Core Values

Losing the Battle: Ethical Business Practices

2012-01-09T01:28:00.000-08:00

Ethics is concerned with "doing the right thing" but moral standards differ between individuals depending upon their upbringing, traditions, religion, social and economic situations, and so on. Hence, the existence of gray areas. Therefore, state the "moral" problem in a simple manner and review feedback so that an acceptable decision can be made with minimal overall harm/loss-i.e., we are concerned with "Pareto optimality," which is related to the net balance of benefit over harm for society as a whole.

Economic theory is concerned with the efficient utilization of resources to satisfy consumer wants and to maximize profit and satisfaction. Pareto optimality exists at the point where it is impossible to make any given individual better off without harming another given individual. Although most businessmen believe that profits and cash flow are very important, there has been a move toward the recognition of social responsibility.

The blind pursuit of profits has resulted in bribes, environmental problems, injured workers, unsafe products, closed plants, and so on-this is unethical. Many business schools emphasize the philosophical, rather than the practical aspect of ethics. We need a practical approach to the solution of ethical problems. Ethical leadership calls for morals, fairness, caring, sharing, no false promises or unreasonable demands on others, etc. Is "ethical leadership" an oxymoron?

I believe that "ethics" should be a part of all management courses. Yes, there are grey areas depending on different perspectives, but there are also areas of "black" and "white". There is more to ethics than drafting and implementing codes of ethics for others to observe. Leaders should lead by example and refrain from adopting an approach which conflicts with ethical interests. Therefore, leaders should respect and care for all stakeholders: owners, employees, customers, suppliers, the community, etc., rather than only stockholders.

Making false promises and unreasonable demands on employees and others, preventing participatory management, talking about the "green" approach as a public relations exercise, rather than adopting a "green" approach, is unacceptable. Ethics is conscience-based, knowledge-based and attitude-based, and not suited to some individuals, who, by their very nature, have consistently demonstrated selfishness and greed.

Business ethics is concerned with dealing with dilemmas that sometimes do not have a clear indication as to what is right or wrong e.g. potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts, false promises and exaggerated demands on resources which include personnel.

Right and wrong are black and white - pure and simple. Our ethical system and behavior are a function of several factors, including our cultural background, upbringing, education, ego, environment, circumstances and the related stress. Hence, the development of gray areas i.e. areas where explicit rulings or guidance is not available Looked at in another way, there are shades of black and shades of white, just like when you go to a paint shop to buy black paint or white paint or when you go to a clothing store to buy a black suit or a white suit. If you find that your ethical standards are higher than those of most people, you should follow your own standards.

It is possible to improve, from an ethical point of view. As we mature into adulthood, we develop an ego and try to use our communication skills to justify our behavior, while focusing on our own goals. With our ego-based approach, our innate selfishness, and the influences of friend and environment come many gray areas. One's image will depend on one's operation within the black, white and/or gray areas. This should always be borne in mind.

Alas, many business schools provide courses in business ethics which are philosophical, rather than practical, in approach. This needs to be rectified in the light of experience in the real world. Research confirms that the focus on ethics deters people from straying, although it is difficult to alter the basic nature of some people e.g. Bernie Madoff and Vincent Lacroix.

Constant communication and open discussions on ethics foster a bond between individuals who are keen on being ethical and help promote teamwork built on good spirit. Emotionally intelligent people are often more ethical than others.

Business Communication: Doing it Better

2011-12-04T14:35:00.001-08:00

An insightful PDF booklet with many suggestions for enhancing your business communications.

Business Communications Tips

Skills & Jobs: Lost in Tandem

2011-11-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

The average duration of unemployment in the U.S. jumped to a record 35.2 weeks in September, up from 16.5 weeks when the recession began in December 2010, according to the Labor Dept. Today, almost half of unemployed Americans have been out of work for 47 weeks or more (the official definition of long-term unemployment), vs. 30 percent in June 2009.

PERISHABLE SKILLS

Industries with highly perishable skill sets include health-care technology, telecommunications, and finance, where regulations have changed dramatically in the past year. The toughest, though, may be information technology. Companies in that sector have cut payrolls for 32 of the last 33 months, through June, for a cumulative loss of some 312,000 jobs, or about 10 percent. In technology, "if you've been out of work for a year or two, you're probably somewhat outdated," says Shami Khorana, president of HCL America, the U.S. arm of New Delhi-based HCL Technologies, which employs about 5,000 workers in the U.S. He plans to hire at least an additional 600 people as the economy improves and anticipates retraining some candidates with obsolete skills.

Unemployed workers in construction, retail, low-level health-care jobs, and teaching are more likely to be attractive to employers once hiring picks up because such jobs don't change as quickly, experts say. "You don't get the sense that residential construction has changed that much in the past decade," says Harry J. Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and the Urban Institute in Washington. The skills needed to work at a grocery or clothing store—running the cash register, for instance—are "rudimentary," he says.

There are downsides to switching careers, because doing so can push workers into fields where their training isn't valuable, creating a less skilled workforce, says Daniel S. Hamermesh, a former Labor Dept. official who is now an economist at the University of Texas. "It's tremendously difficult [for workers] to decide when the skill is no longer valuable," he says.

When employers start hiring, they'll want to see prospective employees who have done more than pump out résumés trying to find a new job. Accenture (ACN), for example, will want to see "how the applicants used their time" to stay marketable, says Catherine S. Farley, a Seattle-based managing director at the consulting firm. "Did that person do something to keep their skills fresh?"

The bottom line: As more workers remain jobless for half a year or longer, they risk losing skills needed to get hired.

A sad situation that can cost this country dearly in the end. Solutions need to be proffered up and implemented as soon as possible. But will it be soon enough?

Satisfaction Guaranteed....Not!

2011-09-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Many people are unhappy with their jobs, but in today's rough economy now is not the time to be unemployed and looking for a new career. While most have opted to grin and bear it, their may be a few simple steps you can take to help you find happiness in your current position.

The old saying misery loves company rings true. If you feel as if you're being overworked, or that the workplace environment is becoming more and more toxic, chances are you are not alone. Talk to your co-workers or others in similar positions and you may find solace in knowing that others feel the same way as you. It is of psychological benefit to have somebody who can relate to your problems and it is crucial that you have allies who can help you to try and change your working conditions. It also possible that you will find that your expectations are a bit unreasonable and you will then be further encouraged to find the positives in your current position.

It is important that you recognize that you are most likely your own toughest critic. If you begin to take note of what is most upsetting you at work you may find that it is your inability to reach your own goals. If upon doing a little self-analysis you find this to be the case, you may want to split up your goals into smaller more attainable sub-goals. In doing so you may find a bit more satisfaction in your work. You may also find yourself to be more organized and focused throughout the day which can insure your success.

Alternatively, if you discover that it is your manager who is issuing too many expectations, you may want to set up a meeting with them. Most people find themselves achieving more career success if they are given a bit of freedom in which they can utilize their creativity as opposed to being micromanaged. In exchange for this freedom you may have to offer improved results, so only meet with your boss if you think you can deliver otherwise you may be putting your job in jeopardy and may only find less happiness.

If you are finding that with the downturn of the economy you are being asked to do more and more, you may need to develop a few coping mechanisms. If you are a manager suddenly faced with an increasing number of tasks you may want to sharpen your delegations skills. Delegating to competent employees can help spread the workload and gives your employees an opportunity to shine. You may also need to make more of an effort to reduce stress in your life. Whether you relieve stress by meditating, exercising or meeting up with friends you may need to up the ante if your work begins to demand too much of you. Ultimately however you need to know when you've been given too much. It is important that you cap your hours, ideally keeping them in the single digits, and that you let your boss know if you're drowning in work.

For some unfortunately these tips may not be enough to ward off unhappiness within their careers. If faced with that situation and little other alternatives, people may want to consider if they can turn one of their hobbies into a career. Obviously self-employment is a risky endeavour so you may want to start it as a side-project. While this may cause you to have less downtime, ideally you'll enjoy the work necessary for pursuing a hobby as a career pleasurable. Eventually you will hopefully find that you're able to leave the job you are currently so unhappy with and solely pursue this new business.

In summary, if you are unhappy with your current job don't just settle. You should identify what is causing your negative feelings and ask yourself if there is anything you can do to try and change it. Often you'll find that the answer is yes.

Hope for Local Businesses: A Greater Town

2011-08-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

Hope for Local Businesses: A Greater Town

SEO: Using Key Sites and Experts

2011-08-01T00:04:00.000-07:00

The internet is a big place. The potential for business is huge. How does the normal small to medium sized business get there? It all starts with a quality site and SEO/SEM.

Nobody ever knew how internet marketing was going to turn out once it got started a few years back. This was the concept being introduced by people about a decade ago which is now flourishing and giving the utmost results to many people all around the globe. It involves many techniques, tactics and skills. It has emerged as a strong, lively foundation with the local and international commercial fields creating a whole new industry that is growing everyday.

The expanded concept of information and technology has supported and advanced the website skills and tactics in which SEO experts have a fundamental role to play. They are essential and important for the internet marketing field because of the knowledge, information and skills they have. Search engine optimization or SEO is the creativity of designing, writing, coding, link building and programming several different types software that add up to enhancement of web pages. SEO experts come up with the ideas where these elements can appear on the web pages giving priority to the people typing in the specific keywords relative to their search.

SEO experts are behind the science of marketing and they generalize the positioning of the website instead of learning more and more about how to divert traffic towards a particular product. SEO experts give the respective audience a chance to target the needs and concerns they have through online websites and content posting. They make it convenient for the readers to find the suitable and relative information they want on the web pages. They have mastered the skills of copy-writing, website designing, effective coding, development, programming, linking, and analytical skills.

For link development, an SEO expert knows how to carry out publications within websites to create value added content. Many of the business organizations which are out there in the market hire SEO experts to optimize their websites and develop suitable advertisements for visitors to find.

The maintenance and progress of the company depends on the team of SEO experts which are the real players of the game. They have the knowledge which helps in all of the beginning and advanced stages of search engine optimization. Although you can also perform the task of search engine optimization on your own if you have some basic knowledge and know how to implement some SEO techniques practically. However, if you running your business on a large scale then it is advisable here that you should get some assistance from SEO experts in order to carry out each and everything in the right direction. You will find an excellent firm that work magic on the SEO front with thousands of pre-established links and a proven SEO strategy. Check out A Greater Town to establish a relationship with the top SEO experts in the industry.

Hope for Local Businesses: A Greater Town

2011-07-25T03:11:00.000-07:00

Slowly, over a 3 year development process, a small internet start up appears to be ready to go big. Through A Greater Town, communities small and large are embracing what could be construed as the internet's version of the "Fireside Chat". Once a town becomes part of the AGT community businesses can advertise, local events and calendars can be posted. Local news feeds and directional mapping also come into play.

Essentially, a go to page for your local community that feeds comprehensive facts and important town specific information includuing allowing business to not only advertise their business but become search engine optimized at the same time.

This appears to be the first site that combines all the essential elements of information feeds for a specific geographical location and allows local businesses to let folks know they're just down the street ready to do business. AGT's short term goal is to be in every township in America by 2013, going international shortly thereafter.

Here is an example of a typical township page. This is only a small cross section of the actual information available at the click of a link.

The potential for local business is extraordinary. Please take a look at what AGT can do to increase the bottom line.

Our Universal Listing service is a powerful and effective one-stop distribution point for your business listing. We distribute your detailed business profile through companies like InfoUSA, Acxiom, and Dun & Bradstreet, the data warehouses behind the scenes that power 95% of online search. With Universal Listing, you’ll see your business profile show up across more than 350 digital distribution points:

• Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing
• Online yellow pages like Superpages and
Yellowpages.com
• Social networks like Yelp, Twitter, and Facebook
• Portals and guides like AOL and Citysearch
• Mobile devices like BlackBerry and iPhone
• 411 directory assistance services
• GPS navigation services
• Telematics services like OnStar

And we don’t stop at name, address, and phone number. We’ll help you build a rich profile for your business, including accurate basic information, descriptions of your products and services, hours of operation, payment methods, logo, photos, coupons, and more.

Take charge of your business listing with A Greater Town Universal Listing, and make sure your customers see the information you want them to see, wherever they’re looking.

Author: Chris Borowski

What it means to be American?

2011-07-04T04:35:00.000-07:00

If anyone best understood how imperfect people are, it was the drafters of the United States Constitution. With such varied backgrounds, diverse ideas, and a common goal, our founders understood no one person had all the right answers. They knew it would take many generations worth of trial and error in every facet of life to accomplish the goals of freedom. As a living document, the Constitution allows for amendments to develop laws governing our nation as we change.

As American citizens, we each have freedoms and opportunities of which most countries only dream, such as the freedom to speak our mind, to worship as we see fit, and to demonstrate our needs for change through assembly. We have the freedom to find, follow and live our dreams to their fullest. While many individuals can be coarse, closed-minded, and fiercely protective of such traits, they have the right to speak their minds and learn from their mistakes.

With the freedom to stand up for and speak openly about our beliefs, our ideas strengthen our communities, which in turn strengthen our nation as a whole. With all the ideas we are free to express, each individual has many chances to hear that one phrase that gets his or her attention; that one speech that opens his or her heart forever. Without the freedom of speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of equality would never have been heard, and no one would have learned from it.

We each have the potential for greatness, but we tend limit ourselves by our own preconceptions. Diversity and compromise teach us to look beyond those preconceptions so that we can understand each other better. We learn to build trust through the bonds we form and overcoming the mistakes we make, enabling us to build a better society. The choice to move beyond preconceptions and embrace new ideas makes the efforts to improve society and the desire to do so stronger.

Tyrants view people as an expendable commodity in wars to protect a way of life benefiting few. Though the possibility of a draft still exists, the United States discovered unwilling defenders cannot compare with the strength of resolve of one defending his or her home and country willingly. Forming our country took the strength of both men and women, of all races and creeds, because we were free to learn what each unique talent any given individual had to offer. The freedoms we enjoy and wish to share with future generations convict American service personnel to protect and defend, sometimes with life’s last drop of blood.

The summation of what it means to be an American consists of hope. Freedom ensures we can hope and work for a better tomorrow. Throughout the course of our nation’s history, Americans have sought life and liberty, abolished destructive forms of governments, established laws for safety and the pursuit of happiness, and fulfilled their duty to provide new guards for their future security and their hope. Because of the freedom to hope, Americans have come a long way from oppression, and our progress as a community serves as a beacon for others to follow.

Finally, ask your children! If they don't know what a precious gift has been delivered to them and why, explain it, in detail. They have seen war movies and played video games depicting famous battle scenes. Do they know why men and women were willing to sacrifice their very existence to protect the personal freedoms we have today? Children are the future and those ignorant of the past are destined to repeat it. We were born or were lucky enough to be living on the most cherished and fiercely protected ground in the world. Let's keep it that way.

Happy 4th all!

The Cloud: Do your Homework

2011-06-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

So this raises the question. How scared should the average business owner be about moving to the cloud? Of course it’s a complex question. If you look at it completely academically, you’ll need to value assets, calculate risk and all the rest. But let’s cover a few practicalities here.

It’s very common for small businesses (and some large ones) to have an attacker inside their systems for months if not years before anyone notices. When they do notice, there is seldom a competent forensic investigation to determine what has happened and for how long. Actually, what usually happens when there is a security incident is the sysadmin or IT provider does his/her best to patch it up and move on.

So would you rather have someone directly inside your systems, or just have a bit of your data in a large pile of other data that a random person may or may not ever go through or use against you? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying “a compromise is going to happen anyways so don’t worry about it”. What I am saying is that you have to evaluate how critical your data is, and how much you want to protect it. If you are really worried, build your own solid protection mechanisms. If you aren't worried, then why would the cloud worry you any more or less?

While I predict there will be several large scale cloud compromises in the next year, the usual attitude of “I don’t need security, nobody would target me, and security consultants and products are too expensive” won’t position you any better. If you are using security as a reason not to move to the cloud, make sure you’re doing it better.

Somehow, given the aforementioned rationale I doubt most businesses a capable of doing it better. Look closely at your data and how much it means to the bottom line. What if your database were wiped tomorrow and your backup failed. I imagine heads would roll if not total business collapse.

Bottom line.....do your homework and have people that know the total picture advise on the best course of action.

Social Indexing: An Overview

2011-06-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

Search sites could take your friends' opinions into account when you look for restaurants. Newspaper sites could use their knowledge of what's previously captured your attention online to display articles you are interested in. Fundamentally, the Web would be better if it were more oriented around people. To bring this idea to fruition, Facebook is creating a kind of social index of the most frequently visited chunks of the Web.

Many sites have tried to personalize what they offer by remembering your past behavior and showing information they presume will be relevant to you. But the social index could be much more powerful because it also mines your friends' interests and collects information from multiple sites. As a result, the index can give websites a sense of what is likely to interest you even if you've never been there before.

This ambitious project gets much of its information from the simple "Like" button, a thumbs-up logo that adorns many Web pages and invites visitors to signal their appreciation for something—a news story, a recipe, a photo—with a click. Facebook created the concept in 2007 at FriendFeed, a social network that pre-dated Facebook, but was acquired by Facebook in 2009. Back then, the button was just a way to encourage people to express their interests, but in combination with Facebook's user base of nearly 600 million people, it is becoming a potent data-collecting tool. The code behind the Like button is available to any site that wants to add it to its pages. If a user is logged in to Facebook and clicks the Like button anywhere on the Web, the link is shared with that person's Facebook friends. Simultaneously, that thumbs-up vote is fed into Facebook's Web-wide index.

That's how the Wall Street Journal highlights articles that a person's friends enjoyed on its site. This is what lets Microsoft's Bing search engine promote pages liked by a person's friends. And it's how Pandora creates playlists based on songs or bands a person has appreciated on other sites.

This method of figuring out connections between pieces of content is fundamentally different from the one that has ruled for a decade. Google mathematically indexes the Web by scanning the hyperlinks between pages. Pages with many links from other sites rise to the top of search results on the assumption that such pages must be relatively useful or interesting. The social index isn't going to be a complete replacement for Google, but for many types of activity—such as finding products, entertainment, or things to read—the new system's personal touch could make it more useful.

Google itself acknowledges this: it recently rolled out a near-clone of the Like button, which it calls "+1." It lets people signify for their friends which search results or Web pages they've found useful. Google is also using Twitter activity to augment its index. If you have connected your Twitter and Google accounts, Web links that your friends have shared on Twitter may come up higher in Google search results.

Another advantage of a social index is that it could be less vulnerable to manipulation: inflating Google rankings by creating extra links to a site is big business, but buying enough Facebook likes to make a difference is nearly impossible. Social activity provides a really authentic signal of what is authoritative and good. That's why Hunch and other services, including an entertainment recommendation site called GetGlue, are building their own social indexes, asking people to record their positive feelings about content from all over the Web. If you're browsing for something on Amazon, a box from GetGlue can pop up to tell you which of your friends have liked that item.

A social index will be of less use to people who don't have many online connections. And even Facebook's map covers just a small fraction of the Web for now. But about 10,000 additional websites connect themselves to Facebook every day.

With what appears to be an almost casual global data mining frenzy, there is a nefarious side of the Web's voracious appetate for your data. Privacy in business and for the casual web user could be the next casualty in this exponential information explosion. More on this topic can be found in part II of this series.

Ethical Business Practices

2011-05-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

The work ethic is a cultural norm that advocates being personally accountable and

responsible for the work that one does and is based on a belief that work has intrinsic

value. The term is often applied to characteristics of people, both at work and at play.

In sports, for example, work ethic is frequently mentioned as a characteristic of good

players. Regardless of the context, work ethic is usually associated with people who

work hard and do a good job.

Steps Towards Better Work Ethics

1. Attendance - Attendance and punctuality often have a large impact on individual and team success. Tardiness or absenteeism can also
profoundly impact job performance and retention.
How You Can Maintain Good Attendance:
•Make work a high priority
•Know your schedule
•Make use of an ALARM clock
•Get enough sleep
•Arrange your transportation
•Inform your supervisor of an absence

2. Character - An employer expects employees to work together toward achieving the objectives of the company. The wise employee who is interested in having a good relationship with an employer will try to help the employer achieve success. Thus employer expects employees to develop certain desirable traits that will help them to perform their jobs well so that the company can succeed. Some of these traits include the following:

�� Loyalty
�� Honesty
�� Trustworthiness
�� Dependability
�� Reliability
�� Initiative
�� Self-discipline
�� Self-responsibility

3. Teamwork - It is vital that employees work as a team. It is important
not only to their personal success and advancement, but also to that of
their co-workers and to the company. Sometimes working as a team
takes place in a classroom setting. Teamwork doesn’t necessarily mean
helping your classmate. Teamwork in the classroom might be working
Help Sheet:

Center for Career Guidance
quietly as not to disturb your classmates. Teamwork involves the
following aspects:
• Respecting the rights of others
• Being a team worker
• Being cooperative
• Being assertive
• Displaying a customer service attitude
• Seeking opportunities for continuous learning
• Demonstrating mannerly behavior
• Respecting confidentiality

4. Appearance - A person makes their first impression of someone in

three seconds. If you appear unkempt and wrinkled, someone is going

to think that you do sloppy work. If you dress as a professional, your

first impression will be excellent.

5. Attitude - It is very important to demonstrate a positive attitude,

appear self confident, and have realistic expectations for self.

Developing and maintaining a positive attitude involves setting

realistic expectations for ourselves at school and at work. These goals

should be challenging, but obtainable.

6. Productivity- In order to be a productive student and employee, a

person must follow safety procedures, conserve materials, keep the

work area neat and clean and follow directions properly.

7. Organizational skills - Employers consider effective time
management and organizational skills as good work habits. To begin
managing wisely the time you spend at work, to prepare for
assignments at home, and to manage your life at home and work
simultaneously, you need to know and to put into practice some good
time management techniques.

Some Simple Techniques:
• Believe - As you enter into your new work place
believe that you are in control.
• Ask For Help - help comes in many forms so ask for it.
• Prioritize –whats most important?
• Set Timetables - list what you have achieved and what is
still pending.
• Spend Time Wisely

8. Communication - Is how we interact with each other. Communication
whether it is verbal or nonverbal must be clear, to the point,
empathetic, and one must keep in mind that we must always treat
others as we would like others to treat us.

9. Cooperation- involves developing good working relationships,
following the chain of command, good at conflict management, and
being a good problem solver.

10. Respect – it cannot be emphasized enough that every working relationship from the top to the bottom of the chain of command is based on respect. Respect your subordinates as you do your superiors.

My View to a Fulfilling Journey

2011-05-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

Because there is a big difference between living and merely existing…

Wow, life.... You're born, you live, then as a biological entity you cease to exist. Seems pathetically inadequate considering how much of life there is to experience. Yet when put in the right context and lived in a way that maximizes enrichment and understanding, total fulfillment can and does occur.

It's amazing how few of us have spent little or no time thinking about what they could do to enrich, enhance, and elevate their quality of life. Some naturally follow the path they intuitively know is going to lead them there. And then there are the rest of us....those who need to really think consciously about it and how in heaven we can make it happen. The trick is once you have the road map, it must be read everyday. It must be part of our most important decision making processes. The following list is by no means complete, but its a step in the right direction. Yours may be different....no matter...as long as you have one fulfillment is closer than you might realize.

Educate yourself until the day you die. – The time and energy you invest in your education will change your life. You are a product of what you know. The more knowledge you acquire, the more control you have over your life.
Take good care of your body. – Your body is the greatest tool you’ll ever own. It impacts every step you take and every move you make. Nourish it, exercise it, and rest it.
Spend as much time as possible with the people you love. – Human beings are emotional creatures. Family and close friends makeup the core of your emotional support system. The more you nurture them, the more they will nurture you.
Be a part of something you believe in. – This could be anything. Some people take an active role in their local city council, some find refuge in religious faith, some join social clubs supporting causes they believe in, and others find passion in their careers. In each case the psychological outcome is the same. They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in. This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.
Excel at what you do. – There’s no point in doing something if you aren’t going to do it right. Excel at your work and excel at your hobbies. Develop a reputation for yourself, a reputation for consistent excellence.
Live below your means. – Live a comfortable life, not a wasteful one. Do not spend to impress others. Do not live life trying to fool yourself into thinking wealth is measured in material objects. Manage your money wisely so your money does not manage you. Always live well below your means.
Be self-sufficient. – Freedom is the greatest gift. Self-sufficiency is the greatest freedom.
Build a comfortable, loving household. – Home is where the heart is. Your home should be comfortable and lined with love. It should be a place that brings the whole family together.
Always be honest with yourself and others. – Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless.
Respect elders. Respect minors. Respect everyone. – There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected. Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother.
Mix it up. Try different things. – Seek as many new life experiences as possible and be sure to share them with the people you love. After all, your life’s story is simply a string of experiences. The more experiences you have, the more interesting your story gets.
Take full ownership of your actions. – Either you own up to your actions or your actions will ultimately own you.
Over-deliver on all your promises. – Some people habitually make promises they are just barely able to fulfill. They promise perfection and deliver mediocrity. If you want to boost your personal value, do the exact opposite. Slightly under-sell your capabilities so that you’re always able to over-deliver. It will seem to others like you’re habitually going above and beyond the call of duty.
Listen more. Talk less. – The more you listen and the less you talk, the more you will learn and the less you will miss.
Focus more on less. – Think in terms of Karate: A black belt seems far more impressive than a brown belt. But does a brown belt really seem any more impressive than a red belt? Probably not to most people. Remember that society elevates experts high onto a pedestal. Hard work matters, but not if it’s scattered in diverse directions. Focus on less and master it all.
Exploit the resources you do have access to. – The average person is usually astonished when they see a physically handicap person show intense signs of emotional happiness. How could someone in such a restricted physical state be so happy? The answer rests in how they use the resources they do have. Stevie Wonder couldn’t see, so he exploited his sense of hearing into a passion for music, and he now has 25 Grammy Awards to prove it.
Savor the natural joys of simple pleasures. – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best things in life are free. They come in the form of simple pleasures and they appear right in front of you at various locations and arbitrary times. They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstance and captured by mindful awareness. It’s all about taking a moment to notice the orange and pink sunset reflecting off the pond water as you hold hands with someone you love. Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unpredictable bursts of happiness into your life.
Reflect on your goals and direction. – Not doing so is committing to wasteful misdirection. The process of self reflection helps maintain a conscious awareness of where you’ve been and where you intend to go, giving you the ability to realign your trajectory when necessary.
Leave time for spontaneous excursions. – Sometimes opportunity knocks at unexpected times. Make sure you have enough flexibility in your schedule to respond accordingly.
Be here now. – Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you. Right now is life. Don’t miss it.

So there it is folks. Feel free to post it on your bathroom mirror or next to the flat screen (Increase Font Size for this Placement!) It doesn't matter if you're 14 or 40, once the road map has been secured it's all about making it happen. And I'll be damned if doesn't work as advertised. Be Good Humans! (Mark & Brian).

Chris Borowski

Building Meaningful Relationships

2011-04-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

In considering what makes a good friend, I think a friend is someone I can rely upon to always be there for me, tell me the truth, listen and share intimate moments with me, and enjoy doing things together. I've had some friends, with whom I've developed a lifelong bond. Others have come and slowly faded into the past. It's really up to you and that friend to decide where they will be in your life. If you do your part in following some basic guidelines, there's a good possibility you will grow old surrounded by people who care for you and enrich daily living meaningfully.

Some people you meet may move from acquaintances to friends and back to acquaintances. As people's lives get busier, they forget to phone, neglect to respond to an invitation or email, and fall off the friendship radar screen. There's only so much time you can put into one-sided communication. Look around and really ask yourself how many people's radar have you fell off of? And it's not so different with clients and prospects.

Getting prospects to commit to hiring you, and then keeping them as clients, requires the same relationship-building skills as you use to make and maintain friendships. Of course, you don't need to suffer through lots of "one-sided communication" to become the "blip" that stands out on the client's radar screen if you're good at:

==> Rapport building.
==> Honesty.
==> Commitment.
==> Follow-through.
==> Organization.
==> Follow-up.
==> Asking for what you want.
==> Communication.
==> Doing the right thing.
==> Keeping the other person's best interests in mind.
==> Always being there; not always being there to sell.

Let me explain what I mean by the last bullet. If you give your prospect the impression that the only thing that is important to you is to make the sale, you'll lose it in a heartbeat. You need to be stable, solid and ready to provide help -- within limits, naturally -- to your prospect to prove that you have their best interest in mind.

Send articles to your prospect that discuss industry trends. Shoot off a succinct email with a tidbit of information you recently discovered. Forward opportunities that you hear about. Help the prospect find that special employee they have been searching for, etc. That's what I mean by "always being there, but not always being there to sell." It is, of course, a rapport-building technique. These are tried and true ways to create a bond that will carry both the client and friend into your future. Common sense is sometimes put aside to advance our busy lives. Stay focused on what's important.

Doing the right thing: Ubiquitous Ethics

2011-04-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Although this piece encompasses a dogma that is eerily similar to my own, its eloquence in prose and clarity take it far beyond my limited vision. If it doesn't make you pause and reflect, perhaps being a positive influence on society is merely an afterthought if its in your thoughts at all. In essence, be good humans and life will surprise you by creating a satisfaction that runs deep and lasts a lifetime.

Duty to Oneself

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

I’ve talked extensively about our duty to others, but what about our duty to ourselves? In the sixties and seventies, the idea that we have a duty to be happy, fulfilled, and “actualized” took hold in a way that very much defines modern culture. As a therapeutic concept to help people with low selfesteem become more aware of and assertive about pursuing their own rightful interests, the idea of duty to self can be constructive. Too often, however, the self-duty notion is used to legitimize a self-absorbed world view that treats looking out for one’s own interests as a moral obligation. Such excessive selfishness is a corrosive antiethical idea that forms the philosophical basis for the “I-deserve-it” mentality.

True moral duty is about obligations above and beyond self-interests. Yet expressions like “I owe it to myself” and “I have to take care of me” tend to put personal needs and desires for happiness, freedom, and pleasure on an equal footing with our ethical responsibilities to be honest, respectful, fair, caring, and loyal to our families, friends, co-workers, and fellow citizens. As a result, people preoccupied with the duty to be happy, fulfilled, and actualized inevitably end up subordinating the authentic moral duties they have to others to the counterfeit notion of self-duty. Too often the “duty-to-myself” argument is used as a justification for putting our own needs above our obligations to parents, spouses, and even children.

A variation of the legitimized self-interest theme has been evident in the way American pundits and politicians have discussed the enormously troubling ethical issues concerning the proper role of the United States in reacting to the plight of victims of starvation and gangsterism in Somalia, of genocidal and “ethnic cleansing’ campaigns in Rwanda and Bosnia, and political persecution and economic deprivation in Haiti, to name just a few. In dealing with such situations as moral issues it is entirely appropriate to consider how to use our considerable but limited resources given all the domestic and international problems worthy of attention. It is also appropriate to realistically consider what we can do. Yet while these factors were frequently discussed it was clear that the overriding, dominant consideration for most people was the question “is it in our national self-interest?” In effect, we made it clear that anyone asking our assistance, no matter how humane the cause, has got to be prepared to answer the “what’s in it for me?” question.

The growing trend toward selfish, “look out for number one,” attitudes and behavior is disturbing. Self-oriented philosophies tend to foster violent, irresponsible, and dishonest conduct that quite literally undermines the foundation of our society. The seventeenth-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes describes human life in the state of nature as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” full of fear and danger of violent death. For hundreds of thousands of young people today raised in the mean streets of most large American cities, this description of life is not far off the mark. Many believe they live in a dark, Darwinian world where only the “fittest” survive, a world where vital social values such as kindness, trust, respect and justice are replaced by cruelty, fear, suspicion, and callous exploitation. It is not an exaggeration to say that in some of our larger cities today that is precisely the way some citizens feel walking the streets. We are breeding a generation of angry young men and women with the will and the weapons to wreak violence on themselves, their neighbors, and the community. They know how little they have and how much others have, and they believe they deserve better — and they will do anything to get it. Shootings, car-jackings, rapes, and sexual and physical abuse of children have become increasingly prevalent demonstrations of the malevolent side of human potential.

One message that bears repetition is that it is hard to be ethical, to maintain character in a world full of temptations and pressures to compromise. Let’s face it, if it were easy to be ethical, more people would do it more often. Sure, there are many times where doing the right thing is clearly in our self-interest. But there are also times when telling the truth is likely to cost a sale, a promotion, or even one’s job. It can also ruin a friendship. There are times when keeping a promise is far more costly than breaking it. There are times when following the law imposes disproportionate and unreasonable burdens. But far and away the single biggest obstacle to ethics is egocentric self-interest. Joseph Heller in his 1961 classic novel Catch-22 captures the issue in this short dialogue:

“Yossarian said, ‘From now on I’m thinking only of me.’ Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: ‘But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way.’ ‘Then,’ said Yossarian, ‘I’d certainly be a damn fool to feel any other way, wouldn’t I?”

The ultimate test of character and ethical commitment is whether we are willing to do the right thing when it is not in our personal best interest to do so.

Whom Am I to Judge? Overcoming the Moral Agnosticism Myth

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

: Image via Wikipedia

During a seminar I asked Martina what she would say if her daughter Jan asked for advice about lying on her résumé in order to get a job. Martina said she would leave it up to Jan and that whatever Jan did, she would support her. Further, Martina said she would not think less of Jan if she decided to lie. A significant debate ensued and, as far as I could tell, almost half the audience agreed with Martina that this was a personal decision for Jan. Martina and many of her colleagues agreed that it is wrong to be “judgmental.”

Martina’s unwillingness to advise her daughter on an issue as fundamental as lying was based on notions of unconditional love, loyalty, and the duty to respect her daughter’s right to make decisions for herself. Martina took what she believed to be a morally neutral stance.

For more than three decades, the idea that good people don’t impose moral judgments on others has been dulling our ethical sensibilities and stifling our moral aspirations. Indiscriminate nonjudgmentalness has contributed to a general moral malaise. Conviction and commitment on matters of what is right and what is wrong have given way to evasion, abstention, passivity, and equivocation.

When Martina says that it’s “her daughter’s decision” whether to lie on a résumé she is implicitly adopting the stance that each person decides for him or herself what is right. This view completely ignores any moral obligations Jan has to others who will be affected by her the decision. These “others” are stakeholders whose interests must be taken into account by an ethical decision maker. No decision that affects others is purely personal. Martina was confusing the issues of power and propriety. Of course, Jan has the power to make any decision she wants. Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what we think is right and wrong. This power to choose (called moral autonomy), however, does not imply that something is right simply because a person thinks it is.

The roots of this common attitude can be found in the dangerous and misconceived theory of personal relativism, sometimes called subjectivism. According to this theory, all ideas about ethics, morality and virtue are simply subjective value judgments and the sole requirement of an ethical life is knowing one’s own values and living up to them. The concepts of right and wrong have no objective validity, they are only important relative to the individual. Consequently, each of us is the sole and final source of what is right and wrong. Thus, what’s right for you may not be right for me. No one has any right to impose their view of morality on anyone else.

In replying to a recent Josephson Institute survey many respondents asserted this view of ethics with comments such as: “Ethics is a personal issue and whatever a person can sleep with, so be it,” and “My ethics are good according to my standards. They may not be the best, but they work for me.”

When applied to all conduct, including acts of dishonesty, irresponsibility and even violence, this high reverence for the individual conscience obliterates notions of morality and negates thousands of years of religious and moral philosophy seeking to discover and understand universal standards of ethics. In essence, subjectivism treats judgments in the ethical realm as no more or less personal than one’s personal choice about hair style.

These claims about ethics mistakenly equate an individual’s private value system, a code of behavior based on personal values and beliefs, with external, enduring, objective standards of right and wrong.

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all ethics is personal. As a practical matter, our conception of our ethical duties is the result of a series of personal decisions to accept or reject the various cultural, religious, and ideological values we are exposed to throughout our lives. Ultimately, we all pick and choose our values and organize them into informal personal codes of conduct that reflect our opinions about what is right and what is wrong, what is desirable and what is possible. But it is one thing to acknowledge that each of us has a personal value system and quite another to conclude that these personal values actually express the full range of our moral obligations.

So, even though being “true to ourselves,” “walking our talk,” and “living our values” are aspects of personal integrity (an important ethical quality in itself), we must remember that integrity alone does not constitute character or ethics. Exactly what we value is also vital. After all, Hitler could be said to have had integrity. He had the courage of his convictions and lived according to his own values. Yet if evil has any objective meaning, Hitler qualifies. To refer to a personal code of conduct by the term ethics simply because it is a sincere expression of an individual’s values demeans the role that moral principles should play in the way we make decisions. True, all of us have the power to choose our values, but it does not follow that all choices and all value systems are equally ethical. A world in which each person can define what is right is a world where personality and power prevail over principle.

Cultural Relativism

The ancient invocation, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” calls our attention to the powerful influence of social customs on the way we define right and wrong.

Customs, traditions, social mores, even local rules of etiquette play a very important role in the formation of values and our beliefs about what is ethical and moral. The undeniable power and prevalence of cultural moral values, however, does not require acceptance of cultural relativism.

Cultural relativism has a long history. The Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories writes of the importance of culturally anchored conceptions of right and proper conduct and the problems they create for those who seek to rule an empire that includes peoples from vastly diverse cultures. He tells of a tribe whose burial rites included the ritual eating of the dead bodies of their fathers. This was a matter of honor and respect — it was the right thing to do. This custom horrified the tribe’s Greek conquerors who believed in cremating the dead. But the tribes people found repulsive the idea of burning the bodies of loved ones. Each culture viewed its treatment of the dead as a matter of cultural morality, and they truly believed the other culture was wrong and barbaric. Consequently, a question of vital practical and moral significance for imperialist civilizations like the Greeks and Romans was to determine those areas in which the conqueror would impose its own standards through law, and those in which the colonized people would be permitted to practice their own traditions. Cultural relativism provided a sound theory that allowed captured nations to retain even offensive customs. The commitment of people to their conventions and traditions (many of which were rooted in religious beliefs) is often so strong that attempts to impose external values increase problems of governance and the likelihood of rebellion. Hence, Herodotus, the so-called father of history, concluded that custom was “king of all.”

Cultural relativists believe that ethics and morality consists of societal norms reflected in laws, social conventions, customs, traditions, mores, and practices. Therefore, being a good person consists simply of knowing and honoring those norms. Because different cultures generate different moral expectations, ethics varies from culture to culture. Thus, moral women are expected to wear veils in Saudi Arabia and it is illegal for them to drive; it is proper to flog criminals in Singapore and journalists can be arrested for criticizing the government; and in parts of India cows are treated as holy and the caste system, though formally outlawed, strongly influences the conduct of millions of people who believe in its values. Given this diversity, who are we to judge what is right or wrong? Cultural relativists consider it arrogant moral imperialism to impose any particular moral perspective on a social system that has adopted contrary ideas of morality.

This perspective has been particularly influential among educators, social workers, and psychologists — professionals that frequently deal with people with diverse values and cultural backgrounds. It is common, for example, for such professionals to preface discussion of morally charged issues with the disclaimer that there are no right or wrong answers. What is important, they stress, is being honest.

This may be true when the discussion concerns feelings, taste in art or music, or personal goals, but it is not true when one talks about particular human behavior such as baby selling, female circumcision, or drive-by shootings. The message that there are no wrong answers is also that there is no wrong conduct, that nothing is objectively reprehensible. In the book “The Moral Sense,” James Q. Wilson expresses dismay at a class of “fundamentally decent college students” who were unwilling to conclude that those guilty of the Holocaust were guilty of moral horror. The prevalent view was, “It all depends on your perspective.” Presumably, if we put ourselves in the mind set of the Nazi persecutors we would see their point of view and find it sufficiently appealing to persuade us that evil is simply in the eye of the beholder. This kind of thinking is both preposterous and pernicious.

The implications of relativism go beyond the theoretical. To accept cultural relativism as a guiding standard of moral obligation is to find moral justification for slavery, genocide, infanticide, human sacrifice, racial and religious persecution, torture, rape, and child abuse — so long as the conduct occurs in the context of a culture that approves of such behavior. This can’t be. When ethical relativism prevents us from forthrightly praising the good and condemning evil it is simply a corrosive form of moral anarchy. Surely the grand concepts of ethics and morality engender a much more profound perspective of the good life than doing your own thing, conforming to social norms, or deferring to repressive traditions of one’s culture.

Cultural relativism is not only bad moral theory, it is unworkable and fundamentally irrational. When we are told that “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is not simply a rule of etiquette, but a standard of morality, we are led to believe that, by definition, the Romans (or any other dominant culture) can do no wrong. If everybody else is doing it, so can you.

If we accept the idea that the mores, customs and conventions of a “culture” define morality and ethics for people within that culture, it is vital that we know precisely what we mean by the term culture.

Once we define a culture, however, we are able to see more clearly the deficiencies of relativist theory. In the context of relativism, a culture is any community of people bound together by some common factor ranging from geographical or political boundaries to ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. Virtually every conceivable social structure from a profession to a street gang qualifies as a culture. And each these social organizations have identifiable value preferences that could be treated as a moral system with its own ethical rules. Thus, a relativist would have to acknowledge the claims of lawyers and Crips to culture status as well as southerners, New Yorkers, farmers, white males, and persons who work in the defense industry. Even pimps and prostitutes have their own culture and, hence, their own ethics. Is everyone right? Since most of us simultaneously identify with a variety of cultures, sometimes with inconsistent values, how can we honor one system of ethics without violating another? What is a southerner practicing law in New York representing pimps and prostitutes to do?

The defects of relativism become even more apparent when we consider the inherent futility in trying to describe accurately and consistently the moral norms of any culture. On almost any issue we can think of there are likely to be conflicting opinions, practices, and mores even within the same culture. Do you really think even the Romans agreed on all matters of right and wrong? Thus, is the question of ethics reduced to an opinion poll with the dominant view controlling? And if there is no opinion poll, how are we to know what is expected of us?

Finally, we need to keep in mind that even within the same geographical culture, views on moral issues change over time. In late nineteenth-century America for example, a woman was expected to aspire to no more than wifedom and motherhood, employing children to work fourteen hours a day was acceptable, divorce was generally regarded as immoral, extra-marital sex was criminal as well as sinful, and interracial marriages were illegal. How does a relativist define the standards of morality when they are in constant flux?

Though relativism fails as a comprehensive theory of ethics, it is wise and proper to acknowledge that the historical and cultural context of an act bears on the kind of judgment we make about the actor. In other words, before we judge people from other times and cultures we need to know more about what they knew and what they should have known. There are simply some situations where we have to make separate judgments: one on the moral quality of an act, and one on the character and morality of the actor.

Two distinct situations justify special consideration. The first involves people who knew exactly what they were doing and the consequences of their actions but because of the laws, customs, traditions and mores of their communities, they did not think what they were doing was wrong (gladiator contests, torture, rape of captive women, imprisonment without trial, racial bigotry, oppression of women, etc.).

The second concerns people who did not know that what they were doing caused harm (early physicians who bled patients with leaches or who failed to wash their hands or sterilize their equipment, builders who put asbestos in the walls of homes and schools or used lead-based paint before the dangers of either were known, etc.).

Changing Times

How should we judge the morality of Thomas Jefferson when we discover that he owned slaves? Should he be judged only in relation to his times and the conduct of his southern contemporaries? Or should he be held strictly accountable for engaging in conduct that cannot be morally justified according to universal moral principles? Slavery, of course, was widely accepted throughout the Colonies and extensively practiced throughout the South by men who were regarded to be of high honor. This is not to say that slavery was proper simply because people thought it was (though an ethical relativist would make this claim). As to the acts involved in slavery itself, the judgment can be unequivocal: slavery is and always has been morally wrong. It violates the universal ethical principle of respect and the concept of equality that is derived from this principle. But, though we judge the act in terms of timeless (though unrecognized) ethical principles, we should mitigate our judgment of the actor by taking into account what reasonable and good people of the time knew and thought. Thus, we cannot always demand that an individual be enlightened beyond his or her times. If I had a vote, I would be disturbed by Mr. Jefferson’s failure to condemn slavery but I would not keep him out of heaven. Similarly, I am not prepared to label as “bad people” early 19th-century Americans (nor, for that matter contemporary men and women in fundamentalist Muslim countries) who advocated and supported laws and customs that treated woman as property and denied them fundamental rights.

Changing Knowledge

Forty years ago, a woman who had a daily glass of wine or smoked a pack of cigarettes a day during pregnancy was not making an unethical choice to risk her baby’s health in order to indulge personal cravings. No one knew then that drinking and smoking could affect the fetus . Today, however, the expectant mother has new moral obligations generated by scientific information about the consequences of her choices. In fact, one of the new obligations is to find out what she should know for the sake of her child. Today, a pregnant woman who is indifferent to the health of her unborn baby is subject to moral condemnation. In modern culture, where health warnings, high school classes and media coverage inform us about the risks of certain conduct during pregnancy, ignorance is part of the wrongdoing, not an excuse. The principle of responsibility requires that we respond to and be held accountable for our conscious choices in light of what we actually knew or reasonably should have known.

Multiculturalism: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In recent years, academia has been very much involved in the nuances of a concept referred to as multiculturalism, an intellectual movement that emphasizes “inclusion” and “diversity.” At the root of the multiculturalism movement is a belief that it is right as well as wise to go beyond the cultural and intellectual perspective dominated by Western European philosophy, history, and literature. In “The Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America’s Future,” journalist Richard Bernstein points out that, at its best, multiculturalism says: “Let’s be truly diverse, tolerant of difference. Let’s give everybody in the gorgeous mosaic an equal shot at racial, ethnic, religious or sexual pride and through that pride a genuinely equal chance at success.”

In this moderate, rational form, the multiculturalist movement is a positive contribution to racial, ethnic, and religious tolerance as well as pride in one’s heritage. Aristotle taught that virtue was the “golden mean” between the two extremes of deficiency and excess. When multiculturalism is interpreted as the mean between the deficiency of narrow-minded, self-righteous devotion to Western European white male perspectives and the excess of narrow-minded, self-righteous condemnation of those perspectives it is a laudatory and constructive idea.

Unfortunately, multiculturalism has taken certain forms that have provided strong impetus to ethical relativism. Moreover multiculturist advocates have gone well beyond the goal of introducing additional perspectives. Instead, they assert the cultural relativist’s position that all moral values are the creature of culture and, therefore, it is improper to claim that any Western values are better than the values of any other culture. This is dangerous. Clearly, Western values have no special claim to morality simply because they are Western values. On the other hand, some values — such as beliefs regarding democracy, equality, and individual freedom that are so intimately tied to Western tradition — have transcendent qualities that entitle them to special reverence based on their merits, not their source.

But when multiculturalism makes a commitment to ethical relativism, it not only prevents claims of superiority of Western values, it also precludes negative value judgments on any practice of other cultures. The initial question of the ethical relativist, “Who are we to judge?” is translated by the tyranny of political correctness to the mandate, “Dare not judge.” Richard Bernstein says: “Multiculturalist rhetoric has the rest of us on the run. [It] covers the public discussion of crucial issues with a layer of fear so that we can no longer speak forthrightly and honestly about such matters as crime, race, poverty, AIDS, the failure of schools, single parenthood, affirmative action, racial preferences, welfare, college admissions, merit, the breakup of the family, and the disintegration of urban life.”

Complexification and Moral Confusion

Those who advocate nonjudgmentalness tell us we shouldn’t make moral judgments. Another group I call complexifiers make it seem that we can’t make rational moral judgments.

Complexifiers make ethics seem almost arbitrary by dwelling on unsolvable moral quandaries and ethical dilemmas. When ethics and morality are thought of primarily in relation to imponderable and exotic issues that have little to do with our everyday lives we get a distorted view of the practical usefulness of core ethical principles.

The complexification of ethics was legitimized by parlor games such as “Scruples,” popular books such as the “Book of Questions” series by Gregory Stock, and the PBS television series “Ethics in America.” “If you could kill someone with your mind and no one would ever find out, would you?” “Would you convict and punish an innocent person if it would prevent a riot and save lives?” “If you are a wartime journalist given a rare chance to go on an enemy patrol mission based on your promise of neutrality and the patrol is about to ambush and kill twelve men, what would you do?”

Discussing these kinds of questions is fun and interesting because there are no clear right or wrong answers — my opinion is as good as yours. Unfortunately what takes place is more likely to be a lively argument featuring an exchange of personal viewpoints rather than a reasoned discussion based on ethical principles. A good test of the value of these discussions is whether they leave the participants more confused or clear about their ethical obligations.

Real ethics is not a game. Ethical discussions should inspire and instruct us to know and do the right thing. Certainly there are gray areas where there is no clear right and wrong, but most decisions in our lives are not so complex. But even complex problems are amenable to a systematic reasoning process based on universal moral truths. Concentrating too much attention on quandaries and dilemmas mischaracterizes the nature of everyday morality and diverts our attention away from mundane challenges to be honest, responsible, fair and caring, to treat others with respect, and to do our share as citizens — the challenges that are the stuff of our lives.

Complexification implicitly encourages people to abandon enduring principles of right and wrong and seek refuge in a self-generated fog of moral uncertainty and personal relativism.

The Morality Side Show. Another source of moral confusion is the way every manner of behavior is presented on a seemingly endless cafeteria line of gaudy television talk shows. Confessions of parents who molested their children, men who beat their wives, wives who became hookers to meet household expenses, executives who embezzled from their companies — all are paraded before us with solemn nonjudgmental objectivity. The gaping character flaws of many soap opera characters and their bizarre, aberrant conduct often are surpassed by shamelessly revealed lives of real people brought into the American home day after day. We are exposed to the intimate details of private relationships and an unending pageant of hatred, envy, revenge, selfishness, despair, and avarice.

The issue here is not what is normal but what is right. We need to ask what constant exposure to outrageous behavior dulls our moral sensibilities and makes us connoisseurs of the worst and the weakest aspects of human nature. As we come to understand more about the men and women who abandon each other and their children for various “I’ve got to be me” reasons, there is a tendency to become more sympathetic and less judgmental. This sympathy may confuse us into thinking that maybe what they did isn’t so bad after all. When you consider the total number of hours consumed by these shows every week, it is easy to see how they begin to affect the ethos in subtle ways.

Consequences

When it comes to imposing consequences for misconduct self-interest rather than compassion tends to dictate our response. We choose to be lenient or to look the other way to avoid the expense or hassle of a tougher course of action. And no wonder. Those who take seriously the responsibility to enforce principles of justice and accountability are often subjected to withering criticism, time and money draining legal proceedings, and even physical threats.

When confronted with fighting, bullying, swearing, back-talking, lying, cheating, or theft, teachers, school administrators, coaches, and other youth-influencing adults can find plenty of excuses to look the other way. Those who take discipline seriously are likely to be yelled at, threatened, or sued. Parents who unquestioningly defend their children who are disciplined create a powerful deterrence to future involvement. Talk to teachers and other youth leaders about enforcing rules and ethical principles more stringently and they are likely to tell you, “It just isn’t worth it.”

Far too often, the people responsible for upholding societal or family values are brow-beaten into surrender. Parents, educators, coaches, employers, and even the courts regularly fail to treat acts of disrespect, irresponsibility, lying, cheating, and theft in a way that unequivocally reinforces ethical principles. Similarly, most companies regularly fail to confront issues such as résumé fraud, lying to customers, and false and misleading internal reports with firmness.

Deterrence. Rational people refrain from improper acts if they think they will suffer negative consequences that exceeds the rewards of such conduct. This is called the principle of deterrence. But how effective have we as a society been in preventing flagrant violence, irresponsibility and dishonesty? Look at the results. What consequences can a juvenile expect if he shoots someone in a driveby, or participates in a gang rape, or robs a store? If caught, which is not probable, what is the certainty of conviction? If convicted, what is the likely severity of the punishment? But forget these extreme acts. What is the likelihood of punishment if a person lies on an insurance claim or a child swears at a teacher or lies to a parent? Apparently, not enough to deter the conduct.

Special Problems in Parenting. In the real world of raising kids, it is easy to rationalize tolerance of unacceptable conduct, and many of us do. It is hard to muster the strength to fight every battle that should be fought in order to cultivate the qualities essential to good character. Children from an early age become adept at exacting a stiff price from those who discipline them — tantrums, sullenness, withdrawal, aggressive hostility sometimes including violence, running away, and self-destructive “I’ll show you” behavior.

The catalog of common youthful offenses includes lying, cheating, theft, bad sportsmanship, persistent denial, blame-shifting, failure to keep commitments or return borrowed property, neglect of chores, unwillingness to pay for damages caused, attempts to evade responsibility, insults and disrespect, vandalism, and violence. This is not new. What is the unwillingness of so many parents to deal firmly with their children’s transgressions. And, to make matters worse, permissive parents undermine conscientious adults by preventing them from filling the gap. Teachers, coaches, or others who seek to enforce high standards of propriety through discipline frequently find parents lined up against them, complaining to administrators or threatening lawsuits.

There was is an essential wisdom in biblical admonition “Spare the rod and spoil the child” and it is not about corporal punishment. It is about consequences, swift, sure and just severe enough to make the point — this conduct will not be tolerated. Don’t misunderstand. I am not advocating severe punishments for children or even longer jail terms for adults. I am simply arguing that we need to more consistently affirm our standards by delivering appropriate consequences — both negative and positive. According to Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler in “Bringing Up a Moral Child” (1994) the most important consequences for children are approval and disapproval. Even as the child grows older the need for approval is powerful, whether it be from peers, teachers, or adult mentors. The thoughtful, honest reactions of an adult who is important to a young person can influence his or her values and behavior.

We must stamp out the belief that an act is wrong only if you are punished. On the other hand we should not lose sight of the fact that in the real world fear of consequences is a primary motivator. If we don’t hold people accountable, if we don’t uphold and aggressively promote core moral principles as enforceable social ground rules, if cheaters are allowed to prosper will discourage the good guys — those who suppress selfish instincts and play by the rules — and encourage the bad guys. Permissiveness and indiscriminate leniency are construed as evidence that the acts committed are not only tolerated but condoned, and the distinction between right and wrong becomes blurred. Unless we back them up with action, our stated values ring hollow.

Accountability

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Ambrose Pierce, a nineteenth-century humorist, defined responsibility, as “A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one’s neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.” Being accountable means accepting responsibility for who we are, and for our character, personalities, attitudes, and weaknesses. Even for our happiness.

The actor Tom Selleck, one of the national spokespersons for the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, likes to say, “I could spend 20 years in therapy and never find anything to blame my parents for.” Accountable people are not blamers. This is becoming an increasingly valued characteristic as it is becoming more rare. Charles J. Sykes in “A Nation of Victims” was one of the first to call our attention to a new American penchant to whine and evade: “Increasingly, Americans act as if they received a lifelong indemnification from misfortune and a contractual release from personal responsibility.”

In contrast, when things go wrong, or not as right as they would have liked, accountable people look for what they could have done differently. Accountable people are in control because they acknowledge the cause-effect relationship between their actions and attitudes and the actions and attitudes of others. If someone reacts to us with hostility, confusion, or cynicism, we should ask ourselves if there is a way of approaching that person that would have created a more positive reaction. This doesn’t mean we let the other people off the hook for their conduct and character, accountable people hold others accountable as well. But blame is not the goal — doing it better the next time is.

While teaching at Loyola Law School I prepared a simulation problem for my negotiation class — with a bit of a twist. The twist was that in the private instructions given to each party, I instructed one side to deliberately seek to annoy the other negotiator by pushing “hot buttons.” The “to be annoyed” side was not informed of this, but instead was told that reaching a settlement was of paramount importance to the client. The assignment for that side was, in effect, “don’t walk away from the negotiation without making a deal.”
In one case I matched a male and female student. I instructed the male to make sexist remarks, to be condescending, and strategically use terms like “honey” and “sweetheart.” As anticipated, the female was furious. She complained that her opponent was offensive and it was unfair to grade her on the negotiating result (which was not very favorable to her client) because she was instructed to settle, regardless — when she would rather have walked out in response to her opponent’s chauvinistic attitude. When I told her that the opposing counsel had instructions to act offensively, she got even madder — at me. I asked her if she had known ahead of time that her opponent was deliberately going to try to upset her by using sexism as a technique would it have changed the way she approached the assignment. She said of course it would have, that if she knew what he was trying to do she wouldn’t have let the comments bother her.

Insight! An accountable person isn’t a victim. In approaching a task, she accepts the personality quirks and offensive mannerisms of other people as part of the problem. Had I told this student from the beginning that her task was to negotiate effectively with a sexist, she would have handled the problem more effectively. When you have a job to do, you can’t walk away just because the other person is irrational or obnoxious. Your assignment is not to negotiate with a person who is obstructing your goal by being irrational; your assignment is to negotiate a favorable settlement with an irrational person. When we characterize our task this way, the things that might prevent us from doing a good job are simply treated an inherent part of the problem. Can a teacher teach kids who come to school tired, unprepared and unmotivated? It is difficult, of course, but that is the task. The materials we select and the techniques we choose should take into account all the obstacles that are likely to hinder our performance. If we can, we remove the disruptive influences. If we can’t, we work with them. Complaining doesn’t help.

This attitude of accountability says, “I can make a situation work even if I have to deal with unfavorable circumstances.” Part of my job is to cope with a boss who is abusive or gives unclear instructions. If I want to preserve my marriage, I have to deal constructively with a mother-in-law who is critical of everything I do. Here’s a good technique of dealing with very difficult people: pretend they have a brain tumor. Assume that they can’t help it. A person with Tourette’s syndrome spontaneously and uncontrollably utters profanities. If you knew this would you be personally offended by the next outburst? Hopefully not. You would take it in stride. Once you accept difficulties as part of the landscape, you can deal with them more effectively and thus become more accountable.

When we look at accountability this way, it is a source of empowerment — and one very much needed by many young people who are convinced that they have no control of their lives.

Fairness

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

How old were you when you first experienced the sting of injustice? Perhaps you were blamed for something you didn’t do or excluded from a club or team because someone didn’t like you? Perhaps you were given a lower grade than you deserved because the teacher had it in for you. Or did you ever experience frustration and moral indignation at not being allowed to explain your side of the story? Beyond these mundane inequities, many of us have experienced the genuine pain and outrage of racial, religious, or gender prejudice. We learned early on that life isn’t always fair or rational. And we know now that this doesn’t change as we become adults. It seems as if we just exchanged arbitrary treatment from parents, teachers, and coaches for that doled out by spouses, lovers, bosses, and co-workers

The workplace is where we tend to feel injustices most acutely, if only because that is where we spend most of our waking hours. When money, competition, and pride are at stake, both petty and serious unfairnesses are common — taking credit for another’s work, shifting blame, inequitable allocation of work load, promotions of the less competent for political reasons. And then there are all those double standards. Some do less work, and what they do isn’t good. They come in late, miss deadlines, and make mistakes. Yet they get the same raise as you. The company has strict rules, but when bosses do something you would get fired for, they receive only a slap on the wrist, if that.

As it happens, what is or is not fair is much more complicated and ambiguous than it seems from the vantage point of the person who feels shortchanged. Even though the underlying concepts of fairness and justice are simple, almost intuitive, applying them in real life proves very difficult. Distinguishing real injustice from self-serving justifications has become harder in recent years. It seems that whenever someone is denied something they want — a job, a promotion, a contract — they file a protest. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “one man’s justice is another’s injustice.”

Fairness is concerned with actions, processes, and consequences, that are morally right honorable, and equitable. In essence, the virtue of fairness establishes moral standards for decisions that affect others. Fair decisions are made in an appropriate manner based on appropriate criteria.

We tend to think and speak in terms of fairness when we are dealing with the behavior of individuals and everyday interpersonal relationships. We talk about justice and equity in the context of broader social issues and institutional obligations to individuals. Yet all three words apply to virtually any situation where we want to judge whether an action contributes to a good, rational, caring society.

Our devotion to justice is deeply ingrained. Aristotle said that “all virtue is summed up in dealing justly,” and the concept is so central to civilized governance that in 1215 the Magna Carta provided that “to none will we . . . deny or delay right or justice.” This reverence for justice is evident in all of America’s founding documents, we even pledge allegiance to a republic that stands for “liberty and justice for all.” Even Superman’s motto, “truth, justice and the American way,” reveals the unbreakable linkage between the pursuit of justice and our national identity. Not surprisingly, we take very seriously our obligation to do justice and rectify injustice as best we can.

Fairness and fair play are less lofty terms than justice or equity yet, on the level on which most of us operate, the desire to be treated fairly and the duty to be fair and play fair are far more relevant.

The moral obligations arising from the core ethical value of fairness are almost always associated with the exercise of power to render judgments that bestow benefits or impose burdens. Almost everyone has the power to give or withhold benefits (including approval, praise, honor, and support) and to impose burdens (including disapproval, criticism, blame, and condemnation). Parents, teachers, employers, college administrators, building inspectors, and innumerable others make daily judgments that significantly affect our lives.

The moral duty to be fair places constraints on our judgments and actions. There are two aspects of fairness: fair results (substantive fairness) and fair procedures (procedural fairness).

Substantive Fairness

In general, a fair result is one in which people receive what they are due and what they deserve, their just deserts. Unfortunately, there are no agreed to criteria to determine what a person “deserves.” Different contexts and political ideologies yield different and often incompatible criteria for substantive fairness. Some argue that true fairness is equality (each person receives an equal share of benefits and burdens). Others believe the better criterion is merit (those who are most competent and who produce the most deserve the most). Still others believe that benefits should be allocated based on need and burdens on the ability to carry them. Other theories of “distributive justice” include resource allocation based on effort, social contribution, seniority, and legal rights.

The wide variety of approaches to fairness means that for every decision there will be people who claim it is unfair. And they’re right —according to their personal criteria. Thus, in making difficult decisions that affect several stakeholders who have conflicting interests, it is impossible to come to a single, indisputably fair result. Nor is it possible to satisfy everyone. Generally, those who consider themselves winners in the decision will consider the result just, and those who see themselves as losers consider it unjust. This observation suggests three important rules about the fairness of decisions.

First, since disagreement and criticism are inevitable we must content ourselves with doing our very best to reach a fair judgment based on personal conscience and ethically justifiable standards of fairness. If you need to be liked or approved of by everyone, avoid accepting any responsibility that requires tough choices. Charges of unfairness come with the territory.

Second, we should be clear in our own minds about the criteria of fairness we are using and let others know, ahead of time if possible, what those standards are. For example, in making a hiring decision, we evaluate “qualifications” and make comparisons. It is helpful to everyone if we know and disclose what we think is relevant and irrelevant to the decision and, if we can, how we rank various factors. It is likely, for example, that all of the applicants will have one or more attributes that they think should be given great weight — seniority, experience, academic credentials, a proven track record, excellent references, evident potential, good interpersonal skills, blood kinship to the president of the company, etc.

In addition, a fair decision has to weigh deficiencies or blemishes. Applicants tend to believe that flaws in their competitors should be fatal while minimizing their own shortcomings — absenteeism, lack of pertinent experience, erratic personal relationships, a drinking problem, an opinionated personality, a bad reference, etc. In fact, all of these positive and negative factors are potentially relevant. With so many potentially relevant factors, any decision will be arbitrary unless there is some orderly way to sort and rank the issues. And though any good-faith decision that balances the strengths and weaknesses of candidates according to stated criteria is fair, one must still expect charges of unfairness from those who weigh the factors differently. The third rule in making decisions is that the procedures used must be and appear to be fair. In many cases, a judgment is defended primarily in terms of the process used to reach it. In effect, one can argue that a fair process always yields an ethically justifiable result.

Procedural Fairness

Fairness requires that the process of decision making reveals a conscious concern with reaching a fair, just, and equitable result. Decisions should be made, and should appear to be made, carefully, honestly, and objectively, with the knowledge that even a process of the greatest integrity does not always produce certainty and that something less will have to do.

There are two major types of decisions that are subjected to the scrutiny in terms of fairness: comparative selections (whom to hire or fire, which applicant to admit to medical school, who should be cut from the team) and factual determinations, often of an accusatory nature (did a person lie, cheat, or steal). Though personal and business matters should not be encumbered with the formal due process requirements of a court case, there are five principles derived from the judicial system that help assure fairness: notice of the standards by which a person will be judged, impartiality of the decision maker; thoroughness in gathering facts; in cases concerning blame or punishment, the opportunity of the accused to be heard; and careful evaluation based on an appropriate standard of persuasion.

Suppose you have good reason suspect, but are not sure, that your child lied to you; that your mate cheated on you, that your baby-sitter molested your child, or that your employee came to work intoxicated. How do you deal with these matters fairly, short of having a full-blown trial?

1. Fair Notice. First, you should determine whether the person accused had fair notice that the conduct was wrong. In the case of lying, cheating, and stealing, this is not a problem, but more technical violations, such as accepting improper gifts or using company assets, require more inquiry. If you deter mine that the person knew or should have known about the proper standards of conduct, further action on your part is fair. If, however, you decide that the person did not know and reasonably could not be expected to know of a rule, fairness may dictate nothing stronger than a warning.

2. Impartiality. Second, you should be sure you are a fair and impartial judge. This means you are willing to suspend judgment until all the information is in. It also means you have to set aside any conclusions you may have made and clear your mind of prejudice (prejudging) or predispositions about the person or issues involved.

3. Gather Facts. Third, you must make reasonable efforts to gather facts. Thoroughness without being compulsive is important. What do you actually know? Are there ambiguities that can be clarified? If you are making comparisons do you have sufficient information on each candidate concerning the factors you think are most important? If you are adjudicating facts, is there any way of confirming your suspicions or the accused’s claim of innocence without unduly embarrassing that person (a significant injustice could result simply from disclosing your suspicions to others)?

4. Fair Hearing. Fourth, in an accusatory setting you should allow the person accused an opportunity to tell his or her side of the story. This means confronting the accused with your suspicions and the facts or inferences you have to back them up. The “right of confrontation” is not only an essential Constitutional safeguard in criminal cases, it is a fundamental prerequisite of fairness in personal and business relationships. What is worse than discovering that you have been judged a liar, a cheat or a thief without a chance to stand up for yourself? The confrontation phase can be informal but it should allow the person to explain, clarify, and ask questions, and you must listen with a truly open mind.

5. Evaluation. Finally, you must carefully weigh and evaluate all the information you have, separating facts from opinions and opinions from speculation. Don’t be afraid to draw reasonable inferences but know when you have done so and the premises on which you base your conclusion. Before you reach a judgment you have to take up the issue of burden of proof. Does the accused person have to persuade you that he did not do it or do you have to be persuaded that he did? In most cases, if you are assigning blame or imposing a punishment, the “innocent until proven guilty” maxim of criminal law is the proper standard. That doesn’t mean, however, that you need to be convinced “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In most matters it is quite enough that after considering the facts, you are persuaded that the person did or did not do whatever it is he is suspected of doing or in comparative judgments that the balance of the evidence supports your decision.

Generally, the higher the stakes in terms of consequences to the accused, the higher level of certainty you should have. For example, your confidence in the person who takes care of your baby is so important that even small, lingering doubts may be enough to persuade you that you don’t want this person around your baby any longer. On the other hand, your level of confidence in the baby-sitter’s guilt should be considerably higher if you are going to report the matter to the police or make a damaging public accusation (something you may have a moral duty to do for the sake of other children and other parents). Similarly, if an inquiry into an employee’s drinking is likely to result in counseling, you don’t need to be as convinced as you should be if the employee will be fired.

Principles of Fairness

Fairness requires that we:

• Treat all people equitably based on their merits and abilities and handle all essentially similar situations similarly and with consistency.

• Make all decisions on appropriate criteria, without undue favoritism or improper prejudice.

• Never blame or punish people for what they did not do, and appropriately sanction those who violate moral obligations or laws.

• Promptly and voluntarily correct personal and institutional mistakes and improprieties.

• Not take unfair advantage of people’s mistakes or ignorance.

• Fully consider the rights, interests, and perspectives of all stakeholders, approach judgments with open-minded impartiality (setting aside prejudices and predispositions), conscientiously gather and verify facts, provide critical stakeholders with an opportunity to explain or clarify, and carefully evaluate the information.

Author: Michael Josephson

Center for Business Ethics

When is a job not a job...when it's a scam...you've been warned!

2011-04-21T03:43:00.000-07:00

Federal agencies are targeting a number of scam operations that they believe prey on jobless Americans' desperation by offering them work at home schemes, access to supposedly hidden job listings and other too-good-to-be-true opportunities that require significant costs and provide little return.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has the authority to shut down business operations in a company it believes is using deceptive practices, has already done so at about a dozen companies, according to the Washington Post. The Justice Department, the Postal Inspection Service and various state law enforcement agencies have also participated in the year-long sweep, named "Operation Empty Promises." During that time, the Justice Department has won 48 cases regarding job scams, the Postal Inspection Service brought seven civil actions and state authorities investigated 28 cases, according to the news source.

Scams can actually begin with the best of intentions. A startup with little seed money will still need various levels of expert workers to create a viable business venture. The problem begins with promises. As an example, you're hired into an IT position that includes weekly wage guarantees. No commission and is not under the auspices of Independent Contractor.

So we are happier than pigs in sh*# at this point. Payday comes along and we are informed, gosh we don't quite have the money now but all our Angel and VC talks are looking great for funding. If you just give us 2 more weeks, we will pay you for sure.....AND throw in a bonus for being so patient.

2 Weeks later we walk through the CEO's door and inquire as to our pending VC windfall. Oh my gosh you will never guess what happened? It fell through (because the CEO is marginal at best and due diligence is a deal killer. But guess what folks? Because you're hanging in there like troopers, you're getting a raise and bonus for your trouble.

An obvious point is management knows without question that the company will only secure funds through passing the requisite gauntlet that is due diligence.

This dubious facade continues for some time. And..at this point the car and house are most likely to end up fond memories. There was a time when integrity meant something. Back to our story...

It's now 10 months later. You've been promised the world. You have worked your way up to the corporate infrastructure. You've been promised the first born of your choice. Hell, you're making 100,000.00 on paper. Yet where is it?

And you know managements response"Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out". So now Mr. CEO has secured a whopping 3,300 for payroll, cleaning, etc. Even with a contract, If the company can't pay you, you're in a smaller boat and it's sinking fast.

The company knows quite well they will not have funds to pay you for your time with them. They now owe you around 90,000.00. Kiss it goodbye. The company never gets funded and you next visit the authorities, i.e. Labor Commission to file another complaint.

What is our recourse? Education, research, and a much better understanding of contract law.

Our tech has made a total of less the 2000.00 in 1 year. Sales people averages were negligible.

The company is called MapWide, Inc. (mapwide.com) and integrity alone should dissuade too much future business. They will get what is coming to them. In the meantime, scores of people have lost their retirement and or life savings. Tip of the day: AVOID this firm like the plague. Unless volunteering is your thing.

Article authored and researched by Chris Borowski; former CIO at MapWide, Inc.

Author's Note: I'm not bitter as this was a genuine learning experience for which I've gleaned invaluable insight into how not to run a company. My sincere appreciation to the good Doctor for teaching me what business needs to be a success. A muzzle makes a great start. Enjoy your pending education of California's Labor Employee protective services. See you there!

Leadership and Business

2011-03-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Companies go out of business and suffer huge losses for many different reasons. We usually don't get the full story when it comes to these situations. Many of them have to do with people in leading positions, with very poor leadership skills. Recognizing someone in the workplace in a leading role, with poor leadership skills is fairly easy.

An executive lacking leadership skills is someone who often reprimands employees out of anger or with an angry tone. A true leader very seldom feels the need to lose their cool with the people who work for them. They do not treat their employees like children. Leaders know that their success comes when they have a team of people who are willing to follow them and not forced to follow them. When employees just come to work to collect a paycheck, it affects the success of the company, usually in a negative way. True leaders know this, which is why they will try to create a pleasant, focused work environment for their employees.

Managers or executives with poor leadership skills always demand results with no intention of getting involved themselves. True leaders lead by example and have no problem getting their hands dirty if necessary. Poor leaders also despise employees who get results by taking initiative. Poor leaders don't like it when people succeed outside of their written agendas. True leaders are always open to new ideas and strategies, and don't get upset when a person doesn't follow their system to a T, as long as they are achieving their goals legally.

Executives who lack leadership skills fail to address the questions and concerns of their team members. Poor leaders will view most of their team members as insignificant anyway. They will usually have their favorites and treat all others with a level of disdain. When an employee has a complaint, a poor leader will let that person believe that something will be done, yet fail to take any action regarding it. True leaders know that their team is only as strong as their weakest link, and make efforts to build up and encourage all employees who need it.

Executives are responsible for managing a team of driven employees to success. While all managers and executives are aware of this, many fail to properly handle their roles as leaders. Good leaders never try to use a negative approach to get positive results. Good leaders are never close minded to new methods and strategies in this ever changing world. Good leaders never view their team members in an insignificant manner. Company executives with poor leadership skills tend to unintentionally stir up strife within their companies. Good leaders know that a house divided against itself, cannot stand.

Business & Social Media: Are we on the same page?

2011-03-07T00:27:00.000-08:00

There are a growing number of misconceptions about the place of social media networking and business promotion. It is important to address these concerns as studies show that more and more businesses are joining the groundswell of those companies that are moving to establish a presence in these networks.

Studies show that ever growing numbers of small business owners plan to establish a social media networking strategy. Business owners of all sizes of companies feel that this new form of marketing has many different advantages.

Some of these advantages are:

It allows companies to market online in a cost effective way.

It utilizes few resources beyond the time needed to maintain it.

It has a successful and proven record of being able to generate leads.

It allows smaller businesses to keep up with what their larger competitors are doing, in their industry.

It allows businesses to have an online dialog about what they can offer to their potential customers.

Despite all of these listed benefits, there are still several myths that abound about how to best use social media networking. In order to effectively use this marketing tool, business owners should be aware of them and the information they need to dispel them.

Here the myths of social media networking and business:

Every business must use social media networking Recent studies have shown that almost 1/3 of small businesses don't use social media networking, simply because their customers do not. This is at the core of what social media networking really is, in other words if your customers are not there, there is no reason, for you to be there either. Businesses need to plan their marketing strategy to find where their potential target market is, wherever that may be.

Do not fall into the trap of rushing onto social media networks and launching without having a plan. It is crucial to spend enough time doing research, and making sure that first, you need to be there, and second, when you are there you have the right plan.

Experts recommend that one of the first things you do is get on these sites and see what is going on. Then you can begin to collect data as to whether your business needs to be promoted on that site.

However, it is important to keep in mind that not only are you looking, for any information about your business; you should also be looking for any information that pertains to the product or service you sell. Any information that can help you promote your product and/or service is a reason to have a presence on social media networks.

You just set up your social media networking and then move on To many companies think that once they establish an online marketing presence, on these sites they are done. This is far from the truth. Someone within the company needs to be responsible, for the upkeep and maintenance of these sites.

Companies that fail to do this, often find themselves with a public relations nightmare on their hands, when they do return to check on their social media networking sites. You should also make sure that any presence you have on social media networks, connects with your website and any other pertinent information. The bottom line however, is to make sure that whatever your social media strategy it should fit with your overall business goals and be manageable, all at the same time.

You can only use social media networking to get your message out Do not make the mistake of assuming that social media networking is only for getting your message out. The very nature of social media networking makes it a conversation. Your potential customers want to know that what they are saying is being heard and acted on, and they don't want to be preached or oversold to.

Good marketing is about establishing a relationship and social media networking, when done right allows you to do just that.

A Short on Behavior Based Search

2011-02-23T02:13:00.000-08:00

An interesting conversation on behavior based search.

Dr. Ralph's Marketing Series

Value Added Content: Article Marketing

2011-02-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

Article marketing is fast becoming a marketing strategy on the Internet. Article marketing is defined as a method of advertising where business enterprises write articles featuring a topic related in the industry they are competing in. Well-written articles are effective for building website traffic, bringing in potential clients and leads into the website, and improving the business’s credibility.

Because of this marketing trend, article writing services are proliferating on the internet. Currently, there are countless freelance writers who write articles on a wide range of topics and submit them to an Article Directory. Article writers who want to be competitive and proficient in the field of article marketing must learn a few tips on how to write and submit articles the right way.

Differentiate your article from competitor articles

Currently there is an influx of article submissions all over the Internet that are featured in different article directories. You must learn to make your article and your writing services stand out from the rest. Research your competitors so you know what articles they offer and the strategies they are using.

You can find out about this from article directory websites. It is also a good idea to frequent social networking sites, blogs, online forums, and be up to date with trending topics online so you’ll know what people are currently interested in. All this research will help you pick out a good topic to write about and teach you how you can make your article different from all the other articles.

Use a targeted submission campaign for your articles

A lot of writers make the mistake of using a scatter shot approach of their submission campaign. Targeted campaigns are more successful because they are able to target a particular group of audience and draw them in.

When you have identified a target audience it will be easier for you to write articles with content specifically targeted to spark interest from that audience. Make sure that you thoroughly perform keyword analysis and search engine optimization so you will know exactly how to use these with your campaign strategy.

Make sure your articles are filled with accurate and comprehensive information about the business you are representing as well.

Choose the best places to submit your articles

Effective article marketing does not end in writing a good quality and unique article; you should also know where to submit the article you have written. Choose websites, article directories, and newsletters that are not only credible but are known to have thousands of targeted website visitors every day.

Do not waste your efforts and potential on websites that have poor reputations or poor quality articles. The method of advertising a product or service through writing articles is not a new approach in traditional marketing, but it is defining the marketing strategies of the online world. To use this approach effectively, one must be able to know the right way to write and submit articles. Remember the blogs, forums, and chat-rooms as well. For startups, like computech247.com, this process is invaluable.

Why Businesses Succeed....or Fail

2011-01-27T20:50:00.000-08:00

The ‘Internet Economy’ is a lucrative field today, with success stories such as Steve Wozniak and Apple computers and Sabeer Bhatia’s Hotmail. Naturally, everyone wants to get a share of these much ‘touted’ e-commerce profits. However, to succeed in the online world, businesses need to know all the possible causes of failure, even though it seems like an exercise in pessimism.

These are the common reasons why many startup e-businesses fail:

1) Stale ideas Web businesses that have nothing new to offer, and are mere clones of an already successful business, don’t succeed. Does your e-business sell a product that is innovative? Is there something completely new about your social networking website? The key to avoid typecasting is to stay fresh. Look for problems and needs that you can solve.

2) Not defining your customer The first rule in selling is to know your customer. Some startup e-businesses offer a variety of services and products, not knowing the profile of the users. As a result, they cannot offer tailor-made services for any specific age group or nature of target audience. And this reduces the chances of succeeding.

3) Ineffective Marketing The best marketing strategy is a well calculated plan. Marketing is the backbone of any business. A web site that has been creatively marketed without any regard to user acquisition costs might become cost ineffective.

For example, even buying keyword ads is a complex process. A good entrepreneur buys keywords that people most frequently use in searches while having high relevance and low competing advertisers.

A common mistake most businesses make while cost cutting, is not hiring professional marketing consultants. They work on instinct, and their marketing plans lack a well researched strategy. This makes their marketing strategies ineffective. So the websites they make have inadequate SEO, SEM, and low virality, which results in low traffic to their website.

4) Poor web designing Today, most websites seem like clones. Businesses make compromises while designing their web pages. They use free software and badly designed user interfaces. So, first-time visitors find the home page unattractive and it fails to register in their minds. It is highly unlikely they will ever go back to a web site that’s hard to navigate, is poorly designed and does not offer them something interactive.

A person who wants to use an online personalized gift services will look at several companies that provide the service. He is likely to choose the site which gets the first rule of ‘catching eyeballs’ right, more so when you are dealing with the business of ‘feel-good’- gifts.

Web businesses with cluttered, badly color coordinated websites, which have long download time and unclear navigational tools don’t work. Only professionally designed, well branded websites, with original and relevant content can be effectively marketed.

Given these reasons, it is best to employ the services of a web designing company to ensure significant online presence or hire good programmers!

5) Lack of web analysis Web Designing Vs Web Development. Web analysis is a process of analyzing the behavior of visitors to a website and then enhancing and modifying the features of the website to maintain and increase the traffic. Many web businesses design a website and then forget about it; and the resources invested in web designing go waste. Such e-businesses have no feedback regarding their website, as a result of which they cannot maintain a competitive edge.

6) No Networking An entrepreneur needs to be friendly and people-focused. It is good to have an extended professional and personal network, before launching a web business. Web businesses that de-prioritize good partner and interpersonal relationships lose out in the long run.

7) Bad time and money management A failed web business means that the founders have not managed their finances well. It includes over-spending or ineffective spending. Such individuals overlook the basic tenet of every business- time is money. They spend a lot of time bargaining for small cost reductions, while delaying launching time and other activities vital to growth in the world of start-ups.

The most important thing that leads to failed web businesses is lack of commitment and passion towards the work. Such people may know all the theoretical pitfalls that they can encounter, yet put in a half hearted effort to avoid them when confronted in the practical world. Hence, they continue to fail. Some businesses are fortunate. They feel a lot of pain but ultimately persevere to success.

Building a Strong Customer Relationship

2011-01-03T19:37:00.000-08:00

Building customer relationships is very important in today's developed market where product, price and quality are roughly comparable. Market research has shown that consumers put their money on organizations which they feel 'care' for them. Let us look at some of the ways which can help an organization in building customer relationships.

How Important is it?

"Although your customers won't love you if you give bad service, your competitors will". We all know that a customer's satisfaction or happiness makes or breaks an organization. This is one of the reasons all the management gurus focus on building customer relationships. Often companies feel that the customer left them because the competitor was providing them a better price for the product, but studies have shown that customers leave because they think that their current company hardly cares for them. If you stay in touch with a customer through phone calls, e-mails, newsletters, etc., without selling them anything, you are telling them indirectly that 'I care for you' and when the time comes to buy something from the market, chances are that the customer will buy something from you to reciprocate the gesture. Having an effective customer relationship helps in people-to-people marketing.

Creating a Bond

Personalize the Relationship. One of the golden rules of business is "customers don't buy products, they buy you". Be helpful to anyone entering your store/office. Always greet them with a smile. This encourages them and helps in setting a positive vibe between you and the customer. If you are contacting your customer over the phone, always ask if it is the right time to talk. Always start the conversation with a general topic and then gradually move to the main purpose of the call. Remembering a customer's preferences also helps as the customer gets the feeling that this person knows a thing or two about me which in turn increases the chances of a sale.

Take Feedback. After the customer has bought your product, make it a point to call him up and ask him how did he find the product. You can make it a point to call them every month. Listen to their suggestions and feedbacks carefully, because most of the times the suggestions/ feedbacks are the unwanted needs of the customer which if not met, can make the customer leave you for your competitors.

Keep your Word. Always keep your word as there is nothing more upsetting for a customer than a failed promise. If there is a delay in the shipment of the product, first thing to do is inform the customer. This is much better than the customer taking the day off from work, waiting for the product to come and then coming to know that there is a delay. Chances are customer will be frustrated and yell 'cancel the whole thing altogether, I don't wanna order it'. Instead, call the customer beforehand and apologize for the inconvenience, but do let him the cause for the delay. Customers do really appreciate that.

Appreciate their Loyalty. Sometimes words are not enough to make a customer believe that you are really there for him. If the customer has been buying products from you, it is time you offer him discount coupons, membership plans etc. This helps in building a strong image of your company in the minds of consumers. And nothing brings more smile on the faces of customers rather than the thought of paying only half the price for the product!

Innovate. Building customer relationships through effective marketing also helps in keeping your customers well-informed. The marketing strategies have changed with the advent of various social networking sites and blogs. Therefore, it is essential for an organization to adapt to these changes to progress in the competitive market.

Challenges in Building Customer Relationships

One can't deny the fact that every theory, every idea faces some challenges when it is implemented. Let us take a look at some of the challenges an organization may face while building customer relationships.

Lack of Commitment. The organizations can lay down the structure and the policies to build relationships with customers, but employees are the ones who have to execute the policies. If employees are holistic towards a customer friendly approach, then there is little scope for the organization to build a customer friendly environment.

Poor Communication. It is very important to get the message across to the customers in a proper way. For example, if the product the customer is asking for is out of stock, then the employee needs to be apologetic to the customer and can give an approximate time-frame by which the product is expected to be back in stock. Being insensitive to customer's emotions drives them away.

Weak Leadership. If the leader is skeptic about the benefits of a customer-focused plan, it is unwise to expect that the employees will carry it out in the desired fashion. The leader should follow with an example. An effective leadership can really turn things around in the favor of an organization.

Building customer relationship is essential for the long term interest of an organization. In fact, businesses today have changed the buyer-seller equation and organizations are focusing more on building customer relationships and partnerships. With all these new customer focused policies, customers surely are going to feel like 'kings'.

Local Businesses Need Local Search - Avoid MapWide

2010-12-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

Economies around the world are dependent on small local businesses. All businesses exist for profits, but local businesses strive more often, to get the patronage of its local residents. Every business owner wants to get ahead of everyone else; and as a result, stiff competition prevails among them. As we keep doing business with one in our neighborhood, most owners are getting creative with their marketing efforts. They are looking into using the search engines to spike sales at little cost depending on their objectives. The basic thrust is rooted in the idea that “your customers are looking for you.” So, here are some ways for your local business to be found:

* Major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) provide map applications for you to claim your listing and map your address. Do include other important information about your business. Specific local search advertising is the next huge advertising bonanza for small business

* When you are claiming a listing and creating an account, enter as many relevant details and upload as much significant content as possible. It’s important that you consider photos, videos and information most valuable to your customer such as video testimonials, photos of your place and so on.

Completing all details of your listing ensures that it has a good chance of rising to the top and that no one else can put in false information.

* A website is unnecessary if you use the local advertising model because they create a “mini-site” for you to help achieve quality ranking. A business address and contact number are all that you need to get listed and increase your search engine position.

* Data regarding your listing can be accessed through search engine tools. You can monitor the times your listing came up and analyze what people are clicking.

Building a website is relatively easy if you want to go that route and offers some advantages for your business. But it’s important to consider that websites are now a means for people to reach an informed decision. This makes it more relevant than if it were just a call for action tool.

SEO will benefit local search and the following should be given some thought:

* Include your city

Sometimes, the difference from a 7-figure Google search results and a manageable 100,000 is a result of phrasing of the keywords or choosing the right keywords in the first place. It all seems a bit daunting. Sometimes the local businesses best bet is just subscribing to a local search engine, preferably vertical in nature, and have the work done for you. Adding your city or region (i.e. Attorneys + Chicago IL) will streamline the search process for your prospects.

Your next step involves creating some pages written around your target phrases and specific city. Always make sure it’s well written and it contains both the keywords and some city-related phrases. Use the target phrases in the Title as well.

* Use your zip code

Using your specific zip code will get you rewarded with a higher placement. Guidelines for SEO using zip codes are similar to SEO using specific cities.

* Optimizing benefits of online review sites

Getting low cost online advertising is possible! You can consider a positive review about your business as proof that it can be effective and used for vigorous promotion of your business. Online review sites like MapWide.com can kill your premium rankings. Go not get involved with the scam that is Mapwide.

Profound Paradigm Shift Seen in Local Business Marketing

2010-12-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

If you've been contemplating where to put your advertising dollar for maximum traction, this may be an eye opener. Local search is big and getting bigger. If you’re a small brick and mortar business, there really is no other place you should be investing in. Local search is the future of small business marketing.

Everyone reading this most likely understands that the Internet is now the primary source of marketing in the U.S. and the world, an untapped medium for small and medium size businesses.

However, did you know TV and radio marketing that was previously known to be very effective, has become a feckless form of advertising? Those radio and TV ads that were once very popular are now being ignored to the tune of 90% of consumers!

Conventional mass marketing is a fallen soldier. People are moving to the Internet for information, ratings, and reviews in droves. This will continue to be the trend for the foreseeable future. It will continually change, especially with the expansion of smart phones, but as a whole, the Internet will only get bigger.

What is the good news? This transformation provides an "even playing field" for the small guy. The Fortune 500 companies no longer own the advertising medium, it belongs to anyone willing to put forth the effort.

I took the liberty to extrapolate some quick and rather startling facts on local search:

· 90% skip TV Ads

· 6 out of 10 ignore online Ads

· 60% of online consumers seek ratings and reviews prior to purchasing

· 1/4 of consumers are impacted by what they read

· 93% of American believe their companies should social network

· 35% of all U.S. searches are local

· 2.8 Billion local searches on Google per DAY

What is the key takeaway? Don't advertise, advise the consumer. Engage your audience with meaningful information about your products or services. Consumers no longer react favorably to mass media, namely TV, radio and online ads getting shoved down their throats. It just doesn't work that way anymore.

Consumers now control the content, not mass marketing companies. And fortunately, it isn't difficult to make your mark. Simply provide your customers with information they seek, allow them to see you as the authority for the product or service. By doing this, you not only will gain potential customers, you will be establishing Brand. In this light, where are you now?

Are you firmly planted in a solid vertical, industry specific search engine? There are several out there at present. Only one comes to mind as the solid leader in this small business bonanza. was MapWide Inc. they were a startup that appears to have the necessary value added components to drive local customers through the door. Sheer management incompetence has destroyed what was once the next big tech company. Do not use this company.

By now you must know that local search marketing is huge and getting only bigger. Take your business to a new level by providing quality content about your product or service and building your brand at the same time. The time is now. Those who linger will lose out on the lion share of this burgeoning market.

Overcoming the Price Objection

2010-12-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

"I just can't afford it". "My budget won't allow for that kind of expenditure". I'm sure these and similar statements rank in the top three objections your potential customer uses to end the sales process. There are those times when it's actually true. In most situations, however, it's conveying something else entirely. Such as, "I don't have enough information yet to make an informed decision." Tell me more".

Too many of the people with whom we deal are paid to get the best deal they can. And that means asking for a better price, even when they know they are getting a great deal. And, human nature being what it is, it's only natural for many people to try to get the best price that they can.

That being said, it is still possible to reduce the number of times we hear it, and, perhaps more importantly, it is possible to reduce the intensity of the comment. In other words, we may still hear it, but many of our customers won't mean it as intensely as they once did.

While we can't control our customers, we can control our behavior. And many times it's our behavior that prompts the customer to ask for a discount. By changing our behavior, we can impact the customer. Here are five specific strategies to help you prevent the price objection, by focusing on our behavior.

1. Look like you are worth more.

Our appearance impacts the customer's subconscious view of our value. If we look like we don't value ourselves, it's natural for the customer to assume the same about our product.

If you look confident, competent and successful, you send the subtle message to your customer that you, and your offering, is worth a little more. You just look like you are less likely to discount your price in order to get the order. Practically speaking, that means to dress like your customer, only a little better. Project a demeanor of a successful, confident salesperson.

2. Believe in your price/value relationship.

Do you believe that your offer represents a good value to the customer? If you don't, it will be difficult for you to convince the customer of it. You don't have to believe that your product is the best or that your company is the best. You just have to believe that it is a good value, giving the customer his or her money's worth. More people buy Fords than buy BMWs. It's not about being the best; it's about a good value.

This can be difficult if you, in your personal life, are a bargain shopper. If you refuse to pay the asking price for anything and won't buy it if it's not on sale, then you'll have a difficult time convincing your customer to pay the full price for what you are selling. Your core beliefs will influence your behavior, and be communicated to the customer in a number of subtle ways.

To counteract that tendency, carefully examine the offer you are making from the customer's point of view. Do whatever it takes to convince yourself that it is a good value to the customer, worth every penny the customer will pay.

3. Don't inadvertently sow the seeds.

Sometimes we can blindly sow the seeds of discontent with our stated price by our poor choice of language. For example, when we say things like, "This is our retail price," "This is our rack rate," "This is list price," or other such terms, we immediately convey to the customer that there are other, lower prices, available.

We have inadvertently encouraged the customer to ask for a discount. The word "price" doesn't need an adjective to describe it.

4. Don't advertise your willingness to discount.

Sometimes, in our eagerness to make the sale, we advertise our willingness to make price concessions in order to secure the business. We say things like, "We'd be happy to discuss pricing with you." Or, "We may be able to do better." Or, "If you give me the last look, I may be able to sharpen the pencil."

5. Be careful about discounting but be prepared to do so .

If you discount your prices in response to a customer's request, on even one occasion, you have conveyed to the customer the idea that your quoted price is not your final price. Now, forever in the future, the customer will remember that you can discount when pressed. He will, therefore, press for discounts. If, however, you never discount from your quoted price or you establish a price that is customized for that client, you convey that there is some integrity in your pricing, and that you are quoting him your best price and you're willing to adjust for their particular needs or constraints.

It's OK, on some occasions, to walk away from a piece of business rather than to discount in order to get it. The net impact is that the customer respects your pricing, and is less likely in the future to ask for a discount. Then again, a discount might be the only way to secure a deal. In businesses that are just beginning to establish a price point, experimentation might be necessary to find the optimal range. If you have a vast amount of potential clients out there then promotional pricing should be part of the strategy.

If you get almost every deal, your prices aren't sufficiently high. You need to lose some in order to gain the customer's respect as well as a sense of where the market price is. No matter how you look at a price point, the bottom line is the sale.

I've often thought that the idea of asking for the opportunity for a "last look" – which most salespeople strive for and proudly proclaim as proof of a good business relationship – is merely another way of saying that you'll discount the most. Why would the customer give you a "last look" if he wasn't expecting you to discount some more?

It's so easy to complain about the customer and the constant pressure to reduce our prices. It's the thoughtful salesperson who understands that our own behavior can often be the cause of the price objection. Change your behavior, and you'll improve your results. As you’re looking at yourself, don’t forget to look at who you’re selling to as well. Some businesses are genuinely constrained in the amount they can spend. It is up to you to decide if this is a valid concern.

Functional Organization: A Perspective

2010-12-02T03:50:00.000-08:00

Every organization functions on some basic principles and a particular structure. Working by the principles of a particular organizational structure enables the achievement of a common goal, i.e., growth and development of the organization and the employees that comprise it. Assigning tasks, dividing and executing them, and working together to attain specific goals is possible in any organizational culture that functions on a structured hierarchy.

There are different types of organizational structures namely, the flat organizational structure, matrix organizational structure, a divisional organizational structure, pre-bureaucratic, bureaucratic, and post-bureaucratic structure, and a functional organizational structure. It is the functional organizational structure that we will discuss in detail, here.

Functional Organizational Design

A functional organization is designed on a strong hierarchy where the positions and functions of each employee are clearly specified. There are superiors and there are subordinates, and all of them have a particular function to perform towards the common goal. The organization may be divided into individual departments, where each department has a specific function, and all departments function individually to execute a project.

Depending on the requirement of the organization, the type and function of each department will be decided. Thus, when an employee is appointed in the organization, based on her/his skills, she/he will be designated to the appropriate department. By grouping employees with similar skills, a department is formed to comprise a functional organizational structure. All departments are governed by one sole authority, and all functions are monitored and coordinated by this authority.

The functional organizational culture is most appropriate when an organization functions around only one product or service. Functional organizational structure examples would include organizations that have individually functioning units such as human resources, sales and marketing, creative departments, accounts and finance, advertising, etc. Let's take into consideration a store that designs and sells fashion clothing and accessories. Here, there will be a creative department that makes the designs. It will be the job of the accounts and finance department to keep a tab on the amount spent on creating the design and for bulk manufacturing. This is essentially where a company focused on a service such as local search would fall.

The sales and marketing department will come up with specific plans to sell the products in question, the human resources department will ensure that employees are functioning to their highest potential, and the advertising department will come up with creative methods of attracting the consumer. All these activities will be governed by the president and mid-level managers of the organization. More products will lead to the creation of more departments and deeper hierarchies. Every department will have many other functions to perform, but these are the basic functions of each department.

While this may be the ideal setup in the functional organizational structure and design, it is possible that one or more of these jobs will be outsourced to external organizations. So, in terms of a functional organizational structure chart, the organization would look like this:

Functional Organizational Structure: Advantages

An organization based on the functional structure has a lot of advantages to offer. These have been enlisted here.Since this structure is primarily based on intense specialization, it is believed that the functional structure will elicit only the best from each department.When employees with similar interests are grouped together, they are likely to be more productive.

Providing instruction and executing various projects becomes simple because of the sound linear structure. Each employee has a defined career path and has potential to grow within her/his department in the organization.

Functional Organizational Structure: Disadvantages

As with any method of functioning, this organizational structure also has numerous disadvantages.The functional structure is the most bureaucratic and formal organizational structure because of the rigid hierarchy it follows. Every decision then, takes time to materialize. Communication across departments becomes difficult because all of them are so distinct from each other.

Another disadvantage of this specialized approach to functioning in an organization is that the viewpoint of every department is narrow and limited, which does not allow them to see the bigger picture and work efficiently towards a common goal.

Finally, it can be said that among the various types of organizational structures a functional organizational structure is most suited to organizations that do not change their methods of work and function too often, and where there is lack of intense competition that requires quick action. This structure requires a very powerful management that can resolve internal conflicts and issues, and get employees to function as a team in spite of specialized departments.

Further, it is ideal in a smaller setup where there is only one product or service to offer. For a larger setup, this structure may not prove very helpful.

Leadership: A Battle Strategy

2010-11-20T02:38:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing to believe the people leading you into that metaphorical battle has his or her next steps planned out and ready to execute on command. How is this accomplished? Is there really a grand scheme by which every move made has an anchor? We'd like to think that to be sure. Success involves executing a well thought out strategy that has been thoroughly scrutinized. This is my take on how a well run business might do this.

Traditional Planning Methods

The traditional way for government organizations to plan is for a group of people, usually executives/management, but sometimes including employees, to get together for some period of time each year. Generally, inadequate time is allocated to the exercise, but if it is completed, it results in a document that contains a mission statement, broad organizational goals, and other elements as is deemed appropriate. Then, the plan is usually hidden away somewhere, never to be seen again. Traditional methods yield traditional results. As a wise man once said "If you keep doing what you have been doing, you will get what you have always got". It needn't be this way.

Reconceptualizing Strategic Planning

Planning should be considered as a blueprint for change. The plan should be the basis for introducing controlled change into an organization so it can adapt to changing times. By anticipating shifting demands, the plan serves the purpose of allowing the organization to control its own direction, rather than waiting until political forces demand change (and demand change NOW). In addition, the plan allows for consistent monitoring of success, and re-examination of the degree to which organizational resources should be structured and allocated to achieve future goals.

But, if we look at strategic planning in this light, as a blueprint for change, we also need to consider that any organization has built-in inertia.. the tendency to keep on doing what one has been doing. On its own, the strategic planning process, as traditionally undertaken, is insufficient to overcome this inertia. Other forces need to come into play if the plan, and proposed changes get implemented.

Leadership - The Key Force

In the context of strategic planning, leadership means a number of things. We can outline the role of leadership in the following ways, keeping in mind that leadership may come from appointed leaders (management and executive) and from the ranks

1. Those in leadership roles ensure that as many members of the organization as possible buy into the values, mission, and broad organizational goals. There are two components to this function. First, leaders manage the perceptions of staff with respect to the planning process. Remember that most people have experienced the "plan-in-the-drawer" syndrome, where effort expended in planning is seen as wasted when the plan is ignored. Prior to the planning process, leaders must emphasize that THIS TIME, things will be different.

Second, leaders manage the planning process so that staff feel that they have adequate input into the process, that they are heard, and their values and visions are incorporated into the final plan and its implementation. Specifically, leaders arrange things so that the process is open, and conforms to accepted rules of communication. That may mean hiring an external consultant to orchestrate the planning sessions. It will certainly mean that rules get established to guide participation. Everyone who wants to participate should have the opportunity, and even reticent staff should be gently encouraged to involve themselves.

2. While managing perceptions of the planning process is important, the critical role of leadership occurs after the plan has been completed. Leaders must treat the planning results as the "organizational signposts that guide behaviour and decision making". After all, nobody is going to take a plan seriously if the formal leaders ignore it, or never refer to it again.

If you are serious about using strategic planning as a tool for organizational success, consider some of the following actions.

A. When working with staff to set individual objectives, be sure to mention how the individual objectives will contribute to the achievement of the mission and organizational goals as outlined in the strategic plan. Make sure that the employee is familiar with the plan when individual objectives are set.

In addition, at each meeting with each employee, work with the employee to help him/her determine how the values outlined in the strategic plan apply to them. In other words, given the particular values, strategic goals and mission statement how is the employee to behave or make decisions.

B. Once the strategic plan has been completed, the formal leader of the organization (and perhaps others) should present and discuss the plan with the up-line manager or executive. It is NOT sufficient to send a copy. Because you will need up-line support to implement the plan, you will need their commitment, and commitment will only come from discussion and explanation of the plan.

C. At staff meetings, when decisions are required, explain how the strategic plan is used, or is to be used to make decisions. If you are the manager communicating a decision you have made, explain your rationale in light of the mission, values and goals expressed in the plan. If you are using a participative decision making process, help staff refocus on these components of the plan, so that they can be used to guide decision making

D. When doing performance reviews with staff, ask the individual to explain how his or her actions are consistent with the elements of the plan. How has their action contributed to organizational goals? Has their behaviour been consistent with organizational values? What needs to change so that the individual can further contribute to implementing the plan? Consider recognizing contributions to achievement of the plan, even if the individual did not have specific responsibility as outlined in their individual objectives. And, when setting future objectives, consider writing an objective that refers to the values expressed in the plan. For example: "Will act in accordance with the organizational values expressed in the strategic plan". If you go this route, make sure -that~the implications of these values are clear to the employee in terms of his or her behaviour.

3. A final role of leadership is to create more leaders. One goal that formal leaders (executives, managers) can set for themselves is to encourage down-line employees to take on some of the leadership roles outlined above. This can be particularly effective in decision making. The ideal situation is for staff to internalize the plan to the extent that some take on the role of reminding people of the plan, and its relevance to any given decision-making process. Cultivate leaders in your organization by giving increased responsibility, and encouraging this kind of leadership behaviour.

Conclusion

Leadership, regardless of when it comes from formally appointed leaders, or Informal leaders, provides the link between planning and doing. Effective leadership helps alter perceptions about strategic planning, and the organization itself, helping to overcome inertia, the tendency to keep things the same.

Without leadership, most strategic plans will end up as dead pieces of paper. Most importantly, when planning occurs without leadership, cynicism increases when staff see that the plan is being ignored, or even violated. The outcome of this is that formal leaders suffer a loss of credibility.

Performance Issues Amongst Us

2010-11-13T00:03:00.000-08:00

One of the toughest tasks for any manager or supervisor is to determine the cause of a performance problem. Since decisions to remediate the problem will depend on the diagnosis, accurate assessment is crucial. I will attempt to outline a model of factors influencing employee/team performance, so that you are less likely to ignore a possible source of performance deficit.

The Nature of Performance

Work performance is influenced by a number of factors. When performance is excellent, it is a result of a number of circumstances that work together to make this excellence possible. So, stellar performance requires that ALL relevant influences on behavior are in place. Sadly, poor performance can result from a SINGLE factor or influence that drastically reduces effectiveness. Frequently, a performance problem that is allowed to continue unchecked will expand as other influences turn from positive to negative.

A Seven Factor Model

We can suggest seven factors that influence or determine the level of performance. These factors are multiplicative in nature. For those of you whose favorite subject in schools was NOT math, this means that performance will be as strong as the weakest link in the chain of performance determinants. If there is a deficit in any one of these factors, performance will suffer. This is emphasized in a team environment.

Factor 1: Aptitude

Aptitude refers to a person's native ability to perform the task or tasks. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses that determine if we can learn or perform a task. Poor aptitude for a task could mean that the person could never learn how to do it, even with all the supports in the world. Assessing aptitude is very difficult.

Factor 2: Skill Level

Even the simplest responsibilities require skills. Skills differ from aptitudes in that they can be learned, up to the limits imposed by aptitude. To assess whether a performance deficit is a result of lack of skill, ask the questions, "If his/her life depended on it, could the person do the task?" If the answer is no, then it could be a skill problem.

Factor 3: Understanding of Task

A person must understand the nature of the task, and what is expected. If this clear communication is lacking, no amount of skill or motivation will bring about effective performance. Performance management is the common means for conveying understanding of the task. The best way to assess an employee's understanding is to ask questions within a coaching environment.

Factor 4: Choice to Expend Effort

This, and the next factor are motivational factors. If a person has the aptitude, skills and understanding of the task required, it may be that there are factors causing the person to "not make the effort". These may be personal or related to the work environment. Assessing whether there is a motivational problem is difficult, and can best be done by examining other indicator behaviours (absenteeism, lack of participation in meetings, or other factors that suggest a motivational problem.

Factor 5: Choice of Degree of EffortTo Expend
Sometimes effort is not an on/off thing. An employee may be putting in a limited amount of effort and therefore producing inferior results.

Factor 6: Choice To Persist

You can make quantum leaps in productivity, morale, employee/team motivation through learning how to delegate effectively. It's not hard to learn but it's a bit more complex than most managers think. Learn to delegate properly and when your department hits on all cylinders.

Performance requires that effort be initiated and sustained over time. This motivational factor may result in projects started but never completed. If an employee is not persisting in tasks, it can indicate boredom, fear of failure, or may relate to a lack of skills. Careful, diplomatic discussion is required to uncover if and why this may be occurring.

Factor 7: Outside Factors

Performance can be reduced due to factors beyond the control of the individual/team. The organization itself may be setting barriers to performance, or uncooperative co-workers and managers may contribute. Discussion with the employee during performance management should include reference to factors outside the control of the employee that impede progress. If these outside factors are allowed to continue, unacknowledged, motivational levels will drop, complicating the issue and creating a chronic under-performer.

Conclusion:

It is important that performance problems be addressed as soon as they occur, and the above factors be examined to determine whether they are contributing to the problem. By working with the employee or team in a cooperative way, it is possible to identify and remediate some of the underlying causes of work performance problems. Remember this most importantly. We are all on the same team working towards the same ultimate goal. We have to help each other both in accountability and in praise. Ego and pride can be extremely detrimental to the bottom line. Especially when dealing with others. Objectivity and non-judgement should be the order of the day.

Taking Another Look at "The Team"

2010-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

I wanted to touch on working as a team once again. It's a part of most businesses and involves dynamics that can make or break a company. The importance of team untity in order to succeed is undervalued due to many factors. With the recent boon in the tech world, models pertaining to how groups of workers interact have changed dramatically.

In the last fifteen years, organizational structure has undergone a shift from the individual climb up the corporate ladder to an increasing emphasis on work teams and groups. The shift to work teams is largely due to factors such as globalization, downsizing and the need for technological efficiency. As companies expand and tasks become more complex, more and more specialists are needed within organizations. These specialists must learn to work together so that colleagues have an understanding of the role and responsibility of those whose skill sets differ from their own.

In addition, the convergence of products, services and technology from around the world has forced companies to work in a cross functional environment for which the best organizational design is often working in teams.

There are other reasons for the emergence of work teams as well. Stiff competition, particularly in technology-driven fields, requires teamwork with a concerted effort to keep the company as a whole on the cutting edge. Because technology-driven tasks have become far too complex for one person to handle alone, many organizations create work teams to accomplish collective goals.

In addition, organizations are all but eliminating middle management as a result of downsizing efforts. Shifting authority down to members of a work team allows management to capitalize on a positive synergy that results in significant increases in productivity. When teams operate in such a way that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, productivity invariably increases.

A well-functioning team can bring out the best in its members because problem solving skills and creativity increase with mutual support that builds moral. The characteristics that make a team effective include complementary skill sets, a sense of accountability among the team as a whole, and a synergistic approach to problem solving. Most importantly, the team must have a desire to work together to implement solutions. A team that functions efficiently learns to benefit from the diversity of skills among its members, and the result is much more than can be accomplished by each member of that team working alone.

It follows that the single most important factor in determining whether a team will work well and be productive is a sense of teamwork. This foundation should be in place before the team’s tasks are even defined. With a sense of teamwork and the right mix of skills, teams will have the basis for functioning autonomously and the commitment to accomplish their goals.

Work teams are usually self-managed, which is very different from the traditional management approach of holding individuals responsible for the whole group. Though they function collaboratively, most teams have a member who can function in a leadership role. When teams develop, natural leaders should be allowed to emerge.

Team leaders have a role that is very different from traditional managers. The leader may facilitate group activities, such as brainstorming sessions in which no idea is a bad idea. With a free expression of ideas in an environment that encourages people to think actively, team members are more likely to proactively seek solutions in a way that allows every member of the team to participate according to his or her strengths and level of skill. When every member of the team is engaged, the group as a whole is productive.

While at best work teams operate to increase productivity, there are many challenges that can affect their efficiency and lead frustrated human resource managers to abandon the effort entirely. For example, members of a team can suffer from “groupthink,” the belief that every member already knows what the others will propose as solutions. When this happens, teams can become paralyzed by inaction.

Issues related to globalization create what are perhaps the most daunting challenges to teams. As national borders become transparent and economies intertwine, there is an increased risk of choosing solutions that isolate or marginalize some team members because the solutions are based on preconceived notions that do not apply across international borders.

Other problems faced by struggling work teams are due to interpersonal clashes in personality or work style. For example, employees who feel they should not have to make decisions may balk at the idea of working in self-directed teams. Virtual teams have a special challenge as a result of their dependence on communications technology to do their jobs and the fact that technology may be their only vehicle for establishing trust and working relationships.

While many managers and executives view teams as the most effective design for involving all employees in the success of a company, they may not be skilled in the group dynamics needed to run teams effectively. This, along with the fact that many people are initially more comfortable working alone, may cause executives to be skeptical about the value of work teams and hesitant to take the necessary steps to create them. With some basic planning and preparation, however, most organizations can implement a system of work teams that thrive.

Human resource managers can do a variety of things to support team efforts. Management should communicate clear expectations for the team’s performance, as well as a rationale for why the team was created. Sufficient resources (people, time and money) must be allocated to the team and its tasks as well.

Written policies and procedures that fit team practices can be developed to address issues like hiring, peer-based performance evaluations, and disciplining employees. When necessary, workshops and training sessions can be offered to improve the communication skills needed to function effectively as a team. Finally, managers can bring in external facilitators and mediators to help resolve conflicts, particularly when such conflicts become personal.

Successful Team Building

2010-10-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

It is really quite simple, for a team to win or accomplish a task they have to be motivated to. However, team motivation is affected by many factors. According to experts, the clarity of purpose, the present challenges, the existing leadership, the camaraderie and the growth opportunities present in the team can affect its overall performance.

Clarity Of Purpose
One of the most important factors that can keep a team motivated is clarity of purpose. As long as the members of the team share a common goal or purpose, they will have the motivation to work together.

According to studies, team motivation is at its highest when all the members of the team fully understand their purpose and strongly believe in what they are doing. To achieve clarity of purpose and to give each team member a sense of ownership over the team's goals, everyone should be involved in the decision making process.

Moreover, involving everyone in setting the directions of the team is very important. This makes sure that everyone knows where the team is heading and what specific roles are they going to play for the team to achieve its common goal.

Present Challenges Can Increase Team Motivation

Team motivation may be determined by the present challenges faced by the team. In most cases, teams work well and have the highest level of motivation during crisis and extreme challenge. According to studies, human beings have the natural capacity to fight and defend.

This capacity to fight and defend is greatly enhanced if done through team efforts. To keep up high team motivation level, you need some challenges to test the ingenuity, courage and stamina of you team members.

The human needs of the team members are very important. Everyone needs to feel that they belong and that they are an important factor in the team achieving its goals.

According to studies, highly functional teams do not just work together; they also play and have fun together. To improve the interpersonal relationships between team members you should practice:

* Openness
* Respect
* Honesty

A team is like a family. If you lie to or cheat members of the family, you are bound to get into trouble.

Good Leadership Is The Key To Motivation

Above anything else, leadership is very important to maintain high team motivation level. A team needs to have somebody who can keep things together and do the dirty works every now and then.

A good team leader is like the head of the family. He or she should take full responsibility of everyone in the team. When choosing a team leader, you should take into consideration the capacity of the person to inspire loyalty, trust, and respect from the other members of the team. A good leader should have a lot of experience in the task at hand so the team members have faith in their abilities.

Competitors or Allies?

2010-10-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

A Competitors List – Knowing you opponent is half the battle.

We should closely examine businesses which fall anywhere

close to our local search model. What makes them different?
Where are they similar? Can you use any feature or function
they might possess? How and why did certain sites become
so successful? No need to reinvent the wheel. Ultimately, our
unique vertical approach has yet to be incorporated by other

local search entities. And it's this innovation that will carry us
to success.

Competitors?

CitySearch

DexKnows.com Advertiser Sign Up

Google Local Business Center

Local.com Free Business Listing

Superpages.com Free Listing

Yahoo Local Free Business Listing

Yellowpages.com Create A Listing

Major Data Suppliers to Local Search Engines

IBeginSource.com
InfoUSA Add Business Listing
Localeze.com Manage Your Business Listing

Popular SEO’d Local Search Engines With Customer Reviews

AllPages.com

Insider Pages

Kudzu.com Basic Profile

MagicYellow.com Add Your Business

Merchant Circle

SuperPages

Yelp

It's Time to Close the Sale!

2010-10-18T00:16:00.000-07:00

Want to increase your rate of sales success? Want to work at the same pace
but sell more? Here are 11 ways to increase your conversion rate and close more

deals.

1. Measure conversion rates at all stages of your sales pipeline, focusing in

particular on the conversion rate of leads and inquiries to appointments,

appointments to proposals, proposals to sales, etc. Set targets for

improvement and track performance against them. A small improvement

at several stages of the pipeline will have a major impact overall. For

example, if you could increase the rate at which leads become

appointments, proposals and orders, respectively by just 5%, you would

probably double sales.

2. Make your proposition more compelling. Too many sales messages are

vague and bland. So, take a fresh look at your company’s sales proposition.

Is it credible, compelling, and clearly communicated? Does it describe the

solutions, or benefits you deliver? Does is represent a competitive advantage?

Explore new ways to telling potential customers why they should do business

with you.

3. Target key segments and tailor your approach so as to maximize its

relevance and appeal to buyers in each. For example, your proposition for

big companies is likely to be different to that for small companies and the

message for financial services companies is likely to be different to that for

the public sector.

4. Build a target database. For each segment you are targeting devise a

prioritized list of target companies. Put intelligence into your target list by

researching the companies you are going to approach. Then with the

names, addresses and telephone numbers of your target customers to

hand you can systematically communicate your message directly to target

buyers.

5. More pre-qualification. Improve pre-qualification of inquires and leads by

deciding what classifies a good lead, what criteria must be met for sales

appointments to be made, or proposals to be written. This will focus your

limited sales and marketing resources where they are most likely to deliver

results.

6. Improve your listening

Most sales people talk too much. By focusing on listening instead of talking

you will gain a much better understanding of the customer’s needs and

how they can be met. So, cut the number of slides in your sales

presentation, replacing them with good questions that will help you

uncover the prospect’s needs and buying motives.

7. Write fewer, but better proposals/quotes/tenders. Proposals take time and

thus are expensive to prepare. So, before agreeing to write a proposal

make sure that the customer has both a real need and a budget allocation

for your solution. Then when a proposal is justified write it as if it were your

last, involving the prospect at all stages. Ensure your proposal:

· Confirms your understanding of the company’s problems, or opportunities

· Shows how your solutions meets and exceeds the buyer’s needs

· Offers proof (reference sites, awards, etc.)

· Provides technical information / documents how it works

Most salespeople talk too much and don’t listen enough

· Demonstrates your company’s credibility
· Presents a clear cost justification and range of pricing options

8. Nurture your prospects more intensively. A sales meeting with a buyer

followed by a hastily prepared proposal is not enough. It takes months for

organizations to make complex purchase decisions, so sales people and

their companies must engage prospects over a long period of time to

present solutions and build thrust, as well as to demonstrate credibility and

expertise. This process is likely to simultaneously involve contact with

multiple decision makers and influencers in the target company.

9. Match your sales processes more closely to the prospects buying

processes. That sounds obvious, yet such mismatches are at the root

of all sales rejections, for example:

• a failure to talk to the right decision makers, or influencers

• a miss-match of styles and personalities

• a failure to understand buying criteria\needs, or budget requirements

• a failure to meet the prospects’ need for technical information, or validation

Thus, it is important to clearly understand how each prospect buys, both in terms of

what is explicit and implicit. It is also important to define your company’s optimal
sales processes, including how sales leads are prequalified, how sales presentations
are conducted, what is contained in proposals, etc.

Always ask:

• Is there a budget allocation for purchase this year? Is it likely to be spent as
planned?

• When is purchase likely to be made?

• Who has budget-making authority? Who signs the purchase order?

• Who else is likely to be involved in making the purchase decision?

• What is your role?

• What are the key factors in making a decision regarding purchase?

• What are they key steps in the purchase process, or selection of a new supplier?

• Is there a supplier who has a head start at the moment?

10. Maximize referrals. Buyers expect salespeople to say good things about

their products and are highly skeptical about any claims they make.

However, when somebody the prospect knows and trusts says something

good about your product they are readily influenced by it. For this reason

when you are introduced or referred by a customer, or industry experts your

chances of closing are radically increased.

11. Increase your level of sales activity. The first ten steps involved improving

the quality or effectiveness of your sales and marketing activity. For most of

us this is an area of opportunity that will probably never be exhausted. But,

while you focus on increasing the effectiveness of the leads, sales calls and

proposals you can also increase the level of activity in each of these areas.

That means generating more sales leads and doing more sales calls.

Successful Telecommuting: Avoiding the Pitfalls

2010-10-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

Telecommuting is a regularemployee’s dream, for many obvious reasons. It’s also a great way to combine aday job with a freelancing career, if you can manage to juggle two jobs atonce. However, telecommuting often turns out to be less of a dream job for manypeople who are not prepared for the hazards of working at home, and many peoplewill see a drop in productivity if they don’t take steps to ensure that theyfirewall home from work.

It’s not impossible to be a success asa telecommuter, but it takes a bit of
commitment. But think of it this way:it’s worth the effort to make telecommuting
work, because your worst dayworking from home is pretty much better than any
day at the office. Whatfollows are some of the best tips I’ve found that work for
me, and have workedfor many others. Your mileage may vary, so choose
those that will work best foryou.

Create a ritual. One ofthe main problems with working from home is that home and work become soblurred that there’s no distinction. That’s dangerous, and a surefire way tofail. So start your work day with a pre-work ritual. This will be different foreach person — you might take a shower, dress for work, eat breakfast, and planyour day, for example. But the main thing is to give yourself a signal that you’rebeginning work, and leaving home behind.

Simplify. Work canbecome complicated if we let it, leaving our days filled with a million tasksand stretching on forever. Don’t let this happen. Simplify your work day byfocusing only on those tasks that really matter, that must be done, that youwant to accomplish for the day. Try to eliminate as much of the rest, thedistractions, the little things that can fill up your day, or at least batchthem together and do them all at once. Simplify your day, and you will be muchmore productive from home.

Set limits for work. Seta starting time and ending time for work, or for several blocks of work ifthat’s better for you. However you structure it, always have a finish time.Otherwise, you’ll work way longer than you would at the office, because there’sno home to go to. When it’s quitting time, wrap everything up, shut down, andgo spend some time with the family or some “me” time.

Make a plan. Whenyou start your work day, don’t just start working. Plan out what you want todo, picking out a few important tasks or projects, and structure your dayefficiently, broken down into hour-long blocks. This will allow you to make themost of your work day, and ensure that everything necessary is taken care of.

Schedule chores, family, breaks, meals. Inyour schedule, don’t just put work tasks — get the other stuff in there too, oryou will forget about it. Have time for your family, for eating, for takingbreaks, for doing chores, for all the other things you want to accomplish byworking from home.

Find quiet. If youwork with family in the house, or roommates, you’ll want to find a quiet placeto work. You can’t get stuff done with the television blazing or babiesscreaming. If possible, put your computer and desk in a separate room, awayfrom the living room or family room.

Have a good work space. Your working area should not only bequiet, but also spacious enough for you to have room to work, with a place toput your files, your supplies, etc. Make it a place you enjoy working in, andthat puts you in a productive mood.

Find your zone. Mostpeople have a time of day when they’re most productive, when they can reallycrank out the work. Find your zone, and make the most of it. Don’t scheduletrivial tasks during this time, but the most important tasks of your day.

Communicate. Whetheryou’re a regular employee working from home, or a freelancer working on acontract basis, you need to communicate with those you’re working with. Thatincludes communicating what you’re working on, the progress you’re making, whatyou’ve achieved, any issues that need to be resolved, and anything that needsto be followed up on. Keep that communication regular, so you can’t be accusedof not doing your work.

Groom yourself. Manypeople make the mistake of working in their pajamas, unwashed and loving it.However, as comfortable as that may seem, I know from experience that you willfeel more productive, more energetic, and more on top of your game if you takea shower, get fully (but comfortably) dressed, and otherwise groom yourself asif you were going to work.

Log your time and work. As you have no time clock and no one towatch over you, you need to account for your time, if not for your employer oryour client, then for yourself. It’s important that you not have a day go bywithout knowing what you’ve really accomplished, so log what you do, and howlong it takes. It may seem like extra work, but really it just takes a fewseconds after every task.

Use a timer to stay focused. Working from home can make it difficult tostay focused. To combat that problem, use a timer to help keep you on task andproductive.

Limit calls, keep them short. If possible, schedule short blocks of time(30 minutes, perhaps twice a day) for phone calls, otherwise you may be doingthem throughout the day, and never get actual work done. When making calls,keep them short and stay on topic. Calls can be one of the worst time drains ifyou aren’t careful.

Do only work emails, infrequently. The problem with doing email from home isthat people tend to mix work with pleasure, and can spend all day in theiremail client. Instead, schedule time for email, and while you’re working, onlydo work emails. And, as with phone calls, keep them short and on topic. Do thepersonal emails later, when you’re off.

Set limits for a task. Ifyou’re going to work on a task, set a time limit for it. Say, 30 minutes or anhour. And then stick to it, or you’ll end up taking forever on a certain task.If you don’t finish within that time limit, try scheduling more time for itlater.

Disconnect. If youhave problems staying focused, and tend to surf the web or check email orwhatever, try disconnecting when you really need to concentrate on a task.Close your browser, and even disconnect the Internet if necessary. You’ll see ahuge productivity boost.

Pace yourself. Peopletend to work hard and fast, and not realize how much they’re working. But ifyou telecommute for any length of time, you can burn out. Instead, keep an evenpace, take breaks, stretch, walk around.

Minimize interruptions. If you can, turn off the phone and youremail notification and IM, and ask anyone else in the home not to interrupt youwhen you’re doing an important task. Interruptions can kill your productivity.

Don’t watch kids and work. Many people make the mistake ofsubstituting telecommuting for child care. You can’t actually do both at thesame time. Telecommuting is great for the flexibility you’ll need if you havekids, but when you need to work, you need to have other people watching yourkids.

Don’t go to the couch. It’s tempting to move from your desk toyour couch, and take a nap or watch TV. After all, why are you working fromhome, right? Wrong. The couch is a trap from which many a telecommuter hasnever returned. It’s hard to go back to work after relaxing on the couch (orthe bed), so try to avoid the temptation.