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e8f23a467dec2f802de8240b606550c4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2013/07/31/a-shocking-google-sponsored-study-teaches-a-critical-lesson-for-entrepreneurs-and-government-officials/ | Why Leveraging Technology Is More Powerful Than Innovating | Why Leveraging Technology Is More Powerful Than Innovating
A study recently commissioned by Google examined the impact of Israel’s renowned technology industry on the country’s overall economy. The results – shocking to many – should serve as a mind-opener to both entrepreneurs and policymakers in the United States and around the globe.
Over the past couple decades Israel has emerged as a major player in the technology sector, producing many firms that have enhanced productivity around the globe. Checkpoint, Waze, NDS, and ICQ are all Israeli exports. Technological innovation has allowed the nation of under 8 million people to list a significantly disproportional number of firms on the NASDAQ – at one point the country even boasted the highest number of firms on the exchange after the United States.
Yet, as noted in the Google-funded study, despite its disproportional success in producing new technologies that seemingly should enhance efficiency, Israel ranks only 24th among the 34 members of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in terms of productivity, way behind many countries whose technology industries seem dramatically inferior.
How can a technology leader be so relatively unproductive? How can a nation boasting disproportionate innovation lag economically behind less creative societies?
The answer is a lesson from which we all can learn: Effectiveness in leveraging technology is a much greater determiner of economic success than technological innovation.
Israel’s private firms create amazing technologies, but its government has not implemented sufficiently comprehensive plans to boost national productivity by maximally leveraging information and communication technology. While Israelis participating in the so-called “start up nation” economy produce wealth and create productivity-enhancing inventions, they still encounter unnecessary inefficiencies, and many of their compatriots remain technologically challenged. The benefit of Israeli innovation, and of the Internet era in general, remain under-realized on a nationwide level.
Contrast Israel with Singapore. Thirty years ago, the two nations reported similar productivity per capita. But, while Israeli companies were creating new technologies, Singapore was establishing and implementing national technology plans in an effort to boost national efficiency. The result: While Israeli innovation has created wealth, Singapore has created far more – with Singapore’s per capita GDP today reaching levels approximately double those of Israel’s.
While there are certainly numerous other factors that impact per capita GDP – Israel, for example, spends somewhat more per citizen on national defense than does Singapore, and also has a significant number of citizens who, for religious reasons, do not work – none of the other factors adequately account for the dramatic difference in economic performance between the two countries over the past few decades.
In fact, the disconnect between innovation and economic productivity should not be surprising. In the modern age, new technologies proliferate rapidly. While the nation in which a particular technology originates may derive some wealth from its innovation, the invention and its associated productivity benefits quickly become available globally. Hence, the ultimate benefit from a new efficiency-enhancer is likely not to belong to whomever creates it, but rather to the party that most widely and effectively utilizes it.
Entrepreneurs should take note and direct resources accordingly. Likewise, governments must develop coherent, comprehensive plans for establishing and maintaining information infrastructures that enable twenty-first century populations to be maximally productive. As Singapore has shown, implementing such plans on a widespread scale can dramatically enhance wealth. Having recently submitted my business’s tax return on paper since my state still cannot accept such returns electronically, and having waited in line for hours to renew my driver’s license because the local motor vehicle commission’s computer systems failed for the umpteenth time, I know that we still have significant room for improvement.
America is the most successful economic power in human history. Improving our technological infrastructure to ensure widespread productivity benefits will help keep it that way.
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e957aad20ffce5d94fe8438f7e66b759 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2013/09/13/your-new-iphone-can-put-your-identity-at-risk/ | Your New iPhone Can Put Your Identity At Risk | Your New iPhone Can Put Your Identity At Risk
While many in the press have hailed the fingerprint reader on Apple ’s new iPhone-5s as a step forward for mobile security, there are serious issues related to using fingerprint authentication on a smartphone.
The most obvious concern is that the system may not work as well as people expect; fingerprint analysis technology is simply not as accurate as is portrayed in many movies and on television. Time will tell how significantly inaccuracy impacts iPhones, but, in general, either legitimate users are going to occasionally be denied access, or inappropriate users are going to sometimes gain unauthorized access.
Criminals might also be able to undermine fingerprint authentication and unlock stolen phones by somehow impersonating prints (for example, by leveraging information garnered from the fingerprints of the owners of stolen iPhones which are invariably all over their devices) or by exploiting some weakness in the actual fingerprint authentication software or hardware. Not that long ago, the “Myth Busters” show on the Discovery Channel demonstrated how simple defeating fingerprint authentication systems can be. While Apple seems to have addressed the easier methods by leveraging sub-dermal analysis (analyzing three dimensional unique aspects of fingerprints rather than just two-dimensional surface images), only time will tell how well iPhones withstand the inevitable search for exploitable vulnerabilities that criminals are strongly incented to find.
Another risk of relying on fingerprint authentication is the issue of malware, which, despite Apple’s arguments about general apps being precluded from communicating with the fingerprint sensor (at least for now), could potentially be written to read the user’s fingerprint and transmit the information to a criminal. While malware also poses issues with password authentication, there is fundamental difference: passwords can be reset, but fingerprints are for life; if a criminal obtains a fingerprint along with the user’s identification information he can potentially use it to steal the user's identity and commit crimes for decades. Even if the fingerprint reader hardware were to allow software to read only a hash of the print, users whose smartphones are compromised with malware might have to destroy their devices and get new ones in order to be safe. Since people trust the fingerprint reader, criminals could also potentially sell slightly modified-internally iPhones on the secondary market and capture actual fingerprints.
Of course, even phones sold by Apple and the cellphone carriers themselves pose risks; besides the possibility of rogue employees, consider what would happen if some government “asked” either party to store or send it fingerprint information, and to lie to the public with denials of the existence of such a program. Recent news reports should make us wonder.
There is also a fear that some users who currently protect their phones with strong passwords may stop doing so once easier-to-use fingerprint authentication is available, potentially increasing the risk to themselves of having their data – and their identities – stolen. Also, Apple says that fingerprints will be used to authenticate to iTunes – meaning that some representation of prints, or a piece of data indicating that prints were validated, might be transmitted across the Internet – raising concerns about potential capturing and replaying of such data.
Humans identify people based on visual biometrics, but people know to be skeptical of the veracity of pictures transmitted across the internet. Fingerprint authentication is similar; it is designed to be used when the person authenticating can fully trust the party demanding the authentication, and the party demanding the authentication knows that the person authenticating is actually supplying the biometric information rather than replaying someone else’s. There is an obvious difference between a bank employee inside a secure building signing on to her Internet-disconnected terminal with a fingerprint while bring watched by security cameras, and a user logging onto an Internet-connected iPhone running software written by unknown parties with nobody else seeing what is actually placed onto the fingerprint reader. Perhaps future iPhones will use their cameras to analyze the face of a user as she places her finger upon the fingerprint reader, but, for now, no such security check exists.
New features may be "cool" and simplify life, but consider the risks before using the “latest and greatest.”
Please follow me on Twitter at: @JosephSteinberg
Or visit my website at: www.JosephSteinberg.com
Also on Forbes:
Gallery: 10 Incredibly Simple Things You Can Do To Protect Your Privacy 10 images View gallery
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929b8a1f0307f5850ad8d77ec325739f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2013/11/13/how-small-business-owners-can-be-cyber-safe-without-spending-a-lot-of-money/ | How Small Businesses Can Be Cyber-Safe Without Spending A Lot of Money | How Small Businesses Can Be Cyber-Safe Without Spending A Lot of Money
I am often asked how small businesses can secure themselves from cyberthreats without having to spend a lot of money. While every business has its unique requirements, here are 10 general, low-cost strategies that can provide a lot of bang for the buck.
1. Educate all employees on the importance of cybersecurity. Explain the need to avoid risky behavior – such as downloading music or videos from rogue websites, or opening attachments and clicking on links found in unexpected email messages. There are plenty of free materials online to help with this task.
2. Create policies governing who has physical and/or electronic access to which computer systems and data, and implement rules and access controls (e.g., storing servers and routers behind locked doors, requiring passwords for access to computers) to enforce such policies.
3. Ensure that each person accessing a system (whether local or cloud-based) has her own login credentials and that passwords are not easily guessable or found in the dictionary. Overly complicated passwords are likely be written down or reused; selecting combinations of words and numbers (e.g., Chococlate5Tree2Coins ) instead of mandating the use of special characters and mixed cases as is often suggested (e.g., Thy3Q#rA1) may improve security and employee satisfaction. For extremely sensitive systems, consider multi-factor authentication; software-based products can be inexpensive.
4. Store all sensitive data – including business-related information, employee data, etc. – in encrypted formats. There are plenty of free tools available to do this. If you have doubts as to whether something should be encrypted, err on the side of caution and encrypt. Also, whenever possible, limit employee access to only those systems and data that they need in order to do their respective jobs.
5. Backup often. If you are not sure if you are backing up often enough, you probably aren’t.
6. If Internet access is provided for guests, implement it on a network separate from the business’s network. Most modern routers – even inexpensive ones – offer such a capability.
7. Devise and implement appropriate social media and personal device policies. Don’t pretend that security can be achieved by instructing employees not to use Facebook, Twitter, or their own smartphones in the office – such an approach is unlikely to work and may lead to serious issues when employees inevitably violate such policies.
8. Select and implement security technology to meet functional and security requirements – and ensure that all technology is kept up to date. Internet security packages that include anti-virus software, firewalls, etc. are necessary on all computers – and by computers I mean not only desktops and laptops, but tablets and smartphones, which, in some ways, pose even greater risks than their older form-factor counterparts. Thankfully, such products are relatively inexpensive.
9. If your business processes credit card transitions, be sure to comply with all credit card security rules, and, unless truly necessary, do not store credit card data after processing transactions. Never store credit card security codes or debit card PIN numbers.
10. If possible, hire an expert cybersecurity professional to assist with the design of your cybersecurity plan and to help you proactively defend against cyberthreats. Even a few hours of advice can pay for itself many times over in terms of time, money, and aggravation saved down the road. Hackers and other criminals leverage technical expertise – don’t be at a disadvantage against them.
Gallery: 10 Incredibly Simple Things You Can Do To Protect Your Privacy 10 images View gallery
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5f2a4a876a25f15069bdee81d588a8ed | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2014/01/20/5-entrepreneurship-lessons-from-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/ | 5 Entrepreneurship Lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | 5 Entrepreneurship Lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As we celebrate the life, achievements, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., entrepreneurs should take note of five important business lessons that can be learned from him, and his role in the Civil Rights movement:
1. Make Your Dream A Reality
The phrase people most often associate with Dr. King – excerpted from his landmark 1963 speech -- is “I have a dream.” Of course, many people have dreams. Some even have great dreams. But most people don’t work to make their dreams a reality as did Dr. King. Great ideas for new products, businesses, and works of science and art die every day with their inventors. To be an entrepreneur is to dream – but is even more to do.
2. The Way It Was Is Not The Way It Has To Be
At the time that Dr. King gave his famous speech at the Mall in Washington, racism had been entrenched in American culture for centuries. Dr. King challenged the status quo, and raised awareness of a different and better future that could be built from positive change. Likewise, businesses often are averse to changing long-held positions, or denying that major changes for the better can take place, with or without them. Only a few years ago, “experts” were saying that people would reject keyboard-less smartphones like the iPhone, and Blackberry would continue to dominate the smartphone market for many years to come. We know how that turned out.
3. Change Can Happen Fast
The vast majority of the members of my generation – born not that many years after it took a struggle to get the Civil Rights Act passed – consider the notion that people should be segregated based on the color of their skin to be both morally repugnant and downright ridiculous. Attitudes change quickly – especially after positive developments occur and everyone sees the correctness of the change. This is true vis-à-vis business as well. Consider how quickly Blackberry went from market leader to having less than 4% of market share, or how fast Kodak was transformed from having its film products bought by nearly every family in America to filing for bankruptcy as a firm many teenagers "had never heard of."
4. Build A Large Following
Dr. King was an amazing speaker who inspired millions of people with his words. But, ultimately, it was those large numbers of people who organized, marched, or otherwise influenced legislators and the public. There is little doubt that the grassroots nature of the civil rights movement – and the resulting far reach of its leaders – was a key ingredient in its success. In the Internet era it is much easier than the 1960s to reach large numbers of people; if you have a great message – spread it widely.
5. Success Takes A Lot Of Work
The civil rights struggle did not achieve its aims overnight, and its success was built upon the hard work and sacrifice of many; Dr. King and various others even lost their lives. Thankfully, entrepreneurs do not need to make such giant sacrifices, but, effectuating change and achieving success does not usually happen without hard work. Yes, there are some businesses that skyrocket to the top, and there are some people who get rich quickly. But, the vast majority of businesses are built with a lot of time and effort. Don’t expect to succeed without working hard.
Enjoy the holiday!
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fc6e5567a3a4a768ffc3fa33ab038d5f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2014/02/01/dont-return-calls-from-these-area-codes-its-a-scam/ | Don't Return Calls From These Area Codes -- It's A Scam! | Don't Return Calls From These Area Codes -- It's A Scam!
A scam that repeats itself in modified forms every few years is once again spreading throughout the United States. Don’t be a victim!
Criminals target people simply by calling them. Intended victims receive a call on their phones from area code 473 which rings once and then disconnects, thereby arousing the call-recipient’s natural curiosity – “who just called me and from where?” Sometimes the caller actually allows the phone to ring long enough for the victim to answer -- after which the caller (or the caller’s robocaller system) makes groaning sounds or otherwise indicates that he or she is in distress and then hangs up, enticing the victim to wonder what is going on and call back.
If either of these happens to you – don’t call back.
While area code 473 may appear to be domestic, it is not. This area code was created in the late 1990s for the islands of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique, which, like the United States, use country code 1. Calls placed to 473 numbers are international calls and can be quite expensive – and, because the criminals sometimes establish the number which the victim sees on his or her caller ID as a premium service number – the rate can exceed $20 for the first minute!
473 is not the only area code from which this scam has been perpetrated. Beware calls coming in from area codes 809, 284, 649 and 876, which like 473 are international, and are known to have been used for similar scams. Of course, if you do not have a calling plan that includes calls to Canada, there are many other area codes for which you could be billed international dialing rates, but so-called “one ring,” “ring and run,” or “dial and disconnect” scams are not typically perpetrated using Canadian numbers.
If you have voicemail – as pretty much everyone does today – there is usually no reason to call back missed calls from numbers that you do not recognize, regardless of the area code from which they originated. If a caller has something important to say, he or she can leave a message identifying himself or herself (or send you a text message). Don’t let curiosity get the best of you.
“Ring and run” scams are not new; when 900 numbers and pagers were popular in the days before the proliferation of the Internet and cell phones (it’s hard to believe that was less than a generation ago), criminals would page people asking them to return calls to such numbers. Eventually, people learned not to call back anyone with a 900 number. Likewise, until shortly before the turn of the century, the Caribbean islands using the American country code 1 all used the same area code, 809; scams were perpetrated, but, after a while, people learned to avoid calling that single area code. The latest crop of scams exploits the advances in technology – the implementation of many new area codes makes it difficult for most people to recognize what is a domestic number and what is not, and the proliferation of cellphones (rather than pagers) means that sounds of trouble can be played to victims, exploiting their caring about others in distress.
The criminals’ new tactic reinforces the need for people to be aware of international area codes within the US country code of 1 – after all, how difficult would it be for criminals to leave a voicemail claiming to be a collection agency, doctor, police department, or other “real sounding” party and ask the recipient to call back at some domestic-sounding, but international, phone number? How many people would likely fall prey to such a scam?
While 809, 473, 284, 649 and 876, may be the primary sources of the current danger, here is a list of (non-Canadian) area codes that are international. All but a few are relatively new, having been split off from 809 in the late 1990s.
Stay safe!
242- Bahamas 441 – Bermuda 784 - St. Vincent & Grenadines 246 – Barbados 473 – Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique 809, 829, 849 – Dominican Republic 264 – Anguilla 649 – Turks and Caicos 868 - Trinidad and Tobago 268 – Antigua 664 – Montserrat 876 - Jamaica 284 – British Virgin Islands 758 – St Lucia 869 - St. Kitts & Nevis 345 – Cayman Islands 767 – Dominica
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ff4e030f992947e3d64697ecd6dd77d9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2015/03/20/this-new-toy-records-your-childrens-private-moments-buyer-beware/ | This New Toy Records Your Children's Private Moments -- Buyer Beware | This New Toy Records Your Children's Private Moments -- Buyer Beware
In February, Mattel announced that it would be releasing a “smart” version of its popular Barbie doll; the new toy can listen to a child speak and respond accordingly. When a child speaks into a microphone on the doll, the doll records the child’s voice and transmits the recording for processing to a cloud-based service called ToyTalk. Once analysis is complete, an appropriate audio response is streamed back to the Doll which then “speaks” to the child.
While this new “Hello Barbie” may sound like a science-fiction dream come true for some kids – providing a digital friend and confidant for children whenever they want one – it is a potential privacy nightmare.
ToyTalk’s terms of service and privacy policy allow it to “share audio recordings with third party vendors who assist us with speech recognition,” and state that “recordings and photos may also be used for research and development purposes, such as to improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms and create better entertainment experiences.”
It’s hard to know exactly what children of doll-playing age might “discuss” with their dolls, but it’s not a secret that kids often have private conversations with their dolls and “confide” in them. Would you really want a third party to have recordings of your child discussing fears about upcoming medical procedures, issues that he or she may be having in school, your private conversations that he or she overheard, or other sensitive information? Would you want recordings of their intimate childhood conversations to persist in the hands of unknown parties seeking to “better entertainment experiences?”
So, does the law provide any protection?
In the United States various laws such as The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 might apply, but they seemingly allow the doll to be sold and function as described above as long as parents are told in advance of usage what the doll and related service do vis-à-vis the recordings of their children. As attorney Fernando Pinguelo, whose specialties include data privacy and cybersecurity, pointed out to me, “The key is always informed consent – providing the user enough information about the scope and purpose of the data collection to give the user a clear understanding of what the user is agreeing to without overwhelming the user with a fifty-page consent form.”
Part of the problem is that many parents do not fully understand the risks involved in using smart devices or toys, and, for the sake of convenience, may agree to terms of service whose long-term ramifications they do not fully appreciate. Terms of service often spell out what a service does, but not what the reprecussions of doing so are. Contrast this with the warnings we are used to receiving – think of those on cigarette cartons, on packages of medications about their potential side effects, in don’t-text-and-drive awareness ads, etc. And, from a practical standpoint, unless a warning appears on the outside of a toy's package, it is somewhat meaningless: how many parents will tell their son or daughter on Christmas morning that he or she cannot play with the doll whose package he or she just opened because the terms of service inside are problematic?
Of course, terms of service can be so long and complicated so as to make many people uncomfortable with reading them. As I mentioned in an article earlier this week, in 2012 a French court found that people can deny that they agreed to terms if the terms are found within terms of service agreements that are overly complicated. In the US, however, that may not be the case.
Privacy laws also differ by nation. Brazilian attorney, Felipe Barreto Veiga, mentioned to me that “Brazil’s Children and Youth Statute provides that children's privacy and personal life must be respected” – a requirement that seems increasingly vague as technology advances, and has people wondering whether the letter and spirit of the law are truly being respected with the advent of smart dolls and other "Internet of Things" technologies that are used by children.
Perhaps it is time for legislation that requires terms of service to be more concise and clear, and more explicitly spell out potential ramifications to users of agreeing to the terms. When it comes to toys, clear warnings belong on the outside of packages. It seems pretty clear to me that if a doll company told parents on the outside of a package that “Anything your child says to the enclosed doll while pressing the communication button will be recorded and we may keep the recording for as long as we want, and we may give it to whoever we want when we want without telling you” that that toy might not end up under as many Christmas trees as identical toys whose only warnings are located in more complex language printed in small typefaces on pieces of paper found only after the child has opened his or her gift.
The privacy issue with “Hello Barbie” is likely a sign of things to come. Numerous Internet of Things products – including many more children’s toys – are going to enter the market in upcoming years, and many of them are likely to raise similar concerns. (See my article from last year about some problems that have already been detected.)
If you are an entrepreneur working on a new Internet of Things technology, therefore, it may be wise to consider whether your operation will benefit from addressing privacy in the design of your products in a manner that outshines the same as delivered by other offerings. “Better privacy” may become a valuable competitive advantage.
Follow Joseph Steinberg on Twitter at @JosephSteinberg
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6d2258b2f68a4268f3cabea2a5a01f6b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2015/04/11/isis-blacks-out-french-television-station-broadcasts-cyberterrorism-has-arrived/ | ISIS Blacks Out French Television Station Broadcasts -- CyberTerrorism Has Arrived | ISIS Blacks Out French Television Station Broadcasts -- CyberTerrorism Has Arrived
On Wednesday night, parties claiming to belong to the Islamic State (ISIS) blacked out broadcasts on 11 channels of French television station, TV5Monde, as well as breached and defaced the network’s social media accounts.
The massive hack-attack – which took the station off the air for hours and disrupted normal operations for nearly a day – was certainly not the first assault directed by Islamic extremists at media outlets, but, the technological sophistication of this week’s broad takedown of a network does seem to represent a significant escalation of capabilities; if this action was truly carried out by ISIS, it is evidence that the group may have far more advanced cyberwar capabilities than was conventionally believed to be the case.
Just a few weeks ago, I spoke with Eugene Kaspersky, cybersecurity pioneer and CEO of the renowned cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky Lab, who told me that one of the greatest cyberthreats facing society today is cyberterrorism. According to Kaspersky, while terrorists historically did not invest in cyberattacks because their value versus cost-to-execute was uncertain, recent intelligence suggests that terrorists now view the success that criminals have achieved with their cyberattacks as indicators that the time to invest in cyberattacks has arrived.
Screenshot of French reporter David Delos recorded by France 2
ISIS’s taking out of a television network for under a day may not have caused any deaths – but it clearly has significant propaganda value and represents a major victory for the terrorist organization. Thankfully, the group achieved only a disruption – not the ability to broadcast its own propaganda and gruesome videos to millions of unsuspecting viewers. But media outlets should beware – the present attack is likely the tip of the iceberg, and numerous attacks are probably being planned and executed as I write this article.
Human mistakes, and a lack of proper cybersecurity, seem to have been at least partial enablers of the breach. There is evidence that people working at TV5Monde were using weak passwords to secure access to sensitive systems, and, after the breach occurred, the station even allowed one of its reporters to be interviewed on television with images of passwords written on notes attached to a wall clearly visible in the background. It hardly instills confidence when a media outlet announces to the world that its passwords are literally posted on walls, and that the password for its YouTube account is “lemotdepassedeyoutube" – the French equivalent of "thepasswordofyoutube." On top of these issues, it also appears that the channel’s business operations networks and broadcasting systems were not adequately separated from one another, dramatically increasing the potential for hackers to black out broadcasts. While these mistakes may or may not have been factors in enabling the breach, they are tell-tale signs of inadequate cybersecurity; it’s hard to believe that an entity with such glaring and obvious problems was getting the more complex nuances of cybersecurity right.
Based on the clear information-security problems at TV5Monde I’m not sure how much sophistication was really needed on the part of ISIS in order to carry out this attack; carelessness on the part of the victim may have played a large role. But, regardless of the expertise needed to achieve the blackout this week, there is little doubt that the ISIS’s success will lead to both it – and other terrorist groups – spending resources pursuing cyber attacks in the future. From a propaganda perspective, ISIS is a heavily utilizer of videos; hacking a major network and airing its own videos would be to it the cyber equivalent of hitting the jackpot.
Business owners must take note; cyberterrorism should not be a concern for only large enterprises and utilities considered to be critical infrastructure. There are sufficient computer systems and data in the hands of smaller businesses for terrorists to wreck havoc and execute economy-crippling attacks without ever having to target a large organization. (For obvious reasons I will not describe any such potential attacks.) If you utilize the services of a lawyer and an accountant because you realize the value of professional expertise in these areas, and understand that you cannot possibly be an expert in these areas and run your business at the same time, you should be taking the same approach vis-à-vis cybersecurity as well. Had TV5Monde had a proper information-security audit, many of the glaring mistakes would likely been caught before it was too late. When it comes to cybersecurity, an ounce of prevention can be worth many tons of cure.
Follow Joseph Steinberg on Twitter at @JosephSteinberg
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1d41e38c14781e8510f9661492acad7b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2015/05/03/are-you-spending-your-information-security-budget-on-the-wrong-technology/ | Are You Spending Your Information-Security Budget On The Wrong Technology? | Are You Spending Your Information-Security Budget On The Wrong Technology?
“Which firewall should I use?” is a question that I am frequently asked when I meet businesspeople at conferences and networking events.
While it may sound innocuous, this inquiry is, in fact, indicative of a disturbing trend found among both businesspeople and consumers vis-à-vis the security of their valuable and private information: investing too much attention and money (from limited budgets) in areas in which they already benefit from relatively solid security, and, therefore, have disproportionately low returns on improvements, while all but ignoring various gaping holes.
Here are four areas that often are given insufficient consideration, but which you should be thinking about – and investing in – before it is too late:
1. Defenses For Once You Have Been Breached
To date, most cybersecurity budgets have been primarily focused on preventing breaches by keeping hackers out. People are used to securing their homes and offices by locking the front door and having the doors and windows alarmed; it is not surprising that they would do the same from a digital perspective. But, for some reason, the digital equivalent of the standard practice of placing interior motion-detectors inside a facility in case it is breached is often neglected.
The terrible truth -- that pretty much everyone in the information-security industry recognizes -- is that if competent, well-funded hackers want to penetrate a specific organization, they will succeed at doing so. In nearly two decades in the field I have never seen an environment that I believed could not be breached by hackers with sufficient resources. Remember, to remain breach-free an organization needs to fend off all attacks, but hackers just need to successfully execute one attack in order to break in.
Most security breaches are crimes in which there is no specific target – and, if an organization has decent countermeasures, hackers may decide to go elsewhere. The people who breached Home Depot, Target, and Staples, for example, likely wanted large volumes of credit card data, not to harm these specific organizations. They may have even targeted other retailers first, and decided to move on after encountering delays or difficulties due to better security measures in place. Last year’s megbreach of Sony, however, exemplified a different situation – the goal seems to have been to harm specifically Sony. If your organization is being targeted in such a fashion by a sophisticated party, the odds that a breach will ultimately occur are probably close to 100%.
While many believe that Sony was the target of a brutal dictator angry about Sony portraying him in a negative light and showing a fictional account of his death, your organization may be targeted by far less high-profile parties: unscrupulous competitors, disgruntled employees, bigoted activists, and others far less conspicuous than governments are all potential risks. You should be prepared.
Implement technologies not only to fend off hackers at the perimeter, but to detect and defeat attackers if they manage to penetrate. There are multiple types of technologies that can help and they range in price; some are offered as services with some software running within the organization, some as appliances that are installed within a deploying organization's network. In either case, they typically work by detecting anomalous activities; if, all of a sudden, your CFO's computer is transmitting all of its files to a system overseas, for example, that should raise red flags. Obviously encryption is also a key ingredient of protecting against hackers who have successfully breached an organization; if data cannot be deciphered it (usually) cannot be used.
Despite the obvious need for reactive businesses to implement such technologies in addition to preventative measures, my experience is that many organizations who need them still focus far-disproportionately on prevention, a sentiment that I experience at networking events and the like, and which I have also heard in recent months from other CEOs in the cybersecurity field including Neal Creighton of CounterTack, Mike Potts of Lancope, and Eyal Gruner of Cynet.
2. Defenses Against Human Issues
Of course, as I have mentioned in prior articles, it is important to invest in addressing the human vulnerabilities that so often are exploited by criminals to pierce organizational defenses. Why would a crook expend effort to hack your umpteenth-generation, time-tested firewall when he or she can go right through it by impersonating an employee? Why would he or she try hacking the routing information for your systems (i.e., the DNS data for your domains) when the information needed to authenticate to the relevant management systems in order to make the changes can be found in social media or by social engineering your employees?
Training is important, but, on its own, it will not sufficiently address the human problem. It is important to invest in human-facing technologies; systems that help employees not fall prey to spear phishing and alert them if they are leaking data via social media can be incredibly valuable in preventing a massive breach. Addressing human risks not only makes it far more difficult for hackers to penetrate an organization undetected, but also increases the odds that they will attempt to utilize attack techniques that can be detected as suspicious activity by intrusion detection systems.
There are a variety of products and services that are intended to reduce organizational exposure to human mistakes; if your business is large enough you may wish to consult an expert in the human factors of information security for help selecting products, if not, exploring options in conjunction with whomever is handling your information security is likely to be worthwhile. Keep in mind, however, that when it comes to some risks -- for example, data leaking via social media posts -- defenses must be able to work even when employees are not in the office.
3. Defenses Against Mobile Risks
While there have been many advances in mobile security, many businesses – especially smaller ones – do not adequately leverage them.
Remember, your employees are now carrying so called “smartphones,” which, in reality, are a lot more than just smart phones; they are full-blown computers that possess more processing power, and likely house more sensitive data, than desktops of just a few years ago. Think about the potential risks of people walking around with computers that are constantly connected to the insecure Internet, have a far greater chance of being stolen or lost than machines that weighed tens of pounds and never left our offices, and yet which remain, in many cases, unprotected against hackers or thieves.
Mobile devices are computers, and need Internet security software, encryption, and remote wipe capabilities to be enabled. If you let employees use personal devices for work, make sure you also implement appropriate plans for your BYOD approach.
4. Defense Against Denial-of-Service Attacks
If your business relies on your website then you should take action to prevent someone from launching a Denial of Service attack against it. You may be hosting your site with a major provider that already provides sufficient protection when compared with your risk level. On the other hand, you may be defenseless against a barrage of traffic or manipulation of your DNS settings. Find out – and, if necessary, take appropriate action.
Denial of Service attacks are real, and can be executed with various techniques. Last week, hackers briefly took the information-security news site, SecurityWeek, offline. Interestingly, after SecurityWeek was back online I checked the DNS entry for its domain and its history; it appears that as part of its recovery efforts the publication began leveraging Incapsula, a service by cybersecurity firm, Imperva, that, among other things, protects against Denial of Service attacks. There are of course other providers of similar services; some of which offer basic services at no charge. If cybersecurity media are taking action, there is a reason.
In a future article I will discuss other steps that business should take to ensure that their information-security dollars are well spent.
Please follow me on Twitter at @JosephSteinberg
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dbe7fe2f1c45711fe7c1e553008a0b04 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2015/05/13/major-vulnerability-discovered-in-millions-of-business-computer-systems-heres-what-you-need-to-do/ | Security Vulnerability Discovered In Millions Of Business Computer Systems -- Here's What You Need To Know | Security Vulnerability Discovered In Millions Of Business Computer Systems -- Here's What You Need To Know
This morning a computer security researcher revealed his discovery of a new, severe software vulnerability that potentially impacts millions of businesses; business owners and IT departments need to be aware of the relevant issue and take action to protect themselves.
Here is what you need to know:
What happened?
A major vulnerability has been found in the software used to operate virtual machines, a technology staple at hosting providers that is used to run many small business websites, databases, and cloud-based applications. The same technology is also used within the computer infrastructure of many businesses and on various network appliances.
What has been done so far?
The vulnerability was discovered by Jason Geffner, a Senior Security Researcher at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. While Geffner and his colleagues did not publicize the vulnerability until 8:00 a.m. today, they began notifying affected vendors of the vulnerability in late April; a team at QEMU -- a free, open-source system for creating and managing virtual machines (sometimes known as a hypervisor) whose code was the source of the vulnerability -- wrote a patch which it distributed to various vendors that leverage QEMU code and were impacted by the vulnerability. By the time you read this, those vendors should have patches available for their customers, and many hosting providers should have already deployed them.
This does not mean that all businesses who need a patch have one. It also does not mean that the vendors involved have pushed the patches to all of their customers yet. Small businesses are less likely to have received it, unless their exposure is strictly at major hosting providers or on systems maintained by other parties.
What is the issue?
Technologically speaking, virtual machines are software implementations of computers that function and execute programs as if they were their own physical machines, even though they are not. Over the past decade virtualization has become increasingly common as it allows owners of today's powerful computer systems or data centers full of such systems to run multiple “computers” on each physical machine.
The vulnerability exists in the floppy disk controller driver for QEMU, which, over time, has been integrated into numerous virtualization platforms and network appliances. The vulnerable QEMU code, now termed VENOM by Geffner, is installed and activated by default as part of many virtualization systems, including, according to Geffner, Xen hypervisors, Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), Oracle VM VirtualBox, and the native QEMU client.
What exactly is the vulnerability, and what are the consequences of doing nothing?
The problem that VENOM creates is potentially severe: one of the data structures used for communication by the faulty driver can be loaded with too much data so that the data extends beyond the intended memory space and overwrites critical data structures in memory. A hacker can easily cause the hypervisor and all virtual machines it is managing to crash (causing a denial of service to all the virtual machines on the system), and, by carefully constructing the contents of the data to overflow the buffer, he or she may be able to gain control of the physical computer and all the virtual machines running on it, and perhaps even to the network to which the physical device is connected. Such an attack would put at risk any sensitive data being processed on any of the virtual machines, and possibly even on other machines on the network.
The magnitude of this risk is obvious when one considers that hosting providers often use virtualization to house systems and data belonging to different businesses on the same physical computers. In fact, the entire virtualization model relies on the concept that anything running on a virtual machine cannot escape from it; nothing within a virtual machine should be able to access either its parent hypervisor or any other virtual machines. VENOM undermines this fundamental requirement of virtualization.
Furthermore, VENOM is especially scary because it is cross platform, exploitable in default configurations, and allows for the execution of code by an attacker. It is also not necessarily solvable by disabling the vulnerable code: on some platforms it was found that an unrelated software flaw caused disabling the vulnerable driver code to create other security problems.
What do business owners or IT departments need to do?
There does not yet seem to be exploit code floating around “in the wild” for VENOM; it does not seem that hackers have as of yet successfully exploited the vulnerability. (Of course, one cannot be positive about this, nor can one be sure that no governments have ever exploited it.) But, the publication of details about the vulnerability now does mean that hackers are likely to try to exploit it going forward. So:
Do not leverage the vulnerable code. If you are hosting any virtual machines within your computer infrastructure, and are using a vulnerable platform, you want to address the situation ASAP. Ask the appropriate vendor for a patch -- and then test and deploy it. You can check if a platform is vulnerable here. (Note: According to Geffner, hypervisors from VMware, Microsoft (Hyper-V), and Bochs do not leverage the VENOM code, and are, therefore, not vulnerable). If you have “appliances” on your network that may use virtualization within them – check with the relevant vendors about a patch. Confirm that your hosting provider/s, and any third-parties that house your data or applications in the “cloud,” are aware of this issue and are addressing it.
What else should we learn from this episode?
It is hard to believe that in 2015 many people really need a floppy disk controller in a virtual machine, and it is easy to see why this driver for what can politely be termed a “legacy technology” has not been given a lot of attention in recent years. In fact, according to Geffner, the VENOM vulnerability has existed in the QEMU code for over a decade. The fact that a serious security risk was created by code that should have long since been removed from default installations serves as a reminder that good security practice is to limit services and drivers running on servers to those that are actually needed. That’s something business owners should also ask their technical teams to check on – disabling unnecessary services may prevent other problems in the future as well.
Gallery: What To Do About Our Cybersecurity Problems 11 images View gallery
For additional interesting articles, please follow Joseph Steinberg on Twitter at @JosephSteinberg
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e7b1f23b7119ec6fb7e0fc52556309f5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2020/08/04/alon-day-seeks-nascar-return-at-daytona-road-course-charlotte-roval/ | Alon Day Seeks NASCAR Return At Daytona Road Course, Charlotte Roval | Alon Day Seeks NASCAR Return At Daytona Road Course, Charlotte Roval
Israel's Alon Day is a two-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion who is attempting to compete in ... [+] at least two NASCAR Cup Series races in 2020. Getty Images
The clock is ticking as Alon Day attempts to sign sponsors for the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Daytona International Speedway road course. The deadline for a last-minute deal is rapidly approaching for David Levin, Day’s American manager based out of Florida.
There is at least one team interested in signing NASCAR’s only driver from Israel, but in order to race, a chunk of sponsorship dollars is required. Plus, Day needs to travel from his homeland to America for the event, a challenge in of itself during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Daytona is something I’ve always thought about,” Day said while quarantining in Bulgaria. “It would be special to participate in the first NASCAR event at the road course.”
The rate sponsors need to pay, due to teams not entertaining sponsors in person, is actually significantly lower than it usually would be. The focus on air time is the key to sponsorship deals in NASCAR as fans are only allowed to visit a handful of tracks, based on how individual states are handling the pandemic.
Day is set to compete for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series championship. This is the first year Monster Energy is sponsoring the Israeli star, who signed with the Belgium-based PK Carsport. When the season takes the green flag for the first time on Sept. 12 in Italy, he’ll begin the chase for his third championship in four years.
Even while competing for the Whelen Euro Series title, Day is determined to make a return to American stock car racing. He is ready to prove what he can do behind the wheel.
“It will be challenging to jump in the Cup car after so long, but I’m up for the challenge,” Day said.
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If Day cannot put together a last-minute deal for the Go Bowling 235 at Daytona on Aug. 16, the focus will shift over to finding a sponsor for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. The Bank of America Roval 400 is set for Oct. 11, which will be perfect for Day since the Whelen Euro Series is not competing that weekend.
His quarantine in Bulgaria ends on Aug. 11, which means he could fly to America in time for the race at Daytona. He cannot go back to Israel, though, after the race because the Israeli government has a mandated two-week quarantine when arriving in Tel Aviv. Throughout the Whelen Euro Series, he will live in Belgium, which will make the potential flight to America less stressful.
One major advantage Day might have on the track is NASCAR’s lack of practice and qualifying. If he can sign a sponsor, he will likely have an upper hand given his ability to succeed on a road course. The ability to adapt to different types of racetracks rather quickly is one of the reasons why he is so determined to compete in at least one of the two road courses.
“Every road course driver will have a huge advantage,” he said. “It’s not like me going to a track where everybody knows what to do. At Daytona, no one will know what to do. It will give me an equal starting point compared to them.”
It is unclear if Day will require additional precautions other than NASCAR’s Covid-19 protocols should he sign a deal for a NASCAR Cup Series race. Drivers are currently not allowed to go in the garage area prior to a race, and they must report only to pit road shortly before the scheduled start time. So if he gets a deal together, the first time he’ll even see the car he would race is on pit road just moments before the green flag.
However, it is a challenge he is looking for to, should he get such an opportunity to do so. Canada’s Alex Labbe is doing something similar, quarantining in between Xfinity Series races and only showing up at the racetrack.
While some states are requiring international travelers to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, Day can avoid that when he lands in America, likely landing in Miami. However, he will need to quarantine for two weeks if he heads straight back to Israel, which could be an issue for the Euro Series season if he secures a ride for the Charlotte race since there is a scheduled for Oct. 17 in Germany.
Day is widely known in the NASCAR world for bringing an old, rundown Dodge Challenger into the top five during 2016’s Xfinity Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. That weekend, he had limited practice, never saw the track before and took advantage of poor track conditions in the rain to finish 13th.
The successful weekend eventually led Day to make his debut in NASCAR’s premier series a year later. He signed a single-race deal with Earthwater at Sonoma Raceway with BK Racing. Day finished 32nd that afternoon, but it actually led to a multi-race sponsorship for the organization, stretching into 2018.
Day ran one more Cup Series race in 2018 for BK Racing after Bob Jenkins started to run the team. But it was at Richmond Raceway, an oval track, which is not his expertise. Since finishing 38th in that race, Day is still searching for his return to American motor sports.
Day is particularly excited about the impact rain could have on a Cup Series race at one of the road courses. With no on-track time prior to the event, he would automatically be a pre-race favorite no matter what team he’s driving for because he would be one of a handful of drivers who has experience racing in the rain.
“If there’s rain at Daytona, that would be amazing,” Day said. “That would be the perfect situation for me.”
If Day can put a deal in place, not only will his presence spark a boost in interest from NASCAR’s international audience, but it can also give him a chance to be the first successful road course “ringer” in several years.
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7de89e4cae620b52a89ea5b2793032de | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2020/10/21/nascar-tv-ratings-stabilize-amid-pandemic-progressive-changes-as-other-sports-see-declines-in-2020/ | NASCAR TV Ratings Stabilize Amid Pandemic, Progressive Changes As Other Sports See Declines In 2020 | NASCAR TV Ratings Stabilize Amid Pandemic, Progressive Changes As Other Sports See Declines In 2020
NASCAR ratings this year have stabilized amid a revamped schedule during the Covid-19 pandemic, even ... [+] with competition from more sports than ever before. Getty Images
Major sports leagues are struggling. Television ratings were already declining with a set schedule. And then, a global pandemic shut leagues down across America.
Fresh schedules were created. Shorter seasons were announced. Key players opted to sit out due to concerns for their lives and their loved ones.
But one sport is coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic arguably stronger before. And that sport is NASCAR, a sport often criticized for declining television ratings and lower attendance each year. Suddenly, though, a series of dramatic shifts in NASCAR’s schedule, as well as the ban of the Confederate flag at races, have provided stock car racing the fresh start it’s been looking for.
“What we saw with the banning of the Confederate flag and the rallying of the industry at Talladega around Bubba Wallace, we saw our percentages for the African American demographic double to 6% for the races that followed,” said Brian Herbst, NASCAR's senior vice president of broadcast and media.
While there have been low ratings for some major NASCAR Cup Series events this year like the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, which moved from July 4 weekend to be the NASCAR Playoffs cutoff in September, others have seen hikes in viewership. With CEO Jim France in charge and NASCAR preparing for the debut of the Next Gen racecar in 2022, the sport is optimistic it will return to where it once was.
“Because we were the first sport back, we had TV windows for each of our events,” Herbst said.
The NASCAR Cup Series, between its partners Fox, Fox Sports 1, NBC and NBCSN, is seeing viewership stabilize after several years on the decline. This year, amid the pandemic and with four mid-week races (not including the All-Star Race), viewership is off 1% compared with 2019. NASCAR ratings could have seen an overall increase this year if it weren’t for several races being delayed or postponed because of rain.
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And the television ratings for the majority of sports have seen a dramatic decline with revised schedules during the pandemic. NASCAR officials, though, feel the sport is standing out in the crowd, even while competing against sports it normally doesn’t in the summer and early fall, such as the NBA, horse racing and the NHL.
The Daytona 500, which began on a Sunday and moved to the next day due to rain, boasted seven million viewers. If the race continued on Sunday as scheduled, it was on track to crack 2019’s average of 9.184 million viewers. Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern said 11.193 million people tuned in for the green flag, a 32% increase from a year ago. Without this postponement, NASCAR’s average viewership is up 3% in 2020.
The Wednesday night race at Martinsville Speedway in June averaged 1.71 million viewers, and one at Charlotte Motor Speedway two weeks prior had only 1.51 million viewers on average. These were the two least-watched races since 2000.
In 2021, partially due to the low ratings and the television networks’ hesitance, there will be no mid-week Cup Series events.
“I think fans are conditioned to show up on Sunday afternoons to watch NASCAR racing,” Herbst said. “We’ve heard a call for mid-week racing for a long time. It was a unique opportunity with Covid to test some mid-week racing.”
NASCAR will have a completely revamped schedule in 2021, featuring new tracks, including Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Bristol Motor Speedway's dirt track, Nashville Superspeedway, Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The new additions, NASCAR believes, will increase attendance and ratings.
“Fans were asking for new venues and for more road courses in new markets,” Herbst said. “Fox is excited to market COTA, and there will hopefully be an increased number of fans who tune in to see a new venue for the first time. As we start to add more of these storyline races in new markets, we do expect there to be an uptick in viewership.”
NASCAR believes ratings have stabilized, in part, this year due to being the first major sport to return during the pandemic.
“We had TV windows for each one of our events because there wasn’t a lot of clarity as to what sports would return,” Herbst said. “We could go to our broadcast partners to grab those windows.
“Our fanbase really does show up every Sunday afternoon. They’re an exceptionally loyal audience. Even with the programming logjam in the second half of the year with football, college football, the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Playoffs and now the World Series, our playoffs are up 4% year-over-year from 2019.”
Viewership of NASCAR Race Hub, Fox Sports 1’s weekday NASCAR show, is also up 12% over where it was at this point last year (119,000 viewers v. 106,000 viewers), per Nielsen Media Research.
The new schedule provides NASCAR some momentum as seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who has the largest social media following among competitors at almost 4.1 million likes/followers, heads off into retirement. NASCAR lost a significant amount of viewers when old-school racers Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired between 2015 and 2017.
“We have to open ourselves up to new formats and concepts,” Herbst said. “The 2021 schedule, our social justice changes and Michael Jordan coming into the sport will add a casual fan base of people being introduced to NASCAR for the first time.”
All of this is adding up to give NASCAR a fresh pitch for broadcast partners when its rights deals expire with NBC and Fox at the end of 2024.
“What we’re trying to do is experiment with new platforms so when the next rights deal comes up, we’re positioned to put our sport in front of as many fans as possible,” Herbst said.
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fe45679e5363a3ebd34432a2dbeba2cc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2021/02/10/nascar-pushes-for-a-fresh-audience-with-netflixs-the-crew-starring-kevin-james/?sh=d11d1411cdc6 | Nascar Pushes For A Fresh Audience With Netflix’s ‘The Crew’ Starring Kevin James | Nascar Pushes For A Fresh Audience With Netflix’s ‘The Crew’ Starring Kevin James
Kevin James (center) stars in the new Netflix series The Crew, featuring guest appearances by ... [+] several Nascar drivers, including Ryan Blaney (top left) and Cole Custer (top right) Eric Liebowitz/Netflix
Nascar is finding more creative ways to boost its audience, and the sport is teaming up with Netflix NFLX for a brand-new series that aims to do exactly that.
The Crew, which stars The King of Queens’ Kevin James, will be available on Netflix come Feb. 15, the day after the 63rd running of the Daytona 500. This brand-new series is unlike any other produced about the world of stock car racing, and Nascar believes it can help create an additional core group of fans. Essentially, it will introduce people to Nascar and its drivers with a comical storyline behind it.
“I said, ‘Why Nascar’ when it was brought to me,” James said during a Zoom press conference. “Todd Garner came up with the idea of doing a sitcom about Nascar. I didn’t know how it would work as a comedy. It’s a workplace comedy with family and it’s competitive. Jeff Lowell wrote a script and it came to life so much for me. It’s insane what Nascar is — the sport itself blew me away.”
James plays crew chief Kevin Gibson in the 10-episode series. The character is based off of real-life crew chief Tony Gibson, who won six Nascar Cup Series races, including the 2017 Daytona 500 with Kurt Busch.
In The Crew, James works for Bobby Spencer Racing, which faces an ownership change as team owner Bobby Spencer announces he’s retiring. Spencer’s daughter Catherine, played by Jillian Mueller, is taking over the team and she's attempting to modernize it to compete with the sport’s top teams.
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The show is an introduction to Nascar for many, including some of its cast. Paris Berelc, who plays Jessie, a racer herself who Catherine wants to drive for the team. In real life, she’s an avid Formula 1 fan, but never really watched Nascar until now.
“I’m so happy I got to be this cool, young female racecar driver,” Berelc said. “My character is based off of Natalie Decker and Hailie Deegan. They’re these cool women who are powerful and strong.”
Nascar itself is thrilled to have this series debut as the 2021 season kicks off. The sport is in the middle of a major transition, which includes a push at finding a core millennial fanbase without pushing away older and traditional fans. A series like this could combine the two, James himself believes, by showing respect to the sport rather than making fun of it based on old stereotypes.
“It was about being true to the sport of Nascar, which is great,” the Long Island-born actor, who seldom watched Nascar until now, said. “There have been a lot of comedies about it that have been goofy and that it’s not a sport with guys driving who are crazy drinkers. It’s an insane sport.”
To help put the series together, Gibson visited the set to guide James and help manifest the script to make it realistic. The veteran crew chief would tell The Crew’s writers to change the script, whether it be to correct improper jargon or make the show well-suited for informed race fans.
At one point, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, James went to a race with Gibson to learn more about Nascar. The experience, James explained, helped him understand just how much it takes to make 40 cars compete at the ultimate level.
“I watched them put the car through the lasers and all that to test the measurements,” James said. “People don’t know what goes into this stuff. It’s a world I didn’t know about, but I’m learning more and more about it.
“I’m blown away by this sport. It’s a really exciting platform and people who don’t love Nascar will still love it because it’s about the characters.”
On top of James’ commitment to learning more about the sport, Nascar also invested a significant amount of time, money and resources to make the show a success. Nascar sent a car, tires and parts to the set, with Matt Summers and Tim Clark assisting in the production of The Crew.
“A few years back, we made a strategic decision to get aggressive in developing scripted film and TV projects, and among those was a workplace sitcom concept,” Summers, NASCAR’s managing director of entertainment marketing, said. “We used our existing relationships in the entertainment community to partner with best-in-class producers and writers to bring the idea to life.”
Kevin James, A Nascar Team Owner?
James, when asked about whether he’d ever invest in a Nascar team, didn’t exactly deny considering it in the future.
The thought never really crossed his mind, but seeing the likes of Pitbull with Trackhouse Racing and Michael Jordan with 23XI Racing is certainly bringing plenty of attention to Nascar.
“I would still have to learn more about it,” James said. “First of all, that’s crazy money, isn’t it? It’s exciting, though.”
James then asked how much it would cost to fund a team. When he was told a few million dollars, he opened up his wallet to see how much cash was in it. But he didn’t close the door on possibly investing in a team in the future.
The actor never made a major investment in a sports franchise. But with the hype increasing around The Crew and other celebrities getting involved in the world of stock car racing, it could happen at some point given the right opportunity.
“Is it something where money can do that?” he rhetorically asked. “That’s the great challenge, too, like in all sports with the Mets. The Yankees have the biggest budget. Sometimes, it works and, sometimes, you can buy the best talent but it doesn’t come together. That’s where you need the experience of somebody putting the right guy in at the right time.
“Owning a team? I don’t know. That would be great.”
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745f46419fbe2cda16ad95f2cf551c2e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2021/03/01/nascar-partners-with-comcast-nbcuniversal-sportstech-accelerator-to-streamline-logistics/?sh=5df50ff27609 | Nascar Partners With Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator To Streamline Logistics | Nascar Partners With Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator To Streamline Logistics
Nascar is teaming up with Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech to protect golf carts thanks to technology ... [+] created by startup XiQ. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Nascar is finding new ways to include startup businesses as part of the preparation for the Next Gen car and business model, which is set to take the green flag in 2022.
As part of the Next Gen, Nascar recently teamed up with Comcast NBCUniversal for the first-ever SportsTech Accelerator, powered by Boomtown Accelerators.
Comcast NBCUniversal, a longtime Nascar partner, introduced the sanctioning body to a startup that can streamline at-track logistics in a brand new way. XiQ, a Georgia-based startup, is starting to work with Nascar to protect golf carts from being stolen at racetracks across the country.
“It was obvious to work with Nascar because they’re on the cutting edge of truly leading in innovation,” Jenna Kurath, Comcast NBCUniversal vice president of startup partner development and the head of SportsTech, said. “2020 was a great example of being one of the first to come back safely in sports, pivoting to iRacing in the meantime and bringing on new fans.
“If you look at us as a company, our connection to sports runs deep. This is a unique way for us to stay in the forefront of shaping the future of sports.”
Nascar will be using XiQ to replace the conventional key ignition on golf carts that the sanctioning body uses at tracks. XiQ’s technology can control golf carts via a mobile application, enabling Nascar to lock and unlock a vehicle when needed without having to worry about other issues that might arise.
Craig Neeb, chief innovation officer of Nascar, believes this is the perfect way to strengthen Nascar’s partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal, while also helping a startup grow its platform.
“We’re busy day-to-day and looking at our future strategies, and to have this amazing ability to reach into a pipeline of creativity and folks who are thinking about the future with their resources and talent is incredible,” Neeb said of the accelerator.
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While the issue of hijacking golf carts at tracks might not be one that occurs frequently, XiQ will help Nascar in the long term as part of an overall industry strategy to modernize the way things are done on race weekends.
“I’m so excited that I want to jump around,” XiQ co-founder and CEO Karlos Walkes said. “We understand we have a responsibility on two levels. First, we’re bringing a quality, American-made product and technology to the table that satisfies their needs.
“More importantly, we’re in a position to earn the trust of everyone in the cohort and Nascar especially. We’re prepared to do that and we aim to be a true partner with Nascar. It’s rooted in trust and let Nascar know they can rely on us.”
The SportsTech Accelerator program began with more than 1,000 applications from startups across the country. At the end of the process, only 10 companies were chosen for the three-month curriculum.
Neeb began mentoring Walkes before the program officially kicked off on Feb. 22. Karuth strategically set up each of the startups with sports leagues that could help them take off, and she also recruited external experts to help these small businesses grow exponentially.
“This accelerator moves us from point A to point Z,” Walkes said. “With the rapid growth based on the reputation of these two organizations, we realize we have a responsibility.”
The responsibility could extend into a long-term partnership, too. If all goes well, Nascar is on board with giving XiQ more opportunities.
Neeb said that as Nascar moves forward and embraces change more than ever, industry insiders should expect more technological advancements. And since the pandemic began and Nascar has expressed a willingness to adapt, Neeb’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
“The pandemic caused us to think differently and be aggressive, and that’s not going to stop,” Neeb said. “Innovation opportunities that come through the accelerator program will continue to let us sample new things. We’re going to let people know this is a sport that wants to grow, be inclusive and have fans for life.”
Nascar will not stop there. Neeb and his team want to explore all types of startups, especially ones that can enhance the fan experience in the future.
Neeb said, “From the fanbase, broadcasters and competitors themselves, we’re thinking really creatively about how we augment that car with technology to make it exciting in 2022.”
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25f68c756fe086484512f4dd68782989 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2021/03/05/roush-fenway-racing-sets-a-new-nascar-precedent-by-going-carbon-neutral/ | Roush Fenway Racing Sets A Nascar Precedent By Going Carbon Neutral | Roush Fenway Racing Sets A Nascar Precedent By Going Carbon Neutral
Ryan Newman sported a plain white Ford Mustang at the Daytona International Speedway road course to ... [+] celebrate Roush Fenway Racing going carbon neutral. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
A plain white racecar stands out in Nascar.
Usually, cars boast colorful schemes with sponsor logos all over. It’s hard to miss the moving billboards that roar around racetracks at nearly 200 mph.
For the second race of the Nascar Cup Series season at the Daytona International Speedway road course, Ryan Newman’s No. 6 Ford Mustang looked different. Instead of having a traditional paint scheme, second-year sponsor Castrol Motor Oil wanted to celebrate an achievement made by Roush Fenway Racing, one unlike any other in Nascar.
Roush Fenway Racing recently became the first team in all of Nascar to go carbon neutral through the PAS 2060 standard. The carbon neutrality project is certified by an independent third party, ERM CVS. In order to attain this, Roush began recycling equipment from its racecars more than ever before, and it also worked with manufacturer Ford to find unique ways to decrease its carbon footprint.
“The reality of it is it wasn’t on our radar screen before that dialogue,” Roush Fenway Racing president Steve Newmark said. “We’ve always prided ourselves in being environmentally conscious to reduce our overall waste, recycle the cars, solar orientation of our buildings and those were one-off projects, driven by our chief sustainability officer. We didn’t have a holistic approach to sustainability.”
Newman’s No. 6 car, usually draped in red and green colors when Castrol is the primary sponsor, turned into an all-white livery to celebrate this milestone.
While the paint scheme marks a first for Roush Fenway Racing, it certainly isn’t the last as the organization is developing new ways to continue to reduce its carbon footprint. Since the announcement, other Nascar teams have reached out to Roush about what they can do, and the sanctioning body is involved with the Nascar Green initiative.
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The process of going carbon neutral, though, took plenty of time, research and coordination.
“It starts on the front end with trying to track, measure and quantify your existing footprint,” Newmark, who joined Roush Fenway Racing in 2010, said. “We had to dig into our records because we were using 2019 as our baseline. 2020, with Covid, wasn’t representative of our usual business operations. It involved pretty extensive data tracking to make sure every part of our business involved would ensure the carbon footprint would be measured correctly.
“From there, we evaluated a number of reduction initiatives that we could pursue to reduce our greenhouse gases emissions. We also worked with Castrol and BP Target Neutral to make sure that for the unavoidable emissions, we could purchase high-quality carbon offsets to get us to the desired carbon neutrality.”
About 90% of each Roush Fenway Racing car that’s wrecked is now recycled. And the team is working with Ford to make a change in the everyday life of Roush employees.
“They’re part of the overall program in the sense that one of the steps that we’re taking is to replace our Ford provided non-racing fleet with primarily electric vehicles and hybrids,” Newmark said. “As you can imagine, a lot of people here who have trucks and other Ford vehicles, so they’re facilitating that change.”
The message Newmark and team owner Jack Roush want people to take away from this is changes can be made to protect the environment. Several small accomplishments from a business — in regards to being environmentally friendly — can go a long way in inspiring others to make changes in their personal lives.
“The most heartening thing for me is in the scheme of things, Roush Fenway doesn’t have a huge carbon footprint,” Newmark said. “Just by our efforts, we’re not going to change the overall direction of climate change. But what we could do is bring awareness because we have a platform.”
Going forward, Roush Fenway is identifying more ways to achieve carbon neutrality in an effort to set an example for the rest of the Nascar realm. Sustainability, Newmark explained, will be at the heart of Roush Fenway Racing.
“We do have a number of initiatives that are on the table, some that we’ve already started, such as installing an on-site biodiesel fueling station,” Newmark, who began this project in 2020, said. “Our haulers will fuel up here with environmentally friendly fuels. There are a number of initiatives like that. For us, it is making sure the sustainability platform becomes fully integrated in everything that we do.”
To cap off the partnership, Castrol created a contest with Roush Fenway Racing for people to win Newman’s white fire suit from the Daytona road course, a No. 6 team crew suit, a No. 6 team crew shirt, a replica race helmet and a replica hood.
The Future Of Roush Fenway Racing
Once a five-car powerhouse competing for championships in the Cup Series, Roush Fenway Racing shrunk down to just two cars prior to the 2017 season. Additionally, the team folded its Xfinity Series program a year later after making the playoffs with Ryan Reed.
When Boston Red Sox owner John Henry invested in the team in 2007, his goal was to win races and championships. The team competed for wins almost weekly, led by Carl Edwards, until 2014. Since then, Roush has won only two Cup races, both by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2017 at superspeedway races (Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway).
Roush Fenway Racing’s rebuilding process is quite noticeable in the Nascar garage. Changes to the driver lineup have occurred each season since 2017, and 2021 marks the first time since then that Roush can build on consistency thanks to Chris Buescher and Newman. Slowly but surely, Newmark believes Roush is getting back to where the team once was.
“We obviously had taken a step back in our performance, and it was something we were very cognizant of,” Newmark said. “When we looked at what would be the best way to get ourselves back on track, we thought focusing on two Cup teams would be the best strategic plan.”
When the team hired Newman in 2019, replacing both Trevor Bayne and Matt Kenseth in the No. 6 car, expectations were high. The wheelman qualified for the Nascar Playoffs with a 14.4 average finish, but failed to win a race. However, his consistency on the track proved Roush Fenway Racing was back, narrowly missing the second round of the postseason..
With a whirlwind 2020 season, including Newman’s near-death experience in the Daytona 500, Roush didn’t follow up on its strong 2019 campaign. Instead, when Newman returned after missing three races, he was mired back in the second half of the field on a weekly basis.
Buescher, though, did have some strong runs with eight top 10s on the year. To start the 2021 season, he led 57 laps in the third race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, more than he led in his previous 188 starts combined. He also picked up his second career stage win, a solid confidence boost for Roush. Now, as Roush Fenway Racing looks into the future with optimism, the time to expand might be coming sooner rather than later.
“The reason Jack Roush and John Henry are in this business is to compete for wins and championships,” Newmark said. “In both Jack and John’s minds, they want us to grow.”
With the Next Gen racecar and business model coming in 2022, Roush might be on the market for another charter to guarantee a third car into the field weekly. They could also buy a charter and lease it to another team if the team isn’t ready to grow to three cars in 2022. Another option could be rejoining the Xfinity Series, where Roush most recently won the 2015 championship with Buescher.
But Newmark warned an expansion will only come if the performance of the team’s two Cup cars is at a high level.
“It’s not that evolved on what the specific route would be,” Newmark said. “I think, for right now, we need to check the first box of getting ourselves to the level of competitiveness we think we should be. Then, we’ll evaluate at that point what the right growth strategy is to expand.”
While the boxes might not be checked, Roush returning to three Cup cars would be a welcome sight in the Nascar garage. The organization is bringing new partners into the sport, including Kohler Generators, Oscar Mayer, Guaranteed Rate and more.
But like everything else in racing, it will take a chunk of cash to expand. The development of the Next Gen racecar and business model, though, might propel more business than ever before.
“What has driven the Next Gen is making the cars more relevant for the OEMs, updating the technology, providing a platform where we can move to hybridization and electrification if we wanted and making more competitive racing across the board,” Newmark said of what makes the Next Gen so enticing.
“Those are the key factors. It does a benefit of making the business more streamlined and efficient.”
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18fc36469904b9efe61fab374004d5d1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephwolkin/2021/03/08/paretta-autosport-indycars-first-all-female-team-partners-with-moneylion-for-indianapolis-500-entry/ | Paretta Autosport, IndyCar’s First All-Female Team, Partners With MoneyLion For Indianapolis 500 Entry | Paretta Autosport, IndyCar’s First All-Female Team, Partners With MoneyLion For Indianapolis 500 Entry
Paretta Autosport's Indianapolis 500 entry will be sponsored by MoneyLion, featuring Simona de ... [+] Silvestro behind the wheel of the No. 16 Chevrolet. Paretta Autosport
Six years ago, motor sports executive Beth Paretta thought of a new, exciting idea. She was leaving her role at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and already noticed a shortage of qualified female engineers.
“At that point, I was looking at this in a broad way, and I met with Roger Penske because he’s a mentor,” Paretta, who also served as an executive at Aston Martin and Volkswagen Group, said. “He loved the idea for the beginning, and we wanted to work together in 2016 but it didn’t work out because of logistics.”
But when Penske purchased the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in November 2019, he created the “Race for Equality and Change” initiative, which pushes for a more diverse paddock. When Paretta called Penske this time around, not only was he all in, but he wanted to help her succeed.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have known and worked with Roger [Penske] for years,” Paretta stated on a Zoom call. “I reached out and said, ‘Hey, if there’s anything I can do to help you, please reach out. I’d love to talk to you about this concept of a women’s team.’ He said, ‘Let’s talk.’”
Just like that, Paretta Autosport, the first all-female team in the NTT IndyCar Series, is now preparing to take the green flag in the month of May for the 105th running of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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MoneyLion, a financial services platform, just revealed it will serve as an associate sponsor for Paretta Autosport’s No. 16 Chevrolet in the Indianapolis 500. But the partnership goes beyond just a sponsorship.
Thanks to Penske’s initiative, Paretta Autosport is preparing to take the IndyCar Series by storm with its Indianapolis 500 debut.
MoneyLion will be debuting its “Women Who Roar” campaign as part of the partnership with Paretta Autosport, advancing financial empowerment, supporting women’s careers and leveling the playing field for women across a number of areas in finance, science and technology.
“This is more than a race team, this is an initiative,” Paretta said. “Girls will see a way and have a path to be independent, whether it’s job skills or financial independence.
“We have to start those conversations younger.”
Paretta Autosport will field an entry for Switzerland racer Simona de Silvestro. The small group of roughly 17 full-time employees will head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May with a vision of not only looking to compete for the win, but to make a difference in the lives of women across the globe.
“It’s inspiring girls and encouraging them to pursue non-traditional careers,” Paretta said. “There’s so much going on technology wise, engineering wise and all of those other things we know as racing fans.”
Paretta Autosport is working with IndyCar Series powerhouse Team Penske for the Indianapolis 500. The technical alliance provides Paretta’s group a chance to review Penske’s notes at the track, as well as receive support leading up to the event.
Penske was the one who connected Paretta to MoneyLion, which sponsors some of Penske’s Nascar efforts.
“Penske introduced us to Beth and we immediately wanted to be part of what she’s doing,” Samantha Roady, chief operating officer at MoneyLion, said. “It’s much deeper than a financial sponsorship. We have shared ideals. She’s championing careers and women in the motor sports industry, and this fits perfectly with MoneyLion’s mission.”
Part of the reason why the partnership is working so well is the shared goal of helping women throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. With the economic recovery moving at a slow rate, MoneyLion believes working with Paretta Autosport will give the brand a new group of people to assist.
“We’re about financial empowerment and helping our customers by providing financial access and tools to help them take control of their finances,” Roady said. “Women need our support right now more than ever, grappling with the core issues of income inequality and not being properly represented in the executive ranks, especially in industries like technology. Women have been disproportionately impacted by Covid and had to take a step back from the workplace. We want to find ways to help.”
The “Women Who Roar” campaign will boast three major aspects, including the Play Like a Girl mentorship program; a “Women Who Roar” LinkedIn group, which launches on March 16; and a “Women Who Roar” Conversation Series,” also available on March 16 via Cheddar.com.
For de Silvestro, who is now a Porsche factory driver in Europe, the opportunity to return to the IndyCar Series is one she didn’t think would happen. But when Paretta texted her about the opportunity, she knew it was one she’d have to take.
“I always felt like getting the right shot at this race is really important,” de Silvestro said. “I’m super pumped to come back to the speedway.”
The alliance with Team Penske will enable de Silvestro to have what she believes is her best shot at winning the 500-mile spectacle. However, it’s her first IndyCar Series race since 2015, which also came at the Yard of Bricks. Her best finish in the race is 14th, coming in her rookie season in 2010.
“Why I think it’s my best shot in IndyCar is because everyone involved really believes in me and what we can achieve,” she said. “I can feel it talking to the team. They’re listening to what I’m saying and they’re getting me as comfortable as I can.”
To this day, she’s still amazed that this is happening.
“Beth put this deal together and having her call me and then Roger Penske is really important,” de Silvestro said. “I think a lot of people will watch the effort. We’re going to inspire more young girls to follow their dreams. We need female role models who can win races.”
The challenge ahead is one that Paretta Autosport is ready for. Some of the pit crew members are graduates from the Nascar Technical Institute, meaning they’re capable of changing tires and working on the racecar, too.
Five weeks into the pit crew training, Paretta believes some of the women are going to stick around the NTT IndyCar Series for years to come.
“These women were starting from scratch,” she said. “It’s an amazing evolution. The first pit stops were 18 seconds and now they’re down to seven. We have two women who can do it at four seconds.”
As for the future, Paretta Autosport plans on running a handful of NTT IndyCar Series races after the Indianapolis 500. Paretta has already circled six dates on the calendar that don’t conflict with de Silvestro’s schedule, but they won’t run all of them. However, Paretta Autosport is currently making plans to run a full season in 2022.
“We’re not just talking about it, but we’re doing it,” Paretta said. “We’re leading by example.”
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73e2ea905b7bfd6b2735bab0dda7a522 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/03/25/the-ryan-tax-plan-isnt-a-plan/ | The Ryan Tax Plan Isn't a Plan | The Ryan Tax Plan Isn't a Plan
Not all vagueness is good. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’m late to this because I was on vacation last week, but Paul Ryan’s House Republican budget proposal is out. And the plan has ambitious goals, including a reduction of the six income tax rates we have today to just two—10 percent and 25 percent—with the revenue loss offset by an expansion of the tax base.
Ryan’s plan has been roundly mocked because it makes no specification as to how the tax base will be expanded. Today, Ryan defended his lack of specificity, noting that the Ways and Means Committee writes tax laws and will have to decide how to expand the tax base. Reihan Salam lauds Ryan’s nonspecificity, arguing that the budget proposal is an example of “non-vacuous vagueness,” with Ryan having good reasons to save the details for later.
I agree with Reihan that there is, in principle, such a thing as non-vacuous vagueness. Unfortunately, Ryan’s plan is vacuously vague.
It would be fine to set out broad principles for tax reform and say that the details will have to be the result of a negotiation. The problem is that Ryan has decided that some details can be set out now—most importantly, the rates of 10 percent and 25 percent. But the purpose of the tax code is to raise revenue for the federal government. If we don’t know how much base expansion we can get out of a political negotiation, how do we know we can get the top rate all the way down to 25 percent?
The answer, of course, is that we don’t. Ryan could have leveled with voters, cautioning that the amount of rate reduction will depend on the amount of base expansion—and that you would need to massively expand the tax base to get the top rate as low as 25. Instead, he put out a plan that is all candy and no vegetables, making a promise of a 25 percent rate without doing any of the hard work on the tax base.
This isn't the first instance of vacuous vagueness in one of Ryan's budgets. Last year, when he put out his budget proposal, he included $389 billion in savings from Medicare over ten years relative to the President’s budget. His budget specified these savings despite saying that he would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a key Medicare cost-control measure included in Obamacare.
Where were the savings supposed to come from? He never said. The answer isn’t his premium support proposal, which was not set to be effective until after the ten-year window. (Ryancare is overrated because its savings are so backloaded.) As with the tax base expansion, that politically challenging detail of how to cut a near-term $400 billion from Medicare was simply marked “TK.”
I get it. Politicians don’t like talking about how they’ll cut Medicare for current seniors, and they don’t like talking about getting rid of popular tax deductions. The incentives not to lead are clear. But at least Senate Democrats are honestly cowardly and decline to put forward a budget proposal at all. House Republicans, with budget proposals that gloss over challenging details and make unrealistic assumptions, aren’t doing much better.
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b462184a49ca0bf58c3ee02e8342d367 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/03/28/how-obamacares-rejection-would-lead-to-single-payer/ | How Obamacare's Rejection Would Lead to Single Payer | How Obamacare's Rejection Would Lead to Single Payer
Obamacare: if you strike it down, it shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.... [+] (Image credit: Getty Images North America via @daylife)
Oral arguments in the Supreme Court case about the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are over, and liberals are very nervous. We won’t know the court’s ruling until June, but the justices asked lots of skeptical questions and it seems like a distinct possibility that part or all of the law will be struck down.
This is a prospect that fills the Left with dread and the Right with glee, but I don’t think either side has fully thought through the politics. Strike down Obamacare, and single payer instantly becomes the number one organizing cause for liberals in America. This Congress won’t pass a single payer insurance law, but you can bet Democrats would the next time they control both the legislative and executive branches.
Why single payer? The Left has always wanted it. More centrist Democrats share the goal of universal coverage, but have gravitated toward a regulate-mandate-subsidize model because it has a lower explicit fiscal cost and keeps much of the insurance market in private hands. The centrists held the key to building a majority coalition, and they got their way on structure in Obamacare—but an unfavorable Supreme Court decision would effectively take that structure off the table.
Yes, an Obamacare-like model could be built without an individual mandate. The mandate could be replaced with a refundable tax credit for the purchase of health insurance, though you would need significant new tax revenues to offset the cost of the credit. You could also replace the mandate with limited enrollment windows for insurance, though I am skeptical that this model can work well (what do you do with people who skip the window and then have catastrophic health costs?)
But as a practical matter, lawmakers are unlikely to want to go down the regulate-subsidize-mandate road again. They’ll have to worry about litigation over the specific mandate-like mechanism, and they’ll also have to deal with the political unpopularity of anything that looks like a mandate. The constitutionality of single payer is basically uncontroversial (Medicare is single payer health care) and the politics of it would look a lot more appealing to moderates than they did before.
SCOTUS striking down the law would also be likely to radicalize Democrats on the health issue. They would still see it as an issue of a right to health care but they would also be enraged about the deck being apparently stacked against them in Washington. Rejection of Obamacare would likely lead to support for more radical policies among the liberal base and Democratic officeholders. They’ll be mad, and they’ll want to fight back.
I think conservatives have an idea that, if they fight hard enough on this issue, liberals will get tired and move on to something else. You see that in knocks against the president for spending so much time on health care in 2009 and 2010. But liberals see universal health coverage as the crown jewel in a completed social safety net, one that was well worth spending time and political capital on. This isn’t an issue they’re likely to go quietly on—which is why they’ve gotten some sort of universal coverage enacted in every other wealthy country.
Conservatives also often say they favor universal coverage. But the only ways to achieve universal coverage are to give coverage to everyone, which costs money, or induce everyone to buy it, which also costs money. Republicans haven’t been able to coalesce behind a workable and enactable plan for universal coverage, probably because any such plan would cost a lot of money.
Strike down Obamacare, and only the Left will have a viable plan for universal coverage, and it will be one even less palatable to conservatives than the one that was enacted in 2010. Absent another viable proposal, they will eventually get their way, and Medicare For All will become a reality.
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82f08d04913f046fb9fc40c643bc18f6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/04/06/why-national-review-must-fire-john-derbyshire/ | Why National Review Must Fire John Derbyshire | Why National Review Must Fire John Derbyshire
Last week, National Review Editor Rich Lowry wrote a column arguing that the Trayvon Martin case is a distraction, because the real problem facing black Americans is black on black crime. And on Monday, he complained that some people had called him a bigot for writing the column. (Note: I have contributed periodically to National Review and National Review Online.)
I disagree with Lowry’s piece, but I certainly don’t think it’s bigoted. Here, I originally had a few hundred words about why, but that’s not really the core point of this post; I’ve appended my discussion of the Lowry column at the bottom if you’re interested. It suffices to say that Lowry ought to be able to make these points without being called a bigot, even though I think he’s wrong.
But Lowry is running into the problem I discussed last week: he’s probably getting called a bigot because of the company he keeps. Providing a great example, this week National Review writer John Derbyshire published a kind of unbelievably racist piece for Taki’s Magazine, describing “the talk” he gives to his children.
In the wake of the Trayvon Martin’s shooting, many black parents have discussed the advice they give to their male children about not getting themselves shot in a misunderstanding with a white authority figure. Derbyshire’s talk, on the other hand, is about how to avoid being harmed by a black person. He gives such advice as “If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date,” and “If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.”
Derbyshire also recommends befriending some “intelligent and well-socialized blacks” (IWSBs, for short) so that you can deflect charges of racism by noting that some of your best friends are black. Alas, he adds “the demand is greater than the supply, so IWSBs are something of a luxury good, like antique furniture or corporate jets: boasted of by upper-class whites and wealthy organizations, coveted by the less prosperous.”
So, while Lowry is advising blacks not to worry so much about the systematic profiling of blacks as criminals due to their race, his colleague Derbyshire is writing a piece specifically urging white people to engage in such profiling, among various other racist nonsense.
And this is the problem for Lowry and other conservatives who want to be taken seriously by broad audiences when they write about racial issues. Lowry wrote a column containing advice for black Americans. Why should black Americans take him seriously while he’s employing Derbyshire? If Lowry wants NR to be credible on race, he should start by firing John Derbyshire.
As for my substantive take on Lowry’s column? It isn’t bigoted, though it does set up a false dichotomy. Why shouldn’t black Americans concern themselves with black-on-black crime and also with the mistreatment of innocent black men by authorities? Indeed, I think if you look closely at the politics of heavily black jurisdictions in America today, voters do care about both of those things.
Lowry’s first example in his column is a young black man shot for no reason in his Detroit home in February. He complains that there is no national outrage over this, but he doesn’t note that the Detroit Police Department under Mayor Dave Bing’s administration has brought in outside experts to import policing best practices from places like New York in an effort to reduce violent crime.
Reducing violent crime is absolutely high on the political agenda in Detroit. It’s just that different problems have different solutions. The problem in Sanford was that the police department wasn’t properly handling the investigation of Martin’s death, and public pressure was a useful tool to bring about intervention from the state and federal governments to improve the case’s handling. Fixing Detroit’s crime problems will require a more bottom-up solution, and the fact that there isn’t a national outcry doesn’t mean that the problem isn’t being taken seriously.
Indeed, while the sharp drop in violent crime over the last two decades has had many causes, it partly reflects the fact that voters and politicians have placed greater emphasis on fighting crime than they used to. In large American cities, that very often means black elected officials and black voters.
Lowry also ends the piece with this:
[George] Zimmerman could be arrested, convicted, and hanged tomorrow, and it will have no effect on the lives of young black people in communities beset by social disorder. Whatever happens to Zimmerman, the drip-drip of spilled blood will continue, all but ignored except in the police blotter. In America, the lives of young black people are cheap, unless they happen to fit the right agenda.
This is missing the point. The broader complaint in the Martin case is that young black men are suspected of crimes for no reason other than their race, leading to unwarranted seizures and arrests and, in some rare cases like this one, tragic deaths. And a further problem is that the non-investigation of Zimmerman (whose clothes were not even retained as evidence by the Sanford Police) sends the message that there is no consequence for killing a young black man due to a misunderstanding. It’s a perfectly valid complaint about the rule of law, and doesn’t negate Lowry’s point that black-on-black violence is an important problem.
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99e18aca685b2e72a971d080d1944b46 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/04/23/how-to-fix-the-social-security-solvency-crisis-for-just-49-99/ | How to Fix the Social Security Solvency Crisis for Just $49.99 | How to Fix the Social Security Solvency Crisis for Just $49.99
Trust fund accounting is the Nickelback of federal budgetary practices. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As you know, Social Security is a big government program. And as government programs go, it’s a pretty simple one. The government collects a lot of taxes. It sends a lot of checks to Social Security recipients. Less than 2 percent of Social Security’s budget is spent on administration, most of which goes toward producing the list of most popular baby names.
But unlike most government programs, Social Security has an interesting accounting quirk. You may have heard of something called the “Social Security Trust Fund.” Here’s how it works.
There’s a staff of people at the Bureau of the Public Debt whose job is to note down how much was collected in OASDI taxes (the largest chunk of payroll tax) and how much was paid out in Social Security benefits. They take that difference and they write it on a slip of paper. Then, they put it with all the slips from previous years, which are stored in a Very Important File Drawer somewhere in West Virginia.
Lately, the government has been sending out more in benefits than it has collected in OASDI taxes. This means that the Bureau of the Public Debt employees have had to write negative numbers on the slips, which makes them sad. They’re sad because, eventually, the sum total of the figures on all the slips of paper will be negative, which will cause your grandmother to starve to death.
Today, the Social Security Administration announced that they think that will happen in 2033, not 2035, so it is probably time to get granny’s affairs in order.
That’s unless we implement my fix that nobody else has thought of before. We’ll buy a really nice pen (that's what costs $49.99), have one of those federal workers write “44 quadrillion dollars” on it, and put it in the drawer. By my calculations, this will keep Social Security solvent through 3575, plus granny will get a free lifetime supply of Werther’s Original. Entitlement crisis solved!
Or, we could just admit that the Trust Fund balance is arbitrary and bears no meaningful relationship to the government's ability to pay Social Security benefits. For a less sarcastic case that we should all just ignore trust fund accounting, see here.
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efa19bf575f36b39ddd88e3f62a5755f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/05/11/bullying-and-mitt-romneys-empathy-problem/ | Bullying and Mitt Romney's Empathy Problem | Bullying and Mitt Romney's Empathy Problem
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported about an incident in 1965 where Mitt Romney led the bullying of a high school classmate. According to five of his peers, Romney took issue with John Lauber’s long, bleached-blond hair. So he led a group of boys who held him down, and then cut his hair off.
Romney claims not to remember the incident, but he did offer a general apology for high school “hijinks” that went too far. While lots of people are expressing incredulity that Romney could forget such an incident, I actually believe him. I never got to use my psychology major professionally, but one of my main takeaways from my undergrad studies is that human memory is not very accurate and we forget and misremember events all the time—especially distant ones.
The story is more damning for Romney in other ways. It’s telling that the campaign seems to be having so much difficulty finding any friends from the Cranbrook School to talk to the media about what a good guy he was. The Romney camp reached out to Stuart White (who threw the party where Mitt and Ann Romney met) asking him to make supportive remarks. Instead, White contacted ABC News and expressed his ambivalence to do so, saying “it’s been a long time since we were pals.”
Another old friend of Romney’s told ABC on background that Romney’s behavior in high school was “like Lord of the Flies” and that a number of people from Cranbrook have “really negative memories” of him.
Is there really no one from Cranbrook that Romney can persuade to vouch for him? The whole thing gives the sense that Romney was a Regina George-like figure in high school—“popular,” but mostly because other students were afraid to cross him.
This incident, and the reactions of his classmates, reflect quite badly on Romney’s character as a teenager. But do they tell us anything about Romney today? Romney has had lots of formative experiences in the intervening 47 years—college and graduate school, a Mormon mission, marriage, raising five children, founding a successful company, running the Olympics and a state. Lots of people are pretty horrible as teenagers (I don’t look back fondly on my teen self, either) and yet grow into more responsible, more compassionate adults.
Full disclosure: in the summer of 2002, before my sophomore year of college, I was a summer intern for Mitt Romney’s campaign for governor of Massachusetts. It was a big operation and I actually worked for his running mate, so I only spoke with Mitt a handful of times. Still, I always found him to be completely polite and respectful, an ethos that spread through the campaign. I worked more closely with his son, Tagg, who was a stand up guy.
That said, there is a difference between learning to treat others respectfully and having empathy for them. It seems like teenage Mitt Romney fell down on both of those counts, and I’m confident that adult Mitt Romney has figured the respect thing out. But does Romney have empathy for people who are different from him?
The tone of Romney’s reaction today does not look good on the empathy front. Referring to an assault on a classmate as “hijinks and pranks” is pretty tone-deaf. Let’s say you were told about an incident in your teenage years that you had forgotten, where you behaved cruelly and caused a lot of distress to other people. Wouldn’t you, as Dan Foster describes, feel a little bit ashamed? That’s not at all evident in Romney’s reaction to this story.
And while Romney denies that he would have thought that a classmate was gay, it’s clear that Lauber was singled out for his nonconformity. This incident reflects not just that teen Romney being a jerk, but that he was using his in-group status to pick on an outsider—has adult Romney reflected on that?
Romney’s actions as governor also suggest that he doesn’t view bullying as a significant problem. In 2006, Romney threatened to dissolve the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, established by Republican Governor William Weld in 1992, and then to expand its mission to cover all youth. The legislature established a independent commission, overriding a Romney veto, in response to these threats. A key part of the commission’s mandate is the prevention of anti-LGBT bullying in schools.
His administration also repeatedly delayed the publication of an anti-bullying handbook for public schools, which had been developed in 2002 by Governor Jane Swift’s Task Force on Hate Crimes. Kathleen Henry, who chaired the Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth at the time, said she thought the guidebook was held up due to its LGBT-related content, particularly content to do with transgender students. Ultimately, the handbook was published under Governor Deval Patrick, six years after it was first drafted.
While lots of Republicans have opposed bullying prevention efforts under pressure from social conservatives, that’s hardly universal. Romney’s three predecessors were all Republicans, and last year New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed bipartisan legislation requiring high schools to implement anti-bullying policies that cover sexual orientation and gender identity.
Here’s video of Chris Christie talking about the Tyler Clementi suicide. Yes, the question of why exactly Clementi killed himself has gotten a lot murkier than it looked at the time of Christie’s remarks in 2010. But you can tell from these remarks that Christie sees bullying as a real problem, and that he understands the human cost of young people treating each other cruelly. Where is that emotional reaction from Romney?
This actually goes to Romney’s greatest weakness as a candidate. Nobody knows how he really feels or what he cares about. People look at him and they can’t see evidence that he understands or cares about their needs. They’re not sure he can relate to people who are different from him. This incident, and his nonchalant reaction to being reminded about it, reinforce the impression that Romney lacks empathy.
I’m sure Romney is reluctant to drag out the news cycle on this story by another day. But a little public reflection on having bullied John Lauber—did he have a tendency to pick on outsiders as a teenager? Have experiences in his adult life led him to be more empathetic?—could humanize him and show that he has grown to understand the concerns of people who differ from him. That is, if he has in fact grown in such a way.
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ed84fd5d2b9cb1f9265849739ba3f0fd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbenjamin/2016/07/22/derek-anderson-seeks-to-make-the-world-better-after-hoops/ | Derek Anderson Seeks To Make The World Better After Hoops | Derek Anderson Seeks To Make The World Better After Hoops
If there's one thing that 11-year NBA veteran Derek Anderson knows how to do, it's how to stay positive. The former Kentucky Wildcat overcame his parents abandoning him from a young age and working odd jobs just to support himself to become an NCAA champion and enjoy a professional basketball career that included life lessons from the likes of Scottie Pippen, Tim Duncan and others, and not once crumbled in the face of adversity.
Former NBA guard Derek Anderson has always been a positive person, and is now looking to help others... [+] embrace his philosophy. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Anderson's life today, however, is different from his days on the court. His Derek Anderson Foundation is aimed at aiding battered women and children, and he also has set up Stamina Academy in hopes of teaching the current younger generation simple life skills aimed at making their world better.
Simply put, Derek Anderson wears a lot of hats today and is using his infectious positivity to give back all he can to those less fortunate than he. I had the opportunity to speak with him recently about how he got to where he is today, and just what his ultimate goal is now that his playing days are done.
Josh Benjamin: You were abandoned by your parents at a young age and have spoken of how you stayed positive by keeping busy. Most others in that situation would probably crumble under the circumstances, but not you. How did you keep your head up?
Derek Anderson: Staying busy and working then is how I avoided getting in trouble. That alone let me know that if I stayed busy and did something, I wouldn’t have to be explaining to all the drug dealers and gang-bangers and others that why I wasn’t joining them was “I’ve got to go to work. I have to go play basketball,” and that was kind of my excuse and was a way I got to utilize all my time when everyone else was hanging around. Everyone else saw me going to work at a candy store, delivering papers or playing basketball. I basically said at age 13 or 14, “I’m going to do a routine,” so I was basically like a machine. I just did everything the same and never changed. I’m almost the same way now. I just do what I do every single day and that way I stay committed to finishing what I started and I’ve always been busy.
JB: You played your last two years of college ball at the University of Kentucky under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, after transferring from Ohio State. What’s one key lesson you learned from him that you took with you for your entire career?
DA: Coach Pitino told us to live in the precious present. Everything he taught us about was keeping our minds set and strong. Most kids wander off and they get into their own world and they want to do something else, but Coach Pitino kept our minds staying focused on that day. Each day we did something. Every day he read a book or told us about living in the precious present, we enjoyed the moment. We didn’t have any stress so when we got to the Final Four, we weren’t stressed. We were doing what we’d been doing all year and that was having fun and being who we were. I think he was the best coach for that reason alone, being able to control and help us think for ourselves and actually keep us in that element of owning our own selves.
JB: You spent a year playing for the San Antonio Spurs, who just saw a legendary player in Tim Duncan retire. What influence did he and coach Gregg Popovich have on you, specifically in making you a more humble player?
DA: Well, I had already learned how to be humble and respectful from a young age. That was the only reason I left, because the guy who said he was going to sign me to a long-term deal with the team reneged. I could have just said “never mind” but if you don’t respect me as a person, I can’t respect you in any other way, business or personal. What Popovich taught me was that no matter happens in business, if you’re building a relationship with people, that will always last forever. I think that was a great lesson I learned. I’ve seen him every year since than and we embrace each other with love and respect and it was always fun. I always told he and Tim, “I love you guys and wish you the best,” and they said the same. It’s been mutual ever since.
JB: You moved on to the Portland Trail Blazers after San Antonio and shared the court with a six-time champion and another Hall-of-Famer in Scottie Pippen. What’s the greatest thing you learned from him?
DA: What Scottie taught me was “Get your rest and focus on each game, because every game comes quick,” and then you start learning things and tendencies because he was a great defender. He also helped me learn more tendencies about how to guard certain players, how to see certain things before it happens, how to project everything. I was a pretty intelligent basketball player but I learned some things like that from him and, like I said, him telling me “Make sure you get rest.” Of course, I was a 2-guard so like everyone at my position back then, I had to score. They weren’t role players like they are now. It was different from that, so him just teaching me how to get my rest and how to get massages and take time for yourself, that was a good thing that he taught.
JB: Let’s talk about your foundation, Stamina Academy. Your goal is to build life skills and keep people off the street. What’s one thing about it that you want everyone to know?
DA: What I think we need to do is more soul searching about who we are as people. I think if you focus on being kind and polite, no matter how much money you have or what your job is, you’ll transfer a lot of that into life skills and everyone in the world will be happy. When you walk into a restaurant, you don’t know how much money people have, but you do know how people treat you. I think that’s the best thing that our academy is going to teach this young generation. Treat people with kindness and treat each other with respect, and you’ll eventually turn your life around no matter what you’re doing.
JB: The NBA has changed a lot since your retirement. What do you think of the state of the league today?
DA: The state of the NBA is that there’s talent, but there’s not a lot of development or developed talent. That’s the difference because when I was playing basketball, everyone was coming in as a sophomore, junior or senior and you could see how they developed they were as players. Today, you’re getting guys coming out after their freshman year and they don’t develop and then we’re like “Well, why is it so bad?” Every year, NBA teams are drafting off of potential and not off of product, and there’s another issue that you have. You can’t have a guy who comes in off potential, and then ask him to play in the NBA where it’s a grown man’s sport. I think a lot of these young guys get lost in the shuffle, so I’d say that the state of the NBA right now is untapped potential and it needs to develop quicker and be better.
JB: Speaking of, this year’s draft class was very deep, featuring stars like Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram along with many other talented players. If you could give the 2016 NBA Draft class one piece of advice, what would it be?
DA: Get better. Don’t live off of potential. So much of the NBA is off of potential right now. All you can do is have potential and they let you play. Right now, just as a player, get better. Don’t be one of these guys that says “I made it into the NBA, I’m ready.” No, get better. I want to see better basketball and not this “potential” league anymore. We have debates all the time about Top 5 2-guards, Top 5 swingmen, we can’t. There’s no more cases of every team having a solid player on it. It’s like random guys that you don’t even know. Because if they don’t get better they’ll get traded or cut. I just want players to get better and maintain that hunger and drive to get better.
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2131a655ebfe83ed8cd5cbb61047160e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/05/21/facebook-vs-linkedin-whats-the-difference/?sh=57b8b5236af5 | Facebook vs. LinkedIn - What's the Difference? | Facebook vs. LinkedIn - What's the Difference?
Now that Facebook is a public company, it’s very natural to compare Facebook to other social networking companies like LinkedIn. While they both appear tobe similar businesses, in reality they are very different.
First from a numbers standpoint, the two companies look similar. Interestingly they both generate almost exactly the same revenue per "user." LinkedIn's growth rate is nearly twice that of Facebook (and even greater when considering Facebook's QTQ growth). But the numbers don't tell the whole story. Under the covers they are very different companies.
LinkedIn: Professional Social Network – Today Focused on Job Seekers and Recruitment
LinkedIn is a professional network, which has monetized its connections through its tremendous power as a corporate recruitment platform. With around 160 million members (mostly professionals in their 30s and older), LinkedIn has become the “virtual rolodex” for business people. When I meet someone professionally and I don’t get their business card, the most likely way for me to locate them is to find them on LinkedIn.
Leveraging this network, LinkedIn has now built a large and fast-growing business selling data and application services to recruiters. In fact, more than 50% of the company’s revenues come from “hiring solutions” and this percentage goes up every year.
The recruiting industry is a $120 billion industry and is highly fragmented today (recruiters, recruiting systems, recruiting tools, job boards,
recruitment consultants, assessment tools, etc.). Today LinkedIn is going down a path to capture more and more of this business as the company continues to develop richer and richer data tools to help people find jobs, and jobs find people
The company’s latest acquisition of Slideshare will compliment this strategy. In order for LinkedIn to thrive, it must not only attract more people (and younger people, as I discuss below), but also more data about each person. Slideshare, which is essentially the professional sharing platform for PowerPoint, helps drive this strategy. Once we start posting our best PowerPoint on Slideshare, our LinkedIn profile becomes that much more valuable.
Over the last few years the company has been working on building out some kind of “skills” assessment system, which tries to figure out your skills based on your experience and connections. So far it hasn't gotten very far, but it will get better as more and more content gets attached to you.
(By the way, another social company which is trying to build a similar “expertise” network is Quora, a company which recently achieved a $400 million valuation with almost no revenue at all, demonstrating the tremendous demand for this type of network.)
LinkedIn’s strength in this market is its “#1 position” as the professional network in the world and its strong data analysis skills and capabilities. The company’s weakness or risks like in the age and nature of its users. LinkedIn users tend to be in their 40s and older, they tend to be white collar professionals, and they tend to be people with college degrees. This is a great population for corporate recruiters, but it is a limited population and LinkedIn is aggressively recruiting college graduates and other bands of professionals around the world to continue its growth.
Remember that the world is rapidly getting younger (55% of the US workforce will be under the age of 35 within 3 years), and in many countries the population is even younger. These younger workers grow up on Facebook and Twitter and may not have found (or ever find) LinkedIn a useful tool. The company now has a more aggressive college recruitment program and I believe it is critical for LinkedIn to very aggressively market itself to college students in order to continue its growth.
As far as reaching out to hourly workers, blue collar workers, and non-professionals, today it's not clear that LinkedIn can (or wants to) extend itself in these directions. The entire website is designed as an “information rich” system, not a “photo and personal sharing” system liked Facebook and other networks.
Thus LinkedIn’s business value is driven by its ability to grow, monetize, and expand this professional network. LinkedIn is a magnificently well run company, filling a huge need for professional networking and recruitment. We all change jobs on average 7 times in our lifetime, and many of us change careers many times as well. Every time we do this we undergo tremendous stress trying to find contacts, develop new friends, and open new doors. This entire process is greatly aided by LinkedIn, and we are willing to pay for this help. And recruiters, who many of us may not directly relate to, spend more than $3500 per position to fill every single job. (Bersin Talent Acquisition Factbook®)
Facebook – A True Social Platform
Facebook, while also a social network, is very different. The entire platform and system is designed to let people “share and communicate.” Its design is based on the principle that people like to communicate with each other, so all its features and capabilities are built around “hyper sharing.” Many professionals find Facebook a bit frightening, actually, because it shares so much. And I believe this “hyper sharing” aspect to Facebook is likely to be its biggest challenge in the future.
For example, in the last year there were a series of applications built called “social news” applications which let you read articles and posts by others from the Washington Post and other major media outlets. The problem is that every time you read an article all your friends could see what you were reading. A little too creepy for many people, and most of these apps are now shut down.
Facebook is really a platform, not an application. While LinkedIn is being run like a data-driven application, Facebook is really a sharing platform from which many companies can build applications. One of the more interesting applications in my industry is BranchOut, a fast growing application that essentially replicates the professional networking of LinkedIn within Facebook. BranchOut was founded by two technical innovators who sold an earlier networking business to Monster.com, so they understand the problem of job searching and job finding. (Monster.com now has a similar service called BeKnown, which is also starting to grow.)
In the last few months BranchOut has exploded with traffic. It now has more than 30 million active profiles, and it is growing at several million per month (as fast as LinkedIn). Branchout lets you shield all your personal information and create a “professional network” from all your facebook friends.
What Branchout has going for it is the enormous audience (850 million +) of people in Facebook, many of whom may or may not use LinkedIn. This includes high school kids, college grads, hourly professionals, and frankly anyone who uses Facebook and wants to connect with employers and professional friends outside of their “personal facebook” persona. I would expect its network to continue to grow at these exponential rates as the word gets out.
What Branchout has found is that Facebook connections are very different from LinkedIn connections. Where every one seems to be “connected” to business contacts on LinkedIn (I have around 3,000 connections, many from professionals in my industry I don’t know very well), Facebook friends have very strong connections. LinkedIn connections are like people in a rolodex. Facebook connections tend to be people you know quite well.
And of course this is what makes Facebook such a powerful platform. The company generates nearly 10% of its revenue from games (Zygna and others) and is likely to attract many new applications which empower sharing of the network. And this is why Facebook's business model is focused on advertising (a $350-400 billion market). Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook appears to have no plan to offer "premium services" - so the company is highly dependent on its ability to sell and deliver compelling ads (which is a risky and highly competitive market, note that GM recently cancelled at $10M ad campaign on Facebook because it wasn't working). LinkedIn, as a premium service to corporations, has a more traditional B2B business model.
As far as comparing professional and personal networks, the two really are different. Some of us have tried to mix professional and personal connections on Facebook, but it’s tricky. If you have a personal trip to Europe and share your family photos, do you really want all your professional acquaintenances to see them? Likely not - hence the need for professional networks like LinkedIn and BranchOut. These more "button downed" networks just play a different role in our lives.
Is BranchOut a true competitor to LinkedIn? It will be in time. Today BranchOut does not yet have nearly the sales organization, staff, data analysis, recruitment functionality, and targeted advertising of LinkedIn. But it does create a very compelling experience, including badges, great recommendations, and a fun and interesting user experience. BranchOut does have the potential to become “The LinkedIn of the Facebook Crowd.”
Remember also that Facebook’s credo is “helping people communicate, ” so the company has developed an application platform that enables many other types of business models. One potential huge opportunity, for example, would be travel applications (reservation systems, reviews, etc.). Hundreds of companies are looking for ways to monetize the Facebook social graph, and these will all drive new traffic (and revenue) to Facebook.
In corporate recruiting there are dozens of applications that help recruiters leverage Facebook to post job ads, promote positions within a company, and create career pages. (Companies like Work4Labs, for example.) Our research shows that corporate recruiters today are less trusting of Facebook as a recruiting tool, largely because Facebook recruiting tools are less mature and generally provided by smaller companies. LinkedIn's recruiting tools are smoothly integrated, marketed and sold exceedingly well, and very powerful. But the writing is on the wall, just as LinkedIn has become “The global network” for white collar professionals, Facebook (and tools like Branchout) could easily become “the global network” for others.
Two Very Different Companies
While many of the financial analysts compare these companies against each other, they are really very different. LinkedIn is much more of a corporate business and professional tool (today) – which has proven itself in the world of corporate recruiting. The company has the potential to grow exponentially in this market, and leverage its growing “skills and content” database to become an even more valuable tool for businesses. While LinkedIn is a platform company like Facebook, its target market is different and today the company is focused on the needs of professional job seekers and recruiters.
Facebook is a communications platform for many applications, offering innovative companies like BranchOut the opportunity to create new business models in the corporate market. If you invest in Facebook you are investing in an infrastructure company like Google or AT&T - one with a great network with many new applications yet to appear.
Both are amazing businesses, run by highly talent leaders... and both have the potential to grow tremendously into the future.
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a036964cce4f1077cd323e2ca1851f52 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/06/13/new-research-unlocks-the-secret-of-employee-recognition/ | New Research Unlocks the Secret of Employee Recognition | New Research Unlocks the Secret of Employee Recognition
We just completed a comprehensive research project on employee recognition (saying "thank you") and the results are really astounding: organizations that give regular thanks to their employees far out perform those that don't.
Today there is a $46 billion market for employee recognition (gold watches, pins, thank-you awards, placques, etc.), and our research shows that companies spend between 1-2% of payroll on such stuff. This is a huge market.
Yet when we looked at where this money goes, we find that 87% of the recognition programs focus on tenure. Yes, that's right. People get rewarded for sticking around.
What our research found was that tenure-based rewards systems have virtually no impact on organizational performance. Did you stay an extra year at your last job so you could get a 10-year pin? I doubt it.
It turns out that many of these tenure-based rewards programs are really legacy programs from the turn of the century when labor unions forced management to give employees "service awards" and hourly raises for tenure. Most large companies still have these programs today, yet only 58% of employees even know such programs exist. So for the most part they aren't creating much value.
On other hand, our research did find that modern, re-engineered recognition programs can have a huge impact on business performance. Companies that scored in the top 20% for building a "recognition-rich culture" actually had 31% lower voluntary turnover rates! This is a huge statistic. Most CEO's would pay millions of dollars to reduce voluntary turnover (this is when good people leave on their own). It turns out that a well-designed recognition program can achieve this result.
Let me list the top 5 best-practices we discovered:
1. Recognize people based on specific results and behaviors.
Don't just give someone a reward for being "employee of the month." Give them an award for delivering outstanding customer service when a particular problem occurred. This creates a culture of "doing the right thing."
2. Implement peer to peer recognition - not top down.
Recognition from leaders has less impact than you may think. While HR managers believe this is a key criteria for success, employees told us that they feel much better when they are recognized by their peers. Why is this? Peers know what you're doing on a day to day basis, so when they "thank you" for your efforts the impact is much more meaningful. Top-down recognition is often viewed as political and it rarely reaches the "quiet but critical high-performers" in the company.
Modern high-performance recognition programs are "social" - they let anyone in the company recognize anyone else (often using "points" or "dollars.") The thank you's are totally public and displayed on a "leader board" so anyone can see them. Hot startups like Achievers and Globoforce are selling cloud-based platforms that make this easy, and traditional rewards companies like OC Tanner are moving in this direction as well.
3. Share recognition stories.
One of the most powerful practices we identified was "story telling." When someone does something great and is recognized by their peers, tell people about it. Not only should they get an "employee of the month" parking space (kidding - these remind me of the movie "Office Space," by the way), but you should mention them in a newsletter or company blog. These stories create employee engagement and learning.
In our business we have a weekly company-wide conference call, and we make a point of recognizing someone for their contributions every week. Not only does this make that person feel great, it lets our leadership team promote behaviors and results that we expect from everyone. We also use a peer-to-peer system, which creates its own "story board" of performance and thanks.
4. Make recognition easy and frequent.
Make it trivially simple for employees to recognize each other. Many of the modern programs we studied give all employees a budget for "points" or "dollars" and they can give them to others online in seconds. We use one of these systems in our company and the results have been amazing. People who do great things are now visible to everyone else!
5. Tie recognition to your own company values or goals.
Companies like Deloitte and Intuit have recognition programs which focus on the company's mission and goals. So when you give someone a "thank you" award, the award is tied to your own company's strategy (customer service, innovation, teamwork, or even a revenue or cost-cutting goal).
I know this stuff sounds fluffy and not very business-like, but believe me it works. Too many CEO's and managers focus on bottom line results without thinking about how it feels to slog away and work without anyone saying thanks.
The Psychology of Recognition
In Maslow's heirarchy of needs, two of the most valuable psychological needs we have as human beings are the need to be appreciated and the need to "belong." These needs are met through peer-to-peer thanks and recognition. Look at the hierarchy below: you can see the compensation and benefits support a fundamental need, but recognition and career advancement support our higher-level psychological needs.
Fig 1: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (and where recognition fits)
Remember that the purpose of recognition is to drive greater levels of "discretionary effort." Such discretionary effort comes when we, as people, feel inspired to do more.
Hormones Play A Role
One final point. Recognition has a physiological impact on performance.
Oxytocin is the well-known "love hormone." Our bodies create Oxytocin when we feel loved or appreciated (even shaking someone's hand or giving them a hug creates this hormone). Recent research shows that people who work under the influence of Oxytocin perform better and are more trustworthy at work.
When your company embraces a modern recognition program and people start thanking each other, trust and engagement go up - improving employee morale, quality, and customer service.
Of course recognition does not replace the need for feedback, accountability, and goal-setting. These performance management programs are still badly needed to drive alignment and performance. But our research definitely shows that in 83% of the organizations we studied suffer from a deficit in "recognition." And these companies are under-performing their peers.
Oh one more thing. Recognition is not only something executives should do - it should take place throughout the organization. The research clearly shows that top-down recognition is not what makes companies thrive today - it's recognition by your peers, the people you work with every day.
Next time you see someone doing the right thing, take a minute and thank them openly.
It's good management and good business.
(For more information read the market brief "Turning Thank You into Performance.")
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becbb4a3ef3f15ff4eacfafee01394c9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/09/15/corporate-e-learning-market-gets-a-jolt-as-moocs-grow/ | Corporate E-Learning Market Gets a Jolt as Online Universities Grow | Corporate E-Learning Market Gets a Jolt as Online Universities Grow
This week another little bomb dropped in the corporate training market. Skillsoft, the industry giant in packaged e-learning and training content, acquired Mindleaders, one of the company's leading competitors.
This acquisition comes after Skillsoft's acquisition of ElementK and 50 Lessons in 2011, and a string of other acquisitions including the acquisition of Books24x7, NetG, and other smaller content providers during the years.
What does this mean to the $13 billion corporate learning market?
1. Quality instructional content continues to play a major role in corporate training and talent management.
Companies need off-the-shelf training content. Whether it be IT training, project management, supervisory skills, or industry compliance programs, organizations need to deliver these programs to employees on a regular basis.
Skillsoft has staked out a claim as the "one-stop-shopping" for this stuff. The company already offers thousands of online courses and books and now adds more to this catalog. Mindleaders, a mid-sized training content company, built a robust library of content in compliance applications (food safety, adult healthcare, etc.), and also partners with branded publishers to produce titles in leadership development, talent management, and other content areas. (Mindleaders has more than 4,000 courses.)
Together this makes Skillsoft an even more indispensible vendor for the corporate training department. But even as this grows Skillsoft's offering, new content sources in the market are starting to give buyers new options.
2. New forms of online training could change the corporate e-learning market, led by MOOCs and easy-to-author tools.
The catalog e-learning market is now more than 13 years old (the word "e-learning" was coined in 1998, when this market was red hot). Over this period of time technology, bandwidth, and devices have dramatically changed. Courses built ten years ago are utterly boring today. We now expect online training to use video, run in mobile devices, and be totally integrated with social tools and online collaboration. To Skillsoft's credit, the company has evolved as well, now offering more than 12 different modalities in its content.
While Skillsoft has grown, innovative young companies like Lynda.com and Khan Academy now offer video-based training which is more "modern" and "engaging." Corporate buyers tell us that Lynda.com's courses are so much fun that they see them as a recruiting tool. Lynda.com, which is a private company in Southern California which develops movie-studio quality content, is growing at more than 100% per year, largely because of its highly compelling online experience.
(Read Stanford's perspectives on the future of Online Universities and MOOC's here.)
Enter the Free Open Online Courses
We must also understand that MOOC (Massive Online Open Courses), which are considered disruptive to universities, may chip away at the corporate e-learning market too. What is a MOOC? It is a free and open course available online, often authored by a college professor or world expert (and delivered over months or longer).
Any individual can now go online and take courses at Coursera, Udacity, Codecademy, Skillshare, P2PU, Udemy for little or no fee. These courses are authored by professors at major universities or world-class experts. Thee platforms enable authors and other subject-matter-experts to create courses which are then made available for free. Hence the term "massive" and "open." And universities like MIT, Stanford, Penn, Cornell, Michigan and others are jumping into this, giving these courses a certified brand.
Making this all easier, startups like OpenSesame are providing corporate "bookshelves" of these courses, making them easy for business managers to find. And as this model grows, we can expect more and more of these content sources to become fee-based (Udemy does this today).
Back to the Future
The idea of free, shared courses is not new. Back in 1999, before the internet was mature, we had a flurry of companies that tried this model (Click2Learn, now defunct, for example). A company called Desire2Learn just raised $80 Million in venture funding. The company looks almost exactly like Click2Learn from 15 years ago.
One problem with the MOOC model is that "Free Content" without a strong brand and certification is far less valuable to use. And much of the "Free" courses just are not very good. (Read this interesting article from EdTech about the lack of real instructional design in many MOOC courses.)
So this time around we can expect big Universities to get behind many of these things, giving them the credibility people need to actually take advantage of these courses.
The end result: many new forms of online learning are becoming available, and companies like Skillsoft which rely on the traditional model, are going to feel increasing amounts of pressure.
(I cut my teeth in this market during my time at DigitalThink, an early pioneer in corporate e-learning, so I've seen this story before.)
3. What happens to Skillsoft?
All this begs the question of what's next for Skillsoft. Most big companies have Skillsoft licenses, so the company is now an institutional part of the training industry. Skillsoft's content library is by far the biggest in the industry, and the new version of Skillport (the company's learning management system) has made major steps forward in ease of use and flexibility. And the company now offers content in nearly every major category, including leadership development, IT and technical training, and industry compliance training.
And as Skillsoft continues to grow its offering (Books 24x7 and Leadership Advantage are some of its hottest offerings now), the company and the market continues to innovate. Today Skillsoft offers highly blended programs, coupled with video and social features.
In today's marketplace it is relatively easy to build online content. Unlike the market 12 years ago, we are now in a world where vertical and specialized content is easy to find and easy to build. So, similar to the market for books, music, and any other type of media, as the market grows and new open platforms appear, more titles can be published. Skillsoft, maintaining its position as the "biggest" provider, will have to continue to expand its titles and integrate them all into its platform.
The world of online learning has become red hot again. Watch for a lot more to come.
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58231b33ae2c15b441dfa923dcc3a6e7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/02/17/bigdata-in-human-resources-talent-analytics-comes-of-age/ | Big Data in Human Resources: Talent Analytics (People Analytics) Comes of Age | Big Data in Human Resources: Talent Analytics (People Analytics) Comes of Age
Gartner expects the market for BigData and analytics to generate $3.7 Trillion in products and services and generate 4.4 million new jobs by 2015. While most of the talk is about applying BigData to marketing and consumer businesses, there is an even bigger opportunity to apply BigData to Human Resources. (We call it Talent Analytics - now renamed to People Analytics)
What is BigData in HR?
There are around 160 million workers in the US alone, and most companys' largest expense is payroll. In fact in most businesses payroll is 40% or more of total revenue, meaning that total US payroll expense is many billions of dollars.
How well do organizations truly understand what drives performance among their workforce? The answer: not really very well. Do we know why one sales person outperforms his peers? Do we understand why certain leaders thrive and others flame out? Can we accurately predict whether a candidate will really perform well in our organization?
The answer to most of these questions is no. The vast majority of hiring, management, promotion, and rewards decisions are made on gut feel, personal experience, and corporate belief systems.
This is like the Vice-President of marketing spending millions of dollars on a new marketing campaign because he or she "always does it this way." It's an obsolete way to make decisions.
An Example: Hiring the Best Sales Person
Let me give you an example:
One of our clients, a large financial services company, operates under a belief system that employees with good grades who come from highly ranked colleges will make good performers. So their recruitment, selection, and promotion process is based on these academic drivers.
Several years ago one of their analysts performed a statistical analysis of sales productivity and turnover. They looked at sales performance over the first two years of a new employee and correlated total performance and retention rates against a variety of demographic factors.
What they found was astounding. The results are shown below.
Fig 1: What really matters in sales performance (financial services company)
What did drive sales performance:
An accurate, grammatically correct resume Having completed some education from beginning to end Having successful sales experience in high priced items Demonstrated success in some prior job Ability to work under unstructured conditions.
What did NOT matter:
Where the candidate went to school What GPA they had The quality of their references.
Data Tells the Story
If you've done a lot of hiring, you know how hard it can be to assess an individual's likelihood of success.
Well, despite a 30 year belief system which made this company successful, data showed a different story. Once this data was put back into the recruiting process, the company saw more than $4M improvement in revenues in the next fiscal period.
BigData Tells a Story, but We Have to Listen
Companies are loaded with employee, HR, and performance data. For the last 30 years we have captured demographic information, performance information, educational history, job location, and many other factors about our employees. Are we using this data scientifically to make people decisions? Not yet.
This, to me, is the single biggest BigData opportunity in business. If we can apply science to improving the selection, management, and alignment of people, the returns can be tremendous.
How to Leverage BigData in HR
How do you leverage this huge opportunity in your company? Well often you have this data already, but you need the analytic experience and skills to perform the right analysis. And it all starts with asking the right questions.
Most companies have lots and lots of HR data (employee demographics, performance ratings, talent mobility data, training completed, age, academic history, etc.) but they are in no position to use it.
Our newest research on HR systems shows, in fact, that the average large company has more than 10 different HR applications and their core HR system is over 6 years old. So it takes effort and energy to bring this data together and make sense of it.
Most importantly of all, there is a real discipline to data analytics. It demands skills in data analysis, cleaning, statistics, visualization, and problem-solving. Most HR professionals do not yet have these skills, so companies have to find these people and bring them together to work on HR data.
Fig 2: Bersin by Deloitte Talent Analytics Maturity Model
Now is the Time
Now is the time to focus on talent analytics. Our clients are working on many high-return applications which apply to nearly every business:
Employee retention - what creates high levels of engagement and retention? Sales performance - what factors drive high-performing sales professionals? Accident claims - what factors and which people are likely to create accidents and submit claims? Leadership pipeline - who are the most successful leaders and why are some being developed and others are not? Loss analysis - why are some locations more prone to theft and loss and what causes the variation? Customer retention - what talent factors drive high levels of customer satisfaction and retention? Expected leadership and talent gaps - where are our current talent gaps in the organization and what gaps can we predict in coming years? Candidate pipeline - what is the quality of our candidate pipeline and how do we better attract and select people who we know will succeed in our organization?
Over the last ten years we have been studying applications of measurement within HR and this area has now risen to the top. When we asked HR leaders to describe their top opportunities for value creation late last year, "measuring and predicting talent performance" rated among the top three.
BigData in HR is here.
If you would like to learn more about how to develop a high-performing talent analytics solution, please contact us - or join us at our upcoming research conference IMPACT 2013: The Business of Talent®. We will be demonstrating some exciting new solutions and you can meet with more than 500 senior HR and Talent leaders to understand their analytics solutions.
You can follow me to stay up to date on trends, research, and news in all areas of HR, leadership, and talent management on twitter at @josh_bersin. For more information on Bersin by Deloitte, please visit http://www.bersin.com .
This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.
Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.
About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.
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851ecbbcce6ef1bf99070c7ad76cad27 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/03/20/how-corporate-learning-drives-competitive-advantage/?sh=7285d4917add | How Corporate Learning Drives Competitive Advantage | How Corporate Learning Drives Competitive Advantage
Many business people think of training as something distracting or often a waste of time. And despite the fact that US business spends more than $60 billion a year in employee development (2013 Corporate Learning Factbook), many executives question its return on investment.
Well our research shows that one of the most important sources of competitive advantage is your entire corporate learning strategy. And as I will explain in this article, the corporate learning strategy goes far beyond developing good courses in the training department.
Stories about Learning for Competitive Advantage
This last week I talked with the Chief Human Resources Officers of two high tech companies. Both operate in segments of the telecommunications industry and operate in brually competitive markets. Let me explain a bit about their approach.
Company A is headquartered in Silicon Valley and develops products which power some of the highest performance parts of the internet. The company is a pioneer in its market and prides itself on tightly engineering its entire product line, from silicon parts through systems and software, to optimize speed and efficiency. Through its integrated architecture, this particular company has consistently taken leadership positions in its market, but is now competing with the US and Chinese vendors. (Huawei, one of China's fastest growing companies, is now a direct competitor.)
This CHRO told me that among all the issues he has to address, including globalization, leadership, recruiting, and many other challenges, his biggest strategy is to drive innovation. What drives innovation? In his company he believes the single greatest contributor to innovation is internal learning and collaboration. So their corporate learning strategy has been heavily focused on deep expertise development, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the continuous reinforcement of expertise as a key to success.
Company B is a global manufacturer with employees in more than 100 countries. They also heavily compete with other providers but because of their scale they have a variety of different learning organizations and a corporate learning services group which provides shared training services. The company does not have a global career model and wants to improve its talent-driven learning strategy.
When I asked this CHRO about the company's top priorites, she told me also that "developing capability" is their #1 goal. Again, since they operate in a highly competitive industry, her belief (and it has been validated by all our research), is that product excellence comes from learning. And learning, as she defines it, is "capability."
A Model for Corporate Capability
We've been working with companies and researching this area for nearly ten years, and looked at nearly every possible area of corporate training. It turns out that the development high-impact learning is tricky. Not only should your organization understand the basics of training and development, but you must integrate it with the company's talent practices (career progression and leadership) and also create a "culture of learning." As Peter Senge and many others have uncovered, learning culture is perhaps the most important asset a company can build.
Think about the history of companies like Nokia who lost their market to new competitors like Apple, or the many search companies who lost the search market to Google. These companies don't fail to innovate. They simply fail to learn.
That is, their organizational culture likely did not tolerate being open to mistakes, the messy process of disruption, and the need to iterate and learn at the same time you operate. People who invent and innovate must not only be very capable technically, they must have the freedom to learn and share what they've learned in an open environment. This is why our High-Impact Learning Culture assessment is among the most valuable set of tools we have developed.
In that research we found that some of the most important elements of "capability building" include creating a management culture which is open to mistakes, building trust, giving people time to reflect, and creating a value system around learning. Companies that adopt the 20 leading-practices in learning culture significantly outperform their peers in innovation, customer service, and profitability.
Last year we published an important new model which shows how a company's learning strategy matures. We call it our High-Impact Learning Organization Maturity Model.
Fig 1: Bersin by Deloitte High-Impact Learning Organization Maturity Model
What the model shows is that companies (and departments) tend to evolve their training in four steps.
First, when there is no formal training at all, managers and staff tend to coach each other to try to do their jobs more effectively. This form of organizational learning can be effective, but it doesn't scale well and is dependent on the skills of the senior people.
As managers either tire of training people themselves or they find they can no longer develop people well enough, the professional trainers arrive. At Level 2 the company builds a corporate university (and these come in many shapes and sizes) and professional training begins.
Level 2 "professional training" is developed through a needs analysis model, where the training department looks at work itself and figures out what forms of training, development, job aids, and support people need to do their jobs well. There are nearly a million training professionals around the world (Bersin research) and they have a wide variety of tools and techniques to build amazing learning programs.
Today companies tend to have a lot of level 1 training taking place, even if they have a well run corporate university. There is never enough money or resources to take on every training problem, so incidental, manager-led training is going on all the time.
At level 3 the organization realizes that "learning" is more complex than training. Here the company brings together all its various learning programs (leadership development, technical training, compliance, and more) and tries to make sense of it all, applied against the company's talent strategy.
If we are an auto manufacturer and need to build expertise in battery and motor design, there may be a whole curriculum or career path needed. When our clients in the defense and aerospace industry were asked to develop new solutions for cyber security a few years ago, HR and L&D executives in these companies developed crash courses to hire, develop, and share expertise in cyber security.
Over time companies realize that specialized skills take years to develop, so at level 3 companies build long term career paths and continuous learning programs that enable employees to develop deeper and richer skills in their chosen profession or job function. This takes a new set of skills and forces the L&D team to work closely with HR and talent management staff.
At Level 4, which few organizations have achieved today, companies bring together these formal and informal tools with a laser focus on direct job capabilities. Here the organization should turn itself inside out: rather than thinking about skills and job needs, they look at "audiences" and "audience profiles."
What, for example, does it take to turn a good sales person into a leading sales person? What does it take to develop a good engineer into a great engineer? The answer is not some form of "training" - it is a combination of training, coaching, performance support, and employee assessment. And the answer is likely unique to your organization.
One of the most important tools in level 4 organizations is knowledge sharing and building a culture of learning. Professional services companies, for example, should insert "after-action reviews" after their projects to force the team to take time and learn what went well. These reports should be shared and socialized. (The Federal Reserve does this, believe it or not.)
One of the most experienced "capability development" organizations in the world is the US Military. As one General put it to me, "We have only two missions: to train and to fight. When we aren't fighting, we are training. And when we are fighting, we are learning."
Programs like action reviews, performance support tools, mobile learning systems, small teams, and military coaching programs are just as important in business as they are in the life or death of warfare.
Capability Development is a #1 Issue Today
Our latest research on global talent trends (which will be published soon) shows that skills and capability development have risen to the top issue on the minds of talent, HR, and business leaders. Spending on corporate training went up 11% last year (2013 Corporate Learning Factbook), and we believe nearly every business can look at its capabilities and find ways to improve.
Bottom line: in today's skills-constrained workplace, corporate learning is not just a program to improve productivity and reduce errors. When managed well, it can be one of your most important sources of competitive advantage.
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If you would like to learn more about how to develop a high-performing talent analytics solution, please contact us - or join us at our upcoming research conference IMPACT 2013: The Business of Talent®. We will be demonstrating some exciting new solutions and you can meet with more than 500 senior HR and Talent leaders to understand their analytics solutions.
You can follow me to stay up to date on trends, research, and news in all areas of HR, leadership, and talent management on twitter at @josh_bersin. For more information on Bersin by Deloitte, please visit http://www.bersin.com .
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This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.
Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.
About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.
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3386d67ca0dd9e5ff23a81aefc9f229a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/07/19/the-datafication-of-human-resources/?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffera5f4b&utm_medium=twitter | The Datafication of Human Resources | The Datafication of Human Resources
A new buzzword has hit the business world: Datafication - turning an existing business into a "data business."
Think about it this way: Facebook has "datafied" our friend network. Google has "datafied" our search and information retrieval. LinkedIn has "datafied" our professional connections. Twitter is "datafying" news and real time information. Waze is "datafying" our driving. GE is "datafying" all its engines, power plants, and machines.
Each of these businesses is harnessing what we now call BigData to store, analyze, and monetize the information around its business. This is why I like the word - it defines the "rethinking" of what we do around the data, not just the product and the process.
For me as a "data geek" this is not really new. Business execs have been trying to analyze and "datafy" sales, customer acquisition, product profitability, and supply chain costs for many years. But what is new is the rapid speed and amazing tools we now have to store, manipulate, and analyze this information.
How do we Datify Human Resources?
Just as marketing became a data-centric function about 25 years ago (the beginnings of market segmentation, customer scoring, customer relationship management), so is HR beginning to go down the same path.
I met with the COO of a high-tech company last week and her background is in marketing. She was looking at their HR organization and the high turnover rate in their company and asking some very basic questions: who are the segments that are leaving? What data do we have on these people and their managers? How can we understand the "model" for retention in our business?
These are questions which come naturally to data geeks, but not naturally to HR. While the marketing function has been applying data science for decades, HR is just beginning. And it's about time.
Consider the opportunity. Businesses spend 50-60% of their total revenues on payroll (sometimes higher, sometimes lower) and this large expense is rarely well analyzed. Do we have the right people in the right jobs and are we paying them the right amount of money? Yes we clearly have budgets and headcount targets, but do we really know how to optimize our employee spending?
We've done some fantastic research in this area and a large healthcare provider recently saved almost 4% of their payroll simply by analyzing what we call "payroll leakage." Using some proprietary algorithms (developed by Deloitte), this organization was able to see that a large number of its hourly staff was on hourly duty when they were statistically not needed. This somewhat mundane finding enabled the company to deliver tens of millions of dollars to the bottom line.
Datafying HR Has Many Applications
Our research on Integrated Talent Analytics shows a small percentage of companies (less than 8%) are starting to "datafy" some very interesting things. Let me cite a few examples.
A large technology and services company looked at its employee turnover and didn't like what they saw. After several months their engineering team uncovered some new keys to employee retention. It turns out that mid-performing employees (those not in the top 10% performing group) are willing to stay even if their compensation is reduced to near 90% of compensation averages. Top performers, on the other hand, will leave if they do not see compensation well above the average. The impact of this finding? Managers can now shift compensation dollars from mid-performers to high-performers and dramatically improve retention without major changes in payroll expense. A large financial services company analyzed the profitability of its financial services products and found a set of sales teams that seem to be delivering "above-average" profitability. After looking at a wide variety of HR and product data elements, they found a set of sales people who were more seasoned, better trained, and simply more business-aware of the products they were selling. The result: an enhance hiring and training program that is expected to deliver millions to the bottom line. A major customer service provider analyzed 7,240 employees over seven locations around the world and found that "relevant job experience" in the area of customer service had no impact on tenure, performance, or long term employee engagement. They also found that candidates with many prior positions (ie. job hoppers) did not perform any better or worse than employees who had long term employment with their prior employer. The result: a very powerful model now in use to hire and predict high performers in customer service.
All organizations have similar opportunities, but far too many people decisions are still based on "gut feel." Our new Talent Analytics research shows that companies that put a Level 3 or Level 4 talent analytics process in place triple their ability and culture of "data-driven decision-making." Without sound and credible data, we will continue to guess.
Datafication Changes Many Things
Many things in HR are starting to change, and we will be discussing this in the coming months:
HR data management: How is your HR data managed? Is it credible and up to date? There are lots of new data management tools available to bring data together. Our research shows that companies are still very weak at managing HR information. HR analytics tools: Oracle, SuccessFactors, Workday, SumTotal Systems, LinkedIn, PeopleFluent, ADP, and nearly every other HR software provider is adding data analysis tools to their HR platforms. While tools alone are not the answer, it is no easier than ever to make sense of the data you have. Dozens of small companies now offer data visualization and analysis tools, making it easier than ever to see the data you have. HR data providers: A flurry of new companies are now offering people and workforce data like never before. Not only can you download excellent US workforce data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but companies like Burning Glass Technologies and eQuest are selling access to data which lets you analyze job postings, workforce demand, and important hiring trends. We at Bersin by Deloitte offer a wide range of benchmarking data to help you optimize your spending and resource allocation. HR analytics education: dozens of companies now offer free training (YouTube is filled with courses) and low cost training in statistics, visualization, and the concepts of data analysis. I"m particularly excited by O'Reilly's Strata conferences and all the great data resources they pull together. There are so many books on BigData and analytics it makes my head spin (I've been in this space for 20+ years so it's amazing to me how this cottage industry has gone mainstream). New decision-making processes: the more datafication grows, the more HR decisions themselves will be "data-driven." While most CHRO's I talk with are working to get their analytics act together, our research shows that the High-Impact HR organizations (the top 10% organziations in our research) are all well ahead of their peers in analytics and workforce planning. These companies are already making the shift toward "datafying HR."
Learn how to Datify HR: Webcast Available
I will be presenting a webcast on HR analytics with SuccessFactors on April 16, 2014 - please join me for an interactive discussion.
HR and training managers have been trying to implement HR analytics and measurement systems for many years. Today if we just apply the buzzword of "datafication" to HR, we can see huge benefits in our own organization.
I'm not always crazy about fads, but this one is meaningful, powerful, and it's here.
You can follow me to stay up to date on trends, research, and news in all areas of HR, leadership, and talent management on twitter at @josh_bersin.
For more information on Bersin by Deloitte, please visit http://www.bersin.com .
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This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.
Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.
About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.
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7936a39a82e7840984fbf93e6805489f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2014/02/04/the-recovery-arrives-corporate-training-spend-skyrockets/ | Spending on Corporate Training Soars: Employee Capabilities Now A Priority | Spending on Corporate Training Soars: Employee Capabilities Now A Priority
The economic recovery is clearly here: spending on corporate training is soaring.
We just completed our 2014 Corporate Learning Factbook and the research is striking: US spending on corporate training grew by 15% last year (the highest growth rate in seven years) to over $70 Billion in the US and over $130 Billion worldwide. (Download executive summary here.)
This tremendous increase follows two years of accelerated spending in this area (10% in 2011 and 12% in 2012), illustrating how companies see tremendous skills gaps as we recover from the recession.
Corporate training is always a very good indicator of economic activity: when companies slow down they often cut training spending, and then as business grows they ramp back up to train new hires, sales people, and leaders. This is among the most discretionary of all corporate spending areas, so it is an excellent bellweather for business confidence.
Why the rapid growth? All our research tells us that organizations today suffer from a "skills supply chain" challenge. Not only do more than 70% of organizations cite "capability gaps" as one of their top five challenges, but many companies also tell us that it takes 3-5 years to take a seasoned professional and make them fully productive.
And the skills challenge is huge. Recent research shows, for example, that the Oil and Gas industry needs 60,000 petrochemical engineers by 2016 yet only 1300 graduate from US schools each year. This means that oil companies have to train, retrain, and jointly educate a lot of energy engineers to grow.
A few key facts about L&D spending:
Spending on leadership development remains very high. As in prior years the research shows that the #1 areas of spending is management and leadership (35%). All our research on corporate talent shows that global leadership gaps continue to be the most pressing issues on the minds of business and HR leaders. As Millennials take on more responsibility, companies need to build leadership skills at all levels and in all geographies around the world. (Read more at: Millennials Will Soon Rule the World.) High-performing companies spend more. Companies which fall into our "high-impact" categories spend significantly more on training than average. So companies who invest in a total L&D strategy spend more per employee than those who are inconsistent. This shows that L&D spending pays off. Technology is revolutionizing this market. The research shows an explosive growth in technology tools to train people today. Self-authored video, online communication channels, virtual learning, and MOOCs (Coursera, Udacity, Udemy, edX, ...) are all growing rapidly as training tools. People still need formal classroom education, but this is now less than half the total "hours" people consume in training around the world. And among the highly advanced companies, as much as 18% of all training is now delivered through mobile devices.
We see significant growth in new virtual learning environments: companies like GE, Motorola, Philips , and others are extending their training budget to reach 2-3 times the audience through the use of easy to use training portals and virtual learning experiences. While most big companies still have a lot of work rationalizing their training spend, the adoption of technology in training has accelerated.
The Learning Management Systems market is also growing rapidly. We estimate that the market for learning management systems is now over $2 billion and continues to be one of the fastest segments of HR software. Every major HR technology vendor is investing in its LMS offerings.
MOOCs are also likely to radically impact corporate training, as branded universities put more and more courses online. (read The MOOC Marketplace Takes Off for more information.)
This is exciting news. While skills gaps (we call it the "supply chain of skills") continue to challenge companies, an increased investment in training is good for everyone: employees, businesses, and job seekers. This level of increase shows that businesses are aggressively expanding and companies need skilled workers to grow.
Despite a tightening labor market for skills, this data predicts a good year ahead.
I am an industry analyst and researcher focused on corporate human resources, leadership, HR technology, and the intersection between work and life.
You can follow me to stay up to date on trends, research, and news in all areas of HR, leadership, and talent management on twitter at @josh_bersin or on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/bersin.
For more information on Bersin by Deloitte, please visit http://www.bersin.com .
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This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.
Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.
About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.
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e1a2de9611cc72a511aa3bcad55c0208 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2014/11/04/the-talent-analytics-market-heats-up-with-new-cloud-offerings/ | The People Analytics Market Heats Up With New Cloud Offerings | The People Analytics Market Heats Up With New Cloud Offerings
Workday Introduces Predictive Analytics: Workday Insights Applications
The market for corporate talent analytics (Now renamed to People Analytics) has gotten red hot in the last two years. Almost every major organization we talk with wants to build a "data-driven HR" program to help understand who to hire, identify the factors that drive retention, analyze employee engagement, and apply data to make better decisions about who to promote, how much to pay people, and just about every other talent-related decision.
As in all the other areas of business analytics and Big Data (marketing analytics, financial analysis, analysis of customer buying patterns, supply chain analytics), organizations have to build internal capability, get help from IT to bring the data together, and then move down the learning curve to better understand their data and what it means.
In the case of Human Resources, which deals with some of the most difficult decisions we make (who to hire, for example), most companies are behind the curve. Our research shows that only about 4% of HR departments are really using any form of predictive analytics today and more than 60% are struggling with a mess to just get good reports (many cannot even tell you how many people are on the payroll in a given day, and most don't track hourly workers well).
Well this world is about to change. Almost all the new cloud-based HR systems vendors now offer what I'd call "embedded analytics" solutions built into their software, ready to turn on and analyze employee data right out of the box. This includes solutions from Oracle , SAP , ADP, IBM, Ultimate Software, Saba, Skillsoft, and soon CornerstoneOnDemand (which just acquired Evolv, an established talent analytics firm, to accelerate their analytics solutions).
This week Workday, a fast growing cloud-based HR and Financial Management vendor, announced Workday Insights Applications, built on technology and expertise they acquired earlier this year from Identified. This product is one of a new breed of solutions to come, delivering sophisticated "out of the box" talent analytics which companies can use almost immediately.
What's new about Workday's offering is that it is built on technology that "categorizes people" into roles and positions for comparison. (Workday calls this feature "Industry Trees" or "Job Classification Taxonomies," built on the SYMAN technology acquired through Identified.)
So rather than just produce correlations that might say "these are the factors that seem to correlate with people who leave our company," it actually categorizes people into job roles and makes even smarter decisions by analyzing things like "people who are mid-level project managers in IT should not take this kind of career path, because they are likely to quit."
Consider the problem of classifying jobs: if every job in every company had a job level and a stable job title and description, it would be easy. But of course that's not true: every few years we reorganize, change job titles, and change roles, so "job categories" are very hard to keep track of. And if you try to compare someone within your company with someone outside (ie. for recruiting), the matching is even harder. This is the technology Identified developed over the years.
The analytics applications introduced by Workday help you predict retention (a huge topic in business) by trying to figure out which factors correlate to employee departures (ie. salary? job rotation? commute distance? manager?). The company also introduced an application that analyzes effective and ineffective career paths, a big issue in business. (ie. Which career moves seem to cause people to leave the company and which would help retain them?).
These embedded analytics applications are part of a category of such solutions which work right out of the box. They crawl through your employee data (they don't leverage external information yet, more on this below), run correlations and look for causality, and try to tell you what is going on. And your team can then add external data to make the analysis richer.
Fig 1: Workday Insights Retention Analytics
For example, the system might tell you that "Software engineers who don't get raises every 12 months and live more than 20 miles from their work location are twice as likely to leave as IT managers who don't get a raise every year" (kind of an obvious example). Or another example is "IT managers who work in helpdesk who are moved into operations are very likely to quit, but those who are promoted into software engineering or operations management are very likely to stay, and likely to succeed."
Fig 2: Workday Retention Risk vs. Performance
These seem like obvious findings once you see them, but most of these kinds of decisions are very hard to make on a daily basis. Every day we are deciding who to hire, who to promote or move into a new role, how much of a raise to give people, and who to move into management - with almost nothing to go on but our own gut feel and experience. Over and over again we talk with companies that look at the data and discover that "gut feel works" but "data works much better."
Look at it this way. If you're running your company on "gut feel" people decisions but your competitor is using predictive talent analytics, wouldn't you start to worry what he knows about your people that you don't know? You should. Talent is now the most scarce and valuable commodity on earth, so companies who really understand how to attract, retain, and manage people will win. Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg's new book "How Google Works" does a great job of disclosing how Google uses some pretty out-of-the-box strategies for people management that have helped the company recruit some of the best minds in business (and computer science).
Fig 3: Workday Career Path Prediction
Workday's solution is based on the company's Big Data Analytics platform launched a year ago, so it not only analyzes all your internal data, it can be loaded with external data (employee job history, social profile data, anything else you can think of!). This means the solution is really both a set of out of the box applications as well as a toolbox and platform for building more advanced analytics applications.
Workday's announcement is exciting, but it follows many similar products from other vendors:
Oracle has offered OBIE for many years (Oracle's embedded analytics solution) and it is widely used and has been significantly enhanced with predictive analytics applications in the last year. Oracle also offers "out of the box" retention prediction, for example. SAP offers SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics, an advanced system which not only predicts retention but also has extensive modelling capabilities for workforce planning. SAP also introduced predictive analytics for learning, which will "recommend learning activities" to each employee based on what other successful employees in a role have done, similar to Netflix or Amazon.com. ADP introduced a powerful analytics solution this year which not only analyzes your own employee data but compares it with 630,000 other companies in the ADP payroll database. This is a very useful solution: one which lets you compare your retention against competitors in your precise geographic area, for example, or quickly compare salary or HR spending data between your company and other similar companies by location. IBM Kenexa Talent Analytics, which was just released recently, brings people-related data from IBM's Kenexa software and other sources and uses Watson to deliver easy to use analysis with an english language interface. IBM's Watson technology focuses on cognitive processing, letting HR managers type english questions and interact with the system in a conversational manner. Saba is introducing predictive analytics for learning and compensation, which not only recommends learning but also recommends who you should be connected to and when and how much of a raise individuals should get. Ultimate Software, a leading HR vendor for mid-sized companies, offers a set of out-of-the box retention index based on various employee data. CornerstoneOnDemand just acquired Evolv, an established Big Data talent analytics vendor, with the intention of developing something similar to Workday, Oracle, and SAP.
Where is all this going? While there are many fantastic talent analytics solutions out there (Visier, Vestrics, OrcaEyes, as well as Tableau, ClickView, Xcelsius, and the traditional business intelligence tools), the market is shifting toward integrated applications. Just as Salesforce.com created a set of integrated analytics for all areas of CRM embedded in their platform, so will the larger HR vendors develop integrated analytics applications with their transactional software.
This does not get HR off the hook: companies still have to clean up their data, manage it well, and understand what it means. And very few companies have only one HR system, so we still need to do a lot of consolidation and build a global data dictionary so we know what all our people-related data means. But the problem of "building a data warehouse" and "building your own analytics infrastructure" is starting to go away, and these solutions have highly advanced algorithms for modeling, categorization, statistical analysis, and correlation.
Now more than ever HR organizations must have an individual with the title "VP or Director of People Analytics" to bring this all together. Our research shows that people-related data can be an extremely powerful tool for better decision-making, but it's not all in one place and we need experienced professionals to learn how to make sense of it. People and HR data is seasonal, it varies widely in meaning based on job and a myriad of demographic factors, and it's all over the internet. The discipline of learning to manage and model people-related data is in its early days, so you need someone to jump in and really run this new business function.
As I've written before over the last year or so, I believe this whole area is still in its early days, and we are probably in a ten year journey through the process of what I call "The Datafication of HR." And while these big vendors are all very focused in this area, there are many creative startups with groundbreaking solutions as well.
A new startup by the name of HiQLabs, for example, just started to sell a solution that predicts retention using external data alone (where you live, your commute distance, job title, social data, etc) and they tell me their predictions are four times more accurate than predictions developed using internal data. Large companies subscribe to their service to get a "heat map" of which high performers are most at risk. This is only one example of the ways people-related data will be used for better decision-making in business, and I think we have a lot more innovation to come.
The Workday announcement brings the company up to par with its competitors and further pushes the industry toward what we could consider "intelligent talent management software - tools that don't just automate processes, but actually help you make decisions in real time. Just as Google "suggests" search query results based on your activity and Amazon suggests books, it is now possible for your complex HR software to suggest who to hire, who to give a raise, and who to move into what position. The algorithms won't be perfect, but they'll be better informed than simple "gut feel."
As I discuss in the "Ten Most Disruptive Trends in HR Technology: Ignore Them At Your Peril," embedded analytics is one of the ten disruptive technologies in the HR software market today. If the system can't immediately recommend or help you make better decisions based on the data it contains, it starts to look like a somewhat boring application. So the bar is raised, and we will see even more exciting value created as talent analytics enters the mainstream in our efforts to better staff, hire, and manage our people.
(More information on The Datafication of HR and a slideshare presentation here.)
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1ee8ff1e36a73fea03fc7c0ef58050a2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2015/03/13/culture-why-its-the-hottest-topic-in-business-today/ | Culture: Why It's The Hottest Topic In Business Today | Culture: Why It's The Hottest Topic In Business Today
Last year Merriam Webster's dictionary stated that "culture" was the most popular word of the year. Well, it has now become one of the most important words in corporate board rooms, and for good reason.
We have a retention crisis. New Deloitte research shows that culture, engagement, and employee retention are now the top talent challenges facing business leaders. More than half business leaders rate this issue "urgent" - up from only around 20% last year.
What's going on? It's very simple: as the economy picks up steam (unemployment now below 5.5%), employees have more bargaining power than ever before. Thanks to social websites like LinkedIn , Glassdoor, and Indeed, a company's employment brand is now public information so if you're not a great place to work, people find out fast. This shifts power into the hands of job-seekers.
And many companies have work to do. Gallup's latest research shows that only 31% of employees are engaged at work (51% are disengaged and 17.5% actively disengaged). Analysis of the Glassdoor database shows that the average employee gives their company a C+ (3.1 out of 5) when asked whether they would recommend their company to a friend (Bersin by Deloitte research with Glassdoor).
We have arrived in a world of "haves" and "have-nots" when it comes to attracting and engaging top talent.
Let me cite some examples:
I recently met with one of the world's biggest industrial manufacturers on the east coast and they lamented losing top aerospace engineers to Google . They're scratching their heads to figure out how to prevent more top engineers from leaving. A large well-known Silicon Valley company considering a major facelift of its corporate campus to attract young people. They're not sure if it will work or not, but they feel they have no choice. Here there is a war to build the "best workplace in the world" - free food, unlimited vacation, yoga classes, beer bashes, and bright open offices are everywhere. (Check out Google's new space age campus design.) Most financial services companies I meet with tell me they are struggling to hire top people. While the industry is still popular with MBAs, the recession damaged the reputation for this industry and it's just starting to recover.
Companies that focus on culture are becoming icons for job seekers:
Fortune' Best Companies happen to be many of the same companies listed in Glassdoor's Best Places to Work and also LinkedIn's Most In-Demand Employers. This shows that companies with strong positive cultures (Fortune and Glassdoor's list is based on employee surveys) are now the most in-demand. So the "culture winners" are winning bigger. Younger companies that focus on culture see a huge payoff. HubSpot, a growing New England tech firm focused on its culture (around 1,000 employees), has Glassdoor ratings of 4.6, far above the industry average. They give their staff free books and education and believe so strongly in transparency that they post their board meeting notes and culture manifesto online. NetFlix's culture manifesto "freedom with responsibility" is one of the most popular documents on the internet, 11 million+ viewers. Everyone wants to copy it. Value statements have popped up everywhere. Zappos' cultural values focus on innovation, Quicken Loans uses its colorful "ISMS" to guide values ("call back every client the same day" is one of their values), Google has its 10 "truths" (focus on the user is one), RW Baird has its "unique culture," LinkedIn is in the "human service" business and calls itself a "tribe, Salesforce focuses on giving to the community, and it goes on and on. Culture-driven companies explicitly put their people first. Wegmans, the #7 best place to work in the Fortune list, reset business goals just to create the jobs and career growth they want for their people. "Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers," as the saying goes. Traditional companies like Aetna are now heavily focused on culture. Recently the New York Times published an article about Aetna's CEO Mark Bertolini. He has raised wages, improved health benefits, and introduced yoga and mindfulness training to his entire company to improve retention and culture in the call centers. Their $100M + turnover problem is rapidly going away and he claims to have already improved the bottom line by 3-4 %.
Google's Proposed New Campus Design, Real Estate and Workspace as Part of the Competition for Great... [+] Culture
Beyond PR: An eBook From Forbes Old-fashioned PR is dead. Discover how to communicate with purpose and passion today.
Look at how office space is now part of building a great culture. Fortune's new "25 coolest offices of the 100 Best Companies" shows how most of these great places to work are actually great PLACES to work. Flexibility, entertainment, and bright colorful offices and art make these companies a fun place to work.
People now believe that culture has a direct impact on financial performance. I just talked with two industry analysts who read Glassdoor comments before they publish analyst reports. Both told me they use this data to understand employee sentiment read comments about the CEO as part of their core research. It also helps them compare competitors.
As the saying goes, "Culture eats Strategy for Lunch." (And free lunch is now part of the culture.)
Ok it's a popular topic. What is culture anyway?
Culture is a big and somewhat vague term. Some define it as "what happens when nobody is looking."
In reality, it's much more complex. Culture is the set of behaviors, values, artifacts, reward systems, and rituals that make up your organization. You can "feel" culture when you visit a company, because it is often evident in people's behavior, enthusiasm, and the space itself.
I visit a lot of companies and I can often sense the culture in a few minutes. Are people busy and working with customers? Or are they quietly working alone? Do they get in early and leave late? Or does the parking lot empty at 4:30? Is the office beautiful and inspiring with values and icons around, or is it messy and busy? Is there a sense of order or a sense of family? All these clues help diagnose culture.
The Competing Values Framework, by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn, is a terrific textbook on organizational culture. After years of research the authors grouped organizational cultures into four types and their research shows that most teams fall into one of these four types. You can diagnose your culture using tools like theirs (and others) and it will help you align your values and hiring to the culture you want to build. There are three issues to consider: type (what is your culture), strength (how strong is it), and congruence (how consistent is it).
The Competing Values Framework, by Cameron and Quinn
Our research shows that culture and employee engagement are tightly linked ("culture" vs. "climate"), but not the same thing. Culture is slow to build, pervasive, and hard to change. Climate can be changed quickly.
When you communicate and honor culture, people know what to expect and feel comfortable. And the climate must support it. For example, a CEO I interviewed told me that "calling people back the same day" was part of his culture - so he monitors this behavior because to him, customer service is cultural bedrock.
As a company grows or acquires another company, the culture will often shift. IBM has been through many culture changes over the years, and one can trace them to major transitions in the business. When I worked there in the 1980s, IBM was a technology pioneer, but then later slowly but deliberately changed its culture to that of a consulting organization. Now it seems to be headed back.
Sometimes an acquisition will damage a well-honed culture, so watch out here. (When HP acquired Compaq, for example, a culture of engineering quality was mixed with a culture of low-cost production, causing a historic challenge.)
Many HR and management practices will drive or support culture. Do you value employee development? Are people empowered to take charge or do they follow the rules? How are people promoted and why? The Simply Irresistible model describes many of the factors. If you're focused on culture, we encourage managers and HR teams to think about the "total employee experience": everything from the coffee in the coffee machine to the quality of management plays a role.
The Simply Irresistible model for employee engagement
How Do We Build And Manage Great Culture?
Ultimately culture is driven by leadership. How leaders behave, what they say, and what they value drives culture.
I proved this myself: I analyzed the Glassdoor database and found that the factor most highly correlated with an individual's recommendation of their company as a place to work was "quality and trust in leadership."
So the selection of leaders, development of leaders, and the coaching of leaders are all critical to building the right culture. Companies that focus on building great leaders spend almost 3X the average on leadership development, and they get a tremendous return for it.
Once culture is established and communicated, it becomes a tool to screen and assist candidates. The Talent Board (a research group that studies the job candidate experience) found that 41% of all candidates search for information about a company culture before they apply. So your culture is already a screening tool when you recruit people.
Zappos relies on culture to screen all hires, by trying to see if they are "wacky." (Zappos assesses culture before they even assess job fit.) Southwest Airlines assesses culture fit by asking candidates to tell a joke. When you focus on culture as strategy you find that some people just won't fit, regardless of their pedigree.
When I asked the SVP of HR at a financial institution how they guard their culture she said "people who don't work as a team just don't like it here. They leave." Culture is like a flywheel: it gets stronger the more you reinforce it.
Culture Drives Employment Brand: Source: Liz Pellet, Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
If you want to improve your culture, look carefully at how you coach and evaluate your people. Do you believe in "forced ranking?" or "up or out?" That process in itself creates a type of culture - one most companies are moving away from. Today more than 60% of the companies we surveyed are changing how they evaluate performance because they want to drive empowerment and innovation into their organization. We call performance management the "secret ingredient" to building a highly engaged culture.
The ISMS Culture Book of Quicken Loans, one of the best culture-building artifacts I've seen!
A New Industry Of Culture And Engagement Tools
An industry of new culture diagnostic and feedback tools is emerging. Historically culture assessment has been a niche market of small psychology firms (companies like Human Synergistics, Dennison Consulting, and Senn Delaney have been around for years). Now, driven by the need to engage and attract people, this market is going mainstream. New, mobile and real-time tools to assess culture, collect regular and real-time feedback, and analyze employee sentiment are disrupting the $billion market for employee engagement and culture surveys.
Some of the new vendors include CultureAmp, TinyHR, BlackbookHR, Achievers, Globoforce, BetterCompany.co, Glint.io, OfficeVibe, Waggl, Canary, RelatedMatters, and dozens of others now offer real-time engagement and employee feedback tools to help you better understand and improve your workplace environment. Deloitte has a new culture assessment tool which is gaining great momentum. (Read Why Companies Fail to Engage Today's Workforce for more information on this new market.)
Keeping It Simple: Part Of Building A Great Culture
Remember also that great cultures are easy to understand. So keep it simple. If you can't write your values and culture down in a few words, it's probably too complex to understand.
We believe simplification is becoming the next big thing in business. More than 60% of the companies we surveyed told us that their employees feel "overwhelmed" by the volume of activity and messages they get at work. So part of your cultural facelift should also be "decluttering" of the workplace.
GE recently launched a major new strategy to simplify its business: the company is teaching managers how to focus, showing people how to spend more time with customers, and simplifying its back office processes. SAP did the same thing, and saw employee engagement rise by almost 30%.
Simplification can also improve the culture of compliance. New research by Deloitte Australia shows that financial services firms that focus on culture instead of compliance systems have better compliance. The research believes $240 billion is wasted on overly-complex compliance systems which could be replaced by a "culture of compliance."
Great corporate cultures have always thrived on simplicity. Remember the mantra at IBM in the 1970s and 1980s? It was very simple: "Think." The Nordstrom's rule? "Use good judgement." These are simple statements that help people focus. When the rules and values are simple, we remember them.
One of the 10 "Isms" in Quicken Loans' manifesto is "keep it simple." Don't make things complicated and don't design for the "edge cases."
Design thinking, agile and distributed management is all a part of simplifying work and improving corporate culture. This is an area where HR has work to do (read The Decluttering of Human Resources for more).
Ok I get it. Culture Matters. What should I do?
The prescription is pretty simple. Do you take culture seriously? Do you understand and monitor your culture? Does leadership use culture as a way to communicate values and strategy? Are you investing adequately in your people programs?
There are many role models to follow: Southwest Airlines' culture of customer service and fun (elegantly described in The Southwest Way); Apple Inc.'s culture of innovation and technology elegance; Google's culture of focusing on the user; even the US Post Office's culture of service and reliability. Most of the companies in the Fortune Best Places to Work have a strong focus on culture - usually embodied by the CEO.
Your culture, like your strategy, is unique to your organization. It builds over time and is often hard to change. And when things don't seem to be going well, turn back the clock. Sometimes the culture is what changed: remember what made your company great in the first place.
Finally, remember that culture lets you focus on your purpose and mission. As Joey Reiman describes in his book The Story of Purpose, people are not intrinsically motivated by profit or market share - it is purpose and values that bring us to work every day.
No matter if you're a CEO, HR executive, manager, or team leader - culture really matters. Consider it one of your most powerful tools for business success.
Gallery: The Top 25 Companies For Culture And Values 25 images View gallery
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45841b3480f55169dd55ff4405090705 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2016/01/05/use-of-moocs-and-online-education-is-exploding-heres-why/ | Use Of MOOCs And Online Education Is Exploding: Here's Why | Use Of MOOCs And Online Education Is Exploding: Here's Why
The folks at Class Central just released their data on the growth of online courses (MOOCs) in 2015 and the data is amazing.
More than 35 million people have enrolled in online courses in the last four years, and 2015 enrollments doubled from 2014. (That's equal to one out of five working professionals in the U.S.!)
Today there are more than 4,200 MOOC courses available (many more if you include the corporate training programs from companies like Udemy, BigThink, Pluralsight, Lynda, NovoEd, and Skillsoft). These academic-authored programs cover many topics, and are expanding into general business areas more each year. The most popular courses continue to be computer science and other engineering related subjects, but it's expanding. You can look at the top 10 most popular courses from Coursera and courses in financial management, negotiation, and business management are doing very well.
Now that we have all this great content available, the big trend is the availability of credentials - tests and accreditation you can receive for a fee. Most of the MOOC providers now offer such credentials (there are over 100) and they include tools like Nanodegrees (Udacity), Credentials of Readiness (Harvard), XSeries (EdX), and many more. It's not yet clear how well these credentials will be recognized by employers, but that's where this market is going.
In the corporate space, video-based self-study courses are exploding everywhere. Providers like Udemy, SkillSoft, Lynda (LinkedIn), Grovo, and BigThink are now exploding with expert content. Other companies with professional education include SkillShare, Pluralsight, General Assembly, Floqq, Iversity, and many others. Most of these companies focus on technical education - software skills, IT systems, and other technical topics.
(By the way, the use of online video has been transformational, as I wrote about earlier.)
Why MOOCs are taking over the world?
Why this incredible growth? There are some fundamental things going on.
First, we now have bandwidth and easy access to content from any device.
I've been around online learning for almost 20 years now, and we had a similar craze like this in the early 2000s. Most of those companies are now gone (DigitalThink, NinthHouse, and others), because bandwidth was a problem and frankly we had two recessions to deal with. (The 2000 recession decimated these companies.) It was too expensive and IT departments often blocked the content. We also had to deal with Flash technology (which didn't always work correctly) and there were no mobile players.
This time you can find a course, register, and start it anywhere. The videos play from any device and you can start a course at home, continue it at work, and finish it over the weekend. From anywhere.
Second, we now have Freemium business models that work.
The second problem that plagued online learning companies before was the need to charge a lot of money for courses. We charged quite a bit at DigitalThink and frankly once companies realized they could build their own content they just stopped buying from us.
Today companies offer most of their content for free, as a trial or free offering - and then they charge for higher-end content, accreditation, or a more complete integrated offering. So you can try a course, learn something, and then decide later how much you want to pay. So much easier to get started, and eventually you do find that it's worth spending the money.
Third, the value of education is now higher then ever.
As I like to put it, in today's economy "The Learning Curve is the Earning Curve." Today our skills drive our earnings. The radical expanding of the job market to contract, contingent, and global workers has made it easier than ever for an employer to hire "just the right person" for every job. That means that you (or me) as a professional better stay current on what's going on!
Everywhere I go I run into people who are re-educating themselves. Software engineers are learning how to develop on mobile platforms. HR professionals are learning about statistics and behavioral economics. Marketing professionals are learning about SEO and micro-targeting. And we're all teaching ourselves about work-life balance, wellness, mindfulness, and healthy eating. (A topic that gets discussed in my house almost every day it seems!)
I was in India with a team of very senior executives a few weeks ago and one of the leaders told me "I just took a course on cognitive computing and taught myself Python." I asked him WHY? He put it well: "if I'm going to hire people to do this stuff I have to understand it myself. So in a few weeks I figured it out." He is a natural learner - but he's essentially demonstrating what I have learned in my career - if you're continuously learning, you're always adding more value.
Fourth, the content is fantastic. And we can easily rate it.
The final thing that is driving this explosive market is the quality of the content itself. We have name-brand universities all over the world building fantastic content. The fears of professors giving away IP are over. Business leaders and professionals like me can author courses, so you can find just what you want by the teacher or professor you like.
The content has to be good because we can now rate it, rank it, and comment on it. Like I talk about it "Feedback is the Killer App," the social world we live in now forces content providers to be better than ever. (Believe me I know this, I'm a content person and I worry about my content all the time.)
Mark my words. Online learning is still just getting started. I've watched my own children adapt to courses and learning online and it's natural, powerful, and useful. In 2016 we are going to see a new world of curation and collaboration tools to help us harness all this content in the corporate world.
What's next?
As the content market continues to expand, we are going to see a few big things happen in the coming years.
Employers start paying attention to accredited non-degree content. I hope this happens, but it will take time. Employers will start looking at these courses as predictors of skills and success, but it's still early. Companies still rely far too heavily on pedigree diplomas, but as the online learning market becomes more validated and mature you will be able to put real money on your accredited MOOC education. Companies like Degreed and others are trying to spur this along. More vertical content becomes available. More specific vertical content is still needed. How about sales training, for example? We ALL sell things all the time (including ourselves). Where's the world's leading provider of sales training, authored by leading sales people? It will come. For example, my course on 21st Century Talent Management (free) has been very successful, and we don't market it at all. Curation and rating services. We need more "directories" and validated rating services to find content. There will never be one big "portal" with all the content in the world (people keep trying this but I don't see it happening), but there could be some big bad rating services. This will help us find what we need. Better corporate learning tools. For those of use who serve corporate training, we desperately need better interfaces to publish, share, and track this content in corporations. This is also coming (many vendors are working on this, and the new X-API will help). I particularly want to credit Pathgather, Degreed, OpenSesame and other pioneers who are working hard to make this happen. MOOC platforms get better. Finally, let me say that the MOOC platforms, while good, can be better. Think about an entire learning experience, social network, assessment platform, and continuous learning experience online. The MOOC platforms are mostly course delivery systems - I think these companies can think much broader about how they bring content, connections, and experiences together. I have lots of ideas here, based on what I've seen in the corporate market, and I predict MOOC platforms will move toward total learning environments, not just course delivery systems.
The day is coming when anyone with a computer or phone can learn just about anything. Sure, online learning will never fully replace face to face education (read my article about the limitations of online learning for leadership and management here), but for many of the things we want to know we CAN learn them online. And it can be quite enjoyable and recreational as well.
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d907660b0cda14d9063136d4bbfec53a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2017/05/15/successfactors-by-sap-growth-and-innovation-continues/ | SuccessFactors By SAP: Growth And Innovation Continues | SuccessFactors By SAP: Growth And Innovation Continues
Harvard Business Review research shows that 70-90% of corporate acquisitions fail, often driven by an unclear strategy, lack of culture alignment, or poor execution on business integration. When SAP announced the acquisition of SuccessFactors in December of 2011, one could have expected a similarly disappointing result.
SAP SuccessFactors SAP
Well, over the last five and a half years, nothing could be further from the truth. While the early days of the SuccessFactors-SAP integration were a bit unclear, today the company is growing rapidly, and under the leadership of Mike Ettling, SuccessFactors has started to innovate in ways that lead the fast-growing, highly competitive human capital software market.
According to data released by SuccessFactors in the last 60 days, the company now has more than 47 million users on the platform, more than 6,200 client accounts, and the core HR business is growing at 51% year over year.
While the product set is highly complex (SuccessFactors is designed to manage all people processes across all industries), the company has leading functionality in nearly all areas of HR: from recruiting to performance management to learning. And this includes tools to manage hourly and contingent workers, payroll in more than 37 countries, extensive analytics, and a complete mobile platform. (And a marketplace of partner applications as well.)
Bringing all these products together has taken investment and focused effort. The the product set includes learning management technology from Plateau, social learning tools from Jambok, analytics software from InfoHRM, contingent workforce management tools from Fieldglass, and payroll and ERP functionality from core HCM applications developed by SAP. Over the years these acquisitions have been integrated in many ways: through the user interface, by harmonizing back-end systems, and replatforming to HANA, SAP’s strategic database and technology stack.
(It is now common for all major HR software providers to grow through acquisition, so virtually every vendor has multiple product sets engineered to work together behind the scenes. In fact the discipline of back-end and front-end integration is now core to ERP and HCM marketplace success.)
The world of HR, talent, and people management is always changing, forcing HR software companies to continuously innovate. In this category SuccessFactors has been able to stay ahead of the market in many ways.
1. SuccessFactors Is The First ERP/HCM Vendor To Deliver A Next-generation Continuous Performance Management Solution.
SuccessFactors Continuous Performance Management, which embodies most of the new features of continuous feedback and agile goal management, now has more than 250 customers and is in a position to potentially lead this enormous new market segment, now dominated by startups. SuccessFactors’ roadmap for new features in this area is impressive: we can expect the company to continue to lead in this segment as it expands into feedback, engagement, and team management.
2. SuccessFactors Has Pioneered The Use Of Chatbots And Cognitive Interfaces, Through The Launch Of “Conversational HR”
I have now seen HR software that interacts with users through chatbots, and the potential is enormous. SuccessFactors users can now have conversations with the software through Slack, Siri, Cortana, Amazon Alexa, Google Gsuite and others, dramatically improving productivity. Imagine an interaction like this.
Employee: “I would like to take vacation next Thursday.”
Software: “You have a meeting with Steven on Thursday afternoon.”
Employee: “Can you cancel that meeting?”
Software: “Yes meeting is cancelled, should I ask your manager for approval?”
Employee: “Yes please”
Software: “Manager approved, vacation approved.”
When I first heard about "chatbot integration with HR" I was skeptical, but after seeing demos from several vendors I am now convinced. The applications for this technology are expansive.
Imagine a conversational system that recommends learning, proposes new job opportunities, or tells an employee they are travelling too much and should possibly take some time off.
While Watson from IBM has some of this functionality available in separate products, SuccessFactors is now building this into the core HR suite. And it will probably not be long until you can talk to these systems through your mobile phone or other AI-based voice device. (SAP is now working with Amazon Alexa, Google, Siri and Cortana.)
3. SuccessFactors Developed Innovative Analytics And AI Tools To Help With Diversity, Bias And Inclusion
For over a year SuccessFactors has been delivering tools that help companies remove bias from job descriptions, run reports that show bias in hiring and promotion, and new tools to help remove bias from talent reviews and calibration sessions. SAP’s heritage as a leader in diversity and inclusion shows up here: the company is delivering a set of tools HR and business leaders now see as increasingly critical to their challenges in the areas of bias and diversity. (Called "Business Beyond Bias.")
(Our new research on D&I shows that while 70%+ of companies believe they have a truly inclusive culture, only 11% actually do based on their practices. Measurement systems and tools which hold people accountable are among the most powerful aids in this important area.)
4. SuccessFactors Learning Continues To Innovate And Grow
The L&D marketplace, which is over a $140 billion market in itself (Bersin by Deloitte core HR systems research, 2016 and 2017), is undergoing tremendous disruption. (Read The Ten Disruptions in L&D for more detail). In addition to offering one of the first video learning solutions, SuccessFactors just released a set of tools to help companies sell and deliver learning to their customers, resellers, and partners (Learning Marketplace). This focus on “extended enterprise learning” again shows SuccessFactors’ ability to innovate and deepen its functionality in each area of HR, and also gives the company a bigger market to address.
5. Continued Evolution Of User Experience
SAP also has a strategic alliance with Apple, enabling the two companies to work together on new user interfaces designed for IOS (on iPhone and iPad). The new user experience on Apple and Android devices appears to be best-of-breed, making HR software not only conversational but just easier to access on mobile devices. The company now has a new career-jobsite builder and a variety of new custom tools to build self-service portals and self-service tools, one of the most important new growth areas for HR.
Digital HR Software Is Not Easy To Build
The HR software marketplace is enormously large, complex, and varied in nature. Our research indicates that there are several thousand software companies selling various tools for recruitment, employee management, engagement, compensation, learning, and other parts of HR. For any company like SAP to lead in this market takes investment, focus, and a continuous ability to change.
SAP understands that this is a long game ahead. Features like global payroll, continuous performance management, and scalable learning management take years to build and demand global feature sets, many language and global translation features, and an architecture the enables them to scale and operate with near real-time speed.
SAP and SuccessFactors have proven their ability to execute and innovate, and we can expect more to come. While others continue to innovate and execute as well, I believe SAP deserves credit for both managing the integration of SuccessFactors with tremendous success and continuing to innovate to help drive the world of HR and management software forward.
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2f304149c05989ff140b9d81a5dd67f9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshfreedman/2013/09/04/why-we-need-the-government-to-play-an-active-role-in-higher-education-finance/ | Why We Need The Government To Play An Active Role In Higher Education Finance | Why We Need The Government To Play An Active Role In Higher Education Finance
These days, everyone knows that college is expensive. And everyone has their own idea of how to fix it. When it comes to higher education finance, we've become a nation of backseat drivers.
Allow me to drive in the backseat here. College is expensive, and the government's attempts to help make college more affordable for students has likely driven up prices even more. But there is a solution: Rather than remove itself from higher education, as many libertarian economists have suggested, we actually need -- and want -- the government to play a larger and more prominent role.
Higher education prices have risen far faster than other prices in the economy: across all institutions, undergraduate tuition, fees, and living expenses more than doubled in inflation-adjusted dollars. At private nonprofit four year schools, tuition and fees have nearly tripled compared to 40 years ago, while at four year public schools costs have almost quadrupled over the same time frame. Public two-year schools, which experienced a huge drop-off in state funding in the wake of the recession (and where most of the higher education in this country takes place), have seen tuition and fees grow nearly 50% in the last decade. Bloomberg estimates that the price of college has increased twice as much as that of medical care since 1978. In short, college has become more expensive – and the price continues to increase.
The reasons for the unstoppable growth in price are many. These include increasing demand for college among students, systemic incentives that encourage colleges to spend money and raise tuition, declining state subsidies in the last few years, increases in “merit aid”, financialization, and the college costs arms race that encourages schools to try to use resources in socially unproductive ways.
Tied into all of these is that the government has one hand dipped halfway into the college pudding. The government provides subsidies to colleges in the form of financial aid: low-income students receive Pell Grants of up to $5,550 to attend school, and federally subsidized loans account for most student borrowing. But schools like to maximize their revenue, and there is no reason for them to use this price to make college cheaper. Instead, they can raise their prices in response to the increased subsidy and, in effect, eat the government’s money. This idea is known as the Bennett Hypothesis, and, as with all scholarly literature, everyone disagrees as to how accurately it describes the situation. Recent research from Andrew Gillen at Education Sector (the Bennett Hypothesis 2.0) and NBER (which found that federal aid does increase tuition at private colleges) suggests that the basic idea behind the Bennett Hypothesis does carry at least some truth in practice.
Taken together, there many pressures to push costs up – and very few to push them back down.
The libertarian response to the college cost problem is clear: get the government’s hand completely out of the pudding. If we removed the government’s role, they argue, college education would function more like a market and price would naturally come down due to market forces.
But market forces would not actually function to bring costs down. Due to a whole set of strange demand pressures, particularly at middle- and upper-tier schools, removing the government would simply limit access to low-income students. When viewed along with the important notions of fairness that we associate with higher education (not to mention the economic and social returns), we want and need to have a public presence in higher education.
Imagine you are a parent whose child is admitted to a good school. If you already are or have been one of these, you don’t even need to imagine it. Due to the fact that you want what is best for your children, you will at least consider enrolling your child regardless of the cost. (Exhibit A: Ask my parents). In other words, because we don’t treat our children as cost-maximizing automatons but rather want them to be happy, successful, and able to live fulfilling lives, the higher price is not necessarily going to turn you away from sending your child to that school.
In slightly more economic terms, demand for a quality education is highly inelastic: an increase in price will not lead to an equivalent drop-off in the amount of people who want to enroll. In a 2008 study, Steven Hemelt and Dave Marcotte found that price elasticity at public universities has remained extremely low. They show that a five percent increase in tuition would make only a handful of students leave while bringing in millions of dollars of new revenue for the school.
More basic numbers support this point. All else equal, in theory the increasing price of college over the last forty years should have resulted in fewer people attending. But the exact opposite has occurred: the number of people has increased dramatically. The number of people attending college in 1967 was 4.3 million; in 2010, it was 11.5 million, or a 70 percent increase as a share of total population. Some of this increase has been made possible by increasing financial aid, but financial aid alone cannot account for all of this increase: the average per-student debt load after college has increased over time. In 1990, the median amount of federal debt held by students at the time of repayment was $3,560; in 2011, the same figure was $12,839.
This inelasticity of demand – and the ensuing need to find better ways to keep costs down – is one of the same fundamental problems that health care reform faces. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post describes this inelasticity of demand in terms of our inability to say “no.” As the parent of a prospective college student will tell you, the inability to turn down the best education means that “consumers” have very little ability to drive down prices with their choices. As Klein notes, “Medical care and higher education are the two purchases that families will mortgage everything to make.”
Health care, like education, is also not transferable: You can’t sell your diploma to someone who didn’t graduate, nor can you sell your lack of diabetes to someone who is suffering. This lack of transferability makes determining the value of the good even more difficult. Because education is, as Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post explains, a one-time “experience good” in which the quality is difficult to assess beforehand and the interaction (getting an undergraduate degree) usually only occurs once. This renders the idea of market “exit,” or having consumers not purchase a good in future transactions, much less viable as a strategy of determining price or setting quality.
But the demand problem goes even further: demand for some schools is not only inelastic but actually backwards. A more expensive school is often more desirable than a less expensive one. (In economics, these are called “Giffen goods.”) Part of this is because schools are rewarded for spending increasing amounts of money. Everyone hates the U.S. News and World Report rankings, but for good reason: “Spending more money can lead to higher rankings,” the Center for College Affordability notes. The existence of these Giffen goods is sometimes referred to as the Chivas Regal effect, in which a higher priced product is viewed as being higher quality even if it is simply just more expensive. Chivas Regal whiskey, apparently, is overpriced.
Similarly, because our notions of quality are both speculative and based on a host of different factors, individuals’ demands for schools also encourage an inexorable rise in prices. It’s not just that students have inelastic demand for colleges; the parts of college they do demand also encourage schools to spend more. Students are more likely to attend a school that has more “consumption amenities” like new buildings and recreational facilities – particularly if the students come from middle- or higher-income backgrounds. The best bet for schools that want to maximize their revenue is to spend a lot of money and then raise tuition, which means that unless we have some type of intervention, we are going to end up with a system of higher education that is only for the rich. Even if we acknowledge that college is not the answer to our economic problems, we do not want a higher education system that only serves a small group of wealthy elites.
Thus, government subsidies are here to stay. Klein writes, “There’s no sustainable way to end government involvement in these areas. The subsidies will always come back because people will always vote them back.” If anything, this is actually somewhat reassuring about the state of humanity: demand for these products is inelastic because families want their children to get the best education possible and are asking the government to help make this possibility a reality.
(Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2: Why Price Controls Are the Best Plan to Keep College Affordable).
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1c489101a863746730cad7004041ca0f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshfreedman/2013/10/16/why-dont-americans-have-enough-skills-the-answer-is-inequality/ | Why Don't Americans Have Enough Skills? The Answer Is Inequality | Why Don't Americans Have Enough Skills? The Answer Is Inequality
Last week, the OECD released a mammoth new survey of the basic skills of the working-age population in advanced industrialized nations. The report revealed that we face two pressing problems: first, the use of bad typefaces in reports; and second, Americans’ lack of fundamental reading and math skills.
Solving the first problem is easy. All we have to do is choose better fonts. Helvetica, Georgia, Times New Roman – really anything will be better than the font used for the headers in this report (see Figure 1). If I am ever in a position of power, the first thing I do will be to ban the use of fonts that look like children’s handwriting on anything that is not written by children themselves.
This report was definitely not written by a child, but the font begs to differ.
Solving the second problem is more difficult. As many articles have noted, the report shows that the United States ranks 16th out of 23 countries in basic literacy and 21st out of 23 in math. While commentators have used the report to lament the state of higher education in the United States, a deeper look reveals a different culprit. The problem is not higher education, but inequality. Or, as The Guardian’s Sadhbh Walshe puts it succinctly, “It’s the inequality, stupid.”
I prefer not to call anyone stupid. I did, however, spend my Saturday reading through the entire 460-plus page report, much to the dismay of my social life. The United States is particularly good at paying highly educated, highly skilled people lots of money and very bad at giving anyone else a chance at even getting any skills at all.
If you are low-income, the likelihood of gaining skills is lower in the United States than anywhere else in the advanced industrialized world. According to the OECD data, the United States has the strongest relationship between socioeconomic background and skills proficiency of any country in the study. The difference in skills between people with at least one parent who graduated from college and those with none is larger than in any other country. In other words, if you come from a low-income or less-educated background, the chance that you are going to gain skills is smallest in the United States.
The basic skills tested in this survey – reading, math, and problem solving with technology – are important even if you ignore wages or whether someone goes to college. (I would argue that we tend to overstate skill-biased technological change, but that’s for another debate). Basic skills are crucial to a functioning democracy, a political system that relies on communication with an informed population. Additionally, as the report itself notes, basic skills are also correlated with personal well-being, including factors like social trust and personal health.
Yet in the United States, if you are born at a socioeconomic disadvantage, it is harder than anywhere else to gain even these rudimentary skills.
If you don’t go to college, your chance of having basic skills is lower in the United States than anywhere else. The United States has the strongest relationship between going to college and basic skill attainment of any country in the study. The gap between the skills of American college graduates and Americans who do not graduate from high school is wider than in any other country. Skills are not the same as education, although generally they are correlated. People who have more education often have more skills, but not always – particularly when comparing international education systems. The OECD report makes this distinction clear when it explains, “Japanese high school graduates have literacy skills compared to Italian [college] graduates.” Due to a strong elementary and secondary education system, Japanese students have basic skills regardless of whether they go to college, while Italian (and American) students do not.
This could mean one of two things: either our colleges are so good that people who graduate from them have more skills than they know what to do with or our lower and secondary education system is unable to teach a huge portion of the population. Hint: It’s the latter.
US college graduates have average skills, but American high school graduates and people who did not complete high school have fewer skills than those in any other OECD country. The average skill level of American college graduates is, well, average. The mean literacy score of United States college graduates is exactly in the middle of the 23-country sample, below high performers like Finland and Japan but ahead of countries like Spain and Italy. The skill level of students in the United States with vocational degrees is actually above average: Vocational graduates are still less-skilled than their peers in Sweden, for example, but rank far ahead of those in the UK. Finally – we’re above average in something!
Our high school picture is less pretty, however. The mean literacy score for young (under age 30) general-education high school graduates (non-vocational track) is 269, compared to an OECD average of 294. High school graduates in Finland and the Netherlands both averaged over 317. The cutoff for the 25th percentile – the bottom quarter of students – is 240 in the US, almost 10 points below the next-lowest scoring country.
The United States also ranks last in terms of students who didn’t finish high school. The average literacy score for people ages 20-65 in the US without a high school degree is 213, while the overall OECD average for these students is 237.
Higher skilled and more educated people in the United States make more money than anywhere else. Given the extreme inequality in skills and college attainment described above, it makes sense that the inequality extends to earnings. The problem is that this inequality has very little to do with how much people actually use those skills.
People with higher levels of literacy earn higher wages. In most countries, the difference is marginal – but in the United States it is literally off the charts. The average amount of the highest paid, highly-skilled workers does not fit on the chart. No other country is even close.
Highly paid workers are off the charts!
Yet we’re not actually paying people for these additional skills as much as it might seem. In the United States, college graduates make 70 percent more than people without degrees. Yet they only use reading skills 30% more and have 18% more task discretion, or autonomy over their work. The wage premium for college graduates in the United States is much higher than in other countries, but these workers do not use more skills at work.
For every person who argues that people with a college education earn their entire wage premium, wave OECD Figure 4.13 in their face, preferably while yelling the full title: “The Tertiary Premium and The Use of Reading Skills and Task Discretion at Work.”
Together, these points help explain the problem. We have the largest discrepancy between rich and poor. We have the largest discrepancy between college graduates and high school dropouts. And we have the highest payoff for people who are at the top.
While some have mentioned the role of immigration in the skills gap, these facts cannot be primarily explained by immigration. It is true that foreign born, foreign language speakers have lower literacy scores on average -- which is completely sensible, given how difficult it is to master a second language and culture, let alone a first. But this difference applies across OECD countries, not just the US. Adjusted for socio-demographic factors, the difference in literacy skills between native born, native language speakers and foreign born, foreign language speakers in the US is actually smaller than the OECD average. Relative to some peer countries like France, which has a substantial foreign language population, immigration improves the skills position of the US.
Thus, the problem is not mainly our colleges, nor is it immigration. The problem is an unequal system starting at the very bottom. At every step of the way, our education and labor market institutions solidify and expand, rather than redress, the inequality. We pay our highest-skilled and most-educated workers the highest premiums because they have the skills and education that are mostly available to those who already have higher skills and more education. At the same time, we have a huge share of the working-age population without important skills. As a result, inequality has become the defining feature not only of our social and political institutions but clearly of our skill base as well.
These results should not surprise us: After all, the United States has the highest poverty rate among peer countries. Nearly one out of every four children lives in poverty, and we know that poverty is akin to poison: For example, growing up in poverty has a greater negative impact on a child’s future than being born to a drug-addicted mother. At the same time, our public schools are funded unequally due to huge discrepancies in state and local taxation and disbursements.
If college were to play a role in helping to fix the system, it would be at public colleges. Community colleges educate the bulk of students seeking higher education and have a high concentration of students who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and are therefore less likely to have access to skill-building opportunities. Yet community colleges are woefully underfunded and have been squeezed more and more in recent years. Rising sticker prices and deregulation at 4-year public colleges have also increased the barriers to college for low-income students, furthering the inequality in educational attainment.
Education alone will never be the answer to inequality — and anyone who tells you so has not looked hard enough at Figure 4.13, “The Tertiary Premium and The Use of Reading Skills and Task Discretion at Work.” But there are simple reforms throughout the system that would be undeniably helpful to make sure that huge portions of our population are, at the very least, able to gain the basic skills that they ought to have as members of the workforce and of a democracy.
We can start with universal pre-K, which can help address “the critical gap in skills between advantaged and disadvantaged children long before they enter school.”
We can fix our social institutions so that working parents can spend more time with their children.
We can increase our investment in public schools at all levels, which currently face larger challenges with less funding.
We can implement just about any anti-poverty policy available.
I could go on, but, for all of our sakes, I will refrain.
The skills problem is not going to magically fix itself because it is at its root an inequality problem. Luckily for us, we know what it takes to start to tackle inequality — and we can begin to do it even before we decide to change our use of terrible fonts and typefaces.
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0506e9656cd9f181bf84c4639d68f093 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshfreedman/2014/02/10/risky-business-why-student-loans-are-the-worst-way-to-fund-college/ | Risky Business: Why Student Loans Are The Worst Way To Fund College | Risky Business: Why Student Loans Are The Worst Way To Fund College
As the number of students attending colleges and universities has steadily increased and the cost for most students has climbed even faster, student debt figures (both total and per person) have continued to get bigger. Arguments about the likelihood of a “higher education bubble” abound. Struggles with loan payments are so commonplace that hipsters in Brooklyn were struggling with loan payments way before you.
The student debt issue can be overstated, and often is. Yet the concern stems from the right place: the way we currently fund a big share of our higher education system, through mortgage-style loans, is one of the worst possible ways to pay for college. The major plans for higher education finance reform attempt to address the problems created by student loans – some more successfully than others.
A Very Brief History Of How We Got Here
Like an intoxicated college student after a party, college access has lurched forward in fits and starts since the first colleges were established in the United States. At the outset, most college students were wealthy, white, and wore funny hats – all of which were indicators of having enough time, money, and status to be able to take a few years off from being in the workforce. The Morrill Land-Grant Act, passed by Congress in 1862 after the South seceded, expanded the higher education landscape (no pun intended) by establishing a series of colleges to teach agriculture, engineering, and the liberal arts and leading to the American system of research universities as centers of innovation. A century later, the GI Bill opened up college to returning veterans from World War II; the GI Bill was later broadened into the Higher Education Act of 1965, signed into law by Lyndon Johnson.
The Higher Education Act established a much wider set of higher education subsidies than existed previously to fund this new democratization of college. These included grants, loans, and work-study, which grew into what we now know as Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, and Federal Work-Study programs respectively. As college access continued to grow, states pared back their support for public colleges, and costs continued to rise, the size of all of these financial aid programs grew to try to fit the increasing demand and need from students. Loans grew most rapidly of these. Today, federal loans are the largest single program to pay for college.
The current higher education finance system in the United States is best described, in the words of Nicholas Barr, as a “finger-in-the-dyke approach.” There is no coherent plan; it is a complicated hodgepodge of these various subsidy programs – without many cost control mechanisms – that has ballooned over time. Grants, loans, and other programs (with an emphasis on loans) have been used as perpetual stopgap measures to try to stay true to the goals of accessibility while costs inexorably rise.
How do basic student loans work? Take a fake enrollee, Scott Tudent-Debt (S.Tudent-Debt), who wants to attend a four-year college or university. His parents, Formers Tudent and Lotsa Debt, have an income of $50,000 per year, near the household median income. Scott applies for federal student aid through the FAFSA form, which through witchcraft and a series of tubes calculates how much Scott’s family should pay and how much is leftover for Scott to borrow in loans or receive in grants. Scott is likely ineligible for the Pell grant, the main federal grant, because his family makes too much money. He may also be able to get scholarship money directly from his school, Big U., or from a state grant office. After the proper amount is calculated, Scott borrows the money he needs directly from the federal government through Stafford loans or Perkins loans, or his parents can borrow PLUS loans. Additional funding can be earned through federal work-study programs. If Scott maxes out his federal loan options, he can also turn to the private student loan market.
While in school, Scott does not have to start paying off his loans. After graduating and getting a brief grace period, however, Scott needs to pay back that money -- with interest. Some of the loans accrue interest while he is in school; others do not. The standard repayment plan is a 10-year program of fixed monthly payments, regardless of income. If Scott enrolls in grad school or cannot find a job, he can defer paying direct loans for a little while. Unemployment deferral runs out after three years, however, and student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.
According to The Institute for College Access & Success, 70% of students graduating from four-year colleges in 2012 had student loan debt. The College Board reports that for bachelor’s degree recipients from families making less than $90,000 per year, 60% or more borrowed to attend public four-year school; 75% or more borrowed to attend a nonprofit four-year private school; and 99% (or more) borrowed to attend a for-profit institution (data is for 2007-2008, the latest year available). The median debt level for graduates from the lowest income families ranged from $16,500 at four-year publics to more than $30,000 at for-profits.
The Real Problem With Loans: It’s All About Risk
It is important to note that not all debt is bad. If a borrower is in a good position to pay it back and uses the debt to finance an investment that will increase future wealth, productivity, or overall well-being, debt can be incredibly useful. Take our good friend Uncle Sam: the U.S. government can borrow to finance infrastructure investment that would lead to greater future economic growth, which would improve competitiveness and eliminate the need for “traffic studies” on the George Washington Bridge.
In some ways, college fits the description of a candidate for “good debt.” For those that view college as a personal economic investment, borrowing money to earn a diploma can lead to higher future income. Even if the college wage premium – the lifetime level of higher wages accrued by a college graduate over a non-graduate – has stagnated in recent years, it is still very high. For those who view college less as an economic tool and more as a way of increasing in personal and human capital (henceforth referred to as “idealists” and “people who studied the humanities”), it can still be a good investment.
But any time an investment is made, somebody has to bear the risk. Risk, along with cumin and paprika, is the spice of life. Jacob Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift, explains, “We cannot have risk—the probability of outcomes, good or bad—without variety in the human experience. Risk makes some fortunate and others unfortunate—some rich and others poor, some well and others sick, some able-bodied and others disabled. And because risk creates variety, it also creates the opportunity for social institutions of risk pooling that spread the costs of these unfortunate consequences broadly across affected populations, lessening the burden borne by individuals alone.”
From a public perspective, we want to spread risk as broadly as possible when it comes to investments that bear on social or economic stability and well-being. The wider the risk pool, the bigger the buffer in place in case something goes wrong.
In fact, there’s an entire industry based on this principle. It’s called insurance, and you have it for nearly anything. Health insurance, workmen’s compensation, Social Security, unemployment insurance, auto insurance, and many, many more: if there’s a chance of something going wrong, we spread the risk widely so that individuals who end up with the short end of the stick can still be ok. In his new book Social Democratic America, sociologist Lane Kenworthy of the University of Arizona argues that “most of what we call social policy is actually public insurance.”
Individual student loans are anti-insurance. Rather than spread risk, they concentrate it on the individual – who has to bear all of the downsides if something goes wrong. A student who has educational debt is responsible for paying that debt personally. If he cannot find a job, wants to start a family, or encounters hardship, the burden of paying it back remains entirely on the individual rather than spread and mitigated across a larger pool of people.
The current loan system adds to the concentration of this risk. Student loans, unlike other loans, are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Although they were originally treated similarly to any other borrowed funds, Congress passed legislation first making loans only dischargeable after five years, then seven, and eventually dropping the possibility of discharge altogether. This has led to the various horror stories of retirees still paying off debt and debt collectors hassling cancer patients to pay up before they die. On top of this, private loans now make up nearly 10% of student loan debt. Private loans are notable for having inflexible terms, high rates, co-sign requirements, and evidence of egregious lending practices. In 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report comparing private student loans to the subprime mortgages at the heart of the recent financial crisis.
As Hacker and others have described, the shifting of risk onto the individual has become one of the defining features of the American economy over the last three decades. With less-stable employment prospects and fewer social benefits, household debt has been a major way of paying for important services like healthcare and education. Due to stagnant wages across the board, this change not only applies to the poorest Americans but increasingly to the middle class as well. “The new debt society thus extends the historic economic insecurity of the less well off to the middle class,” write sociologists Rachel Dwyer, Laura McLoud, and Randy Hodson.
The shifting of risk (and debt) onto the individual represents a stark departure from the mid-century New Deal era, in which both public policy and social institutions were designed to broadly share risk. Social Security, one of the capstone achievements of social policy after the Great Depression, minimized the risk of an unsteady retirement. Medicare shared risk of elderly illness. Public elementary and secondary education is, in a sense, an insurance program: whether you are born rich or poor or in Nebraska or Alaska, you will have access to a free public education through the 12th grade. It is insurance against being born into disadvantageous circumstances or coming on hard times.
The 20th century push for expanding higher education has its roots in the New Deal ethos. The 1947 report released by the Truman Commission looking at higher education, entitled “Higher Education for American Democracy,” called for broadening access to colleges and universities and ensuring that economic hardship would not preclude a student from obtaining a higher education.
In its report, the Commission explicitly recognized the limitations of the loan system due to the risks it placed on the individual. It describes a typical student as follows: “He often anticipates that during the period in which the loan must be repaid, he will incur the added responsibilities of marriage and family. Furthermore, a prior mortgage on his earnings may be a handicap in procuring a further loan to meet post-graduation needs for starting a business or profession. A program of student loans, wisely administered, can be of assistance to students, but this Commission concludes that even a more generous loan program cannot represent an effective measure for equalizing educational opportunity to the extent which the total need makes mandatory.” Other less politically correct authors have described student loans as akin to a “dowry” that a graduate carries with them into marriage and family life.
At the same time, having students bear the risk means that there are few limits to rising costs in the system. Colleges can keep raising prices and push the costs onto students, who then take out more loans. There are some limits on undergraduate loans, but even those cannot fully control costs: students who reach the federal borrowing limit can turn to parent PLUS loans, which are unconstrained and less flexible than federal student loans, or the predatory world of private student loans. As pressure mounts for more students from all backgrounds to attend college, it will become increasingly difficult to try to stem the rapid tuition inflation under a loan system.
By concentrating risk on individuals – who are least able to mitigate the downsides if something goes wrong – our current student loan system has made college more expensive, turned higher education into an individual, rather than a communal, good, and generated serious negative economic and social risks.
(This is part one of a five part series on how we pay for college. Check back tomorrow for part two).
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7a0e4d871b9a92f8291a4a8f9c9905e0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshfreedman/2014/02/12/can-we-fix-college-with-better-student-loans/ | Can We Fix College With Better Student Loans? | Can We Fix College With Better Student Loans?
(This is part three of a five-part series on how we pay for college. Read parts one and two.)
"The current student loan system has many problems." This is the least controversial sentence I will ever write: scholars and policymakers have known for decades that mortgage-style student loans are a bad way to finance higher education, particularly undergraduate education. In a way, the agreement over the problem with the current system is reassuring: as I have often been taught, if an idea is genuinely original it’s probably not very good.
How, then, do we best reform the system? Reforming loans does not necessarily mean eliminating loans entirely. Loans themselves can mitigate catastrophic risk to an individual if the repayment options are better. If student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy – you know, like other loans – it gives a potential last resort exit valve to unburden an individual who is struggling to pay. More broadly, any system that ties the level of repayment to a student’s income accounts for the risk of not being able to find a job or having a health emergency. If a student who chooses to become a teacher, rather than a financier or consultant, he or she benefits from a repayment scheme based on income.
Such a program is actually already in place. This type of policy dates back nearly three decades, when President Ronald Reagan implemented a pilot program for “income-contingent loans.” Reagan’s administration sought to cut public budgets by shifting more grants to loans but cushioning some of the blow by offering more flexible repayment plans. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law an income-contingent loan repayment option that included an option for full forgiveness if a person works in public service, such as writing essays about the shortcomings of student loans.
The newest iteration of this plan, known as income-based repayment or IBR, expands on previous programs. All students who take out their first federal student loan in 2014 or later may enroll in the new version of IBR and pay 10% of their discretionary income, and they are eligible for forgiveness after 20 years if the loan has not been repaid in full.
The income-based repayment program is better than the current mortgage-style, risk-heavy student loan program that is the main component of the current system. But IBR still has a number of serious problems that make it an imperfect alternative.
Problems with IBR
One problem with IBR is the disconnect between bearing risk and controlling costs. Under IBR, all of the risk of financing higher education is transferred to the federal government, which bears the risk of students not repaying in full or defaulting on their loans. From an insurance perspective, this is ideal — the federal government, as the broadest possible entity and the one that can best smooth out external volatility, is best suited to bear this risk.
Unfortunately, however, while the government bears all of the risk it has no ability to control costs within the system. Schools have immunity to jack up tuition, take the money up front, and leave the government to pay the bill when the amount is not repaid. Colleges can dine and dash and stick the government to pay for billions of club sandwiches. In fact, this already happens at graduate schools, such as law schools. Georgetown Law and other schools raised tuition and made student loan payments for students under IBR, knowing that they would still come out ahead and that the government would have to cover the difference of around $160,000 per student.
It is not enough for the government to bear the risk; we also need cost control mechanisms in place to ensure that the government — and students — are getting their money’s worth. IBR’s method of shifting risk without shifting responsibility solves one problem but opens another. It is like a game of college finance whack-a-mole.
Another issue is that IBR programs are complex. Like the insanity that is filing taxes, trying to determine eligibility and repayment levels and consolidation and more results in a Rube Goldberg world of debt and repayment. I like Rube Goldberg machines more than most, but I prefer to keep them outside of the student loan system when possible.
Income-based repayment programs are designed to suffer from adverse selection problems. If an individual has a choice whether to pay up front or participate in IBR, those with lower potential salaries will be more likely to flock to the IBR program. As a result, IBR will struggle to fund itself because more participants in the program will have low salaries and therefore lower repayment rates.
Adverse selection means that the program is going to be more expensive than it would be if everyone participated. This is not necessarily a problem: I’m partial to expensive government programs, particularly if they do a good job distributing risk. The key to designing a big expensive government program, however, is to make it as simple as possible. The more complex a program is, the more expensive it is and the easier it is for people with money to manipulate — again, a step in the wrong direction.
Finally, for those of us who believe in education qua education, the deeper connotation of loans is still apparent in an IBR system. (If you are about to laugh and/or vomit a little in your mouth, just skip this section and concentrate on the arguments above). IBR, similar to mortgage-style loans, still involves a student taking out an individual debt that has to be repaid over time. Conceptually, this solidifies the notion of college primarily as an individual economic investment rather than an important public and democratic investment. The investment is individual, not collective – which more broadly speaks to a culture of individualism rather than collective responsibility and social contribution. Loans are subsidies to help individuals pay for college, not to help pay for college more broadly. This is an important semantic distinction for both philosophical and political reasons: as colleges shift more to individualized funding mechanisms to be covered by individual loans, the system loses broad political support and becomes ‘every man for himself’ – a sure recipe for defeat of a robust college and university system.
If you were busy dry heaving, I welcome you back now. Compared to our current loan system, IBR is a vast improvement. It shifts some of the risks away from individuals and to a collective IBR program or the government at large. Some of its current flaws could be improved with better policy choices. But IBR, because it is extremely complicated, still a system of loans, and likely shares risk only among other IBR participants, is not the answer to our higher education funding woes.
(Check back tomorrow for part four of the series on how we pay for college, focusing on a graduate tax.)
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b59aaa188b9d12976758265ddecf65d1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2015/04/28/floyd-mayweather-manny-pacquiao-why-are-people-rooting-for-mayweather-to-win/ | Why Are People Rooting For Floyd Mayweather To Beat Manny Pacquiao? | Why Are People Rooting For Floyd Mayweather To Beat Manny Pacquiao?
In one of the only scripted pre-fight moments between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in the months leading up to Saturday's mega-bout, the undefeated Mayweather was soft-spoken at a press conference last month and seemed respectful of his opponent and everybody associated with the fight. If you didn't know better, you might think Mayweather is as non-volatile outside the ring as he is dangerous inside of it.
But those who follow the sport of boxing and those who have watched Mayweather transform himself from a bronze medal winner at the 1996 Olympics to one of the best professional boxers in history know better.
As laid out devastatingly in this Deadspin piece, penned by Iron Mike Gallego, and in other media outlets, Mayweather is a batterer of women -- both mentally and physically, as he's been arrested or cited for seven assaults on five different women during a 12-year span. He pleaded guilty to three combined counts of battery on women in 2001 and 2002. He received a 90-day jail sentence in 2011 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault and harassment charges for an incident that left him facing felony charges that could have sent him to jail for 34 years (Mayweather was released early for good behavior).
Boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr (L) from the US and Manny Pacquiao from the Philippines gesture during a... [+] press conference on March 11, 2015. Mayweather and Pacquiao are scheduled to fight May 2, 2015 in Las Vegas. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK
Yet, Mayweather has been allowed to make hundreds of millions of dollars from his vocation of punching men in the face. From the Deadspin story:
Floyd Mayweather is a misogynist. And not just a misogynist, but a batterer, and a serial batterer at that. This is a statement of fact that you will rarely see or hear from the professional boxing media, many of whom remain hopelessly dependent on the reigning box office king's goodwill for access. ... And while it may be easy enough to guess why the boxing media has been so willing to cover for Mayweather's sins, it's less obvious why so many others are so willing to look the other way.
That's a good question, actually. Why do so many boxing fans and media look the other way? Why are millions of people -- though maybe not as many people as the promoters hope -- going to plunk down either $89 or $99 this Saturday in order to watch Pacquiao try to give Mayweather his first loss? Especially since we know Mayweather, whether he wins or loses, will reap the benefits of your pay-per-view order?
Wrote Gallego: "Maybe if people knew the whole story about Floyd Mayweather, that would be different. Maybe people would have some questions about those celebrities and sports reporters who feel so comfortable cozying up to a repeat offender. Maybe people would think twice about wearing a TMT hat or shelling out for an overpriced pay-per-view. And maybe people would stop thinking of Mayweather as Money, the character who's made so much for so many."
So, I took the question to Twitter.
The answers could be broken down into three points:
1. Mayweather is a person we don't know in real life, and therefore, we think of him differently than somebody with whom we would consider an acquaintance or friend.
@joshkatzowitz Simple you are cheering for an entertainer not a human being. People cheer/watch/support bad people all the time — Brian Snow (@BSnowScout) April 27, 2015
@joshkatzowitz And to act like we as fans would even know what those guys do in their spare time is absurd, so just separate the two — Brian Snow (@BSnowScout) April 27, 2015
Snow makes an interesting point. If a player for somebody's favorite team gets a DUI, that doesn't mean the fans would stop cheering for the team.
2. The gambling implications are enormous.
@joshkatzowitz @LanceMcAlister best reason would be if you had $$$ on Floyd. Other than that, I don't know. — TC (@TCstr8) April 27, 2015
As of noon on Tuesday, four days before the fight, Mayweather was a little more than a 2-to-1 favorite to beat Pacquiao. Thus, if you've bet on Mayweather, you're counting on your $225 to win you $100. For many people, that would be enough to forget about Mayweather's past. Green, like usual, rules over most anything else.
3. Mayweather is an American fighting a man from the Philippines, and for many in this country, that's all that matters.
@joshkatzowitz because he is American fighting a non-American and in some circles because he is black....not saying I agree, but just saying — [cuzo] the great (@dyt2000) April 27, 2015
There might be more explanations, there might be more reasons why boxing fans will root for Mayweather. At this point, Mayweather is a celebrity, and we, as a culture, tend to forgive celebrities for just about anything, especially if they've asked for forgiveness. Thing is, Mayweather hasn't asked, and he hasn't apologized. It seems like he doesn't care.
As far as Mayweather's response to all of this? He said in a recent ESPN Outside the Lines piece that there's never been any pictures presented that prove the domestic violence cases against him. And oh yeah, he just hopes you pay your money to watch him fight. When OTL reporter John Barr repeatedly questioned Mayweather on why he should be allowed to fight after his domestic violence arrests and guilty pleas, here was Mayweather's answer.
"When it's all said and done, only God can judge me," Mayweather said. "But I don't want people to miss this fight. This is an unbelievable matchup. Mayweather-Pacquiao. May 2. Be there."
Most likely, most of us will be.
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6229c67ea439e8579c4ddfc67e37d547 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2017/06/16/floyd-mayweather-vs-conor-mcgregor-hbo-canelo-ggg/ | Here's How The Floyd Mayweather Vs. Conor McGregor Fight Could Badly Hurt HBO And Canelo-GGG | Here's How The Floyd Mayweather Vs. Conor McGregor Fight Could Badly Hurt HBO And Canelo-GGG
The Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight announcement caused a huge stir when it finally was made official on Wednesday night. Will it be a good fight? Probably not, unless Mayweather takes some risks and goes for a knockout. But does it also have the ability to hurt HBO’s business? The answer is yes.
Here’s how.
Floyd Mayweather will face Conor McGregor on Aug. 26. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Miguel Cotto already was scheduled to face Yoshihiro Kamegai on Aug. 26 in Carson, California. It’s not a huge fight or anything, but because it’s Cotto, it probably would have done well among HBO viewers. But now with Mayweather fighting McGregor on the same night on Showtime PPV, a large chunk of those potential Cotto viewers will probably instead choose to pay to watch the return of Mayweather against an MMA fighter making his pro debut.
To HBO, that’s not the big problem. That’s something with which the network can live.
The real potential problem is that the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight will take place on Sept. 16, a bout boxing fans have demanded for more than a year. Yet, now that Mayweather – the era’s biggest PPV star – is fighting just three weeks before that, it’ll be more difficult for the Alvarez-Golovkin promotion to reach mainstream sports fans. Mayweather-McGregor simply will suck up all that oxygen – and it could cost as much as $100 to watch, making it harder for those on a budget to watch both.
So, if you’re HBO, the real promoting for Alvarez-Golovkin can’t begin until the morning of Aug. 27, and if the Mayweather-McGregor is as badly received as the Mayweather win against Manny Pacquiao was in 2015, that only will potentially hurt the PPV numbers of Alvarez-Golovkin.
Here’s how Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, who’s promoting Saturday’s Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev fight, sees it.
Duva says the arrows of announcing @FloydMayweather fight this week were "pointed at @HBO" by @Showtime — Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) June 15, 2017
Said Duva to reporters, via Boxing News 24: “It’s kind of desperate to me to try and sneak it in ahead of time. I don’t know why they can’t wait until November and have a good platform all to yourself. I just don’t understand that. I can’t begin to understand what goes on inside Floyd’s head. It’s not a good month, but whatever. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.”
For its part, Showtime said it wasn’t looking to hurt HBO’s business. It was more about Aug. 26 being a date that worked for all parties involved.
Here’s one other possibility why Mayweather selected Aug. 26.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya had already reserved Sept. 16 with the MGM-owned T-Mobile Arena, keeping Mayweather from potentially taking that date with the arena he already wanted. That is likely one big reason why the Alvarez-Golovkin match isn’t taking place in Arlington, Texas or at Madison Square Garden. If De La Hoya had placed the fight somewhere other than Las Vegas, there’s nothing that could have stopped Mayweather and McGregor from fighting on PPV on the same night – which probably would have killed the PPV buys for Alvarez and Golovkin.
Now that De La Hoya prevented Mayweather from taking Sept. 16 – which happens to be Mexican Independence weekend, a big deal considering Alvarez is the biggest Mexican star around – or the weekends around that date, Mayweather reserved Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena. It’s doubtful Mayweather really would have wanted a date in late August that typically isn’t great for Las Vegas tourism (because it’s still so perversely hot and because summer vacations are still occurring).
But in order to make life more difficult for his competitor, Mayweather picked Aug. 26. That’s one theory, anyway.
De La Hoya already has said he thinks the Alvarez-Golovkin PPV could attract up to 3 million buys.
On Thursday, Showtime GM Stephen Espinoza predicted Mayweather-McGregor could top the all-time PPV record of 4.6 million buys, saying, “We’re not only drawing fans from the universe of boxing and the universe of MMA. We’ve actually tapped into the audience that really doesn’t follow either sport. This is such an unprecedented event that people that have never really been interested in boxing or MMA are interested in this event due to the nature of the competition and the nature of these two personalities. That’s an untapped part of the market that not even Mayweather-Pacquiao touched.”
HBO doesn’t appear to be upset with the move by Mayweather and Showtime. That, after all, is life in boxing. But will Mayweather-McGregor affect the network’s business and Alvarez-Canelo, the marquee fight of the year? It almost certainly will.
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00fe723a815c361b66162ff1b739a8e7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2017/07/01/manny-pacquiao-vs-jeff-horn-live-results-purse-info-betting-odds-ticket-sales/ | Jeff Horn Upsets Manny Pacquiao By Controversial Unanimous Decision; Pac's Future In Jeopardy | Jeff Horn Upsets Manny Pacquiao By Controversial Unanimous Decision; Pac's Future In Jeopardy
POSTFIGHT: We go to the scorecards, and Horn wins by unanimous decision. What?!? The judges had it 117-111 and 115-113 twice for Horn. Forbes had it 115-112 for Pacquiao. It's a terrible decision—and an amazing upset.
Jeff Horn, left, and Manny Pacquiao exchanged punches during Horn's upset victory. (Photo by Chris... [+] Hyde/Getty Images)
Clearly, the big winner of the night is Horn (17-0-1). He took one of the best fighters of his generation all 12 rounds and made it a tough fight. And I guess he won (or at least three people thought so).
Horn calls out Floyd Mayweather by making fun of his age, but he also said he'd give Pacquiao (59-7-2) a rematch (there was a rematch clause in the contract). Pacquiao said he'd take it and that he'd return to Australia to fight Horn again. At this moment, he's clearly not going to retire.
As for Pacquiao, this fight obviously leaves him with an uncertain future. Even if he won, he didn't look great, and if he looked like that against any other top welterweight, he wouldn't stand much of a chance. He's $10 million richer, but he's worse off in the sport.
For Pacquiao, he's not calling the judges' judgment into question. "That's the decision of the judges," he said simply.
12th round: Horn continues his aggression, and he's landing some shots. And now they're both throwing bombs at each other. Nothing great is landing, but it's delightful to watch. Pac is going to be so happy when this fight is over. He's winning the fight, but he's getting beat up. All the respect to Horn. Forbes scores it for Horn.
Overall: Pacquiao 115-112
11th round: It's funny. Horn, all of a sudden, looks fresher than he has in several rounds. Pac hits him with an enormous left to the chin, but Horn took it fine. Horn lands a right to Pac's face, but it didn't land clean. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: Pacquiao 106-102
10th round: Before the round begins, ref Mark Nelson says he's giving Horn one more round. "You have to show me something," Nelson says. And Horn responds early with aggression. Horn does look a little better, and he hits Pac with a right against the ropes. Now, Pac isn't throwing as much. He looks a little tired, too. Well, at least Horn is showing Nelson something, and it should keep him in the fight. They're both winging shots. Man, this is such a fun fight. I'm so glad it's on basic cable, so people can see this. Big right by Horn in last 15 seconds of the round. Forbes scores it for Horn.
Overall: Pacquiao 96-93
Ninth round: Horn comes out aggressive and backs Pac into the ropes. Big left might have barely missed from Pac. But now he's peppering Horn with punches. And Horn temporarily isn't so aggressive. Now, Pac is landing clean shots to the head, and he looks like he's in trouble. Those rights to the head are blasting Horn. He looks tired and ready to go. Now, he's got blood all over his face as well. Horn looks exhausted. Somehow, Horn survives the round. But barely. I score it 10-8 for Pacquiao because he was so dominant. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: Pacquiao 87-83
Eighth round: Horn continues to be very physical with Pac. That's got to be annoying. Pac is having some success with the jab. Then, Pac lands a punch and Horn falls. But it looks like he was pushed down, and the ref calls it a slip. Close round, but Pac was just a little bit better. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: Pacquiao 77-75
Seventh round: You know what? Pac just doesn't look great. I don't know if we underestimated Horn. I don't know if Pac has gotten old. Maybe Pac didn't train as hard as he should have. He'll probably still win the fight, but he's not been impressive. Pac landing some nice punches in the last half of the round, including an overhand right. Now, Pac's face is a bloody mess. He's getting looked at by the doctor. Another clash of heads has opened another cut on Pac. Last 30 seconds, and they're brawling. This is great stuff. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: Pacquiao 67-66
Sixth round: Big uppercut for Horn in the first 15 seconds, and he's trapping him on the ropes. There's no doubt Horn is much more physical right now. And now Pac is cut in the hairline after a clash of heads. The ref gives him a minute to recover, and now the doctor is checking him. Pac, I think, asked the ref to ask the doctor to check him. ESPN's Teddy Atlas think that's a telling sign, and it's hard to disagree. It seemingly wasn't a great moment for Pac. Either way, Pac is landing some body shots, and he's begun to get a little more aggressive. Horn lands an enormous right hand with 30 seconds left, and it briefly stunned Pac. That punch wins him the round. Forbes scores it for Horn.
Overall: 57-57
Fifth round: Horn lands a nice couple punches in the first 30 seconds—one to the body and one to the face. Horn is still throwing and landing. It's not affecting Pac, but Horn is still working hard and having some success. By the way, Horn looks exhausted. Mouth is wide open. I'm not sure he'll be winning too many more rounds. He did win this one, though. Forbes scores it for Horn.
Overall: Pacquiao 48-47
Fourth round: Horn throws Pac to the ground 45 seconds in, but the ref correctly rules it a slip. Pac is blocking Horn's punches and he lands a nice counter left to Horn's head. Pac keeps landing this quick little shots on Horn's face. By round 8, I wonder how Horn is going to feel about those. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: Pacquiao 39-37
Third round: You wonder if Horn can keep up this pace all day. He hits Pac with a right to the cheek, and Pac smiles and shakes it off. Pac is doing a better job of countering this round, and with a ninute left, he lands a nice left to Horn's head. I love Horn's aggression so far and he's definitely scoring points on Pac. But Pac is getting his timing down. Horn also has a cut on his right eye. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: Pacquiao 29-28
Second round: Man, Horn moves around a lot. Pac is always always awkward and throws punches from weird angles. But Horn is awkward because you don't know where he's going to move. They trade hooks to the body midway through. Pac lands a nice left to Horn's head. Horn is still aggressive, and it looks like it's making Pac a little uncomfortable still. Good body work by Pac and then he smacks Horn with a right to the head. That wins him the round. This is a really fun fight so far. Forbes scores it for Pacquiao.
Overall: 19-19
First round: ESPN's Teddy Atlas makes a good point. Manny Pacquiao is sweaty and warm, which is always a good sign. Horn is dry, which is usually a bad thing. Horn stars off aggressively. He's quite clearly the bigger man here. But that doesn't always mean much against Pac. A minute in, Horn throws a combination, and Pac takes it fine. Horn is ready to brawl, and right now, he's doing better and out-muscling Pac. He gets Pac against the ropes, and he blasts Pac. Horn knocks out Pac's mouthpiece. Pac lands some punches late, but great start for Horn. Forbes scores it for Horn.
Overall: Horn 10-9
Manny Pacquiao ringwalk: Manny Pacquiao also walking out to AC/DC! When in Australia ... I suppose. Still, it'd have been nice if these two fighters had talked about their ring walk music first. Pacquiao is smiling broadly and raising his hands as he briskly walks to the ring. He's also getting plenty of cheers from the crowd. Pacquiao couldn't look more pleased at the moment.
Jeff Horn ringwalk: If you're Australian and you're fighting in front of 55,000 Australians, you've got to walk out to a little AC/DC, am I right (it eventually transitions into the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army")? The crowd sees him and goes nuts. He's dancing on his toes as he walks to the ring. Honestly, he looks a little nervous. But who wouldn't be in his spot? Now, he's running to the ring. Calm down there, Jeff. You're going to waste all your energy.
UNDERCARD:
Jerwin Ancajas TKO 7 Teiru Kinoshita: Ancajas, ranked No. 8 by the Ring magazine, retained his junior bantamweight title with a one-punch body shot TKO. Kinoshita (25-2-1) suffered a bad cut from a punch in the second round, but even without that, Ancajas (25-1-1, 17 KOs) dominated most of the fight. Kinoshita had some nice moments in the fifth and sixth rounds, but midway through the bout, Kinoshita's right eye was basically shut. In the seventh, Ancajas dropped Kinoshita with a nasty-looking hook to the body, and though Kinoshita got up before 10, the ref waved off the fight. Which shouldn't have been a surprise. If this tells you anything about his opponent, Kinoshita's last two opponents were fighters making their pro debuts and the fight before that, he blasted out a dude who was 0-9.
Here's how the fight ultimately ended.
This is the hellacious body shot that Jerwin Ancajas used to stop Kinoshita. pic.twitter.com/qqlFpJdXAq — Josh Katzowitz (@joshkatzowitz) July 2, 2017
Michael Conlan TKO 3 vs. Jarrett Owen: Conlan, the Irish amateur star who's one of the best-known prospects in the world, had no problems in his third pro fight. Conlan (3-0, 3 KOs) didn't look great through the first two rounds, as Owen (5-5-3) moved around the ring for much of the first six minutes and presented an awkward style. Conlan, though, began blasting him to the body in the third round and looked much more effective. Two minutes into the round, Owen finished him with a solid combination of shots to the head and the body, forcing the referee to halt the bout. Say this for Owen, though. He looked darn good before the fight.
Though Jarrett Owen is about to get destroyed by Michael Conlan, he's got world-class facial hair. pic.twitter.com/nzkb3nPSIH — Josh Katzowitz (@joshkatzowitz) July 2, 2017
Said Conlan afterward: “It was my best performance as a professional. I feel great about that. I was disciplined and focused on executing the game plan. It took me two rounds to find my range and then I was able to settle in and break him down. The body shots were hurting him.”
David Toussaint wins split decision vs. Shane Mosley Jr.: The judges scored it 77-75 for Mosley and 77-76 twice for Toussaint (Forbes had it 78-74 for Toussaint). Mosley (10-2), the son of the future first-ballot Hall of Famer with the same name, entered the ring about a 3/1 underdog, and he kept up with Toussaint in the first round. But in the second, Toussaint (11-0) began to separate himself, knocking Mosley back with a left hook and outpunching him. Mosley landed a couple of nice right hands in the fourth, but he still struggled to win rounds. While Mosley would land occasional punches, Toussaint continuously strafed him with combinations. Mosley had his two best rounds of the fight in the seventh and eighth, the final six minutes of the bout, but it simply wasn't enough to win.
According to Mosley, though, the decision was incorrect. “I walked him [Toussaint] down,” Mosley said. “I walked down a power puncher. I was landing the straight right all day. I could tell he was getting tired. He chose to box instead of fight the last two rounds. I won that fight.”
A look at the stadium:
It's Sunday morning in Australia and there's about to be some boxing. It's also pretty sunny there. pic.twitter.com/o9ifcdlcwQ — Josh Katzowitz (@joshkatzowitz) July 2, 2017
Purses: Originally, Horn was guaranteed to make $500,000 for the Pacquiao fight. But because so many tickets have been sold, he, according to the Courier-Times, will earn enough bonuses to push him into the $1 million payday stratosphere.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao is slated to earn a $10 million purse.
That’s a solid payday for Pacquiao, considering he made a guarantee of $4 million in his last fight vs. Jessie Vargas. But remember, Pacquiao’s team originally was trying to strike a deal to fight Amir Khan in the U.A.E. that would reportedly would have pocketed Pacquiao $38 million. All along, promoter Bob Arum said it would never happen, and unfortunately for Pacquiao, his promoter was right.
Which means Pacquiao will have to settle for just the $10 million.
Manny Pacquiao will reportedly make $10 million on Saturday night. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty... [+] Images)
Betting odds: Though Horn feels he has a good chance to beat Pacquiao, the oddsmakers aren’t quite as impressed. Leading up to the fight, Pacquiao has been (and continues to be, as of Saturday evening) a -600 favorite, meaning you’d have to bet $600 in order to win $100. Horn, meanwhile, is a +400 underdog, meaning you’d win $400 if you wagered $100.
As for the rest of the prop bets, here’s what Bovada is offering.
For the best bets you can make on this fight, check out Peter Kahn’s Pacquiao-Horn ultimate bettor’s guide.
Ticket sales: The expected number of fans in attendance at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane is supposed to be at least 55,000, and that would break the Australian record for a boxing match and would be the largest crowd ever to watch a Pacquiao fight.
The record for boxing attendance was the 1992 bout between Azumah Nelson and Jeff Fenech. The biggest crowd to see Pacquiao was when he won a unanimous decision vs. Joshua Clottey in front of 50,994 fans (though reportedly only 36,371 tickets were actually sold) in Arlington, Texas in 2010.
According to spin.ph, the biggest crowd to ever watch a sporting event in Queensland was when 58,912 took in a rugby match between the Broncos and the Sharks.
There seems to be a chance Pacquiao-Horn could top that record.
For the first time since 2005, Manny Pacquiao will not be fighting on PPV when he battles Jeff Horn on ESPN (9 p.m. ET) from Brisbane, Australia on Saturday night.
Manny Pacquiao will defend his welterweight title vs. Chris Horn on ESPN. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty... [+] Images)
For Horn, the fight is a chance to make himself into a star at the expense of one of boxing’s best competitors of the past 20 years. He’ll have a difficult time—as Pacquiao showed in his last fight with Jessie Vargas, he’s still one of the best welterweights in the world—but Horn has plenty of self-belief.
“I think I have a style that Pacquiao has not fought before,” Horn recently told reporters. “I think he is going to struggle with my style. I am bigger than him. He may be faster than me but I am pretty quick as well. I could hit him with the right shot and nobody knows what could happen.”
For Pacquiao, it’s another chance to make a large payday while moving toward the end of his career. If he wins, it’s totally expected. If he loses, though, it might mark the beginning of the end.
“Yes, this is a great opportunity to show the fans of boxing that we are still here and not done in boxing,” Pacquiao said.
And Forbes will be here all night, giving our round-by-round thoughts, explanations and unofficial scoring.
While you wait for the fights to begin, here’s all of the Pacquiao-Horn content from Forbes this week.
Manny Pacquiao Vs. Jeff Horn: Forbes' Boxing Expert Predictions Manny Pacquiao Vs. Jeff Horn: 10 Things You Should Know About Saturday's Fight Manny Pacquiao Vs. Jeff Horn: The Ultimate Bettor's Guide This Week In Boxing Biz: Manny Pacquiao Vs. Jeff Horn, Joshua-Klitschko Rematch Location?
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03fb0138363f81bb296c8d083473f3e9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2019/04/24/gennady-golovkin-abel-sanchez-fired/ | GGG Shockingly Says He's Leaving Longtime Trainer -- And Abel Sanchez Calls Him 'Greedy' | GGG Shockingly Says He's Leaving Longtime Trainer -- And Abel Sanchez Calls Him 'Greedy'
Trainer Abel Sanchez, left, had worked with Gennady Golovkin since 2012. (Photo by Ethan... [+] Miller/Getty Images) Getty
Gennady Golovkin is making another huge change to his career.
The longtime middleweight titlist announced Wednesday he and longtime trainer Abel Sanchez would no longer be working together. Considering Golovkin just signed a deal with the DAZN streaming service that replaces his longtime commitment to HBO Boxing and considering longtime collaborator Tom Loeffler seemingly is no longer in the forefront of his career, the 37-year-old Golovkin has made yet another big change in the way he’ll handle himself for the rest of his boxing career.
“I would like to announce that I have made a major decision for myself and for my career. I want to build on what I have already achieved and continue to better myself. Therefore, I will not be training with Abel Sanchez,” Golovkin said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision for me and it is not a reflection on Abel's professional abilities. He is a great trainer, a loyal trainer, and a Hall of Fame trainer.”
Sanchez helped build Golovkin into one of the biggest boxing stars in the world and the kind of fighter who can command tens of millions of dollars for the biggest fights. But Sanchez said in a statement that he was insulted by Golovkin's compensation offer to continue training him. He also said Golovkin was being greedy and ungrateful with "no ethics, honor or integrity."
A statement from @abelthesummit on parting with @GGGBoxing pic.twitter.com/9PtYGKTDVB — Kevin Iole (@KevinI) April 24, 2019
While he still fights at a high level, Golovkin is seemingly on the downside of his career. In his last two fights, he fought to a draw with Canelo Alvarez and then lost the rematch (I personally thought Golovkin won both bouts).
Golovkin has a newly announced fight with Steve Rolls on June 8, and for now, he said he’s not telling people who will train him.
“I will be announcing my new trainer at a later date,” Golovkin said. “But today, I want to thank Abel for the lessons he taught me in boxing.”
Recently, Sanchez was asked why Golovkin was fighting the little-known Rolls.
“I didn’t make that decision. DAZN was the one to make that decision to put that fight on,” he said, via Fight Hype. “I think that’s a question for the people that are making the fights…That’s not somebody that was on the radar obviously.”
Golovkin and Sanchez had been training together since 2012.
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32435fb2942feacf5a5cb7298393b668 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2019/07/13/shakur-stevenson-vs-alberto-guevara-canelo-alvarez-next-opponent-boxing-biz/ | Shakur Stevenson Vs. Alberto Guevara, Another Possible Canelo Alvarez Opponent: Boxing Biz | Shakur Stevenson Vs. Alberto Guevara, Another Possible Canelo Alvarez Opponent: Boxing Biz
Shakur Stevenson, right, is coming off the biggest win of his career vs. Christopher Diaz. Now he'll... [+] fight a former world title challenger. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) Getty
Shakur Stevenson can’t seem to find an opponent he can fight. Three months after scoring the biggest victory of his career vs. Christopher Diaz, Stevenson has gone through two opponents who have had to pull out of Saturday’s match. Now, Stevenson finally has a foil for his fight on ESPN (10:30 p.m. ET)—a solid veteran named Alberto Guevara who has fought for world titles in the past.
The Stevenson vs. Guevara outcome likely won’t be in doubt. After all, Stevenson (11-0, 6 KOs) is a -10000 betting favorite, while Guevara is a +1600 underdog. But considering Stevenson was originally supposed to face Hairon Socarras, who then stepped aside for Franklin Manzanilla, who then stepped aside for Guevara earlier this week, you have to wonder if yet another new opponent at the last minute could flummox the featherweight prospect.
“I give Alberto Guevara credit for taking this fight when so many fighters won’t step into the ring with me,” Stevenson said. “He’s been in there with some great fighters, even world champions, but nothing can prepare him for me.”
Yes, Guevara has good experience. He fought for bantamweight world titles vs. Leo Santa Cruz in 2012 and Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2013. He lost both, but fighting such elite boxers could help him try to dethrone Stevenson.
It’s perhaps the most high profile event on the boxing schedule this weekend. Here are a couple of other fights you should know about.
Joe Joyce, right, gets the biggest test of his career vs. Bryant Jennings. (Photo by Luke... [+] Walker/Getty Images) Getty
Joe Joyce vs. Bryant Jennings (ESPN+)
Jennings (24-3, 14 KOs), who lost a heavyweight championship fight vs. Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, is in danger of falling into the role of division gatekeeper at this point—he’s coming off a knockout loss to Oscar Rivas. But he’ll be a good test for potential UK star Joe Joyce (9-0, 9 KOs), who’s entering what should be the toughest challenge of his career. Joyce, though, said he’s ready for it. “I want to continue my 100% KO ratio and go 10-0 all by knockouts,” said Joyce, the -600 favorite (Jennings is a +400 underdog). “I will be happy for it not to go the distance, but I am happy going 12 rounds. I just want to line them up and knock them over.”
Jamal James vs. Antonio DeMarco (FS1)
Still in search of a world title fight in a stacked welterweight division, James (25-1, 12 KOs) gets the chance to score an important win vs. DeMarco (33-7-1, 24 KOs) on national TV in front of his hometown crowd in Minneapolis. A former lightweight titlist, DeMarco has moved up two weight divisions, and he’s lost four of his last six fights. If James is world-class, he should beat DeMarco at this point of DeMarco's career. “I’ve had a few tough fights, but the biggest challenge in this job is being patient,” James told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “It’s been about 10 years now that I’ve been a pro and we’re just now getting to where we need to be.” A loss to DeMarco, though, would halt all that momentum.
Rey Vargas vs. Tomoki Kameda (DAZN)
Vargas (33-0, 22 KOs) will try to defend his junior featherweight belt when he faces Kameda (36-2, 20 KOs), a former bantamweight titlist. Vargas, who’s about a 3/1 favorite, is planning to be adaptable. “Whatever kind of tune he dances to, I'll dance to that as well,” Vargas said. “He's a strong, quick fighter but he won't be better than me. I won't underestimate him, but you have to complete these things, not just say it. That's why I train hard and I'm a world champion.”
Canelo Alvarez’s Next Opponent?
One of boxing’s sanctioning bodies thinks Sergiy Derevyanchenko deserves a shot at Canelo Alvarez. That’s why the IBF this week ordered a purse bid for Alvarez and Derevyanchenko, meaning it wants the body’s No. 1 contender (Derevyanchenko) to get his shot at the title-holder (Alvarez).
As noted by RingTV.com, the purse bid is scheduled for July 23 at noon ET.
Derevyanchenko got a title chance last year, but he lost a unanimous decision to Daniel Jacobs. Now that Alvarez beat Jacobs in May, the IBF apparently believes Derevyanchenko should get another opportunity.
Considering Alvarez likely will fight either Gennadiy Golovkin or Sergey Kovalev in September, there’s almost no chance Derevyanchenko will get his shot at the Mexican superstar. Instead, the IBF could strip Alvarez and make a match between Golovkin and Derevyanchenko for what would be a vacant belt. That is, of course, if Golovkin doesn't get a third bout vs. Alvarez.
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099687dae31a523565969593a507c2ac | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2020/01/08/the-top-5-pound-for-pound-fighters-in-the-world-and-who-they-should-fight-in-2020/ | The Top 5 Pound-For-Pound Fighters In The World, And Who They Should Fight In 2020 | The Top 5 Pound-For-Pound Fighters In The World, And Who They Should Fight In 2020
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 12: Vasiliy Lomachenko knocks out Anthony Crolla during their ... [+] WBA/WBO lightweight title bout at Staples Center on April 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) Getty Images
As the first major boxing matches of the year begin on Friday, let’s take a moment to look at my latest pound for pound list and figure out, if hope was limitless and anything was possible, who the top five, er, top-six fighters in the world should face in 2020.
Of course, we want to see Anthony Joshua vs. the Tyson Fury/Deontay Wilder winner, we hunger for junior welterweights Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez to come together for a complete division title unification at 140 pounds, and some never stop hoping for a rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
But none of those men are in my top-five on the pound for pound list. Instead, let’s take a brief tour of the absolute best boxers in the world and who we hope (fingers crossed!) that they’ll fight this year.
1) Vasiliy Lomachenko (vs. Gervonta Davis): It sounds like Lomachenko will actually get to meet young upstart and potential star Teofimo Lopez in the first quarter of 2020. Assuming Lomachenko can get by Lopez—and he’s a healthy betting favorite to do so—Davis would be an exciting matchup for Lomachenko later in the year. Davis’ power is immense, but Lomachenko’s boxing skills are otherworldly. Davis is coming off a tougher-than-expected tussle with 38-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa. Yes, Davis finally scored the TKO in the 12th round, but considering Gamboa hurt his Achilles tendon early in the fight and isn’t exactly known for having a strong chin, Davis wasn’t impressive. Afterward, he said he was the top dog at 135 pounds. It’d be heart-pounding to see if Lomachenko can change his mind on that notion.
2) Canelo Alvarez (vs. Callum Smith): He’s already THE champ at 160 pounds, and after knocking out Sergey Kovalev in November, Alvarez won a title as a 175-pound light heavyweight. So, why not go after Callum Smith, the champ at 168 pounds? Smith is coming off a less-than-impressive win vs. John Ryder in November (many analysts believe Ryder should have been given that decision), and dropping to 168 pounds one fight after he competed at 175 pounds would probably be less of a shock to the body for Alvarez than going back down all the way to 160. At this point, it’s unclear if Alvarez will ever return to middleweight or will give a third chance to Golovkin. But if Alvarez—who beat Smith’s brother, Liam, for a 154-pound title in 2016—decides to stay at super middleweight, there’d be no better entrance than to knock off the best fighter in the division.
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 14: Terence Crawford punches Egidijus Kavaliauskas during their bout ... [+] for Crawford's WBO welterweight title at Madison Square Garden on December 14, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) Getty Images
3) Terence Crawford (vs. Shawn Porter): Despite his expletive-filled tweets that blasted Errol Spence for not yet facing him, a Crawford vs. Spence fight isn’t realistic anytime soon. Spence is still recovering from the horrific single-car accident in October that could have killed him, and he recently said he’ll return to the ring in May or June. But don’t expect him to face a big name then. No matter what Crawford tweets at him. So, for now, Crawford, thanks to boxing politics, is in a bit of limbo. But even though Porter is affiliated with Premier Boxing Champions, which hasn’t been working with Crawford’s promoter Top Rank, he might be the best bet to give Crawford a meaningful fight in the next 6-12 months. Porter’s aggression and toughness could cause problems for Crawford, which would make it an intriguing bout and Crawford’s toughest test to date.
4. Errol Spence (vs. TBA): After his car accident, I’m not expecting a banner year for Spence in 2020. We can skip him for now.
5. Nayoa Inoue (vs. Juan Francisco Estrada): This matchup would require some maneuvering, because Estrada is 115-pound super flyweight while Inoue is a 118-pound bantamweight and neither seem to be all that interested in moving to different weights (though a catchweight of 116.5 pounds might be doable). Inoue is the monster of the lower weight classes and is even getting some recognition as possibly the best in the world. Estrada dethroned Sriskaset Sor Rungvisai last year, and Inoue beat a plethora of former world titlists and then outlasted future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire. This fight would be filled with excitement, but I can’t find many indications that it’s even being considered. Oh well.
6: Gennadiy Golovkin (vs. Jermall Charlo): Since we had to skip Spence, let’s look at my No. 6 fighter Golovkin and what he could do to revive his career. Yes, he’s kept winning after his two bouts vs. Alvarez, but there have been cracks. He’s getting older, and he had a huge struggle in his last fight vs. Sergei Derevyanchenko. That’s why a matchup with Charlo would be frightening for Golovkin’s team and fanbase. But it would fascinating for the sport overall. Charlo is young—and he can be dynamic. He hasn’t fought a legit elite fighter since beating Julian Williams in 2016, and Golovkin would represent the most important opponent of his career. If Charlo wins, he becomes an even bigger star. One major obstacle? Charlo is with PBC, and Golovkin is with Matchroom Boxing, which would create political headaches. The second major obstacle? Golovkin seemingly wants a third chance at Alvarez.
READ MORE BOXING COVERAGE:
Boxing’s Future 2020 Moneymakers List Features Plenty Of Prospects And A YouTube Star After Expletive-Filled Rant, Terence Crawford Called Errol Spence—Now A Fight ‘Will Happen,’ Crawford Says Here Are The Biggest Boxing Upsets Of 2019—And No, Anthony Joshua Vs. Andy Ruiz Wasn’t No. 1 George Foreman On Being A Salesman, His Comeback, And How Much Money He Made From His Grill
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0f0b2ce33638f10aff601ef9123101a8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2021/02/26/joseph-parker-vs-junior-fa-odds-records-prediction/ | Joseph Parker Vs. Junior Fa: Odds, Records, Prediction (Updated With Betting Results) | Joseph Parker Vs. Junior Fa: Odds, Records, Prediction (Updated With Betting Results)
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - DECEMBER 15: Joseph Parker punches Alexander Flores during the heavy ... [+] weight bout between Joseph Parker and Alexander Flores at Horncastle Arena on December 15, 2018 in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images) Getty Images
Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa isn’t only about an undefeated prospect facing off against a former heavyweight titlist, and it’s not only about that former belt-holder trying to claw his way back to another title shot. It’s also perhaps the most important bout between two New Zealanders ever. “We're two guys from South Auckland, we're the main event and it's going to [be broadcast in] 180 countries,” Parker said, via the New Zealand Herald. “That's like a dream.” Here’s everything you need to know about Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa, including the odds, their records and a prediction on who will win.
Arguably more important than the battle between Kiwis David Tua and Shane Cameron in 2009, Saturday’s matchup features Parker, who defended his world title twice before losing it to Anthony Joshua in 2019 and who is looking to get back to relevance in the heavyweight division. Fa has never reached the heights of Parker, something he plans to accomplish by first beating his countryman.
“I've been looking forward to this fight for a long time now,” Fa said. “Joseph Parker has held a world title before, so when I beat him, I'll be a giant step closer to realizing my own dream.”
The two were supposed to meet in December, but Fa had to postpone the fight after undergoing surgery. Now, though, he’s healthy. And Parker is ready.
“We'd been working really hard to ensure I peaked in December and delivered a performance that would have made the heavyweight division sit up and take notice,” Parker said. “So it was very disappointing when Junior had to postpone. But these things happen in boxing. The good thing is that Junior is now on track to be 100% fit and ready to go in February. I wouldn't want it any other way."
Here’s more info on the Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa showdown that U.S. viewers can watch on DAZN on Saturday at about 4:30 a.m. ET (U.K. viewers will see it at approximately 9:30 a.m., and New Zealanders can watch it at about 10:30 p.m.).
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AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 06: Joseph Parker (L) and Junior Fa (R) pose during a media ... [+] opportunity ahead of the Joseph Parker v Junior Fa match in December, at Spark City on October 06, 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images) Getty Images
Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa odds
Parker is a huge favorite, despite the fact Fa is undefeated and has shown some promise. Parker is -900, meaning you’d have to bet $900 to win $100, while Fa is a +600 underdog, which means you’d win $600 on a $100 wager. Parker’s money line is way too high to bet, but I think there’s some value in putting money on a Fa upset. I think Parker will win, but 9/1 is a step too far for me. Betting the over-under of 10.5 rounds could make sense. The over is -120, and the under is -110.
If you were looking for a fun parlay for this weekend’s action of boxing (and this is only my opinion and not a recommendation), I might take the over of 10.5 rounds for Parker vs. Fa at -120, Canelo Alvarez knocking out Avni Yildirim in rounds 4-6 on DAZN at +162, and the under of 8.5 rounds on Zhilei Zhang vs. Jerry Forrest at +120 on DAZN. That would pay out at more than 9/1.
UPDATED: In front of about 12,000 fans in Auckland, Parker looked solid in beating Fa by unanimous decision. So, if you went with the over, you’re a big winner.
UPDATED, PART 2: Zhang and Forrest fought to a majority draw in a fight that got awfully dramatic in the late rounds. But they obviously went over. Meanwhile, Canelo Alvarez dominated Avni Yildirim, and the fight was stopped after the third round, meaning we just missed out on the KO in rounds 4-6.
Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa records
Though he’s two years younger than Fa, Parker (27-2, 22 KOs) is the experienced one here. He’s faced and lost to Joshua and Dillian Whyte, but he also has victories against Andy Ruiz, Carlos Takam and Hughie Fury. Those high-level fights are a big positive for Parker.
Fa is 19-0 with 10 KOs, but he only has two recognizable names on his resume. In 2019, Fa beat Dominick Guinn, a formerly once solid contender who is far past his prime, by unanimous decision, and in his last fight, he decisioned former prospect Devin Vargas. But Parker is a huge step up for Fa, and considering Fa doesn’t have a ton of punching power and considering Parker has a good chin, I don’t see Fa knocking out his opponent.
Joseph Parker vs. Junior Fa prediction
Parker will never be the best heavyweight in the division, but he’s been somewhere in the No. 5 to No. 7 range for the past few years now. We know he’s a good, solid heavyweight who can win a title against the right opponent. We don’t know how Fa will fare against elite competition, but at this point, I don’t see him beating Parker. I’d go with Parker by unanimous decision, somewhere in the 116-112 range.
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913d7c50a61977108f56cfe2ab81f536 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2021/02/27/canelo-alvarez-vs-avni-yildirim-odds-records-prediction/ | Canelo Alvarez Vs. Avni Yildirim: Odds, Records, Prediction (Updated With Betting Results) | Canelo Alvarez Vs. Avni Yildirim: Odds, Records, Prediction (Updated With Betting Results)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 02: Canelo Alvarez (R) connects with a punch on Sergey Kovalev during ... [+] their WBO light heavyweight title fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena on November 2, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alvarez won with an 11th-round knockout. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images) Getty Images
Canelo Alvarez deserves a break, a gimme fight of sorts. And that’s exactly what Avni Yildirim should provide the 168-pound champion on Saturday. After three fights in a row against some of the best fighters in their divisions (and five tough fights in his last six outings), Alvarez will defend his titles against his mandatory opponent, somebody who has almost no chance to beat him. Here’s everything you need to know about Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim, including the odds, their records and a prediction on who will win.
Though Alvarez has apparently heard some criticism about his opponent, he isn’t worrying about other people’s opinions. Nor should he.
“I don’t have to give any explanation [for fighting Yildirim],” Alvarez told Boxing Scene. “I really don’t have to give any explanation because they’re never gonna be happy with anything. I just fought No. 1 at 168 pounds [Callum Smith], and they’re not happy with that, either. So, I have nothing to say and nothing to explain. I don’t care.”
Assuming Alvarez beats Yildirim, his calendar for the rest of the 2021 calendar should be full. He’s apparently on schedule to face super middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders in May, and assuming Alvarez wins that, he could fight Caleb Plant for the undisputed 168-pound title in September. Then, maybe Gennadiy Golovkin for a third time in December?
“It’s important for me and [trainer Eddy Reynoso] because very few people have achieved becoming undisputed champions,” Alvarez sad. “And that’s a short-term goal for us. To win all the titles at 168 pounds. Obviously, no Mexican has ever done it. So that’s our short-term goal, to keep making history. And that’s what we want. Eddy and I have always wanted the best. And we want to keep making history.
“I think it’s important, not just for me, but for all fighters. To make history in boxing is very important, I think. It’s very important to me to leave behind a legacy in this sport. And that’s why we’re doing this. To keep making history and so when people talk about boxing, they always remember me.”
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Funny, Yildirim is also looking to make history on Saturday. “Avni may be an underdog but he doesn’t care what anybody says,” his trainer Joel Diaz said. “He’s ... going to shock the world.”
Here’s more info on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim showdown that U.S. viewers can watch on DAZN beginning at 7 p.m. ET. Viewers can also take it in via PPV for $49.99 on their local cable provider, and that purchase includes two free months of DAZN.
FLORIDA, USA - FEBRUARY 22: Professional boxer Avni Yildirim (R), and Saul Alvarez, of Mexico who ... [+] currently holds World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight belts (L), pose for a photo during a press conference prior to the boxing match, which will be held on Feb. 27, at Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami, Florida, United States on February 22, 2021. (Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim odds
Unsurprisingly, Alvarez is a hefty betting favorite at -5000, meaning you’d have to wager $5,000 to win $100. Yildirim, meanwhile, is +1400, which means you’d win $1,400 on a $100 bet. You could find slightly better odds on Alvarez at Sports Betting Dime at -4500. But if you want to wager on Alvarez, you have to find a prop bet that has a little value. I like Alvarez winning by KO in rounds 4-6 at +162. Or you could try the over-under of 4.5 rounds (the over is +100 and the under is -138).
If you were looking for a fun parlay for this weekend’s action of boxing (and this is only my opinion and not a recommendation), I might take Alvarez knocking out Yildirim in rounds 4-6 on DAZN at +162, the under of 8.5 rounds on Zhilei Zhang vs. Jerry Forrest at +120 on DAZN, and Anthony Dirrell beating Kyrone Davis at -250 on Fox. That would pay out about 7/1.
UPDATED: Turns out we just missed on the Alvarez bet. After dominating Yildirim in the first three rounds, he failed to answer the bell for the fourth round. That means if you bet on an Alvarez KO in rounds 1-3, you won. As for the rest of the parlay, Zhang and Forrest fought to a majority draw, so the over on 8.5 rounds wins, and Dirrell and Davis also fought to a draw.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim records
Alvarez is 54-1-2 with 36 KOs. You probably know how good he is and the quality of competition he’s fought. He’s a great boxer with good punching power and rapidly improving defense. He’s the best fighter in the world. But there is this: He’s fought four times above the 160-pound limit. He’s only scored two stoppages. So, we’ll have to see if Alvarez can hurt Yildirim and if Yildirim can handle Alvarez’s power.
Yildirim is 21-2 with 12 KOs, and it’s a mystery how he got to be Alvarez’s sanctioning body mandatory. He’s coming off a loss to Anthony Dirrell two years ago, and he got knocked out in the third round by Chris Eubank in 2017. His best win probably came against Marco Antonio Periban in 2017, but Periban is nowhere near an elite fighter. Don’t be surprised if Yildirim is completely overmatched by Alvarez. But as Diaz, his trainer, said, “He’s a completely different fighter from when he fought Dirrell and Chris Eubank Jr.”
Yet …
Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim prediction
Alvarez might want to get a couple of rounds of boxing in, but this shouldn’t take long. Yildirim is nowhere close to Alvarez’s level, and I think Alvarez will make relatively quick work of him. Say, Alvarez by KO in the fourth round.
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8578fd45b86d8c99e755489bd3ef751f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshkatzowitz/2021/03/05/claressa-shields-vs-marie-eve-dicaire-odds-purses-records-prediction/ | Claressa Shields Vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire: Odds, Purses, Records, Prediction | Claressa Shields Vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire: Odds, Purses, Records, Prediction
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - JANUARY 10: Claressa Shields throws a left hand against Ivana Habazin during ... [+] their fight on January 10, 2020 at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Edward Diller/Getty Images) Getty Images
Claressa Shields has been inactive from the boxing ring since blasting through Ivana Habazin to win two junior middleweight titles 14 months ago. Since then, she’s flirted with starting an MMA career and has ended her relationship with Showtime, the network where she’s been showcased for the past several years. Now, she’s trying her luck on a female-only PPV where she’ll face Marie-Eve Dicaire for the undisputed 154-pound crowd on Friday night. Here’s everything you need to know about Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire, including the odds, their records and a prediction on who will win.
Shields, for most of his career, has been utterly dominant. She was already the undisputed middleweight champion and a unified super middleweight titlist before dropping down to 154 pounds. But it’s still a struggle for her to gain traction in becoming a star she thinks she should be. So, she’s betting that people will pay extra money to watch her face Dicaire.
And people should, Shields figures. Because she’s that good.
“I don’t box for a hobby. It’s not a hobby. It’s my career and I feel like people underestimate me when I speak about how great I am,” Shields said this week. “But if I didn’t say how great I am, no one in this room would have ever called me great because they just don’t recognize it. Only the greats know that they’re great.
“Like Muhammad Ali. Nobody called him the greatest of all time. They actually called him the ‘Louisville Lip’ because he talked too much. If he had never said he was the greatest of all time, he would have never been considered the greatest of all time. No matter what boxer comes along, nobody can get in front of Muhammad Ali. That’s how I feel about myself.”
She’s mostly proved it in the ring. But Dicaire is also undefeated and holds two junior middleweight belts, just like Shields. And her team also compares her to an all-time great.
“From the first time I met Marie-Eve Dicaire, I knew she was special,” her promoter, Yvon Michel said. “Her charisma and social intelligence are only matched by her ambitions and uncompromising determination to always prepare well and get better as a boxer and a person every day. These are the same traits I noticed when I first met Roy Jones Jr. and got to know him in training camp.”
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Dicaire might be Shields’ toughest test in the pros. Shields certainly will be Dicaire’s.
Here’s more info on the Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire showdown that U.S. viewers can watch on Fite TV for $29.99 at 9 p.m. ET on Friday.
QUEBEC CITY, QC - NOVEMBER 23: Marie-Eve Dicaire of Canada punches Ogleidis Suarez of Venezuela ... [+] during their IBF middleweight world championship fight at Videotron Centre on November 23, 2019 in Quebec City, Canada. (Photo by Mathieu Belanger/Getty Images) Getty Images
Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire odds
Although Dicaire is undefeated, she’s also a major underdog at +600, meaning you’d win $600 on a $100 bet. Shields, on the other hand, is -1200, which means you’d have to wager $1,200 to win $100. Earlier in the week, Shields was -1000, so clearly, the money is still coming in on her. (You could also wander over to Sports Betting Dime for a slightly better price on Shields at -1115.)
It’s not worth betting Shields’ money line, and I don’t think 6/1 is a good enough value to take a long shot on Dicaire. To find any kind of value, you could go with Shields by decision at -225, though I don’t even think that’s a great price. Or, if you really like Dicaire, you could grab her to win by decision at +1000 (and if she wins, she almost certainly will accomplish it without a knockout).
Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire purses
According to The Athletic, Shields doesn’t have a guaranteed purse for Saturday’s fight. Though she said she made a $300,000 payday in her last appearance on Showtime, she’ll solely get a percentage of the PPV buys on Friday. “The numbers—whatever they are—I’m not worried,” Shields told the website. “Do I want the numbers to be big? Of course. But if the numbers aren’t what people expect, I’m not going to say this is the end of women’s boxing. Getting us on PPV is a huge step for us. If I get 10 buys, then I hope we can build off that to 20, then 30 and 40. … It’s about letting people know I’m not sitting around and waiting for anybody. It doesn’t matter what the numbers are. I’m going out there to make the best fight, and eventually, we’ll get the numbers.”
It's unclear how much Dicaire is getting paid for this bout.
Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire records
Shields is 10-0 with 2 KOs, and even though her KO percentage is unimpressive, her power at a lower weight class could be more of a weapon than it was at middleweight or super middleweight. Her last opponent, Habazin, was a no-hoper, but Shields has also beaten good opponents like Christina Hammer and Hanna Gabriels. She’s always worth watching.
Dicaire, though, is no joke. She’s 17-0 (0 KOs), and though Shields is, by far, the best opponent she’s ever fought, her last four foes have a combined record of 101-16-3. Dicaire should be a legit opponent for Shields.
Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire prediction
Dicaire is a solid fighter, and she seems to have plenty of determination. But Shields is probably the best female fighter in the world, and she’ll continue to prove that vs. Dicaire. Go with Shields by unanimous decision, somewhere in the 98-92 range.
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31943050680f1507c599ad3be0fe1c57 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2012/07/27/from-distress-to-success-5-incredible-people-remaking-detroit/ | From Distress to Success: 5 Incredible People Remaking Detroit | From Distress to Success: 5 Incredible People Remaking Detroit
Garden Fresh Gourmet Salsa (Photo credit: nickgraywfu)
Prior to its recently embarrassing period of decay, the Paris of the Midwest represented just the opposite: for decades, Detroit’s powerful heartbeat determined the nation’s innovation pulse. By stagnating, Detroit’s muscle found itself disrupted and Detroit entered a dark period chock full of corruption, greed, tunnel-vision, and crime. Revitalizing a carcass of what once was a thriving city has been nothing short of insurmountable, but incredibly, it’s happening anyway.
This reclaimed city from within, Detroit 2.0, has taken shape thanks in large part to a few powerful, dedicated individuals working tirelessly. People across the nation can recognize these names: Mayor Dave Bing, the man committed to rebooting the city’s woeful financial structure, Dan Gilbert (my friend and partner at Detroit Venture Partners), the champion behind 3 million refurbished square feet of office space encouraging a comprehensive downtown lifestyle, and Mike Ilitch, owner of two downtown sports teams and world-renowned pizza chain, bringing millions of people into the city annually for sporting events. So what about the rest of our city? These powerhouses will be responsible for billions in revenue, but a city only truly thrives with “little guys” on board as game-changers too. I’m not Pollyanna here – there’s serious problems that won’t go away without monumental effort in numerous fields, but people are taking steps to fix issues affecting all of us – and lessons they’re teaching us here are applicable elsewhere.
Andy Didorosi of The Detroit Bus Company: Instead of whining, pointing fingers and carrying on about Detroit’s lack of mass transportation, a 25-year-old entrepreneur started a company to connect neighborhoods. His bio-diesel powered bus service operates on Friday and Saturday nights from 6 pm until 2 am. For $5, riders can get on and off both lines interchangeably all night, drink in hand. Even more compelling is DBC’s “We Ride” program: for every seat purchased, they’ll provide another Detroiter in need a free ride to work. As it stands, thousands of people don’t have a reliable, affordable way to get to work, so this company offers a homegrown solution for people to keep their jobs, and their dignity in getting there.
Lesson Learned: There’s always a better way to connect the dots, even those on a map.
Pamela Good of Beyond Basics: According to recent findings from the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, 47 percent of adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate. This means upwards of 200,000 residents cannot read, but Ms. Good’s organization works with one person at a time. Beyond Basics is a school-centered program that brings targeted reading, writing and other literacy programs to students; typically participants read at grade level after six weeks of intensive, individualized tutoring. Ultimately the goal is to move “beyond the basics,” bringing hope and encouragement to disadvantaged kids through literacy.
Lesson Learned: Changing even one person’s destiny makes a world of difference.
Greg Schwartz of UpTo: (full disclosure: Detroit Venture Partners is a shareholder in UpTo) As we’ve come to know utilitarian tools, they’re all boring. However, Greg has proved functionality doesn’t need to sacrifice the user’s experience. Our day-to-day tools can be changed for the better, with a lot of grit, determination, and advanced planning. His company developed UpTo, a social calendar app that allows people to share what they’re “up to” and discover what’s coming. More importantly than what he does, Greg’s presence in Detroit is indicative of the full-fledged “Detroit 2.0” movement, characterized by innovation and technology emerging from within the city center. He was living in New York and returned to build his company here – and he’s not alone.
Lesson Learned: When the status quo isn’t sufficient, fresh perspectives demand a new way of life.
Dave Zilko of Garden Fresh Gourmet: Detroit is known as a manufacturing powerhouse – in one industry. However, in order for the city and region to succeed, diversification is crucial. A $100M company has been a key ingredient (pardon the pun) in this variegated approach toward resurgence, becoming the market leader for fresh salsa nationwide. Garden Fresh Gourmet started with a 5-gallon bucket in the back of a failing restaurant, and hasn’t looked back. Zilko’s individual meetings with distributors nationwide has helped the brand’s recognition improve, and its profits to soar. The manufacturing process is all completed in southwestern Michigan, and Garden Fresh prides itself on maintaining quality (and tastiness) through scale. They give back to the next wave of food entrepreneurs in the community, for which there’s no shortage; urban farming and causal marketing have led to an explosion of new products launching from this area.
Lesson Learned: Excellence isn’t a byproduct of success – it dictates it.
Patricia Mooradian of The Henry Ford: This interactive site in the Detroit community brings American ideas and innovations to life. Historically significant cars (including presidential limousines), aviation relics, furniture and jewelry are all on display at the museum. The separate time capsule onsite is known as Greenfield Village: this area is a historic recreation full of landmarks large and small. The sites range from major moments in history to baseball games as they were played at the turn of the 20th century. This enclave is a gem in our community celebrating the jewels by which we’ve been shaped as a region and nation.
Lesson Learned: While it’s important to look forward, we’d miss a great deal by ignoring the past.
I meet people every day who are working to improve the area where we live, work, play, and thrive, since a reversal of trends requires a small army of dedicated players taking pride in their homes, neighborhoods, city and region. Efforts are no different across the country, but here in Detroit, there’s never been more at stake: our city could be lost completely, or revitalized anew. What elements of your life could use a “2.0” version? I’m sure there’s at least a few for all of us, so what are you waiting for?
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e27cd7772eb676727e20efc9932433cd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2012/11/01/6-traits-of-executives-ive-fired/ | 6 Traits of Executives I've Fired | 6 Traits of Executives I've Fired
Fired red stamp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Firing any employee is always a very difficult, unpleasant task for a leader to tackle, but firing a fellow leader is even worse. Over the years, it’s fallen on my shoulders to cut ties with a variety of executives, to continue moving companies forward. While the people being let go have all been very different from one another, their poor leadership traits have been eerily similar. Learn from their bad habits and save yourself from the dreaded “special projects” island and ultimate pink slip.
Their personal agendas came first. As a leader, or any employee for that matter, the company’s goals should be put at the forefront. When someone thinks “me first, greater good second,” the team suffers. The logic is inherently flawed, because when the company you help lead does well, the benefit is felt by everyone; by putting yourself in the way of the company’s success, you risk losing that for the group, yourself included.
They hid the ball. Strong leadership requires transparency in communication, for the good, the bad and especially the ugly. If a leader’s mentality implies that bad news should be kept close to the hip – like a football glued to a running back’s side – she is doomed to fail in her own silo. Don’t hide the ball; instead of keeping things to yourself, show it to coworkers and figure out a way to make a strong play.
They treated people differently up and down. If you brown nose your boss and are rude to your assistant, it shows. Your attitude rubs off on other people, and a basic tenet of common courtesy is that people are people, all of whom deserve your utmost respect. Kindness and compassion should be exhibited by leaders to every single person on his team equally – regardless of title. Playing favorites (or playing nice to a supervisor) is obvious, and it’s unwelcome.
Their blame to credit ratio was inverted. A great leader takes the fall when things don’t go as expected and gives credit to her team when the group hits it out of the park. A leader getting fired has done just the opposite: taking credit when times are good and pointing fingers otherwise is simply being a weenie. Stand tall – it’s part of the job as an executive, so make sure you always take responsibility.
They sabotaged projects stemming from a differing opinion. In private, it’s crucial for leaders to discuss future plans with one another, even heatedly. A difference of opinion is healthy, as is back-and-forth debate. And it should stop there, with the door closed. Once a decision is made, the leaders involved in that decision’s execution should work on it as if it was their own idea. Regardless of initial support, a unified front in getting the job done is paramount. Anything less is cause for concern – or worse.
They were workhorses but exhibited toxic cultural values. A company’s culture is its most important asset, aside from the people within the organization. A leader with a lack of commitment to this cultural tie is detrimental to the entire company. If you picture a tub of pure, delicious vanilla ice cream and add two drops of toxic waste, the whole container is ruined – even though the ratio of toxicity is tiny compared to that which would have otherwise been untainted. By the same token, sometimes I’ve had to fire someone who had a great personality but consistently under delivered; this is definitely a lesser of these two evils and should be done only as a last resort. Culture and attitude come first – skills can be taught and take time to learn. Allow people to grow into positions, fail and learn from that experience and continually advance themselves (even if it’s a bumpy ride at first).
This year is almost over, which means your annual review is getting closer by the day. Make sure you walk into – and out of – that meeting with your head held high, hands free of anything pink.
For more insight on creativity and innovation, visit JoshLinkner.com.
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80788b4c143ef0eb775954f131f6a825 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2013/05/10/the-single-biggest-factor-vcs-look-for-in-startup-founders/?utm_source=followingweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130513 | The Single Biggest Factor VCs Look For In Startup Founders | The Single Biggest Factor VCs Look For In Startup Founders
French jockey Thierry Majorcryk (R) on Remember Rose and Irish jockey Philipp Carberry on Pibrac... [+] jump up the 'Riviere des Tribunes' during the Gras Savoye Grand Steeple-Chase of Paris horse racing on May 29, 2011 at the Auteuil racetrack in Paris. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)
As a venture capitalist, I’m asked all the time what will help a company get funded. The reality is, there are a lot of factors, and no two companies – or founders – are the same. Sometimes we bet on the horse or the race (the product or market), but when we’re betting on the jockey (a founder), we put all our chips on one thing. At the end of the day, the single biggest factor we look for in a founder is simple, but perhaps surprising: grit.
Do you take personal responsibility instead of blaming others? Do you set clear goals and exhibit determination, albeit others’ beliefs? Do you exude self-confidence about the challenges stemming from “figuring it out”? There are innumerable challenges that come with entrepreneurship, no matter your intelligence, wealth or network pedigree. Because of the hurdles you’ll need to jump, a healthy dose of grit is a crucial trait, for any leader.
Researchers at University of Pennsylvania determined that as an element of a person’s personality, grit has better predictability for ultimate success than IQ. While there are many attributes associated with grit, the bottom line is obvious – are you determined to cross the finish line, propel your company to the next level, and take on the next challenge? Or, are you only willing to do the minimum of what you’re asked, leave promptly at 5 pm, and expect glory for no effort?
Here are some of the building blocks of grit, as outlined by this study. Where can you improve?
• A clear goal
• Determination despite others’ doubts
• Self-confidence about figuring it out
• Humility about knowing it doesn’t come easy
• Persistence despite fear
• Patience for the small stuff that obscures the path
• A code of ethics they live by
• Flexibility in the face of roadblocks
• A capacity for human connection and collaboration
• A recognition that accepting help does not equate to weakness
• A focus and appreciation of each step in the journey
• An appreciation of other people’s grit
• A loyalty that never sacrifices connections along the way
• An inner strength that brings them to their goal
Don’t take my word for it – take the test that the researchers devised here. Figure out where you fall on this scale, as well as where your team members are positioned. The truth is that anyone can improve upon their grittiness, but it’s much easier to do so when you’re passionate about the subject. If you’re a founding member of a company that sells window drapery and you couldn’t care less about fabric, it’s not likely that you’ll be ready to run through brick walls to help your company achieve greatness. On the other hand, if you believe, at your core, that the company you lead solves a problem and benefits the world in some way – and you have a fire in your belly to fix the situation with your solution – it’s likely you’re willing to go to the end of the world to get your business to the next level, making your users’ lives better because of your efforts. That differential is grit – and that makes all the difference.
For more insight on creativity and innovation, visit JoshLinkner.com.
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6d391b13eed16ff2d8023e236a270853 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2013/06/25/want-the-thing-youve-never-had-then-do-the-thing-youve-never-done/ | Want The Thing You've Never Had? Then Do The Thing You've Never Done | Want The Thing You've Never Had? Then Do The Thing You've Never Done
Box of Twinkies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Every achievement comes with a price. For some, this price is minor, while for others, hefty. This responsibility is the courage to do something new – to let go of past beliefs and embark on a creative departure. A jet plane is an incredible machine, but at the gate, doesn’t do anything related to its higher purpose. It has to fly away in order to reach its full potential. As Einstein put it, insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If you want the thing you’ve never had, then do the thing you’ve never done. Here’s a list of ways to adjust your day and do things differently.
Instead of… You could… Watching TV Read a book Eating Twinkies Work out Yelling at team members Coach them Stressing about your week Plan ahead Driving to the nearby grocery store Walk or ride your bike Playing hard to get Call the girl of your dreams right away Taking a fancy vacation Enjoy a “staycation” and explore your own area Immediately reacting Take a step back and examine the situation Hiring a babysitter Host a family game night with your neighbors Buying something new Reuse something else in a unique way Texting Call Waiting for the weekend to enjoy yourself Try a night out on the town midweek Working for speed Work for accuracy Ordering carry out Cook a healthful meal Buying a standard gift for a loved one Give an experience and spend the time together
Businesses function like individuals, in that their success relies on the innovation present from within. As a business leader, are you encouraging your team members to think outside the box? If not, why wouldn’t you be doing so? Some might say that taking risks is dangerous; I’d say not innovating and “playing it safe” is really the riskiest move of all.
It’s been said that “Monotony is the awful reward of the careful.” Have the courage to do the thing you’ve never done – at work, with your significant other, for yourself. No matter the setting, you’ll only get what you’ve never had by doing something new and different. Dare to dream. Dare to color outside the lines. Dare to explore, for the sake of exploration. There are countless ways to exhibit creativity in your daily life – not just painting or writing. The more you unleash your own creative mojo, the better you’ll be able to accomplish your dreams. Where will you start?
For more insight on creativity and innovation, visit JoshLinkner.com.
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647f5474c68b03ec27167a0894c89b83 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2014/02/27/find-10-hidden-hours-a-week-that-youre-missing/ | Find 10 Hidden Hours A Week That You're Missing | Find 10 Hidden Hours A Week That You're Missing
No matter how hard you try, your enemy is the same as everyone else’s: the 24-hour ceiling. You have the same number of hours in a day as anyone else, but why do some people seem to get so much more done? How do they cram in so much more than other people? The secret is not that they’re running themselves ragged, working at all hours of the night; they’re simply making the most of their normal 40-hour work week, and they’ve found some “hidden” hours in their days, using them to their best advantage. By following suit, you can use your calendar efficiently to maximize your own productivity. Here’s how to unleash 10 hours a week that you’re missing out on, simply because they’re hidden in the whirlwind of your schedule.
First, structure your day with what’s best for your own productivity. Are you a morning person who likes to work out? Plan on hitting the gym first thing, and then start your work day with decision-oriented meetings or a deep dive into an important project first thing at the office, promptly at 9 am. If your burst of energy is experienced more in the evenings, plan on any big meetings toward the end of the “normal” work day, and then dedicate time at night to bust through a serious project. Regardless of when your peak activity window occurs (when you’ve got your best game face on), milk it for all it’s worth. Put this time in your calendar – and stick to it. This isn’t something that I’m going to put a number on, because it’s different for everyone, but you’ll be amazed at how much this helps you get through the tough tasks sooner and with added vigor.
As you consciously assess the best structure for your day, and what works best for you, plan to tackle projects in 90-minute sprints. Instead of multi-tasking and dealing with constant distractions, dedicate an hour and a half of uninterrupted time to focus steadily on whatever task is at hand. Then, spend the next 30 minutes as a break: use 15 minutes to stretch your legs (I love going for a quick walk around the block) or get a snack, and use the other 15 minutes to catch up on whatever crept up on you in the past couple of hours (text someone back, check that Facebook pop-up, or call about that flat tire repair). By clustering your day into these two-hour chunks of time, you’ll be more able to accomplish two hours’ worth of work in only 90 minutes. If you have two of these “sprints” daily, you’ve just found five hidden hours a week in your schedule.
Save yourself from administrative time-wasters, both for you and for others, by avoiding back-and-forth syndrome in your communicative style. For example, as you’re working to schedule a meeting, reduce the number of touch points required to get it on the books. Most people are deferential to the other person, replying to an email requesting a meeting with something like, “Yes Susan, I’d be happy to meet. Let me know what works for you and we’ll figure something out.” I get it – nobody wants a kerfuffle about something as silly as a calendar, but in the end, this wastes both people’s precious time. Instead, provide Susan two options that would work in your calendar. When you do so, hold both times on your schedule, so you don’t schedule over either one, until she gets back to you. This cuts down on all the back-and-forth, saving you time and eliminating needless email clutter. By the time you tally up the entire administrative burden you’ve lifted from your shoulders, that’s an added hour per week saved by this simple step.
If someone does reach out to get a meeting with you, remember that you’re not required to say “yes.” Declining is harder than accepting, again out of politeness, but is it worth your time? If you feel that something is, then by all means, go for it! If not, think twice before accepting an invitation. For meetings that you will take, but that are going to be offsite for you, cluster them wherever possible. To illustrate, if you have two separate meetings that are near each other, away from your office, on two separate days, you’ve just lost the commute time to both. However, if you had them back to back, you’d only need to do the offsite drive once. Think about this as you offer someone the two time slots (for the previous tip), and cluster accordingly. If you have a breakfast meeting that’s already confirmed, you could offer someone a time just afterward, on your way into the office, as an example. Collectively, with the declined commitment requests and pared-down driving times, this is another hour and a half weekly that you’ve just uncovered, without really doing anything challenging.
Lastly, make the most of your commute to and from work. For commitments that you feel like you should take, but that do not require your time for an in-person meeting, offer your time with a quick phone call. You can offer advice to a younger entrepreneur, make a recommendation to a former colleague, provide a media interview, check in with a friend or other things really easily by phone, during this time that you already have, twice daily. For this, a quick safety note: make sure you have a hands-free device or in-car audio controls so you can do this without being a distracted driver. So, as you offer up times to people, plan on the few minutes before you start your day and after you finish as well. I come to the office at 9 am, so I always do a call at 8:30 am on my way in. If you have a 15-minute commute to work each way, that’s another two and a half hours that you’ve been gifted on a weekly basis.
Although the “normal” calendar advice includes tips to plan ahead, check in weekly with yourself, and manage long-term projects effectively, the reality is that our days are constantly changing and you’re busy. Really busy. These 10 hidden hours a week increase your 40-hour work week by 25%, without having to work crazy hours or struggle to balance it all. What would you do with a 25% increase in sales? How about in talent retention? That’s a sizeable percentage – and using it to your advantage will help you best your competition in today’s world of dizzying speed.
For an inside view into my world as a VC, entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker, visit JoshLinkner.com.
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b2765955a84b359c37a496c3d1279ee0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2014/04/04/an-alternative-way-to-fund-your-startup/ | An Alternative Way To Fund Your Startup | An Alternative Way To Fund Your Startup
All companies need capital to grow, just like all children need food, and all plants need sunlight. While there are many sources of money – investors, banks, lines of credit to name a few – they all require you to give something up in return. Equity is at stake, or dollars have to be repaid, which isn’t always ideal.
One often-overlooked source of funding is paid client work, even if it is slightly outside your big, long-term vision. By leveraging your skills and experience, you can inject needed capital from the most delicious source: customers.
If you run a business-to-business startup and your ultimate goal is to work with enterprise clients, it would be easy to dismiss little customers. However, you’d be silly to ignore the multitudes of small and medium sized local businesses in your area that could be your customer. Not only are you able to beef up your cash balance by doing so, but you’re also learning a tremendous amount as a company, before going after the companies that will require a more seasoned, buttoned-up approach at the enterprise level. With a smaller scale client, your sales team has the chance to hone its pitch, your account managers keep your clients happy (and have a chance to practice the art of the upsell), and your PR team can navigate the waters of publicizing – or not – the work with a particular group, capitalizing on a relationship externally. By the time you’re ready to approach the enterprise clients, your team is ready, on all fronts, and you’ve saved enough to help grow the business to a point where you’re able to effectively take on that type of work.
Think of this approach as a two-phase game plan: Phase I is doing work that pays the bills and allows you to build your team and experience as a specific means to an end. Phase II, once you’ve secured needed momentum, is your long-term vision. Too often, entrepreneurs become so snooty that they reject real opportunity just because it isn’t their exact endgame. Arrogance kills companies while scrappiness and grit helps build them.
If your endgame is to build a software-as-a-service company, you’ll need a lot of code built and an engineering team capable of keeping up with the constant demands. That takes time – and that’s okay. In the interim, consider building custom software solutions for smaller clients, which essentially becomes client-funded research and development. If client A needs feature X, then feature X can ultimately be added into your needed code bank, but the client paid for it along the way, not an investor or bank. By the same token, your developers have a chance to see how long certain builds take, what you still will need additional help for, and which elements they’d like to scrap.
A word of caution: make sure that your Phase I is related to your end goal. If you want to be an actress, making extra money working at a library won’t lead to your ultimate vision. Yes, the money is important, but only effective when coupled with relevant experience. Make sure that your personal or corporate Phase I will help to feed your endgame. With your extra revenue, experience, and product lineup in your arsenal, you’re ready to take on a bigger battle.
For an inside view into my world as a VC, entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker, visit JoshLinkner.com.
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ca48c065948a5f0c69f1a2cf908291ed | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2015/05/29/how-taylor-swift-rose-to-the-top-and-how-you-can-too/?sh=7905d89616dc | How Taylor Swift Rose To The Top, And How You Can Too | How Taylor Swift Rose To The Top, And How You Can Too
I have a teenage daughter, so my world this week has revolved around Taylor Swift, even more than usual. Why? The superstar artist is coming to Detroit (where we live) tomorrow night, where she’ll perform for another sold-out stadium crowd. In the audience will be my daughter, along with two of her friends, as well as my wife and a friend of hers, too. After shelling out $1,500 for a fun ladies' night for the group, our household is certainly on the Taylor Swift bandwagon... to say the least.
The 25-year-old singer/songwriter has taken the world by storm with her sweet vocals, approachable melodies, and (even I’ll admit) catchy lyrics. To boot, she’s a media darling, has fun at events, and always seems to be approachable and friendly to her loyal fans. It’s a lot to ask of a mid-20s young lady who grew up in the spotlight, but Swift has done this – and done it well, with grace.
What’s fascinating to me about Taylor Swift’s rise to world domination hasn’t just been her sheer magnitude of stardom, joining other women known by one name each at the top of the pack: Madonna, Cher, Beyonce, to name a few. Instead, what’s the most interesting part of this whirlwind superstardom is the fact that Swift is a butterfly – and as such, she’s a model for you, as you look to grow yourself or your business.
At 14, Swift moved from the town in Pennsylvania where she was raised to pursue a country music career in Nashville. She was quickly signed to a record label and she made her debut soon after that; her self-titled album was released in 2006. She became a country music star – her long, curly, blonde hair matched her sundresses, cowboy boots, and acoustic guitar. Her 2008 follow-up, Fearless, was an outrageous success. Interestingly, that album still had a country twang but also had two “crossover” pop singles: “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me.” Both helped to propel the album to the top of the general charts, not just those dedicated to country music. It was the top-selling album of 2009 in the United States. Not too shabby for a gal who still then couldn’t legally pop champagne to toast that kind of success.
Since then, she’s released three more albums, each with worldwide hits. Her latest album, 1989, has had three Billboard #1 singles on it already, since its release. All along the way, she’s shifted and grown into herself, much like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. As she’s grown up into adulthood, she’s also grown her own sound, breaking free from the country genre and sharing her gift with a broader audience. She’s shed her country boots, opting for over-the-knee stiletto boots or equally-sky-high heels. She’s traded in her sundresses and curly hair for the trendiest of clothes and hairdos. And, all along the way, she’s grown her brand to the worldwide phenomenon that gets my teenage daughter and all her friends into a tizzy.
So, the bottom line here is that Swift recognized that music was her passion – not just country music specifically. This niche would have been an amazing one to control, and Swift managed to do so. However, it’s only one small corner of the music industry and by recognizing this, Swift dreamed bigger. She didn’t pigeonhole herself and has allowed herself to become the world’s biggest musical icon of the day, across all genres.
Swift had a potent combination that contributed to her rise to this level of success - and it's the same combination that will further perpetuate her ongoing fame. First, she was fearless. It took an incredible amount of courage to leave everything she knew as a teenager, moving away from home to dedicate herself to her dream. When she got there, it was abundantly clear that her dedication to her craft was second to none. She has always been hard working, and she pushes herself to be the best. Through collaboration with the best in the industry, she makes it a priority to learn from others. More than anything, Swift has the commitment and tenacity to reach her FULL potential, not just as a country star but as a MUSIC star.
How do you view yourself? Are you settling for something ho-hum or less exciting than what your potential offers? Instead, start aiming to the highest possible target or you’ll miss out. Are you boxing yourself into a particular niche market with your business? Think about customers beyond that core and you’ll be amazed who else is intrigued by your offerings. Take Swift’s advice: be fearless and you’ll never know what could happen.
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9b5c0ea4c6d87d15de507c247df87e42 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmandell/2019/03/07/ticketmaster-teams-up-with-amazon-alexa-for-new-purchasing-capability/ | Ticketmaster Teams Up With Amazon Alexa For New Purchasing Capability | Ticketmaster Teams Up With Amazon Alexa For New Purchasing Capability
Alexa-enabled devices, such as Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, can now buy tickets from Ticketmaster. Getty
Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, has added a new “skill” that enables fans to discover events and buy tickets from Ticketmaster using only their voice.
Dan Armstrong, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Distributed Commerce at Ticketmaster, said in a news release that the company’s integration with Alexa "...will offer yet another avenue for fans to access the best live events."
Users can perform a general search for events by telling Alexa to “open Ticketmaster” or “ask Ticketmaster to find events this weekend.” Alexa also can look up events for individual artists and sports teams, or find events within a specified city or date range. Users can finalize their order details and purchase tickets by linking their Ticketmaster account to Alexa.
Amazon is widely thought of as a potential rival of Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation. But the e-commerce giant appears to have retreated from launching a U.S. ticketing service of its own.
After failing to secure a ticket distribution deal with Live Nation in 2017, Amazon reportedly sought to partner with U.S. venue owners to sell event tickets in direct competition with Ticketmaster.
However, Amazon eventually abandoned its plans to enter the U.S. ticketing market in 2018. It also closed its existing ticketing business in the U.K last year.
Ticketmaster declined to comment on whether the company still considers Amazon to be a competitor.
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e1821e1d6e6576bcbe1e86973dfc79bb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmandell/2019/04/29/woodstock-50-music-festival-is-cancelled-according-to-investors/ | Woodstock 50 Music Festival Is Canceled, According To Investors | Woodstock 50 Music Festival Is Canceled, According To Investors
Hip-hop recording artist Common at the Woodstock 50 lineup announcement at Electric Lady Studios on... [+] March 19. The festival's financial partner announced on Monday that the festival had been canceled. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Woodstock 50 has been canceled. Billboard reported on Monday that site readiness and permitting issues caused the Dentsu Aegis Network, the festival’s financial backer, to pull the plug on what was billed as one of the biggest music festivals of 2019.
In a statement released to Billboard, officials with Dentsu Aegis Network said: “...Despite our tremendous investment of time, effort and commitment, we don’t believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees.”
Woodstock 50 was expected to draw 100,000 people to Watkins Glen, New York from Aug. 16-18, with tickets starting around $450. The lineup for the commemorative event featured contemporary hit makers such as Halsey and Imagine Dragons, along with Woodstock generation legends like Dead and Co., Robert Plant and Santana.
Tickets for Woodstock 50 were scheduled to go on sale April 22. Festival organizer Michael Lang dismissed rumors about the event’s cancellation after the on-sale date was postponed.
Woodstock 50’s website and social media accounts had not confirmed the cancellation as of 1 p.m. Monday. Organizers have denied the reports and plan to seek a legal remedy, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
The demise of Woodstock 50 would continue a tradition of failed attempts to recapture the magic of the legendary 1969 festival. The infamous Woodstock ‘99 festival in Rome, New York was marred by rampant sexual misconduct, fires, and logistical problems.
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c404030483077b4100ec2aaec6259328 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmandell/2020/04/21/apashe-brings-his-cinematic-sound-into-high-definition-on-new-album/ | Apashe Brings His Cinematic Sound Into High Definition On New Album | Apashe Brings His Cinematic Sound Into High Definition On New Album
Apashe's music has been featured in trailers for some of the biggest franchises in Hollywood. Adrian Villagomez
Montreal-based producer Apashe has a knack for combining the most epic elements of electronic music, film scores and classical symphonies. It’s a potent formula that keeps Hollywood coming back for more.
Born John De Buck in Belgium, Apashe has soundtracked the trailers for blockbusters like John Wick: Chapter 2 and Fast & Furious: Hobbes and Shaw; as well as commercials for iconic brands like Adidas and Budweiser. Those high-profile synchs and a growing fan base have helped Apashe surpass 140 million streams on Spotify.
Apashe released his second album, Renaissance, on April 8. The recording process brought his classical influences to the forefront, culminating in a session with a 65-piece orchestra in a Prague concert hall.
“[Classical music] is very pure and cinematic. ... I felt like nothing else was quite like that,” Apashe says. “I’ve wanted to work with an orchestra since forever. It was just a big goal, and it wasn’t easy to make it happen.”
Hiring an orchestra and composing partitions for each musician was a complex, expensive process. But Apashe’s recent successes with licensing revenue and streaming have his label feeling confident in the investment.
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“Some [producers] have a little flair, and can do something extra special with their recipe. I think that’s where a lot of John’s success comes from,” says Marc-André Chagnon, co-founder of Kannibalen Records. “We believed so much in the album and the music, there was no way we were not going to facilitate this.”
Apashe worked with a 65-piece orchestra to craft the epic sounds of his latest album, "Renaissance." Adrian Villagomez
Renaissance begins with a symphonic overture — more than a minute passes before the first low rumble of electronic bass kicks in. For the rest of the album, orchestral music remains at the heart of Apashe’s bass-heavy anthems, and his collaborations with hip hop and pop artists.
On “Insane”, Tech N9ne raps over screeching strings that could score a Hitchcock film. The cathartic closing track, “Rain”, featuring Montreal singer-songwriter Kroy, bursts into soaring melodies from brass and woodwind instruments.
The single “Uebok (Gotta Run)” showcases Apashe’s ability to weave together the music of different centuries. The track samples a part of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 which itself was borrowed from an old Russian folk song. Apashe teamed up with Instasamka, a rapper and social media entertainer from Moscow, to create the song’s irresistible hook and its wild video.
“I love combining all these genres together,” Apashe says. “Classical music is kind of a weird genre for a lot of people. … When you add vocals or something that people are more used to, it makes it a lot easier to listen to for a larger range of people. Also, it makes it really badass when you add some cool hip-hop on it.”
Apashe and his team are finding creative ways to promote his festival-ready new album in the “no-show period” of the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s set to perform in the Room Service Music Festival, a massive benefit concert that will be livestreamed Friday through Sunday on YouTube. And if previous releases are any indication, quarantined TV viewers could soon hear the classical-inspired sounds of Renaissance in streaming content and commercials.
“Seeing the success of an album like this really opens up new doors for me,” Apashe says. “I can do things that I actually really like, and have people behind me to support that. I’m going to keep going in that direction, but bigger and better.”
Correction: April 21, 2020
Marc-André Chagnon is a co-founder of Kannibalen Records. He was identified as the label’s founder in an earlier version of this story.
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79635dba512821f8c02523756df04ccc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2012/01/05/man-loses-memory-becomes-compelling-artist/ | Memory Loss Leads To Artistic Triumph For Dan Rhema | Memory Loss Leads To Artistic Triumph For Dan Rhema
Gallery: Dan Rhema Art 9 images View gallery
By the time Dan Rhema was carried into Crawford Long Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, he was delirious from the Dengue fever a mosquito had infected him with in Mexico. "I couldn't even speak to the admissions people because my teeth were chattering so badly," says Rhema. "The cab driver who brought me to the hospital from the airport had to give the administration clerk a piece of paper that I had written my name and the hospital on when I was on the airplane and felt myself starting to go downhill."
A spinal tap performed at the hospital also confirmed meningitis as well as encephalitis, both potentially devastating and frequently fatal brain infections.
"I traveled out of my body,” Rhema says, “And began journeying down a long dark tunnel. As I progressed down the tunnel, I remember thinking that I did not want to die without my wife and children being with me. My progress down the tunnel ended and I began the long struggle back to consciousness, one level at a time."
Rhema at the time was President of El Centra, Inc, a not-for-profit international training and retreat center in Santiago, Tuxla, on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. During seasonal rains, an epidemic of Dengue - also known as “Break Bone Fever” - swept through the Tuxla Mountain Area. Rhema, his wife Susan and two of his three daughters caught it.
The family survived, but Rhema no longer remembered his wedding, where he was going when he left his house, and essential information. Bits of memory remained but he had difficulty discerning fact from fiction, and Susan soon supported the family. But Rhema used his affliction to tap into a previously unknown knack for artistic expression that changed his life - again.
He began to create works of art using locally collected wild thorny vines which to him represented the damage which the fever had inflicted on his brain. He also began to write short stories and collect objects found during walks in the desert. After moving to Louisville, Kentucky in April 1995, Rhema began to create multimedia collages, sculptures, and masks from those objects. Finally, he began painting, capturing the images flowing through his brain in a singular three-dimensional style.
He and co-author Kevin Wilson have produced an E-book titled “I Close My Eyes To See,” an account of Rhema’s illness and subsequent emergence as an artist.
I Close My Eyes To See
"It took me many years to come to grips with the fact that I would never get my memories back," said Rhema. "I went through a grieving process just as if there was a death. I finally had to let go of the 'old Dan' in order for me to continue to heal. The only way to avoid dengue is to not get bitten by a mosquito. There is no treatment."
His website can be found at DanRhema.com.
Josh Max, Forbes.com contributor
Josh on Twitter
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2559d16e7b1859483e4d2e4bd1b6f29b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2016/06/29/quail-a-motorsports-gathering-returns-for-2016-with-cars-and-stars/ | The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Returns For 2016 With Cars And Stars | The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Returns For 2016 With Cars And Stars
For ten days each August, the Monterey Penninsula overflows with auto events, so much so that the area becomes a sort of parking lot for the finest of the fine in automobiles new and vintage.
One of the must-attend auto events in this neck of the woods, though, is The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, returning August 19. This invitation-only extravaganza is one of the most highly influential international events of the season, taking place on the lush green grasses of the Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel, Calif. and attended by a who's who of motor nuts. More than 200 rare motor vehicles, selected from private collections around the world, will be on display.
This year, two rockers with a fine eye for automobiles will be in attendance; James Hetfield, the front man of Metallica, and "The Red Rocker," Sammy Hagar.
Hetfield will display his 1934 Packard Chassis Coachbuilt Body, a lift-off hardtop roadster built with a "sinister elegance."
James Hetfield's 1934 Packard Chassis Coachbuilt Body
Hagar will display his LaFerrari, built especially for the musician to his exact specifications including a bespoke seat tailored to his particular dimensions.
Sammy Hagar and his LaFerrari
"I have had a car in Quail for the last 4-5 years in a row," Hagar said in a telephone interview. "I love this event, and I can't wait to be there."
Some other exclusive rides include:
1955 Porsche 550 Spyder
2016 Scuderia Glickenhaus
1957 Lancia
And many, many more.
Featured themes for 2016 include Rivalries of the Ages, the 100th Anniversary of BMW Celebrating Motorcars and Motorcycles, A Retrospective of Laguna Seca Raceway, the 50th Anniversary of the Lamborghini Miura, Pre-War Sports and Racing, Post-War Sports, Post-War Racing, Supercars, The Great Ferraris and Sports and Racing Motorcycles.
The 2016 event also marks the first time guests have the opportunity to bypass the traditional ticket lottery and waitlist. In its fourteenth year, The Quail will maintain its legacy as the most intimate celebration of the luxury motoring lifestyle, while introducing its new Charitable Patron Ticket. Click here for more information.
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f13f28dff90e733717eca367bdd622b1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2016/07/05/interview-sammy-hagars-1-3-million-dollar-laferrari-a-year-later/ | Interview: Sammy Hagar on His $1.3 Million LaFerrari, A Year Later | Interview: Sammy Hagar on His $1.3 Million LaFerrari, A Year Later
Rock stars still can't get no satisfaction, apparently, even when spending $1.3 million on a LaFerrari. Former Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar was itching to take possession of his world-class, custom-made jewel last year, intending to display it at Quail, A Motor Sports event.
"The LaFerrari was ready to go but I didn’t get it in time. Can you believe that?" the Red Rocker said in a telephone interview. "It came while everyone was at Quail and everyone was down at Concourse. All the Ferrari guys were there and my car arrived while they were there. And I was on tour. I was screaming and yelling at people on the phone and saying, 'Are you kidding me? You mean my car is in a box sitting at the docks somewhere at the airport, I guess it was flown in, sitting at San Francisco airport in a box and you guys aren’t gonna get it?'"
Mr. Hagar has always been a high-energy fellow, from his early solo efforts like "I Can't Drive 55" and "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy" to his 80s/90s heyday belting out "Why Can't This Be Love?" "When It's Love," "Poundcake" and beyond with Van Halen. At 68, the famous voice barrels over the line like a-ringin' a bell, and it's clear his frustration over the late delivery of his ride was more a case of enthusiasm than, perhaps, a rock star hissy fit.
Here, then, is our conversation.
SH: So I didn’t get to see my car for a week after it got here. I couldn’t even see it. I didn’t even get to see it. I was gone and when I came home, they were gone and man, I was freaking out. I was almost, like, ready to go punch people and stuff.
Josh Max: You don’t seem like that kind of guy.
SH: Wait a minute, you wait a year and a half, two years for a LaFerrari and then it comes and nobody’s there to get it? That’s frustrating! Heads will roll! And that Quail will be hunted down! (laughs) Anyway, long story short, it’s here now and I have been driving it almost a year now. I have got almost a thousand miles on it. I love it to death. It is the most amazing piece of machinery I have ever touched, looked at, sat in, especially drove or owned in my life.
JM: That's nice to hear, because a lot of guys, they become the top of the rock star world and they just buy the car. The heart is not there. It’s like a guitar. I can tell it means something to you.
SH: It does. It has nothing to do with status. It has nothing to do with ego. I have got mine. I'm not like "Hey everybody, look what I got!" And when I am driving it, I am actually a little embarrassed because everybody is coming up to you and looking at you and then the stupid cars come up next to you and want to take a picture. The guy’s trying to drive and take my picture. I go “Get away from me!” I drive it pretty hard because it pretty much will do anything you can think of. It’s an amazing handling car, so far beyond my abilities that I feel like I can drive it really, much harder than I can drive my Daytona or even my 512 Boxer because their abilities aren’t the same, you know?
I could lose one of those cars. But this car, I wouldn’t ever drive it to its full potential because of the possibility of wrecking it. I would be crying. It’s not the kind of car you would take down to the local body shop and say hey, fix this thing, you know? I am sure it would have to go back to Italy and I probably wouldn’t see it for another year.
JM: Have you had it on a track yet?
SH: I haven’t done it yet but I want to. I actually I feel more comfortable on a track where people aren’t coming up next to you and you are not flying up behind somebody at 60 miles an hour, you know. I just haven’t had time.
JM: The car has 950 horses and is a hybrid; how did you pick the paint? The first thing I thought was, this guy is not painting his LaFerrari red, so he’s smart. What’s the name of that color?
SH: It’s cream. It’s cream and black and I call it my cappuccino. Originally, I was actually gonna have the carbon fiber. I was gonna leave it that other color which is kind of a root beer looking color and I was gonna make it a root beer float, you know, cream and root beer. And then I got nervous about the root beer thing, thinking, you know, it may be a little bit too flashy and I may get tired of it. I have had so many cars in my life. I mean I have had 50-60 cars and like 25-30 Ferraris and I think you learn after a while. You go, "That color is gonna get old to me." And I'm the "red rocker" and everything and I got enough red things, you know?
I got a couple of red Ferraris and I am all good, but there is no standard-law Ferrari. You have to go to the factory and you have to sit down with the designer and you pick every color right down to the stitching on the interior. They go, “What do you want this to be?” You go, “Oh, I don’t know.” And somebody will help you out and I spent a whole day doing it. And then I called up the next day and changed my mind on the root beer. That was the only change I made but they have, you know, like a theatre with the full-size screen where you see the car in full, life-size, with the computer person, and they'll show you anything you say.
You know, how would it look black? And they show you a black one. And it’s pretty cool. I was gonna do black. I was gonna do silver. I had all these ideas and fortunately when I got there, there were five cars being made on the assembly line and they were a black one, a yellow one, a white one, a silver one and a red one. And I went “Well, uh, I am gonna go cream.” And it was a trip because there was, on the wall in the design room, they had Ferraris from all different years, you know. Like really, some very cool-looking Ferraris. And there was an old, I wanna say it was like a 340 on the wall that was in sepia. It looked like it was cream and it really looked cool and I said, “I want that color.” And that was it.
JM: Good, that’s the way it should be. That’s exclusive.
SH: Yeah, it looks very classy, you know. When I picked it up from the Ferrari shop, they had a red one in there. It just, in my opinion, didn’t bring out anything the way the white, the cream does on that car.
JM: That’s what I most liked when I saw the footage.
SH: You sit so low in that car it’s ridiculous. Your butt is something like 4 or 5 inches off the ground.
JM: I wanted to ask you if you own any ordinary cars, how many and what kind? What are you partial to?
SH: My wife has a couple of Mercedes, like the 550 C or whatever it is, a 4-door one. The kind that’s like a bubble. Very nice car, for a family car. A 4-door and a Mercedes 550 SUV and really nice SUV. And she has a Tesla. Not the fastest, newest one but the second one and it’s badass. I mean I told the other guys and I will tell you the same thing, the way I feel about Teslas and electric cars, it is the future. The way we all should commute and go to the grocery store and take kids to school and all those kind of things.
It’s what the whole planet needs to be doing because it is the way to do it and it’s amazing and they are fast and they are luxurious and quiet. They don’t put out emissions, what more do you want? And our Ferraris and R-4, weekends, holidays, special occasions, take out on the track and have a good time where there are not commuters. So I have those kinds of cars. Then I have some muscle cars, you know, like a 1967 427 Shelby GT 500 and I have the first remake of the Ford GT, which is a badass fast car. I mean that’s right up there. Not quite a LaFerrari but it’s something else, you know. I have seven various Ferraris, I have a 512, a 456, a 365 GT Daytona, a 599 Fiorano, what else do I have? I got a little 308 GT B4.
JM: Any motorcycles?
SH: Nope. I don’t ride motorcycles. I have children. That’s a short version of when my wife got pregnant 21 years ago with our first daughter, I stopped riding. We sold the motorcycle. We just parked it and never rode it again.
JM: I get it. I feel about bikes the way I feel about exotic cars. Arghhh, love it, yeah but it is very dangerous.
SH: Yeah, not good. I love them too, though. Hey man, I would have a Ducati in 5 seconds. I used to have a Norton Commando and, you know, I like Triumphs and Nortons and Ducatis. Once again, like exotic, I like exotic motorcycles. You couldn’t give me a Harley Davidson.
JM: The Ducatis are the ones.
SH: They are the ones. It’s a Ferrari on 2 wheels.
###
This interview was edited for clarity and space.
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9fc7c101c57622615e92a6c05ac15322 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2017/10/10/comparing-gun-carnage-with-auto-deaths-is-a-flawed-argument/ | Comparing Gun Carnage with Auto Deaths Is A Flawed Argument | Comparing Gun Carnage with Auto Deaths Is A Flawed Argument
(ROMAIN LAFABREGUE/AFP/Getty Images)
In the wake of the appalling deaths, pain, suffering and havoc wreaked by madmen with guns from Columbine to Newtown to Orlando and, recently, Las Vegas, any and all possible sensible solutions should be proffered and examined.
Some, however, point to the progress made in the auto industry in preventing or reducing deaths and injuries over the last thirty years as an example of how American gun deaths could be prevented, too.
One less dead or injured person is always a good thing. But comparing gun deaths to auto deaths misses the mark because impaired drivers, speeders and road ragers are only part of what causes the carnage on our highways. The government and automakers have installed about as many safety features on our cars as it's possible to have. But statistics consistently show that lack of skill behind the wheel is what causes auto crashes, not impaired driving or mechanical failure.
Yet one rarely if ever sees a movement, whether government-sponsored or grass roots, demanding we teach people to be better drivers in the first place. My last driving test, for example, was over 30 years ago. As far as the government is concerned, once was enough. How do they know I don't pull out of intersections without looking, linger in the left lane at 30 MPH, or follow the car in front of me with inches between our bumpers? Our entire approach to reducing vehicle crashes and deaths is reactive instead of proactive.
As I wrote in the NY Times back in 2002, when my impaired father still insisted on driving despite numerous crashes, getting dangerous or incompetent drivers off the road is almost an impossible task, unless they kill someone. (Dad finally did give up driving, three years before his 2006 death.) The government does not require, as a condition of granting a license, having a direct experience of losing tire traction on a sheet of hidden ice and successfully steering out of it without hitting anything. Your road test usually isn’t taken while hydroplaning in a torrential rainstorm, where visibility is just a few feet in front of your car. Your driver’s ed teacher won’t arrange to have someone pop your tire at 60 MPH and require you to quickly and safely slow down and stop your car. They don't put your significant other in the passenger seat and start a heated argument. They don't take you out onto the freeway in 70 MPH traffic and have another person cut in front of you with inches to spare.
Unlike the issue of guns, whose sole purpose is to kill, vehicles' main function is to transport humans as well as the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the goods we use. It's the incompetence of drivers largely causing the colossal number of deaths, injuries and billions of dollars' worth of damage on our highways, as opposed to the maliciousness associated with gun massacres.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“The overwhelming majority of auto deaths and injuries are due to pilot error,” Mike Allen, former senior editor at Popular Mechanics and holder of 11 world land and speed and endurance records said. “The most difficult test a driver will have to take in their life is parallel parking. We’re drying our hair, we’re texting, we’re not paying attention, we react poorly to emergency situations and we’re driving off the road or hitting other cars.”
New and improved safety features on automobiles, whether mandated by the government or voluntarily included by manufacturers, are a great thing. But how much energy do we as a society give to requiring lessons in how to navigate an automobile safely through a variety of circumstances and avoid crashing in the first place? Almost none. Self-driving cars - should they function properly, as mine didn't - will solve a lot of this problem. But they're not here yet, and today, someone who thought they were just driving to work or going to the store is instead in a hospital, or on a mortician's slab.
This is not a pro-or-against guns rant. It's an attempt to keep one issue separate from another.
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873bda82ba7400a6c89c81b9fed58510 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2018/03/08/2018-nissan-titan-vs-toyota-tundra-clash-of-the-pickups/ | 2018 Nissan Titan Vs. Toyota Tundra - Clash of the Pickups | 2018 Nissan Titan Vs. Toyota Tundra - Clash of the Pickups
We’ve been loving Nissan Titans ever since we rocked our first one through and around Manhattan in 2003 – but its rival the 2018 Toyota Tundra is also a mighty hunk of can-do machinery. Which is “best?” We recently beat up both trucks for a week, each top-of-the-line, all options included; here are our findings.
LOOKS: Titan
2018 Nissan Titan Nissan
The Titan has a “fatter,” more majestic and frankly ferocious front end. It does, as some critics have pointed out, bear more than a passing resemblance to an F-150, but we didn’t find that a hindrance to its mighty-mighty countenance.The Tundra isn’t “ugly” – it’s just not as “kingly” as the Titan.
INTERIOR: Titan
The Tundra suffers from a plethora of interior plastic; we don’t tolerate plastic except on economy cars and vintage G.I. Joe dolls. The Titan’s innards are, by contrast, plush, well-appointed and there’s quality everywhere the eye looks and the hands touch.
ACCESS: Tundra
2018 Toyota Tundra Toyota
The Tundra has “front and back doors” so normal people can enter and exit the vehicle – normally. Good. The Titan has a bizzarro door arrangement where you can’t open the back doors without first opening the front doors, and you have to remember not to try and close the back door first, lest metal crunch metal. #WhoseDumbIdeaWasThis
The Titan’s backseat, too, is miniscule.
HANDLING: Titan
2018 Nissan Titan Nissan
You’re not going to seek out K-turns in either of these fat vehicles, but in a tight spot where you need to whip it around and head in the opposite direction, the Titan has a smaller turning radius, and thus is “Best.”
TOWING: Tundra
2018 Toyota Tundra Toyota
The Tundra (slightly) bests the Titan in the towing department; it can haul 6,400 to 10,200 lbs, according to its press materials, as opposed to the Titan’s 9,230 – 9,740 stated ability.
PRICE: Tundra
Depending on options, of course, your sticker will vary, but the Tundra comes in a tad cheaper, starting at around $28,786 base price and $46,371 loaded. The Titan's base price is $28,884 and it tops out at about $52,894 with all options.
OPTIONS: Titan
2018 Nissan Titan wins despite awkward door arrangement Josh Max
We chose the Titan due to its segment-leading, 5-year/100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty as opposed to the Tundra's less generous 3 years/36,000 mile deal. Each vehicle contains the latest in electronic/computer components designed to improve your experience of driving as well as keeping you safer on the road; each nav system worked well and did what was asked of it. Hoewever, the Titan's sound system is crisper, bass-ier and richer.
In all, we find both these trucks superb in their way. However, we enjoyed the Titan more.
THE WINNER: TITAN
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52e9637a20d2c113e743f648101c3944 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2019/01/02/today-is-national-pet-travel-safety-day-keep-your-furry-friends-safe-on-the-road-with-these-tips/?sh=5d15237b2134 | Today Is National Pet Travel Safety Day - Keep Your Furry Friends Safe On The Road With These Tips | Today Is National Pet Travel Safety Day - Keep Your Furry Friends Safe On The Road With These Tips
English Bulldog, twenty-two months old, in the rear seat of a car, with safety harness Getty
Today is National Pet Safety Awareness Day, and since pets of all kinds travel on a daily basis in our nation’s cars and trucks, this column is devoted to their welfare. Below are some facts you may not have considered when either going to the store with your dog, or long distance. (We’ll leave cats, marmots, badgers, snakes and parrots out of this – but if you travel regularly with such animals, please feel free to leave your safety tips in the comment section.)
Fido as missile If a car crashes at a speed of just 25mph, an unrestrained dog can be projected forward at a force equal to 40 times its weight. A large dog weighing 75 lbs. can achieve an impact force of 3,000 pounds in a car crash. If your mastiff or St. Bernard has ever jumped on you, you know that sort of force. At speed, it’s deadly for both of you.
Serious driver dog - Dogue De Bordeaux sitting in the car Getty
A little dog on your lap spells trouble in even minor crashes Unrestrained smaller pets riding at speeds of just 30 miles per hour exert about 300 pounds of pressure in a crash, according to Jennifer Huebner-Davidson, traffic safety programs manager for AAA. Your lap dog can also be crushed by getting between the airbag in your steering wheel and your body, and airbags can go off in parking lot fender-benders as well as crashes at speed. Small pets can also easily be thrown out of windows, or through windshields.
Small dog in harness Getty
Driving while distracted isn’t limited to your cell phone. Here's another good reason to harness your pet - you won’t be tempted to look away from the road to make sure he/she isn’t getting into the groceries, chewing something or just getting up to mischief.
Riding in a pickup bed is a no-no A dog in the back of your truck is an all-American tradition, but it’s pretty much the safest way to guarantee an injury or tragedy in a crash. Pet safety experts recommend crating your dog to transport the animal in the pickup bed, but the likelihood of people doing that, especially on short trips, is practically nil, so at the very least, tether the pooch so they can’t jump out, but make sure the length is relatively short so they can’t tangle the leash around their necks.
These three pups had their photo taken for this article, but riding with them loose in the pickup... [+] bed isn't a good idea. Josh Max
Don’t buckle the animal’s crate with the seat belts While it may seem a no-brainer to secure your dog’s crate while in the car with a seat belt, don’t do it unless your crate is specifically designed to withstand damage to its structure – the carrier can actually be crushed in the event of an accident. Place the crate behind one of the seats on the floor, or on the seat itself.
Pet Dog Sitting In Car Crate Ready For Journey Getty
Not All Harnesses Are Created Equal A study by the Center for Pet Safety (CPS) and Subaru found serious flaws with many popular car pet restraints. Of all the restraints tested, only one provided adequate protection to the dog and the passengers of the vehicle, that being the Sleepypod Clickit Utility.
Other automakers have products available for in-car pet safety as well. The 2019 Jeep Cherokee offers a Cargo Management System that includes a "crate" for Fido, shown:
Jeep Cherokee Cargo Management System Jeep
Jaguar makes a variety of doggie-friendly equipment specifically designed for their E-, F-, and I-Pace crossovers and the XF Sportbrake wagon. The options include a spill-resistant water bowl, a foldable carrier, and a rear-access ramp that can help ease access for mutts that weigh up to 187 pounds. There's also a quilted luggage compartment liner and a portable shower available.
Jaguar's pet products selection Jaguar
Land Rover recently launched a range of pet packs to pamper dogs and leave them in the lap of luxury; their Pet Packs include accessories such as a spill-resistant water bowl, access ramp, foldable pet carrier, tailored quilted load space liner and portable rinse system. A "Pet Transportation Pack" includes a foldable pet carrier, spill-resistant water bowl and load space rubber mat. A "Pet Care and Access Pack" includes a full-height luggage partition, quilted load space liner, pet access ramp and portable rinse system.
Land Rover offers a variety of products to help keep your pet safe on the road. Land Rover
As with any safety system in place in your life, the issue of keeping your pet protected in your car involves research, word-of-mouth and being proactive – before any incident happens.
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6070f73749fffc6ef9cd927c5551f64a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2021/03/05/ducatis-revamped-monster-roars-your-way-in-2021/ | Ducati’s Revamped Monster Roars Your Way In 2021 | Ducati’s Revamped Monster Roars Your Way In 2021
Ducati's new Monster @ Andrea Sottana
The Monster is one of my all time favorites, and yours. A Monster was my very first test motorcycle following my safety course and subsequent license in 2002, and you always remember your first.
I didn’t know it at the time, of course, but the brand makes some of the most well-crafted, powerful and gorgeous machines money can buy - and you will spend money, sonny. A Ducati is a lot of things, but one of the things it isn’t is cheap - not to buy, not to own, not to insure and not to maintain. And you don’t want it to be.
That Monster carried me, shaking in my Timberlands, over the George Washington bridge with snorting semis on either side of me, my palms sweating, seizing those handlebars, praying I’d make it from Manhattan to New Jersey in one piece.
I needn’t have worried. A downshift and twist of throttle, and suddenly the trucks were 500 feet behind me.
This year’s Monster will be in North American dealerships starting in April. Mexico and Canada will get the Monster Plus, which arrives in the U.S. in May.
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Ducati's revamped Monster. @ Andrea Sottana
The new model, presented during the 2021 Ducati World Première, is inspired by the original 1993 philosophy - a lightweight and essential sport naked with a frame derived from the Superbike and a sick, angry, powerful engine.
The new Monster, like the old Monsters, is light, compact and fun, which makes it an ideal motorcycle both for those approaching the world of two wheels for the first time - like I did in 2002 - and for more experienced motorcyclists.
The heart of the Monster is its the 937cc L-twin Testastretta 11° engine with desmodromic distribution, which makes the Monster sporty and fun. Maximum power stands at 111 hp at 9,250 rpm with a torque of 9.5 kgm at just 6,500 rpm. Thanks to the increased displacement compared to the 821-cc version, torque has improved at all revs, particularly medium-low ones, most commonly used on the road and between curves. There’s also a new gearbox, with the Ducati Quick Shift Up/Down fitted as standard.
Ducati's new Monster. @ Andrea Sottana
The subframe, rims, swingarm and above all the frame, which is now an aluminum front frame with load-bearing engine, are all brand new. The motorcycle weighs a ridiculous 366 pounds, guaranteeing ease of cornering as well as parking, or backing up using just your feet. That’s great news, too, for those of us who aren’t big lugs.
The ergonomics of the bike are also improved compared to the 821 version by moving the saddle closer to the handlebar, which allows the rider to maintain a more upright position. Good God, that’s a relief. For the one critique you could make about previous Monsters is the massive pressure on one’s wrists. That’s fixed.
Ducati's new Monster. Ducati
The steering angle has been increased to 36° (a full 7° more than the 821) to facilitate maneuvers and ensure maximum maneuverability even at the low speeds and in the urban context, while the footrests have been repositioned to offer a more comfortable riding position.
ABS Cornering, Traction Control and Wheelie Control, all adjustable to different levels of intervention, are here too, as is Launch Control.
The new Monster is equipped with three Riding Modes (Sport, Urban, Touring) that make it possible to shape the character of the bike according to tastes and needs. Engine delivery is particularly smooth thanks to the Smart Power Modes, which provide specific torque curves in first and second gear (Urban and Touring) or only in first gear (Sport), making riding easier.
Thumbs up for Ducati's new Monster. Ducati
Everything is easily manageable through the handlebar controls and the 4.3"color TFT dashboard, characterized by racing graphics that echo those of the Panigale V4, with a large rev counter that shows the indication of the gear engaged in the center, to always have the essential information under control during sporty riding.
Connectivity is guaranteed by the presence of the Ducati Multimedia System (DMS), enabling the smartphone to be linked to the bike via Bluetooth. A smartphone can also be recharged thanks to the addition of a functional USB port under the saddle.
Ducati's new Monster gets an inspection in Bologna. Ducati
The new Monster is available in the range in Ducati Red and Dark Stealth with black wheels, Aviator Grey with Red GP wheels. For those who want an even more accentuated sportiness, the Monster Plus version is also available in the same colors with the front fairing and passenger seat cover as standard.
Customization options are many, of course. Check out the Ducati.com website with its configurator section, making it possible to view all the customization options.
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75cb7c43f671404c1c3fc8c68e42324b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmax/2021/04/08/video-a-skeptical-auto-journalist-learns-to-love-off-roading/ | VIDEO: A Skeptical Auto Journalist Learns To Love Off-Roading | VIDEO: A Skeptical Auto Journalist Learns To Love Off-Roading
Fox Fox
“I’ll try not to kill ya,” says Dane Garvik, driver of the 2017 Jeep Wrangler JK Unlimited Sport we’re about to take straight down into a mudhole in a forest outside Road Atlanta.
A quick peek reveals we really ought to attach a bungie cord to the vehicle, but Garvik, marketing maven from FOX Shocks, appears to have done this a couple of times before (actually dozens) so the plunge is a rockin’ pleasure, not unlike a roller coaster, except we’re only doing 15 MPH.
I can hear a mess of gravel during this maiden run banging the skid plates, too, here and there. The sound is satisfying.
“You can tell we’re experiencing tons of body roll,” says Garvik.
“YES. IT. IS. APPARENT.” the rest of us manage to say while being bashed left, right, up, and down.
Ride over, all that was left to say was “Let’s go again! Let’s go!”
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FOX Off-road event FOX
Being from the city and having almost no experience with off-roading save the odd press event from Volvo or Land Rover through the years, I could nonetheless tell as each successive Jeep was taken through the woods how much more balanced and pleasurable the rides were, rather than the sweet violence of the first ride which, while a thrill, would probably wear you out pretty quickly.
FOX Off-road event Fox
The invite itself had been a no-brainer: “Using the FOX Proving Grounds next to our tech center outside Road Atlanta,” it read, “We’ll have four vehicles for you to experience, from stock all the way up to our Factory Race Series suspension and a Digital concept.”
FOX Off-road event FOX
A ticket was bought, a bag and guitar were packed and before long, I was mingling with these down-to-earth dudes and bros who had prepared a severe off-road course and Jeeps for me to get banged around over the river and through the woods in aid of demonstrating their high-end, hand-built shock absorbers.
FOX custom shock absorbers FOX
But, of course, it was pure education, too, part of what makes this job continually exciting. I used to think off-roading was a questionable use of time, gas and energy. I’d sooner take photos in the forest than drive through one. This event changed my mind. I just hadn’t done it properly before.
FOX Off-Road event FOX
Comparison rides were delivered in four Jeeps, each outfitted with a more detailed arsenal of equipment designed to maximize the fun factor of off-roading, 2021. Without sounding too much like an ad for Fox, here’s what was on the menu, and what it would cost you to do similar. (You don’t need to have a Jeep - you can do it with whatever rugged machine you own.)
· Vehicle One – 2017 Jeep Wrangler JK Unlimited Sport (100% stock)
· Vehicle Two – 2017 Jeep Wrangler JK Unlimited Sport with FOX Performance 2.0 Series Shocks ($169 x 4 shocks + stabilizer $169 = $845), JKS 2.5” Suspension Lift and 33” BFG KO2 tires on 17” Method wheels
· Vehicle Three – 2020 RMT Overland Jeep Wrangler JL with FOX Performance Elite 2.5 Series Shocks ($1,399 – front/$1,349 – rear + stabilizer $289 = $3,037), JKS 3.5” JKS Suspension Lift, 35” BFG KO2 tires on 17” Method wheels
· Vehicle Four – 2021 Jeep Gladiator JL with FOX Factory Race Series 3.0 Shocks ($2,949 – front/$2,649 – rear + stabilizer $439 = $6,037), JKS 3.5” Suspension Lift and 37” BFG KM3 tires on 17” Method wheels
With each successive Jeep, over the same bumpy course, our ride got smoother and smoother, although “smooth” in this case is relative.
FOX Off-Road event Fox
It was more than just a spin around the forest, though – it got us all back in touch with the ground. Mud. The green leaves on the trees. The air. The things that matter, in other words. After a year of a world gone topsy-turvy, this was a welcome outing indeed.
FOX Off-Road event FOX
A guy named Bob Fox started the company by designing and manufacturing motocross shocks in the early 1970s - a different world, and when gas was 59 cents a gallon.
He then expanded into Superbike racing, Indy 500, snow, desert racing, ATV, truck, Jeep, mountain bike and UTV. The company Fox built went public on the NASDAQ exchange in August 2013, and Braselton became the new FOX headquarters in late 2018.
FOX Off-Road event FOX
Will off-road vehicles singularly blacken the sky? No. Frivolous? Absolutely. But this’ll still be fun when we’ve all gone electric. And fun is important, after all. Ask anyone who was alive in 2020.
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abd3c31e2fb7556d1345c94f8dc0f3e7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshmoody/2018/08/29/two-new-price-matching-programs-rolled-out-at-private-colleges/ | Two New Price-Matching Programs Rolled Out At Private Colleges | Two New Price-Matching Programs Rolled Out At Private Colleges
Student rec center at the University of Maine. (Photo by: Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics via Getty Images)
Price matching isn't just for coupon clippers anymore, now college students can get in on the action too.
Two private schools, Robert Morris University and Oglethorpe University, recently rolled out price-matching programs to compete with state flagship universities and attract students at lower tuition rates.
At Robert Morris, the Public Price Match Plus program is open only to Pennsylvania residents who were accepted at Penn State or the University of Pittsburgh. Students can expect to pay the average cost of attendance at either school (more than $34,000 including fees, room, and board) and will receive an additional $3,000 scholarship before any financial aid is applied from the state, the federal government, or the institution itself.
Current attendance costs for residential students at Robert Morris range from $37,962 to $49,992 depending on living arrangements.
“The Public Price Match Plus is one more way that RMU demonstrates that it is big enough to matter, yet small enough to care,” Wendy Beckemeyer, vice president for enrollment management at Robert Morris, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
University officials told the paper they expect no more than 20 students to qualify each year. Current enrollment at RMU is around 5,000 students.
Unlike RMU’s plan, which is limited to Pennsylvania residents, Oglethorpe University offers its “Flagship 50” price-matching program to out-of-state students.
“Many students and their families believe they must attend a large state school because they can't afford a private college education,” Oglethorpe President Larry Schall told Atlanta Business Chronicle. “Because of perceived costs, many of those students never even apply to a small private college like Oglethorpe. We want to change those misconceptions.”
According to the Oglethorpe website, the university will be competing against state schools with annual tuition and fees as low as $5,500 (University of Wyoming) and up to $18,499 (University of New Hampshire). Oglethorpe’s website lists current tuition costs at $39,300 before fees.
To qualify for Flagship 50, students must be freshmen, have a cumulative high school GPA of 3.5, and an SAT score of 1250 or an ACT score of 26.
Schall told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he expects the program to add about 70 students. Current enrollment is around 1,250 students, the newspaper reported.
Both programs are slated to launch in 2019.
Though unique, tuition price-matching is not unheard of. The University of Maine, a public institution, launched its “Flagship Match” program in 2015.
Like RMU and Oglethorpe, students are required to meet certain qualifications. According to the UMaine website, prospective students must earn a minimum GPA of 3.0, an SAT score of 1120 or ACT score of 22.
The university matches tuition at flagship schools in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Rhode Island, and California.
Upon its launch, UMaine President Susan Hunter (who retired from her post this summer) said the program was intended to boost enrollment as colleges competed over a shrinking pool of high school graduates.
“Enrollment in general is something we’re acutely aware of, and we’re working hard,’’ Hunter told The Boston Globe in 2015. “All of this has become much more of a science because everyone is in this situation of competing for students. Every flagship campus is recruiting from their neighboring states.’’
Following implementation of the program, UMaine picked up numerous out-of-state students and in 2016 The Portland Press Herald reported a 22% enrollment increase under the Flagship Match program.
The following year, the newspaper reported that out-of-state enrollment at UMaine increased by 12%.
This summer UMaine was highlighted in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2019 in a profile that declared the university “a sleeper choice for out-of-staters” for its Flagship Match program.
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e81a7120ae0a746e7e27380197ee6c1a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/05/15/entrepreneurship-can-be-hell/ | Entrepreneurship Can Be Hell | Entrepreneurship Can Be Hell
This is the first part of a two-part post, the second half of which will be posted in a few days. If you like what you read here, or are at least morbidly fascinated by it, and don’t wish to miss the second half, please click the “+ Follow” link above.
Inasmuch as this is my first post as a contributor to Forbes, it would seem introductions are in order. My name is Joshua Steimle. “Steimle” is pronounced to rhyme with "timely". I’m 37 years old. In 1999 I founded an online marketing firm today known as MWI, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later this month I will move with my family to Hong Kong where, amongst other things, my wife and I will adopt our third child and I will open a branch office of my firm. Despite living the entrepreneurial lifestyle, I am not without hobbies. I enjoy triathlon, trail running, skateboarding (the real kind, in which arms get broken), reading, writing, design and art, punk rock, the outdoors, startups, anything lean, spending time with family, and serving in my church (I’m a Mormon). I have a Master’s of Information Systems Management from Brigham Young University and plan to return to school in a few years to earn a PhD in business strategy.
Every entrepreneur has a story, and this is the first part of mine.
An Ancestry of Entrepreneurs
"Skipper" Steimle at Pine View Lodge
I come from an entrepreneurial ancestry. My paternal grandfather, Leonard "Skipper" Steimle, owned a family-friendly resort named Pine View Lodge in the mountains east of Los Angeles. He also founded and directed a seamanship camp on Balboa Peninsula. His wife, my grandmother, was very much involved in these ventures, as were their children, which of course included my father. My maternal grandfather, Walter Wickstrom, started and ran his own HVAC business. My Grandmother Wickstrom was a talented artist.
My parents had mostly “normal” jobs. Both started out as public school teachers. My father later returned to school to get a second degree, this time in physics. He went on to do work for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech. My mother has always been creative and encouraged me to experiment and explore the world.
In my family I saw firsthand I wasn’t dependent on anyone else to provide me with a job or career. I could create my own path. In the 80s my father created a rather complex device, the Broadband, Achromatic, Twyman-Greene Interferometer, which was designed to test optical filters. He received the rights from his employer to sell it on his own and did so. I remember him creating logos, brochures, and videos, and doing sales calls with potential customers. When I was about 10 years old he took me on a trip to deliver and install two of the instruments. I went with him as he met customers and trained them on the use of his product. It opened my eyes to the simple idea that one can see a problem, create a product or service to fix the problem, and that as a result both the buyer and the seller benefit.
My parents supported my early attempts at entrepreneurship. While I was in high school my father loaned me $1,000 to buy skateboard goods at wholesale, which I then sold at skate spots out of the trunk of my car. I never made much money, but it supported my own skateboarding habit. More importantly, that experience led me to switch my college studies from art and design to business and information systems. From my parents and grandparents the foundation was set for me to go into business. But one more experience would be the tipping point that would lead me to go into business for myself.
Dot-Com Dreams
In mid-1999 I was working as a $13/hr web designer for a Provo, Utah company named MyComputer.com, later renamed Omniture, and acquired a few years ago by Adobe for $1.8B. I was employee #22 or #23, as I recall. As I worked at MyComputer.com I saw a company being built from scratch by two founders, Josh James and John Pestana, who were not much older than I was. They would come back from trips and talk about the VCs they were meeting with and the growth of the company. I realized I didn’t just want to work for a startup, I wanted to do a startup.
Five months after I was hired on at MyComputer.com I quit to start a web design firm. John Pestana tried to talk me out of it. He had run a web design firm before. “It’s not scalable. You’ll learn to hate having clients. It’s a terrible business, you shouldn’t do it.” He was right. But there’s no fun in heeding good advice.
My web design firm was called DonLoper.com (there's an interesting story about the name, but too long to share here). My wife and I had just been married and we were poor college students. We figured we had nothing to lose. [This is Josh’s wife, Brynn, here. Just for the record, I never figured we had nothing to lose. But Josh convinced me it would work out, and I was supportive.]
Reality
Hope and dreams didn’t get me very far. I thought I could build a website and the clients would appear out of thin air. I effectively went broke within a month. I sold virtually everything we owned on eBay. It was hell. I felt like a dunce. A failure. An idiot. Then a client came along. And then another, and another. Things slowly got better. The dot-com crash of 2000 came and went, and I got by at a subsistence level. Then I landed a relatively large client and started making what I felt was very good money. But rather than enjoying it, I couldn’t resist the desire to grow the business. Despite my wife and me being full-time students, I rented office space, hired employees, and brought on two partners.
I was in no way prepared to run a business that had employees and a payroll. I had no sense of reality, but merely assumed everything would work out. Kind of like when I had left MyComputer.com almost a year earlier. Just as with that first attempt, I went broke within a month of my attempt to take my business to the next level. I let people go whom I had hired just weeks earlier. My partners and I went with reduced pay or no pay at all. Once again, it was hell. Why hadn’t I just enjoyed the money I was making? I could have been freelancing 15-20 hours a week, taking it easy in school, and instead I was running around working 40 hours a week, neglecting my studies, and not getting paid a dime.
But I couldn’t give up on it. And as with my first start, things slowly got better. We landed a client, and then another. Enough business trickled in to keep things going, and to give us hope. We changed the name to Mindwire Interactive and kept moving forward. Several months later things started to go quite well.
As we entered the Fall of 2001 we were working on three deals. These were big deals. Game changers. We had appointments to close deals with two of the companies. The date of the two appointments was September 11th, 2001. As I was getting ready to go to work that morning my wife told me a plane had crashed into one of the Trade Towers in New York. I assumed it was something small, like a Cesna, and merely an accident. I got in the shower, not thinking any more about it.
A few minutes later I got out of the shower, and heard that a second plane had hit the other tower. As I watched the towers fall on live TV I saw the world change in front of my eyes. I wondered if I should go to work. It seemed wrong. I felt paralyzed. And yet I had a business to run and classes to go to later that day. I drove to the office.
Once I got to the office we called our clients. We hesitantly asked “Do you still want us to come to your office for the meeting?”
“No,” they both said. “We need to reassess things in light of what happened this morning. We’ll let you know.”
As you may recall, two of the industries hardest hit in the aftermath of 9/11 were air travel and tourism. One of our deals was a new website for an airline, the other two were for ski resorts. Two of the deals were canceled. One followed through.
We almost went out of business. I feel a bit guilty talking about 9/11’s impact on me and my business. 3,000 people died. Families and lives were shattered. Businesses and livelihoods were destroyed. My business merely lost two contracts. What right do I have to say it was a difficult period for the company and for me personally? But it was.
Many of our competitors did go out of business. But because of our previous difficulties we were already running a lean ship. It was a bit of hell once again, but not as bad as before. And things improved. A year later we were widely recognized as one of the premiere web design firms in Utah. By this time one of my partners had moved on. In 2002 my remaining partner and I jointly received the Utah Small Business Association Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. We made the list of the top 25 fastest growing companies in Utah. I wrote the winning plan for the BYU Student Business Plan Competition and received 3rd place in the BYU Student Entrepreneur of the Year Competition. Things were going well.
Despite our success, my partner and I had differing opinions about how to manage Mindwire. In 2002 we were approached by a NASDAQ-listed firm about being bought out. I saw a buyout as an easy way for us to part ways amicably. My partner would go work for the acquiring company, and I would be able to start over on my own and do things my way. It seemed like a win-win. In January, 2003 a deal was signed. I got a large chunk of stock and our domain name, mwi.com, and the acquiring company took our receivables, client list, employees, equipment, and the name Mindwire.
Insanity
Operating under the new name MWI, I took out a $100,000 SBA loan, moved into new office space, and hired a new team of employees. This time I knew what I was doing, having made all the mistakes I could have possibly made during the previous two and a half years. Or so I figured. But the pattern I had already twice experienced, or put myself through, repeated itself once more..and on a grander scale.
During 2003, the company that had bought my firm went bankrupt. The stock I had been given, and which was under a restriction that prohibited me from selling it for one year, was worthless. The acquiring company defaulted on virtually all their contractual commitments. And yet they threatened legal action if I tried to go and reacquire my previous clients. The deal I thought would bring me some financial stability, if not make me wealthy, ended up costing me tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention much of my time and attention during the critical startup phase of my new business.
However, I can’t blame all my problems with MWI on the acquisition. I made plenty of my own mistakes, some the same as the ones I had made before, and some new. I figured the only reasons some of the things I had tried before didn’t work were because I didn’t have enough money to back them up, or I didn’t have the right team in place. But I was wrong.
As a consequence of external events and my own poor choices, after a paycheck or two in early 2003, I went without pay for the next four years. We had no savings. My wife’s social science graduate degree and job working for the State of Utah provided us with enough to live on, but just barely. We lived in a small studio apartment above a garage. We cut our personal expenses every way we could to keep the business alive. And I borrowed. First from the bank, then on credit cards, then from vendors to whom we owed money, from family, and even from the IRS in the form of unpaid payroll taxes (sidenote: don’t do this). I worked 80 to 90 hour weeks. I missed family events. I didn’t hang out with friends. My wife didn’t see much of me. The business occupied my thoughts whenever I was awake, and there wasn’t room for much else.
Rock-Bottom
By early 2007 I was miserable. I had taken on almost $500,000 in business debt. I was broke, hopeless, and depressed. I was a wreck physically after years of little to no exercise, insufficient sleep, and a steady diet of fast food. I saw other people start businesses and hit it big within a year or two, and I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong. It seemed so arbitrary. I felt like a gold miner watching everyone around me taking huge gold nuggets out of their claims while I just kept digging a bigger hole in the ground. I couldn’t earn enough to support my family, let alone pay off my debts. I felt like my life was predetermined, and it wasn’t pretty. I was destined to a life of indentured servitude, working to pay off a debt so large it would never be gone. It was hell, once again.
There are those who will say “Pfff, $500K? Big deal. I’ve lost millions. I’ve been millions in debt. Get over it.” I did get over it. Exactly how, I’ll cover in my next post. Click the “+ Follow” link at the top of this article to be notified when that post goes live. The point I want to make here is that despite the stories you hear about so and so’s techie son getting rich off an app he developed, there are also plenty of stories like that of James Altucher losing millions very quickly. Those who have been through it know what it feels like. Unfortunately, some end their lives on this note, never realizing they could have escaped. What I know, James knows, and many others know, is that we’re all capable of crawling out of some amazingly deep holes. Half of the game is to just keep on going.
I share my experiences not because I want your pity or because my suffering makes me worthy of any praise. The challenges and trials I’ve experienced were real, but in retrospect were almost entirely of my own making and completely within my power to overcome. And current events remind those of us who play business that our struggles are minor compared to what others in the world are going through. I share my experiences, even the embarrassing ones, because it would be a shame if I were the only one to benefit from the lessons I’ve learned.
The next post will be about how I dug and am still digging out of my hole. In other posts I will share lessons I’ve learned from experiments as an entrepreneur. Most people are happy to share stories of success, and I’ll share those too, but I’ll also be frank and open about the ugly times. That’s where some of the most useful lessons have come from. I’ll write about starting a business in Hong Kong, as it’s happening, and what it’s like to manage teams in two countries. And I’ll write about other ideas, trends, and companies I have particular interest or knowledge in and of. Future topics will include:
Recovering from business failure How the book The 4-Hour Work Week changed my life Running a small business without any full-time employees Results-only work environments Happiness as a strategy What's wrong with having a NLFO (nice living for the owner) business? Extreme focus vs. parallel entrepreneurship Why I don't ask potential hires about their college degrees or GPA Why I sometimes trash talk college degrees when I have a graduate degree and am planning on getting a PhD Running a business by the book(s) Healthy living for time-strapped entrepreneurs Startup dilemmas; should I have a partner or not? Why you shouldn't put your Harvard MBA application out on the web Why you should put your Harvard MBA application out on the web
I also want to know what you’re interested in and what questions you have. Is there anything I can help you with? Is there anything you’d like me to share? Please let me know in the comments section below. As I create new posts I hope you’ll be frank as you post comments, feedback, and criticism. I’m looking forward to this new opportunity to learn, and I hope you’ll join me.
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8cf999994d87b3ca4321f2b6ccb87752 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/05/22/why-apple-should-have-a-0-tax-rate/ | Why Apple Should Have A 0% Tax Rate | Why Apple Should Have A 0% Tax Rate
Call me utopian, unrealistic, or insane, but I advocate for a permanent 0% tax rate on Apple , as well as on all other corporations. Although I see a moral component, from a purely economic standpoint it comes to this--who can do more good for society with a given amount of capital, the government or Apple?
Yesterday Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, testified before Congress regarding Apple’s practice of avoiding paying any more taxes than it is forced to. For this, Apple has been excoriated by politicians, demonized by the press, and vilified by the general public. The statements I’ve heard and read can be summed up thusly; that either Apple is acting criminally and Tim Cook should be imprisoned, if not executed, or that Apple is not doing anything illegal, but it is being unethical.
Criminal, Unethical, Or Neither?
To those who claim Apple and its executives are acting criminally, I ask them to prove their case in a court of law. If Apple is violating any laws, it can be prosecuted for it. If it is not violating a law, but you believe there should be a law against what it is doing, then contact your government representative and ask them to change the law.
In response to those who claim Apple is acting unethically I would ask whether you feel you are acting unethically when you claim deductions such as that granted for interest on your home mortgage. When you visit your tax consultant or CPA each year to calculate your taxes and he says “You can save some money on your taxes if you do such and such...” do you respond by asking how dare he suggest such unethical behavior? Is there a substantive difference between Apple's "tax evasion" and yours?
The thinking behind such opinions seems to be that some portion of Apple’s profits rightly belongs to the American people, and that the US government and the American people are one and the same. Therefore any attempt by a company to do as it sees fit with its profits is a form of theft from the American people. I would posit, rather, that any involuntary transaction is theft, and since the corporate tax is involuntary it should be abandoned on moral grounds alone. But let’s leave that discussion for another day. Rather, let’s look at the matter from the standpoint of economics and benefits to society.
Although there are several logical reasons for a 0% corporate tax rate, there is one primary, economically-based reason why Apple should not pay a corporate tax, and that is the fact that Apple knows how to use money more efficiently for the benefit of society than the government does or can.
What Is "The Government?"
First, let us recognize that government is simply an organization that provides goods and services. The idea that “we the people” are the government is a quaint ideal, but bears little resemblance to reality. I find it healthier to think of government, or “the State”, as something akin to Wal-Mart or any other corporation. Except whereas Wal-Mart can’t force us to buy its products and services and must therefore entice us by providing the things we want at low prices, the State passes laws requiring us to purchase its services (think public education or Social Security). It also has the power to outlaw competition, making itself not just a monopoly, but a coercive one, as in the case of the US Post Office. Imagine the uproar there would be if a law were passed requiring every citizen of the United States to buy their food at Wal-Mart. And yet the State passes laws forcing us to buy its products and services and we largely acquiesce, assuming this is the best way to run things.
Apple, like the State, is also an organization that provides goods and services. When we say that the State should get a portion of Apple’s profits, rather than Apple retaining those profits, we are saying one of two things, either; 1) that society will benefit more by that money being in the hands of the State than in Apple’s hands, or 2) that there are certain parts of society that will benefit more if that money is managed by the State, and that we as a society have an obligation to take care of those parts which would otherwise be neglected. In both cases I take a contrary viewpoint.
Who Does More Good?
I would argue that Apple’s products have done more to benefit the poor in this country, not to mention the general population, than any government program. That’s not saying much, since many government programs do harm. One need look no further than the effect of the minimum wage on minority communities. The hard part is quantifying the benefits to society from Apple’s wares. If I buy iPhones for my employees and my company becomes more productive as a result, allowing me to provide more and better services at a lower cost and thus contributing to a generally higher standard of living for society, this does not show up on any government website. It does not get reported in the news. There will be no press conference trumpeting this fact. The benefits are generalized and difficult to quantify. It is a small benefit spread across a large group of people. But if a politician takes (to use a polite term) Apple’s profits and creates a new government program that ostensibly benefits the poor, there will be press conferences, a massive media push, and individuals will be trotted out as examples of how this new program will change lives. The benefits are specific and easily quantifiable. A large benefit for a small group of people. Anyone who questions whether this is the best use of those funds is easily demonized as being insensitive and of wanting the poor to die in the streets.
One simple way we could measure the benefits of Apple vs. the State would be to allow people to vote for what they think would improve their lives more. We could allow people to vote with dollars. If someone thinks their life would be more enriched by an iPhone than say, a State-managed retirement program, they could choose the iPhone instead of participating in Social Security. Somehow I get the impression the State is afraid to let people make these types of decisions. Politicians will say (not in these words) it’s because people are too stupid to make good decisions on their own and need the State to take care of them. The truth is if people were allowed to choose then the money would flow somewhere other than government, and politicians and government bureaucrats would lose their power.
I am not saying the State never helps anyone. I am only saying it is not as efficient at allocating resources for the benefit of society as individuals and private corporations acting in a free market. Ever. The State is not the source of our prosperity and increased standards of living over the past 100 years. Rather the lives of billions have improved over the past few decades in spite of the State as entrepreneurs have enjoyed more freedom to innovate. Where the State can claim any success it is because it imitates what free individuals would do if they were left alone. Were the State truly a better provider it would not require force to compel us to consume its services.
Removing the corporate income tax is the moral thing to do. It is also the economically sensible thing to do. If we want to help the poor as well as society generally we should, amongst other things, permanently remove the corporate income tax.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, an online marketing firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Hong Kong. He blogs at DonLoper.com and is working on a book entitled You Might Be An Entrepreneur If..., to be released in 2014.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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78698942d9945d672c8447de68ae9d2d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/06/10/edward-snowden-and-the-disruption-of-government/ | Edward Snowden And The Disruption Of Government | Edward Snowden And The Disruption Of Government
Edward Snowden yesterday revealed himself as the whistleblower behind the now infamous NSA leaks. Snowden, a former worker at the CIA and most recently an employee of private contractor Booz Allen, has worked on NSA related projects for the past four years. Amongst the statements made by Snowden, and at least partially supported by the leaked documents, is the claim the US government has virtually unlimited capabilities when it comes to listening in on phone calls and tracking Internet usage. As Snowden stated, “They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type.”
Edward Snowden. Photograph: The Guardian
Some ask why this is news. Haven’t we known the US government watches everything we do online, or is at least developing the capability? The newsworthiness of the matter stems from the evidence being as detailed and credible as it is and coming as it does on the heels of stories of abuses of government power such as the targeting of political groups by the IRS. What many viewed as the domain of deranged conspiracy theorists, novels like 1984, and Hollywood suddenly looks more like reality. The NSA leaks are a large stone removed from an already eroding foundation of trust in the US government.
What will happen to Snowden is now anyone’s guess. He is holed up in a hotel in Hong Kong, the same city I now call home, apparently waiting for someone else to make the next move.
What I want to focus on in this post is not Snowden himself, but what he represents, and what this may mean for governments and peoples over the next few decades. I believe we are in the midst of a centuries-long shift of power from state entities to the people those states have traditionally governed. What exactly the result of this evolution will be I don’t know, but I believe “the State” as we know it has a limited lifespan and what replaces it, while perhaps imperfect, will be an improvement in terms of peace and prosperity. Much of this transformation will be due to greater educational opportunities for the general population and increased transparency in governmental affairs. And it can be explained in part by examining the research and teachings of noted icons of the business world Clayton Christensen, John Boyd, and Sun Tzu.
Let us first examine the backgrounds and core theories of each of these figures.
Clayton Christensen is a professor at the Harvard Business School and author of the wildly popular books The Innovator’s Dilemma and its sequels. Christensen introduced the concept of disruptive innovation, a process by which small companies with inferior products have disrupted industries and eliminated competitors by targeting non-consumption. The smaller company with the inferior product survives because it is of no immediate threat to the larger, more established corporation. In fact, the larger competitor will sometimes gladly give its least profitable customers to the smaller company, glad to move upstream and focus on bigger customers and markets with larger margins. But over time the inferior product improves, and one day its quality and convenience surpasses that provided by the larger company, and suddenly the larger company is out of business. Think about what the home PC did to the supercomputer, and what Netflix did to Blockbuster. The graph below illustrates this concept.
Image Courtesy Wikipedia
Think about Blockbuster and Netflix. Netflix entered the market as a “low-quality” product compared to Blockbuster. You had to wait days to get your DVDs instead of being able to pick them up immediately. It also wasn’t very profitable compared to Blockbuster’s business model. But Netflix improved. Eventually the quality of the product surpassed the quality of Blockbuster’s, at a much lower price, and it was game over for Blockbuster. By the time Blockbuster reacted it was too little, too late.
John Boyd was an Air Force officer, military strategist, and to say he was unpopular with the majority of his superiors would be an understatement. But his ideas and insights were so profound and his drive so incessant that despite this opposition he changed the art of warfare forever. His ideas led directly to the designs of three of the most successful aircraft in operation; the A-10 Warthog, F-16, and F-18.
One of John Boyd’s most notable contributions to military science is the OODA loop (for observe, orient, decide, and act). As Boyd put it, “Operate inside the adversary’s observation-orientation-decision and action loops to enmesh adversary in a world of uncertainty, doubt, mistrust, confusion, disorder, fear, panic, chaos… and or fold the adversary back inside himself so that he cannot cope with events/efforts as they unfold.” In other words, he who performs the four activities of the OODA loop faster than his opponent and then repeats the cycle, will generally win.
Boyd was in turn influenced by Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese general, military strategist, and philosopher who lived around 500 BC. The concept of OODA loop would have been familiar to Sun Tzu, who stated “He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.” If Sun Tzu had included the time component, it would have been almost exactly what Boyd was communicating via his OODA loop. When one opponent can change his tactics faster than his enemy, the enemy gets thrown off balance, becomes confused, and ultimately will lose.
Applied to the State, these theories spell the end of government as we know it. Perhaps not now, perhaps not in our lifetimes, but it is a likely occurrence at some future date. The State is in the process of being disrupted.
It is difficult to say when it started, but amongst other events such as the invention of the printing press we could point to the Magna Carta, Revolutionary War, and adoption of the US Constitution as major developments. Let’s look at these events through the lens of disruptive innovation as taught by Clayton Christensen. Christensen might first ask us to look for non-consumption. This is somewhat trickier than looking for non-consumption in a business sense. The “product” in this case is power. In England circa 1150 power was consumed primarily by the king, his courtiers, and other well-connected individuals and institutions. The non-consumers were the masses. Then what was the disruptive innovation?
The disruptive innovation was the rule of law. Up until the Magna Carta “the law of the land” was whatever the king said it was, and it could change on a whim. The Magna Carta was something new. It was a written set of rules that made the actions of the State somewhat predictable, rather than completely arbitrary. The US Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights continued this trend.
To understand what is happening we must know the identity of the startup, or small company competing against the large one (the State). In this case the non-consumer and the startup are one and the same, the people. That is, the people create the product, or power, and they also consume it. The result of the disruption of the State comes when enough people realize they can retain all power to themselves, effectively provide themselves with products and services traditionally managed by the State, and cut out the State as an inefficient middleman.
The challenge is the State doesn’t want to go away. As historian Dr. Carroll Quigley pointed out in his writings on instrumentality and institutionalization, the State begins as an instrument to serve society but ends up as an institution serving its own needs. These needs center around self-preservation and expansion of State authority and power. All governments exist by the consent of the governed, but by and large the governed do not push back. They’re busy working jobs, raising families, and going about their business. The masses need considerable prodding before they rebel against abuses performed by the State. But when the abuse of power, or at least the perception of abuse, reaches a tipping point, it is difficult for the State to maintain power.
Just as corporate behemoths like Blockbuster can bring great resources to bear on threats to its existence, so can the State. Even so, corrupted states fail for many of the same reasons as Blockbuster. The primary reason corporations as well as governments fail is they do not produce what consumers want, or they produce what consumers want but not at price points consumers appreciate. This makes them vulnerable to competitors.
These competitors might not be well versed on John Boyd or Sun Tzu, but they possess certain inherent advantages that guide their actions to be consistent with what these two military strategists taught. First, they connect better with their consumers. When it comes to people vs. the State, where the people are both producer and consumer, who better to be in touch with the people’s desires than the people themselves? Watching the posturing of politicians responding to the NSA leaks by demanding Snowden’s extradition while ignoring polls showing a clear majority of Americans do not support the broad monitoring programs exposed by the leaks provides a relevant case study.
Second, smaller competitors are naturally agile relative to their lumbering counterparts. Combined with their understanding of the consumer this allows them to apply Boyd’s OODA loop to get inside their opponent’s decision making process and cause confusion such that “he cannot cope with events/efforts as they unfold.” The various responses of the NSA and the US government certainly do seem to imply some level of confusion. The size and bulk of the US government makes it difficult if not impossible, even with its enormous resources, to respond quickly enough and change its tactics. They may be able to get Snowden, but he’s one of many. Just as Snowden followed in the wake of Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, there will be more whistleblowers. There will be more rejection of government products and services. Whether we will see the day when the people of any major country reject the State in its entirety and rely upon true self-government remains to be seen, but we appear to be moving in that direction.
The primary difference between the State and the companies used as examples in Christensen’s books is the ability of the State to outlaw competition. In a free market consumers can refuse to make purchases from one company in favor of another, which hastens the process of disruptive innovation. But try telling the State you no longer desire to use its services or pay for them and see how that goes. Still, although this presents a challenge to the disruption of the State, once consumers realize they can have something many times better at a fraction of the price, or something they were never able to have before, change will happen.
This is the process that started almost 800 years ago with the Magna Carta. People began to withdraw consent and demand power be returned to them from those who ruled over them. The process continues today, and Edward Snowden’s motivations appear to be in that vein. Regardless of Snowden’s role as messenger, the allegations of the message have certainly stoked emotions of doubt regarding the State. As people gain more access to information via the Internet and other secondary channels they will become increasingly disillusioned with the products and services provided to them by their governments and they will look for alternative solutions. We will see more unrest not unlike what has happened with the Arab Spring movement, most recently on display in Turkey. Sometimes these upheavals will lead to something better, sometimes it will be more of 2-steps-forward-1-step-back. But just as innovative disruption in the corporate world leads over time to a higher standard of living for all, I also expect that, with time, disruption of the State will lead us to a brighter future. If Snowden’s actions hasten that disruption, I say more power to him.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, an online marketing firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Hong Kong. He blogs at DonLoper.com and is working on a book entitled You Might Be An Entrepreneur If..., to be released in 2014.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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d34c426b30dcc125ee94a82f114da73f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/06/12/living-the-4-hour-workweek/ | Living The 4-Hour Workweek | Living The 4-Hour Workweek
I was surprised by the responses to one of my previous articles, A Love Letter to Tim Ferris And The 4-Hour Workweek. I wasn’t surprised that people were so positive about the book--that was expected. What surprised me was how many people were truly applying the book in their lives. Here are some examples:
“Traveling the coastlines of Central America for 9 months out of the last year as a digital nomad was a direct result of brainwashing received in 4HWW. Most influential book I have read in the last five years.” - Jeremy Page
“Tim’s book had probably the largest impact on both my business and personal lives. Applying the principles in his book I was able to move all my business online and work smarter from my computer remotely. The last few years I was putting my business to the test while traveling. Exploring all of Central America and most recently Medellin, Colombia (my favorite so far) where the avocados are the size of softballs. Which by the way makes for ridiculous eggocados. (Another thanks to Tim.)” - Tyler Gillespie
“It's because of Tim's comments on Berlin in this book that I decided to live 1 month in Berlin... starting my love affair with traveling through Europe.” - Bryan Zazz
(Credit: iStock)
When I was asked to be a contributor to Forbes, one of the articles I planned to write was about living The 4-Hour Workweek. I assumed most people who read the book loved it, but then didn’t make any substantive changes in their lives. I know all too well how easy it is to open a great book but, once the cover is closed, never think of it again. The comments like those above have me wondering if I underestimated Tim’s fans. Let’s find out, shall we? I’ll briefly share some of the ways my life has changed, in large part due to The 4-Hour Workweek. Then, if you have read and applied the book, I’d like to hear your stories. Please share how The 4-Hour Workweek has changed your life in the comments section below.
The The 4-Hour Workweek has changed my life and my business in several ways. It helped me to start reading books voraciously once again, got me out of the house and involved with triathlon, and helped me realize how important my family is to me. Perhaps the most outwardly noticeable change the book has prompted in my life is what’s happening right now.
I’m typing this from a Korean Air 747 en route to Hong Kong where my family and I will be living for the next few years. No one offered me a job there--I own my own business. There are compelling business reasons for going, but just as compelling reasons to stay where I was in Salt Lake City, Utah. No friend or associate is dragging me out there.
Nine months ago we made the decision to adopt from Asia, not for any particular reason other than we felt guided to (many other adoptive parents will be able to relate). Then came the questions of logistics. What if we had to travel to China (China was the country we were focused on at the time) for a month to pick up our new child? What would we do with the two children we already have? We weren’t willing to spend a month or two away from them. And taking them seemed daunting as well. One day I asked my wife “Why don’t we just move there?”
At first the idea seemed crazy. Uproot our children? Drop them into another culture, another language, another world that none of us has any experience with? Then again, why not? The more we thought about it, the more the challenges started to sound like opportunities. As a family we’ll travel the world, be exposed to new cultures, and learn new languages. And because we’ll be adopting an older child, a daughter, our immersion in the language and culture will help us to make the transition for her easier than it might otherwise be.
But again, what about work? I run an online marketing firm (MWI). I have clients and employees, and it keeps me fairly busy. But fortunately, because I’ve taken steps over the past few years to make the location from which I work largely a non factor, I can work from anywhere as long as I have my Macbook Pro and a good Internet connection.
All that said, even after making the decision to move, there were mornings I would wake up and think “What are we doing? This is nuts!” And almost every time I would think about The 4-Hour Workweek and the stories Tim told about families living on sailboats for a year, or a single mother with three kids living in multiple foreign countries she had no experience with, and I’d think “Calm down. We can do this. It’s going to be great.”
This move to Hong Kong will completely change the course of our family, not just for me, my wife, and our children, but for who knows how many generations of grandchildren and great grandchildren. And without The 4-Hour Workweek I don’t believe it would be happening.
Well, our flight will be landing soon so I better wrap this up. How has The 4-Hour Workweek changed your life? Have you moved to a foreign country? Have you made a career change? Launched a business? What have you done because of the book that you wouldn’t have done otherwise? I want to hear your stories. Others do, too.
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0ecbcc9f9f8538382bfcfdaab666a5ac | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/06/18/im-a-business-owner-should-i-learn-to-code/ | I'm A Business Owner -- Should I Learn To Code? | I'm A Business Owner -- Should I Learn To Code?
If you’ve seen the video of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and other celebrities extolling the virtues of knowing how to code, it’s hard to justify not knowing how to code. The first time I watched the video I came away from the experience believing if I just gained some programming skills I would suddenly be more attractive, smarter, and the next web-billionaire. Who wouldn’t want to code? Everyone should code! At least everyone else should, but should I?
It’s not that I don’t want to code. I would love to code. And I’m not speaking from complete ignorance of the skill. My first experiences coding came along in the early 1980s with the RadioShack TRS-80 (yes, RadioShack used to be a leading manufacturer of computers!) and the Apple IIe, greenscreen and all. I remember my father teaching me how to do some basic programming in...well, BASIC. I then largely ignored computers for the rest of the 80s and half of the 90s, other than for video games. It wasn’t until 1997 I became interested in them again.
In 1997, I had just gotten back from a two year stint as a missionary for the LDS Church in Brazil. I had completed a year of college just prior to that and planned on eventually going to Art Center in Pasadena, California. But while a missionary, I decided that business was my true calling in life and I changed my major. Once back at college I learned about a major dubbed “Information Systems” that was half business, half technology. I figured having some technology background couldn’t hurt, so I started working in that direction.
At this time, the Internet was just getting off the ground, and the only way I knew how to get involved while a student was to build my own website. I started with a GeoCities account but quickly realized I needed my own website if I wanted to truly learn something about building websites. I purchased a domain name (donloper.com, which I still use as my personal blog), learned about FTP and browsers and such, and started teaching myself HTML by copying other websites I liked. I have to say I got pretty good at HTML coding, up until CSS came along. If, for some reason, you need a website coded up with tables the way we built them in 1999, I’m your man.
In 1998, I was accepted into an integrated program at BYU in Provo, Utah which would give me both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Information Systems Management when I graduated in 2002. While in that program I learned how to program in VisualBasic, PowerBuilder, Java, PHP, and ASP. I used the phrase “learned to program” loosely, as I didn’t learn how to program very well. The guys (and occasional gal) who excelled at programming were the ones staying up all night doing it because they loved it. I felt I was capable of loving it, but didn’t have the time.
In 1999, I started a web development firm, and running that business and going to school at the same time occupied all my time. I was hiring programmers, and I could understand what they were talking about, but there was no way I could get up to speed myself well enough to get client projects done. There just weren’t enough hours in the day. Plus there didn’t seem to be any reason to do the work myself because I could always hire someone a lot more skilled. It made sense for me to focus on what I was best at (bringing home the bacon) and let other focus on getting the work done.
Fast forward to 2013 and not much has changed. I’ve never improved my programming skills beyond what they were in 2002 when I graduated. I can talk the talk, but I can’t walk the walk.
I now find myself wanting to learn how to code not because I feel I’m missing out on an amazing world I don’t understand, or because it will make me smarter or improve my looks, or because I want to get rid of the experts I’ve hired and do client work myself, but because there are personal side projects I want to work on and I can’t find programmers to do them. Salary surveys understate the anecdotal evidence. In Utah, where the cost of living is relatively low, a good programmer can easily command a six-figure salary with generous benefits and perks. And many of the best programmers I’ve worked with want to start their own companies, or join startups with venture capital funding, rather than play around on my startup ideas that have limited budgets. Over the past 14 years or so, I’ve had a number of programmers get halfway through one of my side projects and then tell me “Sorry, I’m just not interested in finishing this.” I don’t blame anyone for quitting a project they’re not interested in working on, but the problem for me remains--I need to find a way to get the projects done.
But this brings up the question of where I should focus my time. I’m sure I could become a good programmer, but how much time would it take? Do I even have that much time? Am I better off coming up with ideas and hiring expert programmers to implement them, despite the challenges with how that has worked out in the past? Of course, it would be good to learn how to code, but when it comes to deciding what’s good, what’s better, and what’s best, is it at the top of the list? I have a family, I’m running two companies, starting a third, I just moved to Hong Kong, I’m writing a book, and I need to get out and get some exercise. At the moment, I don’t know where I would fit it in.
I am grateful for the amount of coding experience I have, however minimal. I have experienced many of the benefits portrayed in the video linked above. And it has allowed me to communicate better with employees, clients, and partners because I have a basic understanding of the technology they deal with every day. I think perhaps it would be good for many business owners to learn how to code. I'm just not sure about this one.
Did you learn to code later in life? What was your motivation? How did you make the time? Should I learn to code? Should all business owners learn to code?
Update: I just signed up at Codecademy and went through the first lesson. I don't know how far I'll go with this, but if you've never been to the website you should check it out. Then send your kids there.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, an online marketing firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Hong Kong. He blogs at DonLoper.com and is working on a book entitled You Might Be An Entrepreneur If..., to be released in 2014.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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a3cfeced38019cc426a99d199368fbdf | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/07/02/the-books-i-wish-i-had-read-before-i-became-an-entrepreneur/ | Books I Wish I Had Read Before I Became An Entrepreneur | Books I Wish I Had Read Before I Became An Entrepreneur
Seth Godin asks “Can an audiobook change your life?” That’s an easy question for me to answer, because books, in both audio and other formats, have most definitely changed my business and my life. My only regret is that I didn’t find these books sooner. It’s hardly any comfort to know they didn’t exist when I was starting my business.
Those of you youngsters starting up today can’t comprehend how good you have it. A mere 10 or 20 years ago business schools looked at startups as small enterprises, rather than as entirely different entities than large corporations. Today entrepreneurship and startups are the subject of much academic research. When I won the student business plan competition at Brigham Young University in 2001 they gave me a check for $5,000 and wished me well. I was grateful. That check helped me make payroll. In 2012 the winner of that competition, AutoBid, took home $50,000 and received press, investor interest, and the opportunity to compete in other business plan competitions with similarly large prizes. And the books, oh, the books that exist today.
When I was getting started in business I read books like Good to Great, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and Crossing the Chasm. These are all great books, but they were focused primarily on larger companies. Sure, they had principles that could be distilled to help me as a budding entrepreneur, but they weren’t focused on me and my situation. Today we have at our fingertips a number of books so clearly beneficial to entrepreneurs, especially tech entrepreneurs, that when I read them I can’t imagine they didn’t exist decades ago. Here are my top five:
The Founder’s Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman
You may have the next Facebook in your hands, but if you don’t set up your founding team correctly you’re dead before you even get started. Too many startups get the idea, the technology, and the business model right, and then assume everything will work out when it comes to the people involved only to find out after six months that the CTO is quitting and he wants to keep his 30% equity stake in the company.
This research-based, data-driven book is a critical addition to any startup founder’s library. If I were an angel investor I wouldn’t consider giving you money until every member of your team read this book and could converse knowledgeably with me about it.
Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
This book is not required reading for every entrepreneur. If you’re starting a restaurant, you can do without it. But if you’re working on a tech startup and you plan to raise angel or venture funding then it might just save your business.
This book, now in its second edition, is the handbook on raising venture funding for your business. It is not a book to inspire you. I don’t recall many, if any, stories. What it is full of are details about how to talk to VCs, how to structure a deal, when to talk to an attorney, and what to talk to them about. It is the nuts and bolts of doing venture deals, and how to not get ripped off in the process.
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
This is the first business book I ever read that changed how I did business. When I read Good to Great I loved it, but other than “it’s important to get the right people in the right seats on the bus” I didn’t get many takeaways. With The 4-Hour Workweek, on the other hand, when I finished I had a list of 20 specific action items to work on the next day.
The book is half inspiration and half instruction manual. Tim’s story sets the stage and may change your perspective not just on business, but on money and your life. The second half tells you how to go about launching a startup and getting to the point where you can work just 4 hours per week, if you choose. The dirty secret is that hardly anyone chooses to do that. The entrepreneurial dream these days isn’t about making money while you sleep, it’s about changing the world. If that’s your dream don’t let the title of this book turn you off. It’s not about being lazy, it’s about making your dreams come true.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries and The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
Alright, I’m cheating on my “top 5” list by sneaking two in together, but these books do go together. I could also add The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development by Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovitz, The Lean Entrepreneur, also by Cooper and Vlaskovitz, and Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. All these books go together. If you don’t read them before creating your startup, you’re very likely reinventing the wheel and wasting precious time.
The takeaway is all about customer development, or letting customers tell you how to build your product or service. Rather than spending a year or two on development, create a stripped down version of your product, one you’re embarrassed to show anyone, and throw it out into the market. Then get feedback, and change your product based on the feedback. Throw it out there again, get more feedback, make more changes, and keep up that cycle. Especially useful advice for any web-based company.
Founders At Work by Jessica Livingston
I’m all about books that give you technical details on how to start and run a business. But as has been said he who has a good enough “why” can deal with any “how.” If I have to choose between specific direction and mere inspiration, I choose inspiration, and then I’ll figure out the technical implementation on my own. Founders At Work is both, although I would say more weighted toward inspiration than technical instruction.
Founders is a series of interviews with successful entrepreneurs, primarily from the 80s and 90s, although there is a smattering of newer blood in there. There is nothing quite like hearing the stories of founders directly from their mouths. They give you the details of how their businesses got started, how they went out of business, how they overcame challenges, the arguments they had, the deals they won and lost, and the lessons they learned along the way. Because each interview is relatively short, it’s easy to read a chapter at a time and quickly work your way through what is a fairly thick book. If I could recommend only one book to a new entrepreneur, this would be it. And in case the author ever reads this--Jessica, please write a sequel with another crop of entrepreneurs. When I got to the end I wanted more.
What about you? What are the books you would most highly recommend to a new entrepreneur?
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75ca4ed3df30f6d12f49b896d8dad166 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/07/04/samsung-botches-jay-z-app-launch/ | Samsung Botches Jay-Z App Launch? | Samsung Botches Jay-Z App Launch?
Google Play Store Screenshot
The Internet and the launch of Jay-Z's new app promoting the album Magna Carta Holy Grail have something in common: neither of them work all the time.
I'm not exactly Jay-Z's biggest fan, but I do own a Samsung Galaxy SIII and I found the marketing campaign wherein Samsung bought a million copies of MCHG to give away to Galaxy owners intriguing. No harm in getting something for free, right? I downloaded the app yesterday, launched it, and got a white screen with the MCHG design on it in black. There was a spinning icon indicating something was loading, but it stopped and disappeared after a few seconds. Then nothing. The white MCHG screen stayed there, but nothing else happened. "Oh well," I said to myself, "I guess nothing will happen until the giveaway at 12:01 AM, EST."
Midnight on the east coast of the US came and went, and I launched the app again, and once again, I got the white screen and nothing else. No options, no buttons, nothing from the menu button on my phone. Just that one screen. Hmm, maybe it's a bug. I decided to check the Google Play Store's page for the app and see if I could find anything out.
What I found were 3,000 plus 1-star reviews, mostly from frustrated users experiencing the same problem I was having, but expressing considerably more emotion. Here are some samples:
"The app doesn't work when the it gets to the reason everyone downloaded for Samsung I lost a lot of respect for you guys I'm getting an iPhone now. Never trusting Samsung again" - Kirubel
"I download it within minutes of the app coming out and I even got to select if I wanted to explicit or clean version... It's July 4th and no album. Screw you. #teamiphone now." - Harrison
"So what am I suppose do now about not being able to get the album how is this gonna be made up to the consumer. This has been a waste of my time" - Max
Some commenters take the liberty of using quite a few "colorful metaphors." These three are more tame representations of the general feeling.
Granted, the app is working just fine for some people, and the 5-star reviews outnumber the 1-star by more than 2 to 1.
But here's the fun question. Did Samsung botch the launch of this app, or are they doing it on purpose?
Wait, before you think I'm crazy, listen to what Jonah Berger wrote in the Harvard Business Review in March of this year. He stated that research he performed "demonstrates for the first time that under certain circumstances, even terrible publicity can bolster the bottom line." He does add this caveat, that it "largely depends, we found, on whether or not consumers are already aware of the product."
"Who is more well-known than Jay-Z?" you might ask. Hear me out. Yes, Jay-Z is well known to some, but not as many as you might think. Remember Ellen Grossman? Chances are some negative publicity about a botched app launch isn't going to hurt Jay-Z at all amongst his fans, and might garner more attention from those who don't know him. I mean here I am, writing about it. You think I'd be writing anything if the app had worked?
But then there's Samsung. Even if a mismanaged app launch helps Jay-Z get more name recognition outside his normal audience, could it possibly do any good for Samsung? Berger says "If a risky tactic gets a bad response, the attention might nevertheless increase product recognition and ultimately boost sales."
I'm going to guess that Samsung just botched it. Even if the bad publicity works out to be a positive, I can't see them taking the risk. Perhaps there wasn't sufficient testing of the app, or maybe it was some weak link Samsung couldn't possibly have tested for. The only thing I know for sure is that after taking an hour to write this, the app still isn't working for me. And I was so looking forward to getting in touch with what white teenage boys are listening to these days.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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7ae8634541012f3a0ad699a8946866dd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/07/09/become-a-thought-leader-but-first-relaunch-your-blog/ | How To Relaunch Your Blog | How To Relaunch Your Blog
A few hours ago I relaunched my personal blog. While not terribly complicated, it was more than merely putting a new face on the website. The work was substantial and involved changes to the design, content, structure, and technology of the website. I was motivated to redesign and relaunch after PR guru Cheryl Snapp Conner and her cohort Adam Torkildson convinced me I needed to promote myself as a thought leader. Ok, full stop--nobody wants to say they're trying to become a thought leader. It's kind of awkward. When someone puts "Thought Leader" or "Visionary Entrepreneur" in their Linkedin title it makes me cringe. I had to step outside myself and look at the situation as objectively as I could and upon doing so I saw how it would be beneficial to my business, and I moved on. Ok, mostly moved on. It's still awkward to promote myself as anything. I think of myself as just a guy who likes to start companies and blog about it. But everyone is an expert on something, and there's nothing wrong with sharing the unique knowledge you have with others, as long as you don't put "Thought Leader" in your Linkedin title. For the sake of this post, let's ignore the awkwardness of talking about promoting ourselves as experts and get on with things.
If you want to become a thought leader or knowledge expert you need a website, and a blog site lends itself to engaging and communicating with your audience. But my old blog wasn’t cutting it. If anything I was worried about potential clients finding it. To fix things here’s what I did (or had others more qualified than myself do) and why.
Personality and Warmth. Most of my time was spent thinking about content. I looked at other blogs to see what I liked. I found that a photo of the blogger’s face added a personal, warmer feel to a site. Logos of media outlets where the blogger had received attention gave a feeling of credibility and legitimacy. Simple language anyone can understand, as opposed to industry jargon or fancy words nobody but academics use, helped me understand the blogger and made me feel like he understood me. I'm not done working on the content on my site and consider it a permanent work in progress that can always be improved upon.
Responsive Design. The new design of my blog is responsive, meaning it changes gracefully to work well and look good on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device. Try it out by using all your devices on the site, or grab the edge of your browser and start shrinking it to see how the site layout shifts as the viewable space becomes more limited.
WordPress and Rackspace. I’ve used WordPress for a long time. I’ve tried MovableType, Tumblr, Blogger, SquareSpace, and a host of other blogging platforms and I can’t find anything that comes close to providing me with the ease of use and flexibility of WordpPress. I considered switching, but after experimenting with other platforms decided to stick with it. I use the self hosted option with Rackspace as my hosting provider. Rackspace may be regarded by some as overkill for a blog, but I find it a very affordable price to pay for the peace of mind and ease of use, not to mention incredible support. The Rackspace cloud hosting comes with WordPress as a simple installation option.
Email List and Campaign Management. I replaced a defunct WordPress plugin I had been using with MailChimp for email list management as well as for managing email campaigns. I’ve only recently started using MailChimp and I’ve been thrilled with the technology. My blog now allows visitors to easily subscribe to receive updates from me automatically whenever I write a new post, or I can manually send them emails. It’s unlikely I’ll ever use the latter function, but it’s there if I need it.
Plugins. Apple and Android have apps, WordPress has plugins. Here is the list of plugins I've installed on my revamped blog:
Akismet. Protect from comment spam. Disqus. For managing comments. I’ve tried the built in comments, I’ve tried LiveDebate, and Disqus is far and away the superior solution. Google Analytics for WordPress. From the folks at Yoast who have a number of great plugins. This makes it easy to connect my blog to Google Analytics and get the data I want. Jetpack by WordPress.com. Many features come with Jetpack, but I only use it for one--it’s the best solution I’ve found for autoposting a link and summary of my new posts to Linkedin.com. I admit I also like the basic stats widget it puts on the dashboard. MailChimp. The plugin puts a signup field on my website that allows visitors to subscribe to receive post notifications. SEO Redirect 301s. In case I move a post from one category to another, which modifies the link, this plugin creates a 301 redirect which tells search engines where the page has been moved to, and redirects people visiting the old link to the new location, thus preserving my search engine rankings for that page and my traffic which would otherwise be going to a dead page. Social. From the folks at MailChimp, this plugin autoposts to Twitter and Facebook. There are other ways to do this, but having tried many of them I keep coming back to Social. I do wish they would include Linkedin.com so I didn’t need to have Jetpack installed, and if they added autoposting to Google+ that would be just dandy. W3 Total Cache. Caches pages on your blog to improve load time. In short, it makes your website faster. WordPress SEO. Also by Yoast, the same folks who provide the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin. All In One SEO is another decent SEO plugin, but I’ve found Yoast to have a slight edge. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin. Want to show related posts to people who read your posts so that they stay on your site longer and read more? Look no further than this plugin.
Once you have the website up and running there is a lot you can do by way of optimization, although almost nothing beats putting out lots of solid, high quality content. For those who want to delve into optimizing their blogs, I recommend perusing the Beginner's Guide to SEO from Moz. One more tip: Set up a Google+ profile if you don't already have one and link it to your blog. The instructions are here. This will help you get credit from Google for the content you create on your blog, and helps search results that pull up your posts to show your photo by the search results, which makes the link to your site stand out in the search results which leads more traffic to your website.
I’m not going to say this is all easy work you can do yourself. If you struggle to send an email without asking for help from your son or daughter, don't bother to try this yourself. Don’t ask your friend to do it for free or it will never get done. Don't hire the web hosting company that promises professional websites for $10/month. Just hire someone to do it who knows what they're doing. For a few thousand dollars at most, it's a small investment to make for the benefit you'll receive. Even though I run an online marketing firm I wasn’t capable of doing all this myself and had substantial help from two other people to do the design, coding, and much of the configuration.
Most importantly, a blog without good content is like a grocery store with no food. It’s time for me to create a good selection of fresh posts.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, an online marketing firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Hong Kong. He blogs at DonLoper.com and is working on a book entitled You Might Be An Entrepreneur If…, to be released in 2014.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium.
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907abdaca9d5920efecc38ed8cab3122 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/07/24/three-companies-innovating-for-diabetics/ | Three Companies Innovating For Diabetics | Three Companies Innovating For Diabetics
Image: mySugr Companion App
Imagine you’re looking for a new hot job, something you can brag about at parties. Working to build online communities and social networks? Not bad. Developing new smartphone apps backed by Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek? Even better. Making gourmet chocolate? Ooh, baby. Developing products and services to help those suffering from diabetes? Umm, well, maybe. Probably not something you would come up with on your own.
As reported by the American Diabetes Association, almost 26 million people suffer from diabetes, and that’s just in the United States alone. Worldwide the figured is estimated to be as high as 347 million. It is estimated that approximately 80 million people in the U.S. have prediabetes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled the situation an epidemic. It’s a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon.
What if you could get a job building the foremost social network for diabetics to help them access valuable information and find comfort and support? What if you could work on a new smartphone app that assists children to manage their condition? What if you were involved in manufacturing gourmet chocolates that not only tasted good enough for anyone to eat, but were completely safe for diabetics to eat as well? You’d not only be working with something interesting and perhaps cutting edge, you’d be changing lives and doing good in the world. That’s something to brag about. Here are three companies that are doing just these things.
Online Community, Diabetic Connect
The online community Diabetic Connect is a social network built for persons diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The website is an initiative of Alliance Health Networks and receives over 1.8 million visitors per month. By providing a forum where diabetics can communicate and share their experiences, it offers comfort to those who have been recently diagnosed with diabetes and may be in something of a state of shock. Often a newly diagnosed patient will leave the doctor’s office, drive home, and jump on the Internet to do research. They’ll find the information they need and want at Diabetic Connect, but they also find support and comfort, which can be just as important.
Visitors on the Diabetic Connect site share recipes, experiences, and treatments. Diabetic Connect allows patients to interact anonymously or they can communicate openly, depending on their level of comfort. Diabetic Connect also provides expert level content and provides a Q&A with clinicians from the Joslin Diabetes Center to answer questions that require medical expertise. Site visitors can also access the Diabetic Connect community through Android and iOS apps.
Smartphone Apps, MySugr
Tim Ferriss sits on the advisory board of MySugr, a startup that has created two apps; MySugr Companion on iOS for adults, and and Android app MySugr Junior for kids. The apps introduce elements of gamification to a process that is normally dreaded by children and adults alike. The data from the Junior app can be automatically shared with parents, prompting more accountability and responsibility on the part of the child, and more peace of mind for the parent. For adults or children with diabetes, the apps make it easier to stick to a regimen and make adjustments based on data. The company is winning accolades such as being named Best European Startup at last year's TechCrunch Startup Week.
Gourmet Chocolates, Amber Lyn
Chocolate? What’s chocolate have to do with diabetes? Almost nothing--that’s the problem. Millions of people who love chocolate are prohibited from consuming it. Being able to eat chocolate might seem like a small thing. But when one is struggling with a chronic disease small comforts can be a big deal.
Most diabetic-friendly chocolate products taste awful. You wouldn’t eat them unless it was all you could have. But the chocolates made by sugar-free confectioner Amber Lyn are different. Sweetened with maltitol, a wheat extract, Amber Lyn’s “Belgian dark chocolate” products are not only safe for diabetics (they’re sugar free, gluten free, and contain no trans fats, no cholesterol, no milk products, no preservatives, and no fillers), but they taste amazing. I don’t have diabetes. I can eat whatever I want. But when Jake Cavanaugh, co-owner of the Cacao Group which owns Amber Lyn chocolates (Full Disclosure: Jake is a friend of mine), gave me a 10 oz bag of their dark chocolate covered almonds, it was gone in a day. And as I write this I'm craving another bag. Too bad Amber Lyn doesn't have distribution in my home base of Hong Kong...yet.
Doing Good, Doing Well
These three companies and more have built their businesses by focusing on a niche they care about. In the case of mySugr virtually the entire company is staffed by Type 1 diabetics. Are you aware of other companies providing innovative products and services for those with diabetes? Please share your comments below.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium.
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7db243bd0580b9d8365bb716b97aabbc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/08/08/10-ways-im-using-linkedin-to-build-my-business-in-hong-kong/ | 10 Ways To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Business In Hong Kong (Or Anywhere Else) | 10 Ways To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Business In Hong Kong (Or Anywhere Else)
Hong Kong Panorama (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Despite having stepped off the plane in Hong Kong just two months ago, I’ve already got a branch office of my online marketing business up and running here, and LinkedIn is a major factor in my success so far. Here are 10 tips you can use to take your business global or enter a new domestic market, based on my experience using LinkedIn to open shop in Hong Kong. I’ve divided these tips into four categories; 1) pre-launch, 2) upon arrival, 3) the first three months, 4) long term.
Pre-Launch
1. Make sure your profile is up to date. It’s #3 on my fellow contributor Ken Krogue’s excellent post 27 LinkedIn Tips: LinkedIn Best Practices For Entrepreneurs. As Ken points out, “Nothing screams ‘Rookie’ like an unfinished profile.” In addition to making sure your profile is up to date generally, also update your profile to inform associates of your intended move who might not find out through other channels. For me this resulted in a lot of conversations along the lines of “Hey, I saw you’re moving to Hong Kong, I have a friend there you should talk to...” which contributed to me having a network of local contacts before I arrived.
2. Create a new company page. There’s a good chance you don’t have a company page at all yet. If not, you should create one. If you already have one, you may want to add a new location for that company page. In my situation because my company in the US and my company in Hong Kong will share a name and trade services but will mostly be separate entities with different markets and customers, I chose to create a separate company page for each one.
3. Join and participate in relevant groups. Many LinkedIn groups are geographically based. Whatever your industry, there is probably a group for your industry in the geography where you are opening for business. If a group doesn’t exist, create one. But don’t just join a group and expect contacts and business to roll in. You need to engage other members in conversation, either in joining discussions they’ve started, or by starting your own. Warning: Be careful to not annoy other group members by inserting yourself unnaturally anywhere and everywhere. You’ll get flagged as a spammer or too pushy.
4. Start making contacts. Why wait? In your new location you’re going to need to find partners, employees, and vendors. Start contacting them in advance by sending them a connection request and in that request saying “I’m moving to Hong Kong in a few months, I’d like to connect and ask you some questions.” Don’t just leave the default text LinkedIn provides for you when you request a connection. It takes 10 seconds to personalize it. Who wants to talk to someone who can’t take 10 seconds to explain why they want to connect?
Upon Arrival
5. Update that profile again. Nothing says “I’m new here but I’m not taking it very seriously,” than a profile that still shows you residing and doing business in the place you left two months ago. I updated my profile as soon as I landed to reflect that I was here in Hong Kong and was ready to get to work.
The First Three Months
Keep on working on #3 and #4 above, but now make your virtual world your real world.
6. Start attending group events. The groups you’ve joined may or may not have events where you can meet people in person whom until now you’ve only known in the virtual world. If they have events where you can meet other members face to face then go to those meetings and reach out to those with whom you’ve communicated through the LinkedIn group. If the groups you belong to don’t have events, consider hosting events yourself for those groups.
7. Meet your new connections one on one. You’ve got a great excuse to meet your connections one on one--you just arrived, and you want to get to know people. You can’t say that six months after you’ve landed without looking like you’re slow moving. Reach out to your LinkedIn connections and offer to take them to lunch or dinner. Tell them you’re new and you just want to meet people who are part of the scene you’re interested in. I’ve been looking up people here in Hong Kong who are online marketing experts and as a result I’ve had some great meetings that were mutually beneficial. Ask for help. People love to give advice. Don’t talk--just listen and ask the occasional question.
Long Term
Once you’ve been in a place for just a few months, you’re an expert, at least to anyone who has been in that place less time than you have. Use your expert knowledge to assist others.
8. Mentor. It’s a verb, not a noun. Make yourself available to those who are following in your footsteps and contact you asking for assistance. Find those who might benefit from your knowledge. Even though you’ve only been in your new location for a few months, you know where the best schools are, where the most affordable yet safe housing is, and at least a few good restaurants. You know what groups to join and which aren’t going anywhere. You know the business scene, at least to some extent. To the guy getting off the plane, you’re an expert. Don’t underestimate the value of your knowledge. You might understand what a new arrival needs better than someone who has lived in this location for several years because for you what’s important for a new arrival is still fresh in your mind.
9. Be a connector. If you’ve been doing all the above then within a few months you’ll have a lot of connections on LinkedIn and you can start making introductions. Don’t worry about how making introductions benefits you. Just start making introductions. A few weeks ago I was introduced to Ed Seung with Findings Group. Findings helps companies with high end consumer products get those products into Asia. Ed told me they do especially well with high end sports gear. Not long after I met Ed, I met Martin McDonald, an entrepreneur from Australia with a sports glove called the Eliminator. A light bulb went on above my head, and I composed a quick email introducing Martin to Ed. Will a deal be struck from that introduction? Maybe, maybe not. Will I ever benefit from making the introduction? I feel like I already have. Other than the satisfaction I get from helping others make connections I don’t worry about it too much. You shouldn’t either. But do make it a priority to help others make connections. You’ll be serving others, and I guarantee you’ll see benefits come back to you, especially if you don’t worry about the benefits to yourself.
10. Teach your team all the above. If you’re opening an office and you do it right you won’t be working alone for long. Pass these tips and any others you pick up along to those you work with. There are real synergies to be had when an entire team uses LinkedIn effectively. The whole truly is greater than the sum of the parts.
Have you ever used LinkedIn when moving to work in a new location? What did you learn? What tips can you share?
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium?
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477feb2b0a63246db25c631abfd855b5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/08/15/principles-of-charisma-that-work-anywhere-in-the-world/ | Principles Of Charisma That Work Anywhere In The World | Principles Of Charisma That Work Anywhere In The World
In her book The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism, author Olivia Fox Cabane reveals that charisma is not something you have or do not have, but is based on specific actions that can be learned, practiced, and mastered. Some of these components of charisma boil down to what some might call good manners or socially appropriate behavior. But when it comes to what is socially appropriate, the definition can change from one country or culture to another.
For example, when I lived in the United States I was accustomed to casually handing or even tossing business cards to potential clients. I prided myself on being able to make a business card glide across the surface of a conference room table as though it were an air hockey table, coming to rest just in front of the recipient. In Hong Kong where I now live there are protocols for exchanging business cards that would be considered overly formal in the United States. Here, one delivers a business card with two hands, holding the top corners of the card so that the card is facing the recipient and can be read by them as they take the card. The card is also received with two hands, and there are slight bows by both parties. Once a card is received, it is not quickly placed in a pocket, but the recipient continues to hold it with two hands, carefully reading it and examining it. Get the protocol wrong and you can hurt your chances at making a good first impression or worse, come across as insulting and rude. Although strange to me at first, I’ve come to appreciate and even relish this process. But what the proper etiquette is for exchanging business cards is in Argentina, Belgium, or South Africa I haven’t a clue.
Being a native of the US and familiar with American culture and social norms, I could easily see why the techniques Cabane teaches are applicable there. As I read Cabane’s book, which I started in the US and finished in Hong Kong, I began to wonder if there are principles of charisma and proper business behavior which are universal. In the US it might increase one’s presence and personal charisma to look into someone’s eyes, but could this be considered improper or rude in another country? Are there standard practices a globe-hopping executive might safely use anywhere in the world, in virtually any country?
I went straight to the source and asked Cabane herself. What follows are her top two tips for increasing your charisma, regardless of the country or culture you happen to be in.
Tip #1: Presence & Focus
When people describe their experience of seeing charisma in action, whether they met Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, or the Dalai Lama, they often mention the individual’s extraordinary presence.
(Photo: iStock)
Presence is the single most requested aspect of charisma when I’m coaching executives. They want to increase their executive presence or boardroom presence. They’re right to focus on it. Presence turns out to be the first, key, core component of charisma, the foundation upon which all the others are built. When you’re with a charismatic master—take Bill Clinton, for example—you not only feel his power and a sense of warm engagement, you also feel that he’s completely here with you, in this moment. Present.
Better presence will immediately, automatically translate into better listening. This may or may not translate into direct eye contact—what in North America might be considered "good" eye contact might be seen as rude in certain parts of Asia. But everywhere around the world, letting your mind wander while you pretend to listen is a mistake that you have complete power to correct.
Being present means simply having a moment-to-moment awareness of what’s happening. It means paying attention to what’s going on rather than being caught up in your thoughts. Presence is a learnable skill. Like any other ability (from painting to playing the piano), you can increase it with practice and patience.
So how do you get presence? One of my favorite techniques to stay present in a conversation is kinda quirky, but remarkably effective. Right now, if you would, focus your attention on the physical sensations in your toes. Big toes, little toes, and all the others in between—however many you have. What this does is that it forces your mind to sweep through your body, helping you to get into the physical sensations of the moment. Do that for just a split second, then get back to the conversation. Just by focusing on your toes you can up your level of charisma immediately.
Tip #2: Generosity
Truly put yourself in their shoes, try to figure out what you can give. You may be surprised. There are a wide variety of things you can give people:
Time Attention Warmth A feeling of importance, a feeling of being respected Information which might be of interest to them Introductions to someone who would be useful to them
Believe it or not, generosity can be read in our microexpressions, and microexpressions are universal, regardless of where you are on the globe. When you put yourself in a generous mindset, people will see it, feel it, and like you more.
Have you done business around the world? Would you add anything to Cabane's list based on your experiences? Have you come across any interesting charismatic behaviors that apply in certain cultures but not others?
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dcaa188247e82fff6b774dbbf47bff20 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/09/04/the-one-thing-non-seos-need-to-know-about-seo/ | The One Thing Non-SEOs Need To Know About SEO | The One Thing Non-SEOs Need To Know About SEO
You’re busy. You’re overworked. You’re not doing half the things you already know you should be doing. And yet you’re supposed to be taking care of search engine optimization (SEO) for your company. You start looking for some sort of beginner’s guide to SEO and stumble onto Moz’s free Beginner’s Guide to SEO. You start reading and everything is easy to understand, even interesting, and then you run into these lines:
Make sure that your <title> elements and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate. Use keywords to create descriptive, human friendly URLs. Provide one version of a URL to reach a document, using 301 redirects or the rel="canonical" element to address duplicate content.
Suddenly you feel overwhelmed, stupid, and in need of a nap. Most of all you want to give up. Can’t the IT guy take care of this stuff?
There’s no shame in how you feel. I’ve been there as recently as yesterday, and I’m supposed to be an SEO expert. The truth is there is so much information and knowledge coming out daily about SEO that even we experts don’t know the half of what we’re supposed to know, and we end up feeling stupid on a regular basis. So relax, you’re not stupid, you’re normal. I’m right there with you. But you still need to get this SEO work done, and empathy isn’t going to get you there.
I could give you a list of 10 SEO tips. But I know how 10 tips can still be overwhelming. Even 5 tips can be too many. So let’s start with a single tip. If you asked me what is the single most important thing you can be doing to improve SEO for your company, what would my answer be? There is one clear answer, and it’s one you can implement without too much stress--create lots of high quality content.
Forget keywords. Forget HTML. Forget tags. Focus on creating lots of high quality content and you’ll have 90% of the puzzle solved. Now let’s dig into the words I used in that advice, because every word in the sentence “create lots of high quality content” matters.
Content. We’ll start with the last word first. What’s on your website? Most likely a bunch of images and text. That’s content. But content doesn’t stop at your website. If your company gets some coverage in the news, that’s content. If you have a Twitter account for your business, your tweets are content. Your Facebook and Google+ pages are also full of content. All text and images that somehow lead people back to your website, whether directly or indirectly, is content and has SEO value. Create. Copying is not creating, although emulation can be. If you create content, that means someone else hasn’t already created it. Copyright law isn’t what we’re concerned about here, but rather duplicate content. Simply put, if you copy content from another website and put it on your website, Google is going to either ignore or penalize it. So don’t copy. But if you see that your competitors who are ranking high in the search engines have a certain type of content on their site, such as infographics or a blog, then by all means put infographics and a blog on your website too. Lots. “Lots” can be relative. If your competition hasn’t added new content to their websites in three years, then posting once a month is a lot. If your competition generates 50 pages of new content each week then 10 new pages per week is not enough, all other things being equal. A few new pages of content each month is good. A few new pages per week is better. A few new pages per day is fantastic. Setting up a corporate blog on your website can make this easier, if not easy. High Quality. If nobody is reacting to the content you’re producing then either they don’t know about it, or it’s low quality. If you need writing tips then check out CopyBlogger, for starters. Or if you don’t have time for that, take a few minutes to think about your target audience and what they want to know about you and your company, or what they might find interesting. Then write about that. Value doesn’t come from correct grammar or great sentence structure, although those things help prevent distraction. Value means your readers find the content inspiring, intellectually stimulating, or useful. That’s quality.
If people don’t know about your content then you’ll have to tell them. Post links to it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Find ways to get your content published or linked to from as many places as possible. Set up an email newsletter with MailChimp and put a subscription box on your website so you can keep in touch with people who care about what you do.
What will happen if you focus exclusively on creating lots of high quality content is that you'll start attracting attention. People will start sharing your content on social networks, linking to it from their websites, and passing it around by email. Some of this won't have a direct impact from an SEO standpoint, and some of it will. And as you work on this you'll start to refine your skills. You'll pick up something here, something there, and over time you'll find you're becoming an SEO expert. But it all starts with the content. Focus on that first, and you'll be on your way.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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77abbbd62c7c72d87c9bbfc76d00c16a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/09/19/space-monkey-the-backup-solution-youve-been-waiting-for/ | Space Monkey: The Backup Solution You've Been Waiting For? | Space Monkey: The Backup Solution You've Been Waiting For?
I’ve been searching for the right backup solution since 1999, when I had a catastrophic event with my home computer and lost everything. In those days I used floppy disks to back up files. Then I moved on to Zip drives, CD-ROMs, and external hard drives. These reduced my risk somewhat, but didn’t protect me in the case of a flood or fire. When online backup services like Carbonite and Mozy came along it was a welcome improvement, but only to a point, due to the limitations built into the various systems available. These constraints were, and continue to be:
Price. If the space and the speed are right, it’s too expensive, as in hundreds of dollars per month. Space. If the price and speed are right, then there isn’t enough space provided to store all my files, or the upload restrictions mean it takes too long. Speed. If the price and the space are right, then it takes too long to back up all my files. What’s “too long?” How about 8 months to create my first full backup running virtually 24/7 on a high-speed connection?
I’m a simple man with simple needs. I don’t edit video professionally. I don’t have 50TB of video files I need to store offsite. I’m not a professional photographer, and I don’t work with music files. But I do have a number of family videos and photos I would like to put somewhere, along with all my work files. It all adds up to around 3TB of files, with home videos making up the bulk of the data. I still use external drives to back up files, but I’ve long been on the lookout for an online backup solution that meets my needs.
I have tried quite a few services.
Mozy. Right price with unlimited space, but too slow. At the time I tried Mozy out it also didn’t support external drives, one of my must-haves. Carbonite. Right price, unlimited space, didn’t support Macs (now they do), but too slow just like Mozy. Amazon Web Services. Too complicated and too slow. Also not so cheap. Picasa (for photos and video). Reasonably priced, and faster than others, but it doesn’t allow videos over 1.1GB to be uploaded. I have videos that are 4GB. Yes, I know, I should reduce the file size, but I like to back up the raw video files. Vimeo (for video only). $10/month for a Pro account. Vimeo allows videos up to 5GB in size and it’s fast, but it only allows you to upload 5GB per week. Most of my edited family videos are about an hour long, and around 2.4GB. That means I can upload two videos each week. I’ve been working on it for months but it’s going to be a while before I get them all up there. Dropbox. Too expensive for the amount of data I want to store. I can get an unlimited business plan with Dropbox, but it’s going to cost me about $800/year. Crashplan. This has proven to be the best solution so far. Unlimited space, low price, works well on a Mac, backs up external drives–it does everything I want except it’s too slow. They’ve got a bottleneck on their end so it took me months to finish my first backup.
In March of this year I was attending a startup community event in Utah called LaunchUp [Full disclosure: I am working on licensing the LaunchUp brand to bring the event series to Hong Kong]. A Utah startup named Space Monkey presented their backup solution at the event, and I came away intrigued. They were in the middle of a successful Kickstarter campaign (they went on to raise $350,000 after hitting their goal of $100,000 in less than 7 hours), seemed to have a great team, but mostly they appeared to be offering a service that was affordable, provided adequate space, and promised to be speedy.
The premise is simple--you back up to a proprietary Space Monkey external hard drive, and the hard drive backs up your files to other Space Monkey drives on a peer-to-peer network. It’s fast because it removes the bottleneck of everyone’s files needing to go to the same datacenter. At $120/year for 1TB it’s affordable.
Wait, didn’t I say I had multiple terabytes I needed to back up? Doesn’t that mean Space Monkey’s 1TB drive isn’t enough? No, it’s not enough. I wish they had a 5TB drive. But there’s nothing keeping me from getting 3-4 drives. Sure, that means I’ll be paying $30-40 per month, which is quite a bit more than other solutions like Carbonite or Crashplan, but not all that bad overall, and quite a bit more reasonable than Amazon Web Services.
Then there are added benefits such as not having to use my computer to power the backup process. As it stands, when I turn my computer off the backup stops running. Space Monkey keeps running regardless of where I take my computer. The more common problem is that backup programs tend to slow my computer down and make my work less efficient. I have yet to see a backup program that doesn’t provide a serious hit to computer performance. But since Space Monkey runs on the external hard drive, rather than my computer, it’s a non-issue.
Is there any downside with Space Monkey? Admittedly, in a world of instantaneous upload and download speeds, unlimited storage both on my desktop as well as in the cloud, and computers with processors, memory, and hard drives fast enough to eliminate any lag time regardless of what programs I run, I would probably prefer to use a system like Dropbox. But that’s not reality right now, and I don’t see it happening anytime soon. In the meantime, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Space Monkey will perform to my expectations. Given what I’ve seen of the team, the plan, and the product, I have high hopes.
What do you like/dislike about your backup system? Does Space Monkey sound like a better solution than what you've got, or where would you improve it?
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
Infographic courtesy of Space Monkey:
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b32c98053aa3d73b9c4e41487ab67689 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/10/10/seo-focus-on-the-only-metric-that-matters/ | SEO: Focus On The Only Metric That Matters | SEO: Focus On The Only Metric That Matters
A potential client recently expressed concern that the stats for my SEO firm’s website were trending lower on SEMrush, an online tool that provides insightful data related to search engine optimization. This seems like an opportune time to write about a topic I’ve been researching ever since I started doing SEO 10 years ago--which metrics matter and why. Below I examine several key metrics used in SEO and give guidelines for how to interpret and benefit from them.
Rankings. Let’s slay this dragon first. Search engine rank is the metric focused on more widely than any other, and yet in only rare cases is it the metric that matters most. There is certainly something emotionally appealing about ranking #1 for your most desired keyword, but a #1 ranking by itself doesn’t pay employees or contribute to your retirement fund. Rankings are certainly a valuable metric, but they are worthless unless they lead directly to other metrics that truly matter.
Backlinks. Backlinks, also known as incoming links, are a valuable metric, inasmuch as it’s an important part of Google’s algorithm for ranking websites. All things being equal, a website with higher quality incoming links will rank higher than a website with lower quality incoming links. But incoming links are a means to an end, not the ultimate goal. And quality trumps quantity. A single link from a site like CNN.com (or Forbes.com, for that matter), can be worth hundreds of links from smaller, lesser known sites.
I had an experience with this myself at a recent SEO conference in Hong Kong when I had the opportunity to sit down with Jessica Rose from Majestic SEO. Majestic provides a backlink analysis tool, and Rose was using my firm’s website to show me some of the new features of Majestic’s tool. As we looked at the data, we noticed an alarming trend in that my firm had lost thousands of incoming links in the past month. But upon closer analysis, we realized the links were from a directory network my firm runs. We have been pruning that network and letting many domains expire, and as those websites expire the links to my firm in the footer of every page of every one of those directories are disappearing. Once I explained this we realized these are links I can do without, and losing them causes no harm. Those links were only there to show people who was running the directories, and I was aware they were of little to no SEO benefit. There was a lot of quantity, but little quality.
Note: The one time backlinks should attract almost undivided attention is when your website has bad backlinks that need to be cleaned up, as I covered in my last post.
Traffic. The number of visitors coming to your website is another valuable metric, but like rankings can sometimes draw more attention than it should. Analyzing the total number of visitors can be especially misleading, as I’ll explain at the end of this post. However, analyzing traffic can be valuable as you see what keywords are bringing in traffic (although that has recently become trickier), what pages are bringing in traffic, and delve into other details.
Bounce rate. When someone comes to your website and then quickly leaves, that’s called a bounce. It’s sort of like when you call the wrong phone number and only realize it after you ask to talk to Jim Bob and the person on the other end of the line tells you there’s no one there by that name. The number of visitors who bounce from your website vs. the number who stay for longer is your bounce rate. Many people think a low bounce rate is good, but this isn't always the case. If someone comes to your website and is able to quickly find what they want, rather than spending a lot of time searching on your site for the information they want, then a bounce in this case would be a good thing. What we don't want is people bouncing because they think, based on what they see in the search engine results, that they're going to find something on your site that they ultimately cannot find. Improvements to your title tags and meta description tags, the text that shows up in search engine results, will improve your bounce rate by making sure people who aren’t interested in your site never click through to it, and those that do click on search engine results find what they expect to find. But again, a healthy bounce rate, whatever that means in your particular circumstances, isn’t the ultimate goal. A good bounce rate, traffic, backlinks, and rankings are all what I would call “intermediary metrics,” in that they matter, but only as they lead to the metrics below.
Conversions. When a visitor comes to your website and does what you want them to do, that’s a conversion. If you run an ecommerce site, the moment a visitor buys something that’s a conversion. For a hotel it would be the moment a visitor makes an online reservation. If you run a website for a law firm a conversion wouldn’t be an online sale, but might rather be getting a visitor to fill out an online form requesting more information. If you’re an architect it might be getting a visitor to your website to pick up the phone and call the number they found on your site. Conversions are a much more valuable metric than rankings, backlinks, and traffic, and your website should be designed in such a way as to encourage conversions.
Profit. Even conversions don’t tell the whole story when it comes to metrics, but money does, and especially money defined as profit. If I run an ecommerce site selling triathlon supplies, any conversion is good (assuming I’m selling products at a profit), but would I rather sell a $2,500 high-end treadmill, or a $120 pair of running shoes? What if by focusing my website and SEO efforts on treadmills I can only sell 10 treadmills per month, but I can sell 1,000 pairs of shoes if I focus on those? The point of such questions is to show that rankings, backlinks, traffic, and even conversions don’t matter, unless they lead to increased profits. For my imaginary triathlon store I might be ok losing rankings and traffic related to running shoes if this happens because I’m focusing on high-end treadmills, increasing sales of that product, and thereby increasing my overall profits as a result.
If you’re a business owner working with an SEO firm, an in-house team, or doing SEO on your own, what does this mean? It means you should be making every effort to tie your SEO efforts to profits. If you can’t tell if your SEO efforts are generating more profits than you would have otherwise had, how do you know if what you’re spending on SEO is worth it? Sometimes this kind of analysis is easy. If you hire an SEO firm and over the next six months your sales volume quadruples, and you’re not doing anything else that can explain the jump in sales, then you might conclude without too much effort that SEO is what made the difference. But for most businesses it’s more difficult to track the results of SEO. This is why it can be tempting to fall back on rankings or traffic as effective metrics. In some cases that may be all you can do. But if those are the metrics you choose to focus on, make sure it’s only after you find you have no other option.
Returning to the case of my firm’s potential client asking us about declining metrics on SEMrush, what was my response? While I find SEMrush to be a valuable tool, it helps with intermediary metrics related to rankings, backlinks, and traffic. In my firm’s case, we can’t depend on overall traffic patterns as a reliable metric because we have a rather generic name, MWI, which is used by many other companies, including MWI Veterinary Supply, a public company in Idaho with a market cap of over $2B. Chances are if someone is searching on Google for “mwi” they’re looking for veterinary supplies, not SEO. As much as we try to make it clear on our website that we do not sell supplies related to farm animal care, you’d be surprised how many orders we receive for cattle feed or equine antibiotics (sidenote: imagine the confusion if someday MWI Vet became a client of my firm).
So when I saw in SEMrush that there is a declining trend for my firm, I went and compared that to my Google Analytics report. What I found was that while our traffic has indeed declined over the past 12 months compared to the prior 12 months, our bounce rate has been cut by more than half, visitors are visiting more pages on our site, staying longer on our site, and our conversions are up 11%. What that tells me is that less of the traffic we don’t want is ending up on our site, while at the same time we are attracting more of the traffic we do want. Most importantly, we’re attracting more of the type of clients we want to attract, and for us that’s the ultimate metric, and one that can’t be seen with any SEO tool. I believe these results are coming from sustained high rankings and an ok website (which we're redesigning to improve both conversions and rankings, although perhaps mostly because I just think our current one looks old and isn't all that useful). While SEO tools like SEMrush can be an invaluable resource in helping you generate profits from your SEO efforts, don’t forget that the metrics these tools give you are means to an end, and not the end itself.
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93dc0b0aaa113c27bd9a6677eeb0ad29 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/10/17/i-just-used-square-cash-to-pay-a-contractor-500/ | I Just Used Square Cash To Pay A Contractor $500 | I Just Used Square Cash To Pay A Contractor $500
Image courtesy of my email inbox.
I just used the brand spankin’ new Square Cash service, started by Twitter co-Founder Jack Dorsey, to send $500 to a contractor via email. Based on the experience I would have to say the credit card industry as we know it is dead. Or at least soon will be.
I run an online marketing firm. I have contractors in several countries around the world, and I’m in Hong Kong. I pay contractors based in the United States, as well as those in some other countries, from a US bank account. Getting my people paid in a timely and problem-free manner has been a never-ending source of frustration. Every method has its pros and cons:
Bank-cut check. I love that I can log into my US bank account from Hong Kong and cut a check, which the bank then mails out for me. I don’t like that it takes the bank 5-6 business days to mail out the check once I cut it. Nor do my contractors if they need to get paid in a hurry. And this method only works for sending money within the US. Paypal. I love that I can log into my Paypal account from anywhere in the world and instantly pay a contractor, no matter where they are based. I don’t like paying 3% or thereabouts. Actually the contractor pays the fee, but of course most contractors want me to cover that fee. Credit/debit cards. I can’t proactively send someone a payment with a credit or debit card unless I have it connected to my Paypal account, but some contractors send me invoices via services like Freshbooks, and if the contractor accepts credit cards. But then there is still the 3% fee issue. Otherwise the system would be perfect. Dwolla. Dwolla gets rid of the fees associated with Paypal. But it only works with bank accounts, not credit cards, and it takes 3-4 days to transfer money from the bank account to my Dwolla account. Plus I found setting up a Dwolla account to be rather frustrating and time consuming for myself as well as contractors.
Square Cash also does not work with credit cards, which is one negative, but I’d prefer to do business without a credit card anyway, Dave Ramsey style, so that’s not much of a downside for me. What Square has is a drop-dead easy process for getting started. It’s as easy as they make it out to be. I compose an email to the person I want to send money to, putting their address in the “To:” field. I put “cash@square.com” in the “CC:” field. I put the amount, in my case “$500,” in the subject line field, I type whatever note I want in the body of the email, and click “send.”
Upon clicking send there was a one-time sign up process. I had to enter my debit card information, connect to my Facebook account to verify who I was (you can also verify by submitting your SSN and some other basic info), and enter a number texted to my phone. Perhaps that sounds like it’s getting complicated, but compared to anything else I’ve signed up for involving financial transactions it was much, much easier. The entire process took me something around 2-3 minutes, and the next time I send money will be a matter of a few seconds.
After sending the email, my contractor received an email asking her for her debit card info. She put that in, and now she's waiting for the money to show up in her bank account. Square Cash says it takes 1-2 days, but according to Twitter user Marshall Haas, upon participating in a transaction he received the money in his account in just 3 hours. (Update: My contractor received the money I sent her in her bank account well within the 2 business days promised)
There are some other limitations to using Square Cash. I can only send a contractor $2,500 per week, which in some cases would mean breaking up payment on an invoice over multiple weeks. I can’t use Square Cash to send money to contractors outside the US. But I suspect over time both these limitations will be lifted.
One area of concern is security. As pointed out in a Quartz article, do I really trust Jack Dorsey with virtually complete access to my bank account? Let’s put it this way--given that the entire banking system and the value of the dollar is effectively controlled by the Federal Reserve system and the US Federal Government, I’d have to say I trust Jack Dorsey to protect my wealth quite a bit more than I trust my bank.
Why is Square Cash the end of the credit card companies? It’s not just Square Cash, it’s what Square Cash represents--the ability to transfer dollars quickly and easily without fees. Square Cash may be the face today, but it will be 20 other companies tomorrow, unless the credit card companies start lobbying Washington to change the regulations on these types of transactions "for our protection." For decades the credit card companies have had a virtual monopoly on convenient financial transactions for consumers and small businesses, but the fees have always been irksome. The day I can pay anyone and get paid by anyone electronically, quickly and easily, anywhere in the world, with no fees, is the day I cut up my credit cards forever. Square Cash just about gets me there. Surely my dream can’t be too far away, but my dream will be a nightmare for the credit card companies.
Have you used Square Cash yet? What did you think?
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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984068d33eddce27051dbd1b446d3e5c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/11/13/spacious-makes-it-easy-to-find-a-home-in-hong-kong/ | Spacious Makes It Easy To Find A Home In Hong Kong | Spacious Makes It Easy To Find A Home In Hong Kong
I moved with my wife and children to Hong Kong in June, 2013. Before that move my wife and I spent hours perusing local real estate and apartment rental sites like SquareFoot and HongKongHomes.com, trying to get a feel for the real estate market and where we wanted to live. Although I was grateful to have the Internet and be able to see details about available spaces, the websites we used left something to be desired. We found many listings with no photos, and when there were photos they were often small, limited in number, and blurry. A new startup, Spacious, is aiming to change all that and more.
Co-Founders Asif Ghafoor and David Beatty come from property owning families in London and Australia. “We immediately saw a need for something better in the Asia market,” says Beatty. “If you compare the process of finding a property to buy or rent in Asia with say London or New York, the difference in experience is staggering.” By solving the problems of market transparency and providing a better end to end user experience Spacious hopes to become the dominant player. “We have built a world class user interface combined with a data and rich content platform that presents an experience second to none when searching for a place to buy or rent,” Ghafoor says. “The Asia property market is enormous and there is no reason the online property experience needs to be as horrific as it currently is.” I can second that based on my firsthand experience.
The product and business to date has been built and designed completely by the founding team of Ghafoor and Beatty. Both David and Asif come from strong technology backgrounds with 20+ years of software experience between them. They met at Goldman Sachs and worked together for 10 years prior to making the decision to leave the banking industry and build their own company.
Spacious has been funded by Ghafoor and Beatty with assistance from the Hong Kong Science Park incubation program, which Ghafoor claims was a “huge help” in getting up and running. “The property market in Hong Kong is a huge and important factor in the economy,” says Allen Yeung, Vice President, Business Development and Technology Support at the Hong Kong Science Park. “We chose Spacious as a participant in our Incu-App program because we see the potential for the company to not just be successful financially, but to enrich the local community here in Hong Kong.”
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to find a place to live in Asia,” says Ghafoor. “We want to become the number one online property portal for Asia.” Bold words, but if entrepreneurs weren’t bold they wouldn’t get very far. Spacious launched only two months ago, but if they can keep up the 20% week on week growth they’re currently experiencing, they may soon make good on their objectives.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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ff78d10ef4c065cdb509df165bc5bb69 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/11/22/cooliris-puts-all-your-social-media-photos-in-one-place/ | Cooliris Puts All Your Social Media Photos In One Place | Cooliris Puts All Your Social Media Photos In One Place
Cooliris 3D Wall, iPad View
I attended TechCrunch Disrupt in Shanghai this week and while there had the chance to sit down with Soujanya Bhumkar, Co-Founder and CEO of Cooliris, a company providing an iOS app that allows you to aggregate all your photos from all your social media accounts into one account “to rule them all.” Based in Palo Alto, the company has created strategic partnerships and alliances to rapidly expand worldwide. These partnerships have allowed Cooliris’ 18-person staff to manage an app that has been #1 in the lifestyle category in 75 countries, is used in 180 countries, and has three billion photos connected and another 1,000 photos being added each minute. With their upcoming release expanding the service to Android and desktop environments as well as adding video sharing, Cooliris is poised to become the dominant hub for photo and video sharing across all platforms.
The core problem Cooliris solves is helping you quickly find and share images. If you’ve ever had the experience of knowing you have a photo or video stored somewhere, but you can’t remember if you posted it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, or one of your other 20 social media accounts, then you’ve felt the pain I’ve felt. There are times when I’ve spent 15 minutes searching for a particular photo, and a week later I find myself doing it all over again. Cooliris connects to over 20 sources to bring all your images into one place, and then their “3D Wall” makes it easy to browse through thousands of images in a matter of minutes or even seconds, virtually eliminating the proverbial search for the needle in the haystack.
The history behind Cooliris reads a bit like something from an entrepreneurial fairy-tale. Co-Founder and CTO Austin Shoemaker started working for Apple when he was 11-years old, testing pre-release software and hardware. The Human Resources head with Apple at the time, Eileen Schloss, made an exception to the company’s age restrictions to hire Mr. Shoemaker as an intern, the youngest ever that Apple has hired.
After Cooliris was founded in 2006, it’s first big success was the Cooliris browser plug-in that Shoemaker and team built in 2008. That got Cooliris on the radar of Google's Andy Rubin, who reached out and asked Cooliris to build the native Gallery app for Android, which today is used by almost 43 million people in the US alone.
Part of what makes Cooliris different from other photo apps is that the focus is on the user experience and convenient sharing, rather than storage. Cooliris does not store any photos, it merely connects to your existing accounts and brings your images from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and Google+--over 20 sources in all. Once the images are available in Cooliris, the app makes it easy to share with connections based on context. This philosophy of focusing on a few core competencies permeates not just the Cooliris technology, but the entire company’s way of doing business.
Cooliris has decided what it needs to own and what can be provided by partners, and this focus on its core has allowed it to expand rapidly with a relatively small team. Cooliris has entered China successfully by partnering with big names such as Tencent Weibo, Renren and Baidu and launching a localised Chinese version of the app. Cooliris was the first international company to be given access to Baidu's complete API suite. Cooliris is currently working on other, similar partnerships to expand its reach and make the service more convenient for users.
“For Cooliris, media is the monetization model, not storage,” Bhumkar says. “We want to be the one stop shop for media for everyone, and we see that storage is not what consumers care about. They just want quick and easy access to their photos and video.” In the future Cooliris will continue to offer it’s free version, ad-free, but plans to introduce premium paid features.
Connect with Joshua:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin | Goodreads | Medium
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3c5eefb679989cd750fdaa2728907733 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/12/11/lies-i-told-myself-about-going-global/ | Lies I Told Myself About Going Global | Lies I Told Myself About Going Global
Hong Kong (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In June, 2013, I took the first step toward going global by opening an office for my online marketing firm in Hong Kong. Now, six months into the venture, I wish I had done it sooner. Here are some of the lies, or at best “misleading truths,” I told myself that kept me from seriously considering it until the past year.
It’s too hard. I’ve found it to be a verifiable truth that whatever we have never done seems impossible, while that which we have already accomplished is easy. The difference is mostly a matter of perspective and attitude rather than anything to do with the objective facts of the situation. Before moving to Hong Kong and during the early stage of the process it seemed hard. Where will I live? What about office space? Where will the kids go to school? Will our visa be approved? It seemed daunting at the time, but in retrospect it was pretty easy. Telling yourself the difficulties are an illusion that will be forgotten six months down the road will make the process easier in the moment.
It’s too expensive. Nonsense. Hong Kong has some of the most expensive real estate in the world. But I chose to live a reasonable 40 minute commute outside of downtown Hong Kong. We live in a quiet, safe neighborhood with great neighbors and friends. We’re a 15-minute walk from a beautiful beach. I can walk out my front door and go trail running all over great mountains with amazing views. And we pay about the same in rent as we did in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, our previous home and one of the more affordable housing markets in the US.
As for office space, I started with a virtual office that costs me about $125 USD per month. I can upgrade when I need to. If I need to fly back to the US for some reason, I can find round trip flights for as low as $800.
My company isn’t big enough. Somehow we get the idea stuck in our minds that “global” companies are huge enterprises. You don’t even need two employees to go global. I met a fellow the other day with five offices around the world, and I’m pretty sure he’s the only guy in the company. You can have offices all over the world and rotate between them yourself as needed.
It’s too far away. The world is small, and distance is an illusion. When I lived in Utah, I thought little of driving to California or flying to New York, both effectively a full day’s trip. Flying from Utah to Hong Kong is also a full day’s trip. What’s the difference?
I’ll lose control of my domestic team. If that’s the case then you have other problems in your business that need fixing. Technology makes staying in touch a breeze. Most communication with my team was through email to begin with. If that’s not enough there is chat, Google Hangouts or Skype, my VOIP phone, and a host of other technologies that make it as though I were merely in the cubicle next door.
The one thing I can’t do easily is duck into a room or go out to lunch with another team member. I believe face to face interaction is important for building and maintaining a great company culture. Technology cannot entirely make up for it, but it goes a long way towards making it manageable. Other steps, like bringing on a trusted partner to run domestic operations, may be required.
I don’t know the language. It's easy to get around in Hong Kong speaking nothing but English, since English is an official language in Hong Kong. But I recently traveled to Shanghai, China where substantially less English is spoken, and it was not hard to get around there, either. Although I am learning as much Cantonese as I can with Pimsleur audio programs and YouTube videos, it’s unlikely I’ll ever have the required time to dedicate to it to become fluent. So I’m hiring locals who will handle communication with local clients while I focus on the expat community. If you’re an English speaker, the language simply isn’t much of a barrier in Asia, nor most of the rest of the world.
I don’t understand the culture. While I can’t claim to be the world’s foremost globetrotter, the more anecdotal experience I gather, the more I find that what unites us as human beings is much greater than what divides us. Or in other words, we’re pretty much all the same with minor differences, with exceptions granted for psychopaths and politicians. Having an open mind and enjoying the differences between cultures, even if they’re somewhat inconvenient at times, will turn what can be a hard slog into a fun adventure.
I don’t know anyone there. I didn’t think I knew anyone in Hong Kong when we decided to move here. But then I found out there are a few people I knew in high school who now live here. We made friends through our church network. And although we’re not the most socially outgoing people, my wife and I have met dozens of expats and locals with whom we’ve developed relationships. Through networking I’ve met several hundred people within a few months. Wherever you move, you may know more people than you think, and making new friends is never hard if you’re willing to reach out.
I’ll be taken advantage of. It’s good advice to be careful and wise, and that goes just as much for where you are as for where you might move to around the world. Chances are you might be less likely to enter into a bad business relationship outside your comfort zone since you’ll be on the alert, whereas you might be too trusting within the bounds of your current community.
My family won’t go for it. When I was preparing for this move I can’t count how many times I spoke with a friend who said “I’d love to do something like what you’re doing, but my wife would never go for it.” If true, that’s a shame, but are you sure that’s how your spouse feels? What might he or she be thinking that is causing such hesitance? Maybe they’ve fallen to some of the same lies I told myself and a little education in the reality of the situation might change things. Take your spouse on a 1-2 week fact-finding trip to a possible destination for your business’ next office. You might find yourself being pulled along on the global expansion of your business rather than the one doing the pulling.
The taxes and legal details are too complicated. I will admit that for US citizens taxes and legal matters are somewhat complicated. It feels as though the US government is intentionally punishing its citizens who choose to live overseas (I’ll probably get an IRS audit just for saying this). I’ve found my fellow contributor Robert Wood’s posts on international tax matters to be invaluable. Because one can easily violate US tax laws without intending to, with serious consequences, I’ve retained the services of a competent international accounting firm that stays on top of current regulations and can steer me away from the many gray areas of international finance which can trap even the most innocent entrepreneur. It’s a shame I have to pay an accounting firm a few thousand dollars a year just to make sure I don’t break the law, but it’s a manageable cost of doing business. I will say I understand much better the perspective of those who are choosing in record numbers to give up their US citizenship.
It won’t work. Are you an entrepreneur or aren’t you? Yes, do your research and plan wisely, but don’t give in to uninformed pessimism. Going global isn’t necessarily the right thing to do for all entrepreneurs, but make that decision based on the merits of the situation, rather than a negative attitude. Chances are if you’re business is working out where you’re at, it will work out in a hundred other places around the world.
It’s just plain crazy. During the planning phase of taking my business global there were days I woke up and thought “This is crazy. What are we thinking? Hong Kong?!” And then I would ask myself “Why not?” I thought about all the excuses above, and saw them for being just that--excuses.
The Benefits Of Going Global
In the short six months since moving to Hong Kong my wife and kids have made amazing progress learning another language, we’ve made many new friends, my company has landed international clients, and my firm’s domestic business has improved as well. Not a single one of the lies I told myself has come true. As both an individual and an entrepreneur my vision has been expanded and I see opportunities I never noticed, indeed could not have noticed, had I stayed where I was comfortable. Going global was much easier than I expected it to be. Is it time for your business to go global as well?
Gallery: Rising Stars: Best Global Cities For Business 2025 17 images View gallery
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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3bf96756df7877154ab1675868fcccd3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/12/17/how-a-mormon-mission-prepared-me-to-open-a-foreign-office/ | How A Mormon Mission Prepared Me To Open A Foreign Office | How A Mormon Mission Prepared Me To Open A Foreign Office
A more svelte version of myself, circa 1995. Manaus, Brazil.
Since moving myself and my family to Hong Kong where I’m opening an Asia office for my online marketing firm, I’ve had countless opportunities to think “If I hadn’t served as a Mormon missionary, I wouldn’t be doing this today.” The skills I learned almost 20 years ago as a missionary have been invaluable to my career as an entrepreneur, and never more so than now as I live and do business in a foreign country.
In 1994 I became a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are more commonly known by the nickname “Mormons" or simply "LDS." But I was not a missionary in Hong Kong or Asia where I live now. I served in Manaus, Brazil, where I learned Portuguese, rather than Mandarin or Cantonese. Prior to 2013 I had never been to Asia and knew very little about China or its neighbors. Most of my exposure to Asian culture came from growing up in Arcadia, California. There is a significant Asian population there, but despite this I can’t say I learned all that much about Asia from my Asian friends, who were intent on learning English and assimilating into American culture. But going to a foreign country where I didn’t know the language or the culture wasn’t new to me because I had already done it as a 19-year-old in Brazil. Here are some of the lessons I learned as a missionary that are helping me as I open an office in Hong Kong.
Be Prepared For Anything
All worthy young male members of the LDS Church are expected to fulfill a two-year, full-time mission, and pay for it themselves. Young women may also serve as missionaries if so inclined. Although more than 80,000 LDS missionaries serve in countries all around the world, they do not choose where they go. When I filled out my missionary application papers, the only question I was asked was whether or not I was interested in learning a foreign language. I put all the emphasis I could into checking the box labeled “Yes” but after that point could only hope. I was ecstatic when I received an envelope with my “mission call” informing me that I would spend the next two years of my life in the middle of the Amazon jungle speaking Portuguese.
From this experience I learned to not only be prepared for anything, but to anticipate and be excited about the unknown. This has helped me as an entrepreneur to open my mind to new opportunities and never say “Oh, that’s crazy, I could never do that.”
Some Things Take A Lot Of Hard Work
I soon reported to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. For two months I spent more than ten hours a day, six days a week, learning Portuguese while simultaneously being trained to teach about our faith. It is one of the largest and most intensive language training programs in the world, and was certainly the hardest sustained work I had ever done in my life. By the time I got on the plane to Brazil, I thought I knew Portuguese. I was terribly disappointed to arrive in Brazil and find out I could barely understand a word, and had an even harder time saying anything to anyone. We were told to never speak English except in an emergency, and for the next few months I didn’t say much. But within three to four months I felt comfortable enough with the language that I thought I could survive in Brazil on my own. Within seven to eight months I felt completely fluent.
In Hong Kong it’s easy to get by speaking only English and there's no real need to learn Cantonese or Mandarin (although my family and I are). The more important lesson I gained as a result of learning Portuguese was about what hard work looks like. Arriving in Hong Kong I didn't expect things to come easy, and being prepared to work hard and make long-term investments has helped me cope with setbacks and challenges.
The Value Of A Trusted Partner
All LDS missionaries have an assigned companion (if you ever see a young missionary wandering around by himself, he’s either breaking a rule or has been accidentally separated from his companion). Like Star Wars Jedi knights, a more experienced missionary generally trains one who is less experienced. Companions also keep each other out of trouble and on-task, leading to improved productivity. This is why the NSA has implemented a two-person rule, why pilots have co-pilots, and why pair programming has taken off in recent years.
I worked for more than 10 years in my business without a partner, and although the business did ok, it was largely stagnant. A year and a half ago I started looking for a partner, and earlier this year brought one on. Not only was this important since I would be leaving our headquarters in Utah to open an office in Hong Kong, and needed someone to help me manage the US operations, but that partner has helped me stay on top of things here in Hong Kong. In the past three months we have doubled revenues and will likely double again in the next three months. The first full-time employee I’m hoping to hire here in Hong Kong will be a partner who can work with me here like my partner in the States.
Focus And Organization
As a child I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, although my parents didn’t tell me this until a few years ago. Far from depressing me, I was glad to join the ranks of other entrepreneurs with ADHD like David Neeleman and Richard Branson. It also gave me a chance to confront face to face the fact that perhaps the same part of my brain that resulted in me having a million great ideas and more things I was interested in than there was time in the day to pursue, was also the reason my business was stagnant and suffering. There was a distinct lack of focus. I contrasted how I worked in my business, where I was the king and could do whatever I wanted, to how I worked as a missionary, where there were strict rules and a rigid schedule to follow, and realized there were things I needed to change.
I was able to focus and be quite organized as a missionary, because I was given the right tools and aids. Bringing on a partner in the US, and searching for one in Hong Kong, is in part the result of my realization that I need partners to help me stay focused and compensate for my weaknesses. I also use tools like Basecamp for project management, Wunderlist for maintaining a to-do list, and Google Calendar where I keep a detailed daily schedule so that I can look at it at any time and know what I should be working on (full disclosure: I’m not supposed to be writing this right now). And I’m continually looking for what else I can do to improve my focus and organization to the level I had as a missionary. I’ve come to especially appreciate books like The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, and Getting Things Done by David Allen. Opening an office is almost like starting a company from scratch, with hundreds of balls to juggle, and my over-active brain simply could not keep track of everything without these helps.
Limited Time And Lasting Effects
As a missionary there was always more to be done than there was time to do it in. The same goes for my life as an entrepreneur. And in both cases there is a countdown in effect. As a missionary it was two years, and I knew almost the exact date I would leave Brazil and my life as a full-time missionary. As an entrepreneur I don’t know an exact date, but someday I’ll die and my professional career will be over. As a missionary I hoped something I did during those two years would last. Last year, after a 17-year absence, I was able to return to Brazil for a visit. I had lost contact with everyone I knew there, and didn’t know what I would find. I was pleasantly surprised and frequently overcome emotionally as people I had known not only remembered me but in some cases broke down crying when they saw me, and then insisted on giving me some beans and rice and guaraná.
Likewise as an entrepreneur I frequently ask whether anything I’m doing has lasting value. Am I changing anyone’s life for the better? Will there be any lasting effect when I’m gone? Am I doing this for myself or for others? As for why I ask myself those questions, it likely wouldn’t be except for my previous experience as a missionary.
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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8942611d8176ab550c66fd531b4d3934 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/12/21/how-to-land-your-dream-job-working-for-an-entrepreneur/ | How To Land Your Dream Job Working For An Entrepreneur | How To Land Your Dream Job Working For An Entrepreneur
You’re either one of those people who will change the world or you’re insane, and as a result you’ve decided you want to work for an entrepreneur. Perhaps the reason is because you want to be an entrepreneur yourself, but you want to observe an entrepreneur in action and learn from his or her mistakes before you venture out on your own. Or perhaps you’re not inclined to start your own business, but you believe working for an entrepreneur will be educational, fun, financially remunerative, or rewarding in other ways. Here’s how to land your dream job.
Financial Reality Check
Most new businesses fail quickly, so chances are if you take a job with a startup you’re not going to get rich while employed there. And if you get a job with an established business, you’ve likely come into it too late to enjoy anything but stable employment at a competitive wage. Things may work out in your favor regardless, but don’t be too disappointed if your job disappears after a year, along with the company you’re working for. If it does, you’ll have learned some of the most valuable lessons of your life. Just the same, I can’t say there’s any harm in picking a winner. Your best chance at that is to join a new company being started by an entrepreneur who has already been successful with previous businesses.
What Entrepreneur Employers Want To See
As an entrepreneur and an employer, I’ve reviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes and job applications over the years, and have hired scores of individuals to work with me. Here’s what I look for in a potential hire, and how you can display these skills, traits, and abilities to a potential employer.
Competence
Are you a genius? Good for you. But what I really need is merely someone who can get a job done, get it done right, and get it done right now. It doesn’t take a genius to manage basic competence, but I can tell you that basic competence is rare. You’d be surprised how many people say they can do something, and then don’t deliver. When that happens with one of my team members, I’m unable to deliver to my customers what I’ve promised. That makes me incompetent, and I don’t like being incompetent. Team members who make me incompetent don’t tend to remain part of the team for very long.
It’s not that I give my team members impossible tasks outside the scope of their abilities, and I understand nobody is perfect. It’s that some people tend to get things done and others don’t. It might be as simple as me asking “Can you send me an email with a link to that website we were talking about?” If two days later, I have no email, and the only excuse is, “Sorry, I forgot,” and this isn’t a one-time occurrence but the norm, then that’s a team member I can’t afford to have around. I try to eliminate that type of person from the hiring pool before they become part of my team.
How To Display Competence
Easy--do what you say you’re going to do. You’ll have plenty of opportunities for this in the hiring process. Be on time for appointments, or with assignments. Read emails all the way through to make sure you don’t miss something that was asked of you. Show that you can get things done. And show that you’ve done it, either at a previous job or in school.
Humility
Are you teachable? If you’re just graduating from college you better be, or else you’ve already reached the limits of your abilities. Yes, I hire young people for what they can already do, but also for what they’ll be able to do in the future. If you think you already know everything, you’re not nearly as valuable to me.
How To Display Humility
Humility means seeing yourself as you truly are in relation to everything else. It does not mean being weak and holding back. Don’t wait for the opportunity to display humility. If you want to show your humility, there are two things you can do; 1) ask for advice, 2) show gratitude (not just for the advice, but generally).
Drive
When I see hunger and passion in a team member it gets me excited about my business all over again. Drive is when I see someone who is bent and determined to succeed, not just financially, but at everything they put their mind to.
How To Display Drive
One word--goals. Show your potential employer that you have a history of setting goals and attaining them. Show him that becoming part of his team isn’t just a job, but that it feeds into goals you have that go beyond the financial benefits.
Endurance
I do triathlons. There’s a difference between a “sprint” distance triathlon and an Ironman event. Sometimes I need my team members to sprint, as in the case of working an all-nighter to get a project done on time. But most of the time I need them to be there every day, getting the work done at a normal, measured pace. And it’s not always exciting. There are times when it can be a grind. Endurance, by definition, shows that you can do something that is at least slightly unpleasant for an extended period of time. I don’t want to have to worry about constantly keeping my team members entertained. Yes, I want work at my company to be exciting and stimulating, but I recognize there are times when it is anything but, and I can’t hire people who will quit or slow down during those periods.
How To Display Endurance
Run a marathon or do an Ironman. I’m not joking. Endurance is an attitude, a mental ability that can be developed. If it’s developed in one area of your life, it floods into other areas.
I recognize not everyone can run a marathon or race in an Ironman. I haven’t yet completed a full Ironman myself (I’ve done some halfs and some marathons, enough to have an idea what I’m in for when the day comes). If endurance sports aren’t for you, find another activity that takes a lot of time and patience. Whatever it is, find a way to share it with your potential employer during the hiring process.
Warning: Remaining in a bad job or situation for far too long is not the kind of endurance entrepreneurial employers are looking for.
Initiative
I’m not a micromanager. I can’t be. I need people with whom I can share a broad vision and high-level objectives, and then they go and do great things to make it all happen. I give my team the freedom to do that, reward them when they succeed, and learn with them when they fail. I never criticize for a valiant attempt that fails.
How To Display Initiative
Start the job before you have it. Imagine you’re interviewing with my online marketing firm for a sales job, along with 10 other stellar applicants. You come to me and said “I went to such and such company, which seems like the kind of client you’d like to have. I told them I was interviewing for a position with you, and that I wanted to understand how they purchase online marketing services. I asked them how I, if I got the job, could best approach them or a company like them to sell your services, and here’s what I learned…” Who is going to get the job?
Better yet, go close a deal. Heck, if you know the company you want to work for, don’t even wait for a job opening, just start doing work for the company. If you want to do sales, go land a deal for your future employer. I don’t care if I’m advertising for a sales position or not, if someone brings me a deal, they’re probably going to get hired. If it’s marketing you want to do, create a viral marketing campaign on YouTube for their product or service. If it’s programming, create an app that interfaces with your future employer’s API.
Creativity
Creators see connections and relationships where others don’t. They try what others are afraid to try. And they aren’t afraid of failure. Sometimes they provide value, sometimes they don’t. But without them, nothing new ever happens. Without creators in my company, my company will fall behind and disappear.
How To Display Creativity
Display curiosity, because people who wonder about things are the people who create new things. Find out what the entrepreneur employer wants, not of you in your potential role as a team member, but from his business, and then ask questions like “I’m just curious, have you ever thought about combining your Service A with so and so’s Product Z? Would that help you accomplish Objective D?”
Focus
All of the above are examples of skills, traits, and abilities I try to cultivate in myself. This last has a bit of “do as I say, not as I do” to it. Some entrepreneurs are great at having laser focus. They choose a dragon and they wake up and slay that dragon every day. That’s not me. I like to dream. I like to wonder, and wander. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid, after all. In some cases this seems to be a benefit to myself and my business, because it can aid in the creativity department. In other circumstances it’s a distinct liability. It’s because I recognize this tendency in myself that I hire people who are focused, in order to provide balance. I need team members who are strong where I am weak. Although I admire other wandering dreamers, I don’t hire them.
Focus is different than endurance, although they are related. Endurance is continuing to do something even when it’s not all that fun. Focus is recognizing the difference between good, better, and best, and sticking to what’s best.
How To Display Focus
Show that you know how to prioritize and then stick to your priorities. People who are focused might say “I made a mistake. I thought I should be working on A but it turns out I should have been working on B.” What they don’t say is “I knew I should have been working on B, but somehow I ended up working on A.”
One way to show focus is to have a consistent track record in your work history. Perhaps it’s in different industries, but as long as it’s the same type of work (sales, for example) then your potential employer will be able to see that you stick to something. If you’re young, perhaps just about to graduate from college, and you don’t have a professional work history, then display focus by showing consistency in other areas of your life. “I’ve been skiing since I was five-years-old,” still shows me you know what it means to keep your attention on something for a long time.
Some Technical Matters
The first thing I do when someone comes to my attention is I look at their Linkedin profile. This goes double for sales and marketing folks, whom I expect to be well networked and overly social. The exception is designers, because I’ll look at their online portfolio on Dribbble or Behance, although if they have a complete Linkedin profile that’s a plus. With Linkedin you can display many of the above, and then drive it home when you communicate directly with a potential employer.
How To Seal The Deal
Have good references, and make sure the potential employer contacts them. Follow up on the matter. Give your potential employer the questions he can ask, “I had a great experience working with so and so on such and such project. Please ask her about my creativity and focus.” Entrepreneurs are busy, and many will go with their gut when making hiring decisions. If you think the data is in your favor, make sure the entrepreneur employer sees it.
Are you an entrepreneur? What other tips would you give to people looking to work for you?
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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4ad0b87f6dd8d106b61cd7f6062e7553 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2013/12/31/doug-richard-of-dragons-den-on-hong-kongs-startup-scene-2/ | Doug Richard Of Dragon's Den On Hong Kong's Startup Scene | Doug Richard Of Dragon's Den On Hong Kong's Startup Scene
Doug Richard, Photo Courtesy School For Startups
Doug Richard rose to fame as an investor or “dragon” on the hit BBC TV program Dragon’s Den, the British equivalent of Shark Tank in the US. He remains the only Dragon to have gone an entire series without making a single investment. Today he focuses much of his time on School For Startups, an organization that provides education programs, events and online support for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Earlier this month Richard appeared in Hong Kong as part of the StartMeUp Hong Kong Venture Forum, an event organized by InvestHK, the Hong Kong government’s arm dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and investment in Hong Kong. I had the opportunity to sit down with Richard and get his take on Hong Kong’s business environment. Here are some highlights from our interview.
Joshua Steimle: Where do you feel Hong Kong is doing when it comes to business and entrepreneurship?
Doug Richard: From a macroeconomic point of view, part of the reason I am here is because I see Hong Kong as having the potential to become one of the great next nexus’. However much Silicon Valley would love to pretend it’s the only place startups get started, that’s something that is factually untrue. You have places like London and New York, all which have quite large and fast growing and thriving startup cultures and communities that are throwing off quite a few successes now, at a growth pace that is quite remarkable, and it suggests what I think is inevitable and that is that innovation and entrepreneurship are going to be spread further and further around the world at a very accelerated pace. You combine that general theme with the fact that Hong Kong itself is growing tremendously quickly, as an artifact of its special relationship with the mainland and I think you find this is an intersection that is unique. There is no other place in the world that gives both access to the world’s largest market and still enjoys, at least for the near mid term, commercial rule of law that’s common law based, low taxes, and English as a formal language of contract in business. These help enormously. These are contexts that are not easily ignored and thus you have all the ingredients. Now whether those ingredients spark the fire or not, that’s only speculation. But of course I am here talking at a startup conference, which suggests that there is some indication something is happening.
Steimle: Hong Kong’s startups have to fight with other businesses, like financial institutions, to recruit programmers and other talented individuals. What can be done to supply more of the talent Hong Kong entrepreneurs need to start businesses?
Richard: This is exactly the same challenge London presents. The financial services industry in London is the monster that eats everything alive. It pays better, it rewards more, it costs more, it’s very glittery and thus whether it’s software programmers that are really smart people coming out of the university – they just go into the city and no one ever sees them again. This is largely the same issue that Hong Kong faces, except it does it from a much scarcer resource base. So by way of example, the number of software engineers in Hong Kong is actually quite limited. There is only one solution that you produce more, you have to create more resource, you need to create more people who are graduating with the types of degrees that are useful for startups. You need to encourage more entrepreneurs to internalize, come to Hong Kong. The resources are finite until you change the pathway. It does become self-serving to some degree and this is what London has seen over the past five years, and that is over the past five years as the more successful startups started and exited, you end up with a counter-balancing lure to the city. Hong Kong will need to have those successes if it wants to create their counter-balance. It’s been my experience that things seem very small for a very long time until all of a sudden they accelerate, and prior to the acceleration, everyone thinks it will never happen and once it’s accelerated, everyone says it’s inevitable. So in prospect it looks probably off in the far distance, in fact in hindsight it will look like it happened yesterday.
Steimle: What can different stakeholders in the startup community including the government, investors, and entrepreneurs themselves do to support entrepreneurship in Hong Kong?
Richard: Generally government needs to be benign, and therefore not get in the way too much. In fairness Hong Kong is one of the freest economies in the world, it’s quite laissez faire already, so it doesn’t have an overarching burden of either regulation taxation or difficulty of starting your business. So in that sense it’s quite benign. What it can proactively do – there is essentially two or three things where the government can play a role; one is in education and one is micro-finance. These are two things that have been shown to work elsewhere – so for example, my own social enterprise is a school for startups in the UK, we largely target those areas. And the reason governments find what we do very attractive is we put tools in place to teach people how to start businesses, both to inspire them and teach them, and then run what amounts to social capital programs, i.e. very-very small amounts of money for people at an inception. The only place there is market failure anywhere in the world largely is at inception and that is because historically either you had money at inception or the cost of the business was zero and so you sweat it out. So if you have three programmers sitting in the Valley programming, they’re sweating it out and they’re living off of whatever they can grind together, that’s fine but the fact of the matter is not all entrepreneurial startups enjoy that and therefore somebody can have their daily wage offset for six months or twelve months, that can be instrumental in changing the likelihood of a startup business.
Steimle: Does Hong Kong need more investors to help the startup community?
Richard: It has been my experience you don’t need to worry about investors, you need to worry about creating investment opportunities. Money is hungry for return. Everywhere I have ever been, if the startups are there the investors will come if somebody chooses to convene them, and somebody always chooses to convene them as soon as the startups are there because there is always somebody who wants to be a middleman in this world. There is always somebody ready to create an angel group or start an investors conference or something. Investors get hungry when they see somebody else making money they’re not making.
Steimle: Should entrepreneurs worry about the startup community or just focus on their businesses?
Richard: I think there’s a lot to be said for being dogmatic and narrow-minded when you’re starting your business. It’s a huge effort of resource and will to get a business off the ground. It takes up pretty much all your time and time you probably don’t have. So, asking somebody who is starting a business to also be growing the communities seems to be kind of silly. I think the community grows because the multiple narrow efforts of all the people starting nearby each other. Now there’s value in certain activities. If you’re starting a startup, probably the most valuable thing you can have is a peer group of other people starting businesses to meet with regularly. It’s been shown over and over again that helps. So if you don’t have that peer group of people in startups, start one. You’re not really doing it to benefit the community, I think of that as very educated self-interest, because if you’re the startup CEO it’s a lonely position and it’s good to have other people nearby who are sharing the same issues.
Steimle: What have you seen done in the UK for startups that you think Hong Kong could also do?
Richard: There are two things that the government did that are highly transferrable. The first is the government created this tax relief called the Seed Enterprise Investment scheme. It’s interesting given the fact that the British government rarely takes the position of being the most aggressive government in the world for tax relief. The fact that they’ve done it anywhere is kind of remarkable, but the way the scheme works is if you invest money as an angel or individual into a startup business, a business that is less than a year old to be precise, you get a tax kickback of 50% of your money regardless of your income level. This is a huge discount on risk and it has had enormous impact, partly just because it’s attractive, but it also focuses the attention of people with a bit of money on the fact that there’s an alternative asset category to invest in. You can see it visibly having shaped the investment community and startup community.
The second is the Startup Loans programme which provides a pool of capital to create low cost social loans in small amounts (under £10,000) to help startups at inception. The nuance of this programme is that it works best in conjunction with a combination of formal teaching, active support and peer to peer communities. School for Startups has built the Launcher Programme which combines all of these into one seamless journey and in doing so we have become the largest provider of startup loans in the world.
It’s something other governments can learn, that tax policy can actually be a policy for gaining attention as much as investment, and so to the degree that the Hong Kong government wants people focusing on the startup community, given the fact there’s a huge financial services community here already with lots of quite well-off people working in it. Bridging the two of them is a very valuable activity and this kind of incentive program could do that.
Steimle: If someone wanted to do something like School For Startups in Hong Kong, how could they go about it?
Richard: One is they can call us up, because we’re interested in expanding and partnering in other places in the world, and we always partner by the way, that’s part of the lesson you’ll learn is – trying to run an educational institution, you cannot do it solely online. Even though we are hugely leveraged by our online work there is a face to face element of teaching that we have not found a way to get around yet, which creates certain limits on scalability because you have to have a face to face engagement, you need to have a campus where you are teaching other people. Having said that, there is better and worse curricula in this world, some people get better professors some people get worse professors, some people learn a lot some people learn a little, sometimes a textbook is good sometimes it’s not so good. We have spent the last six years trying to make ours good and so I think there is a sharing of curricula opportunity that’s enormous. Starting next year we will be a higher education institution, we will be offering master’s degrees, and undergraduate degrees, and further education qualifications up and down. We’re doing it not because we think an entrepreneur needs a degree, but because the degrees permit us to fit into the structure of the world and people can then say “Oh, that’s a credible activity.”
Steimle: What unique aspects of Hong Kong should the startup community and its stakeholders focus on?
Richard: There are certain things about the Valley that are unique to the Valley, that do not translate well elsewhere. Much of the Valley is built around web based businesses. That’s not the only kind of innovation that happens and I think it’s very narrow-minded for people to think that all innovation happens in the Valley. If you look at med-tech or biotech, these are all areas of technology advantage that are creating huge wealth, none of which is centered in the Valley. I live in Cambridge in England, and if you look at medical technology, it out-guns almost anywhere else in the world. Look at Israel and the kinds of areas and specialties they have there, look at North San Diego County for biotech. What makes Hong Kong special is a combination of the obvious things – Hong Kong sits at a moment in time on the edge of the greatest area of economic growth in the world. A rising tide is a big deal. If you’re sitting in Hong Kong you are sitting next to and have market access to China. Now how you leverage that access is the great unknown, but I am confident it’s a lot more likely to happen if you’re here than somewhere else. It became obvious to me that if I wanted to grow stuff in Europe I had to be in Europe. If I wanted to grow stuff somewhere in Africa I had to be in Africa. So we opened our first African program, we opened it in Nigeria and it grew uncommonly quickly, but you have to take the jump, you just can’t do it from the distance and I think if people wanted to take advantage of the growth in the Asian market then they need to be in the center of the Asian market. If you compare Shanghai to Hong Kong to Singapore, Hong Kong tends to win out just because it’s in the center. It has all the advantages Singapore has without the geographic disadvantage. Everything is closer to Hong Kong.
Steimle: There are quite a few parents here in Hong Kong who want their children to become bankers, doctors, lawyers--anything but an entrepreneur. What would you say to them?
Richard: What makes you think that’s just Hong Kong parents?
Steimle: Very true!
Richard: You’re asking a question that I get asked in every country in the world, so I don’t know that Hong Kong gets to be unique on that one. Middle class parents want their children to have professional jobs. This has been true for a long time and remains true today. Things that people should be aware of are that first, that only a few professionals do extraordinarily well, most professionals do fine but the distribution curve is such that it’s not humanly possible for everyone to be above average. Second, a profession is not suitable for everyone. There are people for whom being their own boss and starting their own business is a better course of action. To say to your son or daughter that the only thing you should do is be a professional is to consign a lot of people into jobs and careers that ultimately will leave them unfulfilled and unhappy and it’s been my experience that people who are unfulfilled and unhappy tend not to rise to the top of their career. If somebody is not suited to be an accountant, a lawyer, a doctor or an investment banker then forcing them into that box will either cause a revolution or an unfortunate evolution in their lives.
Steimle: Some people ask why being so dependent on the financial sector is a problem. It’s done well for Hong Kong, why focus on startups?
Richard: The fact is that Hong Kong does change. Hong Kong has changed from low cost manufacturing to financial services over a period of just 20 years. Hong Kong is representative of breath-taking change. Hong Kong hasn’t ever banked on the same thing and I think Hong Kong has to ask itself what’s next. There is nothing at the top of the heap. Hong Kong is a fantastic financial center. The question is how does Hong Kong maintain that growth. The fact is, almost all economic growth comes from innovation and young company growth. So if Hong Kong wants to maintain robust growth it’s going to have to create young companies and those young companies is where most of its growth will appear. That’s just an economic fact.
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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fb587b13515bbe333636947aa41cbf85 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/01/02/google-adwords-tip-ignore-your-competitors/ | Google Adwords Tip: Ignore Your Competitors | Google Adwords Tip: Ignore Your Competitors
If you’re using Google Adwords for your business, as record numbers of businesses are, you may be getting terrible results without even knowing it. There might be many reasons for this, but I’ve seen more money wasted by more clients and advertisers who focused too much on what their competitors were doing than from any other single mistake. My advice--ignore your competitors.
A Brief History Of Adwords
When Google Adwords came into being, it was a godsend for companies that couldn’t afford to hire a marketing firm or ad agency, but needed a way to get the word out about their products and/or services. All one had to do was create an account, link a credit card to the account, set up some ads, and all of a sudden sales would come flowing in. Optimizing a campaign focused mainly on managing bids, auction style, for keywords. The basic idea was if you wanted to get the most business, you outbid all your competitors for the #1 spot.
Adwords, Today
Google Adwords has gotten considerably more feature rich (read “complex”) in the past few years. Just take a look at Larry Kim’s Top 10 Google Adwords Updates of 2013. It’s a great list, but I’m convinced if every Adwords user read through the list, 50% of Adwords users would either give up managing their own campaigns and turn it over to a professional, or just give up on Adwords altogether. Running a successful Adwords campaign, for many people, has become anything but intuitive.
Keep Your Eye On The Competition?
Here’s what tends to happen if you pay close attention to your competitors’ ad positions:
“Alright, I’ve got my ad in the #1 spot for my most valuable keyword. I’m winning the race, I’m taking all the business, I’m beating my competitor!”
“Oh no, my competitor took the #1 spot away from me! Now he’s getting all the business! I better up the bid on my ad.”
“Yes, I’m in the #1 spot again. Take that!”
“No! He’s #1 again, I better up my bid again.”
“Wow, these ads are really expensive, and I’m barely getting any business from this. What gives?”
The problem is that over time your budget is getting exhausted faster and faster, so your ads are showing up less and less. You are paying more, for less. The same is happening to your competitors. You might think this is great for Google, but even Google recognizes that in the long-term, this will hurt their bottom line as well as advertisers ditch the system in favor of marketing that provides a better ROI.
The #1 Spot Isn’t Always The Best
One myth amateurs fall prey to is the idea that the #1 spot is always best. But ranking higher in Google Adwords search results isn’t always better. Chris Sparks of search marketing competitive intelligence company iSpionage recently showed how some companies have found success targeting their ads to the 2nd page of search results.
A Better Way
It goes against every principle you learned in business school, but for many, if not most, Adwords advertisers, the first step toward optimizing your campaigns is to ignore your competitors. I only mean this in a limited sense, that is, that you should ignore their ad positions, or whether their ads are showing up and your ads aren’t. You should not ignore the facts your competitors are using Adwords, or what keywords they’re targeting. But if you don’t focus on competitors, what should you focus on? Conversions.
What Is A Conversion?
A conversion is not just when someone clicks your ad and comes to your website, but when they do what you want them to do on your website. If you run an ecommerce website, you want the person who clicked on your ad to buy something. A hotel would want someone to book a room online. If you run marketing for a law firm you might want them to call a certain number. Or your business might want people to fill out a form online. All these forms of conversion can be tracked, and all other activities in online marketing are a means to this end.
Why Conversions?
As Andrew Lolk puts it, by focusing on the click-through rate (CTR), conversions, cost per conversion, and value per conversion, an advertiser will get the most traffic with the most conversions at the lowest price while bringing in the highest overall revenue. Simply put, conversions, together with other data, can tell you how your campaign is truly performing whereas benchmarking against competitors may give you the wrong data and lead you off-course.
By focusing on conversions you will also focus on the total customer experience, rather than only the part that happens before a potential customer clicks on your ad. A decrease in online lead flow might be due to revisions you’ve made recently to one of your online forms. The solution is to fix the form. And there may be opportunities to increase how much business you’re getting, without spending an extra dime, by redesigning your landing page. But if you’re focused on what position your competitor has in ad results, you’ll be paying less attention to both risks and opportunities.
I have seen clients with campaigns so backwards that with a few tweaks monthly spend was cut in half while conversions improved. If you have been managing your campaign to compete for position with your competitors, there might be similar opportunities to spend less and get more in your Adwords account.
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c7504d4a8985873804761cba302f3ec7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/01/07/vc-tim-draper-on-bitcoin-going-public-and-hong-kongs-startup-community/ | VC Tim Draper On Bitcoin, Going Public And Hong Kong's Startup Community | VC Tim Draper On Bitcoin, Going Public And Hong Kong's Startup Community
Tim Draper
If you have even the most minimal exposure to the venture capital industry then Tim Draper is a man who needs no introduction. He’s the “Draper” in the storied VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He’s invested in companies like Hotmail, Skype, and Baidu. And he is the captain of the world cheerleading team for entrepreneurs and free markets, even going so far as to serenade students, startups, and business groups with his personal rendition of The Riskmaster. I recently had the opportunity to interview Draper in Hong Kong as part of the StartMeUp Hong Kong Venture Forum, an event organized by InvestHK, the Hong Kong government’s arm dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and investment in Hong Kong. Here’s what he had to say.
Joshua Steimle: Why does Hong Kong need start-ups?
Tim Draper: You don’t want any state or country to get complacent. A lot of people start living a pretty nice life, and Hong Kong is a very nice life, and because they’ve had these amazing free markets the economy has just been fantastic here in Hong Kong for many, many years. And it’s because there were a lot of entrepreneurs here and they came and they built their businesses and they grew their families and they made great things happen here. They did manufacturing, they did all those things. Now I have always believed that competition is really good for society and monopolies are bad for society. Groups that get lazy or complacent are bad for society and they become ripe for the picking for entrepreneurs. So I just wouldn’t want Hong Kong to ever get complacent and I think there’s a big opportunity for Hong Kong to avoid that by bringing in entrepreneurs. I think these things that InvestHK are doing with this StartMeUp HK are great things and all these incubators that we’ve seen I think are also great things to encourage more entrepreneurship and then the sky is the limit. You just need one or two and the economy can grow on a steep ramp.
Steimle: What do you think Hong Kong can learn from Silicon Valley?
Draper: Sure, you want to learn from the Valley. Silicon Valley still is probably the best place to start a business. That’s why I set up Draper University of Heroes there. But I would say the best way to look at startups in Hong Kong is look at how they’re done in all these other parts and figure out how to do it better. I don’t think you want to try to emulate the Valley. I think there are some amazing things that have happened in the Valley because all of the great laws that were set up there 50 years ago. You probably wouldn’t want to emulate the laws of the last five or ten years because that is a disaster and so it makes it harder to be a great entrepreneur if you don’t have the right laws in place. If I’m Hong Kong first of all I would have more business plan competitions. They help everything. You create a lot of business plan competitions with real teeth in them. You’ve got to have people willing to put money into the winners. There is something great about those business plan competitions. They become magnets for all the crazy ideas that are out there. And then they also are attractions for people who might be good angel investors or venture investors to come and take a look and figure out whether to invest some money in a Hong Kong company. And without somehow aggregating the best businesses there isn’t enough of an attraction for a venture capitalist to come here. Some of these incubators are a really good start to attract entrepreneurs to Hong Kong and money to Hong Kong.
Steimle: If you were king of Hong Kong for a day and you could do anything you wanted to attract entrepreneurs and investment to Hong Kong, are there any improvements you would make?
Draper: If I were king the first thing I would do would be to give up my throne. And the reason I would do that is I think the greatest leaders in the world are the ones who have given up power. By giving up power you push power down to the local level and then they learn by example and they push power down to the local level and then everybody is better off. So that’s what I would do.
I would also compete very hard for the great businesses, the entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists and the money of the world to come to my country because I believe that all the countries are in competition. Now that we’re much more mobile, communications is very easy around borders, we can choose which country we want to be a part of. So as king, after giving up my throne, I would encourage my country to be as attractive as possible for entrepreneurs, venture capital money and business. But it’s hard to change or see how I would change Hong Kong because Hong Kong is probably the freest market in the world. It’s one of the top three business environments of the world. I think they’re the second or third best country to do business in. So they’re doing the right thing. Somehow they’re doing things very right. But I wouldn’t to get complacent. I would just say hey let’s try new things. I think that’s probably the thing that governments do the least and should do much more is change things. Keep changing. Keep trying new things. A lot of what governments do right now could be done by computer. And I would, well, if I had a day to change things I would deregulate as much as I could in as short a time as possible and I would put a 20 year sunset on every law so that 20 years from now people would have to create new laws. Then I would say that every government employee gets their increase in pay based on GDP growth and not CPI. So there are some ideas.
Steimle: Some Jeffersonian ideas there.
Draper: Well, it’s a new concept of the competitive country. I would have the districts here in Hong Kong be able to compete for citizens. And maybe the citizens wouldn’t have to move to do it. Maybe it’s not geographic. I do think that we can get to a more and more virtual government and I think that could be quite powerful. The other thing I would do is I would start accepting Bitcoin for everything. I would push it forward as fast and aggressively as possible so that the people of the world would look at Hong Kong and say “Look at what they’re doing. Look at what kind of progress they are making or trying to make.” And just by putting your stake in the ground and saying “Hey, we’re going to try this,” the rest of the world is going to look and go “Whoa, maybe we should try new things too.”
Steimle: How can investors help grow an entrepreneurial community, perhaps beyond just investing?
Draper: Well the best thing an investor can do – well what I did was I started Draper University of Heroes and we have several incubators around it and we built our own ecosystem there. In general investors can gather around and start investing. That’s the best thing they can do. Start investing. They invest in a couple of startups and some of them start to do well, they start to spread the word and it becomes a virtuous cycle. So investors should invest. Then they should also collaborate. It’s interesting. We have very much a coopetitive environment in the Silicon Valley amongst venture capitalists. We are very friendly because we often need each other to support companies that are growing and need more money but at the same time we want to compete because we want the institutional investors to recognize our talents are investors. It’s kind of a nice environment. So I would encourage coopetition amongst the investors here in Hong Kong, and I think they can do quite a bit that way.
And then the more you can standardize the better. So you standardize the deals. You standardize a way to get them incorporated. You standardize a way for them to get the word out about their business. The more standardization the more the investors, not just the ones who get it started but the ones who are on the periphery who might want to get involved, the more confidence they will have because once you know what the legal document says you are much more willing to risk your capital. If it’s sort of a foreign legal document you have to learn it all over again.
Steimle: What do you think are the unique selling points of Hong Kong for entrepreneurs?
Draper: Well if you’re an entrepreneur and you start in Hong Kong you have much lower taxes. It’s very easy to get visas here. It’s very easy to incorporate. You are very close to China and China is an enormous market. If you want to take your company public at some point, the Hong Kong exchanges are very liquid and are not heavily regulated and so you’re not going to get caught in a big mess of regulation when you want to take your company public. Going public turns out to be very expensive in the United States. So it can be easier to go public here than in other countries. I think there’s some great reasons to start here.
Steimle: Are there any unique challenges entrepreneurs face in Hong Kong?
Draper: Well in the Silicon Valley we have a real culture of entrepreneurship where people build their networks and they see somebody doing one thing and then they say “Oh hey, maybe I can incorporate that into what I’m doing.” And they all benefit from seeing each other’s businesses. Coming to Hong Kong entrepreneurs are somewhat isolated, there aren’t as many startups here, and they may not get to see all the other things that are going on in the entrepreneurial world. And without seeing those things right in front of you it’s a little bit harder. You can remedy that by getting more and more entrepreneurs here in Hong Kong so that they have something like what happens in the Silicon Valley. I would say that would be the biggest drawback is not having exposure to all of that creativity that is going on. But I think that’s going to be fixed if the environment here starts to really pick up.
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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ad5d29fd50999f32ccfed1d71aa841d2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/01/14/how-to-build-your-startup-team-from-scratch/ | How To Build Your Startup Team From Scratch | How To Build Your Startup Team From Scratch
In June, 2013 I moved to Hong Kong where I’m opening a new office for my online marketing firm, MWI. I have the luxury of being able to get work done for clients by utilizing our core fulfillment team in Salt Lake City, UT, as well as other team members spread around the globe, but the goal is to build a local team. My situation is different than that of the typical web-based startup team we are used to reading about. I'm running a professional services business, not the next Snapchat. I already have a business that is up and running, and I'm therefore recruiting team members to an existing business with a history, rather than searching for cofounders. But if your startup is also not of the Web 2.0+ variety, and especially if it's oriented towards providing services, my experiences may provide something of a guide for building your team. And there may even be something here for the web-based startup folks. Here’s how I'm building my team in Hong Kong, from identifying a position I need to fill all the way through to making a hire.
Identify Positions
Sales, administration, marketing, copywriting, translation, design, SEO, PR, paid search, social media, account management, project management, programming, user experience...these are all needs my clients have that my firm takes care of, and therefore these are all positions I’m looking to fill. Some, like sales and marketing, may overlap and I might be able to find one person to take on multiple roles, at least initially. Others, like PR and programming, probably won’t.
Prioritize
Who do I need to hire first? For me, this isn’t a difficult choice. It’s definitely sales. If I’m not bringing in deals, I have no reason to hire anyone else. But once the sales pipeline starts filling up it becomes harder to decide on the next hire. The decision is basely partly on what is required for current projects, what I believe will be required for future projects, and whether someone who fills a particular role, such as SEO, PR, or social media, can also assist with our own marketing needs. I haven’t found a magic bullet or a dependable recipe for who to hire after sales, but rather have found that it depends upon current circumstances. But I have found ways to ease into the decision...
Hire vs. Partner
I could hire a designer full time, but while I’m getting started why not partner with a design firm? I offset the risk of bringing on a salaried team member, don’t have to worry about getting someone up to speed, and especially don’t have to worry about having a mouth to feed and no income, if design projects should not come in fast enough. For this reason I’ve reached out to local web design firms, PR firms, and other companies here in Hong Kong that can complement the services my firm offers.
Full Time vs. Contract
Hiring a full time team member is a big risk, although substantially less of a risk in Hong Kong than say, France. But it’s still a major commitment, whereas a contract team member is a different arrangement altogether. If things aren’t working out with a contractor, the relationship doesn’t necessarily end with anyone getting fired, the contractor simply never gets called back to work again. And whereas a full time team member gets paid regardless of whether there is work to do, a contractor only gets paid while working. For these reasons I generally hire contractors first, and full time team members later once I know the need is there.
Identify Candidates
By far the most challenging part of the process is filling the candidate pool. When I arrived in Hong Kong I knew virtually no one. I started networking at events. I connected with people on Linkedin. I took people to lunch. I got to know people without asking them for any favors other than advice, but I did offer to help in any way I could. In less than a year I’ve developed a network of a few hundred people who know who I am and what I do, and some of them have already become friends. When I need to fill a position, I can now reach out through my network and get personal referrals.
Interview
I don’t take hiring lightly (I once did, I won’t make that mistake again) and that means interviewing multiple candidates from a much larger pool of potential candidates. My interviews are seldom formal, and the candidates often don’t know they’re in an interview because from their perspective we’re just having lunch and getting to know each other, or I’m emailing or calling them with questions. But it’s all part of the process, and it takes time and effort. I will spend several hours with a candidate before I get around to putting them on the short list for a test.
Test
I don’t hire anyone without testing them first. Everyone works for MWI on a contract basis before they go full time. I need to know how they communicate, how they respond under pressure, how they deal with feedback, how organized and responsive they are, and what kind of results they generate. If I’m hiring a designer I hire them for a small project. If that goes well, I give them a slightly larger project. If that goes well, another, and another. It’s much cheaper for me to spend a few thousand dollars testing them this way, then to hire them only to realize a month or two in that they’re not going to work out. That doesn’t serve me well, nor the team member.
Hire
I don’t hire employees, I hire team members. I hire partners. I don’t even like to call it “hiring.” The way I look at it, we’re joining forces. We’re collaborating to do something great. Sure, I own the business and I sign the checks, but when we’re working on a proposal or client work, there’s no seniority, just a group of people working on the best way to deliver value to a customer. I make this clear to those I hire with my words, and through my actions as we go through the testing phase. By the time someone comes on full time, they know how I roll.
Post-hire
The process of building a team doesn’t stop when someone gets hired. But that is a topic for another post.
I’m building my team here in Hong Kong slowly, by which I mean I haven’t hired a single full time team member yet. There are a several people in various stages of the process. The first 10 hires of a startup are critical. Although I’ve had my business for 14 years, getting this office up and running in Hong Kong is, in many ways, like starting from scratch, and I’m being purposely deliberate. I have that luxury in part because anything that needs to be done can be done by my team back in the US. But I also have the luxury of taking my time because of using partners and contractors as I outlined above, and those resources are available to anyone seeking to build a new team, anywhere in the world.
Have you ever built a team from scratch? What are the steps you followed? What advice do you have for entrepreneurs doing it for the first time?
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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864b741640dd1ab95212f9007c3af22c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/02/06/what-customer-service-should-look-like/ | What Customer Service Should Look Like | What Customer Service Should Look Like
We all know what bad customer service looks like. It’s the phone tree that takes 20 minutes to navigate, even when you’ve been through it 10 times already and you know exactly what options to choose and have the information you need to enter memorized. It’s the representative you finally get on the line at the end who doesn’t care, or perhaps worse, the rep who does care but who can’t do anything for you because the system prevents her from doing so. With the advent of social media, poor customer service, whether due to individual “rogue” employees or more systemic causes, has become a headache for corporations everywhere. A single dissatisfied customer can cost a company millions with a simple YouTube video of a cable repairman asleep on the customer’s couch or a bemused blog post.
One would think bad customer service would be rooted out by the Darwinistic competition of the marketplace, and anecdotally there certainly does seem to be an inverse relationship between the amount of government regulation (i.e. “protection”) an industry enjoys, and how much we complain about that industry. But the ultimate cause of bad customer service is you and me. That’s right, we, the consumers, allow bad customer service to continue because we keep paying the companies that provide it. I’ve had terrible experiences with my cable company and bank, but did I ditch them and sign up with their competitors? Nope. I decided it was too much of a bother and I was too busy. And as they say, there’s something about the devil you know. How could I be sure my experience with a competitor would be any better?
I’ve gotten so used to poor customer service over the years that now I just expect it. Which is why two customer service experience I had this past year shocked me with how refreshing and helpful they were. These weren’t one time events, but represented patterns I had experienced with these two companies over a number of years as a customer. They’re so unique, I simply had to share, in the hopes we can all do better in our own businesses, and expect more from the businesses that serve us.
Braintree
Braintree is an online payment gateway that was acquired in 2013 by PayPal for $800 million. Braintree is the type of company you deal with if you need to accept credit cards online. As simple as Braintree has made it to accept credit cards online, it’s still not a simple process, and integrating the software into your website can take a bit of work and result in questions. In one instance I hit a roadblock and decided I needed some help, and fast. I could have opted for online support, but decided, despite my aversion to picking up phones, that I needed to speak to someone.
I dialed the customer service number, but it never rang. I never made it to a phone tree. All I heard was “Welcome to Braintree, this is Sarah. How can I help you?” I was completely caught off guard. Did I dial the wrong number? Was this some sort of Siri-like automated system? My brain couldn’t fathom that perhaps I had reached a live person who could help me. After a pause, I still wasn’t sure how to respond. Did I need to speak slowly, in case this was a robot? Should I dial zero to get a live representative, or was I already speaking to one? I tentatively said, “Hello, Sarah?”
“Yes, what I can help you with?”
“Sorry,” I said, “I’m not used to talking to a live person that fast. Do a lot of people pause when you answer the phone?”
“Yes,” she laughed, “I get that pause a lot.”
Then she proceeded to solve my problem in about 20 seconds and the phone call was over. That was a year ago, and to this day I’m still amazed. Not just as how easy it was to get support from Braintree, or how quickly Sarah was able to answer my question, but I was amazed that I was amazed. Why should it be such a shock to call a company and get a human on the phone? If I had gotten the same service from my cable company over the past several years it would have saved me, and them, at least 40 combined hours. Hey President Obama, you want to jumpstart the economy? Figure out how to improve the cable TV/Internet industry. Just think of all the hours that could be poured into productive activities rather than people sitting around navigating phone trees and talking to customer service reps who haven’t been given the ability to fix the problems customers have.
Rackspace
If you need to host a small personal website, you would probably never give Rackspace a second glance. But if your business depends on its website being available all the time, without fail, then Rackspace is one of the top-tier providers. They are the second largest hosting company in the world, behind Amazon Web Services. I’ve tried many providers, and I keep coming back to Rackspace. It’s the company I work hard to talk all my firm’s clients into going with, even though there’s nothing in it for me.
Web hosting is one of the ultimate commoditized industries. Reliability, performance, and price have reached the point where there is little difference between providers. But Rackspace has managed to stand out by focusing on customer service. Case in point, in addition to some more mission critical websites, I host a few blogs on Rackspace servers. A few weeks ago I had a simple question, and based on past experience I knew I could get on the Rackspace website and engage someone via chat who would save me 20 minutes of searching around on Google, looking for the answer.
I connected with a customer service rep, who not only answered my question, which had to do with speeding up my website, but then said “If you want, I can take a closer look at your site and see if there’s anything else I can do to improve the performance.” Bear in mind, he wasn’t volunteering to take a look at the server my website was running on, the only thing I was paying Rackspace to provide to me, he was asking if he could look at my actual website. I agreed, and he logged into the WordPress administration portion of my site.
He turned out to be one of the foremost experts I’ve ever met on optimizing WordPress installations, and for the next hour, he explained to me where I could improve the website, and even worked directly on the code of the site, with my permission. By the time he was done, my site was functioning much better than it ever had, and ever would have, without his help. This is the kind of service for which I would have charged a client $200 per hour, and it hadn’t cost me anything but my time, which I was all too glad to give up. This is part of Rackspace's policy of providing "fanatical support," and employees who exhibit it are rewarded by being put in a real straightjacket, ostensibly because they need to be restrained.
Soon after I had this experience, I was invited by Ajit Melarkode, Managing Director of Rackspace Asia Pacific, to tour their office in Hong Kong. Having had several positive experiences with Rackspace support, which I attribute to Rackspace’s relentless focus on its service-oriented culture, I was curious to see how this was working out in Hong Kong. In Asia, office culture is typically hierarchical rather than flat, and openly challenging one’s boss, a behavior encouraged by Rackspace, is unheard of unless you’re not planning on coming back to work the next day. “It took nine months before I finally got someone to call me out on something and suggest I might be wrong,” says Melarkode. “The day it happened I was so happy.”
Rackspace Hong Kong's Fanatical Support Jacket. Photo courtesy Rackspace.
I also had the chance to interview a member of Melarkode’s team, a native of Hong Kong. “When I first came here it was very hard to adjust,” he said. “Everywhere I worked before, everyone focused on what they could get for themselves. If anybody acted like they wanted to help you, then you had to be suspicious. It took me a few months to get over that and start trusting my co-workers.” He later told me he loved working at Rackspace and it would be virtually impossible for anyone to hire him away. Darn it. Employee stories like this aren't the exception, but rather seem to be the norm, and it is consistent with my own anecdotal experiences with Rackspace's support team over a number of years.
Rackspace and Braintree have not only succeeded at creating corporate cultures that generate legendary customer service experiences, they’ve managed to make those cultures stick during periods of impressive growth. In both cases, a closer examination makes it clear both companies accomplished this feat by making culture a core aspect of hiring and training. It’s not an ancillary part of the service they provide, but the primary means by which they differentiate themselves from the competition. Whoever can figure out how to start a bank or a cable company with the same focus on customer service will do quite well.
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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1fd0963d7fb3cb4ec90317b4e3994555 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/03/18/spotify-plans-to-own-the-online-music-market-in-asia/ | Spotify Plans To Own The Online Music Market In Asia | Spotify Plans To Own The Online Music Market In Asia
I recently sat down for an interview with Sunita Kaur, Asia Director for Spotify. We talked about how her previous work at Time Warner, Forbes, Microsoft, and Facebook prepared her for her current role, the excitement of working for a startup again, and how Spotify is going to take over the market for online music in Asia.
Kaur’s career started in 1996 with a focus on print media, of all things, at Asiaweek Magazine. In 2005 she decided to take the leap into online publishing before it was being taken seriously in Asia. She worked for Forbes for four years, then Microsoft with their advertising division, and most recently Facebook, where she was the Asia Director. After two and a half years at Facebook, the startup bug bit her again, and she took a position with Spotify in June, 2013 to take the online music service’s offering into what could become its largest market.
Sunita Kaur, Asia Director, Spotify
Joshua Steimle: Tell us about your career path. How did you end up as Director of Spotify Asia?
Sunita Kaur: I have been in the media business for 17 years and I started with Time Warner in 1996 and was with them for almost seven years. Time Warner was a great place to start to learn, to cut your teeth. I stayed in the print business for 10 years and in 2005 I saw the impact online publishing was going to have in Asia. This was at a time where in Asia nobody really took it seriously. That changed very quickly. I was able to work with Forbes for almost four years during that exciting time, and then moved on to Microsoft and then when Facebook was setting up their offices in Asia I joined the team.
Facebook was my first taste of a startup and I loved it. When Facebook set up their Asia Pacific operations in Singapore there was a small handful of us in a little tiny serviced office--you would never in a million years have guessed that was Facebook’s Asia office. I stayed with them for three years and we grew really quickly.
In May of last year the opportunity with Spotify came up and Facebook was well into almost its teenage years and there were two things that made me want to move. Number one was I missed that whole startup, right at the beginning when you’re all squeezed into a service office feel, which is always the best time of any company. When we started there were just seven of us in what we affectionately called the “man cave” because there were six men and me. Then the office grew to a hundred people by the time I left. Also motivating me to move was the chance to work for an up and coming company like Spotify. I believe in its business model, and Spotify is Facebook’s music partner so we had already done quite a lot of work with them before.
Steimle: How did Facebook prepare you for your current role at Spotify?
Kaur: The one main takeaway was understanding how different Asia is from the rest of the world. Whereas in the US you’ve got 50 states but it is essentially the same culture and language, you come to Asia and even in just one country like India, for example, it’s almost like having 28 different countries within one because you have such different cultures, such different languages, everything.
Steimle: What are some of the specific challenges you’re facing in Asia?
Kaur: With a company like Spotify the fact that we’re all about music and we’re a streaming service, piracy is number one. Piracy in this part of the world is rife, to say the least. In a startup you ask yourself what is your competition? And here it’s not another company, it’s piracy. But the positive is that record labels are always excited about having Spotify into a country because it’s very easy to tell somebody “stop downloading music illegally” but you’re not giving them an alternative. With Spotify – in December we actually made a really big business decision where we announced Spotify free across all devices – that was a big part of our story. Now when we go we talk to someone about stopping downloading music illegally, we can tell them to move on to Spotify. It’s safe, it’s legal, it’s free and it’s quick so there is an alternative that makes sense. It solidified our story.
Steimle: What are some of the challenges that come up marketing to different cultures?
Kaur: I think it’s not so much a challenge as it is quite a lot of fun. Not to have a cookie cutter strategy that we use across each market. With each country that we go into, for example Hong Kong, we work with the big artists here, whether it is Eason Chan or Jay Chou, who are trending on top of the list in Hong Kong. When we look at the music trends across all of the different countries, every country is very, very passionate about their local artists so it’s not just the big international stars that trend well across Asia. They’re also very passionate about their local music scene so what we always try and do is walk with as many local music artists or middle concept promoters to be able to build up a marketing story in that country. It is kind of starting from ground zero in every country.
Steimle: What does Spotify offer to these artists? What’s the opportunity for them?
Kaur: Spotify offers artists the opportunity to connect with a passionate global audience. Especially in a world where music is still dominated by piracy, we allow artists to be heard and paid. We also provide artists with access to data that illustrates how their music is being heard around the world.
Along with a better understanding of our business model, this data also supports artists as they plan their own promotional strategies, such as planning their tours based on Spotify’s listening data.
Also, within the Spotify experience you’ll see there are two functions. There is Discover and Browse. Again, when we’re thinking about the local music scene and when we’re thinking about the user, depending on what you’re listening to we will recommend either up and coming artists or maybe a new song from an existing artist that you love and those will all be pushed out to users. Not based on what Spotify thinks but based on what the user is currently listening to.
Steimle: You talked about piracy as the greatest competitor but what about Pandora, iTunes and SoundCloud? Where do you see Spotify’s unique offering compared to them and other online competitors?
Kaur: The streaming music world is still quite new. The more players that come into the space right now the better it is for the whole music streaming world because it drives more people online. Right now online entertainment is moving from downloading to streaming and there is still an education process. We’re quite happy with the fact that there are more and more competitors coming into the streaming world because it helps with that education.
But the one thing that perhaps we do differently at Spotify is we build for users. We’re constantly charting and looking at usage data so a lot of the things that we build are for users. When we introduced Discover last year it was for the users. The feedback that we were getting were things like “Hey Spotify, I know you’re incredibly cool and you’re giving me access to all these amazing bands but I’m a bit of an 80’s baby and I want to listen to music from that genre.” So we built the system to recommend music depending on what you are already listening to instead of telling a user this is what we think you should listen to. That was a bit of a big change.
Then of course launching Spotify free across all devices that was something that we had been hearing about for years. It was, “I know I can access Spotify on desktop for free, but the moment I want to take it on to my tablet or my mobile I have to upgrade to a premium subscriber.” It’s not often that a company gets to give their 24 million users something that they want. Since we’ve done that we’ve seen a tremendous uptake in users.
Steimle: Is that uptake especially strong here in Asia where mobile adoption is so high?
Kaur: Exactly, it’s mobile first, and a mobile first strategy was very important to us here in Asia. It made sense for us because everybody here lives on their mobiles. So when we launched this new feature people were talking about it in social media. Our best marketeers are Spotify users. Everybody was telling their friends about the fact that you can get Spotify free.
Steimle: Where do you have a presence in Asia and what are your plans?
Kaur: Right now we’re in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan. Those countries are keeping us pretty busy. The rest of Asia is on our roadmap but we don’t have it quite settled yet because it’s very much led by licensing. We will not enter a market until we have a very robust local music catalogue for that market.
Steimle: How many people are employed by Spotify Asia now?
Kaur: There are about 15 of us.
Steimle: How do you like dealing with all those typical startup issues again?
Kaur: It’s wonderful. There are no secrets in our little office. It’s small and everybody is just working together and sitting so close to each other, I know it sounds trivial but it is wonderful when you know what everybody is doing and you can just yell at each other as opposed to sitting miles apart in a huge office. It’s a very special time.
Steimle: What are some of the other interesting aspects of the Spotify story in Asia?
Kaur: What we’re getting really excited about is our user growth. We are now the only music company to actually provide music for free on a mobile device which some people thought was risky. But our conversion rate on Spotify to paid is 20%.
Steimle: That’s quite good.
Kaur: Yes, it goes back to marketing 101--the more people you can get to try your product the more people will convert. Then we thought about Asia and the fact the only way to try our product was on desktop and yet in Asia the desktop experience is completely skipped. Spotify free on mobile was the best thing we ever did. I’m looking at the numbers and it is making really good sense. And yet before making that change, and for any startup, there is that risk, there are these big decision where you think – gosh, should I do it?
Steimle: Asia sometimes gets a bad rap for copying Western companies. But now it seems Asia is leading when it comes to a mobile first strategy. Do you see Spotify making changes to its system world-wide because of what you’re learning here in Asia?
Kaur: It’s really coming from everywhere. It has come from Asia, it has come from Latin America. We’re constantly being kept on our toes in the US as well. It is being able to take from everywhere and then making the best decision you can for your users because they’re the ones that are keeping all of us in business. As we launch in more countries we’ll continue to learn by building for the user instead of just building a brand.
Steimle: Switching topics a little bit, what are some of the trends here in Asia that are exciting?
Kaur: One thing is the recruiting standpoint. When I started at Facebook, which was not very long ago, a lot of people were still quite wary about joining startups. Now it’s all the rage. It’s a huge difference. On our floor in our Singapore office it’s a serviced office that is built for tech startups. There are five different companies on the floor that Spotify is on and all five companies are headed by people I grew up with in the industry and who have all worked for enormous companies and are all now working for startups. That’s one difference I have noticed, interest and passion for startups.
Steimle: What do you think is driving that? What do you think is getting rid of the barriers?
Kaur: It’s very exciting to build and I think that bug has bitten a lot of people. That whole startup lifestyle where you’re not in a big corporation where you get lost. A lot of companies, Spotify included, are incredibly flat so all of the hierarchy of the large corporation is gone. I think way more people can really enjoy building and having their opinion and their voice heard.
Steimle: What would you say to a young person, perhaps just graduating from university, who is trying to decide whether to go into the corporate world or join a startup?
Kaur: This is actually something I’m really passionate about – working with university students before they graduate. I know it may sound tough but I think it is important to graduate with a resume. I think it is important to try as best you can to tinker with both startups and big corporations while you’re in school. We have internship programs at Spotify, a lot of companies that I’ve worked for previously also have internship programs so while you’re at school I think it is important to already decide if you want to go for the big corporation or if you want to do the startup. We’re always looking for interns.
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
Google+ | @donloper | Facebook | Linkedin
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f4746cb7ecc622363d6e79e8e81d9067 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/03/31/self-storage-and-the-mobile-internet-in-asia/ | Self-Storage And The Mobile Internet In Asia | Self-Storage And The Mobile Internet In Asia
Last week I attended the second annual 2014 Self-Storage Expo Asia in Hong Kong, March 25-27, organized by the nascent Self-Storage Association Asia (SSAA). Self-storage is one of those businesses you’ve heard of, but may never have given much thought to unless you once had the need to store some furniture as you were moving from one house to another. And yet in the United States self-storage is a $24B business, and publicly traded self-storage companies have consistently outperformed the S&P 500. There are over 50,000 self-storage facilities in the US alone, totaling 2.3 billion square feet of storage space. But in Asia the business is relatively new. Although well established in countries like Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, it is virtually nonexistent in Asia’s largest markets China and India. To provide the same amount of storage space per middle class citizen to the whole of Asia as is available to each member of the middle class in the US would require that the storage industry in Asia grow immediately by 996%. Add to this the projection that Asia’s middle class will grow from 525 million in 2013 to 3.1 billion by 2030, and you can see why investors are excited about the potential of this investment opportunity. This is largely what drove hundreds of investors, operators, and service providers to attend the expo.
The Expo and SSAA were both started by Jon Perrins. Perrins is the Chairman of Steel Storage, an Australian company he founded in 1990, and which provided services to the self-storage industry. Perrins was previously involved in other self-storage associations, but saw the need for an industry association focused exclusively on Asia to bring the industry together to educate investors, operators, and customers. “Many consumers in Asia don’t know what self-storage is,” says Helen Ng, CEO of Lock+Store, a self-storage company in Singapore. “The Association will work to raise the industry's profile among a rapidly growing and more sophisticated middle class population." This education of the consumer base is key, according to Marilyn Leslie, President of MiniCo Self-Storage in Hong Kong, and a member of the newly elected board of the SSAA. “Educating consumers about self-storage is critical in areas where self-storage is a new concept. In order to rent space, people need to understand the idea and benefits of storage units. This can be a tough marketing test. The other challenge that goes hand in hand with this is determining who is your target customer.”
That target customer is part of the growing middle class, increasingly online, and increasingly using the mobile Internet. In 2005 average Internet penetration in the Asia-Pacific region was 9.4%, or 344 million users. As of 2013 that had risen to 31.9%, representing 1.3 billion users. But what’s more impressive is how fast use of the mobile Internet, accessed primarily through smartphones, is affecting the consumer landscape in Asia. Asia-based mobile Internet users effectively did not exist in 2005, but by the end of 2013 had reached 895 million. That number is estimated to surpass 1 billion by the end of 2015. Although parts of Asia may be playing catch-up to Europe and the US in terms of per capita Internet usage, the region is leading the way in showing us what the future holds. Worldwide smartphone sales in 2013 were 968 million, up from 680 million in 2012, a 42% increase. And this at the same time a Gartner study reported that in 2013 “Global PC shipments suffered the worst decline in PC market history.” For the self-storage industry worldwide, the future is customers who will find, reserve, and manage self-storage services on a smartphone. But that future already exists in Asia.
Ironically, despite the high levels of Internet usage in Asia, companies across all industries have been slow to embrace online marketing in the region. While most companies have a website, it is rare to find the business that has invested in responsive web design or is managing a substantive SEO campaign. Many companies use outdated websites that aren’t mobile-friendly and gravitate toward the immediate gratification of paid search programs like Google Adwords. My firm has performed SEO experiments to gauge the speed and ease of ranking a website in organic search results for terms related to self-storage in Asia and have found conditions to be similar to the Internet’s “Wild West” days in the US circa 2001. The companies that jump on the online marketing bandwagon the soonest in Asia are going to be able to build significant long-term advantages over their competitors when it comes to online marketing. You can learn more about self-storage and online marketing in Asia in the presentation I delivered at the event.
Which parts of Asia will be the hottest for self-storage investors? “China will be the location to watch over the next twenty years, with a growing middle class and higher disposable income,” says Gary Beadell, Executive Director of The Store House, a self-storage company in Hong Kong. “Self-storage firms will enter China and the locals will see this industry doing well. This will create a lot of locals setting up their own businesses which will drive more awareness of the product, similar to what we have seen in Hong Kong over the past 10 years.” Although China might seem like a risky market in which to make large investments in illiquid assets like real estate, attendees with whom I spoke at the Expo downplayed these fears based on their own experiences. Still, Gary and others were quick to point out there are plenty of other countries to invest in, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea.
It will be a while before the self-storage industry in Asia catches up with the US. Self-storage started as a new service in America in the 1950’s and now there are more than 55,000 locations totaling 2.5 billion square feet. To put it in meaningful numbers, that’s approximately 8 feet of storage space for each US resident. “That kind of penetration in Asia is unrealistic in the short term,” says Jes Johansen, Managing Director of Store Friendly in Singapore. “But given that Asia is densely populated and Asians are rapidly embracing consumerism it goes without saying that self-storage has incredible potential.” For the self-storage operators who embrace the mobile Internet, that statement is doubly true.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency with offices in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
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c10194a93961d0e7298e874efa13060d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/04/10/why-your-seo-firm-is-failing/ | Why Your SEO Firm Is Failing | Why Your SEO Firm Is Failing
You hired an SEO firm a few months ago. You hired them because they talked a good talk, they seemed to know what they were doing, the results they promised sounded great, and the price was right. Now you’re having buyer’s remorse. You’re not sure if you’re getting ripped off, but you’re not sure that’s not happening. Maybe they just don’t know what they’re doing. The problem is, you don’t know. Should you give them a deadline? Should you ask questions? Should you get angry, demand results, and get labeled as the “difficult” client? Or should you trust them? But what if all that money is just going nowhere? You don’t want to throw good money after bad.
If you feel this way, then your SEO firm is failing you. But the twist is that it may not be entirely their fault. You may be failing them, and yourself, as well. A client-service provider relationship involves activity on both sides, and neither side can expect the highest levels of success without the involvement of the other. Here are ways you and your SEO firm can work together to achieve your objectives.
Understand what SEO services are, and aren’t. SEO is not guaranteed, immediate results. SEO is hacking. Not the kind of hacking people do when they steal credit card numbers, but the kind of hacking people do to figure out how to solve problems. Because every situation is different, an SEO firm can’t apply a proven formula to your situation. Yes, we SEO professionals know that generally certain things work and other things don’t, but much of the work we do is trial and error, making mistakes and learning from them, and experimentation. The best SEO firms don’t promise a formulaic approach, but promise to do what it takes to get the results you need, even if that means figuring out how to do something that has never been done before.
Hire the right firm. If you hire the wrong SEO firm to begin with, then don’t expect good results. I’ve already written about how to avoid getting ripped off by an SEO firm and how to hire the right SEO firm, so I won’t go into further detail here, other than to say that taking extra time to make the right choice will save you time and money down the road.
Set clear expectations. As the client, ask your SEO firm what you should expect of them. If you have expectations for communications and deliverables other than what they tell you, ask them. Don’t expect your firm to read your mind. Many firms provide reports on a monthly basis, but are happy to provide reports more frequently if the client asks. If you want weekly reports but you never discuss this with your firm, you have no reason to be dissatisfied when you don’t hear from them until the next month.
Make sure you work together to define what success will look like. Your SEO firm may be focused on generating leads while you may be focused on rankings. Ask your SEO firm how they define success, and let them know what results you want to see.
Recognize who the experts are, and on what. Your SEO firm is expert at SEO, but unless they specialize in your industry, they are not experts at your business. There may be certain unique aspects of your business that are applicable to SEO but which your SEO firm simply cannot know unless they've had prior experience with your type of business. Your SEO firm should spend time getting to know your business, and you should spend time educating them as much as possible. Details that may seem mundane and irrelevant may be quite applicable to SEO. And there is some information that is specific to your business and only your business. For example, if your business is a dentist office, self storage facility, or other business that serves a limited geography, then city names will factor into your keyword strategy. An SEO firm can do research to determine which cities it will be effective to target, but this might take them several hours whereas you can just tell them in 30 seconds.
Communicate. Your SEO firm should be overcommunicating with you, but just because they’re not doesn’t mean they’re not doing a good job on SEO. If you aren’t getting the information you want, ask for more. A reasonable firm will be happy to oblige. At a minimum you should be receiving reports each month that contain details about conversions or leads, rankings, and traffic. These reports should be accompanied by explanations that are easy to understand. During the first few months, your SEO firm should provide more frequent updates to make sure you feel like you’re in the loop and know what’s going on. But again, just because you’re not getting any of this doesn’t mean you’re not getting good SEO, it just means the SEO firm might have something to learn when it comes to good customer service. Try to help them first. Don’t look elsewhere unless they refuse to accommodate your needs. Also, check your spam filter. There’s a chance your SEO firm is sending you emails and they just aren't getting through.
Demand transparency, but don’t micromanage. Sometimes your SEO firm may do things that confuse you. When this happen, don’t immediately assume they’re not doing their job. Instead, ask questions. You may learn something new. If you can't get a good answer, the right move likely isn't to start telling your SEO firm what to do, but to find a new SEO firm. Your SEO firm should be pushing you, not the other way around. Then again, there is a possibility you need to back off and let your SEO firm do their job. Verify, but trust.
Give it time. If your SEO firm knows what they’re doing then in most cases you should see “results” within the first one to two months. When I say results I don’t necessarily mean you’ll be selling more online or getting leads from your SEO campaign, but you should at least see movement in your rankings. That movement might not be enough to generate increased traffic, but you should be able to see things moving in the right direction. Depending upon the details, it could take several months, even a year, to see a boost to your business from an SEO campaign. SEO is a long term investment and it’s not fair to pull the plug on your SEO firm without giving them at least six months to prove themselves, unless you have fairly concrete evidence they’re ripping you off or have no idea what they’re doing.
How can I tell if I should fire my SEO firm?
Online marketing expert Neil Patel of KISSmetrics has an excellent, in-depth article on how to know if your SEO firm is helping or hurting you. Some of the ways he says you can tell if your SEO firm should be fired are if:
They have nothing to show They don’t ask you for anything They have no suggestions for improvement They won’t share their techniques
These are telltale signs your SEO firm is charging you money and not doing any work. If you're locked into a long term contract this should add to your suspicion. But don’t react too hastily. Communicate your concerns. If your firm responds within a month and cleans up their act, then you might have a long, fruitful relationship ahead of you. But if instead of an apology and a permanent improvement in the working relationship, you instead get a cooling of the relationship, or a temporary flurry of activity followed by a return to the same old story, it’s time to look elsewhere and demand you be let out of your contract, if need be.
If you run an SEO firm, what factors have you found that lead to successful relationships with your clients? If you're a client of an SEO firm, what steps have they taken to make you a happy client?
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d2fef96a107dd400cab4a39c70db6d25 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/04/22/3-successful-online-pr-case-studies/ | 3 Successful Online PR Case Studies | 3 Successful Online PR Case Studies
There is a trend occurring in the world of online marketing, and it’s the increasing overlap between SEO and public relations. If you understand what is driving this, you will instantly benefit just like those who were first in their respective industries to get a good website, engage strategically in SEO, and master content marketing.
My roots are in the SEO world, but I've always had a cozy relationship with friends and associates in the realm of PR. In the past few years, however, PR has become more than a passing interest. In part this is because of my role as a Forbes contributor, which has given me an expanded perspective on the power of online media. It has also been driven by changes Google made to its algorithm to eliminate the benefits of irrelevant inbound links and other spammy practices like low quality guest blog posting which recently incurred the wrath of Google’s head of web spam, Matt Cutts. Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, and every other animal-themed update released by Google has required those engaged in SEO to make content more interesting and ensure that inbound links are relevant and/or sourced from top tier websites.
But therein lies the challenge. You’re not going to get high quality link building for $5. Even high quality guest blog posting can only take you so far. So how does one go about getting links from top tier websites? Enter PR. PR firms have long influenced journalists and other writers by connecting them with expert sources who can add valuable information to an article, or by bringing innovative companies to the attention of journalists. Some companies do PR in-house, but regardless, those who are tasked with getting media attention for their clients or their own companies have become practitioners of some of the best SEO available, and they may not even know it. In focusing on placement, PR experts have been practicing great SEO by getting links for their clients from the types of websites Google and other search engines respect the most.
But if you aren’t in a position to hire a PR expert, either in-house or through a firm, to help you with this form of SEO, which we'll label "online PR," what do you do? How do you get a link from Forbes or other top tier online publications? How do you get these benefits that seem to only be within reach of larger corporations? Here are three examples of companies that have successfully pitched me, and the reasons I was happy to provide them with the publicity they were seeking.
Timing
This is one of the hardest ways to get included in an article, but it can work. If you email a writer saying “Hey, my company is awesome, you should write about us!” you've got a one in a million chance the writer is going to look at your email and exclaim “This is awesome, I'm going to write an article about this company right now!” But occasionally it does work. Last year I was approached by mySugr, a company that makes apps for diabetics, including children, to help them manage their lifestyle. The company has a nice website, and Tim Ferriss, author of the bestselling book The Four Hour Work Week, sits on their advisory board. Impressive, but not my thing. Except that I happened to have just been thinking about two other companies making products and services for diabetics, and when mySugr came along, I thought “Hey, now I’ve got three companies in the same space, three is a magic number, so why not write an article about these companies?” A few hours later the article Three Companies Innovating For Diabetics was finished. Within a few days of writing the article I was hit with emails from several other companies making products for diabetics. They had read my article and thought perhaps I would be an easy target. In truth it was the worst time for them to email me, because the moment had passed.
This might lead you to believe the way to get the timing right is to send out lots of emails to lots of writers on a regular basis. This can only improve one’s chances of reaching a writer at the right time, right? The problem is if you use the shotgun approach to pitching writers, it will lower the quality of your pitch, and turn writers off to you and your company. If you’re going to pitch a writer, make it personal and customized. Don’t use the shotgun approach. And instead of counting on timing, try one of the following methods instead.
Offer Something of Value
Writers are like anyone else in that we have desires and ambitions and as you might suppose, few writers want what they write to go unread. Offer a writer something of value, that will help their writing to get read, and you increase the chances of making a successful pitch. One way to do this is to create infographics writers can incorporate into their stories. Stories with infographics often get shared more frequently on social media, which makes writers and publishers happy.
I was approached by the UK SEO firm SEO Gadget last year on behalf of one of their clients. Having done their research SEO Gadget knew I was based in Hong Kong, and that I am interested in startups and entrepreneurship. They told me they had an infographic would give me first dibs on it if I was interested in using it in a story. I happened to be working on a story about the startup scene in Hong Kong, but this wasn’t merely lucky timing on their part. Even if I weren’t working on that story, they could have known from my writing that if I couldn’t use the infographic at that moment, I might be able to use it soon. All SEO Gadget asked in return was that I include a link to their client who was sponsoring the infographic, which I was happy to do. The article on Hong Kong’s startup scene was published with the infographic, which made SEO Gadget’s client happy and this in turn made SEO Gadget happy. Readers were happy because not only did they get an article, but an interesting visual as well. And the increased visibility of the article made me and Forbes happy as well. Everybody won.
Make It Easy For The Writer
I have a list of over 50 ideas for stories I would like to write. If I tried, I could come up with 200 more. That’s not counting all the emails I receive each week from people who have story ideas they want to share with me that involve their companies. It’s not ideas I lack, but the time to write about everything I would like to write about. I suspect it’s much the same for other writers. In order to differentiate your pitch from every other one out there, don’t just pitch an idea for a story, but pitch a real story.
Sonia Simone at CopyBlogger says all great marketing stories need a hero, a goal, an obstacle, a mentor, and a moral. I would add that from a technical perspective, every story can benefit from a few quotes, some statistics, and it’s nice if there is something timely about the story. Few people have these elements in place when they pitch me, which forces me to try and figure out an angle. If I were desperate for ideas I would take the time to do this. But since I’m not desperate for ideas and I am limited on time, I tend to stick with my own ideas. It's easier. But if you give me all the information I need to put a story together such that it becomes easier to write your story than my own, then you're onto something.
One individual did just this with me. He said he was a local entrepreneur (he had done the research to know this would get my interest) and wanted to know how to better communicate with the press. He invited me to meet him at a cafe, and I accepted. As we talked, I realized the company he was working with had an interesting story. I asked him to email me some details about the company, which he did, and I was able to put a story together in less than an hour. To this day I dont even know if he was pitching me, because it never felt like a pitch. He never pushed me to write a story about his company, he only asked for my advice. And once I expressed interest, he made it easy for me to get all the information I needed. The easier you make it for a writer to create a story about your company, the more likely a story will get written. If your company is already noteworthy you can afford to expect the writers to be glad to have the opportunity to write about you and have access to your executives. But if you’re a startup or virtually unknown, you need to do more of the legwork yourself.
Almost daily I receive pitched from PR firms which I can only assume are being paid good money by their clients to pitch me. 9 out of 10 of these pitches use the shotgun approach. They often leave my name out of the email. Occasionally they address the email to someone else’s name, a sure tip-off that they haven’t spent any time researching what I write about. Good PR firms are great at getting the timing right, providing value to the writers they contact, and making it easy for those writers to write about their clients. They also have great networks they’ve built over years of working with journalists. You may not have the network, but you can do the right things when it comes to timing, providing value, and making it easy for writers to cover you.
How have you successfully pitched a story to the media? Tell us in the comments below.
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96bb6896f3cc26992df1d67d7436f0e5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/05/05/why-i-dont-respond-to-your-linkedin-requests/ | Why I Don't Respond To Your LinkedIn Requests | Why I Don't Respond To Your LinkedIn Requests
Last week you sent me a request to connect with me on LinkedIn, and you still haven’t received a response. Maybe the request still shows as pending, or maybe it’s not showing up at all, which means I declined your request. There are many reasons why I, or someone else you’d like to connect with, may be ignoring or declining your requests to connect. It may be that I simply haven’t logged in and seen your request yet, or I didn’t receive an email from LinkedIn telling me I had a request (this seems to happen quite a bit). If that’s the case, you’ll just have to wait, or try to connect with me another way. But if I’ve declined your invitation, it’s not that I’m a jerk. It’s not that I don’t like you. It’s because you’re doing certain things, or failing to do certain other things, that make it difficult for me to know if I should connect with you, or that tell me I definitely don’t want to connect with you. I’m quite liberal in who I will connect with. In fact, I will connect with any real person who isn’t a spammer and isn’t trying to sell me something. I’ve found most people I interact with are the same way. Here’s how to reach out the right way and make sure your next LinkedIn connection request is accepted.
Complete your profile. I don’t connect with people who are missing a title, have one or two jobs listed with no details, and little in the way of any other content in their profile. The more complete your profile, the more likely I am to accept your request. Make sure you have a good, full size photo, that your work history has some detail, and that you have more endorsements than from just a single person.
Use proper spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. If you’re reaching out to someone whose primary language isn’t your own, you need to be doubly aware of writing things the right way. When your title isn’t capitalized, or it’s misspelled, it makes me wonder if you even know who you are, let alone who I am.
Customize your request message. If there were a #1 tip this would be it. The request message is the second thing I see other than your name and title, and I always look at the message, even if your name and title make me suspicious. If you’ve read my writing on Forbes and that’s how you found me, mention that. If you’re in Hong Kong and noticed I’m also based here, mention that. It doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s not the default message LinkedIn gives you. The exception is when you’ve already communicated with me outside LinkedIn and you’re sure I know who you are, then the default message is just fine because I’ll accept your request without looking at the message.
Connect, don’t sell. Maybe I shouldn’t reveal this tip, because it helps me screen people out, but for the sake of those who might have good intentions but lack tact, if you want to sell me something, don’t do it through your LinkedIn request. That’s a quick way to get me to tap on the “X” button. Note: I’m also not a fan of being contacted with a template sales pitch right after accepting a connection request. Even though LinkedIn makes it difficult, I will go through the steps necessary to remove you as a connection if I feel the only reason you connected with me is to try and sell me something. It’s not so much that I’m worried you’re going to keep giving me sales pitches, but because I don’t want you trying to give my connections the same sales pitch and using your connection with me as a way to gain their trust.
Get my name right. I recently received a request that was addressed to someone else. The person sending me the request didn’t just misspell my name, which is bad enough, they got it entirely wrong, even though everything else about their request was right. I didn’t accept the request, because I figure if they can’t take the time to check the name of the person they’re sending the message to, they are probably sending out tons of requests to all sorts of people, and I’m just one more name on their spam list. I don’t need those types of connections.
Follow up tip--don’t put important requests within your connection request. I typically accept connection requests through the LinkedIn app on my phone. When I accept your request, the connection request message disappears. I’m not sure where it goes, but it’s gone as far as I can tell. If you requested something important in that message, I can easily lose it, even if I know it’s there. If I already know you this is doubly important as I may accept your request without ever seeing your connection request message. Save the important request for a follow up to a successful connection request.
What is your policy for accepting or rejecting LinkedIn connection requests?
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur.
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1fa18e52ee6e95eca995468ca9c382b6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/06/19/how-to-keep-growing-your-business-after-you-reach-1mm-per-year/ | How To Keep Growing Your Business After You Reach $1M Per Year | How To Keep Growing Your Business After You Reach $1M Per Year
A mentor of mine once told me that a business that makes $100,000 in a year is different from a business that makes $500,000 in a year, a business that makes $500,000 a year is different from a business that makes $1 million a year, and so on. He also told me that the person who is successful at managing a company at one level often is not successful at managing it at another level. I’ve made it my mission as an entrepreneur to understand how to successfully transition from one level to another, but I’m still learning. Some of my education comes from my own experience, but as has been said “Experience is a painful teacher, and fools can’t learn any other way.” To avoid pain, I do my best to learn from others. Here are what a few successful entrepreneurs have to say about making transitioning past $1 million in revenue, and how to keep on growing.
Before $1 million, your biggest risk was starvation, but now your biggest risk is drowning in opportunities. Say no to all these new-found distractions that dilute your efforts. Stay focused and simple. -- Derek Sivers, author, TED speaker, and Founder, CD Baby, @sivers
Never let your quarterly sales goals blur or alter the long term plan you have established. It can't just be about growing your company for the sake of growth. Grow smart with a purpose. --Joshy D., REBEL8, @joshyrebel8
There will always be a million things to do, but identify and prioritise the ones that will achieve the most impact and do only them. --Chinmay Malaviya, Managing Director of foodpanda Singapore foodpanda Hong Kong.
Pay close attention to building and scaling your leadership team. Now that you are greater than $1 million in revenue, it's likely you don't have an exec team that knows how to go from $1 million to $10 million in revenue. --Brad Feld, Foundry Group, @bfeld
Keep your head down and keep executing. Stay focused on nailing the customer pain as precisely, profitably and perfectly as possible. --Jeff Burningham, Founder, Peak Ventures, @jeffburningham
Congrats, you've just hit $1 million. Immediately check profitability/margin--hitting $1 million in sales can still be a loss on margin. Don't focus so much on the top line that you aren't checking to see if margins are still healthy. Without healthy margin you could be running a Million Dollar failure. --Wil Reynolds, Founder, SEER Interactive, @wilreynolds
Is this a lifestyle business that you want to slowly grow to $2 million, or is this a rocketship you want to take to $100 million? A lot of decisions are different based on how you answer this. There is no wrong answer, but the path and decision tree look quite different. Are you the right CEO to take the company to the next level? Often times founders are the best to lead the company now and forever, but sometimes founders realize they only like the small company stage. Be honest with yourself. If you are outsourcing your bookkeeping or don’t have an experienced CFO, it's time to change that. $1 million+ is a decent amount of cash to track and account for. Will you need more office space? How many employees will you have when you hit $2 million, $5 million and so forth? Usually getting to the first million takes longer than getting to the second million. Will you need outside capital to continue to grow? Fundraising is a 6+ month process. Do you have a board of director or an advisory board? Experienced outsiders that have taken a business where you want to go can provide great insight. Choose wisely and be careful about when/if/how you compensate them. Do you have the right talent? Maybe you started with family and friends and now that the business has gotten larger they might not be the right ones for the jobs they are in as the company scales. --Alex Lawrence, Vice Provost at Weber State University, retired entrepreneur, @_alexlawrence
Put your foot on the gas, or as we Tesla customers say, "crank up the current." --Tim Draper, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, @timdraper
The psychological barrier of getting to $1 million in revenue is quickly elapsed by the reality that just as much innovation is required to get to $10 million as it was to get to $1 million. For some entrepreneurs it means repeating the business model and scaling as quickly as possible. For others it means leveraging the existing business to find something new that can propel fresh growth at bigger scale. --Derek Andersen, Founder and CEO of Startup Grind, @derekjandersen
As the owner, the bigger you get, the more you have to spend more time managing and less time selling. Therefore your daily tasks take on a whole new meaning. Then you have to start hiring more individuals to either do the managing, or to do the selling. So you have to keep in mind what made you successful, and not stop doing those things. --Jack Stapley, Founding Partner, Farnsworth Wholesale Co.
More revenues can bring more waste. Be willing to spend money on the actions that will give you the best return. Avoid spending needlessly at all cost. --John Benson, Founding Partner, PinAlerts
Be kind to those who surround you on the journey and give liberally to those in your personal network. You have enough experience to be critically valuable to other entrepreneurs and you are novice enough to need more help as you progress. Karma is real. --Greg Warnock, Managing Director, Mercato Partners, @gregwarnock
Have you run a business that grew from less than $1 million per year in revenue to greater than $1 million per year in revenue? What do you wish you would have known before you crossed that line? What advice would you give to someone crossing that line for the first time? Let us know in the comments area.
Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur.
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a8a0708254849ab8a014abfe9b6edafd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/07/14/teaching-entrepreneurship-to-kids-in-hong-kong/ | Teaching Entrepreneurship To Kids In Hong Kong | Teaching Entrepreneurship To Kids In Hong Kong
In 2011, Anuja Agarwal quit her job as a banker in Hong Kong because she wanted to spend more time with her children. After earning her MBA and CFA, and enjoying a successful career in banking and trading on Wall Street, she realized she could utilize her professional expertise to help our younger generation.
Her passion for wise money management and banking, as well as teaching children, led her to start Pinnacle Learning Centre and its accompanying website, Pinworld, where kids can gain money orientation skills through games, debates, and role play. The colorful, user-friendly website is geared towards children and has an online bank for kids, games, quizzes, and more. Pinnacle also provides workshops where children learn about saving, identifying needs vs. wants, budgeting, and being an entrepreneur.
This summer, Agarwal also launched a contest geared toward helping children become young entrepreneurs. Pinnacle’s entrepreneurship objectives and new Summer Young Entrepreneur Contest have received a good reaction so far, and were recently featured in an article for ABAC Forum for “APEC’s Women Business Leaders Making a Difference”.
I had the opportunity to interview Agarwal about her own entrepreneurial adventure starting Pinnacle, and about teaching entrepreneurship to kids in Hong Kong.
Joshua Steimle: Why and how did you start Pinnacle?
Anuja Agarwal: I am a MBA, CFA and an ex-banker. I quit my job because I wanted to spend more time with my kids. My background in money and banking, and my passion for working with kids helped me to start Pinnacle. Pinnacle aims to give Money Orientation skills for kids through games, debates, role-play and a lot of laughs. Our workshops talk about Savings, Needs vs Wants, Budgets, Entrepreneurship and a lot more – all through games and play. These are very interactive sessions and not traditional classroom-oriented at all. I hardly talk in my workshops, it’s the kids who do most of the talking!
Pinnacle doesn’t train kids to be a banker, or to become money-minded in a narrow way. It is more to make them aware of the privileges they are growing up with, to be able to understand the world and events around them, to be enterprising and to help them build good Money Habits, which will last them a lifetime.
Our courses are age-appropriate: for the younger kids we have art-craft like decorating Piggy banks and for the elder kids (10+) we have a full range 4 week course. We work with a lot of eco and math as well to give an interdisciplinary approach to our courses.
Example of a typical game we’ll play with 4-6 year olds: Get photo cards of objects they use in daily life like Pizza, Juice, Train, I-pad and rank them in order of how expensive they are.
Example of a typical game we’ll play with 6-10 year olds: The kids are going for a camping trip! They have a Fixed Budget and have to buy supplies within the Budget. I advise them to start with essentials like tents, blankets, fishing lines, fruits and go on to marshmallows, soccer balls, balloons etc. the choices are huge but they have to strike a balance between use and fun. This is a good Budgeting experience. They learn how to have a great experience within limited resources.
Example of a typical game we play with 10+ kids: Talk about min wages in HK, and how many hours they have to work at the min wage to buy their favorite toy. Talk about how business ideas changed the world, and brainstorm on their own ideas.
Steimle: What is this entrepreneur contest? Where did you get the idea to start it? Is this the first time you've done it?
Agarwal: The entrepreneurship contest is a fun and practical way for kids to learn about Money and Life-skills. Nowadays, parents often have to spend exorbitant amounts for summer-classes. This is an easy and interesting way to engage your child in something meaningful and fun at the same time. By thinking of an idea to run their own venture, they are being offered an opportunity to do something creative, live their vision and be very independent in the process.
The idea came as I am always looking for ways for kids to learn through play – which is the best way to teach them! This is the first time Pinnacle is hosting this event, and I hope for this to be annual event. We have lined up a very distinguished panel of judges, great prizes, and a very easy online submission platform.
All the kids have to do is think of a business-idea, launch it and then submit a write-up/snaps. The tenure isn’t important, but it should be thought of and managed by the child. It can be something small like washing cars, or baby-sitting or doing art-craft classes for younger kids!
Steimle: What is your objective with the contest? What do you hope will happen as a result?
Agarwal: The objective for this contest is for kids to get a platform to have fun and learn at the same time. I hope this practical exercise of running their own venture will give them a good feel of how money works in the real world, as well to be more enterprising. In the process they will also develop problem-solving skills, an understanding of risk and broader life-lessons.
Steimle: Why do you feel entrepreneurial skills are important for children to learn at this age?
Agarwal: There are many reasons why entrepreneurial skills are important for kids:
1. Entrepreneurial ventures can teach children about risk-taking, perseverance, being creative about handling challenges and thinking out of the box. There is hardly any part of life in which they won’t be able to apply these skills. Research shows good habits built at an early age last a lifetime. Natural curiosity and absorption skills are at the highest when kids are young.
2. In today’s world filled with ponzi schemes and cheats, there is a need to equip them with basic Money-skills to make sure they don’t get duped or scammed. Financial literacy is the way to clear decision-making and a part of the normal survival kit. Entrepreneurship is a fun and easy way to teach them the same!
3. Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg are the new role models for our children – it is a good idea to teach them to think big and creatively from an early age.
Steimle: Does one need to become an entrepreneur and start or run a business in order for entrepreneurial skills to benefit him or her?
Agarwal: Entrepreneurial Skills can be used in every part of life. Even if your child is not due to become an entrepreneur ultimately, the experience early on can be very useful in many other ways. It will teach the child critical analytical skills, perseverance and a logical approach, which can be used everywhere – from schooling life to job-careers.
Steimle: What can parents do to encourage the development of these skills in their children?
Agarwal: There are many ways in which parents can give basic money-skills to kids. Involve them in financial decisions for the family and encourage them to participate in the conversation. Give them a Piggy Bank and ask them to keep separate jars for Charity, Spending and Savings. Pick up the newspaper and discuss the events happening around. Ask them to build a budget for the next family vacation!
Encouraging them to have a small garage sale, or starting a small venture is a good way to learn about money and build entrepreneurship skills. Start with small steps – even selling homemade cookies in a school-fair is a great way to start!
Parents are the ultimate role models for kids. They need not live a life of austerity but need to keep in mind that their money-habits will rub off on the kids by and large.
Steimle: How can governments and schools encourage the development of these skills in children?
Agarwal: I feel entrepreneurship is a very marginalized subject in today’s educational system. Children shouldn’t have to drop out from high school to learn about and to start their ventures. Schools should incorporate financial-education lessons in their curriculum from early on. This can be incorporated as practical ways of teaching Econ Theory or as games, role-plays and debates. Teachers working in small-structured groups can explore non-traditional ways to engage the kids. Field trips to banks, current-affairs discussions, talking about history of money will all stroke their curiosity as well build awareness about financial events.
Governments can subsidize schools for providing this kind of training as well as make their own institutions (like Public Banks) more open and receptive to children. They can develop educational programs, tours and quizzes to encourage and foster interest in their functions.
Steimle: What else do you want people to know about entrepreneurship and children, and this contest?
Agarwal: Entrepreneurship is an easy and fun way to teach a child a lot about life, money and risk – so get started soon. This contest is a great way to initiate them into the same – there are fabulous cash prizes, but even without them, everybody participating takes away great experiences and learnings!
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ac28cbeac736e68c33b5842f14403067 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/08/05/hong-kong-startup-contest-attracts-550-entries/ | Hong Kong Startup Contest Attracts 550 Entries | Hong Kong Startup Contest Attracts 550 Entries
Last year I had the opportunity to interview the legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper here in Hong Kong, where he was the featured speaker at the inaugural StartmeupHK Venture Programme. Part of that program included a pitch contest which attracted entrepreneurs from around the world to compete for cash and in-kind services. During my interview with Draper I asked what Hong Kong could do to encourage entrepreneurship. “Have more contests like this one!” was Draper’s immediate response. Draper went on to talk about how these startup contests attract media attention, allow entrepreneurs to meet, and provide exposure to investors.
Several weeks ago Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), a government organization tasked with promoting investment and entrepreneurship in Hong Kong, started accepting submissions for its 2014 StartmeupHK Venture Programme, and today InvestHK announced the program has attracted 550 entries from entrepreneurs in 47 countries.
Mr Simon Galpin, InvestHK's Director-General of Investment Promotion, was clearly pleased with the results, stating “I am happy to see the increasing popularity of our competition as evidenced by the almost 40 per cent increase in the number of entries submitted." He added "I am also very pleased to see that the competition has reached more entrepreneur-led businesses in more overseas economies. Hong Kong offers an ideal foothold and a great opportunity for them to scale up and 'go global'. I'm glad to see that our message about Hong Kong's rapidly developing start-up ecosystem is spreading, which is one of the purposes of our StartmeupHK brand initiative and competition."
As expected, most of those entries are from Hong Kong itself (178), but many were from other countries including the US (65), Israel (53), India (46) and the UK (30). Most of the startups are still in the concept or prototype stage, but a third are companies already earning revenue or with active users.
Preliminary judging begins immediately as semi-finalists are selected, after which the field will be narrowed through face-to-face interviews down to 12 winners. Those 12 finalists will be flown to Hong Kong (where applicable) and participate in the StartmeupHK Week from November 10 to 14 in Hong Kong. On November 11, a panel of judges and Forum attendees will select three Grand Award Winners. Special recognition will be given to the best entrants whose companies focus on the areas of FinTech, SmartCity and Data Analytics.
Cash prizes for winners, totalling more than $500,000 USD, come from corporate sponsors. That’s a far cry from the entrepreneurship contests of my younger days. In 2001 I won 1st prize for the business plan I wrote as part of what was then called the BYU Business Plan Competition. I received a check for $5,000, which I was grateful for, since it helped me make payroll that week. Receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars would have been a game changer for my business, as it will be for one of the 550 semi-finalists in this competition.
Draper has been a happy man lately what with his recent purchase of millions worth of bitcoin, and progress being made with his initiative to split California into six more manageable, separate states. Perhaps Hong Kong’s success with this year’s startup contest will give him just a bit more to smile about.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency with offices in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
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a6beb60398aa3b6714077a3c55f64a99 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/09/09/what-do-chinas-3-richest-people-have-in-common/ | What Do Three Of China's Richest People Have In Common? | What Do Three Of China's Richest People Have In Common?
With a combined net worth of U.S. $43 billion, what do three of China's richest individuals Jack Ma ($11.2 billion), Ma Huateng ($15.6 billion), and Robin Li ($16.3 billion), have in common? They’re all Internet entrepreneurs. Jack Ma is the visionary (some would say eccentric) founder of eCommerce giant Alibaba, which is just around the corner from a record-setting IPO. Ma Huateng is the founder and CEO of Internet service portal Tencent, best known as the makers of the popular WeChat app. Robin Li is the CEO of Baidu , aka the ” Google of China.”
What’s happened in China is not what we saw in the dot-com boom of the late 90s. These companies are not revenue-starved operations funded by over-zealous venture capitalists. Take a look at these figures:
Alibaba:
Hangzhou-based Founded in 1999 Q2 2014: $2.54 billion in revenue, up 46% year-on-year Estimated valuation: $155 billion
Tencent:
Shenzhen-based Founded in 1998 Q2 2014: $3.21 billion in revenue, up 37 % year-on-year Market cap: $150 billion
Baidu:
Beijing-based Founded in 2000 Q2 2014: $1.93 billion in revenue, up 58.5% year-on-year Market cap: $79 billion
Yes, these companies have enjoyed government support--it’s hard to say how well Baidu would be doing if Google hadn’t pulled out of China in 2010 due to an unwillingness to censor search results. Nevertheless, there’s a difference between limited competition and a lack of a market, and these entrepreneurs have clearly figured out what the market is and how to meet its needs.
Perhaps more interesting is that they are just starting to scratch the surface of what’s possible. By the end of 2014, 45% of the world’s Internet users will be from the Asia-Pacific region. The China Internet Network Information Center reported in June, 2014 that China had 632 million Internet users and 527 million mobile Internet users. These numbers correlate closely with the number of Chinese who qualify as being part of the middle class. Ernst & Young expects the total number of middle class in China to grow by 500 million over the next decade, and reach a whopping three billion by 2030. It’s only logical to expect Internet penetration rates to increase during that time, and that means a lot of people in China using the Internet, and more than likely using the services of these three companies. Perhaps those valuations are looking a bit underrated. (Disclosure: I don’t own stock in any of these companies, which I regret)
What does this mean to you and me? No, I don’t believe we all need to learn Mandarin, although it would certainly broaden one’s opportunities. What this does mean is that there is ample reason to see Chinese Internet startups, or those targeting China, as viable potential investments. The big question mark is the Chinese government, which has a habit of favoring state-owned or state-connected companies. The larger opportunity for U.S. entrepreneurs may be the long-tail economy, or smaller Internet companies that fly under the radar, but still produce large returns. An Internet startup with total potential revenues of $10M in the U.S. might achieve revenues of $100M if it simply expanded its strategy to include Asia.
There is also the matter of having an Asia strategy as a defensive move. WhatsApp is popular here in Hong Kong, but in China WeChat dominates, and in Korea it’s Kakao Talk while in Japan it’s Line. These products are becoming popular enough to make the leap into the western hemisphere.
That said, having a China or Asia strategy isn’t as easy as releasing a Chinese-language version of your app. As Dan Harris points out, you should first find out if your business is even legal in China. Second, Asia is not just China, and the strategy that works in China might flop in Korea, Japan, Singapore, or Hong Kong. While there is a lot of opportunity, there will be a lot of work ahead. And even if your business makes it to Asia, you’re going to have plenty of competition from some very well-funded individuals like Ma, Huateng, and Li, who are just getting started. But don’t let that keep you from trying. There’s a lot of opportunity over here to go around.
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169d992c9953f10879ed5dc957e858e4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/10/02/why-occupy-hong-kong-leader-joshua-wong-would-make-a-great-hire/ | Why Occupy Hong Kong Leader Joshua Wong Would Make A Great Hire | Why Occupy Hong Kong Leader Joshua Wong Would Make A Great Hire
Joshua Wong, at the tender age of 17, has emerged as the most visible face of the largely leaderless pro-democracy protests that have rocked Hong Kong during the past week. I don’t know what his professional aspirations are. I doubt he has what most would consider directly relevant experience doing what my company does. His university entrance exam scores were lackluster by Hong Kong standards. Despite all this, I would hire him in a heartbeat. Not because he’s famous, but because he demonstrates many of the traits I screen for as an employer.
I hire based on competence, experience, and attitude, with the latter being more critical in most cases. I’ve found that where competence and experience are lacking, the first can be learned and the second will come with time. But if the attitude is wrong, it’s rare to see it change. Here is how I would evaluate Wong in each of the three areas, were I considering him for a job opening.
Joshua Wong speaks to pro-democracy activists, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014 in Hong Kong. Photo credit:... [+] Associated Press
Competence. My company offers digital marketing services to clients. At first blush, Wong wouldn’t appear to have any relevant skills. But Scholarism, the organization Wong founded at the age of 15 with a group of young associates, has managed to attract 277,000 followers on its Facebook page, and has used other social media channels to spread their message. Wong understands the power of social media and has demonstrated he knows how to use it to generate not just a lot of followers, but followers who are actively engaged. Wong has also used content marketing and public relations to rouse people to action. He has produced content that has spread throughout the Internet, and has appeared in almost every major news publication.
Wong may not be highly skilled technically when it comes to social media. He may never have heard of content marketing. And he isn’t a public relations professional. But technical skills are more easily taught then understanding and vision of how these tools can be used to spread ideas. I’m confident I could put Wong in a role managing social media marketing campaigns, content marketing, or PR, and he could do quite well at any of them within a short period of time.
Experience. While Wong may have some experience with the technical skills my company looks for, what is even more interesting to me is his leadership experience. At 15, Wong’s organization Scholarism successfully stood up to the governments of Hong Kong and China in protest of a proposed education curriculum designed to increase patriotic feelings for China. Tens of thousands rallied, and the plan was shelved. With his latest success, it is easy to see Wong has a track record of leadership that would be a valuable asset for any organization.
In addition, organizing movements is a lot like being an entrepreneur, and I like to hire entrepreneurs. Yes, it can be risky because they have their own ideas, goals, and ambitions, and they may not always align with those of their employer, but when they do the risk can pay off in a big way.
Attitude. Wong has expressed surprise at his success. That shows me he’s humble, which means he can learn. He has stated he is not very political, and these movements are not what he is really interested in. He comes across as an almost unwilling participant, called into action more out of a feeling of responsibility than ambition. Those shows me he’s not greedy or seeking fame--important traits to avoid in team members. By facing up to a government which has killed student protesters in the past, Wong is demonstrating courage and a willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good. Wong has said he doesn’t enjoy being the face of the protests, and doesn’t want the protests to be about him. That shows me he’s focused on organizational objectives more than his own career. Ironically, this is the best way to build one’s career, but too many workers focus on the short term and make poor decisions as a result.
I would love to hire Wong, and any other young person like him. I would hire a 17-year old like Wong before I would hire a Harvard MBA with perfect grades. But I suspect Wong wouldn’t want to work for me. I suspect he wants to do bigger things than work for a marketing agency. If Wong wants to change the world, my advice would be for him to drop out of school immediately and take control of his own education. Wong should apply to become a Thiel Fellow and focus on what author Dale Stephens calls “hacking your education.” With his attitude, Wong will learn far more outside classrooms than in them. And with his experience he doesn’t need the credibility of a university degree. Taking university classes, while good, would be a distraction from doing something great.
I would give the same advice to any other youth with a desire to change the world. Education is a wonderful thing--never stop learning. But don’t let your education get in the way of learning. Instead, do as Wong has done and take a risk. The worst that can happen is that you’ll end up with something great to put on your resume. Don’t be afraid to dream, and act now. The world is depending on you.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency with offices in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
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282f5de847a1e4c40b8efdbbe96f0b0a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshsteimle/2014/10/15/slush-brings-startup-pitch-event-to-hong-kong/ | Slush Brings Startup Pitch Event To Hong Kong | Slush Brings Startup Pitch Event To Hong Kong
Last week I had the privilege of being a judge at Hong Kong’s newest startup pitch event, Slush Hong Kong, where 18 startups had 3 minutes apiece to present their companies to a panel of 5 judges. The grand prize--an all expenses trip for the winning team to compete at Slush 2014, November 18-19 in Helsinki, Finland.
Slush was founded in 2008 and is supported by founders of tech notables MySQL, Rovio, Supercell and Skype. It’s a two-day conference where startups and investors can find each other. The first Slush events attracted mere handfuls of attendees, but this year the event is expected to have over 10,000 attendees including 2,500 companies, 500 journalists, and hundreds of investors representing over $200B in venture capital funding. Startups that attend have opportunities to meet with investors, demo products, participate in pitching events, and network at round tables. And according to Slush’s Chief Strategy Officer Martin Talvari, during the week of Slush there is a distinct spike in the number of deals being struck in saunas.
Jong Lee, an entrepreneur and investor based in Hong Kong, helped bring Slush to the region. "For me, the importance of bringing a Slush event to Hong Kong was to underscore the interconnectedness and global nature of the startup world and Hong Kong," Lee says. "Like London, NYC and the Silicon Valley, the best come to work with the best and to pursue their dreams, and it's important for Hong Kong based startups to travel and engage with the best and brightest in the world who will be at the Slush event in Finland."
Tonight in Hong Kong the companies ranged from a “nightlife app” in beta to Nixplay, which offers a WiFi connected digital picture frame and has already shipped tens of thousands of units. Some pitches were delivered by a single individual, while other companies were represented by experienced teams. After each 3-minute pitch, judges were allowed one question each, and then 2-3 questions were taken from audience members. For those who may be preparing for a pitch event, there are certain questions the judges asked over and over again, including:
How do you make money? What are the barriers to entry? What’s the marketing size? Why is your team qualified to run this business? Why did you start this business?
Some of the companies were well-prepared and answered the questions confidently and convincingly, while others fumbled. The greatest challenge for participants was sticking to the 3 minute time limit. In some cases, the presenter wasn’t capable of even communicating the basic idea of their business within 3 minutes, although many of the companies were polished in their presentations. When the voting was done, the top three winners were:
Third place, Think Group. Like CrazyEgg or other solutions that produce heat maps to track visitor behavior on websites and allow website owners to optimize, Think Group does the same in the offline world by placing cameras in retail stores and generating analytics data based on visually observable shopper behavior, combined with permission-based data obtained from shoppers via WiFi and Bluetooth.
Second place, uHoo. Following in the steps of Internet connected smart devices like Nest, uHoo offers a device, about the size of a can of soda, which provides information about the air quality in your home. It records data about carbon dioxide levels, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (or airborne chemicals), temperature and relative humidity, and allows you to access this information through a smartphone app.
First place, BitMEX, or the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange. BitMEX aims to be a platform for investors to trade Bitcoin derivatives. BitMEX offers centrally cleared futures and options contracts on Bitcoin vs. fiat and other crypto currencies. By attracting additional investors to markets related to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, BitMEX will reduce volatility in the value of these currencies, increasing their potential for everyday use.
BitMEX is putting the finishing touches on their exchange, perfecting its systems so that BitMEX will have ample liquidity on the first day of trading, which will happen within a few weeks. Just prior to attending Slush 2014 in Helsinki, BitMEX will be off to Web Summit in Dublin where they will exhibit their platform at the conference.
“Winning means that the startup community recognizes the contribution that BitMEX will bring to the Bitcoin ecosystem,” said Arthur Hayes, Co-Founder and CEO of BitMEX. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to attend the Slush event in Helsinki. The publicity and exposure from pitching to experienced VCs is invaluable.”
There was also a community choice award, which was won by TechPacker, an app that allows clothing designers to quickly and easily create a “tech pack” and submit it to a manufacturer. The term tech pack is common in the manufacturing industry and is used to describe a document product designers use to tell a manufacturer all the parts necessary to create a product.
It might be of interest to future pitch event participants to know that there was quite a bit of variability in the voting amongst the judges. BitMEX and uHoo could have easily traded places with the change of a vote or two.
Slush is just one of many pitch events now being held regularly in Hong Kong. CoCoon, a cowork space in Hong Kong, has a monthly pitch event which has directly led to millions raised for Hong Kong startups. Hong Kong angel investor Simon Squibb has embraced frequent pitch days through his firm NEST. The largest pitch event in Hong Kong, the StartMeUp Venture Programme, is hosted by the Hong Kong government and will take place this November.
Joshua Steimle is the CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency with offices in the U.S. and Hong Kong.
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