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a244560e41bd25a4bcdae351160abb15 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherynthayer/2017/06/06/why-adobe-pays-artists-to-do-whatever-they-want-for-a-whole-year/ | Why Adobe Pays Creatives To Do Whatever They Want For A Whole Year | Why Adobe Pays Creatives To Do Whatever They Want For A Whole Year
2017 Creative Resident Julia Nimke Credit: Adobe
In 2015, Adobe, the creator of software like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, started offering a program called Adobe Creative Residency. For a full year, selected designers, digital artists, illustrators and photographers get to work on a personal project to share with the Adobe community, internally and online.
These creative residents get a full salary and benefits, access to the Adobe tools in Creative Cloud, hardware for their projects and invites to special events like Adobe MAX and SXSW. In turn, Adobe gets valuable insights on how their customers think and work.
The Adobe Creative Residency is now in its third year, and announced the latest cohort in May. In this edited and condensed Q&A, Mala Sharma, vice president and general manager of Creative Cloud product, marketing and community talks about the projects this program has made possible and how this initiative has been a good business decision for the software company.
Mala Sharma, vice president and general manager of Creative Cloud product, marketing and community Credit: Adobe
Katheryn Thayer: Why did you start your artist in residence program?
Mala Sharma: The program started because at Adobe, we deeply believe in the power of the creative community and our goal was to establish a platform to connect with them in a concrete and meaningful way. We began the Adobe Creative Residency program in 2015 with two creative residents from the United States. As we enter the third year of the program, we are expanding this unique opportunity beyond the United States. I’m excited to share that this year, for the first time, we will have two creative residents from Germany.
Thayer: What’s one project that gives a good example of the type of work these artists do?
Sharma: It’s hard to choose just one when each of the creative residents select such unique and interesting projects. However, illustrator and animator Syd Weiler was one creative resident who really pushed her creative boundaries.
Syd is a fully digital artist using Microsoft Surface and Adobe Creative Cloud tools to illustrate, paint and animate. As part of her project, Syd built a community of her own on a streaming platform, Twitch. Several times a week Syd streams sessions of her painting or illustrating using Adobe tools where she shares her creative process with her community. In addition, Syd joined the Patreon platform where the patrons who support her get access to digital paintbrushes she’s created for her own projects. Syd is also known for creating iOS stickers, and one of her designs, “Trash Doves” went viral on Facebook – while it grew her followers by about 50,000 across her social media platforms.
Syd Weiler's Trash Doves Illustration Credit: Adobe
Thayer: What’s been the most surprising outcome so far?
Sharma: The most rewarding part of the program is just how much these young individuals evolve and come into their own voice as they further their creativity, build an audience or find new work opportunities.
Each of the residents far surpassed what we could have even imagined. Craig Winslow’s animated patterns appeared in Nike stores around the world. Christine Herrin launched a new online store. Vlogger Sara Dietschy was invited to attend the Dream, Girl premiere as a result of her growing audience which was hosted by The White House Council on Women and Girls for a special Women and Entrepreneurship Event.
Thayer: How does the rest of the company benefit from this initiative?
Sharma: Connecting with customers is always exhilarating and inspiring. Learning from the next generation up-close makes us empathize with our customers and motivates our engineers, product managers and marketers to address their needs with greater understanding. On another note, a program like this helps customers see us as their partner as opposed to a tool provider or a vendor. It reinforces our core brand value of fostering and leading creativity.
Thayer: How has this helped you develop your core technology?
Sharma: The creative residents’ unique projects help Adobe better understand new and emerging creative communities: How they work, what unique challenges they face and how a platform like Creative Cloud can help at scale. The residents are constantly exploring new avenues and pushing themselves and their artistic capabilities. Knowing how they learn and that building an audience and finding work is critical. It enables us to identify how we can bring value to bear for these customers. We get insights about how we can push our technologies and tools like Creative Cloud in new directions to support the next generation of artists, designers, filmmakers and photographers.
Thayer: Why do you think other tech leaders might want to consider a similar program?
Sharma: I think this would be incredibly valuable to other tech leaders who value a more immediate and direct engagement with their communities. Like many other technology companies, we pride ourselves on our deep connection to our customers and on how they push us to innovate and evolve. The creative residency program is a direct reflection of our belief in that symbiotic relationship and a testament to our desire to directly invest in the next group of young, emerging creative leaders.
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a4213838ab7ec2c1dc5801cd65339d07 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherynthayer/2017/09/07/why-vr-hasnt-taken-off-yet-and-how-intel-supports-artists-who-can-make-it-happen/ | Why VR Hasn't Taken Off Yet, And How Intel Supports Artists Who Can Make It Happen | Why VR Hasn't Taken Off Yet, And How Intel Supports Artists Who Can Make It Happen
Eliza McNitt in her VR experience Intel
Intel has big stake in the success of virtual reality. It powers the high-fidelity, interactive, PC-based experiences you see on devices like Oculus and HTC Vive. But special effects aren’t enough to get consumers, or even creators, excited. What virtual reality needs now, says Intel VR Marketing Strategist Lisa Watts, is compelling storytelling experiences that show what the medium can do.
“There's a lot of virtual reality content that gets churned out on a daily basis,” says Watts. “There's a variety of quality. And what we really want to be showing is what the best quality looks like, as a way to influence the entire creative population.”
So Watts works closely with artists to develop high-quality content and explore what it takes to make it. “Working side-by-side at this stage, where everything is still so new, with these creators that are thinking about things in different ways, provides amazing insight to us,” Watts says.
For one thing, she sees a lot of people coming to VR from more traditional filmmaking backgrounds want to make interactive content, but don’t know how yet. “The barriers are somewhat simplistic for a lot of filmmakers. First and foremost, many of them may have started in the 360-video realm and there's a lot of constraints in 360 video: it’s not interactive.” In experiences made as 360 video, you can stand in the center of a scene, but you can’t pick something up; you can’t navigate to a new setting. “Getting to that next level of interactivity is not only something that filmmakers and creators desire to do, but it is something that the population of people who are consuming VR experiences are expecting.”
To help filmmakers approach that level of interactivity, Watts connects artists to the equipment they need, but also the experts who can help them use it correctly. She opens the doors to developer support, Intel’s VR studios and other creatives who have worked with Intel on projects in the past. She also helps creators see how audiences receive their work, by taking it out to demo at film festivals and tech conventions.
Lisa Watts and Eliza McNitt at VRLA Credit: Intel
Her work with filmmaker Eliza McNitt is a good example of how Watts aims to push creators into more advanced content. When they met last year, McNitt was putting the finishing touches on her Fistful of Stars experience, a 360 video that takes viewers through a tour of space. Intel showed a preview of it in their Consumer Electronics Show booth, then supported its South by Southwest premiere. From there, Watts asked “What’s next?” and the pair started discussing how McNitt’s next project — another celestial adventure, called Pale Blue Dot — could be more ambitious, and more interactive.
Working with Lisa from the beginning of the project, rather than at its release, was a markedly different experience. McNitt explains, “So, for Pale Blue Dot, we've been developing the experience for the Oculus Rift, using the touch controllers. And with their support, I've been able to use and gain access to technology before it was on the market — touch controllers, for example — and develop a deep understanding of what is interesting in virtual reality with that kind of technology.” And working with Intel’s team of experts, she’s also getting guidance on making a piece that’s really “linear, and narrative, and tells a story.” She says Watts has “opened up the doors for me in terms of looking at VR as a tool for storytelling,” and thanks to her help, “Pale Blue Dot is really about pushing the boundaries, and creating an incredibly immersive environment for people to explore.”
The five-episode series is slated to premiere in spring 2018, and a behind-the-scenes preview will go live this fall.
Watts hopes her work will accelerate the creation of quality content and inspire others to try their hand at it, too. “A lot of creators are trying by trial and error. The experiences that we've had with some of the film makers and creators we're partnering with to help them tell the stories, we feel that we can inspire the entire population of creators to really think about how they're delivering these experiences to tech users and consumers in such a way that we hope will really spur the creativity of the entire population of creators, getting them pushing the envelope.”
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73e948ae27265ca2983d73c01c5f2c28 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherynthayer/2017/12/15/instagram-tips-from-a-founder-whos-spent-zero-on-marketing/ | Instagram Advice From A Founder Who Thrives On Free Marketing | Instagram Advice From A Founder Who Thrives On Free Marketing
Emily Katz Modern Macramé
Emily Katz, founder of Modern Macramé, didn't set out to start a business. She just liked macramé. But as she learned the ropes, her Instagram account gained a sizable audience (between two handles, she now has well over 200,000 followers). And that social pull has allowed her to grow a healthy business selling decorative wall hangings, jewelry, and more without spending a dime on marketing.
It was in 2015, after about 2 years of growing a following, she realized her hobby could be a company. The Ace Hotel had bought a macramé tent she created, and she was touring the country teaching classes. She made Modern Macramé a legal business, hired her first employee, and increased sales 250%. This year, she's done over $300,000 in sales, snagged a book deal and is exploring partnerships with JOANN Fabrics.
She still runs the same lean marketing strategy, and she credits her success largely to the community she's cultivated online. "We've literally not spent a single dollar on marketing. Everything has been through Instagram."
As it's been such a driver for her success, we asked her to share her Instagram advice:
Shoot In Natural Light
"Before taking a photo in someone's home or at an event even, I often ask people if I can turn off lights. I do it in the studio all the time, if only for a moment to get my shot."
Stay In Touch
"Commenting on the photos of people with large followings can give you a boost, if it is thoughtful, they might check out your page! But be authentic. I am often annoyed by someone posting the same emoji on every one of my photos."
Be Yourself
"When I first started my Instagram, no one really had big followings. It wasn't a thing yet. Many of my posts were what was happening in my every day life which at the time involved tying knots, making art, decorating our house, and traveling.
The key though, is sharing what is natural to you. Having a unique point of view will get you far."
For more on Katz and other small business owners taking scrappy approaches to scaling, visit Scale Up.
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6613b52ca67c9b96d69402ab12ba9d87 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherynthayer/2018/05/08/learn-to-speak-instagram-its-the-future-for-small-retail-businesses/ | Learn To Speak Instagram. It's The Future For Small Retail Businesses | Learn To Speak Instagram. It's The Future For Small Retail Businesses
Tictail vendors can now add videos to their webstore pages. The update is the platform's attempt to... [+] offer features young, mobile-first, Instagram-famous small business owners favor. Credit: Tictail
Belmiraz is a French 21-year-old with over a hundred thousand Instagram followers. She’s never used a desktop computer to log in and manage her clothes-and-accessories store on Tictail, an ecommerce platform for small businesses. She sets up product descriptions, processes orders, and messages customers off her smartphone. And she's making tens of thousands of dollars in sales each month.
Tictail cofounder Carl Rivera tells me this in his Manhattan office, sipping espresso from a mug that says “What would Belmiraz do?” He's stocked the office with these to remind his staff that they're building products and services for a new generation of entrepreneurs, whose go-to behaviors can be a window into the future of ecommerce. The majority of its sellers are less than 35 years old, 65% of that group runs businesses almost exclusively on mobile, and they do their marketing overwhelmingly through Instagram (it drives 30% of Tictail’s total traffic).
Tictail's most recent Belmiraz-inspired strategy is about mobile video. It’s the lingua franca of social media and a fast way to show how a product looks and feels. This week Tictail is launching features that let vendors record or upload videos in the Tictail mobile app, share them directly to Instagram, add shoppable links for those Instagram shares, and decorate them with custom stickers of their own store logos and special offers.
New video features on Tictail are inspired by Snapchat and Instagram. Credit: Tictail
Rivera says he isn't trying to "reinvent the wheel" here. Rather, he wants to help small businesses "take cues from all of the things that are happening social media, on Snapchat, on Instagram." In short, he thinks they'd be wise to ask what Belmiraz might do, too.
Small businesses are certainly trying to figure it out. Since Instagram launched business account profiles about two years ago, more than 25 million users have opted in for the free features that let you add contact and location details, see additional analytics, and purchase ads. The platform reports that 60% of its users discover new products on the platform, over 200 million people visit at least one business profile daily, and 1 in 3 of the most-viewed stories are from business accounts.
Anita Berisha, wearing her own handcrafted jewelry. Credit: Anita Berisha
Anita Berisha, a 27-year-old Tictail vendor who sells handmade jewelry, says she’s “really excited” about adding videos to her product pages. From sharing with her 30,000 Instagram followers, she sees videos “definitely help to get a better understanding of the product... and my shoppers are attracted to and engage with them better.”
She doesn't invest a lot of time or money in professional videos, either. Berisha's Instagram story videos are simple boomerang selfies of her wearing her latest pieces, captioned with a hand-drawn scrawl of text.
While many more traditional small businesses might feel hesitant to share casual, less-than-professional-grade photos and videos, Rivera says he's noticed that young sellers and shoppers gravitate towards media that feels off-the-cuff and intimate.
“What we find on our platform is realistic videos are the best ones. We are moving away from a world of these sterile studio shots and into a place where a video of a product can be captured in this room right now. Like, there is someone in this room speaking about it, wearing this product themselves, seeing the product in action.” He adds, “What we see in our platform is that the video that performs best is the seller themselves showing the product if it's art or wearing the product if it's fashion and doing small, tactile movements where you just understand how it falls on you, how the material feels, and maybe speaking to what the product is.”
Berisha echoes the observation: "I find it fascinating how one photo or video gives you the opportunity to express all the information and excitement about a product." And she sees it's important for her, as a founder, to be part of the story. “People appreciate it more when they see that an actual person is behind all this.”
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27471171b19461cf064467eb3c2713ec | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/06/02/pinterest-reveals-buyable-pins/ | Pinterest Reveals Its Buy Button, Lets Pinners Make In-App Purchases | Pinterest Reveals Its Buy Button, Lets Pinners Make In-App Purchases
Pinners have long been asking for a way to buy clothing, home decor and recipe ingredients directly within the bookmarking app, according to Pinterest's CEO Ben Silberman. Starting later this month, that feature will be a reality with Pinterest's new Buyable Pins tool.
Pinterest has partnered with a range of large and small retailers, such as Macy's , Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and Kate Spade, as well as with Apple Braintree, Stripe and major credit card companies to add a blue price tag to millions of products featured on the app. With only a few taps, pinners will be able to purchase items without leaving the app through a secure, simple system, Silbermann said.
"Pinners have been super, super clear about what they want next," Silberman said at an event at the company's San Francisco headquarters. "People want to buy things on Pinterest."
Buyable Pins are an extension of rich pins, which include more detailed descriptions than regular pins, as well as links. Pinners will be able to find Buyable Pins through the same search tools that are already part of the app, such as, home feed, search, category feeds and boards. For example, when pinners find a shirt they like, they can scroll through images of the shirt and select different sizes and colors. To check out, users will tap a "Buy It" button and can make the purchase through Apple Pay, Pay Pal or a credit card. The shirt will then ship to the user's doorstep for the same price the user would pay on the merchant's website, Pinterest said.
Stripe will be the primary payment partner, and credit card information will never touch Pinterest's servers, according to the company.
"Pinterest knows who you are, and now with Stripe they can store your payment details and your shipping details," Stripe cofounder John Collison said in an interview. "Retailers want to reach their customers wherever they are. You want to be out there, whether that’s on Pinterest, Twitter or anywhere else."
The new feature follows Pinterest's move a few months ago to launch app pins, which allow users to install apps from Apple's App Store without leaving Pinterest. Last year, the bookmarking site launched place pins, which help users plan trips around the world. When Pinterest's cofounders Evan Sharp and Silbermann spoke to FORBES last fall, Silbermann said the site's next big step was becoming a frictionless platform for shopping. There are more than 50 billion pins on the app, growing at a rate of 75% per year, Silbermann said.
“When customers are on Pinterest and they are being inspired, it’s a new and different way for them to interact and get to know the Macy’s brand," Serena Potter, group vice president at Macys.com, said about the new feature. "It’s a great way for us to find new customers and to introduce existing customers to some of our other products."
Buyable Pins will not involve any fees for pinners or merchants, Joanne Bradford, Pinterest's head of partnerships said. The feature could be a significant revenue driver for Pinterest. Even though retailers don't pay for the pins, advertisers pay for promoted pins, which help place products in front of the pinners who are most interested in purchasing them, Bradford said.
Pinterest has 70 million monthly active users, according to comScore. Nearly 90% of pinners have made a purchase because of Pinterest, a recent study by Millward Brown found.
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96e710e0f78072879b383b5a2eb04feb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/06/11/twitter-makes-it-easier-to-block-abusive-tweets-in-effort-to-protect-and-keep-users/ | Twitter Makes It Easier To Block Abusive Tweets In Effort To Protect And Keep Users | Twitter Makes It Easier To Block Abusive Tweets In Effort To Protect And Keep Users
CEO Dick Costolo said in leaked messages in February that Twitter "has sucked" at protecting users from harassment on the social network and desperately needs to do more. On Wednesday, Twitter launched a new tool for battling abuse on the platform that allows users to share their "block lists" with others and block multiple accounts quickly.
Previously, in order to block an account, you needed to go through the tedious process of discovering offenders and individually adding them to your own list. As of Wednesday, users can now share their block lists with each other and block a group of accounts at once. The feature is geared toward serving users who receive unusually high volumes of unwanted or offensive messages and tweets, the company said.
"We recognize that some users need more sophisticated tools," Twitter engineer Xiaoyun Zhang said in a post. "This feature is yet another step towards making Twitter safer for everyone and will be available to some of our users starting today and all users in the coming weeks."
The move is one of several steps Twitter has taken this year to bolster users' defenses. Last December, Twitter added a blocked accounts tab to the settings page, making it easier to manage who you're blocking, and ensured that users you've blocked can't view your profile. In April, Twitter broadened its threats policy, which used to prohibit "direct, specific threats of violence against others" and now bans "threats of violence against others or promot[ing] violence against others." Twitter also made a policy allowing its support team to lock abusive accounts for set amounts of time.
(Courtesy Twitter)
In addition to making Twitter a safer place, the new blocking feature should also help make the site a more enjoyable and tolerant experience for groups or individuals in the spotlight. Costolo also wasn't shy to admit that the problem has been costing Twitter users. The site has about 300 monthly active users, but user growth has recently been slowing.
"We lose core user after core user by not addressing simple trolling issues that they face every day," Costolo said in the leaked messages. "I'm frankly ashamed of how poorly we've dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. There's no excuse for it. We're going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them."
Users can still report accounts or mute them, preventing the tweets of another user from showing up in your timeline. Twitter can also ask users to delete tweets. The social network said more abuse controls will be unveiled "in the near future."
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1ffea0c87dfbf8567a3c7f0df679065d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/09/22/instagram-hits-400-million-users-soaring-past-twitter/ | Instagram Hits 400 Million Users, Soaring Past Twitter | Instagram Hits 400 Million Users, Soaring Past Twitter
Courtesy Instagram
Facebook -owned Instagram has grown to more than 400 million users, the company said Tuesday.
Instagram's newest 100 million users, which it gained in the past nine months, propel the app well ahead of Twitter , at 316 million monthly active users. It also makes the $1 billion Facebook paid for Instagram in 2012 look like a steal.
Instagram is poised to deliver a powerful shot in the arm for Facebook. Research firm eMarketer recently estimated that Instagram’s ad revenue will reach about $1.5 billion in 2016 and $2.8 billion in 2017. This year, eMarketer forecasts Instagram's global ad revenue will be $600 million.
Instagram said more than 75% of its users now live outside of the U.S. The surge in Instagram’s global user base is well-timed for the app, which is rapidly growing its ad presence worldwide, expanding to more than 30 new countries earlier this month. Instagram also recently significantly bolstered its ad offerings after testing ads on the platform for the first time two years ago. The company's push into advertising is causing it to compete more and more with Twitter for ad deals as well as eyeballs.
Of Instagram’s 100 million newest members, more than half live in Europe and Asia, and the countries contributing the most new users are Brazil, Japan and Indonesia. More than 80 million photos are shared on the service every day, up from 70 million in June. Former athletes David Beckham and Caitlyn Jenner are a few celebrities to recently join the app.
“When Instagram launched nearly five years ago, 400 million seemed like a distant dream,” the company said in a blog post. “Now, we continue to strive to improve Instagram — helping you experience the world through images and connect with others through shared passions."
Instagram has long been on the radar of Twitter, which tried to buy the app in 2012 before Instagram sold to Facebook. Even so, Instagram's popularity should scare the microblogging site, which has been struggling to add new users and simplify its service. Twitter’s interim CEO Jack Dorsey, who is also the CEO of mobile payments company Square, said in July that the social network hasn’t been making bold product changes quickly enough, citing a lack of discipline within the company, as well as the need to better rally employees internally around the same vision.
Twitter recently unveiled plans to hand-curate live events coverage in a project called Lightning, expected to roll out later this year. However, Twitter might already be late to the game. In June, Instagram launched new live events features on its Explore page, a move that challenges Twitter as the source for tracking real-time conversations and trends. Twitter is generally known as a source for news, and Instagram is has been viewed as a more personal social platform. However, the apps' differences are becoming increasingly blurred as Twitter becomes more visual and Instagram focuses more on events. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hasn't shied away from presenting Instagram as a competitor to Twittercalling Instagram in July "one of the best places to get a real time snapshot of the world." Kevin Systrom, who cofounded Instagram with Mike Krieger in 2010, got kudos from his boss, who took Systrom for a walk on the roof of Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters. "Congrats to Kevin, Mike and the entire Instagram community on reaching another big milestone," Zuckerberg said Tuesday in a Facebook post. "Kevin and I celebrated the moment by going for a walk on our roof to talk about the future of Instagram. I’m excited for the journey ahead." Instagram is one of a handful of Facebook products that have seen impressive growth this year. Facebook’s messaging service Messenger, grew to 700 million monthly active users in June, up from 600 million in March. Messaging app WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired for $19 billion in 2014 and is especially popular overseas, boasts 900 million monthly active users. Facebook hasn't yet tried tapping into the revenue potential of Messenger and WhatsApp. However, Instagram is a useful testing ground for Facebook that should help inform how it monetizes its messaging apps. Unfortunately for Twitter host of other young, social apps are giving Twitter a run for its money. Messaging apps Snapchat and Kik and video app Dubsmash are also growing quickly, emphasize video-sharing and target millennials.
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96253a67796480ff6fbca174f427d898 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/09/23/facebook-launches-360-degree-videos-in-news-feed/ | Facebook Launches 360-Degree Videos In News Feed | Facebook Launches 360-Degree Videos In News Feed
Courtesy of Facebook
The Facebook experience has come one step closer to resembling virtual reality.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based social network announced on Wednesday that News Feed now supports 360-degree videos on the Web and Android. The feature will roll out on iOS in the coming months, and some publishers and users are now able to upload the new format. Facebook collaborated with Oculus, the virtual reality, or VR, headset maker it purchased for $2 billion last year, to bring the technology to Facebook.
360-degree videos offer a more immersive experience than traditional videos. The move suggests that Facebook is serious about advancing video technology among its suite of apps, and echoes comments the social network's CEO Mark Zuckerberg made in July that "immersive 3-D content is the obvious next thing after video." The social network hinted earlier that the video format would be coming to Facebook when it demoed its 360-degree video "Teleportation" app at this year's F8 conference. Facebook competitor Google's YouTube has been supporting 360-degree videos since March, and Google has produced a string of slick animated and live action shorts in 360 degrees, including one directed by Fast and Furious legend Justin Lin.
On mobile, swiping a 360-degree video on Facebook or moving one's phone allows the user to view the content from different angles. On the Web, users can explore the scene by dragging the video with their mouse.
"On the phone especially, slowly turning around and tilting your device up and down to watch a scene as it’s playing is a really cool experience that takes you somewhere else," Facebook's chief product officer Chris Cox said in a Facebook post. "It’s the kind of thing that you run over to show someone else the moment you first see it."
On Wednesday's launch, Facebook featured 360-degree videos from GoPro, NBC's Saturday Night Live, VICE, Star Wars, Discovery and several others. Recording 360-degree videos requires a special set of cameras. Facebook plans to make it possible for independent video creators to upload the videos down the line.
"It’s an open-ended format, so we’re really excited to see what creators around the world come up with as they get their hands on it," Cox said in his post.
About 1.5 billion people view Facebook's New Feed every month. The social network plans start selling the Oculus device to consumers in the first quarter of next year.
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b81a8c0d99cf409b479bd1c55fc54a0d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2015/12/08/facebook-business-pages-climb-to-50-million-with-new-messaging-tools/ | Number Of Facebook Business Pages Climbs To 50 Million With New Messaging Tools | Number Of Facebook Business Pages Climbs To 50 Million With New Messaging Tools
An example inbox in a business Page. (Courtesy of Facebook)
Facebook is making strides in its effort to attract small and medium sized businesses to its platform.
More than 50 million businesses are now using Facebook Pages, up from 40 million in April, and more than 2.5 billion comments are made on these Pages per month, the social media giant said on Tuesday. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company also announced a series of messaging updates to Pages, aimed at making it easier for businesses to talk to customers on the site across devices.
"People can contact businesses anytime and from any device, so we're offering new tools for Pages to better manage their customer interactions," said Facebook's product manager for Pages Michael Sharon. "Now it's easier for Pages to address both the public comments and private messages that people send them, in order to build and maintain strong relationships.”
Businesses can now tell customers how quickly they respond to messages, either within minutes, within hours or within a day, both on their profiles and within Messenger. Businesses can also indicate when they are unavailable to respond to a message by posting an "away" status, as well as through instant replies, such as an automated note greeting customers and directing them to helpful resources. Facebook is also revamping Page inboxes to give companies more context on their customer, for example, showing past interactions the user has had with the Page and details users share publicly on Facebook, such as their current city. Page admins can now add notes about the customer, such as current orders they've placed and customer service preferences. And comments on Pages can be tracked more easily by flagging, marking as done or through private replies.
The updates are starting to roll out globally, the company said, and should reach all Pages within a few months. Facebook's attention to messaging isn't surprising given that the number of messages sent to businesses on the site has doubled over the past year. On a conference call last month after its most recent earnings report, Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg said small and medium sized businesses are one of the company's "most compelling" opportunities, particularly because in the U.S., about a third of small businesses have no Web presence at all.
"Small businesses create jobs and drive growth in every economy – so when they succeed, everyone wins," Sandberg said in a Facebook post.
Of its many advertising products, Facebook said on its earnings call that it is focused on boosting sales of video and carousel ads, as well as Instagram ads. In the three months ending September 30, Facebook beat revenue and earnings forecasts. Revenue rose 41% from a year earlier to $4.50 billion, an profit rose 11% to $896 million.
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a321fd2b2267a21188c4c54227f23ccc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/02/12/how-jeff-weiner-talked-to-employees-after-linkedins-stock-crash/ | How Jeff Weiner Talked To Employees After LinkedIn's Stock Crash | How Jeff Weiner Talked To Employees After LinkedIn's Stock Crash
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner (Getty Images)
LinkedIn lost nearly 45% of its value last Friday after it reported fourth quarter earnings with 2016 guidance that was below analysts' forecasts. The drop shocked many employees. Even LinkedIn's CFO said its magnitude was a "surprise."
LinkedIn's CEO Jeff Weiner didn't waste time in addressing the crash with all of his 9,200 employees. During a biweekly all-staff meeting on Wednesday, Weiner boosted morale by affirming that LinkedIn's mission -- to create economic opportunity -- hasn't changed, that LinkedIn's mission responds to proven, global demand and that the company has a plan to move ahead.
"We are the same company we were a day before our earnings announcement," Weiner said. "The question isn’t whether or not companies are going to experience this kind of issue. The question is how companies navigate through it."
Weiner cited World Economic Forum data predicting that globally, 5 million net jobs will be replaced by 2020 as a result of emerging technologies.
"There is no company in the world that is better positioned to help individuals, the people they care about, the people that work for them, to navigate these increasingly uncertain economic times," Weiner said.
Instead of downplaying the importance of the stock drop, Weiner used it as an opportunity to say LinkedIn has a great plan, the strongest roadmap it has had during his seven-year tenure. Weiner closed by saying that if the company can execute this plan, the "valuation will take care of itself."
LinkedIn's head of marketing and corporate communications Shannon Brayton shared a clip of Weiner's pep talk in a LinkedIn post on Friday. The full clip can be viewed here:
Jeff Weiner at Bi-Weekly Company Meeting 2.10.16 from LinkedIn
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cb21b3f723cba39d85cb154e959e720d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/04/28/linkedin-shares-soar-on-strong-q1-beat-and-sunnier-full-year-guidance/ | LinkedIn Shares Soar On Strong Q1 Beat And Sunnier Full-Year Guidance | LinkedIn Shares Soar On Strong Q1 Beat And Sunnier Full-Year Guidance
Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner. The company reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday. (Getty Images)
(Updated with comments from conference call with analysts, investors.)
LinkedIn shares got a much-needed boost on Thursday after the company reported first-quarter revenue and earnings that beat analysts' estimates and issued a sunnier guidance for the full 2016 year. In after-hours trading, the stock rose about 7.5% to $132.23 at 5:44 p.m. ET after earlier rising as much as 19%.
The results suggest that the company's growth isn't slowing down as severely as some analysts had worried. The report was a win for LinkedIn after the company lost more than three years of stock gains when it issued a disappointing earnings outlook for 2016 in February.
Revenue in the first quarter, ending March 31, was $861 million, up 35% from $637.7 million in the same period a year earlier, easily topping the $828.5 million expected on average among analysts polled by Yahoo Finance. (See the full results here.) Earlier this year, LinkedIn offered a guidance for first quarter revenue of about $820 million, and a guidance for net income, excluding certain expenses, of 55 cents per share.
The company posted a net loss of $46 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $43 million, or 34 cents a share. Excluding certain expenses, LinkedIn said it would have earned $99 million, or 74 cents a share, beating estimates of 60 cents per share on that basis.
The company raised its full-year forecast, issuing a full-year revenue guidance of $3.65 billion to $3.7 billion and net income, excluding certain expenses, of $3.3 per share and $3.4 per share. In February, LinkedIn had offered a full-year revenue forecast of $3.6 billion to $3.65 billion and net income of projected annual earnings, excluding certain expenses, of between $3.05 per share and $3.20 per share. Analysts had expected annual revenue of $3.7 billion. LinkedIn also issued a guidance for second-quarter revenue between $885 million and $890 million and second-quarter net income, excluding certain expenses, between 74 cents and 77 cents.
LinkedIn ’s “talent-solutions business,” which mainly serves corporate recruiters, generates about two-thirds of the company's sales. Revenue in that unit rose 41% from the same period a year earlier to $558 million.
The marketing-solutions unit, which sells advertising on LinkedIn properties, grew 29% from a year earlier, to $154 million.
Premium subscriptions sales rose 22% year-over-year to $149 million. LinkedIn reported 433 million users in the first quarter, up from 414 million users in the fourth quarter. This was LinkedIn's strongest net-add quarter since the beginning of 2014.
Despite competition from job boards and other networking sites, LinkedIn continues to see solid growth in its business and user base globally, especially in China. The company said its flagship app has surpassed 20 million members in China. LinkedIn has been working to improve the functionality of its consumer-facing products, and saw a record number of job seekers on its service, up 50% from the same period a year earlier. More than 6.5 million jobs are listed on the site, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said on a conference call on Thursday. Weiner noted that the company plans to introduce salary data on the site. Late last year, LinkedIn redesigned its flagship app to make the interface, especially messaging and search, simpler and less-cluttered. The site saw a 40% increase in daily shares over the first quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier, the company said. The site saw a total of 45 billion page views during the quarter, compared to 37 billion page views in the prior period.
The company is also building out original conte nt on the site and finding new ways to connect users to skill-building tools such as its presentation tool, SlideShare. The company said traffic to third-party publishers on the site in the first quarter grew more than 150% compared to the same period a year earlier. LinkedIn is also continuing to integrate education site Lynda.com into its platform. LinkedIn bought Lynda.com, an instructional video site, last year for $1.5 billion, its largest acquisition to date. On a conference call on Thursday with investors, LinkedIn's CFO Steve Sordello said that learning and development continues to be a long-term area of focus for the company, noting the area contributed $55 million in revenue in the quarter. He also said Lynda.com is seeing notable demand from corporate customers.
LinkedIn also recently launched an updated version of its "Recruiter" service and a new “Referrals” product, aimed at making it easier for employees to recommend their first-degree LinkedIn connections for open positions at their firms. By the end of the quarter, the company expects the majority of its "Recruiter" clients to convert to the updated version. LinkedIn said the number of candidates viewed per search is up more than 40% in the first quarter, and InMails per search are up more than 30%. Sponsored content, LinkedIn's version of native ads, continues to be one of LinkedIn's fastest growing products. The growth of this revenue stream has helped counter declines in display advertising revenue. Sponsored content made up 56% of total marketing solutions revenue in the quarter.
“LinkedIn delivered strong financial results and growth across our core product lines,” Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn CEO said in a statement. “As a result of our new mobile experience, members are increasing their activity on LinkedIn, helping drive strong levels of engagement across the platform."
The slide of LinkedIn's stock, which has fallen about 45.4% this year as of the close on Thursday, has heightened investors' concern over the company's reliance on stock-based compensation. According to RBC Capital Markets, over the past two years, stock-based compensation has made up about 16% of revenue, compared to 8% of Facebook's revenue. Sordello said in February that LinkedIn is aiming to lower this ratio to 10%.
"We continue to focus on fewer things done better," Weiner said on Thursday's conference call. "I credit the team. Managing through this volatility can be a challenge."
LinkedIn rose 3.49% to $123 during regular trading Thursday.
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f4621bdb23b6d339d8cbaf84696d7ec4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/06/15/terrorist-suspects-use-of-facebook-live-stream-highlights-challenges-of-live-video/ | Terrorism Suspect's Use Of 'Facebook Live' Stream Highlights Challenges Of Live Video | Terrorism Suspect's Use Of 'Facebook Live' Stream Highlights Challenges Of Live Video
Facebook on Tuesday shut down the account of a suspected terrorist who live-streamed a video on “Facebook Live” in which he threatened attacks on the Euro 2016 soccer tournament. The social media company quickly removed the video from its platform.
The terrorism suspect, identified by Paris Prosecutor François Molins as 25-year-old Frenchman Larossi Abballa, killed a French police captain and his partner about 35 miles outside of Paris on Monday night. Abballa then broadcasted a live video on Facebook from the victims’ home, saying he killed the woman, Jessica Schneider He also discussed what he should do with the couple's child, whom he was holding hostage, according to police.
After a standoff, police raided the house of victims Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Schneider and killed Abballa. The couple’s child survived. Abballa had told authorities he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, the prosecutor said at a news conference. Police found a list of other potential targets at the crime scene, including police officers, rap artists and journalists, Molins said. Islamic State shared a version of Abballa’s Facebook video as propaganda over jihadist networks. Abballa’s killings marked the first terrorist act in France since attacks by Islamic State in Paris in November killed 130 people, triggering a state of emergency. French President François Hollande said Monday night’s killings were “incontestably a terrorist act.”
Islamic State has been using Internet services such as Facebook, which has 1.65 billion users, and Twitter , which has 310 million users, to distribute propaganda and find recruits. The prosecutor said Abballa’s phone had been wiretapped as part of a probe that started in February, but the wiretaps provided no information suggesting an attack was planned or underway.
“We are working closely with the French authorities as they deal with this terrible crime,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “Terrorists and acts of terrorism have no place on Facebook. Whenever terrorist content is reported to us, we remove it as quickly as possible. We treat takedown requests by law enforcement with the highest urgency.”
Much of the time, live videos are a tool for sharing informative, meaningful or entertaining content. And video is an increasingly valuable medium to Internet services, many of which rely on video to engage users, generate advertising revenue and gather user data. Live video has been a growing area of focus at Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is reportedly building a live-streaming app. However, Abballa’s video highlights the huge challenges technology companies, especially social networks, face monitoring and vetting live videos.
Facebook isn’t alone. In April, an 18-year-old woman was charged after livestreaming a friend’s rape on Twitter-owned Periscope. And in May, a woman in France recorded herself on Periscope while committing suicide. The major platforms have policies banning posts that are threatening, violent or promote terrorism. However, the sites often rely heavily on users to report content to be reviewed by the company for possible removal, generally within 24 hours. Live video broadcasts put Internet services under heightened pressure to quickly address flagged or threatening content because live videos can gain a huge volume of viewers quickly.
Facebook has said it is expanding its team that reviews live content, which is staffed 24 hours per day. The social media giant is also is testing reviewing broadcasts that are trending or viral before they are reported and is working on artificial intelligence tools that can interpret and categorize live videos in real time. However, the company isn’t yet using that tool at scale.
On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg broadcasted his first live Q&A with users on Facebook Live. Early in the video, Zuckerberg expressed sympathy for the victims in France and those affected by the Orlando, Florida night club attack last weekend, the largest shooting in U.S. history. He noted his hope to use social media platforms like Facebook to reduce hate crime and make the world safer.
The attack in Orlando, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, killed 49 people and and wounded 53 others. In response to the shooting, Facebook activated its “Safety Check” feature for the first time in the U.S. The tool lets users indicate to friends and family that they are safe during a crisis or natural disaster. Earlier this month Facebook began testing features that allow users to initiate Safety Check to help identify and elevate local crises.
Earlier this year, a propaganda video reportedly made by ISIS supporters made direct threats against Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for removing terrorists' content from their sites. Twitter said in February that it had suspended 125,000 ISIS-related accounts over the prior six months.
"If we have opportunities to basically work with governments and folks to make sure that there aren’t terrorist attacks, then we’re going to take those opportunities,” Zuckerberg said in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “We feel a pretty strong responsibility to help make sure that society is safe.”
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6b1ae4b131e51573fd8e62d8df3d716d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/06/29/facebook-tweaks-news-feed-algorithm-to-prioritize-posts-from-friends-you-care-about/ | Facebook News Feed Change Prioritizes Posts From Friends Users Care About | Facebook News Feed Change Prioritizes Posts From Friends Users Care About
Facebook announced a new update to its algorithm on Wednesday. (AFP)
Facebook users have been expressing concern that they're missing important updates from the friends they care about most amid a growing sea of posts from contacts, publishers and advertisers. The social media giant took note.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook said on Wednesday that it is updating its news feed algorithm over the coming weeks to make posts by friends users care about appear higher in users' feeds, which will cause posts by many publishers to appear further down.
" Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family," Facebook engineering director Lars Backstrom said in a statement. "That is still the driving principle of News Feed today. Our top priority is keeping you connected to the people, places and things you want to be connected to — starting with the people you are friends with on Facebook ."
Facebook said it expects Wednesday's update to cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some "Pages," which are typically held by businesses, public figures, publishers and organizations. However, the company noted that if most of a page's traffic is driven by users sharing the page's content, pages will experience less of a traffic dip than those whose views come directly from page posts.
The new algorithm update builds on a change to news feed about a year ago, which included a push to prioritize photos, videos, status updates or links from friends users are most interested in following. Last year's update also took steps to reduce the number of news feed posts about friends liking or commenting on a post and relaxed a previous rule that prevented users from seeing multiple posts in a row in news feed from the same source.
Facebook also unveiled its set of "core values," which it said guides how the company runs news feed. In its memo, Facebook shared its philosophy for serving up content for its 1.65 billion monthly active users. The company said it isn't striving to show users what they "should" consume, but rather what it thinks users will most want to see.
"We are not in the business of picking which issues the world should read about," Facebook VP of product management Adam Mosseri said in a statement. "We are in the business of connecting people and ideas — and matching people with the stories they find most meaningful. Our integrity depends on being inclusive of all perspectives and view points, and using ranking to connect people with the stories and sources they find the most meaningful and engaging."
Facebook said it aims to show content that is informative as well as posts with high entertainment value.
"We do this not only because we believe it's the right thing but also because it's good for our business," Mosseri continued. "When people see content they are interested in, they are more likely to spend time on 'News Feed' and enjoy their experience."
To help control which friends users see most in their feeds, people can "unfollow" friends or label posts as "hide" or "see first" to let Facebook know what they like, or don't.
Facebook came under scrutiny earlier this year after unnamed sources in a Gizmodo story alleged that Facebook was manipulating which articles it displayed in "Trending Topics" to stifle conservative view points. The social media giant responded swiftly, denying the claim and insisting that it found no evidence of systemic bias after an investigation. Facebook then published its 'Trending Topics' guidelines and held a discussion between its executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and a number of influential conservative leaders.
Facebook, which first launched news feed in 2006, said it shared its feed guidelines in an effort to be more transparent. The memo describes the feed as "subjective, personal and unique," and says Facebook doesn't prioritize specific types of sources or ideological view points. Facebook also said it has a set of community rules to protect users from attacks, hate or harmful behavior and works to minimize posts that users find sensational, spammy or misleading.
"We will be as open as we can — providing explanations in 'News Feed FYI' wherever possible and looking for opportunities to share how we work," Mosseri said.
Gallery: Mark Zuckerberg 49 images View gallery
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1121e4575fdaa646579936fced58057b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/07/26/twitter-shares-plummet-after-company-misses-revenue-estimates/ | Twitter Shares Plummet On Slowing Revenue Growth, Weak Outlook | Twitter Shares Plummet On Slowing Revenue Growth, Weak Outlook
Twitter shares fell more than 10% in after-hours trading after the social network on Tuesday reported second quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates and forecast weak third-quarter revenue.
Twitter also couldn't rely on user numbers to soften the fall. Year-over-year user growth during the second quarter was 3%, flat from growth in the prior quarter.
Revenue growth fell for the eighth straight quarter. Revenue in the second quarter, ending June 30, was $602 million, up 20% from $502.4 million in the same period a year earlier and missing the $606.8 million expected on average among analysts polled by Yahoo Finance. Twitter had previously issued revenue guidance of between $590 million and $610 million for the second quarter.
The San Francisco, Calif.-based company posted a net loss of $107 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $136.7 million, or 21 cents a share. Excluding certain expenses, Twitter said it would have earned $93 million, or 13 cents a share, topping forecasts of a profit of 10 cents per share on that basis.
Once again, user growth in the latest quarter was sluggish. Excluding “ SMS fast followers,” or users who access Twitter via feature phones, monthly active users increased by just 3% year-over-year to 313 million in the second quarter, from 310 million in the prior period. The company saw year-over-year user growth, excluding SMS fast-followers, of 3% in the first quarter ending March 31, 6% in the third quarter and 8% in the third quarter.
Expenses excluding certain items in the second quarter grew 15% year-over-year to $508 million, in part because of higher costs related to traffic acquisition, infrastructure and marketing.
Twitter said revenue for the third quarter would be between $590 million and $610 million, much lower than the $678.2 million analysts expected.
"We’re seeing a continuation of the trends discussed last quarter with less overall advertiser demand than expected," the company said in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, noting that its brand advertising business faces more competition and that some ads are too expensive.
Twitter’s ongoing struggle to attract new users raises questions about the company’s ability to simplify its product and give the service mainstream appeal, and speculation lingers that the company could be acquired. Twitter’s user growth stands in stark contrast to other popular Facebook -owned apps such as WhatsApp and Messenger, which both have 1 billion monthly active users and Instagram, which has 500 million monthly users. By comparison, Facebook saw year-over-year user growth of 15% in the first quarter, despite having about five times as many users.
Twitter had a rocky start to the year, losing nearly half of its top executives. Twitter cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey, who is also CEO of payments company Square, has made a series of product changes since taking the helm about a year ago, trying to make the app more inviting and valuable to new users. The company added new curation features, reduced what counts toward its 140-character limit to let more fit into a tweet, integrated videos from its live streaming app Periscope into its main app and most recently, scored a number of new live streaming deals. The company said that user retention and engagement -- measured by tweets, retweets, replies and likes -- increased during the second quarter, thanks to its relatively new algorithmic timeline. Twitter said it expects engagement to continue rising as its machine learning technology improves.
In April, Twitter announced live streaming content deals spanning sports, politics and business news. The company struck partnerships with the Pac-12 Network, CBS (for U.S. political party conventions) and Bloomberg media, in addition to the National Football League deal it unveiled earlier, which includes 10 Thursday night games, with behind-the-scenes shows on Periscope. The deals could help Twitter take a larger piece of advertisers' video budgets, and could boost engagement in the long term. Video is an increasingly important format for Twitter, especially as Facebook and Snapchat push into live video.
The company also added fresh eyes to its board of directors: Former Facebook CTO Bret Taylor and BET CEO Debra Lee, and selected its former head of global brand strategy Ross Hoffman to serve as VP of global media, a role most recently held by Nathan Hubbard, who left the company to work on a startup.
“Twitter remains highly relevant as a real-time medium during news and cultural events,” forecasting firm eMarketer's principal analyst Debra Williamson said in an email. “Twitter is aiming to be just as relevant when it comes to live video. Both of these things will help Twitter grow its user base, although it is increasingly being overshadowed by other players, such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger, especially among younger users.”
Twitter is projected to capture a 7.9% share of global social network ad spending this year, according to eMarketer. Facebook is expected to capture the majority at 67.9%. eMarketer says Twitter’s digital ad revenue will grow by 30.8% this year and that Facebook’s will grow by 31%.
On a conference call with investors, Dorsey spoke about the site's need to better address abuse and safety, describing the issue as "truly one of the most important things for us to improve." Dorsey recently made headlines after Twitter banned conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos from the service for repeated instances of online abuse, most recently directed against actress Leslie Jones.
“We've made a lot of progress on our priorities this quarter,” Dorsey said in a statement. “We are confident in our product roadmap, and we are seeing the direct benefit of our recent product changes in increased engagement and usage. We remain focused on improving our service to make it fast, simple and easy to use, like the ability to watch live-streaming video events unfold and the commentary around them.”
Shares fell 1.1% to $18.45 in regular trading. The stock is down about 20% this year as of Tuesday’s close.
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d089403b6a70288f137264ab2d1a0e2b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/08/04/facebook-cracks-down-on-news-feed-clickbait/ | Facebook Cracks Down On News Feed Clickbait | Facebook Cracks Down On News Feed Clickbait
Facebook is tweaking news feed to show fewer clickbait articles. (AFP)
Facebook wants to put an end to clickbait headlines, which are driving some users away from their feeds.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company on Thursday said it is updating its news feed algorithm to show users noticeably fewer clickbait headlines and reduce the ranking of spammy links that exaggerate what readers will discover in a story or leave out crucial information in order to get readers to click -- for example, headlines like "We Tried This Diet And You Won't Believe What Happened Next ." The change shouldn't reduce the total volume of articles in users' feeds, but should lead users to see a higher number of informative, clear headlines over the coming weeks.
"One of our News Feed values is to have authentic communication on our platform," Facebook said in a statement. "People have told us they like seeing genuine stories the most. With this update, people will see fewer clickbait stories and more of the stories they want to see higher up in their feeds."
Facebook said its algorithm will consider two main factors when determining if a story is clickbait: If the headline withholds information that's necessary to understand what the post is about and if the title creates misleading expectations for the reader. Facebook's system searches for phrases that are commonly used in clickbait headlines, much like an email spam filter, the company said. If a Page routinely posts clickbait headlines, Facebook will start to rank posts from that Page lower more broadly. Most publishers won't be affected, Facebook said, but Pages that rely on clickbait headlines can expect less distribution.
"If a Page stops posting clickbait headlines, their posts will stop being impacted by this change," Facebook said.
The social media giant has taken steps to address clickbait in news feed before. In the past, the company has reduced the visibility of articles that users click on, but then quickly return to news feed. Facebook said the change helped, but Pages are still relying on misleading headlines for clicks, and users continue to request headlines that will better help them decide how to spend their time.
Much to the anxiety of publishers, Facebook's news feed algorithm is ever changing. Many publishers now rely on the social network's 1.7 billion-person user base and expert targeting for page views and advertising revenue, especially as massive digital distributors draw readership away from publishers' own apps and websites. Other prominent tech companies like Google, Apple and Snapchat also host publishers' content, and changes to their platforms and advertising models can have big implications for some media companies.
In June, Facebook made a significant update to news feed, placing more priority on posts by friends and family than those from publishers. Facebook said it expected the update to cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some “Pages,” which are typically held by businesses, public figures, publishers and organizations. However, the company noted that if most of a page’s traffic is driven by users sharing the page’s content, pages will experience less of a traffic dip than those whose views come directly from page posts.
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b5e96c8b40052aa0059c2cfa1f99068a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/08/04/linkedin-reports-strong-second-quarter-ahead-of-microsoft-merger/ | LinkedIn Reports Strong Second Quarter Ahead Of Microsoft Merger | LinkedIn Reports Strong Second Quarter Ahead Of Microsoft Merger
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. Microsoft announced in June that it plans to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2... [+] billion in cash. (Associated Press)
LinkedIn reported strong second quarter results with revenue and and earnings that beat estimates, about two months after Microsoft announced it would buy LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in cash, the largest acquisition in the software company's history. LinkedIn shares rose less than 1% to $192.3 at 4:32 p.m. ET in after-hours trading, while Microsoft shares rose less than 1% to $57.4 at that time.
Microsoft said in June it is paying $196 per share in an all-cash deal that is expected to close some time this year. The price Microsoft is offering is a validation of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's growth prospects, after LinkedIn’s shares tanked by more than 40% in February.
Revenue in the second quarter, ending June 30, was $933 million, the highest in the company's history, up 31% from $712 million in the same period a year earlier and easily topping the $898 million expected among analysts. (See the full results here.) Earlier this year, LinkedIn offered a guidance for second quarter revenue of between $885 million and $890 million, and a guidance for net income, excluding certain expenses, of between 74 and 77 cents per share.
The company posted a net loss of $119 million, or 89 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $68 million, or 53 cents a share. The second-quarter loss was the company's deepest since going public, caused largely by a $101 million expense related to the company's tax assets. Excluding certain expenses, LinkedIn said it would have earned $153 million, or $1.13 a share, beating estimates of 78 cents per share on that basis.
LinkedIn said that in light of the pending merger, it will not update its outlook for the full year and will not host a conference call for its second quarter results. The company previously issued full-year revenue guidance of $3.65 billion to $3.7 billion and net income, excluding certain expenses, of $3.30 per share and $3.40 per share.
LinkedIn “talent-solutions business,” which mainly serves corporate recruiters, generates about two-thirds of the company’s sales. Revenue in that unit rose 35% from the same period a year earlier to $597 million.
The marketing-solutions unit, which sells advertising on LinkedIn properties, grew 29% from a year earlier, to $181 million. Sponsored content continues to be LinkedIn's fasted growing business within this unit, making up more than 60% of sales during the second quarter.
Premium subscriptions sales rose 21% year-over-year to $155 million. LinkedIn reported 450 million users in the second quarter, up from 433 million users in the first quarter.
“In Q2, we demonstrated good momentum with our member and customers, and delivered strong financial results,” LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said in a statement. “Continued product innovation drove increased levels of engagement, and strengthened our enterprise offerings. We believe joining forces with Microsoft enables us to further accelerate and scale our ability to deliver value and create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce."
At the time the deal was announced, Microsoft said Weiner would stay on as LinkedIn's chief executive, reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Founded in 2002, LinkedIn went public in 2011. Microsoft said the social network for professionals would “retain its distinct brand, culture and independence.” The deal could make a host of integrations between Microsoft and LinkedIn possible across tools such as Office, Outlook, Calendar and Skype. Even Microsoft’s personal AI assistant Cortana could come into the fold, providing tasks such as telling users the professional background of a business partner before a meeting.
LinkedIn’s stock has fallen about 14.7% this year as of the close on Thursday. LinkedIn fell less than 1% to $192 during regular trading Thursday.
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cb06faed24a0faa3f9277f0d3a69ac29 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/09/21/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-invests-3-billion-to-cure-disease/ | Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Promises To Spend $3 Billion To Research And Cure All Diseases | Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Promises To Spend $3 Billion To Research And Cure All Diseases
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative... [+] late last year. (AFP/Getty Images)
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the charitable foundation formed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, will pledge $3 billion to basic science research over the next decade with the goal of curing disease, the organization said on Wednesday.
Chan, a pediatrician, announced the donation at an event in San Francisco. Chan also said the initiative's first science donation will be a $600 million investment in BioHub, a project that brings together leading scientists and engineers from Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the University of California at San Francisco to understand and treat disease. The couple created the initiative late last year in honor of their daughter Maxima.
"We are the limit of what we understand about science and disease," Chan said on stage. "We want to push back that boundary. By investing in science today, we hope to build a future in which all of our children can live long and rewarding lives."
Chan spoke about the experience of telling parents their child couldn't be resuscitated, and about the value of service she learned growing up as a child of Chinese-Vietnamese refugees. She said her husband believe that all diseases can be cured, prevented or managed by the end of the century.
"We believe we can cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime," Chan said. "It doesn’t mean that no one will get sick, but they should get sick a lot less."
The $3 billion effort will be led by Dr. Cori Bargmann, the researcher and neuroscientist who led President Obama's "BRAIN Initiative." Zuckerberg, who joined Chan on stage, said the donation would be dedicated to three main goals: bringing scientists and engineers together, building tools and technology and fueling a movement to encourage more private and public funding of science research around the world. Zuckerberg said tools built by the initiative could enable advancements, for example, in bloodstream monitoring to detect disease and artificial intelligence software to understand the brain.
"If we can develop new tools, we can empower scientists all around the world to make much faster progress and breakthroughs," Zuckerberg said, emphasizing that the initiative will look for ways to apply engineering to social change. "It is going to take years before the first tools get built and years before they start curing diseases."
When the couple first began exploring their research donation, they initially thought a goal of curing, preventing or managing all diseases by the end of the century was "really aggressive," Zuckerberg said. However, conversations with dozens of Nobel Laureates, researchers and engineers solidified the couple's belief that their dream is feasible, Zuckerberg said.
"We need to be patient," Zuckerberg continued. "We can make a better world for our children and for generations to come."
Billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates spoke at the close of the event about the positive example set by the Zuckerbergs' donation and commitment to public health.
"It’s a magical time to bring this group together to tackle these problems," Gates said. "What’s been most fun for [Melinda and me] is meeting people who are optimistic that these problems can be solved. They are inspiring a whole new generation of philanthropists to do great things."
Bill Gates: Beyond Microsoft, Money, Malaria. An eBook From Forbes From PCs to vaccines, find out how Bill Gates made his mark on the world.
When the couple formed the initiative, they pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook shares over the course of their lives. At the time, their Facebook holdings were worth $45 billion. FORBES estimates Zuckerberg’s current net worth is $55.6 billion, making him the fifth richest person in the world, according to Forbes Real Time Rankings. Facebook shareholders approved a voting structure for the company's stock earlier this year that allows Zuckerberg to donate shares without giving up majority control of the company.
The foundation's limited liability company (LLC), for-profit structure allows the couple to invest in both non-profit and for-profit entities. Last year, the couple said they planned to focus the initiative on “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.” The couple also promised to reinvest any profits from their investments back into the initiative.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's first investment, made in June, went to a New York-based company called Andela that trains software developers in Africa, particularly in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya. The initiative led Andela's $24 million Series B round, which was also joined by GV, the venture arm of Alphabet Inc.
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0d4a6840e23b276326f3b9d6fba85680 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/09/24/snapchat-leaps-into-hardware-rebrands-as-snap-inc/ | Snapchat Leaps Into Hardware, Rebrands As 'Snap Inc.' | Snapchat Leaps Into Hardware, Rebrands As 'Snap Inc.'
Snapchat's name has disappeared about as quickly as the app's trademark disappearing photos.
The Venice, California-based company is debuting its first hardware, $129.99 video-capturing sunglasses, and renaming itself as "Snap Inc." to reflect its new direction, the company's CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel told WSJ Magazine. Snapchat has been testing early versions of the gadget, called "Spectacles," since early 2015, and the company plans to sell a limited number of Spectacles this fall. Snapchat's new name reflects that the company is no longer only a social media service, Spiegel told WSJ.
Snapchat plans to sell a limited number of video-capturing sunglasses called 'Spectacles' this fall.... [+] (Associated Press)
Users can record video on Spectacles by tapping a record button on the hinge of the frames, which contain a camera. Spectacles can record videos of up to 10 seconds, with each tap recording a new clip. The glasses' camera has a 115-degree-angle lens, which is wider than a typical camera and similar to the human eye's field of view. The videos can be posted wirelessly to Snapchat and delivered to the user's smartphone. To start, Snap plans to offer Spectacles in one size and three colors: coral, black and teal. Spectacles bear some resemblance to Alphabet Inc.'s Google Glass, which largely flopped among consumers.
Snap, which has 150 million daily active users, most recently closed a $1.8 billion funding round in May, when investors valued the company at about $18 billion. Snap is forecast to reach nearly $1 billion in global advertising sales in 2017, up from an estimated $366.7 million in revenue this year, according to a recent report by forecasting firm eMarketer. By comparison, eMarketer estimates that Facebook -owned Instagram, with 500 million users, will generate $1.5 billion in global ad sales this year and $2.8 billion in 2017.
Snap launched its ad business in mid-2015. The company sells ads in its “Discover” and “Stories” sections, as well as through paid geo-filters and lenses. Snapchat’s Discover section, which features articles and video from more than a dozen publishers such as CNN, iHeart Radio and Cosmopolitan, generates nearly half of the company’s total U.S. ad revenue.
Snapchat competes with a number of mobile apps, such as Instagram, Facebook and a host of younger social media players, for the eyeballs of teens and millennials and ultimately, the $70 billion bleeding out of TV advertising business and onto smartphones. Unlike Facebook and Instagram, users can't garner "likes" on their "snaps" or comment publicly, which helps users feel less pressured to post and share unpolished content. Instagram, which has 300 million daily active users, recently launched "Stories," which lets users post strings of photo and video clips, cloning a core Snapchat feature.
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ac83811fec9f8b057a96c8051107b377 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/09/26/snapchat-passes-60-million-daily-users-in-the-u-s-and-canada/ | Snapchat Passes 60 Million Daily Users In The U.S. And Canada | Snapchat Passes 60 Million Daily Users In The U.S. And Canada
Snapchat has more than 60 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada -- about a third of... [+] Facebook's 175 million daily users in the same countries. (Getty Images)
Snapchat, the messaging app that originally took off as a tool for sending disappearing photos, now has more than 60 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada -- about a third of Facebook's 175 million daily users in the same region.
Snap Inc.'s Chief strategy officer, Imran Khan, announced the stat during Advertising Week in New York. Together, the U.S. and Canada are the world's largest advertising market. In the U.S. and Canada, Facebook’s average revenue per user is $12.43, nearly four times its global average, $3.32. For Twitter, the U.S. is also paramount. The San Francisco, Calif.-based company does not break down revenue for Canada. However, Twitter reported it made nearly 60% of its second quarter advertising revenue in the U.S. alone. Twitter does not share daily user metrics, but most recently said it has 66 million monthly U.S. users.
Snapchat, which has 150 million daily active users globally, most recently closed a $1.8 billion funding round in May, when investors valued the company at about $18 billion. The company is forecast to reach nearly $1 billion in global advertising sales in 2017, up from an estimated $366.7 million in revenue this year, according to a recent report by forecasting firm eMarketer. By comparison, eMarketer estimates that Facebook-owned Instagram, with 500 million monthly users, will generate $1.5 billion in global ad sales this year and $2.8 billion in 2017.
Snap Inc. launched its ad business in mid-2015. The company sells full-screen, vertical video ads in its “Discover” and “Stories” sections, which play with sound after users click them. Snapchat’s Discover section, which features articles and video from more than a dozen publishers such as CNN, iHeart Radio and Cosmopolitan, generates nearly half of the company’s total U.S. ad revenue, according to eMarketer. Snap Inc. also sells geofilters and lenses.
On Friday, the Venice, California-based company unveiled its first hardware, $129.99 video-capturing sunglasses, and renamed itself as “Snap Inc.” to reflect its new direction.
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c7b32fdf81b5e8d6b6ba1bc71898d1fa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2016/09/27/sheryl-sandberg-facebooks-4-million-advertisers-are-proof-of-the-power-of-mobile/ | Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook's 4 Million Advertisers Are 'Proof' Of The Power Of Mobile | Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook's 4 Million Advertisers Are 'Proof' Of The Power Of Mobile
When it comes to advertising, small screens are the new big screens.
This is what Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg says the company's latest milestone -- announcing 4 million advertisers on Tuesday -- signifies about the growing importance of mobile to consumers and marketers. And while the majority of advertisers on Facebook are small- and medium-size businesses, Sandberg said many small businesses still need to catch up.
"This is a big announcement for us -- 4 million advertisers," Sandberg said in a phone interview. "We think it’s another proof point of the story we’ve seen for years, which is the move to mobile."
Mobile dominates Facebook's advertising engine. In the second quarter, mobile advertising made up 84% of total sales in the quarter, up from 72% in the same period a year earlier. Mobile ads, in particular, mobile video formats, have been key to driving Facebook's impressive revenue growth.
The company's global ad revenue is expected to total $23.31 billion this year, says forecasting firm eMarketer, making Facebook the largest ad publisher after Google. Facebook has also found success offering mobile ad campaigns across its flagship app and Instagram, which is forecast to generate about $1.5 billion this year, thanks to the app's popularity among millennials. Facebook first announced 3 million active advertisers just six months ago.
"You’re seeing our accelerating pace of growth, and what this shows is this is working," Sandberg said. "We’re delivering results for small businesses and helping people connect with customers where they are, which is on mobile."
Sandberg described mobile devices as "the fastest adoption of a consumer communications technology the world has ever seen," noting that Facebook's biggest opportunity lies in small businesses.
"The small screen is now big, because the small screen can do big things," Sandberg continued. "This is now a really important place to reach customers, both because this is where customers are, but also because this is an exciting creative canvas."
Sandberg noted that while 60 million businesses around the world are active Facebook Page users and the majority of Facebook advertisers are small- and medium-sized businesses, a significant number of small businesses struggle to manage their online presence. A third of small businesses in the U.S. don't have a web page -- and standalone mobile apps are even harder to build and get people to visit.
"While the small screen creates opportunity, it’s actually pretty hard for small businesses," Sandberg said. Facebook has intentionally made business Pages as easy to start and maintain as personal Facebook profiles, especially on mobile devices, as many business owners manage Facebook Pages and ad campaigns on-the-go, the company said.
"We’ve worked hard to make our ads very easy to use, very simple, low cost and high ROI," Sandberg added.
Facebook's VP of global SMB Dan Levy said a top priority for Facebook is capturing the investment of small businesses that already have active Facebook Pages but don't yet buy ads on the platform. Part of Facebook's strategy is to make Pages as valuable as possible for businesses, even before they consider ad campaigns, Levy said.
"What I hear from small businesses around the world is their time and their money is precious, and we want to be the best minute and the best dollar that they spend every day," Levy said. "We want to be number one growth driver for their business."
Levy said Facebook is the "leading place" to run a video ad campaign as a small business. He said the number of advertisers using video ads is seeing "great growth" -- as consumers seek more video content, they come to expect more video ads, he said. Levy said more than 20% of Facebook's advertisers -- about 800,000 businesses -- have created a video ad in the last month, creating about 4 million video ads during that period.
"Video is a great chance to engage with sight sound and motion, and mobile is opening up new opportunities," Levy said. "Over the past five to 10 years, only a fraction of those businesses could create a video ad because of the expense and technology required. Now with just a phone and a few simple tools, they can create compelling ad content to drive their business forward."
Facebook said its fastest growing region for advertising is South East Asia, and its top five countries based on year-over-year growth are the U.S., Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico and the U.K. More than 85% of active business Pages use mobile, and 40% of active advertisers have a created a Facebook ad on mobile, the company said. The large majority of Facebook advertisers are outside of the U.S.
Last week, Facebook apologized for overestimating the average viewing time for video ads on its platform for two years. Facebook said that its metric for the average time users spend watching videos was inflated because it only considered video views of more than three seconds. Facebook said it was launching a new metric to address the problem. In a post on Facebook, the company's VP of advertising and global operations David Fischer said Facebook takes "any mistake seriously" and that the error "has not and will not going forward have an impact on billing or how media mix models value their Facebook video investments."
"This error should not stand in the way of our ultimate goal, which is to do what’s in the best interest of our partners and their business growth," Fischer said in his post.
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6ef1d05cb7158638ce22a6555fc17756 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/01/06/facebook-hires-former-television-news-journalist-to-lead-news-partnerships/ | Facebook Hires Former Television Journalist To Lead News Partnerships | Facebook Hires Former Television Journalist To Lead News Partnerships
A few weeks after announcing it will work with third party fact checkers to manage the display of fake news on its site, Facebook has hired former television news journalist Campbell Brown to serve as a liaison between publishers and Facebook in a brand new role -- head of news partnerships.
Facebook has hired former television news journalist Campbell Brown to fill a new role -- head of... [+] news partnerships. (Getty Images)
In a Facebook post on Friday, the ex-NBC News correspondent and CNN prime-time host said she will use her professional experience in newsrooms to help journalists "work more closely and effectively" with Facebook. Brown will work directly with publishing organizations to help them navigate how Facebook can be part of their business model and expand their reach. Part of her role will be ensuring there is ongoing dialogue between Facebook and publishers as the social media company builds new products and features that impact the world of news.
"Right now we are watching a massive transformation take place in the news business - both in the way people consume news and in the way reporters disseminate news," Brown said in her post. "Facebook is a major part of this transformation. This change comes with enormous challenges for journalists but also with great opportunities. "
Brown emphasized that journalism has been "the defining part" of her professional life and that she views journalism as much more than just a business.
"Being given the chance to work on these complex issues with an industry full of people I care so much about is thrilling for me," Brown said.
Facebook has become an indispensable but also threatening platform for many news businesses. As Google and Facebook take larger and larger slices of companies' advertising dollars, many publishers have struggled to thrive financially in the digital era. At the same time, social media platforms like Facebook have become key mediums for reaching audiences. Brown's role appears to be part of Facebook's response to public debate that has swirled since November over whether misinformation on the social network could have affected the outcome of the U.S. election.
After initially playing down its role in enabling the distribution of fake and hoax content, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of major changes the company is making to contain the spread of false stories. Perhaps most notably, Zuckerberg said in mid-December that articles on Facebook which are reported enough times by the community or flagged through other signals will now be examined by a group of third-party fact checking organizations in Poynter's International Fact Checking Network, as part of a new Facebook program. If the fact checkers determine the news is fake, the article will be labeled as "disputed" on Facebook with a explanation from the fact checking team. Facebook said users will still be able to share these stories, but will see a warning message that the story is "disputed" when they click to share it. Facebook will also rank "disputed" stories lower in news feed and will not allow "disputed" stories to be turned into ads and promoted.
Facebook is also taking steps to diminish the financial incentives behind producing fake news. To help prevent spammers from masquerading as recognized news organizations, Facebook said it has eliminated the ability to spoof domains to reduce the number of sites that pretend to be real publications. Facebook said it will also review publisher sites to assess whether the content is clearly spam.
Facebook has shied away from producing its own content. However, it does curate trending news topics for readers in a prominent sidebar and it has paid publishers and influencers millions of dollars to produce live video on its site. In addition, its news feed, whose algorithm ranks articles and posts by friends, family and influencers based on a myriad of factors, can significantly impact which articles users see. Facebook's importance as a news platform can't be overstated -- the site is the primary news source for nearly half of Americans, according to a Pew Research Center study. And Facebook's global presence is steadily growing -- the site has nearly 2 billion monthly users.
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745ecd65564d64e158dfe14024cc926b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/01/06/wikileaks-proposes-creating-a-database-of-verified-twitter-users/ | WikiLeaks Proposes Creating A Database Of Verified Twitter Users | WikiLeaks Proposes Creating A Database Of Verified Twitter Users
WikiLeaks on Friday proposed making an online database of verified Twitter users based on... [+] information about their families, jobs, finances and housing. (Associated Press)
WikiLeaks, the disclosure organization led by Julian Assange, said in a series of tweets on Friday that it is considering building a digital database of verified Twitter users based on personal information about their families, jobs, financial standing and housing.
WikiLeaks said it does not plan to dox users' home addresses and only intends to share the relationships between verified users based on "proximity graphs." However, critics of the group's idea expressed outrage and concern that such a tool would violate the safety and privacy of users and their families.
"We are thinking of making an online database with all 'verified' twitter accounts & their family/job/financial/housing relationships," the WikiLeaks Task Force said in a tweet, which it deleted hours later. "The idea is to look at the network of *relationships* that influence -- not to publish addresses," the organization said in a separate tweet. The WikiLeaks account cited Wikipedia, Google, LinkedIn and Facebook as examples of creators of similar relationship graphs.
WikiLeaks said the purpose of such a database would be to inform its artificial intelligence software. The group also asked Twitter users for "other suggestions" as to how it might use the information.
“Posting another person’s private and confidential information is a violation of the Twitter Rules," a Twitter spokesperson said in an email. WikiLeaks did not respond to a request for comment.
Twitter verifies the accounts of thousands of users such as politicians, journalists, activists and nonprofit organizations, whose feeds it considers to be of public interest, labeling those accounts with blue check marks. The system was created in part to reduce the number of fake accounts impersonating celebrity users. Twitter's policies say the company does not allow the use of Twitter data for "surveillance purposes." The type of project WikiLeaks is proposing would most likely violate Twitter's terms of service.
A range of Twitter users spoke out against WikiLeak's broad proposal, raising concern such a database could be used as a tool for harassment or violence:
HEADS UP Official Wikileaks support announces plans for massive DOXXING OPERATION aimed at verified @Twitter users. cc: @jack@Supporthttps://t.co/k0Nrxc2yAA 'Wikileaks Taskforce' completes transformation from pile-on troll army to genuinely sinister 'we know where you live' list-maker. https://t.co/jrkdEOL6a3 — Tim Maughan (@timmaughan) January 6, 2017 @WLTaskForce I think this plan is creepy, I think you're creepy and I hope someone breaks into your house and rearranges your sofa cushions. — Ethan Lawrence (@EthanDLawrence) January 6, 2017
WikiLeaks is also under scrutiny for other reasons. Earlier this week, U.S. intelligence officials said they had information connecting the disclosure organization to Russian programmers suspected of hacking into the Democratic National Committee's emails.
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19e54bc92c1637afb108414e31b267cc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/01/26/facebook-taps-hugo-barra-to-head-virtual-reality/?ss=tech | Facebook Taps Hugo Barra To Head Virtual Reality | Facebook Taps Hugo Barra To Head Virtual Reality
Facebook hired former Google executive Hugo Barra to lead its virtual reality efforts. (Getty... [+] Images)
Facebook has found a new leader for its virtual reality endeavors.
Facebook said on Wednesday that it hired former Google executive Hugo Barra to lead the company's virtual reality efforts, which include Oculus VR. Barra, who will serve as vice president of virtual reality at Facebook, most recently worked at Xiaomi in Beijing and led product for the Android operating system at Google, now part of Alphabet Inc. In a Facebook post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Barra shares his belief that "virtual and augmented reality will be the next major computing platform." Zuckerberg said he has known Barra since he helped build Google's Android system.
“It’s been a dream of mine to work in virtual reality even back when AR/VR were just figments of science fiction; now we’re taking selfies in virtual worlds,” Barra said in a comment on Zuckerberg’s post, which includes an image of Zuckerberg and Barra meeting in VR as avatars.
"There's no greater calling in our industry than taking breakthrough tech and making it available to the greatest number of people," Barra added. "Really looking forward to doing just that at Facebook — taking VR mainstream."
The top leadership role at Oculus had been vacant since former CEO Brendan Iribe stepped down in December. Iribe now oversees one of two Oculus units, and Barra will manage virtual reality efforts across the company.
Oculus' path hasn't been without its bumps. Shipments of its Rift headset had hiccups last year. And during the U.S. election cycle, Oculus cofounder Palmer Luckey came under scrutiny for donating to a pro-Donald Trump political organization called Nimble America. Most recently, Zuckerberg testified in a Dallas court earlier this month in an intellectual property case against Oculus. Facebook acquired Oculus for about $2 billion in 2014.
Even though it may take years for virtuality to become mainstream, Oculus has become a leader in the space, competing with the likes of Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Sony . And virtual reality, one of Zuckerberg’s passions, could become a major revenue stream for Facebook in years to come. In the fall, Oculus said it will commit an additional $250 million to fund a range of new content, betting that "great software experiences" are the next frontier of VR, an addition to the $250 million Oculus has already pledged to content development. Also in October, Facebook said it is building a standalone, affordable VR headset that isn't tethered to a PC like the current Oculus Rift.
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f7261328e6266b54ca8c907a566d46d1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/02/21/mark-zuckerberg-is-running-a-political-campaign-just-not-for-elected-office/ | Mark Zuckerberg Is Running A Political Campaign, Just Not For Elected Office | Mark Zuckerberg Is Running A Political Campaign, Just Not For Elected Office
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg penned a 5,800-word essay about the social network's potential to... [+] become a global "social infrastructure." The essay was also an effort to win users' trust. (Getty Images)
Mark Zuckerberg has frequently spoken of his unflinching conviction that Facebook – with its mission of making the world more open and connected – is a force for good. His idealistic vision, however, has clashed with reality with increasing frequency, and the result is a growing tide of user mistrust that left unchecked, could wash over Facebook and erode its potential and relevance.
Zuckerberg, it seems, has noticed. After months of public soul-searching – vowing to visit every state to better understand everyone and promising to fight fake news on the social network after downplaying its importance – Zuckerberg has penned an extraordinary, 5,800-word manifesto about Facebook’s place in the world and his vision of a more inclusive, supportive, informed and safe global community.
Some pundits have read Zuckerberg’s recent moves as laying the groundwork for a campaign for public office, perhaps even the presidency. Zuckerberg responded saying he has no interest in running for office. His manifesto lays the groundwork for a very different kind of campaign: he has taken to the bully pulpit to regain users’ trust. Zuckerberg concedes Facebook may not always get it right. It may sometimes be a place where bad things happen. But Zuckerberg wants it to be known that he means well and he’s trying – really, really trying – to use his nearly 2-billion-member social media platform to promote the public good.
Caring about what its users think, of course, is not new for Facebook. The company tracks a metric internally called “Cares About Us,” or CAU, as The Information earlier reported, essentially a net promoter score measuring whether users believe Facebook “cares” about them individually.
And Facebook has been running satisfaction surveys for years, asking users, for example, to pick which Facebook feature they think is in most need of improvement, or rate how much control they feel they have over their personal information on the site. If users’ don’t have enough trust and motivation to share on the platform, Facebook doesn’t just lose its potential to accomplish social good -- it jeopardizes its entire value proposition and the foundation of its massive business, advertising.
Despite its focus on user sentiment, Facebook has recently made serious missteps, namely around managing sensitive content, misinformation and fake news. The company’s policies around violent live-streamed footage like suicides and shootings have generated controversy, as did Facebook’s removal of the iconic Vietnam War “Napalm Girl” photo (The company reinstated the image after intense backlash). Users have also become wary of filter bubbles and news feed’s design, which can serve users fake news directly alongside quality coverage, a problem that generated public outcry and debate about whether Facebook played a role in the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Facebook has since launched an entirely new program dedicated to addressing misinformation and hoax stories through efforts like third-party fact checking and safeguards to prevent fake news sites from using the social network to make money. And Facebook is investing in programs to promote news literacy and dialogue with publications.
But Zuckerberg’s manifesto suggests a far more significant effort by Facebook to wage a campaign for the public’s trust. Zuckerberg's letter -- the first time Zuckerberg formally updated Facebook’s mission statement since the company’s initial public offering -- emphasizes a long-term plan to focus on “social infrastructure,” a vague phrase that seems to mean using Facebook’s digital tools to do good offline.
Making the case Facebook is trustworthy, Zuckerberg emphasizes the company's intention to reach its goals with responsibility and users’ interests at the forefront. For example, when Zuckerberg writes about strengthening the “social fabric of communities” through Facebook groups, he notes that Facebook will rate the performance of the product moving forward based on how “meaningful” groups are to users, which he defines as groups that “make a notable difference in meeting people’s personal and spiritual needs.”
And when it comes to building safety tools, Zuckerberg says that he has personally directed Facebook to invest more in the space. His language also suggests that he sees a moral obligation for Facebook to do so, when he notes, "These stories show we must find a way to do more." He uses similar language when writing about Facebook's responsibility in distributing news, writing that Facebook intends to help support the news industry.
Zuckerberg also writes that there is a bigger purpose to users' activity on Facebook than simply meeting their own needs. He says users' participation on the social network can be used as a model for forming better governance structures at scale. He presents being engaged on Facebook as a contribution to creating a world that everyone likes. "I hope we have the focus to take the long view and build the new social infrastructure to create the world we want," Zuckerberg writes in the close of his letter.
Some of the changes Zuckerberg proposes in his essay could drive real improvements. For example, Facebook plans to give users nuanced control over whether or not they see sensitive content like nudity, profanity, violence or graphic content. The feature will give users regular chances to update their preferences, or without a selection, will default to the content choices of the majority of users in their region. Zuckerberg also said Facebook will dedicate more resources to “safety” tools that can be used to mitigate bullying, for example, or the impact of crises.
While there are important, heartwarming stories about the benefits of Safety Check and Amber Alerts that have helped save lives, Facebook’s tools are also leveraged by bad actors. Facebook groups have been used as weapons bazaars by terrorists and for regular users to buy and sell guns, even though the company technically bans the practice. Clearly, the company has a long ways to go before becoming the type of platform for social good it says it wants to be.
Facebook noted in its latest annual report that ensuring its brand is seen as "trustworthy" is key to retaining and growing its user base, noting that many of its new users are referred by existing users.
"Maintaining and enhancing our brands is critical to expanding our base of users, marketers and developers," the company said, noting that preserving its reputation among users and customers will "depend largely on our ability to continue to provide useful, trustworthy and innovative products."
Facebook can’t survive without users’ satisfaction and attention -- the basis of its entire business. Zuckerberg’s essay points to the company’s concern that users’ trust has been fading. Even though Facebook's ubiquity and convenience are strong pulls for retaining users, trust is still a battle the social network can’t afford to lose.
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4c68a292dce218bf2298e9593cc391ad | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/03/01/snapchats-big-weakness-the-olds/ | Snapchat's Big Weakness: The Olds | Snapchat's Big Weakness: The Olds
Snap Inc. begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange this Thursday; all eyes are on Snapchat's... [+] user growth. (Courtesy of Snap)
Cute puppy selfie masks. Helium voice-overs. Raw, curated footage of Coachella, Taylor Swift at the Grammy’s and Kendall Jenner walking at New York Fashion Week. These are just a few of the addictive features that have helped Snapchat become wildly popular among today’s youth.
Six years after Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel and CTO Bobby Murphy built the image-sharing app at Stanford University, Snapchat is a mainstay in the social lives of millennials, successfully evolving from what was largely downplayed as an app for sending ephemeral photos to a full-fledged messaging platform with pioneering content formats. Now, Snapchat is a household name, but it’s used by only a limited demographic -- 85% of Snapchat’s 158 million daily users are between the ages of 18 and 34, the company said in its initial public offering documents, known as the S-1. Just 15% of users are 35-and-up. Snapchat’s non-intuitive interface makes it cool among young people, who have enough free time or friends on the network to make the steep learning curve worth their time. The app’s novelty, however, is a paradox, making it super sticky for youth while keeping their parents away.
For now, Snap doesn’t seem too concerned about the 35-and-up crowd. The company noted in its S-1 that it’s focused on boosting the monetization of its specific user base by sparking more engagement, not by courting older users or becoming globally ubiquitous like Facebook . However, what is top of mind for Snap and investors heading into the company’s IPO on Thursday is slowing user growth. (Year-over-year user growth started decelerating in the second quarter and became “relatively flat” in the second half of the third quarter and the first part of the fourth quarter, before accelerating in December). Even if Snapchat accelerates user growth this year, it’s beginning to tap out its youthful demographic. Sooner or later, the company will need to attract a broader set of users. Given that Snapchat is already confining itself to developed markets that can support its video-intense features, the app has only one direction to go: Older. It will be essential for Snapchat to develop mainstream appeal among older users, but so far, its ability and willingness to do so remains a question mark.
Snap Inc. Needs Broader Reach
As a public company, Snap will inevitably come under pressure from investors to become bigger and more valuable, which won’t just mean monetizing each user more successfully, but also increasing in scale. Snapchat already has about 70% of U.S. 18- to 24-year-olds and about 40% of U.S. 25- to 34-year-olds, according to comScore. (That figure drops to 14% for users 35-and-up.) Some research shows users over 35 were Snapchat’s fastest growing age segment from 2015 to 2016. However, the growth within that age bracket came from a small base. The percentage of Snapchat’s total U.S. users over 35 is expected to increase by just 2% from 18.3% in 2016 to 20.4% in 2017, forecasting firm eMarketer predicts. By contrast, about 88% of Facebook’s users are over 35, and 45% of Instagram users are in that bracket.
Investors in social networks typically demand strong user growth, especially in the early days. User growth problems have slashed Twitter’s market cap in half since the company went public at a $24 billion valuation in 2013. Snap’s user growth is weaker than Twitter’s and Facebook’s at their IPOs. Snapchat had 3.3% quarter-over-quarter growth in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31. At its IPO, Facebook had 483 million daily users with 5.7% quarter-over-quarter growth, and Twitter had quarter-over-quarter growth of 6.9%. Goodwater Capital cited weak user growth as the most important risk Snapchat faces heading into its IPO. The company also has a large valuation to grow into. Snap will reportedly price its IPO at $17 a share, above its expected range of $14 to $16, giving the company a valuation of $24 billion.
“They are eventually going to tap out of these younger age groups and will have to court older demographic groups,” said eMarketer principal analyst Catherine Boyle. “They may not need Facebook-level penetration across every age group, but growth will really happen among an older user base.”
Facebook's broad appeal across demographics and geographies is the social network’s most brilliant feat. Through years of product choices that emphasized utility and simplicity, as well as smart acquisitions that linked other popular apps such as Instagram to the social network, Facebook managed to turn what was once a “hot or not” college-only site to a 2-billion-person network where just about everyone, across age groups, has a profile. Even if Snapchat doesn’t want to be as ubiquitous as Facebook, broadly expanding its user base will likely require an overhaul of its interface, education on how to use the app, marketing to older demographics or a combination of the above. It’s a difficult task. Snap warned in its S-1 that it may not be able to penetrate other age groups outside of its 18 to 34-year-old majority “in a meaningful manner.”
“The onboarding experience is difficult,” chief strategist of Kuuhubb Tero Kuittinen said of Snapchat. “It’s not easy to learn how to use it. If you’re 18, it’s not a big stretch, but if you’re 45, it’s tough to figure out.”
(Credit: Holly Warfield, FORBES Staff)
For all of Spiegel’s genius, it isn’t yet clear if he’s the right emissary for encouraging people to join the app. Snapchat has experienced some embarrassing snafus under Spiegel’s leadership, like offering racist selfie filters. Spiegel’s reclusiveness and deep value of privacy raise questions about whether he will connect with new users and existing ones. Spiegel rarely personally shares updates about Snapchat or gives interviews, which makes it seem unlikely he’ll be as visible as Zuckerberg, who posts publicly on Facebook regularly and hosts live-streamed Q&As with users around the world. That’s not to say Spiegel won’t adjust his leadership style over time. It has taken Zuckerberg years to mature into his CEO role, with plenty of stumbles and media training along the way.
Snapchat has succeeded at captivating the user base it has. Users under 25 spend more than 30 minutes on the app per day and open it more than 20 times per day. (By comparison, people spend about 50 minutes per day on average on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger combined). Snap’s user base is an elusive market that’s getting harder to reach on television as it turns to its mobile phones, which makes the group highly sought after among markets hoping to foster brand loyalties.
Even among youth, the app has geographic limits. Snapchat is struggling to take off in Asia, where its clone Snow dominates in South Korea and China, where Snapchat is blocked. Older users in regions where Snapchat is popular such as North America, Australia and Europe, which contains a third of Snapchat’s users, will become more important.
“Snap may have made a major mistake in how it has decided to target really young U.S. users,” said Kuittinen, adding that Snap may have missed key chances to expand in Asia. “Snapchat remains narrow and they may find out they should have broadened their reach earlier. Eventually they’re going to have to go after older users.”
Content As A Strategy
Spiegel’s product vision could help Snapchat achieve this shift. The 26-year-old has proven that he can create truly new features that change social networks at large. Take for example Snapchat “Stories,” fast-paced chains of photo and video clips. Instagram launched a near-clone of the format this summer, and Facebook plans to add a similar feature to its flagship app.
Snapchat could also distinguish itself from competitors by becoming an entertainment service. While Facebook and Twitter are both paying for some live video content, Snapchat could be a destination for consuming short-form content. Snapchat features a range of publishers from The Wall Street Journal, to People and National Geographic in its “Discover” tab, and has experimented with producing its own TV-like shows and curated “Stories” about places, cultural events and breaking news. Snapchat veers heavily toward celebrity and tabloid-like news, but Snap could appeal to older users by improving its scope and quality.
“Older groups are now more likely to tune in [to Snapchat] for content,” eMarketer analyst Jaimie Chung said in an email. “The platform has multiple partnerships with television networks for mini episodes. Meanwhile, the younger groups are less likely to add Snapchat when Instagram Stories can fulfill their broadcasting needs.”
There are also major barriers standing in the way of Snapchat reaching mom and dad. A big one is Facebook. The company isn’t afraid to blatantly copy Snapchat’s best features across its suite of apps. Snapchat’s S-1 all but cited Facebook-owned Instagram as a cause for slowing user growth in the second half of 2016.
“Mark Zuckerberg wakes up in the morning thinking about Snapchat and goes to sleep thinking about Snapchat,” said New York University professor of marketing Scott Galloway, who described Facebook and Instagram as Snapchat’s biggest threat. “Facebook is so clearly going after them.”
Beyond Facebook, Snapchat also faces the risk of fickle users: What’s popular today may not be tomorrow. Snap itself warned in its S-1 that its primary age bracket “may be less brand loyal and more likely to follow trends” than other age groups, which would hurt user growth and retention.
“The cool kid premium eventually goes away,” said Galloway, who is also cofounder of research firm L2. “Instagram played that role two years ago. Facebook played that role four years ago. You can only be the new kid on the block for so long, and then it becomes ROI.”
Snap will work hard to distance itself from Facebook and Twitter and avoid comparisons (Snapchat shuns the descriptor of “social network,” and instead calls itself an “innovation company” and a “camera company”). But Snap will inevitably be stacked up against both. As the company begins to report earnings, Snapchat’s user figures in the near-term will likely affect the stock more than any other single metric. For Snapchat, sooner or later, older users are going to count.
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2fbe8f92f7a4122d0d4fd693f99dae33 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/03/14/this-new-app-lets-job-seekers-secretly-chat-with-employees/ | This New App Lets Job Seekers Secretly Chat With Employees | This New App Lets Job Seekers Secretly Chat With Employees
The BetterCompany team. The startup broadly launched a new app on Tuesday that lets job seekers... [+] anonymously chat with employees. (Courtesy of BetterCompany) (Courtesy of BetterCompany)
When job seekers apply for an opening, it can be hard to get up-to-date interview tips and reliable insights into what it’s really like to work at a firm, especially when reviews on social media or job sites can feature disgruntled former employees or current workers who might only volunteer part of the picture.
This information gap is what the three-year-old startup BetterCompany aims to fill with its new app, BetterCompany Interview, which launched broadly on Tuesday. The app, which features whimsical, animal- and nature-themed graphics (the BetterCompany logo is a koala), intends to place job seekers in a friendly, anonymous Q&A forum with current employees to let candidates ask everything from dos and don’ts in the interview process to why people stick around the firm. To promote honesty and encourage questions that might not feel appropriate to bring up in-person, both the identities of job seekers and employees are anonymous on the app, which is available on desktop and on Android and iOS devices.
“We are focused on helping others be helpful to others through the veil of anonymity,” said BetterCompany founder and CEO Tom Williams in an interview. Williams described the app as a trust-building tool that acts as an applicant’s “supportive friend.”
“Anonymity can easily blow up,” Williams added. “We know how to harness the force of anonymity for good without being destructive.”
Employees, which BetterCompany calls “employee advocates,” are approved to be on the service by their companies and are identified with only their firm name. Job candidates must be invited to join the forum by a company’s recruiters. A candidate, for example, could receive an emailed link to join the platform before a phone screener or an in-person interview. Candidates can then browse any Q&A within that forum and pose questions. Meanwhile, the hosting company members -- whether the CEO or a junior employee --can read any anonymous exchange within their forum, answer questions, endorse other employees’ responses and contribute to an anonymous FAQ about the company's culture. Both candidates and employees are given approachable animal avatars in the app, like a platypus or a bear, which is intended to promote empathy and shift attention toward what people are saying instead of to their rank or title, the company said.
For now, BetterCompany is charging a nominal, flat annual fee for the service, said Williams. However, companies can apply to try Interview in a free trial. BetterCompany Interview brought on its first paying customer in September and boasts Coupa, the cloud-based software company that went public last year, and Evernote as clients. Biogen is in the process of rolling out the service broadly, and about 20 companies have tried Interview so far. The app competes with sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, which both offer features to help job seekers learn about a company before they decide to work there or apply. Glassdoor was most recently valued by investors at about $860 million in June, according to Pitchbook, and LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft last year for about $26 billion.
“Other companies have tried to scare employers into anonymity,” said Williams. “We want to inspire. Employees suffer when they have the wrong colleagues.”
Williams, a serial entrepreneur, founded BetterCompany in 2014, and launched the startup’s first app, a career advice app in the summer of 2015. San Francisco-based BetterCompany now has about a dozen employees and has raised about $7.8 million in fundraising to date from investors such as BlueRun Ventures, KEC Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Adam Nash, Cervin Ventures, Greylock Partners and James Patterson, most recently raising a $6 million Series A in May 2015.
Williams encourages companies to include a wide range of employees in their Interview forum, from sales specialists to data scientists, leaving interactions with recruiters to happen outside of the app. That said, to ensure conversations are appropriate and that companies feel comfortable participating, some items are off limits, such as salary, profanity and proprietary technology or information. All posts are moderated by BetterCompany, which also runs scheduled follow ups to ensure a firm's replies are accurate.
“We let people express themselves, but want them to do so thoughtfully, honestly and constructively,” said Williams.
The startup is betting that open and honest conversations help both the job seeker and the employer. Candidates can get clear, accurate information to determine if the company is the right fit, which helps them make better career choices. This in turn improves their job satisfaction, giving employers happier work cultures and less new hire attrition, which can cost companies millions of dollars per year.
“Picking well is a two way street and each party needs to get it right,” Kenneth DiPietro, vice president of human resources at Biogen, said in a statement. “We want our candidates to really understand our culture so that they can make an informed decision as to whether Biogen is the right place for them. The BetterCompany Interview is a unique and easy to use service that leverages our most engaged employees to help answer the questions of most importance to our candidates."
A preview of BetterCompany Interview. (Courtesy of BetterCompany) (Courtesy of BetterCompany)
Williams noted that allowing a candidate to interact directly with current employees helps the candidate trust that the company truly practices the culture it projects, while also giving companies another way to build their brand and participate in discussion, instead of leaving candidates to rely on public job forums and social media, which may or may not offer a full or accurate picture of the workplace. The app can also make recruitment processes more efficient by giving a group of employees the chance to quickly answer candidates’ questions, instead of bogging down recruiters or a few employees involved in the hiring process.
"BetterCompany Interview has allowed us to harness the voices of our engaged employees to help us tell the story of working at Evernote,” Evernote CEO Chris O’Neil said in a statement. “Candidates love the transparent and authentic nature of the platform and the opportunity to ask about anything on their minds."
Williams noted that the app can be a valuable tool for CEOs to better understand the work experience of current employees.
“CEOs and genuine leaders are starving for honesty from their teams all the time,” said Williams. “It’s not that those teams are being deceptive, but there is self- censorship that takes place.”
While for now, BetterCompany is focused on expanding BetterCompany Interview, down the line the startup will likely build other tools that help companies have better insight into their culture, workplace and products, Williams said.
“If employees don’t like the working environment they will leave,” said Williams. “The dynamic of employer--employee has shifted. Employees are making choices in the same way as any consumer decision.”
Long-term, BetterCompany said its broad mission is to help people make the best career decisions through more consistent, honest communication, which ultimately builds stronger companies. Williams said he could imagine a series of products rooted in “helpfulness and anonymity” that help people find more happiness and success in their careers and in life.
“As much as we care about the knowledge worker, I care about the steelworker whose concern is not which of six companies will hire me, but how do I get hired period,” Williams said. “Work occupies our waking hours for the better part of our lives. We want to help every person become more empowered in choosing the work they want to do.”
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debdd8a25f90c5b0a54db85049c979bd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/05/03/facebook-shares-rise-on-first-quarter-revenue-that-beat-estimates/ | Facebook Reports Strong First Quarter; Revenue, Earnings Beat Estimates | Facebook Reports Strong First Quarter; Revenue, Earnings Beat Estimates
Facebook reported another solid first-quarter on Wednesday, with revenue that beat analysts’ estimates, thanks to strong demand for the social network's mobile ads and solid user growth across its suite of apps.
Revenue in the first quarter, ending March 31, rose 49% to $8.03 billion, from $5.38 billion in the same period a year earlier, topping the $7.83 billion expected on average among analysts polled by Yahoo Finance. The gains represent Facebook's eighth straight quarterly revenue beat, buoyed by mobile video ads sales, including those on Instagram. Mobile ad revenue represented about 85% of total ad sales in the latest quarter, up from the prior quarter (84%) and up from 82% in the same period a year earlier. Facebook’s global ad revenue is expected to total $36.29 billion this year, according to forecasting firm eMarketer, making Facebook the largest ad seller after Google.
The company posted a profit of $3.06 billion, or $1.04 a share, up 76% from a year-earlier profit of $1.74 billion, or 52 cents a share, beating analysts' estimates of $0.87 per share. Analysts had estimated non-GAAP earnings of $1.12 per share. However, Facebook said it is no longer reporting non-GAAP income and earning-per-share. Facebook reported that first-quarter expenses grew 40% from the same period a year earlier to $4.71 billion.
The company warned when it reported third quarter earnings that expenses in 2017 will increase “meaningfully” and that "ad load," the volume of ads the company can show users, will become a less significant revenue growth factor into this year. Facebook shares fell as much as 3% in after-hours trading
User growth in the latest quarter was strong. Total monthly active users grew 17% year-over-year to 1.94 billion people, from the same period a year earlier. Year-over-year, daily active users in the latest quarter increased by 18% to 1.28 billion. User activity on Facebook’s suite of apps continues to grow. Facebook -owned messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger both have more than 1.2 billion monthly active users, and Instagram has more than 700 million monthly active users.
"We had a strong first quarter and a great start to the year," Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said on a conference call with investors on Wednesday.
Facebook and Instagram compete with platforms like Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube for budgets bleeding out of the $70-billion TV advertising industry. Instagram is already generating substantial revenue, thanks in large part to the app’s popularity among millennials. In 2017, Instagram is expected to generate $3.92 billion in revenue worldwide, eMarketer says. And Facebook's long-term investments in messaging and virtual reality (its $2-billion acquisition of Oculus VR) should generate meaningful revenue streams for Facebook down the road. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney recently estimated that Messenger and WhatsApp will become multiple-billion dollar annual revenue generators in the next three to five years.
Now more than 70 million businesses have Facebook pages, a key gateway to converting small and medium sized businesses into advertisers on the social network. There are more than 5 million active monthly advertisers on Facebook, up from 2.5 million at the end of 2015. More than 1 million of these advertisers are in emerging markets, Sandberg said.
"70 million business pages speaks to the size of the platform and the ongoing opportunity," said David Fischer, Facebook's VP of business and marketing partnerships, in an interview. "We're focused on making it easier for them to advertise."
"We have this guiding principle that every ad you see should be as valuable as a post your brother-in-law is sharing or other content in news feed," he added.
Six months after the U.S. presidential election, Facebook continues to grapple with challenges around reigning in fake news. To address the issue, Facebook partnered with third-party fact checkers, created a new Journalism Project to promote news literacy and has been making tweaks to its algorithm to curb the spread of false stories in news feed. Fake news hasn't been Facebook's only moderation challenge. Facebook has recently come under scrutiny for its handling of violent and sensitive video content. On a recurring basis, Facebook has enabled violent videos to be visible on the social network for hours before being removed or flagged with a warning label.
On Wednesday before announcing earnings, Facebook said it has a plan to curb the spread of violent videos. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post that the company will hire 3,000 additional employees over the next year to review reports of violent content, whether in live video streams or in Facebook posts, as well as to better moderate other types of banned content, such as hate speech and child exploitation. The 3,000 new hires will bring Facebook's global operations team, which reviews flagged content, to a headcount of 7,500.
Zuckerberg had recently publicly addressed the topic in April at Facebook's annual F8 Developer conference. In his speech, Zuckerberg referenced the murder of Robert Godwin Sr. in Cleveland, Ohio, which had been broadcast in a video on Facebook for hours before the company took it down. “We have a lot of work and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening," Zuckerberg said on stage.
Product-wise, the company has been focused on what Zuckerberg has called a “video-first” strategy. Facebook continues to promote its live video and 360 video tools and is experimenting with more a versatile camera and filters to compete with younger social app players like Snapchat in a competition for millennials’ mobile screen time.
"Video is something people are consuming more of," Fischer said in an interview, noting that Instagram has been testing a new "fully immersive" ad format. "We're excited about video that is really optimized for mobile."
Facebook has continued to take aim at Snapchat through a copycat strategy that appears to be hampering its younger competitor's user growth. Facebook has launched a version of Snapchat’s pioneering “Stories” feature, chains of photo and video messages with special effects, across its apps: Facebook’s flagship app, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Facebook also unveiled new effects for its cameras, such as falling snow and Picasso-like lenses.
Zuckerberg's F8 talk emphasized the company's focus on the smartphone camera. Zuckerberg presented the mobile phone as the most relevant and important augmented reality (AR) platform in the near-term, before glasses or headsets. He announced Facebook has made its camera an AR platform, which it has started opening to developers. The move could be key to Facebook's ability to maintain user engagement in the coming years.
Facebook fell about 1% to $151.68 during regular trading on Wednesday. The stock is up about 32% this year as of Wednesday’s close.
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c1283adc9b5702db7938f91a14eaa964 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/06/27/facebook-officially-hits-2-billion-users/ | Mark Zuckerberg: 2 Billion Users Means Facebook's 'Responsibility Is Expanding' | Mark Zuckerberg: 2 Billion Users Means Facebook's 'Responsibility Is Expanding'
Facebook announced on Tuesday that 2 billion people use the social network every month. Getty Images
Facebook has officially hit 2 billion monthly users, solidifying the company's position as the largest, most influential social network in the world.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the milestone on the social network on Tuesday. "As of this morning, the Facebook community is now officially 2 billion people!" Zuckerberg said in his post. "We're making progress connecting the world, and now let's bring the world closer together."
The announcement comes a few days after Facebook's first-ever Community Summit in Chicago, where Zuckerberg unveiled a host of new tools to make it easier for admins of massive Facebook groups to grow and curate their communities. More than 1 billion people use Facebook groups each month, making them a core component of the social network. At the event, Zuckerberg also revealed the company's new mission, “Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together." Zuckerberg called the statement "an extension" of the company's original mission of making the world "more open and connected."
Facebook's unprecedented reach can be a powerful tool for tackling global problems and democratizing access to people and knowledge. However, the social network's influence also comes riddled with a host of ethical challenges. The company is continually navigating everything from how to moderate violent and sensitive live video content, to addressing extremist and terrorist groups that mobilize on the app and how to determine which information sources and political perspectives populate users' personalized feeds.
"We feel like our responsibility is expanding, especially around passing this milestone of 2 billion people in the community," Zuckerberg said in an interview at Facebook's Menlo Park, California headquarters earlier this month. "We’ve been thinking about what our responsibility is in the world and what we need to do."
Facebook has set a goal to help 1 billion users become part of what Zuckerberg calls "meaningful groups," in a push to reverse what has become a pronounced decline in community membership around the world. Stronger community engagement on and offline will be key to solving critical global problems like climate change and public health issues, Zuckerberg said.
“A more connected world is going to be necessary to take on the greatest opportunities and challenges for the next generation, everything from stopping climate change, to stopping pandemics, to funding research,” Zuckerberg said in an interview this month. “These are not fundamentally national problems anymore. In order to get there, you need to build a world where every person has a sense of support and purpose in their life so they don’t just focus narrowly on what’s going on in their lives, but can think about these broader issues as well.”
The 2-billion mark is a testament to Facebook's ability to court and maintain users across both developed and emerging markets. Despite Facebook's scale, the company has managed to sustain impressive user growth. In the company's most recently reported quarter, ending March 31, total monthly users grew 17% year-over-year to 1.94 billion people, from the same period a year earlier. And year-over-year, daily active users in that quarter increased by 18% to 1.28 billion.
User activity on Facebook’s suite of apps continues to grow. Facebook -owned messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger both have more than 1.2 billion monthly active users, and Instagram has more than 700 million monthly active users.
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dd3e3b0ae51f69ff3128fc8219b3922c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/09/06/fake-facebook-accounts-likely-tied-to-russia-bought-100000-in-political-ads-company-says/ | Facebook Says Fake Accounts Likely Tied To Russia Bought $100,000 In Political Ads | Facebook Says Fake Accounts Likely Tied To Russia Bought $100,000 In Political Ads
Facebook said 470 fake accounts and Pages "likely” operated out of Russia bought $100,000 in... [+] political advertisements on the social network. (AFP) (AFP)
Hundreds of fake Facebook accounts and Pages that were likely affiliated with one another and operated out of Russia bought $100,000 in political advertisements on the social network over the past two years, Facebook said in a statement on Wednesday. Facebook shared its findings with U.S. authorities investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The fake accounts and Pages were allegedly connected to a “shadowy” Russian company seeking to target voters, according to a report in The Washington Post on Wednesday. The company, called the Internet Research Agency, is known for using fake accounts to comment on news stories and post on social media. U.S. intelligence agencies said in January that the likely backer of the Internet Research Agency is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller are probing allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election and possible coordination with members of President Donald Trump's campaign. In January, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian government, under orders from Putin, hacked Democratic targets in an effort to hamper Hillary Clinton’s election prospects and aid Trump’s.
While the ad spending figure is small, Facebook’s findings raise questions about the extent of Russian involvement in the U.S. election and how misinformation on social media may have affected voters. Under federal law, foreign governments and foreign nationals are prohibited from making contributions or spending money to influence a federal, state or local election in the U.S. Facebook briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees about the findings on Wednesday.
These 470 fake accounts and Pages purchased approximately 3,000 ads focused on divisive social and political topics such as LGBT matters, race, immigration and gun rights, Facebook said in a blog post by chief security officer Alex Stamos. The large majority of the ads did not specifically reference the U.S. presidential election, voting or a particular candidate. The ads were purchased between June 2015 to May 2017, and about a quarter of the total ads were geographically targeted. Facebook shut down the inauthentic accounts and Pages that were still active, because fake accounts violate the social network’s policy, the company said.
“There have been a lot of questions since the 2016 US election about Russian interference in the electoral process,” Stamos wrote in the blog post. “One question that has emerged is whether there’s a connection between the Russian efforts and ads purchased on Facebook. These are serious claims and we’ve been reviewing a range of activity on our platform to help understand what happened.”
Facebook said it has also done a broad search for ads that might have originated in Russia, for example, ads purchased from accounts with U.S. IP addresses but with the language set to Russian. In this search, Facebook said it found an additional $50,000 in advertising spending with a potential Russian connection across about 2,200 ads.
Facebook has taken a series of new steps since the U.S. presidential election to crack down on the spread of misinformation on the social network, including launching a third-party fact-checking program and improving artificial intelligence technology that can detect fake accounts. In August, Facebook said it will no longer allow Pages that repeatedly share false news to advertise on Facebook. The company also curbs the spread of stories from sources that consistently post clickbait headlines. In the past few months, Facebook has taken steps to block fake accounts in Germany and France.
Stamos said Facebook is looking into a range of improvements to keep inauthentic accounts and bad actors off of its platform. For example, Facebook is testing ways to use its technology for detecting fake accounts to better detect inauthentic Pages and the ads they could run. The company is also experimenting with tools to stop the creation of inauthentic accounts at the time they are formed.
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b0726622cd8a8db42761e772361bf114 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/10/02/facebook-plans-to-add-1000-moderators-under-pressure-to-address-russian-meddling/ | Facebook Plans To Add 1,000 Moderators Under Pressure To Address Russian Meddling | Facebook Plans To Add 1,000 Moderators Under Pressure To Address Russian Meddling
On Monday, following up on a broad road map presented last month by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg,... [+] the company announced its latest steps to prevent its ad system from being manipulated by politically-driven bad actors. (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty Images)
Facebook
Google
Twitter
On Monday, following up on a broad road map presented last month by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company announced its latest steps to prevent its ad system from being manipulated by politically-driven bad actors. In the next year, Facebook plans to add about 1,000 new moderators to manually review ads and purchases and will also invest more in its machine learning technology to better understand when to automatically flag and take down ads. A company spokesperson said the move is intended to bring more nuanced assessment to how Facebook reviews not only the content of ads, but also the context in which they were purchased and their intended audience. Facebook said it is working to identify targeting patterns that could signal potential meddling, in order to send those ads to human moderators. Facebook also said it is delivering on its promise to bring more transparency to ad campaigns. Within the coming months, people on Facebook will be able to view all of the ads a Page is running, even if the user isn’t part of that Page’s target audience.
Facebook is also making it harder for advertisers and groups to run U.S. federal election-related ads moving forward. The company said it will require more thorough documentation from ad buyers who will need to confirm the business or organization they represent before they can purchase ads, and the content of ads will face more restrictions. While Facebook already bans ads that promote violence or include “shocking content,” the company will now also deny ads that contain “event more subtle expressions of violence.” After the company reported last week that it found success partnering with German officials to fend off bad actors during the German federal election, Facebook said it will proactively inform industry and government leaders globally about nefarious activity to help prevent political interference off all digital platforms, not just Facebook.
Facebook did not specify how much it is investing into its machine learning technology or how it will approach reviewing documentation from political ad buyers. The company’s updates the same day Facebook was expected to give federal investigators information on approximately 3,000 ads purchased by about 470 Kremlin-linked accounts.
According to a Washington Post report on Monday, one of the Russian-backed Facebook advertisements shared with Congress featured a black woman pulling a trigger of a rifle without a bullet in the chamber. Citing unnamed sources, the report said investigators believe the ad may have been intended to spark African American militancy and promote fears within white communities.When Facebook announced it would give the details of the ads to investigators, the company said it would leave it up to Congress to determine which ads to share with the U.S. public.
Russia's manipulation of Facebook's ad platform underscores the company's failure to manage a growing volume of moderation challenges across its ad and content systems. A proliferation of Facebook Live broadcasts of shootings and suicides pushed Facebook in May to announce it would hire 3,000 human reviewers to better monitor users' live videos. Last month, Facebook said it would add more human reviewers to manage its ad system after a report by ProPublica surfaced that people could target ads at users who expressed anti-Semitic interests. Facebook temporary banned self-reported ad categories and manually reviewed all ad targeting options in response.
Earlier on Monday, a Facebook page dedicated to helping users find information about the Las Vegas shooting Sunday night that killed at least 58 people and injured about 500 people, temporarily linked to an inaccurate story in the right-wing news site Gateway Pundit, which misidentified the name of the suspected shooter. Other major news platforms also prominently displayed misinformation. On Monday morning, Google surfaced an inaccurate 4chan post misidentifying the suspected shooter as a top search result for the misidentified person's name. The company said it deleted the search result "within hours."
Facebook disclosed last month that Russian-backed accounts purchased about $150,000 of political ads on its 2-billion person network from 2015 to 2017. Facebook, Google and Twitter are expected to testify about Russian interference on their platforms in a Nov. 1 Senate hearing.
In early September, Facebook said 470 fake Facebook accounts and Pages that were likely affiliated with one another and operated out of Russia bought $100,000 in political advertisements on the social network over the past two years. At the time, Facebook also said it completed a broad search for ads that might have originated in Russia, for example, ads purchased from accounts with U.S. IP addresses but with the language set to Russian. In this search, Facebook said it found an additional $50,000 in advertising spending with a potential Russian connection across about 2,200 ads.
The 470 fake accounts and Pages purchased approximately 3,000 ads focused on divisive social and political topics such as LGBT matters, race, immigration and gun rights, Facebook said in a blog post. Facebook said it removed the 470 inauthentic profiles and pages, which it said were linked to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company U.S. intelligence agencies said in January likely has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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229905f0c07fd3351326befcb860e8ee | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2018/02/13/digital-medici-how-this-musician-turned-entrepreneur-plans-to-save-creators-from-advertising/ | Digital Medici: How This Musician-Turned-Entrepreneur Plans To Save Creators From Advertising | Digital Medici: How This Musician-Turned-Entrepreneur Plans To Save Creators From Advertising
Patreon cofounders, Sam Yam (front, left) and Jack Conte (middle) with employees at the startup's... [+] San Francisco headquarters. Timothy Archibald For Forbes
It's 10 p.m. on a Sunday in November at California's Burbank Airport, and Jack Conte, the typically beaming, bearded half of the husband-and-wife musical duo Pomplamoose, is leaning back in a chair, his hoodie pulled over his head, trying to get some rest. Conte, 33, spent much of the weekend in Los Angeles jamming with his funk band, Scary Pockets, and now it's time to return to San Francisco for an entirely different type of gig: his day job running Patreon, a website and mobile app where fans pay monthly subscriptions to support their favorite creators, from painters to podcasters, singers, dancers, writers, game designers and photographers.
The moment perfectly captures what Conte lightheartedly calls his "identity crisis": being CEO and founder of a 100-person startup (valued in September at an estimated $400 million) without completely giving up on his passion for music, which is what led him to invent Patreon in the first place. "A lot of creators depend on us being a high-performance team," Conte says during an interview at Patreon's San Francisco office. "That's the most important thing in the world to me, so there's less time for music."
Conte's dedication stems from a conviction that Patreon can save content creators from having to survive on digital advertising--an all but impossible task for most--or resort to one-time campaigns on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The company is built on a counterintuitive bet that fans are willing--even eager--to pay monthly subscriptions for content that they could get for free as long as it helps support their favorite artists and it's easy to do. There's reason to believe he's right. More than a million Patreon users are helping provide some 50,000 artists with a predictable monthly paycheck.
"On Kickstarter and Indiegogo, creators essentially have to start over every time," says Danny Rimer, a partner at Index Ventures who is a Patreon investor and board member. "It's the same reason software companies went from licensed software to subscriptions: predictable revenue and better service for customers."
Since Conte started Patreon four years ago with his Stanford University roommate Sam Yam, 33, who is CTO, the company has paid out more than $250 million to its artists--$150 million in 2017 alone. Patreon's traction is fueled by a simple pledging system and the direct line it opens between artists and fans, or "patrons," who get access to perks like live Q&As or exclusive chats with the artists, and more casual behind-the-scenes footage than an artist might share on Instagram or Facebook. It also doesn't hurt that being altruistic makes people feel good. In other words, Conte didn't need to change human nature to get Patreon to work, he simply needed to facilitate the exchange between fan and artist.
While Patreon is no longer the only player in its category (Kickstarter launched a competitor called Drip in November), it is the largest--and it's growing faster than ever. The number of patrons and creators and the amount pledged are all doubling yearly. Now Patreon is using some of the more than $100 million it has raised from investors, which include Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital and Freestyle Capital, to double its head count over the next year.
By some measures Patreon's success defies logic. The average user pledges $12 per month, more than the cost of a basic subscription to Spotify or Netflix , which offers access to immense catalogs of video and music. (Some users pledge per piece.) Dozens of artists make more than $30,000 per month, including video reviewer Blind Wave and a capella singer Peter Hollens, who made about $400,000 on the site last year.
Patreon cofounders, CEO Jack Conte (left) and CTO Sam Yam. Timothy Archibald for Forbes
From the start, Patreon has taken a 5% cut of each pledge. That's the same cut taken by Kickstarter and Indiegogo but far less than revenue-sharing programs on YouTube and Apple iTunes, which keep 45% and 30%, respectively. "The mission is to send as much money to creators as possible," Conte says. The commissions generated an estimated $8 million in revenue last year.
Pledgers sign up for "tiers," generally ranging from $1 to $10--though some pay much more--for access to the artists' perks. Ukulele performer Cynthia Lin, who offers fans live lessons, derives about half her income from Patreon and grew her fan base from 400 to 1,400 in the past year. With video "sketchbook tours" and chats, Chilean illustrator Fran Meneses pockets more than $4,000 per month, which supplements income from her Etsy shop and Instagram presence.
Creators join Patreon for free and don't have to promise exclusivity. The site offers them instructions on how to use it most effectively. It also provides a growing list of back-office tools such as analytics and email management to help creators run membership campaigns modeled on those of NPR stations. For now, Patreon is designed for creators who already have established followings but aren't household names. Long term, Conte hopes to help fund bigger names and prove that technology can help restore the financial underpinnings for content creators that the internet has largely eroded.
Patreon's artists-first ethos may be lucrative for some, but it comes with pitfalls, especially in a world where digital business models change frequently. "Creators need to diversify their incomes as much as possible so the rug can't be pulled out from under them," says Laura Chernikoff, executive director of the Internet Creators Guild.
For Conte the mission is personal. He grew up in bohemian-chic Marin County, just north of San Francisco, and was hooked on music from age 6, when his father taught him the blues scale. While studying music and composition at Stanford, he started making YouTube videos with his then girlfriend, Nataly Knutsen, in 2007. (The two married in 2016.) In 2013 he drained his savings account, maxed out two credit cards and spent three months making an electronic music video, complete with robots and a replica of the Millennium Falcon cockpit. His fans loved the video, which got more than a million YouTube views in its first year. However, Conte pocketed just $54 from ad revenue over the video's first month. To date, it has generated about $1,000. Not including Conte's time, it had cost more than $10,000 to make. "It was this rock-bottom moment for me as a creator," Conte says. He knew he'd created something of value but would never be paid for it. "That discrepancy led directly to the formation of Patreon," he adds.
Conte discussed his idea with Yam, who programmed the site in months. It went live in May 2013, and within minutes more than 100 fans were pledging upwards of $700 a month to support Conte's work. Within months Patreon had investors.
Conte is now eyeing a number of opportunities for growth. First is overseas expansion: The site is in English and takes only U.S. dollars, yet 40% of patrons are outside the U.S. Over time, Conte imagines more immersive features, such as virtual reality concerts. Farther out are somewhat fuzzy notions of turning Patreon into a provider of small-business services, including ticketing and merchandising, to help artists turn their passions into professions. "Artists don't have to starve any more," Conte says.
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c6331407569f615bce32ad2c76706fdb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2018/07/11/esther-wojcicki-on-raising-two-of-the-nations-most-successful-women-entrepreneurs-anne-susan/ | Esther Wojcicki On Raising Two Of The Nation's Most Successful Women Entrepreneurs | Esther Wojcicki On Raising Two Of The Nation's Most Successful Women Entrepreneurs
Esther and Stanley Wojcicki with their daughters Susan, Janet and Anne in Palo Alto, California. (Courtesy of Esther Wojcicki)
For the first time, two sets of siblings appear on Forbes’ annual Self-Made Women ranking. The Instagram savvy Kardashians and Silicon Valley powerhouses Anne Wojcicki, cofounder and CEO of genetic testing company 23andMe, and her oldest sister Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube .
Anne, 44, who is also the former wife of Google cofounder and billionaire Sergey Brin, makes her list debut at no. 44, just two spots below her sister, thanks to the skyrocketing value of her biotech company 23andMe, known for its at-home swab kits. Last year the company won approval for 10 genetic risk tests including one for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Celiac disease. This year, 23andMe also became the first-ever direct-to-consumer genetics company to receive FDA authorization for cancer-risk tests.
Sister Susan has been ranked among America’s top women entrepreneurs since 2015 when we first published the list. One of Google’s first employees, she urged the company to buy video site YouTube in 2006 and became its CEO in 2014. Their sister Janet, who has a PhD in medical anthropology from the U. of California Los Angeles and teaches at the U. of California San Francisco Medical Center, is no slouch either.
Given the success of all three sisters, FORBES decided to pay a visit to their mother Esther, 77, who herself has become an international figure in education and the founder of Palo Alto High School’s media program, the largest in the nation. Affectionately called “Woj” by students (including actor James Franco), Esther, who raised her ultra-successful daughters on Stanford U.’s campus where her husband Stanley worked as a respected physicist, is sought after by parents and teachers looking for advice on how to raise children. She’s even currently writing a book on the topic (expected to come out in spring 2019 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt called "How to Raise Successful People”).
Many of the core principles behind Esther’s teaching pedagogy overlap with her parenting style: promoting independence and critical thinking, encouraging kids to dig into topics that truly excite them, and developing the self-sufficiency to take control of their future, both to be happy and to affect positive change in the world.
As soon as her oldest child Susan was born in Santa Clara County in 1968 (Janet and Anne were born two and five years later, respectively, in Redwood City), Esther’s first priority as a parent was to try to help her children learn as much as possible as early as possible, she told Forbes.
“I used them as an educational experiment, and my goal was to see how early I could teach them anything,” says Esther, sitting on a white couch in her family’s pristine home on Stanford’s sun-drenched campus, in the home where she and her husband have lived for about 50 years and where they raised their daughters. Esther and Stan used to take their daughters to plant nurseries when they gardened on weekends and made a point of teaching them the botanical names of flowers. “It was fun for me to teach them to swim early, read early, ride a bike, know facts about the neighborhood. You can teach kids really early.”
Esther also believed in giving her students and daughters an uncommon level of control to help them think and act more independently. When her daughters started reading, she took them to the local library every week with a laundry basket to fill with books, letting the kids gravitate to what interested them. Susan had a passion for art early on, while Janet loved math and Anne’s interests were “socializing”, along with just about every subject, Esther says.
She gradually gave her daughters more responsibility by letting them take small steps like picking their own clothes (although they nearly exclusively bought clothes at Sears on sale), and allowing them to walk to Lucille Nixon Elementary School with their family dog Truffle when they were just five-years-old. They could visit their neighborhood friends as long as they kept a 5:30 p.m. curfew to make swim practice at 6 p.m.
Esther and Stanley Wojcicki with their daughters Susan, Janet and Anne. (Courtesy of Esther Wojcicki)
Esther didn’t only want her daughters to have freedom, she wanted to ensure they knew that their opinions and creativity were valued. When Susan was six years old, for example, Esther let her decorate her bedroom, down to the floor. Susan got to look through the entire flooring store and ended up selecting “hot pink shag carpet,” Esther recalls. “She loved it, and it lasted 12 years...It was the beginning of her independence.”
Esther says she saw her daughters’ entrepreneurial leanings develop early. Starting around age five or six, they each sold fruit and handicrafts around their neighborhood. Neighbors called the sisters “the lemon girls,” because they sometimes sold lemons they picked from trees on their lawn or neighbors’ yards back to their original owners, Esther says. “They would make things and sell them, little pillows. They all learned to sew.”
Personalities That ‘Stuck’
The personalities her daughters showed as children have “pretty much stuck” through their adult life, Esther says. Susan was a “nice kid from day one,” the one who was always calm, sensitive and helpful. “If there’s a difficult decision to make, talk to Susan. She thinks really clearly in all situations,” Esther says. Janet was inquisitive and the “most energetic” of the three, and prolific in languages. Anne was “miss social butterfly and, ‘Oh, I am so cute from day one,” Esther says, as well as very smart. “She could charm the pants off of anybody. Number one charmer.”
Making A Difference
Another value Esther, as well as her husband Stan, instilled in their daughters was around making a positive impact in the world.
“A lot of kids, their number one goal in life is to get more toys than someone else,” Esther says. “That is not a good goal. We all need to do something to make the world a better place.”
Esther says the time her daughters spent working overseas in college -- Susan in India, Janet in South Africa and Anne in Russia and China -- helped shape their drive to make a difference to society.
Anne and Susan Wojcicki attend the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills. Getty Images
“It was in that travel that they realized they wanted to do something to improve the world,” Esther says.
History of Grit
Esther’s own independence and drive developed early through her upbringing by two Orthodox Jewish parents in San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. Her parents came to the U.S. without a college education. Her father worked as an artist and a gravestone carver, while her mother stayed at home. Her family couldn’t always comfortably afford food and health care. Esther never had health insurance, and she attended the public school system.
By the time she was in seventh grade she was determined that excelling academically was key to escaping her family’s financial reality. “I said, when I become a mother, I want a better life for my children,” Esther says.
While the Silicon Valley that the Wojcickis now live in (and helped build) looks different today than it did when the three daughters grew up, Esther supported her daughters’ foray into the industry from the start. She still sees huge opportunity in the technology field for women.
“I think they’re all revolutionaries,” Esther says of her daughters, recalling how they embraced computers early, and that Susan let Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin start the search engine from Susan’s garage. “I thought it was great.”
Looking back on her career, Esther’s proudest accomplishment, aside from her journalism program at Palo Alto High School, is how her daughters grew up: “I have to congratulate them,” she says. “I never stepped in their way.”
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aab191ebce2520e921a66311b4172fea | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2018/11/16/the-disturbing-focus-of-juuls-early-marketing-campaigns/ | The Disturbing Focus Of Juul's Early Marketing Campaigns | The Disturbing Focus Of Juul's Early Marketing Campaigns
A print Juul advertisement that ran in Vice Magazine in 2015 as part of the e-cigarette company'’s... [+] launch campaign, “Vaporized.” Juul 'Vaporized' ad in 2015 via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
Juul Labs, the maker of the most popular U.S. e-cigarette, is growing meteorically—on track to generate an estimated $1 billion in sales this year, up more than 300% from a year ago. However, its products haven’t only gained traction among smokers trying to wean themselves off cigarettes. They are also a hit with teenagers.
What medical experts are calling a Juul-driven “youth nicotine epidemic” is gaining heightened attention from regulators like the Food and Drug Administration, which on Thursday said it is seeking a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars and will sharply restrict the sales of fruity-flavored nicotine vaping cartridges. Juul, likely aware of the impending FDA crackdown, announced on Tuesday that it stopped sales of its fruit-flavored nicotine pods in retail stores (though it will still sell them online) and is shutting down its Facebook and Instagram pages in the U.S.
While Juul acknowledges that some youth (below the age of 18 or 21, depending on the state) use its products, the company has been emphatic that in its three years on the market, the company has never marketed to underage consumers. But a physician and professor at Stanford University who studies tobacco advertising is crying foul. Dr. Robert Jackler, the cofounder of a group called Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA), a Stanford University-affiliated program, says that Juul deleted the vast majority of its social media posts in several waves sometime before September this year, but Jackler and his group have maintained an archive of Juul’s deleted posts (much of which is available on SRITA’s site), including more than 2,500 tweets and 400 Facebook and Instagram posts, as well as material from Juul’s website, emails and print campaigns dating back to its launch in June 2015.
Jackler says the company’s marketing clearly appealed to youth, most overtly from mid-2015 to 2016, the year following Juul’s launch. His archived Juul ads are filled with attractive young models socializing and flirtatiously sharing the flash-drive shaped device, displaying behavior like dancing to club-like music and clothing styles more characteristic of teens than mature adults. Often, early marketing contains little to no reference to Juul being an option for switching from cigarettes. Juul’s launch events and parties also often featured youth-oriented bands and free tastings, Jackler says, promoted alongside ads that made pods seem like “sweet treats” and made “juuling” (the device is so popular it’s now a verb) seem like casual fun.
A Juul ad for one of its early launch event parties in New York in June 2015.
“Juul says their goal is to save the lives of a billion smokers,” Jackler says. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Is the company’s behavior aligned with that goal?’ I would have to say, sadly, no. I think they’re being disingenuous, and I told this to them directly -- their marketing in the first six months was patently youth-oriented.”
Juul’s advertising was most obviously youth-oriented early on, Jackler says. However, the company’s social media techniques, such as broadly relatable hashtags in social media posts like #goldenglobes and #nyc that help extend marketing reach, and Juul’s exposure via social media influencers helped foster unpaid peer-to-peer marketing among teens, a viral phenomenon that’s ongoing and doesn’t stop when Juul shuts down its social media accounts, he says. Jackler called Juul’s halting of its U.S. social media accounts “laudable” but “likely to have at most a limited effect.” Following Juul’s decision to stop selling its fruity-flavored pods in stores, Jackler urged Juul to discontinue sales of its mint pods, which also appeal to young people.
“While JUUL has halted its own [social media] posts, the viral peer-to-peer spread among teens the company initiated will live on indefinitely, or at least until the teen craze for Juul abates,” Jackler said in an email. (In a July blog post, Juul said its “growth is not the result of marketing but rather a superior product disrupting an archaic industry.”)
A Juul event in June 2015. Juul Photo Via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
Regulators and Jackler aren’t the only critics. At least four lawsuits were filed this year against Juul by parents, underage users and others, which include allegations that the company deceptively marketed its product as safe and targeted underage and nonsmokers. The lawsuits also claim that Juul is as addictive or more addictive than cigarettes, alleging that Juul’s nicotine salt formula enables higher nicotine absorption into the body than traditional smokes or other e-cigarettes that use nicotine liquid. “JUUL Labs does not believe the cases have merit and will be defending them vigorously,” a Juul spokesperson said via email.
Jackler traces Juul’s questionable marketing back to its launch campaign, “Vaporized,” that featured young-looking models wearing belly-exposing crop tops, ripped jeans and jean jackets with a bright color scheme. The campaign, which launched in 2015, included materials on Juul’s site, email marketing, multiple social media channels and live events, Jackler says. A “Vaporized” video ad shows a young woman twirling her hair and dancing to club-like music. Others models strike playful poses and smile in bright lipstick. The campaign also ran in a full-page spread in Vice magazine in 2015, a publication that has marketed itself as the “#1 youth media company.” One print ad features a model with a long, high ponytail, styled like teen pop megastar Ariana Grande, Jackler notes.
A Juul Instagram post in 2015. Juul Instagram Post In 2015 Via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
Other images emphasize Juul as the spark for social interaction, Jackler notes. Instagram posts show young couples face to face, mingling exhaled vapor with tag lines like “Share Juul” or “Give Juul,” which Jackler says present the device as a party object to use with friends. Similar ads appeared on a flashing billboard in 2015 in Times Square, showing young models jumping and pouting while enthusiastically vaping.
Many of Juul’s early live events were also youth-oriented, Jackler says. His team identified at least 25 Juul sampling events between June and December 2015 in major U.S. cities such as New York, Miami and Las Vegas, whose “primary purpose was to distribute free samples of Juul devices and flavor pods to a youthful audience to help establish JUUL in the vapor marketplace,” Jackler says. Some of Juul’s events were music- and cinema-themed—for example, an overnight film “slumber party” in Los Angeles, featuring movies such as Can’t Hardly Wait and Cruel Intentions, as well as rooftop movie nights, Jackler says. Juul events often featured bands popular among youth, such as electronic DJs Illuminati AMS and Mary Kwok, as well as vibrant lounge decor that look more fitting for a party for teens than one for adults. The sampling parties were age restricted, either 18 and up, or 21 and up.
A Juul event with Cinespia in September 2015. Juul via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
While Juul claims that flavored vapes help smokers quit, Jackler warns that flavors disproportionately lure young people (85% of e-cigarette users ages 12 to 17 use flavors according to the Surgeon General). Until this summer, Juul used treat-like flavor names for pods in the U.S. such as Creme Brulee (now called Creme), Cool Mint (now Mint), Cool Cucumber (now Cucumber) and Fruit Medley (now Fruit). Juul still uses descriptive flavor names in the U.K. like Apple Orchard, Mango Nectar and Glacier Mint. In 2009, before Juul was founded, the FDA banned all cigarettes with “characterizing flavors” other than menthol, which halted kid-friendly cigarette flavors like chocolate, grape and strawberry. The ban did not apply to e-cigarettes.
A Juul Instagram post in 2017 showing a Juul device and flavored nicotine pods alongside a creme... [+] brulee dessert. Juul Instagram Post In 2017 Via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
Even Juul’s traditional email marketing could directly reach youth, Jackler says. Over the summer, Jackler’s team found that visitors to Juul’s site who entered their email, date of birth and personal information to sign up but were denied access, were still added to Juul’s email list-serve and received marketing and discounts off its $49.99 starter kit. Juul stopped the practice soon after Jackler’s team notified senior leaders, Jackler says. Many Juul promotional emails from June 2015 to April 2016 failed to mention Juul’s nicotine content, Jackler notes, (such disclosure was apparently not required at that time), and Juul’s Twitter feed didn’t add a nicotine warning until October 2017.
Juul’s marketing campaigns now look drastically different. In 2017, Juul raised the minimum age of its models to 35. Responding to the drastic rise of teen “juuling” the FDA, in April, announced it was taking steps to crack down on e-cigarette use among teens. A few months later, Juul says, it stopped using models and instead began featuring real adult customers who were switching from cigarettes to Juul. The company also made more prominent warnings that its product contains nicotine, “an addictive chemical,” and in June, launched an educational ad campaign called “What Parents Need To Know About Juul” across print, digital and radio to “combat underage use.” Juul also says it has worked with social media platforms to remove tens of thousands of “inappropriate” user-generated posts.
A Juul Instagram post of a young-looking couple vaping. The company shut down its U.S. Facebook and... [+] Instagram accounts this week. Juul Instagram Post Via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
Forbes spoke with Juul cofounders James Monsees, 38, and Adam Bowen, 43, in August. The cofounders, who are worth approximately $730 million apiece, were adamant that they built Juul to help adult smokers, 500,000 of whom die prematurely from tobacco use each year in the U.S. They themselves were addicted, and Monsees’ grandfather smoked heavily and died from lung cancer.
At that time, Monsees said Juul wasn’t able to provide an estimate of the number of youth users. However, the CDC estimates that in 2018 3.6 million U.S. middle and high schoolers are using e-cigarettes. By comparison, the agency most recently estimated there were 6.9 million U.S. adult e-cigarette users in 2017.
“It [underage use] is an issue we desperately want to resolve,” Monsees said in August. “It doesn’t do us any favors. Any underage consumers using this product are absolutely a negative for our business. We don’t want them. We will never market to them. We never have. And they are stealing life years from adult cigarette consumers at this moment, and that’s a shame.”
There’s no doubt that teen-created social media posts about Juul played a crucial role in the device’s spread, says Jackler. He notes, for example, that as of November 12, 2018, the company’s premier hashtag (#juul) was used on 260,866 Instagram posts. By comparison, he estimates that Juul’s Instagram had at most about a few thousand posts in its history, almost all of which it has deleted, suggesting that a small sliver of posts about Juul were made by the company. Juul said this week that more than 99% of all social media content related to the company is generated through “third-party users and accounts with no affiliation to our company.”
Still, Jackler says Juul’s marketing has had serious consequences. He cites research suggesting that exposing young people to digital e-cigarette ads could make them view the products as less harmful and findings that the more marketing channels on which youth saw e-cigarettes ads, the more likely they were to use them. He also points to research showing that exposing e-cigarette ads to youth on social media, who had never used the devices, increased their likelihood of trying cigarettes.
Even Juul’s efficacy as a cessation tool is being questioned. Juul has claimed it has converted 1 million adult smokers to Juul users. However, research by the CDC shared in 2017 found it’s unclear as to whether or not e-cigarettes are as effective at getting people off cigarettes as proven FDA-approved cessation therapies such as patches, gum and lozenges and non-nicotine medications. And while vapes are safer than cigarettes, since e-cigs have fewer toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, there’s still a lack of research on their long-term health effects.
For young people, nicotine addiction can cause substantial damage to the developing brain, including lasting impairment to memory and attention span, and increased psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety, according to Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, a Harvard Medical School professor of pediatrics and a tobacco control researcher. Typical addiction treatments also don’t seem very effective among youth, Winickoff says.
When Juul announced it was restricting the sale of its fruity-flavored pods in stores, the company posted a broader multipart “action plan” outlining the steps it is taking to address the youth issue, hinging largely on improving its control over the distribution and sales of its products, and using technology to manage vapers’ use. The company also said it has invested tens of millions of dollars and spent more than a year working on a Bluetooth-enabled device to prevent under age use, which might, for example, help lock out minors or use geofencing to stop Juul from working at schools. (Juul has not started selling the device yet.)
“Commissioner Gottlieb has made it clear that ‘preventing youth initiation on nicotine is a paramount imperative,’” Juul said in a statement on Thursday. “We are committed to working with FDA, state Attorneys General, local municipalities, and community organizations as a transparent and responsible partner in this effort.”
Monsees said this summer that he believes his company’s future technologies can bring Juul to a state “where no underage consumer can ever use the product.” It’s hard to swallow this claim, given reports about teenagers buying Juul pods from others students at high schools around the country. Monsees also said he intends to add features to help customers reduce their nicotine intake, if they choose. Meanwhile, Juul is focused on expanding overseas, where it’ll face opposition too; Israel already banned Juul’s 5% pods.
Still, he’s hopeful. “We are 0.5% of the global tobacco market,” Monsees said this summer. “We’ve hardly touched the problem we’ve come out here to solve.”
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6c5ebdc69d04d64dd6360c55cfe3a05d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2019/02/14/skin-care-billionaires-rodan-and-fields-return-to-the-teen-acne-market/ | Skin Care Billionaires Rodan And Fields Return To The Teen Acne Market | Skin Care Billionaires Rodan And Fields Return To The Teen Acne Market
Dermatologists Katie Rodan (left) and Kathy Fields (right) Courtesy of Rodan+Fields
Dermatologists Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields first became known more than two decades ago for creating the three-step acne treatment Proactiv, long popular with teens. They eventually sold off their Proactiv rights to focus fully on skincare with their company Rodan + Fields. Now they’re coming full circle, announcing Thursday that Rodan + Fields is entering the teen acne market.
Rodan and Fields, who both teach at Stanford Medical School and practice as dermatologists two days per week, said their motivation to make new products stems from their desire to help as many people as possible have “life-changing skin.”
“I had acne as a teenager and felt horrible about it,” said Rodan. Fields adds that even at age 60 she still sometimes gets pimples.
Rodan + Fields has already achieved great results for its two dermatologist founders. Private equity firm TPG Capital spent $1 billion last May for a 25% stake in the company; that investment boosted Rodan and Fields’ fortunes to an estimated $1.5 billion each.
Founded in 2002, Rodan + Fields started out with a line of anti-aging products. It took a while to land on a business model that worked. They tried sales in department stores. Then Rodan and Fields sold the company to Estee Lauder in 2003, only to buy it back in 2007. Since then, Rodan + Fields has grown through a multi-level marketing network of about 300,000 independent sales reps that it calls “consultants” across the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Rodan + Fields trains independent consultants who are paid a commission for their own sales and the sales of people they recruit to sell products. The consultants, who do not stock inventory, use their online social networks to sell to other people they know, spread the word about Rodan + Fields and hold virtual events to promote items.
Rodan + Fields executives present selling for the company as a dream opportunity that empowers women to be entrepreneurs. In reality, only a small percentage of its consultants are financially successful. In its latest 2017 income disclosure statement, for example, Rodan + Fields reported that 33% of enrolled consultants earned less than $1,000 in annual payments, 44% did not earn any pay, while 22% earned between $1,000 and $25,000. Only the top 1% of paid consultants earned more than $30,185 annually.
“Consultants join the business for a variety of reasons and come from all walks of life,” Rodan + Fields said in an emailed company statement. “Some like the stay at home flexibility. Then, there are Consultants who use this opportunity to build their own business and an extensive team. Our Consultants choose how much time and resources to invest in their individual businesses.”
Such financial findings don’t seem to have much impact. Rodan + Fields’ consultant army has grown quickly, and so have sales. In 2008, the company had just 1,350 consultants, which grew to 150,000 people in mid-2016. Today there are double that number. Revenue followed a similar arc, rising from $24 million in 2010, to $627 million in 2015 and $1.5 billion in 2017, the most recent figure available.
Rodan + Fields CEO Diane Dietz and the founding doctors are betting that a new growth driver rests in a market it has so far left untouched: teens and their pimples. Its first teen acne product, at $89, is a two-step kit called Spotless, which Dietz said is expected to be the first in a series of products catering to the younger demographic.
“In sheer numbers, anti-aging is a bigger category, and we have multiple solutions within that,” Dietz said. “But the need for acne [products] is pretty sizeable, and that’s why we’re going after it.”
Research firm Euromonitor International estimates that sales of standalone over-the counter- acne products in the U.S. totaled $621 million in 2017, making up about a quarter of global sales. Skin care kits, sets of products designed to be used in sequence, generated $3 billion in the U.S. in 2017, Euromonitor found. The demand is out there. In the U.S., about 40% of adults and 85% of teens and young adults experience acne, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Because many people can’t make it to a dermatologist, Dr. Rodan and Dr. Fields see self-treatment as key to reaching more people with acne.
“There are still ‘dissatisfiers’ with the current acne products out there,” Deitz said. “They’re drying, they’re irritating. The thought was, can we develop a formula that really doesn’t dry and doesn’t irritate, but delivers great results?”
Spotless will be sold through the same multi-level marketing structure Rodan + Fields uses across its other products, despite its pitfalls. Company executives continue to champion their business model as a way to help customers find the right products, and to offer women a simple path to running a business.
Proactiv took off when doctors Rodan and Fields created a licensing deal with infomercial company Guthy-Renker in 1995 to sell Proactiv through the television advertisements that featured celebrities like Jessica Simpson and Vanessa Williams. Proactiv became one of Guthy-Renker’s most successful products, bringing in a reported $1 billion in sales in 2015. In March 2016, when Guthy-Renker entered into a joint venture with Nestle to expand Proactiv’s international sales, Rodan and Fields sold their remaining rights to Proactiv royalties for a lump sum, for a dollar amount that was not disclosed.
The new acne product from Rodan + Fields will face a host of competitors, including Johnson & Johnson (Neutrogena, Clean & Clear, and Aveeno), Reckitt Benckiser (Clearasil) and Unilever (St. Ives). However, Rodan+Fields is already the top seller of skin care sets, ahead of Nestle (with Proactiv) and Guthy-Renker (with Meaningful Beauty), according to Euromonitor. Rodan + Fields’ Unblemish adult acne set, which also treats wrinkles, was the fastest growing skin care kit in 2017, according to Euromonitor’s most recent data. Rodan + Fields’ multistep regimen kits range from about $170 to $200 for a two-month supply.
“Innovation can take many forms, but in the end, consumers will choose the brands that work,” Fatima Linares, research manager at Euromonitor said in an email. “Efficacy is key in these types of products.”
Proactiv innovated by treating the individual’s entire face instead of spot-treating with harsh chemicals. Rodan + Fields’ chief scientific officer Timothy Falla said Spotless is “revolutionary” because it delivers a patent-pending benzoyl peroxide treatment that helps keep oxygen in skin pores, which balances the skin and makes it difficult for pimples to form. Rodan and Fields were adamant about creating a two-step system after learning from Proactiv that most teens won’t use all three steps.
The doctors say the success of Spotless will hinge on the efficacy of the product and the power of selling through consultants, deflecting questions about the business opportunity to their CEO.
"We’re devoted to purpose,” Rodan said. “We’re not business people devoted to profits.”
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a9ea81d0080df9fdb1771b19b726f67e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenhowley/2019/12/08/barack-and-michelle-obama-buy-marthas-vineyard-estate/ | Barack And Michelle Obama Close The Deal On Their Martha’s Vineyard Estate | Barack And Michelle Obama Close The Deal On Their Martha’s Vineyard Estate
The Obamas closed the deal on the 29-acre estate in Martha's Vineyard. LANDVEST
Barack and Michelle Obama, the former U.S. president and first lady, bought a seven-bedroom home on Martha’s Vineyard the week before Thanksgiving at a 21% discount off the listing price, according to the deed filed at the county’s registry office on Dec. 4.
The Obamas paid $11.75 million for the property listed with a $14.85 million price tag. The same day the deed was recorded, a mortgage for $7.05 million also was put on the record. The lender was JP Morgan Chase, and the loan had a standard second-home rider.
The prior owner, Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck, had been trying to sell the home, set on 29 waterfront acres, since August 2015 when he initially listed it at $22.5 million, according to Zillow. Over the ensuing four years, the property was on and off the market with three price reductions.
The 6,892-square-foot house has private beaches along the shore of Edgartown’s Great Pond, a mix of fresh and salty water that opens to the ocean. It’s clad in weathered shingles, the traditional style on Martha’s Vineyard.
The U-shaped house has a living room with a vaulted ceiling and fieldstone fireplace, a circular dining room lined with windows, and a master bedroom suite with a fireplace and a private sundeck overlooking the water.
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There’s also a screened-in porch with a fireplace and a pool surrounded by a garden.
The Obamas are regular summer visitors to Martha’s Vineyard, about five miles off the coast of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod. The former president and his wife, the author of the best-selling memoir “Becoming,” spent seven of Obama’s eight presidential summers on the island.
The couple rented the home this summer, arriving on the former president’s birthday, Aug. 4, and decided to buy it.
A day after his arrival, Obama was spotted on one of his favorite links, the Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, about eight miles from his new home.
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The Obamas' pool with shaded dining area. LANDVEST
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053638f8f050d86e4748e009ea31c706 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenkusek/2014/08/02/marijuana-ad-in-the-nyts/ | Marijuana Ad In The NYTs: All The News That's Fit To Smoke | Marijuana Ad In The NYTs: All The News That's Fit To Smoke
Tomorrow readers of the Sunday New York Times will have an added distraction to the crossword puzzle: a paid advertisement for marijuana. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
On July 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law New York’s Compassionate Care Act, making the use of medicinal marijuana legal. Conditions qualifying for legal purchase and use of marijuana include cancer, HIV/AIDS, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), Parkinson’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord tissue damage, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease (including Crohn’s Disease, neuropathies and Huntington’s Disease).
The advertiser getting all the buzz (so sorry) is Leafly, but it isn’t actually marijuana at all. The company is described as a "Yelp" of marijuana, offering an exchange of information in the surprisingly complicated world of selection and ingestion. Leafly’s website describes the company as “the world’s largest cannabis information community,” inviting visitors to “discover, connect and share.” There is a Leafly app available for iPad, iPhone and Android devices, as well.
Through the website or app, potential users can search dispensaries by entering their zip code. A variety of licensed outlets appear, with distance, “$” to indicate price, user reviews, and home delivery options. Further details include information like does the dispensary offer a veteran’s discount or accept credit cards. Imagine a restaurant review format that replaces sushi and pizza with marijuana brownies and vaporizers.
The topic of marijuana strains is an important component of the Leafly site. The variety of strains is laid out to resemble a periodic table. By clicking on an “element,” details appear. For example, “White Widow” earns four of five stars based on 1193 consumer ratings. The strain “attributes” include symptoms of stress, depression and pain, with “conditions” of anxiety, migraines and ADD/ADHD. Top effects are described as happy, euphoric, and uplifted. Finally negatives are listed as dry mouth, dry eyes, and paranoia. Each strain is evaluated in the same format with a handful of words. The language is a dramatically easier read than any pharmaceutical ad…or even an over-the-counter children’s aspirin. Quite obviously the Leafly reviews have not been scrutinized by the FDA (or maybe even a Harvard MBA).
In addition to White Widow, names of marijuana strains on Leafly include the occasional cliché like Purple Haze and some more interesting like Durban Poison, $100 OG, and Girl Scout Cookies. Like paint colors, it difficult not to wonder who gets the honor of bequeathing product names and how.
Though the website suggest broader use, the Leafly ad running in the New York Times tomorrow is single-mindedly focused on gaining information related to medical conditions included in the New York Compassion Care Act. It features a woman running past a New York brownstone, contemplating the optimal strain of marijuana she chose in her fight against cancer (sativa). Also featured is a man entering the same brownstone who chose a different strain (indica) to relieve his multiple sclerosis symptoms. The tagline is “Just Say Know.”
The only thing controversial about the Leafly ad (perhaps aside from the allusion to Nancy Reagan's 1980s call to action) is the underlying topic of marijuana. But considering that its context is legal and the ad isn’t even about selling marijuana but rather people sharing information about marijuana, is it really news? More surprising might be if the New York Times, or any old-school media outlet, could afford to reject a paid advertiser these days…for any reason.
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3a756852056803bbb8c7e43c9e9b28ad | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenkusek/2015/11/08/savvy-shoppers-dont-care-about-black-friday-how-reselling-is-changing-buying/ | Savvy Shoppers Don't Care About Black Friday: How Reselling Is Changing Buying | Savvy Shoppers Don't Care About Black Friday: How Reselling Is Changing Buying
(Photo by Miquel Benitez/Getty Images)
Entering the biggest buying season of the year, retailers are once again desperately trying to get registers to ring with door busters, deep discounts, and BOGOs. Buyers have traditionally viewed sale price at the actual moment of purchase as the one and only chance to define an item’s value. However, savvy shoppers are learning they can extract value from home inventory long after the original point of purchase by considering resale possibilities upfront because of online resale markets. Though currently small, online resale marketplaces are among the fastest growing segments in retail, with annual growth estimated at 7%, according to a recent study by ThredUp, one of the largest online resale marketplaces.
Though consignment shops have been around forever, they weren’t a viable option for most. In exchange for inventorying merchandise, most consigners would take a cut of 50-60% of the resale price. Because shops were local, the universe of potential buyers tended to be small and prices garnered were not optimal. After proceeds were collected and effort was considered, financial gain may not have exceeded the tax deduction that came with a donation to Goodwill or similar charities. eBay changed the game for motivated resellers, but it required photographs of sale items and shipping procedures.
But then…ta da…online marketplaces like Chairish, The RealReal, and TrueFacet entered the scene with magical wands transforming items still of value but no longer beguiling into real money. Online resale marketplaces are proving that high-end furniture, handbags, shoes, apparel, and jewelry can be recycled to actually generate significant revenue versus serving the previous life sentence in the back of a closet.
With TrueFacet, an aftermarket site that specializes in the authentication of high-end jewelry and watches, buyers can be assured the $7,800 Tiffany & Co. platinum diamond lizard pin or a $59,995 Cartier Tank Anglaise Watch of 18k rose gold are legit. Friction for sellers is nearly nonexistent, and when their item sells, they receive as much as 80% of the resale price, sent quickly by a secure account.
Certainly technology has facilitated the logistics of the burgeoning resale phenomenon, but the underlying momentum is fueled by cultural shifts and shortening of attention spans.
Buyers tire of their purchases
Digital natives know nothing but the product life cycle of technology where change is nearly always positive. New means faster, sleeker, better, with more functionality, fewer flaws, and often at a lower price. The latest iPhone or laptop is not just a technology but also a true fashion statement where not having the latest and greatest means a hit to social currency.
But beyond the surface-level implications of technology that have fueled the need for constantly upgrading to the new model, daily use of technology has actually changed the way brains work, disproportionately so among the generation that learned to think with it. With so much stimulation, the brains of digital natives have learned to process more information faster and to see more things simultaneously, further increasing their level of distraction. They don’t long for focus; they actually crave heightened stimulation. Physiologically, we actually need new things more often.
The desire for change at an accelerated clip is not limited to technology and fashion. Buyers are eager to keep trying new things—styles, designers, product forms, and flavors. Preference for frequent change has eroded loyalty; as a result, the average top 100 brands retained less than half of their most loyal customers, according to a recent study by Catalina Research. An Accenture study reiterated an accelerated desire for brand switching, with 56% of consumers indicating the number of brands they consider for a given product or service has increased significantly over the past 10 years.
Off with the old…
Forget watery eyes and sentimentality when combing through the jewelry box. In a collective quest to remain current, once static accouterments of personal identity, like signature watches, rings, home décor, and even career choices and spouses, have become more fluid. It is this trend that gives Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman confidence in the launch of RH Modern, with success partly hinging on the belief that as boomers live longer, they will invest in keeping every aspect of their lives current through cosmetic procedures, nutrition, supplements, and fashion and home décor.
Justify the new
Renowned consumer psychologist and author Kit Yarrow describes the possibility of resale as a powerful rationale when making initial purchase decisions. Knowledge of the workings of the online resale market is a badge of honor among super-savvy shoppers, who take pride in the recycling of their purchases, freeing them up to reinvest in new acquisitions.
San Francisco sales executive Marii Sebahar shops The RealReal regularly. She recently purchased an Yves Saint Laurent handbag while traveling in Paris. “I wasn’t sure if I would love it when I got home, but I didn't think I’d be able to find another one and knew I could sell it online.”
Active participants in the reselling community pride themselves in recycling purchases, collecting some cash, and getting items into the hands of someone who will love them. It is estimated that about 30% of total purchases are secondhand in the U.S., including in thrift and consignment stores, creating a virtuous circle for online marketplaces.
The science of resale
Resale value of handbags, jewelry, and designer apparel can be predicted like used cars, and savvy consumers use this data to influence their purchases, according to Jenny Lefcourt, partner at Freestyle Capital. Certain models like Lexus and Subaru most consistently command higher resale prices. Similarly, Louis Vuitton , Chanel, and Cartier are brands that are known to hold value.
The savviest of all shoppers understand how this game works and wear their finds as a badge of honor…until they sell them and buy a newer, shinier badge with their newly generated cash. Reselling isn’t just a behavior—for many, it’s a lifestyle. According to The RealReal CEO Julie Wainwright, members of the reselling community are the smartest shoppers around.
Gallery: World's Most Valuable Luxury Brands 10 images View gallery
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c05e01a5752c5e441aadf698f674fcd1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenkusek/2016/06/05/a-bright-spot-in-retail-handbag-segment-grows-while-apparel-flat/ | A Bright Spot In Retail: Handbag Segment Grows While Apparel Flat | A Bright Spot In Retail: Handbag Segment Grows While Apparel Flat
Photo credit SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images
Amid lackluster news in retail, a bright spot is the handbag segment with 5% growth to $11.6 billion in 2015 according to a new report from the NPD Group, Inc.
The $214.6 billion U.S. apparel segment is flat versus a year ago according to NPD, but growth in the handbag segment is attributed to increasing importance of technology and more casual lifestyles.
Shoppers are looking for new and better ways to spend on handbags, according to Marshal Cohen, Chief Retail Analyst at NPD. While there hasn’t been much new in attire, handbags have evolved to meet women’s wide and varied demands. Segment growth is fueled by both spending more per bag and buying more bags overall. NPD’s report indicates that women 18-45 own an average of 13 handbags across 7 different brands.
More casual wardrobes and flexible work situations have made handbags surrogates for home closets or office desk drawers. In a world less tethered to traditional workplaces, handbags are necessary mobile storage for laptops, cell phones, and miscellaneous items needed throughout the day, including smaller bags that can be pulled out for evening use. Functional needs like easy access to cell phones and keeping hands free require multiple bag options including open-top totes and crossbodies. Growing demand for big bags resulted in an 8% increase in dollar sales over 2014 and trending upward so far in 2016.
The growing importance of handbags in women’s lives is not limited to function. Fashion insiders once dictated that, combined with a good watch and good shoes, one can wear almost anything and still look stylish. Handbags have usurped watches and footwear as signature items that instantly inform the world of the owner’s fashion sense. While clothes are generally perceived as a “purchase,” handbags are an “investment.”
“It’s about bang for the buck,” according to Jenny Lefcourt, partner at Freestyle Venture Capital. “A $1,200 Phillip Lim backpack may seem like an extravagance, but it can be used every day for a year. Two or three jackets totaling the same amount can be worn once a week at the most.”
In addition to favorable amortization, big-ticket handbags can be justified by the burgeoning resale market including online resellers like Rebagg.com and The RealReal, where certain luxury bags like Hermès, Chanel , and Gucci can actually appreciate in value. Nina Markoutsis, a Dallas attorney, has invested in a variety of high-end handbags over the years. Her favorite Gucci retailed at $1,400 and is worth $1,600 more than two seasons later. “I love that bag and would definitely buy it again.”
But for most women, even the most clever rationalizations can’t justify purchase of an Hermès Birkin, known as the world’s most sought-after handbag. Getting a Birkin takes more than the purchase price ranging from around $10,000 and up to the record-setting $298,000 for the Himalayan model, recently sold at auction by Christie’s in Hong Kong. Procuring a Birkin can require extensive research, schmoozing with sales associates, and constant combing of blogs devoted to luxury bags to gain access to the inner circle of supply.
Across the entire category, average U.S. handbag expenditure is only $42 per bag according to StyleCareers.com, with quantity sales at the lower end from Gap , Target and fast-fashion retailers like Zara and H&M. Approximately 20% of women reported spending more than $200 per bag, with 8% spending more than $400 according to the same study. Brands like Coach, Kate Spade and Michael Kors have struggled recently, with some analysts hypothesizing that broader distribution reduce premium perceptions in a category where perception is everything.
At whatever price point, experts agree that the handbag a woman carries is among the most important fashion statements she can make. Even in the tough retail environment, handbags will likely continue to get more than their fair share of wallet.
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758125cc465ab21035381d8344621cb7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenpeddicord/2018/10/10/5-things-to-understand-before-moving-money-across-international-borders/ | 5 Things To Understand Before Moving Money Across International Borders | 5 Things To Understand Before Moving Money Across International Borders
Euros being dispensed from an ATM. Pixabay
We Americans have it relatively easy when it comes to moving money in and out of our accounts. You can wire $150,000 to Belize for the purchase of a beach house or receive $200,000 from the sale of a home in Mexico without anyone asking you to explain where the money came from.
That’s not the case in the rest of the world, and restrictions on currency movements are becoming more common. Virtually all banks everywhere now ask for proof of the source of funds for large transfers and increasingly even for small ones. If you’re buying or selling real estate, a copy of the sales contract generally satisfies the inquiry.
Additional hoops must be jumped through in countries that impose capital and/or exchange restrictions to control the flow of money coming and going.
This is the case in Brazil and Colombia, for example. It’s not that you can’t send investment dollars into these two countries. It’s that you must be careful when doing so to register the incoming funds properly. Failure to comply with the required protocols and paperwork risks complications and potentially unnecessary taxes when you eventually want to repatriate the capital and any associated investment return.
In the case of Belize, you’ll have no problem sending money into the country. Belize does not impose exchange controls, per se. However, the Central Bank of Belize has only so many U.S. dollars at its disposal at any given time. When you decide you would like to send dollars out of the country, you must make a request for an outbound transfer and hope enough currency is available to fulfill it. If not, you wait in line.
Ecuador’s capital-flow policies are liberal, as the country uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, and you’ll have no problem bringing money across this border, neither coming nor going. When you want to transfer money out of the country, however, you’ll face a 5% capital outflow tax. Called the “Impuesto a la Salida de Divisas” (ISD), Ecuador imposes it on all outbound transfers that exceed three times the minimum wage (that is, $1,158 for 2018).
These controls may seem intimidating, and, yes, Ecuador’s capital outflow tax isn’t very investor-friendly. However, none of these kinds of currency-related restrictions is a reason not to think about spending time or money in a country imposing them.
In practice, the restrictions are not difficult to navigate. In every case, it’s simply a bureaucratic process. The key is to understand the rules, which differ country to country, and to be careful following them. When in doubt, consult a local attorney.
For Day-to-Day Cash, Use Your ATM Card
If you’re traveling to a foreign country and even if you’re intending to stick around a while, as a part-time retiree or expat, you can keep things low key by using your ATM card to access cash as you need it. This is an effective strategy even in countries that impose capital or exchange controls. It can also be efficient, as ATM exchange rates are typically better than those you’d get exchanging your base currency at a bank.
For more flexibility, consider a prepaid Visa or Mastercard. You fund the prepaid card at home, then use it for purchases (large and small) in the foreign country.
Another option is a simple bank transfer. However, wire fees today can be as much as $35 or more, and you can incur them both from the sending bank and the receiving one.
For frequent or large transfers, you need a different strategy.
The Benefits Of Working With A Transfer Agency
The most efficient way to manage large or recurrent money movements can be via a transfer agency. This usually results in a better exchange rate and lower fees compared with a standard bank transfer.
The rates are good because often the agency doesn’t really transfer the money. An agency will have (for example) a pile of money in the United States and a pile in Brazil. When you make your transfer request, they add your dollars to the pile in the States and disburse your Brazilian currency from the pile in Brazil. For Brazilian clients buying dollars, they do the reverse.
How should you pick among all the money transfer agencies operating? Consider these five things:
Transfers are generally most efficient and less expensive when the money transfer service has a physical presence in both your sending and receiving countries. Confirm that the agency will be exchanging your originating currency with your target currency without exchanging first to an intermediate currency. Using an intermediate currency greatly increases the cost of an exchange. Some agencies work better for large transfers, some are better for small transfers, and some are best for recurring transfers. Take time to do some online comparison shopping focusing on the specific types of transfers you’ll be making. Some companies quote a good exchange rate but then charge a fee on top. Some charge no fee but then give you a lousy exchange rate. Evaluate your options based on your specific needs, and get a quote before committing. Ask if the agency allows you to “lock in” a rate. Some let you lock in an exchange rate for later use. So you can buy, say, euros when the dollar is strong, even though you won’t be actually transferring the funds to Europe until sometime in the future.
A few companies also make it possible to place a “limit order.” This allows you to place a standing order at a given exchange rate. The order is executed when (if) that rate is struck.
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dcad80ad8a27dab6364ddc065bba4ef5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenpeddicord/2019/03/13/how-to-invest-your-ira-funds-offshore/ | How To Invest Your IRA Funds Offshore | How To Invest Your IRA Funds Offshore
Moving your IRA funds offshore doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing strategy. iStock/designer491
The available investment options for Individual Retirement Account (IRA) funds may be more and more diversified than you realize.
Traditional financial institutions that act as custodians for these accounts limit investment options to what they have to sell you—stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. However, the IRS is more open-minded, and it’s the IRS’s rules that matter.
The relevant IRS regulations that matter most when it comes to investing IRA funds have to do with self-dealing. Bottom line, you can’t do it. You can’t buy or sell something from or to your IRA personally. You can’t use any asset your IRA invests in yourself (this becomes important in the context of a real estate investment). You can’t hold collectibles such as antiques or artwork in your IRA, because these kinds of things could easily be “stored” in your house, amounting to personal use.
However, as long as you are not breaking the no self-dealing rules, the IRS is liberal in its position on how you can invest your IRA funds. You can purchase and hold real estate, private companies, private mortgages, or precious metals, as you like—including within and beyond U.S. borders.
The challenge can be your IRA custodian, which must approve any investments you want to make. It can be difficult or impossible to get a conventional financial institution to go along with your idea to invest your IRA funds in a beach rental condo on Mexico’s Pacific Riviera Nayarit coast, for example.
What the conventional financial institution managing your IRA probably won’t mention is that those groups aren’t the only possible legal IRA custodians. You can opt for an independent custodian that allows a broader range of investment options.
Putting IRA funds into non-traditional assets (that is, anything other than stocks, bonds, or mutual funds) requires more effort on your part. While a non-traditional custodian allows for other investment opportunities, they’ll require information on any non-conventional investment you want to make and the burden will be on you to provide it.
Decide to invest in a private company’s pre-IPO share offering, and the custodian will ask for the offering documents to review, among other things. The custodian could reject the investment if the vetting materials don’t pass its muster, but at least you’re allowed a chance to consider any investment that interests you.
The same goes for real estate. You are free to invest IRA funds in any piece of real estate you like as far as the IRS is concerned, including in any country anywhere in the world. However, if you want to put a rental property in Portugal, Colombia, or the Dominican Republic in your IRA portfolio, your non-traditional custodian will ask for details on the property. If you’re buying from a developer, they’ll want information on the developer. They aren’t, though, meant to be acting as an investment advisor. Rather, they are required to make sure the investment is qualified under IRS rules. Rarely have I heard of a non-traditional custodian telling an IRA owner that a specific investment was disallowed.
However, you can eliminate the need to request and be granted permission from your non-traditional custodian altogether by setting up an LLC for your IRA to invest in. Then you, as the managing member of the LLC, can decide solely when and how to invest the funds of the LLC. You simply request that your non-traditional custodian invest your IRA funds in the LLC. Then you’re free to operate independently from there.
This strategy is typically referred to as a Self-Directed IRA, but that’s misleading, as all IRAs are self-directed. You direct your IRA custodian where and how to invest. A more appropriate name for this IRA-LLC structure could be a Checkbook IRA, because you’re able simply to write a check from the LLC’s bank account to make investments as you want.
This doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing strategy. You could leave part of your IRA invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, under the management of a traditional custodian (saving on fees, as non-traditional custodians charge a separate fee for each investment) and invest the rest of your IRA funds in an LLC that has you as the managing member, leaving you free to invest these funds where you like, including overseas.
The realization, over the past decade or so, that IRA funds could be invested offshore created a new service industry helping people set up offshore LLCs for their IRAs. Often, it’s represented that this is the preferred or even the required approach. Indeed, the general rule of thumb is that it’s wise to keep onshore assets in onshore entities and offshore assets in offshore entities. Holding offshore assets in offshore entities puts distance between you and the entities and can therefore provide a level of asset protection. As well, an offshore LLC can bring other privacy and estate-planning benefits.
However, an IRA is an onshore entity, under the jurisdiction of the United States and therefore vulnerable to U.S. claimants. It holding an offshore LLC doesn’t change any of that.
In addition, an IRA is already an efficient structure in the context of estate planning. You name a beneficiary who automatically receives the IRA when you pass away.
An offshore LLC costs 5 to 10 times more to set up and to maintain than a U.S. LLC. Why incur that added cost when setting up your Checkbook IRA when you could use an LLC from any U.S. state?
The answer depends on the types of offshore investments you intend to make. If you’d like to use IRA funds to buy real estate overseas, there is no advantage to using an offshore LLC, only extra expense.
However, if you would like to invest IRA funds in non-U.S. stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, you’ll need an offshore LLC, as non-U.S. stock brokers aren’t able to comply with SEC regulations related to doing business with U.S. persons or entities.
Kathleen Peddicord
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68c818d6b78d0586e585af1330425a3c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenpeddicord/2020/05/07/global-property-markets-post-pandemic-how-and-where-covid-19-is-creating-opportunity/?sh=3110c5a587c1 | Global Property Markets Post-Pandemic—How And Where COVID-19 Is Creating Opportunity | Global Property Markets Post-Pandemic—How And Where COVID-19 Is Creating Opportunity
The global shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic is going to have big effects on real estate markets worldwide. However, the situation we’re about to see play out will not be the same as what we witnessed in the wake of the 2008/2009 global real estate crash when some countries—Spain, Ireland, and Costa Rica, for example—saw property prices fall by as much as 70% and more. Those bona-fide collapses were thanks to bubble pricing and over-lending. Markets with less leverage at work—Panama was the best example—saw far lesser drops in values and quicker recoveries.
What’s going to happen this time?
“Survivalist” Markets Will See Relative Booms
Live comfortably off-grid in Cayo, Belize. Simon Dannhauer
Every property market worldwide will be affected by the pandemic crisis but not all negatively. The “survivalist” market—for properties in places where you could live comfortably off grid and self-sufficiently—will become more sought-after than ever and therefore more valuable. Land in Cayo, Belize, is at the top of this list.
Brand-name Markets Will Recover Quickest
Thinking long term, the world’s brand-name markets will be least impacted. Long term, a Paris rental property will always find a renter, though even this top-tier rental market will take a short-term hit.
Before the quarantine, prices in Paris were soaring, thanks largely to Brexit pushing big numbers of financial industry workers from the City of London to the City of Light. Few listings have been withdrawn during the extended lockdown of everything in this city including its real estate industry, but very few new properties have come onto the market. When Paris reopens, however, there will be a surge of new listings, creating a short-term softening and a buyer's market window.
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Another European market that had been booming pre-pandemic is Lisbon. Here the demand was driven by Chinese buying property to qualify for Portugal’s Golden Visa program. Values surpassed pre-2008 levels, and investors were finding Lisbon expensive. As in Paris, the COVID-19 Effect should give you an opportunity to buy at a better price once things start moving again. However, as in Paris, the window for deals may not be long for better properties.
The best example of a city with brand-name resiliency in the Americas is Panama City. It’s the regional headquarters to hundreds of multinationals and a genuine business and financial hub with deep and diversified pools of both buyers and renters from around the world. In addition, Panama’s economy is backstopped by the Panama Canal, which accounts for about 40% of Panama’s GDP. If you’re in the market for an investment with a short-term horizon, start here.
Vacation Rental Markets Will Collapse
Hardest hit will be second-home and vacation-home markets. These will collapse in the immediate term. At the top of this list are markets like Cancún and Playa del Carmen, Mexico, where zero tourist traffic will kill rental returns and lead to depreciating values of up to 50%. However, these well-established and relatively accessible markets will come back before farther-flung, less developed locations like Akumal and Tulum.
High-density cities, likewise, will see collapses in their rental markets, as well, as demand across the board—residential, tourist, and commercial—will diminish. Think Rio de Janeiro.
Vacation and second-home markets in general will rebound slowly. Interest will pick up as air travel returns, but it will take 5 to 10 years for meaningful recoveries in some cases. On the other hand, as these markets will be hardest hit, they’re the places to shop for crisis-level bargains. Just be prepared to invest for the long term, and, very important, buy in a place where you’d enjoy owning and want to spend time. Don’t buy for cash flow or appreciation alone (or maybe at all).
Livable Low-density Cities Will Enjoy New Demand
Botero Square, Medellin. Getty Images
The world’s most livable cities with modest to small populations will recover quickly and see booms as people look for options for reinvention and starting over in locations that offer good and affordable quality of life and relative safety from a new pandemic. The possibility of another COVID-19 crisis will be on all our minds for a long time, and small cities and rural areas offering the possibility for appealing yet physically distanced living will enjoy growing demand. Medellin, Colombia, and Cuenca, Ecuador, are good examples.
A Supercharged U.S. Dollar Will Create Specific Bargains
One of the biggest opportunities created by the current crisis will result from supercharged U.S. dollar buying power. Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico (in the case of Mexican peso-priced properties; in some localized markets in this country, real estate trades in U.S. dollars) are all as much as 30% cheaper right now in U.S. dollar terms than they were two months ago, before accounting for any local price reductions.
Is Now The Time To Jump?
In some cases, this is the time to act. Panama City’s property market remains open for business, for example, and motivated sellers are emerging. This could also be a good time to be shopping in Medellin, Colombia. However, in most cases, this is a chance to take stock and be ready to move when the time is right.
Here are seven things to keep in mind as you size up current and developing opportunities:
Don’t try to time the bottom. Nobody can and waiting for a further fall in local values or an additional boost in your U.S. dollar buying power could mean missing out. Weigh the risk of buying without visiting (which you likely can’t do right now) against the risk of losing a deal. If you’re a novice global property buyer, I recommend waiting until you can travel to see what you’re buying with your own eyes. If you’re an experienced global property investor looking to take advantage of the current situation to expand and diversify your portfolio, you can make use of video walk-throughs and virtual tours, increasingly available globally. If one isn’t offered for a property you’re interested in, ask the agent to create one for you. If you find something you’re interested in but aren’t comfortable pulling the trigger, you can ask for a long reserve time pending a site inspection. Offer the agent a refundable down payment to reserve the property until you’re able to travel to see it. Not all sellers will agree to this, but it’s a reasonable request in the current climate. Go for premium properties in premium locations. This is always important, but it’s especially so now. Like brand-name cities, premium properties in sought-after areas are the least affected in hard times and the first to recover. Lower quality, less well situated, more common bargain properties will remain bargains during good times. Buy luxury where you can. Exchange rates are heavily in the dollar-holder’s favor right now, creating serious bargains. Meantime, over coming weeks and months, prices are going to tumble in some very appealing parts of the world in local currency terms, making prices even cheaper in dollar terms, creating a chance to buy a luxury property you might otherwise never be able to afford. A high-end property will be the first in line out of any downturn and a pleasure to own in any market cycle.
Be wary of pre-construction deals in the near term. Deal only with solid developers with proven track records in their markets.
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979ca9639225eaf8d307cd5ba286c78b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenpeddicord/2020/08/19/top-3-buy-to-flip-markets-overseas/?sh=11b750c32f09 | Top 3 Buy-To-Flip Markets Overseas | Top 3 Buy-To-Flip Markets Overseas
Buying to flip is a common real estate investment strategy in the United States that doesn’t make sense in most of the rest of the world where leverage isn’t easy and the costs of buying and selling are typically too great to make the math work.
The option is to buy pre-construction.
New construction is ongoing in most active real estate markets, meaning developers are constantly looking for help funding next projects. One strategy can be for them to pre-sell units in planned buildings. The developer generates cash flow, and you, as the investor, benefit from a reduced price and staged payments.
The biggest advantage for you as the buyer is the ability to flip your unit, if the market sticks with you, before having to come up with the big final payment when construction is complete. This is both the greatest upside and a risk. If you’re not able to sell before that final payment is due, you could lose everything. That’s why I don’t recommend a pre-construction investment if you don’t have the cash to close. Have enough capital in reserve to cover all payments before entering into a pre-construction contract.
Not that you’re going to close with your own capital if you can help it. For this kind of investment, focus on markets where financing is possible—either from a bank or the developer—so you have a backup for that final payment and save your own cash for other opportunities.
Top Buy-To-Flip Market #1: Panama
Panama City, Panama. Rodrigo Cuel/iStockphoto
All Panama but especially Panama City has been one of the greatest economic success stories of the past two decades. The massive growth has been due largely to foreign investment.
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When the United States handed over ownership of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999, the country fell immediately into recession. It needed to find a way to replace the disposable income that all those U.S. GIs had been spreading around and quick. The country looked next-door to Costa Rica, whose economy is based almost entirely on income from foreign tourists and resident retirees. We could do that, too, Panamanians figured, and began working in earnest to attract the attention of North Americans.
Panama targeted eco-tourists and budget-conscious Baby Boomers looking for places where they could stretch their retirement nest eggs. It introduced a pensionado residency program, improving on the model Costa Rica had by now made famous, offering resident retirees discounts on everything from restaurant tabs and movie tickets to plane fares and prescription medications. Retirees, Panama figured, like the American GIs, living in the country, would be spending on a monthly basis. Tourists, while helpful for an economy, come and go.
Next, Panama targeted international companies, playing up the incomparable advantage of its geographic position. This country literally at the hub of the Americas is ideally located for a business doing business across the Americas.
Plus, thanks to the investment made over decades by the U.S. military, the infrastructure in Panama City is in a league of its own for the region, and much of the population, thanks again to the extended American presence, is English-speaking.
Panama has worked to woo companies like Dell DELL , Procter & Gamble PG , Adidas, Caterpillar, Nike NKE , Estée Lauder, and others shopping for the best place to locate their regional headquarters. Today, more than 150 multinational corporations have this country’s capital as their base, employing, among them, thousands, including hundreds of foreign management staff. All of these people need places to live, and the imported foreign executives have helped fill buildings that many predicted would sit empty long after completion.
Panama has a second incomparable advantage in its canal, which it expanded in 2016 and which generates more than $2.6 billion of revenue each year. That’s a lot of cash flow for a country of 4.2 million people, and the amount increases every year. Panama wisely continues to invest much of this canal income into infrastructure projects, expanding its highway systems, building new hospitals, and generally making the country ever more appealing for the foreign investor.
Coupled with its developed international banking and financial services industries, the canal economy has helped to position Panama as a regional safe haven.
Colombians, Venezuelans, and Argentines like to park their capital in Panama City’s dollar-denominated condos, fueling the city’s pre-construction market.
Now Panama has attracted another pool of foreign investors—the Chinese. In June 2017, former President Juan Carlos Varela ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan and established formal ties with Beijing, leading to a tidal wave of Chinese investment. China is positioned to become Panama’s most important commercial partner. Mega-infrastructure projects under discussion include a new rail system to make the transport of goods from the west of the country to the canal more efficient.
In separate good economic news, in 2019, the country began development of the largest copper mine in the world, setting the stage for a new source of significant revenues long term.
In the 20 years since the Americans pulled out, Panamanian markets have cycled, including a drop in property prices after the 2008 global crisis, but the trajectory has been and continues up.
I first recommended Panama’s property market as a buy in 1998, and I’m more bullish on this country’s prospects today than ever. However, in the current pandemic climate, values are soft, creating a buy-on-the-dip opportunity.
The country’s pre-construction market is established, extensive, and competitive, meaning many options. The best deals are the earliest in. Shop for a just-released building to get the biggest discount.
One developer, for example, with a two-decade-long track record, offers medium-term financing for some units in some buildings. He can’t make staged payments an option for all units or all buildings because then he wouldn’t have enough capital for up-front construction costs. Still, his buy-over-time program gives him an advantage in the marketplace. No other developer in Panama offers such an option.
Historically, developers and investors in Panama have focused primarily on the upper end of the market. Panama City is home to a surprising number of $1 million-plus apartments. That buyer is well catered to. Recently, another developer has identified a new niche—the Panamanian yuppie. All those international companies hiring all that management staff are creating a new demographic, a high-end subset of the local middle class.
These people can’t afford the million-dollar apartments on Avenida Balboa or in Punta Pacifica, but they don’t want to live outside the city and commute two hours each way to work, creating a demand for small- to medium-sized apartments in internationally competitive buildings in central city locations. This developer is offering good pre-construction terms for units in buildings that should appreciate in value while generating solid cash flow.
Top Buy-To-Flip Market #2: Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo Main Square. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Rapidly expanding demand and undervalued pricing make the Dominican Republic a top rental investment market, and local developers are looking to fund new projects through pre-construction. You can buy a rentable apartment for as little as $100,000 or less. One-bedroom units in a project in one prime Santo Domingo location start at $66,000. Financing is possible for foreign buyers, meaning the Dominican Republic offers the lowest buy-in capital requirement of any cash-flow market I know. A modest investment positions you for net yields as high as 10% per year (outside the current pandemic climate).
Having invested in a rental property in the Dominican Republic, again, after COVID-19 travel restrictions have been lifted, you should have no trouble filling it. The number of tourists visiting these shores has been increasing year over year for the past decade. The DR, which saw more than 7 million tourists in 2019, growth of 8% over the previous year, is the top destination in the Caribbean, representing 20% of travel to the region.
The country’s open-sky policy has resulted in many new flights, including more nonstop routes to and from the United States. All those arriving passengers translate to average hotel occupancy rates of 77%. These tourism trends are expected to continue, fueling short-term rental demand, including both for beachfront resort communities with five-star amenities and well-located executive rentals in capital city Santo Domingo.
The DR's burgeoning tourism economy is not reliant on one market. The country attracts travelers from North America, Europe, and South America, with direct flights from all three continents. Beaches are the main draw, but Santo Domingo adds one of the biggest and oldest Spanish-colonial town centers to the mix of attractions, and, as the country works to position itself as a Caribbean business hub, executive travelers are creating a new demand.
Top Buy-To-Flip Market #3: Poland
The Old Town district, in Kraków, Poland. Getty Images/iStockphoto
My final buy-to-flip market is off most people’s radar, both for investment and for lifestyle, but I like Krakow, Poland. This historic city is enjoying a growing tourism industry (with 10 million visitors in 2019) and is home to 10 universities, creating student rental demand. Buying pre-construction in Eastern Europe could be outside your comfort zone, but Krakow is a market with good potential that you could get into with less than $100,000.
Look for a project close to the old town or one of the universities. Krakow is a small city of only about 760,000 people, so its real estate market isn’t as active or complex as, say, Panama City. If it sparks your interest, you’ll be able to get a handle on the lay of the land quickly.
Many other destinations can make sense for a pre-construction flip. The key to success at this strategy is a buoyant economy where housing demand is expanding rapidly. That demand growth could be thanks to foreign workers or students moving to the city, as in Panama City and Krakow. Or it could be the result of a swelling middle class, meaning more local folks every month looking for bigger or more modern housing options.
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3ce9f4e920203e8ca9951f6d38b89d6c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/04/16/up-and-comers-seed-money/ | Up-And-Comers: Seed Money | Up-And-Comers: Seed Money
From a tree that grows on dormant farmland to an app that saves farmers hours in surveying, these innovators are finding breakthrough ways to improve life on the farm.
Rob Leclerc AGFUNDER
Leclerc, 41, had a Ph.D. in biology and a background in artificial intelligence when he went to work with an African agribusiness company and became fascinated with the challenge of connecting a winning idea with willing investors. In 2013 he launched AgFunder, an online investment platform for the global agriculture industry. Handling $1.3 billion worth of projects, AgFunder connects private and institutional investors with ventures ranging from cattle ranches in Brazil to Hawaiian dairy farms to cloud-based ag software. He says he wants to make it the "financial infrastructure" of farming.
Naveen Sikka TERVIVA
Despite his M.B.A. from UC Berkeley, Sikka, 35, spends much of his time these days in the field, literally. He founded TerViva in 2010. It develops new crops to thrive on land no longer being productively farmed: for example, played out acreage in Florida and Hawaii that once grew citrus and sugarcane. Its first commercialized crop is pongamia, a tree whose pods can be processed into biofuels, fertilizer or animal feed. It's similar to soy but yields up to eight times the harvest while requiring less water--an accomplishment that has drawn $5.5 million in private capital and grants to date.
Field training (left to right): Sikka, Vollmar, Leclerc
Jesse Vollmar FARMLOGS
He grew up on a midwestern farm, but his passion was always for tech. Vollmar, 25, did a brief West Coast stint participating in startup incubator Y Combinator before returning to Michigan in 2012 to found FarmLogs, a software platform that helps farmers harness data to make crucial decisions, such as which fields, according to meteorological data, will be too wet to work on a particular day. FarmLogs exploits the reach of high-speed Internet into remote rural communities to save farmers hours of labor a day, he says. More than 5% of U.S. farms with row crops now use the technology, which has attracted $5 million in investment.
Follow me on Twitter @KathrynDill.
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8319a3ed7d78b4f18c49ddf2535394aa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/04/18/survey-42-of-employees-have-changed-jobs-due-to-stress/ | Survey: 42% Of Employees Have Changed Jobs Due To Stress | Survey: 42% Of Employees Have Changed Jobs Due To Stress
"I can't take this another second--I quit!"
We've all threatened it, but a new survey shows that a significant number of employees have actually made good on their declarations. A survey conducted by employment search site Monster.com of nearly 7,000 U.S. workers found that while a less-than-surprising 35% had contemplated leaving a job to flee a stressful work environment, a more significant number--42%--had "purposely" left a position because of such a workplace.
"People feel stressed out because there’s that continuing pressure to do more with less. Workers feel pressure to get more accomplished," says Mary Ellen Slayter, Career Advice Expert at Monster. "People know they’re not happy, but they’re not clear on whether or not it would be better somewhere else. "
A separate survey of more than 900 workers found that an employee's relationship with their boss is the most common cause of workplace stress, followed closely by workload, work-life balance, and relationships with coworkers.
Nearly half of employees surveyed report having missed time at work due to work-related stress, and an even greater number, 61%, say that workplace stress has caused them actual physical illness, with insomnia, depression, and family issues cited as results.
Seven percent of employees report having been hospitalized as the result of work-related stress.
The study does not differentiate between different types of workplace stressors, for example, an accountant's increased workload during tax season versus an overbearing supervisor, focusing instead on the results of stress as observed by employees.
How do workers cope with these situations? About how you might imagine. Most report talking to a friend or loved one after work, many turn to exercise to blow off steam, and roughly a third of those surveyed highlight taking a short break, taking a day off, or eating to relieve stress. Winning points for honesty, a solid quarter of those surveyed report drinking.
But while employees seem certain of the tangible manifestations of workplace stress in their lives, those surveyed seem less convinced of their employers' awareness of--or concern over--the issue. Asked "What does your office do to help alleviate stress in the workplace?", 13% noted additional time off and 11% cited the opportunity to work from home, but the majority, 66%, answered "nothing."
Slayter says those who find themselves regularly overwhelmed to a level that's unbearable might want to contemplate a job--or career--switch, to something that makes better use of their talents or involves fewer tasks that cause distress.
"Make sure that overall your career is a good fit," says Slater. "If you find yourself thinking that every day is stressful, if everyday is unpleasant, if it feels like that chronically, its time to sit down and ask yourself, 'Is this the right fit?'"
Follow me on Twitter @KathrynDill.
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8f885fb8dece6d90c601c492e6cc7a52 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/05/09/the-top-cities-for-finding-employment-right-now/ | The Top Cities For Finding Employment Right Now | The Top Cities For Finding Employment Right Now
Gallery: Top 10 Cities For Finding Employment Right Now 10 images View gallery
One of the top recommendations routinely given to job seekers looking to maximize their potential of being hired is to remain open to the idea of relocating.
But to where?
To determine the best cities for finding employment, currently, Forbes worked with national staffing agency Adecco and considered factors such as industries within a particular city, cost of living, and the presence of companies with varied employment opportunities. Adecco used data and feedback from regional offices across the country as well as employment rate data from the Department of Labor to determine which 10 cities provide the strongest job opportunities right now.
Topping the list is Austin, Texas. With 4.4% unemployment* the city beats the national unemployment rate by nearly two percentage points. A cluster of colleges and universities provide education opportunities as well as employment in a number of fields, and anyone seeking a customer service or call center position is going to find some of the greatest hiring demand in Austin.
“The robust economy, lower cost of living, relaxed vibe and variety of jobs available make the city attractive for job seekers," says Alyson Blake-Wilson, Adecco regional vice president. "Austin prides itself in its desire to be uniquely Austin, with the city having over 300 days of sunshine and offering easy access to the hill country and lakes."
Just behind Austin is Madison, Wisconsin, with similarly low unemployment--4.7%--and high demand for manufacturing, customer service, healthcare, and professional services jobs. Recently, the city has experienced a bump in companies looking to hire manufacturing professionals experienced with consumer products and food.
Madison, Wisconsin
As a city, Madison is known for offering a wide array of cultural activities while maintaining a strong sense of community and relatively low cost of living.
"The top two cities on this list—Austin and Madison—have a number of things in common; unemployment rates below 5%, large college and university networks, an affordable cost of living, access to good jobs, and a community that prides itself on being residents of the town," says Joyce Russell, president of Adecco Staffing US. "This combination leads to an environment where skilled job seekers are really starting to dictate what they’d like in their new position, rather than employers being able to navigate that process."
Those looking to capitalize on finance, accounting, and various business administration skills may want to explore opportunities in Jacksonville, Florida.
“Jacksonville appeals to job seekers as there are available positions in a number of different sectors,” says Mona Whitley, regional operations manager. “Professional options combined with wonderful weather, a developed park system, beaches and the financial incentives that come with Florida not having an income tax make the area irresistible to those looking for opportunities.”
In pictures: Top 10 Cities For Finding Employment Right Now
Another Florida city providing opportunity for job seekers is Miami, where 30,000 jobs were added last year and demand for workers in the construction, hospitality, healthcare, and aerospace industries remains strong.
Miami, Florida
“The city offers a wide range of opportunities in the travel, media and hospitality industries," says Jennifer Kochilaris, regional vice president, "but because of its proximity to South America, Miami is a center of industry and business allowing for unlimited opportunity in the professional services sector.”
Those looking for work in the northeastern part of the U.S. may want to look towards the Hudson Valley and Westchester County areas of New York state, where job opportunities in the accounting, regulatory and quality assurance, and healthcare industries are strong.
The area offers the pace of smaller towns with proximity to New York city.
“In the past year, this area has seen marked job growth in finance, accounting and healthcare,” said Laura Mellors, regional vice president.
“The manufacturing sector is showing increased hiring in a range of environments—pharmaceuticals, consumer goods—and positions from production all the way to management. Additionally, we’re seeing the local market more focused on what job seekers want in terms of hours, pay and benefits giving those looking for work leverage in the process.”
One surprise on the list may be the sole west coast representative, number 10, the Inland Empire area of California. The area is seeing strong demand in the distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing sectors, despite a 9.4% unemployment rate well above the national rate.
"We’re seeing a huge amount of growth in this area, and are anticipating this trend will continue into the future," says Russell. "The national numbers are showing a rise in local hiring year over year and our clients are echoing that same feedback."
Inland Empire area, California
Top Cities to Find a Job in 2014
1) Austin, TX | Top Industries Hiring: Customer Service, Business and Professional Services, Leisure and Hospitality
2) Madison, WI | Top Industries Hiring: Manufacturing, Customer Service, Healthcare, Professional and Business Services
3) Houston, TX | Top Industries Hiring: Healthcare, Logistics, Transportation, Business and Professional Services
4) Jacksonville, FL | Top Industries Hiring: Professional and Business Services, Financial Activities, Healthcare
5) Columbus, OH | Top Industries Hiring: Business and Professional Services, Manufacturing, Technology
6) Miami, FL | Top Industries Hiring: Construction, Healthcare, Leisure & Hospitality, Professional and Business Services, Aerospace
7) Charlotte, NC | Top Industries Hiring: Technology, Professional and Business Services, Manufacturing, Construction
8) Hudson Valley/Westchester County, NY | Top Industries Hiring: Business and Professional Services, Finance, Healthcare, Manufacturing
9) New York, NY | Top Industries Hiring: Business and Professional Services, Finance, Fashion, Technology
10) Inland Empire Area, CA |Top Industries Hiring: Distribution, Warehousing, Manufacturing
*Unemployment data cited is from the March 2014 Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 29, 2014.
In pictures: Top 10 Cities For Finding Employment Right Now
Follow me on Twitter @KathrynDill.
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adbf09cb62b55bc92c4052567dc0a0bd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/09/16/the-most-and-least-educated-cities-in-america/ | The Most And Least Educated Cities In America | The Most And Least Educated Cities In America
Gallery: The 10 Most And Least Educated Cities In America 23 images View gallery
Which cities are the nation's best and brightest calling home these days?
To determine the Most And Least Educated Cities In America, financial site WalletHub took a look at the 150 largest metros in the U.S. and ranked them according to nine weighted metrics, including percentage of adult residents with a high school diploma, associate's degree, graduate or professional degree, or above; number of doctors per capita; percentage of workers with jobs in "computer, engineering, and sciences fields;" quality of public schools and universities; and the number of students enrolled in the top 200 universities in the U.S., per capita.
"Research has shown that skilled workers who are also degree holders tend to pump the most money into their local economies over time," states the report.
Ann Arbor tops the list, not only as the city with the best educated population, overall, but as the city with the highest percentage of "college-experienced adults or associate's degree holders," the highest percentage of bachelor's degree holders, and the highest percentage of graduate or professional degree holders.
Raleigh, North Carolina, comes in second, with neighbor Durham, North Carolina right behind it in third place. Provo, Utah, and Manchester, New Hampshire, round out the top five.
The Forbes eBook On Paying For College Getting into college is hard enough. Paying for it shouldn’t be. Find out how to save thousands on higher ed.
At the other end of the spectrum, Beaumont, Texas, ranks as the least educated city in America, with one of the lowest percentages of bachelor's degree holders as well as graduate or professional degree holders, and one of the lowest numbers of doctors per capita.
Salinas, California, comes in second with one of the lowest numbers of doctors per capita, followed by Rockford Illinois. Brownsville, Texas, comes in third with one of the lowest percentages of degree holders at nearly every level, and one of the lowest percentages of residents with computer, engineering, and science jobs. Modesto, California, rounds out the bottom five.
The 10 Most Educated Cities In America
1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. Raleigh, North Carolina
3. Durham, North Carolina
4. Provo, Utah
5. Manchester, New Hampshire
6. Seattle, Washington
7. San Jose, California
8. Colorado Springs, Colorado
9. Baltimore, Maryland
10. Boston, Massachusetts
The 10 Least Educated Cities In America
1. Beaumont, Texas
2. Salinas, California
3. Rockford, Illinois
4. Brownsville, Texas
5. Modesto, California
6. Visalia, California
7. Bakersfield, California
8. Lakeland, Florida
9. McAllen, Texas
10. Fresno, California
In pictures: The 10 Most And Least Educated Cities In America
Update: This post originally attributed the data used to personal finance site NerdWallet. It has been updated to reflect that the report was authored by financial site WalletHub.
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5b3e66a3003d5ef91be048fe6b69f310 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/09/19/the-top-25-universities-to-work-for-in-2014/ | The Top 25 Universities To Work For In 2014 | The Top 25 Universities To Work For In 2014
Gallery: The Top 25 Universities To Work For In 2014 26 images View gallery
Universities tend to be evaluated through the lens of a student or parent weighing the benefits, value, and experiences a particular institution can provide. But a ranking released today by salary comparison and job search site Glassdoor considers how places of higher learning stack up as workplaces.
"All of these universities employ thousands of people, and higher education is one of the industries that brings a lot of satisfaction across the board," said Scott Dobroski, Glassdoor Career Trends Analyst. "For anyone thinking about working at a university or college, this list points to the universities and colleges that are great employers and can be great long-term employers."
The ranking is based entirely on employee feedback entered on Glassdoor.com, and includes institutions that received at least 50 reviews between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014. Each entry is evaluated against a five point scale.
Brigham Young University tops the list.
Employees at the universities that scored the highest extolled benefits like flexible schedules, tuition reimbursement, working in an atmosphere of ongoing education, and having the opportunity to make an impact on young lives.
"At so many companies in the corporate world we see people saying, 'I don't feel like I'm growing, learning,'" said Dobroski. "There’s a lot of guidance that university employees feel like they’re providing to the next generation. That's certainly not a theme that we find among employees in corporate America."
In pictures: The Top 25 Universities To Work For In 2014
Topping the list of the best universities to work for is Brigham Young University (BYU), where employees praised the flexible schedules, positive working conditions, and strong relationships among coworkers.
“Clean campus, gentle and gracious people, excellent working conditions (in OIT, anyway), and interesting work. The goal of the university - to educate students to go into the world and make it a better place - is supportable and admirable,” wrote one Provo, Utah-based BYU administrator.
Carnegie Mellon, Clemson, Princeton, and Cornell round out the top five. A janitor at Princeton cited good benefits, including a tuition reimbursement program, and a safe, stunning campus.
One employee praised Princeton University as a "beautiful setting" with "lovely facilities."
"We know the cost of a higher education just continues to rise," said Dobroski, "so [tuition reimbursement] is a great benefit that employees speak favorably about across the board."
Texas is the most represented state, with Rice University, Texas A&M, UT Dallas, and University of Texas at Austin all making the list. But last year's leader of the pack, Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, fell off of this year's list.
"That’s not to say they’re a bad employer, they were just outside the 25," said Dobroski. "What we saw change at Texas Tech in the past 12 months is we did see employees talking about low pay, and some employees felt Lubbock was a small town and they didn't see a long-term career in such a small town."
Dobroski noted that a university-focused job search can have its challenges. There are a finite number of large colleges and universities, and many are not located in or around major cities. But for those seeking the unique value of a university employment experience--flexibility, robust benefits, opportunities for research and travel, and a stimulating work environment--the many pros tend to outweigh the difficulties.
"The big takeaway for job seekers," said Dobroski, "is if you loved your college experience, and you love an atmosphere where you feel like you’re constantly learning, you like helping others, and you want some stability, a university or college is an excellent option."
To view the full list of The Top 25 Universities To Work For In 2014, click here.
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d1134d077133f4ba9311d5225b3c21b4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/11/12/japan-tops-2014-ranking-of-the-strongest-country-brands/ | Japan Tops 2014 Ranking Of The Strongest Country Brands | Japan Tops 2014 Ranking Of The Strongest Country Brands
Gallery: The Top 20 Country Brands 21 images View gallery
Japan may have struggling to boost its economy in the past year, but the country's reputation among citizens around the globe has been steadily on the rise.
For the first time in the ranking's history, the land of the rising sun takes first place on global brand consultancy FutureBrand's annual Country Brand Index, which measures perceptions of countries around the world according to guidelines similar to the ones used to evaluate the strength of various consumer brands.
This year's results differ slightly from those of previous years, primarily because FutureBrand determined that in fact, not every country qualifies as a brand--of the 75 countries reviewed, just 22 met the criteria laid out for a "country brand." These metrics include the perception that a country creates high-quality products, that people want to live or study in that country, and that the infrastructure there is quality.
" To qualify as a ‘country brand’," states the report, "people need to want to consume your products and services and prefer you as a place to live and learn."
FutureBrand's research also revealed that when respondents rank a country highly as a brand, it increases the likelihood that they will "visit, recommend and do business with it" than other countries on the list.
"By this," states the report, "we mean that people have stronger than average perceptions of the country across our six dimensions relating to ‘status’ and ‘experience’. In other words, they perceive it equally strongly in aspects relating to quality of life, values and business, as they do for its culture, history, tourism and ‘Made In’ expertise."
To determine each country's value as a brand, FutureBrand gathered data from 2,530 survey respondents who make frequent international trips from 17 countries: The U.S., Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, Thailand, Japan, and Australia.
“This year’s research shows that having a strong country brand brings measurable competitive advantage in terms of visitation, advocacy, and investment, as well as consumer preference for products and services," said Tom Adams, FutureBrand global head of strategy and co-author of the report. "It continues to be vital to manage country identity and reputation as you might a corporate or consumer brand."
Japan tops this year's Country Brand Index.
Japan overtakes the reigning Switzerland to earn first place this year, with respondents citing Japan's "uniqueness" and closely associating the country with technology; health and education; and heritage, art, and culture.
"It's a country that is improving and not standing still," said one respondent. "It is surpassing the whole world in robotic technologies and engineering."
Respondents said Japan is "most expert" at technology, consumer electronics, and automotive, and identified technology and innovation as the area wherein the country has the most momentum.
Switzerland takes second place this year, with respondents most closely associating the country with a high standard of living, safety and security, and health and education. Like Japan, Switzerland was identified as having more momentum in technology and innovation than any other area, and is considered "most expert" in luxury. Respondents described the country with words including "beautiful," "clean," "safe," and "expensive."
"Highly efficient transportation, business acumen, banking industry, gorgeous scenery, high standard of living, warm people," wrote one respondent, describing the country known for its international neutrality and discreet banking system.
In pictures: The Top 20 Country Brands
Major brands associated with Switzerland--including Rolex , Nestle , Patek Philippe, Tag Heuer, and Lindt--all fell under the categories of chocolate and time pieces.
Third on the list is Germany, which respondents depicted with words like "beer," "technology," "culture," "cars," "safety," and "awesome."
"It sustains the European Economic zone and as a consequence, all of Europe," wrote one respondent. "And also because after the devastating second world war, it has to reinvent itself and in few years it positioned itself as the indisputable worldwide leader."
Respondents most closely associate Germany with a high standard of living, advanced technology, and good infrastructure. The country is considered "most expert" in the automotive sphere, followed by technology, and transportation. Major brands linked to the country include Siemens , Adidas , Bayer, Volkswagen, and Lufthansa.
The U.S. takes spot number seven, up one from last year's ranking. An additional list included in the report of cities that respondents believe will be most influential in the coming three ranks New York number one.
Of note, the countries that gained the highest brand rankings were not those considered to have the greatest political or economic momentum, but rather those making strong gains in areas like technology and innovation.
"Country brand perception strength," said Christopher Nurko, FutureBrand global chairman, "is as much about momentum in innovation, technology, and the environment as it is political and economic significance, which hints at a shift in the drivers of country reputation shaping the future.”
As for those countries not yet meeting the standards of "brand" used to build the list, said Adams, "the Country Brand Index offers valuable insight into the levers you can pull for stronger perception across the dimensions that drive visitor choice.”
To view the full ranking of all 75 countries on the 2014 - 2015 Country Brand Index, click here.
In pictures: The Top 20 Country Brands
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25dc6bcd4707a18a0d31b455e075a641 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2014/11/18/report-to-restore-middle-skills-jobs-employers-educators-policymakers-must-work-together/ | Report: To Restore Middle-Skills Jobs, Employers, Educators, Policymakers Must Work Together | Report: To Restore Middle-Skills Jobs, Employers, Educators, Policymakers Must Work Together
The conversation about the skills gap and national talent shortage has risen in volume over the last several months, as the conundrum of open jobs and unemployed Americans persists.
A report released last week by Accenture, Burning Glass, and Harvard Business School addresses the challenges of "Rebuilding America's Middle Skills." Defining middle-skills jobs as those that "require more education and training than a high-school diploma but less than a four-year college degree," the report explores this segment of the labor market, identifying where jobs have been lost and skills sets undeveloped, and pointing to where and how the situation might be improved.
"Historically, for innumerable Americans, middle-skills jobs served as the springboard into the middle class," states the report. "Machinists and registered nurses, technical salespeople and computer technicians, financial analysts and
a host of other jobs constituted the backbone of America’s workforce."
The report includes recommendations for remedying middle-skills hiring issues, noting that between 1979 and 2000, wages for middle-skill workers stagnated. In the years since 2000, they've dropped.
“For too long we have accepted the cliché that America’s jobs machine is broken," said Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Joe Fuller, lead author of the report. "Someone has to take the lead in restarting it, and business leaders are in the best position to take decisive steps to end the misalignment in our economy—millions of job postings alongside millions of unemployed. This is the single most important issue to strengthen U.S. competitiveness—and bring back the American dream for our workers."
Employers, the report argues, must make investments in creating talent pipelines, implementing some of the same strategies they use to secure other inputs in finding and cultivating human resources.
At educational institutions, stronger partnerships with companies to create bridges from school to work are recommended, a suggestion that's become something of a refrain in the skills gap conversation.
Finally, the report urges policymakers to work as facilitators, providing accurate and timely data to employers and job seekers, encouraging companies to work together and seek new models for on-boarding employees, and changing the perceptions of middle-skills work by "employing strong cultural messages like 'post-secondary education for all' and 'lifelong education for lifelong employability,'" as opposed to recommending college as the one-size-fits-all option.
The biggest recommendation for educators, employers, and policymakers? Work together.
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bbe66eefad2b5af12ce010ddc30e84db | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/04/16/the-companies-hiring-the-most-right-now-2/ | The Companies Hiring The Most Right Now | The Companies Hiring The Most Right Now
Gallery: The Companies Hiring Most Right Now 10 images View gallery
As the hunt for skilled talent continues to intensify, financial services and tech companies may find themselves squaring off with increasing frequency.
To provide a snapshot of which companies have the most positions open throughout the country, Forbes consulted with employment search site Indeed.com. The companies listed here had the site’s greatest number of postings for jobs in the U.S. that pay $50,000 per year or more as of April 7, 2015.
As in previous years, the companies on this list are primarily in the technology and financial services industries, and thus the available jobs require skills associated with those spheres.
“Technology and finance continue to dominate the list," said Indeed Chief Economist Tara Sinclair, "but if we look at year on year trends, it’s noteworthy that Amazon, a tech business, has moved into the top spot this year, from third place behind PWC and JP Morgan Chase in 2014."
Sinclair also makes note of a growing pattern among highly skilled young professionals, who in previous generations predominantly set their sights on Wall Street.
In pictures: The 10 Companies Hiring Most Right Now
"Given the significant growth in the tech industry, [Amazon's jump] is not completely unexpected, but it does hint at a trend we are increasingly seeing of mathematical talent looking beyond the more traditional Wall Street," said Sinclair. "There has long been steady crossover of talent and competition between technology and finance companies looking for quantitative skill sets, and this is set to increase as both vie to attract top talent in an increasingly competitive hiring market.”
Resuming its perch at the top of the list is Amazon, which dropped from first to third place last year. The booming online marketplace currently has 2,406 jobs that pay $50,000 per year or more listed on Indeed.com, including roles such as Brand Specialist, Chargeback Investigator, and Customer Experience Director.
Runner up is JPMorgan Chase , which led last year's ranking. The financial services powerhouse has nearly 2,400 jobs paying $50,000 or above currently posted to Indeed.com, such as Operations Manager, Compliance Analyst, and Document Review Specialist. While available roles are concentrated in New York, openings are posted for positions throughout the Midwest and South as well.
PwC comes in third, posting more than 2,200 jobs including Advisory Specialist, Campus Recruiting Associate, and Advisory Negotiations Director.
Further down the list are companies like Kaiser Permanente , Lockheed Martin , ADP, BNY Mellon, Best Buy, and Citi, all of which have more than 1,500 jobs paying $50,000 or more per year currently posted.
The full list of the the 10 companies Hiring The Most Right Now, for jobs paying $50,000 per year or more:
Amazon Corporate LLC (2406)
JPMorgan Chase (2372)
PwC (2209)
Oracle (2040)
Kaiser Permanente (1644)
Lockheed Martin (1623)
ADP (1601)
BNY Mellon (1554)
Best Buy (1547)
Citi (1538)
In pictures: The 10 Companies Hiring Most Right Now
Note: Indeed.com specifies that the picture offered does not reflect a precise number of available jobs. An opening can be listed in more than one place and can remain online for some time after it’s filled. Nevertheless, the numbers do offer a strong, broad gauge of the companies with the most open tech jobs across the country today.
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d3d7843218e3ee099cb23d3094badce9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/05/11/the-best-and-worst-cities-for-starting-a-career/ | The Best And Worst Cities For Starting A Career | The Best And Worst Cities For Starting A Career
Gallery: The 10 Best And Worst Cities For Starting A Career 20 images View gallery
With graduation season upon us, many young people are considering not only where they might find a job, but what might be the best place for them to start a career and build a life.
To determine the best and worst cities in which to embark on one's professional future, personal finance site WalletHub evaluated the 150 most populous cities in America across 19 metrics designed to factor in the major professional and personal considerations facing young people beginning post-collegiate life.
In terms of professional opportunities, WalletHub considered the number of entry-level jobs in a city per 10,000 residents, monthly median starting salary, annual job growth rate, unemployment rate and entrepreneurial activity. To evaluate quality of life, factors including median annual income, arts- and leisure-focused locations per 100,000 residents, housing costs and percentage of the population with a bachelor's degree were taken into account.
The cities listed here are considered on their own and without the surrounding metro areas.
At the top of a list dominated by Lone Star State locales is Irving, Texas. The city has a population nearing a quarter million people and scored first place for professional considerations and a respectable 38th (out of 150) for quality of life considerations.
Five of the year's 10 best cities for starting a career are found in Texas.
Grand Prairie, Texas and Austin, Texas round out the top three. Though Grand Prairie comes in 49th for quality of life considerations, it takes second place for professional opportunities and offers the fourth highest starting salaries (tied with Garland, Texas) of all the cities on this list, adjusted for cost of living.
In pictures: The 10 Best And Worst Cities For Starting A Career
Denver, Colorado, comes in fourth while number five, Houston, Texas, offers the highest starting salaries of any city on this list, adjusted for cost of living.
At the other end of the spectrum, despite its recent renaissance, Detroit, Michigan, earns the title of the worst place to start a career, though it's actually Fresno, California--considered the second worst--that provides the least professional opportunities.
While Fresno offers the second least entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents of all the cities on this list, the city's score was buoyed by slightly higher marks in quality of life, while Detroit's was further constricted by a 12.5% unemployment rate (well over twice the national level).
Toledo, Ohio, rounds out the bottom three.
In pictures: The 10 Best And Worst Cities For Starting A Career
To view WalletHub's full ranking of 150 cities, click here.
Correction: The gallery attached to this post has been updated to reflect that Columbus, Georgia, ranks 147th on WalletHub's list, not Columbus, Ohio.
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80315fcd5e583a7eafd71c1cab178e41 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/07/15/the-best-and-worst-masters-degrees-for-jobs-in-2015/ | The Best And Worst Master's Degrees For Jobs In 2015 | The Best And Worst Master's Degrees For Jobs In 2015
Gallery: The 10 Best And Worst Master's Degrees For Jobs Right Now 21 images View gallery
The decision to enroll in graduate school plagues Americans at every stage of their careers. For many, a master's degree can be key to securing a promotion or changing fields, and will often lead to better compensation.
But some degrees no longer guarantee employment or hefty paychecks, and the burden of student debt may deter many considering this option.
Each year, Forbes turns to compensation data site Payscale.com for mid-career data on 45 popular master's degrees, looking at the mid-career salary of those holding each degree, as well as the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) projected employment growth of jobs associated with each degree.
This year, in addition to compensation and growth data, Payscale considered stress, job satisfaction, and the meaning derived from work associated with these degrees to determine which fields are promising graduates the best collection of factors--both tangible and intangible.
At the top of the list this year is Biomedical Engineering. According to the BLS, those working in this field "apply knowledge of engineering, biology, and biomechanical principles to the design, development, and evaluation of biological and health systems and products."
The mid-career median salary for those with Biomedical Engineering degrees is $129,000, and very strong job satisfaction and meaning ratings keep this degree at the top of the list, despite just 9% projected job growth and the fact that 65% of respondents in jobs associated with this degree felt their work was stressful.
In fact, many of the degrees considered the best this year promise stressful work and anemic job growth--but high salaries and strong feelings of satisfaction and meaning. Chemical Engineering, like its Biomedical cousin, offers just 9% job growth, but lands at the top of the list with a $74,500 mid-career median salary and 73% early-to-mid career pay growth, as well as high marks for meaning and satisfaction.
Increasingly, the master's degrees that land on the "best" end of this list are oriented towards technical work, with Aerospace Engineering, Information Technology Management, and Nurse Practitioner Studies all considered among the most promising master's degrees for jobs this year, while previous contenders like International Relations and Political Science fall out of the top 15.
And while many of the jobs associated with degrees at the other end of the spectrum offer strong growth, they come with far lower mid-career median salaries and early-to-mid career salary growth.
Criminal Justice ranks as the worst master's degree for jobs this year. Though the jobs associated with this field provide strong meaning and satisfaction, the mid-career median salary among these occupations is $62,600, with just 45% early-to-mid career pay growth.
Jobs associated with Curriculum & Instruction, Library & Information Science, and Clinical Social Work degrees all offer strong meaning and satisfaction--but none offer early-to-mid career salary growth above 34%.
Of note, the lowest stress rating at either end of this list is 61%, and belongs to jobs associated with a master's degree in Systems Engineering, meaning that regardless of compensation or satisfaction, well over half of employees with jobs related to degrees at both ends of this list found their work stressful.
The Best Master's Degrees for Jobs in 2015
Biomedical Engineering
Statistics
Aerospace Engineering
Computer Engineering
General & Strategic Management
Information Technology Management
Chemical Engineering
Computer Science & Engineering
Systems Engineering
Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Nurse Practitioner Studies
Physician Assistant Studies
Physics
Economics
The Worst Master's Degrees for Jobs in 2015
Criminal Justice
English Language
Curriculum & Instruction
Higher Education Administration
Communication
Library & Information Science
Counseling
Social Work
Education
Clinical Social Work
Special Education
Architecture
Nutrition
Accounting
Sociology
In pictures: The 10 Best And Worst Master's Degrees For Jobs In 2015
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f69532050e99679338afe9c213392131 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/11/06/7-things-employers-should-know-about-the-gen-z-workforce/ | 7 Things Employers Should Know About The Gen Z Workforce | 7 Things Employers Should Know About The Gen Z Workforce
Move over Millennials, there's a new incoming workforce--and they're just as confusing to employers as you were.
Meet Generation Z. They were born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s (some debate on this point persists), and they're on the cusp of entering the global workforce. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the United States Gen Z makes up 25% of the population, outnumbering Millennials and Baby Boomers.
So what should employers know about this next wave of talent? Global research and advisory firm Universum surveyed 49,000 members of Gen Z across 47 countries, throughout America, Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East to explore their plans for school and work and what they hope to achieve in their future careers, finding that companies may need to retool what they think they know about their incoming employees.
Though the bulk of this generation are still in high school, a full 15% are pursuing bachelor's degrees, almost 10% are in some stage of vocational education, 3% are pursuing master's degrees, and 3% have already joined the workforce.
Universum points out that this generation are 100% digital natives who grew up in uncertain times, facts that shaped their outlook immensely. The children of Generation X, they are also the "first truly global generation"--and they're about to come work for you. Here are seven things to know about how they see the education, work, and the world.
1) Their parents have the greatest influence on their educational and professional decision-making, but the perspectives of friends and teachers are important too.
Globally, roughly 60% of Gen Z feels their parents have the strongest influence over "decisions regarding your education and career." Broken down by continent that number remains roughly the same around the world, with the exception of Latin America, where it dips to 55%. Roughly a quarter of respondents around the world felt their friends had the greatest influence over their decisions, and just slightly fewer said their teachers filled this role.
Gallery: 7 Things Employers Should Know About The Gen Z Workforce 8 images View gallery
Nineteen percent of respondents said "the news" had the greatest sway over their decision-making, with the final percentages going to other relatives, in-school career services advisors, and mentors. Two percent of Gen Z students around the world said "company representatives at school" had the greatest influence.
2) Curiosity is the strongest motivator for choosing a course of study. Money helps too, as does the chance to help people.
An overwhelming segment of this generation--67%--around the world said they would choose their course of study based on being "very interested in the subject." That number is even higher in Africa (74%) and Western Europe (79%), and highest in North America (83%).
But potential compensation is also a powerful influencer, with 39% of students around the world using it to determine their course of study. The opportunity to help people also sways a third of this global population, and nudges 44% of students in the Middle East towards their chosen field.
3) They're interested in entering the workforce without higher education, but fear actually doing so.
A significant number of students around the world responded that they would be "interested in finding out more about how companies offer education to people who have no university degree," particularly in Latin America, where 76% of gen z respondents indicated feeling this way. When asked, however, if Gen Z were interested in actually joining the workforce without a formal education, percentages drop significantly. For example, just 12% of Latin American respondents said they actually would consider forgoing university education to begin working sooner.
4) They're VERY entrepreneurial.
More than half of Gen Z respondents around the world indicated an interest in starting their own company, a sentiment that spikes significantly when broken down by region. A full 76% of respondents in Africa and those in Central and Eastern Europe indicated an interest in becoming a founder. Top reasons cited for this sentiment? "I want to be my own boss" and "I want to have an impact."
5) Despite their entrepreneurial nature, work-life balance and job security are the two career goals most important to this generation.
An equal 40% of students around the world cited "work-life balance" and "to be secure or stable in my job" as their top career goals. These numbers vary a bit around the world, with students in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East placing less importance on these goals and more than 50% of respondents in North America emphasizing them.
Other goals scoring high marks include autonomy, leadership opportunities, dedication to a cause, and the chance to be creative.
This is an area in which Gen Z differs from Millennials, who placed greater emphasis on work-life balance, while still ranking it ahead of other goals. Millennials were also more invested in being continually challenged and serving a greater good, and less interested in autonomy.
6) They want lots of information.
Eighty-two percent of this population reported feeling "open to be contacted by a company regarding work opportunities" (a percentage that reaches as high as 92% in Africa), but just 32% reported having received that type of communication in the past--a missed opportunity for companies looking to fill key roles.
7) Gen Z may be less optimistic than Millennials about their work opportunities.
They report greater anxiety than Millennials when it comes to fears of underperformance, that no one will listen to them, and that they won't find a job that's a good fit for their strength and personality. And while there are some areas where this group is less anxious than their Millennials counterparts, a quarter to a third still fear that they won't achieve their career goals and that they'll be trapped with no greater opportunities.
Of greatest concern? Seventy-one percent of Millennials believe they will achieve a higher standard of living than their parents. Just 56% of Gen Z feels the same.
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c647c0052588469c7f5acf3524f6b18e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/12/23/the-biggest-career-crashes-of-2015/ | The Biggest Career Crashes Of 2015 | The Biggest Career Crashes Of 2015
Gallery: The Biggest Career Crashes of 2015 9 images View gallery
Professional, personal, and everything in between, 2015 was a big year for misrepresentation.
To develop this list, I looked back at the year’s news and surveyed my Forbes colleagues, soliciting suggestions for names of those who’ve screwed up epically in the past 12 months. The list is hardly comprehensive, and focuses primarily on news that occurred in or captivated the U.S. It’s unscientific, and unranked. Though many people were suggested more than once, it’s not an election process.
In alphabetical order, the biggest career crashes of 2015:
Sepp Blatter
The eighth president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) long operated under a cloud of suspicion. In June he announced that he planned to call for elections, in which he would not run, to choose a new president of the organization; in September the Swiss Attorney General’s Office opened criminal proceedings against Blatter on grounds of “criminal mismanagement” and “suspicion of misappropriation.” Blatter has maintained his innocence and the absence of corruption in FIFA> Suspended from the organization in October, FIFA’s independent ethics committee announced in December that he’d be banned from activities related to the organization for eight years.
Rachel Dolezal
The president of the Spokane, Washington, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) resigned in June after it was revealed she had misrepresented her racial identity (Dolezal has stated that she “was biologically born white to white parents, but I identify as black.”)
André Esteves
In early December the billionaire chief of Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual was forced to hand over financial control of the firm he founded to a group of partners. Esteves was arrested in November after a cell phone recording captured a prominent Brazilian senator discussing plans to pay a key witness in a corruption investigation of state-owned oil behemoth Petrobras to leave the country, with Esteves' assistance. At the same time documents were discovered that may indicate that BTG paid a government official as much as $12 million to advance more relaxed financial legislation. Esteves has been ordered to remain at home until he obtains "legal employment," at which time he will be allowed to leave his residence only for work.
Jared Fogle
The Indiana native rose to fame in 2000 as “the Subway Guy,” featured in ads for the sandwich chain in which he attributed his significant weight loss to healthy food options at Subway and walking. In July, police seized computers from Fogle’s home on suspicions related to child pornography. Subway cut ties with its spokesman (a statement from the company described the decision as mutual) and Fogle later made a deal with federal prosecutors in which he pled guilty to a count of conspiracy to receive child pornography and one count of traveling to engage in sex with a minor. He received a sentence of more than 15 years.
Martin Shkreli
The 32-year pharma hot shot has had a wild couple of months. After raising the price of toxoplasmosis treatment Daraprim 5,000%, Shkreli was referred to as “the most hated man in America” by the BBC. In early December he was arrested on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud (he pled not guilty and was released on $5 million bail) resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, and was dropped from his CEO post by drugmaker KaloBios.
Jeff Smisek
The former chairman, president, CEO, and director of United Continental resigned from his position in September. Smisek and several other executives left in connection to a federal investigation that alleges the airline added a non-stop twice-weekly flight from Newark Airport to Columbia, South Carolina, the airport nearest to the vacation home of former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman David Samson.
Brian Williams
The long-time anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News was suspended without pay in February following allegations that he misrepresented his experiences while reporting on the war in Iraq. Most significantly, Williams had claimed that the Army helicopter on which he had been traveling had come under fire. Claims he made in relation to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hurricane Katrina, and the Arab Spring were also called into question. In June Lester Holt officially took over as anchor of Nightly News, and Williams was reassigned to breaking news coverage on MSNBC. In an interview with Matt Lauer, Williams apologized and stated, "I said things that weren't true."
Martin Winterkorn
The former Volkswagen chief resigned in September, following the news that the company had used "a software trick to make its diesel-powered vehicles seem cleaner than they are." In a statement, Winterkorn said that the company needed a "fresh start," and that he was "clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation."
Readers: Who else struck out in 2015? Tell us in the comments!
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10f78cffb685929e289016c33fb32dea | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2016/03/09/the-best-paying-jobs-for-women-in-2016/ | The Best-Paying Jobs For Women In 2016 | The Best-Paying Jobs For Women In 2016
Gallery: The 25 Best-Paying Jobs For Women Right Now 26 images View gallery
Careers in technology and healthcare dominate this year's installment of Forbes' annual ranking of the best-paying jobs for women.
To determine which professions are paying women the most, Forbes analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracking the median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in 2015, broken down by gender and occupation. Each of these jobs pays median weekly wages of $1,148 or greater, resulting in median yearly earnings just shy of $60,000.
The occupations that appear on this year's list currently have at least 50,000 total workers, meaning that some roles that joined this list in previous years--nurse anesthetist, for example, and upholsterer--were not considered. And while compensation in every occupation varies between jobs, employers, and markets, this list provides a snapshot of the types of positions offering women the strongest compensation.
Topping the list of the best-paying jobs for women this year is a role that won't surprise anyone: Chief executive. In 2015 women accounted for just over 27% of workers with this job title, earning median weekly wages of $1,836, or approximately $95,472 per year.
In pictures: The 25 Best-Paying Jobs For Women Right Now
Up next are pharmacists. Women in these roles bring in median weekly wages of $1,811. In fact, several jobs associated with healthcare and wellness make their way into these ranks. Nurse practitioners take fifth place on this list with median weekly earnings of $1,522, and physical therapists come in 18th with weekly wages of $1,215.
Occupational therapists make the list, as do psychologists, medical and health services managers, and speech-language pathologists.
As in previous years, STEM professions--those associated with science, technology, engineering, and math--also make a strong showing on this list. "Engineer, all other," a role classified by the BLS as all engineers not listed specifically by discipline takes sixth place with median weekly earnings just under $1,500.
Software developers focused on applications and systems make the list, as do computer programmers, and computer systems analysts.
And while healthcare and STEM occupations dominate the list, a few familiar professions maintain their ground as well. Lawyers come in third. Women make up nearly 40% of this field, which provides median weekly earnings of $1,717. Human resource managers also make the cut--women account for a staggering 85.2% of workers with this job title.
Management analysts, marketing and sales managers, and producers and directors--a field of which women account for 44.2%--also make the list.
To view the full list of The 25 Best-Paying Jobs For Women Right Now, click here.
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83e676e545d1430f1578b9c36e29278c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2016/03/23/thinking-outside-the-corner-office/ | Thinking Outside The Corner Office | Thinking Outside The Corner Office
In an industry where a private office flush with glass plaques and deal mementos is the ultimate sign of success, commercial real estate firm CBRE gambled on a new strategy that hinged on concepts workers tend to hate. Employees seem to love it—but more importantly, clients are begging for it.
A visitor who steps off the elevator at CBRE’s lauded downtown Los Angeles global headquarters hoping to find the kind of office theatrics tech headliners are known—and derided—for will be disappointed. Though the office has garnered attention for its innovative design, there aren’t any foosball tables. There aren’t any beanbag chairs, either, or taps serving craft beer, or hallways inexplicably lit in neon colors.
There are notes of the exceptional—a sweeping view of the Santa Monica Mountains spans the entire western side of the building, more than one thousand plants flourish throughout the two floors occupied by the company, and a mural by local graffiti impresario Augustine Kofie fills a 6,000 square foot wall. A circadian lighting system adjusts to coordinate with the natural light available on a given day.
Gallery: America's Best Financial Services Employers 2016 20 images View gallery
But this office, whose design has drawn more than 200,000 curious visitors since it opened, looks like, well, an office. It’s spacious, quiet, conspicuously devoid of clutter, and well-lit. It’s primarily filled with people doing their jobs.
Herein lies the secret. When CBRE, which claims 15th place on this year’s list of America’s Best Employers, set out to build an office that would make their workers happier and more efficient, an office they could replicate for clients, they didn’t install slides or nap rooms. Instead, they focused on what key changes would make their employees more effective, investing in the tools they would need to be more efficient and endeavoring to save space without creating the feeling of density.
In the process, they modernized their business and developed a tested model for a refreshing, gimmick-free office that clients can’t get enough of.
More On Forbes: Ongoing Coverage of Best Employers 2016 Employees across the U.S. are in the best position to say which companies and organizations are offering the strongest opportunities—so we asked them.
Three years ago the $11 billion (2015 revenues) company’s headquarters occupied what Lewis C. Horne, CBRE’s president of greater Los Angeles and Orange County, describes as “the quintessential traditional space.” It didn’t have Wi-Fi, file cabinets brimmed with decades of deal notes, and competition for prestige offices was fierce. The space was also inflexible, with no room to adapt for a growing headcount.
Horne had been tasked with locating a new home for the corporate headquarters and shaking up the company’s stodgy working environment. But there was little enthusiasm among employees, and Horne himself was skeptical.
“People were saying, ‘Look if this is just about cost containment or a company initiative, we’re not interested,’” says Horne, meticulously dressed with a square jaw and steely hair.
Uninspired by the workplaces of California, Horne took a group of executives to Amsterdam, where CBRE had an office that had introduced some of the concepts he wanted to see. (“I told Lew I’d go along as long as I could come back and tell everybody I didn’t like it,” John D. Zanetos, a senior vice president who had an office at the time, told me.)
What Horne saw at the company’s Dutch office impressed him. The space was efficient, clean, and modern, but not antiseptic. There were areas for both collaboration and focused work. The employees seemed energized and cooperative. Even better, management estimated that 85% of new client inquiries at that office were coming from companies looking to model the workplace CBRE had built for itself—up from a previous zero.
“Two years ago, you could show up with a client, show them space, find the right location, prestigious building—you could make a deal,” says Horne. “Today, if you’re not talking about workplace strategy, and incorporating things like technology or wellness into your space, you’re at a disadvantage."
He returned to California with a plan to build an office that would make employees more efficient and serve as the ultimate case study. Horne led the charge, vacating his office, taking over the desk previously occupied by his assistant, and recycling decades of notes and documents. The process of digitizing just his remaining files melted the company server.
Creating a digital record from decades of company files wasn’t the only challenge this new office plan, dubbed “Workplace 360”, was facing. Even as open plans, so-called “hot desking,” and moratoriums on printing garner buzz among the workplace intelligentsia, resistance among employees across industries prevails and the expectation of personal space in one's professional has been a tough one for even companies like Facebook and Microsoft to combat.
This new initiative would force employees to forfeit plush personal offices and move their desk photos to a locker at the end of the day--it would have to offer them a noticeably improved quality of work and life in return.
Technology became the foundation that enabled concepts like “free addressing”—unassigned desks that employees changed every day. An employees’ digital records are available to them anywhere from the workstation they choose that morning to their smartphone. Everyone is equipped with an earpiece so if a phonecall turns proprietary, an employee can leave their desk and move to a private space without interrupting the conversation.
Office tour: Inside CBRE's Better, Faster, Cheaper Office
Tech support was no longer sequestered to an unseen corner. Instead, an IT staffer modeled on Apple ’s Genius Bar wandered the office continually, not only ensuring that everything functioned properly but also answering tech-related questions as they arose throughout the day, like how to create a pivot table in Excel.
A seven-screen Liquid Galaxy allows an employee to take a client on an aerial tour anywhere in the world, hone in on a building, and drop down for a virtual site tour. It’s a capability that’s proven equally useful helping companies imagine their new office in China, or taking a client on multiple “site visits” across Los Angeles without weathering traffic patterns.
In response to employee concerns about germs (Who, after all, wants to spend Tuesday at a desk occupied by someone with an obvious sinus infection on Monday?), desks and conference tables were coated with an antimicrobial material. Each night, an infrared light is passed over every surface, killing any remaining threats.
Even the dreaded paperless-ness is far less draconian than the term would suggest, focusing less on never printing anything and more on not saving everything. It’s fully expected that employees will print documents, they just can’t leave them in piles at the end of the day or store them for five years.
Unassigned ergonomic workstations are kept clutter-free and can be adjusted for standing (left) or... [+] sitting.
Now, 245 people occupy 48,000 square feet, whereas 191 people required 61,000 square feet before. Space per person is just under 200 square feet, down from 319, and 300 file drawers—many of them empty—now take the place of 1,500.
Though the initial cost per square foot of building such an office is about 20% higher (mostly due to technology costs), the company estimates savings in its Downtown L.A. location at an annual 30%, roughly $11 per square foot or half a million dollars each year.
An internal survey taken one year after the office opened found 83% of employees felt more productive, 86% felt they had access to private space when necessary, and 90% would not return to their previous office format. Most compelling: 100% reported client interest in the new work format.
One tale of an employee unwilling to adapt prevails—that of the broker who, forced to vacate his office after four decades with the company continually camped in one workstation, tucked in a corner. His coworkers noticed, and began taking turns nabbing that desk before he arrived, an example, managers say, of the system policing itself. (He’s still with the company.)
And after an acquisition or when branches are combined, there’s no uncomfortable forced relocations or jockeying for the bigger office—there isn’t one.
“I’m in my mid-50s. I’m used to the status of an office," says Horne. "Who’s in the corner? That’s the boss. But all of that goes away and you just become a much more egalitarian system, period, just by the way you’re working.”
Three months after the doors opened at CBRE’s downtown LA office, a freak occurrence threatened the whole operation. The building’s sprinkler system malfunctioned, sending a geyser of water shooting out of a pipe on the top floor. Pressurized water gushed into CBRE’s office for nine minutes, flooding both floors with three inches of water almost immediately and destroying flooring, drywall, insulation, and all of the office’s brand new technology.
That was on Friday. By Monday, the office’s nearly-200 employees were all up and running from their homes or other LA-area CBRE offices with full access to anything they would have had at their desks. Full office repairs took weeks, but clients were unaware there had been any interruption. Even better, there were no lost paper records to be concerned with.
“There were people down there that kind of wanted to see this whole [program] fail,” says Lynn Knox, a vice president and 19-year CBRE veteran who once had a private office but now works address-free. “There were some brokers that really weren’t sure this was the way to go. And in some ways it was like, ‘Told you so!’ We were up and running in 24 hours.”
Since the new global headquarters opened, 30 CBRE offices across the U.S. and around the world have converted to similar designs, and 19 more are under construction. In January, the newest such location opened in Glendale, California, about 10 miles north of Los Angeles. The property is referred to as “The Temple”—the building was constructed in 1929 by Masons—and the nickname fits. Floor-to-ceiling windows on every side of the building provide panoramic views and original wooden trusses create an airy loft that combines work and event spaces.
CBRE Glendale, California.
The landlord is billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso, known primarily for landmark southern California shopping centers like The Grove.
Caruso enticed the company to a location about seven miles east of where they wanted to be (an eternity, measured in L.A. traffic) with the promise of a gold star concierge service that would handle anything an employee might need to accomplish in their post-work “second shift”—everything from dropping off dry cleaning to planning a vacation.
More On Forbes: Ongoing Coverage of Best Employers 2016 Employees across the U.S. are in the best position to say which companies and organizations are offering the strongest opportunities—so we asked them.
Employees at every level are encouraged to use the service for themselves and clients, and Horne receives a report each week detailing tasks completed by the concierge translating into hours saved for employees (currently, about 40 hours each week, office-wide).
The office is the company’s first “adaptive reuse”—in which an an old building is converted for new purposes while preserving its architecture—and it plans to use the design and the concierge service to show clients what can be achieved with a quirky property in an unexpected location.
“We’re able to say to our clients, ‘This is where we made the mistakes,’” says Horne. “What we’re saying is 'Come and see how we live.'”
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fe9f7261b0129502f4f53c10853db2b7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2016/06/24/how-to-clear-your-mind-and-your-inbox-and-actually-take-a-vacation-3/ | How To Clear Your Mind And Your Inbox And Actually Take A Vacation | How To Clear Your Mind And Your Inbox And Actually Take A Vacation
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Paid vacation time is one of the most prized forms of professional compensation. So why are we so bad at taking advantage of it?
A survey by travel industry organization Project: Time Off found that Americans took 16.2 vacation days in 2015, and 55 % left vacation days unused. The grand total of those unused days? 658 million. It's staggering, but it's also understandable--the tasks keep coming, the emails pour in, and the prospect of going away and letting it all build up only to engulf you upon return seems hardly worth it.
But even as smartphones and increasingly powerful WiFi keep us tethered to the office no matter how far away we may physically roam, managers and their employees alike are realizing the importance of taking time to repair and recharge. Whether this Fourth of July will be your first long weekend at a new job or you're capitalizing on the holiday to take those two full weeks you've been saving up for a big trip, here are a few simple guidelines that can help you head out the door with a clear conscience--and desk.
Gallery: How To Clear Your Mind And Your Inbox And Actually Take A Vacation 6 images View gallery
Got your flights? Then it's time to start planning your workflow, too.
You wouldn't put off buying your plane tickets until the last minute, so why leave the work prep until the eleventh hour? Laura Vanderkam, author of I Know How She Does It: How Successful Woman Make the Most of Their Time, recommends beginning to lay vacation groundwork at least two weeks in advance, identifying what you know must be accomplished for the week you're away and parceling it out over the intervening time.
"Make a list that is the things that absolutely have to happen during that week and that absolutely have to be done by you," says Vanderkam. "Presumably, that list is going to be relatively short. Put yourself on a sustainable schedule."
Productivity consultant and author of Never Check Email In The Morning Julie Morgenstern stresses that when making that list, it's important to stay focused. This is not the time to get a jump on new projects or dream up things to add to the heap.
"Forget the backlog, forget looking ahead," says Morgenstern. "What are my core functions? Make a list of those first."
Use an upcoming vacation as the incentive you need to finally cross things off your list.
Everyone has backlog--new projects take shape and demand attention and the items loitering at the bottom of the to do list get moved further and further down, no closer to being completed.
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Though it's important to stay focused on what belongs on your vacation to do list and what can wait, the time before a break can be the perfect window to eliminate things that have been lingering. They'll be that much older when you get back, and a new crop of unfinished tasks will have emerged in the time you were away. Vanderkam estimate the average backlog of white-collar workers at 30 hours--that's three or four work days of nagging, unfinished projects.
"The deadline of leaving is the thing that’s finally going to motivate you to get it done. The stuff that gets on your backlog is usually big and intimidating, anything that takes deep, concentrated, uninterrupted time to get done."
She says the tasks that languish in backlog purgatory are usually from opposite ends of the priority spectrum, for example, that writing project that's going to require several hours of uninterrupted concentration, and that pile of month-old cab receipts that need to be expensed.
"Look through those things and see which is going to give you the highest value before you go. 'If I run out of time'—which you will—'what am I going to feel the greatest relief having gotten done?'"
Is there something you know you'll never finish, no matter the time available? Delegate it--or delete it for good.
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Agree on your out of office accessibility before you've zipped your suitcase.
While many professionals feel a 100% vacation disconnect is ideal for physical and mental restoration, Morgenstern says it's not the end of the world if you have to be in communication--as long as you and your manager determine in advance what that means.
"Go to your boss and say, 'Here’s my plan, will you sign off on this? Is there anything you feel you really need me accessible for?' And then agree on how you'll check in about that."
An agreed-upon 15-minute phonecall or plan for how to check-in in case of a crisis doesn't have to ruin your time away, as long as boundaries are set before you find yourself on a poolside conference call.
Email does not get its own lounge chair on your vacation.
To check or not to check, that is the question. Feelings on how to stem the tide of vacation email so that checking it doesn't ruin your time away but being buried by it doesn't destroy your post-vacation high vary. Vanderkam recommends doing a quick assessment of your email strengths and weaknesses and setting some steadfast parameters before opening the floodgates even a notch.
"If you think you can keep it under control, and it will make you less stressed, you can carve out a little bit of time. It could be that you get up before your family three mornings during the week and spend half an hour looking at email, and then you disconnect for the next 48 hours."
But, she warns, a set-up like that will only be beneficial to someone who can stick to the rules.
"If you don’t think you’ll be able to control it, if you know it’s going to upset you or if your family has strong feelings against you doing that, it’s probably not worth it."
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The time to start building vacation karma is now.
Most professionals get by with a little help from their friends--or in this case, their coworkers. Once you've made that list of things that have to happen and planned for the ones you can accomplish in advance, it's time to seek the aid of the other people on your team.
"Hopefully you've helped out a colleague here or there in the past with their vacation and you have some chips you can call in to have people handle a few things that could wind up on your list, but don’t have to," says Vanderkam. "If you've been good about making sure that nothing reached them during vacation, hopefully they’ll do the same for you. "
This is an update of a piece that ran previously.
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53a0816aff241c49626a9081f7c4782b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryntully/2012/12/19/tips-for-treasure-seekers/ | Antique and Vintage Furniture: Tips For Treasure Seekers | Antique and Vintage Furniture: Tips For Treasure Seekers
Gallery: Antiques Roadshow: Investing In Antique Furniture 6 images View gallery
The enduring popularity of TV shows where individuals unearth hidden treasures in their house or their attic or at a flea market has certainly raised people's awareness of the importance and value of antique or vintage furniture. But is this really an area where furniture buyers today can typically make money should they choose to sell?
Karen Keane with the owner of one of the earliest pieces of American furniture, a table dated around... [+] 1690, during the upcoming season of the Antiques Roadshow. (Image credit: Jeffrey Dunn)
According to Karen Keane, CEO of Skinner auction house and an appraiser on the Antiques Roadshow, the top tier of the market will increase in value. But she points out that the market goes up and down, like any other, tastes change and prices for even the most prized furniture makers fluctuate. People tend to buy furniture for the long term anyway, because they want something beautiful, individual or historically important in their home, but they need to keep items for anywhere between 10 and 25 years before they see meaningful price appreciation.
“You can't time this market in the short term,” she says. “For example, mid-century modern furniture, which has been the darling of the auction world for the last decade or so, has softened. You are not seeing these crazy prices for furniture makers like George Nakashima anymore, but he will remain a blue-chip name in American furniture in the future, regardless of the vagaries of the market right now.”
One area where Keane says that interest is increasing is in edgier American craft pieces from the 1980s. “These sort of works are now reemerging in the secondary marketplace. Quite often, things that were made 10 or 20 years ago often fall out of favor, but there's almost a generational shift. After 30 years, people start to reconsider things.”
When people are making a purchase, Keane says that style, quality and condition are very important, particularly in the American market. “The American furniture market is much less forgiving about condition, for example, than the market for eighteenth century European furniture is,” she says. “Also, the closer you can get to the original finish of a piece, the better. Perfect original condition still brings a premium.”
Checking the provenance of furniture and verifying who made the piece independently is also important, particularly since throughout history, lots of furniture makers have imitated the style of particularly notable craftsmen.
Keane says that some people that come along to Antiques Roadshow recordings have consciously purchased items with an eye on their potential value. In a market where figuring out the right price to pay is challenging, and dealer and auction house commissions can be steep, some have gone badly wrong. One collector found out the hard way that what they thought was a Chippendale chair, purchased for thousands of dollars, was actually an English chair of the same era, worth only a few hundred dollars. However, another discovered that a folk art wardrobe purchased 25 years ago for $300 was now worth $8,000 to $20,000. See the slide show above for more of these stories.
Keane says that just as many people have had specific pieces of furniture in their family for generations and have no intention of selling, while others still have no idea of the value of the furniture they own. She gives the example of a 1690s Massachusetts gate-leg table that she appraised for $10,000 on the new season of the Antiques Roadshow, beginning in January.
“The folks that owned it really had no idea how early the piece was or that it is some of the first furniture that was made in the United States in the William and Mary period. For me, it's those stories that shed light on who we were as a people that make the objects come alive.”
* In the US, a new season of the Antiques Roadshow begins on PBS on Monday January 7 2013 at 8/7C.
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6d289ef595f8ea8b2ef8c3e69a638248 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryntully/2013/05/14/leonardo-dicaprios-charity-auction-raises-38m-to-fund-global-conservation/ | Leonardo DiCaprio's Charity Auction Raises $38M To Fund Global Conservation | Leonardo DiCaprio's Charity Auction Raises $38M To Fund Global Conservation
Leonardo DiCaprio's foundation raised $38m to fund global conservation projects at Christie's last... [+] night. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are times when you despair about the art market's fixation with the price of art, rather than the art itself, but last night everyone was celebrating the huge amount of cash raised at a contemporary art auction to benefit the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation at Christie's in New York. All the proceeds will directly fund global conservation projects to create sanctuaries and protect natural habitats to save endangered species from extinction.
The sale of 33 art works that DiCaprio had persuaded artists to donate or create especially for the 11th Hour Action raised $31.7 million on the night, blowing away all the pre-sale estimates and setting 13 new price records for artists at auction. Once donations to the foundation from collectors were included, including a $5 million donation for big cat conservation, the grand total came to $38.8 million, minus Christie's reduced buyers premium for the night of 5%.
Buyers registered from 33 different countries for the auction, where every lot sold, most of them for way over the estimate. That made it the most valuable charity auction to support conservation projects, which is important, because as DiCaprio mentioned in his opening speech, less than 2% of philanthropic dollars globally support conservation projects, despite the fact that 140,000 animal and plant species are becoming extinct every year, which is 10,000 times the historic extinction rate.
"We are facing a tipping point of environmental crisis unprecedented in human history and our very survival is dependent on protecting nature," he said. "There are less than 3,200 tigers left in the wild, we've lost 90% of the world's sharks, and it looks like we might lose the African elephant entirely in the next 10 years if we don't take action."
On one level, it was kind of inevitable the sale would attract a lot of interest. Christie's auction room was a celebrity magnet for the night, which brought in a crowd of young buyers. DiCaprio was there, along with his friend and Gatsby co-star Tobey Maguire, who successfully bid for Rob Pruitt's 6.20pm, late Summer, depicting a panda, for $300,000, and for Sergej Jensen's untitled work made from sewn money bags for $250,000, earning him a round of applause and a slap on the back from DiCaprio. Salma Hayek and Mark Ruffalo were among the others that turned up.
But the success was also down to a lot of work from DiCaprio himself, a committed environmentalist, who not only persuaded artists to contribute and a number of collectors to donate works, but also spent the last few days in Christie's offices calling clients and asking them to bid.
It obviously paid off, with bidders in such a frenzy that the general auction house rules were thrown out of the window. Opening the bidding for SP231 by Sterling Ruby, Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkannen said, "I've got 19 telephone bidders for this, but I want to sell it to someone in the room." "$1 million!" yelled out a super-tanned man, who apparently is pharmaceutical mogul Stewart Rahr. SP231 eventually sold to someone else for $1.7 million, setting a new record for the artist, but Rahr still went home with an Elizabeth Peyton portrait of DiCaprio for $1 million and Robert Longo's Untitled (Leo), a charcoal drawing of a tiger for $1.5 million, setting new auction records for both those artists.
DiCaprio bought Monokome for $700,000, a specially commissioned work by Takashi Murakami, for which DiCaprio had suggested some of the animal motifs. Meanwhile, dealer Larry Gagosian took home the most expensive lot of the night, paying $6.2 million for an intricately beautiful multi-colored Mark Grotjahn painting that was estimated to fetch $1.5 million to $2.5 million, setting a new world record price for Grotjahn at auction.
New record prices were also set for Carol Bove, Joe Bradley, Dan Colen, Sergej Jensen, Bharti Kher, Rob Pruitt, Adam McEwen and Raymond Pettibon. The sale of each lot brought a round of applause and bidding was so competitive that Pylkannen took time out half way though the sale of Joe Bradley's painting Muggles to jokingly scold DiCaprio. "Err, are you bidding? This is an auction. You don't wave at your friends, Leo."
Nevertheless, the monetary value of the art was put into perspective by the importance of the cause. "We have to start looking at the planet in the same way we look at fine art as something of value that we can protect and preserve for our children and our grandchildren," said DiCaprio at the beginning of the sale, tacitly acknowledging that the voices pleading for conservation are often drowned out in the U.S. today. "I want you to bid as if the fate of the planet depends on us." And for once, they did.
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Gallery: Leonardo Dicaprio 50 images View gallery
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68ecee2543139e1646c29c2125bdc5c7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryntully/2014/06/25/jeff-koonss-whitney-retrospective-expensive-art-is-important-art/ | Jeff Koons's Whitney Retrospective: Expensive Art Is Important Art | Jeff Koons's Whitney Retrospective: Expensive Art Is Important Art
The narrative that is emerging about about Jeff Koons's retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Art, which opens this Friday, is already abundantly clear: just look at how expensive this all is.
The press coverage so far reminds us that Koons set a price record for any living artist when his Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for $58.4 million at Christie's last November, that auction sales of his work this year are stronger than ever and that the shipping, installation and insurance costs for this exhibition make it the most expensive ever staged at the Whitney.
The subhead to The Wall Street Journal's preview of the retrospective is "A look at what makes Jeff Koons the most expensive living artist at auction", suggesting the show is a simple vindication of this fact. Meanwhile, the edited quote from The New York Times that the museum uses to describe the exhibition on its own website doesn't even question why Jeff Koons's art is so expensive; the indisputable fact that it is is enough of a sell:
"At 59, Mr. Koons may be one of the most famous living artists around–and the most expensive at auction...But this will be the first time American audiences will see the sweep of his more than three-decade career in one gulp, 1978 to present."
In short: Jeff Koons is famous and his art is expensive, so come and see it.
Jeff Koons: Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988. (Image source: Jeff Koons, Whitney)
For museums, this is an increasingly common approach, whether they admit to it or not. The conventional wisdom is that museum retrospectives can reinvigorate the market for an artist's work and that museum curators are the visionaries that the art market follows. Today, though, for post-war and contemporary artists at least, more museums are following the market and exhibiting its current stars that make the headlines, are widely collected by their patrons, favored by sponsors or sure to arouse public curiosity and secure record attendance for their shows.
That's financially beneficial for both museums and art market players: museums sell more tickets and private collectors lending art works to high-profile museum shows can sell them in the glow of good publicity, sometimes, as with Christopher Wool's Apocalypse Now that was to be included in his Guggenheim retrospective last year, before the exhibition has even started.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs for the 99.9% of artists that have not been annointed by the market, though. This retrospective may encourage visitors to delve into the relationship between art and consumerism in Koons's work or question the aesthetic value of the art produced by the contemporary art market's king of the moment, but the prevailing message to the public is loud and clear: art that is currently expensive is important and worthy of our attention.
That's not too far removed from the art market commentators who argue that art prices determined by a faddish and ever-changing market are a useful measure of art's cultural or aesthetic worth and that's a real shame for all of us.
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7b1bcca5c6934ffb22f212019c9b6125 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2011/09/29/9-initiatives-employers-must-take-to-support-womens-success/ | 9 Initiatives Employers Must Take to Support Women's Success | 9 Initiatives Employers Must Take to Support Women's Success
Anyone who studies trends in corporate America knows that women in the workforce now have greater access to professional prowess, authority and influence than ever before. But if you work behind the scenes and in the trenches, you see an entirely different picture. These emerging opportunities are matched by huge obstacles. And so many thousands of U.S. employers are clueless as to how to help women overcome these challenges. They pay lip service to diversity, but don't take real action to support it.
12 hidden crises working women face
My research reveals that nine of 10 professional women today are facing at least one of 12 “hidden” crises, and over half don’t know what to do about it. Those who have had a professional crisis know that this experience is far more than a “tough time.” It’s a no-turning-back situation—one that demands a reckoning and reevaluation.
So how do women know when they’ve reached that point?
When they frequently find themselves saying, “I can’t do this!”— the desperate cry, or negative mantra, of work-life crisis—and consistently have deep-down feelings of disempowerment, they are likely experiencing one or more of 12 hidden crises.
Among the most common crises:
Struggling to balance life and work
Trying—and failing—to balance it all, and feeling like they’re letting down everyone and everything that matters most
The mantra: “I can’t balance my life and work.”
Suffering from chronic health problems
Failing health—chronic depression, exhaustion, debilitation or a serious ongoing illness or ailment that won’t respond to treatment
The mantra: “I can’t overcome my heath problems.”
Losing their “voice”
Contending with a crippling inability to speak up—unable to be an advocate for themselves or others, for fear of criticism, rejection, or punishment
The mantra: “I can’t speak up for myself.”
Facing mistreatment
Being treated badly, or even discriminated against — and not taking action
The mantra: “I can’t stop this mistreatment.”
Being trapped by financial fears
Remaining in a highly negative situation solely because of money
The mantra: “I can’t get out of this financial trap.”
Wasting talents and skills
Realizing their work doesn’t fit and desperately wanting to apply their talents and abilities in a new direction that excites them.
The mantra: “I can’t use my real talents.”
What employers must do to support women's success
The traditional, linear competitive career model has been incredibly slow to recognize and embrace women’s differences, and to open the door to new work cultures that work for a majority of women. Despite the progress some corporations have made, the long-standing model in many organizations still doesn’t work for a critical mass of women.
How can organizations reform this model?
Change will come only when organizations expand the model with new thinking and initiatives that truly meet women's authentic needs, values and priorities.
Here are nine core initiatives that employers must engage in to support women's success:
1. Embrace women as women.
An abundance of workplace research shows how and why women differ from men and contribute in unique and indispensable ways. Undeniably, women have distinct values and priorities, needs and wants, styles and approaches. Recent studies show that men and women even have unique physiological reactions to crisis and stress, and companies are best served when there is a balanced representation of both genders in leadership roles.
2. Foster support.
Develop an internal support system for women. Create a woman-to-woman mentoring or diversity program, sponsor new community-building programs, and initiate an ongoing forum for women to connect, share, and collaborate. Essentially, encourage women to come together—formally and informally, face-to-face and online—to address challenges and opportunities, seek advice, and celebrate individual and collective successes.
3. Train for growth and expansion.
Commit to training and development. Help women build new hard and soft skills through formal training programs and, wherever possible, one-on-one executive or leadership coaching. Provide regular access to internal and external seminars, and promote women’s involvement in “stretch” assignments. Encourage women to get out of their comfort zones and reach out to put themselves on new projects and teams—including special task forces—to broaden their distinguishing gifts, talents, and abilities.
4. Focus on flexibility.
Women have a need for flexibility that is bona fide and fundamental. In consideration of weighty realities such as childcare and eldercare, implement new programs, policies, and procedures that foster optimal flexibility—telecommuting, flextime, job sharing, part-time offerings, and more. Additionally, institute incentives and rewards that go beyond the traditional framework of money and power. Ask women what they really want (conduct focus groups, surveys, etc.) at the workplace, and LISTEN. Work to incorporate those incentives into the company’s recognition and reward programs.
5. Expand the options.
Grow the options for how women can contribute over the arc of their careers. Recognize the fluid nature of women’s priorities, and consider differing career paths and trajectories—up, down, and across. Experiment with a variety of options—all providing unique opportunities for “on-ramping” and “off-ramping” as women’s lives and priorities shift at home and on the job.
6. Encourage work-life balance.
Women are increasingly beleaguered as they try, and fail, at balancing work and life. Research continues to show that working women, even as sole breadwinners, are still shouldering the majority of domestic responsibilities at home. Companies, in response, must be champions for work-life balance and wellness for women—offering internal resources and outside referrals to programs focused on striving for balance, pursuing a healthy lifestyle, and managing stress.
7. Empower leaders to “walk the talk.”
Years ago, as a corporate VP in a large national marketing firm, I was “put down” by the head of HR for my choice to take a week off to move my family, including my husband and our two small children, to another city. This HR leader said to me, “I moved to another town with my kids last month and only took a half day off.” Criticizing my personal choice, as wife and mother, was a “less than” form of leadership—lacking a critical sense of empowerment, balance, and support to women. Worse, the source was at the helm of HR—and a woman.
8. Measure efficacy.
Programs that support women—attracting, engaging, and retaining strong and skilled female talent—are essential to organizational success. It’s one thing, however, to develop and implement those programs; it’s another thing to evaluate them against key business success measures or metrics – to make a strong business case for these initiatives. Commit to regularly assessing—quantitatively and qualitatively—how ongoing initiatives to support women impact business measures such as recruitment, retention, engagement, productivity, efficacy, wellness, and more.
9. Revise discriminatory policies and behaviors (including the “silent” ones).
Think about this – does our society want and need families? Of course. Are women the only gender who can bear children? Yes. Then it’s clear that if we penalize pregnant women and new mothers for taking time off to bear and raise children, then we are discriminating against women on the basis of biological differences. Don’t be fooled – it is indeed a form of discrimination to demote or downgrade a professional woman’s status or role because she has had a child and needs time to transition successfully back into her a professional identity.
Bottom line
Today, with a dramatically shifting workforce and do-or-die business environment, no employer can afford to ignore the unique needs and contributions of female talent. From the HR department to the executive suite to new diversity groups, organizations must answer the call to action and support women in unprecedented new ways.
How well does your employer support women's success in terms of these initiatives?
To build a more rewarding, successful career, visit kathycaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
https://www.credspark.com/quiz/career-success-for-women-key-issues
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252046d7ec06acacb8138ad5f04f83fa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2011/11/28/busting-the-myth-that-women-arent-as-ambitious-as-men/?feed=rss_home | Busting the Myth That Women Aren't As Ambitious as Men | Busting the Myth That Women Aren't As Ambitious as Men
Image by Jennifer Kumar via Flickr
I’ve heard over and over in the past several years reference to the idea that professional women aren’t as ambitious as men. Disappointingly, I even heard Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook (whom I admire) mention this reported “lack of ambition” in women on The Charlie Rose show recently. To Mr. Rose she declared, “Until women are ambitious as men, they’re not going to achieve as much as men.” There have been scores of articles written on the topic, including a 2004 Harvard Business Review piece, “Do Women Lack Ambition?”
As a very ambitious professional woman who supports the advancement of other ambitious women, I’m truly sick of this myth. I can tell you, from working with and speaking to thousands of professional women in the past eight years, it’s simply not accurate. Ambition is not the issue, and lack of ambition is NOT what holds women back. It’s the COST of ambition – and the struggle women face in pursuing their ambitions -- that is at the heart of why we have so few women leaders today, and why women are achieving less and not reaching as high as men in corporate America.
The more we support this incorrect conclusion, the more disservice we do to the advancement of women. Again, ambition is not the problem; it’s the enormous personal sacrifice women today must make (that men do not have to) in order to reach the top that halts women in their tracks. And it’s the reality that even when women stay on a traditional career path and do “all the right things” they are unlikely to advance as far or earn as much as their male counterparts (see Catalyst’s recent study The Myth of the Ideal Worker).
Only when we address the root problem that keeps women from their professional ambitions, will we pave the way to greater progress.
The Cultural Problem with Ambition
As an executive and leadership coach of hundreds of women each year, I know this: Women do indeed start out their careers with similar levels as men of wanting to be the best and the brightest in their fields. However, research studies that claim to examine women’s “ambition” as a term and a concept won’t reflect that, because of the complicated nuances and connotations of the word “ambition.”
A recent study from the Center for Work-Life Policy showed that at the start of their careers, 47% of young women claim to be “very ambitious” vs. 62% of young men. So we see a difference in self-reported “ambition levels” here even at the beginning of their careers. I hear from professional women each day that the term “ambitious” has negative connotations for them. Women shy away from using this term or claiming (or appearing) to be ambitious. They want to reach the top, but are reluctant to describe themselves as ambitious because they fear it will make them appear arrogant, power-hungry, self-absorbed, with a “win at all costs” mentality. Unfortunately, their fears are well-founded. Success and likability are positively correlated in men, and negatively correlated in women (see Sheryl Sandberg’s TEDTALK on why we have so few women leaders and the Heidi vs. Howard Roizen study at Columbia University). Women must worry about how ambition “looks” because appearing ambitious negatively impacts their success. Men do not face this challenge. On the contrary, it is culturally expected and honored for men pursue their highest goals and do what they can to reach their highest success.
But if we were to conduct solid, well-constructed research around the behaviors that make up “ambition” - mastery of a skill and desiring outward recognition for that mastery – we would see that an equal number of professional men and women start out their careers wanting to reach their highest potential and wanting recognition for their achievements.
What Gets in the Way of “Ambition” for Women
As women age, a bigger problem around “ambition” emerges. In corporate America today, pursuing ambitious goals and outcomes presents deeply challenging choices and personal sacrifices for women that it does not yet generate for men. Many more women have to sacrifice marriage and children in order to become top leaders, while men do not.
Per a 2010 study of the Center for Work-Life Policy, only 32% of women vs. 47% of men over 40 self-report to be “very ambitious.” Why? Because the personal and family sacrifices are too great for women to remain on their most ambitious track. The CWLP study showed that a full 41% of women who actually make it to the executive suite arrive without an intimate partner, and 40% arrive without children.
In a recent New York Times article A C.E.O.’s Support a ka Husband, the author cites a new study “The New C.E.Os,” that looks at women and minorities who are chief executives. The study reveals that of the 28 women C.E.O’s of Fortune 500 companies, only eighteen had children. That’s a far lower rate than the 87 percent of married women in the population at large who have children of their own, according to Census data.
The NYT article states:
“Statistics suggest that aspirants to America’s top corporate jobs had better have a spouse, partner or someone else willing to be devoted to the aspirant’s career. “How do you compete without a spouse? Basically, you can’t,” Richard Zweigenhaft said. Mr. Zweigenhaft is professor of psychology at Guilford College in North Carolina and the co-author (with G. William Domhoff) of “The New C.E.Os.”
My research bears this out as well. Unless women have a solid support network at home, rising to the top is riddled with insurmountable challenges.
What needs to change for women’s ambitions to be achievable?
Women have made far more headway in the workplace than at home. Women are still judged harshly and even “hated” when viewed as aggressive or highly successful in the workplace. And the pressure is still enormous on men to succeed at all costs. Only when our rigid gender roles shift allowing both women and men to honor their authentic choices and longings will we see a change in our current professional and leadership dynamic.
Women will surpass their current rate of 16% in senior corporate leadership in the U.S. only when:
- Our society stops putting men down for supporting their wives’ professional ascension (and staying home to care for their children if they choose)
- Women stop shying away from raising their hands for the most advancement-oriented and ambitious projects, goals and endeavors that will advance their careers
- Women grow more comfortable displaying behavioral and emotional characteristics of ambition
- Society grows more comfortable with highly successful women
- Both men and women shake off the rigid gender role limitations in place today
- Women stop having to pay a price of success in terms of being less accepted, liked, and supported, and having to sacrifice their family and personal lives
- Employers start listening to the facts about the current obstacles impeding women’s success, and take powerful, positive action to revise their work cultures
- And finally, both men and women gain more courage to do what it takes to live and work as they want to.
In the end, how can professional women reach the highest levels of corporate leadership?
Stay in the workforce. Stay true to both your personal and professional goals, and find a way to balance what you need and want most. Don’t buy into the myth that you’re not as ambitious as your male colleagues. You are. If you want to be the best in your field, commit to finding a way to honor what you care about most in your personal and professional life. If it’s not possible in your current work situation, find another that will support your advancement.
Make it happen. And ask your employer for effective leadership and executive support and training that will change your existing work culture, and modify how you and others think about women, men and ambition. It’s up to you.
What’s the biggest obstacle standing in the way of your ambition, and what are you doing about it?
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07702b6680a1a07cddec20a6025465e2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2011/12/15/top-4-reasons-why-most-career-dreams-fail-3/ | Top 4 Reasons Why Most Career Dreams Fail | Top 4 Reasons Why Most Career Dreams Fail
Every week, I interact with scores of highly functional, achievement-oriented professionals with fantastic gifts, talents and skills who have BIG career dreams. But despite their talent, intellect and enthusiasm for building an awesome career, many won’t get there, not even close.
In today’s challenging times, professionals are longing too to discover their “life purpose” – the one unifying theme they think will bring them the joy, fulfillment, and meaning they desperately yearn for. But a vast majority won’t be successful on that front either. Not for lack of trying or laziness -- but because they are looking in all the wrong places, and taking actions that propel them backward or sideways, but not forward.
Why do so many career dreams crash and burn?
I’ve observed four key behaviors that guarantee you won’t achieve your deepest career hopes and dreams.
Below are the top 4 behaviors that will kill your dreams:
1) You’re doing the WRONG things to get what you want
The vast majority of professionals today can’t identify what they really want to create and achieve in their lives. They’re in the dark about themselves and their deepest longings.
But there are some people who DO know what they want, and can articulate it clearly, with passion.
Unfortunately, among those who are clear, many aren’t taking the right steps to get there.
Here’s an example: I know hundreds of stressed-out, overwhelmed corporate women who long for more balance, control and flexibility. Suddenly, in a desperate hunt for a new way to work, they embrace the belief that chucking their corporate life and launching an entrepreneurial venture will be the answer to their prayers. The problem is, an entrepreneurial life is not suited to everyone, and is certainly no antidote for work-life imbalance.
What they don’t understand is that there are certain core values, mindsets, traits, and behaviors essential for entrepreneurial success (see Michael Gerber’s book E-Myth Revisited about why so many small businesses fail). It takes an amazing amount of effort, skill, know-how, leadership talent and vision to make it work. Going into business for yourself just to get more work-life balance is the wrong move. Other motivators and factors have to be in the mix, or your business will fail (see the harsh data on small business failure rates).
In the end, thousands of professionals choose the wrong “form” of work in an attempt fulfill the right “essence” of what they want. They know what they want, but have taken a misguided path to get it. Then, after crushing failure, they give up and stop moving forward.
2) You quit too early
You and I know hundreds of people who have deep longings to contribute to the world in powerful ways. The problem is, they want to contribute at this level NOW. They’re impatient for the reward and want it yesterday, without making the commitment.
People who have risen to the top of their field and are making a large contribution in the world, by and large have worked for many years to refine their craft, perfect their messages, amass knowledge and expertise, and close their gaps. They have demonstrated intensive long-term commitment and incredible courage – walking through walls of fear and resistance to make the impact they want to.
If immediate gratification is what you want or expect, you’ll give up and turn back long before you arrive at your destination.
3) You’ve confused a career with a “calling”
A job and a calling are very different. They require different things of us. Many people think their career dream is to have a “calling” and they yearn for that. What they don’t know is that a calling is a vision so compelling that you can’t stop yourself from wrapping your entire identity around it (even if you don’t want to), even to the detriment of your bank account, your relationships and your health.
People romanticize about a calling, just as they idealize “love.” A calling is not something that you choose – it chooses you. And when it does, it exacts a large price.
Neither a job or a calling are better than the other; they’re just different. There are costs and benefits to both. But you can’t fabricate a calling out of thin air, so longing for one is a fruitless endeavor.
The key to creating a fulfilling career is to find the right path for you that makes you feel passionate, powerful and purposeful, and motivates you to be all you can be. Stop wishing for what others have, and start creating the best version of you -- your authentic self.
4) You’re too scared to stretch big enough
Finally, the biggest obstacle in the way of achieving large career dreams is an unwillingness to do the internal and external “stretching” necessary to get you where you want to go. The stark reality is that you can’t go from Point A to Point Z without transforming yourself. To have a fantastic career, you have to continually stretch and expand yourself far beyond your comfort zone and learn to walk directly into experiences that would scare the “old you” to death.
You can’t be a thought leader without doing the intimidating work of being on the leading edge with your thoughts. You can’t be a moving public speaker if you shy away from using your voice authentically. You’ve got to do the work of expansion.
To achieve big career dreams you also have to overcome your resistance around getting help. Many are deeply afraid of looking foolish or exposing their vulnerability. Or they simply refuse to invest in themselves (financially or otherwise) to grow. But you can’t do great things in a vacuum, all by yourself, without support.
If you long for the validation, recognition, respect, power, and self-esteem that come from an amazing career, then you have to earn them, by stretching yourself beyond what you thought possible and wrestling down your fears and looking your demons squarely in the eyes.
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For the record, I believe wholeheartedly in dreaming BIG and having expansive career visions. I wouldn’t have reinvented my career successfully without them. But if you want to achieve your highest career goals, don’t make these mistakes. Do what it takes to reach your goals in a planful, realistic and committed way. Don’t be fooled about the energy and effort it will take. Remember – a fantastic career takes fantastic risk.
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f4c62b06b99973cb66ca29975c1f1bb7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2012/03/07/when-career-coaching-is-a-waste-of-your-money/ | When Career Coaching Is A Waste Of Your Money | When Career Coaching Is A Waste Of Your Money
Recently, I heard from a distraught woman in another state who shared with me a story about a career coach she hired this year. After several months and hundreds of dollars, this coach was, in the end, of zero help to her. I have to say, if I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it one hundred times.
The coach had her take a battery of expensive assessment tests, and the results showed that she was in the "perfect job" for her. The problem is, she’s miserable in this profession of 30 years, and wants out for a variety of well-founded reasons. He also told her that due to her age (she’s in late midlife), she’ll have a very hard time reinventing and finding a new job. Wow, thanks a lot for the motivation and inspiration, sir! While it’s certainly true that reinventing in midlife has it deep challenges (I should know), where there’s a will and a well-constructed plan, there’s a way.
I had a similar experience 10 years ago with a career counselor I hired. At 40 years old, I felt sick, miserable, and depressed with my current line of work and job, which was product management for a leading membership services organization. I had been in membership services for years, and lost all interest in it. I deeply longed for a new career direction, but simply couldn’t figure out what to do.
After thousands of dollars, several hour-long meetings, and a series of standardized assessment tests, the career counselor said, “Well, looks like your current job is well-suited to you and meets all your needs.”
Are you kidding? If it met my needs, why do I want to poke my eye out with a stick! Why do I hate it so much, and why am I “breaking down” from the stress, exhaustion, crushing competition, and lack of connection to my work?
The reason he arrived at the conclusion that my job was right for me involved his constricted perspective and approach – an inability to think expansively about his client’s potential and capabilities. He was looking at only the person I projected at that moment, and taking into account my outwardly-stated needs, skills, and priorities, without looking at my potential. It’s understandable that I -- the client -- would have a limited perspective. After all, it’s natural to feel limited and blocked when we’re stuck in a negative situation. But for the career coach to be stuck with me in this limited view? That’s just bad coaching.
What I needed was a breakthrough – a “paradigm shift” that would allow me to see how much more I was capable of than my current views and experiences allowed.
How did the coaching process go wrong?
The career coach and assessment tests I took identified my professional needs and talents as:
- Flexibility, family time, high pay
- Avoiding extensive travel
- Utilizing my well-honed marketing skills
- Writing, copywriting, editing
- Generating and implementing new marketing strategies
- Drawing on creativity – developing new products and enhancements
- Leading/managing others
- Managing projects and budgets
- Building client relationships
- Re-engineering and streamlining processes for greater efficiency
There were right as far as they went. The key piece the coach missed however was that, while I was indeed tapping into various talents and skills I possess, I was pointing them in the wrong direction. The work I focused on felt absolutely meaningless to me – or worse – harmful to the community and world. What we were selling lacked any contributive value in my view. The sole point of my job was to sell membership services and to make money – regardless of whether these services were needed or at all useful or beneficial in people’s lives.
My career coach missed the most important aspect of what I wanted in my working life – to feel good about what I’m doing in my job – to make a positive difference.
This coach also failed to explore three vital dimensions of a joyful and successful life and career:
Standards of Integrity – HOW you want to live and work – the process of living, not just the content of it (check out Maria Nemeth’s book The Energy of Money for more) Life intentions – WHAT you want to create and give through your life, when all is said and done Life purpose – WHY you are on this planet at this time – the UNIQUE purpose (we all have one whether we know it or not)
Career coaches who don’t touch on the above aren’t going to be successful for you. They disregard the deepest, most important dimensions of your career.
My view is this – we did not come here on this planet at this time simply to pay the mortgage. Yes, we must pay our bills, and handle our finances responsibly, but we are more than our bank accounts. We have tremendous talents, needs, perspectives, experiences, longings and gifts that coalesce into a special amalgam – the essence of you and what you want to give through your professional identity and endeavors.
The next time you are looking for a career coach, please do me a favor…check out exactly what he/she will be helping you achieve – is it a new job that fits outwardly but leaves you feeling cold and depressed? Or is it a career/job that you can sink your teeth into, that brings you passion, power, and purpose, and lets you connect with the most expansive version of yourself?
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7f2dbf99fd57312a76f869c52c938b2a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2012/05/23/10-lessons-i-learned-from-sara-blakely-that-you-wont-hear-in-business-school/ | 10 Lessons I Learned from Sara Blakely That You Won't Hear in Business School | 10 Lessons I Learned from Sara Blakely That You Won't Hear in Business School
Part of my new series “Entrepreneurial Women Rocking the World”
Gallery: Sara Blakely 6 images View gallery
At last week’s inspiring National Association of Professional Women’s 2nd annual networking conference, I had the opportunity to attend the keynote presentation of Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx. In her one-hour talk, Sara highlighted her fascinating journey from launching a start-up with $5000 in savings to becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire in history. Anyone who’s heard Sara’s story knows it’s exhilarating and motivating, but to see her live brings a new dimension to her story. She’s fresh, exuberant, funny and completely passionate about helping women feel and look their best, and about reforming all of the misguided trends that have kept in women in painful and ill-fitting undergarments over the last 50 years.
Sara delivers surprise after surprise in her tale of phenomenal entrepreneurial success. As I love to be “contrarian” in my work, I’m very taken with her non-conventional lessons that fly in the face of all the best business school advice we received from the business pundits and gurus.
Here are the top 10 lessons I learned from Sara’s journey from fax machine saleswoman to entrepreneurial superstar:
1) Fail Big – Sara’s beloved father followed Wayne Dyer’s guidance in teaching his children the power of failing big. Each day, her father would ask – “So, what did you fail at today.” And if there were no failures, Dad would be disappointed. Focusing on failing big allowed Sara to understand that failure is not an outcome, but involves a lack of trying -- not stretching yourself far enough out of your comfort zone and attempting to be more than you were the day before. Failing big was a good thing.
2) Visualize it – Sara is a big fan of “visualizing” your big goal, in specific, concrete ways. She saw herself clearly on the Oprah TV show 15 years before it happened. She simply knew it would happen. She’d see in her mind’s eye sitting on the couch with Oprah having an exciting conversation, and wondered, “What are we talking about?” The rest was just “filling in the blanks” to get there.
3) Don’t share your fragile idea with the world too soon. Sara kept her idea of making a fabulous new undergarment for women under wraps for an entire year while working on developing the prototype. Only after she was 100% committed to it and ready to launch, did she sit her friends down and explain her new direction. Sara explains that ideas are vulnerable, fragile things. Wait until you’re completely read to move forward before you share it with people. Meaning well, they’ll shoot it down, offering all the reasons why it won’t work. But when they do, you’ll be ready to deal with it.
4) Don’t take no for an answer. Sara reached out to slews of manufacturers and lawyers to help her patent her idea and create a successful prototype. In every conversation she had with potential manufacturers, she was asked three questions: 1) Who are you? 2) Who are you with? 3) and Who is backing you? When the answers to these three questions remained, “Sara Blakely,” no one wanted to take a chance on her, until one manufacturer called her back and said “OK.” Why? Because he had gone home and told his daughters about the idea, and they said, “It’s brilliant!”
5) Hire people you like and trust (even if they don’t know a great deal about what you need them to do). Sara hired a head of Product Development and a PR director who had been friends and supporters from the beginning. Neither knew anything about the functional areas they were hired to oversee, but Sara trusted they’d be fabulous at their new roles, and they were.
6) You don’t have to go in order. Sara’s passionate commitment to her new Spanx product was so fierce, she just tackled each task in the development and marketing journey as they came up, not necessarily in the best order for a smooth launch. She landed a Neiman Marcus deal involving placement of the product in seven stores, before figuring out how to mass produce “crotches” for the product. The Oprah show called to do a feature on her in a staff meeting in her “offices” before she had an office or a staff. She winged it, and it all went well.
7) You CAN figure it out – you have the ability. Sara knew absolutely nothing about women’s undergarments, patenting a new product, manufacturing, marketing, product development, website development, online commerce, and more. But that didn’t stop her. She researched what she needed to, hired out what she couldn’t do, and marched forward with undying commitment and energy. Don’t stop yourself from pursuing an idea because you don’t think you have what it takes.
8) You can build a billion dollar business starting with $5,000. Sara had only $5,000 in savings on that fateful day when she cut the feet off of her stockings in order to wear them under her white pants for a more flattering look (and thus, realized the world needed a new undergarment product that would be comfortable yet flattering to the female form). From that $5,000 she embarked on designing a prototype, securing a manufacturer, naming the product, legally protecting her product, and getting the word out to potential buyers. You don’t have to be rich to move forward with your fabulous new idea.
9) Don’t worry about the outer “stuff” until the time is right. Sara worked tirelessly from her apartment creating her product, avoiding investing in outside office space or other marketing and business tools until the product had taken off. She didn’t have a formal website until she made it on the Oprah show and needed one. Anything that wasn’t essential to building the product and getting the name out there simply wasn’t a priority.
10) Breaking the mold is a good thing. When Sara began to research undergarments for women and how they’d been made for the last 50 years, she was astonished. From the absurd sizing protocols (only one average waist measure was used on all the products, regardless of the size of the garment), to how products were tested (on manikins not real people), Sara saw that the undergarment industry needed a female perspective – insights from a real woman wearing these items to shape the product development direction so the products were useful, effective, and as comfortable as possible. She broke the mold, and developed a completely new approach to developing women’s undergarments.
Sara’s most important tip:
“Believe in your idea, trust your instincts, and don’t be afraid to fail. It took me two years from the time I had the idea for Spanx until the time I had a product in hand ready to sell into stores. I must have heard the word “no” a thousand times. If you believe in your idea 100%, don’t let anyone stop you! Not being afraid to fail is a key part of the success of Spanx.”
In the end, Sara Blakely’s story shows us what’s possible when we believe, when we’re resourceful beyond measure, and when our passion and commitment to something outside ourselves brings us to a calling.
What are you most afraid of failing at? Will you get in the cage with your fears and take a step toward your dream today?
More from Sara Blakely:
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See also:
How I Became A 21-Year-Old Business Executive
The Top 10 Lessons Of Career Reinvention: What My Five Careers Have Taught Me
Top 7 Success Tips From Celebrity Hairstylist And Entrepreneur Sally Hershberger
Bethenny Frankel And The One Question She's Never Been Asked: 'Are You Happy?'
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71f504604bca2f7bc67ae56f24943f73 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2012/07/31/the-top-10-work-situations-where-honesty-is-not-the-best-policy/ | The Top 10 Work Situations Where Honesty Is Not The Best Policy | The Top 10 Work Situations Where Honesty Is Not The Best Policy
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In working with professionals who are in all stages of coming, going, thinking of going, and already departed from jobs, I am often asked about honesty. The questions range from, “Should I really tell the truth to HR or my boss about why I’m leaving?” or, with folks who are interviewing, “Should I tell the truth about why I was laid off?” And finally, “When my boss asks how it’s going with a team project I’m in that’s a disaster, should I be honest?” Here’s one recent take on whether you should be honest in exit interviews, and I certainly have my own.
While life defies hard and fast rules, I’d say that brutal honesty is never the right way to go in the following ten work situations.
DO NOT tell the raw, hard truth in these 10 situations:
When you’re employed and:
1) You’re dealing with a narcissistic boss or colleague who is highly threatened by what you have to say
If you’ve read my work, you know that I’ve dealt with a number of true narcissists in my work-life, and it’s been ugly and demoralizing, to say the least. When your boss or colleague is a narcissist, you won’t win by telling them the truth if it’s challenging to them. They’ll just feel threatened, angry and betrayed, and they’ll drum you out with a murderous rage. (Read more about How To Tell If Your Boss Is a Narcissist and How Not To Get Fired By One.)
2) You’re furious at your colleague and have the chance to backstab him/her to your boss
When your emotions are spinning out of control about a colleague, and you feel anger, hurt, resentment and other highly-charged emotions, you need to settle down before you communicate to anyone about the situation. Further, think hard about backstabbing at all. If you do it, you’ll simply project an image of yourself that you’re untrustworthy, and someone who doesn’t have the courage and strength to handle things in a positive, direct way with the individuals involved.
3) You know that the company is heading in the wrong direction, but they’ve invested in this direction and don’t want to hear your views
I’ve lived this, and so have numbers of my clients. When you know that your company is doing something wrong, foolish, or worse, and they won’t listen to reason, the best thing to do is to get out while you can. If they’ve invested heavily in this direction already, they won’t want to hear from you that it won’t work, and they’ll consider you as an obstacle to their success.
4) You’re fed up with feeling underpaid and undervalued and want to complain about it
If you feel you’re undervalued, you should certainly do something about it, but telling the truth about how you feel isn’t the way. Instead, collect as much concrete data as you can about your role, function and industry and expected salaries at your level, and present a well-founded case that you deserve more. Present detailed information about your contributions and how they’ve moved the organization forward. Then, it won’t be about “feelings” but about what you deserve in light of the research and evidence.
5) Your work or team projects are failing and you have no idea what to do about it
Before you tell the truth to your boss about your failing work endeavors, do everything you can to: 1) understand the factors involved in the failing project, 2) assess your role in it, as clearly as you can, and 3) develop a sound action plan for addressing the challenges. Don’t go into your boss with empty hands and share that you have no idea what to do. You’re being paid to use your expertise to oversee projects successfully, as well as identify obstacles and overcome them.
When you’re interviewing and:
6) You were fired or laid off from your last job and you’re enraged at how it was done
No matter how bad your departure from your last job was, reframe how you communicate about it so your story fits the facts equally well (never lie or embellish), but paves the way for as much expansion and positivity as possible. For instance, if you were laid off brutally but so were 100 others, share that you were part of a massive layoff that was a result of a major restructuring. Don’t go into the horrible details and paint your previous employer as the bad guy. Why? Because the potential new employer will believe it’s only a matter of time until you badmouth them.
7) You hated your last position and can’t think of a good thing to say about it
If you were terribly mistreated in the last job or it was a complete bust, think about why and how that happened, and what you’ll do differently in this next job. If you don’t analyze and evaluate how you co-created this terrible experience, you very well might repeat the situation in the next job. Do the hard inner work of understanding your part in it. Then, when you talk about the previous job and how you left, find all the good you can in what you learned and achieved, and communicate that. In every terrible job, there was at least one hugely positive thing you gained and learned. Dig deep and find it.
8) You don’t think you’re right for the position but you need a job
When you’re interviewing, your goal is to 1) accurately assess the position for fit, and 2) get the job offer. You can always turn it down if it’s not for you (and it’s certainly best not to take a job that you think you’ll be terrible at or you’ll hate, because you won’t succeed). But getting the offer builds your confidence, strengthens your interview chops and supports your sense of worthiness in this tough employment market. So if you sense you’re not right for the job, don’t share that with the hiring folks right away. Instead, find out any way you can (research, finding contacts who know the organization, talking to others there, etc.) more about the company and the role. Explore and "try on" the position as thoroughly as you can to determine if it could possibly work. Again, the goal is to get yourself in the game and get an offer. Once they've made an offer, you can negotiate and explore the modifications necessary.
When you’re leaving and in an exit interview:
9) You’re on your way out the door and your honest feedback may hurt you in your next chapter
If you’re in an exit interview, don’t provide honest, critical feedback if it’s going to 1) burn bridges, 2) tarnish your reputation, 3) make you lose supporters and endorsers, and 4) hurt your chances for gainful employment. It would be great to believe that your feedback would be kept anonymous, would be used to improve the company, and would not be held against you, but in many organizations, that’s just not the case. Be careful what you share, and remember that your future is what’s important and what’s at stake.
10) You want to take this chance to criticize everything you’ve hated about the organization and job
Almost all of us know what this feels like – finally, our chance to scream from the rooftops what’s wrong with this company and its management. I remember one of my first bosses -- who was a tyrant and an evil monster to me -- asked after I had given my notice and was leaving, “Was it me?” “Heck, yeah!” I wanted to scream. But I thought again. First, it wasn’t all her. She just helped me realize that it was time for something better and something more. Secondly, with one foot out the door, I no longer felt the pain and anger at her that I once had when I thought I was trapped. I no longer needed to tear her down like she had me. I was done! So remember – when you leave, you’ll be done with the place and what will remain are memories of how you handled your exit. Do it with grace.
In the end, the key to determining whether you should be fully honest or not involves 1) knowing your emotions, 2) understanding your hidden agenda, 3) safeguarding your future, and 4) reframing your communications so they fit the facts equally well, but pave the way for the most expansion, success, and positivity as possible.
What truth do you wish you could tell today? Do you know if it’s in your best interest and the best interest of others to share what you long to?
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92c1766fb7004c6006d15e365223e009 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2012/09/17/the-top-5-reasons-your-decisions-fail-you/ | The Top 5 Reasons Your Decisions Fail You | The Top 5 Reasons Your Decisions Fail You
Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Last week, I had the interesting opportunity to conduct an online course for the Center for Competitive Management on The Smart Woman’s Guide to Making Great Management Decisions and Embracing Risk, which is a relatively new topic for me to teach. In preparing for it, I reflected back on my 30-year career in both corporate and in my own small business, and brought to mind the good, bad and ugly decisions I’ve made over the arch of my career, and the dramatic impact they’ve had on my professional life.
I came to realize that among the decisions I’ve made that I consider really good ones –that is, those that led to positive, beneficial and opportunity-generative outcomes-- there are noticeable traits in common. And the reverse is true as well. The really bad decisions that I later regretted, and that caused me pain and suffering, have a number of core commonalities as well. I decided to do some anecdotal research to determine if these common traits of poor decisions hold up when I analyze the decisions that my clients regret most, and they do.
So, what are the top five traits of poor decisions that lead us to regret?
The decisions that fail us, that take us away from who we are and where we want to go, and cause serious unhappiness and regret, have the following five traits in common. These decisions:
1) Don’t support your intrinsic values
No decision can be a good one, if in making it, you’re going against what you value and respect. I’ve made so many errors in my career by taking work, consulting gigs, partnerships, or pursuing new opportunities that, in my heart, I didn’t value or respect, but I did so because I thought I had to. When you make a decision that goes against your values, it almost never comes to a good end, because either you can’t live with yourself for making it, or you end up sabotaging the direction because it’s so out of alignment and you can’t sustain it.
Lesson: Without exception, align your decisions with your values -- honor what you hold dear, what you know to be true, and your highest standards of integrity.
2) Are communicated poorly or without proper reflection
I’ve made some good decisions that turned out badly because I failed to communicate them in a thoughtful, confident and clear way. An example of this is when I’ve had to move away from partnerships I’ve created, often with folks who’d become my friends. There were solid reasons why I believed we needed to part, but even so, I felt wracked by guilt or worry that my professional colleague would be hurt or angry, so I botched the way the decision was shared, communicated, and executed.
Lesson: A decision is only as good or positive as the way in which it’s shared and communicated.
3) Come from a place of weakness and disempowerment
Decisions that emanate from weakness, fear, or running away from something, almost never move you forward. You can’t get to the next level of success or fulfillment if you don’t do the inner and outer work of overcoming your fears and addressing your “power gaps.” When you decide, “I’ve had it!” for instance -- with a relationship, a job, a situation, or a role you’re playing, it’s vitally important that you attempt to shift yourself in the situation first, before running away.
Lesson: If you run away from something (which is a decision, whether you know it or not) or when you choose to act from a sense of fear, powerlessness, or victimization, you’ll find that the decision you’ve made won’t resolve the problem -- the same challenges will reappear in your next situation.
4) Haven’t been properly vetted – they don’t factor in well enough the potential impact and outcomes
One necessary ingredient to great decisions is that you’ve gathered all the necessary information from the most diverse and inclusive perspectives possible, and evaluated each alternative scenario before you choose one option. Many terrible decisions come from an incomplete decision-making process that failed to involve the necessary brainstorming phase or a thorough enough evaluation of all the potential consequences of each alternative.
Lesson: Develop sufficient boundaries so that you’re not being overly reactive, emotional or analytical in your decision making. Use an integrative style that incorporates as much feedback and data possible, and allows you to brainstorm all possible solutions, and vet them in an effective, integrative way.
5) Are focused on the wrong problem
Numerous bad decisions I’ve made in my professional life emerged because I was looking at the “wrong” problem. These were situations in which I knew things had to change in my career, but instead of pinpointing exactly what wasn’t working, and taking a long, hard look at the root cause, I focused on an ancillary issue – one that wasn’t as deeply challenging to explore and deal with. Thus, the decisions I made couldn’t possibly bring about the desired outcomes because they didn’t address the right problem. An example of this is when I found myself in a job I absolutely hated, but instead of dealing with the misery of that and changing employers immediately, I sought promotions and more and more responsibility, thinking that focusing on “getting more” would somehow alleviate the pain of my feeling “less” (less satisfaction, worthiness, and value) every day in that role.
Lesson: When you know you have to make a change, make sure you identify the deepest root of the problem, and address that. Get help to do that if need it. Don’t take the easy way out of the decision-making process by bypassing the most critical issues and problems you need to resolve.
Decisions are fundamental tools that help you face life’s challenges, uncertainties and opportunities. And the quality and efficacy of your decisions will determine how successful, fulfilled and productive you’ll be. Take the time now to explore and improve your decision-making process so you that can make better decisions that honor who you are and what you really want.
To build a more rewarding, successful career, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
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a6e763530cfd9cdf8a708a6a233d55eb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/01/03/what-polar-explorer-alison-levine-knows-about-leadership-that-corporate-managers-dont/ | What Polar Explorer Alison Levine Knows About Leadership That Corporate Managers Don't | What Polar Explorer Alison Levine Knows About Leadership That Corporate Managers Don't
Alison Levine
As a career success coach who helps women become leaders of their own lives, I’ve read hundreds of articles and books about leadership. Sadly, so much of it, in my humble opinion, is drivel – repurposed material from outmoded corporate models that don’t fit a majority of women and certainly don’t align with new, expansive thinking about what truly motivates and engages people and moves organizations forward at lightning speed to thrive in inconstant times.
I was thrilled, then, to connect with Alison Levine, a true leadership expert and history-making polar explorer and mountaineer who served as team captain of the first American Women’s Everest Expedition, and also climbed the highest peak on each continent and skied to both the North and South Poles—a feat known as the Adventure Grand Slam, which fewer than forty people in the world have achieved. In January 2008, she made history as the first American to complete a 600-mile traverse from west Antarctica to the South Pole following the route of legendary explorer Reinhold Messner. Levine completed this arduous journey on skis while hauling 150 pounds of her gear and supplies in a sled harnessed to her waist. Her success in extreme environments is noteworthy given she has had three heart surgeries and suffers from Raynaud’s disease, which causes the arteries that feed her fingers and toes to collapse in cold weather—leaving her at extreme risk for frostbite.
In addition to having tackled some of the most challenging environments in the outdoors, Levine has also spent more than two decades climbing the corporate ladder. She worked in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, earned an MBA from Duke University, and spent three years working for Goldman Sachs. She left Goldman in 2003 to serve as deputy finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his successful bid to become Governor of California. In 2005, Levine founded the Climb High Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of jobless women in Africa. Alison currently works with the Thayer Leader Development Group at West Point and her new book On The Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership hits the shelves on January 7th.
Here’s Alison take on leadership, and the 5 most important leadership concepts that you won’t necessarily learn in corporate America:
“My take on leadership comes primarily from my experiences as a high-altitude mountaineer and polar explorer. My adventures have taken me to some of the harshest, most remote places on the planet, where determination is every bit as important as skill when it comes to survival. I have toughed it out in some of the world’s most dangerous and extreme environments (and I am not talking about my time on Wall Street) and have been in situations where effective leadership determined whether people lived or died. Whether climbing Everest or the corporate ladder, the requirements for success are strikingly similar, yet corporate America doesn’t exactly prepare leaders to deal with extreme situations.”
Alison’s book does, and here are some highlights:
1. Fear is ok (normal); it's complacency that can kill you
Alison Levine at Khumbu Icefall. Photo by Jake Norton.
I learned this lesson in the dreaded Khumbu Icefall, which is one of the most feared parts of the route on the south side of Mount Everest. Matter of fact, many climbers choose to climb Everest from the north side (from Tibet) just to avoid having to go through this section of the route. The Khumbu Icefall is basically two-thousand vertical feet of these massive ice blocks – we’re talking the size of small buildings. The Icefall moves at a rate of about four feet per day; and as the sun comes up and everything starts to melt, the ice chunks shift around so climbers are in constant danger of being crushed. The ice blocks can topple over or come crashing down at any minute.
What makes the Icefall even more frightening is the fact that you have to cross dozens of open crevasses where you could fall hundreds of feet to your death. But you should never beat yourself up for feeling scared; fear is okay and helpful ―it’s a normal human emotion. Complacency is what will kill you. What’s the best way to increase your odds of getting through the Khumbu Icefall unscathed? Be ready to move swiftly. You have to be able to act and react quickly as things around you are shifting and changing.
2. Just get to the rock
Break the big, hairy stuff down into much smaller parts. When you’re up in the death zone (which is any elevation above 26,000’), your body is slowly starting to die. Brain function and motor function are impaired. You have to take five to ten breaths for every step. I remember getting out of my tent at Camp 4 (at 26,000 feet) and thinking about the summit at 29,028 feet. I started doing the math (“five to ten breath for every step…and we need to cover a distance of more than 3000 vertical feet…that means...holy cow, there is no way I can do this!!!”). I started to freak out about what the summit push entailed. But of course I wasn’t going to give up just because it felt very intimidating. So the only way I could really wrap my brain around what I had to do was by breaking it down into much smaller parts. I stopped focusing on the summit and stared at a rock down the trail and thought, “I just need to make it to that rock.” And I did. I made it to the rock. Then I did the same thing again – I just focused on a piece of ice I could see down the trail and thought, “I just need to make it to that piece of ice.” And I did. And then I made it one more landmark. And one more after that. I climbed through the entire night that way, and instead of feeling like the summit was completely out of reach it got closer and closer and closer.
3. Don’t give everything you’ve got to the summit
South Summit of Mount Everest. Photo by Jake Norton.
People often forget that the summit is just the half-way point – you have to get back down too, right? Most of the deaths on Everest occur on the descent – after a climber reaches the top. The reason so many accidents happen on the descent is because people use everything they have – all of their energy reserves -- to get to the top, and then they have nothing left in them to get themselves back down the mountain. Every year there are mountaineers who collapse just below the summit; many of them die there. Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory. You have to know yourself well enough to judge when it is time to turn around and head back down. And you need to make that call when you still have enough energy left to descend. The hard part is that quite often that turn around point is before you reach the summit. The number one goal of any expedition: come back alive. Number two is come back with all of your fingers and toes. Tagging the top of a mountain should never be the goal.
4. Improvisation is the most important skill
Improv skills are much more important than the ability to execute a plan. On a mountain, weather and route conditions will decide how you proceed, so rarely will you be able to stick to a particular plan. In business, plans are outdated as soon as they’re finished because of the breakneck pace of technology and rampant disruption, so sometimes you have to toss well laid-out plans out the window and take action based on the situation at the time rather than on the plan. You must possess the ability to act/react quickly and make tough decisions when the conditions around you are far from perfect.
5. Reward risk-takers rather than success stories
There were plenty of climbers who attempted Everest before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay, and no one knows their names. But those guys were instrumental in providing the 411 for future expeditions. Corporate America places way too much emphasis on being the first or achieving the most or being “the best.” Often the people with stellar resumes are people who have not pushed themselves beyond their comfort zones. Usually the people who have been battered and bloodied are the ones who are out there taking the big risks. People need to know it’s okay to fail, as long as there is value in the experience. As leaders, we need to support the people who go big, even if they don’t achieve nearly what they set out to.
Every mission we undertake in our lives should be not only about reaching the goal, but also the people we affect and the lessons we learn along the way. The journey is where we find perspective. My hope is that the insights I’ve shared from my experiences climbing the world’s highest peaks and skiing to both Poles will inspire and enable people to embrace and master a leadership mindset, which is as much about how our goals are reached as it is about actually reaching them.
For more information, visit Alison Levine and her new book On The Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership, follow her on Twitter (@Levine_Alison), and watch Alison’s interview with Charlie Rose on CBS This Morning on January 6th.
To build a more rewarding, successful career, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
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edf1128a16c5019a02462972505ca3c9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/04/20/why-there-are-so-many-terrible-managers-in-business-today-and-what-to-do-about-it/ | Why There Are So Many Terrible Managers In Business Today And What To Do About It | Why There Are So Many Terrible Managers In Business Today And What To Do About It
Throughout my 18-year corporate career, I had scores of managers who were, sadly, anything but inspiring. The majority were clueless as to how to motivate, lead or develop their staff, or help employees utilize their best talents to grow and contribute in a meaningful and exciting way. I did have a few great bosses, but they left quickly or were drummed out of the organization for being too creative and innovative. (Escaping poor management is one of the core reasons I chose to start my own firm and become my own boss.)
Why are there so many terrible managers in corporate America?
I’ve observed six core factors behind the proliferation of lousy managers. We all know these folks when we see them, and most of us have had the misfortune of reporting to more than one miserable boss in our careers. Now that I’m outside the corporate structure, it’s more apparent than ever how these inept managers are damaging individuals and organizations. Shame on the “leaders” who place these ill-equipped people in positions of authority. From my view, no one should be given the honor and responsibility of managing departments, projects or people until they are appropriately trained and can demonstrate that they know how to manage and lead in a positive way.
The 6 core reasons for the proliferation of terrible managers:
They don’t have a handle on their own emotions
You simply can’t lead or manage effectively if you don’t have control over your emotions. In my work as an executive and career coach, most people I come in contact with (male and female) need greater awareness of why they feel as they do, in order to have greater choice about how to act on what they feel. I’d like to see every manager in America receive more effective training to help them identify their feelings, understand the root causes of their emotions, and determine the best way to communicate and behave to achieve what they, their staff and the organization needs and wants.
They’ve never seen an inspiring, motivating and helpful manager in action
Just because you have talents and skills in a particular area or industry doesn’t mean you can manage and lead others. Leadership skill is an entirely different ball of wax – it involves empowering others, building a vision for the future and inspiring others to follow that vision, encouraging cooperation and collaboration between people and departments, understanding and honoring what makes your employees tick, and much more. Again, the vast majority of managers today are so overwhelmed with what’s on their own plate that they fail to attend to (or care about) the needs of their staff. We believe what we see, and there are precious few great role models out there for us to learn from. The truly great leaders usually ascend up the ladder quickly, and shoot out of our orbit before we can learn from them.
They mistake authoritarianism for leadership
Ask every manager you know what “leadership” is and you’ll get one thousand different definitions. While defining leadership widely isn’t a problem in and of itself, mistaking authoritarian behavior for leadership is. Many managers today think that parading their power and influence for all to see, and demanding blind submission to their will, is leadership. How many of us can say that we’ve had a boss who insists on our being a “yes” man/woman in order to succeed? (Dare I say virtually all of us?) And how many of us have had our ideas suppressed, contributions undermined, and our growth thwarted because of a narcissistic boss who can’t tolerate being challenged (read more about how to tell if your boss is a narcissist and how not to get fired by one.)
Their communication skills are sorely lacking
Right after I left corporate America, I earned a Master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, and the training was transformative. Marriage and family therapy is grounded in communications and systems theory, and through my years of study, I learned (what I wish I knew earlier) about communication style, the structure of relationships, hierarchy, power, and how systems attempt to maintain status quo. I also saw that most of us are utterly mindless when it comes to how we communicate, and the powerful impact of our words and actions. Again, sadly, many in corporate America are more comfortable using their words as weapons rather than communicating in kind, open, gracious ways that pave the way for better listening, trust, and collaboration.
They’re too worried about politics and managing (and kissing) up
Terrible managers worry more about kissing up, being noticed, and getting ahead, than doing the right work at the right time, with the right people. Being politically savvy is certainly an important skill, but spending all your time and energy maneuvering to step over others and reach the next level makes you a lousy manager. If your sights are solely on the prize of a better title and salary, you’ll miss scores of opportunities to grow, learn, develop and lead in the truest sense.
They’re miserable in their own careers
Here’s another “aha” I’ve seen in my coaching practice – if you hate your career, it will hate you back. Many managers today are struggling in jobs they dislike intensely. If you’re miserable at your job, you just don’t have it in you to help other people grow and thrive. You’re too busy wrapped up in your own unhappiness to see straight. Your cup must be at least half full to muster the energy, generosity, and time to support the growth of others through a positive, “giving” management approach.
If you are stuck under a terrible boss and wonder what to do about it, consider these strategies:
1) Explore new ways to do work you love in another department, group or division that is out from under this boss
2) Begin interviewing widely outside your company, to understand more clearly your worth in the marketplace and to help you strategize your next move (trust me - you’re not stuck unless you think you are)
3) Develop both a mentor and a sponsor at your company who have your best interests at heart and can help you navigate through these challenging waters
4) Build a powerful support network within and outside your current employer to support you to change jobs when the time is right
5) Finally, gain clarity about what you really want to do in your career, and plant the seeds for that future right now.
There is good news about a terrible boss. Often, he or she is in your path for a very good reason: to reveal to you that it’s time to make a significant change.
Are you under the thumb of a terrible boss? What can you do about it today?
To build a happier, more rewarding career, visit kathycaprino.com.
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4b80b90d7a98428483b68a39baa5238b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/08/08/6-steps-corporate-america-must-take-to-achieve-gender-parity/ | 6 Steps Corporate America Must Take To Achieve Gender Parity | 6 Steps Corporate America Must Take To Achieve Gender Parity
Thousands of articles, research papers, leaders, and experts have attempted to tackle the issue of corporate America’s serious lack of equal or near-equal representation of women at senior leadership levels. Yet effective solutions remain untapped for many thousands of organizations here in the U.S.
I remember sitting on the phone earlier this year with three HR heads (each in a different country) of a large, multinational information services organization, as they were exploring hiring me to offer leadership training to their female workforce. Before we went any further, I asked, “Where in the pipeline are your emerging female leaders falling out, and why is it happening?” and there was dead silence on the phone.
No one, even at these top levels, knew the answer, and the organization had no plans to find out. Discouraging to say the least. Leadership coaches and trainers like myself know that throwing a leadership training program “over the fence” to women isn’t going to move any needle if the organization isn’t seriously and continuously engaged in and committed to business and HR strategies that support more women to leadership.
There are certainly no simple answers or quick fixes for this challenge. It is complex and multi-faceted, touching on cultural, neurobiological, societal and gender role factors. Easy or not, we need to continue our search for manageable, measurable and executable approaches that will open the pathway for equal representation of women at the top of both political and business affairs in our country (and world).
To explore this issue from a fresh perspective, I was excited to catch up with Ms. Barri Rafferty, North American CEO of Ketchum Inc. – one of the largest and most geographically diverse PR agencies in the world. A member of the sustainability taskforce of the World Economic Forum, Barri is the first female North American CEO in Ketchum’s 90-year history, and one of the highest ranking female executives within the holding company Omnicom (NYSC: OMC), which netted revenues upwards of $14.6 billion in 2013. In her current role, Barri leads Ketchum’s nine offices in North America as well as Ketchum Digital and Ketchum Sports and Entertainment.
Here’s what Barri had to say about critical steps toward gender parity in corporate America:
Barri Rafferty: “You've got to see it to be it," is a memorable line from Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s seminal film MissRepresentation, in referring to the need for positive female role models in the media – and this absolutely translates into the corridors of power. The good news is that more women are sitting at top seats in business today, and visibly so. The bad? Numbers don’t lie; we have a long way to go before achieving gender parity in Corporate America.
As a rarefied female CEO, I know this all too well, yet it took my being invited to the World Economic Forum for me to stop and think about the issue. It was eye opening. With women delegates representing less than 15% at the meeting, I realized there is a lot of work to be done to reach equality in business, and that is why I helped found the Women’s Leadership Network at my company, Ketchum.
As a leading global public relations firm, we know that actions speak louder than words or as my boss says: “A brand is what a brand does.”
Kathy Caprino: So, Barri, what can corporate America, and we as individuals, do to effectively address this issue?
Rafferty: We can take these six steps:
1. Study the studies; create and communicate a case.
Gender parity is a highly complex issue, but advances in psychology, neurology, and areas like human capital, along with intensified media scrutiny on the subject, are reasons to be optimistic. Also, we all know the bottom line is king, and a recent study by Catalyst found that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women board directors attained significantly higher financial performance, on average, than those with the lowest representation of women board directors. In short, gender diversity leads to more successful businesses. Yet boardrooms still need convincing. Integrating all that we now know into a compelling case, communicated creatively and effectively is a good first step towards getting leaders engaged.
2. Invest in confidence acquisition.
In their book, “The Confidence Code,” Katty Kay and Claire Shipman explain how women disproportionately lack confidence, compared to men, and that female perfectionist tendencies are much to blame. For example, a HP study (referenced in The Economist) found women need to feel 100% qualified before they apply for a job promotion versus 60% for men. Encouraging and inviting women to take risks, stretch themselves and apply to new roles is key. Demonstrate confidence in them and in turn companies will see the return.
3. Check your language.
Vital to building confidence in women is the need to eradicate seemingly innocuous, but ultimately insidious, gender biased messaging permeating our culture. Recent marketing campaigns have tapped into this, challenging women and men to rethink, and even ban, subversive terms such as “like a girl” and “bossy.” Pantene’s #shinestrong (client) asks: “Why are women always apologizing?” I can relate. For instance, in brainstorms rather than confidently shouting out an idea, I’ve seen women couch an amazing idea with, "this may not be a good idea, but..." and then a male follows boldly with the same idea and he gets the credit. Being aware of language and its reflection on us as leaders is critical to advancement.
4. Make men part of the journey.
A Harvard Business School study of C-suite executives showed that 60% of the males have spouses who don’t work full-time outside the home, compared with only 10% of the women. Could this be a source of bias when it comes to envisioning women, and especially moms, in leadership roles? Training for men to respect female leadership traits, asking women if they are willing to take on broader roles, such as P&L responsibilities or transferring across departments, and not taking them out of the running by assuming they would turn it down due to having young children or other personal commitments, and building at least one female candidate into leadership succession planning is a start.
5. Develop workplace support.
As it currently stands, women take on the majority of household, childcare and parent care roles, saddling them with a deep sense of responsibility and imposing a massive tax on their time. Providing support resources and networks at work are crucial to career success. Savvy companies need to consider ways to materially help women identify and access quality support. Programs addressing flexible schedules, childcare support, maternal leave and thoughtful career re-entry could support women, and men, throughout their careers giving them the resources needed to succeed in the modern workplace.
6. Set measurable goals.
The countries with the most success in achieving corporate gender parity have set quotas. Although I am not a believer in quotas, I do believe companies need to address this issue head on, making a commitment to pay equality, gender balance at all corporate levels, recruiting incentives for diversity, sponsorship programs and strategic succession planning. To be effective, the edict to eliminate bias and shift the paradigm needs to be led from the top of an organization where men primarily sit today.
It’s a fact that women leaders are performing far better than men on almost every one of the key attributes identified as being the most critical to effective leadership, according to the third annual Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor, a global study on effective leadership and communication. So I challenge current and future women leaders – don’t give in to the age old assumption that women need to act like “old school” male leaders to make their mark. We inherently have the tools to succeed and close this gap. We just need to embrace opportunity, exude confidence, and take some critical risks to make it happen. Let’s do this.
For more information on Ketchum, visit Ketchum.com.
For help to build a more satisfying, successful career, visit kathycaprino.com.
Gallery: The Most Unfair Cities To Be A Working Woman 11 images View gallery
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33a2e33e6a0fe9a686826a67b2fe6896 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/09/15/supporting-the-growth-of-women-in-tech-5-critical-steps-from-angie-ruan-paypal-retail-engineering-head/ | Supporting The Growth Of Women In Tech - 5 Critical Steps From Angie Ruan, PayPal Retail Engineering Head | Supporting The Growth Of Women In Tech - 5 Critical Steps From Angie Ruan, PayPal Retail Engineering Head
There’s been so much bandied about today about how to support the growth of women in technology fields, and also a great deal of attention on how high-tech companies are notorious for pushing women away.
I wanted to hear the real deal from a woman who’s succeeding at high levels in tech, and was excited to catch up with Angie Ruan, Head of PayPal Retail’s engineering team. Under Angie’s lead, her engineering team played a key role in creating the first PayPal mobile product to enable merchants to take payments easily anywhere. Prior to this role, Ruan served as Director of Engineering for eBay where she steered the company’s mobile strategy. Her team won a number of innovation awards, and she owns more than four technical patents. She was recognized by the eBay CFO for Operation Excellence in 2010, and her team delivered the first eBay iPhone notification project, which enabled eBay to present at Apple ’s Developer Conference in 2009.
Angie Ruan
Kathy Caprino: Angie, how did you succeed in tech? What you did do specifically throughout your trajectory to succeed and ascend to leadership?
Angie Ruan: I grew up with the concept of “working hard and smartly with great results will determine success.” This mantra helped me greatly throughout my schooling and in the early days of my career. Then, I hit a point in my life where I seemed to get stuck. So, I began to problem solve and find ways to help me breakthrough my rut.
Here’s what helped me.
Mentors, coaches and women-helping-women channels
I turned to mentors, coaches and women that could help guide me. My first mentor was Terri Jordan, Vice President of eBay operations at the time, and she bluntly told me, “I have to work on every part of my career to assure promotion. Your career is something you have to take control of explicitly.” This was the most powerful advice I ever received and helped me change how I viewed my career path early on. Another mentor who had a big impact on my career is Judy Lane, a professional executive coach. She inspired and believed in me, which helped me to take more risks for different opportunities. I also have made a point to connect with lots of great men and women leaders along my journey to use them as mentors, and several even became my sponsors or advocates. Bottom line, I have leaned on successful professionals and never stop learning.
Taking risks and tenaciously seeking fun opportunities
In late 2007, I was a true believer in mobile commerce so I applied this passion to my job. I took a risk and evangelized a mobile strategy at a time it was being deprioritized. I convinced cross-functional leaders to create a virtual mobile team. We delivered eBay’s first mobile app with the Bid Alert notification, which was even demonstrated by Steve Jobs at Apple ’s Developer Conference. This launched my career as the tech leader to own and build eBay’s first mobile platform team. This experience eventually helped me to land other opportunities, such as running PayPal Here, a leading PayPal mobile initiative.
I’ve also learned to not shy away from opportunities because they may not sound “sexy.” My most fulfilling career experience was my most unexpected. Along my journey, I was asked to help with productivity issues and lead the eBay engineering systems, which included source control, build, release, monitoring, tools, etc. The first day on the job, I had hundreds of escalations that were filling up my mailbox. I told myself this job can only get better with a little structure. Under my leadership, we reached our audacious cycle time reduction goal, rebuilt the organization culture, and completely moved the needles for the eBay release technology and processes.
Leveraging being a woman in tech
Surrounding myself with amazing women has had a huge impact on my career. I joined eBay’s Women in Tech (eWIT), a grass-root organization in eBay founded by my first mentor Terri Jordan, and it helped me tremendously in learning and connecting with other leaders and mentors. It’s a safe place for me to lean in. Because of my passion as a woman in tech and a true believer in the program, I later became the president of eWIT for two years. And, I’m proud to say that 2,000 people globally are now part of this organization.
My belief in Karma
Another key to my success is my belief in Karma. “How can I help you?” is the question always in the back of my mind during my one-on-one mentor sessions and in my daily interactions. The desire I have to help people is always going to bolster me in the long run.
Caprino: What are the concrete steps women should take to get into tech fields and succeed in them?
Ruan: I believe many women can be intimidated by technology or feel they don’t have the right background. You shouldn’t let this stop you.
Here’s how to succeed:
Become comfortable with technology.
There are so many types of technology jobs. Some are related to writing low-level code, graphic design, interaction design, testing, project management, content management (to name a few). These jobs can be very fulfilling; some might be really fun for you and many can help you to achieve your personal goals by leveraging different strengths you have. In our culture today, it’s hardly possible to not interact with technology in our daily life, whether it’s email, playing games, chatting online, Facebook or online shopping. If you are comfortable with these, you can get to the door of a technology field since most of the tech folks are leveraging tools like these to do their work.
Start something simple.
You might be surprised by your own technical capability, including an ability to build a website quickly by drag and drop with templates. You can go to Web.com, Square Space, WIX, Weebly, or even Google.com to try this out.
Go deeper.
You can decide if you are interested in going deeper in graphic design, flow design, or some of the coding work by just enhancing your pages. If you decide to dive deeper into coding, there are so many tools for you to build other fun applications. You can take online courses, like computer science 101 from http://online.stanford.edu/courses. It’s not really about getting a degree or a certificate. It’s about learning something to be comfortable and more excited about it. There are so many other great free courses to create mobile applications too. The more you do this, the more you can feel that creating software can be part of the daily process. And, it’s rewarding.
Like any job, getting better and being technically successful requires knowledge, passion and energy. Technology can help you to be more creative. And, you can grow into leadership roles as well. I have observed that more women are into front-end application development with user interface interaction design. I also see lots of great women in engineering leadership roles who are super good at product design and process engineering. I would suggest you focus on your strengths and interests where you’ll maximize your fullest potential.
Caprino: What specific steps do tech leaders need to take to pave the way for more women in these fields?
Ruan: I would encourage tech leaders to consider these steps.
Internalize your commitment to supporting women.
It’s very compelling when leaders (both male and female) internalize in an authentic way their commitment to personally support women in tech initiatives. I have seen this work numerous ways, for instance, with male leaders who connect to their strong belief in the talent and abilities of their spouse and daughters, and carry that forward. They end up being very authentic in their desire help more women succeed.
Hire, hire, hire.
Leaders should hire at least one woman tech leader who can be a role model and provide meaningful direction to the organization. It’s said that the tipping point of a culture change requires at least 25% of the population. Creating a culture that paves the road for more women in the tech field starts with the leadership team and with more role models in the organization.
Enable growth.
What works in many organizations to help women succeed in tech is to establish key enablement processes, such as women talent sponsorship programs, calling out gender perspective in talent review process/succession planning processes, and adding women in the promotion board and hiring board.
Focus too on fostering a grassroots networking group within the organization. It creates a safe place for women to help women. I truly enjoy the eWIT program and it’s been an asset to me. Tech leaders should consider sponsoring programs like these grassroots organizations for women.
Focused recruitment.
College recruiting for female talents can be a great pipeline. You should participate and sponsor organizations like the Anita Borg Institute (for women in technology), STEM programs, Geek Girl Dinner events and the Dare 2B Digital conference.
Don’t forget about the environment.
The office environment, the parking, the maternity policy, the mother room – these are just a few of the critical features that will help attract some of the most driven and smartest women in tech to your organizations.
Click here for more about Angie Ruan.
For more about building a successful, rewarding career, visit KathyCaprino.com.
Gallery: Most Powerful Women in Tech, 2013 15 images View gallery
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dc8d2decd2a2333661dcb50e9ee0caea | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/11/19/should-you-go-back-to-school-if-you-hate-your-job/ | Should You Go Back To School If You Hate Your Job? | Should You Go Back To School If You Hate Your Job?
Every week, I hear from at least one professional who is in a job or career she dislikes (or is failing at), and wonders if going back to school for a new career is the right step. Today, many mid- to high-level professionals feel ill-suited to their work, and others have launched small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat. When they reach out for help, they share some version of this question:
“Kathy, I'm in a field (or I recently launched a small business) I just can't stand anymore. My husband says I’m not cut out for this, and should go back to school. What do you think?”
Having coached thousands of professionals through every career decision you can imagine, I’ve observed 6 common reasons behind people's contemplation of going back to school. These reasons may be legitimate for some, but for many (perhaps most), the path to another degree is not the right choice. How do you know if it’s right for you?
The top six reasons mid-career professionals give for contemplating going back to school are:
- The job I’m in feels like a complete dead end. I think I have to start over.
- I’m just not cutting it in this field. More education will give me more credibility, clout and authority.
- I really don’t know what else to do. I hate my work.
- I’m not earning enough in my current profession/business. I’ll make more money and be more secure if I have more education.
- My colleague went back to school and it made a great difference for him. I want to do what he’s doing.
- I’m failing in my new business, and I think getting a new degree is the only way out.
To know if going back to school is the right move for you, you need to become very clear on what you want in your life and work. You also have to understand yourself intimately (what you’re passionate about, and what motivates you to succeed, for instance) and evaluate your life and situation with eyes wide open. This is not the time to be in denial or to pretend you're someone else. This is the time to figure yourself out with honesty, awareness and insight.
Once you become clearer on what’s important to you and your most burning life goals, ask yourself these five questions:
1. What do you believe another degree will give you?
Often, we project all sorts of misguided notions about what a shiny, new degree will give us, but we don’t really know anything about it. Do exhaustive research about the educational path you’re considering. Interview department heads and faculty at the institutions you’re considering. Shadow professionals who’ve earned this degree and are applying it in ways that interest you. Learn more about the careers this degree can lead to, and how people land exciting work after their degree. Examine the curriculum and course of study – do you find it compelling, something you feel really jazzed to learn? What are the common trajectories of people who’ve earned this degree, and do these career paths seem to be a good fit for what you really want? Finally, ask, “Is it realistic for me to take this path at this time in my life?”
2. What will it cost you – emotionally, financially, and professionally and personally?
Higher education today is expensive, to say the least, but there are other significant costs as well. You’ll need to commit a great deal of time, money, energy, resources, and focus to succeeding on this educational path. Do you have access to the necessary resources, and can you tap into them in a way that won’t turn your life upside down? Can your current employer help pay for your degree? When I earned my Master’s degree in marriage and family therapy over a three-year period, it exacted a much higher price than I ever imagined. I’m so grateful I did it, but don’t do what I did and pursue a degree without understanding concretely what it will demand of you. And evaluate what the return on investment must be, specifically and measurably, in order for you to feel it is worthwhile.
3. Do you have the necessary support to make it a success?
In order to commit yourself to more education, you’ll need support – help from your spouse or life partner, family, friends, advisers, and caring people who will support you throughout the process and chip in to give you a hand with the new (and old) tasks on your plate. Don’t embark on this path if you have no support in your life. Build a great support community first, so that when times get challenging (and they will), you’ll have great supporters in your corner.
4. Do you really need to jump ship on your current career, to be happier and more successful?
So many of my clients share their initial belief that the only way out of their career pain is to jump ship, and run to something that’s as far away as possible. That was me, after my brutal corporate layoff. I felt so much pain that I longed for a new career that was the polar opposite of my corporate life. For me, that was becoming a therapist. While I loved the training, and use every bit of it in my current work, many of the same problems I faced in my former corporate life re-emerged in my life as a therapist.
Think about what isn’t working in your life, career or business. Make sure that you’ve done everything possible to bring about the important positive shifts necessary in your current situation before you leap. Otherwise, your problems will follow you in the next chapter.
5. Is your business failing?
If you’ve launched a small business or practice and it’s failing and devouring all your resources, there are many potential obstacles in the way of your success that have nothing to do with your knowledge and skill level. Coaches, private practitioners and consultants of all kinds share with me that they’re floundering financially, and are ready to throw in the towel. But most often, it isn’t educational training they need. It’s savvy business help.
They haven’t learned what’s required to compete globally, build thought leadership, scale adequately, engage with great customers and clients through social media and marketing, develop powerful programs and services, price their services effectively and much more. They also don’t know how to elevate their circle so they can be of service to people they actually like and respect.
Don’t confuse your lack of business success with the need for a new degree. Learning how to compete successfully in your niche is about business growth know-how, and that can be acquired through many other avenues.
In the end, if you’re considering going back to school, understand what it will give, and demand, of you. Do the necessary legwork to explore it thoroughly, and don’t jump until you can say with 100% surety that this is the right move at the right time. Be clear about where the road will take you, and if this path will give you, in reality, what you’re truly longing for.
For more about building a happier career, visit KathyCaprino.com and the Amazing Career Challenge.
Gallery: 12 Tips For Professionals Who Want To Go Back To School 13 images View gallery
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15d466a00a74fd35cba050c42d8487a0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/03/08/the-5-most-damaging-myths-that-keep-women-from-advancing-and-thriving-in-our-world-today/?sh=1f024d893ed5 | The 5 Most Damaging Myths That Keep Women From Advancing And Thriving In Our World Today | The 5 Most Damaging Myths That Keep Women From Advancing And Thriving In Our World Today
Part of the series "Women, Leadership and Vision"
I’ve spent the past decade focusing intensively on helping women advance and thrive in business, and in their lives. As a writer, leadership and success coach and trainer, and as a former corporate Vice President, I’ve been inside countless workplaces, observing what’s going right, and what’s going wrong, in terms of scouting, recruiting, hiring, developing, and promoting women to the levels of influence and the authority that they’ve earned and deserve.
Today, on International Women’s Day, it’s critical to review where we are. From where I stand, we’ve made some great progress, but have a long way to go. As we all know, thinking and mindset is what shapes behavior, and when we have faulty thinking about an issue, this thinking engenders mistakes and missteps in our actions, and halts progress.
After working with over 10,000 women in 10 years, and reading thousands upon thousands of articles about the issue of diversity, gender equality and women in the workplace, I believe that there remain five very damaging and misguided notions about what’s in the way of women’s success, and what we need to do differently, to ensure that by the end of this decade, we’ll have moved the needle significantly ( as other countries have done), to bring women to equality at work, in society, in the government, and at home.
The 5 most damaging myths that I see perpetuated in organizations, in homes, in the media and in the minds of men and women and leaders today are these:
Myth #1: Gender equality is just a women’s issue, and men don’t need to be involved.
If I read one more article or blog comment that says “Women don’t need men to help them – we’re powerful and capable to do this on our own,” I’m going to spit. Do women need the other half of the population to do what’s necessary to bring women to equality? Of course they do. It’s not just about what women can do themselves (although that is critical as well - see Myth #5 below). Women need the support of all individuals, all organizational and governmental leaders, all movers and shakers, thought leaders, and those with power and influence of both genders, to make the changes necessary to clear the way for women to advance and thrive, at work and at home.
Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant recently outlined in the New York Times the solid and measurable benefits men will reap from supporting women’s growth. It’s not just a women’s game. Here are 5 important ways that men can support women to flourish, and what needs to change for this to happen to the fullest extent possible. As Emma Watson shared in her compelling HeforShe Campaign speech at the U.N. recently, bringing men into this conversation, creating more awareness of the key issues, and giving men a seat at this critical table, is essential for any significant or lasting progress to be made.
Myth #2: Gender equality is just a workplace issue.
I’ve seen this to be true with every single conversation I’ve had with a woman these past 10 years (and there have been thousands), and every leadership training class and program I’ve conducted – there can be no equality in the workplace if there is none in the home. If women continue to handle the lion’s share of domestic responsibility, there is no possible way that they can become the leaders and influencers in the workplace and in government that they long to be. Fathers and husbands need to share and balance domestic responsibility in the home. As Gary Barker, International Director of Promundo explains, men can help advance women“by doing half the care work, the care for children, the care for elderly family members. There is perhaps nothing that changes the dynamics in workplaces and the home more than when men do fully half their share of the care work.”
Myth #3: Workplace equality is just the concern of CEOs and HR Leaders.
Many men and women around the world seem to believe that workplace equality is the domain only of the HR leaders and CEO’s of organizations. The reality is that this is the responsibility and concern of every single person on this planet, as well as everyone involved with people in any capacity. If you are in a role where you have any power at all over who gets hired, recognized, promoted, developed or advanced, then you are critical to the movement of women’s advancement and equality. And if you have knowledge, expertise, wisdom and insight to share as a mentor or a sponsor, you have the power to make a difference. (Read more about the Half the Sky movement and what each of us can do to end women's oppression globally.)
Myth #4: Focusing on supporting women puts them in a “special victim’s unit.”
I’ll never forget in 2012 reading how Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric , at a gathering of women executives from a range of industries shared that when it comes to career advancement, it is results and performance that matter. He explained his views that programs promoting diversity, mentorships and affinity groups may or may not be good, but they are not how women get ahead. "Over deliver," Mr. Welch advised. "Performance is it!" (Here’s more about that.) He went on to share that, "the H.R. teams that are out there, most of them for birthdays and picnics." He mentioned a women's forum inside GE that he says attracted 500 participants. "The best of the women would come to me and say, 'I don't want to be in a special group. I'm not in the victim's unit. I'm a star. I want to be compared with the best of your best.'" And then he addressed the audience: "Stop lying about it. It's true. Great women get upset about getting into the victim's unit."
In my home where I grew up in upstate New York, my father was a G.E. man for 30 years with 7 patents to his name, and he revered Jack Welch. But these are comments I can’t stand for. I tweeted about how wrong I felt he was, and he responded saying something like “I didn’t say this – the women I work with said this.”
Yes, but he repeated it, sanctioned it, and promoted it.
The reality is that many people still have this misguided view. But focusing on the advancement of women does NOT put women in a special victim’s unit. It rights a long-standing wrong, corrects a situation that needs correcting. Anyone who thinks differently is standing in the way of progress.
Myth #5: Helping women to help themselves – and navigate through their challenges successfully -- is “blaming the victim.”
A while ago, I published a post on the top 6 reasons women are not leading in corporate America as we need them to, and one of the six reasons involves personal accountability and responsibility. I explored what women can do personally and professionally to clear their own pathway for advancement and success. This is the terrain I cover in my coaching work with women - how to learn to access more confidence, power, and authority over one's own life, and how to generate the changes in life that one needs and wants. I believe that we (all of us) are much more powerful and impactful than we realize. We can’t just sit back and blame society, or men, or the government for what’s going on with women. Women themselves need to stand up, speak up and power up to do what’s necessary to claim the authority, power, responsibility and influence they deserve and want. I feel these 6 reasons still stand.
Yet it’s been very surprising to me to receive responses from women who say I’m blaming the victim.
Here’s one comment I received:
“Thank you for the article, Kathy. Like many similar commentaries, this article is not nearly hard hitting enough. It’s time for women to call a spade a spade. The number one reason that women are not advancing is discrimination pure and simple. Discrimination against women may not be overt in the way it once was, but it is still a major factor limiting women’s advancement in the workplace. And, sadly, it isn’t just men who discriminate, but women who discriminate against other women. Other women are often our own worst enemies. The question is: how do we fix it? Can we fix it? Until men decide that they want to share power, women will not have equal opportunity and equality in the workplace. In the meantime, let’s stop blaming ourselves for our supposed deficiencies.”
I’m not in agreement with this comment. From my view, as long as we blame everything outside ourselves, and refuse to look at our own behaviors, we remain part of the problem. In life, each of us needs to empower ourselves, stretch far out of our comfort zones, and do what’s necessary – personally, professionally, in our workplaces, in our world -- to clear our pathways and remove the impediments in the way of building lives and careers we cherish. It’s up to each and every one of us to make gender equality and diversity a possibility for all.
What are your thoughts? What is the ONE biggest obstacle in the way of women’s equality today?
For more about building a successful, rewarding career, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
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1ba20c4d6f57ddbf82b9d93045b490cb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/03/27/ever-wish-you-could-publicly-rate-your-employer-inhersight-gives-women-the-chance/ | Ever Wish You Could Publicly Rate Your Employer? InHerSight Gives Women The Chance | Ever Wish You Could Publicly Rate Your Employer? InHerSight Gives Women The Chance
Before launching my own business, I worked for a number of renowned (and not so renowned) publishers and marketing companies. Throughout my 18-year corporate career, while I had many positive, exciting experiences that I thrived from, there were other times I wished I could scream from the mountaintops about the practices I witnessed that were far less than fair, legal and ethical, and share with other women what I was seeing. I’m guessing you’ve had this experience too?
What if women had the chance to publicly rate their employers in an anonymous way, and share what they know to be true about the work culture, environment and practices - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Would you do it?
As we know, “what gets measured gets done.” That’s the concept behind InHerSight, a platform where women are encouraged to openly evaluate their employers and rate how female-friendly their workplace cultures and environments are. The new website, founded by Ursula Mead, provides women an avenue through which to communicate candidly with other women about workplace issues they care about. And this, in turn, will impact and shape the very issues and workplaces themselves.
I was excited to catch up with Ursula and learn more about InHerSight. Here’s what she shared.
Kathy Caprino: Ursula, what does InHerSight do and offer that hasn't been done before?
Ursula Mead: There’s a lot of momentum these days behind improving the workplace for women, and most people agree we need to do more to achieve equality. But I can’t see how we can get there without useful, actionable information.
The information we need isn’t just individual stories, which are difficult to scale into making a difference for large numbers of women. And it’s not just government data, which is too highly aggregated to be meaningful for individuals. It needs to come from women ourselves — not from management defining the problem or determining what success is. These are our issues, and this is our story to tell. We need to take control and shape our own solutions.
That’s how we came to measuring the opinions of women about their work environments. Through anonymous ratings and reviews, we’re measuring the reality of our workplaces and what company policies and cultures actually mean for the women who are experiencing them. When I started looking for these kinds of insights, I couldn’t believe it hadn’t been done before.
For example, a company can point to providing 12 weeks of maternity leave, but what happens when women’s real experience is the “soft policy” of pressure to return to work early, or having to return to a job that’s changed? A company can offer flexible hours on paper, but there would be no way of knowing if women feel that they’re able to actually use that flexibility.
That’s why we’re focusing on experiences and outcomes, not just policies and ratios. These insights can only come from working women, and the solutions can only come from those insights. We have strength in numbers because we’re using our insights to shape our paths to success.
Caprino: Why did you choose to launch this now? What’s your personal motivation?
Mead: There’s a critical conversation happening now. Across the country, companies and employees, women and men, are coming to terms with the problems that still exist for women in many workplaces.
Like many working women, I’ve seen and experienced these issues and didn’t see solutions that worked for me. In trying to figure out how to drive change in my own life and career — and in the lives of other women as well — I learned that it’s really about each individual woman having the tools and resources to make the right decisions for herself. Success and “having it all” mean different things to different women at different times in their lives and careers. I’ve seen that what we want isn’t one perfect policy or one model company; it’s the opportunity to find workplaces where each of us has the best chance to thrive.
To get there, we need the tools and resources for each woman to make the right decisions for herself — and that’s what I was inspired to create. I’m a full-time working mom, and a believer in the power of data and transparency to create change.
Caprino: Why is it important, and what does channeling the collective voice of working women do for the country?
Mead: I want to make sure that the conversation about workplace equality stays focused on and is driven by working women. We can’t rely on a handful of voices to speak to all of our individual needs.
InHerSight harnesses the power women have by bringing all of our individual insights together. The website makes it easy for women to share their experiences -- not merely to catalog the facts about corporate policies but to make them real, living stories of what works and what doesn’t. This empowers and enables us to take action ourselves, toward the things that matter to each of us.
Caprino: What are the 14 metrics you offer for women to rate their companies, and why these?
Mead: We see three main ways that employers can support women, Career, Family, and Personal Growth, and we ask women to rate their companies on 14 metrics that inform those categories.
The 14 metrics are
- Paid Time Off
- Flexible Work Hours
- Ability to Telecommute
- Maternity & Adoptive Leave
- Family Growth Support (e.g., child care, expense reimbursement, lactation rooms)
- Equal Opportunities for Men and Women
- Female Representation in Top Leadership
- Management Opportunities for Women
- Salary Satisfaction
- Learning Opportunities
- Sponsorship or Mentorship Program
- Social Activities and Environment
- Wellness Initiatives
- People You Work With
Caprino: What types of actions can be taken from this collective data?
Mead: Thousands of women (and men!) have already rated thousands of employers, from government agencies to non-profit organizations to household names like Apple , Google , Coca-Cola , and Eli Lilly, and we’re just getting started. This approach requires a lot of participation, which is why the most important thing we’re asking women to do now is to rate their workplaces and help us spread the word on social media, to organizations they’re a part of, and especially to other women at their companies.
Women can also use the website to make decisions about what companies they want to work for. If you’re looking for career growth, you should be able to find a company that provides that. If you have a family and need flexibility, you should be able to find that.
As we know from other crowd-sourced ratings platforms like TripAdvisor and Angie’s List, the more people who participate, the more valuable and useful the information becomes.
The outcomes we’re hoping to foster can be as simple as voting with our feet and sending a message to companies where women are sharing their stories of unfair treatment, or it can be as sophisticated as developing new models for communicating with companies to develop the workplaces where women succeed. We want to see companies recognized for what they do well, and we want those dimensions we’re measuring to become part of how we talk and think about the workplaces and workforces of today and tomorrow.
Similarly, the data we’re collecting can help companies create roadmaps to make themselves more attractive to women and to retain the women who already work for them. They’ll be able to see how women feel about their policies and the implementation of those policies and adjust accordingly.
Caprino: How does this change how companies and industries perform, grow and focus?
Mead: Every day we’re uncovering the benefits to companies of having more women in the ranks. Women lead to better business. Employers with women at the top outperform financially, and family-friendly policies increase productivity. And at the same time, women in the workforce and in the educational pipeline are growing in numbers.
So we see the information we’re collecting as equally interesting and valuable to companies and women. Companies and industries that want to be competitive will need to attract and retain top female talent, and our data, our “scorecards,” can help them create the environments to do that.
Caprino: What did you do before launching InHerSight?
I'm currently the head of Premium Membership at a financial tech and media company. My background and experience are in product development and management, using data and analytics to launch and grow products that serve the goals of our users and members.
I've learned a lot about technology, media, communication, and persuasiveness — things that I'm driven to bring together with InHerSight, as I tackle issues that are both widespread and personal to me.
I've spent the past year and a half building InHerSight outside of work, on nights and weekends, with a developer and a designer. It's been hard work, but the payoff already has been so rewarding — seeing women share their experiences and starting to bring together the data to illuminate the stories and trends.
Caprino: Was there a key event that triggered your wanting to launch this (did you wish you could rate a lousy employer but couldn't find the way)?
Mead: I've thought a lot about Lean In and asking whether women can have it all, and I keep coming back to the belief that this widespread conversation isn't always asking the right questions. There isn't just one way to push for change inside the corporate world, or one way to have it all . So I wanted to know more about what other women want, what they have, and what they're looking for. The problem-solving and data-gathering opportunities piqued my interest, and I've just run with it from there — pretty much nonstop!
I'm excited to see news of InHerSight spread on social media, among groups of women, and even when a company's management itself encourages its employees to share their insights.
As we hear from more and more contributors from across the country and the world, we're aiming to share data on the trends, top motivators, and issues that stand out.
To rate your employer, and share your important voice, visit InHerSight.
For help to use your voice more powerfully, visit kathycaprino.com and the Amazing Career Challenge.
Gallery: The 25 Happiest Companies To Work For In 2015 26 images View gallery
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3134849b2ac7c25083a278829d457b7d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/07/28/passions-tv-star-turned-ceo-liza-huber-with-4-tips-for-mothers-with-an-entrepreneurial-dream/ | 'Passions' TV Star Turned CEO Liza Huber With 4 Tips For Mothers With An Entrepreneurial Dream | 'Passions' TV Star Turned CEO Liza Huber With 4 Tips For Mothers With An Entrepreneurial Dream
Part of the series “Entrepreneurial Women Rocking The World”
Every month, I hear from at least one mother from around the world who is longing to launch a new business from her home and is hoping for some inspiration and support. Typically, she has a very well-vetted idea and strong business plan, and is full of passion, talent, and creativity. But she struggles with at least one paralyzing fear that keeps her from making the idea a reality– including the fear of failing miserably, of not knowing enough about business or financial management, of losing everything she owns, and finally, of not having enough time to spend with her children and family if the business does indeed becomes successful.
I’m always excited to meet women who’ve overcome these fears, and moved forward to launch a new business to great success, while honoring and integrating their personal needs as well. One of these women is Liza Huber, CEO & Founder of Sage Spoonfuls, an award-winning product line that gives parents everything they need to easily provide their children with healthy, homemade food. Sage Spoonfuls includes a cookbook, blender, food storage jars and other products that facilitate healthy living for families. Liza is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, public speaker, TV personality, wife and mother of 4 young children (and former actor on NBC’s show Passions). In May of 2015, she was honored with the Little Flower Children and Family Service’s Humanitarian Award. Liza’s Sage Spoonfuls is available at the largest retailers in the country.
Liza Huber, CEO & Founder, Sage Spoonfuls
Here’s what Liza shares with mothers around the world longing to launch a passion-filled entrepreneurial venture.
Kathy Caprino: How did you arrive at the concept behind Sage Spoonfuls? Did you turn your “mess into a message” for others somehow?
Liza Huber: After my first child was born I knew I wanted to make his baby food. There are so many benefits. It’s healthier, tastier, cheaper than store bought and helps prevent picky eating and food allergies
I was working full time and needed to find a way to simplify the process of making baby food. For me, the ideal was to make a lot at once and store it in the freezer. That way, I would only need to prepare baby food once a month. A time-saving, convenient way for my son to have the healthiest food possible whether I was home or at work.
I looked for a homemade baby food system and just couldn’t find one. I had to piece a system together and it was an inconvenient mess.
I remember saying to myself, “Why is providing my baby with homemade baby food so inconvenient? This is a basic need for parents and there has to be a better way.” That was the moment the idea for Sage Spoonfuls was born.
Caprino: I’m interested in how you mustered the confidence to leave acting and launch Sage Spoonfuls.
Huber: I had a successful 9 year run on the NBC show Passions that filmed in Los Angeles. When the show finished, we moved back to New York to be near our families. I was pregnant with our second son Brendan and had every intention of returning to TV after he was born, but life had a surprise for me.
In August of 2008, my life changed. I was barely 7 months pregnant when I went into labor. Brendan spent 6 weeks in the NICU fighting for his life and we nearly lost him. That was my game changer. My little preemie had a long road ahead of him and I needed to be with him. I decided to leave acting so I could be home and help Brendan thrive in a way he could only do with me. After he was home for a while and doing well, I started thinking about work again. The idea for Sage Spoonfuls had been floating around my head for years and it was time to explore it.
Throughout my childhood, my mother used to say to me, “Liza, find what it is you love to do and make it your life’s work. Your father and I believe in you and we know that you can accomplish any goal you set for yourself.” My husband, Alex, also played a huge part in my having the confidence to launch my own business.
When I told my husband and parents about my idea, I shared that not only was there a hole in the market for this kind of product, but it would allow me to work from home so I could be with the kids.
I had zero business experience in this area (my degree was in communications), but they supported me. They believed in my vision and even gave me seed money to get started. There are no words to express my gratitude to Alex and my parents for their support. I spent the next 2 years writing my book, sourcing manufactures, bringing Sage Spoonfuls to life and giving birth to 2 more babies.
Caprino: What was the process you went through to research, then launch, Sage Spoonfuls?
Huber: When I first started looking for manufacturers, I remember walking into Alex’s home office as he was finishing a call. I said, “Honey, I found this manufacturer that looks like they would be perfect for our baby food jars. Can you give them a call?”
He said No. He said, “Liza, if you are going to run this company and be the CEO – you are going to make your own calls. No one knows more about baby food and the products you need more than you. You may not have a ton of business experience and I will help guide you, but you are very sharp. You can do this and you need to make your own phone calls.”
That was just what I needed to hear – a reminder to believe in myself. From that moment on, I pushed through the fear, uncertainty and challenges that come with starting a new business. I went forward believing that I can do it and if I don’t know how to do it, I will figure out how to get it done. I worked hard and never doubted myself or my idea for a second.
Caprino: Can you talk about being a mother and an entrepreneur - what's the deepest challenge for you (besides the common issues of balance and time)?
Huber: For me, the biggest challenge is focus, because I work from home. Working from home has tremendous benefits, but also tremendous distraction. It’s really a miracle how much work-at-home moms can accomplish on any given day.
I often find myself starting one task, getting distracted by another equally important task and then forgetting to finish what I originally started. Staying focused and completing tasks after a distraction is something I am really working on.
Even as I’m answering this question, I’ve been interrupted by my kids 3 times, but the truth is, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being home with my children is why I chose to work from home.
Caprino: Tell us about how you scaled (a key challenge for so many women due to some limiting mindsets) and your plans for growing.
Huber: What I thought was going to be a small brand sold at boutiques, has become an award-winning, major brand available at the largest retailers in the country like BuyBuy Baby, Diapers.com, Amazon, BabiesRUs.com and Target.com.
In the beginning, as an entrepreneur, you wear all the hats, because you have to. Once your business starts to grow, it’s important to add experienced people to your team.
After seeing 6 figures in revenue our first year, I knew Sage Spoonfuls was going to be bigger than I first thought and needed to prepare for it.
Only 3 months after the initial product launch, I went from shipping orders myself at our local post office, to working with a fulfillment center that warehoused our products and did the order fulfilling..
For the first year, I handled Sage Spoonfuls’ customer service, billing, operations and creative. It was a lot to handle (especially with 4 kids), but it was necessary. We now have our own customer service and accounts payable teams.
I ran operations up until January 2015. I realized that I needed to bring on someone who had more experience in that area than I did. The woman we hired has completely transformed the way the business runs and revenues have increased substantially.
Having experienced professionals working with me has helped the business grow and allows me to focus on what I do best, which is being creative.
We plan to expand national and international distribution. We are introducing a fun new product this fall and a new line in 2016 which will greatly expand the brand. It’s a very exciting time for Sage Spoonfuls.
Caprino: What’s your advice for other incredibly busy mothers who want to follow your lead and build successful businesses based on their passions?
Huber: I truly feel that the most important thing is to believe in your idea and believe in yourself. Starting your own business is a bumpy road, but if you believe that you can accomplish your goals, you are unstoppable.
My top four lessons for starting one’s own business.
1. Protect your idea – It is so easy for someone to steal your idea, and you need to protect it. You will be excited and feel like you want to tell the world – don’t. You’ll thank yourself in the end. Sage Spoonfuls was in development for over 2 years before I told anyone. Only my parents and my husband knew.
2. Do your homework – Before you spend a single dollar developing your business, do your homework. Know the marketplace.. Know your audience/customer. Make sure there is a need for your product or service. Is something like it already out there? If so, how can you stand out? What improvements can you make?
3. Be ready to make mistakes – Mistakes are good and they are how we improve, but learn from them quickly and move on. If something isn’t working, don’t hold onto it. Be flexible and let it go.
4. Don’t wait – Just get started. It takes a long time to develop a business and the timing is never quite right, so just start.
For more information, visit Sage Spoonfuls and Liza Huber.
To build a rewarding career leveraging your talents, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
Gallery: Top 10 Fastest-Growing States For Female Entrepreneurs 11 images View gallery
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9e322cead03f53bbf1007ced5599d98f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/09/07/can-introverts-and-extroverts-ever-work-well-together-how-opposites-can-collaborate-brilliantly/ | Can Introverts And Extroverts Ever Work Well Together? How Opposites Can Collaborate Brilliantly | Can Introverts And Extroverts Ever Work Well Together? How Opposites Can Collaborate Brilliantly
Anyone who’s ever met me (either online or in person) knows I’m an extrovert through and through. I rate very highly on the extroversion scales and assessments, and truth be told, I’ve had more than a few clashes throughout my corporate life with introverts whose approach and style I simply didn’t understand.
Now, running my own business, I realize how embracing our opposites, and encouraging diversity – in our teams, our business ventures, and in our lives – paves the way for a richness, depth and astounding outcomes that simply cannot be achieved without it.
To learn more about the ‘genius of opposites,’ I was truly excited to speak with Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph.D., best-selling author and global keynote speaker known as the “Champion of Introverts.” In addition to her latest book, The Genius of Opposites, she has written two best-selling books about introverts (Quiet Influence and The Introverted Leader), which have been translated into 14 languages. Jennifer has worked with hundreds of organizations including General Electric, CNN, NASA and the CDC helping them value the introverts on their teams and coached introverted individuals to step confidently into leadership positions.
Kathy Caprino: Jennifer, what makes it most challenging for introverts and extroverts to work well together?
Jennifer Kahnweiler: Introverts and extroverts are wired differently and our opposite wiring can cause misfiring. Introverts need and want to spend time alone. They prefer quiet, private spaces and like to handle projects individually, one-on-one or in small groups. They also think things through and relish not sharing too much too soon. Extroverts thrive on being out among people, love meeting new ones and pack a lot into a day. They also talk out their thoughts and love connecting with people by sharing their feelings and thoughts. Until partners understand these differences they lose tolerance and bottle up their frustrations. I call it Accepting the Alien.
Caprino: What are the implicit biases (and negative stereotypes) one group harbors for the other?
Kahnweiler: Extroverts can think that introverts are slow, have few ideas to share and are unemotional. They interpret those calm faces as meaning introverts lack in emotion and passion. Introverts think that extroverts are shallow because they talk a lot. Not being direct and concise can be seen as lacking depth. They also believe that their revved up energy and multi-talking means they are not getting much done when it is a work style preference.
Caprino: Can they really ever work well -- and respect and enjoy -- each other?
Kahnweiler: Absolutely. When opposites stop focusing on their differences and use approaches that work toward results, that is when they find genius. Think Siskel and Ebert, Eleanor and Franklin, Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and Vanessa and Serena Williams to name a few. Throughout history, odd couple partnerships of introverts and extroverts have created brilliant new products, great works of art, and have even changed history together. But these partnerships of opposites don’t just happen. They demand wise nurturing.
Caprino: What are some concrete ways introverts and extroverts can learn to appreciate each other and leverage each other's talents?
Kahnweiler: From my latest research, I culled the key lessons and themes of conversations with hundreds of introvert/extrovert relationships, and boiled down their secret sauce into five key steps to make opposites more efficient and effective. I placed the key elements into an easy to remember five-step ABCDE process. My hope is, by following the process, your own genius will be awakened when encountering opposites you interact with on a regular basis, creating results you never could have produced alone.
Here are the five key steps:
A = Accept the Alien
You can’t change your opposite, but you can try better to understand them. Once you are able to accept this fact, you are in for much less stress.
B = Bring on the Battles
See disagreements as necessary at arriving at better outcomes because you challenge each other to come up with better solutions together than you would alone.
C = Cast the Character
Know each person’s role in a scenario and cast him or her so that you bring out your opposite’s best in that role. Opposites share the credit no matter what role they take.
D =Destroy the Dislike
When you learn to respect each other and act like friends, you can talk openly and have fun.
E = Each Can’t Offer Everything
Know that each one of you is incapable of offering everything and that for true diversity you must work in concert to provide the widest range of options to others.
There is a free quiz on my website that will reveal how both you and your opposite are doing on reaching genius status. Where are you shining and where are things tripping up? You can take it alone first, meet and compare results and then create an action plan to improve your work together. You also can come back in a few months and retake it to track your improvements.
Caprino: It obviously requires some inner and outer work to find new ways to collaborate well with our opposites. Why have you found it’s important that we learn to work well with people who are so different from us?
Kahnweiler: There are many reasons why this matters so much to ourselves, our teams and our organizations. Here are a few:
1. Results. What my research for this book told me was that opposites attract and often get along well as work partners but these high performing duos often give the illusion of being effortlessly well balanced. In reality it takes some work. But it is work that will lead to extraordinary results. When introverts and extroverts stop focusing on their differences but on the results they are trying to achieve they are so much more successful.
2. Partnerships are the new work model. The individualistic, self-centered career path is shifting toward one of more collaboration. This new model of work includes former competitors coming together as working partners, sellers collaborating with customers, and global partners joining across continents to achieve their goals. If introvert/extrovert relationships are to blossom, opposites need to understand the key dimension of their personality style (introversion/extroversion) and use this knowledge to strengthen themselves and their partnership.
3. You learn and grow. It is so worth the work. When opposites works together, they can step fully into their strengths for the benefit of the project in ways that teams without opposites could not. Mutually complementary roles often emerge when opposites team up to meet an objective, and the outcome is often better than anyone anticipated.
For more information, visit The Genius of Opposites and Jennifer Kahnweiler.
To build a more successful career, visit kathycaprino.com.
Gallery: The 10 Best Jobs For Introverts 10 images View gallery
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59ea420a3e5dd39fc7532d2c68200f23 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/11/02/how-stephen-covey-changed-the-life-of-one-young-entrepreneur-through-a-single-powerful-phrase/ | How Stephen Covey Changed The Life Of One Young Entrepreneur Through A Single Powerful Phrase | How Stephen Covey Changed The Life Of One Young Entrepreneur Through A Single Powerful Phrase
Part of the new series "The Power of Mentorship To Transform Lives"
Two years ago, I had the deep pleasure of connecting with Richie Norton, bestselling author of The Power of Starting Something Stupid and a strategic advisor to entrepreneurs. He is also the Chief Connection Officer at MentorCloud. In 2013, I interviewed Richie on one of our favorite topics – how to start something “stupid” that will transform your life.
Through my work, I speak to hundreds of people each month, but I found just talking to Richie briefly was an extremely enlivening and educational experience. It was clear that learning from Richie would be a transformative experience. This week, I asked him to share a life-changing mentorship experience he’s had, and in reading about his experience, I can see clearly how his openness to learning and stretching makes him a top advisor that helps entrepreneurs do the same.
Richie Norton (Photo by Gina Zeidler)
Here’s what Richie shared:
Kathy Caprino: Richie, please tell us about the most transformative mentorship relationship you've experienced in your life?
Richie Norton: In 2007, I received an unexpected call from Stephen M. R. Covey, former CEO of FranklinCovey and author of the bestselling book, The Speed of Trust. He asked to meet with me. We sat down in his conference room, and Covey told me that after hearing me speak at a recent event, he hoped I might consider coming to work for him presenting Speed of Trust trainings.
As soon as I scooped my jaw off the floor, I told him that, although I was incredibly flattered, I felt I was too young and inexperienced even to entertain the idea. “What would the gray hairs think?” Then, Covey taught me a priceless principle that would forever change my outlook on the nature of education and experience. He said, “Richie, experience is overrated. Some people say they have twenty years’ experience, when, in reality, they only have one year’s experience, repeated twenty times.”
That statement blew my mind and opened windows of opportunity all around me. In an instant, I felt free from the self-inflicted mental bondage I had created for myself about my age and my feelings of experience-based inadequacy. I suddenly realized that if something was important enough to me, if I was truly committed to achieving success, I could learn what I needed to know along the way! Nothing could have felt more empowering.
It’s very important to note that Covey wasn’t implying that experience isn’t important. Only that as valuable as experience is, so also is an eagerness to learn and a willingness to constantly seek improvement to get the job done. Covey taught me that authentic experience is gained not by simply strapping yourself in and doing the time, but through constantly (and sincerely) seeking learning and improvement along the road to success.
Caprino: How did you choose this mentor and why?
Norton: Interestingly, I didn’t seek out Stephen as my mentor, but for some reason he saw something in me. I think the old adage “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear” held true in this instance. I believe that when you’re actively engaged in work or a project that you’re passionate about, people come out of the woodwork to support you along your way. As always, the magic happens when you’re already in motion.
Caprino: What specifically did you think you needed mentoring for?
Norton: I needed to “cast off the shackles,” you know? I think we all, inadvertently, bind ourselves in certain psychological or emotional shackles. We just get certain limiting beliefs in our heads, and over time, those ridiculous, self-imposed limits become engrained in who we are and in our ability to get out there and do what we know deep down we were put on this planet to do.
My shackles surrounded my sense of confidence. I wasn’t confident in my own competence. I carried the psychological burden of, “who am I to get out there and change the world?” And I needed someone to take me by the shoulders and say, “Richie, who are you NOT to?!”
Stephen saw my potential and reflected back to me the person he believed I could become. Before he came along, I couldn’t really get a sense of my real potential because I was so inhibited by my limited vision. I mean, I had goals and objectives, I was definitely driven toward success, but I needed someone outside of myself to help me multiply my vision —I needed someone who believed in me to help expand my perspective. Metaphorically, I needed someone who really believed in me to take me by the hand, climb with me up the mountain, and show me a greater life perspective from the top.
Caprino: What growth did you, in actuality, experience through this relationship and why was that transformative for you?
Norton: There really isn’t anything in the world like having someone you deeply admire and respect tell you that they think you’ve got what it takes. I was suddenly more aware of what was really out there for me, and that was game changing. I stepped out of that experience with hope, with a firm belief that if I really put my head down and did the work, I could actually do all those things that had been swimming around in my head for so long. That I actually could make my dreams a reality.
But the most profound lesson that I learned was that no matter where I felt like I lacked, I could overcome through learning and continuous improvement. This lesson has stuck with me over the years in every new venture that I’ve taken on.
Caprino: What advice can you offer to anyone who wishes to grow in their professional life, as either a mentor or a mentee about how to engage in a mutually-transformative and satisfying mentorship relationship?
Norton: If you don’t have the education and/or experience you believe you need to reach success, there’s really no better way to overcome learning curves than by working with a mentor. Think about it logically. Mentors have, through years of study and practice, already gained the knowledge, experience, and skill necessary to make things happen. Why reinvent the wheel, right? There is no reason to unnecessarily repeat the same mistakes others have already made.
When you enthusiastically embrace mentor relationships, you are given the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants and achieve things far greater than either of you ever could have done on your own. A mentor/mentee relationship really does have the potential to become one of the most edifying and productive experiences of your professional (and personal) life.
For more info, visit RichieNorton.com and download a free 37-page action guide to turn your "stupid" idea into your "smart" reality.
To build an amazing, rewarding career you’ll love, visit The Amazing Career Project and KathyCaprino.com.
Gallery: Global Women's Entrepreneurship Rankings by Country 5 images View gallery
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413d31b6e7d095b8e06b21ef11acb845 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/11/18/do-you-suffer-from-emotional-obesity-5-essential-steps-to-a-cure/ | Do You Suffer From Emotional Obesity? 5 Essential Steps To A Cure | Do You Suffer From Emotional Obesity? 5 Essential Steps To A Cure
Part of the series “Living and Working Better”
After years of increases in the obesity rate in this country, research reveals that the numbers are finally leveling out. But according to Laura Coe, the next epidemic in America is “emotional obesity.” Between tech overload, information overload and a culture of hyper-competitiveness, we are more lost and overwhelmed than ever. And we are piling on “emotional weight” at a shocking rate.
Laura Coe is a former VP of a Fortune 500 healthcare company turned author, certified coach and the leading expert on Emotional Obesity—an epidemic she believes is caused by an unhealthy buildup of the emotional weight that stems from pressures, doubts and false beliefs layered on by the outside world.
Laura Coe (Photo by OG Photography)
Laura suffered from this phenomenon herself. In her corporate life as a healthcare executive, she had achieved success in every conventional sense of the word—but she was gripped by constant panic; at the height of her success, she was unhappier, and emptier than ever.
Laura then leveraged her deep passion for philosophy and studied the wisdom of the ages -- as well as research and insights from top thought leaders today -- about what’s required to lead a happy, fulfilled life, and she observed a common thread: the importance of establishing routines to maintain one’s emotional health. Laura realized that she had piled on layers of “emotional weight” throughout the years- and had done so at a crippling cost to her emotional health and well-being.
Laura shares more about Emotional Obesity and how to overcome it:
Kathy Caprino: Laura, can you please explain what you’ve discovered about emotional obesity and how you define it?
Laura Coe: In short, Emotional Obesity represents the layers and layers of thoughts, judgments, ideas, and fears that cover our authentic selves in the same way that layers of fat might cover our midsections. Emotional Obesity occurs when we accept messages from the outside world without consciously questioning the value of those ideas for our own lives. We have all done it: we justify the job we don’t want, the unfulfilling relationship we won’t leave, or the decision we don’t want to make. We tell ourselves, things like: “This makes sense.” “This is what I deserve.” “This is how life is.” And after a while, these justifications and false decisions pile on and we become extremely weighed down.
Caprino: How did you hit on that concept, and why did you decide to write your book Emotional Obesity?
Coe: I was inspired to find a solution for Emotional Obesity and to write this book because I realized I was suffering from a buildup of emotional weight myself. I left my high paying job after I sold my company in pursuit of something “more authentic.” What felt like a simple goal turned into a two-year, dog-chasing-tail exercise, leaving me exhausted. But it also motivated me to find a solution. So I dove back into my original passion - philosophy - to see what the ancients had said about this problem.
I saw that emotional weight really affected those around me as well. Through my own philosophical study I saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between the wisdom of the ages and today, by digesting it into a modern, relatable, and actionable guide that can help anyone improve their emotional fitness.
Caprino: I’ve seen in my work too that perfectionistic overfunctioners and overachievers are hesitant to take the time out to focus on improving (or even acknowledging) their emotions. From your perspective, why is this so damaging?
Coe: For overachievers the mantra is, “bigger, better, more.” And there is nothing wrong with wanting to achieve a lot. But when we work hard, sleep less and neglect our personal self-care, our emotional lives can get ugly: stress, anxiety and a sense of overwhelm become the state of our lives. Worse, our solution is to shove our emotions down further, take anti-anxiety meds, or drink excessively. Wouldn’t it just be simpler if we spent a few moments a day on our emotional lives?
Caprino: So how can we tell if we’re “emotionally obese”?
Coe: Emotional weight takes different forms for different people. But the key is to ask yourself this: “How do I feel on a daily basis?” Anxious? Depressed? Defeated? Ashamed? Angry? The irony is that this can look great from the outside. You can have the home, family, cash in the bank, but, on the inside, you feel bad. Your life feels heavy and you feel stuck in this emotional state. You may think things are fine because you are focused on your external life, but your excitement for life is diminished.
Caprino: How does emotional obesity impact your career specifically?
Coe: When we carry emotional weight -- ideas from others on how to live our lives -- we make decisions from that weight. We pick careers because someone told us it makes sense. We go for a promotion because we think we should. We leave our jobs, we take other jobs all based on learned ideas of what work should feel like. Until you lose the weight you cannot design a career that works for you. When your choices come from voices outside of yourself, your career is then decided by voices outside yourself. Happiness within the workplace cannot happen unless you design a career that works for you.
Caprino: What are the key positive outcomes we can expect when we do the work of recovering from emotional obesity?
Coe: Much like losing weight and adding in exercise allows you to feel amazing; you have more energy, you feel lighter, and healthier. Losing emotional weight does the same thing. You have a sense of contentment, but not the kind that comes and goes with each moment-- the kind that lasts. You wake up feeling more at ease. You go to bed feeling good about your day. You walk through the world and all the things that annoyed you, the things that caused you to feel anxious or bad about yourself, just don’t affect you the same way. And this general ease creates space for your authentic voice to show up. You lead your company, parent your children, and interact with others with a self-composure that others sense, drawing them to you. Life is just easier in every way.
Caprino: What are the key steps to starting on a path to recovering from Emotional Obesity?
Coe: Here are what I’ve found to be five critical steps.
Become aware of the problem.
We all have issues we’d like to work on: Most of us, for example, want to stop fighting with our spouses, feel more productive at work, and stop getting pissed off at little things. But we don’t know the cause of our pain is not our spouse, our boss, or the guy who stole our parking space -- it is the emotional weight we carry around unknowingly. Awareness is critical to start the process to emotional fitness. Once we free ourselves from the weight of life’s issues, we can move towards the life we want to have.
Accept the thoughts in your head are not necessarily trustworthy.
You have to accept that the thoughts in your head-- the ones that sound like you, the ones you trust -- are not always trustworthy. Often, these thoughts are misguided; they are impostor thoughts. They are the thoughts you have accepted because you learned them somewhere along the way, but they are not supporting your life goals; in fact they are undermining them. Accept that the thoughts in your mind need to be investigated and questioned.
Know thyself.
We cannot fix what we cannot see. The thoughts in our head are not as easy to see as the plate of cookies on the counter. Since I researched the wisdom of the ages to help myself, I took these solutions from the best minds: from Plato, to Marcus Aurelius to the yoga sutras, to create an emotional scale. The scale allows you to see what your plate of cookies is - your junk food thoughts - the thoughts you consume unconsciously that make you feel sick, tired, and weighed down. The scale gives you a better awareness of yourself and your emotional weight so you can see where your weak spots lie.
Work out.
Nothing gets solved without work. For example, we can’t get into shape without moving our bodies. Likewise, we can’t get in emotional shape without working out our emotions. Once you know what part of your emotional self you most need to work out: fear, need for approvals, making assumptions, anger - you need to take action. Based on my research, I have created emotional workouts for most of the emotional states that keep us from achieving our highest potential, finding our authentic self. Emotional workouts and taking action are key to creating a life that is lighter, freer and more fulfilled.
Keep going.
As with our bodies, we can’t go to the gym for a month and then expect to stay in shape forever. We have to keep moving and keep a regular routine. As much as we don’t want to focus on this truth, we must admit that life keeps throwing us punches.
It’s not easy to deal with change: new jobs, moving, kids, health issues. But if you keep up your emotional workouts the difficult times are much more manageable. You don’t find yourself lost, overwhelmed, and living in a state of fear. You can stay productive and focused when you master emotions and live from your authentic, best self.
For more information, visit www.emotionalobesity.com.
To build a more rewarding career, visit kathycaprino.com and Best Work/Best Life.
Gallery: Pamper Yourself! 8 Natural Stress Relievers 10 images View gallery
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722c3693afb4306cca1eb82d35e9ee0d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2015/12/23/how-omega-institute-co-founder-elizabeth-lesser-changed-a-cbs-news-anchors-career-in-one-afternoon/ | How Omega Institute Co-Founder Elizabeth Lesser Changed A CBS News Anchor's Career In One Afternoon | How Omega Institute Co-Founder Elizabeth Lesser Changed A CBS News Anchor's Career In One Afternoon
Part of the series “The Power of Mentorship To Transform Lives”
The course of our lives and careers sometimes follows a steady, direct path, but much more often, it doesn’t – it’s heavily impacted by a word, a conversation, an event, or a stunning thought that changes our minds forever.
That was the case for Michelle Gielan, national CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher, and bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness.
Michelle Gielan (Photo Courtesy of GoodThink Inc.)
Michelle is the Founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and is now partnered with Arianna Huffington to study how transformative stories fuel success. She is an Executive Producer of “The Happiness Advantage” Special on PBS and a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course. Michelle holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her research and advice have received attention from The New York Times, Washington Post, FORBES, CNN, FOX, and Harvard Business Review. (Here's Michelle sharing about how to instantly become more influential in life and work.)
Michelle explains how one conversation with an inspiring role model, Elizabeth Lesser, changed the course of her life.
Kathy Caprino: Tell us about your most powerful mentoring experience relationship - what specifically did you want mentoring for?
Michelle Gielan: From the outside, it looked like I was on top of the world. I had a big job as a national news anchor at CBS News, was living in my dream city New York, and had full access to newsmakers and celebrities. Yet in the wake of the recession, under the weight of reporting on the constant stream of depressing stories of people losing their jobs, homes and savings, I searched for a better way to tell stories that didn't leave viewers feeling helpless and hopeless. I wanted to better understand how to face life's big challenges with an empowered spirit, and how to empower others to see that happiness is a choice even during our darkest days.
Caprino: What happened then?
Gielan: In the rolling hills of the Catskills, I met Elizabeth Lesser, bestselling author and co-founder of Omega Institute. I had gotten to know her through her deeply personal books Broken Open and A Seeker's Guide, yet it's what she said to me during our afternoon together that changed the trajectory of my life. She hosted me for lunch in a room adorned with pictures of great leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Maya Angelou. I asked her for advice on which direction to take my career, in particular how I could better serve the collective by telling stories differently. She pointed up to the pictures hanging around us and said,
All of these people showed us a better version of life was possible. They gave us hope and got us to believe in a better story than we were currently experiencing. You can do that too. We all can be a spark that fuels hope and action in the world.
Caprino: So Elizabeth became your mentor. How and why did you choose her?
Gielan: I believe Elizabeth was chosen for me. I had taken the trip to Omega really hoping to meet with her, but getting the chance to have so much time together was a blessing for me. I am deeply grateful.
Elizabeth Lesser (Photo Courtesy of ElizabethLesser.org)
Elizabeth is a strong woman who never shies away from challenges. She gracefully moves through them, and thanks to her vulnerability and openness, her story has become an inspiration for millions of others. Now in my work as a positive psychology researcher, I see she was the perfect person to talk to at that pivotal moment. She not only embodies a "resilient mindset," she shares that through her work to inspire others and show them a new path is possible.
Caprino: How would you describe the growth you experienced through your relationship with Elizabeth, and why was that so transformative for you?
Gielan: Her advice has become a cornerstone for me. As an author and speaker delivering talks to tens of thousands of people each year, I now share inspiring stories including how a school district raised its graduation rate from 44% to 92% in a few short years, how managers at a certain company trained their brains to experience 23% fewer negative effects of high stress, how shifting their mindset about getting older can scientifically alter the aging process for a group of seventy-five-year-old men, and how a two-minute habit can change someone from being a lifelong pessimist into an optimist, just to name a few. The more we move past purely negative stories and talk about progress and potential, the more we can all create higher levels of happiness and success in life.
Caprino: What advice can you offer to anyone who wishes to grow in their professional and personal life about how to engage in a mutually-beneficial and rewarding mentorship relationship?
Gielan: Ask. Sometimes I was too timid to ask for advice because I figured the person is busy or not interested. (Imagine all I missed out on!) If someone is not interested in talking, that's fine, but often, people are more than happy to talk. And what you thought might be a few moments together could blossom into a life-changing afternoon and a lifelong mentor-mentee relationship like it did for me.
For more information, visit MichelleGielan.com, ElizabethLesser.org and Omega Institute.
To build a rewarding career that impacts the world, visit kathycaprino.com, The Amazing Career Project and Best Work/Best Life.
Gallery: Faces of Impact 7 images View gallery
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8ee6d7b83035256a49843879fdcdff3e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/01/20/cultural-anthropologist-susan-kresnicka-reveals-how-her-core-passions-help-hollywood-thrive/ | Cultural Anthropologist Susan Kresnicka Reveals How Her Core Passions Help Hollywood Thrive | Cultural Anthropologist Susan Kresnicka Reveals How Her Core Passions Help Hollywood Thrive
Part of the series “Women, Leadership, and Vision”
In my work as a women’s career consultant and writer, I’m thrilled to have the chance to connect with women around the world who are not only brilliant and accomplished, but also passionate about what they do every day. And I love to explore real-life examples of professionals debunking the prevalent crippling myth “If you follow your passion, you’ll be broke and miserable.” There are role models all around us who are forging thrilling pathways to leverage their passions and make a positive impact on our society. And we can learn from them.
Cultural anthropologist Susan Kresnicka is one of those people. Susan works at Hollywood’s leading integrated branding and marketing agency Troika, spearheading their Research and Insights group. With such clients as AMC, A+E Networks, CW, FOX, PBS, Starz, Amazon, Cirque du Soleil, Sundance Institute, UFC, and MSG Network, Susan’s team studies how and why viewers consume entertainment and sports.
Susan Kresnicka (Courtesy of Troika)
Susan shares with me how she’s tapping her passions to help her clients understand key media changes in the 21st century and how they impact us all.
Kathy Caprino: Susan, how exactly did you arrive at your leadership role in entertainment marketing in Hollywood?
Susan Kresnicka: I was in my early 30s living in NYC and found myself at a professional crossroads. I had an MA in cultural anthropology, had attended culinary school and cooked professionally for several years, and was on the brink of starting a family. I had long-since decided that a professional academic career wasn’t right for me, and I couldn’t envision balancing motherhood with my life as a chef. Just at that moment, a friend introduced me to a qualitative researcher named Michael Scavone. He taught me the ropes of marketing and became a trusted mentor. I learned the intricacies of qualitative market research, analyzed countless focus groups, and conducted all the ethnographic research that came into Michael’s firm – all the while incorporating a uniquely anthropological perspective.
After moving to Los Angeles, I joined Frank N. Magid Associates, a full-service research company. I was hired as a general qualitative analyst but was also charged with building the company’s ethnographic practice. At Magid, I had the opportunity to work on larger-scale projects, often combining qualitative and quantitative methods. I also got my first taste of entertainment research. By that time, I had considerable experience in a range of industries, but entertainment proved particularly intoxicating to me. The product, storytelling, is complex, often deeply meaningful, and central to cultural change. I’ve been hooked ever since.
After seven years at Magid, I joined Troika to lead its new Research & Insights team. I took the job because I really liked the people and found Troika’s CEO, Dan Pappalardo, to have a uniquely admirable vision for navigating the dynamic entertainment marketplace. This vision, summed up as ‘Entertain Change,’ takes an intrinsically optimistic view of the changes facing the entertainment industry, emphasizing the opportunity that arises from disruption. It also accounts for the shift in power that is driving the change, a shift towards empowered consumers. He brought me on to represent those consumers in all the work that Troika does. From day one, my role at Troika has given me a sense of purpose I had never felt in my previous market research roles.
The combination of that sense of purpose and creative license to build the department in whatever way made the most sense for Troika and its clients has made this the most exhilarating and meaningful stage of my career thus far. We interact with smart and interesting clients who give us the opportunity to learn about fascinating topics in creative ways – and who trust us to apply that learning to their brands’ strategic and creative endeavors. I also have the opportunity to share my evolving understanding of culture, brands, and storytelling with the entertainment industry at large. We are currently embarking on a year-long, multi-modal study of fandom, and we have an amazing group of media clients coming together to participate. It’s like teaching a master class to a group of experts and then helping them apply that knowledge to their businesses. I feel honored to have the opportunity.
Caprino: How have you combined your love of ethnography, research, and anthropology to build a career you adore?
Kresnicka: It happened quite organically. I just let my passion for the thinking lead the dance. My fundamental fascination with people makes most projects interesting. Over the years, I’ve been able to feel genuinely interested in even the most tactical of research questions: “Which of these three packaging options gives this toothpaste the strongest sense of quality? Why?” As long as there is a 'why,' I’ll be interested. Because ‘why’ teaches us what things mean to people.
Caprino: What are the key trends today regarding the “meaning” that entertainment holds – for individuals and society?
Kresnicka: Obviously, we need to stay keenly aware of the latest developments on our cultural horizon, but I’m not big on trend chasing. It’s a bit like a cat chasing a laser light – fascinating and amusing but also frenetic and inefficient. I encourage our clients to focus less on trend-chasing and more on understanding the broader cultural forces that give rise to trends. If I can help our clients step back and ask bigger questions about how and why society is changing, they will be better prepared to build strategies for the future.
The shared storytelling we create in the entertainment industry has a unique ability to help us process our most pressing cultural issues. Like a form of cultural therapy, the stories we encounter in shows and movies (and books, video games, theater, etc.) allow us to explore these issues, envision a range of responses, and approach them from an expanded vantage point in our everyday lives.
Caprino: What societal trends is Hollywood capitalizing on right now?
Kresnicka: I often remind clients that all we do in business is transform value. When our products, services, experiences, brands, and stories create value for people, we have the chance to transform that value into our bank accounts, paychecks, stock prices, etc. While seemingly obvious, we often forget that this process begins with people, and fundamentally rests on understanding what value we can create for them.
So I’d ask this question differently. I’d ask, “How can Hollywood create value for people at this moment in time?” I’d answer by encouraging them to understand those broad social and cultural forces that are creating significant changes, things like:
Technological change and how it’s reshaping our relationship with time, our experience of surprise and the unknown, and even our understanding of what it means to be human Decreasing religiosity and how it’s giving rise to new ways of meeting spiritual needs, including through our storytelling and the fan communities that emerge around it Negotiation of human difference in all its forms (gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status, geography, life experience, etc.) and how our storytelling helps us explore what those differences mean – and don’t mean.
I’d advise appreciating the complexity of these changes and creating content that reflects that complexity so we can process these issues more effectively.
To offer a simple example, if a client asked me to analyze a pilot of a forthcoming show that was striving to address meaningful themes about identity and self-determination, yet depicting female characters as glossy, perfected, and manipulative, I would recommend re-thinking the representation of women. What may have seemed aspirational in the very recent past can now read as inauthentic and stereotypical in light of our growing conversation about gender equality.
To be relevant at this moment requires depicting all types of people in more nuanced, fully dimensionalized ways.
Caprino: What can we expect next out of Hollywood?
Kresnicka: I hope we can expect:
- Content and experiences that are more fundamentally informed by people’s needs, at both the individual and societal levels
- A greater appreciation for fandom and the value it creates
- Further blurring of lines between genres
- Continued rethinking of stereotypes and more fully-dimensionalized characters
- Ongoing exploration of morality, especially moral ambiguity
- Increasing interest in sci-fi and fantasy themes, as we continue to process our experience of technological change
- Immersive storytelling reaching the next level through virtual and augmented reality technology, which could have implications for the creation of empathy and drive interest in seeing stories from multiple perspectives
- Perhaps, a shift in thinking about the relationship between storytelling and social change, specifically the potential for storytelling to drive social change through the subtle processing it provokes and the fan communities it can give rise to, as well as through overt social themes
For more information, visit Troika.
To build a more rewarding career leveraging your passions, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
Gallery: 2015 30 Under 30: Hollywood 31 images View gallery
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eaf1dc9e35b9ddd7a3aaad3d6802e200 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/02/11/starbucks-nordstrom-toms-and-others-commit-to-employing-100k-youth/ | Starbucks, Nordstrom, TOMS And Others Commit To Employing 100K Youth | Starbucks, Nordstrom, TOMS And Others Commit To Employing 100K Youth
Part of the series “Today’s True Leadership”
If you’re like me, you’re truly sick of seeing only bad news broadcasted in our nation’s headlines – stories of criminal activity in business, leaders who’ve failed us, and feeble economic initiatives that don’t move the needle on helping youth -- or even seasoned professionals -- enter (or reenter) the workforce and build their career success.
For a more positive picture of what’s going on in the U.S. that reflects a serious commitment among top business leaders to serve the underserved, I was excited to learn about a new endeavor called The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative. This initiative is the nation’s largest employer-led coalition, with nearly 40 companies committed to hiring America’s “Opportunity Youth.” Today, more than 5,000 job youths and their families are welcomed to the third hiring fair of the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Opportunity Fair, Chicago, Ill. (Photo by Peter Wynn Thompson/AP Images for 100,000 Opportunities... [+] Initiative)
To learn more about this initiative, I caught up with Lacey All, Director of Strategy for Community and Public Affairs at Starbucks, and Fanya Chandler, VP and regional full-line store manager, Nordstrom. Both Starbucks and Nordstrom are partners in this initiative. And both of these women are leveraging their unique passions and talents to make a positive difference, not only in the current roles, but in the world around them.
Lacey All started with Starbucks as a store manager, and since then has served in a variety of roles in store operations services, consumer insights, human resources, strategy and community and public affairs development. She helped develop and launch the Starbucks College Achievement Plan and leads Starbucks commitment to the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative. Passionate about LGBTQ issues, Lacey serves as the founding President of the Starbucks Pride Alliance Partner Network, is the national C0-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign and served as Chair, Washington United for Marriage.
Fanya Chandler began working at Nordstrom 24 years ago at their Montgomery Mall store in Bethesda, Maryland as a salesperson, quickly moving from department manager to buyer. In 1998, she took on her first store manager role at Nordstrom’s Annapolis store, and went on to manage and open several Nordstrom stores across the country before becoming Regional Director for the Personal Stylist team in 2007, National Personal Stylist Director in 2010 and Director of Customer Experience in 2012. Today, Fanya is based in Dallas and supports 15 Southwest stores as a Regional Manager.
Kathy Caprino: What was the impetus behind starting the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative? What impact do you hope to make through these hiring fairs across the country?
Lacey All: The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative is the nation’s largest employer-led coalition with nearly 40 companies committed to hiring America’s “Opportunity Youth.” We hope to spur long-term engagement that will help to launch pathways for young people through part and full time jobs, internships, apprenticeships and on-the-job training, as well as to develop the potential of youth and support long term career pathways. To date, we have already offered more than 1,300 jobs at Opportunity Fairs in Chicago and Phoenix.
Caprino: Who are “Opportunity Youth” and what are the unique challenges they face?
All: Opportunity Youth are defined as young people ages 16-24 who are out of school and not working –there are currently 5.5 million of these young people in the U.S alone, which is larger than the populations of thirty states in the country. But at the same time, our country has 3.5 million unfulfilled jobs – and jobs that don’t require a four-year degree are the largest part of this labor market. For employers looking to fill these positions, these young, motivated workers provide a vital and untapped resource. The challenge is that young people are often unaware that these opportunities are available , nor are they aware of the steps to take to pursue and secure these jobs.
Chandler: At Nordstrom, we hope that Opportunity Youth are our future employees. It can be a challenge for these young people to find and connect with us, and that's why we’re so excited to be a part of this initiative – it makes it easier for them to learn more about Nordstrom as a great place to work and consider us as a place to start their career. In Los Angeles, we have a wonderful opportunity to help prepare youth for job interviews and their first roles by enlisting some of our local team to talk with them about work-appropriate attire and hopefully give them even more confidence to start their future.
Caprino: Is there a key commitment or goal you’re aiming to reach with 100,000 Opportunities?
Chandler: Nordstrom initially joined the coalition because we felt strongly that it aligned with our company's ongoing commitment to empowering youth. We kicked off participation focusing primarily on awareness –getting in front of some fantastic young men and women so they would know about the wealth of career opportunities at Nordstrom.
After the first two events, we were so impressed with the people we met that we extended 109 job offers. We've seen awesome candidates who were willing to give Nordstrom a shot. Now we're inspired to grow our commitment and we're seeking new ways to connect with these young people outside the 100,000 events around the U.S. We're excited about what the future holds!
All: Over the next three years, Starbucks alone is committed to hiring at least 10,000 Opportunity Youth. Alongside other coalition members like Taco Bell, TOMS, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Nordstrom, FedEx, and many others, our collective goal is to offer 100,000 jobs nationwide.
We are committed to engaging at least 100,000 “Opportunity Youth” (16-24 year olds who face systemic barriers to jobs and education) by 2018 through apprenticeships, internships, and both part-time and full-time jobs.
Caprino: Lacey and Fanya, can you tell us a little bit about your personal stories? What are the benefits that you’ve seen from starting young at a company and working your way up?
All: In my 13 years at Starbucks, I’ve learned it’s essential to lean in when you see talent. Making space for people can lead to diversity of contributions, ultimately delivering a richer product. When I started at Starbucks, I was working within a group of people who were so impressive. They gave me the opportunity to learn from them, and I’ve been lucky to work with a series of leaders who knew how important it was to invest and believe in people, which helped shape how I lead today.
Chandler: I’ve had over 10 different assignments in 24 years at Nordstrom, and have seen successes and failures. Those experiences helped prepare me for where I am today. Each experience has given me knowledge, insight, confidence and humility. All of these characteristics make a good leader and I’ve been fortunate to continue to have the opportunity to grow at Nordstrom.
Caprino: What would you say you’re most proud of in your respective careers?
Chandler: Building teams and relationships at Nordstrom is what I’m most proud of. Accolades are humbling, but what makes me the most excited are the people and the opportunities I’ve had to lead. It’s meaningful to me to help others to chart their career path and find success in the company. I have two great families – my family at home and my Nordstrom family. I’ve grown up with Nordstrom; this company and the people here are part of my family. That’s really special – I believe that with all my heart.
All: I’ve had the opportunity to work with great thinkers, leaders and activators for social change throughout my career at Starbucks. The fact that so many people embrace this work makes me humble and hungry to do more. The teams I work with bring to life important social impact programs like the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, as well as Starbucks College Achievement Plan, and our commitment to veterans and their families.
Caprino: What advice would you give to young people attending the Los Angeles hiring fair today as they look to their future?
All: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. When you meet someone who can be helpful to you in shaping the future you want, ask them to mentor you. There are so many people who can add perspective for us beyond what we already know, so you should always be willing to ask for mentorship or support.
Chandler: My favorite word is “demonstrate.” Don’t just talk about what you want to do or achieve, but demonstrate it. Also, be patient. That can be hard, but it’s important because it takes time to build up experience to achieve success. Finally, be a student of the business, which means learning constantly from the people around you in order to get better.
For more information, visit 100,000 Opportunities Initiative.
Gallery: The Top Cities For Finding Employment Right Now 10 images View gallery
For more, visit KathyCaprino.com, The Amazing Career Project, and Kathy’s podcast Best Work/Best Life.
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70134d6cb0b986d9c9f2138e09e72463 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/03/10/lessons-of-a-55-year-old-ceo-in-leading-a-millennial-driven-non-profit/ | Lessons Of A 55-Year-Old CEO In Leading A Millennial-Driven Non-Profit | Lessons Of A 55-Year-Old CEO In Leading A Millennial-Driven Non-Profit
Part of the series “Today’s True Leadership”
As a 55-year-old former corporate VP turned career consultant and entrepreneur, I’m always fascinated to hear stories of “boomer” professionals who’ve achieved great success managing and collaborating with Millennial teams. As I know from experience, there’s inner and outer work and self-evaluation necessary for leaders to learn to adapt to working effectively with different generational groups . Flexible and responsive leadership skills, strategies and approaches are essential.
Michael Dougherty is an example of an evolving leader and manager who’s made it work. In June 2015, Dougherty took the helm of Pencils of Promise (“PoP”), a non-profit organization that works with communities across the globe to build schools and create programs that provide educational opportunities for children. Michael previously served as COO at The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, a $74 million non-profit which develops new standards for measuring whether students are on track for successful college and professional careers. Prior to PARCC, Michael served as CEO of Kindermusik International, a music and movement program serving children and families globally.
Michael Dougherty (Photo Courtesy of Pencils of Promise)
Pencils of Promise has a largely millennial staff (84% of PoP staff is 34 and under) and Michael underwent some fascinating challenges as he transitioned from his prior work into this CEO role, learning how to connect with his young staff to ensure a smooth transition. I was intrigued to hear more about the lessons he learned in joining the PoP family as CEO, and how he is leveraging his past experience to further impact the global education space.
Kathy Caprino: Michael, what challenges did you experience when joining the PoP leadership team and how did you overcome them?
Michael Dougherty: The biggest challenge was lack of beer. No, seriously, lack of beer. When I was at Bain & Co in the early 1990s, the idea of having a beer at the office to chill out while working late hours was not an option. Today, it’s a staple of fun, high-engagement office cultures. It took me a while to understand that, but recently I bought a beer fridge, stocked it with craft brews and opened PoP Cafe! FYI, no donor dollars were used. We devote those exclusively to creating massive impact for children in need.
In the office, we also play (loud!) music during the day and there are obviously generational differences in our taste. While I’m more of a Springsteen guy, the rest of the office usually overrides my Sonos decisions. I had to ask the name of this one, but the team has started something called “Fetty Wap Fridays.”
Caprino: What cultural differences did you notice from your old position to the one at PoP, given its young staff?
Dougherty: My previous position was in Washington DC, in educational policy, under government contracts. So the differences are really night and day. While there’s a similar age breakdown of staff, the PoP team is a fearless, entrepreneurial, act now, worry later crowd. We are part NGO, part tech start-up, part branding/design agency.
Caprino: What unique strengths do you feel PoP’s millennial team bring to the table in the not for profit space?
Dougherty: Storytelling and creativity. Since the early days, something that has set us apart is that this team understands that in order to build a movement around our cause, our brand needs to be at our core. We have a stellar marketing team. I think of them as our internal creative agency - scrappy and audacious. We approach marketing as if we’re a Fortune 100 brand; we don’t see why it would be any different. We’re able to execute big ideas because of authentic relationships that have been built with people who are equally as passionate about our mission.
In my first 6 months at PoP, we lit up the Empire State Building yellow (the world’s tallest pencil) for International Literacy Day, became exclusive partners with both Instagram and Facebook to launch three of their Beta products, rang the opening bell at NASDAQ and debuted a VR film at our 2015 Gala, becoming of the first organizations to use virtual reality for social good storytelling.
Caprino: Are there specific areas you are targeting to ensure PoP continues to grow in a scalable way?
Dougherty: Two. First, we need the right education answer: that is, what moves the needle for a student to become proficient in literacy. We are building a pipeline of literally hundreds of micro innovations (classroom practices, tools, methods) that we will vet. For every 25 we research, we might pilot a few and scale one (the lucky one that has data evidence of efficacy). Second, 250 million kids in our world cannot read or write. We can solve that with technology in the classroom and do it in a cost-effective, individualized learning way.
Caprino: What unique approaches to business does PoP take to set itself apart from other charities? Are these approaches pursued in particular because of PoP’s young staff?
Dougherty: Our use of technology and our brand are unique to the nonprofit space. We’re truly tech-infused and our use of best-in-class tech ensures that we are able to close the loop with our stakeholders with transparency. I like to think that we’re only as good as the tools we have, which include Salesforce CRM, Tableau and marketing tools such as KISSmetrics, hot jar, crazy egg and Slack, to name a few. We're constantly looking for the best tools to maximize our efficiency, to demonstrate transparency and to assess our impact.
Caprino: Where do you see PoP in 5 years? 10 years?
Dougherty: Better. Bigger. Bolder. We’re already on this path. We’re just getting started. I hope we can scale our methods and classroom interventions to the point that other organizations, and even governments look to PoP as a leader and adopt our approaches.
Caprino: When you first began your role at CEO, did you do take any particular steps to immerse yourself into PoP’s culture and get to know the team both in NYC and globally?
Dougherty: I spent half my time in the field, meeting with our staff, students, parents, teachers, government officials. I was interested in hearing from everyone I could find who had an opinion and a suggestion. It was exhausting, essential, and thrilling.
After observing the office and getting to know the team for the first four months I was here, I moved out of my traditional office and into the open space that the rest of the staff works in. It’s a way for me to be immersed in what’s happening and a way to create reverse mentoring. By sitting out in the open, people tend to tell me more about what’s going on, both in their work and in their lives, and it brings me closer to Fetty Wap.
Caprino: What obstacles or successes have you seen when it comes to running a team that spans across several countries?
Dougherty: One key challenge is communication. We are building a school a week, training and supporting teachers every day somewhere across the globe. There’s an urgency to our work. Every year, another 18 million kids give up learning to read and write and will “become” illiterate. We have to communicate exceptionally well across teams to pull our work off efficiently and effectively.
Another big challenge is balancing core values and strategy across cultural differences. Our three countries couldn’t be more different, except that we are all committed to the opportunity to deliver on the fundamental human right of quality education for all children.
Caprino: What is the biggest goal you set for yourself when you joined PoP’s team?
Dougherty: Change the world for children with literacy in 10 years. Hey, I’m running out of time at 55!
For more information, visit Pencils of Promise.
To build a more rewarding, impactful career, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
Gallery: 2016 30 Under 30: Education 31 images View gallery
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c6b7dd11d2e086c4a8a55ed053cc9ecb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/04/16/3-skills-you-need-to-rock-your-interviews-and-your-career/ | 3 Skills You Need To Rock Your Interviews And Your Career | 3 Skills You Need To Rock Your Interviews And Your Career
As a career coach, I work with hundreds of professional women each year who are in various states and stages of growth, leadership and ascension. In our work together, there are key steps we walk through over a period of weeks and months to help them achieve what they’re hoping for (and everyone’s desires are different and special, of course).
Photo Courtesy: iStock
One of the steps that corporate professionals are most resistant to, and intimidated by, is interviewing. And they don’t understand that they need to be interviewing regularly – every three to four months – regardless of how happy or unhappy they are in the current role. If you're truly engaged in managing and growing your career, and if you're actively networking and connecting with inspiring professionals consistently, it's inevitable that at least three times a year you'll learn of something that you're keenly interested in. The worst thing that happens to corporate professionals today is that they stay in their companies or roles for 10-plus years, and then when they wish to leave, or are downsized or let go, they have no opportunities, no community, no network and no options.
Interviewing is essential for your growth, expanding your network, understanding your value in the marketplace and crafting a career that will meet your highest goals. Interviewing is connecting in a powerful way, and articulating your highest visions of who you want to be in the working world, and finding people who are excited by that vision.
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I’d like to share my take on what interviewing really is, and why you need to be interviewing and out there consistently and regularly talking to other employers, leaders and managers.
What is the best kind of interviewing?
Interviewing at its best is an open, honest dialogue – a conversation between two interested people sharing their needs, preferences and visions, and determining if there’s a match. So many corporate professionals don’t understand how critical it is to get out of your own company’s mindset and explore and “try on” other avenues and approaches. In a recent talk I gave for the University of Connecticut and the National Association of Women MBAs, one senior-level executive shared with me that her mentor (at her company) advised strongly not to interview or find a job elsewhere, but to stay where she was. In my opinion, that's bad advice. Always interview, so you can fully understand (and expand) your options and make the right choice based on as many opportunities as possible.
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Interviewing for other jobs with other companies helps you see more clearly what you have and what you want next. Once you begin to embrace and enjoy interviewing on a regular basis, you’ll find these positive outcomes will naturally occur:
1. You’ll understand your perceived value in the marketplace, and how well you’re faring against the competition.
2. You’ll see other ways of operating – other types of work, cultures, politics, policies and procedures, new exciting outcomes that other organizations are striving for, and other “ecosystems” that will inform your personal and professional desires and preferences.
3. You’ll make great connections (including powerful mentors and sponsors), who will open thrilling doors for you.
4. You’ll begin to see more clearly and refine exactly what you want to do with your talents and gifts.
5. You won’t feel so stuck and limited when it comes to the job you have.
6. Finally, you’ll be able to discern more clearly if what you have today at your current job and employer is really want you want.
What needs to happen before you can interview successfully? There are three essential skills you need to master before you can rock at your interviews and make the most of meeting new hiring managers and leaders at new companies:
Know and communicate precisely what you have to offer and what makes you, you.
Again, in working with thousands of professionals, I’ve seen that that vast majority or working people simply can’t answer these fundamental questions:
• What are you especially great at?
• What stands you apart from the competition?
• What do you adore about your current work, and what would you like to let go of?
• What are visions for how you’d like to contribute professionally, in an ideal world and workplace?
• Why should we be interested in you over others with your same training and experience?
• What’s the ideal next role for you?
• Why are you interested in us?
• What types of people motivate and inspire you best?
• What kinds of work outcomes are you most excited by?
If you can’t answer these questions, you can’t present a compelling story of who you are and what you have to offer. Secondly, you’ll not be able to guide your career to the level you want it. Amazing careers require a great deal of planning, vision and management, as well as a big dose of clarity, courage and connection.
Network socially.
After reviewing so many LinkedIn profiles (and hearing from lots of my followers – now over 170,000), I can read your LinkedIn profile and in three minutes, identify a great deal about you that you didn’t realize you were communicating.
After all,
How you “do” LinkedIn is how you do your career.
I’m always stunned to see how many people just aren’t utilizing LinkedIn or other social networking tools to the fullest (or at all). They haven’t uploaded a photo. They use only their job title as their tagline. They don’t fill out their summaries or list in a compelling way the amazing accomplishments they’ve achieved. They don’t tell a story about who they really are and want to be in the workforce.
The harsh reality is that how you approach developing your digital profile and footprint is how you approach your professional identity. If you’re lazy, shy, uninspired, scared or reluctant to do the work to build a profile and connect with others in a committed, excited way, this is a strong indicator of how you’re operating at work as well.
In addition, you can't just rely on digital networking to move you forward. You have to meet new people in person as well. Get out of the doldrums by "bringing yourself to market." Attend industry association meetings, conferences, meetups, build a new networking group, etc. In other words, bring yourself forward in all ways possible to show the world who you really are. The people you meet with inspire, uplift and support you.
Envision and articulate what you want next.
Because the majority of professionals I see come to me when they’re stuck, I’ve observed that human beings see only what’s at the tip of their noses. They forgot who they’ve been at their best or who they can be. If they’re unhappy in their careers, they experience only limitation, confusion, paralysis, exhaustion, toxicity, crushing politics, disillusionment, fear, malaise and reluctance to change.
The problem with all that is that if limitation is all that you see regarding your own abilities and your past – then limitation is all you’ll get coming back at you in your future.
What to do instead? You need to think bigger and higher than what you see in front of you, and what you have been. Find new ways to be inspired by what’s possible for you, and talk in those terms – what you’re looking for, what lights you up, what compels you, what you’re capable of -- rather than only what you’ve done and focused on to date.
If you need new sources of inspiration, go out and get them. For instance, watch one TED talk a day, or connect via social media with people who are 100 steps ahead of you doing what you long to do, and share their tweets and posts. Write an article on LinkedIn, or take a class that will inspire you. The more you connect with others who are making the impact you dream of, and with work that lights you up from the inside, the more you’ll see that what you dream of is not as far out of reach as you imagined.
Join me in my Amazing Career Project online course today to build a happier, more rewarding career.
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b65445dc8102cc85ac86780452e9a8d9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/04/28/why-youre-drifting-farther-away-from-what-you-want-and-how-to-stop/ | Why You're Drifting Farther Away From What You Want, And How To Stop | Why You're Drifting Farther Away From What You Want, And How To Stop
Part of the series “Living and Working Better”
In working with hundreds of career professionals each year to “dig deep, discover their right work, and illuminate the world with it,” I know this: Without a compelling, heart-centered life plan, and without fiercely protecting our priorities and boundaries, we simply can’t muster the energy, focus or power to craft our lives as we dream them to be.
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To learn more about how to develop a life plan that will get you on track quickly, I was excited to catch up with Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy about their new book Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get The Life You Want.
In their book, the authors offer a proven, real-world and tested manual for drafting a compelling Life Plan -- an empowering, self-composed, concise roadmap to living the life we truly want.
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Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy share powerful insider secrets on this process, from their years of experience. Michael is the CEO and founder of Michael Hyatt & Company, an online leadership development company. An in-demand speaker and New York Times bestselling author, Hyatt shares thought-leading conversations through his widely read blog, and his This Is Your Life podcast, which consistently ranks among iTunes’ Top 10 Business Podcasts.
Daniel Harkavy is the founder and CEO of the elite coaching firm Building Champions, Inc., where he serves as an Executive Coach, and trusted confidant, and resource for Fortune 500s and other high-performing organizations, including Chick-fil-A, Pfizer, Infineum (an ExxonMobil and Shell company), Nike, Daimler Trucks North America, and Northwestern Mutual. Daniel is a sought after speaker on the topic of leadership and facilitates custom executive team retreats focused on leadership and team development.
Here’s what they share about the importance of your life plan to save you from “the drift.”
Kathy Caprino: What is the “drift” and how does it explain how most people approach work and life?
Daniel Harkavy: The drift describes how most of us go through life. It is a subtle but strong force that can cause us to focus on just a few areas of our lives while ignoring or neglecting others until we experience discomfort or crisis. For example, we may have real clarity as to where we want to end up in our careers or finances, but lack this clarity when it comes to our health, marriages or families. For many of us, we get such immediate and gratifying feedback when we perform well at work that we invest disproportionate energy and time into our career, neglecting other life accounts. As a result, we fill our days with decisions that are more reactive than proactive and then give our leftovers to these critically important life accounts. The drift can pull us along for months or years until we end up at destinations that can be filled with pain and regret.
Caprino: What is the best way to get clarity about what you really want in life?
Michael Hyatt: One of the best ways to get clarity about what you want is to imagine you are an invisible guest at your own funeral. (I know it sounds morbid, but stay with us.) Your family and loved ones are on the front row. Your friends, neighbors, and work colleagues are on the rows behind them.
Now imagine that several of them take the podium to give a eulogy. What are they saying about you and what your life meant to them? If you are like most people, you’re probably not entirely happy with what you are hearing. Perhaps you had hoped you could have made a more positive impact. Perhaps you are now aware of a gap between what you intended to do and what you actually did.
The good news is that you aren’t dead yet! There is still time to make a difference—to have a significant impact on the lives of those who matter most. All you have to do is get clear on what you wished each of these people would say and then get busy making that vision a reality.
Caprino: I understand that you recommend taking a full day to create a life plan? Why is that critical?
Harkavy: In order for a life plan to be of real value, it needs to be something that captures not just our heads but also our hearts. What we are after in this process is real transformation or habit change. To create a life plan that has real pull power, we need to do the deep reflective work required to gain real clarity on what matters most in our lives. For the last 20 years, my team of coaches and I have made it mandatory for our clients to invest one full day at a location special to them to map out the best and most powerful plans for their lives. If we try to shortcut this process by doing a little here or there, the plan will not capture us in ways that cause us to be passionate and convicted enough to live it.
Caprino: I see with my own coaching clients that they often know what they want as their legacy, but have no idea how to specifically make that a reality. How do you believe we can build careers and lives that will fulfill our biggest visions? What are the best steps to take?
Harkavy: Once you’ve invested time to gain clarity on the legacy you want to leave and what you want in the areas of your life that are most important to you, you can begin to identify the specific steps that will move you from your current reality to the future state. When our days include the intentional disciplines that enable us to care for our health, attend to our spouses and kids and the areas of our lives that we are passionate about, we are freed up to be truly present in our careers. It allows us to work with more focus and energy instead of fretting and worrying about where we are not and what we are not doing. By having this level of clarity on how to succeed in the areas outside of our careers, we are best armed to fill our working hours with maximum energy, brain power and presence to succeed at work.
Caprino: Michael, you mention that it’s vitally important to identify and rank your priorities? How does a ranked list act as a filter for making decisions?
Hyatt: A clear set of ranked, written priorities can act as a filter for making the tough choices that all of us have to make from time to time.
In the midst of the Great Recession, after months of hand-to-hand combat, I decided I desperately needed a vacation. As the the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, I checked with my board, and they gave me the green light. I was looking forward to resting and reconnecting with my wife.
However, on the way to our vacation destination, I received an email from the Chairman of my board, asking me to turn around and come back to Nashville. He wanted to meet in my office to discuss some concerns about our strategy. My heart sank.
But then I remembered my priorities: my health, my wife, my kids, and then my career—in that order. It wasn’t easy, but my priorities gave me the courage to make the decision to say “no” to his request and continue with my original plans.
As it turned out, his concerns were handled by my staff, and he never brought them up to me again.
Caprino: Great, so now we are clear on our top priorities. But why do most people struggle in getting started in making the big changes that will let them fulfill those priorities?
Hyatt: Most people struggle with big changes for these three reasons.
First, they are not clear on what they want.
They might have some vague sense that they want their career to improve, for example, but they haven’t take time to create a written vision for how they want it to look. This is true for other areas of life: their health, marriage, finances, etc.
Second, they are not honest about their current reality.
Their point of reference might be their peers rather than a vision of what could be. Relative to others around them, they feel like they are doing okay. But the truth is, we have to assess ourselves based on the vision we have identified for ourselves in step one.
Third, they are hoping for some kind of big lottery win that will change everything in an instant.
That’s not how it works. Most change happens has a result of making specific commitments and harnessing the power of incremental change over time. You have to ask, “What are the simple steps I can take now to close the gap between my current reality and the life I want?”
And you don’t have to see the whole path. In fact, you rarely do. The most important thing is to start. Once you do that, the path has a way of unfolding, one step at a time.
Caprino: Why should corporations encourage -- and even facilitate -- life planning with their employees? What are the benefits to organizations?
Harkavy: There are several critical benefits. For those in leadership roles, there is the truth that self-leadership always precedes team leadership. When leaders are caring for all areas of their lives and are experiencing momentum in their life accounts such as marriage and family, health, faith, finances, hobbies and communities, they are able to be more present and passionate in their careers. It makes them more effective and easier to follow, and they have the chance to model this for younger teammates. It paints an inspiring picture for them to see you succeeding not just between the 9:00-5:00, but also the 5:00 to 9:00.
It’s also the right thing to do as we manage and lead today and build for tomorrow. If we can help our teammates build plans for success in all areas of their lives, we can impact them in uncommon ways. This helps us to create truly unique cultures that are positioned to get the best results. And impacting our teammates in ways that make a meaningful and lasting difference is at the core of all great leaders.
For more information, visit Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get The Life You Want.
To become clearer on what you want and make it a priority, take Kathy’s free Career Path Self-Assessment and visit kathycaprino.com.
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a143ab19166c3d3e7d7388e950f248d5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/05/02/the-dirtiest-man-on-tv-dispels-5-damaging-myths-about-blue-collar-labor/ | The Dirtiest Man On TV Dispels 5 Damaging Myths About Blue Collar Labor | The Dirtiest Man On TV Dispels 5 Damaging Myths About Blue Collar Labor
Part of the new series “Supporting Today’s Workforce”
Every once in a while, we come across someone – either in the media, on TV or YouTube, or right next door – who captivates our attention because of their passion and love for what they’re doing. They radiate excitement about the possibilities, enthusiasm for life and what they’re focused on and learning, and a deep commitment to helping others create more success (and fulfillment) doing work they love.
Mike Rowe (Courtesy of mikeroweWORKS Foundation)
Mike Rowe is one of these individuals. Ever since I discovered his show Dirty Jobs, I was hooked on his messages, vibrant energy, and his overall approach to living and working better. Mike is the Creator, Executive Producer and Host of TV’s Dirty Jobs and Somebody’s Gotta Do it. He’s also the founder and CEO of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, which awards scholarships based on work ethic to students pursuing a career in the skilled trades. He also has a new podcast called The Way I Heard It, which is a five-minute mystery designed for people with a curious mind and a short attention span.
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Mike has a new webisode series Hot Under the Blue Collar with Mike Rowe, created in conjunction with Direct Energy’s home service brands, to dispel myths about skilled trades jobs and highlight the surprising truth about the benefits, rewards and opportunities that blue collar careers provide.
Check out Episode No. 1:
I caught up with Mike recently to learn more about five of the damaging myths we’re taught today about blue collar work and workers. These myths include:
• There are no good jobs left in America.
• The best path to a good job is a four-year degree.
• Trade jobs are dead-end jobs.
• You can't make six figures.
• There's no room for women in the trades.
Here's what Mike shared:
Kathy Caprino: Mike, if college graduates can’t find a job, they assume there are no good jobs left to be filled. What’s wrong with this idea, and what’s your advice to high school and college-bound kids?
Mike Rowe: If you spend the day fishing but don’t get a single bite, it’s not because there are no fish left to catch; it’s because you haven’t gone to where the fish are. I know that sounds glib, but the truth is, fish are abundant, and so is opportunity. But that doesn’t mean the job you want to retire from is waiting for you in the zip code you want to live in. We have forgotten, on a very fundamental level, that jobs are not supposed to come to us -- we are supposed to go to them. That’s the first issue with the idea that “all the good jobs are gone.” The second, and more serious problem, is the constantly evolving definition of what a “good” job actually is. Collectively, we’ve discouraged our kids from pursuing a whole category of perfectly good jobs, because we don't see them as aspirational. This kind of bias is real and dangerous and completely without merit. And it's a great way to guarantee a widening skills gap, a massive pile of student debt, and a workforce that’s completely out of balance -- which is precisely what we have today.
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Caprino: What’s your advice to parents of these kids?
Rowe: I try and avoid giving advice to people I don’t know, but if my kids showed any level of mechanical aptitude, or expressed any enthusiasm for tinkering or repairing or fixing things, I’d encourage them to investigate every opportunity in the skilled trades. Likewise -- if they had a four-year degree and a mountain of student debt and couldn’t find work in their chosen field and refused to relocate -- I’d make any future support conditional upon their willingness to mastering a useful skill.
Learning how to weld, or how to run electric, or how to install a toilet -- these skills can and often do lead to fulfilling careers, balanced lives, and better than average pay. Even if you don’t spend the rest of your life working in the trades, there’s simply no downside to learning a skill. None whatsoever. Kids who are floundering today should be encouraged to hit the reset button and start learning a useful skill as soon as possible. Studies show that welders pay off student loans a lot faster than baristas…
Caprino: Many people think trade jobs, like those in plumbing, HVAC and electrical professions, are dead-end jobs that provide no upward mobility. Why is this untrue?
Rowe: It’s untrue because it’s statistically, practically, and undeniably false on every level. The mastery of a trade doesn’t just give you a skill you can fall back on -- it gives you an opportunity to start your own business. There’s certainly no shame in working for someone else -- most people do. And today, a skilled tradesperson has a great shot at earning a six-figure salary. But people forget that skilled tradespeople form more small businesses than any other kind of entrepreneur. So -- not only is there upward mobility -- there’s widespread, limitless, and unprecedented opportunity.
I’ve been working on a recruiting campaign with One Hour Heating and Air, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, and Mister Sparky -- and the more I talk with these franchise owners, the more I hear the same story over and over. Someone starts by mastering a trade, works hard, and begins to prosper. Then they decide to start their own business. They buy their own vans. They hire their own people. They create opportunity not just for themselves, but for the thousands of others who are literally keeping our lights on and our toilets flushing and our indoor temperature just the way we like it. Skills lead to careers, but they also lead to real businesses, and real prosperity. We forget that at our peril.
Caprino: Americans have been taught that white collar jobs provide more financial stability and security than blue collar jobs. In your opinion, is this true, and why do you think so many people believe this?
Rowe: It’s absolutely true that we’ve been taught to equate success with white collar jobs, more so than blue collar. Were it otherwise, we would have never permitted public schools to erase the vocational arts from their curricula. But the truth is, the color of collars has very little to do with a person’s salary, their likelihood of success, or any meaningful measure of job satisfaction. We like to believe otherwise, because it gives us something definitive to tell our kids. It gives us a "play book" of what to pursue and what to avoid. A "road map to happiness."
That’s why we push college so hard, at the expense of all other educational models -- cost be damned. But in reality, blue collar jobs and white collar jobs are not opposites; they’re two sides of the same coin. And the most critical thing to our country is a workforce that’s trained for jobs that actually exist. That’s why it’s a mistake to push a one-sized fits all approach to education and work. But -- back to the first point: You gotta go to where the jobs are -- regardless of the color of your collar.
Caprino: The skilled trades industry is a male-dominated field. What are the benefits of women working in the skilled trades, and how can women succeed in the trades alongside their male counterparts?
Rowe: At the risk of generalizing, there’s probably no better opportunity for women than those opportunities in the trades. The reason is simple -- women have not traditionally been encouraged to pursue these careers, and companies have not traditionally gone out of their way to recruit women. Those days have ended, but the general population hasn't gotten the memo. At present, 95% of tradespeople are still men -- but companies are now eager to change that. Partly because they're desperate for skilled workers, and partly because it just looks bad in 2016 to have one gender so heavily represented. I know several very skilled, very ambitious tradespeople who just happen to have two X chromosomes. They can pretty much write their own ticket.
Caprino: What are the requirements for somebody who’s interested in a career in the skilled trades, and how do they get started? Where can they learn more information?
Rowe: I wouldn't be too quick to assign requirements beyond those sought after by any employer. A solid work ethic, a willingness to solve practical problems, a curious mind, a desire to succeed. Bias aside, check out mikeroweWORKS.com, or FindSkilledJobs.com. Remember too, that many companies provide training in house, and many others will subsidized your training elsewhere.
Caprino: Finally, for young adults who want to pursue a skilled trade but get serious pushback from friends and family, what should they do?
Rowe: Ignore them (with great respect).
To learn more, visit FindSkilledJobs.com and MikeRowe.com.
To build a happier career, visit KathyCaprino.com and The Amazing Career Project.
Update: A previous version of this story implied that women have an X and a Y chromosome. It's since been corrected to reflect that women have two X chromosomes.
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6e60ffcd5630db198294e8951e202291 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/09/07/has-accountability-died-in-our-culture-reviving-it-courageously/ | Has Accountability Died In Our Culture? Reviving It, Courageously | Has Accountability Died In Our Culture? Reviving It, Courageously
Part of the series “Today’s True Leadership”
Photo Courtesy: iStock
In less than five years, millennials will comprise 50% of the workforce. This next generation of leaders will shape the world of work for years to come, which will be critical for the future of any business.
But if we look around us today, we see signs that true accountability seems to be a dying trait. In both young and older professionals alike, accountability is clearly waning. According to award-winning author and leadership consultant Lee Ellis, it’s time to reverse this trend of lack of accountability, or the consequences will be dire, for leadership, for business, for our global relationships and for the world.
Ellis is the author of the new book Engage with Honor: Building a Culture of Courageous Accountability. He is also President and founder of Leadership Freedom LLC, a leadership and team development consulting and coaching company, and FreedomStar Media, a publishing company that provides leadership resources and training. Lee was an Air Force fighter pilot, shot down and captured in Vietnam, serving more than five years as a POW where he learned leadership in the crucible as his team battled to return with honor from the communist POW camps.
Watch on Forbes:
With more than 15 years of experience providing resources and training for leadership, Ellis’ approach has been implemented by Fortune 500 clients, senior executives, and C-Level leaders in a variety of industries.
Lee shares his insights on building a culture of courageous accountability:
Kathy Caprino: Lee, tell us what you have found about why a lack of accountability leads to dishonorable behavior that erodes trust, promotes cynicism, and can destroy a business?
Lee Ellis: There are many examples that make the point. Enron and Arthur Anderson disintegrated for this very reason. And consider the costs (estimated in the billions) to VW for its software cheating. They did not have the courage to deal with their failures or lack of performance, so they covered up.
Courageous accountability is crucial to human performance, because we need both a carrot and a stick to keep us on track . Accountability helps us perform because we generally want to keep our commitments and it reminds us of them. It also helps us perform honorably when it serves as the stick by bringing negative consequences for not performing appropriately.
When there is a lack of responsibility and clear expectations, human nature’s pride, fears, and natural tendency to cut corners and pursue self-serving behaviors come into play, leading to dishonorable behaviors. We’re seeing this trend worldwide.
Caprino: How do people develop accountability, and why are so many operating without it today?
Ellis: Accountability is best developed in an environment where it’s regularly demonstrated and emphasized by honorable, balanced leaders. Ideally this starts at home and school where parents and significant others demonstrate by their day-to-day behaviors that they are accountable.
Also, it’s reinforced when people have clear, defined responsibilities with clear expectations and then immediate accountability to celebrate or confront the results. When people don’t deliver on their promises, do their duty, or fulfill expectations and awkward consequences follow, they learn how the world works. Without confronting poor behavior or performance, leaders send a message that that you can underperform, ignore your responsibilities and promises, and nothing negative will happen. In the end, this does not serve anyone well.
Caprino: What are the most important, practical, step-by-step instructions to help business leaders build cultures of accountability?
Ellis: Our Courageous Accountability Model is anchored by its core of Character, Courage, and Commitment. Leaders must demonstrate accountability and that requires a consistent foundation of Character, Courage, and Commitment. It requires authenticity and vulnerability, admitting when you fall short and then quickly correcting back to course. Leaders must also communicate, as communications provide the threads that link all aspects of leadership and accountability. The four steps of the Courageous Accountability Model are described below:
Clarify
This step begins at the highest level of mission, vision, values. People need to know the expected culture, the reason for the organization’s existence, and the vision of where you’re going together. Then a level deeper, confirm professional standards and organizational policies. The NFL is a good example here. In recent years they have scrambled to clarify policies for locker room behavior (Miami hazing) and domestic violence (such as the Raven’s Ray Rice).
Next, clarity is needed on a leader’s personal guidelines and preferences on how you want your organization or team to operate. Finally at a day-to-day level, clarify the details of the task or project. What is the expected outcome, what resources are you providing, what reporting do you want, etc.? Ask mutual questions back and forth to get on the same page.
Connect
Connect based on individual differences in natural talents.
Take into consideration the personal strengths and struggles of you and your team members. You can make a big mistake on the front end if you assign someone a task or project that requires talents they don’t have.
Connect with the heart.
Every person wants to feel valued and important, that they are contributing to their purpose in the overall organizational mission. Affirm and help them achieve their true potential. Frances Hesselbein (in her book Hesselbein on Leadership) shared this:
Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world.
Making people feel valued and important is the essence of connection and is crucial for positive employee engagement. (See the many benefits of positive employee engagement here.)
Collaborate.
This step is about having an ongoing dialogue so you as the leader know enough about team and organizational progress. At the same time, you’re providing support by coaching, training, and correcting individuals where needed to help them be successful. Millennials especially want collaboration.
Close out.
If you have done the previous steps, then you conclude with either Celebration or Confrontation.
Celebrate
It’s hard for many highly results-oriented people, but it’s important. People need the cycle of work hard, achieve goals, and celebrate successes.
Confront
Confrontation is difficult for most people, but since not all things turn out well, it’s essential for a healthy organization. It requires courage, a good plan executed with care and respect for the other person.
Caprino: How can leaders accurately assess their own leadership capability?
Ellis: Leadership development must start with self-awareness, and our online assessment tool (Leadership Behavior DNA™ Discovery Process) has been used by thousands of leaders to gain an objective view of their specific talents—their natural strengths and struggles. The goal is to maximize strengths while acknowledging their struggles and working on a few of them in order to grow as a leader.
Leaders learn to manage each individual uniquely based on their natural DNA behaviors (strengths and struggles). For example, managing an introvert (typically focused and self-managing) is very different from managing an extrovert (typically not as focused, need more personal interaction, not very self-managing). These insights are critical for successful leadership and people development.
Caprino: Why are accountability and self-awareness so very critical for the next generation of leaders?
Ellis: Millennial expert Tim Elmore, of Growing Leaders, cites several issues that concern employers hiring Millennials. Two of those issues are closely tied to accountability.
• Work ethic. Grads lacked old-fashioned grit and expressed unwillingness to serve beyond the job description, to do whatever it takes to get a task done.
• Responsibility. They were unable or unwilling to assume sole responsibility for their work. It was as if they wanted to “rent” their job, not own it.”
In the fifties and sixties, most young people were married and starting families by their mid-twenties. That’s a lot of responsibility and definite accountability for being autonomous. I believe the younger generations are more likely to have been sheltered from failure and its consequences. (Read more about Elmore’s views on seven crippling parenting behaviors that keep children from growing into leaders.)
Today, this is an era when the home, school, church, and community are all struggling, lacking the foundations and leadership to set the example and teach accountability. Workplace leaders have the most vested interests developing the younger generations. The good thing is that millennials in general like to be coached and developed. So you could say the conditions are ripe for helping them develop.
Caprino: Lee, how does your experience as an Air Force jet fighter pilot and former Vietnam POW inform your work today?
Ellis: The military is keen on developing leaders starting in the earliest education and training programs, so it started when I was a freshman in college and continued throughout my twenty-five-year career. I held leadership positions at every rank from captain through colonel. However, much of my philosophy was honed in the POW camps as the youngest and most junior ranking person in the group. I learned by watching the character, courage, and commitment of senior ranking officers like Stockdale, Denton, Risner, and Guarino and my own immediate cell leader Captain Ken Fisher. In this crucible, leaders typically suffered the most torture and were humbled beyond belief, yet they bounced back to courageously lead with honor. In that setting, I became committed to not only “Return with Honor” but to always do my best to live and lead with honor.
For more info, visit http://www.engagewithhonor.
To build more bravery and accountability in your life, join my webinar The Quickest Path To Your Happiest Career and listen to my podcast Best Work/Best Life.
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2523b0fdf265deec5b46bba9a3839c82 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/12/09/how-to-identify-your-top-priorities-and-brave-up-to-honor-them/ | How To Identify Your Top Priorities And Brave Up To Honor Them | How To Identify Your Top Priorities And Brave Up To Honor Them
Part Of The Series "Ask The Career Coach"
Photo: iStock
Dear Kathy,
I follow your work and love your messages about braving up and honoring what matters most, but I need your help on that. I’m a 54-year-old professional woman, and I’ve had a great run at a number of professional directions, including writing a series of books that were very successful, to serving on boards of two renowned foundations, and fundraising for several important health causes. All that said, I just don’t feel I’ve really had the “success” I deserve, and I’m still lacking in confidence to determine what I want to do next, and secondly, to take action on these ideas. I find that I’m constantly distracted by a million different projects and new ideas, but I can’t seem to sink my teeth into one and just go for it. What can you suggest to help me figure out what to do?
Thank you for your help,
Jenny
Dear Jenny:
Thanks for your honesty and openness in sharing your situation. So many people will resonate with your story, and particularly, with your feeling that despite all the amazing successes you have achieved, you lack the confidence and sense of self-worth and value to take yourself to the next level and identify and pursue what you care about most.
I’d like to address here the phenomenon I see in some many women today, which is a blocked vision about how they are amazing, unique, special and important in the world. The first problem is that, when something comes very easily to us – say, writing, or public speaking, or connecting others, or brainstorming fabulous new ideas – we just don’t see our talents for what they are. They seem like “no big deal” and we ask “Well, can’t everyone do this?”
The answer to that is an emphatic “NO!” Very few people have your powerful combination of innate talents, passions, perspective and ability, and your special way of operating, thinking and perceiving. And not everyone can do what you do in the way you do it. You are truly one of a kind. So the first tip is to start looking at what you do with an eye for appreciating how important, needed, and special it really is.
Another important dimension to this is understanding your special style of taking action. My research has shown that there are six dominant action styles that people demonstrate. Honoring your own natural style is critical if you want to love the work you do , as well as achieve lasting reward and success in it. Many people are finding that when they identify exactly how they like to pursue action towards and goal, and what motivates them passionately, they can then better identify the new directions that will bring them fulfillment and satisfaction.
Secondly, regarding confidence, I’d love to share some wonderful insights from my friend and colleague, Richie Norton, the author of the book The Power of Starting Something Stupid: How to Crush Fear, Make Dreams Happen & Live Without Regret.
In his book, Richie talks about how to move forward and lean forward into your “stupid” idea – to not shy away from it, but embrace it fully, so you can make your dreams happen and live without regret. Doing what’s necessary to walk into “stupid” helps you do what’s required to come out on the other side -- to stupendous.
Here’s what Richie shares about how to crush your fear:
“It’s not the actual circumstances that we should feel threatened by; it’s the fear of the circumstances that poses the real threat. The bottom line is that people with high aspirations are going to experience a proportionately high level of fear. If high aspirations are equal to high fear, then the flip side to that truth is that overcoming high fear is equal to achieving high aspirations. To crush fear doesn’t mean you eliminate it; crushing fear means you literally crush it down into smaller, more manageable parts and tackle one piece at a time.”
I love this advice for several reasons. First, fear is a given – if you want to achieve anything in this world, you’re going to feel fear around it. So you have to “brave up” and walk into the fear – straight into it – all the while watching yourself in the process, and developing your own personal and effective coping strategies for moving forward despite the fear.
Secondly, Richie talks about “crushing” fear. He doesn’t mean that we’ll obliterate it – that’s not possible (or even desirable). But we can break our goals down into manageable, bit-sized, doable steps, and commit to those, one day at a time. After we accomplish each one, we need to stop and make time to appreciate ourselves and relish what we’ve done, and embrace the bravery inside ourselves to tackle what we were most afraid of.
Finally, I’d love to help you address your question about how to prioritize and not get distracted. Here’s another fabulous tip from Richie’s book: the “Will I regret it when I’m 80?” rule. Regret can cripple our lives, and crush our feelings of hope, purpose and strength. (Here are the top 5 regrets I see in midlife professionals, and they're devastating.) In evaluating all the options in front of you, Richie suggests asking these four questions:
• Do you have a pressing thought or idea that won’t go away? (Make a list of all your pressing ideas.)
• Looking at your list of ideas, what would you regret NOT doing?
• If you had only a short time to live, and were required to rid yourself of all the things from your list but three, which would remain?
• If you had to prioritize these few things in order from most important to least important, which order would you choose?
I'd then ask yourself, “What do these priorities reveal about what I care about most, and why? What are my deepest, most core values that these new directions reflect?”
There you go – you’ve done it! Now you know what’s most important to you, why, and what to focus on first.
So, are you ready to crush your fears and start something “stupid?” Truly, all you have to do is start. Then, you can pivot, adjust, and re-align when you need to. But starting is key.
It’s your time to brave up.
I hope that's helpful to you. Let me know how it goes!
Best wishes,
Kathy
For more on Kathy Caprino, check out her Amazing Career Project video training and watch her TEDx talk.
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15f5f1895e51da306e6c37995a991859 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2017/04/28/5-core-reasons-people-resist-facing-reality-instead-of-changing-it/?sh=591e57317e23 | 5 Core Reasons People Resist Facing Reality Instead Of Changing It | 5 Core Reasons People Resist Facing Reality Instead Of Changing It
Part Of The Series “Braving Up To Build a Better Life”
When it's time to change course Photo: iStock
In talking this week with a friend with an extremely narcissistic spouse, something became even clearer to me than ever before: When we're in an unhealthy, manipulative or demeaning relationship or situation but keep saying to ourselves "I can't believe this is happening to me!” we keep ourselves stuck in pain and victimization. Our disbelief and/or resistance to the situation prevent us from taking the brave action we need to, to revise it.
When we can finally say, "I now see exactly what’s going on, and why,” then and only then do we have the objectivity and power to start moving forward to doing what's necessary to protect ourselves and our lives.
I learned in my therapy training that "What you resist persists." And while there’s always going to be some period of time during which we need to process what’s happening to us, emotionally and mentally, it's best to stop resisting the reality of the situation as soon as you can, and stop beating your head against it. It's much more empowering and growth-inducing to embrace the harsh reality with eyes wide open as soon as you can, so you can change your situation and your life, from an aware, empowered and courageous position.
In working with people to better their lives and careers over the past 11 years, I’ve seen that there are five core reasons people stay stuck in resistance rather than moving forward towards change. And sadly, this resistance can sometimes last a lifetime.
We think:
“This is not all that bad.”
I remember when I was in my most unhappy time in corporate life, I would try to hang on and keep soldiering through it by thinking “OK, this is bad, but it’s not always horrible. There are some good moments and experiences.” If I'm really honest, I can see that I did that because I didn't want to leave behind the high salary I was getting, or the convenience of being very close to my home and my young kids. But the price I paid for that was enormous.
When we’re in damaging, painful or unhappy relationships, careers or situations, we often cling to the good moments – when it feels healthy, fun, or rewarding. We want desperately for everything to work out without our having to make significant changes, so we hold on too tightly to the times that aren’t awful, praying that the terrible experiences will just pass quickly, or be just an aberration.
The problem with this thinking is that, if you tolerate any amount abuse, mistreatment, or manipulation that makes you feel awful, you open the door for more of it . No amount of physical, emotional, sexual, or other forms of mistreatment or abuse (or continual pain and misery) should be tolerated in your life. You have to fight to change the situation, and if you can’t do that by yourself, you need outside support.
“Why do I have to be the one to change? They’re the ones in the wrong.”
I’ve heard this from thousands of professionals in horrible work environments as well as spouses or others in relationships gone wrong – they feel they’re in the right so they should NOT have to be the one to make any changes.
The problem with this mindset is that when you are experiencing people, events, and behaviors that are wrong for you, you alone have to be the one to take action, and not wait for others to change. Most likely, these others won’t change because they have no motivation to. You’re the one in pain, so you have the motivation.
The measure of joy, satisfaction and reward you achieve in your life will closely match the degree to which you are open to engaging in the brave work to create it.
“This isn’t fair.”
Many folks beat the drum of “This isn’t fair!” No, it probably isn’t. The reality is that life isn’t fair and expecting it to be is a waste of energy. Life is what we make it. If we wait for fairness to happen to us, we’ll most likely be crushed.
Fairness, respect, equality and being treated in positive, life-affirming ways are experiences we have to co-create by being strong, forthright, integrity-filled, honest, and brave - standing up for ourselves and others, and speaking up courageously for what we believe in and what we think we (and others) deserve. “Fairness” doesn’t just happen – we make it happen with our own actions and mindsets.
“I can’t believe they did this to me! I don’t deserve this treatment.”
Many people who’ve been mistreated, or who’ve been fired, laid off or somehow feel they’ve been kicked to the curb like garbage, and stay stuck in a cycle of disbelief and extreme pain, saying “I can’t believe this – I don’t deserve this.” They take it all personally, as if it’s an affront to who they are deep down, at their core. (I know I did, when I was laid off from my corporate VP role.) They fight against what happened as a way to defend and preserve their sense of worthiness, value and self-esteem.
Most often, however, mistreatment (or situations in which you’ve been let down in a big way) are more about the other person’s issues or the organization’s dysfunction and challenges that you’ve been swept up in. If you can stop taking it all so personally, and start seeing the full dynamics involved, you’ll most likely see a very different picture -- of the full system you were embroiled in, why you were initially attracted to it, and why you need to separate from it now.
“This will somehow magically get better – they’ll (or it) will change on its own.”
Finally, I see this reasoning as one that keeps more people stuck in pain and misery than any other. Most of us don’t want to change – we want whatever we have created to work out beautifully. In fact, we expect it to and put all our eggs in that one basket. Especially when we’ve worked so long and hard to build a particular career, and sacrificed so much in the process. We’re often shattered when it ends up being the wrong one.
When this occurs, we’re bewildered, frustrated and highly resistant. We have magical thinking that if we just work harder, or longer, or give more of ourselves to it, the situation will magically improve.
But as we’ve seen, nothing improves without some critical shift that paves the way for a new way of operating or seeing the world. Magic has nothing to do with it. Change comes from seeing our situation with clear eyes, not taking it personally, learning what we need to, integrating that learning, then getting moving to create an entirely new experience for ourselves.
What thinking has kept you stuck in a situation that you now know you have to change?
For more from Kathy Caprino, visit her career growth programs and her TEDx talk “Time to Brave Up.”
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d213c8cda289fa4fda83a9ae7d05b1d9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2017/05/21/3-steps-to-strengthening-your-boundaries-to-build-a-happier-life-and-career/ | 3 Steps To Strengthening Your Boundaries To Build A Happier Life And Career | 3 Steps To Strengthening Your Boundaries To Build A Happier Life And Career
Part of the series “Braving Up To Build Your Best Life”
Enforcing your boundaries in dealing with challenges Photo: iStock
One of the most powerful concepts I've learned in my life emerged from my training as a Marriage and Family Therapist. It’s about boundaries – the invisible barrier that separates you from the world around you. Boundaries define who you are, and they keep you safe and secure, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
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Having well-developed, appropriate boundaries ensures that you’re protected from behaviors and actions that are injurious, disrespectful, or invasive. People with healthy boundaries know their limits and are able to enforce them with quiet strength and authority. Healthy boundaries—well-established limits regarding what you expect and need from others and what you will and will not tolerate from others’— allow you to move forward on a fulfilling and satisfying path, both at work and at home.
Those who have insufficient boundaries, I’ve found, have almost always experienced some form of emotional manipulation or trauma in their childhoods and upbringing. Children who’ve been abused or mistreated (emotionally, sexually, physically, etc.), for instance, experience a violation of their boundaries before they had the power or ability to advocate for or protect themselves. Unless we recognize this later in life, and do the necessary work to strengthen our boundaries, we experience ongoing mistreatment from others, and a great deal of pain, confusion, and unhappiness as a result.
Of course, we can’t control other people’s actions and words, but we can control our responses to them, as well as our actions in the face of language and behavior that violate who we have defined ourselves to be in this world.
If your boundaries are weak, others can and will find a way to get under your skin and hurt you, invade your privacy, suck your energy, drain your resources, and wreak havoc on your life. Another way to say this is that without strong boundaries, we allow people to drain us parasitically, taking from us whatever we’ll allow them to.
Healthy, strong boundaries ensure that you:
• Experience and demonstrate self-respect and respect of others
• Understand and articulate effectively the limits you’ve set for yourself
• Know unequivocally when your limits have been overstepped
• Determine with surety and confidence the actions you wish to take when your boundaries have been violated
• Live and relate well with yourself and others, and build a rewarding life that matches what you value and believe in
A few basic steps are required to strengthen your boundaries, and for many people I’ve coached and spoken to, particular those who had narcissistic parents or emotionally abusive childhoods, these boundary-strengthening steps aren’t easy or at all comfortable. Boundary development requires courage, strength, patience, and time, but it’s an essential step toward a happier, more rewarding life and livelihood.
The 3 key steps developing stronger boundaries are:
#1: Gain Awareness Of What You Need More Of
First, it’s critical to understand more deeply what you need more of in your life and work, and what isn’t working today.
Ask yourself:
What do I desperately long for? Perhaps it’s more time, energy, honesty, compassion, respect, care, commitment, or power?
Begin the process of exploring when you feel thwarted, angry, resentful, drained, and undervalued. Most likely your boundaries need bolstering in these situations. Is your boss demanding that you’re available 24/7? Is your spouse refusing to do his/her part of the necessary work at home to help raise the children or manage the household responsibilities? Is your friend demanding, selfish, and critical, unable to relate to you in a caring way? Is your parent horrible to you?
Once you recognize exactly what you need that you’re not getting, and what you’re allowing that is no longer tolerable, start setting clear and unwavering limits – both out loud and to yourself - as to what you desire and need from others to feel respected and valued, and what you will no longer stand for.
Take some time this week to think about your boundaries, then write down what your rules will be going forward in terms of what you expect, need, and will allow from others. Then communicate these limits to the outside world calmly, clearly, and unemotionally. Know in your heart and mind what the consequences will be if people don’t respect your limits. And don’t be surprised when people react negatively to your asserting your boundaries. After all, they’ve become very used to being able to walk all over you.
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Here’s a personal example: I remember in my 30’s, I made a decision to finally walk away from the habit of gossiping or speaking negatively of others in the chronic and mean way I had done previously. I realized that in my life, I would habitually engage in triangulation – an emotional manipulation tactic where one person who is not comfortable communicating directly with another person or dealing directly about something challenging, uses a third party to relay communication to the second individual, or to intervene and get involved somehow. This allows the first person to relieve his/her own anxiety by complaining about the situation, but prevents the individual from actually taking the brave, direct action necessary to remedy the problem. Instead a triangle is formed.
To ease my own anxiety, I’d speak critically about one friend or colleague who was upsetting me, to the other. I realized finally that this was a destructive habit fed by my own insecurities, and I knew it always came back to hurt me. But since I’d been doing it for years, the people in my life were used to engaging in this with me, and I needed to change that.
The next time a friend spoke ill of another in front of me, I said, “I know I used to do this in the past, but I’m working really hard not to speak ill of my friends, or gossiping like I used it. I’m just not comfortable speaking about Terry this way. Would you mind if we changed the subject?”
While a few people got annoyed or offended, most not only obliged my request, but also seemed to respect the decision and began to realize themselves how speaking ill of their colleagues, friends or family members just didn’t feel right or helpful. In fact, it made them feel worse.
#2: Stop Pleasing Others In Order To Feel Safe
Many hundreds of women I’ve worked with, especially those who grew up with parents who were emotionally manipulative or narcissistic, discover that as adults they are striving desperately to please others as a way to either feel safe from punishment or to fulfill their own neediness.
Accommodation to others can be healthy and caring in the right situations, but for those who’ve been culturally trained to be pleasing and self-sacrificing (as many women are today in our society), it is a self-demeaning act, and can destroy our chances for a happy, rewarding and empowered life.
Why do people overly accommodate and acquiesce to another’s wishes?
The key reason is fear. People are afraid that approval and acceptance will be withheld if they are their most authentic, truthful selves. They’re deathly afraid that others will become angry or reject them for being honest (because it actually happened to them again and again in the past).
Many people fear too that they are not worthy, smart, or strong enough to stand up for what they believe. They believe that if they stop giving in to the needs of others, they’ll cease to be loved, needed, cared for, or accepted.
We learn this acquiescence in our early lives. Many people have adopted this behavior to survive their childhoods. Narcissism is now rising in epidemic proportions, and thousands were raised in homes that did not allow expression of true thoughts and feelings. Punishment, sometimes severe, ensued when individuals asserted themselves and enforced their personal limits.
Sadly, I’ve seen as a coach and therapist that if you don’t address your habitual pattern of over-accommodation to others, it just won’t change. This damaging pattern will remain for a lifetime, forever tripping you up in your relationships, work and personal life.
#3: Get Help To Break The Cycle Of Mistreatment Or Abuse
When mistreatment is occurring, we often need outside support to help us recognize what’s really going on, and to explore what needs to be changed, and get help to take safe, appropriate action.
If you are experiencing abuse of any kind, help is available. Reach out and get the help you need. In the workplace, if you’re experiencing mistreatment, stop in your tracks, and make an evaluation of what’s transpiring. Also look at how you may be contributing to or allowing the situation. If any of the statements below are true for you, then proactive, empowered action is called for.
• I’m being harassed and made to do things that feel wrong.
• I’m being passed over or not treated fairly continually because I’m ___ (female, gay, African American, middle aged, disabled, pregnant, on leave, etc.).
• I’m being back-stabbed and maligned.
• I’ve been promised things by my supervisors that I’m not getting.
• My work is being sabotaged.
• Money is being withheld from me for no reason.
• I’m being punished or blamed for things I didn’t do.
• I’ve been forced into a position that I don’t want.
• I’m being excluded from meetings and other informational sources and networks that are essential for me to succeed at my job.
• My reviews have been great, but I’m not being rewarded as promised.
• I’ve been asked to do unethical/illegal things for the job/company.
• I have to work around the clock to get my job done, and I don’t want to.
If any of the above is happening, mistreatment possibly is occurring, and proactive measures are needed. But first, try to get in closer touch with who you are, what you will and will not accept, and understand with more clarity what you value in life and work, and what your limits are. Before you can act powerfully, you have to gain awareness of what feels wrong and right. Become very clear now—evaluate in detail anything that feels like a violation, and why, and document it.
The next critical step is to understand the role you may be playing in this negative situation. Have you communicated clearly your discomfort or your lack of agreement with what’s been happening? Have you said “Yes” when “No” was the real answer? Or have you shared your discontent in ineffective ways (gossiping, self-sabotaging, passive aggressive actions, etc.)? How are you potentially participating in this situation, and maintaining the cycle by not standing up for your convictions or enforcing your limits? What pieces of yourself are you giving away, to be liked, accepted, or rewarded?
Once you have a clearer idea of where you stand, reach out for help to get a fresh, informed, neutral (outside) perspective. This could be a discussion with a mentor, a sponsor, a lawyer, a therapist, coach, your Human Resources representative, your city’s Social Services Department -- whatever is called for in your particular situation. Once you share your situation with them, evaluate their perspective honestly and openly. If it resonates as true, then decide what action is called for. If not, seek another source of support. Find help that feels right for you, but make sure you’re open to the truth, even if it’s very difficult to hear.
In the end, strong, healthy boundaries are essential in giving us the strength and power to design our lives and careers as we want them. Knowing what’s critical to you to lead a happy life, then braving up to take the necessary action to enforce those needs and values, is the difference between building a happy, satisfying life versus struggling continually with dismal disappointment and mistreatment.
For more from Kathy Caprino, visit her personal growth programs and her book Breakdown, Breakthrough.
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2da04de119e6f821bcc4414ed0b87adc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2017/11/10/%EF%BB%BFformer-nasa-director-shares-leadership-lessons-from-catastrophic-spaceflight-disasters/ | Former NASA Director Shares Leadership Lessons From Catastrophic Spaceflight Disasters | Former NASA Director Shares Leadership Lessons From Catastrophic Spaceflight Disasters
Paul Sean Hill Photo Courtesy of Paul Sean Hill
Part of the series “Today’s True Leadership”
According to its stated mission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is responsible for unique scientific and technological achievements in human space flight, aeronautics, space science, and space applications that have had widespread impacts on our nation and the world. Developed in response to early Soviet space achievements, NASA was built on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, as the center of U. S. civil aerospace research and development. When NASA opened on October 1, 1958, it accelerated the work already started on human and robotic space flight.
Undoubtedly, there have been many groundbreaking achievements throughout its history, including the six manned Moon landings, to satellites which explored other planets, to the Hubble Space Telescope, Shuttle, and leading the construction of the International Space Station. But, according to Former NASA Director of Mission Operations, Paul Sean Hill, there were fatal errors in leadership and management that contributed to the three catastrophic spaceflight disasters: Apollo 1 (January 27, 1967), the Space Shuttle Challenger (January 28, 1986), and Space Shuttle Columbia (February 1, 2003).
Hill shares below his experience and perspective of the critical leadership lessons learned from these spaceflight disasters. Hill served as NASA Director of Mission Operations from 2007-2014, and is the Founder of Atlas Executive Consulting and author of Leadership Mission Control Room to Boardroom. He is a former U.S. Air Force Captain, holds a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, and was awarded the coveted Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive by the United States Office of Personnel Management.
Kathy Caprino: Paul, you say failures in leadership were key contributors to each of the three NASA spaceflight accidents, but physical engineering mistakes played a big part, no?
Paul Sean Hill: Each of NASA’s catastrophic human spaceflight accidents did have a physical engineering cause. In each case the underlying cause for the engineering mistake was a pervasive tendency in the community to ignore or trivialize indicators of problems while racing towards an important objective. This tendency was brought on by senior leaders who were highly respected and very accomplished in both the detailed engineering required to fly in space as well as in senior management.
Their intentions were good, and, like the workforce, they considered their first priority to be to protect the astronauts. And yet, the environment they created through their management practices led the community to gradually ignore warning signs and accept risks with less and less rigor, and seventeen astronauts died as a result of leadership failings not faulty engineering.
Caprino: Please tell us more about these missions and the fatal errors.
Hill: They are:
Apollo 1
During a test on the launch pad on January 27, 1967, the Apollo 1 astronauts died as a result of a flash fire that was caused by the 100% oxygen atmosphere inside the capsule. Although there were several design and manufacturing related contributors to the ignition source of the fire, famous Flight Director Gene Kranz said it best to Mission Control after the accident, “We were too gung-ho about the schedule, and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble, and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, ‘Dammit, stop!’”
Challenger
Nineteen years later, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger astronauts died during launch, when one of the solid rocket boosters leaked a jet of hot gas that burned through the external tank causing it to explode. The engineering cause was a seal on the solid rocket booster that did not perform correctly because of the freezing weather. While accurate, it does not explain the real tragedy: for weeks, the solid rocket booster manufacturer had warned a team of NASA engineers and an executive that the seal was at great risk of leaking due to the cold temperatures. Rather than stand down to study the problem, the NASA executive challenged the manufacturer, “My God, Thiokol, when do you want me to launch—next April?”
Columbia
Seventeen years after Challenger, on February 1, 2003, seven astronauts died when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated 40 miles above Texas at 10,000 mph while on their way to land in Florida. A piece of foam insulation from the external tank had broken off and struck the left wing two weeks earlier during launch. The resulting damage allowed the fireball that normally flows around the wing to enter and fatally damage the wing. Before the launch, NASA had been studying a number of concerns with Shuttle systems that posed obvious and serious risks, one of which was not this foam insulation. Sadly, NASA had been aware for years that small pieces of foam had been tearing away from the external tank, but we did not perform any rigorous engineering analysis or testing to determine if this foam posed a threat to the Shuttle.
Caprino: How exactly did Mission Control leadership mistakes play a role?
Hill: Mission Control leaders did not play a direct role, except as members of the community who were aware of the problems and, as Apollo Flight Director Gene Kranz said, did not raise our hands and say, “Dammit, stop!”
Caprino: What could cause highly accomplished people, like those at NASA who are arguably some of the best minds in the world, to lead in ways that could cause such catastrophic failure? In a way, shouldn’t they have known better?
Hill: The potential for blowing up the rocket goes a long way to keeping us focused on rigorous decision-making in Mission Control. As we are promoted, it is easy to lose that direct connection in our management decisions that look less and less like rocket science.
At the same time, we find ourselves immersed in roles that tend to be about people and relationships, not the engineering or rocket science talents that generally get us noticed and promoted. We’re often not prepared for or comfortable with the people-related roles and struggle to do them effectively.
I refer to this as the "management cloud," where the shift in our work and responsibilities gradually clouds our view as managers. We are then at risk of making decisions without the same deliberate rigor that we would have naturally applied when our work is more directly associated with critical decisions and an obvious potential for catastrophic failure (e.g. blowing up the rocket!).
Compounding that is the paradox of success, which I first learned from the great executive coach, Marshall Goldsmith. As we build on our own successes, it is natural to gain confidence. Over time and with more and more hard-earned success, that confidence can take on a life of its own. After being recognized first as experts, then as leaders in such a difficult field, of course veteran leaders in human spaceflight learn to trust our own judgment to the exclusion of anyone else’s, especially those who cannot claim to do what we have done.
After each accident, NASA made changes in the way we did our work to prevent the same pressures from clouding our judgment again. As sincere as our intent was each time, as time went on, next generations of leaders succumbed again to the management cloud and the paradox of their (and our) success. And we found ourselves right back to management practices that either didn’t help or led us astray.
Caprino: Are leaders in other industries susceptible to these same management failures? If so, what are some examples?
Hill: Between the management cloud and our own paradoxes of success, we are all susceptible to evolving into less effective management practices as we move up. As leaders, it can then be our management practices that then lead our team into making mistakes and into failures that many of them could or did see coming.
Even in industries and work where mistakes won’t lead to blowing things up, there are all kinds of opportunities to fail. These range from costing the company money, eroding product or service quality, and losing customers to bankrupting the company and putting everyone out of work. While not as spectacular on the news as an explosion, the effects can still be crushing.
Consider Arthur Andersen. In 2001, they were a $9-billion company with 85,000 employees around the world and were considered the gold standard in integrity. Two years later and after the Enron scandal – directly involving only a few of Andersen’s senior managers – Arthur Andersen had dropped to 200 employees turning out the lights on a century old company and their incredible legacy. No explosions, but absolute catastrophe for them.
How we manage – how we behave – sets the tone for the culture and how the team behaves. Our individual management behaviors and practices can lead a team into failure or help them step deliberately around it to achievement and innovation.
Caprino: If we’re all vulnerable to the same leadership pressures that lead us astray, what can be done about it?
Hill: Assess your individual and team management behaviors/practices, starting at the top. Deliberately align the team to a common purpose. Ensure you are fostering transparent communications (up and down) and deliberate decision-making through every action you take.
Stay paranoid that the management cloud and the paradox of your success are affecting you and your organization. Never forget that as the boss, as the management cloud and the paradox of your success lead you astray, you take everyone and the enterprise with you.
Remain mindful that as a leader, the biggest difference you make is not being the smartest person in the room , but ensuring that you and everyone who works for you retain this awareness or paranoia and enable every brilliant idea – and criticism or doubt – to be heard.
Remember that previous success does not make you right today, but it can make you drop your guard and do things you could have and should have known not to do.
Caprino: Did Mission Control learn any leadership lessons after theses disasters, and if so, how did they apply them to the management of future missions?
Hill: Through the years, Mission Control developed a very specific set of values we call the Foundations of Mission Operations. They are all traced back to some failure or near failure.
Our ability to reflect these values in our management team required another first step: Get over yourself – learn to embrace and explore criticism, regardless of your previous accomplishments and your seniority.
Ironically, it was not NASA’s accidents that finally taught Mission Control this lesson, but it was the loss of trust from our customers in our business performance. Then, after almost 50 years of leading the way in human spaceflight operations, benchmarking other industries, private companies, and even a USAF satellite operations wing showed us some unhappy truths that then led to real growth.
This was a game changer for undoing the effects of the management cloud and the paradox of our success. Simply seeing evidence that we were not as good as we thought we were also showed us where we could learn from others. With this simple awareness, we stepped through change after change in our management practices, which then led to unexpected strategic wins that would not have been possible otherwise.
Along the way, the senior leaders also had to each increase our personal awareness (me included). As we each did a better job managing our individual weak areas, it became easier and more natural to focus on practices that mitigated the management cloud and the paradox of success – it became easier to make a difference as a leader rather than be part of the problem.
Caprino: How can business leaders across all industries take a page from mission control’s book apply these outer space leadership lessons to their own businesses problems here on Earth?
Hill: Do what we did: Don’t hesitate to reach out to others for ideas. Those ideas could simply help you see or articulate your values and challenges in ways that don’t come naturally to some members of the team.
Before the Mission Control management team went through our leadership evolution, most of us could not easily or concisely articulate how our most critical leadership values mattered in our management roles. After embracing deliberate change, we practically turned it into a science as we plowed through ideas from great thinkers like John Kotter, Stephen M.R. Covey, Jim Collins, and Marshall Goldsmith.
That’s exactly why I wrote my book, Leadership from the Mission Control Room to the Boardroom and lead industry workshops on the same subject. It not only explains our most critical leadership values, but how we lost them and rediscovered them in our management ranks. It’s a shortcut through our journey and offers a repeatable path for any leadership team to follow.
For more information, visit http://atlasexec.com and Paul Sean Hill’s book Leadership from the Mission Control Room to the Boardroom.
For more from Kathy Caprino, visit kathycaprino.com and FindingBrave.org.
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d9772f9ba239b7d8e105ac086121f311 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/01/13/5-things-your-linkedin-profile-reveals-about-you-that-you-dont-want-it-to/ | 5 Things Your LinkedIn Profile Reveals About You That You Don't Want It To | 5 Things Your LinkedIn Profile Reveals About You That You Don't Want It To
Part of the new series “Communicating Powerfully for Success”
Make sure your LinkedIn profile highlights the best of you Photo: iStock
In my work as a writer and career coach, I spend a great deal of time on LinkedIn. I review hundreds of profiles a month, including those of new colleagues, potential clients, podcast guests, speaking agents, journalists, thought leaders and more. I also train my clients and course members how to communicate more powerfully, and build stronger LinkedIn content that elicits interest and follow up.
This work allows me a window into “seeing” people’s real personalities, challenges, and blocks through their writing. What I’ve learned is this: How you do LinkedIn is how you do your professional life. And if you're not careful, your LinkedIn profile shares aspects of your professional life and how you view yourself that you won’t want others to know.
Here are five things your LinkedIn profile reveals that you’re probably not aware of (and will want to change).
1. You’re hiding
If you don’t have a photo up on your profile, you’re hiding, plain and simple. LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with more than 530 million users in over 200 countries and territories. With that volume of activity, many users undoubtedly would be interested in what you stand for and care about in your work. But without a photo on your profile, you’re saying “Don’t see me. Just pass me over. I’m not important or worthy enough for you to see my face.”
Tip: This week, take a photo (or have someone take it of you) – face front, smiling – and upload it. Make it professional (no bathing suits, etc.). This is a professional platform, not a dating app. Also, upload a great cover image (a photo for the banner at the top of your page) that represents something that will tell us more about you, what you care about, and why we should care. Always keep in mind who you want to engage with, and make sure your content will connect with people you'll be excited to talk to.
2. You’re not passionate about your work
It’s clear how you feel about your work by the words you use to explain it. If you choose words that are drab, boring, passive, unclear –without any indication of what lights you up from the inside – then the message is that you don’t like your work. People who have deep passion for their field and endeavors communicate that with a vitality and energy that speaks volumes about how much they’re connected to what they’re doing.
Tip: Go through your profile, and replace every single word that is boring, repetitive, overused and uninspired. Find a way to talk about what you do so that people can say “Wow! She loves what she does and is good at it!” (If you can’t do that no matter how hard you try, it’s indicative that you’re in the wrong career, job or employer.)
3. You don’t know your value or what you’re great at
I can’t tell you how many professionals miss the boat in terms of failing to share exciting, juicy facts of who they are, what they’ve done and the “needles” they moved in their roles. You need to communicate on LinkedIn exactly what you do that brings about important outcomes that help the company thrive or grow. And you need to communicate how you do what you do in ways that are different from how anyone else on the planet would do it.
Tip: Spend this weekend sitting quietly without distractions, and write down everything that’s made you who you are (your ancestry, cultural training, achievements, traumas, pivotal moments, relationships that flattened you and those that enlivened you, your passions and talents, and unique perspectives, etc.) Then connect the dots. Answer the question “How has every one of these influences shaped me in a way that makes me a powerful, valuable contributor in the work I do?”
Write down the "20 facts of you" – what you’ve accomplished, achieved and made possible, and the scope of those achievements (with metrics that illustrate the impact) and why these outcomes mattered to the organization. Sharing these facts is not bragging. It's helping people understand what you're capable of and how that's of use in the world.
For more on how to develop the 20 facts of you, check out my TEDx talk “Time to Brave Up:”
4. You’re seeking employment but don’t know how or where to look
When you write your headline with the words “Looking for opportunities” or “Seeking employment” you’re shooting yourself in the foot. You’re focused on what you’re lacking (a job) whereas your profile should be written to highlight what you have to offer. Write it with the express intent of engaging the reader. Your headline is the place for you to tell the world WHY they should hire you, HOW you’re unique and valuable, and WHAT is vitally important about your career trajectory and experience that others should take heed of because it will be useful for them. And make sure you are crystal clear about what you can do going forward, not just recite your past history.
Tip: Never use your headline to talk about looking for opportunities. That’s a given. We’re all looking for opportunities there. Use that precious real estate to share what you do, who you do it for, and the outcomes you’re passionate about bringing forward.
5. You’re not sure why your work matters
Finally, if you list only the tasks that you’ve performed, and not the “what happened” after these tasks were accomplished, you’re leaving us guessing about why your work matters. Make it clear that the work you do has an impact, and can continue to make a difference in other situations, opportunities and employers. You’re more than just your current job (please recognize that), but if you don’t share how you can apply your talents and abilities in ways that move organizations forward, the reader can’t envision exciting future possibilities for you.
Tip: Make sure that everything you write is not task-oriented, but benefit-focused. And share most about what you love doing, not the boring, mundane work you never want to do again. Every word you write has the power to attract to you more of same. So if 80% of your work makes you feel dead inside, then emphasize the 20% that makes you feel alive, important and valuable in the world.
For more about making the most of LinkedIn, download my free guide, and watch my video “How To Leverage LinkedIn To Build Your Personal Brand.
Gallery: 7 Ways to Make LinkedIn Help You Find A Job 8 images View gallery
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907a1663eae07243fec24aa033ae895c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/02/13/5-career-decisions-that-can-backfire-and-crush-your-success/ | 5 Career Decisions That Can Backfire And Crush Your Success | 5 Career Decisions That Can Backfire And Crush Your Success
Part of the series “Finding Brave to Build Your Best Life and Career”
Dealing with the impact of career decisions that hold us back Photo: iStock
Before I mustered the bravery to reinvent my career from unhappy corporate VP, to success coach, writer and speaker, I was stuck in a corporate marketing career that was just plain wrong on so many levels. While it was “successful” on the outside (meaning, I made good money, had high-level responsibility, earned lots of perks and benefits, oversaw large projects, etc.), it was a train wreck from an emotional perspective.
Looking back on those 18 years of corporate life, I see now that my real talents and abilities – the ones that make me feel alive and of value and use to others – weren’t being tapped at all. Because of that, I often felt the success I achieved never delivered the impact or satisfaction I wanted. The work and outcomes I focused in my corporate jobs rarely matched the real me or aligned with my truest values and ideals. Just like 87% of employees worldwide, I felt disengaged in my work, and found no meaning or constructive purpose in this career I’d worked so hard to build. Despite all the “sensible” decisions I made in managing my career, I ended up shattered and lost at 41.
What kept me stuck in this career pain and dissatisfaction? It amounted to a series of critical career choices and decisions that I believed made sense and were wise to make, but in the end, they failed me. And the core mistake I made, over and over, was not recognizing that what we are most naturally gifted and talented at doing – what comes easily and joyfully to us – are the same talents we should be leveraging in our careers, instead of focusing on skills that are deeply challenging or demotivating to use. Further, if the outcomes we’re focused on in our work don’t honor our core values and ideals, we’ll suffer.
Working with hundreds of professionals each year, I’ve seen that there are 5 career decisions and choices people make that often backfire, and lead to failed careers and painful outcomes. Over 95% of the professionals who come to my firm for career help are making at least one of these mistakes , and on average they’re making three of these at the same time. These errors in decision-making around our career choices destroy great opportunities, career happiness and true success.
These 5 critical career decisions that fail us are:
Going only for the “safest” thing
Understandably, professionals want something safe and secure for their careers and profession. The problem is, nothing today is really “safe and secure” except the talents you possess inside of you and your commitment to using and growing them. Entire industries and fields are evaporating quickly, or morphing into new directions. Many professionals over 45 who I've worked with have stopped refreshing and updating their knowledge base and skill set and are finding that they’re being viewed as obsolete, replaced by younger professionals who have their finger on the pulse of the new innovations and directions in their fields.
Midlife professionals sometimes admit that they simply can’t keep up with the pace that’s demanded of them, but they feel it’s too late to make a change. It’s too risky, too unknown, too scary, to make a significant shift. And they're afraid of all the money they believe they'll lose. So they stay in what they think is safe only to find that staying safe was about the most unsafe thing they could do.
Tip: Stop worrying about safe. The only safe thing is growing yourself, and making great use of all that you know to help others. What is the scariest thing you’ve been wishing you could do? Seriously evaluate what it would take to do that scary thing, or some version of it, that could make you great money but also honor what you know to be true about yourself and who you want to be in the world.
Not fully leveraging your deepest, most needed talents
What most corporate professionals fail to understand is that each of us possesses great natural talents and abilities that the world needs, and that organizations must have to thrive. The key is to identify those talents within you (they’re often not readily apparent to you because you’re so good at them), and learn to apply those in new ways that are needed by organizations or others to help them grow.
Tip: Many people can’t even answer the question “What are you great at?” If you can't answer that question, then you can't speak compellingly about your talents either, and that leaves money, opportunities and advancement on the table. If that’s you, take the time now to identify your true, natural talents that have been with you since your teen years. Think about how these talents have helped organizations, teams and people grow and thrive. What outcomes were you able to achieve that others couldn't have, because of what you do and what you know. Then determine how you can now leverage these talents more powerfully to make a difference in new roles that you’ll find juicy and rewarding.
Not pivoting to a new direction that “connects the dots” AND addresses the changes in the market
I’m a big fan of doing work that elicits passion in you, because passion keeps your work fresh and new, and motivates you to continue to find new ways to leverage that stream of energy and commitment for exciting outcomes. Where passion goes wrong for people is that they think that’s all they need to be successful, and that’s not accurate. And it goes wrong when people refuse to see that the world has changed and they can't be successful the way they used to go about it. They need to pivot. For instance, I know so many musicians, artists and creatives who can no longer earn what they need to because the business model for the arts has changed. Yet they refuse to apply their artistic talents in other ways that would generate income.
The type of “pivot” I'm referring to is a change in direction that honors everything you’ve learned and know, but allows you to direct your energies in more satisfying ways where your skills are most needed. For example, after my corporate life I became a marriage and family therapist. While I loved every minute of the learning and training required to become a therapist, I ended up not enjoying or thriving in the professional identity of it – the day to day realities and requirements of a working therapist. But my dissatisfaction as a therapist pushed me to pivot to a new identity I love – serving as a success coach, writer and speaker. This role allows me to utilize all that I’ve learned as a therapist, but also draw on my corporate experience as a leader, manager and writer. And running my own business gives me the chance to utilize the expertise I gained from my corporate marketing, research, management and product development roles. When done correctly, a pivot can bring out all of you, and nothing is wasted.
Tip: Explore and “try on “ 5 different directions that will allow you to pivot so that you can use everything you know, but leverage it in a new direction that will generate what you need and want.
Not recognizing that you have to think of yourself as more than just one job or title
I hear from hundreds of corporate professionals who’ve been in one job for many years, and that’s all they think they are. They’ve been disengaged from the world outside. They haven’t been involved in networking, or utilizing LinkedIn to build their profile or community. They haven’t connected to colleagues outside their company. They’ve stayed small, hiding. They haven’t attended conferences or industry association meetings. They haven’t learned anything new. They believe that all they are is their job. In short, they know only their limited role and function, and haven’t expanded beyond that or their organization.
Tip: If you’re reading this post, you most likely want to significantly revise your career. Take the time this week and month to begin to stretch yourself far beyond your one role and employer. It’s a big, beautiful world out of there of amazing people doing inspiring things, sharing enlivening ideas. Join that bigger world. Start reaching out to former colleagues on LinkedIn, and build your personal brand there. Give endorsements and testimonials, update your resume, contact recruiters, and reach out to 10 new people a week and make a new connection. Change your LinkedIn profile headline so it's not just about this one job you have - it's about all that you are and have been in the workforce. Start talking about what you’d like to do next, and ask for help, even if your ideas about what you want to do aren’t fully baked yet.
Not committing to stretching yourself farther
Finally, there is one career decision that’s sure to lead to failure – it’s deciding NOT to grow and expand your skills set because you think you’re fine where you are. I’m working with new three clients right now who did this – they failed to stretch, grow and learn more or refine their skills. They didn’t make use of tuition reimbursement at their jobs and take additional courses they needed. They knew they had “power gaps” in their current role and couldn’t perform at the top level, but wouldn’t address those gaps. They chose not to accept an exciting new project in a different department because they were either scared they’d fail, or didn’t think they “needed” to engage in this new direction. And they refused to look for another job until they were forced out of their current one.
Tip: You simply can’t achieve the success and impact you long for if you don’t grow. Stretching out of your comfort zone isn’t just a nice thing to do. It’s vital to success, happiness and growth. Determine three ways today that you can start growing and learning something new, and get moving to stretch beyond who you think you are today.
For more career growth support, watch Kathy's "Finding Brave" video series, and work with her in a Career Breakthrough program.
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e8add06f11f636c2ede774894cdb1c36 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/06/26/is-your-attire-making-the-right-impression-at-your-new-job-how-to-tell/ | Is Your Work Attire Making The Right Impression At Your New Job? | Is Your Work Attire Making The Right Impression At Your New Job?
Part of the series "Living and Working Better"
Expressing your authentic self is important to your happiness Photo: iStock
When I was in corporate life, I wore a suit almost every single day, and truthfully, I hated it. The stockings were stifling, the heels were uncomfortable, and the suit jacket always made me feel like I was in a straight jacket. I never really felt that I was communicating through my attire who I really was. When I finally left corporate work for good and started my own business, I realized then just how much I disliked being constrained by dress codes and other rules and protocol that made me feel hemmed in, not able to reveal the real me. Thankfully, things have changed significantly in the past 15 years regarding dress code and what is now considered acceptable attire.
From my coaching work with thousands of professional women in the past 13 years, and my leadership training experiences in the workplace, I've seen a true shift in many industries and fields, away from the traditional professional dress code many of us grew up with (suits with jackets and tie for men, suits with stockings and heels for women, etc.).
Now, there's much more creativity in personal expression that's allowed and even encouraged in how we dress for work. There's an emphasis on comfort, personal expression, and wearing clothes and accessories that help you feel good doing the work you do. And because of it, we often feel more "at home" in our work, and more comfortable and honest expressing who we really are.
That said, the reality is that we are still judged by things other than our skills and experience. If you continually wear clothes that aren't a fit with what your work culture considers acceptable, it can and will work against you in a serious way. First impressions matter and last, and how you dress reflects who you are, what you care about, what you believe about yourself and want others to see. So it's important that you choose your attire consciously not haphazardly, and understand what your clothes suggest about you.
Following some essential rules regarding acceptable dress code will make sure your creative, casual attire is still suitable for all professional endeavors you engage in.
I'd recommend following these guidelines:
1. Generally speaking, avoid overly revealing and overly sexualized attire because that tends to communicate a message that you're not a professional to be taken seriously.
2. If your job involves meeting with external clients, your image matters as it reflects on not just you but the entire the company. Follow the guidelines that the company puts forth on dress code for these meetings.
3. Understand the ecosystem you're in. If you work for a traditional organization, for example, and you want to wear sneakers, a T-shirt and ripped jeans every day, it may mean your personality is not a strong fit with this work culture.
4. If the culture is all about artistry and creativity, then certainly bring your creative style and flair forward. But again, understand those times at work when a shift in what you wear may be required (for instance, meetings with senior leadership, external client meetings, evening networking events).
And some helpful advice I offer to my clients:
If you're in doubt if something is appropriate, then don't wear it. If you're not sure, dress a bit up rather than down. Being a bit overdressed isn't typically perceived negatively, but being under-dressed often is. The guidelines that your company has put forward are there for a reason - to help everyone develop a sense of fitting in and feeling comfortable around each other. Follow those guidelines wherever you can. And if you feel you can't, have a discussion with your boss or HR about the why the code doesn't work for you and what you can do about it. Find out what the dress code is before you take the job. If you don't like the code, it's likely you won't like the culture.
And here are eight things you should never wear to work:
Noticeably dirty, soiled, or wrinkled clothes Attire meant for a late night club dancing that expose your midriff or other parts of your body Strapless tops Very short skirts that show undergarments Sleepwear, workout gear or swim wear Overly tight, low or see-through tops Beat-up sneakers and shorts better meant for yard work Flip flops or other beach sandals
In the past month, I've heard from some recent college grads who are starting new jobs, but are struggling to understand what "acceptable" attire is at their new company because they interviewed only remotely. If you're concerned about this, I'd recommend that you first review the employee handbook that the organization provides, for clues about dress code. You can also do a search on LinkedIn to see if anyone you know works for the organization whom you can ask. If you're still unsure, it's perfectly fine to inquire with the HR manager who has been your direct contact at the company. A good time to do this is when you are corresponding back and forth regarding the onboarding paperwork and information you need to sign before you begin the job. You can ask something like, "Sally, I'd also like confirm, per the employee handbook, that the office follows a business casual dress code. Is that correct? Thank you." (And here's a quick guide on what "business casual" typically means.)
In the end, choosing the right attire for you is about being able to express yourself creatively and authentically and feel like "the real you" while also presenting a professional appearance that generates confidence, respect and trust that you can do your job well and represent the company in an outstanding way to others.
With a little forethought and planning, you should be able to balance the two easily, if you've picked the right job and work culture for who you really are.
To build a happier, more rewarding career, join Kathy’s webinar The Quickest Path To Your Happiest Career and take her Amazing Career Project video training.
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c1c985d14ec87dc83d533cff6e702a80 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/08/17/3-crucial-ways-to-identify-your-most-damaging-leadership-blind-spots/ | 4 Crucial Questions To Identify Your Most Damaging Leadership Blind Spots | 4 Crucial Questions To Identify Your Most Damaging Leadership Blind Spots
Part of the series “Leading Entrepreneurial Success”
Uncover your blind spots and address them before the damage is done Photo: iStock
If you’ve ever launched an entrepreneurial venture or run a small business for any amount of time, you know that what hurts your success the most is what you don’t know – those areas that you think you’re handling successfully, but because of your lack of understanding, knowledge or discernment of what your clients and customers truly need and want, you’re taking a wrong path. And often we can’t see we’re on the wrong path until it’s far too late.
To learn more about those damaging blind spots that limit or crush our business success, I caught up this week with Diana Kander, New York Times bestselling author of All In Startup, a novel outlining lessons for launching successful products through the story of a struggling entrepreneur competing in the World Series of Poker. Today, Diana is the director of Innovation Culture and Habits for Maddock Douglas, a Chicago-based innovation consulting firm. In this role, she trains executives and Fortune 1000 companies to be more innovative and to inspire employees to think more like entrepreneurs.
Kander is the co-author with Andy Fromm of a new book, The Curiosity Muscle: A Story of How Four Simple Questions Uncover Powerful Insights and Exponential Growth. Their book explores why most companies reaching the peak of their potential lose their curiosity and crash into irrelevance. Written as a novel, it walks the reader through specific ways to boost innovation, uncover customer needs, solve problems, engage employees and ultimately, future-proof your business. It helps you ask essential curiosity questions to uncover and address your blind spots and take your business from stagnant to soaring.
Here’s what Diana shares on blinds spots and how to identify and address them powerfully:
Kathy Caprino: How do you define “blind spots” and how can we recognize them?
Diana Kander: Blind spots are not your weaknesses. They aren't things you know you need to improve. Blind spots are things you think are working well but are actually frustrating your customers. And everyone knows this, but they won't tell you because they don't want to be mean about it. It's like not wanting to tell someone they have food in their teeth. You don't want to be the person that ruins someone’s day, so you let them keep walking around with spinach sticking out of their incisors. You typically don’t recognize blind spots on your own. You need others to tell you they exist.
Caprino: What is so damaging about our not recognizing these blind spots?
Kander: When you have blind spots, you invest your time and money in things that aren't the most vital to keeping your business alive. No company that lost its foothold in the market and went out of business like Toys R Us or Blockbuster ever stopped innovating or working hard. They were just innovating and growing in the wrong direction. Away from their customers. The danger is that you waste your resources working on things that aren't the most vital to customers.
Caprino: Focus is so important in moving forward towards what we care about most, but how do we know if we're focused on the right things to do that?
Kander: There's a trick to knowing if you've uncovered real blind spots. You have to get information that is surprising and painful to hear. If you think about the last 12 months in your business, and you haven't received feedback that was surprising and painful, you likely have blind spots that are hurting your business. So that’s when you should start asking questions.
Caprino: What are the four essential questions we need to ask ourselves as entrepreneurs, leaders and business owners, if we want to avoid blind spots in the future?
Kander: The four questions are:
What are my blindspots? Am I focused on the right things? What can I test? How can I engage others to achieve my goals?
Caprino: What specifically should we test to help us stay on track to what we care about creating and delivering?
Kander: Just knowing about your blind spots isn't enough and usually your first idea to solve them won't be the right one. So you have to create a feedback loop to find out if your ideas are actually solving the problems you are trying to address. Make sure you aren't just looking for vanity metrics - feedback that makes you feel good about your progress but doesn't tell you whether your solution is actually making a difference. If you are going to test something, make sure there is a way for your test to fail. I know that might sound silly, but if it's impossible for the test to give you a negative result, then it's not a real test, it's just a vanity exercise.
Caprino: Clearly, we need others to support us to reach our goals. How can we best engage others to do that?
Kander: Lots of managers put too much pressure on themselves to solve problems and come up with big ideas. When you involve others in your company to come up with solutions, they will not only come up with incredible ideas (because they are closer to the customers) but they will become more engaged at work and feel ownership over the solutions. Your customer experience will never outpace your employee experience. So make sure you keep them engaged.
Caprino: Can you share your top three strategies for overcoming blind spots and creating more success in our businesses -- for ourselves, our customers and our employees?
Kander: My top three strategies are:
#1: Uncover your blind spots by asking your customers tough questions that yield surprising and painful feedback. If you are talking to your customers regularly but you haven’t heard anything surprising or painful in the last year, then you haven’t discovered your blind spots.
#2: Engage your team to help brainstorm solutions to these blind spots. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to come up with all of the answers. Your team will have amazing solutions and they will be much more invested in implementing those solutions if you engage them early in the process.
#3: Experiment with several different solutions to find the best fit. Know that your first idea will almost never be the best solution. Give yourself the time and resources to try at least 3 options.
For more information, visit Diane Kander and The Curiosity Muscle.
For more career and leadership support from Kathy Caprino, take her Amazing Career Project career growth course, and her Career Breakthrough coaching programs for emerging and seasoned leaders.
Gallery: Meet The Forbes Under 30 Alumni Featured In Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2017 4 images View gallery
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16eddd4694742398cce313ff2d8a8009 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/09/19/how-to-handle-your-familys-resistance-to-your-growing-success/ | How To Handle Your Family's Resistance To Your Growing Success | How To Handle Your Family's Resistance To Your Growing Success
Part of the series “Finding Brave To Build a Better Life and Career”
Achieving great success but feeling unsupported by family can be a deep challenge Photo: iStock
Frequently in the career and leadership coaching work I do with professionals, my clients bring up difficult situations they faced within their families that left emotional scars. Often, there are active remnants from the past of pain, insecurity, and helplessness, and if they haven’t done the deep internal work to heal that pain, it’s carried forward for many years afterward.
One common challenge I’ve seen occurs when families respond negatively to a member’s growing wealth and success. Families who’ve struggled to earn enough money or have stayed stagnant in their mindset can often feel left behind by a member who’s gone on to be extremely successful. And the family’s lack of understanding or support is often very difficult for the individual to deal with.
To learn more about this dynamic and how to overcome it, I caught up with Jeremy Adams. Jeremy grew up in a trailer park, spending his childhood in a poor neighborhood with no expectation that he’d grow up to reach any level of financial success. Jeremy is now a 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and the founder of several companies including the world's largest food truck manufacturer Prestige Food Trucks and a $6 million company with Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington. Jeremy is currently the cofounder of Unicorn Innovations.
Adams shared openly with me that, as he continues to grow as an entrepreneur, his family has been resistant to his expanding success. He’s shared that “I feel they not only don’t understand what I do in my work, but they also don’t seem to appreciate the work I’ve done to achieve success. And they neglect to understand the lifestyle I’ve adopted as a successful entrepreneur.”
Adams offers powerful advice and strategies for overcoming strained family relationships so you can shift your mindset and move forward to your highest potential without being burdened by guilt. Below, he shares openly about growing up around money struggles and how he overcame his challenges.
Kathy Caprino: What was it like to grow up deeply struggling financially?
Jeremy Adams: For me, it was actually rather normal, and I didn’t know any better until maybe middle school. I started noticing kids having nicer material items than me, nicer houses than me, families took more trips, etc. It started making me really insecure to invite people over and introduce them to my family and see where I lived, especially when it came to any girls I was interested in. I got my first job right when I turned 16 at Bob Evans. I was very money-motivated years after. I thought money would make me happier, more confident, get the girls, etc.
Looking back at it now, I realize that biggest strain was that money controlled a lot of our household. My family lived much of their life chasing money and working week to week, never actually getting ahead. My step dad finished his degree and became a teacher when I was in high school, so things did improve a bit, but the “poor” mindset was ingrained at that point. I got caught in a trap of comparing myself to others which NEVER will have a good outcome.
The initial motivating factor for me wanting wealth /earning income was just to have nicer things than my “peers” so I didn’t feel as bad about myself. I realized a couple years into my first business that no matter what level I reached, there are still always going to be more successful people, with nicer things. In one of my favorite newer books, 12 Rules For Life, Jordan Peterson recommends that you never compare yourself to others, only compare yourself to who you were yesterday.
Caprino: What was it like to grow up in a neighborhood and surrounding area with little wealth or aspirations?
Adams: That’s one of the reasons being poor was normal. Having any type of wealth was almost just a fairytale to me. No one in my family was close to anyone with wealth. My grandfather on my father’s side has had a small animal feed store for many years, and did okay, but we never really talked with him and haven’t seen him now in probably five years. Access to information was what set me apart, as well as the confidence that I could achieve what I put my mind to.
As far back as I can remember, I’d just tell my family I was going to be rich. And as mentioned, at that time, my motivating factor for being rich was basically to live a more quality life when it came to materials, restaurants, vacations, or similar. At 28 years old, I still have not reached all of my financial goals, but I don’t have to work by necessity because I have built a basic level of financial security. Year by year, I am able to be more selective with my time and take on opportunities that get me excited. I am not 100% sure about what my exact purpose is in life, but I know I get the most joy and happiness out of helping others reach their business dreams. I believe anyone can achieve what they put their mind too.
Caprino: How different are your current surroundings from when you were a child?
Adams: As a child, I remember just a normal life. Watching a lot of TV, eating junk food, and being told to do my homework. I didn’t really have a reason why, just that it was important to do it, and I’d get in a lot of trouble if I didn’t. I just went through the motions.
Now, my life is that of growth, freedom and choices. I am reading at least two books a month. I travel the world. I work with multiple coaches the help me grow in all areas of life. I have launched multiple businesses. I am focused on generating wealth because it allows me to live a more stress- free life and follow my purpose and passions. Some of which I am still gaining clarity on, but I am determined to gain 100% clarity.
Caprino: What do you have in common with your family? What did/do you talk about with your family members – then and now?
Adams: My parents got divorced when I was two years old. I lived with my mom and step dad and rarely saw my father most of my life, although we did talk on the phone. He’s a baseball fan like me, so we always talked baseball on the phone. As far as my mom and step dad are concerned, we always got along well, but never had a lot in common. In 2018, its mostly me trying to motivate them to make large changes and improvements in their life. Because I know they are capable of achieving anything they want. They occasionally ask me what I’m up to, which to me feels like they are living somewhat vicariously through me.
Caprino: What do you agree/disagree with regarding your family?
Adams: The main thing is mindset. Most people, including most of my family, are great at pointing out problems, and rarely coming up with and acting upon solutions. Can’t pay the bills? Come up with ways to earn more money. Upset with certain areas of life? Read a book or learn from an expert on how to fix it. Hate your job? Hang around people that love their careers and learn from them.
These solutions seem basic to me, but many people just complain and never take action. This is what I have really been preaching. Overall, I had a decent childhood, and I am grateful for a lot. But we all have areas of improvement. It’s just shocking about how few of us are committed to growing and taking action.
I am still somewhat uncertain about where my initial confidence came from. From the beginning, I didn’t know how I would do things, I just knew I could figure it out. The initial motivation was extremely simple. As soon as I was willing and able, I wanted to improve my quality of life. Growing up, almost everyone I knew lived paycheck to paycheck. I remember friends’ parents fighting and complaining about money. Complaining about jobs. Complaining about everything. I demand a life of positivity and abundance. When we gain clarity in that department, then I feel we can truly start living life.
Caprino: What would you say to millions of people in a similar situation?
Adams: Education is a great equalizer. It can give information and confidence to people in just about any situation and help them break out of it. At least in the U.S., and other first/second world countries.
Caprino: Do you view your prior situation as a positive or negative?
Adams: At the time I hated it. Now I feel like it was a great experience and gave me tons of perspective. It also gave me an amazing work ethic, because I still remember having little in life and I am determined to never get to that place again.
Caprino: What are your five top pieces of advice for entrepreneurial success?
Adams: My top five are:
Be addicted to education. Read books, listen to podcasts, and consume information that will challenge your mind. Find great mentors. Do whatever it takes to get around people that will help you grow. You’re the average of the five people you’re around the most. Get rid of your loser friends. Know that no one ever has everything figured out. People viewed as the experts/leaders have as many challenges as anyone. You’re not alone, and the BS you are going through is 100% normal. Money won't make you happy. But it will give you the freedom to figure out what does.
Caprino: What is your advice to those who feel as though they are held back from achieving greatness because of a roadblock (whether it’s being a single parent, growing up low-income, etc.)?
Adams: This is really all perspective. You can view your situation as either positive or a negative. You can look at anything in your life as a bad situation or a learning experience. For example, a friend of mine spent multiple years in prison and actually used it as leverage to get the job he wanted when he was out of prison.
Basically, he told the employer that no one would ever work as hard and be more disciplined as him because if he makes a mistake, he goes back to prison for life potentially. Don’t be afraid to leverage your past as to why you’d be the best fit for any opportunity.
For more information, visit unicorninnovations.com.
To build more success and reward in your career, take Kathy Caprino’s Amazing Career Project 16-week online course and tune into her podcast FindingBrave.org.
Gallery: 2018 30 Under 30: Manufacturing & Industry 31 images View gallery
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891e96c4c988e412131b863fe0ac0420 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/12/10/4-ways-to-help-your-employees-experience-more-fulfillment-and-why-you-need-to/ | Four Ways To Help Your Employees Feel More Fulfilled (And Why You Need To) | Four Ways To Help Your Employees Feel More Fulfilled (And Why You Need To)
Part of the series "Supporting Today's Workforce"
A sense of belonging and connection fosters meaning in your work Photo: iStock
Have you ever quit a job or left an entire career behind because it lacked meaning and purpose? I have. And it was the best decision I ever made. And it turns out, I'm not alone.
A new PwC/CECP study shows that meaning and fulfillment at work is the new standard employees expect of their work experience, and one that companies need to embrace if they want to cultivate the best workforce, now and in the future.
Some key findings from the study reveal just how much companies need to rethink how they can contribute to the employee experience becoming more meaningful if they want to remain competitive, including:
A staggering majority (96%) of employees believe that achieving fulfillment at work is possible, and 70% say they would consider leaving their current role for a more fulfilling one. This desire for fulfillment is so strong that one out of three employees say they would consider lower pay for a more fulfilling job. Contrary to what one could assume, employees recognize they must lead in making work more meaningful for themselves – nearly 80% are willing to find their own path to fulfillment. Leadership will need to do their part in being allies on employees’ path toward fulfillment. One third of employees named senior leaders as a barrier to them finding fulfillment.
To learn more, I was excited to catch up with PwC’s first Chief Purpose Officer, Shannon Schuyler, who works to infuse PwC’s Purpose – to build trust in society and solve important problems – into its core business strategy, so it drives how the firm engages clients and other external stakeholders for greater societal impact. Schuyler also oversees efforts to support the firm’s more than 50,000 U.S. employees in deriving a greater sense of purpose from the work they do every day.
Here's what Schuyler shares:
Kathy Caprino: Based on the results of this co-sponsored study, what are you seeing are the hallmarks of a fulfilling work experience?
Shannon Schuyler: Over the past two decades, employers have been creating more personal relationships with employees and have paved the way for a work experience that goes beyond satisfaction and minimum effort. Today, we’re seeing employees want more from work than a paycheck – they want a fulfilling experience.
By fulfillment, we mean that feeling we have when we’re working in line with our natural motivations and gain a sense of purpose. As work-life boundaries continue to blur, employees increasingly want to explore and pursue opportunities that give them that purpose. In a recent PwC survey, 83% of employees identified “finding meaning in day-to-day work” as a top priority. Neuroscience reveals that the three hallmarks that really create that fulfilling work experience are:
Relationships - A sense of belonging and connection to others Impact - Progress towards a goal we believe in Growth - Personal challenge that we overcome
Caprino: So who’s responsible for creating a fulfilling work environment? Who impacts the creation of a fulfilling work culture?
Schuyler: Organizations provide the right environment for a fulfilling employee experience, but it’s the employees who shape how to make work more meaningful for themselves. In our recent co-sponsored study Making work more meaningful - Building a Fulfilling Employee Experience, an astounding 82% of employees agree that it is primarily their own responsibility, and 42% say that they are their own greatest barrier to finding fulfillment at work.
Caprino: What questions should individuals ask themselves to reflect on their own fulfillment at work?
Schuyler: This is a good start:
Do I have meaningful relationships at work? Am I growing personally and professionally at work? Is my work making an impact that is meaningful to me?
Caprino: How can managers help create a fulfilling experience for their employees?
Schuyler: Here are a number of key strategies:
Make space for employees to create meaning
Organizations can help employees unlock insights through tools such as digital assessments and personal exploration exercises that encourage reflection. This helps employees identify personal sources of fulfillment and inform the opportunities they seek out and create for themselves in the name of meaningful work. Ultimately though, workers themselves hold the key to understanding their motivations.
Provide structure – but not too much
With some structure – but not too much – employees can make work more meaningful for themselves while still supporting the collective goals of their team and organization. Formal employee programs or initiatives – such as rotational opportunities, innovation labs, stretch assignments reverse mentorship, and milestone experiences – help employees build deeper and more diverse relationships while also promoting growth.
Create a culture that shows purpose
Evolving an organization’s culture, defined as “the way we do things around here”, can provide ongoing reinforcement and support for employees seeking greater meaning in their work. While culture is much more a matter of doing rather than saying, organizations that want to evolve their culture to be more purpose-led need to focus on a vital few elements:
Target specific behaviors that promote relationships, impact, and growth Embolden leaders to model and signal these behaviors to others across the organization Identify influencers – or authentic informal leaders – who can energize those around them and create momentum around a purpose-driven culture
Get intentional with team building
Getting employees to come together for ongoing, shared experiences can be formative and fulfilling when they bring employees together in a way that builds meaningful connections, makes a collective impact, and offers opportunities to learn something new.
Caprino: What role do leaders play in helping employees in their organization make work more meaningful?
Schuyler: Leaders are critical in signaling and modeling the behaviors that enable a fulfilling employee experience. Senior leaders and authentic, informal leaders alike can be powerful allies in influencing these behaviors and providing concrete examples of what fulfillment looks like.
Caprino: What is PwC doing to walk the talk and create more meaningful experiences for its employees?
Schuyler: We started our purpose journey by surveying employees and business leaders across the country to explore how purpose is perceived and valued. What we learned is that people did not find much value in volunteering one day a year. They want to find purpose in their work every day – it needs to be a part of their job.
Since then we have been working to show how individuals help PwC play a critical role in helping address global challenges with our clients, in our firm and in our communities, and are giving our employees the tools and flexibility they need to work on projects that are meaningful to them.
For example, we created a Digital Fitness app to put the skills all of our people need in their hands. The app is helping them upskill by understanding subjects like artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, and design thinking. We’re delivering on our purpose by helping everyone we employ build those skills regardless of whether, in the future, they work for us or for somebody else.
For people who found a real passion in working with digital, we created an intermediate to advanced skill-building program called Digital Accelerators that will replace 1,000 participants’ typical workload with digital-heavy client work and projects and weekly classes on everything from cleansing data and blockchain to 3D Printing and drones for two years.
Being purpose-led also means looking beyond the impact of our client work to the broader trends that are impacting our business and our people, such as the negative impact of implicit bias, the rapidly changing digital landscape and the increasing difficulty in balancing work, life and family. We’re committed to recognizing and eliminating unconscious bias through the Blind Spots training program we created with Harvard University, piloting a neurodiversity job interviewing program, and promoting a Be well, Work Well initiative to help our people form new, positive habits that will help them better balance the demands of life and renew their energy.
Caprino: Any final words on how individuals can take control of their careers to ensure that their work is both fulfilling and rewarding?
Schuyler: Purpose is built not found. Working with a sense of purpose day-in and day-out takes thoughtfulness and practice. Take advantage of opportunities to learn and grow at your organization and foster positive relationships with people who will help you continue to challenge yourself to make an impact.
Always remember why you work. The reason may evolve over time which is why purpose is something we must consciously pursue and create for ourselves. When we do find purpose in the work we do, it is truly invigorating.
Gallery: The Most Meaningful Jobs That Pay Well 2017 11 images View gallery
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b1d63eb0e693412c4e60532166ba679a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/12/20/how-to-build-work-cultures-of-psychological-safety-rather-than-fear/ | How To Build Work Cultures Of Psychological Safety Rather Than Fear | How To Build Work Cultures Of Psychological Safety Rather Than Fear
Part of the series "Supporting Today's Workforce"
People who feel psychologically safe at work contribute at a higher level Photo: iStock
Speaking up powerfully and bravely today has taken on a brand new meaning for thousands of women (and men) this year, given the #MeToo movement and the continued revelations being shared by employees about their workplace cultures of fear and suppression and the toll they're taking. As we all know, speaking up is not without risk, but the degree and scope of that risk varies widely, given the context and situation.
The costs of fear within an organization can be massive, as Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmondson discusses in her new book The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth.
As Edmondson – the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School – explores, companies have squandered millions of dollars of value when employees believed they could not speak up to the boss. In situations where employees see in front of them that the punishment for speaking up and saying "no" to intolerable or damaging behavior outweighs its gains, people become less and less likely to speak up. Yet speaking up is vital to a healthy, functioning social system – whether that's a nation, company, or family.
I was excited to catch up with Edmondson to learn more about how an organization can move away from promoting a culture of fear, to one of psychological safety.
Here's what she shares:
Kathy Caprino: In your book, you focus on a workplace factor you call psychological safety. What distinguishes psychological safety from policy safeguards against employee discrimination and harassment?
Amy Edmondson: In a psychologically safe workplace, people feel free to share ideas, mistakes, and criticisms. They are less worried about protecting their image and more focused on doing great work. That is, they’re free to focus on and contribute to the company’s mission.
I think it’s fair to say that policy safeguards at work are helpful contributors to psychological safety – in that such safeguards help prevent the painful distractions of discrimination and harassment, which present obvious sources of harm to people and also make it difficult for them to perform at their best. But, freedom from harassment or discrimination is not enough, and policies for addressing these challenging workplace issues is not the same as creating psychological safety. It’s a starting point, perhaps, but it doesn’t go far enough in terms of truly encouraging people to fully contribute what they can to the work that they do.
Caprino: How do leaders perpetuate fear in their work cultures instead of psychological safety and what damage does that do?
Edmondson: To begin with, it’s often the case that leaders are not creating fear on purpose. In a hierarchy, we spontaneously experience fear, when power is not handled in a thoughtful way.
Research shows that lower-level employees generally feel less psychologically safe than higher-level employees. Other research finds that people are constantly assessing their status. That is, we monitor how we stack up against others, mostly not consciously, and when we believe we have relatively low status or power, it activates fear.
With that said, it’s also true that some leaders do believe that fear is a good motivator; they believe people won’t work hard unless they’re a little afraid of the boss. But this belief is outdated. Research in neuroscience shows that fear consumes cognitive resources, diverting them from parts of the brain that process new information. When we experience fear, we are less able to engage in analytic thinking, creative insight and problem solving. In short, it’s hard for people to do their best work when they are afraid.
Finally, how psychologically safe people feel powerfully predicts how much they share information, ask for help, and offer creative ideas. Afraid employees are also less satisfied at work – harming employee retention and giving rise to unnecessary recruiting costs. The damage created by fear-based management styles shows up in at least two forms: employees are less able to put the brains they have to good use in support of the organizational goals, and employees are less likely to experience job satisfaction – even leading to the loss of good people.
Caprino: Why do psychologically safe employees tend to be more engaged and creative and how is psychological safety different from employee empowerment?
Edmondson: Empowerment is the freedom to make decisions within a given role, as opposed to being told exactly what to do and needing to check with a manager before deviating from clear instructions.
Psychological safety is the freedom to speak up without fear of interpersonal sanctions. It seems obvious that empowerment will be more effective when people feel safe enough to take the risks of offering new ideas, or experimenting, or seeking help when they need it, but empowerment and psychological safety are two different constructs.
Caprino: Would you share some real-world examples of how excessive confidence in authority can result in dangerous fear and a workplace code of silence?
Edmondson: Sure. This is a great question that points to a challenging tension for many managers.
On the one hand, people want to feel confident in authority figures and those in leadership roles often try to appear confident so that others will trust their credibility and follow their lead.
On the other hand, when people are excessively confident in authority, they risk assuming that people above them have (or think they have) the answers and don’t want to hear dissenting opinions, or other pertinent information. This assumption points to the risks of excessive confidence in authority. No one, today, has all of the answers. The world is changing too fast. Yesterday’s answers are in constant need of updating. And when people at work remain unquestioningly confident in authority, this puts everyone at risk. It creates business risks from failing to innovate fast enough to keep up - and human safety risks when customers or employees get hurt because someone didn’t speak up with a question or a concern.
Caprino: What about "failure." We all say we should not be afraid to fail, but from my coaching work with hundreds of professionals around the world, most organizations still punish failure. What can leaders do differently?
Edmondson: The most important thing to recognize with respect to responding to failure is that all failure is not created equal. Some failures are indeed “bad” – in the sense that they’re preventable and present us with minimal new information.
I’ve created a typology of three types of failures. In addition to preventable failures, organizations face complex and intelligent failures. Complex failures happen when new, often unprecedented, combinations of events or actions come together – like a supply chain disruption in a hurricane. Intelligent failures the results of experiments – of genuinely thoughtful forays into new territory. When the only way to learn more about what works is to try something new it can be called an intelligent failure. And, although it’s important to learn from all three kinds of failures, only intelligent failures are worthy of celebration, because they bring genuinely valuable discoveries.
Because most organizations are not good at making the distinctions between intelligent failures and preventable or complex ones, they tend to habitually punish failures of all kinds. I believe organizations have a responsibility to work hard to avoid preventable failures – but punishing either of the other kinds of failure makes the workplace less safe for reporting what’s really going on.
And this doesn’t help anyone – least of all the senior leaders whose effectiveness depends on having a clear line of sight to the customers, technologies and more that are shaping the possibilities for the organization’s future. Punishing failures often postpones the inevitable discovery of painful truths.
Caprino: What are some shining examples of organizations that create cultures where psychological safety is nurtured?
Edmondson: Among the examples I write about in The Fearless Organization, two of my favorites are Barry-Wehmiller, an amazingly successful manufacturer of industrial equipment, and Eileen Fisher, in the very different industry context of women’s fashion. It’s hard to imagine two more different industries than industrial machinery and the design and retail operations of women’s clothing, but both companies – and both company CEOs – have created psychologically safe cultures.
In both workplaces, employees readily speak up, offer ideas, ask for help, and work hard. Both have studiously built organizations where employees can learn and grow – where their potential as professionals and as human beings is nurtured by the company. They share a belief that growing the company starts with growing the employees.
Caprino: What are three strategies leaders can take today to begin to build a culture of psychological safety?
Edmondson: Building a culture of psychological safety, paradoxically, starts with being open and explicit about the many challenges that lie ahead. I call this “setting the stage.” Most companies today operate in complex and uncertain environments. They face constant risks – risks of obsolescence, of new nimble competitors, of employee burnout, and more.
It may seem strange to argue that leaders should emphasize such risks but doing so builds psychological safety by clarifying the rationale for speaking up. It helps people understand that their eyes and years are viewed as critical to the company’s ability to keep learning, as it must, to remain viable. Leaders need to make sure people know that they’re operating in complex knowledge-intensive businesses that live and die based on thoughtful input, and intelligent risk-taking.
Second, leaders must be proactive in inviting input. Setting the stage must be followed by a habit of expressing curiosity and asking people questions to invite them to share their observations and ideas.
Third, leaders must respond to good ideas and bad news alike with appreciation. All three of these practices help build – and reinforce – the culture of psychological safety that is vital to organizational learning and innovation, as well as to employee growth and development.
For more information, visit The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth.
For more from Kathy Caprino, visit her Leadership and Career Breakthrough coaching programs, and tune into her podcast Finding Brave.
Gallery: The World's Most Reputable Companies 2018 11 images View gallery
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59a15d193c26a4eee7040d6187be0220 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2019/03/18/how-to-start-the-right-online-business-to-match-your-personality/ | How To Start The Right Online Business To Match Your Personality | How To Start The Right Online Business To Match Your Personality
Part of the series “Leading Entrepreneurial Success Today”
Entrepreneurial success that fits your style Photo: iStock
How many times have we heard that approximately half of all small businesses fail by the fifth year mark? There have been hundreds of articles written and entrepreneurial training programs developed to address this phenomenon, but one factor that isn’t discussed as frequently as it should be revolves around two core questions:
1) Is the business you’ve started a true match to your personality?
2) Will this business model be personally rewarding and fit the way you want to work, so you can invest the necessary time, energy and money to sustain and grow this business over the long haul?
To explore more about these critical questions, I caught up recently with Jill Stanton, the co-founder with her husband Josh of Screw The Nine To Five—a slice of the web where the Stantons work to transform unsatisfied employees into successful entrepreneurs. Screw The Nine To Five is a destination for up-and-coming online entrepreneurs to obtain the information and inspiration they need to start and growth their business. According to Jill Stanton, Screw The Nine To Five has generated over $1.7 million since it became a full-time focus for Josh and Jill in 2014.
Stanton believes that the high rate of failure of small businesses is in great part due to the fact that most people pursue the first business model they come across (which isn’t always the best fit for their strengths and lifestyle goals) and therefore end up burnt out, unaligned with what they’ve built and sadly, find themselves back at square one once they realize they have to start all over again.
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To help people bypass this pitfall, Jill and Josh have developed a simple strategy for ensuring new entrepreneurs start the right business straight out of the gate, ultimately saving people an enormous amount of time, energy and money.
Here’s what Jill Stanton shares:
Kathy Caprino: Jill, you and Josh have been running online businesses together for over seven years and I heard you got started with a skincare blog. Not exactly the kind of business you would expect to make money. What made you choose that as your first business together?
Jill Stanton: I know, it sounds totally random. However, there was a method to our madness.
Back in 2012 Josh had just ended his business partnership and I was quickly starting to feel burnt out and disenchanted with my social media management business.
At the time we were living in Toronto and we both knew we didn’t want to suffer through the winter, so we decided to start a business together that would allow us an abundance of time and location freedom.
Since Josh already had some experience with running online businesses, we decided to jump in with both feet.
At that point in our lives we both didn’t really have a “passion” (other than building and growing this business of ours), so we did some basic research and decided to start a skincare blog. Why skincare? Because we knew it was a booming industry and millions of people were already purchasing skincare products online.
It seemed like a no-brainer to us so we dove in head first and quickly got a crash course in content marketing, traffic generation and what it looks like to run a business with your significant other.
Caprino: How did you make money from a skincare blog?
Stanton: At the time blogging was huge and fortunately, Josh had spent a couple years learning about SEO and how to use it rank on Google to attract free, targeted traffic to a website.
We found products that people were already searching Google for (using a process called Keyword Research), tested them out on ourselves and then started writing in-depth product reviews around those products.
After only four months of creating consistent content for our website (through a mix of product reviews and DIY skincare recipes), our little website hit the coveted $1,000 a month mark. We did this by leveraging the affiliate marketing revenue model, which at its core breaks down to this: You get paid commissions for referring leads and customers to other brands and product owners.
In other words, we served as the “middle man” who connected our audience to the skincare products we used, liked and believed in. It was a simple business model that wasn’t timezone dependent, didn’t require any fulfillment on our end and simply relied on our ability to create top-notch content.
This is yet another reason why we love affiliate marketing–because almost anyone can do it.
Caprino: You mentioned in our conversation that you feel having a passion isn’t a core requirement for starting a business? If so, what is?
Stanton: It sounds counter-intuitive, and to clarify, we do believe that you need some sort of passion for what you’re doing, otherwise when things get hard it will be easy to walk away.
However, we don’t believe you need to have a passion for the specific niche you’re in. Instead, here are two critical considerations we believe are required for starting a business online:
There needs to be a market of people who are buying products in the niche you want to enter. Your business model needs to be a match for your personality
Think of it this way: If you aren’t taking into account your specific strengths and weaknesses and the goals you have for your specific lifestyle, you may find yourself feeling trapped inside a business that doesn’t align with your core values. We’ve seen this happen in our own business and to so many of our members inside our communities, and it’s completely avoidable.
All you have to do is put some conscious thought into the type of business you believe serves you, your personality and your lifestyle goals best so that you can show up and serve the people you’re meant to impact.
Caprino: How do you suggest that someone figure out the best type of business that suits their personality if they’ve never launched one before?
Stanton: This is easier than people may think and there are a few personality tests online that can help you get clear on where you shine and what your weaknesses are.
Our three favorite tests for this are The Enneagram Test (I’m an 8 and Josh is a 5), The Fascination Test (I’m “The People’s Champion” and Josh is “The Diplomat”) or The Myers Briggs profile (I’m an ESFJ and Josh is an INTP).
What is so useful about these tests is they allow you to get a deeper understanding of your personality so you can choose a business model that compliments your strengths and avoid the ones that will leave you feeling unaligned and resentful.
For example, say you are a charismatic extrovert who currently works in sales. If you decided to start a software business, you would likely find yourself feeling bored, overwhelmed and isolated. Whereas if you were to create a personal brand where you taught what you knew (ie. sales) through a business model such as coaching or even creating online courses, your business may likely do well because you are playing to your strengths and using them to create a big impact (and income).
Caprino: Aside from matching the right personality to the right business, is there anything else you’d suggest considering?
Stanton: Yes. This boils down to getting clear on your values and how you want to live your life outside of your business.
Think about it: You can have an undying passion for your business, but if you aren’t taking time to nurture your other interests or the people closest to you, all the money in the world isn’t going to matter because you will be left feeling empty.
Instead, get clear on the things, people or hobbies that bring you joy outside of your business so you can work them into your schedule. For Josh and me, one of our biggest values is freedom. To us, that means both time and location freedom.
If we were to create a business that requires us to be on a specific timezone 24/7/365 we would show up in a poor way and our business (and therefore lifestyle, relationship and finances) would suffer.
This is why we always encourage up-and-coming entrepreneurs to sit down and do the deep work at the start so they don’t find themselves a year or two into their business feeling like they have a job and sabotaging their success...and no one wants that.
Caprino: It sounds like you’ve cracked “the secret,” but we all know succeeding in business isn’t really that simple, right? What other suggestions do you offer new entrepreneurs to become more successful?
Stanton: Absolutely. We’ve had to learn how to run a business online the hard way by doing things that don’t work so we can figure out what does. We’ve battled it out in the areas of operations, hiring and firing team members, learning how to manage money and building the right kind of traffic and attention to our brand.
It wasn’t easy, but it most certainly has been worth it and it’s why we are so driven to help unsatisfied employees and up-and-coming entrepreneurs get clear on which business is right for them so we can give them the tools and skills they need to bring it to life.
It’s our version of the “fast track” (if there ever was one) to success and it’s how we help transform unsatisfied employees into dangerously-successful entrepreneurs in a way that doesn’t sacrifice the things that matter most to them.
Here are our top suggested steps for going from building revenue as effectively as possible in the first year of your new business:
Step 1: Identify the type of online business that best matches your personality and the lifestyle goals you have
This can be anything from e-commerce (i.e. selling physical products online) to digital products (i.e. creating and selling online courses or membership sites) to coaching and consulting (either one-on-one or inside a group program) or affiliate marketing (i.e. getting paid a commission for any leads and customers you send to a merchant).
The key here is to examine the different options you have and choose the business model you believe best aligns with your strengths.
Step 2: Invest in yourself and focus on building the skills necessary
Enroll in training courses designed to accelerate your journey and teach you the strategies you need to get your business off the ground and profitable.
Do you have to enroll in courses? No, but, we’re big believers in learning from experts who are where you want to be in order to accelerate your results.
Step 3: Choose a profitable niche that you know will generate revenue
How do you know if your niche is profitable? Look to see who is selling products in that market, what they are selling and if there is a high demand for it and then use that information as inspiration to dream up your own offers so you can get started generating revenue.
Step 4: Build your audience and email list
If there is one thing that will help you make money fast online, it’s getting in front of the people who are aligned with what you have to say and sell and giving them an opportunity to connect with you through a free offer that helps you build your email list.
To do that, identify key podcasts, video interview shows, magazines and online publications that are looking for content and contributors and then pitch relevant topics that lend massive value to their audience.
Not only will these features and interviews give you and your business credibility, but it will also help you position yourself as a go-to expert in your space, ultimately allowing you to make money faster than sitting around and hoping the right people find you.
For more information, visit Screw The Nine To Five Podcast.
To get clearer on your core values, personality, preferred style and more, download Kathy Caprino’s free Career Path Self-Assessment and take her Dominant Action Style quiz.
Gallery: Meet The Forbes Under 30 Alumni Featured In Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2017 4 images View gallery
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766e6cd4376a3c28d458b35e7d238083 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2019/04/05/canva-cofounder-and-ceo-melanie-perkins-leads-her-unicorn-to-new-heights/ | Canva Cofounder And CEO Melanie Perkins Leads Her Unicorn To New Heights | Canva Cofounder And CEO Melanie Perkins Leads Her Unicorn To New Heights
Part of series “Entrepreneurial Women Rocking the World”
Melanie Perkins Photo by Daria Shevtsova
Back in 2015, I interviewed Canva CEO Melanie Perkins to learn more about how she and her leadership team built a powerful design service that took the world by storm.
Today, the online design and publishing platform has reached new heights, as the latest startup unicorn from Australia with a valuation of U.S.$1 billion after having raised a U.S.$40 million round. As Perkins shares, Canva’s key goal remains to empower everyone to design anything and publish anywhere.
Since launching in 2013, Canva has grown to over 15 million users across 190 countries, with more than 1 billion designs created, at 33 designs per second. Today Canva is growing from strength the strength, with over 500 team members working together on a mission to empower everyone to create beautiful designs. Another achievement for Perkins: she was selected as a member of the Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 list, in the Enterprise Tech category, in 2016.
The Canva story started several years ago as an idea that emerged for Perkins while she was teaching university design programs. In every class, she saw students struggle to even learn the basics. It took months to be able to create something that looked good. She realized that in the future, design would be very different. It would be collaborative, online and easy to learn. She asked herself, “Why shouldn't everybody be able to create beautiful designs?
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For more insights into how Perkins’ leadership has spurred this level of success, the challenges she’s overcome and new areas of focus, she shares candidly below about her experiences and lessons learned:
Kathy Caprino: What have been the biggest challenges in growing Canva to the next level?
Melanie Perkins: ‘Empowering the world to design’ has been a core part of our vision from our early days. We want Canva to be the place you can go to by default, and so our focus is on creating a simple and intuitive design tool. In 2018 alone we:
Introduced Canva to more markets which is a huge and incredibly exciting task for the whole team. In order to become a truly global company, we now offer Canva in over 100 languages, including the ability to design in right to left languages such as Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, so that our community can choose to use Canva in their language of choice. We also launched Canva China, with a completely localized experience featuring local fonts, local templates and a local team based in Beijing. Canva Print is now in 44 countries which gives our design community the ability to turn their amazing designs into hard copy professional prints, delivered straight to their door. We made our first acquisition in 2018. Together with Zeetings we have great plans to offer our community a better way to design and deliver more engaging presentations. We have 25,000+ not for profit organizations around the world on our nonprofit program. It’s incredible to see the impact they’re making to the lives of many! Canva continued to grow rapidly in 2018; we’ve had 1 billion designs created since we launched five years ago, more than 500k of those designs were created last year alone! Canva is now used by people from 190 countries across the globe.
Canva’s business model continues to evolve but it looks a lot like our original business strategy, except that we’re only at the beginning of it. What people can see of Canva today is only 1% of where our vision for what the product can do and become. So when it comes to challenges, there are new ones every week!
At the beginning, it was full of rejections from potential investors. We were presenting them with a crazy ambitious plan so I received hundreds of “no” or “not yet” answers for every few that said yes. Today, the challenges are more around how to keep a rapidly growing team of 500 people as happy and productive as possible, working out what should get done first of our hundreds of ideas and how to keep making Canva better and better.
Caprino: What would you say have been your three biggest missteps or mistakes you've made as a leader/manager and business head that you'd want others to learn from?
Perkins: I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a misstep, but I’m naturally an introvert so networking was pretty daunting for me at the start but was absolutely critical to get Canva off the ground. After meeting with Silicon Valley venture capital investor Bill Tai briefly at a Perth conference, he told me he would meet with me if I went to San Francisco. I did and met with him at a cafe on University Avenue.
I was really nervous and I felt out of my depth, trying to pitch Canva with a paper print out of our slide deck because I didn’t own an iPad, all the while eating lunch so I didn’t look stressed. He was on his phone the whole time and I thought he was completely uninterested. And then I got back to where I was staying and realized he’d been introducing me via email to his network, so it was quite the opposite!
I’d then promised Bill that I’d send him my business plan by a certain date, just a few days later. Between going to conferences and trying to find my ‘tech team’ it hadn’t come together as quickly as I’d hoped. I ended up staying up for 36 hours straight to send it to him by the arbitrary date that I had set. I’m sure he didn’t mind when I sent it or even care. But when I say that I’m going to do something, I do. This is when my eyesight started to go fuzzy — looking in the mirror I could hardly see myself. It scared the hell out of me and I certainly don’t recommend this route. Fortunately, I woke up the next morning and everything was working again. Extreme sleep deprivation is definitely not recommended.
Bill also introduced me to Lars Rasmussen, cofounder of Google Maps. Before then, I had never met someone who had worked on a product that had such a huge global impact, let alone the inventor of it! I subconsciously thought that people who have such a huge impact must be from another planet, yet Lars was incredibly supportive of me and my vision and it completely transformed what I believed was possible.
Caprino: Reflecting on your journey, what have you learned most about yourself?
Perkins: I learnt early on in life that if I worked really, really hard I would usually succeed or at least learn a lot along the way. Sheer determination has been key to Canva’s success in every way. At the beginning, we were rejected more than a hundred times by investors before anyone said “yes,” but I just kept learning, refining my strategy and updating my pitch deck until we got a yes. Today, we are constantly assessing which projects to tackle next and having the determination to invest in these projects to make our users happy is absolutely critical. Every day at Canva we’re creating something entirely new, and I’m incredibly lucky to get to work with an incredible talented team of people who are just as determined to see our vision through.
Caprino: What's your biggest challenge that Canva is needing to address now?
Perkins: We have a huge opportunity at Canva—to transform the way people communicate and reach their goals by democratizing design. Every day we are hearing from educators, corporates, small businesses and not-for-profits about how Canva has opened up a new world of design to them. This is so amazing to hear and what really gets me excited is how we can reach more people who will benefit from using Canva.
Caprino: Any final suggestions for someone who has a big idea but isn't sure it's sound enough to launch?
Perkins: My biggest piece of advice for any entrepreneur is to solve a real problem. If you find a problem that people care about, then it will make every other aspect of running a business much easier. With Canva, the problem was that creating engaging, professional looking graphic design was incredibly difficult unless you had expensive software and spend years studying. And that’s how the idea for Canva came about. Design is no longer a niche thing that needs to be done by a select few: every single profession needs design to help communicate their message.
In years gone by, someone in sales could create a sales letter and now has to create a beautiful pitch deck to win customers. Nonprofits have to create designs to spread their message and fundraise. Even the startup staple of business plans have been replaced by a beautiful graphic pitch deck. The world is rapidly becoming more visual, and design is becoming more and more important across every walk of life.
The second piece of advice is to try out your idea by going niche before you go wide. We tested the idea for Canva with our first business, Fusion Books, which was the idea of Canva but for the very niche market of designing high school yearbooks in Australia. Once we’d learned a lot and proven the idea, we were ready to tackle a much larger problem—empowering everyone to design anything.
For more information, visit Melanie Perkins and Canva.
To build a more rewarding and impactful career, visit KathyCaprino.com and her podcast Finding Brave.
Gallery: 2019 30 Under 30: Enterprise Technology 33 images View gallery
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f4243097b4acdad4008bbde35ef88c70 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2019/06/07/narcissistic-leadersthe-destructive-lies-they-tell-themselves-and-others/ | Narcissistic Leaders—The Destructive Lies They Tell Themselves And Others | Narcissistic Leaders—The Destructive Lies They Tell Themselves And Others
Part of the series “Supporting Today’s Workforce”
Narcissism destroys connection and morale and wreaks havoc in the workplace Photo: Istock
When I was working in the corporate arena years ago, I had the great misfortune of reporting to and working with a number of extremely toxic colleagues and managers whose behavior hurt me and was also a complete mystery to me. I couldn’t understand their raging, their defensiveness, they inability to be challenged or questioned, or their penchant for drumming people out who were not obsequious and total "yes" people to them. And it was astounding to me that leadership and management allowed these individuals to remain in their posts, doing all this damage.
After I became a marriage and family therapist and career coach, I learned a great deal about narcissistic personality disorder, and how it can wreak havoc on those who are in relationships with the narcissist. (Here’s more on how to recognize NPD in your boss and what to do about it.) Several years ago, I wished to help adult children of narcissists in a more direct way, and built a Facebook group of over 2,000 adults who’d been dramatically and negatively affected by the narcissists in their lives. From their sharing, it was even more evident how destructive narcissism is in our lives and work.
From my view, we all need to understand this personality disorder more deeply, not to attack or demean narcissists, but to protect ourselves from harm, build stronger boundaries, and learn more about how to navigate effectively through the challenges of working with individuals who demonstrate these traits.
Towards that end, I was excited to catch up this month with Dov Baron. Baron has been twice cited as one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers and named as one of the Top 30 Global Leadership Gurus. He works with international leaders and organizations who are committed to finding the “Why beneath their Why” to create a positive legacy that lifts humanity. Baron has deep experience with narcissistic leaders and has important information to share on the issue.
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Here’s his take:
Kathy Caprino: One thing you stress in your work is the need for leaders to have a strong relationship with self. What does that mean?
Dov Baron: Great leaders understand that all leadership is relationship based. Furthermore, for relationships to be productive, they must have a degree of closeness and understanding—intimacy, if you will. Intimacy with another cannot take place until we have a strong self-relationship—intimacy with ourselves. That kind of intimacy comes only from sustained self-growth.
Caprino: What types of leaders and influencers struggle the most with forging a strong relationship with self?
Baron: If, at some level, we have been indoctrinated with the idea we are “not enough,” we either go on a rampage to prove that we are enough (which, while it can result in massive success, often leaves an emotional mess in its wake) or we quit on ourselves. In either case, it becomes difficult to forge a strong, intimate relationship with ourselves or with others because we are so externally driven. In these cases, self-inquiry is seen as an admission of weakness or fault.
Caprino: In your work with top influencers and leaders, you've said you’ve seen a good deal of narcissism. What do narcissistic leaders tell themselves and others?
Baron: The narcissist will always argue that their results justify their means. They will often use grandiose language about a greater good, which is how they con others into following them, but the truth is that everyone is merely a pawn in the narcissist’s game. They see others as less—less intelligent, less worthy, less capable, less deserving—and that’s how they justify their lies and manipulations.
Caprino: Why are narcissistic lies so damaging?
Baron: It starts with a narcissistic leader’s need always to be right, the inability to apologize, and a pervasive air of entitlement. The result is that such a leader does not get to grow and will invariably end up surrounded by sycophants. Such a leader not only damages the culture and morals, they will invariably suffocate innovation. We know and the research is clear—people who do not feel emotionally safe stop innovating.
Caprino: You shared that when you were younger, you would "steal the light" from others. Could you talk about this a bit?
Baron: Yes, I shamefully admit that I “stole the light” many times, until I realized what I was doing and stopped.
What I mean by "stealing the light" is taking credit that is not entirely yours. Let me give you an example. We were brought in to work with an executive team in helping them find their purpose. We did a couple of sessions and made great progress. However, when we went back after each session there had been a clear drop in morale.
The first time we wrote it off; the second time I directly addressed it. I heard the same message from three separate members of the team. After we would leave, the founder of the company would not only downplay the work my team had done but he would claim that all the great input came from him. As you can imagine this was having a devastating impact on engagement of the process and of working there.
I set up a separate time to go for a walk with the founder (who in many ways is a great guy). I shared with him what was happening, even though he was initially very defensive. We continued walking in silence for a little while.
I could see he was thinking about what I’d shared and that no one dared tell him this truth. Suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to me and asked, “How could I be doing that and not even know?” His concern was genuine. He was behaving like a narcissistic leader and he had no idea. “Why would I even want to do this?”
I asked, “When you were a child how did you get attention?” He responded, “Being the middle child of five, I never could.”
Even as he answered it was obvious that the realization was hitting him like a truck. As an adult, he was still trying to get attention. This is why leaders must be fully committed to their self-inquiry. Without self-knowledge we are all fumbling in the dark and unable to see or deal with our “blind spots.”
Caprino: You've also written about leaders needing to find their "why beneath the why.” What does that mean?
Baron: For most people, finding their why is barely different than creating a mission statement or even setting a vision. However, when we help leaders find the “Why Beneath the Why,” we are tapping into the primary drivers of a leader and an organization. Take the example of the founder who was stealing the light from his team. Until we could elicit the why of his why (the unconscious drivers determining his behavior), he was going to keep doing what didn’t work.
By the way, Simon Sinek wrote a great book Start with Why that has helped many leaders understand the value of finding their why.
Caprino: Finally, what is the one thing a leader should do to build a connection with themselves and a connected culture in their organization?
Baron: Great question! First and foremost, the leaders of the future must be deeply and sincerely emotionally intelligent. Therefore the place to start is with an ongoing commitment to developing self-knowledge.
To be clear, this is not possible on our own. No matter how smart we think we are, no one is objective in their subjective reality. Find a guide who will not let you skate on your past merits. I often hear from the clients who qualify to work with me that no one has been as fierce with them or has held them fully accountable. Without someone helping a leader with fierce accountability, they will continue to do the same old things.
For more information, click here.
To break through to greater career and leadership success and impact, join Kathy Caprino’s Amazing Career Project course and work with her in a Career Breakthrough coaching program.
Gallery: The World's 10 Most Reputable CEOs 2019 11 images View gallery
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