the line every time they open their mouth -- that everything they say will be subject to scrutiny. Secondly, they also know that people will put a lot of weight into what they say and probably act upon it, so they feel a strong sense of responsibility to provide good information.
• Experts substantiate what they say: Experts are researchers. Sure, they have opinions, but most of them didn’t earn their reputations based purely on their opinions. So when they make statements in these groups, they often back these up by citing sources, whether it’s something they’ve written themselves or that someone else wrote. It’s especially helpful if you link to the sources you’re citing. And if it’s yourself, that’s a great promotional tool at the same time.
• Experts don't "act" smart -- they are smart: True experts don't talk down to people, but they also don't use jargon or complex language in order to sound impressive. In fact, they are generally more able than most to put the concepts into plain, simple language that everyone can understand, and are patient and willing to do so.

The authors’ closing thought might be something you want to burn into your memory:

"Act like a real expert, not a wanna-be, and you will attract more business."

How do you act like an expert? And how has it made a difference in your business?

Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc. • wendy@marxcommunications.com