BNET Jan 2010

Micromanagers Create Macro Problems

Most people aren't born with the management gene. I certainly wasn't. I was overly reactive, disruptive, interruptive, and a whole bunch of other
adjectives I'm not proud of. My first direct reports are probably still dealing with the trauma. In short, I was a micromanager.
Luckily, I had some good managers and mentors over the years. And while I'll probably be working on my "issues" until I die, I credit a good deal of
my success with learning how not to be such a micromanager.
Don't get me wrong. Whether you're a small business owner or a manager in company, youcan be successful as a micromanager. According to
the Wall Street Journal, former DisneyCEO Michael Eisner ordered stronger bulbs put in reading lights in Disney hotels. Former President Jimmy
Carter personally reviewed requests for White House tennis courts. AndMartha Stewart described herself as a "maniacal micromanager."
That said, in my experience, your odds of success are significantly reduced and, more importantly, you and your employees will be miserable.
Many of the CEOs I've worked for were micromanagers, and in every case, that led to significant problems that stunted their careers and their
company's success. The reasons are pretty straightforward and logical.
In general, their lack of trust, disruptive style, and extreme focus on minutiae resulted in tunnel vision, poor perspective, and lack of objectivity. In
short, by paying too much attention to small stuff, they missed the big picture.
The result is that micromanagers simply don't scale well. In other words, they may have a brilliant vision that gets their business or company to a
certain point, but their inability to empower others and drive decision making down to the appropriate organizational level keeps them and their
company from growing past a certain point.
For example, a single-product company with a relatively narrow vision may not be able to grow to a multi-product company with a bigger and
broader vision. Or the company will tend to react poorly and slowly to significant competitive or market changes. Inability to evolve with the market
and effectively parry competitive thrusts will almost certainly stunt a company's growth.
On the flip-side, there are executives like HP CEO Mark Hurd who essentially turned the company around by streamlining the organization and
empowering key executives to better execute on the company's growth businesses.
And, as we explored in The 10 Rules of Great Groups, even Apple's Steve Jobs - a superstar CEO in his own right - has, by all accounts, built a
stellar management team capable of operating successfully during his recent extended absence.
Maybe that explains the underlying problem with micromanagers. I'm no shrink, but it seems that they may be overly narcissistic and insecure. As a
result, perhaps they're incapable of envisioning their company or group operating without them. I could be wrong, but that sure sounds like a recipe
for failure.
A Few Reasons to Look Forward to 2010
Time to bid farewell to the "awful aughties", a lost decade of zero job creation and zero stock growth. The '00s began with the tech bubble and 9/11 and
ended with 10 percent unemployment and a federal government that seems to believe it can spend its way out of any problem.
In economic terms, the Unites States may be back to where it was at the end of the Clinton Administration. But the country is still standing. And
there are a few indicators which suggest that we can be cautiously optimistic for the next year, and hopefully decade, ahead.
Let's start with 2010:

 82 percent of Americans say that they are "optimistic about what 2010 will bring for them and their loved ones," according to
an Associated Press-GfK poll
 The consumer confidence index, published by the Conference Board, has risen to 52.9 in December, which is a a three-month
high; that's up from February's historic low of 25.3 but unfortunately, still well below 2007's "stable" reading of 90.6
 Big company CEOs are ready to increase capital expenditures and many anticipate higher sales tallies for the first half of
2010, according to a survey by Business Roundtable, an association of top executives
 Among those who had lay-offs in 2009, thirty-two percent of employers now say they plan to bring back workers in 2010, according to
a CareerBuilder/Harris Interactive poll of hiring managers
 The consensus amongst Wall Street analysts is that corporate earnings will increase next year ,up to a 30 percent gain over 2009,
according to Thomson Financial
Are you looking forward to 2010? By 2019, will new economic developments make the "awful aughties" seem like a distant memory? Share your
thoughts below.
And have a Happy New Year!
What are Your New Year's Resolutions for 2010?
Do you still make a list of resolutions at the New Year? I do. This year, I have a few resolutions I have already pinned near my computer display.
They include:
Exercise harder. I've gotten lazy and don't work out nearly as hard as I used to.
Know when to shut down. I want to spend more time with the family in 2010, and that means stepping away from the computer at a reasonable
time each day.
Master my inbox. Despite my e-mail obsessions, I have let my inbox spiral out of control. I'll be taking -- and maintaining -- control of Outlook this
year.
Do you have any business, work/life balance, or tech related resolutions for 2010? Let us know in the poll and record your top resolution in the
comments. It's like tossing a coin into a wishing well -- posting your resolution is good luck and will help you follow through.
Happy New Year, everyone!
10 Hot Business Opportunities for 2010
Wondering if this is a good time to start a business? Thinking of quitting the rank and file and joining the ranks of the entrepreneur? Well, you're not
alone. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas' job market index, 8.7 percent of job seekers started their own business in the second quarter of
2009.
Of course, if you're going to do it, you want to do it right, right? Here are 10 business trends for 2010, according to Entrepreneur Magazine:
Green power. Cleantech, including smart grid, solar, biofuels, and batteries, overtook IT and biotech to garner 27 percent of all venture capital in
the third quarter of 2009, according to Cleantech Group.
The senior market. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, three of the top 10 industries with the fastest employment growth relate to
"aging services," including healthcare, elderly and disabled services, and community care facilities for the elderly. USC even has a new master's
program in aging-services management.
Discount retail. At Wal-Mart, dollar stores, and resale shops, business is booming. While sales at Neiman Marcus dropped 14.8 percent, Family
Dollar had record profits of $291.3 million in 2009. And according to the National Association of Resale Professionals, sales at secondhand stores
grew by 31 percent last year.
Local business. The Department of Agriculture says that farmers markets have seen 5 percent annual growth for the past five years. Major chains
are introducing "Locally Grown" sections to their produce departments and the USDA recently launched a "Know Your Farmer, Know Your
Food" marketing campaign.
Education. There's no better time to retrench or reinvent yourself than a bad economy. Revenues at institutes of higher education are expected to
grow 4.9 percent to $421 billion in 2010, according to IbisWorld.
Parental outsourcing. The new name for childcare, housecleaning, and other domestic services, "parental outsourcing" is booming. And revenue for
tutoring, test prep, and driving schools is expected to increase to more than $7 billion in 2010. Likewise for sports coaching.
Health and wellness. Revenues from healthcare and social assistance grew 3 percent to $452 billion during the second quarter of 2009, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the Home care industry grew 7 percent annually over the past five years, according to IbisWorld.
Texas. The Wall Street Journal named Austin and Dallas top "Youth Magnet" cities, and Texas cities dominated a host of 2009 "best cities" lists for
relocation, home-building, and job creation.
Affordable alcohol. We're still drinking just as much, if not more, we're just drinking lower-cost booze and we're doing it at home. In any case, the
alcoholic beverage industry is expected to see record revenues of $455 billion in 2009.
Pets. Americans spent $43 billion on pets in 2008, and that number's expected to grow by 5 percent for 2009.
If my household is any indication, I started my own business in 2003, my first business trip of 2010 will be to Austin, we just installed a solar panel
array, we have five pets, buy more locally-produced and organic produce every year, and I'm an aging baby boomer. There's nothing like anecdotal
data.
Be Aware of New In-Flight Security Rules
Hot on the heels of an attempted terrorist bombing of a U.S.-bound international flight on Christmas day, airlines are in scramble mode, rewriting
security rules on the fly, so to speak.
Frequent business travelers will no doubt recognize many of the changes as reactionary, arbitrary, and very nearly random. Nonetheless, if you're
flying in the next few weeks, don't assume anything you knew about airline security rules will stay the same.
Late last week, Lifehacker reported a number of changes that might affect you. Here are some of the highlights:
Air Canada has posted that during the last hour of a flight, travelers headed to the U.S. will have to remain seated, will not have access to their
carry-on baggage, and cannot have anything on their laps.
American Airlines posted that passengers flying into the U.S. should allow three hours for boarding. Passengers and carry-on items would be
screened both at security checkpoints and at airline gates.
Jetblue has announced that in-flight entertainment would be shut down, along with in-flight Wi-Fi.
The TSA has implemented a ban on in-flight Wi-Fi, entertainment systems, and access to any and all carry-on luggage or devices one hour before
landing.
Keep Your Place in a Long Gmail Thread
We've all seen e-mail threads that seem to go on for days. Everyone in the office has something to say, and if you're unlucky enough to arrive late
to the party, it can take 20 minutes to read the whole thing. If you don't have time to read the entire e-mail conversation at once, good luck --
because there's no way to mark where you left off. The next time you open your inbox, you'll spend another five minutes just figuring out what
you've already read.
Until now, that is. Gmail has added a cool new feature that lets you mark exactly where in an e-mail thread you need to pick up next time. You just
have to know how to find it.
Mark Unread From Here is a new addition to Gmail Labs -- click the Labs icon next to Settings at the top of your Gmail browser window, and scroll
to near the bottom. After you turn it on and save your changes, you can start using it right away.
Suppose you're reading a long thread with a bunch of replies. When you read a stopping point, click the Reply drop-down menu for the message
you want to read next. Then click Mark unread from here.
The next time you open Gmail, you'll find the thread is bold -- the usual indication that it's unread. But when you open the e-mail, you'll find that it
opens directly to that last message you marked as unread. It's a huge time saver and a real convenience. It's painless to set up, so there's no
reason not to try it.
Back Up Your Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and Other Online Accounts -- Free!
He who lives by the cloud, dies by the cloud. Well, maybe not, but there's an inherent risk to relying on the Web for critical data and business
operations: You just never know when some faraway server will go kerflooey. (Remember the Sidekick disaster a few months back?)
Backupify is a new Web service that promises to back up the data from other Web services. (And it makes this promise without a hint of irony.) Best
of all, you can get a free account if you sign up for before Jan. 31.
Currently, Backupify supports Delicious, Flickr, Google Docs, Photobucket, Twitter, WordPress, and Zoho. It also has beta support for Basecamp,
Blogger, Facebook, FriendFeed, Gmail, and Hotmail accounts.
In the near future, Backupify will add Xmarks and YouTube, among others.
Getting started is a snap: Just supply an e-mail address and password to create your account, then choose one or more services to archive. For
most of them, you need to approve outside access to your account (as with Facebook and Google) and/or enter your account credentials. If that
seems like a security risk, well, one could argue that any online service is inherently insecure, insofar as it's attractive to hackers.
Ultimately, you'll want to read the Backupify FAQ for info on security, privacy, and the very reasons behind using Backupify.
If nothing else, there's no harm in signing up for the free account, which Backupify says will remain free forever. The company plans to offer a
premium version down the road, but the basic backup functionality won't disappear. Sounds like a win-win proposition to me.
5 Antidotes to Job Burnout
It's the last day of 2009 and if you're not busy chilling the champagne, you just might be one of the many people spending the day dreading going
back to work in 2010. That sinking feeling you get when you remember that the massive distraction that is the holiday season is almost over? It's a
sure sign of work burnout. And don't think just because you've only been at this whole career thing for a few years you're immune from the
malady. Even fledgling careerists need to watch out for burnout and have strategies to re-energize their excitement for work.
Thankfully for the afflicted, Tai Goodwin is offering five ways to fight burnout on blog CAREEREALISM, and what better time to tackle your
dangerous decline in motivation than at the new year? So what steps does Goodwin recommend?
Get Real: Acknowledge how you are feeling about your work-life.... The more you try to ignore how you really feel, the more anxiety and frustration
you will feel about your situation.
Get Inspired: Find a book, audio CD, or MP3 ?€" something that tells someone else's success story and read it or listen to it.
Take Control: Are there too many meetings and tasks on your to-do list? Become a guardian of your time and energy by mastering your schedule.
Limit the number of meetings you have a day... Set up a system for managing emails and prioritizing request.
Play a Different Role: Are you the team member that organizes everything? Or are you the ad-hoc tech support person for your team?.... Taking on
a specific role within your team may have boxed you in. Whatever hat you normally wear ?€"- take it off. Changing how you engage can change
how you feel about your work and your colleagues.
Make a Plan: It can be really hard to stay motivated if you can't see a light at the end of the tunnel.... Start putting together a plan for how you are
going to escape or move into another role. It could mean going back to school, updating your resume for a lateral move within your company,
expanding your professional network.
Personally, I'm a little unsure if the second suggestion to listen to others' success stories would be particularly motivational for me. It makes more
sense to focus on what drives you and makes you feel energized, but otherwise Goodwin's list seems sensible. Would you add anything to it?
6 Tips for Ensuring an Effective LinkedIn Profile
If you've got a LinkedIn account, it probably means you're more interested in networking with clients, potential employers, and co-workers than
playing Farmville. But just tossing stuff into your profile until LinkedIn reports that it's complete doesn't mean it's a good profile -- it just means it's
sorta done. Start off the new year right by giving your LinkedIn profile a checkup and making it more effective.
Last week, Web Worker Daily explained how to ensure your profile is effective, and their advice was spot on. Here are the highlights:
Use your common professional name. And if you're a woman who has taken her husband's name, do the Facebook trick of including your maiden
name to make it easier for colleagues to find you.
Use a professional photo. Not a snapshot your brother took of you while on vacation.
Add a Professional Headline. You can find it on the Edit My Profile page. It should be a concise, one-line bio. And, for the love of God, don't say
you're unemployed in the headline.
Be thorough when you describe your past positions. Be specific about what activities you do that best represent your career.
Describe your Web site or blog. Don't list the name of the site, which is probably somewhat vague. Get right to the point by describing its function.
Request recommendations. It's okay to ask people for recommendations -- seek out people that would complement your goals.
Do you have any tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile? Share them in the comments.
How to Spot a Dysfunctional Manager
Does your boss act out and throw tantrums like a spoiled child? Are you afraid to bring up certain hot-button issues in meetings for fear of being
humiliated? Does your company's strategy change weekly? Daily?
These are all signs of a dysfunctional workplace, but you know what? Workplaces don't become dysfunctional by themselves. People make them
that way. More specifically, management people: CEOs, VPs, middle managers, your boss. Know how to spot them? Here's a handy guide, but
there's a surprise at the end.
20 Ways to Spot a Dysfunctional Manager
Rants like a raving lunatic.
Tells you to do something you don't want to do, blames you when it goes south.
Freaks out over nothing, but when disaster strikes, becomes eerily calm.
Says she wants you to take responsibility, then publicly overrides your decisions.
Intimidates with aggressive words and posture, backs down like a wimp when confronted by a bigger bully.
Spends more time covering his ass than he does sitting on it.
Verbally approves new requisitions, later denies doing it, aka selective memory.
Laughs uncomfortably at inappropriate times.
Makes hallway decisions that affect your group -- when you're not there.
A single data point sends him off in a completely new direction.
Gives in when pushed into a corner, then does what she wants anyway, aka passive aggressive.
Swoops into meetings and takes over.
Revels in the invention of creative curses for just the right occasion.
Gets way, way too personal.
Sticks you right in the middle of feuds with his peers.
Rides you mercilessly while pet employees can do no wrong.
Fanatically obsessive about minutia.
Always right: when confronted with mistakes, blames them on someone else.
Fiercely protective of dumb pet projects.
At the first sign of trouble throws allies under the bus.
Well, those are my 20, but I'm sure you've got a lot more of your own. Let's hear 'em.
Almost forgot, I promised you a surprise at the end. Well, you know how I know all this about dysfunctional managers? Well, not only have I
observed all this behavior in others, but I've done half of this stuff myself! Top that for honesty.
UPDATE: Some of you pointed out that identifying a bad boss is the easy part. Successfully dealing with one is the real trick. So here's my follow-
up: How to Survive a Dysfunctional Manager.
Top Economists Predict Moribund Decade for U.S.
Welcome to 2010, but if you are experiencing a burst of optimism now that the last dismal decade has passed, keep your noisemakers in check.
At the annual gathering of the American Economic Association in Atlanta on Sunday, top economists gazed into their crystal balls to ascertain
prospects for the United States in the coming decade. The consensus, according to Reuters, was around 2 percent growth per year in the Gross
Domestic Product, a tepid performance at best.
Why the slow recession recovery? The Econ Mavens point to tight-fisted consumers who, suffering from a real estate hangover and big
indebtedness, are saving their money rather than spending it like drunken Wall Street financiers, as was their wont in the early 21st century.
"It will be difficult to have a robust recovery while housing and commercial real estate are depressed," said Harvard University's Martin Feldstein,
Reuters reported.
Of course, economists have proven to be fallible, especially of late. Put on your own Big Boy Economist Pants and give us your prediction.
Help! My Manager is a Jackass!
I recently received this comment from a Sales Machine reader about a dysfunctional relationship with a boss. Here's the comment, along with my
advice.
I'm an admin and I report to a Director, but support two other managers. I get along with the Director really well, but one of the other two managers
seems to think all I do is work for him and that everything happens instantaneously.
For example, he will send me an email with a task and then walk up to me five minutes later to ask if it's done yet. I admit, most of the time I haven't
read the email yet because I'm working on something else, but will read it while he's standing there. Then, I have to explain that his task will take
hours (if not days) because it's not just a click and here you go deal, but I will have to request a special report and put it in a usable format.
He seems okay at that point and accepts what I say, but then I'll get a call from my Director (reporting boss) saying that he's badmouthing me again
and has put a complaint into HR. Even my director is saying she just wants to smack him for the things he's saying.
I get great reviews and increases, but it's still all going in my HR file and I've had to sign official notices. I've been with the company nine years and
would love to advance, but am afraid this will put a bad light on any new perspectives.
I love my (reporting) boss, but the one manager makes everyday miserable. What do you recommend? FYI, the third manager seems pretty neutral
in the whole deal; he likes my job performance, but not willing to get into the middle of this whole deal.
This is more the sort of thing that my colleague Stanley Bing handles. (Note: if you're not reading Stanley Bing regularly, stop reading this post and
sign up for regular updates. He's required reading for anybody in business. Period)
However, since you asked ME, I'll do my best to answer. Here's my best advice:
STEP 1: Don't take it personally. You are being used as a pawn in a game of corporate politics. The dissatisfied manager wants his own admin and
is purposely making your life miserable hoping you'll quit, while providing "evidence" that you need help in the form of another admin, reporting to
him.
STEP 2: Don't expect too much. The fact that your director continues to tolerate the behavior (and that the other manager is steering clear) says
that the obnoxious manager has enough clout to act unfairly. It's one thing to claim you want to smack someone; it's quite another to actually do it.
STEP 3: Get it in writing. Go to your director and ask to have a letter put in your employee file stating that the complaints of the manager are
unreasonable and that your work has been exemplary. Do NOT tell the jackass that you're doing this. Just do it.
STEP 4: Control your schedule. Keep track of the hours that spend taking care of each of your managers. Document the fact that the jackass gets
his fair share of your time. If he demands work that intrudes into time committed to other managers, ask him to ask them to free up your time.
STEP 5: Find another job. You may not need one yet, but the truth is that any organization that tolerates that kind of idiocy has got problems. And if
since nobody is apparently willing to stand up to the jackass, he'll probably end up as the big boss, eventually. And he'll still be a jackass, only
worse.
READERS: Care to chime in?
Why Does My Boss Keep Postponing My Performance Review?
Dear Stanley,
My boss (the company VP) keeps putting off my performance review. She's always complimentary about my work and keeps giving me more to do,
knowing that it will be done conscientiously and efficiently. I've reminded her once, and she responded that I had my start date wrong, while
implying a "talk to me later" attitude. She later realized I was right about my start date and said we'd get together in two weeks. It's now been a
month, and I haven't heard a word from her. I don't want to be a nag and doubt in these crucial times that I'll get a raise. What should I do?
Signed,
Needing Feedback
Dear Numbnuts,
What are you, crazy? Do you know how many people have been defenestrated because they were forced to engage in a formal review? Let me tell
you something. You have your review. She likes your work. She gives you things to do. She has no desire to formalize her approval. What are you
pushing for? Some notes in your file? Stop it! Immediately!
What people don't recognize is that a formal review is NOT an occasion where your boss shows you the love and the money and sends you off with
a candy cane. The process requires your manager to look at the things you do well and to criticize the things you do poorly, even if you don't DO
anything poorly. They have to come up with something. So then your jacket has a notation in it that says something that would never be in it if you
hadn't pushed for the review, like, "Bob sometimes doesn't follow through on things," or "Bob has trouble prioritizing at times." Of course you have
trouble prioritizing! The boss has given you all the major projects she has no desire to work on!
Cut it out. Do your work. And stop being a pain in the ass. While you're at it, throw out your Harvard Business Review. You've obviously been
reading too much of it, or something like it. Read something that has real-world application, like comic books.
By the way, your attitude about a raise is another mystery to me. Yeah, times are hard. But if you don't make more than $100,000 a year, your raise
will be chump change for the company. If she likes you as much as it seems she does, tell her that you don't need a formal review, but how about a
little bump in your piddling compensation?
2009's Biggest Branding Successes!
I've frequently pointed out examples where branding wasted time and money. (See: "10 Worst Brand Blunders of 2009.") This time, I've compiled a
list of five big successes in branding that took place largely over the past year.
Each of these branding efforts is, in its own way, a stroke of marketing genius, with an important lesson to teach us all.
As always, I'm open for suggestions about other examples I should have included. There's a poll on the final page of the post so you can vote on
which branding effort has been most successful.
General Motors' Volt-Face
For General Motors, 2009 started out as a true annus horribilis, with the company forced to accept a government bail-out and to file Chapter 11.
While most pundits blamed the Great Recession for the carmaker's woes, the real problem was the company's belief that brand was more
important than product quality. (See: "What Killed GM? Brand Marketing")
GM had TWELVE brands, each vying for buyers' attention and many of them targeted at the exact same demographic. The obsession with
strategic branding (the apotheosis of useless marketing) obscured the fact that even loyal GM's customers would eventually figure out that GM's
products were boring and low-quality.
All that started to change, though, as the year 2009 progress. Despite the turmoil at headquarters and the financial instability, GM began
announcing products, like the Chevy Volt, that galvanized their brand image. Suddenly GM began to look cool.
At the same time, the company winnowed down its collection of brands to four -- Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC -- and (most importantly of
all) folded marketing responsibility in the United States under the company's Chief of Sales.
While GM still faces challenges, it's future is bright enough that the company is now looking at an IPO in 2010.
Lesson Learned: When it comes to brand, less is more.
Al Qaeda Co-Opts Islam's Message
You'd think that an organization committed to turning back the clock to the dark ages would have problems making its message heard in today's
hyper-wired world. Quite the contrary. Over 2009, Al Qaeda continued its highly successful campaign to position itself as the only "true" form of
Islam.
While Al Qaeda goals and methods may be disgusting and stupid and its claims to religious legitimacy completely ridiculous and ahistorical, there's
no question that their leaders -- many of whom were educated in the West --have created the most brand-savvy religious group on the planet.
Barred from TV ads, billboard, direct mail, trade shows and other traditional lead generation methods, Al Qaeda launched a three part "guerrilla
marketing" plan:
Build a strong presence on the web. Compare to the boring "brochure ware" that's common for most religious and terrorist group, Al Qaeda has
gone for the Sales 2.0 approach, big time, leveraging social networking, blogs, and email marketing to build a loyal following and cultivate big
money contributors.
Create a compelling narrative. The entire Al Qaeda/Radical Islam story, while completely ridiculous to non-believers, obviously has real appeal to
those who take the Koran really, really seriously. It's one thing to have a product that people will kill to get; it's quite another to have one "to die for."
Stage dramatic "street theatre" events. Say what you will about the morality of it, there's no question that Al Qaeda has mastered the art of creating
publicity. They've done such a great job that in 2009, they convinced the U.S. to launch a major troop increase in Afghanistan, even though Al
Qaeda has only a handful of operators there.
Lesson Learned: You can have big brand impact without spending big money.
Apple Turns the iPhone into the New PC
Just a few short years ago, the Apple iPhone was widely seen as next Apple Newton. While it looked cool, it lacked a keyboard and was tied to
AT&T, one of the worst cellular networks on the planet. Odds were that Blackberry, Palm or Motorola would capture the smartphone market and the
iPhone would go to the well-populated graveyard of tricorder wannabes.
Well, it didn't work out that way, did it? By making it easy for developers to create and distribute new applications for the iPhone, Apple turned the
iPhone from an also-ran into a gotta-have. Even with AT&T dragging it down, the iPhone has become the device to beat. Even Google, with all its
Internet might, is struggling, so far unsucessfully, to come up with an iPhone killer.
What looks likely now is that Apple will cut deals with the other carriers and the iPhone will become like the PC -- a general purpose tool that does
whatever you want it to do. Other vendors will launch products that are marginally superior in one or two aspects, but the momentum of a hundred
thousand applications will keep the iPhone in the lead.
Lesson Learned: Great products create great brands.
Health Insurance Wins the Reform War
Brands aren't limited to individual companies and organizations. Entire industries have "brand image" which govern how the public reacts to them --
and thus influencing how much money they can extract from consumers and other businesses.
Now, you'd think that an industry that regularly condemns people to die painfully in order to create profit would have a big brand image problem.
And you'd think that an industry that regularly raises prices while decreasing services would have consumers up-in-arms.
But you'd think wrong. In 2009, the Health Insurance industry successfully deflected blame by playing on knee-jerk conservative fear of big
government. Even though almost every thinking person in the United States believes in publicly-funded education and a publicly-funded military,
the insurance industry successful demonized public-funded insurance, the one thing that actually threatened their predatory behavior.
Thus, instead of a reform bill with a public option, the insurance industry looks likely to get a law requiring that everybody buy insurance, thereby
increasing the number of people who the insurance industry can royally screw. Insurance stock went sharply up on the prospect of even more
blood money flowing into industry coffers.
Lesson Learned: If your brand sucks, compare it to a worse one.
Michael Jackson Revives his Career
If ever there was a brand in need of a major makeover in 2009, it was Michael Jackson's. It had been decades since he'd had a real hit, and
meanwhile he'd managed to rack up a brand reputation as the creepiest person on the planet.
What with the child molestation charges, Skeletor-inspired plastic surgery, the albino-wannabe skin dye, the obviously-not-his-DNA children, the
baby dangling, the lawsuits, the boy-toy magnet private amusement park, buying the elephant man's bones -- you'd think that there was nothing in
this world that could resuscitate the Michael Jackson brand.
Not so! Say what you will about Michael Jackson, he understands self-promotion. In what's got to be his most brilliant career move, he removed
himself entirely from the picture.
While his death was probably an accident, with Michael Jackson we're in a realm of such spectacular weirdness that it's possible that the act was,
at least in part, the result of a realization that dying was the only way to win back the popularity he had long since lost.
Lesson Learned: When all else fails; go for broke.
Avoid Work Disasters with These 10 iPhone Apps
Did Santa bring you an iPhone for ChristmaKwanzaKah? If so, get ready to discover just how handy the device can be. Thanks to an exploding
number of apps, the iPhone helps business users do their thing like no other smartphone on the planet. (That's right, I said it.)
In fact, Mashable's Amy-Mae Elliott rounded up 10 iPhone Apps to Avoid Work Disasters. Here's one example:
Awesome Note (+ToDo)
Laying the smackdown on the iPhone's own "notes" app, you'll wonder how you ever lived without Awesome Note. If you aren't the most naturally
organized person, then avoid any so-sorry-boss-it-just-plain-slipped-my-mind grovelling sessions with this app that combines notes and to-dos.
Functionality-wise, there are loads of settings for notes and to-dos, while on the design front, you can make them real pretty with all sorts of colorful
customizations.
I agree: Awesome Note's a great app. But I'm not sure the list really focuses on "disaster" avoidance so much as everyday productivity.
Indeed, there's at least one major omission: Where's the app that lets you remotely access your PC to retrieve a file, look at a document, or even
just shut down? (It's right here: Use Your iPhone to Access Your PC Remotely.)
Still, if you're new to iPhone or just looking for some extra apps to improve your business life, you're sure to find at least a few worthwhile
candidates here.
How to Fix Marketing in 2010
Now that it's a new decade, it's time to wean the marketing group away from their delusions of strategic grandeur. Here's a simple, six-step
program to ensure that your company's marke...ting is successful and productive in 2010:
STEP #1: Correctly define marketing. If your company's marketers think that they're doing something "strategic", they're wasting money. Marketing
is a tactical function whose sole purpose is to provide qualified sales leads. In a productive marketing group, all activities serve that goal.
STEP #2: Make marketing subservient. In most companies, there's often a total disagreement about basic issues, like the intended market and the
target customer. The only way to prevent stovepipes and infighting is to fold the marketing group into the sales group. Do it now.
STEP #3: Define a qualified sales lead. A sales lead should identify a decision-maker inside a company that's part of your target market and
provide enough information about the decision-maker, and the decision-maker's firm, for the sales rep to get a foothold into the opportunity.
STEP #4. Systematize demand creation. Demand creation should never be an ad-hoc improvisation based on whatever product you want to sell
today. Demand creation must be part of an integrated process that constantly creates leads and has a measurable effect on sales effectiveness.
STEP #5: Make the sales group responsible. Once the sales group has agreed that a lead is qualified, they MUST be made 100 percent
accountable for closing that lead. Under no circumstances should the sales team be allowed to fingerpoint at marketing.
STEP #6: Measure conversion rates. Monitor your demand creation activities, find out which ones result in leads that close, and then tune the
demand creation process in order to constantly improve the quality of the leads. Make sales and marketing jointly accountable for closing deals.
It's really that simple.
3 Ways to Ensure Successful Telecommuting
We're a big fan of telecommuting and remote work arrangements around here, but not every company has such an accommodating viewpoint.
So if you're lucky enough to get permission to work from home, you should be careful to preserve that relationship as much as possible. The best
way, we think, is through communication. We've got three important communication tips to help you keep your telecommuting role healthy.
Use an IM client. Your boss and co-workers can't walk down the hall to talk to you when you're at home. The phone is slow, and e-mail can make
everyone feel disconnected -- so se an instant messaging program and lead the charge to get everyone else to use it as well. When you're a click
away from real time communication, you'll seem more like a part of the team.
Provide a status report daily. One of management's biggest concerns about telecommuting -- whether they admit it or not -- is trust. What are you
really doing at home? Who knows? Well, allay those concerns by submitting a daily status report. Nothing fancy -- at the end of each work day, just
send an e-mail to your boss with a summary of what you worked on and your overall progress on your major projects.
Document your projects thoroughly. Working from home can sometimes feel like playing a game of telephone. Did you understand the instructions
from your boss correctly? Did your co-workers get what you were trying to say? The best remedy is to document what you're working on in detail
and post it somewhere everyone has access to it, like a team SharePoint or some collaboration tool.
2010 Outlook: Jobs, Housing and Stocks
I'm no prognosticator, nor am I an economist, but here's my two cents about 2010 economic outlook: it's a case of the good, the bad and the ugly. I
touched on some of these theme this morning on The Early Show, when I appeared with Charles Schwab's Liz Ann Sonders for an interview with
Maggie Rodriguez.
So here's another way to look at the good, the bad and the ugly for jobs, housing and stocks:
Jobs:
Good: Job loss is tapering off
Bad: 7.2M jobs lost since 1/08
Ugly: 10% unemployment will persist well into 2010
Housing:
Good: Housing is stabilizing due to low prices, low interest rates and first-time buyer tax credit
Bad: mortgage rates expected to rise in 2010 and tax credit expires 4/30
Ugly: Foreclosures persist -- 2.4M expected in 2010 (2M in '09 and 1.7M in '08) AND 1 in 4 mortgages are under water
Stocks:
Good: Stocks recovered over 60% from March lows
Bad: Stocks still almost 30% below 2007 peak
Ugly: Rising markets might lure some to chase returns
Bottom line: we're better off than we were a year ago, but challenges remain.
Still, looking back at 2009 and ahead to 2010, I can't help but smile. For nearly two decades I have been extolling the virtues of diversification to
clients and the public. I promise not to say I told you so, because that's not very nice. Still, it's great to feel validated. If ever there was proof to my
mantra, the 'aughts were it! Asset allocation and rebalancing saved what could have been a lost decade for many.
While a portfolio of 100% stocks lost under 1% a year for the past ten years, diversified investors squeezed out 3% gains over the same time. It's
good to know that you don't need armor to protect yourself--a good ol' financial game plan will do the job.
Are You a Loser if You Don't Have New Year's Resolutions?
Do you have any New Year's resolutions? Uh, what's that? No? Well there goes your 2010. Might as well kiss it goodbye. And if you're the type of
person who doesn't have a list of New Year's resolutions, you might as well kiss 2011, 2012, and the rest of your years on this planet adios.
You have to love this time of year. It's where every so-called expert with a keyboard goes on and on about how important it is to set resolutions. Are
we to believe this is the only time of year it makes sense to think about our future? And are we to believe that if we don't have resolutions we are
destined for a one-way ticket to Loserville?
Ask the first people you see today what their New Year's resolutions are for 2010. You'll hear a lot of generic double-talk nonsense that makes the
"I want world peace" speech by Miss Universe sound coherent. Why?
Everyone feels obligated to have resolutions. Can you imagine the look of disgust and superiority if you answered, "Actually, I don't have any New
Year's resolutions"? Well, I don't have to imagine because that's exactly how I answer the question. The immediate reply, "What do you mean you
don't have any New Year's resolutions?!" It's like I've stolen a box of Girl Scout Cookies.
Let's be honest. You don't like New Year's resolutions because you know you won't stick to them, but you feel moral/social pressure to have at
least a few. Well, I'm telling you to stop feeling obligated! You don't have to have any if you don't want.
In fact, I think you'd be better off if you didn't have New Year's resolutions. Yes, I said it. You would be better off. Whenever your motivation is
external (e.g., social obligation) and not internal (e.g., I really would like to improve...), the odds are stacked against you.
But what if you really want to make some positive changes in your life? Instead of coming up with a list of surface-level resolutions that sound good,
let's dig deeper and come up with a handful of very personal and highly motivating things that will inspire you to take action.
How can you quickly determine your most important goals for 2010? Answer this question:
Imagine it is 365 days from today; What must have happened for you to fee wildly successful financially, professionally, personally, socially,
physically, emotionally, and spiritually?

That's it! Answer that question honestly and you will have your road-map for 2010. You'll know precisely where you need to end up for you to feel
thrilled with your progress.
New Year's resolutions are ephemeral because you won't be invested in the outcome. When setting resolutions are a "to-do" list item, it's no
wonder most people give up (or forget) after a week.
Your answer to this question is powerful and motivating because it hits you at your core. It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry and
Elaine are trying to rent a car . . .
Paraphrasing Seinfeld, "Anyone can set goals, but it's achieving them that's the most important part." And, of course, that's true, but first focus on
digging deep and getting a handful that really light your candle.
Next week we'll talk about how to take your answers to that question and do something very special with them.
Worried about waiting a week? Don't. 90% of the people giving you a hard time about not having New Year's resolutions will have forgotten them
by next week while you're just digging in...
The China Boom: A Sure Thing NOT to Bet on in 2010
The predictions are in for 2010 and while there's a lot to debate, some trends seem so obvious you'd be nuts not to invest in them. Among the ones
that everyone can see, for example, is that emerging markets, particularly China, have the momentum going into this year. Maybe you missed the
truly spectacular 80% return in the Chinese market last year, but no matter: There's more where that came from.
Well, maybe.
I'd be the first to admit that I don't have a crystal ball-but it does make me nervous when everyone agrees on how the future is going to unfold. You
have to ask yourself: If it's so clear that this is China's year, how are you going to make money betting on it? What's obvious to you is also obvious
to everyone with a 401(k) account-let alone to every money manager between Wall Street and Shanghai. Wouldn't that suggest that the outcome is
already factored into the prices? (CBS MoneyWatch columnist Larry Swedroe explains why high-growth economies don't always create high-return
markets.) And worse: What if the consensus turns out to be wrong?
Let's take a closer look at China's golden future:
First, the case for continued strong returns from China is undeniable. The country's manufacturing sector just grew at its fastest rate since 2004.
Overall, the Chinese economy may be growing at over 10%. It's quite possible that when the final fourth-quarter numbers are in, China will have
overtaken Japan as the world's number two economy. You just can't ignore that in a world that is elsewhere wracked by recession.
And few are ignoring it. Emerging markets returns made it onto the first business page of the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal declared
that being out of emerging markets was as big a risk as being in them. (I haven't heard that phrasing since an infamous Fortune Magazine headline
in 2000 about why you needed to buy Cisco.) And in a classic case of performance chasing, emerging markets stock funds saw $75 billion of net
new investment in 2009, while investors pulled out of funds investing in U.S. stocks.
But things don't have to play out the way everyone expects. The Chinese recovery has been built on some truly gargantuan stimulus spending by
the Chinese government, and there some potentially nasty bubbles building, particularly in real estate. According to Bloomberg:
In Shanghai, prices for high-end real estate were up 54 percent through September, to $500 per square foot. In November alone, housing prices in
70 major cities rose 5.7 percent, while housing starts nationwide rose a staggering 194 percent.
This CBS video of the Shangai market could have been made about Las Vegas in 2005.
As economist James Kwak points out in this excellent Baseline Scenario post, China's banking system has few checks and balances-other than the
government itself, which has been urging banks to lend. It would be ironic, but not unprecedented, if China were to stimulate itself into a real-
estate-fueled banking crisis less than a year after wagging its finger at the West for doing the same thing.
None of this proves that China won't have a great year, of course. And yes, you need to have international stocks in your retirement portfolio for a
number of long-term reasons. But investment markets have a long record of confounding what everyone can see to be true. Best not to bet your
future on China's manifest destiny. Being too clever with your retirement savings is a far bigger risk than being too humble.
Apple vs Google: The Smartphone War has Begun
The technology industry has long been characterized by epic competitive battles. The 1980s was about the personal computer platform. Winner:
IBM PC. Loser: Apple. The 1990s had the microprocessor wars. Winner: Intel. Losers: AMD, Cyrix, IBM, Texas Instruments.
The first decade of the new millennium, however, was a different story entirely. The 2000s was a fragmented decade with battles fought on multiple
fronts: cell phones; game consoles; music players; DVRs; Internet portals, commerce, search, and social networks. Lots of winners like Nokia,
Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook; too many losers to name.
But in the coming decade, we're back to a single front. The battle lines are drawn. The 2010s will be all about the war between Apple and Google
over the smartphone platform. There are some significant similarities to Apple's epic battle with the IBM PC:
Once again, Apple's vertically integrated, end-to-end platform will go up against an open platform, Google's Android operating system.
Once again, Apple produced an innovative breakthrough device, the iPhone.
Like IBM, Google will have its own device, the Nexus One, unveiled today (image above).
Steve Jobs.
Other than that, it's a whole new ballgame:
Not only is there a third competitor in the mix, but Research in Motion's Blackberry currently dominates the field. Is RIM destined to become the
Commodore of the smartphone?
Neither Microsoft nor Intel is anywhere to be found in either platform.
Whether by accident or not, Apple now has a rich third party app development ecosystem. Lesson learned ... I think.
Aside from Qualcomm's ubiquitous royalty fee, Google's not likely to let another company's intellectual property dominate its platform. Lesson
learned from IBM.
If, this time around, Apple can at least maintain market share parity, then economies of scale and hardware costs should favor Apple's singular
hardware platform.
Smartphone subsidies by wireless service providers dominate device price structure.
Wireless service providers, their networks, and their customer service will play a significant, as-yet indeterminate role.
Whether Google or Apple will manage to leverage their smartphone dominance into a ubiquitous home entertainment hub also remains to be seen.
Steve Jobs has grown up.
As for who will win the war, your crystal ball is as good as mine. Still, I can think of three huge factors that will almost certainly play a key role, most
notably:
Innovation related to dimensions, weight, battery power, touch screen, 3D video, speech recognition, and the user experience in general.
Research in Motion's Blackberry.
Content.
That's my take. Who's your money on to win the smartphone war?
Why the State Should Provide Daycare for Working Parents
I just finished Who's Your City, a recent book by Richard Florida, the fellow following the rise of the global "creative class." Using comprehensive
surveys and academic-grade statistical analyses, Florida and his team try to find out exactly what makes particular places appealing to certain
groups along various stages of their lives.
It's probably no surprise that parents whose children live at home rank family-friendly public services as important---often more so than the
availability of nearby jobs (that's why people are willing to commute over an hour so they can keep their house where crime is low and public school
scores are high). Yet across America, Florida says parents complain about a lack of quality, affordable daycare options. Communities (and
corporations) that do provide daycare options end up attracting the most happy and productive working professionals. Florida even claims that this
issue causes top talent from abroad to leave their positions in the United States and head home, despite the sacrifice in pay, once they decide to
start a family.
Unfortunately, in this era, both parents often have to work full-time in order to make ends meet. That leaves less time to look after, let alone raise,
children before they head to kindergarten. Government policies have helped to foster the market conditions which got us into this mess. And only
government seems to have the capacity to get us out of it before foreign countries leapfrog us on the talent front.
Many will claim that the free market can best handle the situation. After all, if there is such a demand for childcare services, why haven't
entrepreneurs filled the gap and opened more childcare facilities at lower price points? My guess is that parents don't really want to risk leaving
their little angels at a discount childcare mill. Only government is in the position to properly professionalize this informal sector, ensuring that all
childcare practitioners can handle basic education and safety duties.
I don't think government-run daycare should be mandatory but it does seem to make sense for the state to at least subsidize the option. Yes, there
is a risk that irresponsible parents will foist their kids onto the state. Therefore, to reduce, rather than increase, reliance on the welfare state, access
to these facilities could be preconditioned on proof of employment from both parents.
It's also completely plausible that investing in daycare now will save money in public education down the road. Many kids from disadvantaged
backgrounds are already behind their peers from good suburban schools by the time they get to kindergarten. I doubt that investing in childcare will
eliminate inequality, since wealthier families can always opt for private facilities where the kids are learning Mandarin instead of the ABCs. But an
investment in early education could support those who are a little behind and lift everyone at an impressionable stage of childhood development.
Then, our society wouldn't have to spend as much trying to reach out to dropouts who can't even read by the time they get to high school.
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Chris Dodd's Classic Economic Quotes
Chris Dodd, the senior Senator from Connecticut, is calling it quits when his term is up next year. Dodd, who serves as chairman of the Senate's
banking committee, has been dogged by his controversial connections to public pariahs such as AIG, Countrywide Financial, Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac and is trailing his would-be Republican challenger in the polls, even though he represents Obama territory.
Dodd's decision has broad political and economic consequences because he has been a Democratic leader on both healthcare and financial
regulatory reform. At least back in Connecticut, he was praised for being "feisty, liberal and outspoken." With nothing to lose now other than his
legacy, we can probably expect quite a few more critical barbs from Dodd over the next year as he works to seal the deal on the latest round of
regulations.
Here are a handful of classics* that seem to represent Dodd's economic worldview:
"It's easy for Americans to forget that the food they eat doesn't magically appear on a supermarket shelf." March 31, 2004
"As the temperature drops, the need for home heating increases." September 12, 2006
"America's highways, roads, bridges, are an indispensable part of our lives. They link one end of our nation to the other. We use them each and
every day, for every conceivable purpose." May 17, 2004
"Entrenched bureaucracies are always opposed to fundamental changes." July 22, 2004
Dodd's most famous quote seems to have been, "I don't care what the public wants, I'm going to give it what it needs!," although to be fair, I can't
find one credible source that confirms he ever actually said that. Nonetheless, Dodd does represent a paternalistic type of economic overlord. Do
you think he has delivered? Please share your thoughts below.
Fixing the Tech Industry's Management Problem
Work in the technology industry? Think management is dysfunctional or lacks the basic skills to scale its business, support its growing customer
base, or fend off competitors? CEO never heard of strategic planning or SOPs? More people feel your pain than you realize.
The corporate garbage dumps are overflowing with technology companies that somehow managed to make a product and a name for themselves
and then inexplicably flamed out or faded into oblivion. There's no other industry on the planet like it.
All told, I'm betting there have been more failed tech companies than in all other industries combined. So why is that? What's so special about tech
that it produces more business failures than any other industry? The pace of technology, right? Competition, of course.
Well, that may be true, and it was a convenient excuse for a while. You know, when technology was so new that if you designed it, they really
would come. But today, things are different. The industry has reached maturity and some segments have even reached commodity status. Today,
global competition is brutal. And tech management teams and boards can no longer get away with the excuses of the past.
It's time for the tech industry to grow up and fix its management problem.
Look, don't get me wrong, we all owe a lot to the tech industry. That's precisely why I'm putting major brain cycles into this problem. Because I want
to live to see the industry that gave me such a long, rewarding career, and helped American's standard of living for so many decades, continue to
grow and thrive.
And frankly, this problem is so ingrained in the way the whole industry operates that we sort of take it for granted. Well, that's just not going to cut it
anymore.
The basic problem is this: Just because a startup makes it and goes public doesn't mean the CEO knows how to take the company to the next level
or that the VCs on the board know how to guide him. Moreover, the VPs are learning from the novice CEO who just happened to have founded the
company or come up with some wiz-bang technology or gadget.
Look, we're not born with the management gene, that incredibly challenging skill-set, but tech boards act as if their entrepreneurs are born with it.
Sometimes I think executive management teams of tech companies are like giant Petrie dishes for the Peter Principle.
But hey, lots of tech companies have stood the test of time, right? Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Oracle, Intel, IBM, HP, and plenty of others are some of
America's greatest companies. But for every one of them, there are a thousand that flamed out along the way, and not just because their
technology or product couldn't cut it. Their management couldn't cut it.
Want some examples? To this day, some of the most talented and brilliant engineers and technologists hale from once-great companies that
flopped like Digital Equipment, Wang Laboratories, Sun Microsystems, Fairchild Semiconductor, Zilog, LSI Logic, Motorola, Netscape, Silicon
Graphics, National Semiconductor, I can go on and on.
Now, let's look at Digital Equipment and Sun. The PC killed Digital and Sun, right? It was technology, right? Wrong. They failed because their
management teams, specifically their leadership, their CEOs, didn't have the capability to adapt to change and their boards stood by and watched it
happen. It's a case of natural selection, survival of the fittest. But not the fittest technology, the fittest management team.
After all, IBM adapted. Big Blue was on the fences until Lou Gerstner came along. The same goes for HP and Mark Hurd. They adapted, but it had
nothing to do with technology and everything to do with mature management, highly capable leadership.
So, rather than go on and on about the problem, how about a solution?
5 Lessons for Solving the Tech Industry's Management Problem
Somewhere along the line, boards stop governing and start rubber stamping. They stop mentoring and start coddling. Unfortunately, past
performance is no guarantee of future results. Ego doesn't pass for management skill. And the same goes for directors. Tech does a terrible job of
mentoring executives and ensuring they develop even the most basic management skills and processes.
Intel's Andy Grove was one of our greatest managers. He taught us to confront problems head on, challenge the status quo, and never, ever stop
being paranoid. And yet, even he was only CEO for just over a decade and went out on a high note. Intel has real succession planning, rare among
tech companies. Most boards keep founding CEOs around long past the point of their ability to grow the business.
Lou Gerstner taught us that a great leader can get an elephant to dance. Because of the pace of technology, because of the brutal competition, all
tech companies face major hurdles where growth begins to flatline. Just look at once venerable Sony, Dell, Motorola, Yahoo. When that happens,
or better still, when the signs are first visible, boards need to be proactive and far more aggressive in their expectations of management when it
comes to strategy change.
With rare exception, technology marketing has never grown up. Tech has more bad marketers than there are security holes in Microsoft's software.
Why is that? Somehow, and for some inexplicable reason, most tech CEOs think marketing intelligence comes from an engineering degree. Well it
doesn't. In fact, most tech CEOs don't have a clue what marketing really is or what constitutes marketing apptitude. In a mature market, that's a
death sentence.
And finally, precisely because the tech industry is so fast-paced, because it's so competitive, for the tech industry in particular: Incestuous, good-
ole-boy networks are toxic. Lack of perspective, objectivity, external insight, direct customer feedback, is toxic. The status quo is toxic. Lack of
active governance from the board is toxic. And lack of basic management skills and practices is toxic. And by toxic, I mean the company will fail
before long. Period.
Okay, that's my rant. Now it's your turn. Here's your chance to help out your management. If this strikes a cord, pass it along. If not, tell us why, or
at least add your two cents.
Gadget Lust: Zomm 'Wireless Leash' Keeps Cell Phones From Wandering
Ever forget your phone in a coffee shop? Or leave the house without it? Unless you've had your phone surgically attached to your belt buckle (like
Dave), chances are good you've wandered off without it at same point.
Enter Zomm, a new gadget that wirelessly "tethers" your phone via Bluetooth. Specifically, it rides shotgun on your keychain or in your
pocket/purse. Whenever your phone gets out of range of the Zomm (or vice versa), the gizmo flashes, vibrates, and/or sounds an audible alarm.
It also offers a handy call-notification feature, using the aforementioned signals to alert you to incoming calls. That's great for those times when
you're in a noisy place and can't hear your phone ring -- or your phone simply doesn't vibrate enough to get your attention.
Other perks include a speakerphone (though I have my doubts about sound quality from a device the diameter of a poker chip), a panic alarm, and
a push-button dial-911 feature.
In short, the Zomm sounds like one seriously useful gizmo. Alas, you'll have to wait until the second quarter of 2010 to get one, and the company
has yet to specify a price (though at least one news outlet has it at $79.99).
What do you think? Is this something you'd buy? Or do you think it might be more of a nuisance than a savior? That's my concern, as I don't always
keep my keys and phone in close proximity. The unwanted alarms could prove annoying mighty quick.
Working From Home? Use a Kitchen Pot to Improve 3G Modem Performance
Problem: You're working from home, using a USB modem to connect to the company network, and reception is terrible. Like, sapping-your-
productivity terrible.
Solution: Drop that baby in a kitchen pot. No, really. As the following video demonstrates, you can gain a considerable signal boost this way. Take
a look:
If you want to give this a try, you'll no doubt need a USB extension cable to run your modem away from your PC and into your cookware. Don't
worry, they're cheap: Monoprice has a 6-footer for a mere $1.31 (plus shipping).
I haven't had the chance to put this to the test myself (yet), but the theory is sound: The pot provides a parabolic surface for focusing the antenna's
signals. (Or something like that -- dammit, Jim, I'm an English major, not an engineer!)
Manage E-mail by Conversation Thread in Outlook 2010
One of the most powerful features in the new version of Outlook is the new Conversation view, which arranges your e-mail in the inbox by
conversation. Not only do all the related messages get rolled up under a common heading, but you can also see e-mail in the conversation that are
stored in another folder, such as your sent mail. That lets you act on all these conversations as a group -- you can read the thread, delete all the
related messages, even "ignore" future posts about that subject.
It's such a cool new feature that I was getting ready to make a video tutorial when -- wouldn't you know it -- Microsoft beat me to it. So I've got a
pair of short, informative videos from the Office team that explain how to get the most out of Office 2010's Conversation feature.
Find PowerPoint Slides Online To Help You Make Your Own Presentation
New year, another 150 PowerPoint presentations to create and deliver. If you need some help making your next deck, you might want to borrow
some content that already exists. After all, there are millions of PowerPoint presentations in the world, and no doubt many people have already
cobbled together the images, bullet points, statistics, and backgrounds you need for your own purposes. What you need is a search tool that helps
you find existing PowerPoint decks.
That's the inspiration behind SlideFinder, a PowerPoint search engine. Just enter your search term and SlideFinder returns a list of all the
PowerPoint slides it could find that match your needs. From there, you can download the entire deck and dissect it for your own nefarious (or not
nefarious) purposes.
The site's terms of service assign you worldwide, royalty-free use of the content you download from SlideFinder. Certainly, you're not going to
serendipitously find a presentation that exactly matches your needs for a 4th quarter revenue review deck, but it's a great tool to help complete your
next deck.
Seven Ways to Flunk a Job Interview
You don't need interview advice, right? After all, you've got stellar credentials and years — maybe even decades — of work experience. To be
completely honest, you're actually overqualified for the job. In fact, you shouldn't even have to interview.
Stop right there! In this age of shrinking workforces and shuttering businesses, you've also got plenty of equally qualified company. And when was
the last time you interviewed? Chances are, those skills could use a little polish. Fear not. But make sure you don't throw yourself out of the race by
committing one of these common — and fatal — faux pas.
Mistake #1: Drop your guard in front of "the help."
Interviewing is stressful. Sometimes you just want to explode. But don't. At least not in front of anyone who could influence the hiring decision.
Ron Panaggio, regional HR manager for security systems provider SimplexGrinnell recalls one candidate who took himself out of the running when
he thought no one was looking. After meeting with Mr. X, a strong contender, Panaggio, who was then working for Emery Worldwide in New York,
asked the receptionist who greeted the candidate to share her impressions. Turns out, Mr. X had launched into a profanity-laced tirade about the
company's lack of visitor parking spaces.
Panaggio notes that although the guy may have had a point — the parking situation wasn't ideal — his delivery, and his questionable decision to
attack his would-be employer set off warning signals. "If he was that critical about parking, we could only imagine how he was going to react to
substantive policies that he disliked," says Panaggio.
Employers know that job seekers interact with receptionists and other support staffers — often with their guards down. "They don't see those
people as decision makers, so they tend to be more genuine in their interactions with them," says Panaggio. But employers routinely ask these
employees for feedback. "We like to see whether the interview persona matches the unscripted persona that walks through the door," says
Panaggio. Consider that the next time you're waiting for a tardy interviewer (who's probably busy and making do with a reduced staff).
Mistake #2: Over share.
Candidates worried about explaining employment gaps on their resumes have been getting way too personal, says Wanda Cole-Frieman, an
executive recruiter for Blue Shield of California. While she enjoys building rapport with the applicants she meets, certain topics are off-limits — or
should be. They include descriptions of your medical conditions and information about your sick parents or childcare woes.
It’s not just a matter of propriety. Chatty candidates put interviewers in an awkward position when they raise issues that could identify them as
members of a legally protected class. Cole-Frieman recalls that one of her colleagues was forced to contact the legal department for guidance after
a candidate announced that he used marijuana for medical purposes. The legal drug use wasn’t a dealbreaker, but raising such issues won’t
endear you to interviewers. “We’re trained to say, ‘Thanks for sharing, but Blue Shield doesn’t consider those factors in its hiring decisions,’” says
Cole-Frieman.
See also: How to Not Look Old in an Interview
Mistake #3: Assume your resume speaks for itself.
Your resume may have helped you get the interview, but it won’t get you hired. Susan Strayer, a career coach who also works in corporate HR for a
Fortune 500 company, urges job seekers to go out of their way to connect the dots for interviewers, highlighting their work experiences with stories
that clearly describe what they accomplished in each role and how it relates to the position they are seeking. Don’t assume that your interviewer is
familiar with obscure acronyms and non-intuitive job titles that have no significance outside the organizations that use them.
Strayer recalls meeting with an unsuccessful candidate who breezed through his resume, touting his “A-76 experience,” a term that meant nothing
to her at the time, and never pausing to explain it. Strayer says he would have been better-served by taking a moment to add, “If you’re not familiar
with A-76, it’s a government mandate to ensure tasks are performed in the most cost-efficient way. My role on the A-76 project was to...”
See also: Five Ways to Revamp Your Resume
Mistake #4: Show the interviewer how important you are.
You’ve got places to go and people to see — we get it, you’re a big deal. But when an employer has taken the time to meet with you, your
undivided attention is a must. “You’d think it was a joke, but employers tell us about candidates who check voicemail and e-mail, text, and even
take phone calls during the interview,” says Corinne Gregory, president of Social Smarts, a program that teaches social skills, primarily to young
people.
Note to Gen-Yers (and iPhone addicts of all ages): Acing the interview is your primary mission. If you lack the impulse control to keep your hands
off your phone, leave it behind.
Mistake #5: Talk the employer out of hiring you.
Especially in this tight job market, you may find yourself interviewing for positions you would ordinarily consider beneath you. That’s what happened
to Russ Merbeth, now an attorney with Integra Telecom when he applied for an in-house counsel position with another company. During two days
of interviews, Merbeth says he expressed his doubts about the position, which he viewed as poorly conceived and not perfectly suited to his
talents. “I basically rewrote the job description for them,” he says. Not surprisingly, they hired someone else.
While Merbeth’s story ended happily — eventually — he would have been wiser to keep his options open. “Always close strong, and get the job,”
he says. “You can reject it later.” It’s advice you likely won’t hear from recruiters, but then they’ve already got a job.
Mistake #6: Stalk your recruiter.
There’s a fine line between enthusiastic and desperate, and you don’t want to cross it.
Human resources consultant Jessica Miller-Merrell was impressed following her interview of a VP-level candidate for a position with OfficeMax,
where she worked at the time. The guy was one of two finalists for the job — until the phone calls.
Two days after the interview, Miller-Merrell was out of the office, attending an all-day training. She had forwarded her office calls to her cell phone
and noticed 15 hang-ups, all from the once promising candidate. Though he finally left a message (about a matter so trivial that Miller-Merrell can’t
remember its substance) the obsessive hang-ups left a negative impression on her. “Someone at this level should be able to maintain composure
and professionalism at all times,” she says.
Mistake #7: Treat social media communications casually.
These days, many employment relationships begin — or end — with social media. To ensure that yours falls into the former category, heed this
tale.
Mark Sullivan, director of talent acquisition for Time Warner Cable in Austin, Texas, posted a link to a Senior VP-level job description that he
needed to fill on LinkedIn. Among the candidates who responded, was a woman who wrote, “Dear Mark, That link don’t[sic] work.” Her next
sentence began with a lowercase letter and was missing a crucial “the.”
“Whether you’re using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or instant or text messaging, you still have to be professional in every communication related to
your job search,” says Sullivan. So, keep yourself in the running by proofreading before you hit “send.”

How to Write a Resume: Examples of What Not to Do

In the time it takes you to read this paragraph, the average recruiter will have plowed through six resumes. (We know; we timed one.) Want to
increase the chances of your resume making it to the next round? Then don't do any of these seven things, which recruiters say — more than
anything — make them want to push the "shred" button.
(For more resume tips, check out our interactive critique of an actual resume.)
1. Apply for a job for which you are not remotely qualified
Many candidates believe the job hunt is a numbers game — drop enough resumes, and you’re bound to land something. But shotguns are for
hunting pheasant, not finding jobs. The reality is that recruiters hate wasting time on resumes from unqualified candidates. Morgan Miller, an
executive recruiter at StaffMark, recalls the security guard who applied to be a financial risk manager (maybe Lehman should have hired him), while
Scott Ragusa at Winter, Wyman talks of the aerial photographer who sought out a position as a tax specialist.
“Sorting through unqualified resumes is frustrating, unproductive and puts an extra burden on staff,” says Katherine Swift, Senior Account Director
at KCSA Strategic Communications in Natick, Mass. “It also makes it much more challenging to find the right candidate.” So the next time you’re
thinking of blasting out resumes to all 60 of the job listings on [Link] that have the word “finance” in them , save your time (and that of the
recruiters) and only apply for ones for which you’re qualified.
2. Include a lofty mission statement
More than ever, today’s savage job market is about the company, not the candidate. As such, mission or objective statements — particularly ones
with an applicant’s hopes, dreams, and health insurance aspirations — will dispatch otherwise fine resumes to the circular file. Employers don’t
care about how they can solve your problems — certainly not before they’ve met you and possibly not even after they’ve hired you. Instead, write
an “objectives” statement that explains specifically how your skills and experience will help the company you’re applying to, not the other way
around. And be very clear about what kind of job you’re seeking.
3. Use one generic resume for every job listing
To stand out amongst the sea of resumes that recruiters receive, yours must speak to each and every specific position, even recycling some of the
language from the job description itself. Make it obvious that you will start solving problems even before you’ve recorded your outgoing voicemail
message. Your CV or query letter should include a just touch of industry lingo — sufficient to prove you know your stuff but not so much that you
sound like a robot. And it should speak to individual company issues and industry challenges, with specifics on how you have personally improved
customer loyalty, efficiency, and profitability at past jobs, says workplace and performance consultant Jay Forte. Plus, each morsel should be on
point.
“Think hard about how to best leverage each piece of information to your job search advantage,” says Wendy Enelow, a career consultant and
trainer in Virginia. “Nothing in your resume should be arbitrary, from what you include in your job descriptions and achievement statements, to
whether your education or experience comes first [recent grads may want to put education first] to how you format your contact information.”
4. Make recruiters or hiring managers guess how exactly you can help their client
Sourcing experts want to know — immediately — what someone can offer, and they won’t spend time noodling someone’s credentials. “Animal,
vegetable or mineral? Doctor, lawyer or Indian chief?That’s what I’m wondering every time I open a resume. If it takes me more than a split second
to figure this out, I feel frustrated,” says Mary O’Gorman, a veteran recruiter based in Brooklyn.
5. Don’t explain how past experience translates to a new position
Though candidates should avoid jobs where they have no experience, they absolutely should pursue new areas and positions if they can position
their experience effectively. A high school English teacher applying for new jobs, for example, can cite expertise in human resource management,
people skills, record keeping, writing, and training, says Anthony Pensabene, a professional writer who works with executives.
“Titles are just semantics; candidates need to relate their ‘actual’ skills and experiences to the job they’re applying for in their resume,” Pensabene
says. An applicant who cannot be bothered to identify the parallels between the two likely won’t be bothered with interviews, either.
6. Don’t include a cover letter with your resume
A cover letter should always accompany a resume — even if it’s going to your best friend. And that doesn’t mean a lazy “I’m _____ and I’m looking
for a job in New York; please see my attached resume.” Says Lindsay Olson, a partner at Manhattan’s Paradigm Staffing: “I’d like to know why you
are contacting me (a particular position, referral, etc.), a short background about yourself, and a career highlight or two. It’s important to attempt to
set yourself apart from the competition.”
7. Be careless with details
Reckless job hunters rarely make for conscientious workers. As such, even promising resumes must abide by age-old dictums: typo-free, proper
organization, and no embellishment. Susan Whitcomb, author of Resume Magic: Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer, says that almost
80 percent of HR managers she surveyed said they would dismiss otherwise qualified candidates who break these rules. She tells the story of one
would-be employer who, when looking for an assistant, decided not to hire anyone because every resume she received contained typos.
“With a 6-to-1 ratio of jobseekers-to-jobs in the current marketplace, you can’t afford to make mistakes with your resume,” Whitcomb says.
How to write a resume
In the midst of the toughest job market in a generation, employers are so overwhelmed with applicants that they will take any reason to toss your
resume into the recycling bin. So don't give 'em any. In addition to avoiding these seven guaranteed resume killers, check out this expert advice on
how to write a resume.
We asked Greg Garrison, president of recruiting for VCFO, a national professional services firm based in Austin, Texas, to critique the resume of a
40-something woman looking for a job in merchandising. Roll your mouse over the highlighted sections to learn from his suggestions.
Job Interview Tips: How to Answer the Questions
After getting laid off from his health care operations job in New Jersey in January, Mark Williams was delighted to get called in for an interview with
a major hospital system in March. His initial interview went well, and over the next four months, Williams met with everyone from HR to senior
management to the CEO. All in all, he had nine interviews, and was told along the way that he was an "outstanding candidate." But in June, the 53-
year-old Williams found out the job had gone to someone else.
“It felt as if the rug was pulled out from under me,” Williams says.
Unfortunately, Williams’ experience is far from unusual. The job interview process has become nasty and brutish, without the benefit of also being
short. Knowing that you might be their only hire for a long time, managers do everything short of polygraph testing to make sure you’re the best
person for the job. Multiple interviews, either conducted consecutively or in panels, have become the norm, while old-school “where do you see
yourself in five years”-type questioning has given way to inquiries of the “what can you do for me right now” nature. And the whole process can take
six months or more.
“It’s like entering a five-mile race, getting there, and then seeing it’s extended to eight miles, 10, and then 12 miles,” says David Lewis, CEO of
Operations Inc., a human resources consulting firm.
It takes stamina and skills to navigate the new interview. So follow these five steps — and follow our Twitter feed, @InterviewGoofs, to read about
actual interview miscues and gaffes encountered by recruiters and hiring managers.
1. Take the Screening Call Seriously
Overwhelmed HR departments have turned to pre-screening phone calls to reduce the number of candidates. Make no mistake: Your interview
starts with that call. Unless you are completely ready, ask to reschedule.
“You have to be as prepared for this call as you would be for an in-person interview,” says Ellen Gordon Reeves, author of Can I Wear My Nose
Ring to the Interview?, a guide to how to look for and land a job now. The good thing: This is an open-book test. Have your research, resume, and
examples of your past accomplishments handy; some candidates keep their laptop open to the company’s Web site. Whatever you do, don’t be too
casual. (Note to self: The words “awesome” and “totally” do not exist.)
2. Prepare to Run a Gantlet
In today’s interviewing process, you could be vetted by seven or eight people, sometimes all on the same day. Or you might face an Apprentice-
style panel of interviewers, alone or accompanied by other interviewees. Multiple interviews increase stress, but thorough preparation and a smart
strategy can help you get through them.
When you set up your first interview, request the names and titles of everyone you’ll be seeing and do your research on every one. For consecutive
one-on-one meetings, maintain a consistent message across your interviews, and look for opportunities to refer back to comments and
observations made by previous people you’ve spoken to, says Deborah Markus of Columbus Advisors, an executive search firm. Doing this will
make you seem like a good listener who’s facile with new information.
For panel interviews, address your answer to the lead interviewer, but be sure to pan the room and make eye contact with everyone else as you
answer each question. If you’re in a group interview, try to be the first to make your killer point, but don’t hog the airtime, advises Reeves. Give
others their turn or you’ll come off as being too pushy.
And a quick practical note: A long day of multiple interviews may not include lunch, so pack an energy bar or two to snack on between rounds,
suggests Mitch Wienick, CEO of Kelleher Associates, a career counseling firm.
3. Focus on How You Can Help the Company — Today
Odds are the first question you’ll be asked is, “Tell me a little about yourself.” But the question behind the question, according to Reeves, is: What
about you can help me? You’d better have some ready responses.
One of the best strategies for answering interview questions is the STAR (situation, task, action, resolution) system. The idea is to demonstrate that
you’ve successfully handled a variety of problems related to the job you’re interviewing for.
For example, according to Wienick, if you’re asked “What sort of things have you done to grow a company in the past?” you might respond “In my
prior role as CEO (situation) of a company trying to turn itself around (task), I convinced the board that we needed to put together a small M&A
team to explore acquiring other businesses (action). As a result, I was able to accelerate growth from 3 percent to 10 percent and profitability by 20
percent (resolution).”
If you’ve got 10-plus years of experience, mine your resume for at least a dozen detailed STARs (half that is probably enough if you’re less
experienced). By the time you’ve brainstormed, framed, and rehearsed these examples, you should be able to pull out on-target answers for
virtually every question that comes your way. To boost the impact of your examples, Mark Horstman, co-founder of Manager Tools, which offers
career-related podcasts, suggests using the same material but starting with the bottom line: “Here was my result. Now let me tell you how I got
there.”
4. Prove That You Fit In
Everyone is working longer hours under tighter deadlines. And no one wants to work with a diva or a downer. “One Internet CEO told me he wants
to know if he would enjoy having a beer with the candidate at 11 p.m. after a long day at work,” says Martha Finney, co-author of, Unlock The
Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough.
Try to establish rapport with your interviewer within the first two to three minutes, perhaps through an award or other personal effect on your
interviewer’s desk, or through something you’ve learned about them in your online research. Make sure your interest is genuine, though, or your
interviewer will see right through it. One fund-raising professional saw on LinkedIn that his interviewer shared his own passion for classical music. “I
made a mental note,” he says, and it was one of the first things he mentioned in the interview. He got the job.
Beyond content, your goal is to be animated, energetic, and above all, enthusiastic. You want the interview to feel like a satisfying and flowing
conversation, not as if you are a batter, knocking short-answer balls back to the questioner, says career consultant Sarah Stamboulie. By
conversing about the overlap between the interviewer’s needs and your skills, your paint yourself as a member of the team already.
Before you leave, don’t forget to state plainly that you want the job — even these days, it’s not a given. And if you’re feeling gutsy, go all-in and tell
your interviewer, “I want an offer, and here’s why,” says Horstman. “In today’s market, you have no business ‘exploring’ anything,” he says. “Get an
offer, then decide.”
5. Mind Your Manners
Common courtesy may have fallen by the wayside in many areas of life, but friendliness and good manners still make good business sense,
especially when you’re one of the few to display them.
You’re going to meet a lot of gatekeepers — receptionists, assistants, etc. — along this lengthy path. These are deceptively influential people
whose opinion of you, good or bad, can make a difference. Note their names and treat them with respect. Then when you call for a status report on
your application or the best time to reach the manager, you’re likely to get an answer, says Reeves.
Thank-you notes are a given. Besides showing your appreciation, a note gives you a chance to restate your interest in the job and briefly cite your
strengths for it. Send a thank-you email within 24 hours and mail a hand-written one by the next day.
Finally, it’s up to you to stay on top of the whole process. “It is a fallacy of the market to say it’s rude to keep pursuing,” says Horstman. He
recommends leaving a cheerful voicemail once a week for the first four weeks, then every two weeks, despite whatever timetable you’ve been
given. A simple one will suffice: “Hi Bob, I hope I’m still in the running. If I’m not, I’d love a call.”
And as the weeks go by, continue to check in periodically. “You could be the last man standing,” says Horstman.
Ten Ways to Annoy an Interviewer
The Find: Of all the times it's a good idea to be likable, interviews probably top the list, so here are ten ways you can spoil your first impression.
The Source: A guest post by Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon, authors of I Hate People!, on blog Punk Rock HR.
The Takeaway: Littman and Hershon have received a lot of great buzz for their new book (including here on BNET1), which outlines how to deal
with problem people at work without sapping your own energy. Now they're applying their knowledge of annoying office workers to aid job hunters
by outlining ten simple ways to make sure an interviewer hates you ?€" avoid.
Be a Smiley Face - Excessive smiling in a job interview is seen for what it is ?€" nervousness and a lack of confidence. A Smiley Face exudes
phoniness, which will quickly be picked up by the interviewer. (Was there was something to this seeming insanity after all?)
Be a Know-It-None - Your job is to be knowledgeable about the company for which you're interviewing.... Never feel you have to fill an interview
with small talk. Find ways to talk about serious subjects related to the industry or company. Pockets of silence are better than padding an interview
with random babble.
Sweat - You can lose a job by wearing an undershirt or simply a little too much clothing. Sweaty palms or beads on your forehead will not impress.
You are not applying to be a personal trainer.
Raise a Stop Sign - Interviewers are seeking candidates eager to take on challenging projects and jobs. Hesitance and a nay saying mentality will
be as visible as a red tie ?€" and seen as a negative.
Be a Sheeple - Asking the location of the lunchroom or meeting room will clue the interviewer into your lack of preparation and initiative. Prepare.
Don't ask questions about routine elements or functions of a company: where stuff is, the size of your cube and company policy on coffee breaks.
Be a Liar Liar - Studies show that employees lie frequently in the workplace. Lying won't get you one. In a job interview even a slight exaggeration
is lying. Don't.
Be a Bad Comedian - Humor tends to be very subjective and while it may be tempting to lead your interview with a joke you've got to be careful
about your material.
Be High Maintenance - If you start talking about the ideal office temperature, the perfect chair for your tricky back, and how the water cooler needs
to be filled with imported mineral water, chances are you'll be shown a polite smile and the door, regardless of your qualifications.
Be A Minute Man - At every job interview, the prospective hire is given the chance to ask questions. Make yours intelligent, to the point and watch
the person across the desk for visual cues whether you've asked enough. Ask too many questions about off-target matters and you'll be thought of
as a Minute Man, destined to waste the company's resources with insignificant and time-wasting matters.
Be A Switchblade - In an interview setting, the Switchblade can't help but "trash talk" his former employer. If you make it seem like your former
workplace was hell on Earth, the person interviewing you might be tempted to call them to find out who was the real devil.
For more straight talking advice on all things HR, check out the always provocative Punk Rock HR.

Job Security: 5 New Rules to Get Your Next Job or Keep Your Current One
With a mortgage to pay and twin daughters in private school, Steven Kendus, 38, could have been facing financial disaster when he got laid off
from his job as vice president of marketing at QED Financial Systems in October 2008. But he had an ace in the hole: a part-time business writing
resumes, creating marketing campaigns, and designing Web sites that he'd started early in his career.
Well aware that marketing professionals often get axed in downturns, he built the business up over the years to the point where it sometimes
generated as much as one-quarter of his annual income. So while he searched for a full-time gig, Kendus was able to pay the bills by working more
hours at his side business. By July 2009, he’d found a new position as marketing director at an electronic payment processor, and scaled back his
outside work.
Like Kendus, many executives realize that simply working hard at your job can only take you so far a time when downsizing is rampant and new
jobs are scarce. “I don’t think there’s anybody who has the level of security and confidence they had two years ago,” says Stefanie Smith, principal
of Stratex Consulting, an executive consulting and coaching firm.
Fortunately, there is plenty you can do to shore up your job and income security, from small daily steps like savvier networking to bigger initiatives
like starting a side business. Here are five strategies you can start using today.
1. Get Out of Your Bunker
Although working hard is obviously important, this is not the time to just put your head down and ignore the larger picture at your company, says
Smith. Priorities are changing quickly at many firms, and you could be shooting yourself in the foot by investing too much time in an initiative or
client that, unbeknownst to you, may be disappearing soon. To protect yourself, check in at least every two weeks with your boss to ask what
projects you should fast-track, Smith advises. “You need to know exactly what your boss’s financial, tactical, and operational priorities are — and
what your boss’s boss’s are,” says Smith.
And don’t simply assume your boss is well-informed enough to keep you ahead of the downsizing curve. Take the time to actually read those
internal emails, and set up Google alerts on your own company so you don’t miss any news of new initiatives that could affect your job, advises
Caroline Ceniza-Levine, co-founder of SixFigureStart, a career coaching and consulting firm.
In addition, try to cultivate relationships with colleagues in other departments who may know about changes within the company that could
potentially lead to opportunities for you. “If they all start jumping on a specific project or client — or all start looking for jobs — pay attention to that,”
Ceniza-Levine advises.
2. Network with a Purpose
When you go to a conference, forget mass schmoozing and target your efforts toward meeting and getting contact information for at least three
people who can truly help your career, such as panelists or executives at companies where you’d like to work, advises Andrea Nierenberg,
principal of The Nierenberg Group, a consulting and executive training firm. “You’re not going to have a good conversation with 100 people in a
day,” she says. And then schedule time in your calendar the day after the event to enter your new contacts’ information into your database and
follow up with them. It’s too easy to let such tasks wallow at the bottom of your to-do list because they seem unimportant — until they’re important.
3. Stay on Top of Industry-Changing Technologies
If you’re feeling like a technological dinosaur, it’s not too late to catch up. “There are technologies developing now that didn’t exist just a few years
ago,” says Ceniza-Levine, pointing to Twitter and Facebook. To figure out what you should be learning, think about the problems that keep
executives at your company up at night, look outside your company and industry for technological solutions, and build some regular time into your
schedule to learn them —ideally by stepping up for projects at work where you can develop your knowledge.
That’s what Steven Kendus did. Noticing that marketing jobs were gradually requiring more experience with online technologies, he took a course
in Web design and taught himself to use social networking sites in his free time. He volunteered for new projects at work and in his freelance gigs
where he could use what he learned. And he believes his diverse skills — highlighted in an online portfolio he created — gave him an edge in
winning his current job.
4. Start Working Toward a Career Change — Now
If you’re in a shrinking field, don’t wait until you’re out of a job to start earning new credentials for a career shift. You may not have the time or
savings then to pay for additional training. For example, “it takes two to four years to become a nurse, one of the hot areas today,” notes Stephen
Viscusi, CEO of executive search firm Viscusi Group and author of Bulletproof Your Job.
Benjamin Seaman, 43, a former art director at The Wall Street Journal, saw the writing on the wall for his career prospects several years ago, and
started working toward a Master’s degree in social work while he was still employed. It took him three years of studying and taking classes on the
weekends and one morning a week, but in 2004, he opened his practice as a psychotherapist in New York City and now earns about double what
he did in his previous gig. “As long as you work for someone else, there really isn’t job security,” Seaman says. “You never know when you can be
laid off.”
5. Find a Second Income
It’s almost as risky these days to depend on a single company for your pay as it is to invest all your money in one stock. For full-time professionals,
the key to diversifying your income stream is finding a side gig that doesn’t jeopardize your main job by posing a conflict of interest or interfering
with your performance.
The easiest way to get started is by finding a spinoff from work you’re already doing. Hilary Reiter, 34, director of public relations for Utah
advertising agency Derring Elliot & Associates, supplements her income by taking on about 150 hours a year of weekend and evening projects —
such as promoting a local music festival — that would be too small for her current employer and that tap into her interests. Stephen Furnari, 38, a
New York City lawyer, rents out space in a large office suite to about 40 of his fellow lawyers, many of whom were downsized and started their own
practices. And David Lewis, 29, an Oklahoma City-based regional manager at a staffing firm, brings in extra income ($17,000 in 2009) by delivering
speeches on job-search techniques (at $2,500 a pop) to professional organizations and schools in his area. Because he already knows the material
he is teaching inside out, the business takes him just two to four hours a week to call potential clients to market himself, and about seven vacation
days a year for out-of-town speeches. “We’re all subject matter experts in what we do all day,” says Lewis.
How P&G Brought the Diaper Revolution to China
When Procter & Gamble set out to sell Pampers in China more than a decade ago, it faced a daunting marketing challenge: P&G didn't just have to
persuade parents that its diapers were the best. It had to persuade many of them that they needed diapers at all. The disposable diaper — a
throwaway commodity in the West — just wasn't part of the cultural norm in the Chinese nursery. Babies wore cloth diapers, or in many cases, no
diaper at all. And that, says Bruce Brown, who's in charge of P&G's $2 billion R&D budget, is why China presented — and still presents — such a
huge opportunity.
Today, after years of exhaustive research and plenty of missteps, Pampers is the No. 1-selling diaper in China and the company, in many ways, is
just getting started there. The diaper market in China is booming. It stands at $1.4 billion — roughly a quarter the size of the U.S. market — and is
projected to grow 40 percent over the next few years, according to research firm Datamonitor.
P&G's success in China has helped CEO Bob McDonald set some bold goals. Last October, he laid out a plan to add one billion customers over
the next five years by promoting P&G brands throughout some of the poorest corners of the world. How will P&G go about doing that? To get a
sense, just look at the way it cracked — and to a large degree created — the market for disposable diapers in China.
Learning From Failure
When P&G first launched Pampers in China in 1998, the effort flopped. Instead of developing a unique product for the market, P&G made a lower-
quality version of U.S. and European diapers, wrongly assuming that parents would buy them if they were cheap enough. “It just didn’t work,”
Brown says.
Chinese split-pants, or kaidangku. Photo by The Wu's Photo Land on Flickr
It didn’t help that Chinese families had always gotten along just fine without disposable diapers. There, potty training often begins as early as six
months, and children wear what’s called kaidangku — colorful open-crotch pants that let them squat and relieve themselves in open areas.
Pampers’ pitch wasn’t compelling people to try something new — and neither was the product itself. “We scrimped on the softness in the earlier
versions,” says Kelly Anchrum, director of global baby care, external relations, and sustainability. “It had a more plasticky feel. It took us awhile to
figure out that softness was just as important to moms in a developing market.”
P&G had tried a similarly watered-down approach earlier in the decade, when it launched laundry and hair-care brands in several emerging
markets. Those products also failed, Brown says. After these experiences, the company in 2001 came up with a new approach to product
development: “Delight, don’t dilute.” In other words, the diaper needed to be cheap, but it also had to do what other cheap diapers didn’t — keep a
baby dry for 10 hours and be as comfortable as cloth.
So P&G added softness, dialed down the plastic feel, and increased the absorption capability of the diaper. To bring down the cost, the company
developed more efficient technology platforms and moved manufacturing operations to China to eliminate shipping costs.
The revamped diaper, Pampers Cloth Like & Dry, hit retail shelves in China’s largest cities in 2006, selling for the equivalent of 10 cents in local
currency, less than half the cost of a Pampers diaper in the United States.
The Universal Pitch
P&G had the right diaper and the right price point. Now it faced the bigger challenge. “You have to convince someone that they need this thing,”
says Ali Dibadj, an analyst who covers P&G at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
For Frances Roberts, global brand franchise leader for Pampers, every trip to China was (and still is) an opportunity to learn more about Chinese
nursery habits. It’s part of the P&G ethos that brand leaders visit consumers in their own homes — something Roberts has done in dozens of
countries, including Germany, Russia, and Jakarta. The goal is to uncover the nuances of each market, and early on in its diaper research P&G
discovered a universal need. “Moms say the same things over and over,” Roberts says. Their cry: We want more sleep.
With the help of the Beijing Children’s Hospital’s Sleep Research Center, P&G researchers conducted two exhaustive studies between 2005 and
2006, involving 6,800 home visits, and more than 1,000 babies throughout eight cities in China. Instead of cloth, the research subjects were tucked
into bed with Pampers. The results: P&G reported that the babies who wore the disposables fell asleep 30 percent faster and slept an extra 30
minutes every night. The study even linked the extra sleep to improved cognitive development, a compelling point in a society obsessed with
academic achievement.
P&G then put its marketing machine into motion. Pampers launched the “Golden Sleep” campaign in 2007, which included mass carnivals and in-
store campaigns in China’s biggest urban areas. A viral campaign on the Pampers Chinese web site asked parents to upload photos of their
sleeping babies to drive home the study’s sleep message. The response was impressive: 200,000 photos, which P&G used to create a 660-
square-meter photomontage at a retail store in Shanghai. The ad campaign boasted “scientific” results, such as “Baby Sleeps with 50% Less
Disruption” and “Baby Falls Asleep 30% Faster.”
No diaper brand, not even rival Kimberly-Clark, maker of Huggies, has come close to spending as much on advertising in China, according to CTR
Market Research, the China-based division of American media researcher TNS Media Intelligence. Since 2006, Pampers’ measured media spend
topped 3.2 billion yuan, or about $476 million — more than three times as much as any other brand. In 2009 alone, P&G spent $69 million,
compared to Kimberly-Clark’s $12 million spend for Huggies.
Ruling the Nursery — in China and Around the World
Today, Pampers is the top-selling brand in China, a country where about a decade ago the disposable diaper category hardly existed. P&G does
not release sales figures for specific countries, but Datamonitor estimates that the company has captured more than 30 percent of the $1.4 billion
market.
Karl Gerth, an Oxford professor who researches the spread of consumerism in China, says P&G’s marketing campaigns strike the right tone. “You
don’t want to come off as paternalistic,” says Gerth, who wrote the book “China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation.” “The idea
that Pampers brings a scientific backing and gives children an edge in their environment — that’s a brilliant way to stand out from the competition.”
You could argue that it’s easy being No. 1 when the market is still small. But P&G still has a lot of work to do. The company faces challenges from
private-label and domestic brands, including the No. 2 market leader, Hengan International Group, which has steadily grown its market share to 20
percent. Local brands, meantime, are catching up with better products, marketing, and distribution. “Chinese consumers are going to want to root
for the home team,” Gerth says.
And there’s still the challenge of making disposables a habit. On average, diaper use still amounts to less than one a day. “We’ve only just begun to
scratch the surface [in China],” Dimitri Panayotopoulos, vice chairman of global household care, told investors in a 2008 analyst meeting.
There’s even bigger potential in India, where the birth rate is almost double that of China but the diaper market remains tiny at about $43.4 million.
(Pampers is the top-selling brand there, too.) So now, P&G plans to take the sleep argument throughout rural and poor areas in India and
elsewhere. The company also makes its case by positioning itself as a baby-care educator. Pampers sponsors healthcare-outreach programs such
as a rural immunization program in China and mobile medical-care vans in Pakistan and Morocco. In India, there’s a door-to-door program that
offers baby-care tips and diaper samples for moms.
Of course, P&G tweaks the sales pitch to fit different markets; that’s what the company is known for. In India, for instance, the convenience of
disposable diapers doesn’t resonate with parents. The company’s consumer research found that many Indian mothers think that only lazy moms
put their babies in disposable diapers that last a full night. As Pampers brand manager Vidya Ramachandran reported in an internal video shown to
employees, “We really had to change that mindset and educate [mothers] that using a diaper is not about convenience for you — it’s about your
baby’s development.”
Sales Goals Can Be Your Worst Enemy
Sales pros always have goals, and most enjoy the process of achieving them. But did you know that goals can be a major impediment to your
success?
Take cold-calling, for instance. Most sales pros see cold calling as a goal-oriented activity -- fill the pipeline with "X" number of prospects, in the
hopes of creating as many customers as possible.
That makes sense, but it also encourages sales pros to see each conversion that results in a prospect as a "win" and each cold call that ends in
some other way as a "loss."
And that's setting yourself up for failure, because the nature of cold calling is that only a small percentage of the people you contact will be potential
customers. The majority will be people who simply aren't interested or are not a fit for a variety of reasons.
However, if you're caught up in the "win/loss" way of thinking, you may feel like a "loser" even if the person you called had absolutely no use
whatsoever for your product!
Not surprisingly, sales pros begin dreading it, avoiding it, and become increasingly less effective when they actually get around to doing it.
The root cause of this deeply flawed "win/loss" thinking is focusing on the goal rather than the process. If you're focused on the result, you are
visualizing the future (i.e. "will I make my goal???") rather than experiencing the present moment.
As a result, there's no way that you can really listen to the prospect, because your attention is on a possible event in a future-yet-to-be. Because
your focus is elsewhere (on your goal, that is) you'll find it difficult to be creative and flexible in responding to what the potential prospect actually
says.
Here's how you fix this. Define cold-calling as a process rather than goal-oriented activity. Stop focusing on the result and start focusing on the
potential prospect and the process of communicating with that prospect to determine if in fact, there's truly a fit.
Changing your way of thinking is that you'll immediately become more effective because it removes the "sting" of contacting a lead that turns out,
for whatever reason, not to be a real prospect.
Rather than a "loss," the event simply becomes something that you happened to discover during the process of cold-calling.
More importantly, treating cold-calling as a process keeps you focused on finding ways to help potential prospects and customers - and on not
wasting the time of those who don't need the help.
Your true goal shouldn't be to make your sales goal, but to emulate an olympic athlete. Top athletes visualize "winning" (the goal) before
competing, but when they're actually performing they focus on what's happening right then and there.
Here's the cool part... the real reason for this entire post. Focusing on process rather than your goals increases the chances that fulfill your goals.
In other words, know your goals, then forget them, and put your mind into the process. If you do this right, your goals will take care of themselves,
because your process will make them happen without you wasting time obsessing on them.
The above is based on a conversation with Keith Rosen, author of Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions. Very smart guy.
Help! My Customers Don't "Get It"
Here's an email from a guy whose prospects are giving him the runaround. Can you spot his (glaring) error:
When contacting an organization, they assign a really junior person to evaluate the product independently. That person often does not have the
necessary experience to understand the benefits of the tool. They often give it a really cursory evaluation, draw some conclusions that are
inaccurate, and deflect any attempts to give them an actual demo or spend time giving them context. I suspect that a good salesperson would have
some specific tactics to turn this situation around on its head, but I have yet to figure out a good way to handle it...
I'm sure that many Sales Machine readers know why you're having this problem, but here goes...
Your product is assigned to a junior person for evaluation because you're not positioning it correctly up-front. You've defined your product in terms
of features and functions. Because the customer decision-maker doesn't immediately see the financial benefits, he assigns the task of "seeing if
there's something there" to a junior person.
That junior person has limited business understanding and is thus completely incapable of determining the financial value of the product. However,
the "evaluator" does have some set of prefab ideas about what might be useful, and uses those ideas to position your product. When you come in
with your "wait, wait! you didn't get it" routine, you've already lost the sale.
What you need to do is to create a field message -- one or two sentences -- that defines the unique financial benefits of your offering in a crisp and
compelling manner. Then, once that message opens up the door to the decision-maker, your sales process should focus on discovering the actual
financial value of your offering in that particular customer environment.
That's the theory. In this afternoon's post, I'll go over the actual positioning of the real-life company of the guy who wrote the email. (Turns out he's
a former colleague at BNET!)
READERS: Did you see the other error, the one I didn't point out?
Understanding the New American Consumer
The economic crisis has fundamentally changed how Americans spend their money. Whether this shift is short term or permanent remains to be
seen, but we know these things for sure today.
U.S. consumers are spending less, although more than last year.
They are saving more.
When they do spend, they are very careful about what they buy (value over sizzle) and who they buy it from (trusted brands).
Nancy Koehn, a Harvard Business School historian with a focus on retail, calls this "the new normal," the biggest change in consumer attitudes
since WW II. Writing on her [Link] blog, Koehn observes:
"When the war was over, consumers were cautious and thoughtful as they prepared for an uncertain future. We are seeing similar behavior today."
Here are the three things that distinguish the American consumer of today from even just two years ago, Koehn says. Consumers are:
Turning to valued brands. Wal-Mart, Apple, McDonald's and many other old and new brands are benefiting as consumers place their trust in
companies that consistently deliver high-quality product and value, and who stand behind what they sell. We're not in the mood to take chances or
sacrifice quality to get a lower price.
Vetting potential purchases over the Internet. Consumers are going online to do their homework on products, including seeking the opinions of
other users. Retailers are responding to this shift by deploying Twitter and other social networking channels to keep consumers informed.
Looking for the story behind the product. Household are researching not just prices and attributes of products, but the story behind the products,
Koehn says. "Where did the offering come from, what kind of company created it, how their are employees treated? It is simply not enough to be
the best racehorse on the track anymore."
Read her entire post, American Consumption and the New Normal, then come back here for a discussion. Do your own buying habits echo what
Nancy Koehn is seeing? And if you are in the business of serving consumers, how can you use this knowledge to create a sharpened value
proposition for the New American Consumer?
Help! I Can't Find Decision-Makers!
Sales novices often find it difficult to locate the right decision makers in a large organization. A former colleague of mine (who's new to selling)
recently sent me the following em...ail:
When you have a product that's applicable to both small and large co's - typically at the smaller targets, it's very clear who the decisionmaker is ...
but at the larger companies, there are almost too many doors to knock on. I'm finding that for most larger co's that I'm trying to sell into, the initial
intro to the product could be made to any one of tens or hundreds of potential targets - and that when I am successful in closing the sale, it usually
comes down to a by committee decision (rather than one person pulling the trigger). When I am unsuccessful in selling to these large co's, often it
is because while I got that initial person's ear and got them to check out the product (with positive feedback), I never really knew what happened
beyond that point.
I'll make it simple for you. In most companies the "decision" to buy (or not buy) an offering goes through three sets of individuals:
Access Owners. These are people are willing to talk to you and potentially sponsor you to the rest of the organization. You are correct in assuming
that there are many of these. Your challenge is to pick the one who will best be able to help you sell.
Problem Owners. These are the operational managers whose departments actually need your offering. Sometimes they're also (partial) budget
owners, but often they do not really have real control of their budgets when it comes to large purchases.
Budget Owners. These are people who control the money. In large companies, spending authority is typically shared between various people, each
of whom can say "No" to a deal. The number of individuals involved (and their titles) differ according to the size of the purchase.
Your problem stems from expecting your initial contact to do your selling for you -- a job for which they are not qualified. Instead, you must use your
Access Owners to locate the problem owners and budget owners who will actually make the decision. This is a three-stage process:
STAGE 1: Enlist the Access Owners. Access Owners are primarily interested in their own credibility and position in the hierarchy. They will want to
be certain that you are credible and can deliver as promised, so that bringing you forward will enhance their status. At this point in the sale, your
emphasis is on creating an aura of personal credibility and building a strong relationship.
STAGE 2: Convince the Problem Owners. Problem Owners are typically too busy to talk to you unless somebody else in the organization (i.e. an
"access owner") is willing to put his job on the line by sponsoring you. The "problem owner" is primarily concerned with whether your offering will
have an actual benefit in the part of the business that's the responsibility of the "problem owner." At this point in the sale, your emphasis is on the
solution and the benefits that it will provide.
STAGE 3: Satisfy the Budget Owners. Budget Owners aren't interested in your offering, per se, but on the impact that your offering will have on the
bottom line. So at this point in the sale, it's all about making the decision to buy into a no-brainer. The way you do this is to make your Access
Owners and Problem Owners into your advocates.
The above is based, BTW, upon a conversation with the great Neil Rackham, author of the classic sales book "Spin Selling." Basic stuff, but still
worth reviewing.
Three Questions to Ask Before You Start Surveying Customers
BNET UK blogger Julian Goldsmith offers valuable insight into the service data published in the Which? Holidays survey.
But there's another issue at the source of many a service lapse -- a problem that starts with customer service surveys.
Tour operators Thomas Cook and Cosmos have hit back at the Which? survey with data showing the exact opposite. Both have holiday satisfaction
surveys that refute the Which? findings and suggest an overwhelming majority of their customers are happy with the service they've received.
So how did that happen? Ask any statistician and they'll reel off a list of reasons why two surveys can give completely opposite results.
But whether it's differences in the sample, the questionnaire or the interpretation, the fact is that many businesses, especially large ones, put
significant store by their customer measures.
But are we just kidding ourselves? Can we really measure customer experience objectively? In short, that depends on the questions -- the most
important being those that you ask before you even put pen to paper.
Here are the three important questions to ask before you start planning that next customer survey:
1. What is the survey for?
a. To give a consistent year-on-year picture for performance management
b. To compare relative performance in specific areas across a competitive set
c. To understand what customers want; what they value; and how they decide "who to use" and "who to recommend" (not always the same).
2. Who are you asking?
a. A representative sample of current customers
b. Anyone that's in the market for your product / service
c. The "best" customer groups (e.g. most profitable / most enthusiastic etc.)
3. What are you asking them?
a. How their experience compares to their expectations
b. How your delivery compares to that of your competitors
c. What they like, and how they are likely to behave (e.g. would you return, would you recommend to a friend?)
Each combination of the above (and it isn't an exhaustive list) should lead you to a quite different approach.
You may find you don't need a survey after all -- just to spend some quality time with real customers in a real environment, or perhaps you'd benefit
from a number of different views to give a more rounded picture.
Either way, surveys and statistics do have a role to play in understanding your customers, and how well you're delivering. But they are only a part
of the picture. In isolation, they can be confusing, contradictory and quite simply misleading.
How To Rework Up-front Positioning
In this morning's post ("Help! My Customers Don't Get it"), I published an email from a former BNET colleague where he complained about getting
assigned to low-level contacts in his larger prospects. The colleague is Travis Van and he used to write the Catching Flack blog, which was (in my
view) one of the best blogs that's ever appeared on this site.
Travis himself is one of the smartest guys in the PR business and his new company is a freakin' stroke of brilliance. However, even though he's
incredibly talented, it's often difficult for creative people to market their own stuff. The reason is simple: you get so close to your creation that you
can't see it from the outside.
So I'm going to do it for him... and I'm hoping that he'll report back to me on whether my revised approach worked or not. So then...
Travis's new company is ITDatabase, and it provides an incredibly valuable function for high tech firms that need to contact the media and develop
productive relationships with them.
I can tell you, with all seriousness, that when I was in high tech marketing, I would have practically killed for a cool product like this. Any high tech
marketers reading this post should stop reading this post and go over to Travis's site and check it out.
However, not everyone in the business world is as savvy as you Sales Machine readers, which is why Travis's firm needs some better up-front
positioning. Here's his current top-line message, with a my critique [in brackets]:
If you're serious about tech marketing and PR results [1], you know that you're only as good as your information. [2] ITDatabase[3] is the only
research tool designed specifically for the tech industry.[4] It gives you relevant, actionable information[5] for your marketing and PR efforts without
all the noise [6].
[1] What is meant by "serious" and "results"? How serious? What results?
[2] What is meant by "good"? Morally correct? What kind of "information"?
[3] "ITDatabase" sounds "plain wrap" because all IT groups use databases.
[4] This is confusing. The tech industry has hundreds of research tools.
[5] What is meant by "relevant", "actionable" and "information"?
[6] What does this mean? That it runs quietly on my computer?
In summary, the up-front positioning is vague and makes lots of assumptions that the reader (or hearer) will be able to understand the benefits.
What's needed is something that's concrete (not abstract and vague) and tied directly to financial impact. I'd go with something like this:
High tech firms like [reference account] use our software to double their sales by targeting media sources that reach the right customers and
prospects.
If Travis leads with this message, I guarantee he won't get assigned to a junior evaluator. He'll be talking to the head of marketing or the head of
sales, pronto.
Once you're in the account, he needs to work with the contact to identify the types of media sources that they'd like to reach, and to quantify the
financial impact -- in term of sales revenue -- of reaching those sources more frequently and more effectively.
The entire sales process should be built around uncovering those financial hot spots until it becomes wildly clear that they'd be financial
dunderheads if they didn't buy.
Even so, I must say that Travis's basic idea is so clever, and so needed, that he could probably make it successful anyway. The new messaging
will just make it easier to develop some of the larger accounts.
Why Your Best Paycheck May Be Behind You
With unemployment numbers starting to look less bad, the stock market holding on to its 2009 gains, and even a recent uptick in the manufacturing
and service industries, it's possible to start daydreaming about what seemed like bygone luxuries: a modicum of job security, perhaps a small
bonus, maybe even a raise. Indeed, employers are projecting salary increases in the 2.5 percent range for this year.
Don’t spend that money just yet. A combination of short-term factors and long-range changes may conspire to squeeze salaries for some time to
come. “The stagnant wages we’re seeing now — that’s just the beginning,” says Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy
Institute. “What’s really going to set this period apart is the length of time wages will be falling.”
To be sure, your paycheck is affected by many factors, some of them specific to your performance, your company, and your industry. You may very
well buck the trend. That said, compensation trends are a lot like gravity: You can escape them, but sooner or later there’s a good chance you’ll fall
back to earth.
One of the biggest forces exerting pressure on wages is the job market. Along with the Federal Reserve and a growing number of her peers,
Shierholz predicts the U.S. economy will be lucky to get back to pre-recession jobless rates by 2014. In the meantime, high unemployment plus
ongoing structural changes and industry shifts will continue to exert downward pressure on paychecks in ways that could be felt well after the jobs
picture improves. “The landscape has already changed dramatically for employees,” says Ken Abosch, a compensation practice leader with
consulting firm Hewitt Associates, Inc. “Base salary increases are not where you’re going to accumulate wealth and income.”
How did we get to the point where an institution like the annual raise could be in jeopardy? The recession is certainly a major factor — when
workers have nowhere else to go, employers are less likely to have to pay a premium to keep them. But other trends tugging at wages have also
been in the works for a while:
Real wages have actually been flat for years. Looking back, it turns out a decade’s worth of easy credit and faux real estate wealth obscured the
fact that incomes for the majority of workers weren’t keeping up. After healthy salary growth of roughly 1.8 percent annually from 1995 to 2000, for
example, inflation-adjusted, or real, wages for the median worker remained essentially flat from 2000 until 2007 when the recession started,
according to government data (average wages increased roughly 2 percent, but that number is skewed by huge gains at the top). In fact, after the
recovery in 2002, notes Shierholz, no real wage growth occurred at all for the median worker — despite an increase in productivity of 11 percent
over the seven-year time frame.
So who reaped the productivity gains? Typically, companies and their shareholders. Shierholz and other economists attribute the disconnect
between wages and output to declining unionization and the need to keep prices low in a competitive global environment.
If wages weren’t going up appreciably when workers were in short supply and the economy was growing, it’s difficult to see the justification for
employers to boost pay when the unemployment rate is in double digits. Until demand for their products and services returns, companies will likely
continue to rein in the costs of doing business. And with six unemployed Americans for every open position, that means a buyers’ market for
employers. Even after the jobs come back — barring policy changes, extremely low unemployment, or something else to increase employee
bargaining power — the gap between productivity and pay is likely to remain a drag on wages.
Entry-level salaries continue to slump. The amount companies are willing to pay to bring new people on board is a bellwether of what’s ahead. So
the fact that starting salaries were falling before this most recent downturn is ominous. Despite outsized compensation in banking and other high-
flying industries, entry-level wages for college graduates declined throughout the previous decade. The average starting salary for a graduate in
2009 was $48,633, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a decrease of 1.2 percent from 2008. From 2000 to 2007,
real starting pay for those with bachelor’s degrees fell 3.2 percent among men and 1.7 percent among women. In contrast, between 1995 and
2000, real starting pay for college-educated men and women increased 20.9 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively.
While pay in certain in-demand professions such as engineering and accounting continues to edge up slightly, the increases haven’t been as
significant as in previous years. Till von Wachter, a Columbia University economist who has studied wage fluctuations of entry-level and displaced
workers, agrees part of the reductions are driven by cost control, but says it’s more than that. In the 1980s, he explains, salaries started going up
and many were further inflated by dotcom and financial booms. Now some of that is reversing.
But can’t good workers make up the difference in starting pay when things get better again? Not always, says Lisa B. Kahn, an assistant
economics professor at Yale. In a recently published study she found white male graduates who started working during the 1981-82 recession drew
starting salaries anywhere from 7 to 20 percent less than their more fortunate peers who had started their careers right before or after them. Even
17 years later, though, they still hadn’t caught up, with some trailing those who had graduated in better times by as much as $120,000 over the
entire period. “They’re often in a job that doesn’t give them the training or use their higher skills so that puts them in a worse position when they
leave,” Kahn says.”
New jobs don’t pay as well as the old ones. Industry shifts and structural changes in businesses also continue to put pressure on salaries. A 2009
analysis of figures from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that sectors that expanded through this decade have paid an average annual
compensation of $55,300, compared with $65,100 for industries that are shrinking. This is partly because many of the newly-created positions are
in service industries, which tend to be less organized and have less bargaining power. Think home healthcare and “green” jobs versus auto
manufacturing and heavy industry.
The prospects are even worse for people who lose their jobs in a recession. In a recent study of the impact mass layoffs had in the 1982 recession,
Columbia’s von Wachter found that among the group he studied — men who had been employed for at least three years by their company before
getting laid off and with an average age of 40 — less than a quarter ever got back to the level of their previous salary. The majority took pay cuts of
15 to 20 percent, which persisted even 20 years later — bad news for the 15.7 million Americans currently unemployed. Von Wachter attributes this
to a number of factors; the former job may have been a perfect fit and difficult to replace, plus companies typically eliminate their best paying jobs
first.
What You Can Do
So where does that leave you? The overall picture is undoubtedly bleak, but there are things you can do to prepare for this unwelcome trend:
Rethink your career and investing strategy. With salaries not increasing as steadily, you’re probably going to be working longer and switching jobs
more frequently to earn more, so planners advise focusing on your “career assets,” long a neglected part of many portfolios. The goal is no longer
to simply keep working through to retirement, but to continually enhance the value of your skills, whether through a new position, added
responsibilities, increased networking, or acquiring additional training or education. This could lead to a relaxation of some of the old rules, such as
never withdrawing money from your 401(k) before retirement.
It may, in fact, be OK to tap the retirement account if it’s for the purposes of education that will have a longer-term payoff, says Michael Haubrich, a
certified financial planner in Racine, Wisconsin.“In the old paradigm, it might have been okay to grind your brains out at any old job,” counting on
pay increases and the markets to help you stumble over the finish line to retirement, Haubrich says. “But that’s not going to work anymore.”
Continually assess your market value. As with any asset, you need to know what you’re worth to employers—and it isn’t always what you’re paid.
By looking at general trends in your industry and what other employers are paying, this benchmarking process will give you a good idea of the
direction of your future earnings. Too often, Haubrich says, people don’t realize that their skills may be discounted by the marketplace, sometimes
significantly.
One of his clients, for example, was surprised to find the going rate for her marketing expertise was half the $250,000 she was being paid. When
she was subsequently laid off, however, this knowledge made her much more willing to accept a new position for considerably less than she had
been making. “Because she had already done the research, we were able to prepare her so she didn’t waste time going after a salary that was
unrealistic,” Haubrich says.
Adjust your spending and investments as necessary. If you expect your salary stagnation or decline to be short-term, you may be able to weather it
by temporarily trimming back your spending. And depending on your other assets, you might not even have to do that. But a longer term or more
drastic reduction in pay will likely entail some significant changes, notes Gary Schatsky, a New York-based fee only financial planner. Can you
afford your house? Your condo? “I tell clients this is a good time to look at the question of needs versus wants,” he says. “You have to prioritize.”
For some people, he says, this has meant selling the extra car or taking the kids out of private school. For others, home improvements, dinners out,
and expensive vacations have fallen by the wayside. “Renting out vacation homes has become common,” Schatsky says. “People are saying that
half the summer is dedicated to paying for the next six months.” In essence, much of the scaling back that’s been forced on us by the Great
Recession may well have to become permanent.
While these may not be fun questions to ponder, they are necessary ones as we face a future where steady wage growth is no longer a given.
Better to be prepared for them now, than blindsided by them later.
Better Business Practices through Shame?
t's a question that's nagged social scientists and other policy elites for centuries: how to morph self-interested men and women into model citizens?
On the one hand, individuals should have incentives to innovate and remain productive. But given too much freedom, individuals will sink society
with their greed. After all, Ponzi scheme operators are technically just as industrious and creative as Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
Western, capitalist democracies operate under the assumption that the best way to produce desired social and economic outcomes comes from a
helping hand rather than an iron fist. Therefore, some propose more education programs to teach people how to become productive citizens while
others argue effective regulations are the best way to guide market players towards their "true" self-interest.
However, according to Dov Seidman, a consultant that helps businesses operate ethically, laws and regulations can only "foster responsible
behavior" to a point. Shame is a critical ingredient in the collective "village's" stew, as Seidman claims today within Thomas Friedman's influential
column:
"You have to enlist and inspire people in a set of values. People need to be governed both from the outside, through compliance with rules, and
from the inside, inspired by shared values. That is why shame is so important. When we call a banker 'a fat cat' for taking too big a bonus, we're
actually being inspirational leaders because we are telling them, 'You are behaving beneath how a responsible human being should behave.' We
need to inspire the village to shame those who betray our common values."
On the surface this argument may seem to make sense but when you think about it, the consequences are frightening. Seidman is essentially
saying that every responsible worker in the "village" has an obligation to be an "inspirational leader" who protests all business actions which are
deemed irresponsible (and by whom?). Unfortunately, this would only work in a cartoon world where almost everyone is a noble, honest citizen,
except for those shady "fat cats" who are up to no good.
But back in a place called reality, it's rarely clear which businesses and businesspeople are objectively "good" and which are "bad." Without that
moral imperative (and to be fair to Seidman, there are sometimes obvious cases of right and wrong which require citizen action), those who are
engaged in the business of shame may end up increasing society's level of self-righteousness instead of motivating people to become more
responsible.
And nothing clouds one's moral compass like self-righteousness. Consider a recent study which found those who buy green are more likely to
steal. In an odd psychological quirk, it turns out that those who are motivated to look like they are do-gooders can end up feeling like they've
purchased the right to be a little bad as well. That's why Al Gore gets to live in an energy-intensive mansion while the rest of us are supposed to
feel bad about driving to work.
That's my take. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts in the comments section below
Why Tiger Woods Should Get Back on the Green
Much, undoubtedly way too much, has already been written and said about the Tiger Woods saga, and many people have offered unsolicited
advice. A great deal of this commentary ignores relevant social science research. Because almost everyone will face some career-related setback
or problem at some point in their lives, it is important to learn how to overcome career reversals. As Henry Ford II said, "never complain, never
explain." This advice is just as useful as when he first uttered it decades ago. In a world of reality television, Facebook, and blogging, people seem
to think it is useful to share every thought and life detail with the world. Bad idea. First of all, this "sharing" encourages all the amateur
psychoanalysis that goes on anyway but needs material to feed on. Second, most of those who want an "explanation" from people like Tiger really
don't deserve one. Fans and even corporate sponsors are not close personal friends and family. Woods needs to explain himself only to his spouse
and his family, not to the public at large.
The unfolding of the Tiger Woods saga illustrates three principles about power. First, as much research shows, power leads to disinhibition. People
in power come to believe that the rules don't apply to them, become overly optimistic and excessively overconfident about their ability to control
events and achieve success even in dire circumstances, and tend to see others as means for their own ends. They adopt an "approach orientation"
and seek to fulfill their needs with little regard for social conventions and social norms. The financial masters of the universe on Wall Street, as one
example, still don't quite understand why others might see earning huge salaries from institutions that the government has bailed out with taxpayer
money as somehow inappropriate. They see themselves as different and special. So, if you achieve a position of great influence, beware of power's
corrupting effects and try not to succumb to the idea that just because you are prominent, normal social conventions don't apply.
Second, lots of people have had career setbacks. Sandy Weill, who built Traveler's into a financial power house and then ran Citigroup, was forced
out of American Express, which had purchased Shearson, another company he built, and Martha Stewart actually served prison time. Bernard
Marcus and Arthur Blank founded Home Depot after they were fired from their jobs in a Southern California building supply and hardware company.
According to research done by Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the best way to recover from reversals of fortune is to continue doing what you
do best-be that running a home d?cor and products business, building a financial institution, or in the case of Tiger Woods, playing golf. It's what
he's good at, what people pay to see him do, something he enjoys-we tend to enjoy things we are competent at doing-the source of his income,
and the source of his prestige and status. The last thing to do is to retreat from the field of play. When Sonnenfeld himself, known for his leadership
research and running a seminar for high-profile CEOs, was accused by Emory University, his former employer, of vandalism, he was soon running
his own non-profit-doing precisely the work he was good at doing and work that would permit him to achieve success even as he fought to prove
Emory's allegations totally false.
Third and most importantly, people ally with those they see as winning-a phenomenon sometimes called "basking in reflected glory." Our own self-
esteem is higher if we are connected with and root for success. In the end, what matters is performance. With enough success, all is forgiven.
Maybe it shouldn't be, but that's the way the world works. As William Rhoden wrote in a recent New York Times piece, even though basketball
coaches Bob Knight and John Calipari broke rules and behaved inappropriately, both found high-paying jobs because they could produce winning
teams. Today, few people bother about the fact that people ranging from Jack Welch to Rudy Giuliani to politicians too numerous to name were
unfaithful to their spouses. What matters is that you convey that you aren't embarrassed and go about your life.
So don't cry for Tiger Woods. If he has enough sense to get back on the golf course and wins some tournaments, all the current ruckus will soon
fade into the background. And, you, too, can survive career setbacks if you demonstrate resilience and continue doing what made you successful
in the first place.
The Problem with Incestuous Management
You're going to love this story.
Koss, a 57-year old Milwaukee-based manufacturer of stereo headsets, has fired its VP of finance, Sujata "Sue" Sachdeva, for allegedly
embezzling $31 million from the firm to fund a lavish lifestyle of ridiculously expensive clothes, jewelry, and other accouterments of that nature. The
publicly traded company will apparently be restating its financials going back to 2005. Trading in its stock has been halted since December 21st.
Sachdeva, who worked at Koss for 18 years, allegedly used her position as head of finance to authorize large wire transfers and cover her tracks
by cooking the books. In fact, it was American Express that blew the whistle when it noticed that payments for Sachdeva's personal credit card
were coming from Koss's bank account. Otherwise, this might have gone on for another five years before the sleepy company found out.
Which brings up a few questions you've got to ask yourself.
How is it that nobody noticed $5 million missing each year when the company's net income is about $5 million? I mean, the business of "stereo
headsets" isn't really a complex business model. There's revenue, cost of sales, and expenses. How do you somehow manage to hide $5 million
when expenses are only $10 million -- and cost of sales is $25 million?
The answer becomes clear when you look at the company's management team. Michael Koss is the company's CEO. He's also the company's vice
chairman, president, COO, and CFO. The company's VP of sales is, that's right, John Koss. Together they own 65 percent of the company's stock.
Another Koss, John Jr., owns 8 percent of the company's stock. Who knows how many other Kosses there are scattered about the place. No
checks and balances there. No hands on the wheel, either.
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, steer clear of incestuous companies; they're cesspools of dysfunctional management. Companies
structured like Koss should never be allowed into the public markets.
Of course, Koss fired its independent auditor, Grant Thornton, which promptly fired back, in a statement, that it wasn't hired "to conduct an audit or
evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting. Establishing and maintaining effective internal controls is management's and the board's
responsibility."
Easy Answers to Windows Problems
Upgrading to a new version of Windows has traditionally been a hit-or-miss affair, weighed down by glitches and frustrating customer support
experiences. But the word on the street is that Microsoft's support centers are taking half of the expected call volume.
That's due, in part, to Windows 7 itself, which is far more compatible and easier to use than previous versions of Windows. But you can also credit
some clever new support options. If you're upgrading to Windows 7, you might want to keep these resources handy:
Microsoft Answers is an all-new online forum where you can submit issues and get feedback and solutions from the Windows "community" -- other
users, Microsoft MVPs, and Microsoft employees. It's a new take on the old, less inviting newsgroup model for self-service support.
@MicrosoftHelps on Twitter is a direct line to Microsoft's support folks. Tweet a question, and a team of support engineers will get back to you,
often with a link to the solution.
Have you had to lean on Microsoft for help getting started with Windows 7? How did it go? Sound off in the comments.
Add Network Locations to Your Windows 7 Libraries (and More)
One of the most interesting file management tools in Windows 7 is the Library -- a virtual folder that aggregates files from any number of locations
on your computer into a single view. Out of the box, though, your Library customization options are limited, and there's no central place to modify all
your Libraries, so it takes a lot of clicks to do anything. I've got a free little utility that solves both of those problems.
The Win7 Library Tool is a free utility that puts all of your Library settings in a single window. From here, you can create new Libraries or modify
existing ones.
It's not just a centralized location for tweaking your Libraries, either -- you can do all sorts of things here that Windows doesn't normally allow. You
can add network drives and other unindexed locations to a Library, for example. You can also change icons and create a mirror of a Library, which
gives you a much shorter path. The Win7 Library Tool also lets you save our Library settings to a file, which you can use to restore your settings
after a clean installation.
It's free, it's simple to use, and it is a great tool for anyone who finds the Windows 7 Libraries a powerful way to manage file overload. [via
Download Squad]
Not sure what all the fuss is about? Check out our video tutorial on using Libraries.
Free Software Recovers Lost, Damaged Photos From Memory Cards
Just yesterday, I accidentally hit the power button on my camera while in the process of ejecting the memory card. (Yes, I'm incredibly clumsy.)
Luckily, my photos survived, but that's just the kind of accident that can result in corrupted files, an unreadable card, or the like.
If you rely on photos for your business, a good recovery utility is a must for your emergency toolkit. Look no further: Lexar Image Rescue 3 can
recover photos, videos, and audio files from any memory card using any card reader -- and it's free.
All you do is supply an e-mail address, then choose your operating system: Windows or Mac. Install the software, then hope you never need it.
Hack Your Coffee Cup with a Magnetic Sleeve
Need a place to stash your Starbucks Venti Mocha Frappa-Something while you reach for your car keys, dial your phone, knock out a few push-
ups, or whatever? No problem: Just stick it to the nearest light pole, newspaper box, car door, or other metal object.
Before you actually let go, however, make sure the cup is wearing a magnetic sleeve like the one described at Pop Up Lunch. And an ingenious
idea it is, as it certainly beats putting your cup on the ground (where it will undoubtedly get kicked) or the roof of your car (where it will undoubtedly
get forgotten).
Just one problem: The creator doesn't actually explain how to make one, other than to suggest "embedding some magnets" into a coffee cozy.
Well, sure, easier said than done, right?
Maybe not. Here's my simple suggestion for whipping up your own magnetic cozy:
Order a pack of 20mm rare-earth magnets from DealExtreme for $4.26 shipped (or the vendor of your choice).
Grab a couple of the thinnest cardboard coffee sleeves you can find. Super-glue three of the magnets in a straight line, top to bottom, to the outside
of one of the sleeves.
When that dries, nestle the first sleeve inside the second one and glue them together. Presto: You've got a magnetic sleeve (with the magnets
hidden inside) that should be strong enough to hold up a beverage. (Note I said "should be." You'll definitely want to experiment a bit -- preferably
with water as opposed to hot coffee.)
I've got one of these under construction in the Business Hacks workshop -- I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, think this is
something you'd use? If so, is there anything you'd change about my design?
Poll: Time for the Next Round of Free Trade Deals?
According to a story from Reuters today, business groups are urging President Obama to push through floundering free trade agreements with
South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
However, in a case of sloppy reporting, the Reuters report only cites two business advocacy organizations, the National Association of
Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce, to imply there is a broad consensus amongst all businesses on the latest FTAs.
While it is probably true that most business groups are on board, and the opposition consists mainly of labor organizations, some businesspeople
do in fact remain skeptical of free trade. There are specific issues related to each of these proposals (violence against unionists in Colombia; tax
havens in Panama) but the biggest question revolves around how these new FTAs will affect the American job market.
A "Leadership" Teaching Moment for President Obama
Whichever end of the political spectrum you lean towards, you have to admit that Barack Obama's first year in office has been action packed and
controversial. If his approval numbers are down and his party is taking some heat, it's because he's making the same leadership mistake that
George W. Bush made - leading by ideology.
Unfortunately, the only ideology the majority of Americans seem to respond well to is the one that created our nation: life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Once you get past that, we're pretty much a practical nation. We want to know what's in it for us, and that goes for Americans as
consumers, workers, and families.
Bush failed to make his ideology - spreading democracy to the middle east - tangible to the majority of Americans. Some say the war in Iraq was an
ideological one. And because that, and post-9/11 security, was the focus of his presidency, he really missed the boat on a broad range of domestic
issues that needed tending to. Moreover, he failed to spend conservatively.
And that obsession with his ideology, the failure to make his ideals tangible to Americans, cost him and his party bigtime. I call that failed
leadership.
In my opinion, President Obama is doing the same thing, only with a different set of ideology. Obama's ideology has multiple fronts: economic
stimulus, healthcare, energy (cap and trade). But as with Bush, that ideology comes with a price tag. And if Obama's going to push our deficit to
record levels, pragmatic Americans want to know what's in it for them.
Namely, they want to know why the stimulus funding hasn't gotten their jobs back, why they're still having trouble getting credit, when the housing
market will recover, how the healthcare overhaul will improve their lives, and whether all the spending will lead to runaway inflation.
And until he stops leading with ideology and starts leading by making his ideas tangible to American workers, families, and consumers, President
Obama will likely suffer the same fate as former President Bush. It will cost him and his party bigtime. And again, the reason will be failed
leadership.
Don't get me wrong, ideology serves a purpose. But a great leader knows his constituents, his audience, his employees, his customers, as the case
may be. And he knows that the most important question to answer is "what's in it for me." Or, as a CEO told me ages ago, "When you're out in front
of the pack, every once in a while it's a good idea to turn around and see if anyone's actually following you."
Google Nexus One: Any Good for Business Users? A Review Roundup
The Nexus One, Google's first hardware product, has been making splashy-splash all over the Web for a few days now, and suffice it to say, we're
intrigued. Could this be the first phone to really give the iPhone a challenge?
Actually, many would argue that the iPhone is far from the ideal device for business users (including, famously, Apple). So how does the Nexus
One fare when it comes to things like Outlook synchronization? Exchange support? Security?
To find out, we went trolling the reviews, with surprising, borderline shocking, results:
HTC Nexus One by Google (CNET)
Google's Nexus One Is Bold New Face in Super-Smartphones (Wall Street Journal)
Google Shakes but Doesn't Upend the Cellphone Market (New York Times)
Google Nexus One: The TechCrunch Review
Nexus One Review (Engadget)
Nexus One: The Best Android Phone Yet (GigaOm)
Out of all six reviews, exactly one -- CNET's -- made any mention of Outlook. Mentions of Exchange? Zero. Security? Zero.
Apparently the reviewers were all so dazzled by the phone's lovely display, fast operation, and slick voice capabilities that they overlooked some
very basic -- though critical -- business concerns. (Et tu, David Pogue?)
The Nexus One may turn out to be an iPhone killer (doubtful), but unless it can compete with BlackBerry and Windows Mobile on the
synchronization and security fronts, it won't make many inroads in the business world.
What's your take on the Nexus? Have you already preordered (like early-adopter king Dave), or do you have concerns about its business acumen?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
Run Four Google Searches in the Same Browser Window
Web searches are such an important part of our work day that I'm always looking for ways to make them faster, belter, and more efficient -- like a
digital Lindsay Wagner.
In the past, I've told you about cool reasons to use Bing, a Bing/Google comparison site, and some alternative, specialized search services. This
week? How about a way to run four independent Google searches in the same window?
[Link] does pretty much what you'd expect, based on its name. It divides the window into four independent frames,
each with its own Google search page.
Each one of the four mini-windows can be individually closed to make more room on the screen for the other searches. You can also go to
Wikipedia with a single click as well.
There's also a menu at the bottom of the page that lets you do a few other handy tricks, like restoring recent, closed Google searches and
switching to a side-by-side Google search page.
It's certainly not a life-changing site, but it's handy when you need to compare similar searches side-by-side -- which, for me, is pretty often.
Three Ways to Improve Your Time Management
How efficiently do you manage your day? You might be surprised at how a few simple tweaks can help you work more effectively and recoup
valuable time. Here are three tips I think are important to actually taking charge of your day -- rather than letting it own you.
Take Notes. I carry a yellow notepad everywhere I go and use it to take notes, write down reminders to myself, and out down action items as they
occur or as I think of them. At the end of the day, I consolidate these notes into a prioritized list of items for the next day (see the next item, Work
from a To-do List). Some people tell me that's inefficient; I should take notes directly into OneNote (which I also use). But personally, I find the act
of writing my notes by hand helps me focus on and internalize them more effectively. Your mileage may vary.
Work from a To-Do List. Remember those notes you should be keeping? Every night before you go home for the day, scour your notes for action
items, and build a to-do list for the next day. I keep my to-dos online, where I can see them no matter what technology I am using. (Check out Doris
or [Link], a few of my favorites.)
Make an Appointment for Your E-mail. I've said this many times before, but it's worth saying again: Don't nibble at your e-mail throughout the day.
Schedule a chunk of time to deal with e-mail (or several chunks, if you need to). Multi-tasking robs you of the focus and attention you need to be
efficient.
Seven Smartphone Security Risks You Should Avoid
Admit it: More and more these days, your world revolves around your smartphone. It holds not just your contacts and calendar, but also your
important documents, your critical text messages, and perhaps even your company passwords.
Wonderful as they are, smartphones are also inherently insecure devices. That's why it's imperative that you learn about the risks and take steps to
avoid them. CNET's Elinor Mills answers seven questions about smartphone safety; here's one of them:
Is it safe to use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth? Yes and no. If you are doing something sensitive on your phone, like checking a bank account or making a
payment, don't use the free Wi-Fi at a coffee shop or other access point. Use your password-protected Wi-Fi at home or the cellular network to
avoid what is called as a man-in-the-middle attack in which traffic is intercepted. Pairing a mobile phone with another Bluetooth-enabled device, like
a headset, means any device that can "discover" another Bluetooth device can send unsolicited messages or do things that could lead to extra
fees, data being compromised or corrupted, data stolen in an attack called "bluesnarfing," or the device being infected with a virus. In general,
disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth unless you absolutely need to use them.
Truth be told, I have mixed feelings about Mills' cautionary tales. She's right that the greatest security threat to your phone is losing it, but Wi-Fi
attacks? Viruses, worms, and other malware worries? This has been the stuff of Chicken Little punditry for years, and it just never pans out.
I'm not saying threats like these can't or won't happen, just that you shouldn't lose sleep over them. What you should do is read the article, as
knowledge is without question one of your best defenses against security threats.
Why Innovative Companies Fail
It's a classic dilemma that entrepreneurs, innovators, and creative folks often face: When do you stop creating, designing, developing, and actually
ship the product? How do you know when and where to draw a line in the sand and say this is it?
Good question, but is it really a quagmire? Harvard professor Clayton Christensen certainly thought so when he wrote the seminal work on the
decision-making process surrounding disruptive innovation,The Innovator's Dilemma.
Not to diminish Christensen's brilliant work, but in my experience, the issue has as much to do with who is making the decision as how the decision
is made. In my opinion, all-too-often companies have the wrong people with the wrong capabilities making critical business decisions.
As a wise VC whose name escapes me once said, "There are entrepreneurs and there are "Entrepreneurs"." Well, even "Entrepreneurs" who are
deemed capable of running a company are often incapable of making rational, objective critical business decisions. Two fascinating examples to
illustrate the point:
Duke Nukem 3D
In 1997, I was involved in a marketing campaign to use a virtual spokesperson from the gaming world to promote a line of microprocessors. The top
names at the time were Duke Nukem, of Duke Nukem 3D by 3D Realms, and Lara Croft, of Tomb Raider by Eidos Interactive. Both games were
launched by relatively small companies in 1996. And while Tomb Raider has become a huge media franchise, Duke Nukem is another matter
entirely.
After 12 years and $20 million-plus in development costs, the long awaited sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, is nothing more than vaporware. In fact,
3D Realms recently canned the entire development team and is being sued by the game's distributor, Take-Two Interactive, for failing to deliver the
product.
The reason, as described in gory detail in a recent Wired story, is that company cofounder and Duke Nukem creator, George Broussard, just
couldn't decide when to let go. With no fixed schedule, plenty of capital lying around, and new game engines, game platforms, and competitive
titles launching left and right, Broussard just kept on developing -- for 12 years.
Rambus
In the early 90s, Rambus - then a Silicon Valley startup - developed the core technology for high-speed memory or DRAM chips. But its technology
was too big a leap for a risk-averse industry that preferred incremental change. When confronted with customer pushback against its high cost and
high risk, Rambus attempted to push them by charging a higher royalty rate to use a scaled-back version of its technology.
When some companies balked at paying the higher rates but used the technology anyway, Rambus sued for patent infringement. Na?ve, ill-
prepared, and up against a more experienced legal team, the tables were turned and Rambus was instead found guilty of fraud in a Virginia court.
The decision was later overturned, but by then, the die had been cast.
In the case of Rambus, breakthrough technology and talented engineers failed to trump poor business decision-making. More than $100 million in
legal fees later, a new management team is still trying to get Rambus' frustrated shareholders their due.
I can cite dozens of similar examples, but they all have one thing in common: people who are too close to the situation, whose views and
experiences are too narrow, who lack perspective and objectivity, making critical business decisions. They may even have a CEO title, but that's no
consolation to shareholders and employees when the company fails.
Full Disclosure: I'm a former officer and current shareholder of Rambus.
Five Recession-Related Phrases That Should Be Canned
Attention recessionistas and "mini-Madoff" victims. Want to know the first step towards recovering from the recession?
Stop using these empty phrases to describe this period of empty wallets:
"New Normal" At the Brookings Institute, the "new normal" refers to a change in consumerism as Americans adjust to a thriftier lifestyle while over
at McKinsey, the phrase means we are living through a fundamental "restructuring of the economic order." However, until lines form around bread
instead of Apple's new "must-have" gizmo, I'll have a tough time believing that this "normal" is going to be all that different from the last "normal."
"Shovel Ready" Just asking: How many of these public projects were sound long-term investments and how many involved work on roads that
didn't even need to be repaired?
"Not in this economy" I first heard this cop-out phrase when I was screening job candidates at a company with which I am thankfully no longer
associated. When I asked how we should respond to inquiries from applicants we had already interviewed, someone scoffed "We don't owe them
anything. Not in this economy!"
"Staycation" As if your friends and family haven't heard enough about your economic woes, you can take a "staycation" to remind everyone at
home that you still don't have the funds to drive out of town.
"Recession-Proof" What do dental assistants, online dating sites, designer jean retailers, and Texan cities like Austin and Dallas have in common?
Apparently, they are all "recession-proof," according to our finest economic sages.
Do you agree with my list? What other recession-related lingoes should be left behind?
Get Windows 7 and Office 2007 for 50% Off
Everyone loves a bargain. Rick, for instance, recently got a really good deal on some Rainbow Brite collectibles for his personal collection.
Likewise, I've got a deal for folks who need to make some Windows and Office purchases.
From now until the end of June 2010, you can upgrade to Windows 7 from XP or Vista for $35, and step up to Office 2007 from Office 2003 for $90.
To qualify for the promotion, you need to be a small business that's part of Microsoft's Open Value Subscription program. The exact savings might
not be the $35 and $90 values I cited above -- your discount might be modified by other volume discounts you already qualify for. You can read all
about it at the Microsoft SMB Community Blog.
5 Bucks Buys a BlackBerry Battery Boost
If there's one thing every smartphone user wants, it's better battery life. SmartWiFi for BlackBerry delivers exactly that by automatically switching off
your phone's Wi-Fi antenna when it's not needed.
The app works its magic by leveraging cell-tower information to determine your location. If you're not at, say, home, the office, or another
preselected location (up to 100) where Wi-Fi is available, SmartWiFi automatically deactivates that power-hungry Wi-Fi radio -- then reactivates it
when you return to a hotspot.
I could tell you more, but this 90-second video explains everything in exquisite detail:
Suffice it to say, this is one ingenious little app, a set-it-and-forget-it solution for extending battery life. Just how much, it's impossible to say, but my
guess is you'll reap considerable battery benefits.
Granted, you could manually turn Wi-Fi on and off and save yourself $4.99, the price for SmartWiFi, but I think the convenience is well worth the
five bucks. Indeed, this iPhone user just got very, very jealous of BlackBerry users.
Faster Access to Windows 7 Settings with God Mode
Perhaps you've heard about the recently unearthed Windows hack called "God Mode." It sounds awesome, but let's be clear: All it really does it
open a folder that displays all 250 or so Control Panel options in a single, integrated view.
Admittedly, that's a far cry from some potential "god mode," but it's pretty useful nonetheless. If you have trouble finding the right place to change
settings in Control Panel, this simple hack is for you.
To turn it on, create a new folder and name it Name.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}, where "name" is whatever you want to call this
folder.
(The overly optimistic "god mode" moniker came about because early posts about this hack named the folder "god mode.") There's nothing
mystical about the name of the folder; you can even rename the folder afterwards if you want to.
Consider God Mode yet another handy tool in your toolbox -- but it's by no means a unique new capability in Windows 7. If you know more or less
what you're looking for, remember that you can always enter its name (or a related keyword) in the Start menu's Search box. You'll see the results
right in the Start menu, without any need to open the Control Panel at all. Looking for the Control Panel app to change you screen resolution, for
example? You can type "screen," "display,", or "resolution" in the start menu and they'll all take you to the right place.
Is Your Cold Calling Script Effective?
Here's a quick way to test whether any cold-calling script will actually convert sales leads into sales prospects.
Call up your cold-calling script on your screen. Call up a clock application (or just use your wristwatch.) Read the script aloud as you would say it
over the phone, while keeping half an eye on the clock.
Then ask yourself the following five questions:
Question #1: Does it, within the first 5 seconds, politely identify you and your firm?
Question #2: Does it, within the first 10 seconds, establish respect for the prospect's time? (E.g. "Did I catch you at a bad time?")
Question #3: Does it, within the first 20 seconds, give the prospect a compelling reason to speak with you?
Question #4: Does that compelling reason consist of a quantifiable customer-oriented benefit?
Question #5: Does it, within the first 30 seconds, obtain permission to continue the conversation?
Here's a real-life example:
Hi, John. Jim here from Acme Cost Control. [Question #1=YES] Did I catch you at an okay time?
John, I'm sure you're busy and I want to respect your time, so I'll be brief." [Question #2=YES]
The reason for my call is this. We just saved Universal Transport an additional 12 million dollars in shipping costs, so I thought it was important to
reach out to you, since every company has an obligation to their customers and shareholders to reduce expenses as much as possible. [Question
#3=YES, Question #4=YES]
I don't know if you have a need for our services, but with your permission, let's talk for a few minutes to determine if there is anything we're doing
that could benefit you. Would you be comfortable spending just a few minutes with me on the phone right now, if I stick to this timetable? [Question
#5=YES]
Because the answer to all five question is "YES", this is an effective cold-calling script.
Quiz: Coping with the Purchasing Dept.
Scenario: You've cold-called a departmental manager who really needs your solution. However, she tells you that your product category is always
purchased through the centralized purchasing group, and that they always make the decisions on which product to purchase.
Here are your choices:
Submit a proposal to the purchasing group. This manager is only a stakeholder, so you might as well start over with the real decision-makers.
Execute an end-run around the purchasing group. This manager a real need for your solution so, with her help, you can bypass the bureaucrats.
Work with the manager on a cost-benefit analysis. Getting more deeply involved in the account will help you understand the issues better.
The correct answer is: Work with the manager on a cost-benefit analysis. Here's why.
If you simply move your sales effort to the purchasing department, you'll be working with people who don't really understand the need for your
offering. As a result, they're likely to take shortcuts in analyzing its value. For example, if there are already vendors selling similar solutions to that
customer, the purchasing department will probably consider them "favored vendors" and treat you as an also-ran.
Contrariwise, if you try to do an end-run around the purchasing department, they're likely to see the purchase as an assault on their turf. They'll use
every means possible to block the sale, and use the mandate of their department to keep the deal from going through, even it means that the
manager's need will go unsatisfied. Weird and unproductive, I know, but that's the way bureaucracies work.
The correct solution is to work with the manager to build an ironclad cost-benefit analysis that emphasizes the unique elements of your solution.
Then you BOTH go to the purchasing department and hand them the results of your research, so that they can bring the idea forward as their own.
Essentially, you lay the groundwork to make the bureaucrats look like heroes, and then sit back and collect your commission.
The above is based upon a conversation with Robert Nadeau, managing principal of the Industry Performance Group). He's the go-to guy when it
comes to protecting your prices from discounting, among other things.
READERS: Have you ever run into this scenario? What did you try and how did it work?
Marketeers: A Field Guide
Into the life of every sales professional, some marketeers must fall. Sure, they can be a nuisance, but with proper care and feeding you can keep
them from making too much trouble, and even get them to start helping you to make sales. With that goal in mind, here's a field guide of the seven
most common species.
Species #1: Captain Strategy
Identifying Characteristic: Sees a comprehensive market strategy as the key to success for every company.
Normal Behavior: Is always changing the marketing strategy to respond to a largely fictional "shift" in a largely fictional "market."
Typical Remark: "I don't care if the product is already in production; we've got to go back to the drawing board!"
Corporate Impact: High. The constant string of strategy-du-jours ensures that nothing is ever completed.
Fair Warning: Incredibly, he really does believe he's doing something useful.
Care & Feeding: Get him involved in industry working groups and standards consortia. They'll keep him busy and make him feel "strategic" without
making your life difficult with pointless changes in direction.
Species #2: Tarentino Junior
Identifying Characteristic: Has a degree in corporate communications with a minor in film-making.
Normal Behavior: Creates industrial videos, television commercials and promotional pieces in the style of various famous movies.
Typical Remark: "This piece will illustrate the professionalism of our organization while it goes viral on the Internet."
Corporate Impact: Medium. However, if left unchecked, he will literally spin through the entire marketing budget.
Fair Warning: He's trying to build up his resume so that he can work in the "real" entertainment business.
Care & Feeding: Put him a fixed-price contract so that his compensation is inversely proportional to the amount of money he spends.
Species #3: The Focus Groupie
Identifying Characteristic: Funds and performs "market research" but has no actual knowledge of statistics and demographics.
Normal Behavior: Figures out what top management wants to hear, then sets up focus groups that will confirm their pre-conceived opinions.
Typical Remark: "Our sampling of prospective customers reached a consensus that our marketing message in one of the best they've ever heard."
Corporate Impact: High. Focus groups and other forms of meaningless "research" lead the company to chase rainbows and wild geese, all the
while thinking that they're making decisions based on "research data."
Fair Warning: She's setting herself up to work for the analyst group she hired to do the "research."
Care & Feeding: Insist that all market research be prepared by a person with a degree in statistics or mathematics. That way she'll take that analyst
job sooner rather than later.
pecies #4: Terry the Technoid
Identifying Characteristic: Thinks that having the latest iPhone makes him an expert in product requirements.
Normal Behavior: Takes whatever features he thinks would be "cool" and writes them up into a set of "product requirement" documents.
Typical Remark: "Here are some product ideas that will really knock our customers' socks off!!!"
Corporate Impact: Minimal. Engineering doesn't take him seriously because he's not an engineer, and the sales team thinks he's from some other
planet.
Fair Warning: If you let him speak with prospects or customers, he'll promise them things that they're never going to get.
Care & Feeding: Get him involved in determining what features and functions should go into the next version of the marketing group's internal
software. That way he end up driving his own
Species #5: Billy B-School
Identifying Characteristic: Has an MBA in Marketing from a prestigious business school.
Normal Behavior: Relates every business situation to whatever management fad was taught when he was getting his degree.
Typical Remark: "We should do a SWOT analysis on the four "P"s in order to re-engineer to Six Sigma compliance."
Corporate Impact: High. He adds at least 15 minutes of pure, unadulterated BS per hour to every meeting he attends. Essentially, he's like a
permanent 25 percent tax on your overall productivity.
Fair Warning: Be careful in your criticism; your CEO may have gone to the same B-school.
Care & Feeding: Send his name out to every corporate recruiter you can find on the web and suggest that he'd be a great candidate to work for one
of your competitors.
Species #6: Isabelle Intern
Identifying Characteristic: Managed to land an unpaid internship at your company's marketing group.
Normal Behavior: Desperate clings to the increasingly forlorn belief that she's actually going to learn something useful.
Typical Remark: "I just fetched everybody's lunch; can I do some real work, please?"
Corporate Impact: Minimal. If female and attractive, she can cause a bit of a ruckus, because all the single male marketeers will stop working in
order to flirt with her. However, since they weren't really doing anything all that productive anyway, the net productivity loss is small.
Fair Warning: May be planning to write a book about the experience working for your screwed up firm.
Care & Feeding: If you sense that she has some real ability and talent, offer her a PAID internship (i.e. a sales position) with the sales team.
Species #7: Our Hero
Identifying Characteristic: Realizes that the sole purpose of Marketing is to help the sales team.
Normal Behavior: Focuses all marketing activities on generating qualified leads and making it easier to sell to them.
Typical Remark: "Let me know how I can make life easier for you guys."
Corporate Impact: Enormous. There is no single person in an organization potentially more valuable than a marketeer who knows what she's doing.
Fair Warning: If not paid TOP DOLLAR, she will leave for greener pastures. Seriously, if you've got one of these in your firm, show her the big
money.
Care & Feeding: Need you ask? Treat her as a full team member, keep her informed of what's working in the field, and make sure she gets extra
credit when her work pays off... for you and for the firm!
How to Survive Information Overload
Texting and instant messaging can hinder your ability to get work done.
It's a challenge of modern life: email, Twitter feeds, instant messaging, text messages, and other snippets of information are coming at us so fast
that it's hard not to feel under digital attack. Sure, some of it's important — and that's precisely the problem. Turn it all off and you might as well quit
the workforce. But read it all and your mind becomes so drained that it's a challenge to get anything else done.
In some ways, technology has evolved in a way that puts mere humans in a bind. Consider the email conundrum. From the moment you wake up, it
seems the inbox is calling your name. And if you're like most of us, you answer its call pretty quickly.
"The brain hates uncertainty," says David Rock, the CEO of Results Coaching Systems and author of "Your Brain at Work." "It's literally painful to
not download your email the moment you arrive at your desk in the morning. But once you've processed 30 or 40 emails, you've ruined your brain
chemistry for higher level tasks that are going to create value."
In fact, a University of London study done for Hewlett-Packard found that "infomania" — a term connected with addiction to email and texting —
can lower your IQ by twice as much as smoking marijuana. Moreover, email can raise the levels of noradrenaline and dopamine in your brain by
constantly introducing new stimuli into your day. When those levels get too high, complex thinking becomes more difficult, making it harder to make
decisions and solve problems — key roles for all managers.
In short, the brain's capacity for decision-making evolved at a time when people had less to think about. Great, so now you have an excuse for not
keeping up. But you still need a game plan.
1. Take control of email.
Don't start your day with email. Set your email so it doesn't download new mail automatically or, at the very least, turn off any alert system. Instead,
set a time to check for messages manually — preferably later in the day, after you've used your brainpower for more important things.
Equally important is that others at your business know how you want email used. "Emails should be short, concise, and used only when a
conversation is not an option," says Adrian Moorhouse, managing director of executive coaching firm Lane4. "The easier communication is to
digest, the more likely it is that the messages will be delivered effectively."
Some colleagues seem unable to help themselves. We all know the type. They send too many emails; they gossip or forward jokes. Get them to
divert their personal chatter online by allowing them to use social media at work (even if it's just at set times of the day). Or talk to the worst
offenders one-on-one. Peter Taylor, the director of the project management office for Siemens and author of "The Lazy Project Manager," says
when he's cc'd on emails, he tells the senders to cut it out. "If people had to produce single sheets of paper and hand them out every time they
wanted to communicate, they'd be a lot more conscientious. I educate everyone who I communicate with and as a result, the emails I do receive
are pertinent to me. I restructure those emails, copy them into ongoing documents, and keep my inbox very small."
If you're reaching a breaking point, do the email equivalent of filing for bankruptcy. Simply wipe your inbox to start afresh. It seems drastic, but it
can work. Send a message to all contacts letting them know what you're planning, select all emails, and delete or archive them. If you're planning a
new regime of folders, rules, filters, and information-sharing disciplines, starting from scratch isn't so crazy.
2. Prioritize your prioritizing.
To help you prioritize, start by setting clear goals. We all tend to do this subconsciously, according to Lane4's Moorhouse, but writing them down
helps you actually achieve them. Here, too, time of day really matters. Prioritizing is one of the brain's most energy-hungry processes," writes Rock
in his book. That means it's best done when your mind is fresh and well rested. Allocate time to order your thoughts — dashing off a to-do list of
tasks that are "front of mind" is easy, but it won't break the back of the work you need to cover.
Try organizing your thinking visually. One great way is with Mind Maps, diagrams of ideas linked together in a tree system that help you visualise all
of them in context to each other. That way you won't forget any of your ideas when you have to decide which ones are the most important.
3. Blindside the data (approach it from an unexpected direction).
Break down complex information into sub-groups. Once you've determined a goal, you can "chunk" your work into groups to achieve it. You can
also do this with your to-do lists.
According to an experiment at Wilfred Laurier University, (It's About Time: Optimistic Predictions in Work and Love, European Review of Social
Psychology) people are generally very bad at estimating when they'll finish their own work, but good at guessing for others. So gauge your timing
by using someone else's experience. You'll be less stressed if you're realistic about your workload.
4. Do less.
To do less, you should delegate more. Too many managers can't resist the temptation personally to get involved in everything that's happening. But
effective delegation means limiting the amount of information you have to process, as well as empowering those around you. Then, ask for regular
briefings.
5. Unplug.
Many managers feel they can't shut off the fire hydrant of information. But they can take a break from it. "It's tempting to think that more information
makes for better decisions," says Penny de Valk, CEO of the UK-based Institute of Leadership and Management. "But in most cases, it just erodes
your focus. You need time to synthesize information and generate real intelligence."
That takes discipline, of course, but it's useful to stop thinking when you are stuck on a project so your brain can recover. "You do need to switch off
and rebalance your brain chemistry if you're going to come up with new ideas," says Rock. Stefan Sagmeister of New York-based design firm
Sagmeister says he so much believes in the power of time off that he closes up shop for 12 months every seven years to pursue "little experiments"
that he doesn't have time for in his daily life.
Graduate School: Should You Get Another Degree?
With the economy still suffering and jobs about as easy to come by as a winning lottery ticket, you might think now would be a great time to duck
out of the grim job market — if you haven't already been kicked out — and go back to school. By getting an advanced degree, you can better your
chances of landing a higher-paying job when you graduate, not to mention save yourself from having to look for a job in what is probably the worst
market in your professional life.
But higher education offers no guarantees. Going back to school is a significant investment of time and money, and can leave you with a pile of
debt. Annual tuition for master’s degree programs in the U.S. can run anywhere from $5,000 to more than $38,000.
That hefty price tag may be one reason the Graduate Management Admission Council, which oversees business school admissions, says it’s
starting to see the number of applications for B-school leveling off after three years of robust growth through 2008. But applications to law school
actually went up significantly in 2009 following a dip in 2008. And while you many have an easier time gaining admission at less selective schools
that are more dependent on tuition revenue, don’t expect to waltz into Harvard: According to Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of
Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers, the top grad schools are still as selective as they were in the past.
Applicants to less selective schools that are more dependent on tuition revenue may find it easier to gain admission. But beware: In the current
market, even an extra degree won’t guarantee you a bump in salary. So how do you figure out if school is right for you? We’ll walk you through the
things you need to consider before you make that decision.
Is an Additional Degree Absolutely Necessary?
Karen Battoe, a career coach for Allen and Associates in Maitland, Fla., says she noticed a sharp rise in the number of clients last year who
considered quitting their jobs to go back to school, and she always asked them the same question: Is this a flight to something or a flight from
something? Some of them see school as an escape hatch from a dead-end job, but Battoe says, “You have to ask yourself: Is this a rational move
or an impulsive move because of the economy?”
Battoe tells clients to closely examine the reasons why they are unhappy in their current jobs, and assess whether they can do anything to improve
their situations if they stay put. For example, they could try to switch groups or functions within their company, or sign up for additional training,
either in-house or through outside professional development programs. For general managers and those in business and finance, many top
business schools like Kellogg and Harvard offer special seminars and programs that last just a few weeks or even a few days.
If a full-time degree program remains an appealing option, you need to be very clear on what you plan to get out of it — whether it’s a degree that
qualifies you for better opportunities in your current field or a way to switch to a more promising field altogether. Battoe suggests doing
informational interviews with people in your industry or the industry you aspire to be in to find out whether an advanced degree is really necessary,
and if so, how exactly it has helped, both in terms of compensation and job satisfaction.
The Difference a Degree Makes
According to a 2008 U.S. Census Bureau survey of people 25 years old and over, the median income for a bachelor’s degree holder was $55,656.
For someone with a master’s degree, however, median income jumped 21 percent to $67,337, and income rises to $100,000 for people with a
professional degree in fields such as law or medicine. Doctoral degree holders, meanwhile, commanded a median income of $91,920. (Of course,
getting a Ph.D in mathematics and going to work on Wall Street is going to be much more lucrative than getting a doctorate in Renaissance
literature and going into academia).
Over the course of a lifetime, a person with a master’s degree stands to earn $400,000 more than someone with only a bachelor’s, according to
Priya Dasgupta, director of the graduate program at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions. Those with graduate degrees are also significantly more
marketable than those with just bachelor degrees.
In 2008, for example, the national unemployment rate for those 25 and older was 4.6 percent, without seasonal adjustments. For those with a
bachelor’s degree, the rate was 2.8 percent. And the numbers were even lower for people who had earned their master’s degree (2.4 percent) and
lower still for those with professional degrees (1.7 percent).
Don’t Ignore the Opportunity Cost
As impressive as those numbers may seem, however, you still have to weigh them against the money you are losing in the short term when you
take yourself out of the workforce. Add to that the cost of tuition, as well as health care and living expenses, and the cost of a higher education
could stretch into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. [Link] has a good calculator for estimating the potential costs and benefits of going
back to school.
Given the uncertain job market, Cheri Butler, associate director of Career Services at the University of Texas at Arlington, suggests that prospective
students instead hang on to the jobs they’ve got and try to go back to school part-time. Of course, if you’ve been laid off, the short-term opportunity
cost is a bit lower, but you’re likely to rack up a significant amount of debt.
Have Realistic Goals
With the state of the economy the way it is, if you decide to go back to school, you should have a realistic idea of what to expect when you
graduate. Tom Kozicki, executive director of the MBA Career Center at the University of California-Irvine Merage School of Business, says salaries
are likely to stay flat for MBA graduates at least in the short term. And the MBA Career Services Council recently noted that there’s been a
significant drop in the number of full-time jobs offered to graduates of the 2009-10 class.
Kozicki also points out that salaries typically accelerate after your second or third job out of school, so you have to be patient. “A person
determining whether or not to go to business school should be looking at a longer investment,” he says. “It’s not the salary you get right out of
school.” And the same idea often holds true for other types of graduate programs.
Peter Varnau, 48, a counselor at the University of Texas at Arlington, knows from experience the importance of having the right expectations,
having twice quit his job for additional schooling. The first time, in 1989, he got an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, in hopes of making big
money working as a consultant. “I was in my 20s and I wanted to be really successful with the money and the cars,” Varnau says.
It worked — but then in 2003, Varnau got laid off from Price Waterhouse after it merged with Coopers & Lybrand. He went back to school a second
time, this time looking for more job stability and satisfaction. He got that after earning a master’s degree in counseling at the University of North
Texas.
Varnau says making the same grad-school decisions would be much tougher today. “In my case, it worked out great,” Varnau says. “But if I was
looking at that prospect right now, I would be very cautious to leave a full-time job.”
How To Make $500 An Hour Doing Taxes
While nobody likes doing taxes, you could rack up anywhere from $300 to $500 an hour for your efforts. That might get you motivated.
Consider these items:
401(k). Most people are not maximizing the tax deductions available from their 401(k) each year. In 2010, you can contribute up to $16,500, and if
you're 50 or over you can go as high as $22,000. Let's say you decide to increase your contribution by $3,000 this year. It takes about 30 minutes
to either complete the forms from HR or go online and revise your contribution formula. If you're in the 30% income tax bracket, that will save you
$900 for the year in taxes, which is a rate of $1,800 an hour for your time. Pretty good pay.
Not to mention the $900 you'll save every year thereafter from the increased contributions, plus all the income tax deferrals you'll get on your
investment returns between now and when you retire.
Roth Accounts. With the Roth, you don't get a current deduction, but you get tax-free growth on the money forever. Let's assume you're a younger
worker and qualify for a Roth IRA. It takes about an hour and a half to get the forms, fill them out, send them in and make your contribution. But if
you put $5,000 into the Roth IRA at age 25 and it grows at 7.5% a year through age 65, it would be worth about $90,000. Since you contributed
$5,000, that means you avoided income tax on $85,000. Assuming a 30% tax bracket, that saves you about $25,500 in taxes. Not bad for an hour
and a half of work. Now, there are some time value of money items to consider in this example, but you're basically well compensated for your
efforts.
The same analysis applies if you have a Roth 401(k) feature available at work.
Flexible Spending Accounts. If you have an FSA at work, with about two hours of effort, you could easily save $500 or more. First, you have to fill
out the form that you got from HR to contribute to the FSA, and that takes about 15 minutes. Then, remember to run all your out-of-pocket medical
costs through the FSA and submit your receipts. Let's say that takes another hour and a half for the year. Well, if you contribute $1,500 to the FSA,
and are in the 30% bracket, that's about $450 of savings, or $225 an hour for your efforts.
Charitable Contributions. Unless you're really organized, you probably aren't sure how much you contributed to charity last year. But, if you spend
an hour going through your check book and credit card statements, you'll probably discover a number of contributions you made for the year that
you didn't remember. If you found $500 of contributions, and you're in the 30% tax bracket, you'd save $150 in taxes for your efforts.
Tax Loss Harvesting. While people often do this at the end of the year, you can do tax loss harvesting at any time (see my previous post). If you
have capital losses but no capital gains, you can still offset $3,000 of ordinary income with losses from your taxable investments. It will probably
take about an hour to look through your holdings, decide what to sell and place the trades. But if you're in the 30% income tax bracket, it'll save you
$900 of taxes for an hour's worth of work.
And if you have capital gains that you can offset with losses, then you can save even more. Assume you had $10,000 of gains that you could
partially offset with $5,000 of capital losses. With the combined federal and state tax rate for capital gains, you're probably paying 20%; so you
would save 20% of $5,000 in taxes, or $1,000.
SEP Account. If you happen to have self employment income, in addition to your regular wages, you may be able to do a SEP IRA contribution on
top of whatever you contribute to your 401(k) at work. The SEP contribution is roughly equal to 20% of whatever you earned in self-employment
income. Assume you earned $15,000, that means you could contribute about $3,000 to the SEP, which again would save you about $900 in taxes
if you're in the 30% bracket.
You could also consider a solo 401(k), which could provide a deduction of up to $16,500 (or $22,000 if 50 or over), if you have at least that much in
self employment earnings. It probably takes three hours to get a solo 401(k) organized, but it could save you $5,000 or more in taxes. Wow, that's
about $1,600 an hour.
There are lots of ways to save taxes if you're diligent. It's not much fun (I have a tax degree and don't even like doing it), but the pay is pretty good.
Bottom line. If I asked you whether you want to do some taxes this weekend, you'd probably say no. But if I asked you whether you'd be willing to
do them for $500 an hour, I bet you'd say yes.
As with all tax matters, consult your individual tax advisor prior to making any tax decisions.
How to Survive Information Overload
Texting and instant messaging can hinder your ability to get work done.
It's a challenge of modern life: email, Twitter feeds, instant messaging, text messages, and other snippets of information are coming at us so fast
that it's hard not to feel under digital attack. Sure, some of it's important — and that's precisely the problem. Turn it all off and you might as well quit
the workforce. But read it all and your mind becomes so drained that it's a challenge to get anything else done.
In some ways, technology has evolved in a way that puts mere humans in a bind. Consider the email conundrum. From the moment you wake up, it
seems the inbox is calling your name. And if you're like most of us, you answer its call pretty quickly.
"The brain hates uncertainty," says David Rock, the CEO of Results Coaching Systems and author of "Your Brain at Work." "It's literally painful to
not download your email the moment you arrive at your desk in the morning. But once you've processed 30 or 40 emails, you've ruined your brain
chemistry for higher level tasks that are going to create value."
In fact, a University of London study done for Hewlett-Packard found that "infomania" — a term connected with addiction to email and texting —
can lower your IQ by twice as much as smoking marijuana. Moreover, email can raise the levels of noradrenaline and dopamine in your brain by
constantly introducing new stimuli into your day. When those levels get too high, complex thinking becomes more difficult, making it harder to make
decisions and solve problems — key roles for all managers.
In short, the brain's capacity for decision-making evolved at a time when people had less to think about. Great, so now you have an excuse for not
keeping up. But you still need a game plan.
1. Take control of email.
Don't start your day with email. Set your email so it doesn't download new mail automatically or, at the very least, turn off any alert system. Instead,
set a time to check for messages manually — preferably later in the day, after you've used your brainpower for more important things.
Equally important is that others at your business know how you want email used. "Emails should be short, concise, and used only when a
conversation is not an option," says Adrian Moorhouse, managing director of executive coaching firm Lane4. "The easier communication is to
digest, the more likely it is that the messages will be delivered effectively."
Some colleagues seem unable to help themselves. We all know the type. They send too many emails; they gossip or forward jokes. Get them to
divert their personal chatter online by allowing them to use social media at work (even if it's just at set times of the day). Or talk to the worst
offenders one-on-one. Peter Taylor, the director of the project management office for Siemens and author of "The Lazy Project Manager," says
when he's cc'd on emails, he tells the senders to cut it out. "If people had to produce single sheets of paper and hand them out every time they
wanted to communicate, they'd be a lot more conscientious. I educate everyone who I communicate with and as a result, the emails I do receive
are pertinent to me. I restructure those emails, copy them into ongoing documents, and keep my inbox very small."
If you're reaching a breaking point, do the email equivalent of filing for bankruptcy. Simply wipe your inbox to start afresh. It seems drastic, but it
can work. Send a message to all contacts letting them know what you're planning, select all emails, and delete or archive them. If you're planning a
new regime of folders, rules, filters, and information-sharing disciplines, starting from scratch isn't so crazy.
2. Prioritize your prioritizing.
To help you prioritize, start by setting clear goals. We all tend to do this subconsciously, according to Lane4's Moorhouse, but writing them down
helps you actually achieve them. Here, too, time of day really matters. Prioritizing is one of the brain's most energy-hungry processes," writes Rock
in his book. That means it's best done when your mind is fresh and well rested. Allocate time to order your thoughts — dashing off a to-do list of
tasks that are "front of mind" is easy, but it won't break the back of the work you need to cover.
Try organizing your thinking visually. One great way is with Mind Maps, diagrams of ideas linked together in a tree system that help you visualise all
of them in context to each other. That way you won't forget any of your ideas when you have to decide which ones are the most important.
3. Blindside the data (approach it from an unexpected direction).
Break down complex information into sub-groups. Once you've determined a goal, you can "chunk" your work into groups to achieve it. You can
also do this with your to-do lists.
According to an experiment at Wilfred Laurier University, (It's About Time: Optimistic Predictions in Work and Love, European Review of Social
Psychology) people are generally very bad at estimating when they'll finish their own work, but good at guessing for others. So gauge your timing
by using someone else's experience. You'll be less stressed if you're realistic about your workload.
4. Do less.
To do less, you should delegate more. Too many managers can't resist the temptation personally to get involved in everything that's happening. But
effective delegation means limiting the amount of information you have to process, as well as empowering those around you. Then, ask for regular
briefings.
5. Unplug.
Many managers feel they can't shut off the fire hydrant of information. But they can take a break from it. "It's tempting to think that more information
makes for better decisions," says Penny de Valk, CEO of the UK-based Institute of Leadership and Management. "But in most cases, it just erodes
your focus. You need time to synthesize information and generate real intelligence."
That takes discipline, of course, but it's useful to stop thinking when you are stuck on a project so your brain can recover. "You do need to switch off
and rebalance your brain chemistry if you're going to come up with new ideas," says Rock. Stefan Sagmeister of New York-based design firm
Sagmeister says he so much believes in the power of time off that he closes up shop for 12 months every seven years to pursue "little experiments"
that he doesn't have time for in his daily life.
What's to Blame for Tanking Job Satisfaction?
The Conference Board released its latest survey of Americans' job satisfaction this week and the numbers are not good. The number of Americans
who are happy at work has fallen to 45 percent from a high of 61 percent in 1987. Among workers under 25, only 36 percent say they're satisfied.
The results were widely reported with many analysts pointing a finger at the recession, but awesomely outspoken blog Punk Rock HR has another
interpretation: "The survey reflects the overall decline of the employee/employer covenant during the past twenty years." The post goes on to have
a bit of a rant at employers, creating a list of dubious developments that have not worked out well for employees:
You asked us to accept 3 percent merit increases.
You told us we would have company-sponsored health care.
You changed our retirement plans and offered us a new pension that had the potential to earn more money as the stock market did better.
You said unions weren't in our best interests.
You said that it was okay to create a knowledge-based economy and move our manufacturing jobs to China and India.
Hmmmm. I wonder why American workers are dissatisfied with their jobs?
But it's not just employers who are to blame. The environment in which American business operates is also at the root of the problem, it says,
because a mine field of problems traps workers in bad jobs:
The job market is like the housing market. Movement is frozen. No one can leave a job because of health care, poor credit, and equity (that may or
may not really exist) in their company. We are stuck and we are dissatisfied.
What do you think of this interpretation of the Conference Board numbers? Have workers gotten an increasingly raw deal over the past two
decades or are the numbers just a symptom of the generally sorry state of the economy?
Harvard Names Top 100 CEOs
Harvard Business Review recently published its list of the 100 best performing CEOs in the world. While the list contained well-known names, there
were a few surprises as well -- especially when considering who was absent. (More on that later.)
Researchers Morten T. Hansen, Herminia Ibarra and Urs Peyer took a unique approach in compiling their list, in that they considered the
performance of CEOs of large, public companies over their entire time on the job.
"Today boards of directors, senior managers and investors intensely want to know how CEOs handle the ups and downs of running businesses
over an extended period," they write. "Many executive compensation plans define the long term as a three-year horizon, but the real test of a
CEO's leadership has to be how the company does over his or her full tenure."
So who made the top 10? (Drum roll, please.) They are:
1. Steve Jobs, Apple
2. Yun Jong-Yong, Samsung
3. Alexey Miller, Gazprom
4. John Chambers, Cisco
5. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries
6. John Martin, Gilead Sciences
7. Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon
8. Margaret Whitman, Ebay
9. Eric Schmidt, Google
10. Hugh Grant, Monsanto
The researchers wrote that no single sector or place emerged as having the most powerful CEOs, but that "high-performance is fairly spread out
across both countries and industries." Notably absent from the list, however, are any women aside from Whitman. Yet Whitman's presence in the
top 10 shows a bit of progress: "A decade ago only three women headed large public companies in the US; today 15 make the Fortune 500 list,"
they write.
Five Year Plans: A Total Waste of Time?
Not long ago here on Entry-Level Rebel we asked if plans were overrated and received a slew of responses from readers, ranging from musings on
whether the question gave Gen Yers permission to be less than thoughtful to wholehearted agreement from those who suggested plans' main
benefit was making God laugh.
Adding to the debate this week is a short video interview with internet wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk from topical blog Unplan Your Business
(recorded in the back of a car, gum in mouth, so don't expect decent aesthetics). In it Vaynerchuk scoffs at those who plan five years ahead in
today's world and proudly proclaims that, rather than being pie in the sky ("I'm not a hippie," he says), he's simply acknowledging the reality that the
best businesses react fluidly to the fast changing landscape. Have a look and weigh in: are businesses and individuals wasting time on planning, or
do big goals require multi-year frameworks to accomplish?
Turn Your Cellphone into a Mobile Bank
Cash, check or charge? For small business owners, checks may be the least preferred method of payment, since cashing them requires a trip to
the bank. But mobile banking technology could put an end to those time-consuming bank branch visits. In this video from our "Future of" series,
BNET correspondent Sumi Das visits Texas-based USAA bank, whose Deposit@Mobile application allows customers to make deposits using an
iPhone.
Each New Obama "Green" Job Will Cost Taxpayers $135,295
According to the White House, $2.3 billion in tax breaks have been awarded to manufacturers that are going to create "green jobs."
"Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future," President Obama claimed. "The Recovery Act awards I am
announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our
carbon emissions and increasing our energy security."
The White House cites a few green-tech winners to demonstrate the breadth of these tax breaks, including Itron, Inc., a smart grid firm partly owned
by Al Gore's investment group (as of at least 2008's SEC filings) and PPG Industries, a solar company.
In dollar terms, the big winners include United Technologes' Pratt & Whitney division, which will get a $110.4 million gift to build jet engines.
Hemlock Semiconductor and Wacker Polysilicon, two solar component manufacturers, were the other firms locking down $100+ million tax breaks.
The biggest break, at $150 million, is going to Volkswagen's Chattanooga operations. The White House didn't disclose how this particular tax break
will be used for green purposes, although a company press release describes their upcoming facility as a "LEED-aggressive manufacturing plant"
(LEED means it will be a registered "green building").
Those who believe the free market will most efficiently deliver a greener economy are protesting yet another example of government picking the
winners in the energy marketplace. However, this time, there is a more obvious dollar and cents problem with this program.
Those 183 projects will only create 17,000 jobs (and that figure, highlighted by the White House, is based on estimates provided by the winning
bidders, not an independent study). Yes, folks, that means taxpayers are essentially handing out $135,295 for each "green job" that's supposedly
going to be created by these government subsidies.*
Sure, it is possible that these investments will create even more jobs down the road. But it is equally plausible that these corporate welfare
schemes weaken our economy's competitiveness.
And finally, whenever you read a "green jobs" story, keep in mind that there is still no consensus as to what type of position should count as such.
That's why Congress has allocated $7.8 million to help the Bureau of Labor Statistics figure it out and start tracking green job growth by 2011.
How to Survive a Dysfunctional Boss
One of my recent posts, How to Spot a Dysfunctional Manager, left room for a sequel on how to survive one. Well, having had quite a few
dysfunctional bosses, and admittedly having been one myself, I guess that probably qualifies me as something of an expert, doesn't it?
But before I give you the keys to the dysfunctional castle, a word of caution. This stuff is like playing with fire. Once you commit, there's no turning
back. Also, three of the five methods don't even work most of the time. You know what that means, don't you? The result won't be pretty, that's
what.
The other two work, but I'm not so sure you're going to like them very much. What can I say; this is tough stuff. But still, desperate times call for
desperate measures, right? So, take a deep breath, and let's get down to business:
5 Ways to Survive a Dysfunctional Boss
Go over his head. This one's the riskiest of them all, and the higher up you are in the management ranks, the riskier it is. Frankly, senior executives
are relatively insensitive to whiny managers. That said, the technique did work for me once, albeit when I was a low-level manager. The key is to
not complain about your boss, but to subtely ingratiate yourself to your boss's manager. In my case, he liked me, saw my potential, and eventually
promoted me.
Take a vacation - return - try again - freak out - repeat. Keep that routine up until you get to about an inch away from burning out. You know, when
you start having fantasies about going postal and your wife is threatening to take the kids and split. Then quit and find another job. That's one of the
tips guaranteed to work. See, I said you wouldn't like it.
Go sideways. If your company's big enough and your expertise is transferable, then go ahead and transfer. You can also network or become
chummy with manager and get him to hire you even if you're not exactly the perfect choice. Networking also helps if your boss tries to block the
transfer. I guarantee that if someone at or above your boss's same management level wants you, he'll find a way to get you.
Stab him in the back. I'm not saying make stuff up, but who knows, maybe he lied bigtime on his resume or screwed up a major deal, something
like that. Just keep in mind, this kind of thing is very risky and likely to backfire. It's also stooping to a dysfunctional level, but you know what I said
about desperate times. Of course, I've never done it, but I've seen it attempted quite a few times and it does occasionally work.
Get over yourself and suck it up. This one also works, but it helps if you can compartmentalize your feelings. Anyway, look at it from the company's
viewpoint. For one thing, a company exists to serve customers and shareholders, not thin-skinned employees who can't handle their own problems.
If that sounds insensitive, well, guess what? That's exactly the way executive management views this kind of thing. Really. Don't like this one
either? Well ... tough.
Well, those are my top five tips. Now it's your turn.
3 Reasons to Buy Google Storage Right Now
Interesting things are afoot in the world of Google Docs. The big news today: You'll soon be able to upload, store, and organize any kind of file --
not just the usual documents, spreadsheets, and the like. In other words, Google Docs is about to become full-fledged cloud storage.
As a Gmail user, you're already entitled to 1GB of free storage, and you can upload files as large as 250MB. Needless to say, if you have a lot of
big files, you'll burn through your limit in short order. Fortunately, you can buy more, and you should. Here are three reasons why:
It's cheap, arguably some of the cheapest online storage on the planet. Prices start at $5 per year for 20GB.
If you spring for 200GB of storage (an outright steal at $50/year, IMHO), you get a free 4GB Eye-Fi card, one of my favorite gadgets. (It's worth $70
all by itself.) I don't know how much longer Google will be running this promotion, so I'd hop on it quickly.
It's business-friendly: Google's shared folders feature makes it easy to share selected files with co-workers, colleagues, etc.
I'm not saying Google Docs is the best online-storage solution out there -- services like [Link] and Dropbox exceed it in certain areas -- but it's
definitely worth the investment for anyone looking to archive, access, move, and share files.
Gadget Lust: The Powermat Wirelessly Charges Your Phone
When the Palm Pre was released last year, we applauded the Touchstone, which charged the phone just by placing the device on the magnetized
dock -- no wires or plugs needed. The only downside? It's only for the Pre, and not everyone has one of those.
If you want to be able to magically charge a device you really do own wirelessly, you should check out the Powermat. The Powermat has been
around for a while, offering the ability to charge a small selection of devices like the iPhone and some BlackBerry models. But at CES last week,
the company rolled out adapters for a wide variety of new devices.
My favorite part? Powermat is offering -- for some devices -- custom replacement batteries that have an integrated Powermat receiver built in. That
means you don't need any clunky sleeves or adapters to charge your device -- just place it on the charging pad, and your phone charges
automatically, with the required hardware built into the batter itself. Alas, this won't work for devices like the iPhone, which have integrated, non-
replaceable batteries, but Powermat does offer such batteries for some BlackBerry, Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola models, among others.
In addition, several different Powermats are now available, from a diminutive pad that charges a single devices all the way up to a skateboard-
shaped surface that can charge three devices at once. This is the way of the future, folks.
Recover Critical Documents from a Computer that Won't Boot
Our digital lives are ever so fragile, which is why we frequently recommend that you have a regular, reliable backup. But sometimes disaster strikes
when you're not ready.
If your computer won't start and there are mission-critical files you absolutely have to get your hands on, I've got a solution that might save your
skin.
MakeUseOf recently explained how you can use a Live CD -- essentially, an operating system-on-a-disc -- to boot your PC and recover files
trapped on your hard drive. Of course, in order for this to work, certain stars need to line up just right:
You need to have a Live CD handy, since you can't make it on the dead PC. You can follow the instructions in the MakeUse Of article to create a
Live CD ahead of time, or use another PC when disaster strikes. My advice: take an hour and do it ahead of time. That way you're prepared if you
should ever need it.
The hard drive can't be the thing that failed. Sometimes, your computer won't boot because Windows is corrupted. Or the boot sector is toast. In
those situations, a Live CD will help. But if the hard drive has failed catastrophically, then you're out of luck.
The CD drive needs to work as well -- or you need to be able to connect an external one.
Once you've got a Live CD prepared, you can boot your computer with it and then copy the files you need to a USB memory key or an external
hard drive. Seems like a smart precaution to take.
Google Mobile Search Shows What's 'Near You Now'
Whether for finding the nearest Starbucks or just figuring out where the hell you are, location-based services are awesome.
Usually you need an app for that, but Google just added location awareness to mobile search. Specifically, owners of Android phones and iPhones
can point their browsers to [Link], click Near me now, and instantly find nearby ATMs, restaurants, gas stations, and the like.
As you can see in the above video, this new capability is also intended to help you find out more about where you are -- like if the restaurant you're
about to try is any good.
On my iPhone, I had to dip into the [Link] settings (within Safari) to enable device location (guess it's off by default), then refresh the location.
After that, "Near me now" worked like a charm. Not a bad alternative to the likes of AroundMe, Urbanspoon, and other apps I routinely use to get
the local scoop. [via Google Mobile Blog]
Poll: Would "Legalizing" Illegal Workers Help the Economy?
Is a recession the right time to tackle America's immigration issue?
Immigration has faded into the background over the last year. For one, with the economy in the dumps, there are fewer people trying to sneak into
the United States for work. And Barack Obama is doing his best to keep the national agenda focused on healthcare reform and the economy. It
looks like immigration reform, whatever that ends up meaning, may have to wait.
However, a new study from the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration argues that fixing immigration will actually aid our economy's
recovery. California's coffers, for example, would get a $16 billion boost, according to the USC report, if the state's 1.8 million undocumented adult
Latino immigrants had better economic opportunities. The report claims that undocumented Latinos "missed out on approximately $2.2 billion in
wages and salary income last year due to their legal status alone."
Critics counter that this report does not factor in the costs connected to a higher demand for public services, such as "welfare, unemployment
insurance and non-emergency healthcare." Plus, other studies, commissioned by those who oppose "legalizing"* illegal immigrants, have
concluded that these workers would put a downward pressure on the wages of less-skilled US citizens.
* I put legalize in quotes because I find it odd that the media uses this word within the immigration context, as if human beings should be treated
like casinos or marijuana plants.
America's Most Despised Companies
Picture this: you're the top dog at a large company. One day your VP of corporate communications pops into your office with a terrified look on her
face. Your company has just shown up on a list of the 15 Most Hated Companies in America. A redux on Business Insider gets 200,000 views in 5
days. Time to panic? Maybe. But first, here's some free advice from The Corner Office's 5-Minute Consultant. That would be me.
In case you're wondering, 24/7 Wall St - the list's creators - used an impressive list of employee impressions, customer satisfaction, shareholder
returns, and brand valuation metrics to compile this list.
1. AIG. A $180 billion government bailout, 99 percent of its market value wiped out, huge layoffs, and the whole executive bonus fiasco add up to a
brand that is now essentially worthless.
Advice: This only makes sense in rare cases, but this is definitely one of them. Change the name. It worked for Philip Morris's rebranding to Altria in
2003. People have very short memories.
2. United Airlines. Experienced "air warriors" won't to be surprised to find United's name on the list. The chronically ailing airline tied for dead last
with US Air in a 2009 JD Power survey, among other things.
Advice: I have over 2 million miles on American Airlines. Can I pick 'em or what? Seriously, it's a two horse race. Figure out why the other horse
(AA) always wins. Not as easy as it sounds? Well, that's why you make the big bucks.
3. Level 3. This aggregate of a whole bunch of broadband network companies has faced continuous integration and customer service problems
due to poorly executed acquisitions.
Advice: Can you say "WorldCom redux," but without the fraud? Settle down and stop buying companies until you learn how to efficiently integrate
what you've got and make a profit.
4. Hertz. Made Glassdoor's list of "worst companies to work for." It also made another distinguished list - the Audit Integrity's list of American
companies most likely to go bankrupt.
Advice: Maybe Hertz should be the one "trying harder" instead of Avis.
5. Citigroup. Yes, former CEO Sandy Weill accomplished his dream of building a banking conglomerate. Now CEO Vikram Pandit gets to figure out
how to unravel it. Good luck.
Advice: Through conservative management, Wells Fargo was able to avoid much of the whole banking collapse thing. When will they learn that
leverage is bad.
6. K-Mart. Look, nobody likes staunch old-timer K-Mart. Customer and employee satisfaction is in the dumps at both K-Mart and acquirer, Sears.
Perfect match.
Advice: Target somehow managed to come up with some hip ads and streamline its supply chain. How hard can it be?
8. Dell. Once IT's 800 pound gorilla that could do no wrong, Dell seems to have fallen out of favor with just about everybody these days.
Advice: Get Michael Dell out of there and bring in a turnaround expert before its brand is completely trashed.
11. Dish Network. I tried to dump DirecTV twice, and each time, Dish never even made it to my house, so I gave up. Looks like I'm not alone. Dish
is plagued by customer service issues.
Advice. Tie the entire management team's compensation to customer service metrics. That'll fix it in a hurry.
15. Sprint. Number three in a two company market is a bad place to be. It doesn't help that Sprint trails AT&T and Verizon in just about every
wireless customer service metric.
Advice: People like CEO Dan Hesse, but not me. The post-Nextel merger turnaround is getting long in the tooth and, well, results speak for
themselves, don't they?
Sorry, only had room for nine. Here's the rest of the list: 7. Blackwater Worldwide, 9. Abercrombie & Fitch, 10. Chrysler, 12. Rite Aid, 13. Gibson
Guitar, 14. Forever 21.
How to Make the Most of Your Netbook
What a year 2009 was for netbooks. Way back last January, we were still dinging them for being slow, cramped, overpriced, and underpowered.
But by December, we'd seen enough improvements to realize that for most trips, a nice, lightweight netbook is just fine, thank you.
Even so, we're always on the lookout for ways to improve the netbook experience. After all, they're still pretty underpowered, and their relatively
low-resolution screens can be a hassle.
With that in mind, Gizmodo put together The Definitive Guide to Making the Most of Your Netbook, a solid collection of tweaks, hacks, and
suggestions. Here's an example:
If you already own a netbook, the best thing you can do is shell out $30-60 and upgrade the 1GB of RAM to 2GB of RAM. It's a cheap enough
upgrade and it provides a significant performance boost. If you're shopping for a netbook, the best advice we can give is to focus on two things:
battery life and the physical inputs, like the spacing of the keyboard and arrangement of secondary buttons--physical design is about the only thing
distinguishing one netbook from another these days.
I'll second that. I also agree with the author's recommendation to use full-screen mode and keyboard shortcuts whenever possible. Good stuff.
Take a Practice Interview, Hone Your Speaking Skills
I've hired my share of people over the years, and I can confirm something you've probably always suspected but didn't know for sure -- your odds
of getting hired plummet in proportion to how uncomfortable or unprepared you appear to be when speaking to the interviewer.
No matter how qualified you are, or how snazzy your resume looks, you absolutely should be calm, cool, and collected in the interview. You should
have a general idea how you plan to answer all the most common questions, and be able to adapt to follow-up questions and sound smart,
thoughtful, and prepared every step of the way. You should never be totally stumped; always be able to give an opinion or provide a relevant
annecdote.
That sounds like a tall order, but help is on the way. I've found a tool to help you get ready for your next interview.
It's actually a clever idea -- Better Talking lets you participate in a practice interview you conduct over the phone with a non-judgmental, pre-
recorded bot. The process is simple. Sign up for free at Better Talking, then call the service (it's an 866 number) and enter the PIN you got during
sign up. You'll have an opportunity to answer nine typical interview questions, like "What are your goals for the future?" and "What type of work
motivates you the most?"
After the interview is over, you'll get an e-mail with a link to listen to your performance. You can also loop in other people to give you feedback as
well by sharing the results on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Obviously, Better Talking won't help you hone your skills at thinking on your feet by reacting to follow-up questions, and there's nothing here
specific to your particular career field. But if you're uncomfortable talking about yourself, need to strike verbal pauses from your vocabulary, or just
want to hear what you sound like answering softball interview questions, you should definitely give this site a shot. [via MakeUseOf]
3 Time-Saving E-mail Replies for Emptying Your Inbox
E-mail is both a blessing and a curse. If you're looking for ways to reduce the drain e-mail has on your productivity without throwing out the
metaphorical baby, I've got three handy reply strategies you can use to quickly respond to (and often resolve) e-mail threads.
I'm not the right person for this. I frequently get questions and requests for action from people who think I'm the right contact, but in reality I am only
tangentially involved in the project at hand. In the old days, I'd try to be a hero and take on the task anyway. I'd end up spending a lot of time
researching something and get an obligatory "thanks" at the cost of work I should have been doing instead. The better solution? Say, "Sorry, but
I'm not the right guy. You might want to ping Janet or Brian instead," and add them to the CC line. Mission accomplished.
Do you still need this? No one's perfect, and you neglected an e-mail so long that it's 3 weeks old by the time you work your way down to it. Don't
reflexively jump on the task -- send an e-mail that says, "Sorry it took me so long! I was on vacation/in medical school/at rehab/doing a special
project for the CEO. Do you still need this? I'm still happy to dive in." In my experience, 75% of the time, the issue resolved of its own accord.
Mission accomplished.
Here's a link. As the dude who knows everything about a particular part of the publishing process, every writer I know e-mails me frequently with
"clarifying questions" about how to do their job. In a sense, that's fine -- we're all on the same team and I don't mind helping. But at a certain point,
you realize that your own time is valuable too. If you're frequently pestered with questions about something you are the appointed expert on, write a
short document and post it on a network share. Then, when you get the inevitable question, just replay with a link to the instructions. You'll save a
ton of time in the long term -- mission accomplished.
Start the year off right with some e-mail-reduction strategies. Here are some other e-mail posts you might find useful:
MailBrowser Brings Xobni-Like Contact Management to Gmail
If you've ever used Outlook plug-in Xobni, you know that it's an awesome tool for managing e-mail attachments, learning more about your contacts,
and so on.
Enter MailBrowser, a free browser plug-in that's like Xobni for Gmail. Specifically, it shows you information about each contact, integrates with
Google Calendar for easy appointment scheduling, provides statics on your e-mail conversations, lets you tag contacts, lists all attachments for a
given contact, and creates local, searchable copies of your attachments. And that's just for starters.
This five-minute video gives you a nice overview of the tool. The narration's a little rushed for some reason, but it's still watchable (and worth
watching):
Cool, right? Based on what I've seen so far, MailBrowser is already shaping up to be the must-have Gmail accessory of 2010. I highly, highly
recommend taking it for a test-drive.
The add-on is available for Windows and Mac systems, and it's compatible with Firefox 3.0 and later and Internet Explorer 7 and later. Chrome
support is in the works.
The Mad Scientist of Cold Calling
Well, not "mad" so much as "incredibly brilliant." Dr. James Oldroyd (from the Korean business school SKK GSB) is probably the world's greatest
expert on the measurement of cold calling. He examined and analyzed the electronic logs of more than a million cold calls, made by thousands of
sales professionals inside approximately 50 companies. I recently interviewed him for a feature article; here's an excerpt from our conversation:
GJ: What's been the most surprising discovery that's come from your research?
JO: The days and times that are most effective for qualifying a sales lead into a real prospect. Turns out that Thursday is the best day and is,
statistically speaking, 19.1% better than Friday, which is the worst day. Research also showed that 8am to 9am and 4pm to 5pm are the best times
to call to qualify a lead. In fact, 8am to 9am is 164% better than calling at 1pm to 2pm. That runs counter to the long-held belief that the best time to
call is right after lunch.
GJ: How long do sales reps have to respond when somebody indicates an interest in a firm and its products?
JO: Not very long. You are 4 times more likely to successfully qualify a lead if you call within 5 minutes than if you call between 5 and 10 minutes.
You are 21 times more likely to qualify a lead if you call within 5 minutes than if you wait for 30 minutes.
GJ: Is this true in B2B and B2C?
JO: In B2C, response speed is absolutely vital. In B2B, you still have reasonably good odds of qualifying a lead if you call within 20 minutes after
interest is shown. After 20 minutes, however, the value of that lead quickly declines and if you want to qualify it, you'll need to make a lot of
repeated phone calls. After 4 months, the lead is completely dead, at which point you should drop the calling and put that lead into the cheapest
possible nurturing program.
GJ: Is that true of every industry and product category?
JO: Sales leads in the financial and healthcare industries response times remain "live" for up to 24 hours. Sales leads in communications and IT
industries require much faster response times, while professional services industries land roughly in the middle.
GJ: How important is cold-calling and inside sales in business today?
JO: Most of the growth in the sales industry is in this area. The growth rate of outside groups has nearly stalled, leveling off at a .5% annual growth.
By contrast, companies are adding new inside sales departments at a rate of 7.5% annual growth. By 2012 nearly 800,000 companies are
expected to add inside sales departments. Incidentally, even outside sales teams spend a lot of time on the phone.
GJ: How is outside sales changing?
JO: Outside sales responsibilities are becoming more and more like inside sales jobs. An average of 41% of outside sales activities are done over
the phone. Companies need to provide similar tools to support both kinds of groups.
GJ: How can I apply this research to sell more?
JO: Always give priority to your newest leads. If you have a lead that is two hours old and one that just came in, focus on the on the one that just
came in. If you do the opposite, you'll always be fighting an uphill battle trying to reactivate leads that are already dead.
GJ: How can we find out what response patterns and strategies work best in a particular industry?
JO: While understanding general patterns is useful, every organization has a specific type of customer that behaves in a slightly different manner. If
you want to optimize you need to measure what's actually working, which means tracking your leads throughout the pipeline and then drawing
conclusions based upon the patterns that emerge.
GJ: Thank you for your time.
JO: You're welcome.
NOTE: Dr. Oldroyds original research is located at the Lead Response Management site.
The Death of Strategic Marketing
Marketing groups inside high tech firms were radically downsized last year -- and your firm is probably going to follow suit. According to a recent
survey conducted by the market research firm IDC as many as 6,000 tech marketing jobs will have been lost by the end of 2009, as the result of
the following trends:
Over two thirds of senior marketers indicate that their marketing departments are experiencing "significant organizational change."
High tech firms are moving money from traditional product-line marketing to streamlined thematic campaigns that emphasize a wider solution set.
Companies are creating shared services that remove redundancy in complex marketing organizations, while investing in technology to reduces
expense.
Companies are ending the dysfunction conflicts between marketing and sales by creating a unified sales and marketing organization.
In some cases, global marketing and sales are now organizationally united under one executive with titles like "SVP of WW Field Operations."
Marketing positions are losing power, because the big areas of budget savings are taking place outside of the traditional marketing group.
High tech firms are well-known as bellwethers for the rest of the business world. If there's a marketing bloodbath going on in high tech, can your
industry and company be far behind???
This is not to say that all marketing jobs will vanish, according to Richard Vancil, vice president of IDC's Executive Advisory Group. "Most marketing
departments remain adequately funded - even with these recession-led budget cuts, [but] many funds and activities aren't in the right place," he
says.
Vancil notes that the best marketing leaders are still making progress this year, by "embracing the inevitable technology-driven changes by
proactively re-directing and re-deploying their existing marketing budgets."
In other words, if you've got a career in marketing, you need to get out of the so-called "strategic" role and into the kind of technology-driven,
numbers-driven marketing that helps generate sales.
READERS: I assume you've noticed that I've been warning you that this was going to happen. Now it's happening, first in high tech, and (soon)
everywhere else. Take heed.
How to Hone a Cold-Calling Script
Earlier this week, I posted a quick test to discover "Is Your Cold Calling Script Effective." That post contained a sample script that Keith Rosen got
from from one of his clients. According to Keith, that script worked well in for cold-calling C-level executives.
However, Sales Machine reader (handle="mckerns") posted some criticism of the script which are worth considering. Here is the script (in italics),
with commentary:
Hi, John. [1] Jim here from Acme Cost Control. [2] Did I catch you at an okay time? [3]
[1] Mckerns' comment: Who are you and how do you know my name? My comment: You know the client's name because nobody gets through to a
C-level executive unless the know the guy's name. And you're just about to identify yourself.
[2] Mckerns' comment: Client is thinking - what do you want? My comment: Yes, that's true, but if you don't identify yourself and your company
you're breaking a social rule. And jumping right into a sales pitch is just going to get a hang-up.
[3] Mckerns' comment: No, it's never okay to interrupt me. My comment: Every cold call is, by definition, an interruption, so if you never plan on
interrupting anyone, you might as well give up on cold calling. However, there are some times that are better than others, so testing to see whether
there's some bandwidth available is a good idea.
John, I'm sure you're busy and I want to respect your time, so I'll be brief. [4] The reason for my call is this. [5] We just saved Universal Transport
an additional 12 million dollars in shipping costs, so I thought it was important to reach out to you, since every company has an obligation to their
customers and shareholders to reduce expenses as much as possible. [6]
[4] Mckerns' comment: This is unnecessary filler. My comment: I see Mckern's point, but I see this as creating a "social norm" for the call. Some
other comments suggested that the script was leaving too many "exit points." I think that Keith's viewpoint is that offering these exit points earns
you the right to continue the call.
[5] Mckerns' comment: This is SO not the reason for your call. My comment: Mckern is dead right. This line is a lie. Never tell a lie at the beginning
of a sales cycle. The script is much stronger without it anyway.
[6] Mckerns' comment: Don't tell me what my obligation is, I already know! My comment: I agree with Mckern. I think that you can assume the
executive realizes his fiduciary responsibility.
I don't know if you have a need for our services, [7] but with your permission, [8] let's talk for a few minutes to determine if there is anything we're
doing that could benefit you.
[7] Mckerns' comment: If you don't know, why don't you spend a half a second researching my company, and then telling me. My comment: Mckern
is right on this one. I suspect that this script was written before scads of corporate information was available on the web. It needs to be rewritten
accordingly.
[8] Mckerns' comment: Too fawning (e.g. "with your permission" "would you be comfortable"); you either have something important - give it to me-
or get off the phone. My comment: The crux of Rosen's method is to earn the right to pitch by using social norms to give the prospect the ability to
opt out of the conversation. However, some of this is culturally specific. The wording may be too fawning for a New York City executive, but
perhaps not fawning enough for an executive headquartered in, say, Louisiana.
Would you be comfortable spending just a few minutes with me on the phone right now, if I stick to this timetable? [9]
[9] Mckerns' comment: The only purpose for a cold call is to set up a meeting, and you have mere seconds to explain who you are, what you want
(meeting) and why they should. You can't expect them to qualify themselves this way... My comment: There are two bodies of thought on this.
Rosen believes that you can't even get a meeting unless you're willing to explain at least part of what you're going to discuss. I've heard other sales
experts say that you absolutely MUST NOT say anything substantive but only push for the meeting. This is a big issue and best left for a future
post.
What's important here isn't just Mckern's comments (which are very thoughtful), but the process of looking at the script and deciding what actually
makes sense. Even a script that's structured effectively can usually be improved by this process. With that in mind, here's the script, rewritten and
tightened:
Hi, John. Jim here from Acme Cost Control. Did I catch you at an okay time?
We just saved Universal Transport an additional 12 million dollars in shipping costs.
I've researched your company on the Internet and believe it's possible that we might be able to find similar savings for your firm.
Would you be comfortable spending just a few minutes with me on the phone right now to determine if there's a fit, provided I stick to this
timetable?
Voila! A much stronger script, given the fact that you intend to do more than just set up a meeting.
Thanks, McKern!
Can You Beat an Entrenched Competitor?
If you're trying to penetrate an account where your competition is already entrenched, you need answers to the following twelve questions:
Who has the customer met with? What has the competitor sold to this customer to date?
What value did that competitor provide? What does the customer perceive as the competitor's strengths and weaknesses?
What level of satisfaction does the competitor provide? What is the customer's perception of the quality of the competitor's deliverables?
What decision-makers or influencers sponsored the competitor? Who are the allies of the competitor? Who opposes the competitor? How does the
customer feel about the relationship? How does the customer feel about the sales rep for the competitor? How do we compare? Once you've
gathered this information, you can start creating a case for jumping from the competition to your own offering. If you can't get answers to these
questions, you're probably wasting your time -- unless you're willing to launch a margin-killing a price war. The above is based upon conversation
with Linda Richardson author of the New York Times best seller Perfect Selling and founder of the sales training firm Richardson.
Hybrids, Electric Cars and More: What You'll Be Driving in 2016
Your car is about to get a green makeover.
For years, the auto industry had successfully fought off attempts to impose tougher gas mileage standards. But when the big automakers came to
Washington last year asking for handouts, the help came at a price: tough new national standards. The rules — previously proposed as state limits
by California — will require each car company selling in the U.S. to deliver an average fuel economy of 35.5 miles per gallon for its cars, SUVs,
vans, and pickups sold here.
That’s about 40 percent higher than the current average. And to get there by the 2016 deadline, the auto companies will need to roll out a mix of
technological innovations.
Some automakers are fielding new plug-in electric cars like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, both of which go on sale late this year. The mix on
Auto Row will also include improved gas-electric hybrids and cleaner diesels. We may even see engines that run on natural gas or hydrogen
making a dent in the market.
Chevrolet Volt
“It is not just one or the other of these alternatives,” said Robert Davis, senior vice president for product development and quality for Mazda North
American Operations. “We have to use them all.”
Most analysts agree. But with all those options hitting the roads, you may face tricky calculations when choosing the car that gives you the best
value for your money. Among the questions: Is a plug-in electric the most environmentally correct choice if the electricity is generated by a coal-
fired power plant spewing greenhouse gases?
Here, in the order of their predicted market share, is a closer look at the vehicle you could be driving in 2016.
Gas Engines, New and Improved
Gasoline engines with high-tech improvements will remain dominant this decade for a simple reason: Incremental technology changes are the most
efficient way for automakers to deliver low-cost higher mileage. Gasoline engines, which now account for about 90 percent of car sales, will still
have a 73 percent U.S. market share by 2016 and just below 70 percent by 2020, according to forecasts by research firm J.D. Power and
Associates.
To be sure, small but stylish cars are one of the simplest ways to market high mileage: Diminutive models like the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa
already sell well. Ford plans to bring in its small-car Fiesta and a redesigned Focus from Europe, and General Motors will bring the Chevrolet
Cruze, based on a compact Opel model it sells in Europe, to the U.S. market later this year.
Larger vehicles will need engine improvements to get the needed mileage boost. “We expect to see a lot more turbocharging, cylinder deactivation,
and direct injection,” says Michael Omotoso, senior manager for global powertrain research at J.D. Power. “All these technologies exist right now,
but we expect wider adoption going forward.” These mileage boosters either burn fuel more completely, or run on lower power or fewer cylinders
most of the time, with additional power kicking in just when needed.
Drawback: Gasoline still requires a steady supply of petroleum and is vulnerable to world events, price spikes and supply disruption.
Our picks: Honda Fit, for now — though the European Ford Fiesta and Focus look promising.
Hotter Hybrids
Though well-established by now, hybrid models such as the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid see their sales rise and fall with gasoline prices.
One drawback is their higher price compared with gasoline models. The 2010 Ford Escape hybrid small SUV, for example, has a base price of
$29,785 compared with $23,575 for the non-hybrid XLT model.
Toyota, already the leader in hybrids, said at the Detroit Auto Show that it will intoduce eight new hybrid vehicles over the next few years. BMW
also is working on a small-car hybrid. J.D. Power’s Omotoso predicts that hybrids, now just under 3 percent of U.S. auto sales, will rise to around 9
percent by 2016 and 12 percent by 2020.
Drawback: It will be hard to get prices down enough to attract shoppers motivated solely by economics, not environmental principles.
Our picks: Nissan Altima among hybrid sedans, Ford Escape among hybrid SUVs.
Cleaner Diesels
Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Current diesel models are terrific new cars with an old image problem. But federal requirements for clean diesel fuel mean that sleek, quiet models
from Volkswagen, BMW, Audi and Mercedes now meet standards for nitrogen oxides and other pollutants — even in California, where they had
been banned. J.D. Power projects diesels, now about 3 percent of sales, to reach 8.5 percent by 2016 and around 10 percent by 2020 as more
buyers realize their merits. One of the biggest selling points is mileage, which is competitive with hybrids — especially in highway driving.
(Volkswagen’s Jetta, for instance is rated at 40 mpg on the highway and 29 in the city.)
Drawback: The cost of diesel fuel, now about equal with gasoline, can spike under some circumstances, as it did in 2008.
Our pick: Volkswagen Jetta TDI is an affordable diesel that’s fun to drive.
Plug-in Electrics
Plug-in electric cars have the most buzz going into the new decade. Niche electrics like the rocket-fast Tesla Roadster at more than $100,000 are
already available, but late this year consumers will get a chance to buy two models aimed at volume sales — the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the
battery-powered Chevrolet Volt, which has an auxiliary gasoline engine for recharging. The Volt will sell at around $40,000 and the Leaf about
$25,000; the first 60,000 buyers will also get a $7,500 federal tax credit. But price is likely to remain an issue. “The tax credit will help, but battery-
based cars can be expected to be more expensive for years in the future,” says Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and market analyst for
Kelley Blue Book. Plug-ins will hit only about 1 percent market share by 2016 and perhaps 5 percent by 2020, according to J.D. Power forecasts.
Drawback: With the Leaf needing recharging after 100 miles and the Volt running out of battery power after 40 miles (though the gas engine will
recharge it, extending the range), plug-ins only work well as commuter cars. Long road trips require another vehicle.
Our pick: We haven’t driven these yet, but the Nissan Leaf has a more reasonable price. The Chevy Volt would obviously be a better bet, however,
if you’d be nervous without backup recharging.
Hydrogen and Natural Gas
Further out on the green-car horizon, both General Motors and Honda have prototype hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that drive just like traditional cars
except with no noise and no emissions except water. And Honda actually makes and sells about 2,000 Civic GXs a year. The cars are powered by
clean-burning, low-emission natural gas — an increasingly abundant fuel in the U.S. But hydrogen and natural gas cars share a huge problem:
refueling spots are hard to find. That makes their likely combined market share less than 1 percent even by 2020 — although they might gain some
ground as fleet vehicles, which could have their own refueling stations.
Drawback: The huge investment needed for widespread refueling stations may be a permanent roadblock.
Our pick: if it ever goes on the market, GM’s fuel-cell Chevrolet Equinox is a terrific drive with almost no environmental impact.
Top 10 Job Interview Mistakes
For the last few weeks we've been tweeting daily at @InterviewGoofs about some of the most ridiculous things that have been said or done in
actual job interviews — everything from making a pass at the interviewer to parking in the company president's space — as told to us by a recruiter
and his staff who meet with dozens of job candidates a week. We've compiled a list of the 10 best (or worst, depending on your point of view)
interview gaffes that have been on the feed so far.
To see them, click on the arrows in the gallery to the left. And please follow our Twitter feed to get more daily gems from John Q. Recruiter.
Heard worse? In the comments field below, tell us the dumbest mistakes you’ve seen job applicants make
Bye, Bye, Banks: Time to Join a Credit Union
Steve and Angela Olson, a police officer and high-school teacher in Dubuque, Iowa, were adrift in credit purgatory. They knew they could get a
better rate on their home equity line, but ran into serious resistance at their bank. "We kept getting mailings to lower the rate, but every time we
applied, the bank said our credit score was too low," says Steve. And it was a vicious circle: Each loan inquiry left a black mark on his credit report,
making it even less likely the couple would get approved.
After weeks of failed refi attempts, they turned to Dupaco Community Credit Union — which approved their loan application in 30 minutes. The new
5 percent variable variable rate saved the Olsons more than $300 a month. “I wish we’d checked into a credit union a while ago,” says Steve.
Given public opinion about banks right now — the label “vampire squid” was recently slapped on one particular investment bank, but it sums up the
Q rating for the whole financial sector — this is a good time to be offering an alternative. But the nation’s 8,000 credit unions have more to
recommend them than the mere fact that they are not banks. They also offer a fairly good value proposition, with higher savings yields and lower
rates and fees. That may be why credit unions, which now have 92 million members, are seeing their fastest growth since 2003.
Lower Fees, Higher Yields
“In general, credit unions charge lower fees and loan rates than banks and pay higher savings yields,” says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of
the Consumer Federation of America. While banks are paying roughly 1.1 percent on one-year CDs, jacking up credit-card rates, and charging stiff
rates on loans and high closing costs on mortgages (assuming they’ll even approve you for a loan), credit unions are paying 0.30 percent more on
CDs, offering enticing credit-card and mortgage terms, and charging nearly two points less than banks on unsecured loans.
What’s more, credit unions are healthier: Banks were five times more likely to have failed during the economic downturn than credit unions. Just 25
credit unions went under (0.32 percent of the total) compared to 130 banks (1.56 percent).
In case you’re wholly unfamiliar with this breed of financial institution, a credit union is a nonprofit owned by its members. The financial structure
helps explain why credit unions can pay more on savings and charge less on loans. “The credit union channels any excess funds back to its
members,” says Mark Wolff of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). That trade group estimates that its members saved an average of
$104 per person through lower loan rates and fees than by using banks. At all federally chartered credit unions and most state-chartered credit
unions, the National Credit Union Administration insures deposits of up to $250,000 — the same limit as at federally chartered banks.
Although you can do much of your banking at a credit union, you may still want to keep a checking account at your bank for some services credit
unions don’t always offer, and for ATM convenience. Credit unions tend to focus on the blocking and tackling of personal finance: savings,
checking, credit cards, and loans for homes and cars. Only 22 percent of credit unions have safe deposit boxes and half provide money orders.
And while your bank may have multiple branches locally, the credit union might have just one — or none at all.
Although only 59 percent of credit unions have ATM cards, those that do are generally part of ATM networks with machines at 7-Eleven,
Walgreens, Costco, and at many banks. So if your credit union lets you swipe, you’ll probably be able to find a way to do it nearby. Credit unions
with cards typically charge lower ATM fees than banks or no fees at all, though you’ll pay the ATM’s own fee, if there is one.
Choosing a Credit Union
The good news: It’s become much easier to become a member because about 10 years ago credit unions began loosening their requirements. You
still need some sort of affiliation, though. Most credit unions are affiliated with places of employment; others are open to people who live in a
specific community, county or states. A few are comprised of groups such as houses of worship and trade associations.
Seattle-based BECU, for instance, was once open only to Boeing employees and families (BECU stood for Boeing Employees’ Credit Union).
Today, anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in a Washington state school district, can join, along with anyone with a Washington
State Business License.
Pentagon Federal Credit Union, known as PenFed, traditionally served only members of the military, employees of defense-related government
agencies, and their families. Today it’s also open to American Red Cross employees — and volunteers. It’s been making 60-month new-car loans
at 3.99 percent, about half the national 7.87 percent rate charged by banks.
You can find a list of credit unions in your area using CUNA’s QuickFind online tool or by calling 800-358-5710. Typically, if you meet the
membership requirements, you make a $5 to $20 deposit in a savings account — known at a credit union as a share account — and you’re in.
Mortgages, Credit Cards and Savings
The CUNA site’s Ratedex index compares the national average bank rate with credit union rates on a variety of financial products: savings,
checking, and money-market accounts; one-year CDs; credit cards; car loans; unsecured loans; home equity lines; and mortgages. Here’s how
credit unions stack up in the big categories.
Mortgages: You won’t necessarily find a bargain mortgage rate at a credit union, but you’ll probably have an easier time getting a loan than at a
bank and pay lower closing costs. Many credit unions make mortgages, with down payments on 30-year fixed-rate loans as low as 3 percent.
Recently, banks were charging 5.34 percent, on average, for a 30-year mortgage compared with 5.31 percent for credit unions; the rate on a one-
year ARM was 4.56 percent, compared with 4.26 percent at credit unions. And credit unions charged an average $2,280 in closing costs, versus
$2,309 for banks, according to the latest CUNA survey.
Credit cards: As MoneyWatch has reported, credit unions have some of the best deals on credit cards. We recently found 10 with variable-rate
cards below 10 percent, including the Digital Federal Credit Union, whose Platinum Visa’s variable rate is as low as 8.5 percent. Digital Federal was
originally chartered to serve the employees of the now defunct Digital Equipment Corp., but it now serves employees of more than 700 companies,
from Doubletree Hotels to Texas Instruments, and is open to members of many nonprofits. You can search for low-rate credit union credit cards at
[Link].
Savings: Although credit unions typically pay savers more than banks, even their rates are pretty measly these days. The average money-market
account yields .75 percent at credit unions and .47 percent at banks, for instance. [Link] can help you find the best savings rates on
money-market accounts and CDs. But you’ll still have to look up the particular credit unions online or call to learn whether you qualify.
7 Ways to Build a Loyal Team
It might sounds crazy to talk about worker loyalty at a time when big companies routinely show longtime employees the door. But loyalty isn't
dead. Instead, it has shifted, with few people nowadays feeling loyal to the company overall or even the people running the business. "In the past,
loyalty was vertical," says Daniel Pink, author of " href="[Link] The Surprising Truth About What
Motivates Us. "The organization was on top and it provided security down to the individual." So, to use Pink's language, today's workers tend to feel
horizontal loyalty — a commitment to colleagues, former colleagues and particular projects. In short, put people on a team, and loyalties develop.
As a manager, you need to understand this if you're going to motivate people effectively. No one tactic is going to forge the bonds of loyalty, of
course, but there are lots of small things you can (and should) do to build stronger and more productive relationships with your employees.
1. Frequently take the pulse of your team. We know this sounds pedestrian, but when was the last time you asked your team members how
they feel about their jobs? It’s a small thing, but do it. Try a simple, anonymous questionnaire: Do you understand where the company is going and
what you need to do every morning? Do you see how you fit in? Do you care enough to take action? How loyal are you to your projects and your
team?
Mary Ann
Masarech, director of research and marketing at management consulting firm BlessingWhite suggests combining these questions with others
directed at personal satisfaction: What are the aspects of your work that you like most? What would you like to learn? What are your aspirations?
Which of your talents gives you the greatest satisfaction?
2. Create great jobs.
What’s a great job? Individual expectations naturally vary, but the 600 senior executives and HR professionals surveyed for
ef="[Link] Work Foundation’s 2009 “Good Jobs” report agreed
on several common factors for job satisfaction: Task variety Workplace friendships Fair procedures A balance between how much effort workers
put it and the rewards they receive A certain level of autonomy and control for employees to work unsupervised. The takeaway? Your team
members want meaningful work that makes use of their talents and interests, and that offers good compensation — not just financial rewards,
but recognition, authority, or leadership. So know your employees’ personal goals and make sure that they have the tools to achieve them. Set
aside some time in annual reviews to collaborate on goal-setting. What would they like to do more of? What would make their jobs more
interesting? “The past year has meant that [managers] cannot offer people promotions or new titles, so they just avoid asking about goals or
aspirations,” says Tom Barry, managing director of BlessingWhite’s Europe office. Every job has elements that are repetitive, but these can be
leavened with personal projects that give employees freedom to indulge an interest or acquire another skill that can prove helpful to the business.
Confectionary company Cadbury recently beefed up a leadership program that gets high-potential senior managers involved in projects with
charities. “Those who’ve done the course have a hugely increased connection to the company,” says James Longwell, Cadbury’s global learning
and development director. An added bonus: The program gives junior staff something to which they can aspire.
3. Create great careers.
Work with your direct reports to develop an extended career plan for them — even if that plan means the individual must leave the business to
achieve a certain professional goal. The reality is that some of your key people will leave for a variety of reasons, no matter how much they seem to
like their jobs. Why not map a path that would welcome them back into more senior roles after gaining other experience? So-called ‘boomerang’
employees can be great external advocates for your company. McKinsey and Microsoft realized this benefit and created online alumni networks to
keep in touch with departed colleagues.
4. Rebalance the blame culture.
Most people don’t leave their company, they leave you — their boss, says entrepreneur and author Jo Owen, author of “The
Death of Modern Management.” “If you want engagement, you must show that you care, delegating more than just the rubbish that you don’t
want to do.” A manager who is quick to apportion blame for mistakes is highly corrosive. Delegating effectively means sharing credit and taking
blame. Do that, and the staff will take the risks that are required for success. They’ll do it with you and for you.
5. Make meetings optional.
Most people dislike meetings because often they don’t create results. Denmark-based workplace happiness advocate Alexander Kjerulf’s advises
against making meetings compulsory. This is about treating people like adults, he says. “They can decide if their time is best served by going to a
meeting or working at their desks.” That way, those who attend do so voluntarily, and with the expectation of adding something valuable. “Make
meetings shorter, more focused and get everyone who’s attending to influence the agenda,” says Kjerulf. “And always start a meeting with
something positive. It sets the tone.”See also:
href="[Link] Your Worst
Meeting Nightmares
6. Acknowledge individuals.
There are lots of ways to create a sense of respect among your team. “Some things are really banal: saying good morning,” says Barry. “If you’re a
manager, make sure you make yourself available to people when they need to speak to you.” General team praise is largely meaningless, but
specific and personal thanks goes a long way. Move from “Good job, team” to “Thanks, Jane, for staying late last night.”
7. Put employees into the bigger picture.
This should be something every manager thinks about from recruitment onwards. Employees look to team leaders to remind them why their work is
important in the big picture, and to create excitement about what the company is doing. There’s no quick way to achieve this. It’s your job to align
business values and goals for employees. Focus on results, says Kjerulf. Find ways to make people feel like their work has an impact on the overall
business, such as keeping them in the loop on what happens next for a project they’ve completed or acknowledging when their work has generated
more customers or revenue. Final tip: Be realistic about what you can offer as an employer. You can’t make people happy and you’re going to see
some turnover. But some churn is healthy, says Owen. It’s infinitely better than an office filled with loyal, but “useless time-servers,” he says.

Recession Cutting Our Faith in the Boss

Many firms have been lauded for creatively shifting work routines and responsibilities in an effort to reduce layoffs. To keep working, employees
went to four-hour work weeks, accepted week-long unpaid furloughs, and took on added responsibilities with no additional (or maybe even less)
pay. These actions were painted as employers doing the right thing for their loyal workers, efforts to keep as many employees as possible on the
payroll, even if the pay was diminished. But workforce expert Tammy Erickson thinks the end result of some of these steps will be to "further loosen
individuals trust in an employer to care for them -- or even to reward their hard work with the agreed-upon pay."
Why? Because the past two years gave workers an understanding that even a full-time job "does not (necessarily) equate to the equivalent full-time
pay." She points to employers who shifted employees to a four-day week but still expected more than 32 hours worth of work as one example.
As a result, Erickson believes that 2010 will bring changes in the employer-employee relationship:
Workers will seek out second jobs or freelance work to give themselves some degree of control in their increasingly unstable workplace.
Employers' attempts to push employees into working longer hours or 'off hours' will be met with pushback.
On the positive side, employers will treat their workers more like adults rather than like children. "A simple example is offering a menu of benefit
options and letting employees choose those that work best," writes Erickson. "Further along the spectrum would include encouraging employees to
'own' their own feedback process or even set their own compensation levels."
Set their own compensation? I don't know about that, Tammy. But I definitely believe workers are rethinking their relationships with employers,
either more positively (Thanks for not laying me off!) or negatively (Thanks for working me 40 hours in my forced three-day work week!)
Read her entire post on [Link], Predictions for 2010: Five Changes in the Way We Work, then come back for a discussion.
Has your attitude toward your employer, your boss, changed these past two years? What will you look for in your next employer?

What the Apple iPod Learned from Gillette Razors

John Mullins of the London Business School is an authority on entrepreneurship and marketing. In his latest book, Getting to Plan B: Breaking
Through to a Better Business Model, Mullins and co-author Randy Komisar recount the tales of leading companies that had to dump key strategies
in order to eventually create their category-killer products and winning strategies. Last week, Mullins told us about the one mistake start-ups make
over and over: adhering too slavishly to their original business plans. This week, he explains how Paypal and the Apple iPod were both developed
after ditching "Plan A" and learning from existing products and markets.
BNET: What's an example of a company that had to scrap its original strategy and find a "Plan B"?
Mullins: Paypal [now a part of eBay] is a company we talk about in the book. Max Levchin [co-founder with Peter Thiel] had world-class
cryptography skills and wanted to build a business on the back of that technology. The Paypal that we know today was actually their "Plan G," the
seventh application of his skills that Max tried. People don't realize it takes that kind of evolution to really get to a good idea, but that's what it takes.
They started with an idea that the corporate market would have many handheld devices used to transfer information, and that there would be a
need to encrypt that data. Well, that idea turned out not to fly. They had additional ideas that really didn't fly either. For Plan F, their sixth idea, they
built a little web demo to get people to try it. It turned out people started using the web demo to exchange money for things bought and sold on the
Internet, so a light bulb went off within the company. They could use the secure transmission capability they had developed and apply it to
transactions on the web. The market was far away from where they started, but it was based on the same technology and skills. We find that
pattern over and over again. We have 22 case studies in the book, most of which detail companies that had to evolve fairly significantly to find the
place where they would eventually make their money.
BNET: You mention that start-ups should develop strategies by researching their "analogs" -- firms from which they take strategic inspiration -- and
"antilogs," companies which they explicitly decide not to emulate. Usually, entrepreneurs and executives find their analogs and antilogs in their own
industries or continguous industries. How far afield do you encourage people to look for analogs and antilogs?
Mullins: That's a great question. I think Apple is the poster child for how to think broadly about that. They were a very innovative, design-led
company, but they were struggling and had a miniscule market share. Steve Jobs needed to reinvent the business. When he was thinking about
how to get involved with the music industry, he looked for analogs and antilogs. He knew Sony had sold 300 million Walkmen. He knew Napster
had 26 million users who were downloading songs one at a time. That was evidence of the demand.
The most interesting inspiration, though, was Gillette, which is completely outside the music industry and completely outside consumer electronics.
Gillette makes most of its money selling razor blades at very high margins, and they pretty much give away the razors at very low margins to get all
of us to buy the blades. He took that model, but he turned it upside down -- and he had to, because his competition was Napster, at a price of zero.
You couldn't plan on charging a high price for the music, because the consumer could get songs elsewhere. Gillette was the antilog. He thought
Apple needed to do it in a completely opposite way. [By charging a lot for the iPod or "razor," and almost nothing for the songs, or "blades."]
Another antilog was very close to the industry Jobs was looking at. One of the earliest music players was the Diamond Rio, which was about the
clunkiest consumer electronics device in history. Well, Jobs looked at that product experience and knew that Apple had the design and product
interface experience to totally change the way people loaded and used a portable music player. What resulted was a new standard, and some of
the most popular consumer electronics devices ever.
Next week, we'll talk with Prof. Mullins about the "leaps of faith" entrepreneurs need to make in their game-changing strategies.
Stanley Bing's Top 10 Strategies for Managing Up
Dear Stanley,
I work for the largest bank in the world, and like all things it has its ups and downs. What strategies can I use to effectively "manage up"? I am
hoping to differentiate myself from the pact, and my hard work seems to go unnoticed.
Signed,
Ambitious
Dear Ambitious,
Well, you can start by learning to spell. I don't mean to be unkind or rude, but there you have it. You won't differentiate yourself from the "pact," my
friend, unless you are negotiating an international agreement of some sort. You will, however, differentiate yourself from the pack if you use
language right and spell things correctly. Okay, there may be parts of the business world where spelling and grammar don't count, and perhaps
banking is one of them. But I don't think so. I can't tell you how many times, in spite of all my best intentions, I develop a slightly more negative
opinion about somebody because they write me an e-mail that says, "Stan, your right." I also have no particular affection for the dreaded "Him and
me are going to call you about that." What can I tell you? I'm a grammar and spelling police officer. I'm also a boss. If you want to manage me, you
have to speak my language. Or any language. That's a good beginning.
Speaking my language doesn't only extend to matters verbal and electronic. It's much more comprehensive than that. You can also start looking at
the way I dress, the way my life rhythms express themselves, what makes me mad, happy, sad, aggressive, resentful, nervous, crazy; when I'm
likely to want a big, relaxed lunch and when I'm more prone to want to grab a sandwich with my hard-working colleagues. I'm not saying that you
manage me by doing what I do and following slavishly to my drumbeat. I'm saying that knowing me is the alpha and the omega of upward
management.
It's like any instrument. You must learn the fundamentals first, and then go on to mastery. The good news is contained in one fact that all too few
people know: Bosses need and want to be managed. They require daily care, feeding, and control from a wide variety of subordinates and support
people. To begin with, every successful manager is him- or herself managed by his or her assistant. And that's only the beginning. In meetings,
phone calls, e-mails and meals, the boss is adroitly guided by any number of people in positions of trust. Those who drift away from that guidance
very often end up on the slag heap.
So do your boss a favor. Execute your plan and start implementing the old Hegelian master-servant relationship. You know what that is, right? The
unreadable German philosopher Hegel wrote about it. He said that in any such relationship, the supposedly less powerful servant has significant
power over the master. No point of view could be more useful in a business environment, particularly as bosses get more powerful. By the time
they reach the apex of effectiveness, the big bosses are incapable of making a phone call without assistance. And shine their own shoes? Forget
about it!
Start small and do your exercises. Begin here:
1. Talk to the boss every day you can. Say hello. Don't wear him or her out. Just begin to establish the idea that you are a human being,
not just a function, and probably a pretty good person, too. Look him in the eye when you do so.
2. Notice when he or she comes in to the office. Be there when she gets here. Don't be a pest. Be a presence.
3. Wander by his or her office now and then. If the boss doesn't seem to mind it? Sit and have a cup of coffee. Bossing is lonely. Be a
friend.
4. Look for opportunities to make your manager's life easier. I can't tell you what that is, but there usually are such chances. Seize them
when they come.
5. Never present a problem without also bringing along a couple of solutions. You are there to solve things, not make the boss do so.
6. Tell the boss the whole truth. If you have information that might interest the boss, bring it to him even if it might be slightly upsetting to
him.
7. Don't whine. If he or she treats you mean now and then, just suck it up. Don't be all hurt and tender. There's no crying in baseball.
8. Step up to the plate. If there's anything going on that requires a volunteer, do so.
9. Show your appreciation. Remember that there is no boss in the world that does not appreciate professional, moderate, responsible,
dignified sucking up. I'm not talking about lathering up his or her helmet all the time. I'm talking about conveying respect and admiration when he or
she requires it. Anybody that tells you that sucking up -- done properly and with restraint -- is wrong or icky is simply advising you to disarm one of
the most powerful weapons in your arsenal.
10. Share glory, but not blame. When there is praise due for something well done, let your boss have the credit, even if you deserve it. If
there is blame, accept it, even if HE deserves it. There is only one person who you have to please here, and it's not Mr. Carruthers on the 56th
Floor. It's Bob, your boss, who works down the hall. And HE knows who deserves the credit and the blame.
That's just a start. Now get started.
3 Time-Saving E-mail Replies for Emptying Your Inbox
E-mail is both a blessing and a curse. If you're looking for ways to reduce the drain e-mail has on your productivity without throwing out the
metaphorical baby, I've got three handy reply strategies you can use to quickly respond to (and often resolve) e-mail threads.
I'm not the right person for this. I frequently get questions and requests for action from people who think I'm the right contact, but in reality I am only
tangentially involved in the project at hand. In the old days, I'd try to be a hero and take on the task anyway. I'd end up spending a lot of time
researching something and get an obligatory "thanks" at the cost of work I should have been doing instead. The better solution? Say, "Sorry, but
I'm not the right guy. You might want to ping Janet or Brian instead," and add them to the CC line. Mission accomplished.
Do you still need this? No one's perfect, and you neglected an e-mail so long that it's 3 weeks old by the time you work your way down to it. Don't
reflexively jump on the task -- send an e-mail that says, "Sorry it took me so long! I was on vacation/in medical school/at rehab/doing a special
project for the CEO. Do you still need this? I'm still happy to dive in." In my experience, 75% of the time, the issue resolved of its own accord.
Mission accomplished.
Here's a link. As the dude who knows everything about a particular part of the publishing process, every writer I know e-mails me frequently with
"clarifying questions" about how to do their job. In a sense, that's fine -- we're all on the same team and I don't mind helping. But at a certain point,
you realize that your own time is valuable too. If you're frequently pestered with questions about something you are the appointed expert on, write a
short document and post it on a network share. Then, when you get the inevitable question, just replay with a link to the instructions. You'll save a
ton of time in the long term -- mission accomplished.
Start the year off right with some e-mail-reduction strategies. Here are some other e-mail posts you might find useful:
Five Rules to Take Control of Your E-mail, Be More Productive
How to Brag (Without Annoying Everyone)
Tooting your own horn doesn't come easily to everyone, but in business the ability to let the world know about your skills and successes is key to
getting ahead. So what holds some back from broadcasting their accomplishments? Among other reasons, many fear coming off like a big-headed
jerk and generally annoying all and sundry. Thankfully, science has come to the rescue as two new psychological studies reveal how to brag
without annoying people.
Reported on the BPS Research Digest blog, the studies asked a hundred college students to engage in role-playing in which one was "Avi," a big-
headed achiever who was less than timid about sharing his A+ grade on a recent exam. However, Avi's bragging occurred in different ways in
various scripts and onlookers responded to his boasting very differently depending on where it fell in the conversation:
In two versions, the friend raised the topic of the exam before he either did or did not ask Avi what grade he got; in the other two versions, Avi first
raised the topic of the exam, which either did or did not provoke a question from his friend about what grade he got. In every version Avi ended up
boasting that he got an 'A+'. Afterwards, the students rated Avi's character.
The crux of it: context is everything when it comes to boasting. If Avi's friend raised the topic of the exams, Avi received favourable ratings in terms
of his boastfulness and likability, regardless of whether he was actually asked what grade he got. By contrast, if Avi raised the topic of the exams,
but failed to provoke a question, then his likability suffered and he was seen as more of a boaster. In other words, to pull off a successful boast, you
need it to be appropriate to the conversation.
So what's the take home? If someone directly asks you about a topic, go ahead and sing your own praises; you won't pay a penalty. If, however,
those you meet don't naturally bring up the areas in which you excel, steering the conversation to those topics and allowing them to ask questions
before you boast is key. Nothing earth-shattering there, but having explicit guidelines about when bragging is OK just might help tighter-lipped
young people feel confident about talking themselves up.
Personal Improvement Begins With This Question
Most of us strive to improve ourselves, but are often thwarted by the demands on our time by our professional and personal lives.
So executive coach Marshall Goldsmith now tells his clients to pick just one behavior to work on. If you pick the right one, it will influence your
behaviors in other important areas as well.
Excellent! But how do you pick the right one?
Writing on [Link], Goldsmith suggests this simple exercise to pick a behavior pattern that you want to change.
"Complete the sentence: 'When I get better at...' over and over again. Listen closely as you recite potential benefits. You will be amazed at how
quickly you can determine whether this change is worth it for you."
I did a run-through on my own. I have a habit of trying to complete people's thoughts for them as they speak to me, and formulating in my mind a
response even before they have finished making their points. It's rude, and leaves the other person with the understandable feeling that they are
not really being listened to. So...
When I get better at being a more attentive listener, I will hear ideas, emotions, and patterns of thinking that will allow me to be a better manager
and mentor.
Yep, this sounds like something I definitely should focus on.
Goldsmith's post drew some great responses and examples from his readers. I particularly like this one:
When I get better at putting myself second maybe I will become more compassionate, less judgmental, and accept the way other people wish to
live their lives.
Read his full post, An Exercise in Changing Yourself. Then tell us how you would complete the sentence, "When I get better at..."
Take a Practice Interview, Hone Your Speaking Skills
I've hired my share of people over the years, and I can confirm something you've probably always suspected but didn't know for sure -- your odds
of getting hired plummet in proportion to how uncomfortable or unprepared you appear to be when speaking to the interviewer.
No matter how qualified you are, or how snazzy your resume looks, you absolutely should be calm, cool, and collected in the interview. You should
have a general idea how you plan to answer all the most common questions, and be able to adapt to follow-up questions and sound smart,
thoughtful, and prepared every step of the way. You should never be totally stumped; always be able to give an opinion or provide a relevant
annecdote.
That sounds like a tall order, but help is on the way. I've found a tool to help you get ready for your next interview.
It's actually a clever idea -- Better Talking lets you participate in a practice interview you conduct over the phone with a non-judgmental, pre-
recorded bot. The process is simple. Sign up for free at Better Talking, then call the service (it's an 866 number) and enter the PIN you got during
sign up. You'll have an opportunity to answer nine typical interview questions, like "What are your goals for the future?" and "What type of work
motivates you the most?"
After the interview is over, you'll get an e-mail with a link to listen to your performance. You can also loop in other people to give you feedback as
well by sharing the results on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Obviously, Better Talking won't help you hone your skills at thinking on your feet by reacting to follow-up questions, and there's nothing here
specific to your particular career field. But if you're uncomfortable talking about yourself, need to strike verbal pauses from your vocabulary, or just
want to hear what you sound like answering softball interview questions, you should definitely give this site a shot. [via MakeUseOf]
Confirmed: Entrepreneurship Took a Dive in 2009
Last month, I wrote a post about the predictions for 2009 that never materialized. As I noted then, many business publications once claimed that
last year was bound to be a boon for the entrepreneurial type:
"[M]illions of newly (and not so newly) unemployed will be scrambling to start their own businesses." (via the Wall Street Journal)
However, it seemed to me like those forecasts were overly optimistic. I argued that factors such as extended unemployment benefits and the lack
of small business loans would probably dissuade many from launching their own businesses.
At the time, I admitted that there were no formal studies confirming a sinking start-up sector---until now.
A new report issued by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a research association led by Babson College and the London Business School, has
found that while "necessity-driven entrepreneurship" (self-employment because of no other opportunities) did in fact increase amongst wealthier
nations over the last year, overall entrepreneurial activity decreased. Specifically, there were 10 percent fewer entrepreneurs last year amongst the
planet's "innovation-driven economies" (e.g., Belgium, Japan and Israel), with a 24 percent drop in the United States.
So what caused the dip in America?
The report cited a variety of possible factors, including an obvious slump in venture capitalism that lasted at least through the first three quarters of
2009. Also, a survey of American attitudes towards entrepreneurship found that over the last year, more people think starting a business is a good
career choice but fewer think the opportunities are there.
Curiously, as the report noted, the "fear of failure" rate in the States (those who see positive opportunities but still decide against entrepreneurship)
has been increasing steadily every year since 2006. This suggests, according to the report's authors, that the "American population appears to
have acted from around 2006 as if it anticipated trouble ahead."
Narcissism in the Workplace - Good or Bad?
When there's a problem at work, do you automatically think about how it will impact you?
When you walk into a meeting, do you think that everybody's looking at you, hanging on your every word?
Do whining employees drive you crazy, and yet, you go home and complain to your spouse about them?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may be a narcissist. Even if you said, "Well, sort of," then you may have some narcissistic
tendencies. We're trained to think that's a bad thing, but is it? I mean, does it really matter in the workplace? Will it stunt your career? Should you
run off and see a shrink?
Hmm ... why don't you just lie down on that couch over there and tell me all about your childhood.
Narcissism is indeed one of those words that elicit widely varying responses. While some write it off as your garden variety selfishness,
commonplace in today's "me" society, others, who might have an egotistical boss who's a real jerk, might want to strangle the guy.
So it comes down to a matter of degree. If it's destructive and leads to misery, then that's bad. But whose misery are we talking about, the
narcissist's or his victims - employees, coworkers, or shareholders? They probably suffer long before the individual is even consciously aware of it.
Oftentimes it's not even a problem until a crisis point. Then all hell breaks loose.
Which brings up a related question: is narcissism a "gateway" characteristic, a sign of more serious problems ahead? Does it inevitably lead to bad
behavior? Does it make you a dysfunctional boss or a nemesis to coworkers? Does it lead to psychopathic behavior?
There are a number of different perspectives to shed light on all those questions.
Freud saw narcissism as an essential part of all of us from birth. That makes sense, since a baby's survival depends on getting mom and dad to
take care of it. A baby is all me, me, me. But you're supposed to grow out of that, right? Some do. Others, not so much.
In Shame: The Underside of Narcissism, psychologist Andrew P. Morrison says that a reasonable amount of narcissism is healthy because it helps
individuals balance their needs in relation to the needs of others. That also makes sense. I mean, have you ever worked with a doormat who just
wants to please everyone else? Not a pretty sight -- or an effective career strategy.
The book Why Is It Always About You? lists coauthor Hotchkiss's Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism: Shamelessness, Magical Thinking, Arrogance,
Envy, Entitlement, Exploitation, and Bad Boundaries. Sounds like most of the dysfunctional executives and workplaces I've known.
All that said, I'd summarize my findings on narcissism in the workplace as follows:
Successful managers and executives probably demonstrate more narcissistic tendencies than others do, but in varying degrees. The early Steve
Jobs and Oracle's Larry Ellison show it in spades. But Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, not so much.
In excess, it can be tough on employees and peers, but operating results don't necessarily correlate. Should it be a red flag for boards and hiring
managers? Probably, but certainly not a show-stopper. Moreover, toxic signs may not even be visible until it's too late.
As for the individuals themselves, well, Thoreau said "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." That probably applies to all of us,
narcissistic or not. To me, it comes down to self-awareness. If you're selfish and egotistical and you know it, you're probably in the clear.
Developer 'Confirms' iPhone OS 4.0 -- But What Does It Mean?
ust what is Apple planning to unveil at its upcoming product-launch event? A tablet? Probably. A new iPhone? Perhaps.
One thing is just about certain: a new iPhone operating system is imminent. An e-mail we just received from an app developer includes this
statement: "Just wanted to give you a heads up that we've submitted an updated app for the new iPhone OS 4.0 software."
It doesn't get any clearer than that. OS 4.0 is coming -- but to run on what? While it might simply be an upgrade for current iPhone models, my
guess is it's the OS that'll drive both a tablet (which will probably look and act like an oversize iPod Touch) and the rumored iPhone 4.
Whatever the case, this is the first hard proof I've seen that we'll be getting a new OS -- perhaps one that will allow Home-screen icons tied to
individual contacts. Me, I'm just hoping for some kind of organization system for all my apps. Bring it on, Apple!
What are you wishing for in iPhone OS 4.0, and what product(s) do you think Apple will launch at the end of the month?
Find Local Businesses, Get Local Work via an Online Marketplace
There's no shortage of online services that connect vendors and clients, but there are few that cater specifically to connecting local companies with
one another. Do you need a tech writer to complete a project? Looking for a video producer? Are you a band looking for corporate gigs? How about
a carpenter? There's a new site designed just for you.
[Link] is a free, online marketplace for local services. It's easy to search for any sort of service provider in a specified radius around your
location, and the search results show details like rate, availability, and location. Not only can vendor and client connect on Thumbtack, but
scheduling and payment takes place within the site as well.
One thing that sets Thumbtack apart from other online marketplaces is the way the site ensures safety by verifying identities, professional licenses,
performing criminal background checks, and more. Check out this video for a quick look at what the site has to offer:
Free App Remotely Wipes, Secures, Recovers Android Phones
Lost phones are a disaster, not just because you can no longer make calls, but also because you've lost your contacts and other data.
WaveSecure, currently free for Android phones (and available for Symbian and Windows Mobile models), offers a panoply of lost-phone
assistance. (Note: The site is very slow to load right now, but keep trying.)
The app lets you remotely lock, locate, and, if necessary, wipe the contacts, text messages, and other sensitive data on your phone. (Even better,
you can download the data before erasing it.) Take a look:
As you can see, WaveSecure also provides backup capabilities you can leverage before your phone goes missing (which, hopefully, it won't).
You can get WaveSecure and a free lifetime account if you sign up before January 31. Sounds like a no-brainer for Android users -- and a should-
consider for the Symbian/WinMo crowd. [via Lifehacker]
Prevent Distracted Driving, Get a Free BlackBerry in the Process
We can all agree that distracted driving is bad, though there's little consensus on how to mitigate the problem. One approach is to prevent drivers
from using their cell phones while operating a moving vehicle, as you can see demonstrated in the video, below.
If you'd like to climb onto that particular bandwagon, I've got some killer news for you: Not only does ZoomSafer promise to prevent distracted
driving, but you can get a free BlackBerry equipped with ZoomSafer as well thanks to a partnership with mobile phone retailer Wirefly.
ZoomSafer automatically detects when your car is in motion and locks the phone's screen and keypad, which prevents you from checking for mail
or sending messages. It also can be set to auto-respond to incoming messages ("I'm on the road and will reply later") and simplify hands-free call
reception by announcing who is calling you. If this sounds awesome to you, it gets better: ZoomSafer has teamed up with Wirefly to furnish
ZoomSafer-supported BlackBerry smartphones for free, with the purchase of select service plans. ZoomSafer is an interesting idea, but I bristle at
some of the more egregious features. When you make a call, it can be set to play a short message reminding you to drive safely, for example.
Worse, I just can't wrap my head around why I would willingly install or use an app that took features away from me -- in this case, blanking the
screen so I couldn't, say, scan an e-mail while stopped at a traffic light.
I am against this sort of thing on principle -- singling out cell phone use while turning a blind eye towards all the other routine examples of distracted
driving is, to me, ludicrous. Agree? Disagree? Either way, you can read more about (what I consider to be) this sort of arbitrary nannyism.
Free Backup Utility Restores Your PC to a Previous State
Remember Genie Timeline, the fabulous utility that creates automated, real-time system backups? Comodo Time Machine offers a similar kind of
safety net -- and it's free. CTM can "roll back" your PC to an earlier point in time, like before you accidentally erased that critical PowerPoint file, or
before a virus thrashed your system. If that sounds like Windows' own System Restore feature, it is -- but CTM does more than just protect your
Registry and system files: It backs up files, folders, and programs as well. Here's an independent (and, truthfully, rather amateurish) video review
that provides more detail and some hands-on feedback: One thing you didn't see in the video is that CTM makes some DOS-level adjustments
upon rebooting. That's not a big deal, but I mention it just so you're not surprised by its installation splash-screen when you restart your PC.
I really admire the simplicity of the software's interface, which consists of just three buttons: Restore System, Take a Snapshot, and Advanced. (I
think it'll behoove most users to delve into Advanced and set up scheduled snapshots, which is very simple).
However, the one thing I couldn't immediately figure out is how to determine what files, folders, apps, etc. CTM includes in each snapshot. Also,
you can't seem to browse the contents of snapshot -- if you want to recover specific files, you have to enter a file or folder name and run a search.
These aren't deal-breakers, but they do make CTM less useful than a more full-fledged "time machine" backup system like Genie Timeline (which
remains a favorite). Of course, it's hard to argue with free, so if you want to add another layer of backup protection to your PC, Comodo Time
Machine is definitely worth a look.
Blacks Report Better Future Prospects, Despite Widening Unemployment Gap
Blacks in America are reporting that they are more optimistic about their prospects for the future than they've ever been, at least when polled by the
Pew Research Center over the last quarter century. Here's the key info from the Washington Post's story:Thirty-nine percent of blacks -- nearly
twice as many as in 2007 -- say that the "situation of black people in this country" is better than it was five years earlier. That view holds among
blacks of all age groups and income levels. Similarly, 56 percent of blacks and nearly two-thirds of whites say the standard-of-living gap between
whites and blacks has narrowed in the past [Link], this week, another newly-released report by United for a Fair Economy, a
nonpartisan nonprofit, has found that the economic opportunity gap between Blacks and Whites is actually growing:From December 2008 to
December 2009, the unemployment rate among Blacks increased by 4.3%, and it increased among Latinos by 3.7%. Whites saw a much lower
increase of 2.4% during this same period. Unemployment among Blacks now stands at 16.2%, higher than any annual rate in the past 27 years.
Unemployment among Latinos is 12.9%. Both rates far exceed the 9% unemployment rate in white communities...We found that in 13 states,
mostly in the Midwest, the Great Plains, and the South, the unemployment rate for Blacks was at least 2.5 times higher than that of whites.
The Pew researchers argue that optimism amongst Blacks is due in part to the "Obama effect." Although fewer Blacks now think Obama's victory
will improve race relations, when compared to last year's poll, the majority of Blacks still believe Obama has been "paying the right amount of
attention to their concerns."
10 Breakthrough PR Techniques from a Master
Forget trade shows, advertising, even direct marketing - the best bang for the corporate marketing buck is public relations, but only if you know
what you're doing. Unfortunately, most companies don't have the secret PR sauce and, frankly, the same is true of far too many agencies.
Fortunately, I hooked up with the right agency back in the mid-90s and, together with a modest marketing budget, we managed to put a tiny
company on the map in a big way. It was a microprocessor company named Cyrix and we competed with Intel, a company roughly 100 times our
size. But you wouldn't know that from the press we got.I still marvel at the results. One product launch had over 100 million impressions. You don't
get results like that from trade publications. We're talking front page Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and live interviews with CNBC and CNN. And
this wasn't a one-shot deal either; we launched product after product for years and years. I recently spent some time chatting with Lou Hoffman -
president and CEO of the Hoffman Agency, a global PR firm based in Silicon Valley, and the brains behind that breakout success. From that
discussion, here are 10 techniques that were so effective back then that the agency still uses them today. Humanize the story. How do you
humanize a semiconductor chip? We took the lead designer on the press tour with us. Storytelling is even more relevant today - you need content
rich in flavor and texture to get over the Internet noise level. Let necessity be the mother of invention. Because of our lightweight budget, Lou says I
inspired the agency to take risks and deviate from the norm. But frankly, we were a second tier player who wanted first tier visibility; traditional
strategies and tactics just weren't going to cut it. Pitch David versus Goliath. A classic. Everybody loves a David vs. Goliath story.
Internal leadership. This is a requirement. A top exec has to be willing to stick his neck out, sell up, fight for resources, and take the heat.
Set aggressive goals. The best way to get the management team on board is to set aggressive goals and metrics and then meet them. And if you
fall a bit short, trust me, nobody will complain. Commit exec resources. Successful PR requires executive commitment to drive internal strategy and
planning, do press tours, and to build media relationships by dropping everything and be a resource when the press calls.
Skip the Kool-Aid. Too many executives breathe their own fumes and expect the media to just rollover and write big stories about their products.
Always start with a strong dose of objective reality. Lead with the Wall Street Journal. Cultivate relationships and break big news with the WSJ, then
sit back and man the phones when everyone else picks up the story. Let customers and analysts tell the story. Especially true for tech or B2B, line
up analysts and customers to bring credibility to a big launch. No events, just one-one-one interviews. We never did a PR event, just one-on-one
interviews. Big time investment, big payoff. I know; I left out how we were able to create a groundswell / buzz using all these techniques. So, if you
like this sort of stuff, click the recommend button or retweet it and we'll keep it coming.
BlackBerry Roundup: Google Mobile, Xobni Beta, and Twitterlerts
You know the best thing about owning a smartphone like the BlackBerry? Information at your fingertips. These three new tools are all about
information: searching it, syncing it, and tracking it. Take a look:
Google Mobile The latest version of Google's eponymous app brings one killer new feature to the table: e-mail and contact search. Just enter (or
say!) your query -- say, a person's name or some text from an e-mail -- and the app will search through the e-mails and contacts on your device.
Twitterlerts Want to see how your brand or product is faring in the Twitterverse? This BlackBerry app lets you search tweets, save your searches
for future use, and monitor designated keywords -- alerting you when there's a match (that's the "lert" part). Twitterlerts requires BlackBerry OS 4.3
or later and costs $4.99.
Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry After months of waiting, you can finally sign up for the Xobni for BlackBerry beta. Xobni, of course, is the Outlook plug-
in we all know and love. The BlackBerry version promises to connect you with your Outlook contacts while composing messages, sync contacts
automatically, and deliver Facebook/LinkedIn info on your 'Berry.
Improve Your Web Site with a Free SEO Tool from Microsoft
You don't have to be a developer, tech geek, or even a Webmaster to know that SEO -- search engine optimization -- is a critical part of making
your Web site a success. If you operate a Web site or even just a blog, making the site's various pages play well with Google will help you get
visitors. Easier said than done, though, right? Who understands SEO?
Well, Microsoft does, apparently, and they've released a free utility you can use to quickly get a detailed SEO analysis of any Web site.
That's right -- another free goodie from Redmond. The SEO Toolkit analyzes your site and gives you a detailed report on how you can improve its
search engine effectiveness. The report is in plain English -- it not only tells you what's wrong (you don't have an ALT tag on your images, for
example), but why fixing it is important to Google and other search engines.
There's an instructive video on the SEO Toolkit Web site, but don't worry about the techno-babble. The narrator starts by telling you how this
program plugs into IIS and it's awesome for Web developers. I'm sure that's true, but it's also true that you don't have to have the slightest idea
what IIS stands for to use the SEO Toolkit.
It took the SEO Toolkit about 3 minutes to find about 500 SEO violations on my personal blog, which include broken links, art without ALT tags,
over-long titles, and missing titles. The next question: Do I have the ambition to fix everything?
Leave an Effective Out-of-Office Message
Whether you are away from the office for a day or a month, it's important to make sure the people you leave behind can continue to get the job
done in your absence. That includes co-workers, your boss, partners, clients, and associates.
You might have your bases covered with some folks, but to make sure everyone is equipped for your absence, be sure you write an effective out-
of-office message.
I know what you're thinking -- an out-of-office message isn't rocket science. And you're right. There are three ingredients yours should contain:
The dates of your absence. "I'll be away starting on Monday, January 18 and returning Thursday, January 21."
Can you be contacted? "If you need to reach me, I'll check e-mail occasionally, but I generally won't be available by phone."
Who to talk to instead. "For anything about widgets, e-mail Janet. For gizmos, see Cathy."
Lifehacker also recommends that you indicate why you're going to be away -- business or personal -- but I disagree. That's no one's business.
Instead of the reason for your absence, I recommend just indicating if (and how) you can be contacted.
And don't forget that when you write your message in Outlook, it contains two different tabs -- one for replies to e-mail within your company, and
another tab that outsiders see. It's easy to forget and accidentally configure Outlook to send the wrong message.
10 Lies Managers Tell Themselves
We all lie to ourselves. Why, I don't know. Guess self-delusion is part of the human condition, whatever that means. I'm sure a relatively competent
shrink can explain it, but who needs all that psychobabble, right?
What got me thinking about this was someone on Michael Finney's consumer watchdog radio show explaining 5 lies people tell themselves so they
can buy stuff they can't afford: I could have bought something more expensive so I'm actually saving money, it's an investment, I deserve it
because something good happened, I'm comforting myself because something bad happened, that sort of thing.
Now here's the thing. Usually when we lie to ourselves we're only hurting ourselves; worst case, our families. But with managers, it's a whole
different ballgame. When managers lie to themselves they can hurt a lot of people. The bigger the title, the more people they can hurt. CEOs can
hurt shareholders, employees, and customers by the thousands. Hell, they can take down a whole company.
I've seen self-delusional executives destroy once-great companies lots of times. Sad but true.
But wait, managers are only human, right? They're allowed to make mistakes. Sure. Mistakes are one thing. But saying things to comfort yourself
and prop up your fragile ego so you don't have to face the truth because it scares you or something is an entirely different thing.
Do I sound angry? Sorry. Guess the topic hits sort of close to home.
10 Lies Managers Tell Themselves
I know what customers want. CEOs often think they know what customers want. Actually they don't. They just know what they want, and they're
usually not even in the target demographic.
We have the best (fill in the blank). Technology, marketing, customer service, whatever. Typically self-delusional BS, boastfulness, or ego
transference (if there is such a thing).
It'll fix itself. When they don't want to do something that's a pain in the you-know-what.
Our customers love us. Usually a way to keep people from asking questions they don't want to hear so they don't have to learn the truth that they
don't want to know.
My employees love me. Same thing as with customers.
Out of sight, out of mind. AKA solving a problem by ignoring it, firing it, or otherwise making believe it doesn't exist.
It's probably for their own good. Also "they'll land on their feet." Usually when they demote or fire somebody, or during a layoff.
The ends justify the means. Comforting themselves when they've done something terrible to others.
I know what the execs want. He probably doesn't; he's just afraid to ask or doesn't want you to go over his head.
It's my company. In small business, this is often true, but for CEOs of corporations, almost never. So why say it? I don't know - is there such a thing
as ego extension?
So, what's the solution to the problem? You really need to ask? If you're a manager, don't do that! Grow a pair and face the truth. Board directors,
beware of self-delusional executives. As for directors who prefer hearing sugar-coated BS, well, "may you be reincarnated as an NBC executive!"
Anyway, those are my 10 lies, but there must be hundreds. I know you've got a few so, come on, spill it.
Get Your Definitive Guide to the Palm Pre
Thanks to all the talk about the Google phone, the Palm Pre might not be leading all the tech headlines these days. But it remains a formidable
mobile phone -- along with Android and the iPhone, it's among the most compelling choices out there for all-purpose phone/browse/app gadgets.
Need a handy guide to getting the most out of every nook and cranny? We've got one for you: How to Do Everything Palm Pre.
Of course, full disclosure: Rick and I co-wrote this book, so consider this post a shameless plug.
The book explains how to perform all the gestures -- including a few "hidden" ones that you won't learn about in the user guide. It digs into all the
tricks for configuring and customizing your phone, installing unofficial "homebrew" apps, and much, much more. 320 pages of more, in fact.
So take it from us -- two dudes with books to sell -- run, don't walk, to Amazon or your nearest book store and pick up a few copies. And by the
way: Anyone who buys 10 copies or more has my permission to call Rick at home for personal assistance whenever you have a problem with your
phone.
Outlook Tip: Delete E-Mails with a Single Mouse-Click
Since the beginning of time, the process of deleting e-mail in Outlook has gone like this: Click the message you want to delete, then press the
Delete key (or click the Delete button). Wayyyy too much work.
Here's a simpler solution: Delete an e-mail (from list view) just by clicking it with the middle mouse button (which on some mice is the scroll wheel).
Outlook doesn't offer this option, but there's an AutoHotkey script that makes it possible. Basically, the script intercepts any middle-clicks (only in
Outlook) and converts them into a left-click followed by Ctrl-D (Outlook's Delete shortcut). It's simple, it's clever, and it works.
In case you're not familiar with it, AutoHotkey is a free utility that can automate various tasks, remap keyboard keys, and so on. There's a bit of a
learning curve (Lifehacker has a good primer for beginners), but, ultimately, all you have to do is install the program, create a new script, then
copy/paste the code. Run that new script and you're off to the middle-click-delete races.
Beware of Phishing Apps on Your Phone (and Elsewhere, I Suppose)
Rick and I frequently roll our eyes at enterprising anti-malware vendors trying to "protect" your mobile device from viruses and other malicious code.
It seemed ever so gratitutious, what with the total lack of documented malware on mobile devices.
Well, the carefree days of malware-free phones might be over, and it's time to be a bit more cautious.
Recently, some malicious apps were found in the Android Market. Specifically, these apps were masquerading as banking apps, but all they did
was capture your personal information -- including usernames and passwords -- and phone home with your precious bounty.
The apps were all uploaded by a single user (Droid09) and have since been removed from the store, but in the Android's more "open" environment,
it's not inconceivable that more criminal examples will emerge in the future.
On the plus side, the iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Palm Pre all appear to be clean, thanks largely to better controls over what content gets
published. But it definitely pays to be vigilant.
Can't Pay Your Employees What You'd Like? Praise Them Instead.
Hoping for a raise in 2010? How about a nice pat on the back?
The economy may be showing signs of life, but that doesn't mean managers and employers are starting to shower their people with cash. Far from
it. Instead, they're turning to an old-timey, feel-good technique to motivate their overburdened workers: praise.
"It's probably the most powerful driver of performance known to mankind," says Bob Nelson, a workplace consultant who has advised Fortune 100
companies on the use of praise. "Whether it's an employee or a spouse, you get more of what you want when you praise someone."
As a motivational tool, of course, praise has been around forever, long before the self-styled experts began teaching us how to practice it. But the
praise-making industry only came into vogue as the coddled offspring of Baby Boomers — the kids who got soccer trophies whether they won or
lost — entered the workforce en masse and required constant complimenting.
Then the economy blew up, leaving empty cubicles, cut wages, forced furloughs, and a whole lot of insecure workers. Today, it's not just Gen Y
that needs emotional reinforcement. It's everyone. All employees and their managers are more stressed than ever, working faster and with fewer
resources. And lots of managers mistakenly think they are too busy to give praise.
"The only time you hear from the boss is when you made a mistake," says Nelson, "And bosses think they don't have to do this because you're
lucky to have a job now. People need it more but tend to get it less."
Make your praise tangible
Giving out praise isn’t as easy as you might think, and the approaches vary. One strategy, says Nelson, is to make praise visible. Visit the offices of
BankBoston, for instance, and you’ll spot gold embroidered stars all over the place, little decorative rewards from managers to good workers. “You
walk around and people have these stars on their cubicles maybe attached to their name tags,” says Nelson.
Elsewhere, companies are trying to add a little levity — perhaps as a way to lessen the risk that forced praise in bad times can seem insincere,
even hokey. Nelsen recommends gag trophies. At TRW in San Diego, managers buy a piece of junk at the flea market each year, say a lamp or a
pitcher, that they pass around each month to recognize a job well done, says Nelson. The winner decorates the trophy to give it personal flair.
Other companies are tossing in some prizes — a little something to sprinkle on the thank you in these dire times. At the Universal Orlando theme
park, which last year shed jobs due to the slump, managers give each other S.A.Y. IT! cards, which stand for Someone Appreciates You, and are
redeemable for movie tickets, dinners, and other gifts. Says Rhonda Rhodes, vice president of human resources at Universal: “You take care of
your people and they will take care of your customers.”
Even Bank of America, with 200,000-plus employees, is in on the praise action. Part of its motivation program rewards workers with recognition
points that they can redeem for gifts. The idea, says BofA’s spokeswoman Kelly Sapp, is to “keep associates engaged and ultimately drive
business results.”
See also: 7 Ways to Build a Loyal Team
Change the way you talk
Perhaps the most effective praise doesn’t come with a coupon, but rather from human interaction. And this often the most difficult, especially for
managers for whom praise doesn’t come naturally. Jerry Pounds, who has consulted for Wal-Mart and Ford and writes a blog called Positive
Influence, advises managers to praise intellect and problem-solving skills, working the flattery into everyday discussions. “If the boss comes out of
the office and shakes your hand then goes back in that’s no good,” Pounds says. “There’s no need for gimmicks.”
Nelson, who wrote the book “Keeping Up In a Down Economy,” advises managers to create a new mindset. When the thought crosses your mind
that someone has done a good job, act on it. Pick up the phone, jot a note, or send an email. Better yet, says Nelson, go find the person no matter
what they’re doing.
“Have you ever interrupted someone in a meeting to give them good news?” says Nelson. “It’s exceptional. You say, ‘Hey, I know you’re in middle
of something, but I had to let you know. We blew past last quarter’s numbers. No way that could happen without you and your team.’ That little 10
seconds is going to be conversation at dinner that evening.”
The words you choose are critical, so tread carefully. Mark Holmes, an employee-retention consultant and author of “The People Keeper: How
Managers Can Attract, Motivate and Retain Better Employees,” advises his corporate clients to find specific attributes that show that you, the boss,
really are paying attention.
“You can simply say, ‘I want to say thank you for being somebody not afraid to tell me what you need to say,’” says Holmes. “Or you say, ‘The thing
I appreciate about you Joe is you’re consistent.’ Or ‘Suzie, you are great as a mentor with our younger employees.’ Or ‘I love your contribution. I
love the way you speak up in meetings.’ It all means the world to an employee.”
Oddly, the best workers are often the ones who get overlooked by the praise givers — like the good kids in a family, who are seen as capable and
directed. Yet those are often the people bosses need to go out of the way to praise in bad times so they stick around in good. “It’s not uncommon
for a high-performing employee to leave companies because of a lack of feedback,” says Holmes.
Turn praise into dollars
Anyone who doubts that proper praise can boost a company’s bottom line along with its morale should listen to what happened at Houston-based
Tetra Technologies, a service company in the oil and gas industry. Steve Hardwick, the global vice president of business development, brought
Holmes in 2008 after a dozen big Tetra accounts had shrunk. Holmes worked with the sales and marketing teams on building teamwork and
recapturing that business. A big part of what Holmes did was to make sure specific achievements were recognized.
“He made a big deal of saying, as we rolled out a new product and sought accounts, “’Look what Joe did over here,” says Hardwick. “Or he’d say,
‘Bob’s got it, look at what he told customers.’”
Tetra ended up bringing all of those lapsed accounts back into the fold. It also recently extended its contract with Shell — one of its largest
accounts — for an additional three years. Two of his top guys had led the effort. “I took time to take both of these guys to dinner one-on-one and
tell them how much I appreciate them,” says Hardwick. And while Hardwick says the company does its best to compensate high performers, he
says praise is often equal to money.
“Money is inert,” he says. “A few thousand here or there isn’t going to be the reason you leave a job. What’s important is how you feel about how
you’re fitting in, producing, contributing as part of the team, all non-monetary issues.”
True enough. Even so, most of us wouldn’t mind a few extra thousand along with the praise.
Google's China Stand-Off: 10 Reasons It Matters
Google's intensifying stand-off with China has implications for Internet users that exceed the company's threatened withdrawal from the Asian
powerhouse over cyber attacks and censorship. On a macro level, the confrontation focuses global attention on personal data security, freedom of
expression, open commerce and reprisals by governments that have as much leverage and resolve as many of the Internet players involved. On a
micro level, it publicly showcases how Google can use its clout for corporate and common good.
Some short-sighted press and investors are fixed on the mere drama and its impact on quarterly results, which Google reports Jan. 21. Wall Street
has already written off the situation as a footnote to Google's balance sheet, with China generating about two percent (or less than $500 million) of
its annual $20 billion revenues, according to Piper Jaffray & Co. Skeptics question whether Google's new found morality is too late to make a
constructive difference, and whether it will adversely affect sales of its Android operating system-based smart phones in China's booming mobile
market. Cyber attacks on Twitter, Yahoo and other firms in the past year have failed to rouse as much attention and action.
As the world's largest Internet market (it has more than 384 million users) and soon expected to become its dominant economy, China's
compromise of Internet security and freedom is all about the global long view. It compounds China's uncomfortable hold on US debt, technology
and markets. The Chinese government's heavy-handed censorship is uniquely evident in the sparse, skewed media coverage in China of the
Google conflict. Whatever the outcome, it will set a precedent for western corporate and consumer relations with China, where Google and other
multinationals have long struggled. US lawmakers applauding Google's defiance are urging other US firms to do the same even as it complicates
American diplomacy and efforts to avoid a damaging trade war. In a Jan. 12 post on Google's official blog, the company said it was reconsidering
the way it conducts business in China in the wake of continuing cyber attacks and censorship. As a result, it no longer censors its results on
[Link]. While the central issues are not new, Google's willingness to take a demonstrative stand will shape the global Internet ecosystem, for
better or worse.
Here are 10 more reasons why this unprecedented stand-off and its outcome matter:
It raises the prospect that the Internet can be shackled by authoritarian governments with their own Web agendas, standards and values. Within
the past year, the Chinese government has shut down thousands of web sites, arrested thousands of Internet users, and blocked social networking
sites including Google's YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
It could leave China with a single dominant search engine, Baidu, which has about two-thirds of the exploding market. Baidu has been criticized for
poor quality search results and advertising, and removing links related to sensitive news.
It heightens concern about the security of the detailed data Google amasses on individuals. Chinese hackers have used sophisticated programs to
tap profile, account information and communications of human rights activists to use against them.
It fuels China's flagrant theft of intellectual property. After decades of permitting the black market piracy of films, TV programs, books and other
copyrighted materials, China has increasingly turned a blind eye to the illegal hacking, manipulation and sabotage of information stored on or linked
from Google and other popular web sites It underscores the risk assumed by employees of multinationals working in potentially hostile foreign
environments. Google says it is working to protect its China-based employees from potential government reprisal including interrogation, arrest and
imprisonment. It puts Google in the precarious position of potentially leaving behind some 700 trained technology experts and some infrastructure
to the benefit of its Chinese competitors. For now, Microsoft says it would not follow Google out of China.
It would limit the ability of US companies to continue working inside China with free expression advocates, who instruct citizens on how to use
restricted media resources such as Twitter and virtual private network servers outside of China's boundaries and control.
It will set the tone for similar tussles over cyber attacks and censorship in several dozen countries where Google and its peers face similar
challenges and conflict. It is providing Google with new support and respect at home, which will not necessarily translate into regulatory clear
sailing for many of its more controversial domestic business ventures. That includes Google's latest proposal to become an unregulated market
maker in energy services. It is challenging the Obama administration to take a more definitive stand on Internet security and freedoms at home and
abroad. Leading tech company executives meeting with the President at the White House this week encouraged more aggressive incentives for
innovation and protections for global expansion. The State Department said Friday it will lodge a formal complaint with China over the alleged
hacking incidents. During his recent trip to China, President Obama characterized Internet freedom as a central human rights issue.
Conan's Bad Bet on Company Loyalty
Yes, Conan O'Brien got shafted. But he made a huge mistake in managing his career.
He trusted his employer would live up to a commitment made six years ago. A recap of of the current O'Brien-Leno imbroglio is unnecessary.
Suffice it to say that O'Brien's recent promotion to host The Tonight Show, promised as O'Brien was being recruited by the competition, has been
pulled from under his feet by NBC in order to save Leno from his ratings nightmare. Refusing to move TTS to a midnight slot, O'Brien is threatening
to pack up his high carrot coif and look for a new home. I agree with [Link] bloggers Marc Effron and Miriam Ort, who advise against making a
long-term career decision based upon an employer's promise of future payoff. In the end, the business will act in its own interest. Your career
happiness is not the among the top priorities. "No organization can make reasonable promises of future placement -- you're setting yourself up for
disappointment trusting an organization to honor that agreement. In fact, that's essentially today's career deal. The corporation will give you an
opportunity to acquire a bundle of experiences that have some market value. They are under no obligation to take advantage of that combined
experience but they have the option to do so. If for some reason they choose not to take that option (or to revoke it) you walk away and apply those
skills to an employer who values them." Their post also includes good advice to employers on how to handle talent. Read Don't Make Conan's
Mistake. Look, we'd all like to believe the Ira and George Gershwin lyric: In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay But our love is here to stay. But in your relationship with your employer, the better advice is, "A Change is Gonna Come."
How about you? How long would you be willing to sacrifice present gain from your employer for long-term success?
10 Breakthrough PR Techniques from a Master
Forget trade shows, advertising, even direct marketing - the best bang for the corporate marketing buck is public relations, but only if you know
what you're doing. Unfortunately, most companies don't have the secret PR sauce and, frankly, the same is true of far too many agencies.
Fortunately, I hooked up with the right agency back in the mid-90s and, together with a modest marketing budget, we managed to put a tiny
company on the map in a big way. It was a microprocessor company named Cyrix and we competed with Intel, a company roughly 100 times our
size. But you wouldn't know that from the press we got. I still marvel at the results. One product launch had over 100 million impressions. You don't
get results like that from trade publications. We're talking front page Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and live interviews with CNBC and CNN. And
this wasn't a one-shot deal either; we launched product after product for years and years. I recently spent some time chatting with Lou Hoffman -
president and CEO of the Hoffman Agency, a global PR firm based in Silicon Valley, and the brains behind that breakout success. From that
discussion, here are 10 techniques that were so effective back then that the agency still uses them today. Humanize the story. How do you
humanize a semiconductor chip? We took the lead designer on the press tour with us. Storytelling is even more relevant today - you need content
rich in flavor and texture to get over the Internet noise level. Let necessity be the mother of invention. Because of our lightweight budget, Lou says I
inspired the agency to take risks and deviate from the norm. But frankly, we were a second tier player who wanted first tier visibility; traditional
strategies and tactics just weren't going to cut it. Pitch David versus Goliath. A classic. Everybody loves a David vs. Goliath story.
Internal leadership. This is a requirement. A top exec has to be willing to stick his neck out, sell up, fight for resources, and take the heat.
Set aggressive goals. The best way to get the management team on board is to set aggressive goals and metrics and then meet them. And if you
fall a bit short, trust me, nobody will complain. Commit exec resources. Successful PR requires executive commitment to drive internal strategy and
planning, do press tours, and to build media relationships by dropping everything and be a resource when the press calls. Skip the Kool-Aid. Too
many executives breathe their own fumes and expect the media to just rollover and write big stories about their products. Always start with a strong
dose of objective reality. Lead with the Wall Street Journal. Cultivate relationships and break big news with the WSJ, then sit back and man the
phones when everyone else picks up the story. Let customers and analysts tell the story. Especially true for tech or B2B, line up analysts and
customers to bring credibility to a big launch. No events, just one-one-one interviews. We never did a PR event, just one-on-one interviews. Big
time investment, big payoff. I know; I left out how we were able to create a groundswell / buzz using all these techniques. So, if you like this sort of
stuff, click the recommend button or retweet it and we'll keep it coming.
Think You're Customer-Centric? Think Again
In his new book Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business, Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati
gives companies advice for becoming truly customer-centric.
The key word being "truly."
"Customer-centricity sounds like motherhood and apple pie. Every company should be customer-centric, and no company is going to say we want
to be anti-customer-centric," says Gulati, who I spoke with last week. "This idea has been around forever, and a lot of people feel like it's just a
marketing idea. But part of my endeavor is to show this is very hard stuff."
While it's hard stuff, it's also worth it.
"In a marketplace like today, customers have more choices and more information, and services start to look like each other, in what we call a sea of
sameness," explains Gulati. "If you don't have an ability to transcend beyond the features and functionality of my product versus yours, then you
have a problem."
So how does a company transcend that sea of sameness and figure out how to truly serve its customers? Here are three keys:
Ask the right questions: Most organizations believe they are customer-centric when they are asking questions, but they're communicating with
customers through a product lens. Instead, Gulati says companies must ask deeper questions such as "what problems are customers dealing
with?" and "what are the issues happening in the life of my customers?"
Make the creative leap: Customers often won't be able to tell you exactly what they need. Says Gulati, "Steve Jobs was not going around saying,
'Tell me how to make an iPhone.'" But based on asking the right questions and carefully listening, companies can figure out the innovations that will
best serve their customers.
Get your organization to act: "The hardest one is getting the organization aligned to act around what we think customers want," Gulati says. "Most
companies are organized around 20th century constraints of production and distribution. Companies that are organized around product and
geography fundamentally don't orient themselves around customers, especially if the customers span products and geographies."
So which companies are asking the right questions, making creative leaps and taking action? Next week, we'll take a look at companies that Gulati
says are getting the customer-centric approach right.
Most Disruptive Companies of the Decade
When I saw the headline of Scott Anthony's blog post The Disruptors of the Decade, I wrote down these names before reading the piece:
Apple. Google. Amazon. Wal-Mart. In that order.
These are pretty much the names that Anthony's readers gave him, although Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen voted for
Cisco over Apple. Other companies getting votes in various categories included Ford, Dow Corning, Research in Motion, Goldman Sachs and
Facebook.
OK, so no great surprises. But then Anthony, who is the Managing Director of Innosight Ventures, asks an intriguing question. What will be the
characteristics of the great disruptors when we look at this list again in 2020? According to Anthony, these companies:
Increasingly will not come from the United States.
Will be involved in health care, education, or clean tech.
Will emerge from established companies.
The latter point would be especially intriguing, given that Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation shows how incumbent companies, who are
focused on protecting current revenue streams, are the most likely to be disrupted by innovative upstarts.
"Expect 'old line' incumbents to increasingly figure out how to use disruptive innovation to their advantage," Anthony writes.
My pick to be on the list: Tata Motors, maker of the $4,000 Tata Nano.
If you had to forecast the most disruptive company in 2010-2020, which would you pick? Does it even exist yet?
Investing: 5 Dumb Mistakes to Avoid
In his newly revised book, Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them, co-author Gary Belsky says irrational behavior
often leads us to make dumb and costly financial decisions. In this excerpt, Belsky reveals the investing secrets that will help you avoid such goofs.
We all commit financial follies that cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars each year. Worse, we’re often blissfully ignorant of the causes of our
monetary missteps and clueless about how to correct them. But by knowing these five big investing mistakes, you can change your behavior to put
more money in your pocket.
1. Letting Losses Hurt More Than Gains Please You
People generally are “loss averse.” The pain felt from losing $100 is much greater than the pleasure from gaining the same amount. That’s why
people behave inconsistently when it comes to taking investment risks. You might act conservatively to protect gains (by selling your winners to
guarantee the profits) but act recklessly to avoid losses (by holding onto losers, hoping they’ll bounce back). Loss aversion causes some investors
to sell all their holdings during periods of market turmoil, but trying to time the market doesn’t work in the long run.
2. Placing Too Much Emphasis on Unusual Events
Many people still recall the stock market crash of 2008 with anxiety, forgetting that stocks have offered the most consistent investment gains over
time. As MoneyWatch blogger Nathan Hale has written, investors often pour money into mutual funds that performed well recently on the mistaken
belief that the funds’ success is the result of something other than dumb luck.
3. Being Paralyzed by Investment Choices
You can’t let yourself get so overwhelmed by a surfeit of options that you penalize your finances through inaction. Some people won’t move money
out of ultra-conservative, low-yielding retirement funds because they can’t bear having to select a better alternative. So limit your choices. Find
“trusted screeners” whose judgment you admire to pare down your choices or even make them for you.
4. Ignoring the ‘Small’ Numbers
People have a tendency to ignore what they think are insignificant numbers, such as mutual fund expenses. But doing so can have a deleterious
effect of surprising magnitude on your investment returns over time. On a $10,000 investment, an expense ratio of 0.5 percent might cost you
about $180 over three years, but a 1.5 percent expense tab could nick you by $500 or so. Over 15 years, a low-expense fund might eat up less
than 7 percent of your potential investment return, while a high-expense fund could devour almost 20 percent.
5. Failing to Understand the Odds against Beating the Market
Most investors will fare best by sticking primarily with index funds mirroring the averages. You won’t just keep up with the typical investor this way;
you’ll likely do better than all those brave souls who think they can beat the law of averages. High transaction and management expenses, faulty
psychology, and the law of averages often burden actively managed portfolios. Index funds take much of the emotion out of investing. And the most
successful investors are the ones who don’t let emotions affect their decisions.
From Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them by Gary Belsky & Thomas Gilovich. Copyright 1999, 2009, by Gary
Belsky and Thomas Gilovich. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Buffett Watch: Should You Own Berkshire Hathaway?
Wouldn't you be thrilled if your portfolio achieved the same returns as Warren Buffett's? It may seem impossible, but it's really a snap: Just own
shares in his corporate alter ego, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B).
The price of entry for investors has come down: On January 20, shareholders approved a 50-to-1 split of the company’s B-shares, which will take
the share price down from around $3,476 to about $69.
If history is an accurate guide — and there’s no guarantee it is — it’s a smart way to invest. A $1,000 stake in Berkshire at the start of 1990 would
have grown to roughly $12,000 by the end of last year, crushing the broader market. Had you invested the same amount in Vanguard’s Standard &
Poor’s 500 index fund (VFINX) and reinvested dividends, your stake would be worth about $4,750.
A handful of hedge fund geniuses may have produced results similar to Berkshire’s while operating from mountain aeries and using complex,
opaque investment strategies. Buffett did it primarily by holding blue-chip American stocks in a publicly listed company. It doesn’t work flawlessly;
Berkshire has lagged the market over the past year, returning less than 10 percent while the S&P is up more than 30 percent. But if you’re worried
about such short-term horizons, don’t invest with Warren Buffett.
Buy Shares ... in Moderation
Fund managers and financial advisers say you could do a lot worse than to own Berkshire. They suggest doing it in moderation, though, because
as time goes on, Berkshire’s returns are likely to, well, moderate.
“If you listen to Buffett himself, he’s pretty confident in the long-term future of the company, but he has told people not to expect returns to be as
good as in the past,” said Richard Graziadei, lead equity manager for TIAA-CREF Trust Co. “No one should go in thinking it’s going to replicate its
past record.”
That record has been accomplished through Buffett’s display of many traits widely recognized as the right stuff of investing. He buys into
established businesses with consistent earnings, not fledgling enterprises, and he insists on paying what he deems a bargain price. That often
means going against conventional thinking and buying companies relegated to Wall Street’s doghouse. After he has made a purchase — this is
another sign that he is uninterested in public opinion — he has the patience to wait until it pays off or until he determines that it probably never will.
It sounds simple enough. What sets Buffett apart from his peers is not his investment strategy, his admirers say, but his ability to implement it.
“You don’t have to have the I.Q. of an M.I.T. Ph.D. in math, but you do have to have common sense” to invest wisely, said George Schwartz, chief
investment officer of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds. “The problem is a lot of people don’t apply common sense, they don’t look at investment
opportunities with the cold logic that he does.”
Berkshire’s chief executive “is a master of contrarian thinking,” said Schwartz, who has kept a portion of his personal money in Berkshire since
1981. “That’s how to make money. You’ve got to buy when no one else is buying. He practices that.”
In Buffett’s Portfolio
He practices another key element of solid portfolio construction: diversification. The list of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings reads like a What’s What
of corporate America, including American Express (AXP), Coca-Cola (KO), Procter & Gamble (PG), Kraft (KFT), Wells Fargo (WFC), General
Electric (GE), Goldman Sachs (GS), Dow Chemical (DOW), and Conoco Phillips (COP).
Berkshire reported $57.4 billion of stock investments and $37.4 billion in government and corporate bonds at the end of September. The remaining
$36 billion or so of the company’s worth was accounted for by entities in which it holds more than a 20 percent stake, making them more like
operating divisions. These include Geico and other insurance subsidiaries and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the railroad that Berkshire took
complete ownership of in November.
Buffett has always held a potent mix of businesses. Anyone who made a modest outlay, say $10,000, to buy Berkshire in the early 1980s, when
Schwartz did, would be a millionaire now, barely a quarter-century later. There’s your retirement all squared away.
But as it says in the fine print of any investment, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment advisers caution that Berkshire’s
returns are likely to dissipate, mainly because the company and Buffett have become victims of their own success. Berkshire’s market value of
more than $150 billion and annual sales exceeding $100 billion suggest that it has run afoul of the law of large numbers. At that size, it takes ever
bigger acquisitions to have a significant impact on earnings, so earnings growth is bound to slow.
“It’s not as easy for them to move the needle as when [Berkshire Hathaway] was a $15 billion or $20 billion company,” said Brian Washkowiak,
director of research for Talon Asset Management, a Chicago financial planning firm. “We consider ourselves Warren Buffett disciples,” he added,
“but I would advise against putting all your eggs into Berkshire Hathaway.”
Tom Forester, manager of the Forester Value Fund, noted that Buffett’s following with the public has sent Berkshire’s stock to a sizeable valuation
premium over the broad market. It traded recently at 31 times its profits for the latest four quarters, compared with just over 20 for the S&P 500.
“I’m more a fan of [Buffett’s] investment acumen than I am of Berkshire,” Forester said. “I’m a value guy, too, so I don’t like paying premiums for
things.” By other measures, however, Berkshire shares look cheaper: Barron’s estimates that shares are trading at 1.2 times book value.
The Age Factor
The other caveat issued to prospective Berkshire shareholders is actuarial, not financial. Buffett is 79, and his inevitable departure one day gives
the laudatory remarks about him a more ominous ring. When Schwartz calls Berkshire “a unique company run by a unique individual,” it raises
questions about how it will fare when someone who is not one of a kind takes over.
Whatever misgivings they may have about Berkshire, these investors consider it an excellent holding, as long as there are plenty of other assets to
go with it. “What I would tell most clients is that they need other pieces of broad exposure,” Graziadei, of TIAA-CREF, advised. With Berkshire’s
heavy concentration in large American companies, he would focus on complementary asset classes, such as bonds of different types; international
stocks, including emerging markets for risk-tolerant investors; and possibly real estate. Washkowiak made similar suggestions, and he would also
allocate capital to small and medium-sized companies.
When assessing Berkshire’s place in a portfolio and the right price to pay for the stock, investors would do well to give it the same scrutiny as
Buffett does with his prospective investments, Graziadei said.
“You must be committed to truly understanding this company inside and out,” he said, “and developing the expertise to make a judgment call and
buy when you think it’s undervalued.”

How to Do Less but Achieve More

When you get home at the end of a long day, plop yourself down on the couch and ask yourself, "what did I do today?" the list is probably long.
From running to meetings to dutifully completing your daily pile of donkey work, few young professionals are stressing out about their empty diaries,
but none the less all this activity may not be leaving them feeling accomplished or fulfilled. Why? Blog Dumb Little Man points out that we all may
be asking ourselves the wrong question -- it's not about what you do; it's about what you achieve.
The post asks if all out running around is preventing us from truly focusing on what's actually important to us and recommends we all consciously
pare down our goals to those that are most urgent, offering a four step process to accomplish this:
Figure Out Your Top Goal: If you could accomplish just one thing in the next year, what would it be? Don't let anyone else's expectations or desires
dictate your primary goal. Just pick the one thing that, if you succeeded in accomplishing it, would give you a great sense of achievement. Write it
down.
Decide What Else to Fit In: Sometimes, your top goal is such a big one that it needs as much focus as possible ?€"- and all your other goals need
to wait. Often, though, you can fit in a couple of other goals. Look at your other options, and see what would support that [top] goal (and what might
detract from it). Also think about what you really want to accomplish ?€" choose the goals that excite you the most.
Put Other Goals On Hold: Many goals aren't time sensitive, and can be put on hold. Perhaps you'd like to go back to college, but you know it'd be
sensible to pay off your credit card bills and other debts first. Although it's frustrating to have to put off a goal that you're excited about, it's
sometimes the best way to guarantee that you'll actually achieve something over the next few months.
Ditch Goals that Come From Others: Finally, some goals shouldn't be on your list at all. These are goals which someone else has imposed on you,
whether directly or indirectly. If you're starting a blog because your best friend thinks you should, you probably won't get far. If there's a goal which
is draining your energy, because you don't really want to go for it, then just stop.
Are you suffering from an excess of goals and projects and do you think you'd benefit from paring down?

How Much Should You Charge for Freelance Work?

Take it from me: One of the biggest challenges freelance workers face is figuring out what to charge. Challenge solved: The free FreelanceSwitch
calculator helps you determine your optimal hourly rate. And not just optimal, but also what you need to break even.
All you do is answer various questions about your business costs, personal costs, and billable hours. The only part that threw me was Step 4: "How
Much Profit/Savings Do You Want?" Guess I never stopped to think about how much I want to make over and above everyday living and
retirement-savings costs. (Financially speaking, I'm a doofus.)
The entire process takes just a few minutes, though be sure to read the questions carefully -- in one spot I inadvertently entered the number of
hours per day I can bill rather than the percentage, and ended up with an Ideal Hourly Rate of about $430. Yeah, where can I get that job?!
This is a seriously handy tool for anyone thinking about ditching the cubicle in favor of the freelance lifestyle, or any current freelancers wondering if
they're charging enough, too much, or what.

Why the New York Times Can Charge Its Online Readers
When was the last time you chose free instead of paid?
Look hard enough and you can find a free pair of shoes, a free microwave, a free car. You can even find some poor sap who will work for free
these days as an unpaid intern. Yet faced with so many options for the same type of good or service, we rarely choose the cheapest or free one.
That's why I think the New York Times' decision to start charging its online readers makes sense. According to a report in New York Magazine, the
prominent news organization is set to announce some sort of metered system for its website. Occasional visitors would get a couple of free stories
per month while regular readers would eventually have to pony up.
Although the Times' website has become one of the English world's most trafficked, the online ad dollars have not caught up and I doubt the site
will ever be able to fill its inventory with buys from premium brands. Advertisers simply get a better deal going through third party ad networks run
by companies like Google.
To preserve the quality of its editorial product, the Times can either find another source of post-print revenue or continue to cut costs. Sure, it could
shutter its print division, and get out of those union paper production contracts, but then it would lose the revenue it still needs from print. And if it
outsourced reporting to PR flacks and unpaid citizen content farmers, it would be just another Huffpo,* a low-quality, high-volume site with millions
of readers that few advertisers care to reach.
The Times has an incredibly loyal readership of millions of American influentials who are pulling for it to survive. But would they all pay now after
feasting for free for so long?
The conventional Web 2.0 wisdom claims "content wants to be free" and whichever publisher gives away the most content and attracts the biggest
audience will win in the long run thanks to advertising dollars. If one site puts up a paywall, the thinking goes, its readers will all migrate to the free
choice and that organization will wither away after losing its relevance.
Many pundits point to TimesSelect, the Times' own unsuccessful paywall experiment, to prove that a pay system can't work. Columnist Thomas
Friedman, for one, explains why that particular scheme didn't work out so well for him:
"As we got into it, it was clear to me I was getting cut off from a lot of my readers in India and China where 50 dollars per year would be equal to a
quarter of college tuition," Friedman recently told me by phone. "What was coming to me anecdotally from my travels was the five worst words that
as a columnist you ever want to hear: 'I used to read you before you went behind the wall.'"
However, as I see it, Friedman's backward argument does nothing more than demonstrate how warped news management thinking has become:
People in India and China can't afford to pay for my materials, therefore, we should give it to them for free?
A pay system works on sites like the Wall Street Journal because it makes people pay for its original reporting, which is of the highest value, and
lets anyone read the columnists, opinion articles and general interest, national stories. This keeps the paper relevant and competitive with the
Huffpos of the web while properly valuing its strongest assets.
While it is possible that the Times' audience will escape to USA Today, or whatever news property stays free, I just don't see it happening. The
quality sites will quality could become so extreme that an educated member of society simply has no choice but to pay up for at least one quality
news source.
Yet 99.9 percent of publishers do not have enough quality content to justify a paywall. I hope the remaining .1 percent, especially since they tend to
do the heavy lifting, public service journalism, realize that many people do prefer paid over free.
bulk up thanks to the direct support of their readers while many of the free news sites that live off ad dollars will fade away. The difference in
*I probably should have mentioned that I am/have been a Huffpo contributor, although like the thousands of other bloggers on that particular site, I
am not paid a cent for my opinions there. Therefore, I have no real interest or conflicts with that organization. Nevertheless, in the name of full
transparency, I figured I should add this note anyways. Thanks!

10 Breakthrough PR Techniques from a Master

Forget trade shows, advertising, even direct marketing - the best bang for the corporate marketing buck is public relations, but only if you know
what you're doing. Unfortunately, most companies don't have the secret PR sauce and, frankly, the same is true of far too many agencies.
Fortunately, I hooked up with the right agency back in the mid-90s and, together with a modest marketing budget, we managed to put a tiny
company on the map in a big way. It was a microprocessor company named Cyrix and we competed with Intel, a company roughly 100 times our
size. But you wouldn't know that from the press we got.
I still marvel at the results. One product launch had over 100 million impressions. You don't get results like that from trade publications. We're
talking front page Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and live interviews with CNBC and CNN. And this wasn't a one-shot deal either; we launched
product after product for years and years.
I recently spent some time chatting with Lou Hoffman - president and CEO of the Hoffman Agency, a global PR firm based in Silicon Valley, and
the brains behind that breakout success. From that discussion, here are 10 techniques that were so effective back then that the agency still uses
them today.
Humanize the story. How do you humanize a semiconductor chip? We took the lead designer on the press tour with us. Storytelling is even more
relevant today - you need content rich in flavor and texture to get over the Internet noise level.
Let necessity be the mother of invention. Because of our lightweight budget, Lou says I inspired the agency to take risks and deviate from the
norm. But frankly, we were a second tier player who wanted first tier visibility; traditional strategies and tactics just weren't going to cut it.
Pitch David versus Goliath. A classic. Everybody loves a David vs. Goliath story.
Internal leadership. This is a requirement. A top exec has to be willing to stick his neck out, sell up, fight for resources, and take the heat.
Set aggressive goals. The best way to get the management team on board is to set aggressive goals and metrics and then meet them. And if you
fall a bit short, trust me, nobody will complain.
Commit exec resources. Successful PR requires executive commitment to drive internal strategy and planning, do press tours, and to build media
relationships by dropping everything and be a resource when the press calls.
Skip the Kool-Aid. Too many executives breathe their own fumes and expect the media to just rollover and write big stories about their products.
Always start with a strong dose of objective reality.
Lead with the Wall Street Journal. Cultivate relationships and break big news with the WSJ, then sit back and man the phones when everyone else
picks up the story.
Let customers and analysts tell the story. Especially true for tech or B2B, line up analysts and customers to bring credibility to a big launch.
No events, just one-one-one interviews. We never did a PR event, just one-on-one interviews. Big time investment, big payoff.
I know; I left out how we were able to create a groundswell / buzz using all these techniques. So, if you like this sort of stuff, click the recommend
button or retweet it and we'll keep it coming.

The Brain Science of the Sales Pitch

There are plenty of books on "Sales Psychology", but most of them are written by sales gurus looking to make their anecdotes seems scientific.
However, there is one actual neuroscientist who studies the psychology of selli...ng: Stephen M. Kosslyn, Chair of the Department of Psychology at
Harvard University. Kosslyn was kind enough to grant me a short interview recently. Here's an excerpt from our conversation:
Geoffrey James: What's the most common mistake in sales presentations?
Stephen Kosslyn: They create a presentation that doesn't take into account their audience consists of human beings who have mental strengths
and weaknesses. The key to an effective presentation is one that plays to those strengths and avoids the weaknesses.
GJ: How do you do that?
SK: You must remember that each person is the center of his or her own world, with a unique set of interests, motivations and beliefs. You need to
discover those elements of their thinking, acknowledge them, and build on them in order to connect with your audience.
GJ: How do you connect with your audience?
SK: From an evolutionary standpoint, it's a distinct advantage to understanding what's going to happen. Therefore, as humans, we prefer to
interpret the world in terms of a story consisting of a series of cause and effect events. Therefore, rather than attempting to impress and convince,
you must create a story line that communicate your message in terms that the audience will understand.
GJ: What about the mechanics of the presentation?
SK: Even with a great story, a presentation will fall flat if it's visually distracting. Common errors include a busy background to the slides, tiny letters,
unreadable color schemes, insanely complicated graphics, etc. The general rule is that anything that makes the audience squint or scratch their
heads is going to get in the way of telling your story.
GJ: Why do sales reps give that type of presentation?
SK: Usually it's because they're trying to impress the audience with their knowledge, rather than trying to tell a story. The idea is that if you put
enough detail into the presentation, the audience will be wowed by your technical ability and sophistication and, by extension, will see you as an
expert. Ironically, even real experts come off looking silly when they attempt to impress audiences this way.
GJ: What's the key to telling a compelling story?
SK: You need to find out what the audience really wants and needs and then tell a story that shows how working with you and buying from you will
help them fulfill that need. To do this, you have to research and understand your audience. Focus on the story and let the technology of the
presentation be completely transparent.
GJ: Why aren't there many sales courses in major universities?
SK: Two reasons, I think. First, sales is often viewed a component of a marketing program in a business school, not a liberal arts program. Most
liberal arts programs take great pride in being rooted in deep ideas, and not much attention has been paid to developing and testing the theory that
underlies sales. Second, many people in academia feel strongly that liberal arts programs should avoid the appearance of being pre-professional.
But I don't think teaching sales needs to be pre-professional. One way to test basic ideas is to see whether they can be applied -- good theory
leads to technology. And sales would be one form of technology that should follow from good psychological theories.
Google's Clever Branding Move
Google's recent lambasting of China is a perfect example of "negative comparative branding" -- a technique that I revealed two weeks ago, in the
post "2009's Biggest Branding Successes!"
In that post, I pointed out that the U.S. health insurance industry used "comparative negative branding" in order to scuttle the public option.
Because that industry had a horrible "brand" as the result of a truly horrible set of products and business practices, the only way it could fight
against a proposal to change its business model was to change the focus of the discussion.
The health insurance industry therefore spent hundreds of millions of dollars to emphasize the negative qualities of a brand that was even weaker
than their own -- the federal government. This worked because the brand is even weaker and has even worse attributes, especially among
conservative voters.
Predictably, some people were offended at my rather obvious observations, and rather than trying to draw the business lesson from them,
preferred to fantasize that I was working some sort of political agenda.
Such comments are, of course, illustrations of why "comparative negative branding" is so effective. Because it always appeals to the pre-conceived
notions of the intended audience, it creates a knee-jerk reaction, automatically changing the focus away from the problems inherent in one brand
and towards the problems inherent in another.
And that's exactly what Google has done. Google's overall brand strategy has always used "comparative negative branding" -- primarily using
Microsoft's brand reputation as the "evil empire" in order to make Google look comparatively benign.
However, over time Google's brand has started to take on some of its own "evil empire" attributes. It's widely seen in the online marketing
community as a monopolist, and some of its planned expansions -- like its online library of books -- have been widely criticized by authors and
content creators.
Google was in the middle of a brand crisis last week, with growing complaints about the company's ability to provide service to its new smartphone
-- a product on which the company has based its future expansion. Google needed to do something quickly to distract attention from its failure to
launch a highly important product.
And then, right in the middle of the brouhaha, Google is subject to a major hacker attack, possibly compromising their data. For an online firm that's
the branding equivalent of DEFCON 5.
So what does Google do?
"Comparative negative branding" to the rescue! What better way to position yourself away from an growing perception that you're an "evil empire"
than by comparing yourself to a real "evil empire," in this case the Chinese government?
Voila! Suddenly the story of Google stumbling in the smartphone market was dead and the story about Google's security problems suddenly turned
into a story about how Google is a crusader for political freedom. Brilliant!
And yet, what was really said? Nothing, really. Google issued an empty threat because if you're going to do business in China, you have to follow
Chinese law. And Google was never a big player in China, and not likely ever to be one because China sets up business rules and laws that favor
Chinese firms.
However, because Google's move plays into pre-conceived notions about political freedom and oppression and the Internet's role in that dynamic,
almost everyone is missing the real story: Google's continuing use of "comparative negative branding" to define themselves positively.
Of course, the Sales Machine readers who got caught up in the politics of the healthcare branding example probably missed the point of Google's
branding move as well. When you look at the business world through political glasses, it's very difficult to see these situations clearly.
How Important is Brand to Selling?
The answer is "very important". That doesn't mean that you should be spending lots of money on branding. In fact, most money spent on traditional
branding (logo design, brand advertising, brand re-design, etc.) is wasted. However, if you don't understand your brand, and how it plays in your
target market, you'll be fighting an uphill battle whenever you go out to sell.
Let's start with a reasonable definition of brand. There are half-a-dozen to choose from, because there are dozens of brand gurus all trying to get
money from your CMO in order to establish better brand. And they, of course, come up with a definition that leads towards purchasing their
branding products and programs.
Since I have no interest in selling you anything, I'm free to come up with a definition that's generally useful and makes sense. Here it is:
Brand consists of the emotions that prospects feel when they think about your company or product.
By defining brand as something that belongs to the customer (i.e. emotions) we completely differentiate it from the company and its product, and all
the other elements that might actually create those emotions. The definition also allows us to evaluate "branding activity" based upon whether it
actually generates emotion.
Brands go through two stages: pre-release and post-release. When a brand in its pre-release phase, there is not yet a product, so the emotions
surrounding the brand are all based upon anticipation and expectation.
A brand enters the "post release" phase, once customers have received a real product. At that point, the brand reflects their opinion of that product,
combined with the anticipation of future products. That anticipation is highly colored by the assumption that future products will be similar to the
released one.
In the pre-release phase, it's possible, through advertising and public relations, to create a certain amount of anticipation and thus create positive
emotions which can make it easier to sell the product -- even before its actually released.
Once a brand reaches its post-release phase, however, the die is cast, and the prospects' and customers' emotions will be determined almost
exclusively by their experience with the product. There are three possibilities here:
The product is wonderful. If this is the case, the brand will create positive emotions, and will continue to do so as long as the product (and follow-on
products) remain wonderful. Example: the emotions created by the idea of a new James Cameron movie. Since Titanic was so huge (no pun
intended), the "James Cameron" brand made people assume (rightly) that Avatar would be huge.
The product is mediocre. If this is the case, the brand will essentially disappear into the woodwork. Nobody will care about it one way or another,
until such time as a wonderful product is released. Then the brand will gradually improve. Example: The author John Jakes published a series of
forgettable novels about the exploits of "Brak the Barbarian" and then wrote a trilogy about the U.S. Civil War which sold 10 million copies.
The product is awful. If this is the case, the brand will create negative emotions, and will continue to do for a long time, even if subsequent products
are wonderful. Example: In the 70s and 80s, General Motors kept releasing cars that didn't run well, looked horrible, and broke down easily. The
company's brands became synonymous with low quality and, even though GM cars are now as good as anything coming out of Japan, the
company's brands still generate negative emotions. (Chevy dealer quoted on NPR: "People feel they have to justify to their friends and family why
they bought a Chevy.")
What does this have to do with sales? Plenty.
First, it tells you what you probably already knew, which is that most "corporate branding" exercises are a complete waste of money. The brand
ALWAYS reflects the product (including service, package, support, sales process, etc.) because that's what creates the emotion -- not the logo, not
the tag, not the celebrity spokesperson, not the ad copy, not the billboard, etc., etc.
Second, and more importantly, brand determines how much groundwork you need to lay before you get deeply into a selling cycle. If your brand is
wonderful (i.e. you, your firm and your products are known to be of the highest quality), you can hit the ground running and move quickly into the
sales cycle
On the other hand, if your brand creates negative emotions, you'll need to work harder to lay the groundwork to overcome those emotions. You'll
need to prove -- many times, to many decision-makers -- that your new products don't suck like the old ones did, and that you can be trusted to
make sure they don't get shafted like the customers who bought the crap your company used to sell.
Understand your brand is thus similar to understanding yourself and your own strengths and weaknesses. Without that self-awareness, you're
flying blind.
For Genuine Customer Insights, Go Beyond the Research
I have found that there is an inverse relationship between the length of a customer research report and the quality of its insights. As the report's
number of pages increases, the chances of finding any nugget that could lead to real action benefits decreases proportionately.
The trouble is that most customer research documents that I see are over 100 pages long.
It's as if the researchers, suffering under the combined weight of lofty client expectations but an unfocused brief, decide to share anything and
everything that has come up in the course of their work.
In any case, putting customers at the heart of your business requires moving beyond a two-dimensional understanding of research reports to a
deeper, 3D level of knowledge and demands that managers from across the business get far closer to their buyers.
Here are five practical approaches you can use:
Observe customers in their normal, every day surroundings. Before his retirement last year, Procter & Gamble's ex-CEO, AG Lafley, spent a day or
two each quarter in the homes of P&G's consumers, identifying new opportunities, and underpinning his mantra to the business that "the customer
is boss."
Observe how customers shop for, buy and consume your product. A retail client of mine wanted to increase the number of shoppers buying the
higher value products in their range, and believed a key issue was its packaging. So, the team made several prototype packs and, over course of a
couple of days, tried them in a store. They then simply observed how customers interacted with the different versions, and picked a winner that has
subsequently driven double-digit sales growth in that category.
Spend time in your customers' shoes. Even if you are focused on internal clients, direct experience of your offering can bring home to you what it's
like to be your customer. Only when you've been standing in a retail store's queue with a screaming baby, or perhaps have tried to use your call
centre to ask for support, do you get a realistic view of your customers' experience.
Use prototypes to gain rapid customer feedback. Even Steve Jobs, who eschews most customer research, set up a prototype store when
developing Apple's retail concept. The insights gained from this helped the team develop innovative in-store services such as The Genius Bar.
Involve customers in the development of new ideas. Co-developing new products and service is common practice in B2B markets, and consultants
have long known that co-creating solutions with clients increases the chances of client buy-in.
(Pic: Colin Bowern cc2.0)
Help! I'm Not Valued By the Company That Acquired Us
Dear Ron,
My company was acquired by another firm last year and while I've managed to keep my position, I've found that those of us that were originally with
the old company are not valued as highly as those with the acquiring company. We don't get as many of the plum assignments, and I don't feel like
my boss is as invested in my career development as he is with the others. What if anything can I do?
This happens often in today's workplace, given all the merger and acquisition activity and the fact that many companies have strong corporate
cultures that tend to reject any new blood. That said, you need to break new ground and try to find new opportunities in your new environment,
which may require you to step out of your comfort zone. You'll need to really study the new culture and figure out how and why they do things the
way they do. Then you'll want to work on identifying key players at the new company who can help you learn how to succeed there, and build
relationships with them.
To do this, you may need to look beyond your immediate supervisor and try to find a champion there who can be very open with you about what it
takes to fit into the new corporate culture. You're looking for someone who can recognize your unique value to the company, so you'll have to do a
lot of informal work and relationship-building to find someone who understands what you bring to the table.
The reality may ultimately be that you don't fit, through no fault of your own, but you can't let that decision be made by just one boss or supervisor.
There may be others there who can champion you and help you to reposition yourself within the company.
One potential strategy is to see how you can make your difference a strength by positioning yourself as having some unique expertise or approach
that your new company sorely needs. One of my clients was in a similar situation when the technology firm where she was a director was gobbled
up by a much bigger firm with a very strong corporate culture. My client found a way to balance the two cultures and market herself as a bridge
between the two. She realized there was an opportunity to take on the role of educating the acquiring company on the mindset, approach, and skill
sets of her old company. Her new bosses recognized her value as a sort of organizational interpreter, and wound up placing her in a relatively high
position because of her fluency in both cultures.
As I said, you may have to simply accept it if the culture isn't a good fit for you and that you eventually may have to leave to achieve your potential.
But you have to at least do everything you can to fit in first (and of course, with the job market as tight as it is these days, many people may have
no choice but to figure out a way to make things work where they're at rather than go elsewhere).

Buffett Watch: Should You Own Berkshire Hathaway?

Wouldn't you be thrilled if your portfolio achieved the same returns as Warren Buffett's? It may seem impossible, but it's really a snap: Just own
shares in his corporate alter ego, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B).
The price of entry for investors has come down: On January 20, shareholders approved a 50-to-1 split of the company’s B-shares, which will take
the share price down from around $3,476 to about $69.
If history is an accurate guide — and there’s no guarantee it is — it’s a smart way to invest. A $1,000 stake in Berkshire at the start of 1990 would
have grown to roughly $12,000 by the end of last year, crushing the broader market. Had you invested the same amount in Vanguard’s Standard &
Poor’s 500 index fund (VFINX) and reinvested dividends, your stake would be worth about $4,750.
A handful of hedge fund geniuses may have produced results similar to Berkshire’s while operating from mountain aeries and using complex,
opaque investment strategies. Buffett did it primarily by holding blue-chip American stocks in a publicly listed company. It doesn’t work flawlessly;
Berkshire has lagged the market over the past year, returning less than 10 percent while the S&P is up more than 30 percent. But if you’re worried
about such short-term horizons, don’t invest with Warren Buffett.
Buy Shares ... in Moderation
Fund managers and financial advisers say you could do a lot worse than to own Berkshire. They suggest doing it in moderation, though, because
as time goes on, Berkshire’s returns are likely to, well, moderate.
“If you listen to Buffett himself, he’s pretty confident in the long-term future of the company, but he has told people not to expect returns to be as
good as in the past,” said Richard Graziadei, lead equity manager for TIAA-CREF Trust Co. “No one should go in thinking it’s going to replicate its
past record.”
That record has been accomplished through Buffett’s display of many traits widely recognized as the right stuff of investing. He buys into
established businesses with consistent earnings, not fledgling enterprises, and he insists on paying what he deems a bargain price. That often
means going against conventional thinking and buying companies relegated to Wall Street’s doghouse. After he has made a purchase — this is
another sign that he is uninterested in public opinion — he has the patience to wait until it pays off or until he determines that it probably never will.
It sounds simple enough. What sets Buffett apart from his peers is not his investment strategy, his admirers say, but his ability to implement it.
“You don’t have to have the I.Q. of an M.I.T. Ph.D. in math, but you do have to have common sense” to invest wisely, said George Schwartz, chief
investment officer of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds. “The problem is a lot of people don’t apply common sense, they don’t look at investment
opportunities with the cold logic that he does.”
Berkshire’s chief executive “is a master of contrarian thinking,” said Schwartz, who has kept a portion of his personal money in Berkshire since
1981. “That’s how to make money. You’ve got to buy when no one else is buying. He practices that.”
In Buffett’s Portfolio
He practices another key element of solid portfolio construction: diversification. The list of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings reads like a What’s What
of corporate America, including American Express (AXP), Coca-Cola (KO), Procter & Gamble (PG), Kraft (KFT), Wells Fargo (WFC), General
Electric (GE), Goldman Sachs (GS), Dow Chemical (DOW), and Conoco Phillips (COP).
Berkshire reported $57.4 billion of stock investments and $37.4 billion in government and corporate bonds at the end of September. The remaining
$36 billion or so of the company’s worth was accounted for by entities in which it holds more than a 20 percent stake, making them more like
operating divisions. These include Geico and other insurance subsidiaries and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the railroad that Berkshire took
complete ownership of in November.
Buffett has always held a potent mix of businesses. Anyone who made a modest outlay, say $10,000, to buy Berkshire in the early 1980s, when
Schwartz did, would be a millionaire now, barely a quarter-century later. There’s your retirement all squared away.
But as it says in the fine print of any investment, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment advisers caution that Berkshire’s
returns are likely to dissipate, mainly because the company and Buffett have become victims of their own success. Berkshire’s market value of
more than $150 billion and annual sales exceeding $100 billion suggest that it has run afoul of the law of large numbers. At that size, it takes ever
bigger acquisitions to have a significant impact on earnings, so earnings growth is bound to slow.
“It’s not as easy for them to move the needle as when [Berkshire Hathaway] was a $15 billion or $20 billion company,” said Brian Washkowiak,
director of research for Talon Asset Management, a Chicago financial planning firm. “We consider ourselves Warren Buffett disciples,” he added,
“but I would advise against putting all your eggs into Berkshire Hathaway.”
Tom Forester, manager of the Forester Value Fund, noted that Buffett’s following with the public has sent Berkshire’s stock to a sizeable valuation
premium over the broad market. It traded recently at 31 times its profits for the latest four quarters, compared with just over 20 for the S&P 500.
“I’m more a fan of [Buffett’s] investment acumen than I am of Berkshire,” Forester said. “I’m a value guy, too, so I don’t like paying premiums for
things.” By other measures, however, Berkshire shares look cheaper: Barron’s estimates that shares are trading at 1.2 times book value.
The Age Factor
The other caveat issued to prospective Berkshire shareholders is actuarial, not financial. Buffett is 79, and his inevitable departure one day gives
the laudatory remarks about him a more ominous ring. When Schwartz calls Berkshire “a unique company run by a unique individual,” it raises
questions about how it will fare when someone who is not one of a kind takes over.
Whatever misgivings they may have about Berkshire, these investors consider it an excellent holding, as long as there are plenty of other assets to
go with it. “What I would tell most clients is that they need other pieces of broad exposure,” Graziadei, of TIAA-CREF, advised. With Berkshire’s
heavy concentration in large American companies, he would focus on complementary asset classes, such as bonds of different types; international
stocks, including emerging markets for risk-tolerant investors; and possibly real estate. Washkowiak made similar suggestions, and he would also
allocate capital to small and medium-sized companies.
When assessing Berkshire’s place in a portfolio and the right price to pay for the stock, investors would do well to give it the same scrutiny as
Buffett does with his prospective investments, Graziadei said.
“You must be committed to truly understanding this company inside and out,” he said, “and developing the expertise to make a judgment call and
buy when you think it’s undervalued.”
The Quick-and-Dirty Guide to Getting Things Done
By official definition, a project manager is a professional who plans,organizes, directs, and controls company resources to complete
[Link], wait a minute. That's your job — but noone has ever called you a project manager. More to the point, no one hasever
trained you to work like a project manager. They just give you projects [Link] doubt you feel that lack of training especially acutely inthis
economy. It's no longer enough to get things done. You have toget them done faster, cheaper, and with fewer heads than ever before. "OurCTO
started out this year saying, 'I'm seeing great work,'"says Lisa Waits, Nokia's director of corporate business development. "'Nowjust do it twice as
fast.'" You know exactly what [Link] how do you do that? One way to manage projects better is to askreal-life project managers how they
do their jobs during some of the mosttrying years of recent business history. To be sure, certified PMs learn awhole slew of specialized methods to
carry their tasks through from start tofinish, and you can't pick all that up in one sitting. Don'tworry. This CliffsNotes version boils down 44 different
processes into fourreplicable steps.
Be a Control Freak (at the Beginning)
A smart project manager applies the most time and effort at thestart, to prepare for a great launch, and at the finish, to meet the [Link] you get
the start right, you can let the team take on the lion’sshare of work in the middle, argues Peter Taylor in his book, The LazyProject Manager: How to
Be Twice as Productive and Still Leave the Office [Link] too often fail at the beginning when direction, momentum, and theright processes
and controls aren’t in place. Here are a few tips forgetting off to a strong start:Get clear on what you want to accomplish. Define thebusiness
problem, why the problem needs to be solved, and what’srequired to solve it. Almost as important: Be specific about what the project won’t
accomplish. That way, expectations are clear from the [Link] how you’ll track changes to the project. “The fault with traditional project
management approaches is thatonce people develop a plan, they don’t monitor the changes happeningthat could change the plan,” says Philippa
Fewell, a managingdirector at consulting firm CC Pace. At Facebook, project managers update thewhole company as they’re developing and
tweaking new features via e-mailblasts. Designers at Method, the home-care products company, tack product plansand sketches on the walls so
that everyone can literally watch the evolution ofa new product and chime in with feedback. These tactics might not work at everycompany, but the
point is, be as transparent as possible as the [Link] plan Bs. Most projects go off the rails because “wedon’t lie, but we make
optimistic assumptions” about whatcould really go wrong, says Frank Anbari, a Six Sigma black belt and aprofessor of project management at The
George Washington University in Washington,D.C. Try this exercise: Make a list of all of the potential disasters thatcould happen. Then rank the
chances that each will happen on a scale of 1 to
10. Rank the size of their impact between 0 and 1.0. A href="[Link] systemwill help
you prioritize where to put the majority of your energy.
Hot TipRun a Tight Ship, CreativelyNokia’s Waits insists that her Friday meetingsstart on time. To get her team to comply, she adopted a simple
strategy: If you’relate, you pay $1 into the beer fund. “It’s a fairly commonscrum technique, but it works,” she says.
Don’t Abuse E-mail
By many accounts, a project manager spends up to 90 percent ofher time on some form of communication. But the sheer amount of time you
spendcommunicating doesn’t mean you’re actually getting throughto anyone.“Here’s what happens with e-mail,”says Waits. “We’re mostly jotting
down thoughts. There’sno feedback loop, no context, no follow-up. Thirty to forty percent of ourmiscommunications happen because of e-mail.”The
solution? href="[Link] a blogger for
the Project Management Institute, recommends youseparate push and pull communications. Limit what you push out to your team viae-mail to
short highlights and issues that require immediate action. Putdetailed reports and reference material in a central location like a wiki or ashared drop
box, where team members can grab them when needed. For everythingelse, pick up the phone or get out of your [Link]! Danger!
Danger!You’re Not the Boss of EveryoneWhen you’re leading a project that includesemployees from other departments, you may think you’re in
charge, butyou’re not, says Harold Kerzner, seniorexecutive director of the International Institute for Learning and author ofproject management
textbooks. Employees’loyalty lies with the people who determine their raises and performance reviews— their managers. Cultivate relationships
early on with thosesupervisors by keeping them abreast of the project’s progress and theaccomplishments of their direct reports.
Put Out Fires Quickly
You will encounter unforeseen bumps in the road. Accept and planfor that now. In Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management,Scott
Berkun, a former program manager for Microsoft’s biggestprojects, offers advice for dealing with unexpected catastrophes. Here’sa condensed
version of his steps to get a project back on track:Calm down. Nothing makes a situation worse than basingyour actions on fear, anger, or
[Link] the problem in relation to the project. Just because someoneelse thinks the sky has fallen doesn’t mean that it has. Is thisreally
a problem at all? Whose problem is it? How much of the project is atrisk or may need to change? Put things in perspective and then prioritize
whenyou will act: emergency (now!), big concern (today), minor concern (this ornext week), or bogus (never).Get the right people in the room. Any
major problem won’t affectyou alone. Identify who else is most responsible, knowledgeable, and useful,and get them together right away. Keep this
group small; the more complex theissue, the smaller the group should be. Offer your support, but get out oftheir way (seriously — leave the room if
you’re notneeded). Don’t let the meeting break up without identifying who will drivethe [Link] alternatives. After answering any
questions andclarifying the situation, list your [Link] the simplest plan. Weigh the options and pick the [Link]. Make it happen
— and make sure whoever drives the actionplan has an intimate understanding of why he’s doing it. Debrief. After the fire is out, get the right
people inthe room again and generate a list of lessons [Link] of ExperienceCatch Balls Before They Drop“When people don’t understand
theirroles very well, things fall between the cracks. Someone thinks it’ssomeone else’s job. I always ask my team, ‘If you see aball dropping, let me
know, even if you don’t think it’syours. We’ll deal with it.’”— Bill Wallace, engineeringgroup manager for the Volt battery at General Motors
Always Do a Postmortem
Taking stock of what you and your team learned from this projectwill make your life much easier next time. But don’t let yourpostmortem turn into a
free-for-all. The goal is not to air any and everycomplaint, but to come away from the project with a clear idea of the processesthat worked and
those that didn’t. Here are four keys for making themost of a post-project meeting:Pick an outsider to run it. Go with someone neutral —maybe
another project manager or department head — who will stayunemotional, says Neal Whitten, a project consultant whose clients haveincluded
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Liberty Mutual, and Lockheed [Link] the ground rules. No BlackBerrys or iPhones allowed;attendance is mandatory;
everyone has the right to speak; attack problems, [Link] homework before the meeting. If you ask employees toevaluate dozens of parts of
the project in advance, you’ll end up withan overwhelming number of items to discuss. Instead, use the meeting toidentify via consensus the top
three things the team did well and the threethat need the most [Link] action. Make the lessons learned a prominent part ofthe planning process
of your next project. For example, evaluate theperformance of the employees who were linked to the top three problems tofigure out if you’ll need a
different mix of skills and experience onthe team next time.

BNET Needs Business Bloggers. Could You Be One of Them?

We're fond of saying that BNET's success depends in large part on the contributions of our smart and savvy readership. So as we grow our site
and look to add more voices, why not turn to you? Here are two new opportunities to contribute to BNET in a bigger way:
CBS Interactive is looking for creative and energetic bloggers at BNET Industries, our flagship business news and analysis site. We cover sectors
ranging from automotive and finance to healthcare, media and technology for a knowledgeable but general-interest business readership. We're
looking for freelance bloggers who can turn out sharp and original takes on business news of the day as well as deeper analysis of otherwise
overlooked or unreported developments. Business-blogging experience would be a major plus, as would a unique voice, the ability to quickly write
tight and opinionated blog posts, and a sophisticated understanding of business. An ideal candidate would be ready to blog several times a day in
order to take maximum advantage of the running room we're ready to provide. Please send a resume and relevant blogging and reportage links to
David Hamilton, BNET senior editor, at [Link]@[Link].
CBS Interactive is looking for creative and energetic bloggers to contribute to BNET Insight, our career and management section. Our bloggers
provide advice, tips, and the latest ideas for handing the biggest business and career challenges, including team management, recruiting and
hiring, marketing, sales, strategy development, career development, job searching, and personal productivity. Our bloggers include journalists who
cover the latest management innovations, and subject-matter experts who lend their expertise to solving workplace challenges. The ideal candidate
has business-blogging experience as well as fresh ideas, an engaging voice, and a sophisticated understanding of management and career issues.
Please send a resume and relevant blogging links to Karen Steen, BNET senior editor, at [Link]@[Link].

How Much Should You Charge for Freelance Work?

Take it from me: One of the biggest challenges freelance workers face is figuring out what to charge. Challenge solved: The free FreelanceSwitch
calculator helps you determine your optimal hourly rate. And not just optimal, but also what you need to break even.
All you do is answer various questions about your business costs, personal costs, and billable hours. The only part that threw me was Step 4: "How
Much Profit/Savings Do You Want?" Guess I never stopped to think about how much I want to make over and above everyday living and
retirement-savings costs. (Financially speaking, I'm a doofus.)
The entire process takes just a few minutes, though be sure to read the questions carefully -- in one spot I inadvertently entered the number of
hours per day I can bill rather than the percentage, and ended up with an Ideal Hourly Rate of about $430. Yeah, where can I get that job?!
This is a seriously handy tool for anyone thinking about ditching the cubicle in favor of the freelance lifestyle, or any current freelancers wondering if
they're charging enough, too much, or what.
AppUp: An App Store for Your Netbook
It's an app, app, app, app world. The little programs give iPhones, Droids, Nexuses and other smartphones their superpowers, so why shouldn't
netbooks enjoy similar perks? After all, they're compact, low-powered devices; apps seem like a natural fit.
Intel certainly seems to think so, hence the introduction of the AppUp Center -- an app store for netbooks. This free tool provides a netbook-friendly
interface for browsing, purchasing, and installing netbook-friendly software. Take a look:
By my estimate, the AppUp Center currently offers around 100 neatly categorized apps, a good portion of which are free. Most of the others sell in
the $0.99-9.99 range, though there's actually one title (a video-conferencing app) priced at $199.99.
Because this is a store, you need to sign up for an account and provide a credit card number, even if you just download freebie apps. Kind of
annoying, but understandable.
On the plus side, all it takes is a click of the Get or Buy App link for any given title to download and then install it. Gotta like that kind of speed and
simplicity.
AppUp Center is currently in beta, and it shows. The program crashed on me the first time I tried to create an account, and its navigation tools
leave something to be desired. But if you're netbook user, I definitely recommend giving it a try. If nothing else, you're likely to discover some great
netbook apps you didn't even know existed.

U.S. Management Market Outlook: The Good and The Bad

We recently looked at 10 Hot Business Opportunities for 2010 and The Next Decade's Top 10 Growth (and Decline) Industries. Now, the Wall
Street Journal is reporting that, even as the economy recovers, jobs in some industries will be lost for good:
The downturn that started in December 2007 delivered a body blow to U.S. workers. In two years, the economy shed 7.2 million jobs, pushing the
jobless rate from 5% to 10%, according to the Labor Department. The severity of the recession is reshaping the labor market. Some lost jobs will
come back. But some are gone forever --
Many of the jobs created by the booms in the housing and credit markets, for example, have likely been permanently erased by the subsequent
bust.
Given all that, I decided to put all the different reports together, along with my own perspective on what's hot and what's not, and orient my findings
to BNET's target audience to come up with this:
U.S. Management Job Market Outlook:
The Good
Management opportunities related to these 10 markets should prove to be fertile ground, especially for entrepreneurial ventures, for many years to
come:
Healthcare, including biomedical
Greentech / Cleantech
Senior and disability care
3D technology
Social media and networks
Discount retail
IT and network systems design and management
Wireless Internet, broadband, smartphones
Child and pet care and services
Robotics, especially related to home care and healthcare
The Bad
There are a number of areas that are both in decline and not likely to see much in the way of recovery anytime soon, if ever. So, it's a good bet to
steer clear of management jobs that are in any way related to these 10 industries:
Manufacturing in general (there are exceptions, of course)
Housing and construction
Financial sector
Paper: manufacturing, printing, publishing (especially newspaper)
Wired telecom
Semiconductor manufacturing
Snail mail
Non-discount brick and mortar department stores
Auto parts manufacturingTextile manufacturing
The Caveat
Let's face it; nobody's crystal ball is clearer than anyone else's. As Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz said in the WSJ story, "One thing
we've learned is that when we attempt to forecast jobs 10 to 15 years out, we don't even get the categories right."
Still, given the state of the economy and the available data, you can certainly make some reasonable decisions on what might and might not be a
good idea to focus on over the next few years. This is my take, but you're the ones who are out there in the real world: what's your take on what's
hot and what's not for U.S. managers?

Study: Canadians Now Enjoy More "Economic Freedom" Than Americans

How could a Republican lightweight like Scott Brown take Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat in true-blue Massachusetts?
Let's listen to the voters. 42 percent claimed that they cast their ballots in order to stop President Obama and the Democrats from instituting a
national health care package similar to the Massachusetts plan (most individuals are forced to buy insurance under this unconstitutional handout to
the healthcare industry), according to an exit poll, while 46 percent claimed that they wanted to "send a message to Washington."
This data was compiled by a Republican pollster, so perhaps these figures are a little high. But clearly there are a lot of folks, many of them
Independents, who are unhappy with where America is headed. Specifically, voters are becoming increasingly skeptical over the way the federal
government has been intervening in the economy.
A new study today, which was commissioned by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, two conservative-leaning organizations,
concludes that America has "suffered" the largest drop in "economic freedom" amongst the top 20 largest economic powerhouses, over the past
year. These days, Canadians supposedly enjoy more economic freedom than Americans do. Here are the key points from the Wall Street Journal:
Driving it all were the federal government's interventionist responses to the financial and economic crises of the last two years, which have included
politically influenced regulatory changes, protectionist trade restrictions, massive stimulus spending and bailouts of financial and automotive firms
deemed "too big to fail." These policies have resulted in job losses, discouraged entrepreneurship, and saddled America with unprecedented
government deficits.
Nevertheless, the United States is still the eighth "freest" nation on the planet. And these rankings can paint a slightly misleading picture. Honestly,
would you rather work from France, number 64 on the list, or the Kingdom of Bahrain, which comes in at 13?

Bon Appetit Serves Up Locally-Farmed Food In Tough Economy

Even in a recession, on-site restaurant company Bon Appetit provides a fine dining experience for corporations, colleges and universities in a
socially responsible manner. Providing employees with a nourishing lunch made from locally grown ingredients is an investment that big companies
like Oracle, Cisco and Yahoo! are willing to make.
The 10 Rules of Management Conflict
The other day I was interviewed for a story entitled "Conan O'Brien is living the ultimate employee fantasy." In venting his frustrations with NBC's
management, Conan achieved personal satisfaction, high ratings, and $40 million to go away.
Sure, he burned some bridges. But look at it this way: NBC screwed him and he vented. That's a wash in my book. All in all, I'd say he made out
okay.
But the whole incident got me thinking: we hear loads about bosses who are jerks, but what about employees who are jerks? What about public
displays of vehement disagreement bordering on insubordination? I mean, when and how is it okay to disagree with the boss? Is it always okay to
speak your mind? Is it ever a good idea to disparage your management, as Conan did?
To answer these and other thorny questions, I've come up with a set of rules. If you're angry at your boss or disagree with management and feel
the need to speak up, ignore this list at your peril:
Tobak's 10 Rules of Management Conflict
Stay calm. Never react in anger or blow your stack. If you're so POd that you can't trust yourself to be calm, then go away and come back when
you can. The workplace is no place for that kind of behavior, period.
Attack the problem, not the person. When you criticize or attack someone personally, you risk burning a bridge. Focus on the real issues at hand.
You know, what the company actually pays you to do.
Be open and honest. The second you grit your teeth, cross your arms, and close your mind, you give in to stubborn childish behavior. But if you
remain open and keep your wits about you, you'll manage to do the right thing in a tough situation.
Don't lose perspective. Try to remember that you're being paid to do a job, not to fight a war. The workplace is about business. You know,
customers, products, that sort of thing. It's not about you ... or him.
Try to be empathetic. Put yourself in her shoes and try to understand her perspective. If you can't or you're not sure what it is, then ask; you're
assumptions may be wrong. If she does the same, next thing you know, you have detente.
Take the high road. That doesn't mean be quiet when something needs to be said. It means say it at a time and place and in a manner that's
reasonable and respectful of all present. If you kick yourself afterwards, then you probably didn't do it right.
Have faith in yourself. The workplace is no place for yes-men. You were hired for a reason, and it's not to blindly march along with the pack. If that's
what management wants, you work for a crappy company.
Don't go at it in public. If you do, be prepared to apologize in public and, worst case, be fired for insubordination. Accomplished managers and
executives really do not like to be publicly eviscerated. Would you?
Then let them have it. As long as you follow the preceding eight rules, then it's okay to go for it. Just try to be civilized.
Disagree and commit. This comes from Andy Grove's Intel. Keeping your mouth shut when you disagree isn't being a good soldier. But
disagreeing, losing the fight, and committing to help the winning plan succeed, now that's being a good soldier.
Following these rules will do wonders for your management career. Who knows; maybe you can be the next Andy Grove.

Five Unexpected Ways Twitter Can Enhance Your Business

You're savvy enough to know that Twitter is more than just a way to keep track of your favorite celebrity's lunch menu. In fact, we've told you about
all sorts of ways to use Twitter to grow and improve your business -- like interacting with your audience while giving a presentation and getting
great travel deals for your next business trip.
That's just barely scratching the surface, though. MakeUseOf has a list of ten ways you can use to take your business to the next level -- I've got
what I consider to be the best five right here:
Notify people about events. Twitter is an excellent resource to spread the word about upcoming seminars, workshops, and other meetings. Be sure
to link to PowerPoint decks or video.
Network yourself. Join topic groups in Twitter that are related to your business. Not only can you learn from other people's tweets, but you'll network
with potential clients and partners.
Run promotions. People love discounts and coupons, and Twitter is an easy way to blast promotions to a large audience. And the more promotions
you run, the larger your audience will grow.
Manage customer feedback. Looking for ways to appear to be more proactive and considerate of your customer? Read and respond to customer
complaints via Twitter. Microsoft has started doing that, and it's working very well for them.
Organize a Tweetup. Twitter is a great way to organize a local get-together. You can use the service to schedule face-to-face meetings with
vendors, suppliers, clients, partners -- the sky is the limit.
There are five more suggestions at MakeUseOf. Check them all out.

Use a Flash Drive to Rescue a Malware-Infested PC

There's a particularly nasty virus making the rounds right now. It's informally known as the Antivirus Live virus, as it bombards your PC with scary,
real-looking security warnings and masquerades as a program -- Antivirus Live (pictured) -- that can protect and repair your system.
A co-worker of mine caught it. I won't say which legitimate anti-virus utility he was running that didn't block it, but it's a popular one.
Ridding yourself of infections like these can be a major hassle -- unless you have the right tools. In this case, the right tool is SUPERAntiSpyware
(which sounds like one of the fake, made-up programs it's meant to remove, but isn't). It's free, and it works.
The developers just released a portable version of SUPERAntiSpyware, meaning it can run from a flash drive. That's critical, as malware-infested
systems often block anti-virus and anti-spyware software from running.
Bottom line: If you don't own a flash drive, now's the time to pick one up. (Here's a 4GB Iocell drive for just $10.99 shipped -- great deal.) Toss
SUPERAntiSpyware Portable on it and hope you never need it. The system you save could be your own. [via Lifehacker]

Gadget Lust: A Keypad for Gmail

Remember a few months ago when I showed you the OpenOfficeMouse, an 18-button monstrosity designed expressly for Open Office? Well,
there's apparently no shortage of companies willing to create single-purpose gadgets that you'll decide is either genius or insane. Next up: a
numeric keypad-like device with keys just for Gmail.
The Gboard is a USB keypad that sits off to the side of your main keyboard and lets you control Gmail via its 19 color coded keys. There are keys
for all the sorts of things that you typically do in Gmail but (presumably) can't remember the keyboard shortcuts for. There are keys for scrolling
through threads in the Inbox, selecting items, replying, starri8ng, archiving... you know, pretty much everything you'd want to do in Gmail.
I thought I was going to hate the Gboard, but actually, I think it's kind of cool. And it's only $20. The only problem? Gmail isn't my full-time e-mail
client -- I mainly use Outlook, and use Gmail perhaps a third of the time. And so I can't justify the desk space for a gadget that will only get used a
third of the time. But what about you full-time Gmail users? Is this a winner, or a dud?

Manage Your Travel Plans with TripIt BlackBerry App

TripIt ranks among our favorite travel-management sites. All you do is forward your itinerary to the service and it extrapolates all the details for easy
viewing, printing, sharing, etc.
iPhone users have enjoyed a companion "app for that" since early last year, but finally BlackBerry users can get in on the action. Say hello to TripIt
for BlackBerry.
Currently in beta, the app lets you view all your TripIt itineraries -- even if you're offline. That's handy when, say, you're in-flight and want to check
the time and gate for your connection.
The app also delivers maps and directions, in-app dialing (for easy calls to your hotel or car-rental joint), and calendar synchronization: trip details
get synced to your BlackBerry calendar, and then back to Outlook.
TripIt for BlackBerry requires OS 4.3 or later. You also need a TripIt account, which is free (unless you sign up for the Pro version. I can't
recommend both highly enough.

10 Easy Tweaks To Double Your Sales

When it comes to selling, tiny changes can generate big results. This post contains ten "tweaks" to your day-to-day sales routine. Each "tweak" has
the potential to double, or even triple, the sales that you're making on a regular basis.
The root of these "tweaks" is a conversation I had a couple of years ago with Tom Black, author of "The Boxcar Millionaire." He's an interesting guy
who used his selling skills to climb from the depths of poverty to becoming a multi-millionaire.
I've taken his brief suggestions and fleshed them out, based upon my consultations with other sales experts and trainers, along with my own
observations and experience.
BTW, I spent a LOT of time on this post, so if you think it's useful, I'd like you do me a favor. Please forward this post to at least one colleague. To
do this, tap the "EMAIL" button on the left side of the menu bar and fill out the short form.
TWEAK #1: Only contact decision-makers
Key Terminology: A "decision-maker" is a person who either owns the problem (or part of the problem) that your offering solves or owns the budget
(or part of the budget) that will pay for it.
What You Do: Research the job titles and backgrounds of people who have bought your offering (or similar offerings) in the past. Limit your lead
qualification activities (i.e. cold calling, email marketing) to individuals with a similar profile.
Why This Works: Because these are the people who make the decisions, they're worth the extra effort it takes to try to reach them directly. If you
find that you can only get access to a gatekeeper, move to the next lead.
How This Saves Time: Because you have a limited amount of time to sell each day, don't waste it calling upon people who don't have the authority
to purchase. While it is possible to use a lower-level individual to get contact with a decision-maker, cultivating such individuals can take more time
and effort than getting directly in touch with the people that you really need to speak with.
Warning: If you're going to speak with high-level executives, you must be able to present yourself as their equal. If you take a subservient position,
you'll just get bumped down to the drones.
TWEAK #2: Only sell to big buyers
Key Terminology: A "big buyer" is a company that is sufficiently large that it definitely has the kind of money required to purchase your offering,
without causing any strain whatsoever on their finances.
What You Do: Before you even make a call to a company, use the Internet to research the company and confirm that they are large enough, and
financial solvent enough, to purchase your offering.
Why This Works: Experience proves that it can take more time to make a small sale to a small customer than it does to make a big sale to a big
customer.
How This Saves Time: Because you have a limited amount of time to sell each day, it's better to pursue a handful of big deals than chasing a
hundred small ones.
Warning: Regardless of size, if a prospect can't spend money at this time, they're not really a qualified prospect. So don't waste your time.
TWEAK #3: Take control of your meeting times
Key Terminology: A "meeting time" is the time you have committed to meet with a prospect.
What You Do: When you first make an appointment, agree to whatever time is convenient for the prospect. Then, once the appointment is in the
prospect's calendar, request that the appointment be moved to match what's convenient for you.
Why This Works: Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a prospect will not mind changing the appointment date around, once the prospect has
already decided to meet with you.
How This Saves Time: It allows you to better schedule your travel time, preparation time, and meeting time, so that you spend less time on each
prospect, but with the same positive impact.
Warning: If you keep your calendar (and prospect list) SOLELY on your computer or smartphone, you're eventually going to get burned. Those
devices are wonderful, but they 1) run out of battery power, 2) crash unexpectedly, 3) get stolen, 4) get broken, 5) lose files, 6) won't connect to the
network, 7) require complicated commands, and 8) strain your eyeballs. If you've got your sales activities recorded on paper, the only excuse
you've got for not contacting a prospect is if your dog eats the piece of paper, which rarely happens. TWEAK #4: Use more referrals
Key Terminology: A "referral" is when an existing customer or colleague suggests to a prospect that he or she speak with you.
What You Do: When you've confirmed that a customer is delighted with you and your offering, ask that customer to contact somebody who might
also need your service.
Why This Works: When you come into a sales situation with a referral, the potential prospect knows somebody who has recommended from you.
You have therefore been "vetted" as a trustworthy person and worthy of their time.
How This Saves Time: Because the customer trusts you, it's easier to get the information you need to qualify the lead. As a result, you end up
spending less time on false opportunities and more time on opportunities that could really lead to a sale.
Warning: Only ask for referrals from delighted customers; asking when you close (or worse, when you don't) is a good way to get dead-end
referrals. Why should somebody put his own career and reputation on the line, if they aren't 100 percent sure you can deliver?
TWEAK #5: Optimize your meeting schedule
Key Terminology: Your "meeting schedule" is the collection of "meeting times" that you've put into a single day, week or month.
What You Do: Figure out the optimum number of sales calls or meetings that you can make during a day and the craft your schedule accordingly.
For example, if you find that your typical sales call takes half a day, schedule meetings at 8:30am and 1:30pm.
Why This Works: It ensures that you spend time with as many prospects as possible
How This Saves Time: It allows you to handle more prospects in the same amount of elapsed time, without lessening the amount of time spent with
each prospect.
Warning: Beware of the "one meeting" day. For example if your meetings with prospects typically take four hours, if you schedule a meeting at
11am, that will be the only meeting you'll have that day.
TWEAK #6: Sell when prospects are available
Key Terminology: "Available" means that the prospect is able to take your call or meet with you face to face.
What You Do: Don't waste prime sales call time (i.e. "working hours") fussing with your CRM system, doing research, answering emails and so
forth. Instead, spend that time getting in touch with, and meeting with, real live prospects.
Why This Works: The crux of your job is to sell; all the rest is just busywork - necessary, perhaps, but secondary to getting the real job done. If
possible, offload the electronic paperwork onto a clerical staff.
How This Saves Time: Prospects are only available when they're available. If you're ready to sell and they're not ready to buy, you'll have to wait
before you can get your sales process into gear.
Warning: Many sales reps have NO IDEA about the best time to call or contact prospects. Quick clue: the worst time to call is right after lunch. See:
What's The Best Time to Cold Call?
TWEAK #7: Keep initial meetings brief
Key Terminology: An "initial meeting" is your first substantive meeting you've contacted a lead, qualified them as a real prospect, and entered them
into your sales pipeline.
What You Do: Most B2B sales require more than one meeting to close, especially if there ismore than one decision-maker. Find an appropriate
goal for the initial meeting and achieve that, then move the sale forward to the next step.
Why This Works: The biggest fear that most prospects have at the beginning of a relationship with a sales pro is that the pro is going to waste their
time. Having a brief first meeting lets the prospect know that you're busy, too.
How This Saves Time: A brief telephone call, web-conference, or face-to-face conversation consumes less of your time, and allows you to further
qualify and prioritize the prospect, so that you spend more energy on the most likely opportunities.
Warning: There's a natural tendency to want to close business when you're meeting with a decision-maker. However, if you try to close too soon
(like before everyone is on board) it can actually make it more difficult to close in the future.
TWEAK #8: Stop repeating yourself
Key Terminology: "Repeating yourself" is when you attempt to make the same point more than once, in the belief that it didn't "stick" the first time
you said it. Again and again. As in more than once. Repeating yourself. Get it?
What You Do: Create an agenda for your meeting and for any presentation that you might give. State your main points once, forcefully and with
confidence.
Why This Works: Many sales pros are secretly afraid prospects won't believe what they're saying, so they start repeating themselves, hoping it will
add credibility. However, repetition actually detracts from credibility because it makes you seem uncertain.
How This Saves Time: When you show a lack of confidence in yourself, the prospect begins to suspect that you can't be trusted to deliver or
(worse) that you're hiding something. As result, you end up spending extra time re-establishing your lost credibility.
Warning: There's a myth floating around in "how to present" programs that you should repeat your messages 3 times. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The
rule is: "Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them." The first is a pre-positioning of the message (so that
they know it's important), the second is the message itself, and the third is the call to action based on the message.
WEAK #9: Don't Anticipate Objections
Key Terminology: An "objection" is a temporary mental barrier that the prospects has put in the way of buying.
What You Do: Become familiar with the objections that you usually encounter in your sales cycle. Never surface those objections explicitly (e.g. "I
suppose you're wondering why this costs more than the competition."). Instead, build the answers to those objections into the presentation without
identifying them explicitly. (e.g. "Our customers show an ROI in three months -- the fastest ROI in our product category.)
Why This Works: Most objections are variations of "it costs too much", so building a strong financial case into your sales message defuses most
objections anyway. And while prospects almost always have objections, the last thing you want is to provide them with a laundry list, even if you're
pretty sure that you've got the answers to everything on that list.
How This Saves Time: While some objections are inevitable, you could easily surface an objection that hadn't yet occurred to the prospect. Then
you must spend time answering that objection, when you should have left well enough alone.
Warning: If a prospect doesn't surface at least one objection, there's a good chance that the prospect is leading you on. An objection is usually a
sign that the prospect is considering a purchase.
TWEAK #10: Test for the close, then close
Key Terminology: Ultimately, the "close" is, of course, the point when you ask the customer to buy your offering. However, a "close" can also refer
to achieving an intermediate step in the buying cycle.
What You Do: When you have told your story, check to see whether it's time to close by asking a question that confirms the prospect's interest in
buying. (E.g. "Does all of this make sense to you?")
Why This Works: Many sales pros avoid closing, especially after they've invested significant time and effort in an opportunity. They're afraid that all
their positive expectations will be disappointed and the they'll learn that the relationship they've built with the prospects is bogus.
How This Saves Time: Testing before closing makes it more likely that you'll close at the appropriate time, neither too soon nor too late in the sales
cycle. Attempting to close at at the wrong time always means that you'll need to spend extra time selling. If you try to close too soon, you'll create
resistance, which must then be overcome. If you delay your close, you may delay it so long that somebody else will close for you...with their
offering, not yours.
Warning: Many sales training programs teach various kinds of "trick closes." (E.g. "what would I have to do to get you to buy today.") Those hoary
old techniques don't work any longer, if they ever did. Avoid them.

Help! My New CMO Is Clueless

The real world of business is full of "strategic marketing" that wastes time and money. A Sales Machine reader recently wrote me of the sudden
appearance of this nonsense at his firm, in the form of a new CMO. Here's a slightly edited version of his email, followed by my specific advice.
I am vice president of sales and regional marketing for the U.S. region a worldwide $3 billion equipment manufacturer. My company has a handful
of worldwide regions, each with a regional marketing team, and a corporate marketing team at headquarters.
Our new CMO is responsible for overall marketing at my firm, but he doesn't seem to understand how to do regional, tactical marketing that's in
sync and embedded with sales. Instead, he refers to lead generation as "sales support" and focuses exclusively on corporate branding in the
stratosphere.
I have a dotted line report to the CMO. He seems to be a good guy, intelligent and maybe competent, but he lacks a revenue generation mind set.
How can I get this guy to back off and do something useful?
Glad to help. As I see it, there are two possibilities:
Possibility 1: Your CMO is an idiot. Only an idiot believes that "lead generation" is "sales support" and that "branding in the stratosphere" is a useful
activity. This is not to say that his heart might not be in the right place, but he certainly can't be intelligent and competent and hold that opinion.
Possibility 2: Your CMO is playing politics. The real issue is who's going to control resources. He wants those "dotted lines" to report to him and he
wants to control the marketing budget, so he's only going to spend money on corporate-level branding. He sees money spent on effective regional
marketing as money wasted, because he doesn't control it.
Oddly, it doesn't really matter which of the two possibilities is true, because your response is identical. You must figure out a way to get control of
the marketing budget so that it will be spent on lead generation rather than upon useless branding. To accomplish this, I recommend three steps:
STEP #1. Secure control of your own marketing budget by create a system that shows the specific impact on sales of all marketing spends in your
own region.
STEP #2. Using that system, work with your CFO to surface to the CEO how money directed to "branding" rather than "lead generation" loses the
company money.
STEP #3. Form a consortia with the other regional vice presidents and demand group approval of all significant marketing spends in your
respective regions.
WARNING! You must move very quickly. If you don't castrate this guy toot-sweet, he'll consolidate control of the marketing budget... and you could
end up working for him.
READERS: Any other ideas?

Want To Sell at C-level? Use Email!

You probably think I'm nuts, but there are MANY companies that successfully use lowly email to sell directly to top executives. Yeah, I know... C-
level execs get 500+ emails a day, and have an admin who screens everything. Even so, if you know how to frame a short sales argument, there's
no better (or cheaper) way to get your foot in the boardroom door.
Here's a real-life testimonial from Brett Wallace, former Director of New Business for analyst firm Forrester Research. (He's not an analyst; he's a
sales guy, and he's now working for Zoom Information, a Sales 2.0 firm.) And big kudos to Gerhard Gschwandtner for getting Brett to reveal
Forrester's email marketing approach on camera.
SUMMARY:
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
Follow the basics: Attention, Interest, Decision, Action.
Align your sales process to generate attention at the senior level.
Understand and help that buyer understand the business fit.
Generate an action based upon that business fit.
HOW TO DO EMAIL MARKETING:
Look at the major impact the target business is going through.
Generate a short, concise, respectful email (or voice mail) message
Edit the messaging down to two or three sentences at most.
Show them the purpose, the benefit, and the request.
STRUCTURE OF THE MESSAGE:
The purpose = why you're contacting them.
The benefit = why they should care.
The request = what's the next step.
WARNING: The most common mistake is to fail to make the request
.
110 Seconds of Basic Sales Wisdom
n this morning's post "10 Easy Ways to Double Your Sales", I posted some time management advice from Tom Black, author of "The Boxcar
Millionaire." It had been a couple of years since I spoke with Tom last, so I got on YouTube to see if he had posted any videos. To my surprise, I
found several, but they had received almost NO traffic.
That's a shame, because Tom's a smart guy who provides good, common-sense sales training. Here's the video he posted that I liked best,
because it's provides a lot of good, basic sales wisdom in a very short amount of time. Check it out:

Quiz: Which Call is NOT a Cold Call?

Here are three common selling scenarios. Read them over, then answer the poll question:
SCENARIO 1: An existing customer has called a potential customer and recommended that he speak with you. The existing customer then called
to say that the potential customer is expecting you to call. You call the potential customer.
SCENARIO 2: A potential customer has accessed your website and then filled out a form requesting a white paper. Your Sales 2.0 system
gathered a wealth of information about that person and his company. You call the potential customer.
SCENARIO 3: You purchase a list of "pre-qualified leads" from a reputable direct marketing firm. You cross-reference those leads with the
definition of your target market and find the most likely potential customer. You call the potential customer.
The correct answer is "They are ALL cold calls." Let me explain.
A wise man once said: "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."
In all three scenarios, your behavior is exactly the same. You need to accomplish the following five things in this exact order:
Identify yourself and your firm.
Show respect for the potential prospect's time.
Give a compelling reason for the prospect to speak with you.
Obtain permission for more conversation.
Qualifying the lead before putting it into the pipeline.
The required skill set is EXACTLY the same, regardless of whether you picked a name out of the phone book or whether you've got 10 pages of
research and a referral from an existing customer.
Is the conversation likely to be a bit easier if the lead has been forewarned that you're going to call? Sure.
Is it easier to qualify the lead if you've got a fistful of research before you call. Absolutely.
Even so, the routine is the same.
Now, if it makes you feel better to call something a "warm call" rather than a "cold call" or to pretend that getting referrals means that you'll never
have to "cold call", go right ahead. However, be aware that your desire to avoid the term "cold call" reflects your own insecurities, not the reality of
the situation.
Personally, I think it's healthier just to call every first-time conversation (even if the customer calls YOU!!!) a "cold call." That way you'll remember
that you need to complete the five steps defined above.
READERS: Care to debate this with me?

New Workplace Rules for Job Success

In post-meltdown America, the business landscape has been turned upside down. Nothing's the same — and nothing's for sure. As companies
scramble for a footing, they're reinventing themselves to become more flexible, more creative, and better connected. And that's exactly what you
should be doing to move forward in the new American workplace. In this coming decade, initiative will be king and relationships will rule; your ability
to adapt will mean the difference between career success and failure. Unfortunately, these rules for success won't be found in any employee
handbook. You can get them right here:
1. You Write Your Own Job Description
If you’re looking for someone to tell you what your exact role is at work, forget it. You must carve it out on your own. That means being able to
manage multiple projects and take on new roles — all without any instructions. “You have to have a tolerance for ambiguity,” says Patrick Wright,
professor of Strategic Human Resources at Cornell University. If there is one mistake that will torpedo your career faster than Tiger Woods’s taste
for pinup girls, it’s using the phrase: “That’s not my job.” Today, everything is your job. Make the decision to play all the parts, learn all the skills,
and do whatever it takes to get things done.
How to adapt: Volunteer for new projects, join company-wide initiatives, and be willing to transfer departments or relocate. Ask for help from people
who have different skills and styles than yours, and offer to help them, says executive coach Lauren Zander, chairman of The Handel Group in New
York City. “Talk to people more — your managers, customers — and listen creatively for ideas about the future and how you can incorporate your
special traits into the mix,” Zander says.
2. Networking Isn’t a Numbers Game
When your job requires you to do more with less — and what job doesn’t today? — you need your own support system. Having 400 LinkedIn
connections is meaningless if you don’t also cultivate a tight network of trustworthy partners, both inside and outside your organization. This inner
circle can help you generate ideas, solve problems, and do your job better in a way that casual contacts can’t. “Today you have to fully invest in
people,” says Mike Thompson, chief executive of SVI, an organizational development firm in Springdale, Ark. “Go deep with a precious few.”
Even LinkedIn whiz Susanne Trimbath knows the limits of social networking. In addition to her more than 100 connections on LinkedIn, Trimbath,
an economist who runs her own advisory business, has a brain trust of a dozen or so close contacts, most of whom she’s done business with.
These are the people she counts on for reliable information, feedback on ideas, and any other help she might need. Maintaining a close business
relationship is like nurturing a friendship, says Trimbath: Some face-to-face contact is required, but email is fine, too, for keeping the connection
alive.
How to adapt: Come up with projects that you and your network of close contacts can work on together, and then come to the table with an
agenda. “You want to take your relationship deeper, and provide real assistance to one another,” says executive coach Zander.
And don’t limit yourself to formal lunches. Invite one of your contacts to join a cause, or have the whole group over to your house. Offer help, do
favors, share personal information, and voice your concerns. These relationships need to be open and genuine, not just convenient.
3. Facebook is No Longer Optional
You may think you don’t need to sign up for Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to get ahead, but your boss likely doesn’t share that aversion to social
media: A full 90 percent of some of the fastest-growing private companies in the country used at least one social media tool to reach customers in
2009, according to the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
For starters, tap these Web sites to raise your professional profile and forge valuable new relationships. When economist Trimbath was preparing
for a November 2009 business trip to Hong Kong, she turned to LinkedIn to make connections in advance. First she joined a local banking and
finance group to see what events were taking place during her visit. Then, after contacting the organizer of one event, she made plans to meet up
in Hong Kong. (Checking the organizer’s online profile, Trimbath found her icebreaker: They’d both gone to school in California.) That led to a string
of valuable introductions — an entrepreneur looking for financing for a project in China, a prominent financial analyst, the director of the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong — as well as an invitation to go sailing at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.
As a business tool, social media can connect you with consumers, clients, colleagues, and other industry contacts. It can also transform how you
do business. When Live Fish Direct, a 20-year-old breeder of tropical fish in Draper, Utah, had to rebuild after a devastating freeze at its farm in
2008, it adopted a new business model that incorporated social media. It launched a Web site to sell directly to consumers — then turned to
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to get the word out. “We are now doing better than we have in the past 20 years,” says Jordan Cherrington, vice
president of [Link].
In this era, ignoring social networking skills will make you obsolete. “Small companies in particular are looking for diverse abilities,” says Dr. Carl
Van Horn, director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.
How to adapt: Set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn — and use these sites to raise your visibility within your industry by blogging,
announcing achievements, recommending colleagues, or posting links to news reports that might interest your peers. (And avoid some of these
common social networking mistakes.)
But don’t stop there. Check out how your competitors are using these sites and others like YouTube and company blogs to build their brands. Then
put your knowledge to work. Present a plan to your boss detailing how you plan to grow your company’s social media presence in support of key
company goals like customer engagement and retention.
4. It’s Time to Speak Up
As businesses retool to meet the demands of the new economy, the ride is going to be bumpy. If you want to hang on, you have to stand out. That
means taking risks and accepting challenges you might have once backed away from. Most importantly, it means putting your ideas and opinions
out there for everyone to see.
How to adapt: Be the first one to throw out a suggestion or solution. Before every meeting or business conversation, come up with three ideas to
add to the discussion and vow to add your opinion to what others say. Become an idea generator. And when you hit a roadblock that prevents you
from executing your boss’s plan, come up with a solution before taking the problem to her.
If you’re uncomfortable expressing yourself in public, Zander recommends taking a public speaking course, or even an improvisational class.
“Assertiveness is not a God-given talent,” she says. “You can develop it.
”
Mellody Hobson's Three Lessons of the Crash: Save. Don't Wait. Don't Panic
The estimable Mellody Hobson of Ariel Capital called to chide me about a post I wrote last week criticizing a recent slanted survey about 401(k)s. In
addition to her role with Ariel, Hobson is on the executive committee of the fund industry trade group that sponsored the survey. Not surprisingly,
we didn't see eye-to-eye on everything about the survey or the best way to improve 401(k)s. But Hobson made three good points:
Investors largely did the right thing in 401(k)s last year. "If you read all the media at the time," said Hobson, "You'd think people in 401(k)s were
running for the hills." They weren't. The survey found that 401(k) participants by and large didn't stop contributing or make wholesale changes to
their investment strategy. ( Other surveys found 401(k) investors were a bit more panicky than that. ) It's not clear whether investors did so because
they calmly took the long view or because they were frozen by terror. Doesn't matter. If you stuck to your guns, you have been generously
rewarded since last March. Proof of principle: Investment decisions made in a panic--seling or buying--are almost always wrong.
You can't stop contributing to your 401(k), just because the plans are imperfect. As I and others and still others have said, the 401(k) by itself has
proven inadequate to fund retirement for most Americans, and there are half a dozen other reasons to question whether it should be the sole
centerpiece of national retirement policy. But you can't afford to wait for the perfect plan. For now it's the best option you have.
A lot of the problems with 401(k)s would go away if people just saved [Link]'s no theoretical reason that 401(k)s can't fund an adequate
retirement, but in practice they clearly haven't come close for most Americans. The single biggest reason: we don't save enough. Charlie Farrell of
CBS MoneyWatch has calculated that you need to save 12% of your salary before age 45 and 15% after that. Honestly, are you anywhere close?
If you're not, do yourself a favor. Beginning today, start increasing the sum that you put aside into your 401(k) by a percentage point every six
months. Believe me, you're not going to miss the money; but if you can get up to Farrell threshold, you'll be glad a few years down the line.
Yes, it would be nice if you were getting more help from your employer or Uncle Sam in sharing the risk of saving for retirement, as I think you
should. But that can't stop you from saving now. You have to fight this battle with the retirement plan you have, not the one you might wish you had.

5 Reasons to Attend a Liberal Arts College

Yesterday I ate lunch with a West Coast mover and shaker, whose children went to Yale and whose husband is an influential and involved Yale
alum.
Before the water glasses had even arrived, my lunch guest was suggesting that her children could have been better off not attending Yale. Her
children graduated without knowing their professors very well and their pedigree diplomas hadn't helped their job prospects.
She then became animated when she launched into all the reasons why she loved liberal arts colleges. I found myself agreeing with every thing
she said. Here are my own reasons why students, whether they are blinded by Ivy League mojo or not, should consider attending a liberal arts
college:
1. Student focused. Liberal arts colleges exist to teach undergraduates and only undergrads. That's far different from universities that are designed
to focus chiefly on faculty research and graduate students. Star professors at many universities, including the Ivies, never go near undergrads.
2. Small classes. At liberal art college, students can't hide in the back of a large lecture hall because there aren't any. Some introductory courses
might have 40 or 50 students, but most are going to be far smaller. Especially for introductory classes, universities tend to herd hundreds of
undergrads into lecture halls and often let the teaching assistants deal with these students in smaller settings.
3. Great grad school preparation. It's a fallacy that you have to attend a state flagship or Ivy to enjoy a good shot at grad school. Liberal arts
schools dominate the list of the top 10 institutions that produce the most students who ultimately earn doctorates. Per capita, liberal arts colleges
produce twice as many student who earn a PhD in science than other institutions. This shouldn't be a surprise. Liberal arts college provide the sort
of research experiences that universities often reserve for grad students.
4. Employers value liberal arts. One of the missions of liberal arts colleges is to teach kids how to think, talk and write. Don't all schools do that?
Not necessarily. You can graduate from plenty of universities without writing essays or research papers. Who, after all, is going to grade 500
essays? In small class settings, liberal art students are more likely to be required to write papers, give class presentations and collaborate with their
classmates and professors.
A new employer survey that the National Association of Colleges and Employers released yesterday indicates that workplaces most value these
three skills that a liberal arts eduction can impart:
Communication skills.
Analytic skills.
Teamwork skills.
5. Price discounts. If you need financial aid, private liberal arts colleges are often more generous than state institutions, which have been spending
the majority of their discretionary cash on affluent students. Rich students, however, also routinely receive a price break from most liberal arts
colleges.
Bottom line: For all those Ivy worshipers out there, I'd suggest that you at least entertain the possibility that a liberal arts college could be as good
as or superior to an Ivy. Even my husband, an Ivy League grad, eventually came around.

Supreme Court to Business: Here's a Blank Check to Buy Elections

When the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated existing campaign-finance law today by gutting its own precedent, it opened the floodgates for
corporations, unions and other special interests to sway elections. I would even go so far as to call it a threat to democracy.
Free speech is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment, but it was individuals, not corporations, James Madison had in mind when he crafted it.
Even some of the special interests that stand to benefit from today's 5-4 ruling have decried it as essentially giving corporations a blank check to
buy elections.
The government watchdog group Public Citizen said the Supreme Court told "corporate giants that they have a constitutional right to trample our
democracy."
President Obama, who will need a well-financed campaign chest to win reelection, called it a "green light to a new stampede of special interest
money" that was a "major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies, and other powerful interests."
One spectator posted a sarcastic Tweet that simply said "Lehman for President!"
It is possible to reconcile a belief in free speech with the notion that it isn't necessarily defined as an absence of restriction. The court's opinion in
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission essentially says that an oil company has the same right to free speech as an individual protesting
on the courthouse steps ?€" a premise I don't remember reading in any amendment to the Constitution.
Justice John Paul Stevens didn't seem to remember it either, writing in his scathing 90-page dissent that, unlike today's justices, the Framers of the
Constitution "had little trouble distinguishing corporations from human beings, and when they constitutionalized the right to free speech in the First
Amendment, it was the free speech of individual Americans that they had in mind."
After today's ruling, corporations will be free to spend as much money as they like on advertisements that support or oppose candidates with
minimal restriction. But granting corporations rights is a slippery slope. If there is a right to speech, is there a right to vote? What are we to do with
corporations headed by foreigners? As Stevens points out, those corporations will now be able to influence U.S. elections as freely as those run by
Americans.
Both political parties realize there is much to lose. One attorney who has worked on several GOP presidential campaigns told The Associated
Press "[i]t's going to be a Wild Wild West." Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The
Washington Post "the Supreme Court has just predetermined the winners of next November's election."
In Stevens' words, today's decision was "a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent
corporations from undermining self government since the founding -- [i]t is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American
democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."
As the money flows in during this election cycle, it will be hard to disagree.
For more background, check out BNET's briefing on the case: Do Corporations Have the Right to Free Political Speech?

Obama Lacked Leadership Backbone in First Year

Interesting comment on President Obama's failed leadership skills from Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn, who compares Obama's
first year in office with that of his much admired model, Abraham Lincoln.
On Lincoln:
"What Lincoln did in the first six months of 1862--with critically important consequences for the fate of the country--was to find his own leadership
backbone. In the crucible of his own failure and anxiety that winter, he found a clearer focus, a new resolve about the importance and purpose of
saving the Union...."
On Obama:
"Barack Obama's most surprising weakness in his first year as president has been his own inability to find his leadership backbone and to draw
from this core strength and animating purpose to really lead -- that is, to focus on the most important problems, to articulate and then embrace the
central mission of his presidency, and then to take up the reins of presidential power to advance this mission, even at the expense of challenge and
hostility from other powerful players."
Read her piece for the Washington Post, Dizzying Fall from Grace.
As an Obama supporter, I have to say this rings true with me. The management literature is full of scholarship on how important the first six
months, the first year, is to any chief executive trying to make a mark on an organization. But to take advantage of that early period, the leader
must not only have a sense of what needs to be accomplished, but how.
In his first year Obama seemed content to identify the goals, but then step back and let other devise solutions and drive the process. He needed to
be in the driver's seat, prodding, negotiating, threatening when necessary and praising when deserved.
In the same WaPo series on Obama's first year, a counterpoint is provided by Marie Wilson, In Praise of Steadiness. Wilson, who runs The White
House Project, argues that "commitment to keeping an even keel is what gives a neophyte leader gravitas, and in an ideal world, time and space to
earn trust."
To which I say, an even keel is great, but useless without a rudder -- backbone -- to guide the proper direction. I agree with Koehn that the
president needs to go back to Lincoln for counsel on actively using the power of the presidency to lead from a sense of purpose.
What's your take on Obama's first year?

Ten Ways to Survive a Merger

With the announcement of the $19 million deal for Kraft Foods to take over beloved British chocolate maker Cadbury, pundits have started
speculating that a culture clash will lead to friction as the acquisition proceeds. On our own Sterling Performance, Chris Bones frets about the
future of the deal and questions whether the cultures of a "successful, socially responsible and well managed business" and "a mediocre and flabby
conglomerate with a patchy track record" can gel into a functioning single entity.

And as Bones points out the Kraft-Cadbury deal is hardly unique in being threatened by a culture clash. "Research tells us that 80 percent of hostile
acquisitions fail to meet the business case put to shareholders. Cultural incompatibility is a key driver in such failures," he says. So what do you do
if you are far below the level of the executives who cook up these mergers and are simply faced with surviving one of them with your career and
your sanity intact?
The FT Management blog is offering ten tips from Scott Moeller, a professor at Cass business school and author of Surviving M&A: Make the Most
of Your Company Being Acquired, on how to thrive in post-merger cubicle land:
Find ways to add value
Don't rely on your boss ?€"- in a merger everyone looks out for themselves
Be patient ?€" don't make rash decisions about your role ?€" but also don't wait too long
Don't be a complainer: be perceived as a team player
Expect change and don't resist it: adapt to the new dominant culture
Use your network, both professional and social
Understand the new partner's objectives, not just your own company's
Promote your capabilities and accomplishments
Volunteer to serve on an integration team
Prepare a contingency plan
Many of these points are simply good advice for getting along in the corporate world generally, but nonetheless they're doubly worth keeping in
mind if you're facing uncertain times after a merger or acquisition. Does anyone who's been through a difficult M&A transition have any tips for
those facing the prospect of company-wide upheaval?

The 10 Rules of Management Conflict

The other day I was interviewed for a story entitled "Conan O'Brien is living the ultimate employee fantasy." In venting his frustrations with NBC's
management, Conan achieved personal satisfaction, high ratings, and $40 million to go away.
Sure, he burned some bridges. But look at it this way: NBC screwed him and he vented. That's a wash in my book. All in all, I'd say he made out
okay.
But the whole incident got me thinking: we hear loads about bosses who are jerks, but what about employees who are jerks? What about public
displays of vehement disagreement bordering on insubordination? I mean, when and how is it okay to disagree with the boss? Is it always okay to
speak your mind? Is it ever a good idea to disparage your management, as Conan did?
To answer these and other thorny questions, I've come up with a set of rules. If you're angry at your boss or disagree with management and feel
the need to speak up, ignore this list at your peril:
Tobak's 10 Rules of Management Conflict
Stay calm. Never react in anger or blow your stack. If you're so POd that you can't trust yourself to be calm, then go away and come back when
you can. The workplace is no place for that kind of behavior, period.
Attack the problem, not the person. When you criticize or attack someone personally, you risk burning a bridge. Focus on the real issues at hand.
You know, what the company actually pays you to do.
Be open and honest. The second you grit your teeth, cross your arms, and close your mind, you give in to stubborn childish behavior. But if you
remain open and keep your wits about you, you'll manage to do the right thing in a tough situation.
Don't lose perspective. Try to remember that you're being paid to do a job, not to fight a war. The workplace is about business. You know,
customers, products, that sort of thing. It's not about you ... or him.
Try to be empathetic. Put yourself in her shoes and try to understand her perspective. If you can't or you're not sure what it is, then ask; you're
assumptions may be wrong. If she does the same, next thing you know, you have detente.
Take the high road. That doesn't mean be quiet when something needs to be said. It means say it at a time and place and in a manner that's
reasonable and respectful of all present. If you kick yourself afterwards, then you probably didn't do it right.
Have faith in yourself. The workplace is no place for yes-men. You were hired for a reason, and it's not to blindly march along with the pack. If that's
what management wants, you work for a crappy company.
Don't go at it in public. If you do, be prepared to apologize in public and, worst case, be fired for insubordination. Accomplished managers and
executives really do not like to be publicly eviscerated. Would you?
Then let them have it. As long as you follow the preceding eight rules, then it's okay to go for it. Just try to be civilized.
Disagree and commit. This comes from Andy Grove's Intel. Keeping your mouth shut when you disagree isn't being a good soldier. But
disagreeing, losing the fight, and committing to help the winning plan succeed, now that's being a good soldier.
Following these rules will do wonders for your management career. Who knows; maybe you can be the next Andy Grove.

Why Entrepreneurs Need to Take a Leap of Faith

Many entrepreneurs view their companies' business plans as the gospel, but John Mullins and Randy Komisar beg to differ. In their new book,
Getting to Plan B, they tell us that the best firms will build themselves through trial and error, eventually finding the "Plan B" that can lead them to
greatness. In the third installment of our conversation with Mullins, the London Business School professor describes the leaps of faith new ventures
need to take in order to get off the ground.
BNET: You assert that one of the entrepreneur's most important roles is to determine the "leaps of faith" in his or her business plan. What are some
famous leaps of faith that we take for granted now, because they came true?
Mullins: In these new ventures, there are assumptions that the entrepreneur hopes are true, but he really doesn't have any evidence. An example
of that for Apple was the leap of faith that consumers would actually pay for some of the music they would put on their iPods. Napster was free and
there were other illegal file-sharing sites, so it wasn't obvious. Steve Jobs thought that people would pay something for some portion of their music.
The question was "How much will they pay for a song?"Fifty cents? A dollar? Two dollars? His leap of faith was that they would pay 99 cents a
song. But the only way to test that was to launch the full iTunes store and see if anyone bought. They had a pretty nice first day: 1.4 million tunes
downloaded.
BNET: Do you have any examples where the leaps of faith an entrepreneur made were totally wrong, but the company was still able to recover and
prosper?
Mullins: There's a really interesting story we tell about a company in India called Pantaloon, which started as a manufacturer of men's pants. Over
time the founder of the company was finding that retailers weren't doing a good job selling his company's pants. He said, "Gee, I'm going to
integrate upstream and get into the retailing business." He studied western retailers like Wal-Mart and Marks and Spencer from the UK, and put
together a strategy to build a couple of kinds of stores. The first of these he called the "big bazaar"; these were Wal-Mart-like general merchandise
stores at a time when there were not stores like this in India. Virtually all retailing was through unorganized small mom-and-pop shops. His leap of
faith was that you could take the Wal-Mart model and just transplant it and copy it in India. Nice neat rows of merchandise, carefully ordered, very
strong supply chain on the back end, and so on. What he found was that all of the back end stuff about having direct relationships with suppliers
and other logistical elements all translated really well. What surprised him was that his leap of faith on organizing stores didn't translate well. He
said the stores were too well organized; customers would walk through the store and never stop...it was like a tourist attraction. Until he created a
more bazaar-like environment by messing them up, he couldn't turn the corner. Today his company is the largest retailer in India.
BNET: Your book tells us that in order to check if they are progressing in the right areas, entrepreneurs should have a "dashboard." How does one
make that actionable? What's on that dashboard?
Mullins: You find these used in big companies all the time. Good firms know "what gets measured, gets done." But the notion of the dashboard in
those companies is to keep a company on track; if you deviate, you can quickly correct. Our notion of a dashboard is really turning that idea upside
down. There's so much that you don't know about a new venture, whether you are starting it inside a new company or it's a raw startup. You have
to learn by testing your leaps of faith. We suggest that people build a dashboard rather than losing blood, sweat, and tears blindly executing some
business plan. This kind of dashboard will lay out the very limited number of leaps of faith that are critical in that moment of the company's
development, and the hypotheses about these leaps. You have to go out and test and record the data you get back.
This is a guide for your journey, not just a tracking device. Instead of trying to keep a company on course, our goal is to figure out how we need to
change course. Our working assumption is that Plan A isn't quite right. The dashboard shows us how it's not right, so we can begin to navigate
toward a better Plan B.

Unanswered E-Mails: How Far Can You Push?

You've interviewed for a job, but your follow-up emails are going unanswered. You've just made a huge sales presentation, but the client isn't
responding.
What's your next step? You don't want to appear pushy. But you need to know where you stand.
It's a great question to ponder because many of us have been in this same situation, and seemingly there are no easy answers.
But there is an easy answer, says management consultant Peter Bregman. On [Link] he offers the points of view both of someone angry about
not being responded to, and of the person on the other side who gets 200 e-mails a day and will answer when she is good and ready.
His advice. After the big event, send an immediate follow-up message to the appropriate person. Then assume the worst.
"If they do call or email back, it will be a nice surprise and you can discuss how to proceed. If they don't reach out, you haven't stalled in your other
work, knocked your head into a brick wall, or wasted any energy stressing about it."
Bregman's belief is that if they really want you, they will be in touch. Only negative things can happen from badgering.
Have you been on one side or the other of this question? Share your thoughts on how it feels to be a hounded decision maker or frustrated
applicant.

U.S. Management Market Outlook: The Good and The Bad

We recently looked at 10 Hot Business Opportunities for 2010 and The Next Decade's Top 10 Growth (and Decline) Industries. Now, the Wall
Street Journal is reporting that, even as the economy recovers, jobs in some industries will be lost for good:
The downturn that started in December 2007 delivered a body blow to U.S. workers. In two years, the economy shed 7.2 million jobs, pushing the
jobless rate from 5% to 10%, according to the Labor Department. The severity of the recession is reshaping the labor market. Some lost jobs will
come back. But some are gone forever --
Many of the jobs created by the booms in the housing and credit markets, for example, have likely been permanently erased by the subsequent
bust.
Given all that, I decided to put all the different reports together, along with my own perspective on what's hot and what's not, and orient my findings
to BNET's target audience to come up with this:
U.S. Management Job Market Outlook:
The Good
Management opportunities related to these 10 markets should prove to be fertile ground, especially for entrepreneurial ventures, for many years to
come:
Healthcare, including biomedical
Greentech / Cleantech
Senior and disability care
3D technology
Social media and networks
Discount retail
IT and network systems design and management
Wireless Internet, broadband, smartphones
Child and pet care and services
Robotics, especially related to home care and healthcare
The Bad
There are a number of areas that are both in decline and not likely to see much in the way of recovery anytime soon, if ever. So, it's a good bet to
steer clear of management jobs that are in any way related to these 10 industries:
Manufacturing in general (there are exceptions, of course)
Housing and construction
Financial sector
Paper: manufacturing, printing, publishing (especially newspaper)
Wired telecom
Semiconductor manufacturing
Snail mail
Non-discount brick and mortar department stores
Auto parts manufacturingTextile manufacturing
The Caveat
Let's face it; nobody's crystal ball is clearer than anyone else's. As Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz said in the WSJ story, "One thing
we've learned is that when we attempt to forecast jobs 10 to 15 years out, we don't even get the categories right."
Still, given the state of the economy and the available data, you can certainly make some reasonable decisions on what might and might not be a
good idea to focus on over the next few years. This is my take, but you're the ones who are out there in the real world: what's your take on what's
hot and what's not for U.S. managers?

Keep Your Co-Workers' Mistakes from Tripping You Up

In business you can't get anything done alone, but working with others you open yourself to the possibility that their mistakes will trip you up and
imperil the project you're working on. So assuming you aren't a novelist writing alone in a garret and humans will continue to be fallible creatures,
how can you protect yourself from feeling the fall-out from your colleagues' foul ups?
On the Harvard Business Review Best Practices blog recently, Amy Gallo offered a five step plan of attack for handing an error-prone co-worker
who is in dangerous of sinking your own reputation:
Diagnose the Issue -- Understand what's really going on. Try to determine if the problem is short-term, such as a personal issue at home, a
particularly heavy workload, or a health problem -- or long-term, such as a lack of skill or a poor cultural fit with the organization... This diagnosis
can be done by looking for corroborating evidence from other colleagues. (Translation: ask around, discreetly.)
Approach Your Colleague Directly -- The best approach is to go to the source. This conversation should take place in an informal, private setting....
Don't accuse or blame your colleague. Use concrete examples to explain what you are seeing and its impact on you. Use an inquiry mode and ask
questions like "What's going on?" and "Am I misreading or misunderstanding the situation?"
Offer Help and Support -- If a short-term issue is causing the mistakes, you should offer to help. You may even consider covering for the person as
a way to build a positive relationship.... If you find that the source of the mistakes is a longer term issue, such as a lack of skill, you can offer to help
brainstorm solutions. Perhaps your colleague can find a course that will help her build up her skills. By being generous now, you are incurring the
obligation of your colleague to help you in the future.
Protect Yourself -- Make your work visible. Avoid bragging. Use the active voice instead of the passive voice. Offer to lead a presentation when joint
work is being shared. Take credit where credit is due... showcase your involvement or let your manager know exactly what part of the project is the
result of your efforts.
When the Issue Continues -- Despite all your efforts, it is possible that the mistakes will continue. This isn't only an inconvenience, it could hinder
your career. If possible, avoid working with that person in the future. Also, you should consider approaching your manager. Explain what you've
done to date and ask for her advice. Be clear you are not asking her to intervene. Things would need to be very serious, e.g. the project you're
working on is headed for failure, before you approach your colleague's manager.
For two case studies of this approach in action, as well as more expert commentary on this common work problem, check out the complete HBR
post
(Image of trip warning sign by Mykl Roventine, CC 2.0)

Five Unexpected Ways Twitter Can Enhance Your Business

You're savvy enough to know that Twitter is more than just a way to keep track of your favorite celebrity's lunch menu. In fact, we've told you about
all sorts of ways to use Twitter to grow and improve your business -- like interacting with your audience while giving a presentation and getting
great travel deals for your next business trip.
That's just barely scratching the surface, though. MakeUseOf has a list of ten ways you can use to take your business to the next level -- I've got
what I consider to be the best five right here:
Notify people about events. Twitter is an excellent resource to spread the word about upcoming seminars, workshops, and other meetings. Be sure
to link to PowerPoint decks or video.
Network yourself. Join topic groups in Twitter that are related to your business. Not only can you learn from other people's tweets, but you'll network
with potential clients and partners.
Run promotions. People love discounts and coupons, and Twitter is an easy way to blast promotions to a large audience. And the more promotions
you run, the larger your audience will grow.
Manage customer feedback. Looking for ways to appear to be more proactive and considerate of your customer? Read and respond to customer
complaints via Twitter. Microsoft has started doing that, and it's working very well for them.
Organize a Tweetup. Twitter is a great way to organize a local get-together. You can use the service to schedule face-to-face meetings with
vendors, suppliers, clients, partners -- the sky is the limit.
There are five more suggestions at MakeUseOf. Check them all out.

Soft Crash for the "Creative Class?"

Cities that attract hip, creative types will be the ones to prosper this century, while industrial centers that can't keep it cool will continue to fall
behind. That's the thesis from Richard Florida, the public policy guru/consultant who's had the ear of everyone from government bureaucrats to
corporate marketers at top brands like BMW over the last few years.
Florida's prescriptions seem to make sense for a post-industrial country. The jobs that pay well will involve innovation: design, execution and
advertising. The jobs that won't pay well involve actually making those products, since we now live in a globalized economic system.
However, if your local government subsidizes its creative class rather than its manufacturing base, it's possible that the middle/working class (those
who get a decent paycheck making tangible goods) will fade away. Is a two-tiered economy (a small class of highly-paid creatives supported by a
large underclass of ununionized service sector employees) really sustainable?
Let's take a look at the data to see whether Florida's observations have held up during this recession. Thankfully, Florida, along with [Link]
and its research partners, created a ranked list of the top 361 U.S. metropolitan areas for jobs. I took their top ten best and worst creative class
centers and compared it with the government's estimated metro unemployment rates as of November 2009.

The top "creative class" cities seem to have weathered the storm better than their less-creative competitors.
Of course, many of these top cities host world-class universities. I guess if you want to move where the jobs are sheltered from market forces,
follow the academics.

Supreme Court to Business: Here's a Blank Check to Buy Elections

When the U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated existing campaign-finance law today by gutting its own precedent, it opened the floodgates for
corporations, unions and other special interests to sway elections. I would even go so far as to call it a threat to democracy.
Free speech is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment, but it was individuals, not corporations, James Madison had in mind when he crafted it.
Even some of the special interests that stand to benefit from today's 5-4 ruling have decried it as essentially giving corporations a blank check to
buy elections.
The government watchdog group Public Citizen said the Supreme Court told "corporate giants that they have a constitutional right to trample our
democracy."
President Obama, who will need a well-financed campaign chest to win reelection, called it a "green light to a new stampede of special interest
money" that was a "major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies, and other powerful interests."
One spectator posted a sarcastic Tweet that simply said "Lehman for President!"
It is possible to reconcile a belief in free speech with the notion that it isn't necessarily defined as an absence of restriction. The court's opinion in
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission essentially says that an oil company has the same right to free speech as an individual protesting
on the courthouse steps ?€" a premise I don't remember reading in any amendment to the Constitution.
Justice John Paul Stevens didn't seem to remember it either, writing in his scathing 90-page dissent that, unlike today's justices, the Framers of the
Constitution "had little trouble distinguishing corporations from human beings, and when they constitutionalized the right to free speech in the First
Amendment, it was the free speech of individual Americans that they had in mind."
After today's ruling, corporations will be free to spend as much money as they like on advertisements that support or oppose candidates with
minimal restriction. But granting corporations rights is a slippery slope. If there is a right to speech, is there a right to vote? What are we to do with
corporations headed by foreigners? As Stevens points out, those corporations will now be able to influence U.S. elections as freely as those run by
Americans.
Both political parties realize there is much to lose. One attorney who has worked on several GOP presidential campaigns told The Associated
Press "[i]t's going to be a Wild Wild West." Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The
Washington Post "the Supreme Court has just predetermined the winners of next November's election."
In Stevens' words, today's decision was "a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent
corporations from undermining self government since the founding -- [i]t is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American
democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."
As the money flows in during this election cycle, it will be hard to disagree.

$64B Bailout for Madoff Victims - Are They Victims?

After posting 10 Breakthrough PR Techniques from a Master, I received an email from the Madoff Coalition for Investor Protection, which
represents "over 400 former professionals who were successful in their "pre-Madoff" lives."
The email was essentially a plea for pro bono PR help for "Madoff victims" who have been lobbying the public and Congress for months. I'll be
honest: my initial reaction was indeed one of empathy. My instinct was to help them out. So I spent some time investigating. What I learned
shocked the hell out of me.
These were no victims.
The "Madoff Coalition" isn't fighting to get their money back. Nope. They're fighting to get their fake profits from Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. Per
their email: "As for our viewpoint -- the main points are 1) for SIPC to pay investors based on their final statement. That issue has been consistent
for us."
Well, as Stephen Harbeck, chairman of the SIPC (Securities Investors Protection Corporation) explains in a New York Times piece, that would
amount to a whopping $64.8 billion taxpayer bailout of these so-called Madoff victims:
By law, SIPC covers only customers of failed brokerage firms. Those with valid claims receive a cash advance of up to $500,000 and a pro rata
share of whatever assets the Madoff bankruptcy trustee can gather.
That is not true for several thousand direct investors who withdrew at least their entire original investment before the Madoff fraud collapsed.
In court filings, letters, e-mail messages and Web site postings, these victims insist the only valid measure of their loss is the amount shown on the
final account statement they got before Mr. Madoff's arrest last year -- amounts that total $64.8 billion.
Mr. Harbeck is equally insistent that the courts have never allowed the losses in Ponzi schemes to be calculated that way -- and will not do so now,
despite the unprecedented scale of the Madoff fraud.
"We are trying to do the best we can for the greatest number of people, consistent with the law," Mr. Harbeck said.
And as he sees it, the law is there to protect the thousands of people who got back far less than they invested in Mr. Madoff's Ponzi scheme --
victims whose claims total more than $20 billion so far.
"The people we said no to are people who had at least gotten all their money back" before the fraud collapsed, he said. "The people with valid
claims had gotten nothing back at all."
Now, if that doesn't make you crazy, check out this quote from Robert Schachter, an attorney representing several Madoff victims: "If we're bailing
out Wall Street and the auto industry, maybe these individuals should be bailed out too."
Honestly, I don't know why the Madoff Coalition thinks they need my help. They're all over the Web and they've already managed to get a
Congressional hearing on this insanity. If Congress bails them out, then we have truly lost our way. But that's just me. What do you think?

6 Hacks for Curing Workplace Boredom

Hate your job? Maybe that's because you find it boring. Heck, even a dream job can get a little stale from time to time.
Web Worker Daily offers six ways to keep boring work from getting you down, starting with everybody's favorite cure-all, exercise:
Yes, this really is my answer to almost everything. Exercising increases our endorphin levels and helps us stay energized. This will help you get
your energy levels back up, and you might even think of some new ideas while you exercise.
The author also recommends taking a new approach to routine tasks, starting new and challenging projects, setting improvement goals, and the
ever-popular getting enough sleep.
I'm not sure I agree that being sleepy at work makes your job more boring, but it definitely makes you less productive. Overall, there's some very
sound advice here, to which I would add this: Consider a new job. If you can do your current gig backwards and forwards in your sleep, it's probably
time to shake things up and find something more challenging, rewarding, interesting, etc.
Granted, not everyone has that luxury, but life's too short to keep working a job that bores you senseless. Agree? Disagree? What methods do you
use to stave off boredom in the workplace? Share your feedback in the comments. Photo by littledan77.

Should You Download Firefox 3.6? Yes, Yes You Should

A point release might not sound like a big deal, but Firefox 3.6 (which is now final and available for download) brings some nice and worthwhile
updates to the browser party.
Among them: built-in support for Personas (which we've discussed before), automatic detection of outdated plug-ins, stability improvements, and
the always-welcome faster performance. Here's a quick video that highlights some of the, well, highlights:
Current Firefox users can wait until the browser updates itself, which should happen automatically sometime soon, or download version 3.6 right
now. My thinking: why wait?
Indeed, it's never been more important to have the newest, most secure version of your Web browser, what with all the Internet Explorer hubbub of
late. (I'm not saying IE users should switch to Firefox, merely that they should dump IE6 and IE7 and switch to IE8, pronto.)
What's your browser of choice these days, and why?

Automatically Mute Your Laptop's Startup So It's Not Annoying

I hate annoying others with my laptop's startup sound, so I always keep the sound muted. That's great most of the time, except when I need to
unmute it for some reason. Then I forget to mute it again when I'm done, so the next reboot is loud enough to wake the dead. If only my laptop was
smart enough to automatically re-mute itself at every restart.
My wish has come true. Auto Mute 2.0 mutes your system sound each time it wakes, so no matter what state it was in before, you won't be
subjected to the startup sound. And the sound stays muted until you turn it back on -- you can configure a shortcut key of your choice to control the
sound.
Auto Mute fixes an annoying problem in an elegant manner. Sure, you might roll your eyes and think, "how hard is it to mute the sound using the
icon in the system tray?" I would agree with you, except that I've forgotten to re-mute it enough times that I welcome Auto Mute with open arms. Not
only is it free, but it requires no installation, either. Enjoy! [via Download Squad]

Should Pot Be Legalized?

Before you write this off as a pop-culture post to attract eyeballs, think again. A national movement to legalize marijuana is picking up steam and
the result could have significant implications for business in America, especially considering our current economic situation.
First, the facts: As of Monday, 14 states have laws permitting medical marijuana use. And full-blown legalization initiatives are currently underway
in three western states - California, Oregon, and Washington.
The timing of those initiatives comes as no surprise. The prolonged recession is placing alarming pressure on state budgets and additional tax
revenue would be welcome.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the push for looser pot laws is also gaining momentum for social reasons:
"We're beyond a tipping point culturally," said Roger Goodman, a Democrat representing Kirkland, Wash., and other Seattle suburbs in the
Washington legislature who co-authored the legalization bill, known as HB 2401. "Now we're at a point where we're figuring out the safest way to
end prohibition."
In addition, the Obama administration appears to have taken a more-mellow attitude on medical marijuana as societal views about the drug evolve.
I don't know if societal views on the drug are actually changing, but I do think that Goodman's choice of words, "--to end of prohibition," could, if it
actually came to pass, foreshadow a business boom that few have considered.
Well, consider this.
The market for alcoholic beverages in the U.S. was $151 billion in 2008. I don't know how many people the industry employs, but I'm sure the
number is very, very big. Imagine a new industry with a comparable market size and number of jobs, given time to gestate, of course, Like it or not,
that's the business potential of a fully legalized marijuana market in the U.S., and at a time when we're in need of jobs and tax revenues.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not necessarily in favor of legalizing pot. From a moral and societal viewpoint, I'm really not the right guy to ask. But if you
read the tea leaves - jobs, tax revenue, liberal administration, medical use in 25 percent of states - if it's ever going to happen, the time may be
now.
So, are you in favor of pot being legalized? It sure would liven up those office parties, if we ever start having them again. Or are you thinking more
along the lines of, "there's a time and place for that sort of thing, and it's called college?"

At Sears: A New Executive but the Same Malaise

Sears Holdings (SHLD) announced a new president of retail services last week whose background doesn't exactly inspire hope for a turnaround for
the company's floundering Sears and Kmart chains. Jim Haworth is a former longtime Walmart (WMT) executive who most recently chaired a
holding company that operates shopping centers. In China.
Haworth steps into the deepening mire of Sears' long, thus far fruitless effort at revitalization. Some retail-watchers are forecasting that Sears may
well close 200-300 of its full-line stores in the wake of the dismal holiday season. Haworth will be in charge of driving sales at the stores that
remain, currently around 3,000 full line and about another 1,000 specialty stores.
There basically hasn't been much good news for Sears since financier Edward Lampert bought Kmart and merged it with Sears five years ago.
Overall sales and comparable sales have both shrunk steadily in the years since -?€" in 2008, the last year for which we have annual figures,
same-store sales were down 8 percent. The company lost money in the last two reported quarters, with new of the holiday sales quarter still to
come.
Most importantly, Sears has been limping along for two years with interim CEO Bruce Johnson. There is, in essence, no one at the helm with a
vision of where these brands should go next. The company should either make a CEO hire or take the "interim" off Johnson's title at this point and
empower him to move the company in bold new directions.
From his resume, Haworth seems to be the man to perhaps get Sears better lease rates, or maybe he can wring some additional efficiencies from
the company's supply chain. That would possibly improve margins, but leaves the core problem untouched -?€" Sears and Kmart need a radical
reinvention to make them relevant to 21st century shoppers. Adding Haworth doesn't seem to bring that kind of needed change any closer to
happening.
While some investors may still like Sears, adding executives such as Haworth does nothing to silence retail-watchers who've long held that to
Lampert, Sears is merely a real-estate play. In fact, given his shopping-mall background, it may only give them more fuel.

Do Law Firms Need a New Business Model?

Professional service firms, particular in the legal field, are laying off workers and delaying hiring like never before, reports the Economist. Unless
the big law firms specialize in recession-related activities, like managing bankruptcies, or can find work with the federal government, they have to
now face corporate legal departments that are demanding a better bang for their buck, according to the report.
It's completely plausible that the legal profession is facing "long-term structural consequences" that will outlast the recession, as the Economist,
amongst others, have started to argue:
In a recent paper, "The Death of Big Law", Larry Ribstein, a law professor at the University of Illinois, argued that after decades without changing,
law firms are likely to have an outburst of experimentation with different business models: even the venerable and lucrative "billable hour" method
of charging clients is in doubt.
Lots of legal work can now be outsourced to India, or worse, commoditized on the web. Law firm websites are popping up that will tackle common
issues (say, filing LLC papers or handling a DUI) for a flat fee. Other sites are aggregating the practitioners, allowing the consumer to easily shop
for the cheapest option in the area. That kind of price transparency will surely put a downward pressure on prices. But then again, if you are fighting
for the life of your company in court, you are probably going to avoid the bargain bin.
Does the legal profession need a new business model? What do you think it might be? Please share your thoughts and predictions below.

Behind P&G's Risky Decision to Open Its Own Online Store [Updated]
(NOTE: Item has been updated.) Consumer-goods giant Proctor & Gamble officially opened its own e-commerce site last week. The big question is
why it bothered, given that it runs a very real risk of annoying its retail partners -- seemingly for relatively little gain.
Here's one thought: P&G may be laying the groundwork to link its own branded e-commerce site to a social-media marketing strategy. Recently, it's
been encouraging managers for each of its brands to create Facebook fan pages, and it recently opened a Silicon Valley office as a base for
developing its social-networking strategy, Advertising Age reports.
Other major brands have already begun using social media to sell -- Dell, for instance, has moved $7 million of its goods through Twitter without
much difficulty. P&G could well be looking for new ways to reach customers online ?€"- particularly younger shoppers -?€" and provide them with
an easy way to instantly buy their products without leaving home.
Of course, that's not what P&G says. Describing the site as a "learning lab" for building its online brand, the company has pledged to share
information it gleans about shoppers' habits with its retail partners. The company's big brands, including Tide, Olay and Pampers, will be offered
through the site, with $5 flat shipping available.
Fine so far. But P&G already sells a half-billion dollars worth of goods online, much of it through [Link]. There's a fundamental rule in
wholesaling -?€" if you compete directly with your retailers (both online and off) too much, you tend to piss them off. P&G has so far managed to
sell a substantial amount of its wares to customers online without inciting the ire of major retailers such as Walmart. But it's not hard to see why its
distribution partners might get a bit hot under the collar at the notion of competing online with P&G itself.
What's more, if P&G just wanted to learn about customer behavior, it could conduct focus groups, analyze its Amazon data or take any number of
other steps to study online buying habits. It doesn't really need to open its own online store.
On the other hand, P&G's eStore is currently password-protected and available to just 5,000 selected consumers. If they're smart, P&G managers
will keep it to a limited audience. That would go a long way toward keeping retailers -?€" some of whom have decreased their stock of P&G goods
in recent years in favor of their own private-label goods -?€" pacified.
One more point to ponder: P&G has quietly had this online store up for more than a year. P&G told the Financial Times in 2008 that it was treating
the site ?€"- operated by third party e-commerce vendor PFSweb -?€" as it would any other retailer. The real news seems to be P&G's more hand-
on role, and its decision to raise its online profile by broadcasting its growing involvement in the site.

Google Is Worried About Privacy, Not Politics, in China Dispute [Updated]

(UPDATED: See below.) Google's announcement last week that it was going to stop censoring search results in China was a brilliant piece of
misdirection. By framing the move in the context of politics and principles, Google (GOOG) earned itself high praise and avoided the real issue at
hand, security. Many in the blogosphere took the bait, painting Google as a defender of internet freedom. Even Hillary Clinton got in on the act.
But the company has shown for years that it was willing to compromise with the Chinese government on issues of censorship, even if it tarnished
Google's "do no evil" reputation. It was a small price to pay in exchange for a piece of the fastest growing Internet market in the world. Hacking,
however, imperils something Google is not willing to risk, customer trust.
Google went out of its way to issue a separate blog post stating that this was not an assault on cloud computing. Of course it was. Regardless of
exactly how the hackers got there, they obtained information about user's Gmail accounts. A decade ago I would have kept most of my emails
offline, because storing them on the web was expensive. Now I keep them in the cloud. And if someone got access to my Gmail password, they
would have access to my documents and photos as well, since I enjoy the convenience of keeping all my data under a single password with
Google.
This invasion of user privacy is especially awkward, coming as it does on the heels of the company's announcement last week that it would offer
one gigabyte of free storage to users of Google Apps. If people have to worry about the safety of the data they store with Google they might choose
to use a different company for their email, browser, phone calls, or endless list of other functions that are moving off your hard drive and into the
cloud. "The hacking attacks call that all into question more than anything I can think of before," says Danny O'Brien over at SearchEngineland.
Google is a big target, and China showed that it wasn't afraid to go after it.
Nicholas Carr took this a step further, suggesting that Google cares not just about the safety of its products, but of the Internet as a whole:
If our trust in the Web is undermined in any way, we'll retreat from the network and seek out different ways to communicate, compute, and
otherwise store and process data. The consequences for Google's business would be devastating.
I think that's a bit much, especially as notions of privacy grow looser with each subsequent generation. But if doing business in China means living
with state sponsored espionage, Google might be the just the first of many companies deciding that the risks outweigh the rewards.
UPDATE (4/22/10): The New York Times is reporting that the attack managed to snare a crucial component of Google's cloud system. The breach
gave the hackers access to Gaia, a password system that controls access to almost all of the company's Web services, including e-mail and
business applications. This explains Google's strong response to the attack. The company is pushing hard to promote its cloud services, and a
security breach of this level makes it harder to convince companies that their data is safe with Google.

WTF: Millions Still Using '123456' as Their Password

How's this for weird? Recently, some 32 million passwords were stolen from social-networking service RockYou and released into the wild by the
hacker who nabbed them. Data-security firm Imperva analyzed the collection and made a shocking discovery -- shocking, at least, to those of us
who have been preaching about password security for years.
According to Imperva, the most commonly used passwords were as follows:
123456
12345
123456789
Password
iloveyou
princess
rockyou
1234567
12345678
abc123
Excuse me while I collect my jaw from the ground. I'd like to think these shockingly poor passwords choices stem can be easily explained, that
most visitors to a site like RockYou are A) kids or B) looky-loos, both of whom don't know better or don't care about password security for that
particular destination.
But I suspect it's part of the ongoing epidemic of users who just don't have a clue when it comes to choosing secure passwords. If you happen to
be one of them (or know someone who is), please see any or all of these previous posts on the subject:
How to Choose Smart Passwords
6 Tips for Creating Stronger Passwords
How to Protect Yourself from a Palin-Style Account Hack
Stay Safe by Learning from the Bad Passwords of Others
While you're at it, download Imperva's report: Consumer Password Worst Practices. It's interesting, and informative, reading.

Protect Your Files by Adding a Recycle Bin to Your Flash Drives

You certainly wouldn't walk a high wire without a safety net, so why do you store important files on a flash drive, which is one accidental deletion
from oblivion? Flash drives have no Recycle Bin, so the Delete key is permanent for anything you store there. Well, it used to be: I've found a
simple utility that gives you the security of a Recycle Bin on your flash drives, with a few caveats.
iBin adds a Recycle Bin to your flash drive. Just copy iBin to your flash drive and run the program -- it'll perform a few housekeeping steps (which is
virtually instant if your flash drive is empty, or might take a few minutes if you have a lot of files on the device). Then it's ready to rock and roll.
When you press the Delete key on a file in your flash drive, you'll see this dialog box:
You can delete the file or send it to the iBin folder, which is your device's new Recycle Bin. If you'd rather just delete the file outright, press
Win+Delete instead. iBin comes with a nice set of options for customizing your new Recycle Bin -- all the sorts of things you'd expect, including how
large the bin can get, when (and if) to automatically purge the bin, and how to deal with restoring duplicate files.
Unfortunately, iBin isn't perfect. To get iBin's protection, you need to run the program on every PC into which you insert the flash drive. And when
you remove the flash drive and later re-insert it, you need to run the program again. That's a lot to remember, so this program seems best to me for
situations in which you tend to just leave it in the same PC all the time.
While we're on the subject, don't miss Rick's recent post, Use a Flash Drive to Rescue a Malware-Infested PC.

Avoid Cell-Phone Overages with OverMyMinutes

That monthly mobile-phone bill is high enough without having to worrying about overage charges -- you know, the ones you incur by exceeding
your allotted minutes.
[Link] can alert you via e-mail and/or text message when you're approaching your limit, thus preventing any unwelcome surprises
when your bill arrives.
Obviously you can check your own account to find out how much gabtime you have left for the month -- assuming you remember to do that.
OverMyMinutes is a set-it-and-forget-it solution, a kind of gal-Friday for minute monitoring. Take a look:
Just sign up for a free account, configure a few settings, and presto, you're all set. There's no software to install -- unless you elect to use the new
OverMyMinutes Alerter iPhone app [iTunes link], which enables you to create an account and configure alert settings right on your device.
The app has the added advantage of reporting text-message usage as well as minutes: alerts arrive as you hit "five texts left" and then one left.
(Thankfully, any text-message alerts you receive come by way of the app itself, so they don't subtract from your available number.)
The only hitch is that you have to provide your carrier username and password. OverMyMinutes swears total privacy and protection, but I'm sure
that requirement won't sit well with some users.
That said, if you routinely exceed your monthly minutes (or come close), I'd say signing up for OverMyMinutes is a no-brainer. And iPhone users
should definitely grab the app, which is free just like the service.

How Professional is Your E-mail Address?

What does your e-mail address say about you, your business, and your professionalism? You might say "nothing" -- it's superficial, just a way to be
contacted, like a phone number. But unlike a phone number, which is assigned to you, most people get a hand in creating their e-mail address.
That means a lot of people judge you by the alias you keep, not unlike the way you might be judged by a personalized license plate or your clever
nickname. (Rick, for example, has started calling himself "The Predicament." And his license plate is "Hottie42.")
Does your e-mail address say the right things about you to clients, co-workers, and potential employers?
Lifehacker recently conducted an online poll to see what its readers thought about e-mail addresses, and the results are fascinating. Here are the
most interesting conclusions:
Beware of cutsey or unprofessional usernames. Regardless of the domain (the part after the @ symbol), you might want to base your username on
your real name (like davejoh or [Link]) rather than goodwriter or editorstud).
Avoid domains with bad reputations. This is kind of a subjective thing, but AOL and Yahoo addresses are kind of, well, 19th Century. They make
people think you're out of touch or technically unsophisticated.
If you have your own business -- even a small one -- you should invest in your own domain name. If you freelance, for example, you don't look like
you're serious about a career if you're using a Gmail or AOL domain in professional correspondence.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

Will Businesses Bite at the Apple Tablet?

This week, Apple is set to unveil its latest wonder device, which is expected to be a 10 inch, touch screen, tablet computer. Apparently, 1 in 5
consumers say they would buy this large iPhone (even though it may not even exist!) and industry analysts can already somehow predict that the
California computer company will move 5 million units during the first year.
Although this magic machine is shaping up to be a "must-have" for techie consumers, the majority of IT professionals, according to a Network
World industry survey, are skeptical that businesspeople will ditch their BlackBerrys for the $1,000 gadget.
Over at PC World, Bill Synder dismisses the Apple Tablet's potential as a business tool because it might lack enterprise-level security features and
will probably not, given Apple's track record, be sufficiently compatible with common Microsoft applications.
On the flip side, the Tablet is being touted as the savior for consumer-orientated companies that depend on growing their online businesses. If
everyone ends up using the tablet for common purchases, such as buying wine, streaming movies or flipping through magazines, than presumably,
lots of businesspeople will have to buy the gizmo in order to keep up with consumer demand. There's also the possibility that there will be plenty of
apps produced that cater to the needs of business users.
Of course, until the iSlate/iPad/iTablet is shipped out, your guess is as good as mine. Feel free to share whether you think a tablet PC could be
used for business purposes in the comments section below.
Why Your Boss Doesn't Always Listen to You
Most leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and overachieving types in general, have one thing in common: They think they're right most of the time.
We can spend forever trying to figure out why that is, but for now, just assume it comes with the territory.
Anyway, when I was a young manager, there were countless times when my boss didn't listen to me. Can you believe that? Well, you know what?
Getting snubbed by my boss or, even worse, a top executive or CEO, was a real demotivator. I suspect it's especially true for overachievers - like
me (and you) - who take their ideas, job, and the company's success very seriously.
Well, a lot of years have passed since then, and I've spent a good many years on the other side of the fence. And since I've got a unique
perspective on the subject, I thought I'd share a few secrets: Why the boss doesn't always listen to you or your ideas, why he sometimes shouldn't,
and why sometimes he should but doesn't. Here are 10 scenarios from my own experience:
Low priority. Your ideas, while good, aren't a priority. Every executive and manager has x things that are critical and even more things that are
important but non-critical. Everything else, in all likelihood, falls in the crack.
Bad leadership. Frankly, most senior managers aren't strong enough leaders to know how important it is to take the time to hear a middle
manager's views and share his own perspectives. Sad but true.
Narrow view. What might seem important to you may not be important or such a good idea one or two levels up. The higher up you go, the more
important it is to see the big picture.
Dumb idea. It's such a na?ve or otherwise idiotic idea that he doesn't know where to begin to explain it so he just nods politely and waits for you to
go away.
Bad timing. Sometimes there's some really hairy stuff going on - finance issues, a merger or acquisition, a major product or customer issue, or even
something personal - and she's distracted or can't be bothered.
Politics. Oftentimes the answer is an ugly truth that some executives don't want to admit to you or, worse still, don't even want to think about
themselves. Corporate politics is real.
You're intimidating. Or you're inflexible and never back down. This happens a lot, believe it or not. Just because he's the boss, doesn't make you
any less of a pain in the butt.
Dysfunctional management. Your boss and/or the entire management team is dysfunctional. I use this as a big ole bucket of scenarios, but some
management teams just don't know how to function right.
Not in her job description. That's right; in all likelihood, her annual compensation plan doesn't have a line item that reads, "Listen to Bob."
He did listen. You just don't know it. Sometimes your boss considers it or sends it up the flagpole, and for whatever reason, it doesn't fly. And
getting back to you fell in the crack or he doesn't want to admit defeat.
So, the next time your boss doesn't listen to you, try to get a little perspective and, above all, don't take it personally. And if you are "the boss,"
investing time by explaining your views can go a long way toward inspiring a young up-and-comer.

The Future of Sales: Let the Customer Sell Herself

When I walk into an Apple retail store, I get the feeling that I am on my own to explore, touch, lift, try and compare. Sure, I can get help if I want it.
But what the store is designed to do is get people engaged with the product directly.
MIT's Michael Schrage calls this a "selling themselves" strategy, opposed to the "sell to" approach we get when we listen to a sales pitch.
"I'd argue that the future of salesmanship and innovation alike will increasingly depend on giving people easier ways of selling themselves on
whatever it is you're selling," Schrage writes. "It's not enough to be persuasive; you've got to make it easier for people to persuade themselves."
Even professional service firms should adopt this approach, Schrage argues on his [Link] post, Let Your Customers Persuade Themselves. A
PSF would be well advised to ask the question, "What can we give away to entice prospects into a serious conversation about becoming a client?"
It's all a matter of degree, I think. Some people are uncomfortable trying on a new technology or law firm without some guidance and context, which
comes in the form of a quick sales pitch.
Schrage admits he doesn't like being sold to. I don't mind it at all, as long as the sales person is listening to what I want, a point sales guru Tom
Hopkins makes in this nice interview with my BNET colleague Geoffrey James.
So at the end of the day, your best bet is to understand how your own customers want to be approached, and be ready to mix and match tactics to
help them make a decision.
From your experience, what company really gets it in terms of a compelling sales experience? Who gets the balance right?

10 Free Online Sales Tools for 2010

We're already well into the new year, so this is a good time to spruce up your sales tool chest. However, since the economy is still weak, most of
you don't have a giant budget to buy software and services. With that in mind, here are some completely free (really!) sales tools.
With these free tools you can get control of your email contacts, easily build online presentation, research individuals and companies, and even
increase your cold calling effectiveness -- without asking your manager or CSO for a single thin dime.
You'll note that I not only describe each tool, but explain its limitations, and why it's free... that way you know EXACTLY what you're getting, and
why. I've also (of course) included a link where you can either access or download the tool
If you like this stuff, I can make this a regular feature of the blog, BTW. Happy hunting!
FREE SALES TOOL #1: MyBrainShark
What it does: It's a website that allows you create what Brainshark calls "a voice-enriched multimedia presentation or podcast." That's a fancy way
of saying that it makes it easier for you to record your PowerPoint presentation for online display. Essentially, you upload a file that you'd like to add
your voice (like a PowerPoint presentation), then (using your phone) you record your audio, synchronizing it with your presentation. You can then
share the finished item as a URL link and (most importantly) track who views the file.
How it helps you sell: This is online marketing made easy. You put your sales pitch and product information online in a way that people can easily
view it (and hear your voice), and then contact them after they've viewed it. It's like cloning yourself and putting the clones on the web.
What's the downside: As we all know, canned sales presentations tend to be, well, canned. While you can provide basic information about a
product, you'll still need to find out about the prospect before you try to develop a relationship. Of course, some of the other tools on this list can
help you with that!
Why it's free: Brainshark has a higher-end, full-function system for sales teams (and others) who are really serious about online presenting.
Vendor: Brainshark
Get it here: MyBrainshark
FREE SALES TOOL #2: Firefox SuperSearch
What it does: It's the"Swiss Army Knife" of search engines. It allows users to perform web searches, people searches, reverse lookups, public
records searches, due diligence and background research, using over 160 of the internet's best search engines. Just type in a person's name or a
search phrase and select the search(es) you want to run from the menus. If you don't find what you are looking for on one site, try any of the others
without having to retype your query. In addition the green icon "Search Links" menu provides navigation links to almost 100 more search sites, like
whitepages; reverse lookups; yellow pages, etc.
How it helps you sell: Only a fool walks into a sales situation today without knowing a lot (A LOT) about the the prospect or customer. This tool
makes it quick and easy to dig around and find information about the individuals and firms that you're selling to. Using this tool can cut your
research time down to a fraction of what it would be if you plugged along with traditional search tools. Absolutely invaluable.
What's the downside: You've got to run Firefox as your browser in order to make it work. On the other hand, why in the name of heaven would you
be running Internet Explorer, much less any other browser, other than Firefox.
Why it's free: The guy who created it wants people to use his cool people searcher, Skipease. I suspect he built the widget because it evens out the
playing field. On the other hand, he just might be one of those brilliant guys who must share their brilliance with the world. If so: BRAVO!
Vendor: People Search
Get it here: SuperSearch
Get Firefox here: GetFireFox
FREE SALES TOOL #3: Edgar
What it does: The SEC requires publicly-held companies beyond a certain size to file detailed financial statements. Those documents are put into a
database known as the EDGAR (Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system. It performs automated collection, validation, indexing,
acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. SEC. The database is
freely available to the public via the Internet -- and that means you.
How it helps you sell: Public companies must put a wealth of interesting information in their 10K (annual) and 10Q (quarterly) filings. Not only can
you look at details of the finances, but you can typically get a rundown of their basic organizational structure, names of the top managers, how
they're deployed in the field, where they have offices and facilities, and (most importantly) a list of the top risks and challenges that the companies
face. If you can't figure out how that information would be useful in a sales campaign, you're reading the wrong blog, Bucko.
What's the downside: It's only got high level information; if a company is very large, whatever your selling might only apply to a division, and that
division might not get much more than a brief mention (if that) in the financial reports. However, at least you'll know the context in which the division
is operating, and there will be whole set of questions (relative the larger business) that you won't have to waste time asking.
Why it's free: Your tax dollars at work.
Vendor: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Find it here: EDGAR
FREE SALES TOOL #4: Google Analytics
What it does: This application generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. It can track visitors from all referrers, including search
engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, email marketing and digital collateral such as links within PDF documents. When integrated
with Google AdWords, you can review online campaigns by tracking landing page quality and conversions (goals). Goals might include sales, lead
generation, viewing a specific page, or downloading a particular file.
How it helps you sell: I'll let an experienced user (Travis Van) explain this one to you. "Aside from the sales folks themselves, what's the #1 sales
asset for the majority of corporations? I would argue it's their web site. Any marketing teams worth a lick these days are VERY focused on
campaigns that drive sales, and being able to prove out A/B testing on specific campaigns, being able to show precisely where the leads are
coming from, and working with sales to create destinations on the web site where targets effectively self-select and raise their hands (i.e., become
qualified). Google Analytics forces marketing to PROVE how they are helping sales. And there are zillions of cheap resources out there that are
awesome at configuring it."
What's the downside: It's optimized for use with AdWords, so if you're not using AdWords, you're not getting the full benefits. Also, you're helping
Google become the evil empire of the web, but that's another story entirely.
Why it's free: Because it's optimized for AdWords, Google apparently believes it will help create loyalty to their site. Also, Google wants to become
the "go to" place for all economic activity on the web, so they're giving away functionality that their competitors (e.g. Microsoft) would prefer to sell.
Vendor: Google
Find it here: Google Analytics
FREE SALES TOOL #5: Xobni
What it does: This is a free add-on to Microsoft Outlook that turns it from an email system into a powerful sales tool. It creates another window in
outlook that displays a profile of whomever sent you the currently highlighted email. Often Xobni manages to grab that person's photo and
telephone number from LinkedIn, Facebook, or several other social neworking sites. It also shows a string of communications that you've had with
that person. Most importantly, it has a search window so you can almost instantaneously find contacts without using Outlook's own molasses-slow
search function.
How it helps you sell: If you use Outlook a great deal, it quickly becomes a collection point for the interactions that take place between you and your
contacts. As your Outlook file grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to find people and contacts that you know are stored in there. In addition,
unless you're willing to do a LOT of data entry, your contacts consist solely of email addresses and names. Xobni not only make it easier to find the
your contacts and the emails you've sent them, it also gives you plenty of identifying information that you can use to establish contact -- and often a
picture, to jog your memory, if you've met the person face to face.
What's the downside: Minor complaints. The most frustrating thing about the application is that it doesn't continue to highlight the email thread that
you've just examined, so that if you're searching for a particular email, you end up re-displaying the same message, over and over, unless you start
counting with your fingers on the screen. Also, the current version can keep Outlook from closing all the way when you exit, thus bypassing any
password you've put on your .PST file. That's wicked annoying if you don't want other people to get on your machine and examine your emails.
Why it's free: It's a st8arter package for the $29.95 Xobni-Plus package, which has a number of reasonably useful features, like the ability to search
the internal text of messages, and build more complicated search criteria.
Vendor: Xobni
Find it here: Xobni (click on "BASIC")
FREE SALES TOOL #6: Jigsaw
What it does: Jigsaw is a user-generated database that's continually updated by its members. Jigsaw's contacts act as a virtual business card,
offering name, title, postal and email addresses and direct-dial phone numbers for individual contacts. Jigsaw also offers free company data
downloads, company wikis, and free company research.
How it helps you sell: Unlike LinkedIn and other social networking tool, the point of Jigsaw is for people to share their contacts, not just their own
identity. While there are larger databases of contact information available, Jigsaw allows you to download up to 50,000 complete company records
at a time, without renting or buying costly company directory lists. That means you can create a list of leads -- and possibly very good leads --
without spending money on an expensive list.
What's the downside: Hard to look this gift horse in the mouth, but the database is far from "complete"... if that concept has any meaning when it
comes to the rapidly changing business world.
Why it's free: It's a loss leader for the full function product.
Vendor: Jigsaw
Get it here: Jigsaw
FREE SALES TOOL #7: Hoovers
What it does: This is a database of companies and other organizations, which includes top level data on financials, strategies, competitors, key
executives, market dynamics, and so forth. It's built on a database of information on more than 30 million corporations and organizations, and more
than 35 million people. Unlike a number of web-based applications that use crawlers, Hoovers has a ginormous staff of industry experts.
How it helps you sell: Hoovers is a great place to bone up on a customer or a competitor, without having to dig through the SEC reports. (See
EDGAR above.) There's also an upgrade that's specifically for sales organizations, containing a boatload of special features.
What's the downside: You've to pay to get to the really juicy bits. On the other hand, having a quick overview can be helpful, especially if you're not
ready to dig into the details. BTW, Dow Jones has got another product (not free, but really, really powerful) that's specifically for sales
professionals: Dow Jones Companies and Executives. Definitely worth checking out.
Why it's free: The company derives most of its revenues from subscriptions, which provide access to more detailed company, industry, and
executive information. Essentially the free site is a loss leader to get you hooked on using the service.
Vendor: Dun & Bradstreet
Find it here: Hoover's
FREE SALES TOOL #8: The Ultimate Cold Calling Tool
What it does: It provides a list of the most common objections that you're likely to encounter when you cold call. When you hear one of them, you
click on that objection and you're presented with a list of possible responses. You choose the response that "feels right" and then, after you give it,
you click on that response to continue to sales call.
How it helps you sell: Essentially, it's a way to get those pesky objections out of the way so that you can do some real lead qualification. It's to be
used along with another valuable tool, The Ultimate Lead Qualification Tool, which helps you ensure that the lead is actually a sales opportunity
worth pursuing.
What's the downside: If you don't have a reasonably high bandwidth connection, re-displaying each page can be a pain in the tuchus. Sorry about
that.
Why it's free: There's advertising on the page, so every time you click on a link, it generates a teeny-tiny revenue stream.
Vendor: BNET
Find it here: The Ultimate Cold Calling Tool
Also see: The Ultimate Prospect Qualification Tool
FREE SALES TOOL #9: Zoho CRM
What it does: Hey, it's CRM. It's got all the features you'd expect in a world-class CRM product, including marekting campaigns, lead management,
sales pipeline, forecasts, etc. You can track customers email correspondence, synchronizing CRM contacts with your email system, and even
complete the post-sales activities with an integrated inventory management system. You can even analyze sales and marketing trends with various
reports and dashboards.
How it helps you sell: Well, it's CRM, so it doesn't really help you sell. But it does take care of the busy work of tracking your pipeline and keeping
all your accounts moving forward. And while many CRM packages have some kind of trial usage, Zoho is the only one (of which I am aware) that
allows you to have three full licenses for free, before hitting you up for the full product.
What's the downside: A major reason so many companies are gravitating to [Link] is the hundreds of [Link] applications that (more or
less) plug right into that environment. While Zoho has some powerful tools in its extensive toolkit, it's probably never going to be anywhere as huge
as [Link] when it comes to powerful add-on programs.
Why it's free: They're hoping you'll sign up all your sales team (and hoping that it's more than 3 people).
Vendor: Zoho
Get it here: Zoho CRM
FREE SALES TOOL #10: Demandbase Stream
What it does: This is a nice little widget works like a news ticker displaying information across the desktop about which businesses are visiting your
Web site, along with their interests, and contact details for the most appropriate decision makers to contact for follow up. You can also flag existing
customers, prospects, partners, and competitors, so that you're aware when they're doing something on your website.
How it helps you sell: According to groundbreaking research by Dr. James Oldroyd, leads generated by website access grow cold very quickly and
are usually completely dead within a day. You therefore want to react VERY quickly when a prospect shows an interest in your firm and its
offerings. It also doesn't hurt to know if other folk are checking you out. BTW, Edgar, Jigsaw, and Hoovers (Sales Tools #4, #7, #8 above) are all
integrated into Demandbase Stream, which is pretty darn cool.
What's the downside: Unlike the other tools in this post, Demandbase Stream requires a little coordination with whomever is building your website.
Essentially, they have to put a little dingbat on the front page of your website so that DemandBase can recognize it. Also, the last time I looked at
the tool, they were limiting it only to websites of a certain size.
Why it's free: It's a preview of the power of the full product.
Vendor: DemandBase
Get it here: DemandBase Stream

Interview: Tom Hopkins on Selling in Tough Times

From time to time, I've posted videos and ideas from Tom Hopkins who, along with Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy, is probably the best known sales
trainer in the country, if not the world. He recently rel...eased a new book, Selling in Tough Times - How to Sell When No One Is Buying, so I
interviewed him recently to find out more. Here are some highlights of our conversation:
Geoffrey James: You've already written 15 books. Why another one?
Tom Hopkins: When the American economy started its downward spiral, interviewers, my students and my agent all asked what advice I had for
salespeople in times of crisis. I assured them that sales can still be made. In fact, history has proven that many of today's great companies got their
starts during poor economic times. The biggest challenge we all face during crisis, whether it's a personal crisis or a global one, is fear. Fear makes
people act differently. My goal with this book is to show salespeople the proper ways to calm those fears and help their clients rationalize making
buying decisions now.
GJ: What do sales pros do wrong when trying to sell during hard times?
TH: They go into sales situations with dollar signs in their eyes. They know that their company and their family needs them to make a sale and so
they come across with too much intensity. If you want to be successful in hard times, you need to stop acting like that. You must be able to say:
"Tell me how you're being impacted by these times. I'd like to find a way to help you and your business survive and thrive." Then, if there's a real
need there, "I have a great offering and I'm in this relationship for the long haul."
GJ: But can't it get discouraging when people aren't buying?
TH: It's easy to get discouraged when you focus on the negative. The truth is that fortunes are being made today. It's all about how you seek out
opportunity. The real pros don't feel desperate in situations like this. They know it's all a cycle and we've been through it before. This country is
huge and great and it will bounce back. I believe that 2011 will be a fabulous year, so the best thing you can do in 2010 is line your ducks up for
2011. When things start to come back, companies will be looking to change things as the economy and their financial situations changes. So the
time is NOW to build your relationships and stay close to the customer.
GJ: How big a role does customer loyalty play?
TH: It's important, but today, to secure customer loyalty, you must do much more than in the past. Decades ago, you could get a handshake and be
certain that people would follow through. Today, companies will make commitments and then change them if they can save a little bit of money. If
you perform like you're a member of their team, helping them with ideas to succeed, you'll be the last one they'll want to cut if they face budget
cuts.
GJ: Why are so many sales professionals struggling?
TH: From 1992 to 2004 almost every company found it pretty easy to do business. Companies increased size, increased budgets and started
spending more. Conditions were such that it was pretty easy to make sales, and so sales professionals got lazy when it comes to doing thing that
ensure customer loyalty. As a result, organizations and individuals that lack a professional attitude are finding this environment very challenging.
GJ: When it comes to securing loyalty, what's the most common mistake that sales professionals make?
TH: Failure to follow up. In the past, there was so much business out there that you could just continue to develop new business and basically let
your old relationships take care of themselves. Today, however, it's vitally important to keep calling clients, thanking them, thinking of new ways to
help them, etc.
GJ: How can sales professionals position themselves for 2011?
TH: Revisit everyone who was not interested in your product over the past 3 to 5 years. Whenever the economy changes, people's needs change,
and you may find that some of them need you today, even if they didn't in the past. Give them a call, send them a letter or an email. Let them know
you're doing well and that you hope to do some business with them in your field for the long haul and that you hope to serve their needs in the
future.
GJ: How often should you do this?
TH: You should plan on regularly keeping in contact with your entire "family" of contacts - customers and prospects. For example, I send out a daily
email containing a "tip of the day." I've had many clients tell me that they really enjoy that and look forward to reading it each morning. You can also
get creative around holidays and other events. For example, I once gave pumpkins to 500 clients on Halloween.
GJ: What can a sales professional do, right now, this minute, to position for 2011?
TH: Here's something quick and easy. List out your 25 most important clients. Wait until you're sure they're not at work and, if you call, you'll get
through to their voice mail. Then call, leave a message like "I know your company is closed for the day, but I thought it would be nice to say 'hello'
and thank you for being such a great client. Have a wonderful day!" If it's done sincerely, people really appreciate good wishes like that.
GJ: Thank you so very much for your time.
TH: You're welcome.

Poll: Less Pay for More Praise?

Would you accept less compensation if your manager were more generous with praise?
That's the premise of the BNET feature article "Can't Pay Your Employees What You'd Like? Praise Them Instead?"
I'm curious what you guys think, so here's a poll, followed by my opinion.
I find the entire idea of substituting praise for money to be highly offensive. Here's why.
The entire business world is premised on the concept that employees should be compensated for as little as possible consistent with them
remaining as productive employees. Everything -- and I mean everything -- in the realm of compensation and benefits is based upon that concept.
Over the past twenty years we've seen U.S. companies in a helterskelter rush to outsource as much labor as possible to third world countries.
They're not doing this because they're in the Peace Corps; they're doing it because, in the business world, REDUCING LABOR COST IS THE
PRIME DIRECTIVE.
Businesses are optimized for profit. Compensation is an expense. So the entire idea that a manager would "like" to pay employees more is utter
nonsense. What's really meant by the phrase "Can't pay your employees what you'd like" is "I'm afraid my employees might leave because I can't
pay enough."
Now, I understand that line managers are often in a bind because they have a limited amount of funds with which to compensate. But the truth is
that, in most U.S. corporations, compensation is VASTLY skewed to channel as much money as possible upwards.
In nearly EVERY company that's having problems retaining employees because of low pay, there's a cadre of executives at the top who are lining
their pockets. Under the circumstances, offering "praise" as a replacement for compensation is the worst kind of hypocrisy.
BTW, this is one of those areas where the culture of the typical sales group is vastly superior to the wider corporate culture. Because most sales
pros are paid on commission, they understand exactly how much value they're providing, and are being compensated in a way that makes the
contribution perfectly clear.
As such, I'm going to be VERY surprised if there's a vast outpouring of interest in accepting kudos rather than money. Frankly, I think managers
who think that kind of thing is going to work are just being silly.
The feature article actually mentions giving employees "gold stars" -- a technique that barely works on toddlers after the first week or so. As Yoda
once said: "To me a break please give."
Look, if I do a good job, I expect to hear "good job!" And if I don't do a good job, and tried my best, I expect to hear "here's how to do better." But
don't try to fob off fake praise in lieu of the money that actually reflects the economic value that I provide.
The flip side of this whole "praise them more to pay them less" concept is "treat employees like crap if you can squeak more work out of them."
Once you tie ethical behavior to a financial payoff, you've eaten of the apple of exploitation.
So, instead, here's a novel idea: How about treating wage slaves decently... not because it means lower personnel costs, but because they're
human beings?

5 Simple Steps to a Super Secure Password

News flash: Lots of people use easily hacked passwords. Last week, Rick told you about an analysis of 32 million recently stolen passwords, and
how the majority of them were as simple as the numbers 123456.
Sure, we've given you some tips on how to formulate a smart password in the past, but I thought it was time to roll it all up into one easy to digest
post. Here's everything you need to know to make a strong, secure password:
Make your password utterly unrelated to you personally. No names of spouses, pets, or old high schools. No birthdays or social security numbers.
Mix upper and lower case. And throw in at least one non-alphanumeric symbol, like !, @, or ? if possible.
Base your password on an extended phrase rather than a single word. You can then abbreviate the phrase and mix up the case, such as:
2bon2b*Titq. That mouthful of virtually uncrackable gibberish comes from "To be or not to be; that is the question."
Make them all different. Even if you have a great password, don't use it in more than one place. Every password you generate should be unique, so
if someone hacks your Facebook account, they don't also get your bank account login at the same time. At that leads to...
Use a password manager. There's no way a real human can track and manage dozens of unique passwords like the one in tip #3. So rather than
taking shortcuts in password quality or using the same one over and over, use a manager to store them all for you. Sure, that program is vulnerable
due to the master password which unlocks it, but it's still tons safer than the alternative.

Hate Your Job? Here's the Solution...

Breaking news! Most Americans don't like their jobs. The results of a new Conference Board study show 55% of Americans are dissatisfied with
their work, which was the lowest level ever recorded in more than 22 years of studying the issue. Is it just me, or are these results completely un-
shocking?
It's like the groundbreaking research the University of Waterloo conducted that showed "smoking in a car poses a potentially serious hazard to
occupants -- particularly children." Sorry sweetie, daddy didn't realize that lighting up in the minivan was bad for you. Soon they'll discover exercise
can help you lose weight (woops, it appears a recent study confirms this).
Do you want to know what I find shocking about the job satisfaction survey? That more people don't hate their jobs. My guess is that when people
were asked if they were satisfied with their jobs they either lied to the researcher or they've been lying to themselves.
Most of the people I talk to are "dissatisfied," to put it nicely, with their jobs. Why? They don't feel like they are contributing to anything meaningful,
they aren't passionate about what they do, and they don't feel like their best talents are being utilized -- especially in today's economy where those
who still have jobs are doing the work of two or three others.
They don't jump out of bed on Monday morning because they are just "doing time," as one person told me. Part of the reason for this lethargy is
that most people feel underutilized and don't have the flexibility to do what they do best. They get boxed into positions and job descriptions that
they can do adequately, but that usually doesn't tap into their core strengths. "If only my boss would let me..." is a common complaint among those
who feel stuck in positions that don't capitalize on their unique strengths.
So what's the solution? In this case there are two solutions:
New Job. First, you can get a new job that you love -- one that pays you well financially and emotionally. A job, no, a calling that you are passionate
about. Of course, with the real unemployment rate at nearly 20%, this is much harder than it sounds; but if you know what that "one thing" is that
you would love to do, go get it. Do whatever it takes to get that career. If it requires going back to school, do it. If it requires a move or even a pay
cut, do it. It is so easy for a decade to fly by and to wake up one morning and ask yourself, "Where did the last ten years go?" You might not be
able to switch careers overnight, but you can start using the other 8 hours to get closer to your dream job.
Use Your Other 8 Hours. The second solution is to keep your day job, but do something in the other 8 hours that both inspires you and that you
excel at. This is why creating during the other 8 hours is so much fun. You create your own job description. You are your own boss and you can
focus on what it is you enjoy the most and do the best. It also explains why you find some people who never want to retire and work 60 hours a
week for 50 years, but claim they've never worked a day in their life. If you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work.
Your day job might drain you, but if you want a shot of energy and inspiration, do something that moves you at night. If that involves researching
why people wear clothes when it gets cold, you can save yourself some time thanks to the latest research out of Australia.
Are you ready to create more money, time, energy, and passion in your life? Learn how to live your best life now with these free resources:
Get the "Achieving Peak Performance" ebook and video now! (free for a limited time)
You can also join a community of passionate people at Richer Life who want to achieve more in life and at work. With your free membership, you
can participate in conversations I have with experts, celebrities, authors, and thought leaders that are laser-focused on practical ways to drive more
money, motivation, and meaning into your life. Take the first step toward creating a better life by joining Richer Life for free now!
Read More

Make More Money: How to Use Your Other 8 Hours

In his new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create Wealth & Purpose, MoneyWatch blogger Robert Pagliarini explains how
to make more money by tapping into your creativity. Follow his eight rules to success.
If working hard, cutting expenses, and saving aren’t working for you, maybe it’s time to become a Creator — or, as I like to call it, a Cre8tor.
A Creator has a day job but wants more. He figures out a way to use his strengths, passions, or expertise to create something unique and make
money from it. Maybe he’ll start a blog, as I have on MoneyWatch, work on an invention, write a screenplay, or open a part-time business. When
you’re passionate about what you’re creating during the hours when you’re not holding down your day job or sleeping — what I call “the other 8
hours” — you can endure even the worst day.
Becoming a successful Creator isn’t easy and takes work. But by following these eight rules, you’ll increase your chances of bringing in a new
source or income:
1. Keep Your Day Job
Stable income from your job will provide you with a safety net while you transform yourself into a Creator.
2. Go Nuclear
The time, energy, and investment you put into your other eight hours should be disproportionate to the results you can achieve. Going nuclear is
about extracting the greatest results from the least effort. Put simply, you need to get a lot of bang for your buck.
3. Know your HABU
The real estate industry has a concept called Highest and Best Use (HABU). Properties are based on the best use of the land that will produce the
highest value. When you use the other eight hours to create, you must focus on your HABU — your unique talents, skills, and experience that will
produce the most value.
4. Limit Risk
Instead of taking a lot of risk, the Creator’s goal is to limit the risk of a financial catastrophe. If you’re in the start-up exploration stage, don’t commit
more than about 2 percent of your income or savings to any one project. If you pass this initial stage, you can commit a little more to the project —
maybe 5 percent of your income/savings.
Three other ways to limit risk:
Enlist the support of others.
Negotiate discounts and concessions on everything.
Pull out of dead-end projects.
5. Swing Often
If you’re trying to hit a home run and catapult your finances to a whole new level, it pays to swing often. The most ambitious Creators will have two,
three or more projects in the works at any time. The assumption is that just one will make it.
6. Market
Even the best products won’t sell unless people know about them. There are loads of resources that will help you get more of your stuff in your
customers’ hands. I have several free resources that will help you become a Creator at [Link].
7. Monetize
The Creator has two objectives: to have fun and to make money. Too many people think the recognition of what you’ve created is the objective, but
recognition can’t pay the bills. So figure out how you will convert your product or service into money.
8. Have Ownership
Unless you’re a star athlete or A-list entertainer, you won’t get megarich working for someone else. True wealth is from ownership.
Excerpted from The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create Wealth & Purpose, by Robert Pagliarini.

Make a Car Mount for Your iPhone or GPS for About 2 Bucks
Do you have a smartphone that you love to use in your car, but you have no good way to mount it? If you're like me, you stick it in a cup holder and
constantly have to fiddle with it to see what the GPS wants you to do or to skips tracks when listening to music. And apart from the clumsiness, it's
just not that safe.
Well, here's a solution for you: for about 2 bucks and 15 minutes of effort, you can make a convenient car mount and position your phone anywhere
you want in your car.

That's the promise from the folks over at Instructables. I love these guys; they've previously taught me how to make awesome ice cream in just five
minutes, and now they've got a smartphone car mount you can make with a few simple materials you can get from a trip to the hardware store.
Specifically, you'll need some PVC piping, some heavy duty wire, and adhesive backed foam. And... that's it.
It literally takes just a few minutes to put it all together, and you'll end up with your phone mounted (and easily removed from) the end of a length of
PVC pipe. The contraption gets wedged under your dashboard without doing any damage to your car -- no glue, drilling, or other permanent
modifications, just pressure. The assembly even pivots out of the way when you're not using it. Very cool.
For this to work, your dash needs to have a suitable mounting location. Check out the instructions at Instructables for details.
Personally, I think this is even more useful than Rick's magnetic coffee sleeve. Then again, I don't drink coffee, but I do enjoy having access to my
iPhone without dying in fiery car crashes.

Convert PDFs Into Edit-Ready Word Documents

The free PDF to Word service does just what its name implies: converts PDF files into Word-friendly documents.
Why would you need a converter for a PDF? After all, it's mostly text, right? Actually, a PDF is a kind of digital snapshot of the original document --
a collection of images, really. Thus, to edit that document, you need to perform some kind of optical character recognition (OCR) on it, converting
the image of text into raw, editable text.
There are countless commercial software products that can do this, but why not try PDF to Word first? There's nothing to install and nothing to pay
for.
All you do is upload your PDF and choose an output format: Word or Rich Text Format. (Best bet: Choose Word over RTF. Word conversions end
up looking remarkably similar to your original PDFs. Ultimately, the quality varies from one document to another depending on its content, layout,
etc.)
This isn't the best choice for people in a hurry, as it takes a little while for the service to work its magic and send you an e-mail with a link to
download the converted document.
Even so, PDF to Word is one seriously handy tool -- and you can't beat the price.

Directly Compare Cell Phone Plans

I'm old enough to remember that one of the arguments for deregulating the phone industry back in the 80s was to create an environment for more
competitive, fair pricing. But what did we get? A bunch of phone companies that offered inscrutable rate plans which were virtually impossible to
compare side-by-side.
Things have gotten better in recent years, but modern cell phone plans are still often tough to compare directly. Billshrink has given it a shot,
though, with a cell phone plan comparison chart.
This is a very handy chart, which breaks it down for you in (fairly) simple terms. What does Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile charge for 450
minutes/month? 900 minutes? Unlimited calling? It's all here. There are also entries for text, data, and smartphone variations.
Of course, this simple chart doesn't talk about rollover minutes, termination fees, the terms of various free in-network calling deals, signal quality, or
other details, so it's only handy as a starting point for your research. But it's a very good starting point nonetheless.

How to Break Through a Crowded Market

Raise your hand if your company is attempting to differentiate itself and gain mindshare and market share in a crowded market. Lots of hands.
Great. After all, what market isn't a packed mass of hungry competitors these days? Sometimes, it feels downright impossible to break through and
see daylight ahead.
Well, it's not. Here are seven contemporary examples of how ideas and passion can trump conventional wisdom and penetrate jam-packed
markets in the process. Note that I'm foregoing the usual tired old examples like Victoria's Secret, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Netflix, Tivo, and
Lexus.
7 Companies with Breakthrough Products in Crowded Markets
Spanx. With $5K, a pet peeve for visible panty lines, and a pair of scissors to cut the feet off her pantyhose, Sara Blakely entered the age-old and
super-crowded women's lingerie market. Eight years later, sales reportedly hit a remarkable $750 million in 2008.
Twitter. Transforming Web-based communications and creating one of the most powerful grass-roots social networks on the planet by asking folks
to tell other folks "What's Happening?" in 140 characters or less? Come on, that's just crazy, right? Nope.
Pet Airways. Who would have thought there was entrepreneurial potential in the brutally competitive airline industry? Who would have thought you
could build a business by exclusively flying pets in the main cabin of an airplane? One couple (and their dog Zoe) did. Not a winner yet, but it looks
good to me.
Apple iPhone. I can still remember reading John Dvorak's Second Opinion: "Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone." Who would have believed
that Apple could transform the entire cell phone market as it did with MP3 players? Not John. Not me.
Tesla Roadster. An electric car, I sort of get, even though the concept flopped the first time around and electricity is anything but cheap. But a six-
figure priced electric sports car? I didn't see that coming. In any case, Tesla's doing it, and picking up big investors like Mercedes in the process.
Google search ads. A decade ago, I was wondering if Internet advertising would ever really work. Google didn't invent search, it didn't invent pay-
per-click, and it certainly didn't invent Web-based advertising. But it somehow figured out how to print money combining the three, hitting a $200
billion market cap in just ten years.
Howard Stern. How long has radio been around? How many radio stations and DJs on the airwaves at any given time? This one's not a company
or contemporary, but he did reinvent a tired old medium and manage to make an ungodly amount of money in the process. An amazing example of
how one person's determination and belief in a concept can win against all odds.
Of course you want to know how you can leverage these examples to help your company, right? Well, it's simple. Believe in yourself, have faith in
your ideas and your passion, and stick with it. Sounds hard? Tough, that's the way it is.

Apple's Obsessive Control Over the iPhone Is Doomed

There's a delicious irony to the reports Apple (AAPL) may drop Google (GOOG) in favor of its old enemy Microsoft. The news broke last week that
Jobs and Co. are considering switching to Bing as the default search engine on the iPhone. Two arch rivals from the era of closed computing are
circling the wagons, hoping to cut Google out of the picture and gain market share in the burgeoning field of mobile advertising and search. But try
as they might, there is one big hole Apple can't close on the iPhone. It's called the Web.
The war between the two firms first started heating up back in August when Apple rejected an app for Google Voice. Developers resigned in
protest, Eric Schmidt left the board of Apple, and the FCC eventually got involved. "You know how most knife fights end," wrote Eric Schonfeld over
at Techcrunch. "Both parties usually end up pretty bloody." Settle down everyone. Today Schonfeld posted screenshots of Google Voice working
just fine on the iPhone, via a web based application of course. That's the absurdity of Apple's attempts to control content on the iPhone. You're
selling a device with thousands of customizable applications, most drawing on web based data, and you honestly think people won't bother to
change the default search engine, or find a way around?
Nick Bilton, writing for the NYT Bits blog, worried that this scrap might end up harming consumers:
Traditionally, strong competition between rival companies can be good for customers, driving down prices and bringing better services. But both
Apple and Google have plenty of financial muscle to prolong the fight. Instead of a healthy competitiveness, customers could end up embroiled in
format wars between applications they buy for their phones and the software they use on similar devices.
But as Farahd Manjoo points out in Fast Company, comparing Apple to its competitors in the smart phone business misses the larger picture.
"That's a miscalculation, because the App Store's true rival isn't a competing app marketplace. Rather, it's the open, developer-friendly Web." The
more we live in a world of interconnected devices, the less appealing Apple's closed, incompatible approach to software will seem.

Social Media Lessons from Conan v. NBC

This is not another post about the details of the NBC/Conan drama. Really. There's already been enough digital ink spilled over the "war" between
the crumbling broadcast network and its former "Tonight Show" host and I'm not about to join the fray with yet another Leno v. Conan v. NBC post.
Nevertheless, the fallout from this show-biz spectacle is a good launching point for another discussion: interpreting the significance of negative
social media activity generated towards a brand.
Over at the RedEye, one of those free commuter tabloids, a columnist claims NBC is the "biggest loser in the social media arena" because its
executives failed to communicate with fans who expressed their overwhelming support for Conan on both Twitter and Facebook:
...the social media audience won't forget NBC's role in all of this.
If nothing else, this will serve as an expensive lesson for NBC in social media customer service. Never alienate your customers, no matter where
they are.
Surely, NBC bungled its decision but I don't think there's that much to learn from the "social media audience" that signed up for Conan's Facebook
petition. That's because this particular social media audience is not the "Tonight Show's" audience. Many of these web-savvy "slacktivists" who
roam Twitter get their comedy how they want it and when they want it through YouTube, Hulu and links from their friends. They aren't watching the
lucrative, local news at 11 o'clock and then sticking around for a few minutes of the "Tonight Show" before dozing off.
It's tempting to interpret a social media flurry as a movement and then over-react by diverting precious resources to put out the fire. But it's always
worth questioning whether the "crisis" will actually affect your company's bottom line.
Are these social media users my current customers?
Are these social media users my potential customers?
Are these social media users in a position to influence my customers?
Sometimes it's better to not enter the social media fray because there's a chance that a backlash could bubble up to the traditional media channels
that one's customers actually see. If NBC, like any other business, uses this feedback but focuses on delivering a better product, rather than
dwelling on the past, then all will be forgotten soon enough.

Improve Your Productivity and Your Reputation Through Your Inbox

The world, as they say, is getting smaller. One side effect of our shrinking, faster planet is that we interact with more people than we used to -- and
the pace of that interaction has heightened. People judge us by how well we communicate, and the state of your inbox is a way to assess that. In
other words, you can figure out what your professional reputation is by looking at how you manage Outlook.

An interesting article at Lifehack contends that your time management system needs to be updated to keep pace with the faster pace and broader
set of associates we communicate with.
I've frequently recommended the touch-once method of e-mail management. If you review and set aside e-mail for later, it stacks up, reducing our
ability to respond effectively and in a timely manner. Indeed, Lifehack says:
If it requires a few minutes of either reading or thinking, most professionals will leave it for later once they have completed a quick glance. This
particular habit isn't a problem when applied to a single email. However, when it's done a few hundred or thousand times, it creates a mountain of
half-promises that we have made to ourselves, each saying "I'll return to it when I have time."

Can You Replace a Lost Cellphone Charger Just By Asking For One?
A lost or forgotten cellphone charger can seriously screw up your business trip, as a powerless phone means no e-mail, text messages, or, duh,
calls. (And no Bejeweled?! What are you supposed to do, read a book ?)
Turns out people leave their chargers in hotel rooms all the time, which is why you can go to any front desk, say you forgot yours, and paw through
the lost-and-found bin until you find one that matches your phone.
At least, that's the theory posited over at Lifehacker (by way of Reddit, Gizmodo, and at least one reader). It's very interesting reading, particularly
this comment about how major hotels deal with anyone who cries "lost charger":
I work for the second largest conference hotel in my city. You have no idea the size box we have of chargers left behind. 90 percent are idiot
blackberry chargers. This works 100% of the time, we never verify that anyone stays here we just let them go shopping for [their] charger. Hell we
even will give people a charger if they call down to the front desk and say they forgot theirs!
I have to assume what this guy means by "idiot blackberry chargers" is that most of them work with most BlackBerry models. In any case, I suspect
this option isn't limited to hotel lost-and-founds; you could also check those in airports, rental-car kiosks, etc.
Okay, but is it honest? Moral? Legal? That's for you to decide. I think that unless I was really in a pinch, I'd just find the nearest phone or electronics
store and buy a new charger. On the other hand, if these items really do go unclaimed most of the time, why not replace what you legitimately lost?
Discuss.

3 Things You'll Need to Go with Your Apple Tablet

I have my doubts as to whether the Apple tablet -- which gets announced tomorrow! -- will ever amount to anything. I certainly don't envision it as
any kind of business tool, and I think the rumored $700-range price tag will make non-fanboy consumers think twice before pulling the trigger.
That said, whatever the iPad/iSlate/iDon'tCareAnymore turns out to be, early adopters (I'm looking at you, Dave) will almost definitely need these
three items to go with it:
1. Grip pads If the tablet is anything like the iPhone or iPod Touch, it'll be shiny, smooth, and slippery as hell. To avoid accidental -- and potentially
fatal -- drops, slap on a few of those gripper pads available for cell phones. Egrips makes a few universal kits (some of which are clear, so as not to
ruin the tablet's aesthetics) that would probably cover the bases.
2. A stand I suspect the tablet will find a home in kitchens as a Web appliance and on coffee tables as an overpriced photo frame. In both cases
you'll need some kind of stand to prop it up. My advice: Head to your nearest craft store (or even dollar store) and buy a little tabletop easel or
photo stand. Shouldn't cost you more than a few bucks.
3. A bubble mailer Accessory makers will undoubtedly come out of the woodwork with pricey leather cases, but here's a cheaper solution that may
just thwart potential thieves: "bubble" mailers, those padded envelopes that run about $1.29 at office-supply stores. Call me crazy, but remember
those MacBook Air commercials with the big envelope?
What accessories do you envision needing for the Apple tablet (aside from lots of extra cash, that is)? And how long do you think Dave will wait
before ordering one? Two hours? One? My bet: 30 seconds.

Yikes! Fighting Yelp Can Lead to Legal Trouble

These days, if an interested customer searches for your company, or for one of your products or services, they may first find your carefully crafted
website along with links to a few of those press articles that your PR person worked hard to earn. But amongst the media channels you control,
there are bound to be user reviews mixed in, right on the make-or-break first page of the search engine's results.
Many of the comments will be honest but some are bound to be outright lies. Nevertheless, the consumer might not be able to know the difference.
And unfortunately, just one negative review can offset a slew of positive ones. A study by Forrester Research found that 47 percent of consumers
will seek out an alternative after reading negative customer ratings or reviews about a specific product on a retailer's site. Only 26 percent will
continue shopping for the product after coming across negative comments.*
So what happens if your brand is attacked by an anonymous internet troll? Should you fight back against the "brandjackers"?
According to the FindLaw blog, there are legal landmines awaiting if you choose to go after negative reviewers. One business owner's fight against
a negative commenter on Yelp ended up in an offline, physical fight. Another company was sued for false advertising after flooding the web with
fake online reviews. And who could forget the time John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, got busted for trying to drive down the stock price of
acquisition target Wild Oats by posting negative comments on a stock forum under a pseudonym?
The best way to fight negative comments is to listen to the feedback and improve the experience for your customers. Eventually, the truth will
overwhelm the chatter.
*There is some evidence that mixing negative reviews with positive ones may actually help close the sale, but that's another story.

The 5 Worst Things About the Apple iPad

Well, it's official: The Apple tablet is here, and it's called the iPad. Obviously any device with this much buildup and so many expectations can't be
all things to all people. But is the iPad enough things to enough people?
Not around these parts. For anyone expecting to be blown away by revolutionary new technology, the iPad emerged as a colossal disappointment.
Here are my picks for five ways Apple dropped the ball:
No killer app Tell me again why I need one of these things. I mean, sure, it's cool and all, and the gadget geek inside me wouldn't mind having one.
But does it fill a single need I have? Can it take the place of my iPhone or my laptop/netbook? No, no, and no.
Too expensive I fully expected the iPad to have a shocking sticker, and sure enough, it tops out at $829 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G model. Granted,
you can get the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version for $499, which seems more reasonable, but without the aforementioned killer app, I don't see the iPad
flying off the shelves. And if you do want 3G, be prepared for...
More monthly fees I guess it was crazy to hope for some kind of Kindle-like scenario where the price of 3G wireless would be built into the iPad.
Instead, AT&T's hitting you up for $14.99 or $29.99 per month for 250MB or unlimited data, respectively. I don't know about you, but the idea of yet
another monthly fee makes me ill.
It has few business applications The newly announced iWork apps suggest the iPad could pull laptop duty, but the key word here is "lap": You'd
have to hunch over yours (or a desk, I suppose) to do any kind of data entry. That sounds mighty uncomfortable, as does the prospect of any
meaningful amount of typing on an onscreen keyboard. Sure, you could spring for Apple's keyboard dock, but at that point... just use a laptop! At
least you can connect an iPad to a projector -- just like a real computer.
It's not magic The iPhone changed the world. I think many of us expected, or at least hoped, the iPad would do likewise. And, hey, maybe it will.
Maybe in the future we'll all be reading books and newspapers on iPads and similar devices. But the iPad itself brings almost no innovation to the
technology table. Bottom line: It's a toy, an oversized iPod Touch that borrows a bit from the Mac OS.
What do you think? Were our expectations just too high? Are we being way too hard on the iPad? Do you see yourself buying one? (Be sure to
vote in our poll!) Hit the comments and give us your thoughts.

Collaboration Super-Tip: Allow Changes to Only Part of a Word Document

Most people think that setting a document to read-only is an all-or-nothing affair. But did you know that you can set a Word document to read-only,
but allow editing to occur to specific sections of the file? That's perfect when most of the document is final -- or the lawyers have already weighed in
on certain language -- but you still want to collaborate on other parts of the text.
Watch this exclusive Business Hacks video tutorial to see how you can apply read-only status selectively to specific areas of a document in Word
2007.

Conduct Free Background Checks: Business Essential or Creepiest Use of

Internet Ever?
Every once in a while I run across a technology that even I think has crossed some sort of line. BeenVerified has released Background Check
[iTunes link], an app for the iPhone that lets you get all sorts of creepy information about anyone in seconds.
I tested Background Check by searching for a few co-workers, and sure enough, I was able to find their current address, relatives, and purchase
price of their home in minutes. There's even a tab with data on criminal records. You can also search for their Web existence, like Web sites and
online photos. (Background Check gives you three free checks per week, or you can get unlimited checks for a subscription fee of $8/month.)
Sure, there are some great reasons to want to run background checks like this. But it's so... immediate. And thorough. I find this kind of instant,
easy access to everyone's most intimate details somewhat worrisome. What about you? [via PC World]

Apple iPad Price, Features Say "ARM" All Over

Here's what you need to know about the iPad: it's a 9.7-inch touchscreen pad that's half an inch thick, sports WiFi and 3G, and runs apps, reads e-
books and lasts 10 hours on a charge. And it's one of the best things to happen to Intel (INTC) rival ARM Holdings (ARMH).
Looks cool, right? You might be bracing for the price tag. But when you look at it, as compared to smartphones, netbooks and Kindles, it really isn't
too bad at all.
Why? It's largely because one of the most expensive components -- the processor -- is a custom-made, in-house Apple (AAPL) 1GHz chip called
the A4. In April 2008, Apple bought a chip company called PA Semiconductor, which according to Forbes at the time was "known for its design of
sophisticated, low-power chips." Forbes also said this was a "blow for chip-maker Intel," which had been trying to sell Apple on its low-power Atom
chips.
PA Semi, like most chip-makers, licensed much of its intellectual property (in the form of chip designs) from ARM Holdings, a small British
semiconductor design company that provides the building blocks to companies like TI (TXN), Qualcomm (QCOM) and now Apple. In fact, ARM's
general manager of IP, Simon Segars, told me last year that they sell their famously efficient chip designs to "almost every semiconductor
company... in one way or another," many of whom are still paying royalties after licensing fees.
ARM is an unlikely threat for Intel, which is comparatively enormous by almost every measure. (ARM, for example, employs 1700 people; Intel
employs almost 80,000.)
But ARM has the ear of mobile device makers, including every major mobile phone manufacturer in the world. And with Apple's recent coronation
the world's biggest mobile device maker, both by its numbers and ambitions, ARM now has its designs in the flagship device of an industry that is
becoming more significant by the month. (Facebook, for example, expects that most of its traffic will be from mobile devices within just a few years.)
Intel is largely still reliant on its old-time cronies like Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) for its business. Intel's next version of the low-power Atom chip, a
revision of which was announced last month, is charged with having to drag Intel into the future.
The WiFi version of the iPad ships in 60 days; the WiFi/3G version will show up in 90 days. You can learn more about the 3G iPad service plans
from AT&T at AppleInsider.

Apple's iPad May Look Cool -- But It Shafts Gamers [UPDATE]

Apple's new iPad has design flaws that will prevent it from being the gaming platform that the iPhone wasn't -- and from getting the respect given to
the Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Still No Controller. The iPad looks great, but the touchscreen-only design only works on certain games. As I've discussed regularly in my
[Link] Mobile Game pages, many console games don't translate well to the iPhone because they require precise controls, fast movement and
stable internet connections (more on that later). The iPad basically has a 10-inch screen, but no room dedicated to a real control. It will share the
same problems as the iPhone unless Apple (AAPL) thought ahead and enabled third-party controller support. And no, the keyboard won't entice
home gamers used to joysticks -- PC gamers perhaps, but not people on the big three consoles.
Not Much More Memory Than iPhone. The iPad offers 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB, the latter the only increase over the iPhone. The larger iPhone
games are approaching 2 GB. Assuming iPad's basic operating system needs a gig, the smallest model has 15 GB available. Furthermore, the
large 10-inch iPod screen will require more graphics and detail than the 3-inch iPhone screen, so we can expect games to quickly get towards the 5
GB level. Apple is already limiting developers.
Still No Physical Internet. Sure, the iPhone is almost always going to be used on the road, but the larger iPad will be used in airports, on commutes
and, yes, at home. The problem is Apple has again made AT&T its default carrier, which virtually guarantees awful 3G networking in New York, Los
Angeles, San Francisco and other major urban areas. The Wi-Fi option is fine, but why not allow a direct connection Internet for home use? Games
like the 10-million plus World of Warcraft would be great on the iPad - - but they'd need a super stable connection.
No Internet Flash. Read the related post "Apple iPad Skips Web Flash -- Call It Deja Vu".
Meanwhile, check out our BNET video on the iPad introduction:

Fred Hassan: How I Beat the Odds on a $14 Billion Drug Deal
Of the many hats that a CEO wears —strategist,motivator, chief manager —sometimes the most important one is thatof schmoozer. It was in that
role, before a dinner at the Four Seasons in NewYork, that Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan began the talks that led to the $14billion acquisition
of Organon BioSciences in the spring of [Link] had initiated big deals before. When he was CEO ofPharmacia & Upjohn, Hassan negotiated
the 2001 acquisition of [Link] Hassan's leadership, the new company, then called Pharmacia, hada good enough run that a couple of
years later, Pfizer bought it for $[Link] Schering, Hassan was confident he could manage anothertransformation. And he did, by cutting
everything from dividends to theexecutive dining room, and beefing up a thin drug pipeline. Revenues doubled ina four-year period, and the
company, which posted a loss in 2004, made morethan half a billion dollars in 2008, just before it was bought out by [Link] Organon, Hassan
had spotted a good fit at a good price. The$5 billion company was a division of a Dutch chemical company called Azko Nobeland was about half
the size of Schering. And its specialties —contraceptives, central nervous system drugs, and animal-health drugs —complemented Schering's
offerings, which were mainly in cholesterol,allergies, and arthritis. Buying Organon also gave Schering numerous compoundsthat were in a late
stage of clinical testing, both lengthening and deepeningits pipeline. Even so, a few analysts questioned the deal, suggesting thatSchering had paid
too much or had taken on more than it could [Link], says Fred Hassan, who here describes how and why hemade the biggest
acquisition in Schering's [Link] did you decide to go after Organon BioSciences? Chemical and pharmaceutical cultures are different — and
that is where there were opportunities. Akzo Nobel is in the chemical business, and I knew they had certain challenges owning a pharma company
like Organon. In 2003 I got to know the then relatively new CEO at Akzo Nobel, Hans Wijers, and became even more aware that the company
leaders viewed pharmaceuticals as more risky than their chemicals and coatings business. After that I kept in touch with Akzo Nobel and waited for
the right [Link] do you consider when looking at an acquisition? I look for three things: Does it fit with the strategy? You have to think from the
inside out — what your company needs in the next stage and whether the acquisition fits that [Link] it fit from a science point of view? Many
big mergers in our business bring some short-term increase in earnings. But if you cannot develop the R&D engine and make it better, you're just
buying volume that you cannot support [Link] numbers: These have to be satisfactory. You cannot pay too much or it will be dilutive for
too long. Shareholders will not accept [Link] on these three criteria, Organon was a good fit. So we kept an eye on the whole situation. Our
team was very aware that this could become our [Link] did it happen?After his arrival as CEO of Akzo Nobel, Mr. Wijers let it be known
that he was flexible on pharma and that he preferred the coatings business as a central and reliable business. Then in November 2006, Pfizer
decided to exit its alliance with Organon on an advanced-state R&D compound for schizophrenia, asenapine. The reasons for Pfizer exiting the
compound were not entirely clear to us. This exit created a strategic opening as Pfizer had had a change of control option on asenapine — which
had served as a deterrent to anyone wishing to acquire [Link] long after that, and not totally unexpectedly, Akzo Nobel looked at its strategic
options and decided to spin off Organon as a separate company through an initial public offering. We watched the IPO with interest. The advantage
we had here was that we could see what they were doing; we saw in news analyses that they would be entering the IPO market with an implied
market cap of about 9 billion euros (about $11.7 billion). We looked at that and then did our own numbers. Using 9 billion euros as a benchmark,
we had a one-time opportunity to make a [Link] this thing worked for us was that the implied pricing for the IPO turned out to be good window.
We thought the market was pricing it on what it knew about the operational cash flow but was not taking in the full value of the pipeline in an
integrated pharma context. We thought Organon had more value under a pharmaceutical umbrella with a pharma corporate team at the helm. With
that in mind, we needed to come up with a number that was high enough to get Akzo's interest, and low enough to be interesting to [Link] did you
come up with the 11 billion euro figure?The quality of the numbers, remember, is directly related to the quality of the assumptions. In this case, an
extremely compressed timetable also played a part. You have to have a sense of what is possible; then you can give input and have people crunch
the data. This sense of the possible has to come from senior management. In this case, there was a critical team of five: the CFO, the head of
R&D, the head of commercial, the head of animal health and me as their "orchestra leader." We talked about all aspects of the business, including
existing products, the R&D pipeline, finances, and risks. Because we were such a tightly knit team, with so much experience, we could look at the
thing as a whole and make good reasoned [Link] we saw was that Organon had a good position in franchises such as women's health
and animal health, where, we believed, the underlying cash flow was strong and not subject to sudden and massive declines. We estimated an
underlying value based on cash flow to be roughly in the same range or somewhat lower than the expected IPO market value. But then we took
into account its value as part of a pharmaceutical company. We were confident we could do more with it than a chemical company could,
something that might not have been widely appreciated because Akzo was typically followed by analysts who specialized in the chemical industry.
We took into account two late-stage R&D projects that we thought could be very valuable and which may not have been well identified by the
chemical analysts following Akzo Nobel. At 11 billion euros, we felt we were in a good zone. We could have done all kinds of calculations, but that
only would have created confusion at this very late stage. Also, we didn't have time. We didn't want to get lost in irrelevant details. We kept it
[Link] you decided you wanted to make a play for Organon. What came next? We had a regular board meeting in late February 2007, about
two weeks before the IPO process was scheduled to begin. The evening before, I had an informal discussion with the members of the board at the
Four Seasons in New York. This was not a new subject for the board, as we had included Organon as part of our previous strategic discussions. I
got clear signals from board colleagues that they would be willing to move if a case could be made in a formal manner. Overnight, we mobilized the
team, as well as the investment bankers — we used Goldman Sachs — to present the case to the [Link] did the board react? In a sense, the
strategic homework had been done long before. We were progressing in our transformation plan; we had reached the end of our turnaround phase
and launched the beginning of the so-called Build the Base phase in October [Link] the way, we had kept the board updated about the
strategy and informed them of our thinking regarding strategic transactions. So they were familiar with the strategic direction and the capabilities of
our management team. The board was thorough in its questioning, particularly about R&D prospects; they also wanted to know about financing,
culture and execution. There was the concern about how an uninvited bid from a U.S. company would be received by a European business group
that was dreaming to be independent. There was the concern about the cultures. These were quite different — not only because of the different
nationalities, but also because the organizational structures and operating systems were different. There was also the political issue of Organon
being the largest Dutch pharmaceutical [Link] the board knew we had been interested in Organon for years, so they were not that surprised;
and when we demonstrated our commitment and assured them it was doable, they felt they could put their trust in the management team. We got
the go ahead. Right after the board meeting, I wrote a letter to Mr. Wijers. A personal courier presented the letter to him in the [Link]
was the response?Well, they didn't call back right away, which was not surprising. We knew that Mr. Wijers had to think about it and talk to his own
board. We hoped he would not just dismiss it. But you never know. He could have thought, "No, we're too far along with the IPO; it's too late." But
then he did call. He asked if we were truly serious about this. I told him we were. Provided we could be flexible and expeditious with due diligence,
and held firm on the number, he said he could possibly work with their board on something with [Link] we heard later, the Akzo Board was
scheduled to meet shortly after we had sent the letter; this would be late February. They were preparing for the different steps they would have to
take to separate the businesses in anticipation of the IPO. Then our letter came in, with a number that they could not ignore. A parallel discussion
with us was agreed in principle, and in early March, I crossed the Atlantic to talk in [Link] you have trouble finalizing the terms?Not the price.
We both knew what we wanted. But getting the deal negotiated in just a few days was more challenging, especially with the IPO looming. I told Mr.
Wijers that we were not going to go any higher than 11 billion euros, and he told me if we tried to go any lower, they would proceed with the IPO.
That part was clear. So it came down to due diligence and terms and conditions. A very small, senior group from Schering went to the Netherlands
to talk with senior management about the major issues. For example, our head of R&D talked to their head of R&D. With that kind of knowledge
base, and working at that level, we could make good judgments. When doing due diligence, it's important to separate boulders from small stones.
We did this with great care, but we concentrated on the boulders: R&D; where projects stood with the FDA; intellectual property; patents; litigation;
compliance. These are the conversations we had, instead of a lot of details that don't make a big difference. Because of the compressed time and
small number of people, the leaks and speculation were contained. Leaks occur when things go on for a long period. I crossed the Atlantic again to
jointly announce the acquisition of Organon — the same week the IPO process would have been [Link] do you consider this acquisition a
success? It's not easy to look back and see too many large mergers where there has been a clear and early success. Generally, you have to wait
at least three years to declare victory, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, because growing combined R&D is always a challenge. Growing
combined revenues can also be a challenge. This one, though, was validated almost immediately; the stock prices for both companies went up the
day it was announced, which is unusual. Also, earnings were accretive in the first full quarter after the acquisition and became more accretive in the
subsequent quarter. The R&D pipeline compounds we acquired proved valuable, specifically the schizophrenia drug asenapine, trade named
[Link] industry noted this success as well. Schering-Plough disappeared on November 3, 2009, when it merged with Merck to form the new
Merck; even so, two weeks later it won Pharmaceutical Company of the Year in London in the annual Scrip Awards. One of the stated bases for
this recognition was the successful integration of Organon. Also, you have to remember that many people were generally not excited about
Organon. There was a lot of skepticism about Saphris, which Pfizer had walked away from. The prevailing view was that Pfizer gave up on
asenapine because they saw major problems with it either scientifically or commercially. Companies, Wall Street analysts, and even the press
wondered aloud how we could succeed where Pfizer could not — and if eventually we would come to the same conclusion that Pfizer [Link]
Saphris did get approved by the FDA in August, and subsequently launched. Organon's innovative anesthesia product, Bridion, also was approved
in Europe and launched there. So this was something that we accomplished that was not previously clear to [Link] few deals turn out as well
as this one.-As told to Cait Murphy

Gen Y Dream Job: Helping Big Business Save the World

Last summer, when the economy was wallowing at the bottom of the worst recession in decades, the National Association of Colleges and
Employers asked nearly 15,000 American students where they wanted to work after graduation. In the face of a brutal job market, did they rush
toward safe-sounding traditional sectors like law or accounting? No. Nearly a third hoped to find work in a non-profit, up five percentage points from
2008.
According to experts, the survey results are further evidence that the generation graduating now is notably socially conscious and keen for their
careers to mean something beyond a regular pay check. But is this doable in the real world -- or for those with business, rather than social science,
experience?
Jocelyn Wyatt, who leads social innovation at ultra-cool design firm IDEO, says yes. Wyatt has put her MBA skills to use assisting for-profit
companies with a conscience in the growing field of "social enterprise." She spoke with Entry-Level Rebel about how worthy aims, hard-core
business skills, and stable employment can in fact mix.
You lead IDEO's Social Innovation domain. What exactly does that mean?
I work to create the vision for social innovation at IDEO. This entails working on social innovation projects, like the recent Ripple Effect project. I
also do business development for social innovation projects and work with supporters, like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rockefeller
Foundation, and partners like IDE and VisionSpring. Finally, I provide thought leadership by writing about design thinking for social innovation and
speaking at conferences.
What one thing are you most proud of accomplishing during your time at IDEO?
The work that I'm most proud of is the design coaching I did with WaterHealth in Hyderabad, India. We worked with them to design a
communications strategy for informing the communities where they are working about the importance of drinking clean water.
How did you find your way to this job? Did you start out with a focus on social issues and move toward business as a means to solve them, or did
you start out in business and move towards putting those principles to use for the social good?
I started in international development, working for Chemonics, a USAID contractor in Washington, D.C., for five years before going to business
school at Thunderbird. While I was there, I spent eight months in Hyderabad, India, as Interim Country Director/MBA intern for VisionSpring, a
social enterprise that sells low-cost reading glasses.
While I was there, Acumen Fund decided to invest in VisionSpring and I hosted a field visit from Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund, and
Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. After I completed my MBA, I was accepted as an Acumen fellow and spent nine months in Nairobi working. I
reconnected with Tim, who was interested in growing IDEO's social innovation domain and came on board in October 2008.
You mentioned that you have an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. How well did your business education prepare you for
what you're doing now?
When I started at Thunderbird, I knew I wanted to do something related to business and international development. I learned about social
enterprise about two weeks into my time at Thunderbird and immediately knew that was what I wanted to do. I spent my time in business school
learning about social enterprise and applying my business education to challenges faced by these unique organizations.
I'm really glad I went to business school. It definitely taught me how to support social enterprises in finance, marketing, strategy, and operations.
While I was at Thunderbird, there were classes in international development, but not in social enterprise in particular.
Are there any business schools that excel at teaching social enterprise?
It seems like in the past two or three years, more MBA programs are offering social enterprise courses. For the last two years, I've taught a class
on social enterprise at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Other than Thunderbird and Berkeley, programs I really admire are University of
Michigan, Stanford, Cornell, and Duke.
I have to admit that just a few years ago, I'd never heard the term 'social enterprise' but it seems to be all over the place now. What do you think are
the job prospects for a young person who wants to follow this career path? Is it a growing field?
Social enterprise is absolutely a growing field. We're seeing more and more organizations pop up and more and more funding going into this area.
At the same time, there is increasing demand for jobs in social enterprise, and the market for social enterprise jobs is extremely tight. Once one has
a few years of experience, it's easier, but the first step in can be a tough one to make.
Any tips on how to can get that first foot moving and get started?
I recommend fellowship programs or volunteer programs that allow people to spend time abroad and really understand the realities of doing the
work on the ground. Field experience -?€" working with a social enterprise at the local level -- is extremely important. I think fellowship programs
like Acumen Fund's or other opportunities to volunteer abroad, like with Kiva or Technoserve, are a great way to gain field experience and
credibility.
Why try and tackle social problems with market-based solutions? How did you come to think the tools of business offered the best way for you to
help solve these problems?
I started my career working on large U.S.-government-funded projects that were not very sustainable. After the project ended, after five years,
everything shut down and there was little impact to point to. I felt like there must be a more sustainable model to development, and I saw this was
what the private sector could offer.
As Jacqueline Novogratz says, "the market is a great listening device." and by applying business-based solutions to poverty alleviation, we can
ensure that we're providing people with the products and services that they want, need, and truly value.
While big business has gained a bad reputation, we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water. Business principles are still powerful and can
be applied effectively for growth and sustainability. And if we can rethink the motivations of business (it's not just about maximizing shareholder
value anymore), we can create amazing social impact in the world.

Think You Can Solve a Management Dilemma?

Think you're a smart and savvy business person? Think you've got executive potential? Think you can make it as a management consultant or an
executive coach? Guess what? You get to try your hand, right here, right now. Ready? Okay, let's do this.
Here's the deal: I give you three real-life management dilemmas that plagued me and/or a company I worked or consulted for during my career.
You pick one and tell us what you would do. Simple, right? Yeah, we'll see.
But hey, these are complex issues so there are no wrong answers and nobody gets shot down for trying. You can comment or send me a direct
email using the appropriate link at the end of the post, your choice. I'll follow up with a post that explains what really went down for each one, along
with at least one intriguing reader solution.
One more thing: this is going to be a regular on The Corner Office, so, if you've got a juicy dilemma or problem you're dealing with now, send it
along as a comment or an email. If it's a good one, we'll use it in a subsequent post and solve it for you. What have you got to lose? But if you send
it as a comment, check back because we may have some questions for you.
Okay, here are today's three; have at it:
Dilemma #1: Your product is a dog; now what?
You're the VP of marketing. Six months ago, your much-larger competitor preannounced a product under development and you did likewise to keep
pace. Only now, the development folks are telling you that your version, which you'll be launching in three months, is a dog that won't come close to
meeting its performance targets. Your competitor has no such problem and will leave you in the dust. The product takes more than a year to
develop so it's too late to start over. Remember, you've already publicly preannounced.
What do you do?
Dilemma #2: Play it safe or roll the dice?
You're seven years into a promising career as a manager with a big company. Your company has singled you out as an up-and-comer with
executive potential, but you're also being courted by a few startups. Do you play it safe with the big company or roll the dice with a startup? Your
company pays better, and although you're a low-level manager today, you can climb the corporate ladder, albeit at a "big company" pace. The
startup, on the other hand, offers mega-stock options with windfall profit potential and a big job title with big responsibility, but if it doesn't survive,
you'll end up with no title and worthless stock options.
It's your career, what do you do?
Dilemma #3: An offer you can't refuse
A decade before Microsoft came under intense antitrust scrutiny, the software giant had a business proposition for a small, fast-growing company
with a very popular software utility. Microsoft would incorporate the utility into its operating system and give your company nothing in return. Sounds
like a bad deal, right? Not exactly. You see, the program Microsoft chooses becomes an instant standard and the company might still survive on
aftermarket upgrade sales. If you decline, however, a competitor is chosen as standard and you're incompatible, i.e. out in the cold.
You're the CEO. What do you do?
Those are the three. And I assure you, these are real-world situations with real world solutions, although if you've been around long enough you
know there are no perfect solutions to dilemmas like these.

Gen Y Has it Over Boomers

It's dicey suggesting there are "winners" coming out of this financial crisis, but it seems to me that Gen Y is sitting pretty compared to Boomers.
Better Retirement Prospects. Bear markets are a young investor's BFF (Best Financial Friend.) They make it possible to buy low and then patiently
let compound growth work its magic for three or four decades. A recent article penned by T. Rowe Price's Christine Fahlund for the American
Association of Individual Investors took a look at the 30-year returns of investors who started investing during a bear market vs. a bull market. The
bear beginners win by a wide margin, according to Fahlund:
"The Great Depression decade of the 1930s marked the beginning of the worst 30-year period for equity investing. Yet, the S&P 500 provided a
respectable 8.5% annualized return from 1929 to 1958. The investor who stuck to this systematic investment plan over that 30-year period ended
up with a total return of 960%. The investor who started in 1970 had a remarkable total return of 1,753% over 30 years because he benefited
mightily from the unusually strong returns earned in the 1980s and 1990s. In sharp contrast, the investors who began in the bull market decades
(the 1950s and 1980s) earned less than 400% over 30 years."

No Illusion Your Boss Has Your Back. The reality of today's economy and workplace is that no job is safe. We're all dispensable, no matter how
talented or hardworking. But older Boomers may still be holding onto a vestige of the "old days" when there was an unwritten expectation that doing
a good job was all you needed to keep a good job. Gen Y workers have no such muscle memory. I think that's a big advantage in navigating
work/career. It's just natural for Gen Yers to keep their skills nimble and up to date, network effectively, and not take it too personally when caught
in the midst of a downsizing or reorg. Boomers can do all of that, but it takes more of a conscious effort to adapt to the new realities of 21st century
career management. I'm also thinking Gen Y doesn't need to be lectured on the importance of having some emergency savings after living through
the financial crisis.
An Allergy to Bubbles. After watching their parents (or grandparents) suffer the fallout of binging on the stock and real estate bubbles of the past
decade, Gen Y probably has a pretty clear-eyed take on the damage done by investing in manias. There will no doubt be new bubbles coming
down the pike, and maybe I suffer from a bit of wishful thinking here, but I wonder if the same way the children of the Depression grew up to be the
thrifty generation, Gen Y's response to what has happened will be a resiliency to being suckered into bubbles.
The New Normal is also the Old Normal. Gen Y wasn't investing, spending and otherwise financially screwing up during the Old Normal. The New
Normal that Boomers are struggling to get in sync with is pretty much all Gen Y knows. There's no transition to make.
One Big Honkin' Caveat My argument hits a major speed bump for any Gen Y'er sitting on a mountain of student loan debt. It's not just that college
costs continue to rise at a rate well above inflation (no news there) but because Gen Y walked straight into the maw of the private loan industry
during a period when it grabbed huge market share fueled by Wall Street's let's-securitize-anything craze. From the middle of the '90s to the middle
of the '00s private student loans grew from 4 percent of the market to close to 25 percent. I'll keep it fairly polite and say private student loans are at
best a very bad deal for most borrowers. Private loans typically carry variable interest rates that can end up being triple the maximum on a federal
student loan (federal loans are fixed rate) and they are hard to consolidate after graduation into a manageable fixed-rate loan. Moreover, private
loans also don't have any payback flexibility if you're unemployed or not earning much straight out of school. Federal loans offer a series of
payback options as well as forbearance and deferment of payments in certain situations, and outright loan forgiveness if you agree to sign up for a
qualified public sector job after graduation. Of course, no one really bothered to spell all that out to students at the point they were signing on the
dotted line for private student loans.
While the Obama administration pushed for legislation last year to cut out private lenders as the middlemen for federal loans (the bill passed the
House but then stalled out as health care sucked all the oxygen on the Hill for the last half of '09) there was no relief offered for students stuck with
onerous private loans. Right now the only Washington aid would seem to be for future college students: If we ever see a Consumer Financial
Protection Agency formed, overseeing the propriety of private student loan debt when less expensive alternatives are available would likely be one
of its most important jobs.

7 Signs of a Horrible Job Listing

Yes, we are in a recession and unemployment is hovering around ten percent. But that doesn't necessarily mean that finding the right talent is
going to be any easier.
Potential employees are going to judge your company based on how well your HR rep writes the listings for open positions. It makes perfect sense
to ask for candidates with professional credentials, a certain number of years experience and specific qualifications for the job. However, there are
job board clich?s and listing style issues that can make your company look unprofessional. Here's my list:
"Unlimited earning potential" Really? By selling your energy drinks/advertising space/patented wonder widgets, one could become a trillionaire?
"Detail-oriented" Don't ask for someone to be detail-oriented if you can't run a simple spell check before publishing your listing
"Team Player" Is there anyone on this planet who will claim that they are not a team player?
"Work from 50 states" There's nothing that screams scam like a "work from anywhere" posting
"This is an unpaid internship, but course credit is available" If your company cannot pay its people, you don't have a viable business
"Rock star needed" Can someone please explain the obsession with finding "Rock Star Sales People" and "Rock Star Developers"?
"USING ALL CAPS" WE GET YOUR POINT!!!!! YOU DON"T KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE!!!!!
Of course, you don't have to listen to this advice. Perhaps you want your inbox flooded with generic cover letters from no-chance candidates like
this one below:
Dear Hiring Manager:
I'm a detail-orientateded, team player who will be a rock star at your company. With these people skills and experiences, not to mention my
business acumen, I am sure I will be a valauble asset to your organization. Please find my resume attached.
Sincerely,
Johnny NoCHANCE

Apple iPad: The Niftiest Product You Won't Buy

The iPad will likely be the biggest thud since Steve Jobs returned to Apple. Not that it's a bad product. It's not. It's an amazing product. It's a nifty
product.
And while it certainly will steal market share from other products - some MacBook, some Kindle, some Netbook, some Tablet PC - it won't create a
new category in between phones and notebooks, the way Steve Jobs hopes it will. It will sell millions of units, but it won't sell tens of millions of
units.
Why? Because: iMac was a better PC. MacBook was a better notebook. iPod was a better music player. iPhone and iPod Touch enabled the
mobile Web. The target market for all those categories, that those Apple products addressed, were all very, very large.
Not the case with iPad. There isn't really a killer app, so to speak. It doesn't really meet some major need or solve some major problem. At least not
yet. But because it does a lot of things uniquely and in some ways better than existing devices, it will eat its way into a bunch of existing markets.
Ironically, its primary use may very well be relegated to that of other tablet devices: vertical and industrial. The combination of its relatively
reasonable price tag (for a doctor, anyway), its nifty features, and all those apps, may very well make it the best tablet ever. Yawn.
Don't get me wrong: I think Apple's a shining star of American business that makes great products. I even own a few. And Steve Jobs is a true
American icon and a brilliant marketer. But if he hadn't overhyped this device quite so much, it wouldn't be a thud. It would just be a nifty product
that some of you will buy instead of something else.

Smarter E-mail Searches in Outlook

Outlook 2007 brought us vastly better real-time searches of e-mail, but only for the currently selected folder. Only a fool puts all his or her e-mail in
a single folder, though. And therein lies the quandary; Outlook seems designed to encourage you to store and search for your e-mail inefficiently.
Fret not: I've got a couple of frequently overlooked options that make your Outlook e-mail far easier to organize and find.

If you've got dozen of folders in Outlook which hold e-mails related to specific projects, people, and activities, you're probably frustrated that you
have to search several folders to discover exactly where you stored a particular e-mail. In fact, you might even leave some important e-mails in the
Inbox all the time just to ensure you can quickly find what you're looking for later. No more. Here are two important tips to keep in mind:
When you search a folder (such as the Inbox), there's always a link at the bottom of the search results called Try searching in all mail items. Click it,
and you search is instantly repeated across all of your mail folders.
Want to search all of your mail folders all of the time? That's easy to do as well. Click the drop-down menu in the search box and choose Search
Options. Then, in the Search Options dialog box, click All folders in the Instant Search Pane section. Now all your searches are universal, not just
in the selected folder.

Use Twitter at the Office -- Even If It's Blocked

Oh, those pesky corporate firewalls, always blocking time-wasting mission-critical sites like Twitter. How are you supposed to push out the tweets
and see who's up to what if your browser won't let you sign in?
Digital Inspiration lists about a dozen ways to use Twitter during office hours -- even if the rules prohibit it. (Hey, we're not saying you should break
them, only that the option is available if you need or want to.) Here's a snippet:
There's another option that will come handy if the [Link] website itself has been blocked by your office firewall. You can use Twitter indirectly
through third-party sites like Brizzly or Dabr.
These sites offer a fresh interface to your Twitter account with all the regular features (retweets, @replies, etc.) but the more interesting part is that
they will work even if Twitter domain is inaccessible from your office computer. You can track up to 5 accounts with Brizzly.
I can second the praise for Brizzly, which also affords access to Facebook. I also echo the authors recommendations for services like SpreadTweet
and TwInbox, both of which we've covered before (see below).
Have you found a better way to connect to Twitter even though your IT overlords say no? Or are you playing by the rules?

How Your Online Reputation Can Kill Your Job Chances

Watch what you tweet. That's the takeaway from new research into job candidates' online profiles and activities, which HR professionals
increasingly view and evaluate when making hiring decisions.
For example, a whopping 77% of HR and recruiting managers in the U.S. say they review candidates' "online reputation" information all or most of
the time. And nearly as many say they've rejected a candidate owing to something they discovered within that information.
Okay, so what constitutes your online reputation? Here are some of the reasons HR folks cited for rejecting candidates:
Comments criticizing previous employers/co-workers/clients
Inappropriate comments/text written by friends/relatives
Poor communication skills displayed online
Unsuitable photos/videos/information
Concerns about the candidate's lifestyle
In other words, if your latest Facebook update reads, "Got fired cuz mi boss is a jackass, screw them, I'll be at the bar," you might want to double-
check your privacy settings. By default, Facebook makes status updates available for all the world to see. Likewise, Twitter tweets are pretty easily
searchable. And anything posted in an online forum is probably going to stay there for eternity.
Bottom line: Watch how you conduct yourself online. And if you're connected to friends or relatives who might make you look bad to a potential
employer, cut 'em loose.
The entire online-reputation study is available as a PowerPoint file, and I daresay it's fascinating reading. [via Digital Inspiration]

Will You Buy an Apple iPad?

I'll be honest: in my opinion, the iPad is the most underwhelming product to come out of Cupertino since, well, ever.
Let me put it this way. The Apple Newton -- one of Apple's most maligned products -- made perfect sense to me. Heck, I still own two of them. The
iPad? What were they thinking?
But perhaps I'm suffering from some cloudy thinking. Dear readers, set me straight. Are you planning to get an iPad? Take the poll, and please,
weigh in with some comments. I really would love to understand what on earth Jobs was thinking when he green-lighted this device.

Think You Can Solve a Management Dilemma?

Think you're a smart and savvy business person? Think you've got executive potential? Think you can make it as a management consultant or an
executive coach? Guess what? You get to try your hand, right here, right now. Ready? Okay, let's do this.
Here's the deal: I give you three real-life management dilemmas that plagued me and/or a company I worked or consulted for during my career.
You pick one and tell us what you would do. Simple, right? Yeah, we'll see.
But hey, these are complex issues so there are no wrong answers and nobody gets shot down for trying. You can comment or send me a direct
email using the appropriate link at the end of the post, your choice. I'll follow up with a post that explains what really went down for each one, along
with at least one intriguing reader solution.
One more thing: this is going to be a regular on The Corner Office, so, if you've got a juicy dilemma or problem you're dealing with now, send it
along as a comment or an email. If it's a good one, we'll use it in a subsequent post and solve it for you. What have you got to lose? But if you send
it as a comment, check back because we may have some questions for you.
Okay, here are today's three; have at it:
Dilemma #1: Your product is a dog; now what?
You're the VP of marketing. Six months ago, your much-larger competitor preannounced a product under development and you did likewise to keep
pace. Only now, the development folks are telling you that your version, which you'll be launching in three months, is a dog that won't come close to
meeting its performance targets. Your competitor has no such problem and will leave you in the dust. The product takes more than a year to
develop so it's too late to start over. Remember, you've already publicly preannounced.
What do you do?
Dilemma #2: Play it safe or roll the dice?
You're seven years into a promising career as a manager with a big company. Your company has singled you out as an up-and-comer with
executive potential, but you're also being courted by a few startups. Do you play it safe with the big company or roll the dice with a startup? Your
company pays better, and although you're a low-level manager today, you can climb the corporate ladder, albeit at a "big company" pace. The
startup, on the other hand, offers mega-stock options with windfall profit potential and a big job title with big responsibility, but if it doesn't survive,
you'll end up with no title and worthless stock options.
It's your career, what do you do?
Dilemma #3: An offer you can't refuse
A decade before Microsoft came under intense antitrust scrutiny, the software giant had a business proposition for a small, fast-growing company
with a very popular software utility. Microsoft would incorporate the utility into its operating system and give your company nothing in return. Sounds
like a bad deal, right? Not exactly. You see, the program Microsoft chooses becomes an instant standard and the company might still survive on
aftermarket upgrade sales. If you decline, however, a competitor is chosen as standard and you're incompatible, i.e. out in the cold.
You're the CEO. What do you do?
Those are the three. And I assure you, these are real-world situations with real world solutions, although if you've been around long enough you
know there are no perfect solutions to dilemmas like these.

How to Build a Pipeline on a Shoestring

Building a sales pipeline needn't be expensive or difficult. In fact, if you take a systematic approach, and start by going after the low-hanging fruit,
you can have a healthy list of prospects and opportunities in no time. A Sales Machine reader writes:
I'm the owner/operator and lead programmer of a small software company, basically me, a couple part-time programmers, and a 5-6 person
technical implementation team.
When I launched in 2004, I made some direct sales myself to some prior clients and over the years have added a few client a year ... now I want to
really focus on sales because I had stoppedl selling for the past year with the economy because people seemed to stop buying in general
(obviously not the smartest thing to do .. but that's water under the bridge).
Now, I'm going to invest in a targeted list to do some emailing and cold calling. So the question is: As the owner/president of the company, can I
use all of your techniques the same way a pro sales person would? Should I do anything different because of my role as "president" of the
company?
Well, the answer to your first question is Yes. Sales techniques are universal. In addition, since you're the "president" of your company, you're
going to find it easier getting access to decision-makers than you would if your job title was sales rep. However...

Your challenge is more likely to be time management. Since you wear so many hats, you're not going to have all that much time to spend selling.
And you've shown that you're easily distracted and would prefer not to sell when it's difficult to sell.
So your long term goal should be to "outsource" the sales function to somebody who can do it better than you. However, if you're determined to
pursue this course, what you really need to do is to build a sales pipeline, because you let your pipeline run dry.
What's more, you're going to need to build that pipeline quickly, and without spending too much of your precious time upon it. The place to start is
with the low-hanging fruit rather than prospecting far afield, which is what you'd be doing if you started with a targeted list.
Here are the four steps to building a pipeline on a shoestring:
Step #1: Upsell your current clients. It's always easier to sell to people who already trust you and know that you can deliver. Unless every one of
your clients has purchased everything that you have to offer, your quickest sales will come from existing customers. Recontact all of them and find
out if there's anything else you can do for them (i.e. sell to them.)
Step #2: Get some referral accounts. After you're revisiting your existing clients and confirmed that they're delighted with your offering, ask them to
provide you with at least two referrals. Have THEM call or email the referrals and set up (or at least suggest) the initial meeting. It is much easier to
sell to referral accounts than to completely new prospects.
Step #3: Get some more referrals. Once you've exhausted your client base, list out every person you know who's in the business world and who
trusts you (perhaps because you've worked with them previously). As before, ask them to provide you with a referral and have THEM call or email
the referrals to set up the initial meeting.
Chances are that, by this point, you'll have more prospects in your pipeline than you know what do to with. If not, then move to:
Step #4: Get a lead generation system. Rather than buying a "targeted list" (which will probably contain many dead lead), I recommend something
like Insideview, which lets you build lists on the fly and prioritize them based upon events that have happened in that company and industry. If this
is too expensive, you can generate pretty good list, for free, from Jigsaw. See my recent post "10 Free Online Sales Tools"
Remember, the key to turning a lead (regardless of the source) into a real prospect is to research the lead before the conversation. You also must
be able to communicate very quickly (as in a couple of sentences) why your offering is important to that prospect. (And that's not a list of features,
my programming friend.)
But there's plenty of information about that elsewhere on this blog.
READERS: Any more suggestions?

How to Handle Customer Abuse, Mate!

What to do when a customer tries to bully you into a discount? A reader from Australia writes:
I would like to suggest a topic: "When a Customer Feigns Probl...ems Hoping for a Discount." I am especially interested in the Australian
interpetation to this, as it seems to be a common tactic here. Some customers are even complaining to excess -- with abusive and vulgar language
-- all for the real aim of just getting more than what they are paying for.
Well, I'm no expert in Australian business, but I know how to handle this situation in the United States:
STEP #1. Raise your own intensity level. Make your voice firm and authoritative. If you're face-to-face, put on a serious expression, one that
expresses clearly that you don't appreciate being yelled at. You're a professional, not a doormat.
STEP #2. Call the customer's bluff. State clearly that you're willing to listen to legitimate complaints but you're not going to be yelled at. Don't mince
words. Make it clear that your continued presence is dependent upon the customer's ability to behave.
STEP #3. If the customer doesn't comply, end the conversation. Do this politely but firmly. State that you'll be glad to continue the conversation
once the customer is willing to treat you with the respect that you deserve.
STEP #4: State company policy. Once you've demanded, and gotten, civil behavior -- then explain the company's policy about discounts -- when
they can be offered and why. Do not apologize or attempt to justify that policy.
STEP #5: End on a positive note. If possible, re-establish rapport and continue forward with the understanding that you will not tolerate abusive
behavior under any circumstances and that it certainly will not result in any discounts.
Would that work in Australia? I have no idea. But perhaps some Australian readers can chime in with some more culturally-specific advice.

Five Ways to Delight Buyers

Suppliers to the retail industry could be forgiven for thinking that the way to engage buyers and build a longer-term relationship is to pay through
the nose. This might be through cutting prices, agreeing to less advantageous terms, heavily funding promotions, uplifting stock surpluses, and
paying for all manner of hospitality and team-working events.
Even if these approaches worked, they would only result in your best relationships becoming your least profitable ones. Thankfully there is another
way: category partnership.
Here are five ways to become a category partner for your buyer, making their life easier, building their dependence on you, and gaining more
influence over their decisions:
1. Share your research: Most retailers will only research at a brand level -- how customers compare them on experience, choice, and value for
money. Most buyers have neither the resource, nor the headroom to fund their own category-specific research, and will respond well to insights
that are new, relevant and above all, actionable for them. Any insight that can underpin an internal pitch for resource, change or special treatment,
is music to a buyer's ears. Here are two examples:
Constellation Brands invested over ?£1m over 2006/07 in researching how customers understand wine and how they make decisions -- hospitality
and retail businesses are now working more closely with Constellation to source and communicate a more balanced and intuitive range.
Sainsbury's has adopted Constellation's much-simplified approach to descriptors and product classification, investing in new point-of-sale and
displays as a result. Many suppliers share their research with retailers, but the key to Constellation's success was interpreting it, making it relevant
and directly actionable by retailers.
P&G has invested heavily in tracking customers as they shop to see how they navigate, and using eye-tracking to identify what they look at and
respond to. Its research helps retailers understand plan displays to help customers locate product categories (by colour-blocks of familiar, signpost
brands), and to influence trade-up (by shelf position, colour-blocking and key messaging). Technology is great for putting statistics behind insight,
but strong directional insights can be discovered simply by spending time observing customers at retail fixtures.
2. Involve them with innovation: In a recent bnet article, Stuart Cross gives a great example of using a retail store to test pack designs. Securing
trial support by offering a period of exclusivity and shared learning with the retailer can enhance your product development, your relationship with
the retailer, and your standing with them as the category innovator.
3. Share what works: Whilst there is a need to be guided by ethics in sharing any non-public information, helping a retailer by sharing with them
types of activity that have been most, and least successful in other retailers can help to initiate conversations around the performance of competitor
activity in their stores. An open and honest discussion can often lead to increased data sharing and joint planning across the category. Respect
confidentiality, masking or anonymising examples and explaining why (a retailer won't trust you with their data if they see you sharing others' data
with them).
4. Collaborate on costs: Working jointly and proactively with buyers and their teams to remove cost from the supply chain, whether through
logistics, ordering or direct-to-shelf packaging, and sharing the savings, can increase profits on other accounts from the learning, improve your
products' margins for the retailer, making them more attractive, and potentially insulate you from the brunt of wholesale cost-reduction and terms
renegotiation exercises.
5. Above all, be seen as impartial: This is the most important element in becoming a category partner, and is where most suppliers fall down, even
though they may be delivering all of the above. True category partnership is about growing the category for the retailer. Period. It is not about
increasing your share of the retailer's sales, although that may be one result. The assumption is that if the category grows, your brand grows with it.
If all of your recommendations result in new listings for you and increased space for your products, you will instantly lose trust and credibility.
Leveraging a category partnership is a long-term game, and those who try to cash in too early, often leave with nothing.

Generations at Work: Who's Better At...?

Do you know which generation is hot, and which is not, when it comes to business acumen?
A recent scientific study, conducted at the University of California, measured the business behavior of "seniors" (over 50) versus "juniors" (under
30).
The tests measured three metrics, all of which are crucial in business situations. Can you guess which generation did the best in each metric?
First question:
TEST #1: The first test measured the extent to which each group would take a calculated risk. Which group took on the biggest risks? Click on your
choice below:
WRONG!
The "Flower Power!" generation made more slightly more risky investments than the "No Fear!" generation.
.Next question:
TEST #2: The second test measured the extent to which each group was willing to cooperate with one another. Which group was best at
cooperating? Click on your choice below:
Juniors (The "Social Networking" Generation).
Seniors (The "Do Your Own Thing" Generation).
CORRECT!
The "Flower Power!" generation made more slightly more risky investments than the "No Fear!" generation.
.Next question:
TEST #2: The second test measured the extent to which each group was willing to cooperate with one another. Which group was best at
cooperating? Click on your choice below:
Juniors (The "Social Networking" Generation).
Seniors (The "Do Your Own Thing" Generation).
WRONG!
The "do you own thing" generation tended to cooperate more and better than the "social networking" generation.
.Next question:
TEST #3: The third test measured the ability of each group to compete with one another. Which group was the most competitive? Click on your
choice below:
Juniors (The "Extreme Sports" Generation)
Seniors (The "Yoga Pilates" Generation)
CORRECT!
The "do you own thing" generation tended to cooperate more and better than the "social networking" generation.
.Next question:
TEST #3: The third test measured the ability of each group to compete with one another. Which group was the most competitive? Click on your
choice below:
Juniors (The "Extreme Sports" Generation)
Seniors (The "Yoga Pilates" Generation)
WRONG!
The "yoga pilates" generation were slightly more competitive with each other than the "extreme sports" generation.
.Surprised?
Click for my opinion of this "issue" ?
CORRECT!
The "yoga pilates" generation were slightly more competitive with each other than the "extreme sports" generation.
Surprised?
Click my opinion of this "issue" ?
SOME FINAL WORDS ON THIS "ISSUE"
To be entirely honest, I find these "old versus young" competitions funny but not meaningful. Here's why.
The tiny variations that you find between two groups of this type are dwarfed by the giant variations that you find between individuals. Knowing that
an oldster is 5 percent more likely to be a risk taker than a youngster doesn't tell you anything useful about the individual you're dealing with right
now.
The same thing is true of gender differences. Sure, it's fun to speculate on what's different between the sexes. But the truth is that gender doesn't
predict much about the individual person. In fact, basing your opinion of somebody on a minor statistical variation connected with their group is a
good way to get blindsided.
If there's anything to be learned from "generation" studies, it's that people are always looking for useful ways to sort individuals into group, in order
to better understand them. The only problem is that it doesn't work.
That being said, there was one finding of that study that I DID think was interesting. It turns out that groups that mixed young and old outperformed
groups consisting of only one or the other.
In other words, if you want to have a successful team, you build one that represents more than one way of looking at the world. But that's intuitive,
isn't it?
Do we really need a study to tell us what's blindingly obvious?
READERS: Did the results surprise you?

Quiz: Is This Sales Process Effective?

SCENARIO: You've just accepted a sales job at a new firm. On your first day, the sales manager hands you a sheet of paper that reads as follows:
Step #1. Engage customer.
Step #2. Investigate needs.
Step #3. Propose a solution.
Step #4. Demonstrate the product.
Step #5. Propose a purchase.
Step #6. Negotiate terms.
Step #7. Answer objections.
Step #8. Close the deal.
The sales manager says: "This is our sales process. Please follow it when you sell."
Here's my question for you:
The correct answer is: Reinterpret it. Here's why.
That's not a useful sales process. It's a list of skills that you'll need to sell, but the process that you'll ACTUALLY be following will be the customer's
buying process, which is another thing altogether.
While you (and your skills) can play a defining, key role in that buying process and help it along, trying to force-fit the customers buying process into
that kind of "vendor-focused" sales process is likely to make it even more difficult for you to sell and close business.
Take, for example, the "initial engagement." Now, I believe that cold calling is an important skill, but in most cases, you'll be focusing on prospects
who have already shown an interest in your offering (by accessing your website, for instance). You may end up cold calling them, but the activity is
more likely that result in a qualified lead because your selling activity is dovetailing with the prospect's buying activity.
The same thing is true of "investigate needs/propose a solution." In many cases, the prospect is MORE than well aware of theproducts and
services that you offer, and can probably find a detailed price comparison with your competitors somewhere on the web. Indeed, if the need for
your type of offering is great enough, they're probably already in the process of defining how and when it will be purchased.
The prospect's needs -- and ability to react to those needs -- will vary according to what's going on in the customer's business. It's those needs --
and the budget -- that are driving the pace and timing of the purchase, not any actions that you're taking in order to make the sale happen. So if you
go into a sales opportunity with the fantasy that you're going to be driving it through those steps, you're could easily miss what's really going on.
Worst case, focusing on a "vendor-centric" sales process could leave you with the mistaken belief that your to "sell to" the customer. Customers
may buy something to achieve a result, but they HATE being "sold to." Remember: selling means helping the customer figure out what to buy, not
something that you "do to" a customer.
Does this mean that you shouldn't be prepared to do all those things during a sales opportunity. Of course not. However, don't pretend that the list
of things that you can do, and may end up doing, constitutes a sales process. It's an activity list, nothing more.
The real process is the customer's buying process. Never forget it.

The 5 Worst Things About the Apple iPad

Well, it's official: The Apple tablet is here, and it's called the iPad. Obviously any device with this much buildup and so many expectations can't be
all things to all people. But is the iPad enough things to enough people?
Not around these parts. For anyone expecting to be blown away by revolutionary new technology, the iPad emerged as a colossal disappointment.
Here are my picks for five ways Apple dropped the ball:
No killer app Tell me again why I need one of these things. I mean, sure, it's cool and all, and the gadget geek inside me wouldn't mind having one.
But does it fill a single need I have? Can it take the place of my iPhone or my laptop/netbook? No, no, and no.
Too expensive I fully expected the iPad to have a shocking sticker, and sure enough, it tops out at $829 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G model. Granted,
you can get the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version for $499, which seems more reasonable, but without the aforementioned killer app, I don't see the iPad
flying off the shelves. And if you do want 3G, be prepared for...
More monthly fees I guess it was crazy to hope for some kind of Kindle-like scenario where the price of 3G wireless would be built into the iPad.
Instead, AT&T's hitting you up for $14.99 or $29.99 per month for 250MB or unlimited data, respectively. I don't know about you, but the idea of yet
another monthly fee makes me ill.
It has few business applications The newly announced iWork apps suggest the iPad could pull laptop duty, but the key word here is "lap": You'd
have to hunch over yours (or a desk, I suppose) to do any kind of data entry. That sounds mighty uncomfortable, as does the prospect of any
meaningful amount of typing on an onscreen keyboard. Sure, you could spring for Apple's keyboard dock, but at that point... just use a laptop! At
least you can connect an iPad to a projector -- just like a real computer.
It's not magic The iPhone changed the world. I think many of us expected, or at least hoped, the iPad would do likewise. And, hey, maybe it will.
Maybe in the future we'll all be reading books and newspapers on iPads and similar devices. But the iPad itself brings almost no innovation to the
technology table. Bottom line: It's a toy, an oversized iPod Touch that borrows a bit from the Mac OS.
What do you think? Were our expectations just too high? Are we being way too hard on the iPad? Do you see yourself buying one? (Be sure to
vote in our poll!) Hit the comments and give us your thoughts.