by Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
In searching for some of the answers to what helps make great managers, we consulted
the research of Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization, who presented their remarkable findings in their massive indepth study of great managers across a wide a variety of situations in First Break All The Rules. As a review, Buckingham and Coffman were the lead researchers in Gallup’s twenty year effort to identify the core characteristics of great managers and great workplaces based on interviews of over 80,000 managers in 400 companies, the largest study of its kind ever undertaken. Because we are all traveling at breakneck speed, accomplishing personal, professional and company objectives, we will save you time and help identify some of the prime observations of their study to give managers a first-hand glimpse of their findings in capsule form.
The Core Characteristics of Knowing What Great Managers Know: Part 1
In the measurement of the four different kinds of business outcome, productivity, profitability, employee retention, and customer satisfaction, while some companies had difficulty gathering the data, 2,500 companies provided a significant prospectus enabling a more de-tailed explanation or statistical technique that cuts through the different performance measures.
This allowed for a real link between employee opinion and business unit performance across many different companies. When the data was gathered, the strength of a workplace can be simplified to twelve questions that measure the core elements needed for managers to attract, focus, and keep the most talented employees and thus become great managers. Today more than ever before, if a company is bleeding people, it is bleeding value, states Buckingham and Coffman. While Gallup’s twelve questions are the simplest, they are the most accurate way to measure the strength of a workplace and as a result produce great managers.
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor (sales manager, general manager, ad manager) seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Whether in a bank, restaurant, radio station, multi-system cable operator, TV station, ad agency, P.R. firm or newspaper, ten of the questions allowed for Gallup to measure productivity since people always believe there is a direct link between the employee’s opinion and his/her work group’s productivity.
Eight of the twelve questions showed a link to the profitability measure, while questions 1-3, 5and 7 (above) revealed a link to retention. The most powerful combination of the strongest links to the most business outcomes was 1-6. If a manager were to rate employee responses to questions 1 through 6 on a scale of “1” to “5,” “1” being strongly disagree, “5” being strongly agree, managers must focus on securing 5s from their employees as an excellent place to start. If you notice, there are no questions dealing with pay, benefits, management, or organizational structure. They are indeed important factors and are issues that help managers play the game; they can’t help you win the game. In the Gallup analysis it was discovered that the manager, not the commission, pay, benefits, perks or a charismatic corporate leader was the critical player in building a strong workplace. It’s not that the employee focused initiatives such as vacation, benefits, profit sharing, 401K plans or company training is unimportant, it’s the immediate manager that’s more important. He/she defines the work environment, sets clear expectations, knows you, trusts you and invests in you. If you don’t have a good relationship with your manager, nothing else much matters. Questions 1-6 help managers know where they stand and help them decide what to do next. The key to getting 5s to these twelve questions and engage employees is first to know where to start.
Of the twelve, the two most fundamental employee questions that will get a manager started are:
1. Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
As an employee’s perspective begins to change they may ask themselves, “Am I in a role I can excel?” If not what might they think of you the manager? At this point of attainment in an employee’s perception they are interested in knowing their individual contribution and what other people think of their work. The next four questions 3-6, help an employee know if they feel they are doing well in their role (question 3), and if other people value their individual performance (question 4), and them individually as a person (quesiton 5), and if the manager is investing in their growth (question 6). All of these questions deal with an individual’s self-worth
and as Abraham Maslow would say, self-esteem. Buckingham and Coffman know
that if a manager cannot feel the employee(s) can give a 5 rating, “strongly agree” answer to the questions, or the questions remain unanswered, their perceptions of their feelings of belonging, of being a part of the team, learning and innovating will be undermined.
Having the employee move up to their perceived success rung on the ladder with positive answers to those questions, a manager can feel the employee is gaining their strength and so are you on the road to becoming a great manager.
The next questions, 7-10 zero in on letting the employee sense they fit well within the company and have that sense of urgency that you do in accomplishing objectives.
The most advanced stage of management is to provide the employee the sense or feeling they are not just valued and are making a contribution and their opinions are important but, with that sense of urgency we stated, the impatience you the manager may feel
for everyone to improve by asking, “How can we all grow?” You as a manager want to make things better, to grow, to innovate to speed the company to their objectives so they can see you as a valuable asset so you can take the next step up the rung along with the employees. You as a manager cannot innovate if questions 7-10 are not answered positively. While innovation is a novelty that can be applied, if all the earlier questions are not answered positively, it will become most difficult to apply any of your new ideas or concepts as an effective and great manager
The last two questions indicate you as a manager are at the peak of your performance to gain credibility that you are becoming a great manager and the employees have that same sense of professional achievement. Here they are:
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my
progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Based on the answers you get along the way, sometimes you have to go back a few steps to go forward again.
Management is about doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. Don’t get the two confused. If the employees have you at their side, and the best of you is being shown each day, and you are pulling out the best of what’s in each employee, and
they are feeling a thrill in the challenge of coming to work each day, the winds are with you. Don’t focus on the future, just concentrate on what is expected of each employee each day, including yourself. As Buckingham and Coffman found from the insights echoed by tens of thousands of great managers interviewed:
People don’t change that much.
Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what as left in.
That is hard enough.
The insight of “What Great Managers Know” from the Gallup research
(Buckingham and Coffman, 1999) is the source of their wisdom, as it explains everything they do with and for their people. As stated in their text, First, Break All the Rules, it is the foundation for their success as managers.
The essay was written to help remind and coach management teams throughout the world during these chaotic times. Your employees are the most valuable asset you have. They are the link to yours and the company's success. Treat them with respect and honor them...make them feel important and they will assure yours and the company's success.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Winning Customers Through Story: A New Take
November 23, 2009
By Lori L. Silverman and Karen Dietz
If your organization is like most, it has invested significant dollars in training sales staff to bring in new business and maintain long-term client relationships. Chances are high that these skills have served them well. But what about in today's downturn economy? Is your enterprise receiving the level of sales it needs to survive and thrive? Or has it taken a turn for the worse?
Several actions typically are invoked in this sort of situation. Sales executives may tweak the compensation plan, hoping it will motivate their staff, or ask them to increase their work hours, require them to make more cold calls, or push them to do what they have always done—only at a heightened pace. On the other hand, what outcomes might you get if you explored the question, "Is there anything new or different we could add to our sales arsenal as a competitive advantage?"
What's New?
Most sales training programs and initiatives promote the telling of "success stories" by account executives and sales associates. But, they do not recognize that examples and case studies are not the same as compelling stories. Not surprisingly, they neglect to teach the critical elements that make a story a story and the specific structure it needs to motivate prospects to take action and close a deal.
Moreover, these endeavors overlook the fact that the most powerful story techniques for business development come in the form of story prompts, story triggers, and story listening—the ability to pull stories out of prospects and to authenticate them. If your organization desires to decrease the time it takes to turn prospects into clients and to build stronger relationships with them, then incorporating these unrecognized approaches into the sales process is critical.
Because the field of story use in organizations is less than a decade old, most early applications focused on its use in training, knowledge management, and presentation skills. Consequently, these broader story techniques only now are finding their way into core business activities.
Some of the most comprehensive research that exists on the ROI associated with story-telling across 12 different business functions is presented in my book, "Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results" (2006, Jossey-Bass) —and probably is not one being read by your sales executives. Did you know 36 percent of the 72 examples in this book show documented increases to the bottom line through growth, profitability, and/or increased funding? Would this outcome make a difference in your organization?
Why Story?
Stories are not the same as examples, anecdotes, case studies, news reports, or profiles. They have unique characteristics: characters, character dialog (both internal and external), a plot (identifiable conflict), a universally applicable key point, drama, contrast, and sensory information.
What is it about stories that give them the ability to impact business results? The brain needs sensory information, patterns, and the like for experiences to be logged into immediate and short-term memory. Since a story is a packet of sensory material that allows people to quickly and easily internalize, comprehend, and create meaning, when crafted well, it can move others to open their wallets. The latest brain research not only demonstrates that stories are remembered far longer than other communication forms (bulleted information, data and facts, for example), it shows they immediately connect to the emotional center of the brain, where most buying decisions are made.
While the use of stories in organizational settings is in its infancy, the research around what makes a story powerful has been available for the last 20 years. The results include:
•Captivating people's interest and making them more attentive listeners.
•Communicating information faster, with more accurate recall of key points over time.
•Quickly and successfully conveying the meaning of complex concepts.
•Fostering creativity and enhancing problem-solving.
•Making information more believable.
•Strengthening relationships.
•Inspiring people to change.
Knowing this, why would you not be using a variety of story techniques to generate sales?
Winning New Customers
If you believe the value a story brings is key to securing new business, here are a variety of ways story techniques can be used to win new customers. As you go through this list, ask yourself, "How many of them are my organization’s business development, sales, and marketing staff using today?"
Prior to Prospecting
•Understanding the business story behind new market segments.
•Gathering consumer feedback using story prompts in focus groups.
•Translating and relaying market research data and findings through composite stories.
Prospecting
•Evoking stories from new contacts at networking events.
•Listening to stories in ways that more quickly build rapport.
•Relaying a story to clearly communicate the distinction between your organization/industry and a competitive organization/industry (e.g., distinguishing between community banking, traditional banking, and credit unions).
•Having the organization's founding core values and folklore already crafted as hip-pocket stories, ready for sharing.
Calling on a Prospect
•Relaying personal stories about experiences with the prospect's business.
•Knowing how to prompt stories to help build a foundation of trust.
•Employing story triggers to get the prospect to open up about their business during discovery.
•Using story-telling as a tool to identify immediate needs and pain.
Asking for the sale
•Incorporating a story into the proposal.
•Overcoming objections by telling or prompting a story.
•Co-creating a future story.
•Substituting traditional PowerPoint slides for a story-based presentation.
Post-Sale
•Soliciting testimonials as stories.
•Conveying results through stories.
Can You Afford to Wait?
Stories are the most powerful communication vehicles we have for connecting, communicating, and influencing others. Unconsciously we think in stories, talk in stories, and inspire through stories. What about using them to increase sales? Start training your business development and sales force to consciously and competently use a variety of story techniques and watch what happens to the bottom line.
If your organization is like most, it has invested significant dollars in training sales staff to bring in new business and maintain long-term client relationships. Chances are high that these skills have served them well. But what about in today's downturn economy? Is your enterprise receiving the level of sales it needs to survive and thrive? Or has it taken a turn for the worse?
Several actions typically are invoked in this sort of situation. Sales executives may tweak the compensation plan, hoping it will motivate their staff, or ask them to increase their work hours, require them to make more cold calls, or push them to do what they have always done—only at a heightened pace. On the other hand, what outcomes might you get if you explored the question, "Is there anything new or different we could add to our sales arsenal as a competitive advantage?"
What's New?
Most sales training programs and initiatives promote the telling of "success stories" by account executives and sales associates. But, they do not recognize that examples and case studies are not the same as compelling stories. Not surprisingly, they neglect to teach the critical elements that make a story a story and the specific structure it needs to motivate prospects to take action and close a deal.
Moreover, these endeavors overlook the fact that the most powerful story techniques for business development come in the form of story prompts, story triggers, and story listening—the ability to pull stories out of prospects and to authenticate them. If your organization desires to decrease the time it takes to turn prospects into clients and to build stronger relationships with them, then incorporating these unrecognized approaches into the sales process is critical.
Because the field of story use in organizations is less than a decade old, most early applications focused on its use in training, knowledge management, and presentation skills. Consequently, these broader story techniques only now are finding their way into core business activities.
Some of the most comprehensive research that exists on the ROI associated with story-telling across 12 different business functions is presented in my book, "Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results" (2006, Jossey-Bass) —and probably is not one being read by your sales executives. Did you know 36 percent of the 72 examples in this book show documented increases to the bottom line through growth, profitability, and/or increased funding? Would this outcome make a difference in your organization?
Why Story?
Stories are not the same as examples, anecdotes, case studies, news reports, or profiles. They have unique characteristics: characters, character dialog (both internal and external), a plot (identifiable conflict), a universally applicable key point, drama, contrast, and sensory information.
What is it about stories that give them the ability to impact business results? The brain needs sensory information, patterns, and the like for experiences to be logged into immediate and short-term memory. Since a story is a packet of sensory material that allows people to quickly and easily internalize, comprehend, and create meaning, when crafted well, it can move others to open their wallets. The latest brain research not only demonstrates that stories are remembered far longer than other communication forms (bulleted information, data and facts, for example), it shows they immediately connect to the emotional center of the brain, where most buying decisions are made.
While the use of stories in organizational settings is in its infancy, the research around what makes a story powerful has been available for the last 20 years. The results include:
•Captivating people's interest and making them more attentive listeners.
•Communicating information faster, with more accurate recall of key points over time.
•Quickly and successfully conveying the meaning of complex concepts.
•Fostering creativity and enhancing problem-solving.
•Making information more believable.
•Strengthening relationships.
•Inspiring people to change.
Knowing this, why would you not be using a variety of story techniques to generate sales?
Winning New Customers
If you believe the value a story brings is key to securing new business, here are a variety of ways story techniques can be used to win new customers. As you go through this list, ask yourself, "How many of them are my organization’s business development, sales, and marketing staff using today?"
Prior to Prospecting
•Understanding the business story behind new market segments.
•Gathering consumer feedback using story prompts in focus groups.
•Translating and relaying market research data and findings through composite stories.
Prospecting
•Evoking stories from new contacts at networking events.
•Listening to stories in ways that more quickly build rapport.
•Relaying a story to clearly communicate the distinction between your organization/industry and a competitive organization/industry (e.g., distinguishing between community banking, traditional banking, and credit unions).
•Having the organization's founding core values and folklore already crafted as hip-pocket stories, ready for sharing.
Calling on a Prospect
•Relaying personal stories about experiences with the prospect's business.
•Knowing how to prompt stories to help build a foundation of trust.
•Employing story triggers to get the prospect to open up about their business during discovery.
•Using story-telling as a tool to identify immediate needs and pain.
Asking for the sale
•Incorporating a story into the proposal.
•Overcoming objections by telling or prompting a story.
•Co-creating a future story.
•Substituting traditional PowerPoint slides for a story-based presentation.
Post-Sale
•Soliciting testimonials as stories.
•Conveying results through stories.
Can You Afford to Wait?
Stories are the most powerful communication vehicles we have for connecting, communicating, and influencing others. Unconsciously we think in stories, talk in stories, and inspire through stories. What about using them to increase sales? Start training your business development and sales force to consciously and competently use a variety of story techniques and watch what happens to the bottom line.
The Keynsian Approach to the Economy
by Michael Hiltzik Nov 24 2009
It's fitting, therefore, that the recent economic meltdown has begun to restore that great apostle of uncertainty, John Maynard Keynes, to his rightful position of influence in economic thought.
"Keynes asked why financial markets are inherently unstable," Robert Skidelsky told me the other day. "His answer was that we don't know what the future will bring. He talked about the inherent precariousness of knowledge, that when we estimate the future we're only disguising our ignorance."
If that sounds obvious, keep in mind that the financial disaster of recent times was born in the hubris that the financial markets are nearly flawless machines for assessing risk and that government regulation would make them inefficient.
Skidelsky is a British economic historian whose three-volume biography of Keynes came out on these shores from 1986 to 2001. We had a chance to talk last week while he was visiting the U.S. to promote his latest work, "Keynes: The Return of the Master," published in September, which aims to spotlight the relevance of Keynesian economics for modern times.
He argues that it's impossible to miss the connections: For one thing, the banking and credit collapse of recent years stems from precisely the same economic mistakes Keynes saw in the 1920s.
For another, the government stimulus programs that have stemmed the worldwide decline and begun the process of recovery are based on his precept that when confidence is shattered in the private investment market, the only remedy is "state intervention to promote and subsidize new investment" -- presumably by deficit spending.
"The most positive difference between now and the Depression," Skidelsky says, "is that we have Keynes' writing, so that governments didn't repeat the mistake of the early '30s of cutting their own spending when private spending was falling."
Keynes (1883-1946) is sometimes described as not an economist so much as a moral philosopher. His intellectual affinity was less toward bankers than artists -- he was part of the literary Bloomsbury Group, among whose most famous members were Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster.
Yet he was the antithesis of the ivory tower intellectual. His ideas emerged directly from his experience running a sort of proto-hedge fund speculating in currencies and commodities between the world wars. In the process he experienced his share of personal ups and downs. He made healthy profits in 1920 by shorting the mark, franc and lira, but lost heavily in a highly leveraged bet against the pound when the Bank of England raised interest rates.
Keynes' Bloomsbury friends were among those he wiped out. But he recovered and made good some of their losses. He lost a second fortune in the Depression, but made it all back, and more, buying at the lows during the '30s. At his death in 1946, Skidelsky writes, he was worth about $20 million in today's terms.
"The instability of the financial markets was a crucial experience for him as a thinker and as a player," Skidelsky says.
The hallmark of Keynes' thought was the recognition that the efficient-market theory -- the notion that the market synthesizes all that is known and that needs to be known about current conditions and that it therefore can be left to regulate itself -- is flawed.
"If you have a self-regulating market," Skidelsky explains, "you don't have crashes like this. You don't have great contractions."
Keynesian economics and its implicit warning that the free market has inherent limitations and therefore demands regulation remained in vogue from World War II until the mid-1970s, followed by its nearly complete abandonment by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
Many of the problems that developed since then derived from the assumption that risk can be predicted, measured and accurately priced.
Banks were allowed to enter the securities businesses because surely they know how to manage risk. Subprime mortgages were packaged into securities, so investors could buy just as much risk as they thought they could handle. The outsized bonuses pocketed by derivatives traders were based on the idea that the profits for which they were rewarded were riskless -- that is, they wouldn't backfire down the line.
The uncertainty of real life eventually, and inevitably, came back to bite them where it hurts. (It's the rest of us who bear the tooth marks.)
Another Keynesian notion suppressed by the free-market lobby was the danger, not to say immorality, of increased income inequality. Skidelsky acknowledges that later Keynesians have made more of this than the master himself, but Keynes did feel that excessive inequality promoted speculation by those at the top of the income scale and reduced consumption by everyone else -- a formula for economic stagnation, or worse.
Indeed, it shouldn't escape anyone's notice that during the free-market heyday of the 1980s and beyond, living standards for most Americans plateaued while vastly more wealth became concentrated in fewer hands. The only way for the majority to maintain their economic place was to borrow, with consequences we've seen documented ad nauseam.
That brings us to what Keynes has to say about recovery and reform policy. Those who consider him the ultimate liberal might be surprised to learn that he might well counsel President Obama against moving too fast on financial reform.
As stated in a famous open letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt published on New Year's Eve 1933, Keynes' view was that recovery hinged on building trust and confidence in the business community. Too much reform too soon "will upset the confidence of the business world and weaken their existing motives to action." Only after recovery should reform, necessary as it was, be launched.
Keynes fretted that FDR had placed his public works program in the hands of his exceedingly frugal Interior secretary, Harold Ickes, who spent the money as though it came from his personal bank account.
Overall government spending in the '30s never came to more than a fraction of the $4.8 billion a year Keynes thought was needed to fill the investment gap -- one reason Keynesians believe the New Deal recovery was less robust than it could have been.
Keynes' theories don't all stand up to classical critiques, but his guiding principle, that it's wise to know how much you don't know, is unassailable. Given how right he was about the roots of economic collapse, we could do worse than follow his pointers about where to go from here.
Michael Hiltzik writes Mondays and Thursdays. Reach him at michael.hiltzik@latimes.com,
It's fitting, therefore, that the recent economic meltdown has begun to restore that great apostle of uncertainty, John Maynard Keynes, to his rightful position of influence in economic thought.
"Keynes asked why financial markets are inherently unstable," Robert Skidelsky told me the other day. "His answer was that we don't know what the future will bring. He talked about the inherent precariousness of knowledge, that when we estimate the future we're only disguising our ignorance."
If that sounds obvious, keep in mind that the financial disaster of recent times was born in the hubris that the financial markets are nearly flawless machines for assessing risk and that government regulation would make them inefficient.
Skidelsky is a British economic historian whose three-volume biography of Keynes came out on these shores from 1986 to 2001. We had a chance to talk last week while he was visiting the U.S. to promote his latest work, "Keynes: The Return of the Master," published in September, which aims to spotlight the relevance of Keynesian economics for modern times.
He argues that it's impossible to miss the connections: For one thing, the banking and credit collapse of recent years stems from precisely the same economic mistakes Keynes saw in the 1920s.
For another, the government stimulus programs that have stemmed the worldwide decline and begun the process of recovery are based on his precept that when confidence is shattered in the private investment market, the only remedy is "state intervention to promote and subsidize new investment" -- presumably by deficit spending.
"The most positive difference between now and the Depression," Skidelsky says, "is that we have Keynes' writing, so that governments didn't repeat the mistake of the early '30s of cutting their own spending when private spending was falling."
Keynes (1883-1946) is sometimes described as not an economist so much as a moral philosopher. His intellectual affinity was less toward bankers than artists -- he was part of the literary Bloomsbury Group, among whose most famous members were Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster.
Yet he was the antithesis of the ivory tower intellectual. His ideas emerged directly from his experience running a sort of proto-hedge fund speculating in currencies and commodities between the world wars. In the process he experienced his share of personal ups and downs. He made healthy profits in 1920 by shorting the mark, franc and lira, but lost heavily in a highly leveraged bet against the pound when the Bank of England raised interest rates.
Keynes' Bloomsbury friends were among those he wiped out. But he recovered and made good some of their losses. He lost a second fortune in the Depression, but made it all back, and more, buying at the lows during the '30s. At his death in 1946, Skidelsky writes, he was worth about $20 million in today's terms.
"The instability of the financial markets was a crucial experience for him as a thinker and as a player," Skidelsky says.
The hallmark of Keynes' thought was the recognition that the efficient-market theory -- the notion that the market synthesizes all that is known and that needs to be known about current conditions and that it therefore can be left to regulate itself -- is flawed.
"If you have a self-regulating market," Skidelsky explains, "you don't have crashes like this. You don't have great contractions."
Keynesian economics and its implicit warning that the free market has inherent limitations and therefore demands regulation remained in vogue from World War II until the mid-1970s, followed by its nearly complete abandonment by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
Many of the problems that developed since then derived from the assumption that risk can be predicted, measured and accurately priced.
Banks were allowed to enter the securities businesses because surely they know how to manage risk. Subprime mortgages were packaged into securities, so investors could buy just as much risk as they thought they could handle. The outsized bonuses pocketed by derivatives traders were based on the idea that the profits for which they were rewarded were riskless -- that is, they wouldn't backfire down the line.
The uncertainty of real life eventually, and inevitably, came back to bite them where it hurts. (It's the rest of us who bear the tooth marks.)
Another Keynesian notion suppressed by the free-market lobby was the danger, not to say immorality, of increased income inequality. Skidelsky acknowledges that later Keynesians have made more of this than the master himself, but Keynes did feel that excessive inequality promoted speculation by those at the top of the income scale and reduced consumption by everyone else -- a formula for economic stagnation, or worse.
Indeed, it shouldn't escape anyone's notice that during the free-market heyday of the 1980s and beyond, living standards for most Americans plateaued while vastly more wealth became concentrated in fewer hands. The only way for the majority to maintain their economic place was to borrow, with consequences we've seen documented ad nauseam.
That brings us to what Keynes has to say about recovery and reform policy. Those who consider him the ultimate liberal might be surprised to learn that he might well counsel President Obama against moving too fast on financial reform.
As stated in a famous open letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt published on New Year's Eve 1933, Keynes' view was that recovery hinged on building trust and confidence in the business community. Too much reform too soon "will upset the confidence of the business world and weaken their existing motives to action." Only after recovery should reform, necessary as it was, be launched.
Keynes fretted that FDR had placed his public works program in the hands of his exceedingly frugal Interior secretary, Harold Ickes, who spent the money as though it came from his personal bank account.
Overall government spending in the '30s never came to more than a fraction of the $4.8 billion a year Keynes thought was needed to fill the investment gap -- one reason Keynesians believe the New Deal recovery was less robust than it could have been.
Keynes' theories don't all stand up to classical critiques, but his guiding principle, that it's wise to know how much you don't know, is unassailable. Given how right he was about the roots of economic collapse, we could do worse than follow his pointers about where to go from here.
Michael Hiltzik writes Mondays and Thursdays. Reach him at michael.hiltzik@latimes.com,
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
10 Brand Trends for 2010
Provided by Rob Weisbord, Regonal Group Manager and Director Digital Interactive, Sinclair Broadcast Group and John Kelly of Ballistix. 11-18-2009
Though US economists are predicting an uptick in consumer spending next year, the post-recession landscape will present brand marketers with new challenges, new engagement realities and new rules, and will increase pressure to prove how and why branded products deliver value, according to a leading brand researcher. Based on their studies of consumer values, needs and expectations for the next 12-18 months, here are 10 brand trends you may experience in the new year:
Value is the new black: Consumer spending, even "on-sale" items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This may spell trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.
Brands are increasingly a surrogate for value: What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what’s wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for.
Brand differentiation is brand value: The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to propagate in the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for sales and profitability.
“Because I said so” is over: Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but believably must exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can’t just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.
Consumer expectations are growing: Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive and prosper.
Old tricks don’t - and won’t - work anymore: Consumers are onto brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim “we’re all in this together” when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings - such as Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values instead need to be in concert.
Consumers won’t need to know a brand to love it: As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street credibility can go viral in days, with awareness following - not leading - the conversation.
It’s not just buzz: Conversation and community is increasingly important, and if consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. This means not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This has significant implications for the future of customer service.
Consumers talk with each other before talking with brands: Social networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. This - at least in theory - will mean more opportunities for brands to get involved in these spaces and meet customers where they are.
Engagement is not a fad; it’s the way today’s consumers do business: Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods: The platform (TV; online), the context (program; webpage), the message (ad or communication), and the experience (store/event). At the same time, they also will realize that brand engagement will become impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.
Accommodating all of these trends will require some companies to undergo significant paradigm shifts, which will likely be painful but necessary. Either way, change in the brand marketing space will be inevitable.
Though US economists are predicting an uptick in consumer spending next year, the post-recession landscape will present brand marketers with new challenges, new engagement realities and new rules, and will increase pressure to prove how and why branded products deliver value, according to a leading brand researcher. Based on their studies of consumer values, needs and expectations for the next 12-18 months, here are 10 brand trends you may experience in the new year:
Value is the new black: Consumer spending, even "on-sale" items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This may spell trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.
Brands are increasingly a surrogate for value: What makes goods and services valuable will increasingly be what’s wrapped up in the brand and what it stands for.
Brand differentiation is brand value: The unique meaning of a brand will increase in importance as generic features continue to propagate in the brand landscape. Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for sales and profitability.
“Because I said so” is over: Brand values can be established as a brand identity, but believably must exist in the mind of the consumer. A brand can’t just say it stands for something and make it so. The consumer will decide, making it more important than ever for a brand to have measures of authenticity that will aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement.
Consumer expectations are growing: Brands are barely keeping up with consumer expectations now. Every day consumers adopt and devour the latest technologies and innovations, and hunger for more. Smarter marketers will identify and capitalize on unmet expectations. Those brands that understand where the strongest expectations exist will be the brands that survive and prosper.
Old tricks don’t - and won’t - work anymore: Consumers are onto brands trying to play their emotions for profit. In the wake of the financial debacle of this past year, people are more aware then ever of the hollowness of bank ads that claim “we’re all in this together” when those same banks have rescinded their credit and turned their retirement plan into case studies. The same is true for insincere celebrity pairings - such as Seinfeld & Microsoft or Tiger Woods & Buick. Celebrity values and brand values instead need to be in concert.
Consumers won’t need to know a brand to love it: As the buying space becomes even more online-driven and international (and uncontrolled by brands and corporations), front-end awareness will become less important. A brand with the right street credibility can go viral in days, with awareness following - not leading - the conversation.
It’s not just buzz: Conversation and community is increasingly important, and if consumers trust the community, they will extend trust to the brand. This means not just word of mouth, but the right word of mouth within the community. This has significant implications for the future of customer service.
Consumers talk with each other before talking with brands: Social networking and exchange of information outside of the brand space will increase. This - at least in theory - will mean more opportunities for brands to get involved in these spaces and meet customers where they are.
Engagement is not a fad; it’s the way today’s consumers do business: Marketers will come to accept that there are four engagement methods: The platform (TV; online), the context (program; webpage), the message (ad or communication), and the experience (store/event). At the same time, they also will realize that brand engagement will become impossible using out-dated attitudinal models.
Accommodating all of these trends will require some companies to undergo significant paradigm shifts, which will likely be painful but necessary. Either way, change in the brand marketing space will be inevitable.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Want to Move Up? Learn to Manage Like a CEO
by Steve Tobak
If you really want to learn how to move up in the business world, you’ve got relatively few sources of expert information. And when you’re done with all the MBA BS, the business self-help books, and God help us - the life coaches - ask somebody who’s done it, and he’ll tell you.
Come to think of it, if you think you can learn what works in the real world from anyone but someone who actually succeeded in the real world, well, let’s just say you might want to rethink your management potential.
In the past we’ve talked about all kinds of management tools and leadership qualities, but this time, we’re going to cut right to the chase. You won’t find these five tips anywhere else, since you’re the first ones to read them. Moreover, these are indeed CEO best practices that I’ve observed in few middle managers - those with CEO potential.
5 Ways to Manage Like a CEO
Focus on critical, trouble areas and leave everything else alone. Successful CEOs have learned to rapidly determine when a direct report or functional area is in trouble. Then, with laser-like precision, they go to work on determining what’s wrong and resolving the issue with all due haste. Because of the focus required, too many problem areas can spell trouble, which leads us to the next point.
Hire functional experts who are also solid, upcoming managers. The order and choice of words is critical here. You can mentor capable, upcoming managers, but you probably can’t teach them a functional expertise, nor should you or will you have the time. If they’re not eminently capable, you can end up with multiple critical simultaneous problems, which could be job or even career-ending.
Business comes first. Business and customers always, always, always comes first. Now, that doesn’t mean you let morale get out of control or internal processes fall apart, but you must recognize that the primary function of the business is business, and that means customers and sales. Any manager who doesn’t get that is doomed to mediocrity and stagnation.
Manage up. A critical function of any manager is to provide his boss with what she needs to succeed, and in a manner that fosters a compatible and mutually beneficial relationship. And frankly, that goes for peers, too. If you sense your boss and peers are not getting what they need from you, meet one-on-one and ask. Successful CEOs work with their boards and other key stakeholders the same way.
Help to “manage the company.” This is a critical mindset that can make all the difference in your career. If you have a strong silo mentality - my group is all that matters - you will never move up. But if you always remember that one of your priorities is to help “manage the company,” then your chances are great increased. Why? That mindset gives you a broader perspective that will indeed help the company and be positively perceived by peers and executive management.
If you really want to learn how to move up in the business world, you’ve got relatively few sources of expert information. And when you’re done with all the MBA BS, the business self-help books, and God help us - the life coaches - ask somebody who’s done it, and he’ll tell you.
Come to think of it, if you think you can learn what works in the real world from anyone but someone who actually succeeded in the real world, well, let’s just say you might want to rethink your management potential.
In the past we’ve talked about all kinds of management tools and leadership qualities, but this time, we’re going to cut right to the chase. You won’t find these five tips anywhere else, since you’re the first ones to read them. Moreover, these are indeed CEO best practices that I’ve observed in few middle managers - those with CEO potential.
5 Ways to Manage Like a CEO
Focus on critical, trouble areas and leave everything else alone. Successful CEOs have learned to rapidly determine when a direct report or functional area is in trouble. Then, with laser-like precision, they go to work on determining what’s wrong and resolving the issue with all due haste. Because of the focus required, too many problem areas can spell trouble, which leads us to the next point.
Hire functional experts who are also solid, upcoming managers. The order and choice of words is critical here. You can mentor capable, upcoming managers, but you probably can’t teach them a functional expertise, nor should you or will you have the time. If they’re not eminently capable, you can end up with multiple critical simultaneous problems, which could be job or even career-ending.
Business comes first. Business and customers always, always, always comes first. Now, that doesn’t mean you let morale get out of control or internal processes fall apart, but you must recognize that the primary function of the business is business, and that means customers and sales. Any manager who doesn’t get that is doomed to mediocrity and stagnation.
Manage up. A critical function of any manager is to provide his boss with what she needs to succeed, and in a manner that fosters a compatible and mutually beneficial relationship. And frankly, that goes for peers, too. If you sense your boss and peers are not getting what they need from you, meet one-on-one and ask. Successful CEOs work with their boards and other key stakeholders the same way.
Help to “manage the company.” This is a critical mindset that can make all the difference in your career. If you have a strong silo mentality - my group is all that matters - you will never move up. But if you always remember that one of your priorities is to help “manage the company,” then your chances are great increased. Why? That mindset gives you a broader perspective that will indeed help the company and be positively perceived by peers and executive management.
The Innovator's Vulnerability
by Saul Kaplan 11-17-2009
If you hang around innovators long enough, it's pretty clear they all have a deep-seated confidence in both their ideas and their ability to turn ideas into reality. The best innovators are able to do this on a regular basis, delivering value along the way. To some, they may seem invincible, impervious to the naysayers, roadblocks, and intransigent systems in their way. But I believe that this confidence, however valuable, is not what distinguishes a great innovator. Instead, innovation requires a level of vulnerability with which most are uncomfortable.
Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, says the hallmark of an innovator is having a confident point of view combined with the self-awareness that something is always missing. I agree. Neurosis-laced vulnerability is what enables innovators to seek critical input and make the random connections needed to fuel innovation. There is always a better way and innovators open themselves up in order to search for missing puzzle pieces.
Innovators possess the unique capacity to put themselves and their ideas out in traffic, expecting and welcoming an onslaught of direct and hard-hitting feedback. The cliché that innovators have thick skin is true—but it isn't impenetrable armor. It is a semi-permeable membrane that enables a free flow of ideas and experiences in both directions. The innovator's vulnerability enables an active osmosis of ideas, allowing for freely flowing input from diverse external networks.
Feedback is Welcome
Don't mistake vulnerability for weakness. Innovators are not weak. They are driven to find a better way and will stop at nothing to find solutions and deliver value. They are not afraid to assert and defend their point of view or present their case for change with confidence and conviction. They don't hold back—and if you listen closely, it's always personal.
Innovators don't give presentations. Instead, they share stories, designed to create an emotional connection with the listener. The stories are often self-deprecating, laying bare the innovator's vulnerabilities. And innovators are central characters in their own narrative, not removed from the process. They're sensitive, too. They're the first ones to read the reviews. They can't wait for feedback and devour every press mention, blog post, or social media blurb. Critiques can't come fast enough, and good, bad, and ugly comments are all welcome. Anything with the potential to improve an idea or concept is welcome insight. Critical feedback from respected sources is the best fuel source.
Innovators celebrate their vulnerability by diving into the gray area between disciplines, sectors, and departments. They know you can't learn anything by being the smartest person in the room or from hanging around with people who all think and act alike. Instead, their goal is to recognize patterns and connect dots horizontally across silos. Connecting unusual suspects by bridging perspectives, language, and approaches is imperative.
A Rare Breed
Don't mistake vulnerability for naiveté, either. True innovators are firmly grounded in reality and will not claim victory until value is delivered or a problem is solved. Optimism and belief in a better way provides immunity from the anti-everything crowd. A cacophony of detractors is nothing but white noise to an innovator. Despite being surrounded by skepticism and those supporting the status quo, innovators manage to remain positive and committed to their visionary paths forward.
Being genuinely vulnerable is in short supply these days. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that innovators are such a rare breed.
If you hang around innovators long enough, it's pretty clear they all have a deep-seated confidence in both their ideas and their ability to turn ideas into reality. The best innovators are able to do this on a regular basis, delivering value along the way. To some, they may seem invincible, impervious to the naysayers, roadblocks, and intransigent systems in their way. But I believe that this confidence, however valuable, is not what distinguishes a great innovator. Instead, innovation requires a level of vulnerability with which most are uncomfortable.
Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, says the hallmark of an innovator is having a confident point of view combined with the self-awareness that something is always missing. I agree. Neurosis-laced vulnerability is what enables innovators to seek critical input and make the random connections needed to fuel innovation. There is always a better way and innovators open themselves up in order to search for missing puzzle pieces.
Innovators possess the unique capacity to put themselves and their ideas out in traffic, expecting and welcoming an onslaught of direct and hard-hitting feedback. The cliché that innovators have thick skin is true—but it isn't impenetrable armor. It is a semi-permeable membrane that enables a free flow of ideas and experiences in both directions. The innovator's vulnerability enables an active osmosis of ideas, allowing for freely flowing input from diverse external networks.
Feedback is Welcome
Don't mistake vulnerability for weakness. Innovators are not weak. They are driven to find a better way and will stop at nothing to find solutions and deliver value. They are not afraid to assert and defend their point of view or present their case for change with confidence and conviction. They don't hold back—and if you listen closely, it's always personal.
Innovators don't give presentations. Instead, they share stories, designed to create an emotional connection with the listener. The stories are often self-deprecating, laying bare the innovator's vulnerabilities. And innovators are central characters in their own narrative, not removed from the process. They're sensitive, too. They're the first ones to read the reviews. They can't wait for feedback and devour every press mention, blog post, or social media blurb. Critiques can't come fast enough, and good, bad, and ugly comments are all welcome. Anything with the potential to improve an idea or concept is welcome insight. Critical feedback from respected sources is the best fuel source.
Innovators celebrate their vulnerability by diving into the gray area between disciplines, sectors, and departments. They know you can't learn anything by being the smartest person in the room or from hanging around with people who all think and act alike. Instead, their goal is to recognize patterns and connect dots horizontally across silos. Connecting unusual suspects by bridging perspectives, language, and approaches is imperative.
A Rare Breed
Don't mistake vulnerability for naiveté, either. True innovators are firmly grounded in reality and will not claim victory until value is delivered or a problem is solved. Optimism and belief in a better way provides immunity from the anti-everything crowd. A cacophony of detractors is nothing but white noise to an innovator. Despite being surrounded by skepticism and those supporting the status quo, innovators manage to remain positive and committed to their visionary paths forward.
Being genuinely vulnerable is in short supply these days. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that innovators are such a rare breed.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Save Time and Money Advertising
OK guys and dolls....while you're sitting at your computer contemplating cost-per-point...and not hitting the streets to take care of your direct advertisers...this company is taking your money. LOOK!!
Your BusinessAvenue Right makes it easy to plan and buy local advertising media that reaches the right audience. Find out how with a free Avenue Right account! Simply login to plan and buy local radio, broadcast TV, print, and online media. Sign up now and get a complimentary white paper, "7 Steps to a Multi-Channel Advertising Campaign."
The money you are losing to them along with Google, Yahoo, Bing, Comcast, Time Warner, ViaTV (Verizon), interactive digital marketers and the Internet has already had an impact on your wallets. Whadyya gonna do about it?
Get out there!!!!
Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
Your BusinessAvenue Right makes it easy to plan and buy local advertising media that reaches the right audience. Find out how with a free Avenue Right account! Simply login to plan and buy local radio, broadcast TV, print, and online media. Sign up now and get a complimentary white paper, "7 Steps to a Multi-Channel Advertising Campaign."
The money you are losing to them along with Google, Yahoo, Bing, Comcast, Time Warner, ViaTV (Verizon), interactive digital marketers and the Internet has already had an impact on your wallets. Whadyya gonna do about it?
Get out there!!!!
Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
Leading During A Downturn
Leadership problems come up again and again in a downturn. Solving them doesn't take fancy technology - just character and courage.
By Geoff Colvin, senior editor at large
November 10, 2009: 8:50 AM ET
(Fortune Magazine) -- Businesspeople love to tell me their problems, and in the waning days of this recession they keep describing three of them more than any others. They have to do with vanishing leadership, changing corporate culture, and talent.
They're problems that grow particularly acute in a downturn -- which means every company needs to worry about them. Here's what they are and how to fix them.
My leader won't lead.
This is a classic recession problem: employees frustrated that just when they're most afraid, their leader seems to be disappearing rather than stepping forward.
Have pity on such leaders before condemning them. In times of crisis leaders have to spend more hours on the phone and closeted in meetings, reducing their visibility, and they're particularly starved for the information they need to make high-stakes decisions. Every force is pushing them to "hunker in the bunker," as American Express CEO Ken Chenault expressed it to me.
If your leader won't lead, try telling him or her not what you want but what you hear from the employees that they want; that's the tactic one executive at a Midwestern manufacturer uses.
Our culture won't let me adapt.
The economic recovery may be faint at the moment, but the best companies adapt to a changing world before the change is obvious.
It isn't always easy. An HR manager at a metals company recently told me she was going nuts trying to change the criteria for promotion at her company to emphasize growth over cutting costs. The culture valued skinflint managers, and seemingly nothing could budge it.
That manager was right to realize that a culture of adaptability is crucial. Look at Thomson, formerly one of the world's greatest newspaper publishers, which decided in 2000 -- the all-time best year for newspaper ad revenues -- to get out of papers entirely.
The move looked insane, but Thomson (now Thomson Reuters (TRI)) was adapting to the world it saw coming. Its culture encouraged such radical thinking; in previous decades the company moved into and out of oil, airlines, and other businesses.
Unfortunately, battling a calcified culture may be futile unless you're the boss. I told that HR manager that as soon as the economy turned up it might be time to move.
We can't get rid of C-players.
You'd think a recession would be an easy time to get rid of underperformers -- you can see clearly who they are, and you may have to cut headcount anyway.
The problem is that some managers seem to think problems are caused by everything but people. When James Kilts took over at Gillette, sales and profits had been flat for years. Yet when he analyzed performance reviews, he found 74% of managers had been given the highest rating and only 3% had received the lowest.
It's tough to eject poor performers when almost everyone's a genius. The solution? Honesty in evaluations: Encourage a culture where anyone at any level can tell the truth. It may not be popular, but explain you're facing reality.
These problems are deep-seated. The good news: Solving them doesn't require new technology or complex analysis, just character and courage, which are available to us all -- and which a historic recession might help bring out.
Recession checklist
1. Stand up and be seen. It's a simple yet powerful way for leaders to be effective. Warren Buffett raised his profile in this recession, reassuring investors and even helping to calm markets.
2. Steer the culture with stories. Southwest Airlines (LUV, Fortune 500) has always understood this, celebrating stories of employees who perform heroically for customers. Make sure the stories you repeat embody the culture you're aiming for as the economy recovers.
3. Upgrade your people standards. With high unemployment, you have an opportunity to raise the bar on whom you hire and promote, as McKinsey and other top leader factories are doing.
By Geoff Colvin, senior editor at large
November 10, 2009: 8:50 AM ET
(Fortune Magazine) -- Businesspeople love to tell me their problems, and in the waning days of this recession they keep describing three of them more than any others. They have to do with vanishing leadership, changing corporate culture, and talent.
They're problems that grow particularly acute in a downturn -- which means every company needs to worry about them. Here's what they are and how to fix them.
My leader won't lead.
This is a classic recession problem: employees frustrated that just when they're most afraid, their leader seems to be disappearing rather than stepping forward.
Have pity on such leaders before condemning them. In times of crisis leaders have to spend more hours on the phone and closeted in meetings, reducing their visibility, and they're particularly starved for the information they need to make high-stakes decisions. Every force is pushing them to "hunker in the bunker," as American Express CEO Ken Chenault expressed it to me.
If your leader won't lead, try telling him or her not what you want but what you hear from the employees that they want; that's the tactic one executive at a Midwestern manufacturer uses.
Our culture won't let me adapt.
The economic recovery may be faint at the moment, but the best companies adapt to a changing world before the change is obvious.
It isn't always easy. An HR manager at a metals company recently told me she was going nuts trying to change the criteria for promotion at her company to emphasize growth over cutting costs. The culture valued skinflint managers, and seemingly nothing could budge it.
That manager was right to realize that a culture of adaptability is crucial. Look at Thomson, formerly one of the world's greatest newspaper publishers, which decided in 2000 -- the all-time best year for newspaper ad revenues -- to get out of papers entirely.
The move looked insane, but Thomson (now Thomson Reuters (TRI)) was adapting to the world it saw coming. Its culture encouraged such radical thinking; in previous decades the company moved into and out of oil, airlines, and other businesses.
Unfortunately, battling a calcified culture may be futile unless you're the boss. I told that HR manager that as soon as the economy turned up it might be time to move.
We can't get rid of C-players.
You'd think a recession would be an easy time to get rid of underperformers -- you can see clearly who they are, and you may have to cut headcount anyway.
The problem is that some managers seem to think problems are caused by everything but people. When James Kilts took over at Gillette, sales and profits had been flat for years. Yet when he analyzed performance reviews, he found 74% of managers had been given the highest rating and only 3% had received the lowest.
It's tough to eject poor performers when almost everyone's a genius. The solution? Honesty in evaluations: Encourage a culture where anyone at any level can tell the truth. It may not be popular, but explain you're facing reality.
These problems are deep-seated. The good news: Solving them doesn't require new technology or complex analysis, just character and courage, which are available to us all -- and which a historic recession might help bring out.
Recession checklist
1. Stand up and be seen. It's a simple yet powerful way for leaders to be effective. Warren Buffett raised his profile in this recession, reassuring investors and even helping to calm markets.
2. Steer the culture with stories. Southwest Airlines (LUV, Fortune 500) has always understood this, celebrating stories of employees who perform heroically for customers. Make sure the stories you repeat embody the culture you're aiming for as the economy recovers.
3. Upgrade your people standards. With high unemployment, you have an opportunity to raise the bar on whom you hire and promote, as McKinsey and other top leader factories are doing.
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