Committed fitness enthusiasts usually squeeze in their daily dose of cardio, but who among us always takes time to stretch after a workout? With increasing responsibilities and the need to “do more with less” business leaders are finding ways to streamline their health and fitness activities and focus on the next project, deadline or crisis of the day.

When it comes to prioritizing, it’s easy to select the exercise options that yield noticeable results instead of stretching. However, stretching at least 20 to 30 minutes a week can provide lasting benefits, especially as you get older. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, we should spend at least 10 minutes after exercising to stretch major muscle and tendon groups.

Stretching offers many perks, including improved flexibility, circulation, balance and coordination. If you need structure and encouragement, participating in a class is an excellent way to get started. Our own City of Des Moines can help with its free “Yoga in the Park” Saturday morning sessions at Gray’s Lake this summer.

Stretching also holds importance in today’s business world, and I think it’s time to revisit the “stretch goals” philosophy of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. Stretch goals, by definition, seem beyond reach at the present time, and can be used to inspire employees and encourage innovative ideas. 

Using Welch’s goal-setting theory, consider these questions when evaluating professional stretching:

1. How has the stretch goal helped improve performance relative to past performance?
2. What impact has the stretch goal had on your level of performance in comparison to your competitors’ performance?
3. If not yet achieved, how close have you come to the stretch goal? Was the progress meaningful?

Make time to stretch. As in exercise routines, striving for stretch goals may not be an immediate priority, but working toward them can have a tremendous positive benefit on your future.

The Problem
There are two kinds of companies doing business online: 1) those that have had an online public relations problem; and 2) those about to have an online public relations problem.  Whether it is a disgruntled customer, a security breach or some other unintentional blunder, any public relations problem has the ability to snowball out of control. Ignoring or mishandling the problem often makes things worse. Once the problem reaches a critical mass, it may become too big for a small, or poorly positioned, company to recover.

The Solution
Social media is the perfect tool for not only identifying potential public relations issues early, but for turning them into a platform for showcasing your great customer service. Using social media as a radar to identify and address customer concerns early can save headaches down the road. Generating an evangelical social media following expands both your reach and message. If a catastrophic problem does occur, social media followers often come to a company’s rescue, solving problems hundreds of thousands of dollars and a courtroom of lawyers could not. Most importantly, transparent use of social media may cause a customer to contact you directly, before airing grievances online. Your social media solutions however, must be in place long before a problem arises. The key is in understanding social media, and implementing a coordinated social media initiative sooner, rather than later.

Brett Trout

Gen X sucks! It's just not as sexy as the other generations it falls between. The Silent Generation defeated the Nazis, Boomers started a revolution, and Millennials are saving the planet. Generation X is so bad it doesn’t even have a name, just an X. Gen Xers are the smallest of the four generations with a dip in the population line by about 20-30 million. While most of the attention of young professionals is focused on this overconfident, happy and resourceful millennial generation, what’s forgotten is that YP’s still have a large Gen X segment in them. 

If we use the current membership guidelines of most YP groups the age out limitation is usually 40 years of age, the most restrictive are capped at 35 years of age. Most research points to 1980 as being the arbitrary gateway to be considered a Millennial. Those two facts together suggest that the working world has at least five to 10 years left of Gen Xer’s preparing to take over. The population gap gives opportunities to Boomers to stay past their prime and Millennials to seize the day as well. However, for the Xer, their life experience of critical thinking, skepticism, isolation and standing in the shadows will be a highly valuable experience for management and leadership.

Gen Xers experience being caught in the middle positions and will have to deal with the largest generation gap since 1969 and the subsequent problems that brings, such as differing views on politics, religion, leadership and technology. In regards to technology, Gen X is already showing its leadership. While many seek Millennials for understanding of the latest Web 2.0 technology, it is Gen X, not Millennials, that is leading the charge with the most buzz worthy of social media tools: Twitter.

Millennials have not caught on to Twitter as much as Gen X has, but looking at the 3-year-old service that Twitter is, its millions of users, its rapid growth, diversity of third party applications, and its saturation in print and media., makes it a force to be reckoned with. In addition, its ability to break real time events like the overseas uprising in Iran, the stateside death of Michael Jackson in and even more localized events like the dismissal of public from the State Capitol, give Twitter a legitimacy that other platforms just don’t have. Gen X can be proud to lead the charge in this area and be content with anticipation over joining the leadership circle and finally getting some respect.

Recruiting Trends published this report that begins to validate my argument.

Research conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), a provider of talent acquisition and retention solutions, asked workers what their reasons were for joining their current organization. The report analyzes data drawn from a representative sample of workers surveyed through WorkTrends™, KRI’s 2008 annual survey of worker opinions. For some time, many have speculated on the reasons as to why people accept a job with a new organization. While KRI’s research confirms that there are a variety of them, two top items emerge as critical decision points: compensation and corporate reputation. An organization’s reputation consists of a variety of characteristics, including their involvement in corporate responsibility initiatives, product quality or profitability.

The survey results also reveal that senior managers and sales people place the most value on the organization’s reputation in weighing an employment offer, as did employees in India, Italy, Russia and Brazil. “The correlation between the organization’s reputation and successful recruiting efforts strongly supports the importance of employment branding,” says Jack Wiley, executive director of the Kenexa Research Institute. “It’s not about each individual job offer – this research highlights the value of presenting and maintaining positive brand messaging to the potential employee talent pool. ”

Why will the most talented sales people choose to sell for your company rather than your competitor?

Employee injuries result in workers’ compensation claims, lost productivity and decreased morale. Ergonomic correction may be simple. Local providers may even provide free in-office consultations on improving workstations and postures while your employees are working. Evaluate your worker’s duties and workstations to pinpoint repetitive stress injury hazards and take action. For example, a simple electric stapler may prevent carpal tunnel for an employee who spends hours collating. An quick method to evaluate workstations is to ask employees for suggestions related to comfort and efficiency.

Considering employees’ health and welfare may be second nature to savvy business owners who shepherd their own flocks; Safeguarding guests from injury is too often an afterthought. It’s not that we don’t care about the well being of our patrons, quite the opposite; we assume they are aware enough to keep out of harm’s way. Our employees know about the seam in the carpet, that one little step down in-between the office and the hallway, or the loose latch on the door to the loading dock. We take these little hazards for granted. Adopt the eyes of grandmother reviewing your workplace like her grandchildren will take a field trip there the next day: round corners, pick up debris, remove or secure potential hazards.

Conscientious business owners stock up on sand or a melting agent in the fall. After snowfalls, they arrive early and shovel. They systematically mop puddles in entryways following rains, never taking for granted that all employees or customers have sensible shoes. Whether it is your supplier, a new client, or a random stranger who wanders into your building, you face liability for a wrist broken in a fall. The people who walk through your door are expected to take reasonable care and may assume risk for exposing themselves to certain obvious dangers. On the other hand, attention to safety may save you countless hours defending an avoidable claim.

One Iowa lawsuit involved a business patron who walked down a corridor with an unmarked service door and an exit. The patron did not see the small exit sign and went out the service door to find an unexpected drop-off and a broken ankle. The question was whether the exit marking was adequate. Even though the area was not meant to be public, the error was foreseeable and the business paid for the patron’s injuries. The door now has a red and white "not an exit" sign. $4 would have saved thousands.

Another Iowa case involves a beautiful marble bench in an atrium. Unfortunately, the floor pattern and the lighting camouflaged the bench at certain times of day. When a patron fell over the bench, breaking both arms, she sued. An expert found there were aesthetically pleasing affordable alternatives to make the bench safe. The business paid for the patron’s injuries. A stainless steel garbage can is now at the end of the bench. $100 would have saved tens of thousands.

Yet another Iowa case involves a worker who caught his arm in a machine, severely injuring his arm. Neither he nor the employer knew the machine was originally sold with a guard that would have protected him. A review of the manual (and a free guard replacement) would have saved tens of thousands.

Walk through your building. Have your grandmother walk through. Look at it from the perspective of someone who has entered it for the first time. Are hazards lit and marked? Are employees comfortable? Do you need a consultant to evaluate your environment?

OSHA has a handbook to make your small business workplace safer. Iowa Workforce Development offers links to look for health and safety related sites. Employee suggestions may lead to safety improvements. The simple adage is true; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Let's say you have to deliver a tough message about layoffs. Can you deliver that message in a compassionate way?

Let's say that you feel strongly about a certain issue. But can you jump on board and loyally implement another plan even if it opposes your view?

Can you both lead and follow equally well? Do you confront people when they don't perform but still be  approachable and easy to talk with?

Learning to shift gears readily like this is critical to being a good leader. (Especially today, when the landscape can change in a matter of seconds!) If you're a leader today, you have to be able to think and act in seemingly contrary ways at the same time, or when moving from one task to another.

One of the biggest leadership challenges for me is re-thinking the value of being "consistent," being who I am, deep down, all the time, following one set of beliefs. When called on to act paradoxically, what I do is push out my borders a bit and expand my normal range of beliefs, behaviors and style, using two extremes at once: I'm loud and soft, strong and flexible, persistent and adaptable.

How does paradox show up for you? How do you have to shift gears at work? What kinds of quick and difficult transitions do you have to make in the course of a typical day?

Write down the five toughest for you? How do these discontinuities make you feel and what might you do in that moment that gets you into trouble as a leader? Now decide what you'll do next time such a paradox shows up that will keep you out of trouble and lead you to success.

The economy is struggling, a vital customer quits ordering, you loose a key employee, or a natural disaster strikes – is your business ready for these types of scenarios?  Great businesses answer YES and they may even be offended if someone asks.  

The reality is that most businesses have not given the time to create a contingency plan.  Why? Below is short list of reasons:

• Business is thriving

• It requires discussion on tough issues that typically are avoided

• It takes too much time

• We are rock solid and do not have to worry

• Poor management

Contingency planning is equally as important as your annual business plan or your strategic plan.  Remember that you have a group of employees, owners and their families counting on the fact that business survival means their own survival.

Without a contingency plan, recovery from a tough situation becomes difficult and may lead to the death of the business.  Gather your key people, talk about the issues that could drastically impact your business and create a plan to cope with the issues.  Contingency planning should be a part of sales, profit and stock growth planning. 

Do not wait for the storm to happen, make sure you are equipped and ready when the storm arrives!

Victor Aspengren

The process is similar to a forensic analysis. According to many business brokers, relevant areas of concern can include financial reports, the business's place in the market, real and personal property, insurance and liability coverage, review of debt, employee benefits, immigration and international transactions.

Business brokers can be instrumental in the process of due diligence. According to the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, business brokers must conduct a due diligence investigation for the businesses they are selling and disclose their discoveries in order to not be held liable for non-disclosure. Due diligence is now performed by business brokers for public, as well as private mergers and acquisitions.

Business brokers say that due diligence should be performed before a company goes to market. This helps to uncover any hidden or unexpected costs that may be associated with the sale of the business, ensuring that the seller is receiving a fair sum from the buyer. The best advice is to employ the help of a qualified business broker. Protecting the seller is a business broker's job, and properly performing due diligence is one of the most important steps to take when selling your company.

I’ve also been learning that social networking is – to use a term I picked up from Scott Berry, one of the biggest networking guys I know – “synergistic.”

As I was leaving Jeff Garrison’s BYOB Gathering at McLellan Marketing Group’s office last month, I happened to walk by the Des Moines Social Club. I learned from an acquaintance of mine standing out front that the Greater Des Moines Young Professionals Connection (YPC) was hosting a social function that evening.

I’d been looking forward to making a connection with the YPC group for some time and it seemed like the perfect opportunity.  I had no agenda.  I just wanted a closer look.

As I stepped inside, one of the first people I recognized was Lacy Brunnette, an up-and-coming twentysomething with Global Reach Internet Productions LLC in Ames. Lacy knows my company has been looking for some locals to contribute photos of professional business events for our Web site. So she introduced me to Doug Enright, YPC’s webmaster.

I appreciated the introduction and enjoyed chatting with Doug.

A few days later, Doug sent me an e-mail asking if I’d be interested in flying to Camp Ripley, Minn., that coming weekend, to watch members of the Iowa National Guard taking part in their annual training. Doug is the state office manager for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, which coordinates the annual BossLift program. I jumped on the opportunity.

Not only did the 24-hour trip give me a chance to connect with Doug, but it also allowed me to tour a 53,000-acre military installation, catch a glimpse of a few fairly classified areas on the base, meet dozens of officers and soldiers, handle a variety of automatic weapons and artillery shells, ride in several Humvees, try on a Kevlar vest and helmet, observe some really cool demonstrations, watch businessmen blow stuff up and just talk to a bunch of people.

I also added a number of local professional contacts to my Rolodex.

In short, taking the time to drop in at the Social Club that night – after attending another networking event where I finally put faces with the names of several social-media gurus I’d been hearing more about recently – led to dozens of new contacts, the publication of a story and photo gallery, the production of a video and a heck of a good time.

And I have to say that riding in the cockpit of a Boeing Chinook CH-47 helicopter for about an hour with zero visibility was probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Here’s my point. Networking tends to have a snowball effect. If your network consist of one person, that’s great. He or she knows people. And those people know people that can help your career and business. You just need to get the ball rolling.

Remember, networking doesn’t have to be forced. Reiterating yourself, your business and your brand – sometimes by just showing up – can ultimately lead to a closing a deal, making a sale, finding a job, publishing an article or hooking up with individuals and groups who can point you in the right direction.

See you in the news!

Todd Razor

Not surprisingly, most business owners don’t.

Often times, when I review this coverage with a client, if their business is not manufacturing, they don’t think they need it. I have even been asked if it can be removed from the policy since they do not make any products within their business.

So what I would like to do is review some simple scenarios that can show how useful and important this coverage really is.

• A self employed contractor builds a deck for a client – three months later the deck collapses and the client is injured. It is later determined that the contractor neglected to fasten the deck correctly and caused the deck to collapse.

• A customer eats a hamburger at your restaurant and later makes a claim against the business claiming that they received food poisoning from eating at your establishment.

• A heating and cooling business installs a new water heater in a client’s home. Three months later, the water heater leaks and causes property damage to the client’s home.

While some of these situations seem simple - they are common, everyday business operations that can affect many different industries.

It is important to note that to be covered, the injury or damage must occur away from your own premises, unless your business includes selling, handling or distributing your product for consumption on your premises.

Just as important to know is that this coverage only provides protection while the policy is in force.  So, if a business owner cancels the policy, closes their business or retires - and a claim arises three months later for work they performed during their policy period - they’re probably not covered.

So the next time you are reviewing your policy, make sure that your Products Completed Operations coverage is adequate for the risk you bear.

As always, I welcome any feedback that you may have and click on the above links for more information on this coverage.

To celebrate our nation's birthday - and with help from my friend, Josh Nankivel, and his fellow authors at PMStudent - I thought it appropriate to look at our constitution as one big project charter:

We the people At their core, projects are about people.  They are of the people, by the people, and for the people. People skills are the chief component of what makes a project work.

In order to form a more perfect union Does your project support the cohesive mission of your organization?  If not, you'll have stakeholders pulling you in every direction.

Establish justice In a project setting, "fair" is a myth. There will always be somebody who perceives your project solution as unfair.  As a leader, you are shooting for an equitable solution.

Ensure domestic tranquility Keeping your stakeholders and end users at the forefront of your focus can prevent embattlement down the road.

Provide for the common defense Projects will always be embattled by office politics.  Why not keep your sense of humor and be prepared for the worst?

Promote the general welfare While you are meeting deadlines and building deliverables, why not develop your people and manage their skills and talents in the process?  It could save your project.

Secure the blessings of liberty While there are many tools and approaches in project management, the best practice is to maintain your flexibility, try new things, and ultimately just do what makes sense for your project and your team and your organization.  Rigidity kills projects.

To ourselves and our posterity What kind of legacy is your project leaving for the organization?  Will people ignore and dismantle the solution once you have moved on, or will they embrace what you have accomplished?

On behalf of my fellow Iowabiz authors, I wish you a safe and happy Independence Day holiday.

Carpe Factum!

Several months ago I found myself in the midst of a real life version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles and I learned a valuable lesson in customer service. I was on my way home from a business trip and, to make a very long story short, I was stuck with a bunch of other travelers at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. We'd loaded the plane. We'd sat on the tarmac for hours. We'd returned to the terminal to correct a problem. We'd reloaded the plane. Then we were told we'd have to get off the plane and be shuffled to another flight. It was your basic travel nightmare.

As I stood in the back of the line at the service counter waiting for my reassignment, I watched as my fellow travelers verbally accosted the ticket agent. Granted, they were saying all the the things I was thinking, but the poor guy was getting mercilessly yelled at and berated.

I was the last person in line. As I approached the lambasted ticket agent, I noticed that he defensively refused to make eye contact.

"Tough night for all of us, isn't it?" I asked with the most cheerful tone I could muster.

He finally looked at me as he held out his hand for my boarding pass. I forced out an "I know how you feel" smile as I gave it to him. He rolled his eyes, nodded, and began to work on my reassignment.

"Thanks for taking care of us," I said as his fingers clickety-clacked their way across the keyboard.

The printer whirred and he pulled out the new boarding pass.

"Thank you," he said to me with deliberate earnestness. With that, he handed me a first-class ticket home.

Like it or not, Customer Service Representatives have the power to help or hinder our quest for resolution. How you approach them may determine which it's going to be. As my Grandma Golly always said, "You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar."