Haney Sweda

Google’s Scientific Approach to Work-Life Balance (and Much More)

2014-03-28T06:11:00.001-07:00

by Laszlo Bock | 2:00 PM March 27, 2014
Posted on at hbr.org

More than 65 years ago in Massachusetts, doctors began a longitudinal study that would transform our understanding of heart disease. The Framingham Heart Study, which started with more than 5,000 people and continues to this day, has become a data source for not just heart disease, but also for insights about weight loss (adjusting your social network helps people lose weight), genetics (inheritance patterns), and even happiness (living within a mile of a happy friend has a 25% chance of making you happier).

Upon reading about the study, I wondered if the idea of such long-term research could be attempted in another field that touches all of us: work. After more than a decade in People Operations, I believe that the experience of work can be — should be — so much better. We all have our opinions and case studies, but there is precious little scientific certainty around how to build great work environments, cultivate high performing teams, maximize productivity, or enhance happiness.

Inspired by the Framingham research, our People Innovation Lab developed gDNA, Google’s first major long-term study aimed at understanding work. Under the leadership of PhD Googlers Brian Welle and Jennifer Kurkoski, we’re two years into what we hope will be a century-long study. We’re already getting glimpses of the smart decisions today that can have profound impact on our future selves, and the future of work overall.

This isn’t your typical employee survey. Since we know that the way each employee experiences work is determined by innate characteristics (nature) and his or her surroundings (nurture), the gDNA survey collects information about both. Here’s how it works: a randomly selected and representative group of over 4,000 Googlers completes two in-depth surveys each year. The survey itself is built on scientifically validated questions and measurement scales. We ask about traits that are static, like personality; characteristics that change, like attitudes about culture, work projects, and co-workers; and how Googlers fit into the web of relationships around all of us. We then consider how all these factors interact, as well as with biographical characteristics like tenure, role and performance. Critically, participation is optional and confidential.

What do we hope to learn? In the short-term, how to improve wellbeing, how to cultivate better leaders, how to keep Googlers engaged for longer periods of time, how happiness impacts work and how work impacts happiness.

For example, much has been written about balancing work and personal life. But the idea that there is a perfect balance is a red herring. For most people work and life are practically inseparable. Technology makes us accessible at all hours (sorry about that!), and friendships and personal connections have always been a part of work.

Our first rounds of gDNA have revealed that only 31% of people are able to break free of this burden of blurring. We call them “Segmentors.” They draw a psychological line between work stress and the rest of their lives, and without a care for looming deadlines and floods of emails can fall gently asleep each night. Segmentors reported preferences like “I don’t like to have to think about work while I am at home.”

For “Integrators”, by contrast, work looms constantly in the background. They not only find themselves checking email all evening, but pressing refresh on gmail again and again to see if new work has come in. (To be precise, people fall on a continuum across these dimensions, so I’m simplifying a bit.)

Of these Integrators (69% of people), more than half want to get better at segmenting. This group expressed preferences like “It is often difficult to tell where my work life ends and my non-work life begins.”

The fact that such a large percentage of Google’s employees wish they could separate from work but aren’t able to is troubling, but also speaks to the potential for this kind of research. The existence of this group suggests that it is not enough to wish yourself into being a Segmentor. But by identifying where employees fall on this spectrum, we hope that Google can design environments that make it easier for employees to disconnect. Our Dublin office, for example, ran a program called “Dublin Goes Dark” which asked people to drop off their devices at the front desk before going home for the night. Googlers reported blissful, stressless evenings. Similarly, nudging Segmentors to ignore off-hour emails and use all their vacation days might improve well-being over time. The long-term nature of these questions suggests that the real value of gDNA will take years to realize.

Beyond work-life balance there are any number of fascinating puzzles that we hope this longitudinal approach can help solve. For a given type of problem, what diverse characteristics should a team possess to have the best chance of solving it? What are the biggest influencers of a satisfying and productive work experience? How can peak performance be sustained over decades? How are ideas born and how do they die? How do we maximize happiness and productivity at the same time?

The best part is that, just like the Framingham researchers, we don’t yet know what we’ll discover. They worked for 20 years before trends began to emerge, and today those findings are among the clearest risk factors of heart disease we’ve got–think cigarette smoking, lack of exercise, and obesity. gDNA is still in its infancy, and is inherently limited because we’re only including current and former Googlers. But already Googlers tell us that learning more about themselves has been eye-opening. In the future, we hope to find ways to share our data and findings more broadly. It’s thrilling not just to reimagine work at Google but to get to work with academics and other partners who can bring new perspectives to help us think beyond our ranks.

People Science needs to be adaptive. By analyzing behaviors, attitudes, personality traits and perception over time, we aim to identify the biggest influencers of a satisfying and productive work experience. The data from gDNA allows us to flex our people practices in anticipation of our peoples’ needs.

We have great luxuries at Google in our supportive leadership, curious employees who trust our efforts, and the resources to have our People Innovation Lab. But for any organization, there are four steps you can take to start your own exploration and move from hunches to science:

1. Ask yourself what your most pressing people issues are. Retention? Innovation? Efficiency? Or better yet, ask your people what those issues are.

2. Survey your people about how they think they are doing on those most pressing issues, and what they would do to improve.

3. Tell your people what you learned. If it’s about the company, they’ll have ideas to improve it. If it’s about themselves – like our gDNA work – they’ll be grateful.

4. Run experiments based on what your people tell you. Take two groups with the same problem, and try to fix it for just one. Most companies roll out change after change, and never really know why something worked, or if it did at all. By comparing between the groups, you’ll be able to learn what works and what doesn’t.

And in 100 years we can all compare notes.

Persuasion is the centerpiece of business activity.

2014-03-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

Storytelling That Moves People

by Robert McKee and Bronwyn Fryer as posted at hbr.org

Persuasion is the centerpiece of business activity. Customers must be convinced to buy your company's products or services, employees and colleagues to go along with a new strategic plan or reorganization, investors to buy (or not to sell) your stock, and partners to sign the next deal. But despite the critical importance of persuasion, most executives struggle to communicate, let alone inspire. Too often, they get lost in the accoutrements of companyspeak: PowerPoint slides, dry memos, and hyperbolic missives from the corporate communications department. Even the most carefully researched and considered efforts are routinely greeted with cynicism, lassitude, or outright dismissal.

Why is persuasion so difficult, and what can you do to set people on fire? In search of answers to those questions, HBR senior editor Bronwyn Fryer paid a visit to Robert McKee, the world's best-known and most respected screenwriting lecturer, at his home in Los Angeles. An award-winning writer and director, McKee moved to California after studying for his Ph.D. in cinema arts at the University of Michigan. He then taught at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television before forming his own company, Two-Arts, to take his lectures on the art of storytelling worldwide to an audience of writers, directors, producers, actors, and entertainment executives.

McKee's students have written, directed, and produced hundreds of hit films, including Forrest Gump, Erin Brockovich, The Color Purple, Gandhi, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Sleepless in Seattle, Toy Story, and Nixon. They have won 18 Academy Awards, 109 Emmy Awards, 19 Writers Guild Awards, and 16 Directors Guild of America Awards. Emmy Award winner Brian Cox portrays McKee in the 2002 film Adaptation, which follows the life of a screenwriter trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief. McKee also serves as a project consultant to film and television production companies such as Disney, Pixar, and Paramount as well as major corporations, including Microsoft, which regularly send their entire creative staffs to his lectures.

McKee believes that executives can engage listeners on a whole new level if they toss their PowerPoint slides and learn to tell good stories instead. In his best-selling book Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, published in 1997 by Harper-Collins, McKee argues that stories "fulfill a profound human need to grasp the patterns of living—not merely as an intellectual exercise, but within a very personal, emotional experience." What follows is an edited and abridged transcript of McKee's conversation with HBR.

Why should a CEO or a manager pay attention to a screenwriter?

A big part of a CEO's job is to motivate people to reach certain goals. To do that, he or she must engage their emotions, and the key to their hearts is story. There are two ways to persuade people. The first is by using conventional rhetoric, which is what most executives are trained in. It's an intellectual process, and in the business world it usually consists of a PowerPoint slide presentation in which you say, "Here is our company's biggest challenge, and here is what we need to do to prosper." And you build your case by giving statistics and facts and quotes from authorities. But there are two problems with rhetoric. First, the people you're talking to have their own set of authorities, statistics, and experiences. While you're trying to persuade them, they are arguing with you in their heads. Second, if you do succeed in persuading them, you've done so only on an intellectual basis. That's not good enough, because people are not inspired to act by reason alone.

The other way to persuade people—and ultimately a much more powerful way—is by uniting an idea with an emotion. The best way to do that is by telling a compelling story. In a story, you not only weave a lot of information into the telling but you also arouse your listener's emotions and energy. Persuading with a story is hard. Any intelligent person can sit down and make lists. It takes rationality but little creativity to design an argument using conventional rhetoric. But it demands vivid insight and storytelling skill to present an idea that packs enough emotional power to be memorable. If you can harness imagination and the principles of a well-told story, then you get people rising to their feet amid thunderous applause instead of yawning and ignoring you.

So What is a story?

Essentially, a story expresses how and why life changes. It begins with a situation in which life is relatively in balance: You come to work day after day, week after week, and everything's fine. You expect it will go on that way. But then there's an event—in screenwriting, we call it the "inciting incident"—that throws life out of balance. You get a new job, or the boss dies of a heart attack, or a big customer threatens to leave. The story goes on to describe how, in an effort to restore balance, the protagonist's subjective expectations crash into an uncooperative objective reality. A good storyteller describes what it's like to deal with these opposing forces, calling on the protagonist to dig deeper, work with scarce resources, make difficult decisions, take action despite risks, and ultimately discover the truth. All great storytellers since the dawn of time—from the ancient Greeks through Shakespeare and up to the present day—have dealt with this fundamental conflict between subjective expectation and cruel reality.

How would an executive learn to tell stories?

Stories have been implanted in you thousands of times since your mother took you on her knee. You've read good books, seen movies, attended plays. What's more, human beings naturally want to work through stories. Cognitive psychologists describe how the human mind, in its attempt to understand and remember, assembles the bits and pieces of experience into a story, beginning with a personal desire, a life objective, and then portraying the struggle against the forces that block that desire. Stories are how we remember; we tend to forget lists and bullet points.

Businesspeople not only have to understand their companies' past, but then they must project the future. And how do you imagine the future? As a story. You create scenarios in your head of possible future events to try to anticipate the life of your company or your own personal life. So, if a businessperson understands that his or her own mind naturally wants to frame experience in a story, the key to moving an audience is not to resist this impulse but to embrace it by telling a good story.

What makes a good story?

You emphatically do not want to tell a beginning-to-end tale describing how results meet expectations. This is boring and banal. Instead, you want to display the struggle between expectation and reality in all its nastiness.

For example, let's imagine the story of a biotech start-up we'll call Chemcorp, whose CEO has to persuade some Wall Street bankers to invest in the company. He could tell them that Chemcorp has discovered a chemical compound that prevents heart attacks and offer up a lot of slides showing them the size of the market, the business plan, the organizational chart, and so on. The bankers would nod politely and stifle yawns while thinking of all the other companies better positioned in Chemcorp's market.

Alternatively, the CEO could turn his pitch into a story, beginning with someone close to him—say, his father—who died of a heart attack. So nature itself is the first antagonist that the CEO-as-protagonist must overcome. The story might unfold like this: In his grief, he realizes that if there had been some chemical indication of heart disease, his father's death could have been prevented. His company discovers a protein that's present in the blood just before heart attacks and develops an easy-to-administer, low-cost test.

But now it faces a new antagonist: the FDA. The approval process is fraught with risks and dangers. The FDA turns down the first application, but new research reveals that the test performs even better than anyone had expected, so the agency approves a second application. Meanwhile, Chemcorp is running out of money, and a key partner drops out and goes off to start his own company. Now Chemcorp is in a fight-to-the-finish patent race.

This accumulation of antagonists creates great suspense. The protagonist has raised the idea in the bankers' heads that the story might not have a happy ending. By now, he has them on the edges of their seats, and he says, "We won the race, we got the patent, we're poised to go public and save a quarter-million lives a year." And the bankers just throw money at him.

Aren't you really talking about exaggeration and manipulation?

No. Although businesspeople are often suspicious of stories for the reasons you suggest, the fact is that statistics are used to tell lies and damn lies, while accounting reports are often BS in a ball gown—witness Enron and WorldCom.

When people ask me to help them turn their presentations into stories, I begin by asking questions. I kind of psychoanalyze their companies, and amazing dramas pour out. But most companies and executives sweep the dirty laundry, the difficulties, the antagonists, and the struggle under the carpet. They prefer to present a rosy—and boring—picture to the world. But as a storyteller, you want to position the problems in the foreground and then show how you've overcome them. When you tell the story of your struggles against real antagonists, your audience sees you as an exciting, dynamic person. And I know that the storytelling method works, because after I consulted with a dozen corporations whose principals told exciting stories to Wall Street, they all got their money.

What's wrong with painting a positive picture?

It doesn't ring true. You can send out a press release talking about increased sales and a bright future, but your audience knows it's never that easy. They know you're not spotless; they know your competitor doesn't wear a black hat. They know you've slanted your statement to make your company look good. Positive, hypothetical pictures and boilerplate press releases actually work against you because they foment distrust among the people you're trying to convince. I suspect that most CEOs do not believe their own spin doctors—and if they don't believe the hype, why should the public?

The great irony of existence is that what makes life worth living does not come from the rosy side. We would all rather be lotus-eaters, but life will not allow it. The energy to live comes from the dark side. It comes from everything that makes us suffer. As we struggle against these negative powers, we're forced to live more deeply, more fully.

So acknowledging this dark side makes you more convincing?

Of course. Because you're more truthful. One of the principles of good storytelling is the understanding that we all live in dread. Fear is when you don't know what's going to happen. Dread is when you know what's going to happen and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Death is the great dread; we all live in an ever shrinking shadow of time, and between now and then all kinds of bad things could happen.

Most of us repress this dread. We get rid of it by inflicting it on other people through sarcasm, cheating, abuse, indifference—cruelties great and small. We all commit those little evils that relieve the pressure and make us feel better. Then we rationalize our bad behavior and convince ourselves we're good people. Institutions do the same thing: They deny the existence of the negative while inflicting their dread on other institutions or their employees.

If you're a realist, you know that this is human nature; in fact, you realize that this behavior is the foundation of all nature. The imperative in nature is to follow the golden rule of survival: Do unto others what they do unto you. In nature, if you offer cooperation and get cooperation back, you get along. But if you offer cooperation and get antagonism back, then you give antagonism in return—in spades.

Ever since human beings sat around the fire in caves, we've told stories to help us deal with the dread of life and the struggle to survive. All great stories illuminate the dark side. I'm not talking about so-called "pure" evil, because there is no such thing. We are all evil and good, and these sides do continual battle. Kenneth Lay says wiping out people's jobs and life savings was unintentional. Hannibal Lecter is witty, charming, and brilliant, and he eats people's livers. Audiences appreciate the truthfulness of a storyteller who acknowledges the dark side of human beings and deals honestly with antagonistic events. The story engenders a positive but realistic energy in the people who hear it.

Does this mean you have to be a pessimist?

It's not a question of whether you're optimistic or pessimistic. It seems to me that the civilized human being is a skeptic—someone who believes nothing at face value. Skepticism is another principle of the storyteller. The skeptic understands the difference between text and subtext and always seeks what's really going on. The skeptic hunts for the truth beneath the surface of life, knowing that the real thoughts and feelings of institutions or individuals are unconscious and unexpressed. The skeptic is always looking behind the mask. Street kids, for example, with their tattoos, piercings, chains, and leather, wear amazing masks, but the skeptic knows the mask is only a persona. Inside anyone working that hard to look fierce is a marshmallow. Genuinely hard people make no effort.

So, a story that embraces darkness produces a positive energy in listeners?

Absolutely. We follow people in whom we believe. The best leaders I've dealt with—producers and directors—have come to terms with dark reality. Instead of communicating via spin doctors, they lead their actors and crews through the antagonism of a world in which the odds of getting the film made, distributed, and sold to millions of moviegoers are a thousand to one. They appreciate that the people who work for them love the work and live for the small triumphs that contribute to the final triumph.

CEOs, likewise, have to sit at the head of the table or in front of the microphone and navigate their companies through the storms of bad economies and tough competition. If you look your audience in the eye, lay out your really scary challenges, and say, "We'll be lucky as hell if we get through this, but here's what I think we should do," they will listen to you.

To get people behind you, you can tell a truthful story. The story of General Electric is wonderful and has nothing to do with Jack Welch's cult of celebrity. If you have a grand view of life, you can see it on all its complex levels and celebrate it in a story. A great CEO is someone who has come to terms with his or her own mortality and, as a result, has compassion for others. This compassion is expressed in stories.

Take the love of work, for example. Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I worked as an insurance fraud investigator. The claimant in one case was an immigrant who'd suffered a terrible head injury on a carmaker's assembly line. He'd been the fastest window assembler on the line and took great pride in his work. When I spoke to him, he was waiting to have a titanium plate inserted into his head.

The man had been grievously injured, but the company thought he was a fraud. In spite of that, he remained incredibly dedicated. All he wanted was to get back to work. He knew the value of work, no matter how repetitive. He took pride in it and even in the company that had falsely accused him. How wonderful it would have been for the CEO of that car company to tell the tale of how his managers recognized the falseness of their accusation and then rewarded the employee for his dedication. The company, in turn, would have been rewarded with redoubled effort from all the employees who heard that story.

How do storytellers discover and unearth the stories that want to be told?

The storyteller discovers a story by asking certain key questions. First, what does my protagonist want in order to restore balance in his or her life? Desire is the blood of a story. Desire is not a shopping list but a core need that, if satisfied, would stop the story in its tracks. Next, what is keeping my protagonist from achieving his or her desire? Forces within? Doubt? Fear? Confusion? Personal conflicts with friends, family, lovers? Social conflicts arising in the various institutions in society? Physical conflicts? The forces of Mother Nature? Lethal diseases in the air? Not enough time to get things done? The damned automobile that won't start? Antagonists come from people, society, time, space, and every object in it, or any combination of these forces at once. Then, how would my protagonist decide to act in order to achieve his or her desire in the face of these antagonistic forces? It's in the answer to that question that storytellers discover the truth of their characters, because the heart of a human being is revealed in the choices he or she makes under pressure. Finally, the storyteller leans back from the design of events he or she has created and asks, "Do I believe this? Is it neither an exaggeration nor a soft-soaping of the struggle? Is this an honest telling, though heaven may fall?"

Does being a good storyteller make you a good leader?

Not necessarily, but if you understand the principles of storytelling, you probably have a good understanding of yourself and of human nature, and that tilts the odds in your favor. I can teach the formal principles of stories, but not to a person who hasn't really lived. The art of storytelling takes intelligence, but it also demands a life experience that I've noted in gifted film directors: the pain of childhood. Childhood trauma forces you into a kind of mild schizophrenia that makes you see life simultaneously in two ways: First, it's direct, real-time experience, but at the same moment, your brain records it as material—material out of which you will create business ideas, science, or art. Like a double-edged knife, the creative mind cuts to the truth of self and the humanity of others.

Self-knowledge is the root of all great storytelling. A storyteller creates all characters from the self by asking the question, "If I were this character in these circumstances, what would I do?" The more you understand your own humanity, the more you can appreciate the humanity of others in all their good-versus-evil struggles. I would argue that the great leaders Jim Collins describes are people with enormous self-knowledge. They have self-insight and self-respect balanced by skepticism. Great storytellers—and, I suspect, great leaders—are skeptics who understand their own masks as well as the masks of life, and this understanding makes them humble. They see the humanity in others and deal with them in a compassionate yet realistic way. That duality makes for a wonderful leader.

Everyone Likes a well told story!

2014-03-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool

by Harrison Monarth via HBR.org

t’s not often that you hear Budweiser and Shakespeare mentioned in the same breath. But according to new research from Johns Hopkins University, the Bard’s deft application of storytelling techniques featured prominently in the beer company’s Super Bowl commercial.

In “Puppy Love,” a perfectly adorable yellow lab becomes inseparable friends with a Clydesdale. Sneaking out of his pen, the pup and the horse “talk” in the stables and cavort on an idyllic farm –until someone comes to adopt the dog. The distressed puppy whines and places his paws against the window of the car set to take him to his new home. All seems lost until the Clydesdale rallies the other horses to stop the vehicle from leaving. Reunited, the two commence frolicking in the horse pasture and, we assume, live happily ever after.

Forget the fact that Anheuser-Busch’s 60-second spot (which cost north of $4 million) aired close to the end of a lopsided championship game that was over before halftime. The Budweiser ad scored top honors in USA Today’s Ad Meter and Hulu’s Ad Zone for being the most popular among viewers. How did it not get lost amid the tantalizing displays of shiny vehicles, CGI tricks, and David Beckham’s six pack?

The irresistible power of classic storytelling.

See full story here.

How to Have a Eureka Moment

2014-03-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

How to Have a Eureka Moment

by David Burkus HBR.org

What assists you to generate that eureka idea? My time with our animals and working our property clears the mind and allows for freshness to take effect.

In the ancient world, the Greeks believed that all great insights came from one of nine muses, divine sisters who brought inspiration to mere mortals. In the modern world, few people still believe in the muses, but we all still love to hear stories of sudden inspiration. Like Newton and the apple, or Archimedes and the bathtub (both another type of myth), we’re eager to hear and to share stories about flashes of insight.

But for those who have to be creative on demand, these stories don’t offer much practical advice on how to have a eureka moment of their own. Long walks or hot showers may be where we think out best ideas come from, but those are hardly available options in the middle of a crowded workday. While research hasn’t exactly validated the existence of divine muses, it has given us some insight into how eureka moments happen…and how to make them happen more often.

Read the full article by David Burkus here.

Eye on the Economy: New Home Sales Bounce Back in January

2014-03-12T06:05:00.001-07:00

Eye on the Economy: New Home Sales Bounce Back in January

Posted on NAHB web site.

The housing market and the broader economy shivered at the end of 2013 as weather-related factors held consumers back and generated production delays. These impacts should prove temporary and our forecast remains positive for housing and home building for the year to come. Indeed, reports from January suggest some improvement over disappointing December data.

New home sales in January, as estimated by the Census Bureau and HUD, were up 9.6% over the December pace, coming in at 468,000 seasonally adjusted annualized rate. This pace is 2.2% higher than the January 2013 measure. The month-supply measure of inventory fell to 4.7, with the count of new homes for sales standing at 184,000. Only 45,000 of those were completed, ready-to-occupy new homes.

Read the full article here.

60-Second Drills Can Sharpen Your Business Reflexes

2014-03-07T03:54:00.001-08:00

60-Second Drills Can Sharpen Your Business Reflexes

by H. James Wilson

Each display showed complex statistical formulas, data visualizations, and excerpts from research papers presented at this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Groups of three or four attendees clustered around each poster as if at an art gallery, nodding appreciatively to convey understanding or pointing to ask, “What does this mean?”

Read the full article here at Harvard Business Review.

Power Networking

2013-08-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

By Adam Rifkin as posted on Linkedin

Two years ago Fortune magazine identified me as the best networker on LinkedIn; this in turn led to some wonderful stories in Adam Grant's excellent book, GIVE AND TAKE.

Since then, every day people ask me about things I’ve learned about networking on Twitter, PandaWhale, and in real life.

I feel fortunate to have learned networking from many excellent teachers, and the greatest of these teachers was actually the Internet itself. The top three lessons of Internet computer networking serve as valuable lessons for human networking, too:

Networks add value by getting bigger
Networks add value by being used more
Networks add value by being fault tolerant

Let's briefly explore each of these points, with some tactical advice on how to apply them.

1. Networks add value by getting bigger

It seems uncontroversial now, but that’s because our thinking has been so inflected by many years of access to a public, open, scalable Internet. Back in the day, many computer scientists argued that networks would maximize their value by being made out of nodes that were more tightly controlled by a single owner. Similarly, until recently, human networks were small, tightly connected, and controlled by gatekeepers such as elite colleges, social clubs, and prestigious professional organizations. The Web has been a great example of how technology — in the form of apps such as LinkedIn — can help foster more connections than can be maintained in real life.

TIP: Since networks add value by getting bigger, use every day as an opportunity to grow the quality of your connections. I am often asked how I created my network, especially given that I am naturally introverted. It turns out that building a network is not hard; with time and patience, you can do it, too. The key is to tend to your network a little bit at a time, over the course of many years.

A good rule of thumb is to connect with at least 1 and up to 3 people every day. More than 3 means you're not connecting deeply enough.

Each interaction need not take long; you can get started with just a single five minute favor each day. It's not about time; it's about authenticity. The main way to deepen a connection is through genuine interactions that share knowledge and stories and emotions.

2. Networks add value by being used more

There are many obvious downsides of heavy network usage: slowness, conflicts, lack of prioritization, lossiness, and low signal to noise ratio immediately come to mind. But the corresponding upsides include plenitude, ubiquity, rapid growth, and habituation. They don’t call them network effects for nothing! The same lessons apply to human networks: the more we reach out to our acquaintances, the more value we create not just for ourselves but for all of them, too.

TIP: It is important to connect EVERY day. Let's repeat that: EVERY SINGLE DAY.Some connections can be new (and, ideally, with a warm introduction from a mutual connection). Some connections should be re-connections with "dormant ties" that deepen a connection already made.

Relationships are progressions and re-connections are the fuel for that progress. Deepening 1-3 connections every single day makes you healthier, happier, and it's good for your career.

3. Networks add value by being fault tolerant

In many ways the Internet is the very worst designed network of all time (think about how often things fail when you're surfing The Web!) but paradoxically that is also its greatest strength. Every part of it was designed to fail early, often, and hard without impacting any other part too negatively. On the human level, I have learned that communities must also be designed to deal with messiness, loss, and failure. Unlike the architecture of the Internet, we also have the ability to learn and grow from the error conditions of life -- which ultimately makes the whole network stronger if we all share what we’ve learned.

TIP: Tend to your network like a garden, a little every day, by weakening connections. Weed your garden: If someone demonstrates s/he is not worth growing a connection with, do not invest more time with that person. Instead, invest that time in someone who IS worth knowing better. Over time, your network will dynamically reflect your efforts, and be wonderful and helpful not just to you, but to your connections, too.

We distill these lessons into 3 rules of thumb:

Every day improve the quality of 1-3 of your best connections. Every single day.
What you get out of your network depends on what you put into your network. Therefore, invest your time generously.
We become more like the people with whom we spend time. Choose wisely.

Happy networking!

Source of the network at the top of this page is Flickr user yaph. Thank you yaph!

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How to Assess Your Organisation’s Capability to Innovate

2013-08-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Matthew Griffin @ Innovation Excellence

In today’s rapidly evolving world the ability to create new value and the ability to be Innovative is now more important to an organisations survival than at any other time in our history.

The ability of organisations to assign the right level of resources in the right manner is critical to creating a successful Innovation Practice.

Innovation is much more than just a random amalgamation of people, processes and measurement methodologies. Innovation is the embodiment of human creativity and discovery but it only flourishes in the right environment. Creating a utopia innovation environment relies on your organisation’s ability and willingness to deliver the right resources at the right time in the right style.

Innovation Practices often contain a nucleus of creative lateral thinkers but many Executives today are still taught to exercise rational, logic centered decision making and the two cultures frequently clash leading to poor communication and ultimately reducing the Innovation Practices effectiveness.

Executives need to know what resources the Practise needs, why it needs them and if it gets them how it will leverage them to meet the organisations strategic objectives so with all of this in mind how do you assess and baseline your organisations capability and capacity to innovate and clearly determine which areas need resource?

Over the past six years the 311 Institute has studied hundreds of large Global enterprises and smaller regional organisations across a range of industries and geographies. The findings of these studies have led us to conclude that all successful innovation practises are built on six dynamically linked Foundations – Hunger, Culture, Community, Resources, Methods and Impact. In turn each Foundation contains three Blocks and each Block contains a series of questions which when collated produce an Innovation Maturity Score and clearly highlight the areas in need of improvement.

Hunger

Blocks included in this Foundation: Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Learning

The “Hunger” Foundation appraises your organisations Entrepreneurial attitude, its appetite to change and its propensity to challenge its beliefs. Every organisation is permeated by a distinctive character and while it’s never explicitly referred to in annual statements when coupled with Behaviour it becomes one of the most important enabling factors in helping create a long term, successful Innovation Practise. History has shown us time and time again that entrepreneurial organisations that have an insatiable appetite for innovation and reinvention out perform their peers by thirty at least percent.

Culture

Blocks included in this Foundation: Energy, Engagement and Enablement

The “Culture” Foundation appraises how the organisation empowers individuals to rise above every day challenges, inspire others and overcome adversity in their pursuit of innovation. This appraisal not only assesses how effectively motivational leaders breed trust and promote behaviours that align with the organisations values, goals and ethics but also appraises how willing they are to disregard red tape and implement the tough decisions needed to assure the organisations short, medium and long term prosperity.

Community

Blocks included in this Foundation: Collaboration, Safety and Simplicity

The “Community” Foundation appraises the tone of the workplace and how well people work in harmony with each other to achieve common goals. Innovation Practises are at their most effective when individuals are encouraged to gather insights from diverse groups of internal and external collaborations, openly share their opinions and empowered to make bold, intelligence led decisions.

Resources

Blocks included in this Foundation: Talent, Systems and Programs

The “Resources” Foundation appraises the accessibility to and the effectiveness of your organisations structural investment categories that need to be in place to help the Innovation Practise discover, prototype, test and market new innovations faster and more effectively. Investments types are more than monetary and must encompass a wide ranging suite of investment categories that enable the whole innovation lifecycle. Categories range from the investment in talent and systems all the way through to the gift of time and adequate working space. Collectively these investment categories all play integral roles in improving the speed, quality and return on investment.

Methods

Blocks included in this Foundation: Ideation, Testing and Speed

The “Methods” Foundation appraises the maturity and effectiveness that your organisations closed loop processes have on the overall success and morale of your Innovation Practise. Used carefully flexible, well designed processes can complement and enhance innovation but if they are deployed as blunt instruments they can also do more harm than good. Your organisation should schedule regular reviews that monitor the impact processes have on the morale and the effectiveness of innovation and your leaders must be willing to adapt them accordingly.

Impact

Blocks included in this Foundation: External, Organisational and Individual

The “Impact” Foundation appraises people’s perception and attitude towards your organisation and your Innovation Practice. Success in this factor is appraised from the perspectives of three principle groups. Firstly by people external to your organisation – business partners, competitors, analysts, investors, consumers and the media, secondly by your own Executives and thirdly by your employees. Each group will assess the impact and effectiveness of your Innovation Practise in different ways and while the majority of these perceptions will be important you must always remember to pull them back to how you and your organisation measure success.

Conclusion

Every new innovation is the product of a journey of discovery and toil. While many companies only focus on sustainable innovations and are satisfied with efficiency enhancements the companies that change the world are those that push the boundaries and disrupt existing markets while creating new ones. Disruptive innovation rarely happens by chance – it requires solid organisational support, rigid execution and an entrepreneurial spirit so if you can assess how well prepared you are for the journey ahead and adapt your organisation accordingly you’ll reach the end of your journey faster and more efficiently than your competition.

image credit: ggeden.com

- See more at: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2013/08/05/how-to-assess-your-organisations-capability-to-innovate/#sthash.LDLBXMYp.dpuf

Jakarta, Dubai, Miami Post Big Price Increases

2013-03-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Some of the luxury property markets hardest hit by the economic collapse posted the largest price increases in the world in 2012, according to Knight Frank's annual wealth report.

This article is the exact reason that WorldPosting is being received with great optimism!

Read the full article here.

Jakarta, Dubai, Miami Post Big Price Increases - WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL Global News Center.

International Buyers: A Significant Part of Real Estate Sales

2013-03-11T14:37:00.001-07:00

On March 4, 2013, in Economist Commentaries, by Jed Smith, Managing Director, Quantitative Research

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NAR has estimated residential sales to foreign buyers at $ 82.5Billion for the 12 months ended March 2012, approximately 8.8 percent of the total residential market by dollar volume (http://www.realtor.org/reports/profilse-of-international-home-buying-activity). Data for estimated commercial real estate sales to foreigners are more limited. Real Capital Analytics provides information for transactions greater than $2.5 million. RCA has reported the total market for larger U.S. commercial property sales over 2001-2012 at approximately $2.8 Trillion, with purchases by foreign buyers in the neighborhood of $212 Billion, or 7.7 percent of total sales.

Thirteen cities accounted for 81 percent of total foreign purchases of commercial real estate in the U.S.

Although commercial real estate sales to foreign buyers are relatively concentrated in the 13 markets, foreign investors have actually made purchases in a large number of cities, as indicated on the map.

Click chart to view larger version.

An interesting question is the choice by international buyers of U.S. cities for investment.

Some locations apparently have gained their prominence over relatively long periods of time as well known port cities or key economic centers of substantial size—e.g., Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Other locations appear to be relatively high growth areas—e.g., Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, San Diego, and Washington, D.C.

Jed Smith, Managing Director, Quantitative Research

Jed Smith is Managing Director, Quantitative Research with the National Association of Realtors®. He has worked on real estate issues for the past 20 years, providing input on a variety of housing, commercial real estate, tax, and planning issues. Recently he has been involved in several international studies.

Success is Timeless.

2013-02-06T04:37:00.001-08:00

IN 1901 THIS AUTHOR WROTE ABOUT HOW THEY SUCCEEDED: LIFE STORIES OF SUCCESSFUL MEN TOLD BY THEMSELVES (PUBLIC LIBRARY; PUBLIC DOMAIN) THIS WONDERFUL ESSAY BY BRITISH NOVELIST AMELIA E. BARR (1831-1919) WHO, DESPITE DEVASTATING LOSS OF HER HUSBAND AND THREE OF THEIR SIX CHILDREN TO YELLOW FEVER IN 1867, WENT ON TO BECOME A SUCCESS. DESCRIBES 9 BASIC PRACTICES TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL AT WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO TAKE-ON.

The avenue to success is timeless…..

Men and women succeed because they take pains to succeed. Industry and patience are almost genius; and successful people are often more distinguished for resolution and perseverance than for unusual gifts. They make determination and unity of purpose supply the place of ability.
Success is the reward of those who “spurn delights and live laborious days.” We learn to do things by doing them. One of the great secrets of success is “pegging away.” No disappointment must discourage, and a run back must often be allowed, in order to take a longer leap forward.
No opposition must be taken to heart. Our enemies often help us more than our friends. Besides, a head-wind is better than no wind. Who ever got anywhere in a dead calm?
A fatal mistake is to imagine that success is some stroke of luck. This world is run with far too tight a rein for luck to interfere. Fortune sells her wares; she never gives them. In some form or other, we pay for her favors; or we go empty away.
We have been told, for centuries, to watch for opportunities, and to strike while the iron is hot. Very good; but I think better of Oliver Cromwell’s amendment — “make the iron hot by striking it.”
Everything good needs time. Don’t do work in a hurry. Go into details; it pays in every way. Time means power for your work. Mediocrity is always in a rush; but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with consideration. For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.
Be orderly. Slatternly work is never good work. It is either affectation, or there is some radical defect in the intellect. I would distrust even the spiritual life of one whose methods and work were dirty, untidy, and without clearness and order.
Never be above your profession. I have had many letters from people who wanted all the emoluments and honors of literature, and who yet said, “Literature is the accident of my life; I am a lawyer, or a doctor, or a lady, or a gentleman.” Literature is no accident. She is a mistress who demands the whole heart, the whole intellect, and the whole time of a devotee.
Don’t fail through defects of temper and over-sensitiveness at moments of trial. One of the great helps to success is to be cheerful; to go to work with a full sense of life; to be determined to put hindrances out of the way; to prevail over them and to get the mastery. Above all things else, be cheerful; there is no beatitude for the despairing.

Apparent success may be reached by sheer impudence, in defiance of offensive demerit. But men who get what they are manifestly unfit for, are made to feel what people think of them. Charlatanry may flourish; but when its bay tree is greenest, it is held far lower than genuine effort. The world is just; it may, it does, patronize quacks; but it never puts them on a level with true men.

It is better to have the opportunity of victory, than to be spared the struggle; for success comes but as the result of arduous experience. The foundations of my success were laid before I can well remember; it was after at least forty-five years of conscious labor that I reached the object of my hope. Many a time my head failed me, my hands failed me, my feet failed me, but, thank God, my heart never failed me.

SOCIAL PLATFORMS GWI.8 UPDATE: Decline of Local Social Media Platforms

2013-01-28T06:29:00.001-08:00

GlobalWebIndex

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Brett11

Brett

Data collected in GWI.8 (Q4 2012) demonstrates the continued shift in usage from localised social platforms to global ones with huge growth for Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. The fastest growing network in 2013 in terms of “Active Usage” (defined as “Used or contributed to in the past month”) was Twitter which grew 40% to 288m across our 31 markets (approximately 90% of global internet population). 21% of the global internet population now use Twitter actively on a monthly basis. This compares to 21% actively using YouTube, 25% actively using Google+ and a staggering 51% using Facebook on a monthly basis.

For those who follow the GlobalWebIndex regularly, it is important to note that between Q2 and Q4 2012 we revised our universe figures, based on newly available public data on country level internet population aged 16 to 64. This revision has also been applied to historical numbers and has lowered the figures slightly down, but proportionally, the numbers remain the same as in previous iterations of the research. The trends we’ve seen remain and are becoming ever clearer as we move forward.

Facebook battles back against “Facebook fatigue”

Something we’re seeing in our initial findings is an return to growth for Facebook. We now estimate that Facebook has 903m accounts across 31 markets among 16-65 year olds. If we scale this up to the remaining 10% of global internet users we do not yet survey and factor in accounts for under-16s and over-65s our estimates fall in line with Facebook’s claimed 1 billion user figure.

2012 saw Facebook shrug off the potential for Facebook fatigue and saturation in a spectacular way with active users growing 33% to 693m users globally. Watch out for an in-depth post on this later this week where we’ll dig deeper into the numbers.

Google+ grows to become 2nd largest social platform globally

Google+, who despite being branded a failure or ghost town by large portions of the media, grew in terms of active usage by 27% to 343m users to become the number 2 social platform. Interestingly for Google, YouTube (not previously tracked by us as a social platform) comes in at number 3, demonstrating the immense opportunity of linking Google’s services through the G+ social layer. This is also a key indication of why Google+ integrated with the Google product set is so key to the future of search and the internet. We’ve got more coming on Google+ later this week as well.

Local social platforms in marked decline

The growth in the large, global social platforms is coming broadly at the expense of local services like MeinVz, Hyves, Copains d’Avant. Even more interestingly, we are seeing a large decline across the board in local Chinese services with Tencent Weibo, Kaixin, Sina Weibo and QZone all declining substantially, up to 57% in the case of Tencent Weibo.

The case of China is interesting, but not unexpected. Social networks / services grew massively from 2009 to 2012 and some saturation is expected despite China being the world’s most socially active market. There are, however, some other reasons for declines in active usage that we have identified:

There are many networks, and it’s inevitable, despite China’s huge population and growing internet penetration that such a large number of mass market networks cannot be maintained;
Growing government clamp down with real names and phone number becoming the required standard for signing up;
Shifting of usage to more informal social media including blogs and forums, where privacy is easier to maintain;
Growth of apps and mobile;
Growth of international networks through proxy servers, VPNs, access through multi-national company networks and mobile apps.

Real Estate Marketing on the Internet

2013-01-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

EDUARDO MARQUES, VALIANT CAPITAL PARTNERS ANALYST STATES, “INTERNET WILL SHORTLY BECOME THE MAIN DESTINATION FOR REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING BUSINESS.” VALIANT CAPITAL PARTNERS IS A $2.7 BILLION SAN FRANCISCO-BASED HEDGE FUND CREATED BY CHRISTOPHER HANSEN. ITS PORTFOLIO INCLUDES APPLE, GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK.

The internet has become the REALTOR‘s digital for sale sign. Per The Digital House Hunt, a Joint Study from National Association of REALTORS® and Google,

Home shoppers using search engines are actively engaged, raising their hands asking for more information or assistance.
Real estate consumers who use the internet while researching a home are more likely to use multiple sources.
REALTORS® using offline marketing and sales channels should incorporate digital to complement those efforts.

The study outlines every demographic group’s increasing use of the internet, internet searches and social media channels and its application to each housing segment.

With the digital for sale sign real estate is global, as proven by the National Association of REALTORS®.study 2012 Profile of International Home Buying Activity ,

International Sales are 9 Percent of Total Residential Market.
International Sales Grew in U.S. at 24 Percent in Past Year.
International Sales–A Specialized Market, Facilitated by Language Skills, Cultural Awareness, and Visibility.

Previsite’s product and services provide the REALTORS® with the tolls and services necessary to meet today’s digital sales requirements.

SOCIAL MEDIA AGENT OFFERING: The package allows the agent to create video tour and publish their listings to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, the agent website and share on other social sites including LinkedIn, Dailymotion, Delicious, Digg, Stumble Upon, Craigslist and more. The agent simply input their Facebook, YouTube and Twitter social account URL’s into the offering for this syndication to occur. All agents utilizing this Previsite Offering will be able to create their own tours and use all the features and services of the Previsite solution on a unlimited basis including but not limited to: floor plans, music and narration, local area maps, syndication to major portals, auto-post to social media sites, lead capture, and statistics.

The agent offering comes in two sizes
1-25 current active listings at $299.95 per year.
26-50 current active listings at $499.95 per year.

Enrollment is done via our store, here.

Social Media Broker/Company Offering: : The base package includes complete integration of the real estate companies: Website / Listings / IDX, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Video Tour. Previsite will import 100% of Customer’s active listing inventory using different methods most suitable to the Customer (RETS, XML, Web service and ftp). Utilizing Previsite’s Rich Media Content conversion algorithms, Previsite will import those listings data into the latest Previsite viewer, animating still images. The solution will automatically and daily drive the listings into Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, with additional options for Pinterest, Google plus and Unique URL. The listings are key word enriched to increase SEO. All of broker’s agents will be provided an agent tool box cascading the same tools to each agents social channels.

For information on this product please contact previsitesales@previsite.com.

WorldPosting: The unique solution “ WorldPosting ” allows your real estate listing to be seen by over 70 million potential buyers and investors with a global network of leading real estate portals. Previsite will import, process and automatically distribute your listings across a wide range of property portals around the world. Listings are translated to the language specific to that respective portal location.

For information on this product please contact previsitesales@previsite.com.

Virtual Tour, our heritage product is used by tens of thousand agent/brokers and real estate companies world wide. Previsite has developed multiple panoramic viewer (JAVA, Flash, HTML5, etc..) in order to render the best experience for all customers. We also provide customization for Brokers, Franchises and Groups. Pricing for the Previsite VT is $199.95 per year.

Enrollment is done via our store, here.

Training on all products is provided by Previsite’s professional staff and via webinar, video library & continued support through phone and email.

Realtors: Home-Buyers “Zero Moment of Truth”!

2013-01-14T12:13:00.001-08:00

Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is defined by Google as the idea that home shopping is no longer about showing up at a REALTORs office or an open house, seeking advice or counsel on what to buy or how much they should pay. Google’s ZMOT handbook explains, “the sales funnel isn’t really a funnel anymore.” Consumers are empowered, by the internet, allowing them to conduct research prior to this critical ZMOT.

Jim Lecinski, Google’s ZMOT expert states, “at the Zero Moment of Truth, today’s shoppers bounce back and forth at their own speed in a multi-channel marketplace. They switch devices to suit their needs at any given moment. They search; go off to look at reviews, ratings, styles and prices; and then search again. They see ads on TV and in newspapers and online. They walk into local stores to look at products. They talk to friends, over the back fence and on social media. Then it’s back to ZMOT for more information.”

Home buyers are using the web in record numbers;*

9 out of 10 rely on the internet for primary research
52% use the web as 1^st choice
Google real estate searches increased 22% year to year, plus 1/5 of these searches occurred mobile growing 120% from 2011 to 2012

Video satisfies multiple house hunting needs;*

70% of homebuyers tour the inside of a home
86% of homebuyers search specific community info
54% of homebuyers obtain general property info
44% of homebuyers compare multiple company features

*Per The Digital House Hunt, joint study by NAR and Google

Home buyers place YouTube as the number 1 video search site

“Increasingly, online technologies are driving offline behaviors, and home buying is no exception. With 90 percent of home-buyers searching online during their home buying process, the real estate industry is smart to target these people where they look for and consume information.” Said, Patrick Grandinetti, Google’s head of real estate, in a statement.

REALTOR’s that are winning the listing battle and selling homes grasp the trend of consumers use of the internet to research brokers/agents, homes, communities, prices and more. Previsite’s real estate marketing services for both brokers and agents create multi-media formats like video and virtual tours and distributes listings to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other sites primarily used by the consumer. Contact Previsite today to learn more previsitesales@previsite.com.

Real Estate Marketing Presence

2013-01-14T12:10:00.001-08:00

Real estate brokers and agents must own their on line presence and control their listing inventory. Kelly Phelan, team member at RE Technology has defined the six critical sites of presence;

Website
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
Single Property Sites
Blog

The Previsite solution Social Media Broker and Social Media Agent provides the user the ability to meet 5 of the 6 critical sites she outlines. The solution is easy to use, daily and cost effective.

Read the full article here.

For a free marketing consultation contact Haney Sweda at hsweda@previsite.com.

Brokers confident, but concerned about attracting agents.

2012-10-31T06:15:00.001-07:00

In a recent survey of 850 executive's from brokers across the country, it was found that over 70% are confident or highly confident that the real estate market will improve over the next 12 months. In addition, 42% of these same executives listed recruiting as the biggest challenge over the same period.

Survey question: How confident are you that the housing market will continue to improve in the next 12 months?
Selections	Percentage of respondents
Confident	64.6%
Less than confident	30.8%
Highly confident	6.2%
Not confident at all	1.5%

Survey question: What is your company's biggest business challenge?
Selections	Percentage of respondents
Recruiting	42%
Profitability	19%
Competition	14%

Source: Imprev Inc. "Thought Survey" conducted September 2012.

Previsite's solution includes an agent tool box, that provides an easy manipulation of the listing/virtual tour, to expand the social marketing of listings, beyond the broker's social accounts. Agent's insert their social account URL's, one time and the Previsite solution then pumps the virtual tour through the agents accounts, thus expanding the social influence of that respective listing. In addition, the tool box will publish the listing to Craigslist or a email-able, printable or mobile flyer by pushing a button.

: Outline of the Agent Tool Box.

Robert Gawel, broker/owner of Alexa Realty (Tampa/Clearwater/St. Pete, Fl market) stated, "the agent tool box is a fantastic tool for agents to use for business development and communication with current buyers/sellers, thus the recruitment potential is tremendous."

According to the US Department of Labor, employment of real estate sales agents is expected to grow 11 percent in the next 5 years, with agents in high demand are you using Technology to attract the best agent talent?

Brokers Strategy Key Leveraging Social into Buyers/Sellers/Listings.

2012-10-28T09:41:00.002-07:00

Assisting brokers globally we realize that too many brokers have no idea how social media impacts there website traffic. Social strategy is vital to driving traffic to your website. The definition of "Social Media Marketing" the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites, it does not state to gain friends, likes, followers, comments, etc., etc., it is all about drawing a direct line of traffic into your website.

How? The Previsite solution!

The Previsite solution is unmatched by any other provider! Affordable, Daily & Automatic, Previsite takes the Listing Feed, creates a virtual tour video posted onto your YouTube Channel and simultaneously pushing that content through all social media channels - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest - with Direct "BackLinks" to the brokers website. In addition, our solution provides these same tools to each and every agent in the firm, creating a maze of "backlinks" to the brokers website.

Brokers: Digital Marketing 101

2012-10-28T09:38:00.001-07:00

Great article by Heath Clarke CEO of Local Corporation published on Fox Business.

According to a recent survey conducted by SearchEngineLand.com*, 85% of consumers used the Internet to find local businesses in the past 12 months and one in six consumers use the Internet every week to find local businesses. Yet many small and medium-sized businesses have been late to the game when it comes to building out their presence and marketing online.

We believe there are two reasons SMBs haven’t yet embraced the full power of digital marketing: 1) Confusion over which online marketing efforts will provide the greatest value and 2) Limited resources to devote to marketing, exacerbated by the challenging economic climate.

Digital marketing requires more than just creating a website. SMBs need to leverage the power of online and mobile channels, a growing list of social channels, locally focused online directories and review sites. It can seem too daunting to even begin. More importantly, SMBs have limited budgets to allocate to digital advertising and there is still confusion on how marketing and advertising investments can be measured because some of the benefits are immediate and tangible, and others are just basic necessity.

The good news is that there are a number of relatively-simple, cost-effective ways for SMBs to market online and increase their ability to be found and stay top-of-mind by more of the right local consumers in their area.

Directories

It’s critical for SMB owners to ensure their company is listed in all relevant online directories, maps, apps and popular internet websites. According to research, most SMBs only update their directory listings once. In order to stand above the competition, SMBs need to think of their listing as an advertisement. Consumers looking for products and services want to see reviews, photos, coupons and have direct access to a current website. If an SMB has listed their company in the past, it’s a good idea to go back and make sure that all of the listings are accurate and current with any changes in location or contact information.

Website

Creating a website is the core to an SMBs online presence. All other online activities should point to the businesses website and help efficiently generate business. Just like baking a cake, a website requires key content such as a prominently placed local phone number, email address and form for customers to reach their business. For SMBs, having their hours, driving directions, address and a map are critical. As the online “front door” to their business, they need to ensure their website is professionally-designed, filled with visual elements like videos and photos, and provides links to their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Searchability

Being found online is very important for SMBs because so many people rely on the other major search engines as their go-to source for finding information about local products and services. SMBs should make sure that all of their online marketing and advertising activities are improving SEO and helping their business be found online. This includes making sure they have secured an intelligent URL that is both keyword and geo-targeted to the terms your customers use when they think about your business. The copy on their website should also be search engine optimized with relevant keywords and location based language.

Social Media

The best part of social media is that it’s free… and it works. In a study conducted last year by comScore for 15 Miles and Localeze, findings revealed that 63% of those surveyed are more likely to use a local business if it’s visible on a social networking site. SMB owners without a social presence are missing out on opportunities to easily market their companies and connect directly with their consumers. Twitter and Facebook are great tools for SMBs as it allows them to communicate with potential and current customers in real-time. SMBs should consider putting out Twitter-only coupon offers or posting photos of their work environment on Facebook. There are companies that can manage this entire process for SMBs at low cost and effort. Consumers are already used to interacting with larger brands and small businesses across social channels, so SMBs need to take advantage of this to pull in new customers and maintain relationships with existing customers.

Mobile

Consumers are relying more and more on their mobile devices and tablets to find the things they need online and keep up with their social networks. Yet, less than 10 percent of SMBs have websites that are mobile-compatible (source: vSplash BIA/Kelsey). It’s important for SMBs to consider that their local customers are always on-the-go, and will look on their phones to call them or find their business location. One recent trend is one-touch contact information including phone numbers. SMBs cannot afford to miss out on these customers because their site is not updated, read-able or even worse, not available via mobile at all.

More than ever, SMBs can reach new customers online. They need to get smart about using the Internet as a tool to engage with new and existing local customers. These simple tips are just the start, but they are the building blocks to help SMBs win more customers and keep them coming back for more.

Heath Clarke is chairman and CEO of Local Corporation.

Small Business Lending Fund vs Clean Energy Fund?

2011-10-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Small Business Job Act created a $30bl fund to capitalize small business through community bank loans. The DOE's loan guarantee program is a fund to assist clean/green energy business's with loan guarantees for certain renewable energy systems. Both programs have merit. Both could create much needed jobs and economic expansion. Both programs were enacted by the Obama administration. Then why was one created with tight restrictive rules and regulations and one with loose almost non apparent rules and regulations.

The Small Business Lending Fund, set up last year with $30 billion to help banks jumpstart lending, disbursed a mere $4 billion and is to expire. The DOE's program subsidise nearly $11bn in loans. The Small Business Fund was a nightmare for community banks to get approval, while the DOE's fund was issuing funds easily and even to losers like Solyndra.

This comparison begs the question why in our current economic mess would we restrict capital to small business and freely give it to green energy? Small Business has and will all ways be the engine of the US economy. What are your thoughts on why the programs were put in place in this manner?

Privatize the Post Office.

2011-09-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

As the White House puts together another bailout, this time for the US Postal Service, isn't time we open the discussion to privatize the post office?

With annual revenues of $70bl the Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe warned senators Tuesday USPS could post a $10 billion loss for this fiscal year. USPS's losses are trending up, as defined by the 2010 Annual Report. The USPS is plagued by union issues outlined by The New York Times and other issues outlined by The Washington Post. In this article Senator Joe Lieberman voiced his support, suggesting, “We should be writing more passionate letters to those we love.” and Senator Claire McCaskill suggested that USPS should mount a national advertising campaign promoting the value of printed mail.

With $70bl in annual revenues it's not about generating more revenues or re-branding a failing business, it's about cutting costs. It is time we consider selling the postal service, possibly to companies who earn profits while delivering packages and mail. maybe FedEx or UPS.

What are your opinions on privatizing the postal service?

Leadership in Balance

2011-09-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Leaders set the standard for there organizations. Their emotion's especially those regarding results or production must stay in check, leading with a balance. Balance is understanding your staff/employees/subordinate's reaction is strongly influenced by the manner you react. Justin Menkes states, "One of the most critical tasks leaders have in today's stressful business environment is to channel their emotions and reactions in a way that does not hinder their people's progress."

I am not saying be a robot, just control your emotions. They are watching your reaction to the results and if that act is overly positive or negative, where or how you can react to better or worse results is defined, they will follow that lead. Yes, lead with a positive optimistic attitude and reaction, remembering stability and consistency matter. React as though the results can be better or could be worse. Stay in balance.

Direction for the Economy.

2011-09-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

As Washington awaits the newest version of President Obama's economic plan, WE the People are feed up with strapping chains of indecision placed on our lives and business.
Just look at the data released in the past week:

All of this and other released information point to one glaring fact, no direction. Ronald Reagan's "It's morning again in America." highlighted the good, it made us believe in our abilities of that day and in the future. It gave us direction.

What the politicians must understand is business has a pulse, business is people, and the people who own/operate the business need to believe in today and the future. When Washington defines the direction We the People will produce prosperity.

Is Success Your Goal?

2011-09-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

This morning reviewing, my social media channels, I noticed a post on Facebook by Harvey Mackay regarding goals. His statement triggered my thoughts to Earl Nightingale.

The use of goals is the means of placing your mind and focus to the path of success. Earl Nightingale stated "People with goals succeed because they know where they're going." Believe in yourself and goal. Know deep in your mind, your subconscious, that you will achieve. Concentrate, nourish and repeat the goal. The intensity of your belief in the goal will drive you on the path to success.

Along the path fear and obstacles will emerge, leverage these into opportunities. Keep the focus on the goal, do not allow your mind to be tempted by fear or obstacles. Your mind will move with the current dominant thought, stay focused on the goal and all ways be positive.

Earl Nightingale's belief - You get what you think about most of the time and you become what you think about most of the time. Think about your goal, Think about success!

Honesty by Technological Verification

2011-08-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Twenty eight years ago when I entered the hospitality industry lie detection was a required instrument to fish through your staff to find the unworthy employee, I.E., the truth. Most times the detection would not fester out the individual who was being tested, rather that person would rat out a co worker.

Now with the technological tools provided by the internet, social networks, plagiarism detection software and information exchange algorithms we are all subjected to instant information verification. This expedition is not just a tool to check down the ladder
of the business hierarchy, it allows the verification up the ladder; where C-level to the
board room's credentials, proposals and presentations can be instantly proven.
Included in this has been President Obama's virtual polygraph exam.

Per Michael Schrage blog - "But the real revolution emerging is not the greater transparency of a LinkedIn here and the statistical significance of a "lie detection" algorithm there; it's their linkage, fusion and aggregation."
Interesting that as we have advanced, we still just seek the truth.

Control Your Personal Brand by Haney Sweda

2011-08-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, you have a personal brand. Everything you do or do not do has an impact on your brand image. Take control of our personal brand, if you do not, you risk the peril of others defining the who, what, why, where and how of your life.

Remember you are the brand, be confident, positive and all ways present yourself professionally. You never know who may be watching and listening. That person you impressed at the grocery or the department store may be a potential client, job interview or your child's future teacher or principal. The fact that you held the door for others to enter; or that you gave up a parking space; or how you introduce yourself; or your reaction to an adverse public situation, all of these define you as a brand.

With the internet and social networking, everything, regardless of location or setting, will impact you personally. Start by Google-ing your name and review the results, you may be pleased or shocked. Anything posted to the internet or social networks about you is there forever, so be careful in what you post, say, do or what other people post say or do with your name or photos. Stephanie Fierman's class and the summary of the class at The CMO Site on personal brand guarding, detail specific actions to take to control and guard your on line brand.

Be you, but remember you are the BRAND!