I recently stumbled upon a report published by HREOnline arguing the need for organizations to implement a strategic employee recognition program. “The problem with trying to do more with less is we all focus on the ‘less’ part, don’t we?” asks Mike Ryan, senior vice president of marketing and strategy at Madison Performance Group.

Maybe it’s time to focus a little more on who has to do all that more with less?

He cited a survey conducted by Aon Hewitt that suggests, “…most employees want to know how their work aligns with the overall business goals and ‘to be recognized for what they do’—as long as the compensation is at market rate.”

This is very consistent with what I’ve observed over the years regarding what really motivates people and engages the team. It’s not so much about what people are paid, as whether or not it’s perceived to be fair. For example, if you team (or any employee for that matter) feels like their compensation plan is an attempt to give them the least amount they can and capture the most work out of them possible, it’s likely that they will be frustrated and maybe even disengage.

Although most of us really do care about our compensation, it isn’t all about exactly what that compensation is—so long as it’s fair. “Managers [and project leaders fit into this category in my mind] are also extremely important in making sure employees feel their work is recognized,” says Ryan. The reason it doesn’t happen enough, is because “…many organizations do not have systems that help people do that.”

This validates some research AtTask did a couple of years ago with Forrester that suggested a primary driver for many project teams is whether or not their contributions are visible to managers and peers. This is one reason I’m so fond of incorporating the social media metaphor into the project management process. I’ve observed that people are generally proud of what they do and a little recognition goes a long way.

Winnipeg consultant David Zinger, suggests “…authentic recognition is so much more than an annual gala or occasional gift card for good behavior. Recognition is social, strategic, and powerful.”

It’s no surprise that many organizations trust monetary rewards and points-based systems to motivate people, but once people are compensated fairly (as Daniel Pink suggests in his book Drive), it becomes less about the money and more about peer-to-peer recognition that not only costs less, it really pays off.

Are you doing anything to make recognition a part of leading the project team? If so, what are you doing?

Whenever I write about the leadership quality of integrity, I get comments from those who either don’t like my definition or don’t think it’s a black and white issue or just plain think I’m some kind of naive nut who is up in the night. This has been true as recently as the last few days.

The headline for the Harvard Business Review’s, The Daily Stat, reads: Male Professionals with Higher Ethical Standards Earn Less. At least according to a study conducted by the University of Memphis. Andrew Hussey went through data on “thousands of students” and came up with the following:

1.Male business professionals who self-report high ethical standards earn, on average, 3.4 percent less than their peers who don’t report having such standards

2.Men who reported that their MBA programs enhanced their ethical standards earned 6.5 percent less than those who didn’t

3.Female professionals who self-report high ethical standards receive no pay penalty

4.Women who said their schooling raised their ethical standards actually earned a 5.5 percent premium

I guess I was wrong. Ethics and integrity don’t seem to matter to corporate America. At least according to this survey. Needless to say, lying to employees, team members and customers seems to be the way for male professionals to get ahead. I can’t help but wonder why it might be different for women. Maybe we expect women to be honest and don’t have that same expectation of men. I must admit, that stat is a mystery to me.

I understand all the shades of grey that exist when we start talking about honesty, ethics and integrity. There are lots of reasons to bend one’s personal standard of integrity (it appears now that money might even be one of them).

That being said, I still believe integrity matters when leading a team or leading an organization. In an economy where we need people to take individual ownership of what they’re doing, perform at a higher level and create innovative products that create new markets and resonate with customers—integrity is still the supreme quality of leadership.

And yes, I’m naive enough to believe that it’s just that black and white.

Finalists and winners of the first Grow America (www.GrowAm.com) Springboard™ business competition for 2012 are $250,000 richer in cash awards and services following this week’s Live Pitch and Final Pitch events at the Utah Salt Palace. Early Monday afternoon, the 100 Round 2 finalists met to participate in Live Pitch judging, culminating in the Final Pitch event that KUTV recorded and is producing into a one-hour broadcast show.

“Thanks to the involvement of our community, our tremendous entrepreneurs and our great sponsors, our first Springboard competition has been a historic event,” said Founder Alan E. Hall. “We look forward to the continuing series, and we invite all entrepreneurs who qualify, as well as investors, sponsors and mentors to continue our expansion of this program through the rest of 2012 and beyond.”

Twelve finalists – four each in the Idea Stage, Start-up Stage and Growth Stage categories were selected according to their cumulated scores and called up to make live pitches to the program’s three celebrity judges: Fraser Bullock, Managing Director of Sorenson Capital; Amy Anderson, CEO of Mediconnect; and Jeremy Andrus, CEO of SkullCandy. The audience voted as well, resulting in 12 cash and service awards, as follows:

Idea Stage:

1^st Place, $10,000–simplicityMDsharps

2^nd Place, $7,500–Medinno

3^rd Place, $3,500–Geek in a Day

Audience Choice, $1,000–simplicityMDsharps

Startup Stage:

1^st Place, $25,000–Quark Enterprises (Sprout)

2^nd Place, $15,000–XoomPark

3^rd Place, $10,000–knowonder!

Audience Choice, $3,000–Quark Enterprise (Sprout)

Growth Stage:

1^st Place, $100,000–CompleteSpeech

2^nd Place, $50,000–Happy Monkey Hummus

3^rd Place, $20,000–Spoonful of Comfort

Audience Choice, $10,000–Happy Monkey Hummus

Growth Stage 1^st Place Winner Dan Smith, Director of Operations for CompleteSpeech, summed up the competition like this: “As we drove here today, we noted that whether or not we win a single dollar in this competition, we know our company far better today than we did when we entered.”

Alan Hall presented the awards together with founding sponsors Zions Bank, Comcast Business Class, Comcast Spotlight, KUTV2, Utah Jazz and KJZZ-TV.  The initial Springboard Competition has also involved a tremendous set of community sponsors, as follows: 180Fusion, 97th Floor,

Carman, Lehnhof, Israelsen LLP, Connect Partners, Comcast Business Class, Comcast Spotlight, eSilverBullet, Fishbowl, Grant Thornton, Kirton McConkie, Kunzler Law Group, Les Olson Company, RPM Revenue Drivers, Sage Displays, Schmitt, Griffiths, Smith & Company, and YESCO.

Entries for the next 2012 competition open July 23; that competition will take place on Sept. 26. A third competition will take place in December 2012, followed by a finale event in January 2013.

For more information about Grow America programs and to register for details on future competitions, visit www.GrowAm.com, and connect to @GrowAmerica and @AskAlanEHall.

 About Grow America

 Grow America is a national company emerging from Utah with a mission to create jobs and lift local economies. Grow America aligns the partners, mentors and capital that entrepreneurs need to create and grow tomorrow’s successful companies, with the ultimate goal of putting America back to work, one company and one community at a time.

 ###

 PR Contacts:

 Snapp Conner PR

Jeremy Kartchner

801 994-9625

Jeremy@snappconner.com

Wovyn (www.wovyn.com) launched today on Kickstarter, unveiling its first set of products allowing developers and consumers anywhere to build the Internet of Things. Wovyn hardware and its Loom software let the physical world quickly become part of any information system, feeding data into applications that manage buildings, transportation, agriculture, or home environments like never before.

“Wovyn accelerates the growth of the Internet of Everything,” said Scott C. Lemon, Wovyn’s Founder. “Our platform makes it easier to connect almost any sensor or control technology via standard web protocols to almost any Internet service or third-party software. This allows a much broader range of users and developers to develop powerful applications much faster.”

Wovyn is creating an open and extensible system that allows data from its growing number of supported sensors to be routed to any application through its Loom software. Wovyn has early partnerships across many business areas, including property management, restaurants and retail, trucking and logistics, and energy production.

“The Internet of Things is likely to be one of the biggest growth areas of our decade,” said Vahé Kassardjian, Co-Founder of Sen.se. “We are very happy to see companies like Wovyn pioneering this industry with innovative ideas. Wovyn’s platform and devices will be crucial building blocks to allow us all to get creative and embrace progress.”

Wovyn has launched its initial platform on Kickstarter.com. The initial product includes more than two dozen sensors available and in development, USB and Wifi gateways running its Loom software, and connections to more than 10 consumer and developer services.

About Wovyn

Wovyn powers the Internet of Things. Our software and hardware allows objects and places to talk with web applications.

- Imagine placing dozens of compact wireless sensors (less than an inch cube) all over your home, business, or other local or remote location.

- Imagine these little sensors monitoring temperature, humidity, light, pressure, motion, sound, liquid levels, and many other things.

- Imagine being able to easily hook them up to various applications & notification services – SMS Text, Web portals, Pub/Sub, Social Media, Email, etc.

- Imagine ALL of this being extremely affordable and easy to install

You are imagining Wovyn.

Wovyn, L.L.C.
David W. Nelson, (801) 657-4451
david.nelson@wovyn.com

With the historic Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act signed into law on April 5th, a legal framework for equity-based “crowdfund investing” is now established and the potential for a much larger global crowdfunding community is unleashed.

“We are pleased to bring to Utah a group of innovators that have ignited crowdfunding both as an Internet-based platform and an equity-based investment model,” said Dr. Richard Swart, co-founder of CrowdFunding Made Simple, Director of Strategic Programs at Grow America Insights and Executive Committee member of the Crowdfunding Professional Association (www.crowdfundingprofessionals.org). “While much has been achieved in crowdfunding to date, surprisingly, most entrepreneurs and investors across the country are not yet familiar with it. We look forward to providing a summit for education and interaction on this vital new capital creation concept right here in one of the entrepreneurship capitals of America.”

Utah’s Alan E. Hall, a founding sponsor of the Crowdfunding Professional Association and founder of the $1,000,000 Grow America SpringBoard Competition for entrepreneurs and a principal at Mercato Partners and Island Park Ventures is the keynote speaker at the upcoming event.

“Starting a business is never easy, which is why I feel strongly about participating in and sponsoring this cutting-edge conference on crowdfund investing,” said Hall. “Entrepreneurs, investors, private equity firms, lawyers, accountants, marketing professionals – all of them will benefit and be interested in accessing the latest developments in this historic and timely new business model. I also firmly believe crowdfunding has the potential to bring hundreds of thousands of additional entrepreneurs and investors into the vital process of creating companies and jobs that our economy so desperately needs.”

Additional speakers include Brian Meece, founder and CEO of RocketHub.com, one of the world’s top three crowdfunding platforms; Jason Best, co-author of the CrowdFund Investing Framework in the JOBS Act and founder of Startup Exemption; Carl Esposti, founder of Crowdsourcing.org and leader of the CAPS Accreditation Program for crowdfunding platforms; and Douglas S. Ellenhoff, one of America’s top securities law experts from Ellenhoff, Grossman & Schole.

“Understanding the implications and applications of crowdfunding is critical for entrepreneurs and investors because of the ability to vet ideas, create new markets, and gain access to new investors,” said Bryan Ritchie, Director of the Technology Commercialization Office at the University of Utah. “We look forward to hosting and sponsoring the first crowdfunding conference in Utah and believe it will provide significant insights for our vibrant entrepreneurial community. Participants will interact with the early adopters and innovators leading this groundbreaking legislation and fund raising platform.”

Attendees can register at www.CrowdFundingMadeSimple.com. Participants will also receive discounted access to a copy of Carl Esposti’s “Crowdfunding Industry Report”, the most comprehensive report to date, based on data from more than 170 crowdfunding platforms (CFPs) and other sources.

About CrowdFunding Made Simple

CrowdFunding Made Simple is a crowdfunding educational and events platform designed to educate entrepreneurs, small business owners and the American public about this new, groundbreaking industry platform that fuels the creation of new ideas, new businesses and jobs. For more information, visit www.CrowdFundingMadeSimple.com .

About The Soho Loft Capital Creation Events

Rapidly becoming known as the definitive event platform for the rising private company marketplace (PCM), The Soho Loft (TSL) Capital Creation Event Series is the only global event platform where accredited investors, accomplished angels, micro-financing groups, CIOs of investors, select merchant and investment bankers, VC funds, family offices, incubators, private equity firms, pre-IPO mutual funds, secondary stock specialists, equity analysts, seasoned entrepreneurs, tax and legal experts, and legislators from across the globe assemble to exchange ideas, discuss trends, and analyze opportunities that will help reshape the capital markets and stimulate economic growth. Their mission is to help develop the infrastructure of the rising private markets so that it can mature into a viable and functional marketplace that facilitates capital formation, innovation, expansion, and job creation. For additional information please visit them at http://thesoholoft.com and http://www.facebook.com/TheSohoLoftevents.

Media Contact: Cheryl Snapp Conner, Cheryl@snappconner.com, (801) 994-9625 www.snappconner.com

SOURCE: CrowdFunding Made Simple

– Free Event to be Held May 23 at Salt Lake Community College From 6:30-8:30 pm –

 Social Commerce Exchange, an educational and networking initiative driven by local companies interested in helping the business community improve their revenue, brand, and customer relations through social media, is holding their next event Wednesday, May 23 at the Salt Lake Community College from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. (Networking beginning at 5:30 p.m.)

This month’s event will focus on how local companies are using social media monitoring to grow their business. Presenters include:

• Cory Edwards, Director of Social Media & Corporate Reputation – DELL
• Jeff Jordan, Senior Product Manager, Social Media – ADOBE
• Jason Bangerter, Founder – STRUCK
• Jodi Mardesich, Social Media Manager – FUSION-IO
• Mario Colosimo, Social Media Manager – ZIONS BANK
• Collin Searle, Social Media Manager – INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTHCARE

The Social Commerce Exchange is a combined voluntary effort of 32 sponsors & hosts exemplifying the value of social media in business. Their objective is to help local companies learn and implement social media into their business in a fast and efficient manner. The Social Commerce Exchange was initiated by Whitehall Ventures, and is supported by companies such as Skullcandy, doba, ZAGG,  Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, Chase, and KSL.

“Since the online world is moving so much faster than businesses can measure, gaining insightful and strategic social trends and tools is crucial,” said Nate Hirst, Blendtec Global Marketing Analyst. “We’re excited for this event to hear and share ways that help monitor and discover significant online conversations and engagement.”

To register for the event, go to http://socialcommerceexchange-6437.eventbrite.com/

About Social Commerce Exchange

Social Commerce Exchange is organized and run by companies wanting to increase their social commerce capabilities. Social Commerce Exchange’s unique event format provides participants with exposure to real social case studies, expert-led sessions, as well as networking opportunities with other forward-thinking individuals and businesses. For more information, or to attend an event, visit www.socialcommerceexchange.org

“Yahoo confirmed in a Sunday afternoon press release that CEO Scott Thompson will step down, effective immediately,” writes Catherine Smith for the Huffington Post.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States and supreme commander of the Allied forces during World War II, said, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionable integrity. Without it, no real success is possible.”

About a week ago I wrote about Thompson and how he falsified his background on his resume. Although I’m convinced that we have a flawed system for hiring talent by relying too heavily on resume scrapers to search for keywords (which might have contributed to why Mr. Thompson opted for lying on his resume) the fact that he did calls into question what Eisenhower describes as the “supreme quality of leadership”. It’s no surprise to me that Thompson has stepped down.

Over the years, those leaders I have responded to the best have been those I felt I could trust. I could trust what they said. I could trust the motives of what they did. And, I never had to second guess them.

Some time ago I wrote about honest project communication and was surprised that the reaction wasn’t a unanimous, “Yeah, honesty is the best policy.” I have to admit, I’ve probably spent more time thinking about those who suggested that it was OK to lie to colleagues, co-workers and team members than I should have. I have even recalled some of the poor leaders I’ve experienced over my career and recognized that many of them were liars. They lied to me. They lied to the rest of the team. They even lied to our boss.

It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” I have observed that the great leaders I have worked with, regardless of their position, were men of unquestionable integrity.

I recognize that for many this isn’t black and white, but maybe it should be.

Featured speakers include Carly Fiorina, Max Boot, Stephen Moore, and David Neeleman.

Registration is required. Contact your Zions Bank banker, or visit http://www.zionsbank.com/conference

Here is the flyer:

Grow America Springboard, launched by Alan E. Hall with the help of regional partners, is providing $1,000,000 in cash awards and resources over the course of three events in 2012 and a Utah state championship in January 2013.  The competitions are designed to support, encourage, and strengthen entrepreneurship wherever and whenever it is found.

The Spring 2012 Live Pitch and Final Pitch events will take place at the Salt Palace Convention Center on May 21, 2012. The Live and Final Pitch events are a cross between the Shark Tank ™ and American ™ Idol. The community is welcome to network and participate in the Live Pitch beginning at 1:30. The Final Pitch event, in which the top twelve companies will make their presentations before a live audience and celebrity judges begins at 4:00 p.m. After voting by both the audience and judges, Grow America will name winners in three categories, idea, startup and growth.

Attendance to both the Live Pitch and Final Pitch are free and open to the public.  To RSVP for either May 21 event visit http://www.growam.com/rsvp_live_event/.

When:

Monday, May 21, 2012

1:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Where:

Salt Palace Convention Center

100 South West Temple

Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Who:

Alan E. Hall, Founder of Grow America

Scott Anderson, President & CEO of Zions Bank

Steve Lindsley, Regional Vice President, Comcast Spotlight

Contact:

Jeremy Kartchner

Snapp Conner PR

(801) 703-4092

Jeremy@snappconner.com

TaleSpring.com is a local book app publisher that has an online software platform that makes it relatively easy and inexpensive to create a book app and publish to the App Store on iTunes.

I was speaking with Jason Izatt almost two years ago when he started the TaleSpring business and told him of my excitement for the platform because I have several books that I want to publish. I had long been looking for a publisher for my material, but was getting frustrated; you see, finding a publisher in the children’s book market is not quite as rare as stepping foot on the moon, but probably comes in as a close ‘second’.

As Jason described his new publishing platform, my eyes grew wide and what can only be described as ‘the Fourth of July’ was going off in my brain. I stood there, holding my iPad and felt both embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of this before, and exhilarated that I was suddenly making plans to publish my own material to the App Store for the iPad.

With plans to publish within a month of our discussion, I soon became painfully aware that publishing my books in the iPad environment would take more effort that a weekend or two could contain.

I searched the world over for an illustrator and finally partnered with Zach Clough, who caught my eye with a previous pirate drawing and really grabbed me with an exciting and vibrant color palette that I thought would be perfect for a children’s pirate adventure book. Zach and I got to work. I created an extensive-but-crude layout of the book complete with square block drawings of each page, and Zach set to work giving my (very) rough vision life with a crew of characters that literally developed their own personalities as we continued creating each successive scene.

One and a half years later, and just over 300 hours of combined time, we finished our book and published with TaleSpring to the App Store.

That was last Monday. Our book app went live in the App Store Monday evening and we watched as it started to gain popularity. I began checking off tasks in my marketing plan and jumped on a few opportunities earlier than expected based on some early interest. Our first couple of days were a little more exciting than we anticipated and we seemed to jet out of the gate. That was before Friday morning…

Friday morning I received a text message at about 7:30 a.m. from Jason at TaleSpring. His message simple asked ‘are you seeing this?’ I was fully engaged in making breakfast for my children, so I naively replied ‘No, what?’ His response had me (almost) doing cartwheels in the kitchen; he told me we had reached #23 on the iPad Book list. I couldn’t believe it.

I rushed the kids through breakfast and even drove them to school before getting to my office to check in. By the time I had arrived to check my iTunes, my book had reached #12. I hadn’t felt like that since seeing Rocky in 1976. Well, including marriage and four children, that isn’t entirely true, but it certainly ranked as one of the most exciting moments of my life.

Imagine how I felt when we hit #8 later that morning. It was a mind-blower, to be sure.

The book has been hovering in and out of the top ten since, and has held positions above 12 for most of the weekend. It has been a lot of fun and is certainly a thrill to have a book on the market. Publishing is an exciting adventure, and I am glad TaleSpring was able to make it such a possibility for me.

We’ll see how the book progresses. I have already started four others based on stories I wrote for my children several years ago. The iPad environment is a perfect place to tell my stories and a wonderful way to bring them to life with sounds, actions and animations.

If you have a moment to check it out, look up The Day I Became A Pirate in the App Store. Read it to your kids and let me know how it goes.

—Cary Snowden, …Author (!)