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d8bbce7a7ccbfaafd5d2290ea7835bc7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/03/22/12-challenges-startup-culture-must-overcome-in-order-to-thrive-in-2017/ | 12 Challenges Startup Culture Must Overcome In Order To Thrive in 2017 | 12 Challenges Startup Culture Must Overcome In Order To Thrive in 2017
Verge Community in Indianapolis VergeHQ.com
Entrepreneurship is on the rise, and for good reason. There's more funding available than ever before, educational courses and content on how to start your own business are easily accessible, and community-driven coworking and innovation hubs are popping up all over the country. It's a good time to be involved in the startup scene — an industry that's not going anywhere or slowing down anytime soon.
Despite the rising popularity of entrepreneurship, startup culture brings its own unique set of challenges and problems that its leaders must commit to addressing. Listed below are several challenges that real entrepreneurs are facing today, and advice on how they should be tackled. By working together to overcome these obstacles, we'll collectively foster a startup culture that's inclusive, efficient, and valuable for everyone.
1. Diversity
Startup culture aims to be inclusive but it remains mostly the domain of white males. This challenge needs to be addressed on a systemic level. It starts with kids — getting kids of all backgrounds to see entrepreneurship as a viable career path. They need to have hands on experience, learning through failure and success. I believe every kid should start a business in high school, if not sooner.
We're approaching a time when every business is a tech business and every adult will have periods of self-employment during their career. The startup culture should see this as an opportunity: Being truly inclusive will not only output social good, but widen the tent to bring in more talent, ideas, and capital.
- Jeb Banner, SmallBox
2. Product Validation
I've seen many startups rush into development of an idea before truly understanding the requirements for a successful product and before validating the financial viability of the opportunity. Whenever someone approaches me for tips or advice on how to start a new company, I always ask them three things:
How well do they know the problem or industry? Why would anyone trust them to deliver a solution for the problem? How will they monetize, and if there's a valid monetization plan, will it be enough to cover the expense of developing and operating the solution?
-Brandon Hoe, Helium
3. Thriving on Limited Resources
Because of limited resources, I think it's critical to make sure you have a culture of focused, deliberate work. With so many potential things you could be doing, and with everyone wearing multiple hats, it's easy for everyone to be reactive and bounce between competing priorities. When that happens, you might find yourselves going weeks or months without really moving your business forward in a material way.
-Ade Olonoh, Jell
4. Focus Is The Ticket (But It's Not Easy)
In the early days, you can be opportunistic with new-client acquisition, as that approach will help you learn what works and what doesn’t. But there comes a time in every company’s journey when you have to start saying “no” to clients you simply can't serve.
Define your ideal client profiles, and target them relentlessly. If a prospect comes your way that does not fit in your ideal profile, help your sales team understand what questions to ask to disqualify the prospect. If the prospect will not allow themselves to be disqualified, you can let them come aboard, but not before setting clear expectations to which they explicitly agree.
-Max Yoder, Lesson.ly, a Team Learning Tool
5. Lack of Structure
Established companies typically have well-defined cultures, clear goals, measurable performance expectations, and refined training processes that maximize employee skills and optimize performance. Unless the company is lucky enough to have experienced leadership, startups often begin their journey without a definitive culture, which often leads to internal challenges, conflicts, disappointments, and employee turnover.
A lack of historical marketing and sales data makes it difficult to determine and define reasonable goals and expectations. And a shortage of manpower, combined with the need for "all hands on deck," often means training happens on-the-job and on the fly. A great product, service or business can easily fail without a strong culture, clear business goals, and a proven method for teaching employees how to do the best job possible.
-Robin Salter, Kwipped
6. Collaborating With The Competition
Startup culture is competitive, but it's highly important to collaborate. We have to build a strong support network to learn from each other and share lessons learned for positive growth. Another challenge in the startup community is how to address failure in a competitive environment. Failure is a journey to growth. There is a greater chance for innovation if failure is discussed in an open environment.
-Sophia Hyder, Papilia
7. Constant Change
Everything can change in an instant for a startup, especially one in the tech industry, and conflicting directions can make it hard to know if your company is on the right path. A relative once told me: you do well by doing right. Dig deep to determine your values and the principles you want to ingrain in your company and then refuse to compromise on them. As long as you and those within the business hold true to these beliefs, you'll maintain the right course.
-Devon McKenney, AthloTech
8. Lean Startups Aren't Glamorous
The fact that there is even a term, "startup culture," means that it's been glamorized! People forget that there is a ton of hard work, sacrifice, patience, and emotional stress that comes with the territory of building a new company. Also, with the accessibility of investment money, the lean and scrappy mindset is hard to hold onto, but being focused on where every dollar is spent will only allow a startup to achieve success faster.
-Lauren Koenig, TwipTrips
9. Managing Disparate Visions of the Future
There are general challenges that affect all startups centering around time management and proper allocation of resources. These daily challenges can be addressed with better organization, effective communication, process evaluation, and hiring experienced advisors.
Although, while these challenges are ubiquitous, what degree they affect a startup is unique to that organization. In my experience, I think the biggest challenge of any startup organization is to manage the individual visions and expectations of those who contribute to the company as the venture grows. Entrepreneurial energy must be directed and controlled, but entrepreneurs don't like being told what to do. The stronger the alignment of the vision among the contributors, the further it goes before outside help is required.
-Chris Doerfler, 3DFS
10. Open Communication
Communication is frequently overlooked as a key component of successful startups. Often in the Startup Culture, everyone is working at breakneck speed, absorbing more work for fewer team members. However, this heads-down, knocking out code and generating sales daily grind can lead to silos within your small startup.
On the other end of the spectrum, in an established organization, there can be a sense of forced or too much corporate communication, from top-down only. There's a balance out there for the savvy startups: share critical info up and down and sideways -- good or bad -- to ensure your team members are informed and on the right track.
Land a big account or solve a major coding roadblock? Make sure your team knows! Stumble and fail in a big investor pitch? Share that, too. As you grow your organization, open communication will help build your trust in each other, and speak volumes as your startup scales.
-Keith Kleinmaier, Tenant Tracker
11. Don't Be Afraid to Do Something Different
Developing a new culture is even harder when the startup is forging a new niche industry or has no direct competitors. It takes confident guidance from leadership to convey the message that the strategies and philosophies that might have worked in previous careers and companies, likely don't apply in this particular niche. This approach will take employees out of their comfort zone and require extra support. Providing guidance and feedback in terms of priority organization, task load, and level of effort are all helpful ways to support team members during times of transition.
-Joe Melton, Box Fox
12. Not Taking Your People Into Account
Several startup cultures obsess what the culture should be like. That's the wrong focus. Startup culture comes organically from the people you hire: the who. If you get the right people on the team, then the culture will go in the right direction and ensure success.
-Grant Glas, AppPress
As entrepreneurs, we'll always face challenges — it's simply the nature of the work. Hopefully, these insights from successful startup founders will you help you begin to overcome some obstacles of your own.
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5e9c881714218e6ff26512d8246187c1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/04/13/cheddargetter-hopes-to-modernize-recurring-billing-with-unique-usage-based-api-for-startups/ | CheddarGetter Hopes to Modernize Recurring Billing with Unique Usage-Based API for Startups | CheddarGetter Hopes to Modernize Recurring Billing with Unique Usage-Based API for Startups
Shutterstock
In 2008, Mike Trotzke and Marc Guyer cofounded a unique venture capital firm called SproutBox in Bloomington, Indiana. The firm invested both financial and human capital in SaaS startups, leveraging their team of developers and creatives to help build each company’s product.
To aid in development, Trotzke and Guyer built an internal library of billing tools called CheddarGetter. They used it to integrate billing functionality into every application they built, saving time that would otherwise be spent creating unique billing systems for each one. This helped their portfolio companies start generating revenue through their applications sooner.
CheddarGetter evolved into an API, and when Trotzke and Guyer realized it could be a valuable tool outside of SproutBox, they turned it into a business.
“We quickly realized we weren’t the only ones who needed a modern billing system. Some half a billion dollars a year is spent building basically the same billing system over and over again for startups,” Trotzke said.
Today, CheddarGetter is a subscription-based, automated billing API for SaaS startups and companies that don’t already have a billing system in place. The platform uses a unique, usage-based approach to billing, and it includes revenue optimization and customer communication tools that allow all billing-related activities to be completed in one application.
Watch Trotzke’s pitch for CheddarGetter below to learn more about the platform that calls itself the “unique approach to subscription billing.”
A Usage-Based Approach to Billing
Most billing applications for recurring revenue products still use antiquated collection models—like memorized invoices and product catalogs—that are holdovers from the days of paper billing. The team at CheddarGetter designed their platform on a completely different model.
“ The CheddarGetter platform understands we’re living in a usage-based, real-time world, not a paper-based world ,” Trotzke said. “We decided to throw away all of the old paradigms around billing and replace them with a simple metric-tracking engine fused together with billing automation.”
Instead of enrolling a customer in one of several dozen product variations, CheddarGetter users simply define what items to track and the pricing for each one. The software collects usage data in real-time, assembles an invoice dynamically, and automatically bills end users on their clients’ behalf.
This billing model gives SaaS providers more flexibility and allows them to charge by usage as well as on fixed monthly rates. As a bonus, the platform’s built-in metrics help businesses analyze subscription trends, minimize churn, and ultimately increase revenue.
Helping Startups Earn More Cheddar
cheddargetter cheddargetter.com/
CheddarGetter’s combination of metric tracking and billing automation is a recipe unmatched by competitors like Chargify, Zuora, Recurly, and Chargebee. Trotzke claims the platform reduces the time it takes to monetize by 90% and increases revenue by 10% on average.
The transaction volume through CheddarGetter has been growing steadily since 2011, and it has tripled since 2014. Today, the company has more than 150 paying customers and reaches one million end users. A subscription to the platform costs $79 per month plus 20 cents per payment transaction, making it an attractive option for cash-strapped startups.
However, CheddarGetter’s adoption rate is still very low compared to its competitors. This is likely due in part to the company being homegrown, bootstrapped, and a side project for much of its life. If Trotzke and Guyer become more aggressive with their marketing and sales campaigns, adoption could increase to rival the usage rates of other billing platforms.
A growing customer base indicates the CheddarGetter platform is valuable to SaaS companies, but it’s too soon to know if unique features will put it head-and-shoulders above the competition. Usage-based billing might provide greater flexibility and higher revenue in theory, but that doesn’t necessarily mean customers will abandon solutions built on the paper-based paradigm that's been the staple for years.
CheddarGetter’s mission to help startups monetize sooner should be an undeniable selling point. In fact, that might be the only incentive customers need to give the platform a try.
“If you think about monetizing your company earlier, and if you make monetizing easier by leveraging the CheddarGetter platform, you’ll have a significant competitive advantage,” Trotzke said. We’ll have to wait and see how many small SaaS businesses take him up on the offer.
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0eec388ed0de31e0e6b3fab2272d8eef | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/05/15/this-open-source-ai-voice-assistant-is-challenging-siri-and-alexa-for-market-superiority/ | This Open-Source AI Voice Assistant Is Challenging Siri and Alexa for Market Superiority | This Open-Source AI Voice Assistant Is Challenging Siri and Alexa for Market Superiority
Shutterstock
When you issue a command to a virtual assistant like Siri, Alexa, or Cortana, natural language processing technology (NLP) allows the program to interpret your speech and respond in everyday language. Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are making great strides forward in NLP technology, but unfortunately, these tech giants aren’t interested in sharing how they do it.
“There’s an entire community of developers looking to access this technology, but so far, it’s been the purview of a few large companies. The technology is walled-off, proprietary, and secretive,” said Joshua Montgomery, CEO of Kansas City-based Mycroft AI, Inc.
As an alternative to these market leaders, Montgomery and his team created Mycroft, the world’s first open-source AI voice assistant. Mycroft is free to download and use, and developers are invited to alter its code to expand and improve the NLP functionality. More than 700 independent developers are already making contributions to Mycroft’s software.
Mycroft AI, Inc. ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 to fund its initial product, the “Mark 1,” a smart speaker similar in function to the Amazon Echo and Google Home. But the Mark 1 is only the launching point for Mycroft, which also runs on desktop and can be integrated into any device, from wearables to automobiles.
“Ask yourself: if your technology could understand human speech and respond naturally, what would you build?” challenges Montgomery. Watch the pitch below to dig deeper into this world of possibility.
Adaptable Technology with Extraordinary Potential
Mycroft’s open-source software and hardware are the keys to its potential. The team based the Mark 1 unit on the Raspberry Pi circuit board and Arduino microcontroller, to encourage users to hack and modify the core equipment. Desktop users can run Mycroft on the developer-friendly Linux OS through the KDE Plasma distribution.
Independent developers can then “teach” Mycroft new skills beyond its original programming and share their code with the community, increasing Mycroft’s functionality for everyone. The number of potential applications is limitless.
Mycroft AI, Inc. is initially focusing on the automotive industry, where there’s a huge opportunity to improve voice control functionality in new vehicles.
“J.D. Power and Associates has reported that the voice control in the car is the single most complained-about feature in the automobile. We solved that problem, so that’s how we land with companies like Jaguar Land Rover, who’s a strategic investor and soon will be a customer, and General Motors, who we’re working with through 500 Startups,” Montgomery said.
The Leaders in Open-Source AI
mycroft AI team https://mycroft.ai/
After earning $189,000 in crowdfunding in 2015, Mycroft AI, Inc. went on to complete a $350,000 angel round and a $1.17 million seed round. The team completed the Techstars accelerator program in 2016 and are currently engaged with 500 Startups. They hope to leverage their funding and mentorship to increase their global influence.
“The seed money we’ve obtained allows us to position ourselves as the open technology in this space,” Montgomery said. “Our goal is that when you think ‘open’ and ‘virtual assistant,’ you’ll think Mycroft.”
This goal may be within reach if the company’s talks with GM, Jaguar, Walmart, GE, and Canonical Ltd. (publisher of the Ubuntu OS) are any indication. Although Mycroft isn’t currently available to developers using Windows or Mac, Montgomery said the software will eventually run on all operating systems.
The biggest threat for Mycroft comes from the possibility that one of the major NLP players will make its own software open source, but that doesn’t seem likely given their track record. Instead, Montgomery is confident in the multi-billion dollar market of companies who don’t want to do business with the Silicon Valley tech giants.
By 2020, it is estimated that 34 billion devices will be connected to the Internet of Things. Montgomery believes Mycroft AI, Inc. is in a position to capture a huge slice of that market with its free-to-use customizable, NLP technology.
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3f282c39d3924f1a677ea05902bc1a15 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/06/07/greenlight-guru-hopes-to-empower-innovative-medical-device-companies-with-modern-eqms-software/ | greenlight.guru Hopes to Empower Innovative Medical Device Companies with Modern eQMS Software | greenlight.guru Hopes to Empower Innovative Medical Device Companies with Modern eQMS Software
Despite the wide range of quality standards and regulations that all medical devices system must meet, many are designed using shockingly archaic quality, “legacy” management systems. Some still rely on paper-based systems.
Inefficient systems like these deter innovation and cause gaps in compliance to device regulations, unnecessarily increasing a product’s development time and costing the company in missed sales opportunities. They could even potentially put lives at risk.
“After talking to hundreds of medical device companies, we realized there just wasn’t that cloud-based, secure, integrated, cohesive, easy-to-use system that seems to exist in every other industry,” said David DeRam, a 25-year veteran in commercial software who previously founded Progeny Software (now Progeny Genetics), which was later acquired by Ambry Genetics.
To address the problem, DeRam cofounded greenlight.guru, a modern electronic quality management software (or eQMS) exclusively for medical device companies. The platform guides device makers through regulatory requirements, providing the necessary documentation and records for compliance along the way. It’s currently being used by companies in over 300 cities around the world.
“These medical device companies are bringing all this innovation to market, and our eQMS platform allows them to maintain their compliance, have visibility into things they’ve never seen before and do things they’ve never done before,” DeRam said. “We’d like to see a paradigm shift for device makers by allowing them to use their quality system to significantly improve the business.”
Three Distinguishing Features, One Cloud-Based SaaS Platform
The three distinguishing features of the greenlight.guru platform are its modern design, exclusive focus on the medical device industry and the expert services provided by the team.
All aspects of quality management are centralized on the cloud-based SaaS platform, which is far more efficient than having them scattered across multiple applications or paper files. Because medical device companies must prove that their products adhere to regulations set by the FDA or ISO, easy access to design and regulatory documents is especially important.
greenlight.guru has integrated risk management into the product lifecycle to accommodate a growing regulatory emphasis on this discipline within the industry. Managing risk throughout the product lifecycle prevents costly delays which could arise if failure to comply with regulations becomes an issue.
The platform implements industry knowledge and best practices into its workflows to give medical device companies the most valuable resources possible. greenlight.guru employs medical device experts on their customer success team to guide clients through the design process, helping them understand and keep up-to-day on government regulations.
Sights Set on Disrupting an Industry
greenlight.guru is among the first wave of service providers for modernized medical device eQMS software , but it isn’t alone. Sparta Systems, ETQ, Arena and MasterControl are a few companies that are also selling tailored solutions to the medical device industry.
DeRam believes greenlight.guru stands apart because it’s designing solutions solely for the medical device industry, as opposed to general-purpose applications that are meeting the needs of various industries like aerospace, transportation and pharmaceutical. DeRam argues that eQMS applications claiming to work in any industry lack a complete understanding of the medical device industry.
“What’s difficult about building a software platform is taking all the industry knowledge and best practices and getting those workflows to integrate seamlessly in a great user experience,” DeRam said. “Software built that way is by nature easier to implement and critical to the customer’s business.”
greenlight.guru’s expert services are another differentiator. The team’s market research indicated that customers wanted more than just a software platform. They wanted guidance and expert industry knowledge, so greenlight.guru made it an integral part of the platform.
Key to Success: Maintaining Dedication to One Major Component
Demand for greenlight.guru’s services has necessitated servers throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Asia. The team is adding new members to meet the rising demand and focus on building new product features that will significantly expand the scope of the platform.
“In 25 years in commercial software, I’ve never seen an adoption rate like this, and it’s because we’ve really delivered something special,” DeRam said. “I think it helps we’re the one company that arrived late to the party. Our platform is architected on true multi-tenant cloud technology that simply didn't exist five to ten years ago.”
greenlight.guru will have to acquire exceptional talent and maintain their company culture as they scale. If they can expand their reach without losing the dedication to service that got them this far, they could disrupt the medical device industry with their modern, focused and educational eQMS application.
“We’re here to improve the quality of life,” DeRam said. “I think we’ve given so much to the industry that we’ve been able to accomplish that.”
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5c13e0f8c8c94899785dddd92657528c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/08/04/3-strategies-for-marketing-innovation-from-former-marketing-exec-at-pg-and-coca-cola-turned-vc/ | 3 Strategies for Marketing Innovation from Former Marketing Exec at P&G and Coca-Cola Turned VC | 3 Strategies for Marketing Innovation from Former Marketing Exec at P&G and Coca-Cola Turned VC
There’s a fascinating chapter in the annals of marketing history about
Coca-Cola
and the Diet Coke and Mentos phenomenon that took the Internet by storm in 2006.
The leaders at Coke saw this phenomenon as a crisis that threatened to make their product appear unsafe and derail their carefully constructed brand image. But Tim Kopp, the brand marketer in charge of handling the company’s response, saw it as an opportunity.
“I reached out to the guys who created these crazy fountains. Then I went and worked with my team, and we helped create the biggest, best Diet Coke and Mentos experiment ever.” Kopp said.
The result? Coke saved face and was able to help shape a narrative that breathed new life into their brand. And the Internet was treated to a synchronized Diet Coke geyser extravaganza the likes of which had never been seen.
That position at Coke was neither Kopp’s first nor last role in as an influential marketing innovator. He also spent time as one of the very first digital marketers at P&G and as CMO of ExactTarget, the Indianapolis-based marketing tech startup that sold to Salesforce for $2.5 billion in 2015. Throughout his 20-year career in marketing, Kopp was a champion of leveraging technology in all aspects of marketing and reforming the stodgy world of B2B SaaS marketing.
Today, Kopp serves as a startup advisor and early-stage investor with Hyde Park Venture Partners. In this new role, he’s teaching tech entrepreneurs the cross-disciplinary, open-minded approach that has made him such a successful marketer—and which isn’t necessarily emphasized in traditional educations.
“I think a lot of what schools are teaching about marketing has nothing to do with how to be a marketer today,” Kopp said.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Tim Kopp about his new role in venture capital, and I came away with a few of the innovative, high-level strategies that he’s passing on to the next generation of marketers.
Lock Down Your Positioning and Messaging
According to Kopp, the creation of a clear brand identity needs to be tackled before any other marketing initiatives. He uses the iceberg metaphor to describe the relationship between a brand’s core positioning and it’s public image:
“The messaging and positioning is all the work that sits under the water level. It’s what you don’t see. The branding and visualization pops out on top. If you don’t have that foundation, it’s really hard to have a clear visual identity,” Kopp said.
Determining who you are as a company, what problems you solve and how you do so differently than your competitors isn’t easy. However, knowing the answers to these questions allows marketers to form a consistent visual identity for their brand, which is an essential part of appearing authentic to their customers.
Strive for Continual Innovation
For Kopp, a marketer’s job is to always drive change through newer, better marketing practices. The first half of accomplishing that goal is keeping up to date with the latest technology, tactics and trends in marketing.
“A lot of what’s happening is just not assuming you know the answer, but observing, listening, asking a lot of the right questions and taking a lot of what you think might work but not copying it exactly,” Kopp said.
Thorough industry research teaches marketers core principles they can apply in their roles, as well as exposes them to current shortcomings in marketing tech and tactics. Knowing those shortcomings allows them to work on solutions and develop innovative marketing strategies.
Turn Crises into Opportunities
This last strategy comes straight from Kopp’s “Diet Coke and Mentos” story. The message is simple: companies can’t control what people do with their products, but they can control how they respond.
“The reality is the world’s changed. The Internet came about, and consumers will do whatever they want,” Kopp said. “That’s either an opportunity or a crisis, and it depends on how you look at it.”
Instead of trying to shut down creative uses of their product, marketers should find ways to leverage them for their brand’s benefit. Doing so can help them regain control of the brand narrative and maybe even steer it in a new and exciting direction.
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6a487f1b534c8c8d8c5e3e1d9a200d51 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/08/21/satchel-health-aims-to-reduce-hospital-readmissions-with-modern-telemedicine-platform/ | Satchel Health Aims to Reduce Hospital Readmissions with Modern Telemedicine Platform | Satchel Health Aims to Reduce Hospital Readmissions with Modern Telemedicine Platform
Ryan Macy has first-hand experience with the problems currently plaguing the U.S. in the post-acute care industry. His grandmother passed away from cancer during her stay at a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF).
Following a hospital visit, many elderly patients require follow-up rehabilitative care, or “post-acute” care, which occurs in a separate facility like an SNF. But as a result of the country’s growing elderly population, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for clinicians to spend enough time with patients in these kinds of facilities.
“You have this big shift in healthcare where a very high acute patient is now getting ejected out of the hospital sooner into this setting where providers may be there maybe once every three weeks,” said Macy, the founder and CPO of Satchel Health.
On average, 28% of patients end up being readmitted to the hospital, which can lead to a cycle of repeated discharge and readmission that has extremely adverse health consequences for patients.
As a result, Macy founded Satchel Health, a telemedicine care management platform to help nurses and clinicians reduce these harmful readmissions. Using Satchel Health’s software and camera-equipped audio/visual cart, nurses and patients can video chat with clinicians to receive the consultation they need without requiring an in-person visit.
Satchel Health has proven not only that it can help post-acute patients get better care, but that it can also save nursing facilities $1 million annually in cost avoidance. Armed with this validation and $1 million in angel funding from Nashville-based NueCura Partners, Satchel Health is now ramping up to improve post-acute care across the nation with telemedicine.
A Versatile Platform that Benefits All Involved Parties
The Satchel Health platform is beneficial not only for recovering patients, who are better off staying out of the hospital, but also for clinicians and post-acute care facilities, which have major incentives to invest in better care.
For starters, fewer patient readmissions means clinicians and facilities have fewer expenses related to transportation and hospital stays. Macy also reported they can be removed from preferred insurance networks or face Medicare reimbursement penalties for high readmission rates. Investing in telemedicine platforms can therefore help the bottom lines of care facilities in addition to improving patient health.
A few other companies are starting to provide telemedicine products and services to meet growing demand. Notable examples include Call9 and TripleCare, two startups based in New York City, but these services are hampered by various restrictions. Call9 requires clients to use a special team of company nurses at their facility, and TripleCare only allows nurses to contact an approved team of clinicians during out-of-office hours.
Satchel Health’s platform is much more versatile. A facility’s nurses can use the platform at any time of day, and they have the option to consult with clinicians inside or outside Satchel Health’s hand-picked network (as long as they’re signed-up on the platform).
When a nurse uses the platform, they first enter an event report which an automatic dispatcher uses to connect them to an available clinician. After the consultation is complete, the software files appropriate billing information and can even update the patient’s treatment history, which can be used by integrated machine learning protocols to aid clinicians in future diagnoses for that patient.
The Uncertain Future of American Healthcare
The healthcare industry is currently in the midst of a rapid evolution due to changing government legislation, market forces and technology. Although telemedicine and value-based patient care are areas of great interest and experimentation, the industry’s direction forward is still uncertain.
For example, Medicare reimbursement policies for telemedicine are complex, vary state-by-state and are likely to continue changing in the future. These realities of modern U.S. healthcare could pose formidable obstacles to Satchel Health’s growth.
However, early signs look favorable for the company and indicate the team is placing their bets on the right tech-enabled solutions. In addition to their forementioned funding, they’ve also completed an accelerator program with Jumpstart Foundry, another Nashville organization focused on health tech innovation.
If the industry shifts in their direction, Satchel Health could become a frontrunner in telemedicine technology and play a large role in shaping the future of healthcare. But for Macy, who understands too well the emotional costs of healthcare, Satchel Health is als a way to help patients and their families.
“The first time I saw a family see their mom get cared for through this platform, it was a really emotional moment. They cried. It changed the game for them. For me, that’s what healthcare is about,” Macy said.
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ac051c9f8aa73962f55c252056de2b80 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2017/12/21/startup-behind-the-obama-social-media-archive-helps-govt-agencies-document-their-hashtags/ | Startup Behind The Obama Social Media Archive Helps Government Agencies Document Their Hashtags | Startup Behind The Obama Social Media Archive Helps Government Agencies Document Their Hashtags
Back in January 2017, the Obama administration launched an
open archive
of 250,000 posts, photos and videos shared by the White House during the former President’s term in office. The archive is maintained by
ArchiveSocial
—a five-year-old tech startup from Durham, NC—and fulfills a new requirement for transparency on the part of U.S. government institutions.
As the popularity of social media rose during the Obama presidency, the White House adopted it as a quick and effective means of communication with citizens. However, the decades-old Freedom of Information Act has long mandated that all government records be freely available to the public, and in the age of social media, the definition of “government records” has expanded to include Tweets, Pins, Facebook posts and Instagram photos.
Documenting social media activity can get tricky when you start to account for dozens of accounts across many different channels, which is why the administration turned to ArchiveSocial. The software interfaces directly with social media platforms and collects full records on every post made by an organization, eliminating the need for employees to dig through, download and organize many years’ worth of old posts.
Of course, the White House isn’t the only institution currently benefiting from ArchiveSocial’s services. Government agencies, law enforcement organizations and schools all bear the same obligation to maintain accurate social media records, and ArchiveSocial offers them a best-in-class solution for documenting public records in the age of mass digital communication.
Helping Government Organizations Comply with Public Records Laws
In addition to the federal government, many state and local institutions have started using social media to more easily communicate with the public. Municipal governments field questions and issues raised by citizens, police departments solicit tips on wanted suspects, and schools inform students of closures and delays using a variety of social platforms.
Since these interactions are considered part of public record, any citizen can request to receive documentation of them, and public institutions are (usually) legally required to comply. Manually retrieving and recording old social media posts is time-consuming and impractical, but it’s also impossible in some cases. Social media platforms don’t archive user activity indefinitely, and modifications or deletions of posts and comments can easily result in incomplete public records.
ArchiveSocial gets around these problems by recording social media posts and comments as they occur, including important information like version histories and metadata. Organizations using ArchiveSocial can search and filter their activity by keywords as well as generate public-facing documents that accurately reconstruct any requested social media conversations.
“There is significant complexity associated with archiving social media, given the dynamic nature of communications,” said ArchiveSocial’s founder and CEO, Anil Chawla. “ ArchiveSocial provides a level of data capture and data production that is unrivaled in the industry , [which] translates to a higher degree of compliance and protection for our customers.”
Looking to the Future of Public Recordkeeping
Although the deal with the Obama administration was big news for ArchiveSocial, it was hardly the startup’s first major win. The company previously secured a $100,000 investment during AOL co-founder Steve Case’s third Rise of the Rest tour, and it was named one of the 100 best GovTech companies in 2016 by Government Technology magazine. Some of ArchiveSocial’s noteworthy customers include the cities of New York and Chicago, the states of North Carolina and Utah, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The company employs over 40 people and is growing at a rate of 90% each year. According to Chawla, hiring new employees with the appropriate experience will be a challenge for ArchiveSocial going forward, as will the company’s transition from short-term growth strategies to more forward-looking business planning.
ArchiveSocial’s product may be designed for a niche audience, but it’s an audience that will likely continue to grow in the future. Social media seems to be here for the long haul, and as more government agencies and administrations begin to use it as an integral part of their public communications strategies, the need for thorough archiving tools will only increase. This is good news for companies like ArchiveSocial that can provide the services these organizations need to comply with the law.
“Transparency in government is one of the most important issues in society today, and our technology has been a crucial enabler that has impacted tens of millions of people,” Chawla said. If ArchiveSocial can keep scaling up and signing government institutions onto the platform, it could benefit millions more with its software for collecting and storing public records in the social media age.
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0333a30888b921c923b8dad947118446 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthunckler/2018/02/01/cincinnati-startup-uses-personality-data-to-help-project-managers-build-high-performing-teams/ | Cincinnati Startup Uses Personality Data To Help Project Managers Build High-Performing Teams | Cincinnati Startup Uses Personality Data To Help Project Managers Build High-Performing Teams
Kirsten Moorefield’s first two jobs out of college taught her everything she needed to know about the importance of a good team. The first was an apparent dream job selling destination tour packages to cruise lines that was marred by poor team dynamics. The second was a demanding office job that was elevated by rich collaboration and supportive co-workers.
These experiences opened Moorefield’s eyes to the critical role team cohesion plays in employee success—and the distinct lack of tools that can help teams promote harmony within their ranks.
“Today, more than ever, work is done on teams. But teams are failing,” Moorefield said. “To solve this, all of the team technologies are focusing on skills and performance, but actual productivity is dependent on relationships and communication.”
Moorefield co-founded Cloverleaf, a personality-based project management platform, to address this problem. Cloverleaf focuses on employee character traits over abilities, utilizing a variety of psychological assessments to classify team members according to how they think, behave and approach their work. Project managers can use this information to build teams whose members complement each other, leading to better results and increased productivity.
Cloverleaf’s goal is to prevent bad team situations like the one Moorefield encountered at her first job, thereby empowering employees to do their very best work. Watch Moorefield’s pitch below to learn how this Cincinnati-based company hopes to transform the growing market for project management tech by putting people and relationships above processes and tools.
Personality Insights to Power High-Performing Teams
Many traditional approaches to project management place emphasis on the tools, internal processes and employee skillsets that are necessary for completing each task. These factors are certainly important, but Cloverleaf is founded on the belief that good team dynamics are even more critical, producing better outcomes with greater consistency.
Cloverleaf helps managers assemble highly effective teams by providing deep insights into each employee’s strengths and weaknesses. The SaaS platform aggregates results from assessments like DiSC, StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs and Cloverleaf’s proprietary Culture Pulse Survey. Then, it uses this information to show who is best at which tasks and which team members will work well together.
Cloverleaf’s people-first philosophy shares many similarities with Agile project management, a methodology that was born in software development and has begun to spread to other industries in recent years. The team is accordingly targeting Agile-oriented project managers to build their initial customer base.
“The opening line of the Agile Manifesto is, ‘Individuals and interactions over processes and tools,’ ” Moorefield said. “ Cloverleaf is the first technology to focus on the individuals and interactions. These [Agile project managers] are our early adopters.”
Proving ROI to Flip the Script on Project Management Tech
Even though Cloverleaf has only been around since January 2017, the company has already started to find some noteworthy traction. It’s a graduate of the Ocean Accelerator in Cincinnati, and it’s used by 1,900 employees at 175 organizations like 84.51°, Illumination Works and Miami University’s Farmer School of Business.
However, Cloverleaf still has some work to do to prove the value of their product. Deeper team insights and improved alignment are nice for businesses, but proof that these results translate to increased profits would make Cloverleaf’s software even more attractive to prospective buyers. To help with this, the team is working to better document ROI in order to establish their product as a must-have for project managers.
“ROI is key,” Moorefield said. “We’re measuring increased productivity with our customers, and as we get that data, we’re going to start publicizing it and [using it] in our sales. It also proves to us that what we’re doing is really working.”
For their part, the team at Cloverleaf is optimistic about the company’s future. Moorefield reports that spending on Agile project management is increasing by 26% year over year, and the team is focused on growing their presence within this quickly expanding market.
According to Moorefield, Cloverleaf’s fundamental goal—aside from helping teams be more productive—is simply to help people love their work. If better team relationships really do make the difference, then this startup’s people-centric project management platform could be a huge benefit for individuals as well as organizations that want to grow their bottom line.
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7626a8ffaf7155bc0c887e6794a8243c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkalman/2019/04/17/after-upset-loss-lightning-now-deal-with-salary-cap-crunch/ | After Blue Jackets Upset, Tampa Bay Lightning Must Now Deal With Salary-Cap Crunch | After Blue Jackets Upset, Tampa Bay Lightning Must Now Deal With Salary-Cap Crunch
Getting restricted free agent center Brayden Point signed to an extension will be one of the Tampa... [+] Bay Lightning's off-season challenges. (Photo by Scott Audette /NHLI via Getty Images) Getty
In the aftermath of his team’s historic first-round ouster in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper was trying to take the long view.
“It’s tough not to be sitting here at the end and holding the Stanley Cup,” he told the media in Columbus not long after his team was swept by the Blue Jackets in a 7-3 Game 4 loss. “But how many teams have gone through this and knocked at the door, knocked on the door? Look at Washington, for example. They won the Presidents’ Trophy, had two remarkable years and were bounced in the second round. The year that nobody expected them to do anything, they won the Stanley Cup [in 2018].
“It’s crazy how it works. But that’s what happens.”
We know what the past looks like for the Lightning. A trip to the Stanley Cup final in 2015 ended with a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. The 2018 run to the Eastern Conference finals ended with a loss to the Capitals. And now this, a four-game sweep at the hands of a team that was the last to clinch a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The @BlueJacketsNHL became just the fourth club ever to complete a four-game sweep in any round against the team with the best regular-season record. Each of the other three clubs won the #StanleyCup (1970 Bruins, 1988 Oilers, 1995 Devils). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/hNcVIWac30 — NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 17, 2019
But what about the future that Cooper hopes awaits? The Lightning are going to be hard-pressed to keep this core together much longer in order to break through the way that, as Cooper pointed out, the Capitals did last season.
According to CapFriendly, the Lightning have 16 players signed for 2019-20 for a combined cap hit a little north of $73 million. The NHL salary-cap ceiling is expected to reach $83 million for next season, but the Lightning have one of the biggest restricted free agents in the league to get signed.
Center Brayden Point is just 23. This season he was third on the powerhouse Lightning with 92 points (41 goals, 51 assists). Over his three seasons in the NHL, he has also emerged as a strong two-way player who can be counted on in a defensive role. He’s probably a future Selke Trophy candidate.
Championship teams are built with strength down the middle (think of the Capitals with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom or the Pittsburgh Penguins with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin), and Point and 29-year-old Steven Stamkos are as dangerous a one-two punch as you’ll find in the league.
The Lightning might not want to face the music, but Point could be due the type of raise Toronto’s Auston Matthews received over the winter. Matthews, a 21-year-old center, signed for five more years at $11.634 million rather than become a restricted free agent this summer. Now Toronto’s in a pickle because it also has to sign 21-year-old wing Mitchell Marner before he can become a restricted free agent and a target of an offer sheet.
Tampa Bay has the resources to keep Point. The Lightning were able to get Stamkos to come in on an $8.5 million deal (and he was unrestricted) in the summer of 2016, and they got wing Nikita Kucherov to ink an eight-year deal worth $9.5 million last July, months before he started an Art Trophy-winning, and possibly Hart Trophy-winning, season that saw him accumulate 128 points. Tampa Bay has the advantage of no state income tax in Florida, a factor that helped persuade Stamkos to stick around rather than head for Toronto.
Point could break the bank, or he could try to fit into the Lightning’s current budget. At his age, with his skill set and his role on the Lightning, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be their highest-paid player. But he might agree to an average annual value closer to Kucherov’s in deference to the dynamic wing and the veteran Stamkos, and to allow for the Lightning to put the savings toward alterations.
While most of the Lightning’s current available cap space is going to land in Point’s bank account, a team that tied the NHL record with 62 wins but couldn't play beyond mid-April obviously needs to improve to avoid a similar fate next year. Restricted free agent forwards Cedric Paquette and Adam Erne, two important bottom-six forwards, may be hard to keep. Unrestricted free agent defensemen Anton Stralman, Dan Girardi and Braydon Coburn will get varying levels of interest from the Lightning, but Tampa Bay may have to get much younger and sacrifice some experience on the back end. That’s never a recipe for a deep playoff run.
In the even bigger picture, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is entering the last year of a contract that he signed out of his entry-level deal for a $3.5 million cap hit. He’ll be eligible for a contract extension this summer, and coming off a Vezina Trophy-worthy season, it’s unlikely another team-friendly contract is in his future.
The Lightning stood pat at the 2019 NHL trade deadline. No one could blame them the way they were blowing through the league, and with the less than $2 million in cap space they had to work with. However, this might’ve been their last season with even that much cap flexibility. They thought they would win the Cup and then deal with the financial implications while basking in its glow.
Instead, Tampa Bay looks like it’ll be left to try to make another run with its core identical to this year and its supporting cast younger and cheaper. As Cooper said, “it’s crazy how it works.”
For his and the Lightning’s sake, they better hope it does work.
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cd203a20d8755ba8f2b8d86268c506eb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkalman/2019/09/20/what-local-private-ownership-means-for-nwhls-boston-pride/ | What Local, Private Ownership Means For NWHL’s Boston Pride | What Local, Private Ownership Means For NWHL’s Boston Pride
Lauren Kelly and the Boston Pride will be under new private, local ownership this NWHL seaosn. Michelle Jay ©2018
In a sure sign that the National Women’s Hockey League believes it has staying power beyond its upcoming fifth season, the league this week sold control of the Boston Pride to a team of investors led by Miles Arnone, a managing partner at Cannon Capital of Framingham, Mass.
With Pegula Sports Entertainment returning control of the Buffalo Beauts to the NWHL, the Pride are the only privately owned team in the league, for now. This could be a turbulent time in women’s hockey with more than 50 players, including some of the top names in the game such as Kendall Coyne Schofield, Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker, opting to be part of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association’s Dream Gap Tour rather than play in the NWHL.
Arnone spoke with me on Thursday to discuss his and his partners’ plans for the Pride and the NWHL as a whole.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and condensed for length.
Matt Kalman: Why get involved in women’s hockey now considering all that has gone on with the PWHPA boycott and the decision of the Pegula family to give back the Beauts?
Miles Arnone: Well I think challenges beget opportunity. So I mean if there were no challenges what would be the [incentive] for that? So that’s one aspect of it for me.
And the other aspect I, I think we don’t see those things you mentioned as large-scale impediments. So I think whenever you invest in something, you need to have a view that’s somewhat different than the general, run-of-the-mill popular view, or again you’re not going to find value. So what you just cited I think is very clearly the popular view let’s say, but we tend to not agree with that view. So that distinction is what makes for the opportunity.
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So from our perspective, the NWHL is here to stay, women’s hockey is here to stay and it’s a question of just how fast it’s going to grow and how profitable it’s going to get while it’s doing that.
And that from our perspective depends upon the ability of the league, and in this case the Pride, to attract fans and build connections in the community. So that means with the businesses in the community, fans in the community, youth hockey programs and the like in the community, and we think there’s a really good opportunity to do that because the on-ice product is excellent.
MK: It sounds like commissioner Dani Rylan is pursuing other independent ownership for some of the other franchises. How much would that mean to your group, to your team and the league as a whole?
MA: You hit the nail on the head. I think local, not just independent, but local independent ownership is really important. We’re here in Boston, we’ve been here a long time, we can connect with the community much easier than can be done by the league running out of Brooklyn for example. And the same will be true for every other team.
I think for example, the [Minnesota] Whitecaps are a good example of that, they came into the league having previously been an independent kind of barnstorming team run locally. And you see that in the crowds they draw and the attention they get in the local media and their relationships with the local business, there are more fans than most of the teams in the league. So I think there’s the proof right there.
MK: Going back to the PWHPA those players’ to not just boycott but express a desire for the NWHL to fail, how much of a concern is that?
MA: You know sports is funny in this sense, because in every other walk of life, every other type of business, there’s competition, and we don’t really cry about it. If you’re making cars or you have a restaurant or you sell clothing or design electronics, there’s like 30 companies you’re competing with all the time and all the time they’re trying to undo what you’re doing and defeat you and make life difficult for you and take your customers from you. So why really should this be any different?
And frankly I think both sides of this equation, the PWHPA and the NWHL, and we as the Pride ownership, all want the same thing. We want women’s professional hockey to be a viable, thriving business and environment where players … it can be their primary vocation.
I think reasonable people will have different ideas about the best ways to do that and all you’re seeing is just two groups of people with a different thought as to the best way to do it. And ultimately I think there’s a lot of room for them to still come together and work on that problem together. I mean frankly we’re very focused – meaning the market – on this issue, but immediately prior to that you have the CWHL and the NWHL. So I mean it’s not as if there hasn’t been always more than one way to think about this and try and address this problem. So it’s nothing new really in that sense.
MK: So the season’s a couple weeks away, what will we see this season with the team or at games that’ll be different under new ownership?
MA: Well you know we’ve been watching Slap Shot over and over again. And our plan is to emulate that plan as much as possible. <laughs>
No seriously, of course we are not doing that. I don’t think you’ll notice any substantial things out of the chute. I think again it will really be about listening and engaging players and fans and making adjustments, and starting that process of better and greater community outreach. And building a foundation so that we can really accelerate as we come out of each season to the next.
I think like most things there’s sort of a quiet before the storm, so this is largely the quiet in that regard. Want to get a great product on the ice, really make sure people have a great experience, come to understand what drives that experience and how people, fans, players, management all feel about that and then build that into a real aggressive program that we can invest behind subsequently to accelerate.
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56f36f199ae1bf1ad9cb5a78944023f7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkalman/2021/01/12/joe-sakic-colorado-avalanche-embracing-nhl-favorite-status/ | Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche Embracing NHL Favorite Status | Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche Embracing NHL Favorite Status
Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche enter the 2020-21 NHL season as favorites to win the ... [+] Stanley Cup. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) NHLI via Getty Images
A two-time winner of the Stanley Cup during his playing days with the Colorado Avalanche, team president and general manager Joe Sakic knows what it’s like to be in his club’s dressing room when expectations are sky-high that the Avs will be bringing the Cup back to Denver this season.
With the Avs scheduled to host the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday on the first night of the NHL regular season, several sportsbooks have Colorado pegged as the favorite to win the Cup. That’s something Sakic and the Colorado players are embracing.
“I think it’s exciting pressure,” Sakic said during a preseason video conference Tuesday. “That’s what you want as a player. You want to know you have the ability to try and win the Cup. That’s every player’s ultimate dream and [former Avs GM, the late] Pierre Lacroix did that for years, time in and time out, always trying to find moves to help the team and get us over the hump or over the top. Yeah, we live in a different world right now with the salary cap and there’s more parity in the league, but I know from players there’s nothing like being that team that’s expected to win. You want to come into the rink every day and work for that goal.”
The salary cap and the league parity it causes are a one-two punch to any organization that’s built up the type of depth Colorado now has on its roster. A team built around 2020 Hart Trophy runner-up Nathan MacKinnon, high-scoring winger Mikko Rantanen and reigning Calder Trophy-winning defenseman Cale Makar got even richer over the offseason with the acquisition of winger Brandon Saad from Chicago and defenseman Devon Toews, who was a salary-cap casualty with the New York Islanders.
“To me the Avalanche, absolutely, 110 percent, they are the favorite, should be the favorite,” NBC analyst Eddie Olczyk said during a recent conference call.
Olczyk’s NBC colleague Pierre McGuire echoed the Avs-as-favorites sentiments and also agreed that MacKinnon is the best all-around player in the NHL.
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Colorado under Sakic’s guidance has come a long way since it accumulated just 48 points and finished dead last in the overall NHL standings. The Avs were second in the Central Division last season when the NHL went on its coronavirus pause, and then they didn’t succeed in the bubble, losing in the second round to the Dallas Stars after both Colorado goaltenders — Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz — were injured.
What happened in Edmonton though hasn’t doused the flames of the Avs’ expectations, and if anything that fire is burning even higher because of the urgency involved in winning when a team’s roster and salary-cap situation are in the sweet spot Colorado’s resides. Soon enough the Avs will have difficult decisions like the one the Isles had to make with Toews.
MacKinnon, 25, is signed for this season and two more at a friendly $6.3 million cap hit. Rantanen signed a six-year extension in September 2019 for $9.25 million a season after defenseman Samuel Girard signed a seven-year extension with an average annual value of $5 million that July.
But captain Gabriel Landeskog is coming up on unrestricted free agency this summer. Saad could also leave for no compensation. Makar will be a restricted free agent. And the arrival of the expansion Seattle Kraken means the Avalanche could lose a talented young player (perhaps Toews, fellow defenseman Ryan Graves or forward Tyson Jost) for nothing, especially if veteran Erik Johnson holds tight to his no-movement clause.
Every team among the NHL’s elite is in a similar boat, but few have the overflow of talent on their roster or the 20-year Cup drought the Avs are facing.
“We know it’s going to be tough,” Sakic said. “There’s a lot of teams that have the same goal here and a lot of parity in the league, but we feel, and more importantly the players feel, that we have as good a chance as anybody else and that’s a good expectation and I like to hear that from them.”
If the players embrace the pressure that comes with being the favorite the way Sakic is handling it, they might be able to fulfill those “good” expectations and make their eventual salary-cap-related roster trimming in the years ahead less painful.
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f8c2b26d29d85cd1baab09c8acf7260c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkalman/2021/01/13/taylor-hall-starts-his-show-me-deal-with-buffalo-among-players-on-hot-seat-this-season/ | Taylor Hall, Among NHL Players On Hot Seat, Starts His ‘Show-Me Deal’ With Buffalo Sabres | Taylor Hall, Among NHL Players On Hot Seat, Starts His ‘Show-Me Deal’ With Buffalo Sabres
After signing with the Buffalo Sabres for one year, Taylor Hall is among the NHL players on the hot ... [+] seat this season. (Photo by Kevin Hoffman/Getty Images) Getty Images
From the time he signed a one-year contract as an unrestricted free agent with the Buffalo Sabres, Taylor Hall knew how people were going to characterize his new deal.
But he had other ideas about what to call the contract that will count for $8 million against the Sabres’ salary cap this season.
“I don’t want to call it a ‘prove it’ deal. It’s a little bit of a ‘show me’ deal,” Hall told reporters after he signed in October. “Obviously, I’m betting on myself, but I’m betting that the Sabres can improve and have a good hockey season. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
Hall, the No. 1 overall pick by Edmonton in the 2010 NHL Draft, is definitely one of a handful of players on the hot seat as the NHL opens its truncated 56-game season Wednesday.
He’ll be reunited in Buffalo with his former Oilers coach Ralph Krueger. Hall calls the one season he played for Krueger with the Oilers — the lockout-shortened 2013 season — his second-best season of his career, just behind his Hart Trophy season of 2017-18 with New Jersey.
The 29-year-old Hall better hope he’s able to recreate at least the magic of that 2013 season, when he had 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists) in just 45 games. His career is in danger of falling into a strange category of “superstar journeyman” — a guy with a ton of talent, who produces when healthy, but can’t be a guy teams build around. He’ll be playing on his fourth team in six seasons.
The Sabres are at a more crucial point in their franchise rebuild (which has seemingly been going on for a decade) than Hall is in his career. They haven’t reached the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2011, haven’t won a playoff series since 2007. Franchise cornerstone Jack Eichel is 24 and he’s never been surrounded with enough talent to help Buffalo even sniff a postseason berth. He’s signed through 2026, but how much longer will he put up with losing before he asks out?
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With Hall around the Sabres having the makings of a legitimate top line — Hall, Eichel and Victor Olofsson, Tage Thompson or Sam Reinhart. Disappointing Jeff Skinner gets to look for revitalization without the first-line spotlight on him. The addition of Eric Staal gives Buffalo the beginning of a decent second line that could finally take some heat off Eichel.
Any hope of the Sabres contending this season, though, starts with Hall. He didn’t make enough of a difference after his trade from the Devils to Arizona last season (27 points in 35 regular-season games; six points in nine playoff games). His next payday will be hanging in the balance every shift. Teams will be watching whether he produces and how he might help the Sabres become respectable again. Among them will be the Sabres, who might have found a long-term sidekick for Eichel or might just be dabbling in another failed experiment in their long-time attempt to provide Eichel a supporting cast.
Here’s a look at a few other players on the hot seat this season:
Alex Pietrangelo, D, Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights gave the former St. Louis captain a seven-year contract worth an average annual value of $8.8 million as a UFA at 30 years old. They had to rework their roster to make cap space — Paul Stastny was traded back to Winnipeg — and might not be done trimming some talent to create more room. If that’s not pressure on Pietrangelo to be an instant success and carry Vegas back to the Cup final, then there’s no such thing as pressure.
Mike Hoffman, F, St. Louis Blues
The 31-year-old scored 29 goals in the shortened regular season last year, after scoring 36 the year before. And all he got was a measly one-year, $4 million deal from the Blues after he skated in their training camp on a tryout. Hoffman needs to prove that he be a great teammate in addition to a high-end scorer if he wants to get more stability and cash in his next contract as a UFA next offseason.
Tuukka Rask, G, Boston Bruins
He left the bubble last summer and no one should begrudge him wanting to be there for his family during an emergency. But fandom makes people have irrational thoughts, and some will always blame Rask for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins getting dumped in the second round of the playoffs by Tampa Bay. The 33-year-old is in the last year of his contract, and so there’s a lot up in the air. He’s stated he doesn’t want to play anywhere but Boston, but how he plays this season will determine whether the Bruins want to keep him and also whether another team might make him an offer he can’t refuse.
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982765dbfc2b943e7c9e4664eba172ff | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkibbe/2013/10/30/after-the-government-shutdown-dust-settles-3-predictions-for-2014/ | After The Government Shutdown Dust Settles, 3 Predictions For 2014 | After The Government Shutdown Dust Settles, 3 Predictions For 2014
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You don’t need Karl Rove’s white board to know which way the wind’s blowing. There is a profound shift happening in the way politics are done in America, and a civil war has erupted within the Republican Party as a result. It’s chaotic, and the attacks from the Republican establishment are getting uglier. The beltway milieu doesn’t take kindly to people who don’t abide by “the old way of doing things.”
Some are saying this intra-party split has marked the death of the GOP. But when the dust settles, the freedom caucus in the House and Senate will grow in 2014, and the beating heart of the GOP will be that of the big-tent, small “l” libertarian movement.
Here’s why:
1) Americans will continue to experience the ObamaCare enrollment disaster, and red state Democrats will be leading the charge for a delay of the individual mandate to provide themselves with political cover.
Americans have already received their first taste of ObamaCare disillusionment with recurring enrollment website glitches and the sticker shock of rising premium costs. According to a recent FreedomWorks poll, only 17 percent of all voters believe ObamaCare will have a positive personal impact – a new low point since the law was passed in March 2010.
A bewildered Daily Kos member recently wrote that the 2014 premiums for him and his healthy wife will be jumping, from $150 to $284 and $168 to $302, respectively. “I never felt too good about how this was passed and what it entailed, but I figured if it saved Americans money, I could go along with it,” he wrote. “I don’t know what to think now. This appears, in my experience, to not be a reform for the people. What am I missing?”
He’s not missing anything. According to a Wall Street Journal study, young Portland residents are feeling the same financial squeeze as their progressive talking points become real price tag options. Eight out of 10 of the young people interviewed by the Journal concluded that it would be more affordable to opt out of the program and pay the fine instead.
When Portland millennials are opting out of ObamaCare, Daily Kos contributors are complaining, and senators like Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are calling for an enrollment deadline delay, the Democrats are in trouble.
2) The power balance in Washington will continue to shift away from party bosses and mega-donors, and towards grassroots communities engaged at the local level.
The old hierarchy of Beltway influence has been flipped on its head, in large part because of social media. The Internet lowers the barrier to entry for individual citizens to become active. A person can learn about critical floor votes and call or tweet congressional representatives within seconds, then ask 20 friends to do the same. The marginal cost of a Facebook post is zero dollars. You don’t need the big money anymore to go toe-to-toe with an entrenched incumbent and win.
The Internet has also heightened transparency in Washington by providing activists with technology to monitor what’s going on in DC, and then report that information to their local communities in real-time. Establishmentarians like John Boehner can’t just “stick things in bills” behind closed doors, and Mitch McConnell can’t expect a $2.8 billion Kentucky Kickback for a dam project to go unnoticed.
If you’re not authentic, you can’t survive in this system anymore without the threat of a primary challenger. Grassroots America has a seat at the table in Washington, a thought that makes the backroom deal-makers very uncomfortable.
3) The John McCains, Mitch McConnells, John Cornyns and Lindsey Grahams of the Grand Old Party will edge closer and closer towards extinction.
The recent Republican rift was not simply a “tactical disagreement” over the strategy to defeat ObamaCare. It marked a permanent paradigm shift akin to the progressive takeover of the Democrats. The Republican Party is evolving to reflect the views and priorities of its small-government grassroots base, and has already begun repopulating the House and Senate with a new class of principled leaders, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Reps. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
While polling numbers for the Republican Party are dropping, our freedom-minded grassroots community is growing. According to a Pew Research survey, Tea Party Republicans make up nearly half (49 percent) of the Republican primary electorate.
We aren’t leaving the party. We are the party.
In the private sector, the success of a company hinges on satisfying its customer base. The senior management of the Republican Party needs to revisit their model and return to winning issues of individual liberty and constitutionally limited government before they go out of business.
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965b820492c3d485119a1e2e22b10015 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkibbe/2013/12/13/detroits-bankruptcy-filing-is-a-powerful-reminder-that-policy-matters/ | Detroit's Bankruptcy Filing Is A Powerful Reminder That Policy Matters | Detroit's Bankruptcy Filing Is A Powerful Reminder That Policy Matters
Detroit skyline (Photo credit: Bernt Rostad)
As Detroit prepares to file the largest bankruptcy claim in our nation’s history, it’s worth taking a little time to think about what lessons the troubled city can teach the rest of us about public policies and their consequences. Too often, policy decisions – whether at the national or local level – are made in a vacuum by politicians and bureaucrats, with little regard for long-term consequences. Laws have ramifications that can persist for years and decades – something that’s too easily overlooked when policies are only considered through the lens of current events and winning votes in the next election cycle.
The simplest and most powerful lesson we can learn from Detroit is that policies matter. The way a city – or a country – is run has profound implications on the lives of its citizens. Policy decisions should not be made lightly or without careful consideration.
This is why those of us in the freedom movement fight so hard for good government, to prevent the kinds of mistakes that led to Detroit’s ruin. We need to emphasize a shift from short-term political priorities to economic fundamentals. In the long run, fundamentals always win, bad policies on the other hand destroy towns, industries and lives.
Bad policies are cancerous and feed off one another. Detroit citizens are currently experiencing a greater tax burden per capita than any other municipality in the state, and one that is higher than in most other major cities. Such burdensome taxes leave little incentive for economic development, and they encourage businesses and individuals to migrate to other cities in search of better prospects. This leaves fewer people to generate city revenues, which necessitates a still higher tax burden, and the cycle begins again. As the downward spiral continues, it’s no wonder the city’s unemployment rate has reached a staggering 17.7 percent.
Among the greatest casualties of Detroit’s bankruptcy are the failed pension funds of Michigan’s public employees. It looks as if many of them will not receive the money they need for retirement. There is a fundamental injustice in the broken promises that will make their financial futures that much more uncertain. This is the consequence of the short-sighted policy making that prioritizes immediate political benefits over the long-term effect. Politicians up for re-election can easily win votes by promising unsustainable increases in spending, knowing that when it comes time to pay the piper, it will be someone else’s problem.
Given enough time and enough political leeway, liberal attitudes towards spending can destroy even the most vibrant economies. We have seen it in Detroit, and we are seeing it in California and Illinois as well. Someone always has to pay when governments overcommit their resources – whether it is pensioners in Detroit or taxpayers in the rest of the country forced to subsidize the bad decisions of others.
The real tragedy is that Detroit’s pain could have been avoided if city officials had not ignored sound economic reasoning in their eagerness to spend other people’s money for their own short-term benefit. The unwillingness of the city to live within its means has predictably resulted in disaster.
Detroit shows us firsthand the ultimate consequences of out-of-control debt. Sooner or later, the bills must be repaid. Just as individuals can survive for only so long with a wallet full of maxed out credit cards, the same is true for cities, states and even countries.
Policies matter. The laws and regulations we enact today will have consequences that stretch far into the future. Detroit’s situation should serve as the canary in the coalmine, alerting the rest of the nation to the unsustainability of our current fiscal path, as we continue to devote hundreds of billions of dollars a year to servicing the country’s ever-expanding debt. Unless Congress heeds the warning signs, the fate of Detroit could one day be the fate of the nation.
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efb625dba3fcf1133e9696f854d4d0e4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattkibbe/2014/01/22/another-republican-step-backwards-will-motivate-tea-party-and-grassroots-in-gop-primaries/ | Another Republican Step Backwards Will Motivate Tea Party And Grassroots In GOP Primaries | Another Republican Step Backwards Will Motivate Tea Party And Grassroots In GOP Primaries
Let’s be honest. Some Republicans just don’t want to fight on spending anymore. Some want more spending and a return to handing out favors and earmarks to their insider friends. “We surrender,” they could have admitted. Instead, House Speaker John Boehner and others tried to sell us a dream, claiming that the $1.129 trillion spending bill the House just passed moves the ball incrementally down the field towards real reform.
But grassroots conservatives and tea partiers know a rotten deal when we smell one. The numbers don’t lie: the omnibus budget deal is a total spending surrender by the Old Republican Party (ORP), and it will be a motivating catalyst for upgrade opportunities in the 2014 Republican primaries.
There’s a refrain we hear over and over again from the ORP in the long, slow race to nowhere: Now is not the time to fight. We’ll stand on principle next time. But when is this “next time”? When do we get to the time when we join to fight for the principles we all talk about so much?
In November 2010 House Republicans, with an eye to winning votes, promised to cut $100 billion in annual spending. By January 4, 2011, that promise was knocked down to $32 billion. Now, between $18 billion in budgetary gimmicks and busting the sequester budget caps by $45 billion, the new omnibus bill actually increases spending by a total of $63 billion. That’s a big step backwards.
The insider lobbyists and consultants won this round, unwinding the only modest spending reform Republicans achieved since retaking the House in exchange for a small amount of pie-in-the-sky deficit reduction to take place in the out years, 2022 and 2023. But we all know that promised savings down the road never happen. If they did, we would still have the sequester reductions.
Perhaps more offensive than the policy itself was the closed Pelosi-style process that Speaker Boehner used to pass the bill in the House before grassroots America could find out what’s in it.
The 1,582-page omnibus appropriations bill was drafted in secret, behind closed doors. It was brought to a House vote less than 48 hours after being made public, effectively squashing any opportunity for constituents – the ones writing the checks – to participate in the process.
What’s worse, members of Congress – the ones representing “We, the Check-writers” – were prohibited from submitting amendments, denying a proper debate in a public forum. Roll Call’s Steven Dennis summarized it best on Twitter, reporting that the House had “less than 2 minutes to read each page of the 1,582-page omnibus before voting on it.”
These are hardly the tactics used by a leadership with a sincere commitment to transparency and regular order, and sadly this has become the new normal. In Speaker Boehner’s own words: Are you kidding me?
The New Republican Party (NRP) – a rising generation of committed fiscal conservatives, libertarians, tea partiers and independents – believes that “next time” starts now. And if the old guards of the GOP are not up to fighting the spending fight, the grassroots will find upgrade candidates who are.
These policy-driven activists, those continually pooh-poohed by Republican leadership, are the troops that are the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) machine for 2014, the margin of difference that created such a seismic shift in power and the new House GOP majority in 2010. Bad news for the 166 House Republicans who voted with the Democrats to pass this mammoth spending bill: that same vital mobilization will not come from the permanent consultant class or the D.C. business lobbyists who pressured you to force through this monstrosity.
Yes, let’s hold Democrats accountable for the ObamaCare mess in the 2014 general elections. It’s a golden opportunity. But the Republican Party will only win if they can credibly stand for their principles once they get to Washington.
A word of warning for members of the ORP who would rather combat the grassroots in their districts than spending increases in the beltway: we’ll see you in the primaries.
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45eba7a16164a5a10b0e39a101eda779 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattlyncheurope/2019/02/22/the-billion-dollar-cultural-economy-3-lessons-to-get-your-business-booming/ | The Billion Dollar Cultural Economy - 3 Lessons To Get Your Business Booming | The Billion Dollar Cultural Economy - 3 Lessons To Get Your Business Booming
Whether an art gallery, a museum, a science institution, a historic site or a cultural attraction, venues need technology to bring their story to life. The average visitor to a cultural attraction is increasingly digitally savvy and expects a world-class and engaging experience they can self-curate. Venues must not only deliver both the traditional basics but also embrace emerging technologies. At the turn of the millennium, cultural centres started exploring audience engagement through devices, causing a knee-jerk explosion of apps, digitisation and millions being invested into digital media teams.
Thankfully, venues and the arts are moving into a Third Age in terms of embracing digital. Since the first visitor headphones, digital technology has facilitated Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 3D Sound and Immersive Walks to engage, inspire, educate and drive visitor footfall. Consumers are looking for shareable experiences that their devices alone can’t deliver. Many museums and galleries have become ‘destination venues’ with vast immersive digital ecosystems that deliver an unparalleled wow-factor real-life experience.
Many top venues put themselves under enormous pressure to ‘do an app’, but often choose design aesthetics over user-friendly functionality. There are few museums in the world where more than 1% of visitors download the branded museum guide app to their cellphone. A more flexible approach to technology can create an experience with the capacity to not only digitally recreate battles or castles, but one that reflects the interests of each individual visitor. With digitisation, museums can also supplement the creation story with contextual information, images and film footage from their vast archives and include other relevant collections based in cultural centres abroad.
Christopher Bazley, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development, Antenna... [+] International "The ultimate aim for digital experiences is to unleash the power of great collections in a way that is intensely personal for the user." www.feed.xyz
Christopher Bazley has over 15 years’ experience advising the world's greatest museums and cultural attractions. Working for Antenna, the world's leading provider of audio tours and multimedia tours, Christopher has delivered solutions that have enriched the experiences of billions of visitors across more than 1,100 cultural sites globally, winning international awards and generating significant revenues for clients along the way. Christopher has spoken on cultural interpretation, produced papers on Mobile Applications in Museums, and addressed both commercial and non-governmental bodies globally.
How important is digital transformation to cultural venues and where is it heading?
Everyone knows digital is vital, and fortunately the industry has moved on from wanting standard apps to asking for more tailored solutions. The ultimate aim for digital experiences is to unleash the power of great collections in a way that is intensely personal for the user. The Sistine Chapel and The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial just required digital group guides that preserved the dignity of those sites from the millions of people who visit them, whereas The Smithsonian Institution has a goal of creating happiness through engagement, so needed bigger scale solutions. Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality will soon allow for historical reconstructions of ruined abbeys, castles and the recreation of battles, which will be an exciting addition to the digital toolkit. In 2018 Antenna developed the Hirshhorn Eye app for The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, which is currently sweeping the board for international awards. The super-fast and effective Image Recognition function and the way the artists of the work featured were integrated into the production proved a winning combination. When you look at what some of the digital early adopters are doing, such as SFMoMA, there is a conscious dialling down of the digital fireworks and a very real embrace of ‘eyes up’ in the gallery. Using audio-based experiences to draw people closer to the art, with the device, far from producing eye-catching interactives, firmly left in the pocket. We have all become more comfortable with the ubiquity of the digital world, so we are more selective in its use in arts interpretation. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, their app is currently sweeping the board... [+] for international awards. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Are there any changes in consumer consumption of culture and can you compete with sofa binge watching?
In Antenna focus groups, teenagers liked the idea of long-form experiences that linked exhibits and objects across a gallery, so at SFMoMA, the audio walks are a range of cross-gallery experiences. We also noted that visitors are less comfortable in the voids between viewing pictures, which could be the beginning of a more immersive soundscape approach. Leveraging emerging technology captures imagination. Antenna just launched a major initiative with the EU as part of the BINCI project, which pushes the boundaries of 3D sound technology by creating innovative soundscapes in St. Andrews Castle, Scotland, The Miro Foundation in Barcelona and The Pinakothek in Munich. Last year we created an award-winning love themed sound walk for The Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art where teenagers like the idea of long-form experiences that link... [+] exhibits and objects across the gallery (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) ASSOCIATED PRESS
What do you feel venues need to do to adapt to this new environment?
I also think we are still very much a white, middle-class experience and that needs to change. I sit in a lot of meetings around the world with venues wracking their brains on how to be more inclusive, how to reach out to audiences that don’t visit museums, how to engage people from different socio-economic backgrounds and I really want to encourage them to have fewer internal meetings and just to get out there: to those estates, those communities and begin to engage them with designing those experiences and initiatives directly. We do a lot of this at the moment and quite apart from it being really rewarding, it does often turn the whole concept on its head. But this is the future, and as part of that process, I think we are going to see really innovative and thought-provoking work. I really respect what a small group are doing in Berlin: engaging Syrian refugees to become tour guides to the Berlin State Museums, for other refugees. When they got into the museum, they discovered huge amounts of objects from their home: which engendered all sorts of discussions about cultural appropriation, belonging and meaning. Great stuff!
What are the 3 areas that you feel businesses should be focusing on to maximise footfall and sales as digital becomes even more dominant?
Visitors, visitors, visitors. Everyone working in the cultural arena are really only beginning this particular journey and it is going to be brutally crucial in the future, as cultural attractions compete with other forms of leisure and entertainment for people’s time. I mentioned just now that we are still very middle class, very white. I also feel that so much of what is created has not changed vastly in 20 odd years. Take the whole heritage ‘industry’: it’s very Baby-Boomer centric. And that is totally fine. But the Baby Boomers have all hit 70. And if you think about an average interpretation programme, it is usually created with a view to it having some relevance for at least a decade. So if you are looking at The Baby Boomers as your audience, then they will be hitting 80 within your time frame. And whilst they are going to be the most energetic, prosperous and travelled lot of 80year olds in the history of humankind, the average age of the average visitor to a museum or an historic site is much younger. The average age of visitors to Versailles? 37 years old. Born in 1981. I think that has profound implications for every link in the chain of the visitor journey, from how a venue reaches out to global audiences, to thinking about what they can do when they are on site, to how to engage with them. It even impacts what they sell in the shop, the food in the café. Palace of Versailles, France - the average visitor was born in 1981, success is knowing your... [+] consumer's wants and needs Getty
What is the importance of visitor data?
Vital. We know that 4.5 million people go through the doors of The National Gallery in London each year. Notre Dame say they get 13 million. But what do they do? The rise of digital, for the first time really gives us the potential to understand what the visitor actually does in their visit. That has huge implications for everything and everyone. Just imagine, if everyone had a device given to them when they entered the space. How they used that device can inform the entire visitor experience creation. Just by following people through their language preferences leads to really interesting thinking about how different nationalities engage with cultural sites. In trials that we did with a certain major art museum in The Netherlands, we saw that Dutch and German visitors spent almost three times longer in the museum than Spanish speakers. That led to all kinds of interesting realisations. Of course, if you are coming from Madrid, or Mexico – you are on vacation and you want to fit in as much as possible: so you are only going to allow yourselves 45 minutes in the museum. Whereas if you have just driven over the for the day, and you live an hour away, you can be more leisurely. Imagine if we get to a stage that we can know that – say – Chinese visitors on average turn left when they enter a building? We don’t know that yet, but just imagine if we get to a stage where we know that kind of thing: or that people tend to spend an average of three minutes in front of a Henry Moore, but two in front of a Monet? In the sites where we are running data; we are already seeing that some of the objects that have the highest profile in the gift shop are sometimes only the third or fourth most-engaged with object in a collection. Fascinating stuff!
Cultural institutions, like businesses, are having to change to meet the various needs of today’s consumers. They too are brands, but their product is culture. Their success depends on how they shape, host and distribute their messages. The three main lessons to be learned from museums and galleries for wider business is the emphasis on understanding the wants and needs of the visitor, the use of data to create meaningful insight into patterns of consumption and the importance of substance over style - always better to adopt functional technology that consumers can easily navigate.
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98388794ba084a179c7d60860948b01a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattmiller/2012/07/03/why-you-should-be-hiring-millennials-infographic/ | Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic] | Why You Should Be Hiring Millennials [Infographic]
There are certain stereotypes that go along with being a millennial. Social media-obsessed and apathetic are two that I see thrown around most often. Thanks to a study by UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the YEC only one of these might be true and it will get millennials hired.
According to the study, millennials are highly ambitious, with a majority placing an importance on jobs with chances for career progression and personal growth. And while it’s no surprise that these ambitious young people are plugged in through social media, the study said hiring an employee who is active on Facebook greatly increases a company’s digital reach.
Millennials will make up 36 percent of the work force by 2014 and 46 percent by 2020—pretty good news for employers to have a generation of workers who are natural web marketers on the way.
This study, which is outlined in the graphic below, illustrates the traits that make millennials hirable, and how they differ from previous generations.
Not only do millennials multitask far more than previous generations, they value social media freedom, device flexibility and work mobility over salary in accepting a job offer.
This is the first generation in history in which social communication skills have been so important. For millennials like me, using Facebook is second nature to keep up with friends and family, but employers see it as a way to spread their brand through who we talk to.
While I do find it aggravating that our own employers along with big brands and advertisers are cashing in on my generation’s somewhat obsessive social media habits, it makes a lot of sense.
A good portion of my Facebook news feed consists of my friends sharing information about their jobs, new products their company has come out with and events their employer is doing. Even when I look back at my own timeline 90 percent of my status updates are linked to Forbes posts.
This tendency to share every aspect of our lives naturally translates to our work life. What we do at the office is just as much part of our lives as who we’re dating, what we had for breakfast and who we’re in a fight with, so why not share our work life like everything else?
Sounds like good advertising to me, and for us it comes as second nature.
So, for those of you graduating high school or college or just entering the workforce, keep your Facebook page up and keep tweeting because these seemingly trivial social tasks might land you a job.
Read more:
Why Millennial Women Are Burning Out At Work By 30
How Millennials Can Survive And Thrive In The New Economy
Why Millennial Workers Aren't As Useless As You Thought
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4d337f9786e6cbeeea1cbe18a2f6f948 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattng/2020/06/30/the-new-leaders-of-our-virtual-workspaces-are-emerging/ | The New Leaders Of Our Virtual Workspaces Are Emerging | The New Leaders Of Our Virtual Workspaces Are Emerging
New leaders in the online workspace are emerging, and they have vastly different traits compared to ... [+] face-to-face leaders. (Photo by Robin Utrecht/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Picture your traditional office leader, rolling up their sleeves at brainstorming sessions and dominating the boardroom table. They are highly extroverted, self-assured and usually the first to speak up.
But their alpha days might be numbered.
A new breed of leader is emerging in the virtual working environment, and they come with decidedly different traits than their office counterparts.
While the Covid-19 pandemic remains at large, organizations of all sizes have had to figure out new ways of working.
Under the lockdown initiated by countries across the world, millions of workers have been relegated to the home office. Before long, an explosion of video conferences had many employees scrambling for a comb and a decent webcam.
And in their many virtual interactions, some may notice a seismic shift in the colleague dynamics at work (from home), particularly when it comes to how they perceive those that lead.
These people are often thought of as backroom operators, working behind the scenes to drive smaller work processes forward. But these are the new leaders who are coming to the fore.
Now, a new study has come to light exploring this phenomenon.
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Researchers at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University (BYM) looked at 220 student teams within two Midwestern universities. These teams either mostly worked virtually, or mostly in person.
The participants completed surveys about their own and their team members' characteristics and behaviors, as well as those they considered to be team leaders.
When combining this data with the transcripts of the group's virtual conferences, the researchers noticed patterns around "emergent leaders".
These were people who lack formal authority, but become recognized as leaders by their peers within their respective teams.
Where traditional leaders were perceived to be extroverted and highly intelligent, in an online environment, those traits were of far less value.
"On a virtual team, it's more important than in a face-to-face meeting to stand out as the one who helps others," says study co-author Cody Reeves and Professor at BYM. "Those who take the time to pause and assist others with tasks are more likely to be viewed as leaders."
These differences between IRL (in real life) and virtual leaders were "stark", says Reeves.
While the ability for leaders to socially connect with others remained important, online leadership was valued by being able to drive small actions, such as monitoring timelines and giving feedback.
"Online, perhaps because there are fewer cues available for human interaction and more opportunities for miscommunication, team members gravitate toward those who take concrete steps to ensure achievement, rather than toward those with charismatic personalities," reports an accompanying comment from BYM.
And while Covid-19 measures are likely to change the landscape of how we live and work forever, there seems to be no end in sight for the virtual working environment.
Virtual office environments rely less on leaders with traditional 'soft skills', reports the study. ... [+] (Photo by OLI SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
Therefore, the study's authors note that managers and team members need to understand that alternative leadership traits and behaviors are gaining traction in this new working world.
They also note that companies need to take a step back and re-evaluate who they want to promote within their organization, given that virtual contexts differ so much from those in-person.
"In virtual environments, our actions speak loudly," said fellow study author Steven Charlier, professor of management at Georgia Southern University. "The 'soft' skills that traditional managers rely on might not translate easily to a virtual environment."
Reeves agreed, noting that “a ‘natural leader’ who doesn’t usually engage in these specific leader-like behaviors but always kind of ‘has it’ needs to be extra careful—because those are the types that are at the highest risk of no longer being viewed as a leader in virtual contexts.”
"Now is the time for organizations and employees to gain virtual leadership competencies," said study lead author Radostina Purvanova of Drake University. "These are the skills of the future. Those companies that have already embraced virtuality are now reaping the benefits — and the rest of us must catch up quickly, or else we will simply be left behind."
The study is published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.
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9b7df614086b56527582dd5b9d94993b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattpaprocki/2019/10/06/cloudpunk-is-the-cyberpunk-life-realized/ | ‘Cloudpunk’ Is The Cyberpunk Life Realized | ‘Cloudpunk’ Is The Cyberpunk Life Realized
“There have been plenty of games that let you experience what it's like to shoot people in a futuristic city. Cloudpunk is a game where instead, you can experience what it's like to live in one,” writes Cloudpunks’ writer Thomas Welsh.
Back in 2017, Ion Lands Marko Dieckmann started tinkering with Cloudpunk. It was a vague idea at the time, eventually catching on when Dieckmann shared a concept on Twitter. “The initial reactions were very promising,” he writes. Ion Lands grew, leading to the nine people (plus a few freelancers) who currently work on Cloudpunk.
Looking over the screens, videos, and other media, it’s clear Cloudpunk borrows a bit (just a bit) from Blade Runner. Anything cyberpunk inevitably will though. Cloudpunk separates itself through non-violence and a focus on characters. You play a delivery driver stuck working for a not-entirely-legal company. “You don't really have much of a choice. You've lost your family and the debt corps has taken your home on the Eastern Peninsula, a place far away from Nivalis,” explains Dieckmann.
Making deliveries means meeting the people of Cloudpunk’s world. Imagine that while Harrison Ford is running around chasing Replicants, this is the slice-of-life tale happening around him. “We wanted to tell stories about anarchists living in giant, frozen exhaust pipes, cleaning robots with a superiority complexes and street vendors selling retro video game cassette tapes, even though video games are more illegal than hard drugs,” writes Welsh.
The cities evoke the iconic cyberpunk vibe. Ion Lands
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With sci-fi trappings in tow, the goal is to tell a story about the now, with touches of what might be if things stay on their current path. Dieckmann notes some things will improve, others will get worse. What matters in Cloudpunk is how those circumstances impact the citizens.
“At its core, I think Cloudpunk is about what it takes to make it in a city. Whether that city is New York in the ‘80s, San Francisco today, or Nivalis in a few thousand years, the struggles are similar, and the richness and character of those cities make them places everyone fantasizes about,” explains Welsh.
Ion Studios previous game was Phoning Home, a game about two robots trying to find their way off an unfamiliar planet. That release taught Dieckmann about the ins-and-outs of Steam, the community, and players. “But each game is different and no rules are static in games and game development,” he notes.
Flying brings out the majesty of the city's contrast. Ion Lands
Based in Berlin, funds from the organization Medienboard help out Ion Lands, as does a vibrant community of developers. Living in a smaller area helps too, while the larger city nearby factors into his work. “Rents are going up a lot and we're seeing the effect of gentrification everywhere. It's one of the topics we included into the Cloudpunk storyline,” Dieckmann notes.
Of course, this isn’t all about Berlin. Cloudpunk goes deeper. “Lots of fiction deals with grand ideas about how AI will change everything and we'll create robots that will either kill us or replace us,” Welsh begins. “In Cloudpunk, it's much messier. Just like every other technological advance in human history, AI will be useful, dangerous, exciting and terrifying all at once and here we see how androids, cyborgs and digital assistants will be integrated into every aspect of our lives, for better and worse.”
Now, imagine living in such a world and that’s Cloudpunk.
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769ece2bfbecd4e1af31fbf0db2b4c11 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattpatterson/2016/10/11/manufacturing-massacre-union-leaders-betray-their-members/ | Manufacturing Massacre: Union Leaders Betray Their Members | Manufacturing Massacre: Union Leaders Betray Their Members
Shutterstock
This article was co-authored with Olivia Grady
American manufacturing ain’t what it used to be.
It’s something that many people lament, but few understand. Nearly 40 years ago there were almost 20 million manufacturing jobs in the United States. In 2015, according to the U.S. Labor Department, there were only a little over 12 million.
Traditional Midwest industrial states, like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, have especially been hit hard: Each has lost over 200,000 manufacturing jobs since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994.
In fact, in 2016 there were more government jobs in America than manufacturing jobs. We’ve gone literally from a nation that makes things to a nation that makes, what? Rules and regulations? That can’t be a good sign, especially for the union, working class folks for whom manufacturing has been one of the main avenues to the Middle Class.
Why is this happening?
Union workers have a lot of theories about why their jobs have vanished and their wages declined. Some blame high levels of illegal immigration. Others point to NAFTA and other so-called free trade deals, as well as crippling environmental regulations.
There is merit to all three of these arguments. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Senior Economic Writer Bob Davis: “One of the reasons lower-income workers have taken such a hit over the past few decades is because of illegal immigration” (though Mr. Davis reminds us that experts differ on precisely how much).
Regulations advocated by green groups on the energy-producing sector have also had a cascading and crippling effect on manufacturing. A study by the Heritage Foundation found that one million jobs could be lost by the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Clean Power Plan alone:
The shale revolution is driving energy-intensive industries to the United States. The Administration’s climate agenda would drive these industries away. America’s manufacturing base is hit particularly hard by higher energy prices. Over 500,000 of the jobs lost in the Heritage analysis are manufacturing jobs.
What about NAFTA and other free-trade agreements? According to the union-backed Economic Policy Institute, “Between 1993 and 2013, the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada increased from $17.0 to $177.2 billion, displacing 851,700 U.S. jobs.” (Again, it’s important to keep in mind that other studies done by other experts differ on these numbers.)
So there is a fair amount of data to support the argument that union workers in manufacturing have suffered as a result of open borders, bad trade deals and overzealous environmental regulations.
Then why have union leaders endorsed and funded the politicians who made these policies?
Take Pennsylvania, for example. In 1997, the 80-year old LTV Steel Corp plant in Pittsburgh closed, leaving almost 1,000 workers without jobs. United Steelworkers of America, Local 1843 represented most of those workers.
That union has for a long time contributed heavily to Democrat politicians at all levels of government. In the 2012 election alone, United Steelworkers spent over $4 million on political activity. President Obama -- whose administration is pushing the NAFTA-like TPP trade deal -- was a top recipient of USW campaign contributions in 2012.
And in 1992, the union endorsed Bill Clinton, the instigator of the job-killing NAFTA. In this cycle, the union has endorsed Hillary Clinton who has openly vowed to put coal workers out of work (the coal industry contributes $4.1 billion to the Pennsylvania economy annually).
In Ohio, it’s a similar story. In 2007, TTI Floor Care North America closed a North Canton, Ohio plant and moved its Hoover operations to Texas, Mexico and China, leaving about 750 workers without jobs. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 1985 represented most of those workers.
In the 2012 election, IBEW spent almost $11 million on political activity. President Obama was also a top recipient of IBEW campaign contributions in 2012.
Back in 1992, the union endorsed Bill Clinton, and in this cycle, the union has endorsed Hillary Clinton (the coal industry contributes 17% to the Ohio economy annually).
And then there’s Michigan, home of America’s auto industry.
In 2009, General Motors decided to close 14 plants and three warehouses, many in Michigan, leaving at least 4,800 MI workers without jobs. United Auto Workers (UAW), Local 594 represented some of those workers.
In the 2012 election, UAW spent almost $14 million on political activity, and President Obama was a top recipient. In 1992, the union endorsed Bill Clinton, and in this cycle, the union has endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Union leaders have sold out their members by funding the politicians who have devastated manufacturing. And sadly, these workers have been forced to fund their own demise -- in non right-to-work states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, workers can be forced to pay dues to a union if they want to keep their job.
The union takes their money and gives it to the Clintons or Barack Obama. It’s more than unfair; it’s a travesty and a disgrace.
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7877e464232b5d6f2a3bc85354304b02 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattpatterson/2018/08/23/schumers-nlrb-trojan-horse/ | Schumer's NLRB Trojan Horse | Schumer's NLRB Trojan Horse
(Photo by Sergen Sezgin/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Is Sen. Mitch McConnell being played?
That’s what many are wondering as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is maneuvering a re-appointment of Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The Board, which adjudicates disputes between unions and private-sector employers, consists of five members nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Mark Pearce was appointed and re-appointed by President Barack Obama. In 2011 Pearce was made Chairman, from which position he made war on employers and proved the most reliable union hack that the Board had ever seen. As the Wall Street Journal noted:
“[F]or the last decade Democrats have used procedural tricks and bullying to tilt the board sharply toward union interests. Mr. Pearce has been the ringmaster."
Mr. Pearce’s second term expires this August 27th. He must not be appointed for a third.
Unfortunately, a number of outlets are reporting that Sen. Schumer wants Pearce re-appointed in return for fast-tracking a number of Trump appointees, including McConnell's brother-in-law, who has been tapped to head the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
For McConnell, one bad NLRB appointment for dozens of Trump-picked judges (and his brother-in-law) might seem like a good deal.
It’s not. Schumer knows exactly what he’s doing. Pearce understands the Board inner-workings like no other, and is salivating at the prospect of sabotaging Republican-led labor reforms from the inside.
Consider: If Pearce had his way, fast-food workers would be unionized, resulting in tens of millions of new dollars to Big Labor’s coffers annually. And Pearce would love to allow unions to end-run around new Right-to-Work laws in Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia and Wisconsin. As labor attorney Brent Yessin told me:
“Pearce attempted to force union members to hand deliver resignations to the union hall if they want out. Why try to create jobs passing Right-to-Work laws if they can just strong arm members into staying?”
The business community is desperately worried that Pearce could be re-appointed and jeopardize the incredible gains the Trump Administration has made in job creation and economic growth. As Mike Lotito, of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, put it to me:
“Mark Pearce has done more to create workforce chaos than perhaps any other NLRB Member in history. Quickie elections, micro units, joint employer…[Pearce] is the architect of reversing 4559 years of labor precedent. For an administration committed to easing unnecessary workplace regulation, Pearce would be the last person on your list of nominees.”
Pearce is the last vestige of Obama’s weaponized NLRB. Schumer is hoping to bait McConnell into allowing him to stay on the Board, while union leaders dream of Pearce becoming "Chairman for Life."
To protect our booming economy and the freedoms of American workers, McConnell and Trump should allow this dangerous, union-backed bureaucrat to quietly retire.
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472bcee675c9b52b05cfcd1bd236ff91 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/03/13/the-link-between-cryptocurrency-and-video-games/ | The Link Between Cryptocurrency And Video Games | The Link Between Cryptocurrency And Video Games
'CryptoKitties' Credit: CryptoKitties
Listen to the full episode here:
Blockchain! A topic so trendy, companies haphazardly pepper it into press releases in order to jack up stock prices! Video games are, of course, not immune to the crypto fever. And in fact, there's a lot in common between the two.
Matt Perez and Forbes Contributor Dave Thier talk about the different segments linking the blockchain and gaming, from the new ventures incorporating coins into their economies, to the potential of digital marketplaces selling games in Bitcoin, to crypto's immediate impact on the GPU marketplace. What are the future implications of marrying games and cryptocurrency aside from unbearable arguments over whether it's a bubble or not?
Also on the podcast, Erik Kain and Paul Tassi discuss the unsurprising announcement of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4...or IIII, I guess.
Check out the episode on iTunes here.
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3045fce3815b35fa3618b2dd65153516 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/05/08/electronic-arts-we-do-not-think-loot-boxes-are-gambling/ | Despite 'Battlefront 2' Flub, Electronic Arts Posts Record Annual Revenues Of $5 Billion | Despite 'Battlefront 2' Flub, Electronic Arts Posts Record Annual Revenues Of $5 Billion
'FIFA 18' Credit: Electronic Arts
One bad release can’t sink a multibillion-dollar giant, but for Electronic Arts, questions arise about its biggest revenue driver.
Despite its major fall release becoming something of a dumpster fire – Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and its much-maligned loot boxes – the company reported record annual revenues and operating income of $5.15 billion and $1.43 billion, respectively. In comparison, Activision Blizzard in February posted revenues of $7 billion but pulled in only $1.3 billion in profit.
A staggering 67% of EA’s net revenues last year came digitally, with engagement in its live services doing the bulk of the work. Ultimate Team’s 90 million players, The Sims’ 80 million, and Battlefield’s 54 million helped drive 62% of its total digital sales – far outpacing revenue derived from mobile and full-game downloads.
Though as the company continues to espouse the virtues of a software-as-a-service model and moving away from “one-off iterations,” Belgian and Dutch gaming regulators have recently stated FIFA 18 is in violation of its gambling laws. With Ultimate Team being the leading driver of digital revenue for the company, perhaps it’s a cause for concern.
“We’re working with all the industry associations globally and regulators,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. “We do not believe FIFA Ultimate Team or loot boxes are gambling.” Wilson further pointed to the lack of real-world value of the items and noted that the company forbids any sales of digital assets outside the games – though that may not be good enough.
Of course, EA execs needed to address Fortnite: Battle Royale and, unsurprisingly, had similar sentiments as Activison Blizzard. EA's CFO, Blake Jorgensen, said it’s introducing “younger people” to the marketplace – specifically shooters – and they “welcome innovation in the industry” as it’s “great for the business as a whole.” Though said younger audience may not so swiftly move from a goofy, Teen-rated battle royale shooter to a gritty, Mature-rated war game.
Speaking of, the new Battlefield title and Anthem are EA’s backend tentpoles this year, and for its military first-person shooter, the company mentioned new “unique” modes. (Hint: probably battle royale.) Execs were also keen to mention single-player will be included – perhaps unlike its competition, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
For next year, the company is expecting net revenues of $5.6 billion, 74% of which will be digital sales.
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c02c3db9d066c283391708eebb818dbd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/12/20/billionaire-clive-calder-and-son-invest-46-million-in-studio-behind-crowdfunded-game-star-citizen/ | 'Star Citizen' Studio Gets $46 Million Investment From Billionaire Clive Calder And Son | 'Star Citizen' Studio Gets $46 Million Investment From Billionaire Clive Calder And Son
Star Citizen Credit: Cloud Imperium Games
South African billionaire Clive Calder’s family office and his son Keith Calder’s Snoot Entertainment are investing $46 million in Cloud Imperium Games, the studio behind Star Citizen, an uncompleted video game that’s raised a record $210 million directly from fans. The Calders’ 10% stake, the studio’s first backing from a large investor, signals a turning point for the independent developer and its cofounder Chris Roberts, who has repeatedly sought to stem skepticism that the game will run out of money before it’s completed.
Los Angeles-based Cloud Imperium said Thursday the new capital will go towards marketing the single-player Squadron 42 for a summer 2020 release date, one of the two commercial releases of Star Citizen. Sales of Squadron 42 would benefit the game’s second component—a massively multiplayer online game that’s been released in draft form to fans that have invested in the project.
“Having a great game is only half the battle,” Roberts says in a statement. “As we look towards the release of Squadron 42, we have been acutely aware that having a triple-A game that matches the biggest single-player games out there only goes so far if no one knows about it.”
With the investment from Calder, who made $2.7 billion in 2002 selling his music company Zomba Group to German mass media corporation Bertlesmann, Cloud Imperium is now valued at $496 million, according to the company. There will also be two new board members, Dan Offner on behalf of the Calders, and Eli Klein as an adviser to the company. Roberts, who is well-known for designing the bestselling Wing Commander series throughout the 1990s, remains the majority owner. Clive Calder did not return a request for comment.
Star Citizen’s six-year development—longer than the standard three-to-four years for many games—and missed release deadlines have sparked doubts from some of the 2 million fans that donated to the project, including the plaintiff in a recent small claims lawsuit demanding a refund. On Thursday, Cloud Imperium released financial data that shows the company using up most of its cash every year, thanks to a ballooning workforce.
By the end of 2017, the company brought in a total of $207 million and had spent $193 million since 2012. Capital on hand at the end of 2017 fell 26% to $14 million from the prior year. Total income—made up from fan pledges, its subscription pass and fan events like its annual CitizenCon event—has been consistent the past three years, with the company bringing in $44 million in 2017.
The majority comes from fan pledges. Backers can no longer directly donate to the company; they now receive something in return, be it the early-access version of the multiplayer for $45 or purchasing in-game assets like starships whose costs can rise into the hundreds of dollars. This year, the company matched 2017’s $35 million, calling December its best ever month for pledges.
The highest expenditure is on its staff, of which 85% were developers last year. With a headcount of 464 across five studios in 2017, salaries cost the company $30 million. Staff size has since grown to over 500. Other costs associated with development made up the second-largest line item, at $10 million.
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0460717ac6540c6ee56af6654888bfe8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2019/10/28/sean-rad-announces-new-nonprofit-good-today-at-under-30-summit/?sh=5bfb57b8b882 | Sean Rad Announces New Nonprofit Good Today At Under 30 Summit | Sean Rad Announces New Nonprofit Good Today At Under 30 Summit
Sean Rad Credit: Ryan Garza
Tinder cofounder Sean Rad officially launched the nonprofit Web app, Good Today, at the 30 Under 30 Summit during a talk about fostering philanthropic action through entrepreneurship.
The app integrates with email or Slack and each morning offers a new cause and two charities for the user to donate $0.25 toward. If that day’s cause doesn’t resonate, users can choose to rollover their $0.25 to build up funds for the next day.
“When you give a little bit everyday, you get a feeling of selflessness and gratitude,” Rad said on stage, where he was joined by Figs cofounder Heather Hasson and Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer.
While the app has been available for individuals, companies can now sponsor their employees at a monthly cost of $2 per employee. From there, users can give the standard $0.25 to either of that day’s charities. Shutterstock with its head count of 1,500 and Jefferies with over 3,000 have already begun to integrate Good Today into their work life.
“I think Millenials want to be a little more dynamic with who they give to,” Rad said.
The hope is that the simple daily engagement will create a positive morning habit for employees that will build toward significant impact as more and more companies join. According to the nonprofit, many company-run charity programs hover around 10% annual engagement while Good Today so far is tracking 30%-50% participation daily.
Good Today started as a newsletter by founding member Joe Teplow and his friends in 2014. The founder of Rebel—which was acquired by Salesforce—Teplow eventually introduced the the program to his employees.
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“Very quickly this became a huge part of the company’s culture,” Teplow said before the Summit. “All of my employees loved the daily dose of perspective in the morning.”
Rad came in and fell in love with the concept, proposing to move the application to Slack in addition to email. Earlier in the year, Good Today began the process of scaling up the nonprofit, reaching a goal of 10,000 users a few months back. Rad is now hoping to hit 1 million by 2020. Rad told the Under 30 audience that doing good is a mission he’s tried to embody in his previous ventures.
“People want to come work for a company that has a purpose and a soul and a heart,” Rad said.
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8224ac1a59e22ec41dbefbceafb8981e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/01/08/report-amazons-twitch-not-meeting-ad-revenue-expectations/ | Report: Amazon’s Twitch Not Meeting Ad Revenue Expectations | Report: Amazon’s Twitch Not Meeting Ad Revenue Expectations
The logo of live streaming video platform Twitch AP Photo/Christophe Ena
Topline: While Amazon’s Twitch dominates the live-streaming landscape, a new report from The Information citing people familiar with company financials says it only translated into a modest $230 million in ad revenue for 2018 and a midyear annual projection of $300 million for 2019.
According to the report, Twitch was hoping to see ad revenues between $500 million-$600 million in 2019, with the service eventually hitting $1 billion. Partnered streamers on Twitch share revenue from commercials, with the option of running ads at will with the push of a button during streams, but the majority of earnings for top streamers comes from premium subscription revenue that’s shared with Twitch. The same is reportedly true for Twitch, which is now making more off “commerce” like subscriptions; along with its ad revenue, the company is hoping to hit $1 billion in 2020. However, given the top streamers generally get the majority cut from subscriptions, Twitch sees a better profit margin on ads, according to The Information. YouTube, in comparison, is thought to bring in billions off ad revenue alone, and according to Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham & Company, the service as a stand-alone business could be worth up to $300 billion after Google acquired it in 2006 for $1.65 billion. Part of Twitch’s strategy is expanding beyond its gaming roots, with its variety “Just Chatting” category rising 42% to 651 million in total hours watched in 2019, ranking behind only League of Legends and Fortnite, according to analyst firm StreamElements. Twitch remains far away the leader in streaming with 73% of the market share, according to StreamElements, but it’s being chipped away by YouTube (21%), Mixer (3%) and Facebook (3%), all of which have signed major streamers away from Twitch.
Key Background: Top gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins set off a bidding war late last summer when he signed an exclusive streaming deal with Microsoft's Twitch competitor, Mixer. Facebook, YouTube and startup Caffeine have since signed exclusive streaming deals with former Twitch stars. The moves have just slightly ate at Twitch’s substantial lead in the market, but the long-term impact could be substantial. Regardless, YouTube has a distinct advantage over all other streaming platforms. No matter the content creator, after they’ve finished streaming for hours on end, they’ll generally make 10-20 minute highlight videos to upload to YouTube.
Big Number: $970 million. That’s what Amazon paid for Twitch in 2014.
Further Reading: Take a look at the major streamer acquisitions that took place late last year.
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0b1c266ee8de04989b2c54e5069e5fe6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/11/e3-gamings-biggest-convention-officially-cancelled-over-coronavirus/?sh=3e43ae20f517 | E3, Gaming’s Biggest Convention, Officially Cancelled Over Coronavirus | E3, Gaming’s Biggest Convention, Officially Cancelled Over Coronavirus
Gaming fans attend the 24th Electronic Expo, or E3 2018 in Los Angeles, California on June 13, 2018, ... [+] where hardware manufacturers, software developers and the video game industry present their new games between June 12-14. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
Topline: The Electronic Entertainment Expo, the world’s biggest gaming convention, has been canceled due to the coronavirus, following a wake of esports events and conferences to be affected by the outbreak.
The convention, set for June 9th to June 11th in Los Angeles, is typically the event where the industry’s top publishers preview their tentpole releases, and especially this year, new consoles. Late last night, Ars Technica reported that the cancellation would be imminent, with popular indie publisher adding on Twitter: "Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y'all."
The Entertainment Software Association, the show’s organizers, said in a statement today, “Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the Covid-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation.”
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The organization added it was exploring options to instead schedule an online showcase in June. E3 is the latest and biggest gaming conference to be affected by the virus so far, with esports events like the Overwatch League’s China and South Korea home games canceled and the Game Developers Conference in March “postponed” to the summer, though, it’s effectively canceled.
Key Background: While the participating publishers will likely hold online streams for fans, something Nintendo has embraced the past few years, this is a devastating blow to the overall convention, which has been struggling to stay relevant as more and more gaming events have propped up. Sony decided early in the year not to participate, despite releasing a new console at the end of the year. It also lost its longtime host Geoff Keighley last month, saying at the time "Given what has been communicated about E3 so far, I just don't feel comfortable participating this year." E3 opened the conference up to the public in 2017 and was planning to continue reinventing itself a bit this year. This is the first time since 1995 that the conference won’t take place.
Big Number: 66,100. That’s how many attended last year’s E3, down about 3,000 people from 2018.
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40b73380486ea4796f4ff3f5080dfee7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/12/no-one-is-immune-tom-hanks-rita-wilson-and-rudy-gobert-join-public-figures-to-catch-coronavirus/?sh=7171b4641acc | Sophie Trudeau, Tom Hanks And All The Other Famous Figures To Catch Coronavirus | Sophie Trudeau, Tom Hanks And All The Other Famous Figures To Catch Coronavirus
Prime minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau wave to his supporters at the ... [+] Palais des Congres in Montreal during Team Justin Trudeau 2019 election night event in Montreal, Canada on October 21, 2019. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party held onto power in a nail-biter of a Canadian general election on Monday, but as a weakened minority government. Television projections declared the Liberals winners or leading in 157 of the nation's 338 electoral districts, versus 121 for his main rival Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives, after polling stations across six time zones closed. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
(Updated: 10:05 a.m. EST, March 16, 2020)
Topline: The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has now resulted in travel being suspended between the United States and Europe and stocks falling into a bear market, and a number of prominent figures are coming forward to share that they've contracted the disease.
Sophie Trudeau, wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday night, soon after returning from the UK; the prime minister has been in isolation since she began feeling ill and hasn’t himself exhibited symptoms. As first reported by Variety, Lucian Grainge, the CEO and chairman of Universal Music Group, was hospitalized with the coronavirus late Friday, having held a 60th birthday party about two weeks prior that was reportedly attended by major figures including Apple CEO Tim Cook. According to local media, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has contracted the coronavirus, though, he now disputes the reports. It was reported on Thursday that his press secretary Fabio Wajngarten tested positive; Bolsonaro and Wajngarten had previously met with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at Mar-a-Lago. Someone who came in contact with Bolsonaro and his staff, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Friday morning confirmed to the Miami Herald that he had tested positive for the virus. Australia’s Minister of Home Affairs Peter Dutton, who oversees law enforcement, national security and immigration in the country, tested positive for the virus Friday morning; the week prior, he visited Washington DC and met with Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter. Late Thursday, Mike Arteta, manager for the football club Arsenal, was announced to have contracted the virus, and the following morning, Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi also shared he had tested positive, soon after leading to the postponement of England’s Premier League, as well as the English Football League, FA Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship. Actor Tom Hanks shared on Twitter Wednesday night that he and his wife actress Rita Wilson contracted the virus while in Australia, saying they were experiencing tiredness, body aches and slight fevers before getting tested.
Wednesday night also saw the suspension of the NBA season after Utah Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus; ESPN also reported Thursday that another Jazz All-Star, Donovan Mitchell, contracted the virus and that players have privately reported that Gobert has been careless in his locker room conduct, touching players and their belongings.
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Janet Broderick, sister of actor Matthew Broderick and a rector for an episcopal church in Beverly Hills, tested positive soon after attending an annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky, as announced by her parish Thursday morning. Italy is now in a national lockdown after the death toll rose 30% on Wednesday to 800; one of the deaths was 67-year-old official Roberto Stella, president of the Medical Guild of Varese, who died Tuesday night. One of Italy's top soccer clubs Juventus announced Wednesday that its player Daniele Rugani had contracted the virus and the team was in isolation, which, along with Spain's Real Madrid in isolation Thursday morning after players made contact with a member of the club's basketball team who tested positive, puts the major European soccer tournament Champions League in limbo. In the UK this week, Nadine Dorries, a health minister and conservative member of parliament, tested positive for the virus, a few days after attending an event hosted by prime minister Boris Johnson, who will not be tested, according to CNN. One of the most high-profile U.S. officials to contract the virus, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Rick Cotton, who oversees airports, buses and other means of transportation, was reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. In early February, Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who tried to warn about the impending outbreak as early as December 30 before being told by police to stop "making false comments," died from the virus.
News Peg: On March 11, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. According to John Hopkins, there have been 169,387 people confirmed to be infected and 6,513 have died.
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ce5a5d5e2c3ae6d21c3c34a873d4e538 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/12/top-streamer-dr-disrespect-signs-multiyear-exclusivity-deal-with-twitch/ | Top Streamer Dr Disrespect Signs Multiyear Exclusivity Deal With Twitch | Top Streamer Dr Disrespect Signs Multiyear Exclusivity Deal With Twitch
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 10: Dr DisRespect attends The 2019 ESPYs at Microsoft Theater on July ... [+] 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images) Getty Images
Topline: Amazon's market leading Twitch made another significant move to retain its roster of streaming talent today, signing Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm to a multiyear exclusivity deal, as brokered by his rep CAA.
Beahm's "Dr Disrespect" persona, a pastiche of '80s characteristics like his signature mullet-and-mustache combo, has become one of the most popular on Twitch, with 4 million followers on the platform, plus 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.3 million on Twitter. The Dr Disrespect brand has been expanding recently: in December, a development deal for a narrative animated TV series based on the character was signed with The Walking Dead's Skybound Entertainment; a faux memoir called Violence. Speed. Momentum. was sold to Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books for a 2021 release; and a recent on-stream cameo from WWE star The Undertaker may signal a possible TV appearance. Beahm's actions can veer into the controversial, as last summer he was temporarily suspended from Twitch after filming inside a public bathroom at the annual video game event E3. From August until the end of 2019, streamers were hopping between different live-streaming platforms for millions of dollars, jump-started by Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins' move to Microsoft's fledgling Mixer platform. At the end of the year, Twitch woke up a bit, securing popular streamers Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar," Benjamin "DrLupo" Lupo and Saqid "Lirik" Zahid in December. Last week, Twitch inked another one of its big streamers, Imane "Pokimane" Anys, in a further sign that the company took the exodus of other streamers last fall seriously, though, as expected given Twitch's status as the leading platform, her deal was less lucrative than others offered to her.
Key Background: During this "live-streaming war," Twitch has lost some ground to its competitors, but it's still far-and-away the leading live-streaming platform. Its market share of total hours watched fell just two points to 73% in 2019, according to a report from data analyst Arsenal.gg and streaming toolmaker StreamElements. Its closest competitor, YouTube Gaming, owns 21% and continued its attempt to boost that number in January by signing Rachell "Valkyrae" Hofstetter, Lannan "LazarBeam" Eacott and Elliott "Muselk" Watkins.
Big Number: $120 million. That's how much the top ten highest-paid gamers brought in throughout 2019, partially fueled by exclusivity deals signed in the second-half of the year.
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6d8b56c9b9f259a8a07504dde7e29da0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/13/the-stafford-act-invoked-by-president-trump-has-rarely-been-used-for-public-health-emergencies/ | The Stafford Act, Invoked By President Trump, Has Rarely Been Used For Public Health Emergencies | The Stafford Act, Invoked By President Trump, Has Rarely Been Used For Public Health Emergencies
Surrounded by members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, US President Donald Trump speaks at ... [+] a press conference on COVID-19, known as the coronavirus, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, March 13, 2020. - Trump is declaring coronavirus a national emergency. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
Topline: In response to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988, allowing the federal government through FEMA to take advantage of a $50 billion fund for disaster relief that's rarely been used for disease outbreaks.
In 2000, then President Bill Clinton used the Stafford Act in response to West Nile outbreaks in New Jersey and New York, which provided around $5 million in assistance. A similar declaration called the National Emergencies Act, which more broadly defines an emergency and gives the president more powers like the ability to take control of the internet, was used instead of the Stafford Act by President Barack Obama in response to the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009. The Stafford Act is instead used more frequently during natural disasters and non-pandemic emergencies; a Congressional Research Service report in 2015 estimated that the Stafford Act was enacted 56 times per year between 2000 and 2009. In a notable instance, the government's delayed response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was criticized along with provisions of the Stafford Act that were deemed too stringent by officials speaking with Frontline, especially when dealing with destruction at that scale. It's not just natural disasters, though, as the act has been invoked for a number of terrorist incidents, including the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. The first known request for aid from the Stafford Act for a mass shooting came from Florida governor Rick Scott in 2016 following the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, but the request was denied by President Obama as, according to then FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, the governor did not adequately illustrate why local and state resources weren't enough. More recently, President Trump used the act in 2019 to issue aid to Nebraska and Iowa in response to severe flooding.
Crucial Stats: There are 1,700 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States, with 40 people dead.
Surprising Fact: The Stafford Act was a plot point in the political series House of Cards, used as means to fund a jobs program with unemployment deemed an emergency.
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98f7c5193974bd6ee42abf6f4a9a16af | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/17/marriott-to-furlough-tens-of-thousands-of-employees-amid-coronavirus-closures/ | Report: Marriott To Furlough Tens Of Thousands Of Employees Amid Coronavirus Closures | Report: Marriott To Furlough Tens Of Thousands Of Employees Amid Coronavirus Closures
American multinational hospitality company Marriott hotel logo seen at one of their hotels. Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Topline: Hotel chain Marriott International is beginning to furlough tens of thousands of its workers amid a swath of closings and volatility in the industry due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Furloughed staff, which includes workers like housekeepers and general managers but not corporate-level employees (as of yet), won’t be paid during this period but will continue receiving healthcare. According to a company spokesperson, “many” of its furloughed staff are expected to return when the virus is contained, which the White House said in a briefing yesterday might not be until the middle or end of the summer. In late February, the company disclosed that it would close 90 of its 375 China-based hotels and estimated it could lose $25 million per month in fee revenue, though the pandemic has become more of a global crisis since then. In Boston, Marriott had to shut down its Long Wharf hotel after an employee tested positive for the virus; the building held a Biogen conference that resulted in many more cases of the coronavirus. Marriott International operates over 7,000 properties across 30 different brands and 131 countries.
Crucial Quote: “As travel restrictions and social distancing efforts around the world become more widespread, we are experiencing significant drops in demand at properties globally with an uncertain duration,” the company said in a statement sent to Forbes. “We are adjusting global operations accordingly, which has meant either reduction in hours or a temporary leave for many of our associates at our properties. Our associates will keep their health benefits during this difficult period and continue to be eligible for company-paid free short-term disability that provides income protection should they get sick.”
Key Background: The coronavirus has led to a rash of job losses across industries. According to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, about 18% of Americans say they've experienced layoffs or have had their hours cut due to the pandemic. The White House is prepping an $850 billion stimulus package to aid American businesses, with leaders in the hospitality industry set to meet with Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday.
News Peg: According to Johns Hopkins, there are 189,452 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 7,505 deaths globally. Yesterday, the White House recommended that people avoid crowds of more than ten.
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Big Number: 46%. That's how much Marriott International stock has fallen since the start of the year.
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c63479e9377bea2e6283c96a051fc3fd | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/26/report-communication-technical-flaws-delayed-cdcs-early-response-to-coronavirus/ | Report: Communication, Technical Flaws Delayed CDC’s Early Response To Coronavirus | Report: Communication, Technical Flaws Delayed CDC’s Early Response To Coronavirus
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield sits after a meeting with ... [+] nursing industry representatives in the Roosevelt Room of the White House about the COVID-19 pandemic on March 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Topline: The U.S. response to the COVID-19 coronavirus has been criticized for its delayed action and unclear guidance, and, according to a report from ProPublica based on hundreds of documents and emails from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency was the center of much confusion.
Throughout February, the CDC tried to transition from conducting its own flawed tests to handing off the responsibility to states, but shortages of test kits delayed that action, and unclear guidance on what symptoms must be present for testing compounded the problem, according to the report. According to the CDC in a statement to ProPublica, the decision of who should be tested was up to the judgment of clinicians and that the CDC never declined a request for testing. Another problem: Suspected carriers of the coronavirus through local health organizations proved hard to track, with the CDC on February 13, 2020, writing an "urgent" job posting for staffers who could streamline their records. Technical solutions also proved troublesome: A February 19, 2020, presentation instructed states to use a Web service call DCIPHER to report suspected and confirmed cases, but training on the platform didn't occur until February 24, 2020, and problems continued. (On March 1, 2020, the CDC emailed the Nevada Health Department asking it to send a list of users for onboarding to DCIPHER, to which the department responded, ”We sent a spreadsheet a couple weeks ago which I thought covered this.”) Screening travelers from China seemed erratic: At Los Angeles International Airport, CDC staffers struggled with language barriers (they were told to use Google Translate); and the process for screening private flights, “mainly rich people,” was inconsistent. In a statement to ProPublica, the CDC said it tried to focus on the largest, highest-risk groups possible given staffing shortages while training more people and using limited translation services. Forbes has reached out to the CDC for comment.
Crucial Quote: In an email to the rest of the agency on January 28, 2020, CDC Director Robert Redfield said, "While we believe the 2019-nCoV poses a very serious public health threat, the virus is not spreading in the U.S. at this time and CDC believes the immediate health risk from 2019-nCoV to the general American public is low. We do expect to find more cases of novel coronavirus in the U.S. associated with this outbreak and it’s likely there will be some person-to-person spread with this virus."
Key Background: On January 21, 2020, the CDC announced the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the U.S. The patient returned to Washington State from Wuhan, China, on January 15, 2020. The first community transmission was announced by the agency February 26, 2020, occurring in California. The U.S. now has 75,233 confirmed cases and 1,070 deaths due to the virus, according to the Washington Post. The White House has been criticized for its delay in addressing the growing pandemic, with President Trump denying reports that the administration knew about the high threat of the virus as early as January, while calling it a “hoax” in late February during a rally, eliciting the usual fanatical approval of the crowd.
Tangent: According to a report from Reuters, the CDC's insight into the pandemic on the ground in China was struck a blow when in July, the Trump administration reportedly eliminated an American health position in Beijing meant to help track and deal with potential outbreaks in the country, as well as train epidemiologists in the field. The health official in that role, Dr. Linda Quick, could have been a link for the U.S. to investigate the COVID-19 coronavirus far earlier.
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e26539e1366ccb15f1f4877ecd0fcb97 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/04/09/student-loan-payment-suspension-may-go-further-than-initial-six-months-trump-says/ | Student Loan Payment Suspension 'May Go Further' Than Initial Six Months, Trump Says | Student Loan Payment Suspension 'May Go Further' Than Initial Six Months, Trump Says
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 09: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the daily coronavirus briefing in ... [+] the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 09, 2020 in Washington, DC. U.S. unemployment claims have approached 17 million over the past three weeks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Getty Images
Topline: During Thursday's White House briefing, Trump said the federal government “may go further” than six months in waiving student loan payments. The $2 trillion CARES Act, the stimulus package designed to offset lost jobs and business because of coronavirus lockdowns, already provided a six-month suspension period.
"Previously we waived student loan payments for six months...we'll discuss it after that, may go further," Trump said.
The repayment policy freeze runs until September 30 and includes zero interest on the suspended payments, though it only extends to people that owe money to the Department of Education, meaning people on a government-backed Federal Family Education Loan from a private entity or a Perkins Loan from their college or university aren't included. Trump also shared that $6 billion in emergency grant funding from the CARES Act would start being distributed to colleges and universities to help students impacted by cancellation of classes and suspension of housing. Earlier in the day, former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, shared a new policy for his platform in an attempt to win over supporters of prior Democratic contender Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont that would wipe out student debt entirely. Biden's proposal would forgive student loan debt for "low-income and middle-class people for undergraduate public colleges and universities, as well as private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and private, underfunded Minority-Serving Institution (MSIs)." This includes people making up to $125,000 a year.
Key Background: Student loan debt stands at $1.6 trillion in the U.S., according to a report from credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service. The pandemic has disrupted education from grade-school to college, with teachers and professors conducting lessons through conferencing services like Zoom. There are currently 456,828 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., the most of any country in the world. The pandemic has led to 16 million job losses across the country.
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0658cf9ac481c9059ede4a980e130c3a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattpowell/2014/08/06/sneakernomics-marketing-with-millennials/ | Sneakernomics: Marketing With Millennials | Sneakernomics: Marketing With Millennials
No—that’s not a typo. Brands used to market to Boomers; Successful brands market with Millennials. Read on:
Who are the Millennials?
Millennials are the generation born between 1977 and 1995. Gen X is the generation born between 1965-1976; Baby Boomers were born between 1946-1964. Millennials as a group are larger than Boomers. Millennials will account for one third of all retail spending in 5 years. And soon Millennials will be 50% of the workforce. Goldman Sachs recently published a report called “Millennials: Coming of Age in Retail”. Key findings on Millennials:
Earning less than previous cohorts Hit hard by the recession Less likely to get married and to start households Much more health conscious Entering prime spend years Really like athletic brands Want to make the most of their leisure time. Much more tech savvy/Love social media Willing to share opinions and experiences via social media. Not brand loyal
Participatory Economy
Shopping behavior for Millennials is no longer passive. Millennials want to interact with brands, to co-create products and to participate in the brand experience. Millennials want to discover new and dynamic products from a proven name, approved by their peer group. Millennials today are looking for relevance and authenticity. They want to develop relationships with brands that deliver a personalized, customized experience. Brands that don’t understand and respond to these needs will fail.
“Mespoke”
The New York Times Magazine has a section called “That Should Be a Word”. Recently they made up:
MESPOKE: (me-SPOKE), adj. Tailored exactly to one’s lifestyle. “Dylan was a member of the mespoke generation: From his iPod playlist to his favorite shot of espresso at his neighborhood cafe, he never had to experience anything that wasn’t his explicit choice.”
Millennials seek out brands that feel unique to them (and make them feel unique). These brands have been vetted and approved by their peer set. They aren’t going to be loyal to your brand because they don’t have to be. Millennials have been taught to be curious their entire lives. They are incredibly smart and savvy. They know how to research a brand.
All these traits trump traditional ad campaigns. Millennials are constantly interviewing your brand, and your brand has to prove itself, every day. For Boomers, there were fewer shopping choices, fewer shopping outlets and fewer sources of product information. For Millennials, those elements are infinite. And these elements are all in their pocket, on their mobile devices.
Digital Natives
Millennials have never known a world without the Internet. Because of that, Millennials are more connected to each other than any previous generation. They share everything. When they want to know something or get an opinion, they consult their peer group. And Millennials’ groups are much, much larger than the Boomers’ groups are.
Consequently, Millennials are more engaged with products. They want to interact with brands and want to share feedback.
Mobile is preferred method of communication.
Because Millennials are internet trained, there is an expectation for instant gratification. Email is too slow and cumbersome. Text messaging is more immediate and can be used when a phone call is inconvenient. Twitter , Instagram and Pinterest shares your thoughts in real time.
Early Adopters
Because Millennials are so digitally engaged, and have shared so much knowledge with their peers, they are much early adopters of new ideas, concepts and products. This will drive the speed of change even faster than what we’ve known. Leveraging early adopters will build brand equity.
Knowledge Based Economy
The concept of branding has changed in that the Millennials is so much more aware of a product’s attributes and issues and therefore consumers are much less brand loyal. If they perceive your competitor’s product to be better or to perform more in line with their needs, they will change in a heartbeat. Consequently, brands must keep their consumers well informed and up to date, not just on what’s in the market now, but what coming next .
Frugal, Not Cheap
Millennials have been hit hard by the Bush recession. Good paying jobs have been hard to find. Many are saddled with massive college debt. This has created a frugal generation. Millennials are always looking for value.
But don’t read frugal as cheap. Millennials may be cautious with their purchases, researching them extensively. But if they decide a more expensive option is the best solution, that’s the decision they will make. Millennials want value for their hard earned money.
Don’t talk, listen (and respond)
Boomer generation marketing was reactive. Brands ran an ad campaign and measured how many consumers responded. Millennials don’t react; they interact. They are a part of the branding process, from sharing a great YouTube ad, to advising friends on purchase experiences, to giving positive and negative feedback directly to a brand. Remember, just because it is easy to hit the “like” or “favorite” button, does not mean those recommendations are given out lightly. (And a “like” is just as easily reversed).
Physical stores have a role
Physical stores are no longer the place where you learn about products. Physical stores are places to try out products, not research; Millennials go to physical stores to see if products fit or if the color is right. Physical stores must adapt to this fundamental change.
Malls are in trouble
Malls are no longer where young people hang out. Now they hang out on their phones. Next time you are in a mall (and I’ll bet it will be a while), go to the food court. The only people who are there are retirees, nursing a cup of coffee. The good, top end malls will survive, but the rest are doomed.
Forget Omni-channel
“Omni” or “all” channel is old school thinking. Millennials don’t care about your businesses logistics or Chinese walls. They want what they want, whenever, wherever, and however they want it. If your brand can’t give it to them that way, they will move on. Your brand experience must be completely transparent and seamless, with no hidden quirks. There is only one channel: all of it.
Conclusion
Engage, don’t market. Listen well and respond. Provide value. Find out where your customers are living, digitally, and involve them there. Seek interaction, not reaction. Market with Millennials.
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a0c817d0ecfb69eba2f0f2e8fb961e8b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattpowell/2014/09/09/sneakernomics-winners-and-losers-after-ray-rice/ | Sneakernomics: Winners And Losers After Ray Rice | Sneakernomics: Winners And Losers After Ray Rice
After the release yesterday of the surveillance footage showing Ray Rice beating his then fiancée, Janay Palmer, the reaction was swift. First the Ravens cut Rice, forcing the NFL to suspend him “indefinitely”. Let’s examine who are the winners and losers are after this tragic story.
NFL: Big Loser
The NFL and Commissioner Goodell have completely mishandled this situation from the very beginning, from the light initial suspension, to changing their domestic violence policy (which is still woefully inadequate). There are conflicting claims whether the league did or did not see the video of Rice striking Janay Palmer before yesterday. (Why did they have to wait for the video to come out? Exactly what did they think a man beating a woman would look like?). The NFL was upstaged by the Ravens swift reaction in releasing Rice. The NFL has looked weak and clueless at every stage of this dreadful situation.
Baltimore Ravens: Loser
Up until yesterday, the Ravens were slow to respond in an appropriate way. They even posted a tweet that seemed to put some of the blame on Janay Palmer. Yesterday, the Ravens finally did the right thing and cut Rice. Now the team must educate their players against domestic violence and promote safety for women.
Atlantic County (NJ) Prosecutor: Loser
Acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain said his office approved Rice's request for NJ's Pretrial Intervention Program, "after careful consideration of the information contained in Mr. Rice’s application, in light of all of the facts gathered during the investigation." Clearly a “Celebrity Punishment”.
Under Armour : Slight Loser
Under Armour, whose headquarters are in Baltimore, has aligned itself closely with the Ravens. The Ravens practice in the “Under Armour Performance Center”. The UA logo is featured prominently in the stadium. UA has used the Ravens facility for events.
Given the Ravens slow initial reaction to the situation, Under Armour is somewhat tied to the Ravens’ shame.
Nike: Neutral
Nike is the official uniform supplier for the NFL. They will likely get stuck with some Rice jerseys that will have to be destroyed. However, given the poor play last year by Rice and the Ravens, as well as the length of time since the story broke, Nike had time to adjust inventory down and mitigate clearance.
Ray Rice also endorsed Nike footwear. Most football shoe deals are nominal in cost. Nike did not use Rice much in marketing, so there is no real loss there.
Retailers: Slight Loser
After the Ravens cut Rice, retailers quickly removed Rice jerseys and shirts from their floors and websites. (Of course NFL.com was one of the last). We have to wonder what took them so long.
Retailers will likely have to destroy these shirts, as I do not expect Nike will take them back. Again, since the Ravens and Rice played so poorly last year and since this story has been unfolding for a while, I doubt if retailers will take much of a profit hit.
Sports Talk: Winner
Unlike “ Fox and Friends” (who suggested that Janay Palmer “take the stairs”), sports talk in many cities spend the day talking about the evils of domestic violence and decrying the league’s tepid and belated responses to the Rice situation. We’ve still got a way to go in terms of truly enlightened sports talk, but yesterday was a step forward.
Victims and Opponents of Domestic Violence: Winner
After yesterday’s events, we seem more open to speak out against domestic violence and to those who don’t see an issue. This is a huge win for the victims. Opponents should feel emboldened. This is a victory for women everywhere. Let’s keep the dialogue moving forward and defeat this scourge.
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ef2a349377026fb33893cc986a48ef30 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattrissell/2016/06/23/one-thing-you-can-do-today-to-protect-yourself-against-flsa-lawsuits/ | One Thing You Can Do Today To Protect Yourself Against FLSA Lawsuits | One Thing You Can Do Today To Protect Yourself Against FLSA Lawsuits
I've been a dad for just as long as I've been TSheets' CEO. My daughter was born in 2006, and TSheets was born shortly after that.
As many of us do prior to having kids, I swore I was going to be a fun dad. However, as the years went by, I quickly realized that there’s a difference (a big one) between being a fun dad and being irresponsible. I realized that, as much as I might want to be my daughter’s friend, it was my duty, first and foremost, to be her dad. To make and enforce the rules, and to set the boundaries. After all, it’s those things that keep my daughter and my family safe and happy.
Unsurprisingly, the same can be said for my business. I wanted to be a fun boss, but I also wanted to keep my company and my employees safe and happy. To do that, I had to implement the one thing I swore I would never have: a policy.
When I founded TSheets, I founded it with the intention that we would be a fun company -- the kind of company that has a ping-pong table in the lounge and a keg in the breakroom -- the kind of company people would want to work for. And I was convinced the only way to achieve that was to make TSheets entirely policy free.
Photo Credit: TSheets
“I hate policies!” I declared. “And TSheets will never, ever have them.” In fact, I declared that for about ten years -- and if you’ve ever heard me speak at an event, you’ve probably heard me say it. I still believe, to this day, that corporate policies can kill a company.
But there’s an important difference between a personality crushing corporate policy -- the kind that dictates what you can wear, what you can say, and who you can be -- and a policy that keeps my company and my employees safe and happy. And when it comes to FLSA compliance, you need to have a policy in place if you want to protect your company from wage and hours lawsuits. Failing to have a policy is the fastest way to get hit with a lawsuit -- and that’s no fun for anyone.
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A New Policy on Policies
By now you’ve probably heard about the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulations -- anywhere from 4 to 8 million additional employees, who were originally exempt, will suddenly qualify for overtime starting December 1, 2016 .
The announcement was a big deal for TSheets (there’s never been a better reason to start tracking your time -- even if you’re salaried!) but an even bigger deal for the 30 million or more small businesses across America. Suddenly, their risk of getting hit with a wage and hours lawsuit is much higher. In fact, some experts are predicting that 2016 will be a record breaking year in terms of FLSA claims.
Photo Credit: TSheets
I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. It’s our goal as a company to help small businesses everywhere -- not just our own -- succeed! So I asked my team to do some digging. “Why so many lawsuits?” I asked, “And how can business owners avoid them?”
They reached out to top wage and hours experts across the country in order to find the answers, and nearly every expert said the same thing: “One of the top reasons so many businesses get hit with a wage and hours dispute is because they don’t have a clear, written policy. And if they do, they don’t enforce it.”
Upon hearing the word “policy,” I blanched. My feelings on them hadn’t exactly changed. But the experts wouldn’t back down.
“It’s always good business practice to have an overtime policy in place,” says Maria O. Hart, an attorney specializing in employment law with Parsons Behle and Latimer. “Having a policy plays a big part in protecting a business against wage and hours disputes.”
Each time I heard the word “policy,” visions of dress-codes, mandated break times, and stuffy corporate offices flashed before my eyes. But the more information we gathered, the more I realized that we’re not quite as policy free as I imagined.
At TSheets, we require our employees to clock in and out each day using the very software we provide to our clients (we call it drinking our own champagne!). That’s a policy. But, to be honest, our team members consistently agree that it feels less like a policy and more like a way to value their time. With time back in their own hands, they feel empowered to do amazing things -- whenever, and wherever inspiration strikes. Which brings me to my next point...
We also ask our employees to put in a 40 hour work week -- and we only hire people who have an internally driven desire to use that time to do the best work of their lives. The former is a policy, but the latter is a byproduct of our culture. In fact, it’s that strong company culture that makes these “policies” so successful. They’re not restrictive rules we find ourselves constantly needing to enforce -- they’re simply how we operate.
Credit: Aly Steele's #tsheetstuesday Facebook post
Finally, when our employees go on vacation, we ask them to utilize their PTO. That’s a policy. But more often than not, our employees pack their TSheets shirt and post selfies with our logo front and center in some of the most incredible places on the planet. Why? Because our employees live and breathe our core values and truly take this one to heart: “Work really hard. Play really hard.” As a result, their time outside the office is less about tracking their paid time off (TSheets makes that easy!) and more about making every second count.
We may not have policies that determine how our employees should dress, how they can express themselves, or whether or not they’re allowed to kick back and have a beer with a co-worker on the clock -- but we do have policies to protect our company, our employees, and our customers.
These policies make TSheets a safe place for our employees to work by ensuring that they’re paid for every minute on the clock and guaranteeing a healthy work/life balance. These policies protect our company by keeping accurate-to-the-second records of when and where our employees worked and making sure they have a clear picture of what’s expected of them out of the gate. And these policies also make TSheets a pretty fun team to be a part of -- which is a policy I can really get behind.
With that in mind, it’s these policies business owners need to have if they want to avoid getting hit with a lawsuit regarding the FLSA. And if you’re wondering just what information these policies need to entail, our experts have some advice to steer you in the right direction.
Creating a Policy That Protects
“In general,” says Hart, “the policy needs to set clear expectations. It should include general business hours, shifts (if your type of work fits within a shift structure), whether or not you allow overtime, and how employees can get authorization for overtime. There are great resources online to help you create your policy, but it’s always a good idea to have your employment attorney review it to ensure compliance with both federal and state laws. If the policy is super complicated, it’s worth it to invest in an attorney to help you craft it.”
“However,” she warns, “a policy, no matter how clear, will not protect the business owner if the business does not enforce it uniformly or only when it’s convenient. It only protects the business when it is clear, when it is compliant, and when it is implemented consistently across the board.”
Philip Miles, an attorney with McQuaide Blaskoin State College, agrees -- especially when it comes to off-the-clock work violations. “Your policy should explain when employees are permitted to work overtime and/or “off-the-clock” (or outside of regular business hours), and explain what authorization is required prior to such work.”
“Technology has made it more common for employees to perform work when not at the office,” continues Staci Ketay Rotman, a partner at Franczek Radelet, “Between laptops, mobile devices, and remote access, there is a lot more opportunity for off-the-clock work to occur. Employers should have a policy and procedures in place either to prohibit such work or to ensure that non-exempt employees are paid for it.”
These policies won’t make your business a strict place to work -- they make it run like a well-oiled machine. In fact, we’re proof that it’s possible to have policies, but still be the best place to work in Idaho. It’s possible to have a six-month-long ongoing foosball tournament in the lounge and several cases of PBR in the break room while still protecting yourself and your employees from wage and hours lawsuits. Without these types of policies, you’re not being a fun company -- you’re just being irresponsible.
With the FLSA on everyone’s mind, and new DOL regulations on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to put some of these policies in place.
Oh, and the most important policy at TSheets? No one beats me on the ping-pong table.
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94e0b90d5f51a9cddfee233b141cb818 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattrybaltowski/2018/02/18/adam-silver-touts-virtues-of-nbas-intellectual-property-in-support-of-1-gambling-integrity-fee/ | Adam Silver Touts Virtues Of NBA's Intellectual Property In Support Of 1% Gambling Integrity Fee | Adam Silver Touts Virtues Of NBA's Intellectual Property In Support Of 1% Gambling Integrity Fee
Commissioner Adam Silver on Saturday defended a proposal that could assess a 1% fee to gaming... [+] operators on all wagers on NBA contests in states where sports betting is legalized. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Citing the extraordinary value of the league's intellectual property, NBA commissioner Adam Silver argued Saturday that the association should receive a controversial royalty from gaming operators if the Supreme Court legalizes sports betting nationwide.
Delivering his first public comments on the subject since the NBA outlined a model framework for a legal sports gambling marketplace on Jan. 24, Silver noted that the league should be compensated for the enormous additional expenses it could incur if the nation's highest court reverses a prohibition on wagering on professional sports. Last month at a New York Senate hearing, the NBA proposed a so-called 1% integrity fee for gaming operators on the total handle of all wagers on its contests in states where sports gambling is legalized.
"I would only say from the NBA's standpoint we will spend this year roughly $7.5 billion creating this content, creating these games," Silver said at an NBA All-Star Weekend press conference. "Those are total expenses for the season. So this notion that as the intellectual property creators that we should receive a 1% fee seems very fair to me."
The proposal has been met with resistance from major international sports books, as well gambling industry trade groups, which have likened the fee to a levy that could imperil the lifeblood of their operations. For a Nevada sports book that pays a top state tax rate of 6.75% of gross gaming revenues along with a 0.25% federal excise tax, the payment to professional sports leagues could amount to approximately 15 to 20% of its annual revenue.
When asked whether the NBA would consider tying the royalty to an operator's sports gaming revenue instead of its overall handle, Silver responded that the league would be open to holding negotiations in order to come up with a mechanism for achieving a "fair result."
While calling into question whether the fees could be as excessive as some of the estimates projected by gaming advocates, Silver emphasized that the NBA drew upon a similar model used by jurisdictions outside the U.S. for compensating leagues for the use of their intellectual property. Two models in France and Australia, which utilize the royalty for such purposes, have been closely studied by gaming experts in the U.S. In France, a 2010 gambling act enabled professional sports leagues to accept bets on their sport and subsequently impose a fee for protecting the integrity of their contests. The individual sports bodies are responsible for deciding the requested amount in their contracts with the operators, before the deals are submitted to the regulator which acts as an intermediary between the leagues and the operators, said Sara Slane, senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association.
Back in the U.S., legislators in the Indiana House drafted a bill in January that would require gaming operators statewide to remit a fee to various sports governing bodies to monitor integrity concerns related to gambling. An integrity fee is not attached to a separate bill pending in the Indiana Senate, authored by Sen. Jon Ford (R - Terre Haute). After several gaming operators informed Ford that they could abandon plans to add a sports book due to the unfavorable tax implications brought about by the fee, the senator said in a phone interview that he omitted the provision from the bill.
Both parties could see their profit margins skyrocket from the ancillary benefits associated with the potential repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, a federal law which could be overturned by the nine-judge panel in the coming weeks. Over the last year, more than 15 states have introduced sports gambling bills in anticipation of a repeal, while several others have debated legislation since NBA senior vice president Dan Spillane laid out the proposal at last month's hearing in New York.
A report from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming last September found that under the best scenario, more than 30 states could offer sports gambling by 2023 if PASPA is repealed, resulting in $6.03 billion in annual revenue.
During the past 12 months, Silver said that 81 of the top 100 out rated television programs in the U.S. have featured live sporting events despite mounting challenges for networks amid the proliferation of social media and live streaming. By comparison in 2000, when legends such as Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Reggie Miller competed in the NBA Finals, only 13 of the top 100 shows contained live sports, the commissioner explained.
As the Court weighs its decision, Silver indicated that the NBA has been asked by multiple jurisdictions to provide input on how a framework for sports betting legislation should be structured. With the legalization of sports gambling throughout the U.S., Silver expects that the NBA will experience significant expenses in protecting the league's integrity, namely in its ability to flag problem issues, monitor betting trends, enforce policies and additional training.
In 2016, the NBA announced a multiyear partnership with Sportradar, a leading global provider of sports data whose U.S. advisory board includes Michael Jordan, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis among others. Under the partnership, the NBA incorporated Sportradar's integrity services into its game integrity protection measures, starting with the 2016-2017 regular season.
Drawing from more than 550 sports gambling operators around the world, Sportsradar's integrity services collects over 5 billion live data sets each day. The data is then fed into the Switzerland-based company's Fraud Detection System, which has been used in the evidence bundle of 24 criminal prosecutions and over 200 athletic sanctioning actions during the last decade. Using algorithms and machine learning, the system detects unusual or suspicious trends in both pre-match and live markets that deviate from the expected betting patterns. Since 2008, Sportradar has produced more than 3,500 FDS reports, a company spokesman wrote in an e-mail.
Much like the NBA, Sportradar has fielded requests from a number of state legislators and regulators on how the process of introducing sports betting into those states can be managed.
"If they are to open up a sports betting opportunity in their state, they want to be very secure about the fact that it is done in a way that minimizes the risk to the sport and ensure the integrity not only of the competition, but the betting market," said David Lampitt, managing director for group operations at Sportradar.
The partnership with Sportradar is reportedly worth in excess of $250 million to the NBA. Besides the NBA, Sportradar also has partnerships with FIFA, UEFA, the NHL and MLS.
Unlike other commissioners throughout the nation, Silver has not shied away from discussing the ramifications of legalized sports gambling, a sensitive issue given the rash of ugly point shaving scandals in numerous pro sports leagues over the last century. In 2014, Silver penned an editorial in The New York Times in which he urged Congress to adopt a federal framework that allowed states to authorize betting on professional sports, subject to strict regulatory requirements and technological safeguards. Shortly after, Cuban predicted that sports gambling would be legalized in the U.S. within a period of three to five years while calling the U.S. prohibition "hypocritical." At the time, Cuban suggested that the NBA could implement a model prevalent in the U.K. where a number of betting parlors have entered partnerships with the English Premier League.
"The NBA's stance is my stance," Cuban said on Friday outside a ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the league hosted its 19th annual NBA All-Star Technology Summit.
Across the nation, legislators, regulators, casinos and the leagues are anxiously awaiting the Court's decision. Although the Court may not release its opinion until late-June, a decision could come as early as next month.
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8884e56e640eaf87c5fa12f0b9eef8d9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattrybaltowski/2018/10/15/tissot-expands-u-s-imprint-by-adding-klay-thompson-trae-young-to-nba-team/ | Tissot Expands U.S. Imprint By Adding Klay Thompson, Trae Young To NBA Team | Tissot Expands U.S. Imprint By Adding Klay Thompson, Trae Young To NBA Team
Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson opens the 2018-2019 NBA regular season by signing an... [+] endorsement deal with Swiss watchmaker Tissot. Thompson is seeking his fourth NBA Championship with the Warriors since 2015 (Anda Chu/Getty Images).
On the eve of the tip-off to the NBA regular season, Tissot announced partnerships with guards Klay Thompson and Trae Young, as well as three league franchises in an effort to expand its footprint throughout the league.
Tissot, a leading Swiss traditional watchmaker and member of the Swatch Group, signed deals with the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards that designate the company as the official watch of each of the teams. The partnerships showcase the watchmaker as part of team marketing plans, in-arena creative initiatives and digital support. Tissot, the official watch and timekeeper of the NBA, now has partnerships with nine teams across the league.
The watchmaker also reaffirmed its relationship with six-time NBA All-Star Tony Parker, a longtime brand ambassador of the company. The athletes will appear in multimedia global campaigns for the brand, support dedicated fan content and engagement and will make appearances for the brand at special events throughout the season, the company said in a statement.
"I thought it was a great idea to add the other guys with me," Parker said. "Klay obviously is a great addition because he is with Golden State, he keeps winning and has a good image. Trae is a young guy who had a great year in college, we'll see how it translates to the NBA."
Young, a potent long-range shooter, is looking forward to testing his shot against the backdrop of Tissot's state-of-the-art shot clock that features an innovative LED glass technology. Last season, Young sank 118 3-point field goals at Oklahoma en route to capturing USA Today Sports freshman of the year honors. Young ended his freshman campaign as the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in points and assists per game in a single season.
Young was selected by the Mavericks with the fifth pick in the 2018 NBA Draft before he was traded to the Hawks for forward Luka Doncic. The Hawks also received a future protected first-round pick in the deal. Young first became a fan of the watch at the Draft, where the company gifted every first-round pick with a customized Tissot watch.
"I am so excited to be working with the brand for my rookie season," Young said. "Tissot is all about performance and style and so am I. The partnership is a perfect fit."
Ironically, Young patterns his game after Steph Curry, Thompson's longtime teammate with the Golden State Warriors. Young has drawn comparisons to Curry for his deft passing skills and consistency beyond-the-arc.
Much like Young, Thompson is known most for his proficiency with his long-range shot. Thompson is coming off his fourth straight All-Star appearance in a season where he set career-highs for 3-point and overall field goal percentage. Thompson set an NBA record for 3-pointers in a playoff game when he hit 11 threes in a Game 6 win over the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
"I had seen other athletes with watches that caught my eye, so I asked my agent to have our athlete marketing group explore different partnerships," Thompson said. "I felt like Tissot's products and style fit my personality best."
Parker, meanwhile, has been lauded by Tissot president Francois Thiebaud for his fighting spirit on the court and his commitment to charitable causes off of it. The company also supports an annual dinner put on each year by Parker's foundation.
For his part, Parker praised the company for arranging fun, engaging events outside of the NBA season. Two years ago, Tissot suggested that Parker participate in a game high atop the Swiss Alps, roughly 2.15 miles above sea level. The game between Parker's French team ASVEL Villeurbanne and a contingent of Swiss league players took place on the Aletsch Glacier in brisk temperatures of 37 degrees.
"That was amazing because we took a helicopter, you arrived and could barely breathe," Parker said. "You had a basketball court at the top of the mountain."
Earlier this summer, Parker joined Tissot for an appearance at the Tour De France. The guard's eponymous Tissot T-Touch Solar Tony Parker branded watch owns the distinction of being the world's first touchscreen watch powered by solar energy.
"They always do a great job in how they promote their watches around the world," Parker said. "My friends send me pictures (of Tissot) from airports in Dubai and Thailand. We do a lot for Tissot in France, but we also do a lot in Asia...They are a very loyal company."
After spending the first 17 years of his NBA career with the Spurs, Parker signed with the Charlotte Hornets in July. Young will take on Parker and the Hornets on Nov. 6 in Charlotte, before facing Thompson a week later in Oakland. The Warriors and Hornets will meet on Feb. 25 in Charlotte.
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e85aff7c6695551241a241422498e542 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattrybaltowski/2018/10/29/nhls-historic-deal-with-mgm-resorts-completes-gary-bettmans-u-turn-on-sports-betting/ | NHL's Historic Deal With MGM Resorts Completes Gary Bettman's U-Turn On Sports Betting | NHL's Historic Deal With MGM Resorts Completes Gary Bettman's U-Turn On Sports Betting
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, on... [+] October 29 announced MGM Resorts as the first official betting partner of the NHL. (Photo by Jared Silber/Getty Images)
On the surface, Monday's announcement by the NHL designating MGM Resorts International as an official sports betting partner of the league parallels a similar deal the multinational entertainment company struck with the NBA over the summer.
The partnership enables MGM to leverage a host of NHL promotional opportunities ranging from the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the NHL All-Star Game, along with the NHL Winter Classic and the NHL Stadium Series. The deal also establishes MGM as an official resorts partner with the league, a key consideration for a company with casinos in close proximity to the Vegas Golden Knights, Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings.
A deeper dive into the partnership, however, may contain broader implications for technology and sensitive player-rights issues moving forward.
The relationship provides MGM with access to the NHL's proprietary game data generated by the league's state-of-the-art tracking systems. The league's real-time data feed, which has been tested in some form during the World Cup of Hockey, could be ready as early as next season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at a press conference Monday.
"The new sports betting landscape presents a unique opportunity for fan engagement utilizing technology and data that are exclusive to our league," Bettman said. "As a leading global gaming operator and entertainment company, MGM Resorts is the perfect partner for us to begin our transformative entry into this space."
During the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the NHL experimented with a system designed by Chicago-based Sportvision that placed microchips inside jerseys and the puck to track player movement in real-time. As the NHL has studied the technology extensively, the league has held numerous discussions with the NHLPA on the ramifications of puck- and player-tracking data. There is some concern in league circles that data on shot and skating speed could be used for player valuation in contract negotiations.
Bettman noted Monday that the technology was initially developed as an enhancement for television broadcasts, not as a tool for in-game betting.
A recent Nielsen Sports study commissioned by the American Gaming Association found that an increase in legal sports betting across the U.S. could produce an additional $216 million in annual revenue for the NHL. At the same time, Nielsen estimates that increased fan engagement from sports betting may lead to a 4.3% spike in revenue from annual media rights, amounting to roughly $1.64 billion a year.
If fans can bet from their couch on whether Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin will score the next goal, how many will continue to watch during a 6-1 blowout? With plans on incorporating the advanced data into broadcasts in the U.S. and Canada, Bettman indicated that the analytics should be viewed as a beneficial mechanism for sports betting.
In May, the Supreme Court struck down the the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a 1992 federal law that restricted sports betting in the majority of U.S. states. Weeks later, MGM announced a multi-year deal with the NBA in July that designated the company as the first official gaming partner of the league. Much like its partnership with the NBA, MGM's multi-year relationship with the NHL is on a non-exclusive basis.
"MGM believes in the free market, we believe that there are going to be winners and losers in sports betting," said MGM Resorts International chairman and CEO Jim Murren. "We intend to be the winner...we don't want to be the winner because someone else is boxed out of the opportunity."
For now, the installation of an MGM branded sports betting kiosk inside an NHL arena does not appear imminent. Since the Court's decision, William Hill US signed sponsorship deals in recent weeks with the New Jersey Devils and the Golden Knights. While William Hill is building a lounge inside Newark's Prudential Center with space for fans to place bets on a mobile app, the company does not have plans to open a physical sports book within the confines of the arena. At Monday's press conference, Bettman likened the partnerships to the NHL's television arrangement which allows teams to pursue local deals on top of the league's national deal with NBC.
Bettman's willingness to embrace sports gambling represents a shift in his position on the subject. During a 2012 deposition in litigation of the New Jersey sports betting case, Bettman expressed concern on how widespread sports gambling could impact the integrity of the game. The NHL also formally opposed C-290, a bill in Canada that sought to give provinces the option of legalizing single-game betting. A parallel bill, C-221, was rejected by the Canadian House of Commons in September 2016. As NHL teams in Canada work with local lottery commissions that control gambling on a provincial basis, the league's position will continue to evolve, Bettman said Monday.
Nevertheless, the decision from the Supreme Court provides a vehicle for fan engagement that the league needed to embrace, Bettman argued.
"The fact of the matter is the world has changed," Bettman said. "The way people consume sports has changed, and frankly, whatever views anybody had a year ago have been changed by the fact that the Supreme Court ruled on PASPA."
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c84be6098e002b278811fe5dd2908de2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattrybaltowski/2018/12/18/2019-sports-betting-preview-will-congress-enact-federal-standards-for-legalized-sports-gambling/ | 2019 Sports Betting Preview: Will Congress Enact Federal Standards For Legalized Sports Gambling? | 2019 Sports Betting Preview: Will Congress Enact Federal Standards For Legalized Sports Gambling?
After the Supreme Court struck down a 26-year federal ban on sports betting in May, seven states... [+] nationwide have legalized sports gambling in their respective states. The figure could more than double in 2019, industry experts say. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
As predicted, a landmark Supreme Court decision on sports betting has created a frenetic period over the latter half of 2018 the likes of which the gaming industry has never seen.
A bevy of states have pushed through legislation in attempts to capitalize on a first-mover advantage over their neighbors. Established companies in mature markets such as the U.K. and Australia have made inroads into the U.S. in hopes of securing a slice of a pie estimated as much as $10 billion in the coming years. At the same time, prominent commissioners at the major professional sports leagues in North America have moved quickly to establish relationships with the top sportsbooks nationwide as a longstanding debate on intellectual property rights for official sports betting data festers.
Since the Court's decision, operators in Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania launched sports book operations. As the calendar turns to 2019, the pace of rapid expansion shows no signs of moderating. At least seven others could legalize sports gambling next year, headlined by a critical battle in New York. With a host of pro leagues and major broadcast networks headquartered in Manhattan, the developments in the Empire State will be closely monitored throughout the year.
In many respects, pending legislation in the New York Assembly is viewed as a model bill for other states to emulate. While legislation in New York requires gaming operators to pay a royalty to professional sports leagues for the use of their intellectual property, the mandates come with a caveat. Before a league collects the royalty via reimbursement, it must submit a claim and meet with a state-established regulatory commission. There, the leagues will be required to establish proof that the desired royalty will be spent on various integrity monitoring initiatives, as well as training programs. More immediately, New York assemblyman Gary Pretlow is confident that governor Andrew Cuomo will include sports betting in the 2019 state budget.
On the federal level, legislation pertaining to sports betting could come about more slowly. Weeks before his impending retirement, Utah senator Orrin Hatch introduced bipartisan legislation with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer that could create uniform federal standards for the legalized sports betting market. The proposal includes the creation of a national sports betting clearinghouse that could become a vast repository for anonymized data. But with pressing issues such as healthcare and immigration on the forefront, as well as a leadership change in the House of Representatives, it could be months before a vote is called.
Here are several other issues that could garner significant attention in 2019:
Player compensation from state-mandated royalties and commercial deals between the leagues and casinos
When the NHL announced a sports betting partnership with MGM Resorts International in October, commissioner Gary Bettman noted that the money the league receives from deals with casinos will be allocated to the league's hockey-related revenue pool. As such, the league will share the fixed revenue from gaming partnerships with the NHL Players Association on a 50/50 basis, Bettman said.
While the NHL's collective bargaining agreement is not set to expire until 2020, the Players Association has an opt out clause to terminate the agreement next September. By then, a clearer picture could emerge in the ongoing debate on whether the leagues and players unions should receive a royalty from gaming operators for the use of official league data. When asked last month whether the issue should be collectively bargained, Steve Fehr, a special counsel for the NHLPA said the players union has not taken a position. Although an argument could be made that hockey-related revenues may surge from the league's interest in sports gambling (i.e. through increased ticket sales and higher advertising rates), Fehr hinted that the players may deserve even more.
"It's kind of hard to accept the notion that an industry should expand exponentially and generate all sorts of revenue basically on the backs of the players -- and the players should not receive anything out of that," Fehr said at the ICE Sports Betting USA Conference in New York.
On the same panel, representatives from the NFLPA and NBAPA indicated that all four players unions from the major professional sports leagues in the U.S. are aligned in their lobbying strategy when it comes to sports betting.
Could you place a sports bet on a credit card at a betting window next year?
While bettors in New Jersey can presently use online payment providers such as PayPal and Neteller to fund online accounts with legalized sports books, the customers cannot place a bet on a debit or credit card at a betting window inside a brick-and-mortar location. This may change, however, over the next few months.
Regulations from the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement allow for card acceptance in a face-to-face environment at a retail sports book, said Joe Pappano, a senior vice president at Worldpay, Inc. In addition, Visa appears bullish on sponsoring card acceptance inside retail locations, Pappano said.
"We are working with the various jurisdictions to make sure that the current regulatory environment allow for card acceptance," Pappano said.
The intersection between sports betting and state-run lotteries
West Virginia launched sports betting in August several months after the state legislature passed a bill authorizing the state lottery commission to regulate the activity. On Dec. 18, the Council of the District of Columbia overwhelmingly passed legislation that could bring sports gambling to the nation's capital through the DC Lottery. The initiative which could generate an estimated $92 million through 2022, according to the city's Office of the Chief Financial Officer, still needs to be signed by Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser.
Separately, a Kansas state representative said earlier this month that a new sports gambling bill could be introduced in weeks. A previous bill authored by Rep. Jan Kessinger would have enabled the Kansas State Lottery to serve as the lone operator for legalized sports betting statewide.
Allowing a state-run lottery to regulate or operate a legal sports betting market raises significant conflict of interest issues, said Gambling.com CEO Charles Gillespie. Instead, gambling products including those involving state lotteries should be regulated by independent gaming authorities.
"Having the lottery regulate sports betting is like having Netflix regulate Hulu," Gillespie said.
Impact of sports betting on franchise values
As the supply for sports betting increases exponentially, so will the demand for live sports, according to PwC's final sports outlook for 2018. A 2018 study by Nielsen Sports commissioned by the American Gaming Association determined that the NFL could receive an estimated $2.33 billion in annual revenue from added fan engagement, sponsorship and advertising related to sports betting.
In turn, prospective owners may weigh the financial opportunities that gambling could bring when considering whether to purchase a team. Hours after the Court's decision, Mark Cuban proclaimed that the franchise value of every Top Four team in U.S. professional sports just increased by a factor of two.
"Clearly, there is value to be had there," said Mike Keenan, managing director, Sports Practice Leader at PwC. "You could argue whether it is double or some other percentage, but I think after the ruling there is now the ability for sports franchises to monetize that."
Following the death of Paul Allen in October, the eventual sale of the Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers and Allen's stake in the Seattle Sounders FC could eclipse $4 billion, Forbes managing editor Mike Ozanian reported.
While the state of Washington does not appear close to legalizing sports betting, New York may offer it at this time next year. Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan recently hinted that he could consider selling the New York Knicks if the right offer materialized.
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be5ead3d1625961829c2a9d8db407c03 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsalyer/2021/01/07/book-review-robin-lane-foxs-the-invention-of-medicine-from-homer-to-hippocrates/ | Book Review: Robin Lane Fox’s ‘The Invention Of Medicine: From Homer To Hippocrates’ | Book Review: Robin Lane Fox’s ‘The Invention Of Medicine: From Homer To Hippocrates’
‘Great Men’ are such bores. They ‘generate too much sweat,’ explained Bertolt Brecht. ‘In all of this I see just a proof that they couldn’t stand being on their own.’ Alexander the Great, for example, named a city after his horse. When he died, his middlemen placed him in a golden, Alexander-shaped sarcophagus inside of a coffin filled with honey. Let the pure 1980s American Psycho of that sink in. Too often, our cultural fascination with ‘great leaders’ leads us to overemphasize the value of studying the personal tics of honey-drizzled megalomaniacs like Alexander. Did you know that he slept with Homer’s Iliad under his pillow? Great Man and all that. He massacred thousands after the Siege of Tyre? Red is your power color. ‘When any of his friends were sick,’ Plutarch tells us, Alexander ‘would often prescribe their course of diet.’ Brilliant. Go get those deliverables sorted.
NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Actor Colin Farrell launches an 'Alexander The Great' interactive exhibit ... [+] at Madame Tussauds November 23, 2004 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images) Getty Images
Oliver Stone, who believes that history’s made by ‘leaders who are like lightning,’ mined Robin Lane Fox’s award-winning book, Alexander the Great, to saint-make the conqueror in his 2004 biopic. Lane Fox, an Oxford historian, served as a consultant on Stone’s film and has written extensively on the self-styled Macedonian demigod. He has also written popular accounts of other Classical luminaries, including Xenophon, Homer, Augustine, and Hesiod. However, Lane Fox’s most recent book, The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates, places common people and their unremarkable illnesses centerstage in the intellectual revolutions of the Classical world.
Lane Fox’s work begins with a study of bodies in Homer and a striking insight: when violence happens in The Iliad, the superhero exploits of Achilles and his kind ‘make contact with bodily reality.’ This sets the stage for the heart of Invention’s work: a hunt for Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician who seems to have appeared lightning-like during the Age of Solon. Lane Fox’s Hippocrates has one foot in the Age of Heroes and one in a more recognizable world of ‘commonplace [medical] conditions [that] were outside the range of heroic epic.’ Things that might happen to Odysseus’s nurse on washing day.
Marble relief of Asclepius or Hippocrates treating ill woman. Greece, 5th century B.C. (Photo By ... [+] DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini via Getty Images) De Agostini via Getty Images
Tradition credits Hippocrates with revolutionizing medicine, emphasizing therapeutic treatment and general prognosis over supernatural causes and cures. He also professionalized clinical practice through rigorous clinical observation. The Hippocratic Corpus, for example, contains sixty or so separate case histories, manuals, and theoretical studies of illness. A number of these fail to hold up to modern scrutiny, such as On the Nature of Man’s claim that kidney stones form in the aorta. But the Hippocratic School, for all its errors, took the radical stance that human nature was not the special characteristic of heroes, but ought to be studied in ordinary humans who lived and influenced each other in ordinary communities.
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Hippocrates' Daughter As A Dragon Kills A Knight, In 'The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville' The British Library
We know little for certain about Hippocrates, himself, other than the fact that he was born around 460 BC on Kos, an Aegean island that found itself in a tug-of-war between Greek and Persian civilizations. Like Alexander, he was the subject of conflicting descriptions and wild legends after his death. Some said that he was descended on his mother’s side from Hercules. Others, that he lived to be over 100. The medieval fabulist, Sir John Mandeville, made him King of Kos and gave him a daughter who turned into a magical dragon. Even the Hippocratic Corpus makes it hard to get a biographical sense of him. The ancients tended to ascribe all manner of books “in the vein of” to important figures in a particular field, and as with The Illiad, The Odyssey, and other works attributed to ‘Homer,’ Hippocratic writings have uncertain provenance.
Lane Fox’s challenge is twofold, then. On the one hand, The Invention of Medicine is his attempt to recover the ‘real’ Hippocrates using elusive textual clues in the ancient case studies. At the same time, there is no lost Tomb of Alexander to find in the dusty tomes of Alexandrian librarians, no single piece of evidence that clearly distinguishes the ‘Father of Medicine’ from the countless doctors of the Hippocratic School who borrowed his name. In consequence, Lane Fox needs to trace the likelihood of a single physician’s perspective by drawing conclusions from the ordinariness of his long-forgotten patients’ lives. Someone is hungover. Someone breaks a bone, runs a fever, has a tumor. Fortunately, Hippocratic practice involved the meticulous preservation of these records, providing one of the few instances in the Classical world where the fact that ‘Erasinus lived by the gully of Boétes’ and ‘was seized by a fever after supper’ was as noteworthy as one of the rousing fake speeches that Arrian, the Greek historian, put in Alexander’s mouth.
‘In general terms,’ Lane Fox remarks, the ‘doctor-author’ he comes to identify as Hippocrates ‘is easy to place because he names the site of most of his patients’ – the Aegean island of Thasos. ‘Thasos,’ Fox acknowledges, ‘is not at the centre of modern histories of the Greek world, most of which focus on Athens and Sparta.’ The fact that we do see Hippocrates in clearer relief as the active ‘doctor-author’ there has a great deal to do with Lane Fox’s keen gardener’s eye. He is, among other things, the writer of a long-running horticultural column in The Financial Times. At several points in The Invention of Medicine, this interest surfaces as he takes note of doctors’ gardens, their backyard chemist shops. More broadly, though, I was struck by something he said about ‘a small, enclosed garden echoing something in your mind.’ Thasos, for his purposes, functions like an enclosed garden, and his method’s like that of the ‘doctor-author’ he comes seeking. He looks for patterns in an ecosystem, studies the growth it produces. He asks how it’s been pruned and maintained and by whom.
Miniature from a treatise by Hippocrates of Chios, Latin manuscript, Sicilian Code Plut 73 16 C 48, ... [+] 13th Century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images) De Agostini via Getty Images
Alexander the Great had little interest in complex ecosystems, whether those were the little social economies of Aegean islands where people got mumps, the epidemic networks studied by the Hippocratic School, or the complex peristyle gardens, complete with automata and water features, that developed after his death in the Hellenized East. Even Plutarch found it remarkable that he showed no interest in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon when the Persian ambassadors came to his father’s court.
All day long, I have been preparing to teach Persian legends about Alexander after the winter break ends. Every few hours, my cell reads ‘NYC COVID TEST.’ My little son curls up next to me, asleep with his fever. Lane Fox’s Invention, I can’t help thinking, is a kind of archival contact tracing. In his case, it’s oriented toward proof positive of one man, Hippocrates. For my part, I’m more interested in what made his garden grow, all those ordinary men on Thasos with mumps or hangovers or sick sons. Men like me. Sure, I might have carried water for Alexander’s empire and he wouldn’t have cared if I lived or died. But I wouldn’t have cared whether he died from poisoning or typhoid fever, either. I’m not a doctor, after all.
‘I’m not saying anything against Alexander,’ I’d second Brecht, ‘only I have seen people who were remarkable, highly deserving of your attention because they were alive at all.’ So, it seems, did Hippocrates.
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662a4978bf4a9fc275e3b5611120c5ae | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsalyer/2021/01/13/groundswell-of-support-for-naming-dominican-american-poet-rhina-espaillat-as-bidens-inaugural-poet/ | Groundswell Of Support For Naming Dominican-American Poet, Rhina Espaillat, As Biden’s Inaugural Poet | Groundswell Of Support For Naming Dominican-American Poet, Rhina Espaillat, As Biden’s Inaugural Poet
Last month, an open letter in the Los Angeles Review of Books called on President-elect Joe Biden to choose the Dominican-American writer, Rhina Espaillat, as his inaugural poet. Since then, growing interest in Espaillat’s participation has emphasized her work’s thematic ‘intuition’ that ‘we are one single family.’ Families, of course, both individuate and constrain us, and Espaillat is a New Formalist whose mode of writing poems makes a parallel argument. ‘I’m not as secure with free verse as I am with formal verse,’ she admits, ‘because I like dancing in the box.’ Given the public violence of our moment, Espaillat’s special attention to form reminds us of John F. Kennedy’s purpose behind establishing inaugural poems in the first place. ‘When power leads man toward arrogance,’ Kennedy proposed, ‘poetry reminds him of his limitations.’
President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), thirty-fifth president of the United States, relaxes in his ... [+] trademark rocking chair in the Oval Office. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Corbis via Getty Images
One of the catalysts in the course of Espaillat’s life was Rafael Trujillo, the self-appointed generalissimo who accelerated the Dominican Republic’s erosion of republican norms in the 1930s. Trujillo’s political persona embodied what Kennedy’s poetic sensibilities cautioned us against when he honored Robert Frost in 1961. Trujillo’s political bloc, Partido Dominicano, became the nation’s sole legal political party. He instituted ‘civic reviews,’ large rallies that promoted his personality cult. Partido Dominicano, for example, used Trujillo’s initials (Rafael Leonidas Trujillo) on its emblems to signify ‘Rectitud, Libertad, Trabajo’ (‘Righteousness, Liberty, Jobs’). His Vice President, Jacinto Peynado, installed a large electric sign at his house with the words ‘Dios y Trujillo’ (‘God and Trujillo’) spelled out in bright bulbs. Even churches were required to display signs that read ‘Dios in cielo, Trujillo en tierra’ (‘God in heaven, Trujillo on earth’).
In Espaillat’s descriptions of her childhood, poetry emerges almost as an alternative populism to Trujillo’s personal cult. ‘It was not a class thing,’ she reflected. ‘It was not just the upper crust, the academics, or the elites who knew [poetry]; it went all the way through the culture. It was supposed to belong to everybody.’ As a child of five, Espaillat encountered it among ‘field hands and laborers’ and ‘people who [could] barely read,’ as well as in her grandmother’s household, where it constituted the ground bass of domestic life.
Vice-President Richard M. Nixon and General Rafael L. Trujillo of the Dominican Republic (right) ... [+] exchange warm greetings on Nixon's arrival in Ciudad Trujillo, March 1st. The visit to the Dominican Republic marked the next-to-last stage of Nixon's good Will tour of Latin America. During an official motorcade through the city, Nixon was cheered by some 15,000 schoolchildren. Streets were decked with U.S. and Dominican flags. Bettmann Archive
Espaillat lived with her grandmother in the late 1930s because her father, Carlos Espaillat, and uncle, Rafael Brache – both diplomats – had broken with Partido Dominicano over the infamous Parsley Massacres. In 1937, the Trujillo government, driven by longstanding ‘antihaitianismo,’ pursued a policy of forcible removal and state-sponsored violence along the nation’s porous border with Haiti, resulting in the mass killing of 12,000-35,000 Haitians. Brache resigned his post in protest and was subsequently declared a ‘traitor to the homeland.’ Espaillat remained with her grandmother in the Dominican Republic until her father, Carlos, could resettle the family in New York City. ‘It was not until I came to this country at the age of seven,’ Espaillat recalls, ‘that I realized poetry had a dark side … it looked perfectly pure because it was physical pleasure but when I started reading in English at seven or eight is when I realized, This is about life. This is about grief and losses.’
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For Espaillat, this time with her grandmother seems to constitute one of what the poet, William Wordsworth, called ‘spots of time’: those personal experiences – part memory, part imagination – through which ‘our minds are nourished and repaired’ during the ‘ordinary intercourse’ of our daily lives. Not surprisingly, her chosen subjects have always touched on ‘the quotidian’ – her immigrant father ‘half in fear of words he loved but wanted not to hear,’ her grandmother’s floors ‘scrubbed white as a bone’ – as a continued ‘source of inspiration’ in her work. ‘I'm after the meaningful ordinary,’ Espaillat explained. ‘I'm after the ordinary that everyone else can understand and that can serve as a bridge between my life and everybody else's.’
For those of us with strong familial ties to the immigrant experience, the paradox of the ‘meaningful ordinary’ – work, family, community – often simultaneously inflected with hope and grief, finds expression through the embrace of public forms of Americanness. In Espaillat’s case, poetic form also provides a public architecture for constant translations of the interior life, her bridge between ‘my life and everybody else’s.’ The most pronounced of these translations are linguistic. As with Ricardo Maldonado’s recent collection, The Life Assignment, Espaillat’s work foregrounds its bilingual consciousness as what her ‘father meant by it, the complete mastery of two languages, with no need to supplement either one.’ But simultaneous translations also occur in Espaillat’s poems between the ‘comfort’ of believing, ‘as the Romantics seemed to, that shared settings and common possessions are somehow sympathetic’ and a lyrical acknowledgement of ‘internal solitude, a human absence, that only sentient beings can understand or allay.’
Wordsworth’s poetic ‘spot of time,’ so resonant in Espaillat’s work, becomes ‘political’ insofar as it gives public form to the conditions of experience in memory and desire. What, in the end, could we say about poetic form that we could not equally say about an immigrant’s America, our common political form? Poetry’s the ‘language of paradox,’ Cleanth Brooks claimed. And for at least one of Espaillat’s Romantics, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, this is because poetry ‘reveals itself in the balance or reconcilement of opposite discordant qualities: of sameness, with difference; of the general, with the concrete.’ To choose a common form is to choose constraint, but also the possibilities of constraint that are at once fraternal and personal. Edmund Burke, for example, embraced the politics of his own era as a ‘vast variety of difficult connections’ precisely because he was also the lyricist who viewed poetry as ‘The Mirror’ through which he saw, reflected, ‘a strange-looking person that cannot be me.’
This does not mean that, as Percy Bysshe Shelley claimed, ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.’ As a poet who works in the public sector, I’m always circumspect of grand claims of this nature. ‘In truth,’ Yeats confessed, ‘we have no gift to set a statesman right.’ Wilfred Owen, for example, wrote famous indictments of the Great War but viewed his own subordinates as ‘expressionless lumps.’ Perhaps he had little ear for the ‘meaningful ordinary.’ As recent events remind us, it can be hard to hear the quotidian amidst chaos, and ‘artists,’ JFK reminds us, cannot be expected to be ‘engineers of the soul.’
(Original Caption) 1/20/1961-Washington, DC- Poet Robert Frost (left) reads one of his poems during ... [+] the inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol today. Bettmann Archive
The American tradition of naming an inaugural poet is, instead, about naming the preconditions for spiritual ‘bridging’ – ‘engineering’ work in Espaillat’s sense – to occur. In an interview this week, she reflected on recent events at the Capitol by noting that George Washington ‘did not try to do what a great deal of dictatorial leaders do,’ but instead established an ‘earth-shaking’ precedent of submitting to republican forms, and ‘nobody has the right to break that tradition.’
Robert Frost, Kennedy’s selection, was a kind of traditionalist, too, one ‘often skeptical about projects for human improvement.’ So was Seamus Heaney, whose verse adaptation of Sophocles, The Cure at Troy, our current President-elect recited in his 2020 campaign ads. Against the backdrop of Northern Ireland’s conflict, Heaney asked us to consider a communal ‘spot of time,’ one in which ‘hope and history rhyme.’ Inauguration poems propose forms – poetic, political – for engaging the paradoxes of Heaney’s line over four years. Espaillat’s poems ask us to whom those forms will bridge.
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17c6277dcbc48c7fd342054438403684 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattspoke/2019/10/15/andrew-yangs-america-should-be-built-on-the-blockchain/ | Andrew Yang’s America Should Be Built On The Blockchain | Andrew Yang’s America Should Be Built On The Blockchain
Democratic presidential candidate, entrepreneur Andrew Yang could be the first American President to ... [+] propose policies that legitimize the use of blockchains to solve some of the country's most pressing issues. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Getty Images
I’m generally a pretty level-headed person. I don’t get star struck, and I don’t fawn over celebrities. But last month, when I ran into Andrew Yang in a Manhattan restaurant, I felt like a kid meeting Iron Man at Disney World.
Being a Canadian, I’ve always taken a somewhat passive interest in following the reality show-like entertainment that passes for the US elections recently. But this time around, I find myself captivated by this candidate who by all accounts should not be standing on the same stage as career politicians.
Andrew Yang has not only brought a different perspective into an age-old discussion, he’s also demonstrated an understanding and appreciation of things that are new, and technologies that could fundamentally change our lives. Putting AI and robots aside for a minute, try having a conversation about Bitcoin, Libra, Aion or Ethereum with 76 year old Joe Biden or 78 year old Bernie Sanders - “…kids these days, and the things they’ll dream up on the interweb…” I’m paraphrasing of course.
You don’t have to be a partisan Democrat to be inspired by Yang’s candidacy. I certainly am not one – in fact I have historically supported fiscal policies that are more conservative than what is currently being debated in the Democratic primary. What excites me most about Yang’s platform is the obvious relevance to how the blockchain could be used to roll out some of his key ideas.
Consider Yang’s proposed Freedom Dividend – the $1,000 per month payment to every adult American. Whatever you think of the policy, the payments themselves could be implemented using what the blockchain industry has come to know as airdrops. Imagine a system that not only automates distributions, but also places rules and considerations on how these payments should be calculated and ultimately used by the recipients –not to mention the ease with which we could automate the compliance and tax implications of these payments.
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Yang has also proposed “Democracy Dollars” – a program that would provide $100 to every voting-age American to contribute to a campaign or campaigns of their choice, at any level of government. The program’s goal is to reduce the influence of large donors and corporations on campaigns. You probably see where I am going with this… once again, the most efficient way to execute such a program would be a blockchain, where the form of contribution could be rules-based and programmatically enforced and verified.
Perhaps most interesting among Yang’s policy ideas is the still undefined concept of “data as property rights”. This is a timely and important concept in an era of near constant data breaches, and with an entire industry built on the backs of our personal data. But it’s still unclear how such a policy could ever be feasible. At the end of the day, your data will always exist on a company’s servers, and remain vulnerable to what that company allows to happen to it… or, not? Associating age-old property rights to modern data requires a new type of data infrastructure – unowned and unmanipulated by centralized entities, including the government. Such a system should be built on the blockchain; permitting individuals to demonstrate ownership of their data, manage how and when it’s used, and where relevant, monetize it.
Beyond his current platform, as the digital asset economy continues to grow in relative size to the American and global economy, it’s encouraging to imagine a President who could think constructively about how to best manage this change and prepare the economy for this inevitability.
Whoever the next US President is, they will need to fundamentally understand the issues facing our technology sector, and how these impact society more broadly. For some candidates, the simple yet ill-informed answer will be to go down the path of additional regulation, or even going as far as Elizabeth Warren in proposing the break-up of the country’s biggest tech companies. These policies are just knee-jerk reactions to a much more complicated challenge. To prepare the country for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, we need to look to technological solutions of the 21st century. Anything short of this will simply be a country taking its first steps towards a slow decline in global economic leadership.
I wish I could say with confidence that, short of American leadership, Canada could be counted on to step up and demonstrate an openness to this new data revolution we’re preparing to enter, but I’m not so naive. So my best bet is to turn my optimism to our BBQ-eating neighbors. But I suspect that will only be the case under a newly elected President Yang.
Hopefully next time I meet him, I’ll be able to call him that.
Andrew Yang saying hi to a couple of blockchain entrepreneurs in Manhattan. Yours truly (Photo by Matthew Spoke)
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4460759e0defecdb58a25f31326e53d5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattspoke/2020/01/21/history-repeats-itself-for-gig-economy-workersand-not-in-a-good-way/ | History Repeats Itself For Gig Economy Workers - And Not In A Good Way | History Repeats Itself For Gig Economy Workers - And Not In A Good Way
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 8: A small group of independent drivers and supporters protest against Uber and ... [+] other app-based ride-hailing companies near the Wall Street Charging Bull, May 8, 2019 in New York City. The protests in more than a dozen cities come ahead of Uber's anticipated Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) which could put the ride-hailing firm's calculation as high as $91.5 billion. Drivers are seeking higher wages and better rights as employees. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Getty Images
A century ago, worker protests were common: coal miners, railway men, and garment factory seamstresses fought for standardized hours, fair pay and better working conditions. The rise of labor unions and a decent social safety net lulled us into believing their issues were a thing of the past.
However, the 50-year detente in the mid-20th century between workers and business was actually an abnormality. Recent protests by Uber drivers, hotel workers and DoorDash couriers have been a clear reminder that the debate about who should enjoy the benefits of economic growth - workers, employers, customers or all three - is still very much with us.
I would argue that much like their early 1900s counterparts, workers today find themselves with greater economic and social instability - this time due to an economy shifting away from full-time employment to so-called gig employment.
Gig workers—contractors who rely on technology platforms for one-off tasks, such as driving, food delivery and odd jobs—are on the unfortunate downside of this shift. Here are the biggest ways:
The illusion of freedom
The main incentive used to lure workers to shared economy platforms is supposed freedom — workers are free to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Be your own boss! Make your own hours! No more commuting! No annoying coworkers!
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But for most gig workers, the “freedom” they are offered is really anything BUT freedom. You aren’t free if you have to be on-call all day in case a potential gig pops up. And because there is no guarantee of work, individuals often take on a task because there is a financial imperative to do so.
A certain level of predictability allows 9-5 employees to plan their work days and weeks around childcare, appointments and social activities. Being constantly at the ready does not create the basic level of stability gig workers need to be healthy and productive.
Brutally low wages
For many, gig work is low-paying work. Only a handful of people have been able to make a massive paycheck from gig work. A report from the U.S. Federal Reserve last year found that nearly 60 percent of workers who earned their primary source of income from gig work would not have the funds to cover a $400 emergency. That’s almost 25 percentage points higher than those who earn their income from a traditional job.
Just as problematic, the work is often not continuous, further depressing wages. Financial hardship is exacerbated since these jobs are often per task and not based on time.
In some cases, gig workers also have to pay twice as much in payroll deductions as part-timers, since their employer isn’t covering the other half. That means gig workers essentially have a 7.65 percent gig tax placed on them in the United States. Add to that no retirement savings contribution, no parental leave, no worker compensation protections … and you end up with a brutally low paycheck.
Unaffordable or no health care
A gig worker is on their own in every aspect. The biggest hurdle in the United States is finding affordable and high-quality healthcare on the open market, which remains a struggle despite Affordable Care Act reforms. Many plans have high premiums with even higher deductibles, rendering the insurance feeling useless when it is needed the most.
Deskilling of work
As more high-paying jobs in the 21st century require specialized skills, gig work exploits workers with little expertise. Cab drivers in London used to have to know its spaghetti-like streets forward and backward and prove their knowledge by taking a rigorous exam. Now, there’s an app for that - but one with a much less knowledgeable driver at the wheel.
How technology can start to solve these issues
To date, large platforms like Foodora, InstaCart and Lyft have used technology to further entrench their positions and hold gig workers captive. They’ve created apps that cement themselves as the main beneficiaries of economic growth, typically at the worker’s expense.
But new technologies are emerging that can put workers back in control - solutions where power and data are not centralized. More companies and people are exploring the potential of blockchain technology to create apps and services that are truly open and not subservient to the economic interests of platform companies. If technology was an accomplice in creating the problem, perhaps it can now solve it too.
There are several real-world use cases where this is already happening: the UN is using blockchain to help Mongolian goat farmers; it’s being used for land registry in India; and we’ve partnered with Velocia to deploy a blockchain-based solution that incentivizes taking public over private transit. It’s not such a stretch to imagine this technology being used to solve problems like the ones I’ve outlined above.
A report from MetLife Inc states that “almost 30 million Americans get their primary income from gig work, constituting nearly a fifth of the total workforce.” This number isn’t likely to decrease any time soon. The economy can and will keep growing, but large trends will force us to find a better answer to the question of how that growth should be split. If we don’t, we are in for a turbulent decade.
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45d9122edeb4d51127bcba7bc1b337ae | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2012/08/08/10-traits-of-women-business-leaders-its-not-what-you-think/ | 10 Traits of Women Business Leaders: They're Not What You Think | 10 Traits of Women Business Leaders: They're Not What You Think
(MBA50.com) This is a guest post by Elissa Sangster, Executive Director for the Forté Foundation, an organization that promotes women in business and cultivates the next generation of women business leaders by promoting and supporting MBA women. Over the years, Forté has profiled dozens of C-level executives at Fortune 500 companies, and offers careers advice from women business leaders.
Successful women business leaders have often figured out how to make the puzzle pieces of life fit... [+] together, such as Yahoo's Marissa Mayer (Photo credit: Adam Tinworth)
What do successful women have in common? You think I’m going to tell you that they have magical multi-tasking skills, motivational genius, or maybe just a really great spouse. But the number one thing that successful women business leaders have in common is that they don’t let the persistent underrepresentation of women in business deter them from taking a place at the table.
Today, women occupy just 4% of CEO spots at Fortune 500 companies, and fewer than one in five corporate board seats is held by a woman. The pipeline is improving—in recent years, the percentage of MBA students who are female finally broke a third, and 2 schools – Harvard and Wharton - are close to achieving gender parity. But we still have a long way to go.
As the scientist and inventor Robert Jarvik once said, “Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them.” Our conversations with C-level executives at companies all over the world have suggested a few other traits that distinguish today’s top women in business:
1. Know thyself. Trite? Maybe. True? Always. From finding the right initial career opportunity to identifying ways to continuously improve your performance, women leaders tell us that insight and self-knowledge are key. Not sure how to cultivate self-awareness? A Cosmo quiz or today’s horoscope won’t get you where you want to go; find a mentor, and learn to ask for and accept honest feedback.
2. Don’t be afraid to take a career off-ramp, but know where the on-ramp is, too. Successful women business leaders have often figured out how to make the puzzle pieces of life fit together. Childbearing and child rearing affect women more than men and the reality is that becoming a parent can interrupt a career. But today, when we have the first pregnant CEO of a Fortune 500 company to look up to (Marissa Mayer at Yahoo!), working moms (and dads!) no longer have to pretend that work is their only priority in life. Find out in advance what your employer is willing to do to make it work for you, and know how to get off, and back on, the career superhighway.
3. Get help. It’s not fashionable to admit it, but getting the help you need, whether that’s a full-time nanny or just someone to clean your apartment can save your sanity (“We don’t judge; we just clean” advertises one firm on thumbtack.com, a local service provider site that can be a career girl’s best friend). One senior executive in the financial sector recently admitted to us that for years, she didn’t net a penny from her full-time job because all her earnings went to childcare—but she estimated that, over the course of a 30-year career, those zero-sum years have paid off exponentially by keeping her career on track.
4. Culture trumps strategy. Again and again, we hear from top executives that building a successful career depends on finding the right fit, and that means finding a culture that works for you. The job title, job description, and even the salary can take a back seat to the kind of opportunity that unfolds when you join an organization that matches your values and your passions. Go with your gut.
5. Don’t wait to be tapped on the shoulder. This is your career we’re talking about, not a junior high school dance. Research shows over and over again that, too often, women wait to be recognized rather than being proactive in seeking out recognition for their accomplishments. Successful women in business find appropriate ways to summarize their achievements and take credit for their performance.
6. Build a network, just don’t call it that. All of the senior leaders we talk to emphasize this point: your network is everything, in terms of long-term career development. The term “networking” smacks of good ol’ boys and smoky backrooms, but as diversity in business improves, “networking” is no longer a dirty word. It just means building relationships with colleagues with whom you have something in common—giving, as well as asking for, input and advice from a community of colleagues you cultivate over time.
7. Learn to negotiate. Susan Fleming Cabrera, a friend of Forté and researcher at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell, has found that women simply do not negotiate as often or as effectively as men, due to a complex mix of socialization, stereotypes, and bias. Top women business leaders know better than to leave something on the table. They also know that negotiation skills show up in your paycheck: Cabrera cites research demonstrating that only 7% of MBA women asked for more money during salary negotiations, while 57% of men asked the same. The result of that disparity? Starting salaries of the male MBA grads were 7.6% higher.
8. Don’t plan ahead. Successful executives advise over and over that the best career moves they ever made were the ones they could never have foreseen. What does that mean? Stay nimble, have flexible expectations, and don’t try to map your life decades in advance only to find that you’ve foreclosed opportunity.
9. Get an MBA. Many successful executives say that the MBA was a game changer for them. They gained skills and a network that put them on an entirely different track. As one recent MBA put it “In just 2 years, I got the credentials, confidence and respect that I might have never received just staying in my job. Now, with my MBA, I’m off to the races.”
10. Here’s a bonus: Men might take note, not one single tip gleaned from top women in business above applies exclusively to women. What’s good for the bottle is good for the can. In other words, when the workplace is truly free of the gender stereotypes that negatively impact career satisfaction, then we will truly have evolved in the direction of equality.
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If you are interested in getting an MBA, you can attend a Forté Forum in your city. These events, held across the country from August 20 - September 6 provide an intimate and informal opportunity to connect with admissions representatives from top North American and EU business schools, get terrific advice, and ask all your questions about the MBA admissions process.
For more details, click here.
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1c9f31edca661bb08e83439c05bfe0e4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2012/11/29/the-best-business-schools-of-2012-the-ranking-of-mba-rankings/ | The Best Business Schools of 2012 - The Ranking of MBA Rankings | The Best Business Schools of 2012 - The Ranking of MBA Rankings
MBA rankings are an integral part of the business school world, and like them or loathe them, the chances are you’ll take a look at them. Staff, students and alumni will be assessing the impact of their school's standing in the global market, while potential applicants may over rely on these league tables to determine their shortlist of target schools.
The full-time MBA ranking published last month by BusinessWeek brings the 2012 season of media rankings of business schools to a close, and the results were met with the usual mix of joy, despair and skepticism by the business school community.
So what happens when you take all the MBA rankings collectively? Fortuna Admissions has compiled the results of the big five MBA rankings of the last 12 months – a sort of Ranking of the MBA Rankings. A snapshot of the results appears at the end of this article.
What is striking in the 2012 results is the consistent strong performance of Harvard Business School, Chicago Booth, Stanford GSB and The Wharton School among the leading US business schools. With only a couple of exceptions, these four schools fill the first four places in every ranking.
But how much should we read into the results from Forbes, BusinessWeek and the other major rankings produced by the Financial Times, The Economist, and U.S. News? As the business education editor at The Economist admits, comparing “a one-year Danish program with a cohort of 50 students with a two-year American one with 1,000 is tricky. Some would say futile.”
Each ranking uses a different methodology and weights the use of different data to produce their league tables, so it is important for candidates to understand what is being measured. In overly simple terms:
Forbes – does a simple calculation of ROI 5 years out from business school.
Financial Times – bases 40% of the ranking on post-MBA salaries 3 years after graduation.
BusinessWeek – emphasises the satisfaction levels of two core stakeholders: students and recruiters.
U.S. News & World – includes a survey of deans and MBA directors, and uses GMAT scores as part of student selectivity.
The Economist – assesses the ability of the MBA to open new career opportunities, as well as the international make-up of the school.
For Peter Todd, dean at McGill University’s Desautels, the school's decision to participate in all the major rankings gives applicants a broader international perspective across an aggregate of results. “For us this is not a game where we are asking ourselves where we will do best. There is some diagnostic value for ourselves, but we also ensure that we don't fixate on what any one particular ranking is asking for. We do what we think is right, and focus on giving the students the best learning experience – the rankings will then take care of themselves.”
Critics of the MBA rankings, and there are many of them, point out that they typically only measure what is easy to count – things like post-MBA salaries, GMAT scores and the percentage of international students and faculty. The over-reliance on self-reported data is also called into question, and the absence of any meaningful indicators for teaching quality, personal development, or the impact of the alumni network.
But where can you do your best work? That is the question Bob Bruner, dean of the Darden School asks of students and applicants. “A life decision such as accepting a job offer or admission to an MBA program shouldn’t hinge just on the obvious criteria - dollars, title, location, etc.,” Bruner insists. “You must focus importantly on the work you want to do and how this choice can help you do it.“
Rankings at least have the merit of providing potential applicants with certain data that would otherwise be unavailable. Given, though, that the methodology of each ranking is subjective in its choice of criteria, and that the difference between a school ranked 25th or 35th is probably not that great, the results should never be the most influential factor when identifying the right school for you.
For HEC Paris Associate Dean, Bernard Garrette, the reality is that very little separates the top business schools as measured by the data used for the rankings. But he points out that there is a tremendous difference in terms of the student experience that rankings simply cannot capture. "A world class MBA should be a transformational experience, so it is far more important to choose a program that corresponds to the personality and objectives of the individual. Nothing will replace interacting with the school and its students and alumni to determine whether the MBA offers the right fit."
The message is that there is no ‘best’ business school in the world… but there could be a ‘best’ business school for you.
How do the world’s top business schools perform when you combine the results of the five major rankings?
The Ranking of MBA Rankings 2012 compiled by Fortuna Admissions separates schools into into four regions (U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia-Pacific) to account for the fact that only the FT and The Economist make direct comparisons. Overall performance is calculated by looking at the ranking position within each region, and taking an average of those results based on the number of rankings in which the schools appear.
In the case of the FT and Economist rankings, if a U.S. business school ranked #16 in the overall FT ranking and #20 in the overall Economist ranking, but among U.S. business schools was #9 in the FT and #13 in The Economist, then the relative U.S. regional figure was used for the calculation.
See the next page for a snapshot of the 2012 results...
Also on Forbes:
Applying to Harvard Business School has never been easier
Leadership Lessons From the Harvard of Europe
What Harvard, Haas and Other Top Schools Want to Learn About You
Best U.S. Business Schools 2011
10 Tips For Acing the MBA Interview
Ranking of MBA Rankings 2012 - US Business schools
(*Ranking figure above is relative to other U.S. b-schools) - Click here for the full US Business School results
Ranking of MBA Rankings 2012 - European Business schools
(*Ranking figure above is relative to other European b-schools) - Click here for the full European Business School results
Ranking of MBA Rankings 2012 - Canadian Business schools
(*Ranking figure above is relative to other Canadian b-schools) - Click here for the full Canadian Business School results
Author note: the original table showed positions for Univ of Toronto - Rotman and Univ of Ontario - Ivey in The Economist 2012 when in fact neither school participated in this ranking. The table has been updated to reflect this error.
Ranking of MBA Rankings 2012 - Asia Pacific Business schools
(*Ranking figure above is relative to other Canadian b-schools) - Click here for the full Asia Pacific Business School results
Candidates should remember that this is not scientific approach, and there is no attempt to weight any one ranking greater than the others. Each ranking uses a different methodology and measures different things with the inherent limitations of each assessment, so doing particularly well in one ranking and less well in another is reflected in the overall average score.
The rankings all measure different things – but what measures of a business school matter to you?
More on Forbes:
Leadership Lessons From the Harvard of Europe
Why We Need to Reinvent Management
The MBA Admissions Process Should Be About Self Discovery and Development
Business schools breaking out of the 'West is Best' mindset
10 Tips For Acing the MBA Interview
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67ed9a41f0a6e1d230293a0b6e37f3a5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2014/03/14/5-social-media-tips-to-protect-your-future-from-your-online-past/ | 5 Social Media Tips To Protect Your Future From Your Online Past | 5 Social Media Tips To Protect Your Future From Your Online Past
(FortunaAdmissions) Do you have photos on your Facebook profile of you in a drunken state? Or are you tagged in a photo taken a friend’s stag night where the pole dancing was clearly taking place somewhere other than Warsaw? Perhaps after a frustrating day at work you once took to Twitter to lash out at your boss. Maybe your Linkedin profile is so empty that you actually look to be linked out?
Whether you are applying to business school or applying for a job, it might be time to review your online presence and clean up any embarrassing albums and outbursts, and demonstrate your level of professional engagement. Poor judgement online can even affect you keeping your job - just ask New York PR executive Justine Sacco about the damage you can inflict on your career by tweeting.
Poles dancing - MBA applicants and job seekers need to review their online presence and clean up... [+] their professional image
The growing trend for recruiters to scrutinize the social media profiles of prospective employees has also been adopted by business schools. After speaking with various MBA admissions directors, they admit that although most schools do not have an official online screening policy and process in place, certain information they find about you on the internet can influence a school’s decision on your acceptance. So if you are applying for an MBA, or a new job, it is probably a good time to consider your online brand.
Social media continues to blur the lines between our personal and professional lives, and your activities online say a lot about our identity. Consequently, business schools and employers are interested to know if the profile you present in your application and resume is consistent with your identity in the market, at your workplace, and on social media. Your online footprint should be generally consistent with how you see your personal brand.
So here are 5 social media tips to consider before clicking ‘submit’ on your MBA application:
#1: Do a personal online audit. Scour the net with your name, starting with a Google , Yahoo and Bing search. If there are any mentions of you on the first few pages that might negatively impact your application, then it is time to remove or edit any inappropriate content. The person who was offered a job at Cisco and tweeted "Now I have to weight the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work" presumably forgot that Cisco is, well, quite engaged in the internet.
#2: If in doubt, delete. Review your history of posts, comments, and old photos on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or any similar sites to see if you have anything viewable to the public that might reflect badly. Posts of a sexual nature, drug references, profanity, etc – may not go over well with an MBA admissions committee. While Facebook pages and Twitter profiles littered with spelling and grammar mistakes hardly inspires confidence about you as the great communicator.
Caroline Diarte Edwards, former admissions director at INSEAD explains, “Business schools are not going to screen out candidates for their political views (unless particularly extreme eg racist), for loving a good party, or for expressing the occasional gripe. On the other hand, admissions committees might raise an eyebrow if, for example, you have frequently expressed job frustration or if there is anything that suggests unprincipled behavior, such as making public fun of a colleague, or gloating about having hoodwinked a client.”
As a colleague at Fortuna Admissions, where we consult with clients on MBA applications, Caroline remembers a client who was out of work and had written on her blog about how she felt like a no-hoper. "Of course everyone can have moments of feeling down, but you do not want such statements to be viewed by the admissions office. So we advised her to delete that particular blog post.”
# 3: Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and that you have joined the groups of the business schools you are applying to. You can take a step further and join the groups that are driving the debate in fields that you claim to be passionate about, such as impact investing, renewable energy or social enterprise. Schools also expect you to be a good networker, and having a well-developed LinkedIn profile can help to convey this image to an admissions committee. And don't forget an appropriate photo – the school can already start to picture you in their own yearbook.
Another Fortuna colleague and former Director of Admissions at Wharton, Judith Silverman Hodara recalls “When I was on the admissions committee at Wharton, it always surprised my team when MBA candidates sent us a polished resume, and then when we looked at their LinkedIn profiles they were…threadbare. Make sure your profiles are up-to-date as this is an ideal shop window to share your experience, skills, and knowledge. Your LinkedIn page should be professional, informative, and active, so use it!
#4: Start cultivating a more professional side on Facebook, Twitter, and similar platforms. Engage with your target schools (and alumni) by ‘following’ and ‘re-tweeting’ their twitter feeds and blogs, and 'liking' their Facebook pages. This will help you keep up-to-date and connected with the latest school news and will help deepen your knowledge of the institution. To advance your personal brand, you could even post intelligent, well-argued, and interactive comments to profile your thought leadership and get you noticed by the admissions committee. And if you get to the interview stage, your previous interaction may provide some good talking points.
#5: Consider changing your privacy settings. If in doubt, it may be worth changing your social media settings so that only a select group can see your past and future updates. Social media updates are often spontaneous, unfiltered statements and communicate how you feel at a particular moment in time. They are often used to let off steam. However, when they are left as a permanent record and are publicly available, remember that they become part of your personal branding. So if you are in the habit of making such spontaneous updates, it is recommended that you change your settings so that they are not available to someone outside of your immediate network.
At the end of the day there is no need to become paranoid and imagine that admission officers are going to spend hours checking out your blog archives and Facebook photos posted in 2008. They have a heavy workload, and in the majority of cases any online audit will most likely be quite brief. But you should err on the side of caution, and everything you put up on a social media site should be an accurate reflection of who you are as well as how you want to communicate your personal brand to the outside world.
And of course once you start business school, you will soon be thinking about summer internships and post-MBA employment plans. So you should continue to maintain a 'clean' social presence for future employers.
Don't let yourself be judged by your past when you are working so hard to build your future.
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55b7a764150f831ad3055db6d2b44ecf | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2014/05/20/the-rise-and-rise-of-the-masters-in-management/ | The Rise And Rise Of The Masters In Management | The Rise And Rise Of The Masters In Management
They say you can tell you’re getting old when the police start looking younger. But perhaps it is still best to stick with cops as your measure. If you use business school students, you might end up thinking it’s high time for retirement.
At b-school campuses around the world the average age is dropping. And it’s the increasingly popular Master in Management (MiM) program and other specialized master's in business that are responsible. According to the 2013 GMAC Applications Trends Survey on interest in business education, while just over half of all test takers in Europe still go on to apply for an MBA, application volume for European MiM programmes has increased 73% for the 2013-14 class. The fact that these alternative business programmes tend to ask for less – in some instances, no – work experience means that they are attracting younger potential students than traditional MBAs. More than half of all GMAT test takers in Europe are now aged under 25.
Money may, of course, play at least some part in this. Many of the new batch of MiM programs, for example, cost no more than a third of the price of a top flight MBA. And the shaky job market of recent years has made the prospect of staying in full-time education for as long as possible an attractive, perhaps for some the only, option for graduates of first degrees.
Several top US schools - Northwestern Kellogg, Michigan Ross, Babson College - are getting in on the act, and Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business was earlier this year considering to launch an MiM for undergrads with little or no work experience, though this project is currently on hold. But the US is playing catch up in a market dominated by European business schools.
Among the market leaders is the CEMS Alliance, arguably the most ambitious partnership in business education. Established in December 1988 by four leading European schools (ESADE, HEC Paris, Università Bocconi and the University of Cologne) the CEMS Alliance designed the first truly European business education through one single Master’s in International Management degree. At a time when the modern European Union did not yet exist, the Berlin Wall still stood, and the majority of business was conducted at a local, not international level, the pioneer program allowed students to travel between member schools and countries for their studies, equipping them with the necessary skills to succeed in the international markets of the future.
It's a formula that is clearly working. Since its launch 25 years ago, CEMS now embraces 29 institutions from nearly as many countries, and this year's MiM includes 1,053 students from 67 countries, making it bigger than the MBA programs at the likes of Harvard Business School and INSEAD. Over 60 Corporate Partners that include McKinsey, P&G, L'Oréal and Google are beating down the doors to recruit younger managerial talent.
In this interview, CEMS Executive Director Roland Siegers looks at the trends that are driving the popularity of the MiM, both with bachelor's graduates who are keen to differentiate themselves, and with recruiters who want to hire young managers with greater maturity and a global mindset.
He also talks about the challenge of bringing together 29 universities to deliver one degree and one curriculum in international management. He likens CEMS to a bumble bee: "the laws of aviation tell you this thing should not fly, but it actually does, so something must be wrong about the assumption." The MIM has consistently ranked in the top 10 of the Financial Times for the past 8 years, so something must be working.
For more from this interview, and a discussion of what companies are looking for in today's MiM graduates, click here.
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81ee6ef6dd99ba11a5b20707c385f478 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2014/09/17/the-2014-international-student-guide-great-places-to-study-business-abroad/?sh=2ec6fabb51bc | Great Places To Study Business Abroad: An International Student Guide | Great Places To Study Business Abroad: An International Student Guide
What are the three key things you think someone coming to study in your home country should know... [+] before they arrive? Getty
Twenty years ago, studying business abroad was only for the adventurous or the downright quirky. Today, it’s increasingly commonplace. Why? Because employers of all sizes are now searching for – and fighting over - the truly international employee: the one who really understands how business is done in key markets around the globe.
Those who study abroad while they’re young have international experience before they’ve even reached the workplace. Already ahead of their peers, they’ll be multilingual and have an increased understanding of different cultures.
But what is it actually like to study abroad and what is the right location – or locations – for you? How is student life in Ireland different to student life in India, for example? What does a MacBook Pro cost in Australia compared to Austria? How much will a cappuccino set you back in Budapest compared to Beijing?
In an effort to access their invaluable advice and experiences, we surveyed students from 29 leading business schools and universities around the world who are part of CEMS, the Global Alliance in Management Education. As part of their Master’s in International Management, the students are required to spend at least one term at a partner school in another country.
For every location, we asked local students: What are the three key things you think someone coming to study in your home country should know before they arrive?
And we asked visiting students: What are the three key things you wish you had known before you began studying at a school outside your home country?
So before you get those visa applications sent off, find the study destination that suits you. Our country by country guide begins here...
Australia (Sydney)
Despite not being the capital of Australia, Sydney is the country’s most populous city – and arguably Australia’s most famous (sorry Melbourne). From the iconic Opera House overlooking the world’s largest natural harbour, through to its string of scenic beaches, this coastal metropolis is a student’s paradise. As well as taking advantage of the city’s laid back beach lifestyle, international students also benefit from Sydney’s cosmopolitan culture and liberal attitude toward life. Australia ranks as one of the best places to live in the world by all indices of income, human development, healthcare and civil rights, has the world’s 12th largest economy and is fifth globally in terms of income per capita. And where once, the country could be accused of being a little detached from the rest of the world, as a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum, Australia is now increasingly influential within the world’s most dynamic and exciting region.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$2,026 / $1,447
Cappuccino: US$3.35
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,144
Climate The average temperature for the year in Sydney is 64.0°F (17.8°C). The warmest month, on average, is February with an average temperature of 73.0°F (22.8°C). The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of 53.0°F (11.7°C).
Advice from local CEMS students from the University of Sydney Business School
Madeleine Brown
Australians love the concept of 'mateship' that basically means friendship. It is common to see groups of friends regularly sharing their leisure activities, for example drinking beer, playing sports, having BBQs, going on day trips etc.
Stick to a pre-planned budget. Food, drinks and rent are expensive compared to the rest of the world, so you’ll benefit from budgeting. Visiting Chinatown (close to campus) will give you some cheap grocery market options.
Make friends with locals who have cars or use ‘carshare’. The public transport system is limited and unreliable so you will definitely need a car to really explore the whole city and surrounding areas.
Sport is a massive part of Australian culture. Whether it is playing competitively, recreationally, or just watching it on TV.I would recommend joining in the fitness culture by joining a team or two, or even just attending games or matches as a supporter.
Edward Dostine
Extracurricular sports, political, academic and cultural clubs are a great way to get to know local Australian students, and in doing so get to know more about Australian culture. Students can go sailing, skiing, surfing, play football, learn to scuba dive or even be in a student play all at a discounted price and all through local clubs - an opportunity not to be missed!
You CAN live on the beach! You can enjoy summer by choosing to live in the Eastern suburb beaches like Bronte, Tamma and Bondi. Although the locals complain about our public transport it is reliable and makes for a short 40min commute from the beach to the uni. If you have come to USYD for the lifestyle as well as the academia, this is a real option to consider.
Travel around Australia. Plan it beforehand with other classmates and work around your semester timetable. The east coast is the common route from Sydney to Byron Bay until Cairns and the Great Barrier, however in between there are pristine beaches just 2 hours north or south from the city. Get in a hire car or make friends with the locals and make the most of our coastline. It would be rude not to.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the University of Sydney Business School
Susanna Garancini
You have to try surfing at least once. It's amazing, but also really tough! Students often organize a 3-day Surf Camp close to Sydney where you can learn the basic rules of this amazing sport (and hopefully stand up!) and enjoy a truly Australian experience with your classmates!
Watch out for the winter weather. Despite what you might think, winter in Sydney is really not that warm, so pack accordingly.
Local cuisine doesn't mean Oz cuisine. Apart from the famous "salty pie", Australian food does not really exist! In the city, you will find just Asian or European cuisine restaurants.
Austria (Vienna)
With a rich cultural heritage that includes the works of Mozart and Schubert, spectacular mountain scenery and the lingering legacy of Sigmund Freud, you could be forgiven in thinking that Austria contributes more to international tourism than it does to international business. Though the tourist industry does make up a large chunk of the country’s GDP (9% to be exact), Austria’s geographic location at the heart of Europe and along the Danube trade routes has helped develop a strong industrial export sector, emphasising it’s strategic importance in Europe. The capital city Vienna is home to a number of international organisations such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The country’s high standard of living has helped draw in many settlers from overseas. According to Eurostat, over 15% of Austria’s population is made up of foreign-born residents – the majority of whom were born outside of the EU.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$872 / $652
Cappuccino: US$3.73
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,337
Climate The average temperature for the year in Vienna is 52.5°F (11.4°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 71.1°F (21.7°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 34.2°F (1.2°C).
Advice from local CEMS students from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
Alex Wallner
Austrian’s are more friendly and helpful then they might seem at first sight so don’t hesitate to ask for help or information. Moreover, Austrians are NOT German; we are Austrians - somewhere between Germans and Italians. Moreover, Vienna is one of very few capital cities that produces its own wine. It is a pure “dancing city” with more than 200 balls hosted every year.
Enjoy Vienna's rich cultural and recreational offer (e.g. Donauinsel) There is also a growing party and club scene. Also the famous Donaufestival is one of Europe’s biggest open air music festival hosted each June with free entrance.
Bettina Andrea Schauperl
Vienna is big on tradition - be it music, art or opening hours. While residing in the city with the highest quality of living in the world, you will have a variety of cultural offerings at your fingertips. However, this also means that certain traditions and practices have not changed here: Shops are closed on Sundays. Smoking in bars is still possible. And Viennese waiters are still as grumpy as ever.
Do not make the mistake of confusing Austrians with Germans, learn the difference between a Seidel and Krügerl of beer, and don’t miss out on a typical Viennese ball while attending university here.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
Joske de Ligt
Look forward to living in the city with the world's best quality of living (Mercer 2014). You cannot turn a corner without being taken aback by yet another architectural masterpiece. So visit a lot of pretty buildings (do not forget Schloss Schonbrunn, which is not quite in the center), go to the opera, and make city trips to the equally stunning cities nearby: Budapest, Prague and Bratislava.
Discover the traditional Austrian dish called Kaiserschmarren. These are basically fluffy cut-up pancakes with delicious toppings, served in ridiculous quantities. If you pick your restaurant well, you will get them served the traditional way: still in the pan. Wherever you go though, you will get Austrian hospitality.
Asha Vyas
Vienna is like the New York of Central Europe. There is always something to do for all ages, many great restaurants and cafes, lively nightlife, and many interesting people from Austria and abroad. As a result, Vienna is one of the cities where I can say that I would permanently relocate to after finishing CEMS.
Mark Appleby
Speaking German is not essential in Vienna as most of the locals speak very good English, but it is always appreciated if they see you making an effort and I have found it has made it easier for me to settle in because I can speak the language. Overall, it has been a very easy adjustment moving to Vienna.
Vienna is an ideal city to study in. The pace of life is quite relaxed for a capital city, there are plenty of cultural things to do, there are lots of parks and green spaces, and it is relatively affordable. Vienna is also reasonably compact and the public transport is one of the best that I have experienced which makes it a very easy city to get around!
Belgium (Louvain)
A nation famed around the world for praline chocolate and artisan beer, Belgium has been on the global stage for much more than delighting taste buds. Home to the headquarters of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the country has three official languages – Dutch, French and German – and has been leading sectors for generations. Belgium published the world’s first printed newspaper, it’s one of the rare countries with compulsory education up to 18 years old (which is the highest in the world), and has been working on closing the gender gap. In fact, Belgium has the highest proportion of female ministers in the world. In 2000, this stood at 55%. Prior to this, in 1921, Belgium became one of the earliest countries to have a female parliamentarian. Still forging new ground, the city of Louvain-la-Neuve itself is newly born with a large number of students studying in the area.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$877 / $791
Cappuccino: US$3.17
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,373
Climate The average temperature for the year in Louvain is 50.0°F (10°C). The warmest month, on average, is August with an average temperature of 64.0°F (17.8°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 36.0°F (2.2°C).
Advice from local CEMS students from the Louvain School of Management
Tristan Delannoy
Plan ahead for finding accommodation. If you want to live in a ‘kot’ (shared student flat), you have to take care of it a few months before the beginning of the semester. The competition to get one is quite strong.
Don’t be scared by the French/Dutch language conflict. Belgian people are open-minded and have a pretty good level of English, which will make your stay easier.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the Louvain School of Management
Anne Margrethe Vik
Take advantage of every opportunity to travel during the weekends. Belgium has some really nice cities like Ghent, Brugge, Antwerp and Mechelen, and is well situated for travelling in Europe.
Belgian students can be very untidy and noisy. At the same time they seem very easy going and social, but for some international students this might be a cultural shock. For example, I think I would have a problem living in a house that is constantly disorganised and loud.
Asha Vyas
Teaching methods can be very different, so be prepared and work hard. Louvain uses a traditional method of teaching where the professor gives a formal lecture and the students are required to take notes and review them for a final exam which normally carries a significant weight in the final grade. I had become quite accustomed to the case method at Ivey, including contribution as well as case exams. As a result, it was initially difficult to switch to this method. So double the effort that you normally would to complete work, and find a learning style that suits you.
Brazil (São Paulo)
The world’s fifth-most-populous country and its seventh-largest economy is in the global spotlight as the host of both the World Cup and the Olympics. But while year after year Brazil charms domestic and international crowds with the Rio Carnival - considered the world’s biggest street party - rival Sao Paolo is geared up for business, as home to the second largest stock exchange in the world and much of Brazil’s banking and finance industry. The city’s motto ‘’Non ducor, duco’’ translates as "I am not led, I lead’’ and the city is colloquially known as ‘Cidade da Caroa’ (city of drizzle). Despair not however, as the weather pales in comparison next to Sao Paolo’s excellent food, internationally renowned architecture, and cosmopolitan population.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$789 / $570
Cappuccino: US$2.06
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$2,156
Climate The average temperature for the year in São Paulo is 69.0°F (20.6°C). The warmest month, on average, is February with an average temperature of 75.0°F (23.9°C). The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of 63.0°F (17.2°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at EAESP-FGV
Flavio Soriano
Any compliments you make about Brazil will delight Brazilians (the more original the better) and make you instantly loved. Brazilians tend to have very low self-esteem about their country, especially because they are constantly comparing it with Europe and the US.
Brazilians touch each other a lot when socialising. Greetings often involve hugs, and girls always kiss on the cheek instead of shaking hands. Get used to it.
Learn basic Portuguese before arriving. Good English speakers are as rare as snow in Brazil, especially in the services sector that you need the most to survive.
Before booking any trips, get a seasoned Brazilian traveller to comment on your plans. It can save you money and help avoiding basic mistakes.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the EAESP-FGV
Brent Johns
Get ready for a culture shock in the big city. The small, rural town in South Western Ontario that I grew up in could not be more different than living in the heart of a metropolitan city with a population of 20 million people. Individuals that choose to study at FGV should be aware that the school is smack dab in the middle of Sao Paulo, the economic heart of Brazil. The hustle and bustle of city life is evident and individuals should expect a Latin American urban environment. Personally, I love big cities. I love the thousands of activities that are presented every night in Sao Paulo. I love witnessing the extensive contrasts a city of this magnitude offers. And I love hearing the differences in people’s stories as they go about their day-to-day activities that ultimately contribute to this massive metropolitan. That being said, the beach is only an hour away by bus and offers a great get away from this rollercoaster of a city.
Don't expect your dollars to go far in Brazil. Many individuals see the developing world as a place where developed currencies will reach far and provide an exclusive, five-star lifestyle. The fact is Sao Paulo is expensive. Perhaps, I was relying on my previous expatriate experiences too heavily but I thought my Canadian savings would go much further here in Sao Paulo. With high import tax on many goods, a huge geographic landscape to travel, and relatively expensive rental prices, it is vital that students budget accordingly when choosing to come live, study, and travel in Brazil.
Be prepared for bureaucracy and slow processes. Generally, Brazilian people are laid-back, easy-going, and extremely hospitable people. From the moment you arrive in Brazil you will be greeted with friendly smiles and a general curiosity of why you have chosen to come to Brazil. Brazilians will be the first to point out that ‘getting things done’ takes a little longer here in Brazil and that is a fact. Whether it is waiting in line at a super market, processing paperwork for a visa, or having to wait 20 minutes for a meeting to start because of ‘traffic’, living in Brazil will teach you that patients really is a virtue.
Edward Dostine
Don't rely on others speaking English. To get the most out of the semester here do yourself a favour and learn some Brazilian Portuguese before you come. Be aware, the language test for Portuguese is Portuguese from Portugal which is a completely different dialect of Portuguese found in Brazil, this was/ still is very frustrating for me.
Learn to appreciate that this is not your country and things happen differently here. Brazil isn’t efficient. Since my arrival here all I have done is lost time. Nothing here happens fast, if at all. This is understandable when you consider the sheer mass of people that live here (Sao Paulo has the population of all Australia). You will have many T.I.B. (This Is Brazil) moments when simple problems are over complicated by bureaucracy and a lack of common sense.
Travel! Get buses everywhere, the beach is close, the workload relaxed, go see this amazing country.
Rasmus Bonde Greis
Be prepared for a loud and tactile nation. People here are anything other than quiet. The first days at campus you will think, “Why does this building have such bad acoustics?” But after visiting other places you realize that people do not talk, they shout. And it’s not just the talking that’s loud, in Brazil cars horns are used as frequently as the breaks. Personal space seems non-existent, and it is common to touch another person during a conversation. Kissing on the cheek is a must. The latter is easy to get used to. This also makes the Brazilian people very open, so it is easy to make friends in Brazil.
Acai & juice but no sugar! When it comes to food Brazil will treat you like a king, as long you appreciate quality meat and fresh fruit. Do not miss Açaí na tigela, which is a mashed frozen Amazonian fruit which gives you magic power – or almost – it tastes great with banana, strawberries or mango on top. Another must is to try the large varieties of fresh juices that every little street cafe offers, but if you want to taste the real fruit and avoid diabetes, then always remember to order it without sugar (Sem açúcar).
Canada (London)
According to a 2012 NBC report, Canada is the most educated country in the world. Though images of ice hockey and craft beer may come to mind, the country is one of the world’s top trading nations – punching well above its population size in economic terms. With abundant natural resources and well-developed trade networks, its economy is one of the largest on Earth. In fact, 2011 saw Canada ranked first by Forbes for business investment. Named after the English capital, London in Ontario, Canada, is home to 45,000 full-time post-secondary students from all over the world. It’s a city alive with activity – festivals, orchestras, galleries – with an economy bolstered by medical research, insurance, manufacturing, and information technology.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$887 / $784
Cappuccino: US$2.83
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$915
Climate The average temperature for the year in London is 44.0°F (6.7°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 68.0°F (20°C). The coolest month on average is February, with an average temperature of 18.0°F (-7.8°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at the Ivey Business School
Asha Vyas
Our winters are just as cold as everyone thinks! For example, this past winter saw temperatures going down to -40°F or slightly lower. This means that it is important to bring appropriate clothing from home, or to buy some when you arrive here. It is understandable that winter clothing can be expensive, especially for one semester, however, there are multiple platforms like Kijiji, eBay, Facebook Marketplace etc. where you can sell your clothing at the end of the semester. It will be worth it!
Do not be afraid to ask for help. In some countries, the prevailing culture can prevent a foreigner from asking a local for help because they may not seem open to tourists, or to interrupt their schedule for even a minute. However, in Toronto, many people have a more relaxed attitude towards tourists, and would be happy to help or to give tips about a particular area. In London, especially in the campus area that is primarily students, locals will have no problems taking a few minutes to steer you in the right direction or to chat about your home country. We love meeting new people!
Give yourself plenty of time when trying to travel around. Neither London nor Toronto have the sophisticated transit systems that many European or Asian cities have. They are not very extensive and many times stop running around midnight. As a result, you should give yourself an extra half an hour when trying to reach your destination. There are also many more service disruptions than you maybe be used to, so once again, be prepared to leave a 30-minute buffer.
Brent Johns
Adapting to the case study method. Regardless of past experiences solving real life business problems in the interactive case methodology setting, students should be willing to adapt their learning styles in order to participate in this challenging but fun learning experience. I, for one, had no experience in the case learning methodology before beginning my semester at Ivey but the benefits and exciting challenges of this learning methodology became evident quickly. As the business case methodology relies heavily on learning from your peers in your class, the CEMS environment adds an exciting twist and allows individuals to understand and analyze how business problems are perceived and solved across international mindsets.
Sina Vaziri
The rules of social engagement. Canadians are very social and outgoing and can be considered more direct compared to many other cultures in the world. So get ready to go out and meet a lot of interesting people, whether it is at a local bar in London or a sports game on a weekend trip to Toronto.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the Ivey Business School
Laoise Kiely
Find out about the career management office. You can work with them on your CV and interview skills, as well as be informed about recruiting events at Ivey.
Preparing for the wintery spring. Before going to Canada I was unsure as to how cold it would really be, but even though we experienced the coldest winter (-40!) the cold was very manageable. It does not get in the way of socializing as long as you have a warm coat and boots. Be prepared to wear these things as a uniform for your whole semester if you come in ‘spring term’ (should be called winter term). I was lucky that I lived near a direct bus to Ivey, I think this is very important for exchange students to consider if they are coming for the spring term.
Cosima Bader
Dress code is different. In a Swiss business school, I was used to dressing up for class, and dressing down for going to a student bar. In Canada, it’s the reverse: Sweatpants, Yoga Pants and even Pyjamas are acceptable and common attires for university, whereas attending the local bar specializing in 1-dollar beers from cheap plastic cups seems to require Canadian girls to wear full hair and make-up in the fashion of an MTV reality show, stiletto heels, and miniskirts without tights and no jackets even in snow covered streets of -15°C. Gentlemen on the other hand only need a lumberjack shirt and a baseball cap in order to be considered fashionably dressed for their evening out.
Domestic travel costs can be high. Unlike the US, it is very expensive to travel inside Canada (by either bus, rail or plane) - it is cheaper to fly to Cuba on an all-inclusive trip than to take a domestic flight from Toronto to Vancouver. Also, Greyhounds are always late.
Chile (Santiago)
Chile is one of South America's most stable and prosperous nations. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s the country had the fastest-growing economy in Latin America thanks, in part, to the rising price of copper. The Chuquicamata and Escondida copper mines are the world’s largest, and have done much to swell Chilean state coffers. Today, Chile is considered by the World Bank to be a 'high-income economy'. The privatisation of industries and increasing levels of agricultural exports have done much to further boost the economy. Chile is highly urbanized, with 40% of the population living in the Santiago area. The capital is the cultural, political and financial centre of Chile and generates 45% of the country's GDP. Those wanting to get to grips with Chile’s cultural side can take a trip to Easter Island, located off Chile’s West coast and home to a thousand giant figures, known as Moai, carved in stone.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$414 / $420
Cappuccino: US$2.36
MacBook Pro 13” Retina approx US$1,795
Climate The average temperature for the year in Santiago is 58.0°F (14.4°C). The warmest month, on average, is January with an average temperature of 70.0°F (21.1°C). The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of 47.0°F (8.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Universidad Adolfo Ibànez
Dominique Lacassie Viancos
The university is surrounded by the Andes Mountains, and is a beautiful setting to learn the culture of the most developed South American Spanish speaking country. Our country is commonly referred to as the “end of the world”, and I think that helps characterize our way of life.Chile has a vast amount of natural resources, specifically copper, which is essential for the growth and sustainability for the country. The copper helps stimulate our economy and provides employment for citizens through out the country.
We have avocados, commonly known as “palta” which can be found on many different entrees. Every Chilean knows that palta goes with anything at anytime! For example, it is common to have bread with palta for breakfast, Japanese sushi wrapped in palta, or Mexican tacos filled with palta. Just when you think you have had enough palta, why not have a palta salad for dinner or an Italian sandwich with palta, mayonnaise and tomato. This is a common mixture of condiments because of the correlation to the flag colors. Chileans love palta so much, that last year the overall export of the product decreased because of the amount eaten within the country.
Finally, it is important to know that “down here” the earth does move as a result of earthquakes, however, it is not as detrimental as it appears on the news. Since we have always been a seismic country, we have learned about the impacts of earthquakes and developed really well anti seismic construction mechanism. The tallest building in South America, which is 300 meters is in Chile and has withstood and overcome many earthquakes. So there is nothing to be afraid of.
Santiago Streeter
The idiosyncrasy of the Chilean people cannot be understood without taking into account its recent past. Its characteristic features of generosity, determination and attachment to the family, as nucleus of society, have been strengthened after the political divisions that deeply fractured the Chilean society in the seventies and which resulted in a 17-year-long interruption of the democratic order. The Chileans reconstructed their national identity, overcoming the painful realities through forgiveness. Today Chile is the world’s example of a successful democratic transition.
Its geography: The profusion of poets and writers can only be understood against the background of 4,000 km of varying sceneries (deserts, glaciers, etc.). In spite of the drastic differences in terms of landscape and climate from one place to another, there are no marked regionalisms and hardly any differences as to language and accent.
Specific social characteristics: Chile is the country where commitment and intention are usually distinguished by intricate codes difficult to understand for a foreigner. A “see you later” does not necessarily mean that we will meet in a day or at a specific time. To arrive exactly on time at a social act may be inconvenient. What may be considered by some as thoughtlessness could also be seen as a quality. Relativisation of certain every-day actions is what has allowed the Chileans to overcome recurrent natural disasters and various other vicissitudes, in good humor and with a good deal of "magic realism".
China (Beijing)
Beijing has been at the heart of the most exciting economic growth story of the last thirty years. With a population of over 21 million, the city is the nation's political, cultural and educational center. It is home to a booming local middle class and is fast becoming a magnet for ambitious and entrepreneurial individuals from all over the globe. The country is one of the world's top exporters and continues to attract record amounts of foreign investment. In turn, China is investing billions of dollars abroad and is broader in its international outlook now than at any point in the country’s long history. In addition to all this, China, and Beijing in particular, is also a cultural heavyweight – and students in the city can explore Tiananmen square, take a trip to see the Great Wall of China and visit the Temple of Heaven – seat to the ruling Ming and Qing dynasties from the 14th century through to the start of the 2oth.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$904 / $527
Cappuccino: US$4.48
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,056
Climate The average temperature for the year in Beijing is 55.0°F (12.8°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 79.0°F (26.1°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 26.0°F (-3.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management
Eve Bian
Chinese Food: to feel it. To feel China is the first step. Chinese food is one of the most representative things to get an initial experience of China. It will benefit a lot to have a visual impression of China by food. The variety of food will attract you to want to feel more. You can choose what you like, make a list and then have a try in China when you come here. You will have no regrets.
Chinese People Character: to know it. To know Chinese people is the core content. Chinese people have strong characters based on the country's long history and fast modern life. As China is playing a more and more important role in the globalization process, to know them can help a lot. Some books, movies and pre-talking before you come here are all good for understanding Chinese.
Chinese opportunities: to win it. To win in China is the target. According to some exchange students, I know that they want to get internships in China or even get full-time jobs in the Asia region. In my opinion, if they can prepare more knowledge about the hot industries in China, the global companies’ branches in China and the international institutions in China, they will have more chance to win in Asian region as they want.
Language and teaching: to go out. To go out of the origin is the first step. Although we have internationalized teaching methods in Tsinghua University, China, it is still necessary for us to know the different language situation and teaching style. To get knowledge from language and course study is our foundation to go out and to give more service to the world.
Social style: to go into. To go into the local circle is the main content. I really want to understand the different social methods and style in different countries. People say that it is rather difficult to go into the local circle. However, I think, to go into the local life and to understand different culture are one of the most valuable parts of the CEMS experience.
Business Value: to go up. To go up to achieve business life is the long-term goal. There is no doubt that we can go up to the international stage based on understanding of international business value. It may include what is preferred and how to achieve it. I attempt to prepare more about this field to narrow value gap in a business working environment and try my best to go up to the new stage.
Harry Yu
How to make close friends with Chinese: As the old saying goes, do as the Romans do. “On my treat” rather than “go dutch” is the Chinese social philosophy, reflecting a reciprocal principle. If someone really wants to make friends with you after your treat, he would certainly return the hospitality in future.
Master the Chinese student’s working style: If you cannot put yourself in their position, you will never understand Chinese student’s working styles, and can easily being excluded from their “emotional group”, resulting in the inability to make good friends. Instead of enjoying evenings in pub, they prefer studying in a library or classroom, and usually leave their entertainment to the weekends. So focus on work during workdays, and leisure time during the weekends is best.
Sunny Yang
Coming to study in China means deepening your understanding of China, Chinese culture and Chinese people, which is a big plus for those who want to become the world's next generation of leaders. Tsinghua SEM combines China’s roots with global reach, and works to contribute to the development of China’s economy and society as well as to making an impact on the world.
Experience China's unique blend of ancient and modern civilization, as well as its scenic beauty and bustling nightlife. Everyday day will be refreshing and fulfilling.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management
Madeleine Brown
The campus is full of extremely cheap and convenient canteens. Try them all! Keep in mind that they are extremely strict with their meal times though and you need to get in on time otherwise everything closes. For example, dinner starts at 5pm and ends at 7pm in many cases. You need to use your pre-paid dining card to pay.
Be assertive with questions and follow up with teachers again and again. Many of the teachers also can’t answer you directly and tend to pass off the question to another staff member who is more ‘senior’. Also you will not find out any marks or grades until at least three months after the semester ends.
There is a huge population so there are crowds everywhere. Don’t be offended if you get pushed or squashed, as they don’t have the luxury of personal space. Many of my friends agreed that you need to be extremely open minded in China and adopt a ‘couldn’t care less’ approach otherwise you will be angry and offended all the time. It’s an amazing place though! Just expect the unexpected.
Tristan Delannoy
Few Chinese people speak another language (including English), so it would be useful to learn some basics of Chinese before spending five months in China, especially in Beijing.
Almost every payment is made by cash. For example, you cannot do a bank transfer to pay your rent. Thus, you will probably only use your bank card to withdraw cash. Be very careful with the transaction fees.
Czech Republic (Prague)
After emerging from over 40 years of Communist rule in 1990, the Czech Republic was the first former Eastern Bloc state to acquire the status of a developed economy. It’s a country with a proud and robust democratic tradition, a highly-developed economy, and a rich cultural heritage. At its cultural heart lies the picture perfect capital city of Prague. Around one-fifth of all investment in the Czech Republic takes place here in the city that has long been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe – and is now ranked one of the best destinations to visit in the world by Tripadvisor. Perhaps the draw is some the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, or the world-class museums, or maybe the hundreds of concert halls, galleries, cinemas and music clubs in the city. A city that accounts for 25% of the Czech Republic's GDP – making it the highest performing regional economy of the entire country. Today, somewhat unsurprisingly, the number of foreign residents calling Prague their home is ever-increasing.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$603 / $419
Cappuccino: US$1.90
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,320
Climate The average temperature for the year in Prague is 47.0°F (8.3°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 63.0°F (17.2°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 29.0°F (-1.7°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at the University of Economics, Prague
Dominika Wachtlová
Never use public transport without a ticket- the chances of you getting caught are very high and so is the fee. Also, always mind your valuables in public transport, bars, clubs and crowded places. Petty theft is rather common but can be avoided if you take precautions.
The dorms are a bit shabby but affordable. most students prefer to stay there because it is super cheap and it gives people many wonderful chances to make friends for life.
Denmark (Copenhagen)
Vikings raiding from Denmark changed the course of European history in the 9th century – and Denmark continues to make an impact. The country is one of the most competitive economies in the world, according to the World Economic Forum, and it is also rated to be one of the happiest on the globe. The country’s wealth supports an extensive welfare system, a generous social security system as well as high employment. Originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen is the capital, and the most populous city in Denmark. It is a true city of education with students making up nearly 10% percent of its 1.2 million residents. If you are concerned about making your way through the city, you’ll be pleased to find out that Copenhagen has also been rated as one of the world's top cities for cyclists. Copenhageners cycle a total of 1.2 km every day along 340 km of cycle lanes.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,421 / $985
Cappuccino: US$5.78
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,389
Climate The average temperature for the year in Copenhagen is 47.0°F (8.3°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 62.0°F (16.7°C). The coolest month on average is February, with an average temperature of 32.0°F (0°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at the Copenhagen Business School
Rasmus Bonde Greis
Danes love their bikes, and there are more bikes than inhabitants in Copenhagen. Even though the winter is cold and snowy 50% of the inhabitants commute on their bike daily. So get a bike as the first thing when you are doing your semester in Copenhagen. The facilities are excellent and safe and it is often the fastest way to get from A to B, along with the efficiency then you get free exercise daily. However, it is important to follow the rules, do not turn right when the light is red, it can easily cost you 100 euros, and do keep right so people can pass you. Tip: Several places sell used bikes, so you do not have to use all your savings the first week, you will need those for later.
Denmark is expensive. Many tourists and expats will notice this, as one of the first things: the cost of living in Copenhagen is high. Restaurant prices for a three-course-dinner at a midrange restaurant will easily cost you 100-120 USD, a metro ticket 5$, a pint at a pub 10$, a McDonalds combo meal 12$ and a liter of milk 1,1$. This means that you should either bring a good amount of savings to Denmark, or find a way to live cheap. Thankfully are there plenty of ways to cut costs, here are few tips: Remember to return bottles and beer cans, you get between 20 and 50 US cents per unit. Shop in discount stores like Netto, Fakta, Aldi, Lidl and Rema. Do not pay with international credit cards, many store charge large fees. Finally explore the many free possibilities that Copenhagen offers. NB: Denmark does not use Euro, but Danish Krone. 1 Euro = 7,45 Kroner.
Studying at CBS is theoretical. The workload depends from one course to another, but majority of the syllabus contains a large number of scientific papers. Another thing to keep in mind it that the exam form varies a lot between courses, however many courses have one 100% exam at the end of the semester or quarter. Almost all exams are computer based, meaning that they either are taking place in the computer lab or as a take home case. NB: It is common to blank exams at CBS, meaning that students do not get punished for failing, but get the chance to attend the retake a month or two later.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the Copenhagen Business School
Bettina Andrea Schauperl
Don't be afraid to question things. I wish I had known right away how much Danes value critical thinking. I learned not to be afraid of questioning all kinds of matters in class, and this attitude made for engaging and interesting discussions at university.
If you want to go some place in Copenhagen, you take your bike, irrespective of weather conditions like snow, hail or wind storms. Simply bring a rain jacket, and you will learn to embrace the brilliance and beauty of bicycling.
Expect to feel like the worst dressed person in the place. That’s okay though, Danish people are simply born with a better fashion style.
Finland (Helsinki)
One of the most innovative cities on Earth, according to Business Insider, Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. Before the days of hi-tech, the coastal city was largely Finland's sole point of contact with the rest of the world – a country that now has one of the best-qualified workforces on the globe thanks to huge spending on education, training and research. This has been key to the development of a modern, competitive economy that has built on its traditional timber and metals industries. Today, Finland has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, according to the IMF, and boasts a high standard of living and quality of life. A country of beauty, Finland is blessed with lakes, forests, the Northern Lights and, not surprisingly, its capital is now famed as a preeminent centre for international diplomacy.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,190 / $935
Cappuccino: US$4.22
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,399
Climate The average temperature for the year in Helsinki is 41.0°F (5°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 62.0°F (16.7°C). The coolest month on average is February, with an average temperature of 21.0°F (-6.1°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at the Aalto University School of Business
Patrik Akrenius and Sara Montonen
Finland is a country of contrasts: four distinct seasons, midnight sun, polar nights, high technology and vast nature. Since 86% of the country is covered with forests, the population density is very low. However, the population is very clustered and in fact a fifth of the population lives in the Greater Helsinki area.
Finland has two official languages: Finnish and Swedish. This is reflected in everything from road names to food product labels. Being a small country, Finns in general speak foreign languages well. Moreover, all Master’s level courses are in English, so incoming students will not have difficulties because of the language. Student life in Aalto is very active. The Business School’s student union (KY) is huge; it has 5 committees, 3 subcommittees, 10 subject clubs and many, many non-academia related clubs. The clubs’ themes range from long-distance running and coffee to consulting and sailing. KY plays a big role in student life in Aalto.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the Aalto University School of Business
Pascal Egloff
Explore the city on foot or by bike. This is definitely the best way to fall in love with this Nordic environment, so, if possible try to organise a bike (even in winter) to get around.
Look for more affordable options in town. Even though the prices are known to be quite high there are some cheaper alternatives if one explores the areas around the centre.
Not all Finns are so introvert as their image might seem. After one or two drinks, they are very chatty and good fun.
France (Paris)
As one of the most visited cities on earth, The City of Lights conjures up images of romance, fine food, and a sparkling Eiffel Tower. But beyond the well-beaten tourist path, Paris welcomes huge numbers of international students every year. In addition to perfecting their language skills, or courses in fashion, art and history, many students also come to study business in Europe’s second largest economy. And for good reason. Despite images of leisurely lunches and a 35-hour week, France is the most innovative country in Europe, according to Thompson Reuters. With 39 of the 500 biggest companies in the world in 2010, France ranks fourth in the Fortuna Global 500, ahead of Germany and the UK. The country holds more patents than almost any other European country, and is the home to world beaters in industry, aerospace, banking, insurance, design and the luxury sector. The La Défense Business District to the west of the city is the largest in Europe, and is home to no fewer than 1,500 corporate head offices.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,417 / $1,064
Cappuccino: US$4.46
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,337
Climate The average temperature for the year in Paris is 54.3°F (12.4°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 68.9°F (20.5°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 41.0°F (5°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at HEC Paris
Anthony Solaire
Be patient with the French administration. You will certainly realize at your own expense how slow bureaucracy can get in France. Upon arrival you might have to fill in dozens of documents for your bank account, your insurance, your housing, and so on. Some of these procedures will go through public administration, and you might feel confused at how long the simplest task can take. We French people have learnt the hard way to live with this, and usually joke about it. Thankfully your host university will guide you through these steps and provide you with the necessary support to help you settle down in France. Also do not hesitate to ask for help from local people: we know how frustrating all this can get.
Learn basic French. One would think that the most visited country in the world would have developed strong language skills over the years. All wrong. Even in Paris. Most of the people you will meet in the streets will have a limited knowledge of foreign languages, and you might have a hard time trying to make yourself understood. Whether it is the result of a strong national pride or just laziness is a question still to be answered. However if you at least try to speak French, people will gladly help you, answer your questions, and might even give you some tips to progress in French.
Do not get lost in the French clichés. Paris is a postcard at every corner. It is easy for a foreigner to limit his or her French experience to a to do list of monuments and museums to visit. The only thing you will get in return is a lot of wonderful screen savers for your computer. For sure, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles are all great places to learn about French culture. But the real French experience is all about wandering along the sides of the Seine, eating a picnic or taking a nap in a public park, drinking a coffee at a terrace with your friends... Do not rush to tick all the boxes, and do not force the charm of the country: French people take their time to enjoy life.
Mathilde Louis
Be aware of local differences in education. If you come to study in France, just be aware of the French “prépa” system that is different from the usual Bachelor-Master system. Students work very hard during two years (prépa) to enter a business school. As a consequence, they are more result-oriented, straight-to-the-point and relaxed afterwards. Just keep it in mind for your group works!
Be prepared for a very practical teaching style. As opposed to other European schools that put a lot of emphasis on theory, HEC Paris aims at making its students ready to work in a company. As a consequence, we are very close to the corporate world, which is really enjoyable, especially when undertaking business projects.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to HEC Paris
Jungae Hosoya, Japan
You should have a little understanding of French language. Even though all the classes are taught in English, some signs at the school are in French, and the local people don’t speak English at all. I can understand some French, so I was OK, but it is best to be prepared for this beforehand.
Be aware of opening hours for restaurants and stores. The opening hours of the canteen and restaurants are limited, so it is easy to miss meals. Eating properly is essential for good quality work, so for me it was important to know when and where I could eat during the day.
Be ready for last minute changes. It is not uncommon in France to notify class time changes only the day before. For some students it is hard to cope with a sudden change. Visiting students should bear this in mind, and be prepared to alter their plans.
Inês Jesus, Portugal
Paris really is a cultural centre. It may not sound surprising, but there is an immensity of activities, shows, museums and events, which makes it impossible to discover it all in one semester – you will feel the need to come back. Every time you take the train to the city centre you can be sure you will discover something new about the city.
Campus life is incredible. I don’t have this back at home. But the feeling of having your classrooms 5 minutes away, the restaurant always full of people you know, and your friends just one door or one building away is amazing! Because you are always together on campus, you learn how to create your own social life, you discover new ways of having fun, and most of all you genuinely connect with people around you. Yes, you lose a bit of the cultural life of Paris but for me it was more than worth it.
Patrik Akrenius
Think about the local areas of excellence. While HEC is well known for its world class Finance programs, as a French school it is uniquely positioned for education in luxury marketing and is supported by partnerships with many of the top firms in the field. Most of the course content offered for CEMS exchange students is in English, while classes taught in French are also available.
Germany (Cologne)
Though known for a rich cultural and sporting history, Germany is responsible for far more than Beethoven, Bach and Brazilian footballing success. Ranked 5th in the Fortune Global 500, Germany is a major economic power, and is Europe's most industrialized and populous country, famed for its technological achievements as well as its contribution to the arts. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and third-largest importer of goods. The country is also known for its high standard of living, and with strong employment rates Germany is the second most popular migration destination in the world. Cologne is Germany’s fourth largest city and home to more than a million people. Founded in the first century AD, the city is steeped in history. The University of Cologne was founded in 1388, and is the largest university in Germany. Students can visit the Kölner Dom – Cologne’s famous cathedral or the city’s Roman archaeological sites, museums, and one of the largest street festivals in Europe.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$699 / $581
Cappuccino: US$2.92
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,338
Climate The average temperature for the year in Cologne is 50.0°F (10°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 64.0°F (17.8°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 36.0°F (2.2°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at University of Cologne
Julius Osthues
Plan where you want to stay before you arrive. There are basically two options: you can apply for a dorm or you can try to get an apartment yourself. Dorms are typically reasonable and affordable. In Germany as a student it is pretty common that you rent an apartment together with other students.
Cologne is a great place for students, no matter what your interests. If you want to take interesting courses, strive through museums, dine in nice restaurants, party hard or engage in sport activities. If you are interested in culture Cologne has a lot to offer.
Lisa Portmann
Student life in Cologne is vivid and fantastic. There is always something to do. People living here know how to enjoy life.
Thomas Elm
Prospective students should know that Germans value time and commitment. If you tell somebody to meet at 7pm, usually by 7:05pm everybody is there. Making Germans wait is usually not well considered.
All students coming to Germany should make an effort and visit the Oktoberfest. I don't know why the stereotype of unfunny Germans prevails, but Oktoberfest is one of those occasions where students can experience first-hand, that this is not true at all.
Students should not be worried about not being able to speak German. Almost all young people and a fair amount of older people speak English reasonably well enough to help or even have a decent conversation. In fact, it might be hard to learn German since everybody is nice enough to switch to English if a foreigner is present. Hence, language barriers are no reason not to come to Germany.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to University of Cologne
Soh, Kok Yip
In Germany everything closes on Sunday. We were lucky to be staying with a German landlady who told us what would happen the day before, but this would be a rude shock to anyone who didn’t know, especially if they flew in on a Sunday!
Navigating the administration. Anyone who moves houses in Germany has to register their new address with the authorities. Likewise, foreigners also have to register with the mayor’s office within a couple of weeks from their moving-in. The catch is that the staff at the office is only allowed to speak to you in German, due to legal representation issues. We had to trouble a German friend so that she could translate for us.
Madeleine Brown
Take a German friend or 'buddy' to help you with admin. The elder staff members on campus have difficulty with English so I would recommend taking a German friend or your ‘buddy’ to faculties to enrol if you don’t speak German. It took me 3 visits alone to attempt to enrol for a German class, but got straight in when I took my buddy.
Rely on your bike and public transport. Public transport is excellent and free in the whole region for the semester after you pay the initial student card payment (around 230 Euros). It is also a very ‘bike’ friendly city.
Benji Fok
Expect a reasonable cost of living in Germany. I don't want to do my exchange in London because living expenses in London are so high to afford. I like Germany because the infrastructure there is so good, and to live there is not too expensive.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading international financial centres. This city-state has developed rapidly with exceptionally high growth rates and swift industrialisation that means it now boasts exceptionally low unemployment rates, a huge population, low taxation and free trade. In fact, the Hong Kong dollar is one of the most traded currencies in the world. With one of the highest per capita incomes on the globe, those who live in Hong Kong enjoy a high quality of life and the longest life expectancy of any region. A metropolis of colossal modern skyscrapers and impressive lights that reflect in the water of the harbour, Hong Kong has been nicknamed the ‘Pearl of the Orient’. Indeed, it has more buildings higher than 500ft than any other city on Earth and is home to a vast percentage of millionaires – perhaps that’s why this mountainous urban area off of China’s south coast has more Rolls Royces per person than other city anywhere. But, most importantly, Hong Kong has the world’s fastest internet speed.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$2,348 / $1,451
Cappuccino: US$4.26
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$966
Climate The average temperature for the year in Hong Kong is 75.0°F (23.9°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 85.0°F (29.4°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 62.0°F (16.7°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at HKUST
Benji Fok
Be ready for the change in climate. Since its a subtropical climate, it can be super humid during spring term. Someone might feel sick about the rainy and foggy days here.
It wouldn’t hurt to learn some Cantonese before you arrive. Although HK had been a colony of UK for quiet long time, Cantonese is the dominant language here and many people can't speak English.
Cost of accommodation. the rooms here are so small and expensive compared with most countries, be prepared to pay.
Roger Wu
Relationship with the mainland. Hong Kong and Macau are not countries, and they are two Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China. Cantonese, spoken in Hong Kong, is very different from Mandarin Chinese (also known as Putong Hua), the official language in Mainland China. The two languages speakers can hardly understand each other verbally but reading and writing are not big issues since they share more or less the same format.
Hong Kong offers much more than Lan Kwai Fong, the hub of bars and clubs. Take some time to visit temples, islands, mountains, etc, and most nationals can even tour in Peal Delta area in Mainland China with a visa on arrival.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to HKUST
Sina Vaziri
Doing business in Asia. From an academic standpoint, HKUST places a strong focus on cultural differences between Asia and the west and provides a great perspective on “doing business in Asia.”
An incredible place to call home. The city offers something for everyone: between the breath-taking hikes which lead to serene beaches, dense metropolis of skyscrapers, a plethora of food and entertainment options, and numerous centres of art and culture, you will never be bored in Hong Kong.
Jungae Hosoya
Finding accommodation in Hong Kong is very difficult. The rent in Hong Kong is outrageous, so get started as soon as possible to find more affordable options.
Akshay Goel
You should understand the importance of saving face, guanxi and how the Chinese work in groups. You should also understand how indirect chinese people can be, wanting to save face even in front of strangers.
Hungary (Budapest)
Hungary is known for its well established private sector which accounts for 80% of the country’s GDP. It is also the land of thermal water, with more than 80 million litres rising to the surface every day. A particularly high number of thermal pools can be found in the country’s capital city, Budapest, under which lies the world's largest geothermic cave system. According to Forbes, this former centre of Renaissance humanism is "Europe's 7th most idyllic place to live" and it was ranked as the most liveable Central and Eastern European city by The Economist. Hosting the first subway line in continental Europe (Millenium Line) as well as the world’s second largest synagogue and the world’s biggest music festival, the city promises to please the eye of inhabitants and visitors alike. For those of you seeking inspiration, touching the pen held by the Statue of Anonymous is said to make you a better writer!
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$291 / $205
Cappuccino: US$1.53
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,353
Climate The average temperature for the year in Budapest is 51.0°F (10.6°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 69.0°F (20.6°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 31.0°F (-0.6°C).
Advice from local CEMS students from Corvinus University of Budapest
Carl Warkentin
Have a basic knowledge of the recent history of Hungary, because this topic will come up eventually. Even though I realized that the economy is still a developing one and politics are a difficult topic, I had no idea of the extent to which people have been influenced by their history. Even people in their early twenties. The way in which locals approach things in life, behave and think is very different from Western Europe. Do not make the mistake of thinking locals are not open minded or outgoing, or that they are pessimistic even. They simply look at life in a different, more reversed and modest way, which shows how much they are characterized by their difficult history.
Budapest is not representative to the whole of Hungary. It is an international, relatively rich city compared to smaller cities and the countryside. Both city and country are worth a visit.
Corvinus is in the middle of the city, beautifully located and consists of many impressive buildings. If you think about coming to Budapest to study, I can highly recommend it to you. For decent money you can have a good lifestyle in a beautiful, impulsive and international city. It is easy to find an apartment, local people are very friendly and helpful.
Balazs Hajnal
Don't worry about the challenge of the Hungarian language, considered to be among the hardest in the world. The majority of Budapest citizens have a good command of English. Hungarians care a lot about each other, especially about their friends which means that when they ask you “How are you?”, they really mean it. That is, they expect you to provide a detailed explanation to them regarding what has been happening with you.
Paprika plays a crucial role in the traditional Hungarian cuisine making the classic dishes such as goulash soup a bit spicy. Based on its rich cultural heritage Budapest has a lot to offer to its citizens including one of the best public transportation systems on earth.
Hungarians are crazy about water polo, our “national sport” which is almost as popular as football.
Higher education still focuses more on theoretical knowledge than practical knowledge, making Hungarian students more prepared on formal frameworks. Nevertheless, this approach seems to pay off on the long term as Hungarians have contributed a lot to the world’s scientific inventions including soda water, the ballpoint pen and the Ford Model T.
Nelli Gyöngyösi
You don’t have to rent a place in the center of Budapest in order to be close to important places, because you can easily reach any place in the city by public transport, even at night.
Look beyond events organised for exchange students. Budapest offers such a great variety of restaurants and bars, concerts and out of the box cultural programs to go to (eg. slam poetry events, late night classical concerts). Discovering the tastes of Hungary is also a must. Besides our traditional Hungarian dishes we have many wine regions of different characteristics. It’s really worth discovering all of them and you can easily do this in popular wine bars or you can join special wine trips organized in specific regions.
India (Kolkata)
Famed for spicy cuisine and bright Bollywood blockbusters, India has not only had a major cultural influence on the world, it has also broken new ground as the world’s largest democracy and a major power. With a fast-growing and powerful economy, the country has capitalized on its enormous educated English-speaking population to become a colossal exporter of information technology services, business outsourcing services, and software workers. In the east of the country, lies the bustling, busy metropolis of Kolkata – a city that lays claim to the country’s oldest operating port and a large working populace. With rickshaw rides and tiled temples, this is a city to ‘feel’. Perhaps this is why it was dubbed the "City of Furious, Creative Energy" back in the 70s. Today, the vibrant city is still regarded as the cultural capital of India. And with one of the fastest growing local economies in the country, Kolkata is now the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$162 / $81
Cappuccino: US$1.25
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,325
Climate The average temperature for the year in Calcutta is 80.1°F (26.7°C). The warmest month, on average, is May with an average temperature of 87.4°F (30.8°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 67.8°F (19.9°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at IIM Calcutta
Ankita Balyan
It would be helpful to read and understand the cultural sentiments of the people of India. For instance, understanding, appreciating and observing the code of conduct in places of religious significance and worship is vital while living in our country. It would also help to know about the country and its historical past, in order to add more context to their visit to India - especially while they are travelling inside the country.
India is very diverse, and although English is widely spoken, it would help students if they have basic knowledge of the national language i.e. Hindi.
Srinivas Vadrevu
Food and living can be a very different experience for visiting students. Unlike many European schools it’s mandatory to live on campus, and only Indian cuisine is served in the canteens.Visiting students should be mindful of the differences in culture and language both on and off campus. Every student on IIM Calcutta campus can communicate in English, which may not be the case if you step off campus.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to IIM Calcutta
Max Friberg
India is an adventure. The food is spicy, the social differences are huge and people are colourful and friendly. Stay open-minded and get ready for an experience that will change your life. There will be plenty of time for you to travel and discover the country.
The weather can be really tough. The fall semester begins during the monsoon, when it is hot and pouring rain. The weather gets increasingly dry and pleasant, but the start can be a shock! Still, you get to wear shorts and sunglasses for the majority of your stay.
Ireland (Dublin)
Dublin is renowned the world over for its welcoming people and their love of the ‘craic’. And with its iconic Temple Bar area offering the finest Gaelic food, drink and music to visitors from all over the world, the city does not disappoint for those in search of that famous Irish hospitality. However, Dublin is also the progressive heart of Ireland’s global economy, with economic activity in the city accounting for 47% of the national total. Dublin is also a global hub for the technology sector and a home to all of the world’s top ten ICT firms and nine out of the top ten global software companies - with around 150,000 employees in these sectors alone. And international students in the city certainly won’t feel isolated, with Dublin accounting for almost two thirds of the total of international students in Ireland.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,244 / $1,021
Cappuccino: US$3.67
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,398
Climate The average temperature for the year in Dublin is 49.6°F (9.8°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 60.1°F (15.6°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 41.5°F (5.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at UCD Smurfit
Laoise Kiely
Accommodation is very challenging to find in Dublin, and finding campus accommodation, in particular, is very competitive, so be prepared to search.
Make the most of opportunities to socialize and bond. While there is a heavy workload to deal with, it was always possible to fit in socializing. We all became close friends and are likely to stay in contact for years to come.
Mark Appleby
Embrace the friendliness of Dubliners and get involved in the social aspects as much as possible. It will certainly help you to settle into both the University and life in the city in general. Dublin is a very vibrant city so I would advise anyone try to make the most of it!
A word of caution with regards to accommodation. The rental market in Dublin is definitely not cheap and it can be difficult to find a place at short notice, so the best thing to do is arrive prepared - either with student accommodation organised, or else viewing appointments for rental accommodation. Preparation before you arrive is the key to a worry free stay!
Advice from visiting CEMS students to UCD Smurfit
Aleksey Konovalenkov
I wish I had known earlier that the Irish West coast is so different from the East coast. It is highly recommended to expand their travelling routes towards the Atlantic coast.
It is not easy or cheap to obtain travel insurance in Ireland, which is necessary to apply for other visas. In general, I think it would be reasonable to obtain visas to the other countries (The UK and Schengen) in advance so that travelling there was possible at all, as normally it is convenient to go to various European destinations from Dublin.
Kseniia Kotelnikova
Irish people are extremely friendly and helpful, probably the nicest nation I ever have experienced.
It is extremely hard to find accommodation in Dublin for one semester, so it is better to start looking as early as possible.
Italy (Milan)
Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world. Alongside its many contributions to the arts and architecture, the country has also been at the heart of western civilisation for hundreds of years. Rome has served as the capital of both the Roman Empire and of the Christian faith. Italy was also one of the six countries that signed the 1951 Paris Treaty which set Europe on the path to integration. Today, the country is perhaps best known for its contribution to high-end fashion and automobiles, and its agricultural sector (Italy is the world's largest producer of wine). Milan is Italy’s main industrial, commercial, and financial centre, and is home to the Borsa Italiana - Italy’s main stock exchange. Despite having the eurozone's third largest economy, Italy also has a huge public debt - second only to Greece's. However, the standard of living has remained extremely high.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,255 / $868
Cappuccino: US$1.77
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,398
Climate The average temperature for the year in Milan is 52.5°F (11.4°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 71.5°F (21.9°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 33.5°F (0.8°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Bocconi University
Susanna Garancini
For Italians, words are important...but body language even more so! Try to observe the gestures and movements of people while talking to get deeper insights on how they feel or what they are trying to say, and use this to help your own response.
Be ready for a tough workload. They will have a tough schedule every day and they will be required to read a lot of books, papers and articles to prepare the exams.
Winding down in the evening. From 6 pm, Italians celebrate the end of the day with the "aperitivo": you go to a bar, you pay only the drink, but you can eat as much as you want!
Andrea Bianchi
Things to know about Italians: Though serious and professional at university/work place, Italians love to enjoy life and socialize. By choosing Bocconi, you will not just experience a high quality education; you will also have the chance to meet great people, experience great wine, great food and great parties. Italian culture will welcome you. Do not stick to the superficial Hollywood stereotypes, try to understand and learn this unique way of living, socializing and communicating. You will love it.
Leoni: Do not pass between the two “lions” statues, located at the entrance of the Old building at Bocconi. It is said that if you pass between them, you will never graduate.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to Bocconi University
Carla Manent
Impact of learning the language. When you think about doing your exchange in a certain place often one of the most important issues that influence the decision is the language. Do you speak it? Do you want to learn it? Many people that went to Bocconi with me wanted to learn Italian but ended up going back to their home school not having practiced it much. However, if you’re really serious about learning the local language, my advice is to start learning it before you go there so you’ll have a base and you can already start speaking with the locals and practicing on your first day.
Do not book flights back home for the holidays since you’re going to want to travel around. Some people had already made plans for Easter break and for every long weekend or holiday but in my opinion you should try to save some time for travelling too. In every exchange destination there are amazing places that you’re going to want to see. Near Milan for example there are incredible places like Cinqueterre, Lake Como or the Dolomiti Mountains. As well as places a bit further away like Roma or Napoli that are still cheap to get to by train. So remember you’re not only there to study but also to learn about the country and the culture and try to save time and money for a few trips.
Japan (Tokyo)
Home of technology and robotics, Japan’s enormous industrial capacity has produced the world’s third largest economy. With a population of over 126 million, it’s a country that has some of the largest and most technologically advanced manufacturers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, ships, textiles, and processed foods. And its capital is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Tokyo hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city, and was named one of the most liveable cities by the magazine Monocle. It has the most Michelin stars of any city, the largest metropolitan economy, and a major international finance centre. Not only this, Tokyo continues to take pride in its excellent public transport systems, numerous universities, and various museums and theatres across the area. And if these facts still aren’t enough – Tokyo may be one of the busiest cities on Earth (Shinjuku Station is officially the busiest station on the planet, with more than 3.5 million passengers a day) but it is also one of the cleanest.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,172 / $655
Cappuccino: US$3.50
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$927
Climate The average temperature for the year in Tokyo is 61.3°F (16.3°C). The warmest month, on average, is August with an average temperature of 81.3°F (27.4°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 43.0°F (6.1°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Keio University
Keita Saito
Keep in mind language barriers: A highly homogenous country with one officially spoken language, students with little in the way of Japanese language skills may experience difficulties in communicating with people on a day-to-day basis. I would highly advise students to make an effort to learn some Japanese if they wish to make the most out of the social interactions and cultural experiences during their stay in Japan.
Always stay culturally sensitive: As Keio University is located at the heart of Tokyo, students will experience living in a unique Asian environment and in one of the world's largest metropolitan cities. For many students, Japanese culture will feel very different and perhaps uncomfortable due to distinct social norms and cultural values. I would advise students not to feel alienated by a seemingly complex and high context culture, but to embrace differences and try to immerse themselves in the local environment; engage in conversation with people at a local bar, participate in local sports events (baseball is especially popular at Keio University), and try to also travel outside of Tokyo.
Jungae Hosoya
Be prepared for the climate before you arrive! We have a month-long rainy season between June and July, so if you come to Japan during this period, you should really know this fact beforehand.
Having some knowledge of Japanese language helps a lot. The use of English signs may be increasing in main cities, but local restaurants and shops still only use Japanese. If you know some very basic Japanese words; such as greetings and how to ask for directions, this will be very useful you.
Netherlands (Rotterdam)
The Dutch are the tallest in the world, with an average height of 6 feet (1m84) for men and 5'5" (1m70) for women. Some believe its the combined result of DNA and dairy. Despite their height, the Dutch are still conscious of keeping their heads above water, and are the world experts on keeping backwater from the sea. In fact the US government turned to the Dutch for help during the hurricane Katrina disaster. Today, The Netherlands is the fifth-most competitive economy in the world according to the World Economic Forum and a tourist attraction for visitors across the globe. Rotterdam is the second largest city in country, and is the second largest port in the world with respect to size and tonnage. Named as the European Capital of Culture in 2001, and regarded as a cultural centre for the entire country, Rotterdam is home to a number of international and national events, festivals, concerts and carnivals. However, the city is also highly entrepreneurial with its ‘room for initiatives’ concept and its ‘down to work’ mentality making the city a stepping-stone for eager entrepreneurs.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$901 / $801
Cappuccino: US$2.91
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,374
Climate The average temperature for the year in Rotterdam is 50.0°F (10°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 63.0°F (17.2°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 38.0°F (3.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Rotterdam School of Management
Joske de Ligt
Rotterdam is a truly interesting and vibrant city. Give it a chance, and you will discover why Rough Guides has ranked it as one of the top cities to visit this year. As the city with the most nationalities in the Netherlands, Rotterdam is truly an international hub, which explains why so many MNEs have their offices located here.
The Dutch culture. The Dutch are amongst the most open, hardworking, and down-to-earth people to roam this planet - in a good way. You will notice this in every aspect of your life here; from the university that expects commitment to excellence, to the people who have already made it, but are still cycling to work (the prime-minister). What Dutch do not do though, is bragging, even when something is worth bragging about.
Our snack worth bragging about – the kroket. This deep fried meaty delicacy can be bought at any snack bar whenever you need instant happiness – day or night. Yes, you can “pull it out of the wall”! Ask a local and you will discover what I mean with that.
Norway (Bergen)
Europe's northernmost country conjures up images of Vikings and stunning fjords. While the Kingdom of Norway retains its captivating history and iconic beauty, it has become one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Not only boasting the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation, Norway also has the highest standard of living as well as low levels of unemployment. In the far west, the city of Bergen has been a commercial hotspot for centuries. The city centre is surrounded by the Seven Mountains, which has given the city its name (‘berg’ is an old Norse word for mountain), and has made the area an attractive destination for hikers, especially considering the nearby Norwegian fjords. With sandy beaches, many museums and attractive buildings that line the coast, Bergen is easy to get around on foot – good news seeing as it is Norway’s second largest city.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,462 / $1,218
Cappuccino: US$5.98
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,377
Climate The average temperature for the year in Bergen is 45.7°F (7.6°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 57.7°F (14.3°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 34.3°F (1.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Norwegian School of Economics
Anne Margrethe Vik
Norwegians are not always easy to get to know, and they come across as only being concerned with their own business. Most Norwegians do speak English well, but many feel uncomfortable when they have to practice it and try to avoid situations where it is necessary. Also, Norwegians are not super open to foreigners and can be a little bit skeptical of everything that is different from their own habits.
Clean water, fresh air, even though it can be cold. Oslo has the best climate, even though the rest of the country inhabitants will not really admit that. You can drink tap water everywhere, and it tastes really good. We have northern lights during winter, but to be sure to see them you should go to the north during winter. Around Bergen the nature is wonderful with its fjords and mountains. Norwegians love hiking, and you should know that it is perfectly fine to wear your sports gear or sports outfit in public, like when you are grocery shopping.
It is expensive. When eating out you really should check the alcohol prices before you order something, as they may be ridiculously high. If you are a tourist and visiting the small exotic places of Norway, the food and drink prices can be particularly scary.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to Norwegian School of Economics
Dominika Wachtlová
The nature is fantastic in Norway and it is worth it to go on trips to explore the surrounding area. Make sure you pack good walking shoes and a rain jacket though!
Be smart when shopping. For example I wish I had known there is one specific beer in Rema 1000 supermarket, which costs less than $1. Look for this ‘Holy Grail’ to save a ton of money.
Take every opportunity to socialise - great things might come out of things that do not sound too appealing to you.
Poland (Warsaw)
Poland is one of the great success stories of recent European history. Since joining the European Union in 2004, the country has benefitted greatly from increased trade with member nations and is one of the few countries within Europe that continued to grow economically through the recent global financial crisis. As a result, Poland is now amongst the wealthiest nations in central and eastern Europe and Warsaw, the country’s capital, has benefitted in turn. Students in the city can expect a dynamic and exciting metropolis – from the charm of the old town’s cobbled streets and stories of the city’s turbulent past, to the world class dining and bars found in the modern city centre. Warsaw’s economy is driven by a diverse range of industries including automotive manufacturing, electronic equipment and food processing and the city's central business district is home to the offices of many of the world’s leading international companies. Despite this, living costs are still low when compared to other major European cities.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$581 / $446
Cappuccino: US$2.54
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,361
Climate The average temperature for the year in Warsaw is 47.0°F (8.3°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 64.0°F (17.8°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 29.0°F (-1.7°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Warsaw School of Economics
Jakub Florkiewicz
Cut down on sleep to fit your agenda within 24 hours. Warsaw does rarely sleep and the Warsaw students do even rarelier. Apart from your studies, part-time job and sport activities you will inevitably immerse yourself in vivid night life. You can't really tell if it's Saturday or Monday evening on the city's main clubbing street. Take a deep dive into the world of student organizations and events.There are over hundred active student organizations at Warsaw School of Economics and every single day there is a major event taking place at the university's main hall. Do not miss the opportunity to get involved in the project that best fits your interest and might help you find the right career path. Being a foreigner is not an obstacle to get the things going. Discover the variety of landscapes of the country. For less than 30 euro you can travel with train, plain or bus to any place in the country and visit the natural wonders of Poland. From wide beaches and deep forests, to windy lakes and high mountains - choose what you are up for and invite your friends to travel with you. Karol Górnowicz Warsaw may not be the most beautiful city in terms of sightseeing, but it certainly has its unique soul you'll find particularly memorable. The capital of Poland experienced the worst atrocities of World War II and survived tough communist rule. Ninety percent of the city premises were in total ruin and despite the overwhelming poverty it was rebuilt to continue serving as Poland's capital and the largest city. While walking in the city centre, you'll see a characteristic mix of pre-war and Soviet architecture. And while this is nothing to brag about, you'll soon understand blood, sweat and tears put into rebuilding Polish culture. Take a walk down Nowy Swiat Street and swing by Powisle and Praga to enjoy truly outstanding cultural setting of this city and feel the alternative vibe of the Slavic soul. Warsaw is a great place to dine and wine properly and in a very budget-friendly way. There are so many good restaurants to visit. Just go ahead and try our Polish specialities. And if you are not particularly fond of experimenting, you'll have no problem finding a decent place with an international kitchen. As you will quickly discover, Polish people are finding any good excuse to celebrate properly, and Warsaw is most likely the best place in the country to let you embrace this philosophy. After 10pm you are good to go to any of the numerous shotbars and experience vibrant climate of Polish clubbing. In summer, it is far more fun to join one of many parties on the riverside, where people are crazy and the music is loud. Warsaw is emerging as the main business hub in the Central-Eastern Europe, so it's defintiely worth tapping into the city before everyone else does. Polish people are not particularly trusting and smiling around to strangers. But once they get to know you better (most likely after several rounds of shared beverage experience), you'll make great. long-lasting friendships. In general, Polish people are hospitable and very keen on learning about your international background. All in all, Warsaw is a great place to live in.
Portugal (Lisbon)
Once the owner of half of the “New World” the Portuguese Empire was actually the first global empire in history. Today, though its global influence has diminished, the country is still a major European player. The oldest nation-state in Europe, it is a member of several international bodies including the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and the WTO. Portugal’s economy is largely service-based, and is responsible for producing everything from textiles, and clothing to paper, auto parts, glassware and telecommunications to the wider world. According to the Global Competitiveness Report, Portugal is one of the world's most globalized and peaceful nations. The country is also steeped in tradition. During the month of June, festivities dedicated to three saints known as the Santos Populares take place all over Portugal. They are characterised by folk dance and music. And of course the country has lots of sunshine and great food - each region of Portugal has its own traditional dishes.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$713 / $492
Cappuccino: US$1.55
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,487
Climate The average temperature for the year in Lisbon is 62.6°F (17°C). The warmest month, on average, is August with an average temperature of 73.4°F (23°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 52.3°F (11.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Nova School of Business and Economics
Cátia Rocha
Lisbon is a beautiful city with 7 hills. You need to be prepared to walk and not use, for example, a bicycle as a mean of transportation. Food is of high quality with a focus on fish and seafood.
The public transportation service is not the best in the world since strikes occur in a common basis. Therefore those who wish to come to Lisbon should take this issue into account and choose to live close to the place where they think they will spend most time.
Inês Jesus
"Full of light" is an expression that easily describes Lisbon. Changes in local climate have been making the weather predictions unstable but while you may get a random day of rain in May, it is still true that you will get circa 300 days of sun in a year. Only the strongest can endure the tough decision of not procrastinating, so as to get the work done effectively (and done well, I might add) and still be able to take the most out of the sunny and warm parks and beaches that surround the city.
An intense workload is part of its strategy to prepare us to lead hectic lives and learn how to prioritize and understand what really matters (both in our work and in our lives). It also helps us in really getting to know the people we work with, and our colleagues always become some of our closest friends. Plus, with all the concerts, parks, bars, beaches and "cafés" to go to while you are here, an agenda really is what you might need to keep track of the most amazing time of your life.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to Nova School of Business and Economics
Edward Dostine
Europe gets cold. Who knew? Coming from Australia this was a rude shock. I wasn’t prepared having only brought a 3-2mm wetsuit. This meant my feet got numb after the first half an hour in the surf. Bring your winter jacket and your thick wetsuit, booties, glove and hoodie.
The way they structure the classes means each class you MUST prepare a presentation and report even if you aren’t presenting that week. However frustrating this system is, it means you do the readings and know your material.
Russia (St Petersburg)
As well as being one of the most beautiful cities in the world, St Petersburg is also a major trade gateway, business centre and international transport hub. Business is centred largely on the oil and gas, aerospace and heavy machinery industries – however, the city’s proximity to the Nordic countries has also led to an influence seen in St Petersburg’s emergence as Russia’s main centre for software and mobile technology. This city of over 340 bridges is also a serious cultural centre with more than 200 museums and 80 theatres spread over its 40 islands. Students in the city will be able to take in the world famous Mariinsky Ballet, the Male Choir of St Petersburg and also experience the ethereal ‘White Nights’ in June where the sun does not go down until midnight and the streets bustles with busy bars and restaurants.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$787 / $543
Cappuccino: US$2.96
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,213
Climate The average temperature for the year in St. Petersburg is 39.4°F (4.1°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 62.4°F (16.9°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 17.6°F (-8°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at St Petersburg Graduate School of Management
Kseniia Kotelnikova
The cultural difference in mentality influences the way things are done in the country, including the work pace in the university. A lot of Russians are used to doing things last moment - a point visiting students should to be aware of while joining the team with Russians
Russians don't tend to smile much and may seem grumpy, but are very friendly and open once you get to know them better.
We love foreigners, especially in St. Petersburg! We like to talk to them, hang out with them, take them to parties; and although there might be a language barrier, it never prevented someone from having fun.
Aleksey Konovalenkov
One should expect the things to be run differently in Russia than in the other countries: they change fast and suddenly, you never know what and when can happen. But that's the beauty of life - it is never boring!
Language might be a barrier in Russia, especially outside GSOM. But people appreciate efforts to integrate into the local culture. So it really pays off to learn a bit of history or cultural peculiarities of Russia beforehand.
Russia is much more than just St.Petersburg and Moscow, so use any possibility to travel outside those cities to discover some nice places all around the neighbouring regions.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to St Petersburg Graduate School of Management
Julius Osthues
Think about where you want to stay. We managed to find an apartment right on the beautiful Nevsky prospect and our flat was one reason why the time in St. Petersburg was full of such good memories.
Prepare for the cold! It´s definitely no secret that it can get cold in St. Petersburg, however don´t underestimate months in which the temperatures hit the low thirties, you will not be able to do a lot of outdoor activities. You will experience the cold in the summer term as well as in the winter term; so make sure to pack winter boots and a warm jacket. Nevertheless even those cold times are an interesting experience you don´t want to miss.
In St. Petersburg sightseeing never gets boring. Even though people told me the city is beautiful I was completely stunned walking over the famous Nevsky Prospekt and visiting the big cathedrals. Besides cultural activities the city also has a lot to offer if you are into clubbing or bar hopping. If you are living on the island (where the university is located) remember that the subway is not running during the night. Unfortunately it is rather hard to do sports; especially in the winter months there was a lack of good indoor offers. The University offers a Russian course and I highly recommend taking it, you will quickly learn the Cyrillic alphabet and it the Russians will be delighted if you try to talk to them in Russian.
Singapore
Only three and a half times as big as Washington DC, Singapore is now one of the world’s major economic hubs. The sovereign city-state boasts the fourth-biggest financial centre, one of the five busiest ports, the third-highest per capita income in the world, the world's second largest casino gambling market and the world's largest oil-rig producer. On top of this, Singapore attracts hordes of students – more than 80,000 international students studied in Singapore in 2006 and, in 2009, 20% of all students in Singaporean universities were international. With such a globalised intake, it isn’t surprising that about 44% of the workforce is made up of non-Singaporeans. A skilled workforce, low tax rates, advanced infrastructure and a huge amount of foreign investment should be convincing enough of Singapore’s economic prowess – but a fact to eradicate any doubt – Singapore is now home to the world's highest percentage of millionaires.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$2,833 / $1,820
Cappuccino: US$4.20
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,066
Climate The average temperature for the year in Singapore is 82.0°F (27.8°C). The warmest month, on average, is June with an average temperature of 84.0°F (28.9°C). The coolest month on average is December, with an average temperature of 80.0°F (26.7°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at National University Singapore (NUS)
Akanksha Batura
Don’t Let The Melting Pot Burn You. Singapore is truly a melting pot of cultures. One has enough to explore once they set foot in Singapore – be it the variety of cuisines, the myriad of cultures and religions or even the plethora of sights and sounds. While this sounds amazing to a traveler and an explorer, it also means one has to be unprejudiced and open-minded toward the inherent culture and behavior of Singaporeans. While I love Singapore, I know of many exchange students who grow tired and weary of Singaporean norms after a few weeks and resort to complaining about their surroundings. Once the negative attitude and complaining starts, everything around you seems tough to get through and that’s a terrible experience to have in a foreign country. So my first advice to anyone planning to come to Singapore, or the South East Asian region is to be completely open to new experiences.
Balance Quality and Quantity. Because Singapore is a relatively small country and is situated in the heart of South East Asia, many students choose to do their exchange in Singapore because of its strategic location in the region. Students usually use Singapore as their “home base” while they travel other neighboring countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos etcetera using the many affordable budget airlines departing from Singapore. While this is a great opportunity to explore the region, most students lose out on the activities and fun in Singapore itself because most of their free time is spent overseas. When not attending classes, most students are rushing assignments, packing for / unpacking from a trip or preparing for another overseas weekend stint. Though this lifestyle seems truly enviable to others looking through your profile on the assorted social media platforms like Facebook, it’s exhausting - it truly is. And it takes away from the experience of truly living in another location halfway across the world. It is important to note that Singapore is an affluent society and there are many top-notch activities – from museums, to tourism sites and even gastronomic experiences to partake in Singapore. Many students go back having lived in Singapore, but never having experienced much more than traveling from their home to NUS and back (and then perhaps from their home to the Singapore airport). Hence my second piece of advice is to balance the quality of time spent in Singapore with the quantity of time spent traveling.
Be Open. When overseas, it is tempting to stay within your comfort zone by hanging out with peers who are similar to you - either they hail from the same geographical region as yours, or they speak the same mother tongue as yours. However, it is important to branch out; I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Find people who are essentially different from your own profile and try to spend time with them; they may be from your same class, in your apartment or in your team. And don’t just sit with them during your mandatory breaks or free periods; instead, make the effort to go for dinners and coffees with them. These connections will add greatly to your time overseas – you will not be able to anticipate how your horizon will be broadened and your experience enriched. Therefore, my last and most pertinent piece of advice for anyone coming into Singapore is to interact with peers different from you and spend time with them.
Soh, Kok Yip
The grading system in Singapore is very different, in that a large percentage tends to be on projects, and final exams are usually about 40%, unlike the system in Europe where almost 100% is on the final exam. Furthermore, the classes in Singapore tend to go a lot more in-depth and the content is much more advanced, and is based on application, not just theory. Thus, we do a lot more (and more difficult) work throughout the semester, rather than just at the end.
As most residents in Singapore own their houses, the rental market is very illiquid. You would need to start looking for accommodation very early. On the flip side, condominiums (apartments that come with a pool and a gym) are fairly common, so it’s a good chance you would be able to stay in such a place. This is what I heard from a European friend – in Singapore, our food is very good, but our choices of bread are horrifyingly bad!
Advice from visiting CEMS students to National University Singapore (NUS)
Mathilde Louis
Be patient and demanding. Condominiums in Singapore have very high standards (pool, gym, tennis court…) so living there is actually very enjoyable, but just be aware that you will need to dedicate your first week to flat hunting. Make some appointments with a few agents when you arrive (before if possible) and be patient and demanding: they will show you the really good flats only after a few visits.
Singapore is the perfect hub to travel around South-East Asia. Make the most of your semester there: book Tigerair or Jetstar cheap flights and explore famous and less famous places in the region.
Keita Saito
Be careful when finding accommodation in Singapore: Housing in Singapore is notably expensive and its market is filled with limitations (for instance, many lease commitments have to be for a minimum period of six months). The process of touring apartments and finding roommates is stressful as it runs parallel to the block seminar and first classes. My advice would be to keep your options open. If you are able to negotiate appropriate prices and terms of stay with an agent, sharing an apartment may be a more economical option. However, there are other privately run student dormitories that provide convenient options for short-term stay as well.
Make sure you look for the queue in food places in Singapore: There are great food joints across the small island, especially within food centres known as "hawker" centres. They are scattered across the country with different specialties at each location. If you would like to make the most out of the unique food experience there, make sure you look for long queues at each food stall (Singaporeans love to queue) and don't be afraid to try out new delicacies (my favourite is “Hokkien Mee”). I was surprised by the amount of options, and if you are a foodie, it may be wise to plan your trips as some of the food centres may be out of your way.
Spain (Barcelona)
Football, flamenco dancing and good food are just a few of the reasons to visit Spain. Though the promise of wine, tapas and the occasional siesta is a draw for many students looking to sample Spanish culture, it’s also the country’s architecture that makes it a prime destination for many travellers. Spain is also home to the works of Antoni Gaudi – the Catalan architect behind many of the beautifully sculpted buildings found in Barcelona. Though Spain has traditionally been an agrarian economy, its Mediterranean coastline has helped to maintain a prosperous shipbuilding and trade industry. Further inland, the ICT and telecommunications sector is fast becoming a major contributor, with over 1,700 companies and 155 research institutes. As a result, the aerospace industry has also grown dramatically in recent years as local industry provides pioneering technology that has enabled companies both in Spain and around the world to expand internationally. It is still tourism that provides the nation’s main source of income, contributing nearly 11% to Spain’s GDP and employing approximately 2 million of the total labour force.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$878 / $667
Cappuccino: US$2.09
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,373
Climate The average temperature for the year in Barcelona is 59.9°F (15.5°C). The warmest month, on average, is August with an average temperature of 74.5°F (23.6°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 48.0°F (8.9°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at ESADE Business School
Sergi Capdevila
Barcelona is one of the best cities in Europe. We have good weather conditions most of the year, and there is very easy access to the coast and beautiful beach places as well as the Pyrenees for winter sports or mountain activities. Additionally, Barcelona and the Catalan area have an intense cultural offer to enjoy as a foreigner. The more you get involved with the culture, the better you get to know the people in Barcelona and their culture and traditions.
In Barcelona (and Spain) our life and work schedules are different to many other European countries. For example, we like having our meals late – we have lunch at 2pm, and dinner at 9pm at the earliest. This, along with our passion for improvising can be a cultural shock for some of the foreigners, but you can easily get used to that. Regarding food, tapas, sangria and paella are not the only meals we have. In Barcelona there are infinite food options for a reasonable price that you can enjoy if you are curious and like trying new things.
Carlos Silván
Spanish are usually extraverted and love doing things late: having lunch at 3, dinner after 9. Although siesta nowadays is more a myth than a reality, you do might encounter some lack of punctuality. Unless you come from the South of Europe or a Latin country, be ready to experience a small cultural shock!
Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia, one of the most prosperous regions of Spain. Citizens of Catalonia are bilingual (Spanish and Catalan), and although many of them feel a deep affection for either or both of their languages, they will try to communicate with you in the way you feel more comfortable. Not speaking Catalan will never be a problem!
ESADE believes in a practice-oriented (rather than theory-oriented) teaching system. Be ready to uncover your critical thinking, work in several group projects the same time and present your achievements in public. Generally speaking, cooperation over competition between colleagues is encouraged.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to ESADE Business School
Zeynep Şençelebi
There are lots of things to see in Spain, not mentioning Barcelona itself, but on the down side there is little time for doing everything on your agenda so if I had known this beforehand, I would have picked my favourite destinations wisely.
If I had known that Barcelona has the best clubs and bars to hang out with my fellow CEMSies before, I would have brought more party dresses!
Alex Wallner
It is essential to know that Barcelona is also the capital of Catalunya, one of the autonomous regions in Spain. The Catalans are very proud and always have been fighting for their autonomy, which in recent years lead to heated debates and independence movements. One example of their national pride is the football club FC Barcelona which is seen as the national selection of Catalunya and their famous stadium Camp Nou. So be careful when talking about Barcelona as part of “Spain” :)
You can basically prepare for every kind of leisure or sport activity independent of the weather, e.g. skiing in the winter, beach in the summer with almost no restrictions. Moreover, Barcelona is famous for its architecture, both modern and historical - especially the Gaudi buildings - and rich cultural offers (e.g. MERCE city festival each September which parades, concerts and a lot of other activities all over the city).
Sweden (Stockholm)
Sweden's position as one of the world's most highly developed post-industrial societies looks fundamentally secure - unemployment is low and the economy strong. The Swedes enjoy an advanced welfare system, and their standard of living and life expectancy are almost second to none, living in a country known throughout the world for its political neutrality. The nation's capital, Stockholm is the most populous city in Scandinavia, spreading across 14 distinct islands. The vast majority of Stockholm’s residents work in the service industry, which accounts for roughly 85% of jobs in Stockholm. The almost total absence of heavy industry (and fossil fuel power plants) makes Stockholm one of the world's cleanest metropolises. The city is home to some of Europe’s top-ranked universities and hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,277 / $747
Cappuccino: US$4.41
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,364
Climate The average temperature for the year in Stockholm is 43.0°F (6.1°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 63.0°F (17.2°C). The coolest month on average is February, with an average temperature of 26.0°F (-3.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Stockholm School of Economics
Clara Nordlander
If the climate is what scares you – don’t worry. The winter weather is really not as bad as its reputation and you will have some beautiful snowy days. What will hit you is the darkness, but the never-ending summer nights will make it all worth the wait. There will also be opportunities to go skiing, visit Lapland and see the Northern lights.
If you aim at learning the language, you will soon realize that the language itself is not the biggest challenge, but the fact that the Swedes will be very enthusiastic about speaking English with you - and they do it perfectly. However, learning Swedish will give you an advantage if you want to work here and really get into the Swedish culture.
Accommodation in Stockholm is tricky - make use of your contacts, Facebook groups and be open for any solution in the beginning and everything will work out fine. It is easy to get around with public transport in Stockholm, but living close to school and the city center will definitely enhance your social life.
Max Friberg
Stockholm is beautiful, make sure you take the time to go and discover it! There’s easy to access nature, as big forests and the archipelago are both near to the city.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to Stockholm School of Economics
Anthony Solaire
Do not underestimate the Scandinavian winter. When you go to a Scandinavian country, you more or less know what to expect when November comes: dark afternoons, polar cold and slippery sidewalks. But knowing it and living it are two very different things. It’s not so much the cold or the 3pm sunset that will catch you by surprise: the impact the weather can have on your body is likely to teach you a lifetime lesson you are never to forget again. At first, you will certainly laugh at Swedish people grasping every sunray they can in the last days of summer, before it is too late. After that, you will realise that the lack of sun can have real implications on your mood and your health, and that 18-hour nights can tire you in ways you could never underestimate. So in Sweden, do as the Swedes, and enjoy every sunlight minute as if it was the last one.
Immerse yourself in the Swedish way-of-life. Experiencing the Swedish culture might not be your first reason to go and chose this country, mostly famous for its equalitarian society, its furniture retailers and its disco stars. But actually there are many things in the Swedish way-of-life that make it worth experiencing when studying there. Having lived for centuries in cold winters and hostile environment, the country has developed a sense of exquisite cosiness you might never experience anywhere else. Trying the “fika” tradition is taking the coffee break to a whole new level of delight, with its Swedish cinnamon-based pastries, warm blankets and scented candles. Getting to know the Swedish people will also help you understand better that “lågom” (“just enough” or equivalent to the idiom “less is more”) is not only a word: it is a philosophy at the roots of this consensus-based society.
Know how to work with Swedish people. Talking about this culture of consensus, there are some things you might want to know regarding how to study and work with Swedish people. Swedes have a very flat vision of what hierarchy can be. As such, teachers expect you to challenge them, and very often participation weights very heavily in your final grade. Also in a group work, do not expect to have short, straight-forward meetings: each one’s opinions are carefully taken into account, and each decision needs to satisfy all the participants, no matter how long it might take to find a conclusion suitable for everyone. Patience is a virtue.
Switzerland (St. Gallen)
Switzerland forms a European cultural and linguistic crossroads – its population speaks German, French and Italian. However, some sources argue that Latin is the third most used language as it appears on stamps and coins as "confoederatio helvetica" or "helvetia", which is the Latin name of Switzerland. With a history of political stability, Switzerland is a centre of global wealth and a safe haven from world financial turmoil. It is not uncommon for investors across the world to use its banks, and the country enjoys the highest nominal wealth per adult according to one of the banks, Credit Suisse. However Switzerland is also among the most expensive countries in the world to live in. St. Gallen is the home of one of UNESCO’s unique world heritages – The Abey of St. Gaall – which holds books dating as far back as the 9th century. The city has good transport links to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany and Austria. It also functions as the gateway to the Appenzell Alps, offering high altitude adventure for those brave enough.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$1,426 / $1,175
Cappuccino: US$4.54
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,209
Climate The average temperature for the year in St. Gallen is 45.3°F (7.4°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 61.0°F (16.1°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 30.0°F (-1.1°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at University of St. Gallen
Cosima Bader
A large surprise may be the comparatively limited opening hours of stores: Typically stores will close at 7pm, including grocery stores, and everything remains closed on Sundays and public holidays. Banks will close before 5pm daily and even remain closed on Saturdays. However, if you are staying in a larger city, some stores inside the main train station may be open at a higher price premium.
Next to general living, traveling is very expensive: popular low-cost airlines mostly fly out of Basel and Geneva (not Zurich Airport!), which has to be taken into account for planning trips - getting to the airport may be more expensive than the flight itself. Therefore, it often pays off to invest in a "1/2 tax” (Half-fare card for all public transport) - you can even return the card at the end of your stay and get a refund for the months that you didn’t use.
In the Swiss-German part of the country, you will encounter the locally spoken idiom of Swiss German (picture Dutch minus the tall people). If you think you understand Swiss German because you are / speak German already, you may be in for a surprise the first time you overhear the locals in conversation. Many Swiss Germans still consider High German their first foreign language and are therefore reluctant to speak it - especially with native German speakers who will point out how “adorable” and “cute” the Swiss accent sounds to them - a comment of this sort will most likely be perceived as an insult. Switzerland may therefore also not be the best place if you are looking to improve your German skills.
Pascal Egloff
aking the time to stroll through the picturesque old town is well worth the visit. Even after years of living here one is still able to find new places and surprises. It is perfectly located for exploring both nature (for example, the mountains in Appenzell, lake of Constance) and bigger cities (such as Zurich, Munich, etc.). Though the weather is quite unpredictable, the open-minded people, a vast variety of cultural offers (theatre, concerts, festivals, football, etc.) and the big fairs (OLMA and OFFA) compensate this by far. A unique mix of cosiness and adventurous experiences is guaranteed.
Advice from visiting CEMS students to University of St. Gallen
Sara Montonen
The country is very well organized. This is reflected in everything from university course selection methods to trash collection. Choosing courses is done very democratically; each student is given a certain amount of points to allocate to courses by how much they want the course. In terms of waste management, the Swiss have an interesting way of trying to get people to cut down the amount of garbage: one trash bag costs 2 francs and garbage can only be disposed of in official bags. Since people pay real money for their garbage, people are more inclined to think more carefully about what they throw away.
Switzerland is an extremely diverse country. There are four official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh) so students commonly speak one or two languages in addition to English. Switzerland is also very diverse in climate and geography as the country ranges from mountainous and glacial to flat and Mediterranean. Traveling through Switzerland can feel quite bizarre, as it is like being in four different countries at the same time.
Emir Çetinel
Small is beautiful. While St. Gallen is a small city (especially when you come from a city of 17 million) it still offers a lot. There are really nice cafes, restaurants and shops, and the high student population makes the place really attractive. This is particularly true on the weekends when there is nice weather and you have the Swiss Alps on your doorstep.
Public transport costs are prohibitive. It is well-known that Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in the world. Even so, you might be shocked at train ticket prices. It would be naïve to expect to have a budget-friendly tour around Switzerland by train to enjoy the incredible scenery.
Turkey (Istanbul)
Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's location has given it major influence. As a huge city that also has land on both continents, Istanbul has developed into the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a skyline of minarets and skyscrapers, around 14 million people call Istanbul their home – making it one of the biggest cities on Earth – and though not Turkey’s capital, the city’s strategic position has made it one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It is responsible for 27% of Turkey's GDP, with 20% of the country's industrial labour force living within the city boundaries. The country as a whole has enjoyed strong growth, fuelled by trade and foreign investment – further bolstered by the key sectors of tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. With a huge population and substantial contribution to the Turkish economy, Istanbul is responsible for two-fifths of the nation's tax revenue. It’s a city with a sense of energy and innovation that seeps into the streets of exquisite Ottoman mosques and happening restaurants, bars and galleries – a city that’s growing in both cultural influence and economic ability.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$518 / $279
Cappuccino: US$2.73
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,365
Climate The average temperature for the year in Istanbul is 58.0°F (14.4°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 74.0°F (23.3°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 42.0°F (5.6°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at Koç University
Emir Çetinel
Istanbul is one colorful, massive playground that offers unforgettable experiences for its inhabitants. If you have an adventurous soul, and are willing to devote time to it then you should be well prepared to experience something different every single day. That may be a bold statement, yet it is not an exaggeration; Istanbul has so much to offer that even the locals are not aware of all the facets of this vibrant city. One day, you might be having your shisha while watching the beautiful Bosphorus view and on the other day, you might be sipping on your cocktail in a fancy bar overlooking the crowd in Beyoglu.
Situated in the middle of a pine forest, the Koç University campus not only provides a perfect atmosphere for learning, but also is great for having fun. Students can enjoy their fresh fruit juice under the sun by the swimming pool, have fun at the golf course after class or do ice-skating at the giant skating ring in wintertime!
Zeynep Şençelebi
Traffic in Istanbul is sometimes unbearable. I strongly advise visitors to be aware of this circumstance and to plan their trips accordingly.
We have the best food here in Turkey. So, they have to take into consideration that they are going to gain few kilos before they are heading to their next destination.
United Kingdom (London)
London is undoubtedly one of the world’s great international cities – a mecca for culture, history, business, tourism and study. The capital of the UK is renowned for its global outlook and as a melting pot rivalled by few others for its mix of people, food, arts and influences from around the world. The city’s hosting of the 2012 Olympics was heralded by many as the benchmark for future games and international students have the pick of some of the world’s foremost universities. London is a global leader in the finance sector with many of the world’s leading banks and insurance companies headquartered in one of two financial centres – the ancient City of London or the newer metropolis of Canary Wharf. As a trading nation with over 500 years of doing business with countries all over the world, the UK has impacted global business relations as much as any other nation on earth and, despite high living costs, London remains one of the top locations for international students of all kinds.
Cost of living
1-bedroom apartment inside / outside city center: US$2,440 / $1,541
Cappuccino: US$4.02
MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx US$1,232
Climate The average temperature for the year in London is 50.5°F (10.3°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 63.1°F (17.3°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 39.7°F (4.3°C).
Advice from local CEMS students at the London School of Economics
Amy Thompson
Food in London is NOT Bad: There is a common misapprehension that food in London is bad - this could not be further from the truth. The quality and variety of food on offer is astounding, however you do have to be careful. As in any capital city, some of the worst (and most overpriced) restaurants can be found at tourist destinations. Avoid Leicester Square and Covent Garden, and head instead for places like Borough Market for fantastic street food, or a winding alley or side road in Soho. It's really worth investing the time to find a hidden gem rather than following the crowds.
The Tube: Transport is relatively reliable, but more expensive in London than in other capital cities. If you can, locate within walking distance of the university - all of the LSE halls are a short walk from campus. If you do end up on the tube, avoid central hub stations such as Oxford Circus and Victoria at rush hour, especially in the morning. If you do have to travel before 9am, leave extra time, as some lines become extremely congested in the mornings!
Museums are Free: Many of the largest museums in London grant free access to their permanent collections. It's really worth taking advantage of this, as there are so many to visit and they are all so uniquely impressive. My favourites are the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), the National Portrait Gallery, and the Tate Britain. They also have wonderful cafés.
Student Discounts are Everywhere: An awful lot of shops, restaurants, museums and cinemas in London offer a student discount (usually around 10%), so it's always worth asking if there is a discount. You can purchase discount cards online via the student union for a small fee.
London Nightlife is Diverse: There is something for everyone. While many flock to big and famous nightclubs, websites like the Nudge give an 'alternative' view of what's on offer, from bars and clubs to shows and pop-up events.
It Doesn't Always Rain: The weather in London is not that bad. It can get relatively cold in winter, and April showers are common, but the sun does shine!
Advice from visiting CEMS students to the London School of Economics
Akanksha Batura
Join a Club. There are tons of active and great clubs at LSE – run by passionate individuals who care a great deal about their respective causes. Though some of them have a token membership fee, it’s worth the minimal cost to learn about more about a topic you’re unfamiliar with, or to indulge in themes you are fervently zealous about. It exposes you to people similar to you from other parts of the world and you gain different perspectives to look at the same topics.
Take a Non-Graded Course. Do yourself a favour and enroll in a few courses that you enjoy, but don’t want to have the stress of doing well in; essentially, you can take these courses on a “non-graded” basis, and yet be entitled to get all the online course catalogues and readings as well. So free yourself from the obligations of getting that good grade and let your mind wander in the beauty of unrestrained and contagious pursuit of knowledge.
Get To Know Your Professors. Getting to know professors will better your understanding of the working world, and making a personal relationship with them would mean that they would be able to contact you if they come to your home university anytime in the future – for a short term conference, or for long term teaching periods. If you get to know them well enough, you will realize that some of them may be working with professors you know in your own home university, or may be their friends. Additionally, most of them are open and excited to get to meet students interested in them and their subject matter; you will feel warmly welcomed by them. Don’t feel intimidated, you too will have new and different perspectives for them to consider regarding their topic of interest.
Soh, Kok Yip
Strategy for student accommodation. Not having any experience with being in the UK, and fearing I would be stranded as I was arriving just before New Year’s Eve, I secured my housing with private student accommodation. However, I later learnt from schoolmates that a lot of the school halls have some rooms in reserve, which are much cheaper than residing in private accommodation, and you get to be with other students from LSE too.
Musical and theatre tickets can be booked months in advance, for much cheaper. If I’d known, I would have booked my tickets before I arrived in the UK, and would have managed to watch a lot more than I actually did!
Tube strikes and breakdowns are relatively common, and they lead to the whole of London practically going into gridlock. In retrospect, it was lucky that I lived within a 25-minute walk to school, so I was relatively unaffected. London is a very nice city to walk in as well, so living somewhere walkable ensures that you get to see a lot of the non-touristy sites.
Andrea Bianchi
London is great and it has a wide offer of places and events for all the tastes. You can visit really interesting museums, walking around nice neighbourhoods, have a good dinner in one of the thousands of international restaurants spread around the city… all just in few minutes by tube!
Roger Wu
Opening Hours. The first time I went to Oxford Street at around 5 p.m. on a Sunday was not too much fun since stores are already closed then, even though they still keep the lights on.
Fireworks. It took almost an hour on the tube to watch a said-to-be-one-of-the-best fireworks, which turned out to be one of the shortest fireworks I have ever seen, since it only lasted around 10 to 15 minutes and was not worth mentioning to a Chinese, who basically grew up with various fireworks shows.
Markets and parks. Markets in London are full of “Made in China” products with much higher prices but parks are truly amazing and they are worth a very long stay.
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eaa7aed92ba4a273d3e1b593b3a84037 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2014/11/12/studying-abroad-boosts-your-job-prospects-or-does-it/?sh=3183531d3650 | Does Studying Abroad Really Boost Your Job Prospects? | Does Studying Abroad Really Boost Your Job Prospects?
Studying at home – in your own city, your own state, even your own country - is so yesterday. These days, if you want to make the most of your investment in further education, from first degree to top drawer MBA program, you need to study abroad.
Everyone seems to agree.
Heads of HR at major corporations regularly complain about the lack of truly international talent, and urge universities and business schools to develop it. Education providers of all types have responded with a wide range of partner programs, study trips and internships.
The 2014 International Student Guide - Great Places To Study Business Abroad
Even Harvard Business School now sends its MBA class to far flung corners of the globe in its first year. And Michelle Obama has gone on public record stating that overseas study is not just great for the individual but “is a vital part of America’s foreign policy.” Which is quite some endorsement.
But when it comes to the crunch – that is getting you a better, more fulfilling and well-paid job – does international study really deliver?
According to new research carried out by Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and posted on its research platform, RSM Discovery, the answer is yes. But it’s a qualified yes.
RSM’s Erik van ‘t Klooster interviewed over 1000 students, interns and alumni from around the world who generally felt that what the study calls ‘educational travel’ improved both their managerial and cross-cultural competencies and also made them more independent, flexible and self-aware.
So far so good. However the study also identified that those who studied or worked in emerging nations felt they benefited a lot less from the experience than those who went to more established economies. Why? For the perhaps predictable reason that they found it more difficult to appreciate the host culture and interact with locals, particularly in countries in Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America.
But isn’t this rather worrying? After all, any conversation with the hiring department of a multi-national will quickly tell you that what they are after in fast-track employees is not the sort of skills you can pick up on a vacation, but a genuine understanding of local cultures, specifically in the BRICS and N-11 countries that are offering so much commercial potential. However, what the RSM Discovery research suggests is that not enough is happening in the right places to effect this. But why?
The problem seems to be two-fold. First, too many students simply haven’t developed sufficient emotional maturity by the time they go abroad to fully benefit from the experience. And second, it’s still too easy at all levels and on all types of programs to exist in a Westernised ‘bubble’ surrounded by a peer group of broadly similar people and with little real incentive or necessity to fully immerse in the local environment.
Of course, there are many universities and business schools that are already doing some imaginative and innovative work in addressing this issue. The Moore School at the University of South Carolina, for example, has gone as far as hiring an anthropologist to make its MBA program more culturally open and immersive. But if the higher education community as a whole is to counter the charge of indulging in what some commentators have branded ‘education tourism’ then it must do more. Otherwise it will be in danger of letting down both its students and the organizations that will go on to employ them.
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c1081fac91f128003e820d8df7213eda | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2016/03/31/30-tips-for-your-mba-admissions-success/ | 30 Tips For Your MBA Admissions Success | 30 Tips For Your MBA Admissions Success
Fortune may favor the brave, but when applying to business school it is careful planning and meaningful self-reflection that win the day.
With round-one deadlines for the world's top MBA programs less than six months away, this is the time to put together a plan for admissions success. You've got a lot of ground to cover:
• Introspection about your personal and professional goals
• Research to identify the schools that match your objectives
• Study for the GMAT or GRE, and any courses that boost your academic record
• Outstanding professional performance to strengthen letters of recommendation
• Purposeful community engagement and genuine leadership opportunities
• Outreach to b-school students and alumni combined with campus visits
That's quite a to-do list, but MBA admissions success doesn't just happen -- you create it. And that means accepting all the challenges that are involved, and not just pursuing the ones you like.
(Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)
You don't have to go to business to make a success of your life, but this is your chance to shape your own path, and not rely on somebody else's. To more accurately quote business philosopher Jim Rohn, "Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better."
So where do you get started? Pursuing the theme of insightful quotes, I asked my colleagues at Fortuna Admissions for their advice, based on years of insider experience working in the admissions offices of the world's top business schools.
Gallery: The Most Satisfied Business School Graduates 10 images View gallery
Here are their 30 tips for MBA admissions success.
Self-Awareness And Defining Your Personal And Professional Goals
1. "Be your authentic self in your application. The most engaging candidates strip away the pretence, and don't try to fit into a mould." -- Judith Silverman Hodara, Wharton
2. "Start with good questions -- they are the best way to find great answers. Business schools want to know more about you than just your resume. They want to get a sense of what makes you tick. What do you want from your career? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What have you learned about yourself from times you have excelled and times you have failed? Don’t skimp on introspection—or waste the gift of choice." -- Caroline Diarte Edwards, INSEAD
3. "Spend time talking to many people in careers that seem interesting to you so that by the time you apply, you have a much better sense of your post-MBA plans. If you're looking to make a career transition, consider speaking to people at your current company in positions that you'd like to go into after your MBA since they could be great resources that are highly accessible." -- Dina Glasofer, NYU Stern
4. "When talking about your long-term goals, think big. You will inspire the reader with your plans to change the world, not with your goal of retiring at 50. Find the thread that links your past decisions with your future goals. Make sure your story makes sense with a clear vision of where you want to go." -- Heidi Hillis, Stanford GSB
Selecting And Researching Your Target Schools
5. "Don't settle for the ordinary -- by definition a stretch school is within reach and by stretching yourself you will improve your reach. Believe in yourself, so that the admissions office can believe in you." -- Julie Ferguson, Chicago Booth
6. "Look beyond MBA rankings. List the factors most important to you and talk to students and alumni to help assess the fit." -- Dina Glasofer, NYU Stern
7. "Don’t settle for general statements about the school. Repeating well-known facts proves nothing. Identify and be able to explain your personal passion for the school." -- Karen Ponte, London Business School
Mastering The GMAT
8. "If you're going through hell on data sufficiency or critical reasoning, keep going. You may have to fight the GMAT battle more than once to win it." -- Judith Silverman Hodara, Wharton
9. "Improving your GMAT score by 100 points is achieved in 10 point increments. Test success is the sum of small efforts practiced day in and day out." -- Cassandra Pittman, Columbia Business School
Personal Branding
10. "Think like a marketer -- define and design your brand. What’s your unique expertise and contribution to the MBA program? Leverage that in each part of the application." -- Katherine Johnson, Harvard Business School
11. "As you look to set yourself apart, consider the lens that has influenced your worldview—and then find ways to project that understanding of yourself into your application." -- Brittany Maschal, Wharton
12. "Every school wants diversity – think how could your professional background, upbringing, nationality, age, future ambitions or interests add a unique dimension to your MBA class." -- Melissa Jones, INSEAD
Resume
13. "Be specific – demonstrate your value with objective evidence, don't just ask the reader to take your word for it." -- Jodi Keating, Wharton
14. "Tone back the technical language and take it back to basics, highlighting the skills relevant to the role and ones the school will be looking for." -- Nicola Sandford, INSEAD
15. "There is probably someone applying to your target school with the exact same job title as you. Your resume needs to show exactly why you are better at that job." -- Jodi Keating, Wharton
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Application Essays
16. "Telling a story that illustrates the type of person you are has far more impact than telling the reader what kind of person you are. Show, don't tell." -- Heather Lamb Friedman, Harvard Business School
17. "In your essays, go for the why, not the what. The resume tells what you did, it is up to the essays to explain what motivated you." -- Heidi Hillis, Stanford GSB
18. "Don't just cut and paste essays from one school to another. Each application should feel like it was written specifically for that school, including concrete examples and specific school offerings rather than generalized statements." -- Dina Glasofer, NYU Stern
19. "Focus on depth over breadth! Talk in a non-technical manner when explaining your career -- your file reader may come from a different background to you." - Nonie Mackie, INSEAD
20. "Show self awareness. When talking about your weaknesses, be honest. A strength disguised as a weakness could very well backfire. Remember that you need to show that you still have something to learn." -- Michel Belden, Wharton
Extra-curriculars
21. "Go for quality not quantity. It’s better to get deeply involved in one thing you’re really passionate about, than to start four new activities simultaneously." -- Emma Bond, London Business School
22. "Devote your time and energy to something that supports your personal purpose in life. Don’t just get involved because it’s an admissions criterion. Do it because it genuinely resonates with who you are, your values, and your sense of purpose." -- Catherine Tuttle, Duke Fuqua
23. "Don’t underestimate the importance of your passions outside of work. The 10 years spent training as a ballerina shows dedication and drive, and can help you dance your way to the top of the applicant pile." -- Melissa Jones, INSEAD
Letters Of Recommendation
24. "Work on developing a relationship with your recommenders now so that when you ask them for a recommendation they are inclined to do so." -- Michel Belden, Wharton
25. "Don't assume that your recommenders know what they are doing. Details, depth and insight add value; generalisations and do not. Help them to help you." -- Caroline Diarte Edwards, INSEAD
Interviews
26. "There is a misconception that schools are looking for perfect candidates, when in fact schools are looking for candidates with the right fit." -- Malvina Miller Complainville, Harvard Business School
27. "Practice, practice, practice! Have great examples to hand and a clear story, ensuring you tell the interviewer what you did do, not what you would do." -- Nicola Sandford, INSEAD
28. "Prepare your key selling points and stories ahead of time, and go into the room feeling confident that they wanted you there, and enthusiastic about the prospect of joining the school’s community." -- Malvina Miller Complainville, Harvard Business School
Staying On track
29. "Focus on what you can do, rather than what you cannot undo. A brand-new start is not an option, so put your energy into a brand-new ending." -- Brittany Maschal, Wharton
30. "When tackling the most challenging areas of your MBA application, get up early in the morning and be sure to complete these first!" -- Nonie Mackie, INSEAD
It is clear from the insider experience of my colleagues, and decisions they made to admit certain candidates and reject others, that successful and unsuccessful applicants do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to achieve their goals. So what is to stop you?
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accf8c29a891e1654eebbfecce03ecec | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2016/08/22/business-basics-for-the-worlds-best-fashion-schools/ | Business Basics For The World's Best Fashion Schools | Business Basics For The World's Best Fashion Schools
"You can never be overdressed or overeducated". But what would Oscar Wilde have thought of London... [+] Fashion Week?
With bespoke suits from Savile Row and mini skirts from Carnaby Street, London has long been a major player in the fashion industry. But the city’s influence now extends beyond pin stripes and hemlines, establishing itself as home to many of the world’s leading fashion schools.
The Global Fashion School Ranking 2016, published by The Business Of Fashion, is dominated by London schools, which occupy five of the top twelve places for undergraduate (BA) programmes, and three of the top five places for graduate (MA) programmes. In an industry that was estimated to contribute £26 billion to the U.K. economy in 2014, an education in fashion is seen by many as the first step towards a career that is not just creative, but with great professional promise.
Gallery: The Best Business Schools For Career Prospects 2016 10 images View gallery
Leading the way in both rankings is Central Saint Martins (CSM), whose reputation with the industry and with employers is unrivalled. The roll call of fashion designers that graduated from the school includes Stella McCartney, John Galliano and the late Alexander McQueen. Beyond their experience at the head of fashion houses such as Chloé, Christian Dior and Givenchy, each created their own label with varying degrees of success. Their clothes may be worn by Madonna and the future Queen of England, and blessed by Anna Wintour, the high priestess of fashion at Vogue, but running a successful fashion label
An estimated 95% of fashion startups fail in the first five years, according to Imran Amed, Founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion, and editor of the fashion school ranking. And he sees a lack of practical, applicable skills offered by schools to help students in their careers. “Fashion students and alumni participating in our rankings survey continue to report that they feel unequipped with the practical business skills and training they need to thrive once they enter full-time employment or go on to start their own business.”
While a growing number of schools are offering courses that embrace digital technology and innovation, alumni comment that they would like to see more business and marketing courses. As as more fashion houses increasingly sell through websites, in addition to their stores and other outlets, they will need to understand the dynamics of ecommerce and consumer behavior.
For Amed, a Harvard Business School graduate whose alma mater teaches cases on Spanish retailer Zara and their formula for supply chain success, part of the answer lies in developing courses that match creativity with business fundamentals. Business of Fashion offers a series of online courses including Setting up a Fashion Business From Scratch and The Art & Science of Buying and Merchandising. “These courses are taught by industry experts such as Susanne Tide-Frater, drawing on her professional experience at Harrods, Selfridges and Victoria Beckham. They are designed to help prepare students for a lasting career in fashion.”
Oscar Wilde said you can never be overdressed or overeducated. And though skimpy dresses might be de rigeur on the catwalk, the students of the world’s leading fashion schools don’t want to skimp on their education.
The Business of Fashion (BoF) Global Fashion School Rankings 2016
TOP UNDERGRADUATE (BA) PROGRAMMES, 2016 TOP GRADUATE (MA) PROGRAMMES 2016 1. Central Saint Martins, London, UK 1. Central Saint Martins, London, UK 2. Kingston University, London, UK 2. Royal College of Art, London UK 3. Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland 3. Institut Français de la Mode, Paris, France 4. Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium 4. Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium 5. Parsons The New School of Fashion, New York, USA 5. London College of Fashion, London, UK
Click here for the full results of the Global Fashion School Rankings 2016.
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9120abace60155dad1276f34ad7b0229 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2017/12/13/mba-in-europe-the-ranking-of-mba-rankings-2017/ | The Best MBA Programs In Europe? The Ranking Of MBA Rankings 2017 | The Best MBA Programs In Europe? The Ranking Of MBA Rankings 2017
This external view shows the global graduate business school INSEAD in Singapore, which ranks #1 in... [+] the Fortuna Ranking of MBA Rankings 2017 for European Business Schools. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Following on from the Fortuna Ranking of MBA Rankings for the top U.S. schools, here is the league table for European business schools, looking at their 2017 standing across the four major MBA rankings. The results provide a valuable snapshot of performance as measured by the different methodologies used by Forbes, the Financial Times, The Economist, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
But before we get to those results, and their potential impact on deciding where to apply for your MBA, there are three fundamental questions to ask yourself as you start your research to find the right business school for you. The answer to the first question is highly personal, but the answers to the second and third questions are slowly redefining the business education landscape.
1. Why do you want to go to business school?
This first question features in many MBA applications, and there is no one right answer. Whether to make a career switch, accelerate your earnings, build your international credentials, learn new skills, expand your network, or simply enjoy a wonderful study experience, the professional, financial and personal rewards of studying at one of the world’s top business schools are compelling.
My co-director at Fortuna Admissions, Caroline Diarte Edwards, reviewed many thousands of applications during her seven years as Director of Admissions at INSEAD. She observes that the one key action to dramatically improve your MBA application is to spend a considerable amount of time on self-reflection - no matter where you are in the process. “The admissions office doesn’t just want to hear about your academic excellence and professional experiences. They want to know who you truly are and what motivates you. And that includes insights on why you really want to do an MBA.”
2. Where do I want to do my MBA?
For many young professionals thinking about heading to business school, this question is of increasing importance. And Europe has been an increasingly popular choice. The 2017 Prospective Students Survey Report published by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) shows a sharp increase in the number of international GMAT test takers who say they are likely to study outside the U.S. Between November 2016 and April 2017 the number has risen from 35% to 43%.
European Business Schools are major beneficiaries of this trend, and as I reported six weeks ago – European Business Schools Should Seize The Day - application volume at the top schools that feature in the Fortuna Ranking of MBA Rankings has increased significantly. Brandon Kirby, Director of Admissions at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) confirms a 44% increase in application volume this year, with over 95% of the MBA students from outside the Netherlands. “A full-time MBA from one of the top-ranked European business schools gives you more than a new line on your resume. It gives you a professional passport to the career you want, anywhere in the world.”
Even the U.K. schools are seeing a spike in demand, despite concerns of the long-term impact of Brexit. Imperial College Business School in London has seen applications increase by double digits for the last three years, and for Adrienne Fung, previously a marketing manager at Bloomberg L.P in New York, the London location was a major selling point. “I chose Imperial because of its focus on technology, Innovation and entrepreneurship, but the central location in the heart of London was an added advantage for networking and attending industry events.”
Since joining the MBA program Fung has interned with HelloFresh, which was named the number one fastest growing company in Europe by the Financial Times. “I met HelloFresh at a career fair at the school and it was through that meeting I was able to follow up with them and secure a position. My advice to any MBA applicant would be to think about what you want to do and where you want to end up after your MBA, then choose the program that best matches those goals.”
3. How long do I want my MBA to be?
When calculating the ROI of business school, the one-year MBA offered by many European business schools makes a strong case for the best returns. In the latest Forbes MBA ranking the top seven one-year programs posted a stronger five-year gain than the leading U.S. school, Wharton. And while it takes Harvard Business School students four years on average to pay back their investment, thirteen of the European schools in the Fortuna one-year ranking had a pay back that ranged from 2.2 years to 3.2 years.
But if one year seems too short, and two years too long, there are other alternatives on offer. HEC Paris in France offers a 16-month format, which for Andrea Masini, Associate Dean in charge of the MBA program is a perfect model. “Most MBA students enrol in business programs for one of two reasons: to secure positions in general management or to switch careers. A 16-month program helps them meet either objective. It’s difficult to compress the necessary material into a shorter period of time, but a longer program is more costly and keeps students out of the workforce long enough to have a negative impact on career advancement.”
Ahead of the CentreCourt MBA Festival in London on March 3rd, which brings together almost all of the top European business schools to meet with potential applicants, I’ll be discussing the ROI of a one-year vs. two year MBA in a live webinar on December 18 with John A. Byrne, Editor-in-Chief of Poets and Quants.
But before that debate, how did the top European Business Schools perform in this year’s Fortuna Ranking of MBA Rankings?
It will come as little surprise that INSEAD retained the #1 spot, after an impressive year that saw them maintain their place at the top of the Financial Times MBA ranking, and jumping ahead of the London Business School in last week’s Bloomberg Business Week international MBA ranking.
More startling is the progress made by Barcelona-based IESE Business School, whose consistency across the four major league tables earned them a place above LBS for the first time since we began the Ranking of Rankings in 2011. IMD continues with its recovery from a rankings fall from grace in recent years, moving up to #4, while HEC Paris maintain a top five place for the third year in a row.
Below are the results for this year's top five. You can find the full results of the Fortuna Ranking of MBA Rankings 2017 – Europe here.
And don’t miss the story about Wharton’s stellar year that sees the school outshine Harvard among the top U.S. MBA programs.
Fortuna Ranking of MBA Rankings 2017 - European Business Schools Fortuna Admissions
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acf5f48720529313de82bacd897d6243 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2018/01/29/when-will-asia-rank-1-in-mba-rankings/ | When Will Asia Reach #1 In MBA Rankings? | When Will Asia Reach #1 In MBA Rankings?
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China is predicted to become the largest economy in the world before 2030, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). But what about China’s business schools – are they on track to overtake Stanford, INSEAD, Wharton, LBS and Harvard?
Stanford‘s rise to the top of the FT Global MBA Ranking 2018 is sure to grab the headlines. With GSB graduates reporting eye-popping salary figures– the first time a business school has reported average alumnus salary over $200k three years after graduation - this result was to be expected. The FT rewards weighted salary (20%) and salary increase (20%) more than any other MBA ranking, and combined with Stanford’s strong showing for research (a further 10%) the school has reached the #1 position for only the second time since the FT launched the ranking in 1999.
After two invaluable years at #1, INSEAD should not be too disappointed with second place. At Fortuna Admissions we have seen a sharp rise in enquiries over the past 24 months with the global recognition the FT results has boosted. The school also benefits from an excellent ROI for the increasingly popular one-year course format preferred by the majority of European and Asian business schools. And the much-reported Trump effect continues to encourage a significant number of business school applicants to look beyond the US for their MBA experience.
But this result is part of a wider trend that emerged in the MBA ranking published by The Economist last November, which sees US schools in the ascendancy with the strengthening US dollar of the past three years. Harvard Business School is the only M7 school to have lost ground in the FT ranking, in part because of lower faculty research output that the FT measures each year. In fact there is not a US school other than HBS that lost places in the top 20.
Booth and MIT Sloan have seen solid gains, while UC Berkeley Haas continues to make a great case to now refer to an M8 club. This FT result will not do those claims any harm. One of the stand-out results among the top US schools come from Cornell Johnson, and the first signs that the strategy to bring the school closer to recruiters in NYC is paying dividends. UCLA Anderson has also had a great year on the back of the continued strong performance of the Southern California economy, and close ties to content-focused tech firms such as Netflix. And the nation’s capital now has a school in the top 30. Georgetown McDonough is something of a hidden gem among the top US schools, and the great placement rates and competitive salaries are part of this year’s strong showing.
Further down the table, Houston's Rice University Jones has moved up faster than the price of oil, climbing 19 places to #45, followed by Washington University Olin in St Louis, with a jump of 18 places to make the top 50.
Among European schools, LBS has reasserted it’s position in the top 4 and Oxford Saïd climbed six places to #27. The bagpipes will be playing in Edinburgh to celebrate the business school's rise of 18 places. But elsewhere many top European schools drifted downwards. Cambridge Judge is a sharp illustration of this trend, falling eight places to #13, and in the process losing any FT bragging rights they held over LBS for the past 12 months. Further down Lancaster has fallen a dramatic 28 places.
However, European business schools are not in decline. Quite the contrary. As I recently discussed here on Forbes, a combination of factors have seen demand rocket among the top schools, from Manchester to Milan.
My personal thoughts go out to the team at IE Business School, whose MBA program is absent from this year’s ranking for the first time in nineteen years. Unable to collect a representative sample of the program’s Class of 2014 as part of the alumni survey, the FT took the momentous decision to exclude the Madrid business school, which last year ranked #8. The school continues to innovate and deliver a great MBA experience for students, so I am sure they will be back among the top ranked schools next year. Indeed, not featuring in the FT ranking because of the alumni sample is probably better than falling by 30 places based on poor performance. But their absence in the MBA ranking is sure to hurt their typical top 5 performance in the December 2018 FT European Business School Ranking, and in the Fortuna Ranking of Rankings published each year on Forbes.
In the roller coaster world of business school rankings, there is much to learn from this incident, with potentially far-reaching consequences. In my own work with the WSJ and Times Higher Education on a new business school rankings project, we have spoken with over 200 business schools to get their input and understand their concerns. It has been a fascinating exercise, and the schools have been an incredible source of thoughtful feedback and insight. They are mindful of the impact rankings can have, and rightly expect high standards of transparency and dialogue with the media.
So from Palo Alto and Boston to Fontainebleau and Madrid, there will be the usual mix of cheers and groans that accompany every ranking. But that doesn’t dissuade the 155 business schools that took part in the 2018 edition in the hope to appear among the 100 schools featured in the annual league table. For those that have fallen from the list this year, or who hover invisibly below the cut-off, take hope from eight of the eleven schools that feature from #91 to #100. None of them made the top 100 last year, and I hope they take the time to celebrate this year’s achievement.
Let me end with what I believe to be the real story at the heart of this year’s FT Global MBA Ranking. That story is Asia, and China in particular.
A record number of Asian business schools appear in the 2018 ranking. They are led by Shanghai-based CEIBS, which has climbed 3 places to #8 – the first time a mainland Chinese school has made the world’s top 10 (HKUST ranked #8 in 2013). Renmin University and Fudan University School of Management are re-entries at #39 and #42 respectively, after their absence last year, while Singapore can claim the highest new entry with Singapore Management University bursting into the world’s top 50 at #49. The island city-state also sees National University of Singapore climbing eight places to #18, and Nanyang Business School up to #24.
Can CEIBS go on to claim the #1 spot? They can take inspiration from INSEAD, which ranked #8 in the FT MBA ranking of 2006, and ten years later was at the top. Much like predictions for the Chinese economy, the answer may be ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.
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becc879cd6594a45b10195dda36dc235 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2018/02/28/why-technology-is-the-bright-future-for-business-schools/ | Why Tech Is The Bright Future For Business Schools | Why Tech Is The Bright Future For Business Schools
Technology Is King. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge visits the Data Observatory at Imperial... [+] College on October 6, 2017 in London, UK. (Photo by Tolga Akmen - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The five most valuable companies in the U.S. are all tech firms. At the end of February 2018, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook have a combined market capitalization of over $365 billion. In the last five years they have edged out ExxonMobil, Berkshire Hathaway and General Electric, and Technology has overtaken Financials to become the largest sector in terms of market cap.
Elsewhere in the world, China’s internet conglomerate TenCent and ecommerce giant Alibaba are joined by South Korea’s Samsung as the three most valuable companies in Asia. And in Europe, the continent’s biggest tech companies are found in Scandinavia and Germany, with Sweden’s Spotify joined by Berlin-based ecommerce firm Zalando and Finland’s Supercell, the mobile gaming company famous for Clash of Clans.
The UK is home to the largest cumulative value of $1 billion-plus tech firms in Europe, and despite concerns about the impact of Brexit on hiring, semiconductors firm ARM Holdings increased headcount by 25% last year.
Little wonder then that business schools and their MBA students are forging ever-closer ties to the tech industry. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are among the tech firms hiring in significant numbers at the top schools. At Duke Fuqua, alma mater of Apple CEO Tim Cook, the top 10 recruiters were either tech firms or management consultancies. 20% of the Harvard MBA Class of 2018 secured internships with tech companies, and a record 25% of Northwestern’s Kellogg MBAs accepted positions in the technology industry in 2017.
The leading European business schools are also strengthening ties with the sector. Berlin’s ESMT reports that 46% of last year’s MBA graduates secured a job in technology and e-commerce, facilitated by the specialization track ‘Managing Innovation and Technology’, and through high-tech consulting projects in Germany’s capital that many consider a wonderland for tech startups.
Finland’s Aalto University School of Business is a key partner at the world’s largest startup event, Slush and the Dean of the School of Business Ingmar Björkman explains that the school focuses on the intersection of business, technology and design. “Helsinki is home to one of Europe’s biggest entrepreneurial ecosystems, and the non-hierarchical Finnish style that is part of the learning experience at Aalto EE works very well in the startup culture. ”
It is a collaborative style that might also serve as a successful strategy for Clash of Clans. It is certainly proving very popular for the Executive MBA that the school delivers in South Korea and Singapore, where a more siloed approach to technology and design embraces Nordic thinking to build society and business. Aalto EE is also working with Nokia to retrain staff, and helping firms across sectors to pursue intrapreneurial initiatives that anticipate digital disruption, whether for a paper producing company that must adapt to changing consumption in the paperless office, or a major automobile manufacturer on the future of the electric car.
"Digitalisation and AI are changing the way we all work and live in significant ways,” according to Francisco Veloso, Dean at Imperial College Business School. “Advances in a variety of areas, from biomedical technologies to nanomaterials, are leading to significant changes across many sectors: the way we produce and consume, and in our health and lives. Yet the most significant developments are probably in digitalisation and AI, as they are permeating all areas at a very fast pace, disrupting existing businesses and creating many new ones. This is hopefully a much better world.”
For Veloso, who will be speaking on the Deans Panel at the CentreCourt MBA Festival in London on March 3rd, the role of a business school is not just to generate meaningful research, to educate talented students, or to help start and develop fledgling companies. “A business school needs to be more meaningful. It ought to be, quite simply, to improve society. I believe a business school that is a well-integrated part of a leading STEM-based university is now in a fantastic position to be able to actually achieve that, because it can access and work with some of the critical knowledge that is driving how our societies work today and in the future.”
For MBA applicants who want to combine their business studies with being part of Imperial College, one of the world’s leading universities for science, engineering and medicine, the search for meaning begins with the admissions process. As part of an ongoing series, I am turning the tables on Francisco and his Imperial College Business School admissions colleagues by asking them to answer questions drawn from the essays that they and other top schools ask of MBA applicants.
They have chosen two essay questions adapted from the MBA applications of Duke Fuqua and Stanford GSB, in addition to one from their own application.
5 Random Things About Yourself (inspired by Duke Fuqua)
A royal history - Founded by Prince Albert as the Imperial Institute, Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of Imperial in 1887. Whilst the Queen’s Tower is the only part of the original building that still remains at the heart of our South Kensington campus, our royal connections were further cemented when Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Imperial College Business School’s current home in 2004. Notable alumni - Imperial can count Alexander Fleming, inventor of the ‘Penicillin’ vaccine, writer H.G Wells, Queen musician Brian May and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi among its alumni. Note-able alumna - There’s a good chance that most people in Britain have an Imperial autograph in their pocket. Take a closer look at a UK banknote and you'll spot the signature of Victoria Cleland (Full-Time MBA, 1999) Director of Notes and Chief Cashier at the Bank of England. 310 degrees of data - 130,000,000 pixels on a circular wall of 64 monitors, with 310 degrees of surround vision - that’s what makes our KPMG Data Observatory special. To solve big problems, you need to think differently – and the Observatory lets you see your data from virtually every angle, unlocking new perspectives and inspiring new strategies. With an immense data processing capacity, it is the largest facility of its kind in Europe. Resilient Leaders - Walk to Hanoi and back. That was the challenge we set the Class of 2017 as part of the Resilient Leadership programme, which aims to train students to be mindful of their wellbeing and prepare them for resilience in their careers. Armed with activity trackers, students walked, ran and otherwise exercised their way through 11,468 miles – the equivalent distance from London to Hanoi, Vietnam and back – the destination for the cohort’s Global Experience Week. Though with free membership to the Imperial gym and Hyde Park just up the road, they didn’t have to go far to make up the miles."
What matters most to your MBA students and why? (Inspired by Stanford GSB)
Today’s leaders operate in a technology-driven world. Whatever the scale of the company, sector, or geography, doing business today means leading innovation and harnessing technology. Our students recognise this and want an MBA that equips them to lead in these fast-changing times. What matters most to our students is studying an MBA at the heart of Imperial College London, surrounded by world-class research that’s answering the big scientific questions and tackling global challenges – in natural science, engineering and sustainability, global healthcare and in the data revolution. Our emphasis on collaboration and an interdisciplinary approach are core aspects of the ethos at Imperial and the MBA reflects this. Courses like Data Analytics, Design Thinking, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, FinTech, Climate Change, Clean Technology and High-Tech Strategy harness our cutting edge research and give students a uniquely ‘Imperial’ understanding of the intersection between business and technology. Stand-out elements of the programme include the Entrepreneurship Journey – a group project where students develop a start-up business model, position and articulate their value proposition, prepare to pitch and form a fundraising strategy, and the Imperial Innovation Challenge - a one-week learning laboratory where students apply innovative thinking to complex international issues to generate business solutions that create positive social impact. Imperial is ranked top in the UK for innovation (Reuters World's Most Innovative Universities 2017) and our MBA is rated the world’s 3rd best MBA for Entrepreneurship (Financial Times Global MBA ranking 2018). The innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at Imperial is a powerful one, and our students can engage with peers across the College through initiatives such as MBA Connect - a student-led group of experts who support and mentor start-up businesses created by students from our world-leading science and engineering programmes. Our students want to mix with other intelligent, creative minds from a wide variety of backgrounds. As a STEM-B university we attract an incredible diversity of academic and professional disciplines, that goes far beyond the traditional MBA sectors of finance and consulting – as well as being one of the most international universities in the world and having strong female representation in our cohort (44% in the current cohort, regularly between 41-49% in the past five years). This diversity of thought combined with an emphasis on openness and collaboration, creates the environment our students need to innovate, explore, experiment and think differently to become leaders in a technology-driven world."
And finally, adapted from Imperial’s own MBA application, which asks applicants:
What does Intelligent Business mean for you?
Imperial is Intelligent Business. For us, this captures the rigorous, data-driven and innovative approach that we take at Imperial College Business School to finding new solutions to problems in business and society. As the Business School of a world-leading STEM-B university, innovation is in our DNA. We draw from diverse points of view and explore new ideas and technologies in order to do business in a sustainable way, with long-term benefits. We are pioneers in fields like data analytics, climate finance, hi-tech strategy and financial technology, as well bringing a fresh approach to traditional business areas through our focus on innovation. For our MBA, intelligent business means attracting a diverse cohort of students with the potential not just to succeed in business, but with the drive and ambition to change the world for the better, to create new opportunities and be trailblazers in their fields."
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190fee169b96471660a77d3c5fffd01f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2019/08/14/are-universities-undermining-the-global-graduate-jobs-market/ | Are Universities Undermining The Global Graduate Jobs Market? | Are Universities Undermining The Global Graduate Jobs Market?
How are universities preparing their students for AI and a technological revolution? Nazarbayev University
John Lennon once said that life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans and it seems that something similar might be true when it comes to technology. Fifty years ago when Neil Armstrong put the first human footprint on the moon we all thought that space travel would be routine by now, as unglamorous perhaps as boarding a budget airline in 2019. As yet however, despite the apparent aspirations of President Trump, that prediction has been spectacularly wrong. Instead what we have seen are technological developments that have completely changed the way we live and work in the form of the internet and its resultant communications revolution and, increasingly, perhaps the biggest game changer of them all – artificial intelligence or AI.
How you view AI may differ depending on how much science fiction you have been exposed to and how old you are. I, for example, have enough grey hairs to keep thinking about Skynet from the Terminator films or even HAL 9000 from "2001," but then I’m just naturally paranoid.
However, the demographic that perhaps really needs to be worrying about the rise of AI is the young, because they could be a facing a workplace which looks nothing like the one we are used to today and which might find the input of human beings worryingly redundant.
Putting all the scare-mongering aside, most informed opinion about the future of work is that we need to find ways of embracing the potential of the new technology by developing a symbiotic relationship with it. But how effectively are we doing this?
According to research by the international talent management firm, Alexander Mann Solutions, not very effectively at all. In their recent poll of HR leaders around the globe, only one in four believed that the next generation of professionals are being prepared for the ubiquity of AI. When asked exactly what skills needed to be developed over a third cited adaptability to change, and one in five identified creative skills.
So what are universities doing to prepare their students for this brave new world?
In terms of educational leaders who are treating this challenge with the seriousness it deserves, among the most vocal and persuasive that I’ve come across recently is not based in the "usual suspects" of the USA or Western Europe or even on the Pacific Rim, but in one of the fastest expanding new universities in Central Asia.
“Institutions that succeed will be the ones that connect human and machine, utilizing what makes the... [+] human mind truly unique.” Shigeo Katsu, President of Nazarbayev University Getty Images
Although he has been President of Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan since 2010, Shigeo Katsu, had a 30 year career with the World Bank before that, which seems to allow him to think well outside the conventional educational "box."
His view is that instead of just teaching students in the traditional way, it is the responsibility of universities to help them understand exactly what sort of workplace challenges they are likely to face in the future, how they can work with new technologies – rather than be overtaken by them - and, crucially, what sort of skills and abilities they need to hone to ensure a successful long-term career.
As he neatly puts it, “Institutions will have to think about what sets the human mind apart from machines and how graduate skills can be incorporated within and around roles taken over by technology. Those that succeed will be the ones that connect human and machine, utilizing what makes the human mind truly unique.”
In practical terms this might mean creating what he calls "stackable" programs where students add courses and modules onto their basic degrees and not just from the one university that is providing the core education, but from a range of partner institutions that might be based anywhere around the globe.
With the aim to become a research university of international renown combining education, research and innovation, Nazarbayev University is looking to educate the next generation of leaders in science, medicine, geosciences, public administration and business to contribute to the future development of the country and the wider region. Core programs and research are enhanced by strategic partnerships with top-ranking universities around the world that include Cambridge University, Colorado School of Mines, Duke University, National University of Singapore, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. As a consequence, graduates are not only working for the likes of Microsoft, GE and Schlumberger in Kazakhstan, but also securing positions at Apple, BMW, Unilever and Google in the U.S., Europe and across Asia.
What I think is particularly interesting is Shigeo Katsu’s view that universities might need to rethink the relationship between educator and student completely, and approach it in a much more humble and open-minded way. It will mean accepting that in a world which moves at such dizzying speed as this one, no academic can expect to be at the true cutting edge of their field on a continuous basis because there is too much information available and it goes out of date almost as soon as it appears. Consequently teachers may need to become facilitators, encouraging debate and being open to new ideas and opinions from individuals with less formal experience and learning than themselves. And, let’s face it, any dean, president or vice chancellor trying to manage that transition is going to be facing a daunting challenge.
However, assuming that Nazarbayev University really has hit upon something here, it’s a challenge which cannot be ignored. Because, as Shigeo Katsu points out, if the challenge is not met then the whole international university sector risks undermining the inherent value of its brand. Perhaps even more importantly, universities also risks betraying the students it is supposed to serve by preparing them for jobs and workplaces which shortly will no longer exist.
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e545879e62e36a9df5e7d0991f8b830a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2019/10/14/former-netflix-cpo-donates-millions-to-support-diversity-for-future-tech-leadership/ | Former Netflix CPO Donates Millions To Support Diversity For Future Tech Leadership | Former Netflix CPO Donates Millions To Support Diversity For Future Tech Leadership
Durham University have received a $3.5m donation from graduate Dr Neil Hunt, Former Chief Product ... [+] Officer of Netflix to support diversity and future generations of leadership in technology. Getty
The Forbes annual Billionaire list is an indicator of the companies and people are successful globally, and more generally the industries that are booming. In the first ever Forbes Billionaire list, in 1987, CEOs in real estate, manufacturing and retail dominated the list– with not one technology founder featuring.
Fast-forward to thelatest list, in March this year, and half of the top ten richest billionaires in the world are tied to the technology industry, such as Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. This dramatic change over the last three decades depicts the massive digital transformation that virtually all industries have undergone, and the now importance and value of the technology industry as a whole.
One thing that hasn’t dramatically changed over the last 30 years, however, is the representation of women in this list. Female billionaires are scarce. In the technology industry in fact, not one of the top 50 richest people are women, and only 4 women feature in the top 100 – a dire statistic. This is just a representation of a wider systemic issue in the technology industry, in which, according to a PwC report only 5% of leadership positions in the technology sector are held by women.
Dr Neil Hunt, the former Chief Product Officer of Netflix, graduated with a Computer Science (CS) degree from Durham University, one of the U.K.’s leading Universities in 1985 – two years before the Forbes Billionaire list was created. Working in the technology industry since then, Neil has seen the dramatic boom in technology across all industries, and the expansion of large tech firms – including, of course, Netflix, whose flourishing subscription-based streaming service no longer relies on the U.S. Postal Service for the delivery of DVDs, consuming an estimated 15% of the world’s internet bandwidth streaming video to over 150 million users.
Something Neil Hunt hasn’t witnessed in the tech sector is a commensurate rise in the number of women, and diversity more generally - especially in leadership positions. In fact, he says that, “when recruiting, I found the pool of talent, especially at senior levels, to have been thinned by the adverse experiences of women and minorities throughout their careers.”
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Dr Hunt believes that the issues and reasons behind a lack of diversity in the tech sector begin in high school and university. “Women and minority students are steered away from exciting careers in STEM by subtle (or blatant) cues and signals from society. In fact, women as a percentage of CS graduating classes are only 15% (and falling). This cries out for correction.”
And correcting this is something Neil is actively looking to do. Durham University has just announced that Neil Hunt is donating $3.5 million to his alma mater, to specifically tackle the lack of diversity and representation in technology. Neil’s donation is specifically to the Computer Science department, where Neil spent five years studying himself.
Neil says he’s been fortunate enough in most of his career to work in companies that valued and promoted diversity, bringing great value to their teams. “I have seen the positive effects of encouraging and building confidence in women technical staff.” However, has also seen the negative effects of inappropriate work environments, and the dramatic wins in many dimensions through correcting such environments.
The donation to Durham University is a reflection of the blend of rigorous academics and unusual, but highly effective opportunities to engage with industry that Hunt enjoyed through internships and co-operative research. Neil Hunt believes that it was a key stepping stone to the success in his career, and now wants to maximise opportunities for other students, who are walking in the same path as him 35 years on. In fact, Neil even attributes his education directly to his income, explaining that “the opportunities that come with an education such as mine at Durham, compared to anywhere else I could have studied, add at least 10% or 20% to my lifetime earnings, and I believe I should contribute a big fraction of that back to future students.”
As a successful Durham University Computer Science graduate, Neil Hunt became the first ever Chief ... [+] Product Officer of Netflix in 1999. Hunt is largely credited for the development of this personalised user experience, which is now synonymous with the Netflix brand. (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images). Invision for Television Academy
The Hunt Programme will be used to create new scholarships to support students from low income and underrepresented backgrounds, ensuring talented prospective students can access Durham’s degree programmes regardless of their background or circumstance. The $3.5 million donation expands significantly Durham’s AMI Women in Technology programme - named after Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, CEO of Stemettes - for promising young women in technology, including a focus on careers and internships opportunities for students that Neil Hunt valued so highly during his time at the university.
William Russell, incoming Lord Mayor of London and member of the Campaign Board at Durham University says, “It’s inspiring to see Silicon Valley tech giants like Neil investing generously in the future leaders of this sector, especially here in one of the U.K.’s most distinctive universities which is developing an excellent profile in this space. The Campaign Board working on behalf of Durham hope to see this donation leverage a great future for many women currently underrepresented within this crucial field.”
Stepping away from Netflix two years ago to become Chief Strategy Officer at Curai, an AI-healthcare company, Neil says that “today's high-tech industry is fiercely competitive for talent, and we cannot afford to shut out half or more of the potential from even getting to the starting gate”. Initiatives like the Hunt programme at Durham, are hoping to ensure that technology in the future is a more diverse and balanced industry – and a career path that everyone, regardless of gender or economic background can pursue.
So what advice does Neil Hunt have for any young graduate starting their career in tech? “Seize opportunities,” he says emphatically. “I had no notion of where my career would take me, but if I had to do it over, the only thing I would change would be the alacrity with which I jumped at new possibilities!”
But always seek to understand the broader context of your work. Neil loved the innocent mission of sharing culture through films and series at Netflix, but now truly values the opportunity to bring the world's best healthcare to everyone in his work with Curai.
“Ask ‘Why?’ and ‘What for?’ and ‘What if?’ Technology has potential for great benefit or great harm to society, and in my mind, self-value comes from contributing positively.”
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1768a6bc641863c0ec50005dad0e1da4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2019/12/07/moocs-make-way-for-spocs-in-the-global-education-of-tomorrow/ | MOOCs Make Way For SPOCs In The Global Education Of Tomorrow | MOOCs Make Way For SPOCs In The Global Education Of Tomorrow
"For a serious learner who actually wants to learn and apply knowledge SPOCs provide a much better ... [+] alternative than MOOCs." Ashwin Demra, cofounder and CEO of Emeritus Getty
For most of us, an education from one of the world’s leading universities is inaccessible and unaffordable. The dreams of securing a place at an Ivy League, Imperial College or IITs face the harsh reality of unrivalled selectivity, while the prohibitive cost of pursuing full-time studies at MIT, LBS or NYU limits access to a privileged few.
For much of the last decade, MOOCs were heralded as the way to democratize learning and open up education to the masses. The New York Times declared that 2012 was the “Year of the MOOC,” and universities and business schools rushed to put their faculty in front a camera to record Massive Open Online Courses that anyone could follow—for free. Today, many MOOC providers charge a fee, and offer more than ten thousand courses from nearly a thousand universities. But the number of courses added is slowing, as is the number of new learners.
One of the biggest disappointments of MOOCs has been the low rate at which students completed the courses. In their article “The MOOC Pivot,” Justin Reich and Jose A. Ruipeerez-Valiente from MIT’s Teaching Systems Lab shared an analysis of data from all the courses taught on edX by MIT and Harvard from 2012 to 2018. Only 3.13% of MOOC participants completed their courses in 2017/18, down from 6% in 2014/15, and this despite major investment in course development and learning research.
But the year ahead heralds a new decade, and with it SPOCs from players who are rethinking the role that online pedagogy can play to bring the world’s most reputable universities to global markets. Among them is Emeritus, co-founded by Harvard Business School MBA, Ashwin Damera in collaboration with the executive education divisions of MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. Recently named the “EdTech Company of the Year” by Entrepreneur Magazine, Emeritus secured $40 million in Series C funding in January 2019 led by Sequoia India and Bertelsmann and is growing—fast.
The company is adding to the list of leading universities and business school partners to now include UC Berkeley, NYU and the University of Cambridge, and in three years has gone from offering seven courses for 450 students to offering 50 courses to almost 30,000 students from over 80 countries. With offices across Asia and North America, Emeritus is reaching a global audience, with 70% of enrollments from outside the U.S. And growth is set to boom with courses offered not only in English, but also in Spanish and Portuguese and soon in Chinese.
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“Latin America, where we offer courses in Spanish and Portuguese comprises 15% of our enrolment,” explains Ashwin Damera. “We believe China will also get to that number based on courses delivered in Mandarin. We hope to reach 500,000 participants in 5 years, based on our mission is to make high quality education more accessible and affordable.”
With INSEAD MBA Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, the founders of Emeritus and its sister company Eruditus Executive Education were beneficiaries of high quality education that transformed their own lives. By collaborating with top ranked universities and their faculty, they are committed to providing an affordable education where learning matters, and where outcomes matter. And it is the focus on SPOCs—Small Private Online Courses—rather than MOOCs that is making the difference to learning outcomes. In 2019, the average online course completion rate at Emeritus is over 80%, with weekly ratings average of 4.5/5. And 88% of students saying the course met their learning outcomes.
Why are SPOCS more compelling than MOOCs? For Damera the much higher learning outcomes speak for themselves. “For a serious learner who actually wants to learn and apply knowledge SPOCs provide a much better alternative than MOOCs. If someone just wanted to browse a content library, and not really learn, a MOOC could suffice.”
Like brick-and-mortar universities and business schools, SPOCs work with faculty and have classmates interacting with one another in small groups, on forum discussions, and in live sessions with world class faculty. “By following a cohort based learning approach, we allow participants to learn socially, from each other and from the faculty. They get grading and feedback and even career services. The courses are designed with a mix on theory and application. Its no wonder that students learn a lot and enjoy the learning journey.
The focus on Small SPOCs versus Massive MOOCs resonates with the leading institutions that have partnered with Emeritus. For Joshua Kim, Director of Digital Learning Initiatives at the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL), the Emeritus’ business model designs its processes around the goals and values of the schools in which they collaborate. “In the case of Dartmouth College, our focus is completely around providing learners with an intimate, rigorous, and immersive educational experience. Any educational effort, regardless of the modality in which it occurs, needs to fully align with the brand promise of a Dartmouth education.”
SPOCs are filling a need for additional training, especially when it comes to new technology many Emeritus programs are related to managing artificial intelligence, blockchain, and Data Science topics. Dartmouth has launched a non-degree professional certificate in Applied Data Science in partnership with Emeritus. For Kim this is a change to explore how the Dartmouth philosophy of education may translate into opportunities for learners who are unable to participate in traditional (and mostly campus-based) degree programs. “At Dartmouth, we believe that the core capabilities of creating the learning experience can never be outsourced. For us, partnering with Emeritus is a way to build up our internal capacities and to learn new things in the realm of digital educational delivery.”
Many Emeritus SPOCs are related to new technologies, such as managing artificial intelligence, blockchain, and Data Science topics. For Ashwin Damera, curriculum design plays a key role to achieve such high completion rates. “Our courses are designed keeping in mind working professionals who have many demands on their time. Hence we try to restrict weekly learning effort to 4-5 hours. We ensure the course concepts can be applied to the participant’s current role, industry and career goals. Hence this is very relevant and ready to use knowledge.”
Mike Rielly, CEO of UC Berkeley Executive Education at the Haas School of Business believes that short-form certificate programs offer an ideal opportunity to support continuous learning and career advancement that complements, but does not replace, the traditional campus-based two year business education model. “At Berkeley Haas, we have the unique opportunity to directly impact business and society through learning development and programs that span undergraduate, graduate, alumni and executive levels. It is a core value built into our Berkeley Haas Defining Leadership Principals – Students Always! We are firm believers that a learning journey never ends, we can always be better, acquire new skills and mindsets, and innovate ourselves as much as we aim to innovate our organizations, industries and society.”
Dartmouth’s Joshua Kim believes that short-form certificate and other non-degree programs will not substitute for traditional degree granting educational programs at top colleges and universities. “These alternative education credentials will complement degree programs. The risk, I think, is to regional institutions that rely on master’s programs to help fund their residential undergraduate programs. Almost all the growth in higher education over the past couple of decades has been at the master’s level. Demographic trends will make it even more difficult for schools, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, to attract new undergraduates. The worry is that working adults will choose to invest in alternative credential online programs from schools with national or international brand recognition, as opposed to master’s degrees at institutions with a regional brand. I expect that the growth of alternative credential online programs from top 50 universities will push those in the top 500 to accelerate the shift in master’s degree programs away from high-priced residential programs, and towards new lower-cost online degree offerings.”
At a time when immigration policies are making it more difficult to recruit international students, and the ROI of graduate programs are top of mind with applicants, SPOCs that connect top universities and business schools with emerging markets and international students could be the big edtech story of the coming decade. If Ashwin Damera completes 80% of his own development goals for Emeritus, and maintains a 4.5/5 ratings average from investors, a big part of that story might be his.
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8aa9733edc1d82ac1f7a9e192a597151 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2020/05/05/seven-ways-to-make-business-truly-sustainable-post-covid/?sh=5fa36aea2ce1 | Seven Ways To Make Business Truly Sustainable Post-COVID | Seven Ways To Make Business Truly Sustainable Post-COVID
Whether we emerge into a better future will depend on how many leaders have the vision – and the ... [+] courage - to make sustainable business a reality Getty
We humans are a spectacularly resilient species. Wars, famines, plagues, economic crashes – we dust ourselves off and press on. So we will get beyond COVID-19. But is it too much to hope that, devastating as the virus’s effects are proving, our survival could lead on to a better world?
We’re already seeing some sources of optimism amidst the general gloom. A study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, for example, suggests that in April there may have been as many as 11,000 fewer deaths from the effects of pollution in Europe compared to the same month last year. If something similar is happening in major centres of pollution in Asia and elsewhere then the number of lives actually saved during the pandemic could be substantial.
However history tells us that things don’t just get better on their own. We have to take action. So what do specialists in sustainability in the world’s business school community think that companies should do once the crisis begins to abate to make a better world a reality?
#1 Flatten the curve– Wolf Ketter, Professor of Information Systems for Sustainability and Director of the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne believes that COVID-19 is a classic example of ‘demand congestion’ with too many patients stretching hospital capacity to breaking point. And tackling it has called for a flattening of the curve of demand to give health systems the time and space to manoeuvre. He hopes that the ways this is being achieved might inspire key industries, such as the utilities, to meet their own demand challenges in the future. “In the energy transition, we’ll need to flatten the curve differently in different places” he says. “Each utility provider will need to react quickly to peaks in demand in their unique markets. Such intricate measures will require a machine-to-machine economy to manage interrelated systems and artificial intelligence to help individuals easily respond to immediate market circumstances. Fortunately, ‘energy flexibility’ businesses are already developing innovative approaches to flatten the curve. AI and machine learning will become a sleepless task force protecting a publicly-critical service.”
#2 Engage with the local community at a grass roots level- “There are clear lessons in the COVID-19 crisis on how to contribute to create societies that are economically, socially and environmentally healthy, stable and resilient,” says Mary Martin, a senior policy fellow at LSE and director at UN Business and Human Security Initiative, LSE IDEAS. “However, when discussing the implications for sustainable business from the pandemic, we must look further than simply targeting individual goals such as minimising emissions or even improving healthcare. Supporting human security in all its diversity, working with communities and individuals to protect people and address a mosaic of issues that affect their lives, must become a core facet of corporations’ business models. Companies should see local communities as partners in achieving human security, sustainability and resilience. Working at a local level to identify specific needs, capture local knowledge and generate community solutions, will improve companies’ standing in the eyes of ordinary people and be fundamental in winning the fight for a happier world and a healthy environment.”
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#3 Realise the global impact of your actions– According to Nicolas Béfort, assistant professor at NEOMA Business School and member of the Chair in Industrial Bioeconomy, the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing just how considerable an economic impact an ecological crisis can create. And it’s also showing just how inter-connected everything is in this age of globalisation. “The virus is of biological origin,” he says “but it’s the destruction of natural habitats that is behind its transmission of to human beings. And the international division of labour is massively accelerating the spread of the virus and the intensity of the pandemic. The just-in-time organisation of production makes value chains very sensitive to the slightest disruption. This sensitivity is heightened by the accumulation of private debt, which undermines the resilience of the system because the prospect of a default anywhere in the value chain is likely to generate an economic crisis. Economic models are therefore oriented towards the prospect of the strongest possible growth. Furthermore, if European states can boast a relatively low contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to China, it’s only because of the relocation of polluting industries in Asia and the exportation of our GHG emissions. Finally, the unsustainable intensity of air and maritime traffic increases human contacts (and therefore transmission vectors) and GHG emissions that contribute to global pollution. This crisis therefore illustrates the need to rethink production, trade and consumption models in the direction of sufficiency, instead of continuous growth.”
#4 Empower employees to make them happier and more productive – Widespread remote working, which many organisations have been experimenting with for several years has suddenly become an imperative. And it may mean that, once some form of normality returns, the workplace may never look the same again. But Pascale Peters, Professor of Strategic Human Resource Management at Nyenrode Business University in The Netherlands, warns that getting the best out of talent in this new environment may call for a significant change in management thinking. “Working from home has the potential to make people both happy and productive in the context of virtual working.” But this only seems to happen in practice if employees feel genuinely empowered. And his research suggests that, while organisations may think they have empowering systems in place, the results don’t always back this up. What appears to be needed is the good, old-fashioned human touch. “Effective home-based working calls for the building of trusting relationships characterised by supportive leadership, mutual support, and shared commitment.”
#5 Don’t try to ‘go it alone’ to solve difficult problems – A clear lesson of the pandemic has been the need to pool as many relevant resources as possible to find ways to tackle a major challenge. And, according to Michael Butler, Professor of Organisational Analysis and Development at Aston Business School in the UK, it’s a lesson that the commercial sector should be taking careful note of. “Collaboration is a fruitful way forward because it brings together inter-disciplinary experts who collectively have creative insight to identify solutions,” he says. However, his research shows that making it work requires participative and authentic leadership. And it’s possible that the response to COVID-19 could accelerate the development and spread of new collaborative models. “Open strategy could significantly change innovation processes because within it businesses acknowledge what they do not know, especially during uncertainty, and so reach out to various stakeholders who help with supply chain inputs to decision making and future preparedness. But key to successful collaboration is a combination of factors, leading change, but also an inclusive and productive culture which needs to be underpinned by revised reward systems and promotion paths to embed partnership.”
#6 Don’t make profit your sole priority– Is it perhaps time to stop chasing every buck, no matter the collateral damage that might cause? Professor Konstantinos Stathopoulos, Chair in Accounting and Finance at Alliance Manchester Business School certainly seems to think so. “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of governments in protecting their citizens and the resources they need to do so effectively,” he says. “Fair and balanced corporate taxation has a primary role to play in ensuring sufficient public resources in the future. So firms should act in a socially responsible way by paying their taxes during normal times as opposed to hiring armies of ‘tax advisors’ to mitigate tax liabilities.” However, being a good corporate citizen is not enough. He also believes that we might need to rethink a key business model that has become so popular and widespread since the 1980s. “Running a lean organisation based on ‘just in time’ operational principles and their associated financial strategies is the profit maximising thing to do. However, this leaves firms exposed to and unable to react to significant market volatility. Even though it’s impossible for most firms to set aside sufficient resources to deal with a major crisis, having some financial slack would allow them to insulate key stakeholders, such as employees, customers and suppliers, for a period of time from the impact of a crisis. The strengthening of the capital requirements in the financial sector post-financial crisis had exactly this principle in mind. However, this mentality simply isn’t prevalent in other sectors.” Perhaps now it’s time it was.
#7 Embrace ‘green capitalism– At Belgium’s Vlerick Business School David Veredas, Professor of Financial Markets, believes that the post-pandemic world might need, not just a rethink of how capitalism operates, but what capitalism is actually for. “A growing number of people understand that the original raison d’être of capitalism was to improve the lives of all stakeholders of a corporation, not only shareholders,” he says. “And COVID-19 represents an opportunity to come back to these origins. A good example of stakeholder capitalism is the cooperative, whereby stakeholders are also shareholders. In Europe we have some really good examples of successful companies that, in some sense, follow the cooperative system. A well-known case in Belgium is the financial conglomerate KBC which has a stable core of shareholders who are local Flemish financial and rural cooperatives. And they’ve been at the heart of the transformation of the region from a rural economy to one of the most advanced and entrepreneurial areas of Europe, and with one of the best education systems in the world.”
Like all great crises, this one will come to an end. And whether we emerge into a better, more sustainable future will depend on how many business leaders have the vision – and the courage - to follow at least some of the advice these experts offer. For all of our sakes, let’s hope there are plenty of them.
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975f397e1b802299b53456099f77b651 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2020/06/22/can-international-higher-education-survive-covid-19/ | Can International Higher Education Survive Covid-19? | Can International Higher Education Survive Covid-19?
“This pandemic offers an opportunity to reimagine international education and partnerships that span ... [+] borders” - Joanna Newman, Chief Executive and Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Getty
According to UNESCO there were over 5.3 million international students in 2017, up from 2 million in 2000. More than half of these were enrolled in educational programs in six countries: USA, UK, Australia, France, Germany and the Russian Federation. The global higher education market has become a huge industry that was valued at USD 65.4 billion in 2019, and projected to reach USD 117.95 billion by 2027.
But in a world where students either cannot – or will not – leave their home country due to health concerns – can such startling growth continue?
Talking to those in the front-line of the sector around the world, there is confidence the internationalisation of education will continue, but that it will almost certainly look different as both students and institutions adapt to a dramatic change in circumstances.
“I think there will be a real sea-change in terms of global mobility across the board with people making greater use of video conferencing and on-line collaboration platforms for international dealings”, says Simon Mercado, Dean of the London campus of ESCP Business School, the world’s first business school founded in France 1819 and committed to a multicultural learning approach with additional campuses in Germany, UK, Spain, Italy and Poland. “There will be definite echoes of this in the education sector where we will see greater evidence of virtual mobility for both staff and students and a more responsible approach to the cross-border movement of persons and services. I'm not talking about a paradigm shift where people regard physical mobility as something from an earlier era, but I do expect a significant rebalancing.”
And some in the sector even seem to believe that this re-setting will present not just challenges, but also significant opportunities.
“This pandemic offers an opportunity to reimagine international education and partnerships that span borders,” Joanna Newman, Chief Executive and Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), which represents more than 500 institutions across 50 countries.
“COVID-19 has given us more scope than ever before for collaboration – the necessary move to online, at such short notice, has prompted innovation and created the potential for more access and inclusion in international education. Universities are still adapting but the technology we’re using now can be used to expand access to education. This doesn’t mean that once this is over, education should be purely online, but blended learning can enable universities in developing countries, in particular, to offer quality teaching at scale. This could mean that international education will be much more inclusive and could ultimately lead to more partnerships between institutions in developed and developing countries, to share content and resources.”
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Joanna Newman suggests that the students of 2021 could have the best of both worlds, benefitting from institutions mastering the art of virtual learning, but with the opportunity to still have the campus experience. However she acknowledges that actually achieving this will entail careful planning and sustained effort. “It is now more important than ever to support student learning and discovery – and this is an undeniable challenge as institutions switch to online teaching and upskill their staff.”
The shift in focus to online delivery of education since the beginning of the pandemic may be proving so successful, not just because it is so blatantly necessary in an era of lockdowns, but because it may also be providing what a significant proportion of students were already seeking.
“Thanks to Covid-19, student demand for online offerings will likely grow,” says Mills Soko, Professor in International Business & Strategy at Wits Business School in South Africa. “However, even before the onset of the pandemic a number of institutions were already experiencing plummeting enrolment figures for campus-based programmes and corresponding growth in registration for online courses. Likewise, geopolitical factors and instability in some parts of the world, as well as the introduction or tightening of restrictive immigration policies and border controls were making an impact on international mobility in higher education.” So perhaps, rather than inflicting online teaching on an unwilling audience, what the pandemic has actually done is accelerate a form of delivery which already made increasing sense to many in the global student community.
However, if international education is to move effectively to a blended model involving both online and physical campuses it is not just teaching challenges which need to be considered and met. “We know that teaching online, even with all the modern tools available, can be difficult,” says Loretta O’Donnell, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan.“However, we also know that creating online assessments is even more challenging.”
“Some of our colleagues have taken this opportunity to reconsider and recalibrate assessment. In our Department of Sociology and Anthropology, for instance, student capstone projects were not assessed by closed book examinations. All students developed a unique research project and to illustrate their findings, some narrated short videos, while others created research posters to showcase their approach to sampling, data collection, data analysis and preliminary research findings. All of them had to demonstrate that they were developing the skills of independent researchers.”
And she also believes that the same flexibility and innovative approach is likely to be needed in the all-important field of research itself.
“Our faculty and our students are deeply committed to planning, executing and disseminating original research – it’s central to Nazarbayev University’s role as a research-intensive university. But the travel restrictions and lockdown regulations for students, faculty, visitors and strategic partners mean we have had limited access to research laboratories. We are therefore developing a system to allow highly measured and careful laboratory access, with strict social distancing and hygiene measures in place. Our faculty, our students and research collaborators, both here in Kazakhstan and abroad, are working on safe and creative solutions to pursue our research mission.”
Of the 1.1 million foreign students studying in the U.S. in 2018, 34% of them came from China alone, representing USD 11 billion in fees. But for Joshua Kobb, Vice Dean at Zhejiang University International Business School in Haining, a growing number are looking for alternative options, including study destinations much closer to home.
“Over the last several years trends in student mobility have been changing. The US, while still the largest destination for foreign students, has seen the rate of increase in foreign students fall since 2014. As a result, some institutions have seen tuition revenue drop by more than 25%. With the global rise of nationalism and protectionism, students have been adjusting their choice of destinations, favoring host countries with perceived greater safety and better post-study job opportunities.
Kobb points to a recent survey where 87% of high school college counselors in China reported students and parents are now reconsidering plans for studying in the U.S.
"The new normal in higher education for Post-Covid is digital. This is true for both the wider ... [+] university and specifically for management education, both globally and in China" - Joshua Kobb, Vice Dean at Zhejian Univeristy International Business School Zhejiang University
“The COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating these trends. In the immediate-term, outbound students will experience difficulties in obtaining visas. In the medium-term, outbound students will explore destinations closer to home, as well as foreign collaborative programs in their home countries.”
As a consequence Joshua Kobb believes that a strategy of overseas campuses and partnerships can make sense for universities who rely on international student tuition. “In the new normal, faced with looming structural declines in international student enrollments and subsequent loss of tuition revenue, the pursuit of an offensive delocalization strategy makes sense for higher education. This translates into the establishment of overseas campuses, allowing institutions to attract and serve international students more effectively by creating market proximity and reducing barriers to a U.S. education.”
And for institutions such as Zhejiang University, technology will drive other flexible learning solutions whereby students combine the face to face contact they still want in a local classroom with hybrid online learning with other colleges and programs.
The unprecedented challenges presented by Covid-19 will not be dealt with successfully by any one, individual player, but by the whole sector coming together in mutually supportive networks. As Ian Rowlands, a professor at Canada’s University of Waterloo currently on sabbatical with the ACU, points out, “In a relatively short period of time, institutions have developed new and improved ways of connecting with their students online. However, they now build upon those achievements in the interests of the whole of international education, working with their partners internationally to connect classrooms and curricula in new and creative ways, impacting numerous students. In meaningful partnerships, institutions have the potential to support, not just their own, but everyone’s ‘internationalisation at home’ agendas.”
Never has the adage that we are stronger together had such real meaning for the international education community than now.
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6e947bc1716953c2361f26e2c4581e70 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattufford/2018/06/06/brian-schottenheimer-seahawks-offensive-coordinator-history/ | What Can Brian Schottenheimer's History Tell Us About The 2018 Seahawks? | What Can Brian Schottenheimer's History Tell Us About The 2018 Seahawks?
Brian Schottenheimer, shown here ordering a reuben. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
Since the Seahawks' back-to-back Super Bowl appearances three years ago, Seattle's ability to run the ball has evaporated. The most obvious reason has been the offensive line, which degraded from an exodus of talent and the consistent failure to develop draft picks into viable starters. (Of the line that started the Super Bowl XLVIII victory, four players were allowed to leave in free agency, and the fifth was traded away).
Running back injuries have also played a key role: Marshawn Lynch's final year with the team was spent mostly on the sideline; Lynch's 2015 replacement, rookie Thomas Rawls, shined until his season ended with a broken ankle; 2016 third-round draft pick C.J. Prosise has been injured more often than not; and 2017's opening day starter, Chris Carson, lasted just a month before a broken ankle ended his season.
Fixing the running game has been the focus of the team's offseason. The Seahawks replaced offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and offensive line coach Tom Cable with Brian Schottenheimer and Mike Solari. They used their first-round draft pick on running back Rashaad Penny. And with reclamation project D.J. Fluker the only notable addition to the line, the men in the trenches have the best combination of talent, experience and continuity the Seahawks have seen since Lynch's heyday.
Pete Carroll has cited Schottenheimer's experience with the run-first Jets of 2009-10 as part of getting back to the more physical style of play Carroll espouses. And Schottenheimer has been adamant in the team's rededication to the run, saying last week:
I think the biggest thing with the running game is it starts with the guys up front. That physical mindset of ‘Hey, we’re going to control the line of scrimmage.’ [...] We’ve always been the best at places I’ve been when we were able to run the football when people knew we were going to run it. We could throw the football when people knew we were going to throw it. That just gives you that balance you need to be successful.
Carroll and Schottenheimer both seem to have a judiciously rosy view of Schottenheimer's résumé. In nine seasons as an offensive coordinator for an NFL team (Jets 2006-11, Rams 2012-14), Schottenheimer has never coached an offense that finished in the top third of the NFL in offensive DVOA. He has a credible claim to running a successful running game from 2008 to 2010, but Seahawks fans can be justifiably concerned that the brightest spot on their offensive coordinator's résumé is from a decade ago.
The chart below is an attempt to show how Schottenheimer's NFL offenses have performed in the running game and overall compared with the rest of the league. Each team's head coach, quarterback and top rusher are included to provide some context. All numbers represent the team's NFL rank at the end of the season unless otherwise noted.
Open image in a new tab for detail. Traditional stats via Pro Football Reference. DVOA calculated by... [+] Football Outsiders Matt Ufford
It's not an encouraging snapshot; the median DVOA ranking of a Schottenheimer offense is 21st out of 32.
Nevertheless, context matters. The most talented quarterback Schottenheimer has ever worked with was late-career Brett Favre in the year the Hall of Famer sent pictures of his penis to a Jets employee; second place is either Chad Pennington or Sam Bradford. Taking into account the degraded abilities of Favre in 2008, Russell Wilson is easily the most capable quarterback Schottenheimer has ever had as an offensive coordinator.
The same is true of Schottenheimer's head coaches: Eric Mangini is widely regarded as one of the worst head coaches in NFL history, Rex Ryan's lively quotes generally exceeded his teams' abilities, and Jeff Fisher is synonymous with a .500 record. Whatever your quibbles with Pete Carroll may be, he's a visionary by comparison.
Still, there is a chicken-or-egg quality to Schottenheimer's offenses: Were they held back by a lack of head coaching vision and talent under center, or should we fault Schottenheimer for not elevating the players with his scheme? Should we credit him for stitching together a potent running game despite Mark Sanchez starting at quarterback, or is he to blame for not developing Sanchez? (The answer can be "yes" to all of these questions.)
The forecast for 2018 doesn't get much clearer by widening the analysis to include Schottenheimer's other coaching experience. As the offensive coordinator for the 2015 Georgia Bulldogs, he had a trio of running backs who all averaged more than five yards per carry: Sony Michel (5.2), Nick Chubb (8.1) and Keith Marshall (5.1). Georgia, however, finished sixth in the SEC in rushing yards, and ninth in the SEC in scoring (every team in the SEC West scored more points per game).
Again, there are extenuating circumstances: The Bulldogs were averaging 38 points per game when Chubb suffered a devastating knee injury, and neither the offensive line nor Michel — then only a sophomore — could carry the offense in his stead. Transfer quarterback Greyson Lambert posted good numbers for the season (63.5% completion rate, 7.7 yards per attempt, 12 touchdowns to two interceptions), but that doesn't tell the full story. As SB Nation's Bill Connelly wrote to me, "When the running game disappeared, it became very clear, very quickly, that UGA indeed didn’t have a QB."
Through four games, Georgia enjoyed a 76% completion rate and averaged 10.8 yards per throw. Over the final nine games, those number fell to 59% and 6.5. Head coach Mark Richt lost his job before the season ended, and Schottenheimer announced his departure a few weeks before Georgia's bowl game (a 24-17 victory over Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl). Connelly's assessment: "There was no creativity and no real Plan B" after Chubb went down.
More recently, Schottenheimer served as the Colts' quarterback coach. In Schottenheimer's first season, 2016, Andrew Luck posted career highs in yards per attempt (7.8) and completion percentage (.635) despite limited practice because of injury. Last season, with Luck sidelined, the Colts had one of the worst offenses in the league, but Jacoby Brissett exceeded expectations. His numbers (58.8% pass completion, 3098 yards, 13 touchdowns) don't leap off the page, but a 1.5% interception rate is remarkably low for a former third-stringer with one career start entering the season. It should be noted, too, that the Colts acquired Brissett on Sept. 3, just days before the season began. Schottenheimer calls himself a "quarterbacks guy," and his recent track record backs that up. (Earlier in his career, he also served as the quarterbacks coach in Washington and San Diego under his father, Marty Schottenheimer. Unsurprisingly, he got better results from Drew Brees than he did from Jeff George and Tony Banks.)
Will anyone label Brian Schottenheimer an offensive genius in the coming season? It's unlikely. But given an improvement in the Seahawks' offensive line play (it would be hard to be worse than it was in 2017) and the most effective quarterback Schottenheimer has ever had as a coordinator, the floor is probably higher than history would otherwise suggest. The ceiling, though, will depend on Schottenheimer's creativity, and for that Seahawks fans may have to hunch.
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89d4cf134d5deb6304377700198dad8b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattufford/2018/06/11/seattle-seahawks-2018-analytics-prediction/ | Analytics: Will The Seahawks Be Better Or Worse In 2018? | Analytics: Will The Seahawks Be Better Or Worse In 2018?
Yes, this is a metaphor for the coming season. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
The Seahawks' 2017 season was largely defined by an inept offensive line (43 sacks allowed, only 1 rushing touchdown by a running back) and season-ending injuries to star defensive players Cliff Avril, Kam Chancellor, and Richard Sherman. Despite the frustrations, the Seahawks finished 9-7 and were in playoff contention until Week 17. Still, it ended a five-year streak in which Pete Carroll's squad won at least one playoff game. So, is Seattle a fading contender, or was 2017 an unlucky blip? Analytics may shed some light on the answer.
Advanced statistics aren't a perfect crystal ball, but they can provide insight into the aspects of football that rely on dumb, cruel luck. And while dumb, cruel luck can benefit (or hurt) teams in consecutive years, mathematics says that it's not supposed to. Factors like injuries, fumble luck, the difference between a team's win total and its Pythagorean wins, and a team's record in one-score games are all subject to regression. (If some of this sounds familiar, ESPN's Bill Barnwell uses many of these to predict the NFL teams likely to improve or decline each year.)
Point Differential / Pythagorean Wins
Over the course of a season, point differential offers a clearer indication of a team's quality than its win-loss record. Any team can lose a heartbreaker on a 53-yard field goal, but the teams that are regularly ahead by two scores in the fourth quarter tend to be better than the ones subject to those last-second field goal attempts. Put another way: Any team can beat the Browns, but the teams that beat them by 30 tend to be better than the ones who beat them by three.
Pythagorean projection calculates how many games a team "should" win judging by its point differential. If a team scored the same number of points as its opponents over the course of a season, it would have eight Pythagorean wins. If that same team managed to go 12-4, though, we would consider it lucky. Outperforming Pythagorean expectation by four wins is unlikely to happen two years in a row; thus, we could expect such a team to regress the following year.
The bittersweet news for the Seahawks is that they were almost exactly as mediocre in 2017 as their point differential would suggest: They finished +32 for the season, which translates to a 8.9 Pythagorean wins, an accurate reflection of their 9-7 record. According to this model, they are poised for neither a step forward nor a step back.
Record in Games Decided by One Score or Less
When your team's in a close game, you want an elite quarterback, a stingy defense, and a Hall of Fame coach. Unfortunately, close games are a grab bag of random chance. Yes, you want Tom Brady under center and Bill Belichick on the sideline, but that legendary pairing is 5-3 across eight Super Bowls that were decided by a single score. Tweak the result of a handful of plays — a helmet catch, a goal-line interception, last-second field goals — and the Brady/Belichick Pats could be 0-8 or 8-0 in Super Bowls.
Two plays after this incredible catch, the Seahawks scored the game-winning touchdown. DO NOT FACT... [+] CHECK. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images)
All teams — the great ones and the bad — are subject to the capricious nature of close games. Given a long enough timeline, all teams will bend toward a .500 record in games decided by eight points or fewer. Therefore, a team that goes, say, 8-1 in one-score games isn't coached to "know how to win," it's merely primed for regression the following season.
As with Pythagorean expectation, the Seahawks were hardly an outlier, going 4-6 in one-score games. Perhaps this suggests a slight step forward in 2018, but the scales of luck were close to even last year: two of the one-score games (road tilts at Tennessee and Jacksonville) were blowouts that the Seahawks salvaged with comeback attempts that were ultimately cosmetic. And for every painful home loss that slipped away (Washington, Atlanta), they eked out an early-season divisional result (the 12-9 rock fight hosting the 49ers, and the 16-10 victory in Los Angeles in which the Rams had 5 turnovers and dropped a game-winning touchdown). The Seahawks may need more luck in 2018, but they’re not due much more than they got in 2017.
Strength of Schedule
The Seahawks had an SOS of -.24 in 2017, the 17th-toughest slate in the league. Unfortunately, it was the second-easiest schedule in the NFC — the NFL's present power imbalance means that most AFC teams face an easier schedule than most NFC teams.
Seattle's opponents in 2018 project to be more daunting. After facing the NFC East and AFC South in 2017 — arguably the worst division in each conference, even with Jacksonville's rise and DeShaun Watson's pyrotechnics for the Texans — the Seahawks will face the NFC North and AFC West this fall. The Vikings and Packers are Super Bowl contenders, and the one benefit of facing the AFC West — shorter distances for road games — will be erased when the Seahawks travel to London instead of Oakland to face the Raiders. And, as always, the Seahawks will have two games apiece against their NFC West foes, including the ascendant 49ers and a Rams team all-in on a championship run.
It's unsurprising, then, that ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) — a projection model that incorporates Las Vegas win projections, previous performance, and roster turnover — estimates that the Seahawks will have the seventh-most difficult schedule in 2018. (FPI gives Seattle a 31% chance of making the playoffs). In short, the schedule offers no reprieve, only a more difficult road than what came before.
Fumble Luck
Forcing fumbles can be coached into a defense, just as some running backs can be better at holding on to the football. But once the ball is on the turf, it comes down to luck, and the teams that recover a high percentage of fumbles one year decline the next. This, too, should concern Seahawks fans: the team recovered 60% of fumbles (13 of 18 on offense, 11 of 22 on defense), which was the fifth-highest rate in the league. The year before, the Seahawks recovered 58.5% of fumbles, fourth-best in the league. (Note: Fumble stats are inconsistent from site to site. These numbers are from NFL.com.)
It is tempting to credit the speed and instincts of players like Bobby Wagner and Earl Thomas for this run of good fortune, or to point out Russell Wilson's history as a baseball infielder (After all, Wilson fumbled six times as a runner in 2017, and none of them were recovered by the opponent). But the reality is that playing a sport with an oblong ball lends to random bounces, and the Seahawks are likely to see a lower percentage of lucky ones in 2018.
Related: Extend Earl Thomas. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Injuries
Organizations attempt to minimize injuries through a variety of ways: Minimizing contact in practice during the season, employing forward-thinking medical staffs, monitoring rest and recovery, et cetera. Ultimately, though, football's violence impacts every team, and the ones that make it to the playoffs are often the ones whose most important players have stayed healthiest.
The most common measure for this is man-games lost, which totals the number of games missed by players over the course of the season. Of course, not all NFL players are equal — losing a starting quarterback is a bigger setback than losing a special teams gunner — so a more accurate metric of injuries' impact is Football Outsiders' Adjusted Games Lost (AGL), which weights different positions according to their importance and also accounts for players who take the field while being listed on the injury report.
By AGL, the Seahawks finished 2017 as the 22nd healthiest team in the NFL, which suggests that they should be somewhat healthier in 2018. What stands to benefit the Seahawks the most, though, may be another team's injury luck: The Rams have finished the last two seasons ranked first in AGL. It's perhaps macabre to consider, and certainly not something to root for, but the division favorites almost certainly won't be as healthy as they have been for the last two years.
Conclusion
In 2017, the Seahawks won as many games as their point differential suggested they should have won. Their record in one-score games was perhaps slightly unlucky. In 2018, Seattle projects to face a stronger slate of opponents and recover a lower percentage of fumbles. They should, however, be a healthier team while facing those drawbacks.
Overall, the data suggests that the Seahawks are not great candidates to improve or decline much in 2018. This doesn't mean that they can't or won't be a playoff team, but they may need an outlier of luck to get there.
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f42dd172e39af6489334653926190de3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattufford/2018/07/31/seahawks-slow-starts-terrible-first-quarter/ | A Closer Look At The Slow Starts That Doomed The Seahawks In 2017 | A Closer Look At The Slow Starts That Doomed The Seahawks In 2017
Pete Carroll stands downwind from Seattle's first-quarter offense. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty... [+] Images)
In a game as complex as football, it's difficult to isolate problems. Player health and talent, unit cohesion, scheme, and the intellect and leadership of various coaches all commingle in the athletic stew we see on Sundays. And as with a stew, all of the ingredients are affected by the others, often making it difficult to identify individual flavors. "What a savory overtime loss! I'm getting plenty of clock management issues, some costly penalties, and ... is that cardamom?"
Such is the case with the 2017 Seahawks. If you put on rose-colored glasses and squint, you'll see a 9-7 team that narrowly missed the playoffs for the first time in six years due to a couple of missed field goals in close home games, a team that won a thrilling shootout against the Texans and knocked off the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles, at the time a 10-1 squad that still had Carson Wentz under center.
But despite the MVP-caliber heroics of Russell Wilson, the 2017 Seahawks were a critically flawed relative to the identity Pete Carroll has always espoused. The running game was dead on arrival, injuries depleted the defense of star players, and a Seahawks team famous for peaking in December wheezed to a 1-3 finish.
Rather than peaking late in the season, the Seahawks peaked late in individual games: Wilson was spectacular in the 4th quarter in 2017, throwing only one interception to 19 touchdowns — ten more than any other quarterback in the final period — and also leading the league in fourth-quarter completion percentage, yards, and yards per attempt.
But also: He needed to be that good, because the Seahawks offense was so woeful early in the game. A look back at the team's quarter-by-quarter scoring in 2017 reveals some truly horrific stats:
The Seahawks were shut out in the first quarter eight times. They did not score a first-quarter touchdown until Week 8. They reached double-digit points in the first quarter only twice all season (versus Houston and Philadelphia, both games they won). In five of their seven losses, they finished the first quarter with zero or two points (thanks, defense!). Overall, they averaged 2.3 first-quarter points in losses. The wins weren't much better: Seattle averaged 4.4 points in the first quarter of their nine victories. During the team's 1-3 finish, the Seahawks scored 7 total points in the first quarter. They were outscored a combined 66-14 in the first halves of those games, and trailed at halftime in all four games. On the road, the Seahawks scored seven points in the first quarter. Total. For a season. Eight first quarters on the road, seven points. Two full hours of playing first quarters in other stadiums, one single touchdown, no field goals. The Seahawks had a point differential of +34 in 2017, which translates to 8.9 Pythagorean wins using Pro Football Reference's model. Their point differential in first halves, though, was -53. If the Seahawks had merely scored as many points as their opponents in the first half, their Pythagorean wins instead would be 10.2, likely good enough for a playoff spot.*
* Had the Seahawks won their Week 17 game against the Cardinals, they would have finished with a 10-6 record and missed the playoffs due to their loss to the Falcons, who also finished 10-6. More relevant: Teams make the playoffs with actual wins, not Pythagorean ones. And since teams frequently outperform and underperform their Pythagorean expectations, let's not go too crazy over a hypothetical that awarded pretend points ex post facto to a team that gave it another theoretical win in a mathematical projection. It was a thought experiment, OK? It's fun to imagine the Seahawks offense showing up in the first half.
There are caveats everywhere, of course. The Seahawks may have started slowly against both Tennessee and Jacksonville (trailing 9-7 and 3-0 at the half, respectively), but in both games they were done in by disastrous third quarters. Missed field goals cost them three potential home wins (against Washington, Atlanta and Arizona). Defensive injuries help account for the late-season swoon; after losing Cliff Avril, Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman for the season, Bobby Wagner tried to play through a bad hamstring in the final month.
But third-quarter defensive stumbles are less disastrous if you score more points in the first quarter. Missed field goals don't cost you close games if you score touchdowns earlier. Defensive injuries aren't as critical when your offense gains early leads. Scoring points early in the game, it turns out, is a useful football strategy that the Seahawks should explore. And all it will take is a much-improved running attack and effective game plans constructed by, um, Brian Schottenheimer. Surely everything will be fine.
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0fd619844dcc9c4e9a88a988d33c58c7 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattufford/2018/08/16/the-seahawks-are-underestimating-earl-thomas-and-how-long-great-safeties-play/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1727000778&utm_campaign=sprinklrSportsMoneyTwitter | The Seahawks Are Underestimating Earl Thomas And How Long Great Safeties Play | The Seahawks Are Underestimating Earl Thomas And How Long Great Safeties Play
Ball don't lie. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Put your ear to the ground of Seahawks Internet, and you will hear the case against Earl Thomas. Pete Carroll is going out of his way to praise Tedric Thompson, the erstwhile starter at free safety while Thomas continues his fruitless holdout for a new contract or a trade. Writers evaluating the impasse note that Thomas, 29, will soon lose the speed that has enabled him to shut down so much of the field for so long. Salary cap experts point to a depressed safety market. And many faithful Seahawks fans are eager to get a second-round draft pick for the longest-tenured — and arguably most important — member of the Legion of Boom.
Taken as a whole, it feels like a hasty reinterpretation of reality for a player commonly described as a generational talent and a future Hall of Famer. Thomas, through his social media and his essay in The Players' Tribune, has been adamant in his desire to be the best ever and confident that he will be great for years to come. But will he? Let's try to figure it out.
Comparing safeties is an exercise fraught with argument. Safety play can be inscrutable without a detailed analysis of All-22 film — and even then, each safety relies on (and ideally benefits from) the scheme he's in and the players around him. Traditional counting stats are even less useful, because they're not always indicative of the quality of play; tackles, for example, can indicate terrific range or poor pass coverage.
In an attempt to sidestep rhetorical quicksand, I'm going to look at safeties through the lens of Approximate Value, or AV. AV is a stat created by Pro Football Reference that attempts to put the seasonal value of a player at any position into a single number. It's not a perfect statistic, but it's accurately named: It gives you an approximate value of a player's worth. (You can read more about the methodology here.)
For example, in his eight seasons, Thomas has posted an AV of 10 or higher six times, with the outliers being his rookie year and his injury-shortened 2016. He posted a career-best AV of 14 in both 2012 and 2013, arguably the best years of Seattle's Legion of Boom defense. For comparison, the best AV posted by a safety since the merger is 18, a mark shared by Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, LeRoy Butler and others. The best AV for a safety in 2017 was 13, posted by Kevin Byard, who led the league in interceptions (Harrison Smith had an AV of 12, while Thomas, Malcolm Jenkins, and Eric Weddle were the only other safeties to reach 10.)
Here is how Thomas compares to the cohort of active safeties most commonly described as his peers. Because I'm interested in what Thomas' performance might look like moving forward, I've created a dividing line at the age-29 season.
Open in new tab for larger AV calculated by Pro-Football-Reference
Thomas is more accomplished than his better-paid peers — and younger.
In the chart above, only Eric Weddle can argue that he's more accomplished than Thomas, and Weddle is four years older, with three more seasons under his belt. Eric Berry, Harrison Smith and Reshad Jones have all accomplished less than Thomas in as many seasons, and they are all older than he is, yet each makes more money than Thomas. Devin McCourty's 2018 salary is similar to Thomas'; McCourty, too, is older and less accomplished as a safety. LaMarcus Joyner (zero career Pro Bowls, career-high AV of six in 2017) will make nearly 150% what Thomas is slated to earn in the coming season. Why does Thomas want to be paid like the best safety in the NFL? Probably because he's the best safety in the NFL.
Of course, in the NFL, veteran players are no longer handed contracts for what they've done, but for their perceived worth moving forward. So, what could a 29-year-old safety do over the next couple of years? Here is a list of the ten best safeties since 1980 by total career Approximate Value, and what they accomplished before and after the age of 29. (See bottom of article for caveats on methodology.)
Open in new tab for larger AV calculated by Pro-Football-Reference
The number of excellent seasons for safeties in their 30s is staggering.
At age 32, in his first season with the Raiders, Ronnie Lott led the league in interceptions and posted an AV of 13. At age 34, he recorded 123 tackles and had an AV of nine. From age 28 to age 34, Ed Reed posted seven consecutive seasons with an AV of at least 11, leading the league in picks at age 30 and 32. Starting at age 31, Brian Dawkins finished with an AV of 10 or more in five of the next six seasons. John Lynch finished a Hall of Fame career with the Bucs by age 32, then signed with the Broncos and made four straight Pro Bowls. Even Polamalu, whose career declined more quickly than many of these all-time greats, posted an AV of nine in his penultimate season, at age 32.
Rod Woodson, excluded above because he played most of his career at cornerback, transitioned to free safety at age 34 and posted four straight years of 11+ AV, twice leading the league in interceptions and earning first-team All-Pro honors at age 37. The only player on the list above who was a notably lesser player from age 29 on is Lawyer Milloy, whose longevity, rather than his excellence, pushed him onto career AV list.
Thomas is arguably the most accomplished safety for his age in NFL history.
By the age of 28, Thomas produced six seasons with an AV of 10 or more; no other safety in NFL history had more than five by the same age. In terms of total AV by age 28, only Lott had a higher AV (88 to 83), and Lott played his first four seasons at cornerback, a position that tends to produce a higher AV. By age 28, Lott and Thomas both had six Pro Bowl selections and three All-Pro selections; Mel Renfro is the only other safety in football history with six Pro Bowls by age 28.
Thomas, though, entered the draft at a younger age than many historically great safeties; he has played eight seasons when many others only had seven at the same age. If we tweak the metrics for a player's first eight seasons, Ed Reed leapfrogs to second place behind Lott, and Troy Polamalu ties Thomas with a career AV of 83 through eight years. (This, however, only bolsters the case that safeties continue to have strong seasons beyond age 28.)
Regardless of whether you side with the team or the player on Thomas' holdout, there should be no mistaking the truth: Earl Thomas is the most accomplished free safety in the NFL today; his closest peers are the best safeties in NFL history; and the best safeties in the NFL typically continue to play at a high level well into their 30s. If Pete Carroll and John Schneider don't want to extend his contract, a smarter team will.
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96c940c675786f52497e88fcdd47b731 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2016/01/05/video-wishes-for-2016-from-numa-numa-to-this-years-hallmark/ | Video Wishes For 2016: From Numa Numa To This Year's Hallmark | Video Wishes For 2016: From Numa Numa To This Year's Hallmark
In a December post, Tyler Lessard, CMO of Vidyard, wrote on MarketingProfs about how 2015 not only turned out to be the year of video marketing as predicted, but that 2016 would be an even bigger year for video throughout the customer journey.
He’s quite right, of course, although for me, it’s been less of a huge leap year over year and much more of a steady march for online video towards relevancy going on for over a decade. Who, after all, didn’t become a fan of online video the second they watched the watershed viral video Numa Numa hit back in 2004?
Many of us immediately starting using online video first as a marketing and distribution channel for what we were already making, and then later started to create original brand content for it, praying for a lucky viral hit.
Reading the data, such as eMarketer's Q4 State of Video Report, shows the online video business now truly bearing fruit at scale, although it doesn’t seem to give much direction to brands. TV advertising (cable and network), according to the report, continues to feel the pressure but still “dwarfs” the spending of digital video ads. The expensive — often disposable—TV spot lives on. In 2016, we should see if YouTube Red gains any traction, and perhaps additional, including smaller, players will break out as well.
Content itself has become a story with so much high-quality original content coming from the new networks and services. Most of my December viewing was Homeland and The Affair on Showtime and binge-watching Man in a High Castle and Transparent on Amazon. For regular brands migrating from TV advertising, the trick is to figure out how you can play in this new world of interrupt-less entertainment. Native advertising around the show? Product placement within? Underwrite original programming? Or perhaps it’s not commercial messaging, but creating your own content to complement what's out there. For example, the protagonist on Transparent frequently moves from place to place; I can see a moving guide from an insurance, telecom or shipping brand. With The Affair, why isn't there a rental car or cookbook tie-in?
Advertising as content, message with purpose
With advertising-driven holidays such as Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day coming up (don’t these feel artificial as holidays?), the creative challenge for marketers is real. Do we need another auto salesman in a white wig with balloons or something more substantial that will actually help me shop for a car? Last year, Hallmark's "Put Your Heart to Paper" online video showed us what the new world could look like, creating advertising that was content and a message that had purpose. More than a million views for what looks like a production budget of $50,000. Content goals: Not impressions, engagement — and leads The newest wave of audio podcasting (thank you, Serial) may also encourage marketers to create more targeted video content as a valuable mini-series as less as a disposable mass market one-shot. If you think about your content goals less as sheer volume of cheap impressions (e.g. viral video) and more as customer engagement and lead generation, then you’ll look at the video content you create quite differently. The Webby Awards has a category for more traditional video short form that’s commercial-like, but also one for online film and video branded series which would need to earn an audience to work. This year's Presidents' Day and Valentine's Day For Presidents Day this year, what if VW, who desperately needs a sales rebound, created a video series less like a commercial and more like content. For example: "How To Shop For A Car When You Don’t Want to Shop for A Car.” An ongoing platform of video content could engage potential customers by flagging their attention, building and nurturing leads by solving a need, and be regularly refreshed which would have cost and production efficiencies. Another thought is for Valentine’s Day. I never understood why jewelry store Jared (He went to Jared!) would advertise right in front of the potential recipient, losing any surprise or creativity for the gift buyer. Wouldn’t it be far better to release a more secret video passed around among men with gift ideas for their lady friend? The goal wouldn’t be to try to go viral, but instead to be valuable content that drives sales right away and also start new relationships with throughout the year for other occasions. I don’t have predictions for online video this year. I just have some high hopes on what brands will do with it.
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494395cca4150ff9b936b95c73c94462 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2016/10/26/aboutus/ | Digital Branding: 'About Us' Says A Lot About You | Digital Branding: 'About Us' Says A Lot About You
Shutterstock
Websites are our 24/7 brand storefronts.
Unless you’re deep linking from a search result, the home page clearly makes the biggest impression on a customer. And next in line in importance? The "About Us" page.
Just check your dashboard. "About Us" pages are usually highly trafficked, likely by diverse visitors among your audiences. They're unique real estate — a free and unlimited canvas for storytelling, chosen by those who literally click to know more. These are valuable site visitors. In the report, "Key Elements of Building a Content Strategy," Omar Akhtar and I found one of the five content strategy archetypes was Content as Window — inward focused content that highlights the brand’s employees, practices and culture, promoting transparency and trust with
the customer.
What’s amazing to me is how few companies—especially in this era of mission-oriented brands—take full advantage of their "About Us" page and for those who do, the varied techniques in execution. Skimming through Prophet's list of Relentlessly Relevant brands, here are a few patterns I’m seeing even in 2016:
1. Not Much "About Us"
You can be successful on the web, of course, without an explicit "About Us" page. Netflix doesn’t have a clear ‘about’ page but has links to FAQ, investor relations and jobs. If you were born under a rock and never heard of Netflix, I suppose you would just use Wikipedia. What I wonder is why not have one. Even just to understand how the service started, what makes it special or even to see the lists and queues of employees.
2. "About Us" 1996
About us pages are as old as the Web itself. As a copywriter, I wrote many brands' pages, usually cribbing from press release boiler statements or annual reports. Back then, with Yahoo! a manual search engine, SEO didn’t matter much so creativity was a licensed photo, leadership profiles, and a bulleted list of corporate values. Today, I use Sephora as a best-in-class analogue in nearly every category when it comes to digital marketing and omni-channel strategy. But the brand’s "About Us" page doesn’t look like it’s been updated in years – long copy and bullet points. Odd.
3. "About Us" As A Bridge To Content
Some firms "About Us" to connect you to related content, forgoing an intro paragraph or summary. Apple, for example, replaces the traditional manifesto with a feed press releases, career info and some info on the environment and responsibility. Amazon does this too, presenting a gallery of callouts seeming to emphasize corporate responsibility and a navigation of items including “Transformations,” “Opportunities,” “Economic Impact” and “Sustainability."
4. "About Us" Telegraphic
Adidas is an expert at video in their marketing, but corporate's "About Us" page surprisingly doesn't employ any multimedia. It does, however, get to the point about who they are, who they serve and punctuates with some infographics. Copy is crafted, with Our Offer leading you to Careers and Our Expectations leading to content for Investors. My health insurance company, Cigna, is also intentional with About Us. It prominently puts the link to it in the top-right of the primary nav and uses the page's precious space to explain how they have your back.
5. "About Us" On A Mission
As more consumers want to align themselves with brands who share their values, About Us page can share what the company believes, what it strives for and the promise it makes in the market. This can be done in any format from text and image to narrative or interactive video. IBM, for example, starts with "what IBMers value." Patagonia starts with its mission, Intel shares its ambition with press-friendly infographics, and Microsoft brings its culture links forward. Linkedin has the basic pieces but presents it very plain. Google makes its mission unmissable and also cleverly uses a list to tempt you in further: “10 Things We Know to Be True."
6. "About Us" Front, Center—And Throughout
GE, often cited as among the best B2B digital marketers, brings its statement of who they are to their home page and then links you through to stories and other content. I didn’t really see a blatant "About Us" page, but feel like that sensibility is elegantly woven throughout their content.
7. What I Didn’t See: People
In addition to little use of video across large company sites (a proven and persuasive format), I didn’t notice much use of customers —quotes, faces, stories or even testimonials. Who doesn’t go to a meeting hearing about customer-first initiatives, yet on the second most-trafficked web page there is little sense of the end-consumer’s importance. Probably the best-in-class example of an "About Us" page that’s not even an "About Us" page is Johnson & Johnson’s famous credo that puts the doctors, nurses and patients they serve first. Of course, they’re so subtle about its presence online, you have dig to find it.
So, Do You Need An "About Us" Page?
As my colleague Kevin Grubb reminds me, decisions about an "About Us" page -- if you should have one, what questions it should answer, the formats to tap, the places it should connect people, and even what it should be called — should really be driven by user content and journey needs, and then connected to business and brand objectives. Otherwise, you're winging it and they should just go to Wikipedia.
Looking for more on "About Us pages?" You'll find great examples among smaller, more creative companies and startups. BlogTyrant wrote recently about content opportunities for "About Us" pages and Undullify, a graphic design agency, also provides some good tips.
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dd6c3a55b5afdd7d1a6ce80fe852a057 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2019/05/13/not-all-personas-have-faces/ | Not All Personas Have Faces | Not All Personas Have Faces
photo: Getty Getty
Who doesn’t love a persona? Buyer personas are representations of ideal customers, and whether it’s product innovation, marketing and sales, or customer experience design, we use them as design targets to help us organize ideas, strategies and solutions.
I don’t know about you, but in most of my work, there are usually four to six personas. I need a photo and a name on each one to help me remember who I’m trying to engage. I tend to use the first initial of the customer handle to trigger a memorable name (e.g., Information Seeker = Iris; Aspiring Affluent = Allen; Strategic Engager = Stephen). It’s a thing.
The convention in marketing tends to be to build personas based on market research, usually done by segmentation. Demographic, attitudinal and geographic information tend to get the lion share of emphasis, especially in categories like retail. When we do digital marketing, however, I can usually "activate" the segmentation by converting them to digital personas and supplement more behavioral information. A lot of this data exists — or you can do some supplemental research to fill gaps. It’s not brain surgery.
Forget their roles. Focus on their goals.
The thing about the digital shift, especially for B2B, is that behavioral is far more interesting (at least to me) to use than the other types, especially demographics and psychographics. And while we can build on those conventional approaches, I’ve been seeing more opportunities to eschew the original segmentation and go right to a persona type built not around who the person is but what they’re trying to achieve — their use cases.
For example, here are five typical goal-oriented personas for a manufacturer’s web experience:
1. Knowledge building - Working to stay up-to-date on industry shifts, supplier offerings, category news and trends
2. Options Identification - Finding and analyzing suppliers, products, or solutions to meet a known application or use
3. Product Investigation - Seeking detailed information on a known product for use, installation, or maintenance
4. Transacting - Performing business transactions or logistics related to goods or services, even just submitting a form
5. Networking - Connecting with other professionals who are related to their field
You see, it doesn’t really matter who they are; it matters what they’re trying to achieve. Their mindsets. In fact, the same person could be one persona on Monday, and another Wednesday. That’s fine. I know exactly how to serve each one of them with content and experience.
So next time you’re developing a digital experience — whether it’s a campaign or specific touchpoint design — think about designing for the goals, not the roles.
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1df4e5ce220149b18c568941c5c55886 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2019/09/08/six-stand-out-about-us-pages/ | Six Stand Out About Us Pages | Six Stand Out About Us Pages
Square's About page Screengrab:
I recently finished some new research on About Us pages, an update to the original analysis I did two years ago. Company pages are important. They’re owned canvases, available 24/7, and often a resource for people to see who they want to do business with, buy from, report on, work with or work for.
This year, studying more than 100 global companies across various top lists, my colleague Helen Nie and I found several strategies organizations might take in how they project their DNA online. While many companies might do a hybrid, it’s interesting to see with which strategy a company chooses to lead (i.e., give prominence, place first above the fold). Here is an example (or in one case, two) of a good page embodying each of these five postures:
Principles: Leads with the guiding values that drive the ethos of the company both internally for company culture and externally for stakeholders. More and more companies believe they should be principles-led, but should that also appear first on their company pages? In bold type on its About page, over animating images of happy small business owners, Square asserts its core belief: “We believe everyone should be able to participate and thrive in the economy.” People: Leads with the pride of their people, highlighting leadership or showcasing employees as iconic ambassadors. People show up as a tool on most company pages but in the fewest examples does it feature first. Healthcare company Alive Cor talks about what it does through the people who work there. Product: Leads with what the company makes—the services and products as the embodiment of the company story. Alphabet’s letter from Sergei is my favorite example, elegantly weaving in the story of Google through what they do, and why. Pedigree: Leads with the company’s origin story and timeline as indication of the company’s present strength and future promise. Walmart is a classic example sharing its origin story. The very first line of copy on its corporate page is: "What started small, with a single discount store and the simple idea of selling more for less…” Thumbtack is a more modern example. Its narrative starts with the problem they set out to solve - "Back in 2008, we asked ourselves a simple question that would later become our mission: Why is it still so hard to hire a plumber? Or a piano teacher? Or any local professional?” Performance: Leads with the success, metrics and accolades the company has achieved throughout its products, services, facts and history. Intel does something interesting with its Company Information page, claiming credit for amazing experiences and then backing it up with performance rankings on various lists (Intel by the Numbers) across Interbrand’s Best Brands, Forbes, Fortune, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and many others.
How to choose your company page strategy:
The advice I give on choosing your strategy is that, as tempting and trendy as it is to be principles-led these days, your choice (primary or hybrid) should actually match your business objectives in the moment.
For example: if your reputation is under the gun, yes, consider leading with values and make them compelling (Principles). If you’re a disruptor, however, seeking credibility in a competitive space, perhaps first leverage your founders’ expertise and experience to even the playing field (Pedigree) and share your principles or other information later. If you’re an acquisition engine, consider highlighting your product’s features (Product) or the momentum you’re building in the market (Performance) along with your purpose and principles.
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Have a favorite About Us page? Let me know. I think I’m the only one in the world studying them.
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951e1a6c44e0d48b58ace81633155eb1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2019/11/14/whats-in-a-digital-marketing-strategy/?sh=63580f9968b2 | What’s In A Digital Marketing Strategy? | What’s In A Digital Marketing Strategy?
Digital ad budgets are now a majority of total ad spend. Spend on marketing technologies keeps rising. More than half of marketers have a transformative initiative underway to make marketing more digital.
We all know and see the digital shift. But I still get asked what exactly is a digital marketing strategy, especially versus a broader marketing strategy. What goes into it? What matters?
There is no single answer, but I’ve found the following framework to be a helpful starting point, both explaining to others and to do the actual work – creating digital marketing strategies for clients. It works across categories, from consumer electronics and quick serve restaurants to financial services and healthcare.
Use cases are your secret starting point
A good starting point is identifying the priority use cases, what you want your digital marketing to be good at. “Aligning on use cases,” suggests strategist and colleague St.John Dunne, “ensures your digital marketing is delivering against your actual business goals, versus basic marketing metrics such as click-through rates or likes.”
Your broader marketing strategy will give you the right clues, points Dunne. For example, you might be launching a new product (acquisition, trial), building or shifting a perception (awareness), speeding a sale (conversion), growing share with existing customers (cross-sell), fixing a leaky bucket (renewal, loyalty), shifting channel behavior (efficiencies) and so on. Have multiple objectives? You will likely have nuanced strategies based on each one.
A framework for your digital marketing strategy
Now you’re ready to build an approach. Here’s a framework we’ve had some success with that combines front-end vision with back-end operating model:
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Prophet
Goals:
Be clear about your intent. You’ve already got a head start with your goals and use case(s), add in the business impact you seek and what good will look like — your KPIs.
Levers:
Insights: What you know about your customers, their behaviors, including path to purchase, and moments that matter Best Moves: Identifying what you can do at various stages, scoring audiences, the inbound and outbound triggers. This is where to be smart and bold, with if-then-that logic. Content: Determining the topics, the cadence, the messages, the level of personalization, the formats and types, the contextually relevant concepts, incentives as needed. Channels: Figuring out the right mix of owned, earned and paid media and designing an omni-channel experience (not just optimizing individual channels), adaptation of the creative, and sales force engagement. Remember to account for emerging channels such as influencers, conversational interfaces (bots, Alexa) and more.
Enablers:
Skills and Culture: What’s needed from your team’s mind, body and soul to succeed. More transformative strategies may require skills from outside the traditional marketing department. Organization and Empowerment: How will you operate as a team, and which groups are stakeholders, such as product, business analytics, customer care, communications and sales. Data Strategy and Governance: What customer data do you need, and what will you do with what you acquire. What intelligence might it serve up back to product, care and other teams as well. Technology Platforms: How will you power this – the asset management and deployment tools, what can you automate, what will be the connective tissue between customer data, performance and insights.
Examples in action
Digital marketing strategies are intentional and nuanced. Here are few summary examples to illustrate the differences:
For an insurance product: the digital marketing goal was to widen the top of the funnel, the channel approach was to use content, search and the web to intercept discovery earlier, thereby generating a great volume of prospects. Even at the same conversion benchmark, it would mean more qualified leads for the sales force.
For a healthcare manufacturer: the goal was increasing velocity of conversions among small businesses. The content and channel activities across email, direct mail, social and web were redesigned to be more integrated and now we’d measure programs not simply the performance of individual channels.
For a quick serve restaurant: the goal was to increase transactions with a new flat-priced menu. Understanding the nuance of a particular pain point, we emphasized the benefit for a favorite dish, designed a campaign across paid and owned, and amplified the message with a highly visible brand act for earned.
For a consumer electronics brand: the goal was to drive e-commerce transactions using targeted emails, contextually relevant ads, and paid search focused on driving a purchase.
Go forth and design your digital strategy
Great digital marketing can’t be done in isolation; it’s best integrated into the marketing strategy and best delivered in conjunction with experience and product strategies — and the customer at the center. Dunne, a proponent of testing, adds this: “Digital provides a unique opportunity to learn while driving impact, so prepare for this shift with your teams and enable it to be business as usual with the right operating model.”
Availability of A.I. and new interfaces such as bots and augmented reality certainly give us new tools to try out. What doesn’t change are the basics of digital marketing strategy we all still have to get right.
Sources: Gartner 2018, Altimeter@Prophet, 2019
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f9cafe1e7d6f6ad2b083ce6a503ce683 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2020/09/22/about-your-food-narrative-in-packaging/ | About Your Food: Narrative In Packaging | About Your Food: Narrative In Packaging
Mat Zucker's pantry
I’ve never spent so much time in my kitchen.
My spouse has a master’s in food and nutrition and wants me to read the numbers-focused black-and-white nutrition label, but as a marketer I’m far more interested in the more colorful sides of the box. The stories. The factoids. The occasional “letters” from company founders.
Three hours poring over a 36 brands of food packaging, and just as what occurred in my About Us page research last year, several archetypes of food package storytelling strategies emerge:
1/Purpose-focus: Brands who use this canvas to emphasize with their purpose, promise, or principles.
Nature’s Path Instant Oatmeal, for example, doesn’t mince words. “These Oats help save the planet” is the headline on the package front, implying choosing it makes you a part of a movement. The back continues with the rallying cry: “Eat like the world depends on it.” To give the movement a face, there also was a linkage back to the founder, Arran Stephen.
2/Vs. + &: Brands who define themselves using comparison and/or adjacency, usually to the category standard bearer, or something familiar.
First, let’s talk rebellion. Banza Mac & Cheese has a friendly, bright orange box with benefit icons along the side (Gluten-free, High Fiber, High Protein, Low Glycemic Index, RBST-Free) plus a recipe on the back. I hunt for some semblance of a brand narrative, then realizing the information featured—“Banza vs. Average Mac”—is the story, comparing higher protein, higher fiber, and fewer carbs. I reconfirm the approach by checking Banza’s About web page; the chickpea-as-hero story is consistently presented as a better substitution to conventional wheat pasta.
A second common approach to achieve relevancy is communicating how it can have a role in your life and add to it. For example, Rice Crispies Treats using recipes. Sure, it’s a proven tactic to increase consumption and velocity, but it’s also a way to attract trial in the first place.
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3/Founder: Brands who lead with a personal embodiment of the brand, most often the company founder, occasionally the current chief executive.
Consider Annie’s Homegrown, another mac & cheese favorite. A personal letter from Annie dominates the back of its package, with a special shoutout for Bernie, Annie’s pet rabbit. The playfulness is everywhere; just push on Bernie’s tail to open the package. Fun.
4/Benefits: Brands who focus on what the brand does for you—or for culture.
Girl Scouts cookies are my favorite example here and I know it well, having created their advertising campaign a few years back. On its colorful packages, in addition to featuring the activities Girls Scouts participate in (camping, canoeing), the organization highlights the business skills that Scouts gain by selling cookies every year. These include goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics.
5/Dictionary: With 39,000 products in a typical supermarket, some SKUs will inevitably be new to you. Products like, say, roasted seaweed may need a little explanation.
A seaweed snack brand we buy has “Try it! You’ll love it!” on the front; on the side, there’s “What is roasted seaweed” which explains it as a longtime Korean side dish and a healthful treat. There’s also a founder note, but because of the packaging it’s covered over by a label during shipping.
6/Traceability: A more recent strategy, brands will satisfy consumer curiosity about where the food comes from.
I’d argue we all know Evian is from The Alps, and that Poland Spring is not a river in Eastern Europe. But the dozens of local water brands such as Saratoga may need to reassure us of their purity. Other products including coffee go further, including Devocion Coffee, which places a QR code on some bags so the customer can find out where the coffee was sourced, and when it was roasted.
A note about using archetypes
Many brands aren’t singular in strategy alone with only one of the above categories, but would strategically choose one primary archetype to lead, and then a bit of another or third to round out the story. It’s a hybrid approach, hopefully based on marketing goals at the time.
Upcoming driver: How brands shows up online
Physical packaging glanced at in the store, of course, isn’t any longer the primary way we discover brands, especially in these times. With e-commerce shopping now mainstream, including for shelf stable goods, one can also look at how brands present themselves on the “Digital Shelf”—i.e., the presence at online stores (big like Target.com or a niche, direct retailer such as ShrewdFood.com) when you add what you want to your cart.
Here, digital presentation showcases the brand, story, and benefits, building discoverability and desirability. If you compare the physical to the digital experiences, you’ll see it’s still a project in its infancy, with few brands moving beyond a series of snapshots or scans of physical packaging.
The stakes are high for digital shelf, and that’s another story I’ll cover in the future.
Sources include: Food Industry Association, Prophet research
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cae9d88077c0ea8bf92a8a722df84cc6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2020/11/25/shes-that-woman-repeat/ | She’s That Woman: Repeat | She’s That Woman: Repeat
We learn in advertising the power of repetition to build familiarity. In radio spots, copywriters mention a phone number twice; in email communications, best practices tell a designer to place the call-to-action both above and below “the fold.”
What if you’re going to defend a culture? Or honor half the planet? Can repetition of a single concept create impact and persuade?
In a powerful new video, two male global creative directors put out an eight-minute film featuring footage of more than 300 iconic women including Coretta Scott King, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Toni Morrison and yes, even Sarah Palin. Paired with their voiceovers, delivering a drumbeat of accomplishments, contributions and admiration, it’s a project intended to honor women worldwide and show they are seen, heard, and respected.
She’s that woman. That one in a million woman.
She’s that woman. That mother of career. That mother of the year.
That single by choice. That always will have a voice woman.
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Today’s a day for all women. All women. All women.
The montage is magnetic, the cadence melodic, the script has twists and turn of phrase, created like stanzas of a poem. The net effect is an inspirational breadth of diversity of people, famous and ordinary. And goosebumps.
Aideen Fox, on the leadership committee for Woman@Disney, shared it on Linkedin with the comment: “It stopped me in my tracks.” Jacqueline de Rojas of TechUK noted: “As we watch the world demand a level playing field for all, please watch this incredible homage to women everywhere.”
The highly personal piece was created by Eitan Chitayat, owner of Natie Branding Agency in Tel Aviv, and Dana Satterwhite, a creative director in Houston, with a team they assembled outside of their day jobs. Close friends for over 20 years and copywriters by training, they drafted the script remotely and collaboratively, building on each other’s thoughts as they worked on screen together as well as after the other had stopped.
It was important to develop a rhythm with the words,” said Satterwite. “Clearly, there’s a lot that we wanted to say and we had to strike the right balance of delivering our message and creating poetry that would resonate.”
Choosing who to include and exclude was also a challenge. “Our team started with 3,000 names,” noted Chitayat. “We couldn’t feature them all. We also have to find the balance between known and obscure women. It wasn’t easy. It still isn’t knowing who didn’t make the cut.” Culling it down to 300 women eventually, they also went through hundreds of hours of footage.
The unifying element is the catchphrase: She’s that woman. “We wanted a mantra. We wanted the repetition and to reflect the simplicity and complexity of the message.”
Music fuels the rhythm
Music is a big part of the story, giving energy to the repetition over the eight minutes plus in length. The film has an original score created by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, an award-winning musical duo known for their work with Prince & The Revolution (earning an Oscar for Purple Rain) and for movies and TV as well (an Emmy for “Nurse Jackie”). They are highly respected composers in the industry.
“We approached the music from two angles,” said Coleman. “One was from the repetitive hypnotic side to go along with the narrative. On the other side was the emotional pushes that needed to morph throughout the piece. The repetition was the anchor that allowed us to move freely from emotion to emotion.” Melvoin continues, “We are very proud to be part of such a timeless and beautiful message.”
Watching it scale
The short piece has been watched, re-watched, commented on, and passed through social networks. I sent a link to colleagues who have passed it onto friends, daughters—and, importantly, sons. The views are climbing into the hundreds of thousands across networks including YouTube, Facebook, and IGTV. 81% of the likes and comments to date are from women.
It’s getting celebrity fuel as well. Bonnie Raitt, Questlove, the claimed indie director Alma Harel who is actually in it, have all shared it online. Even Richard Moore, Chief of British Intelligence’s MI6, did the same dedicating it to the women of the Secret Intelligence Service.
Clicking to re-share with the hashtag #shesthatwoman, several viewers have written: “We are that woman.”
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6f39928ebacae133ef026675a37eb78e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurapennington/2013/02/17/young-women-shine-at-students-for-liberty-conference/ | Young Women Shine At Students For Liberty Conference | Young Women Shine At Students For Liberty Conference
English: Organization Logo v.1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Lest you be confused by pessimistic commentary on the subject, I am here to report: There are libertarian women and they are outstanding. On a personal level, I am delighted by this. I cannot think of a more insufferably boring exercise than to have to ask the question over and over, year after year—what about women, where are the women? I have an invincible mother, went to an all-girls high school, and have benefited from the success of women in the time before mine. I do not perceive myself to be held back or hobbled on account of my gender and I’m tired of hearing conversations to that effect. So, I am very glad to be able to assure you: We are here!
Over 1,000 young adults gathered at the 6th Annual International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C. this weekend. It is an established fact that college students love to talk their way to intellectual discovery, though the kids in this crowd were more smartly dressed than your average twenty-something. Motivated by their own passionate interest in liberty, these students got together to consider past economic and political traditions, current policy, and the future of their movement. Women were well represented.
Of the dozens of breakout sessions that covered every area of interest from Austrian economics to the War on Terror to growing a libertarian presence on campus, two focused on women specifically. The first was about reaching out to women and featured three fantastically articulate and personable students, moderated by the former MTV VJ Kennedy. The second panel called “Girls! Girls! Girls!: Marketing Libertarianism to Women” was not nearly as constructive and actually left some women irritated. The first, however, was very encouraging because it focused less on the ways women are failing to find libertarianism and more on the ways we can make them feel welcome.
The three students on the first panel were Kelly Barber from the University of Florida, Elise Thompson from Michigan State University, and Kara LaRose from York College of Pennsylvania. Their message was one of visibility. When women see other women, they can feel confident about participating. Barber echoed my sentiment when she said that a gender-specific strategy is not necessary to attract women.
What makes libertarian philosophy so brilliant is its clarity and simplicity of principles. Inconsistency and hypocrisy abound in modern politics. Cognitive dissonance is so common as to not even be noticed. Yet, libertarianism, drawing upon the great thinkers of the Age of Reason, is a rational worldview. Nothing about it would naturally repel women, except that women might not have had the same exposure to it as their male counterparts. The best approach then is to celebrate their contributions and let people know that there are women who love liberty.
As LaRose mentioned, we don’t have as many role models. She and her peers are solving that problem by being exemplary women themselves. Thompson made a statement that captures the intellectual curiosity at the heart of libertarianism. “I like to question my own beliefs,” she said. Kennedy remarked that being a libertarian means you can be friends or enemies with anyone you meet. There is always common ground, but you can also argue with anybody.
Left out of the two-party system, libertarians must examine all issues. We don’t have a straight-ticket autopilot button that exempts us from engaging meaningfully with the world and how it’s changing. Women can and should and do have voices in that examination of policy.
If libertarians seem to lack the tendency towards rabid discussions about gender politics, it’s because it feels redundant. As LaRose pointed out, the idea that women are equally free to make their own choices is implicit in being a libertarian. If a woman wants to be a mother, she can be a mother. If she wants to have a career, she can have a career.
This doesn’t mean that women don’t still face obstacles that require them to make difficult choices. However, everyone does. Everything has a cost. A gain in one area of life is a loss in another. It’s simple economics. There’s no need for libertarians to pull their hair out over the absurd notion of “having it all.”
This dearth of gender discussion should be a source of relief for women. Instead of dwelling on their femininity, they can talk about everything else that interests them. The many women at this conference were doing just that and it makes me proud to say: There are libertarian women and they are outstanding.
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53ccfba667c931ac9659bd188e261489 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurapennington/2013/10/22/millennials-seek-21st-century-careers-with-20th-century-skills/ | Millennials Seek 21st Century Careers With 20th Century Skills | Millennials Seek 21st Century Careers With 20th Century Skills
Millennials are part of a generational evolution in the way we think about jobs, education, and the global economy. As I sat down to talk with Donna Harris, co-founder of 1776, a hub in downtown Washington that aims to mobilize the assets of the city to help startups, we discussed this shift in perspective and philosophy. 1776 itself is a young entrepreneur’s dreamscape. With 80,000 square feet to grow and work spaces for individuals and whole companies, it has the shabby chic décor of an old factory loft with the liveliness and buzz of our wired age.
Laptop keys were clicking away as Harris and I spoke about her work and what she sees as our movement in a new direction. Harris explained her goal to provide a platform to make introductions, accelerate connections, and facilitate the interaction between well-established organizations in Washington and startups looking to rethink old problems.
To keep new companies from wasting their time without the benefit of those with expertise, Harris says, “D.C. needs to be helping them grow.” 1776 has a global perspective with virtual and physical members, receiving 5 to 10 new applications a week in industries ranging from health and transportation to online dating.
As an entrepreneur-in-residence at Georgetown University, Harris says she is broadly available to students and young alumni. She has found that both are concerned with balancing the desires to work for social good and to secure lucrative employment. When I asked her what kind of mentality she was finding among the undergrads, she replied, “They are realizing: I have to manage my own decision-making.”
Harris likened careers today as a portfolio. “People are having shorter bites of experience,” she explained. Unlike previous generations, Millennials will not be working jobs for life, but for two to five years. With this varied portfolio, Harris noted, “People have to manage their careers and constantly be thinking—what’s the next move.”
Unfortunately, higher education is struggling to adapt to provide young people with skill sets that will enable them to handle these new types of careers. To illuminate what’s happening in the economy and what is holding back education, Harris offered an analogy using the music industry. In order to enjoy one song, she said, you used to go to the store and buy the whole album. However the Internet has ushered in an unbundling. Now you can buy the single song you want and immediately. It doesn’t make sense then for someone to go to a campus and pay for a whole four-year degree when the skill sets they need can be gotten much more specifically and quickly.
Also limiting students is the mindset of education that has been in place since the Industrial Revolution. “Schools teach people to follow instructions,” Harris said. “Yet the global economy is moving in a different direction. If you look at the startup ecosystem, it is open, networked, collaborative, and transparent.” Those who excel in the new economy are not the ones who follow instructions handed down in rigid, hierarchical fashion, but the ones who test new ideas with peers fluidly across the world.
Harris’s last words about the new wave of productivity driven by the ingenuity of the young and committed were that it features a “global convening around ideas.” Borders and boundaries mean less and less to Millennials who are starting to push beyond them. The questions remain: will young people adjust to the new style of portfolio careers and will the education system change to provide the skills they need to be nimble in the new global economy? Harris, at least, is someone in Washington who is enthusiastic about driving things forward and that will make a difference.
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dad1fd2a704423a89cddc3229f04fbcf | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurapennington/2014/01/05/sorry-rolling-stone-millennials-wont-fall-for-those-reforms/ | Sorry, Rolling Stone, Millennials Won't Fall For Those Reforms | Sorry, Rolling Stone, Millennials Won't Fall For Those Reforms
People looking in Rolling Stone for retrospectives on Phil Everly can find the following public policy proposals in a piece entitled “Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For” by Jesse A. Myerson:
1. Guaranteed Work For Everybody: “Unemployment blows. The easiest and most direct solution is for the government to guarantee that everyone who wants to contribute productively to society is able to earn a decent living in the public sector.”
2. Social Security For All: “But let's think even bigger. Because as much as unemployment blows, so do jobs. What if people didn't have to work to survive?”
3. Take Back The Land: “Ever noticed [sic] how much landlords blow? They don't really do anything to earn their money.”
4. Make Everything Owned By Everybody: “Hoarders blow.”
5. A Public Bank In Every State: “You know what else really blows? Wall Street.”
Artless “cool” argot aside, without exception, these items rely on devotion to and dependence on an extractive government. And here’s the problem: Skepticism of the state is rising steeply.
People might hate their landlords, but they also hate data collection, drone strikes, armed drug raids, and debt. How many Americans trust the government to do the right thing? Nineteen percent. That’s not exactly a coalition primed and ready for a socialist experiment.
As for guaranteeing work for everybody, I’d perhaps believe Millennials are dying to dig ditches in a bureaucratic chain gang if I didn’t know so many who have started their own businesses. Work for the sake of work might have made sense for New Deal muralists, but not for creative individuals with the technological enterprise to ease life without a handout.
The success of social security and a basic income for all also seems laughable in the face of our nation’s attempt to fulfill the so-called right of health care. The letter that announced cancelation of my insurance policy came this week. It read: “The health care reform law is complex. It means different things to different people.” So much for uniformity. So much for universal coverage.
Collectivization isn’t coming to America any time soon, either. Protection of property has been part of our social contract for centuries. Nature did not build your apartment building, Mr. Myerson. If you have a problem with paying for the privilege of living in a man-made modern marvel: Buy a yurt.
Lastly, turning wealth over to the government to manage is not something I see as any great excitement for the masses. We already have something to that effect. It’s called the Internal Revenue Service.
Perhaps there are some young people who can’t let the Occupy movement lie dead. They’ll pull ideas out of the dustbin of history like they’re sorting compost. But those who are actually moving forward won’t rally around Myerson’s list or any other word salad assembled in his two straight days of increasingly unhinged rants on Twitter.
People want to be free and prosperous. That doesn’t entail collecting a check from a pool of others’ productive efforts. Millennials would have to be fools to want their livelihoods funded and assigned by the state. We all read Lois Lowry's The Giver in middle school. We know how that ends.
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e2b231aab5cece14c19391ee2a1867d3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurathomas/2020/05/20/3-steps-to-managing-work-stress/ | 3 Steps To Managing Work Stress | 3 Steps To Managing Work Stress
Remote work is adding additional stress for some professionals. If you’re a leader, it’s important to recognize that everyone’s situation is unique, and differing work-from-home hours are creating an “always-on” culture. Some professionals are telling me that they are enjoying extra free time, and some are telling me that they’re on email and other communication channels from the minute their eyes open in the morning until the minute their head hits the pillow at night. And for many, this isn’t much different than when they’re working in the office.
That’s why when you're considering strategies for managing work stress, there's one key area to focus on first: streamlining communication.
The constant communication demands of our jobs can trap us in a state of being busy, but unproductive. Working this way for too long becomes demoralizing and stressful. Inefficient communication contributes to two of the top causes of burnout: unmanageable workload and unreasonable time pressure.
Even if you feel way behind on your work-related communications, you can start setting new boundaries that will help reduce your stress and raise your productivity. Here are three areas to target.
1.Get Email Under Control
Email stresses most of us out, and with good reason. It comes to us around the clock, no matter our location, and even when we’re on vacation. Email interrupts us when we're trying to do other work. And it creates anxiety that we might be missing something important if we're not checking our inbox constantly.
But you don't have to be at the beck and call of your email notifications. These strategies for managing email more intentionally will go a long way toward easing work stress:
Get rid of the second monitor on your desk unless you truly need the extra space to do one task (for example, if you're a designer). Too often, a second monitor just keeps us distracted by our inbox all day. Add a line in your email signature that sets expectations about response time. For example: "I check emails only periodically throughout the day. For urgent or time-sensitive communications, please call me." This can help you feel comfortable checking email less often. Encourage leaders in your organization to establish an email policy that supports productivity and reduces stress. That policy could include guidelines such as not sending after-hours emails and not checking email on vacation.
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2. Manage Meetings More Effectively
It's not your imagination: We're dealing with more meetings, and they're getting longer—especially with more people working remotely. And trying to squeeze the rest of your work around meetings is stressful.
However, it is possible to attend fewer meetings and to make the ones you do have to attend more efficient. Here are a few ideas to try:
When you call a meeting, make sure it has a clear goal and that a meeting really is the best way to accomplish that goal. For example, to collect opinions, you could create a short survey with Google Forms or Survey Monkey instead of scheduling a meeting. Before you decide to attend a meeting, ask the organizer about the desired outcome, the agenda, and what you're expected to contribute. If the organizer can't answer those questions, that’s a red flag that this meeting isn't going to be productive — and that perhaps your time would be better spent elsewhere. If you can't contribute to the goals of the meeting, or if you’re just being invited for information-only, opt out and tell the organizer who can contribute what they need. For example: "Oh, you invited me because you thought I have the latest information on that client. Actually, I don’t. Joe would be a better participant than I."
3. Know When to Limit Communication
Your organization hired you to create meaningful results, not to answer emails instantaneously or to interrupt what you're doing every time someone wants to know if you “have a minute?” But with all the distractions in our days—and with just about everything seeming urgent—it's easy to get those priorities reversed. That's bad for business, and for our stress levels.
To do your most important work, and to protect your own well-being, you'll need to limit communications sometimes to better manage your attention. This doesn't mean becoming unresponsive or discourteous to others. But it does mean managing expectations.
Exactly how to do this depends on your role and on the culture of your workplace. But these ideas can serve as a starting point:
During non-quarantine times, it's hard to concentrate in an open office. When you're doing something that requires deep focus, see if you can work somewhere else instead. If that's not possible, use a "do not disturb" sign. Silence notifications on all your devices while you're doing focused work. Try intervals of 25-75 minutes, then take a break. Before starting another focused-work interval, check your communication channels. Ensure proactive work time doesn’t get squeezed out of your schedule. If others put appointments on your calendar, block out some “unavailable” time. The more opportunities you create to get important work done in an undistracted way, the better others will adapt to having periods when they can't communicate with you.
Many of these are components of attention management, which I believe is the new, more relevant path to productivity and living a life of choice, rather than a life of reaction and distraction.
The idea of setting new boundaries around how you communicate might feel uncomfortable at first, especially if you're used to being highly responsive. But these strategies for managing work stress will probably be easier to implement than you're imagining. And they can provide results quickly, in both your productivity and your stress levels.
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b205b2b8fb95329ad3a946027294987f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureenfarrell/2011/04/20/are-next-generation-groupons-potential-disruptors-or-cannibalizers/?utm_campaign=20110420&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=allactivity | Are Next Generation Groupons Potential Disruptors or Cannibalizers? | Are Next Generation Groupons Potential Disruptors or Cannibalizers?
Image via CrunchBase
The site that disrupted retail's business model is now spawning disruptors of its business model. The question for Groupon (as it reportedly drafts its IPO), its copycats and its potential disruptors are whether the daily deal model is sustainable long-term or whether it's simply an industry that will cannibalize itself.
The challenge with Groupon is that someone will offer a better deal to the merchant," says Sucharita Mulpuru, an e-retail analyst with Forrester Research. "Margins will inevitably be compressed in this industry."
Two well-funded tech startups think they have the business model that will upend Groupon's model and that of its rivals, even ones like Living Social that are garnering reported billion dollar valuations too.
Seth Priebatsch, the wunderkind behind SCVNGR, recently launched his company's own daily deal site called LevelUp. Priebatsch admits the potential promise of the daily deal site is what helped him garner a $100 million valuation for SCVNGR's January 2011 Series C $15 million fundraising led by Balderton Capital.
Priebatsch, SCVNGR's 22-year-old CEO or "Chief Ninja", explains that unlike Groupon which takes a 50% cut from new customers, his company's daily deal pilot program won't charge the business offering a deal anything on the first pass. LevelUp only makes money if the same customers who take the first deal come back. LevelUp takes a 25% cut on the second and third deal that a customer takes. "A one-time customer isn't something we have the right to charge for," says Priebatsch. "LevelUp is built to bring loyal customers."
SCVNGR launched this program a few weeks ago in Boston and Philadelphia and though he won't give any information on revenue generated from the pilot so far, Priebatsch says he driven 40% repeat visitation for the stores offering these deals. Indeed Patrick Magee, the owner of Atwoods Tavern in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says he's happy about the roughly 120 new customers that took his pub up on the first LevelUp deal. From here, only those 120 customers can take advantage of new deals. While it's too early for him to understand whether he's building loyal customers, Magee says he's happy that he only needs to pay SCVNGR a minimal amount on the next two deals. "It's advantageous to us because we can choose deals based on margins that work for us," says Magee. Atwoods hasn't worked with any other daily deal sites.
Another site founded by Doubleclick alumns is trying to give publishers a cut of the daily deal market and raised $8 million from Spark Capital, Lerer Ventures and others to go after this. Group Commerce, a New York daily deal site, wants to tap publishers' existing user base and give them daily deals. Group Commerce is white label service that gives publishers technology and writers and deal crafters to offer deals to their existing subscribers. Jonty Kelt, the company's CEO, says that Group Commerce will use the 50-50 Groupon model, and his site will split the margin with the publisher.
The disruption that Kelt and his investors are betting on is that Group Commerce can cut out the cost of finding subscribers and potential customers. "It's an incremental revenue stream for the publisher, and they also want to find new ways to engage their audience," says Kelt.
Forrester's Mulpuru says the biggest challenge for any copycat is simply finding a compelling deal every day. "Why does Groupon have more employees than Facebook? These deals are hard to find," she says.
Groupon is clearly ripe for disruption, but can the market sustain itself? Is the appetite for a half-off spa day unlimited for consumers and for the spas?
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2550bd1ddae0bdb76c17c97aee245e6b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/02/07/judge-refuses-to-kick-god-out-of-public-schools/ | Judge Refuses To Kick God Out Of Public Schools | Judge Refuses To Kick God Out Of Public Schools
“Under God” is as much a part of the Pledge of Allegiance as red, white and blue are part of the American flag. That was the ruling this week by a New Jersey judge who said an atheist student did not face discrimination or coercion during the recitation of the daily Pledge in the classroom.
State Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman upheld the right of the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District in Monmouth County to follow the state statute that mandates daily recitation of the pledge. Students are allowed, however, to abstain from participating in the pledge for any reason they choose.
Reciting the pledge is not a “religious exercise,” Bauman ruled, but rather a way to transmit the “core values of duty, honor, pride and fidelity to country” to public school boys and girls.
The Does, the unnamed family pressing the case, were joined in the suit by the American Humanist Association, a 25,000-member non-profit organization that uses the slogan “Good Without a God.” The AHA argued that the Pledge discriminated against atheists “by portraying God-belief as synonymous with patriotism and implying that nonbelievers are less patriotic.”
Bauman didn’t see it that way. The plaintiffs did not “establish any kind of discrimination,” he ruled, “because Doechild is not being treated any differently than his peers, nor is he being coerced to partake in an activity that violates his religious beliefs.”
Bauman noted that the state constitution has mentioned “Almighty God” since 1776. He found that the Pledge is a secular, not a religious activity and therefore constitutionally protected.
“As a matter of historical tradition,” he added, “the words “under God” can no more be expunged from the national consciousness than the words “In God We Trust” from every coin in the land, than the words “so help me God” from every presidential oath since 1789, or than the prayer that has opened every congressional session of legislative business since 1787.”
Joining the school district were the American Legion, the Catholic organization Knights of Columbus, and the Jones family of South Jersey. “The message today is loud and clear: “God” is not a dirty word,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which backed this defense and similar litigants in courts round the country.
Samantha Jones, a senior at Highland Regional High School who joined her family in the defense, said she was grateful for the court’s decision. “The phrase ‘under God’ protects all Americans, including atheists, because it reminds the government that it can’t take away basic human rights because it didn’t create them.”
The AHA expressed “disappointment” at the ruling, but vowed to carry on its national boycott of the Pledge. The group wants supporters to remain seated during the Pledge until the offending words “under God,” which did not appear until 1954 as a reaction to the Cold War, are excised. “The Soviet Union fell in 1991,” the lawsuit argued, “and the need, if there ever was any, to distinguish America in this manner from communist adversaries no longer exists.”
Bauman made it clear where he stands: "The words 'under God' are now as interwoven through the fabric of the Pledge of Allegiance as the threads of red, white and blue into the fabric of the flag to which the Pledge is recited."
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db06109550bd3cb7a5e4c4187748036a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2016/05/30/gary-johnson-on-education-5-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/ | Gary Johnson On Education: 5 Things The Presidential Candidate Wants You To Know | Gary Johnson On Education: 5 Things The Presidential Candidate Wants You To Know
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks to supporters and delegates at the National... [+] Libertarian Party Convention. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Former Republican Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson, a long-time proponent of school choice, got the Libertarian Party nomination for president on Sunday at the party’s convention in Orlando. The libertarians also gave the nod to his vice presidential running mate, William Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts. Johnson’s message is that he is “fiscally conservative and socially cool.” He was the party’s candidate in 2012, when he got 1% of the total vote.
After raising education spending dramatically in his first term as governor didn’t bring the desired increase in test scores, Johnson fought to bring vouchers to students throughout the state. He says that with a Democratic legislature the initiative was futile, but he still wanted to force the issue and make the teachers’ union “defend a clearly failing status quo,” according to his campaign website. He has also come out against Common Core curriculum standards and other federal requirements placed on local schools.
Here are some of his views on education:
Department Of Education:
I would abolish the federal Department of Education and very quickly. People don’t realize that the federal Department of Education gives each state 11 cents out of every school dollar that every state spends. But it comes with 15 cents worth of strings attached. Federal government says you need to do A, B, C and D and here’s 11 cents. Well, to do A, B, C and D it costs you 15 cents. Great example right now are these transgender bathrooms that schools are now being dictated to to provide by the federal government. Well, gee, that’s costs that the federal government is mandating to the states. Look, just leave the states alone. What people don’t realize is by leaving the states alone, the states will actually have more money. People also think the Department of Education was established under George Washington when it fact the federal Department of Education was established under Jimmy Carter. Tell me anything that’s been value added about the Department of Education since the Eighties.
Adam Carolla radio show, May 2016
Competition:
Think of any occupation in this country where the top person in that occupation doesn’t make 30 million bucks a year except for education because we don’t have a system that absolutely rewards the best. If you had full-blown competition when it came to education you’d have educators making $30 million a year because what they would do is they’d be laying down templates that would positively impact all educational earners.
Everything else is our lives is competitive and as a result of it being competitive things are better and better and better. But why can’t we apply that to schools?
Adam Carolla radio show, May 2016
Innovation:
This is action that belongs in the states…50 laboratories of innovation and best practice. And guess what? You’d have innovation. You’d have best practice. I’m going to argue that those states that really bring about this competition to public education will show really fabulous results that‘ll get emulated.
Those states that want to stay with the existing model they’re going to continue to show horrible results.
Adam Carolla radio show, May 2016
Original Voucher Plan:
Basically, the idea is to give every single student in New Mexico a school voucher, so you're looking at approximately 330,000 children in New Mexico who would receive a voucher. The program would be phased-in over four years by income level, so we'll start out with families at the poverty level and then increase the income limits to where everybody would get a voucher. Students who already are in private schools would get a voucher just the same as students in public schools. They would be phased-in by income, so that the children in private schools who are at the poverty level would be phased-in in Year One.
The value of the voucher would be tied to the student equalization funding formula, which means that the value of the voucher is going to be somewhere in the vicinity of $4,000. Now, the amount of money that we actually spend on a student for a public education in New Mexico is about $6,000, and that also is tied to the funding formula, which is different from one school district to another.
One of the huge criticisms of vouchers is that they're going to take money away from public education. Under my proposal--and I'll use this as the extreme example--if every child in Santa Fe were to take their school voucher and opt out of Santa Fe public schools, the Santa Fe public schools would be left with about 35% of their budget and no students. It's just not going to happen, but it illustrates the point that as money for vouchers flows from the public schools, we actually raise the amount of money available for each student remaining in the public schools. That's because the public schools get $6,000 a student and we're granting a $4,000 voucher to those who choose outside the public school system.
The momentum is clearly in the direction of people saying, "You know what? We've got to give vouchers a chance. There is something to this. This makes sense." It has become a campaign issue because people recognize it's a no-lose proposition: The voucher is redeemable at public schools, so what is there to lose? Other than some really bad schools that won't be in existence any longer.
And I know you know this criticism: "Where vouchers have been used, you've had private schools that have failed." Precisely. The point being: Those schools weren't any good, and they've failed--which is something we don't get in the public sector, ever. We never see public schools fail because there's no mechanism for them to fail.
Interview with George A. Clowes of the Heartland Institute, October 2000
Personal Education Background:
Johnson, 63, was born in Minot, N.D., where his mother worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and his father was a public school teacher. They moved to Albuquerque when he was 13 and he graduated from Sandia High School in 1971. He felt his first call to politics in fifth grade and went on to study political science at the University of New Mexico so he could learn how to campaign for public office. After graduation in 1975 he became a professional skier and supported himself with his handyman business. He married his college sweetheart, Denise “Dee” Simms, and together they built one of the state’s most successful construction companies, Big J Enterprises, and had two children, Seah and Erik, who attended public schools.
He served two terms as governor but term limits prevented a third run in 2002. Instead, he climbed Mount Everest a year later. Dee died in 2006, not long after they were divorced. Johnson lives in a home he built in Taos and is engaged to Kate Prusack. He is the author of the 2012 book “Seven Principles of Good Government: Liberty, People and Politics.” In his book he says he made enough money on the sale of his construction company in 1999 “that I wouldn’t have to work ever again.”
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db125e530ae54a112eabf8765ca537e3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2016/08/30/d-c-charter-schools-outperform-districts-public-schools/ | D.C. Charter Schools Outperform District's Public Schools | D.C. Charter Schools Outperform District's Public Schools
Musician Esperanza Spalding visits Turner Elementary School, a public school in Southeast Washington... [+] that's part of the Turnaround Arts program, on April 18, 2016. (Photo by Kris Connor/Getty Images)
Final results of the second year of PARCC standardized testing in the District of Columbia released today show that the charter schools outperformed the traditional public schools in elementary and high school grades. Overall, there’s a lot of work to be done in both categories of schools because only about one quarter of the total students are meeting or exceeding expectations in math and English language arts.
In language arts, 29% of students in charters reached the highest levels of 4 (meeting expectations) and 5 (exceeding expectations). That’s compared with 25.5% of students in public schools. (Yes, I know charters are public schools, but I will divide them into those two categories to make this more understandable.
In math, 26% of charter students reached the highest levels, 4 and 5, compared with 23.9% of public school students.
For the charters, that was an increase of 4 percentage points in language arts and 2.5 percentage points in math over the previous year, which was the first time the PARCC exams were administered. PARCC is one of two multi-state exams that were created following the move toward Common Core curriculum standards across the country.
“While these PARCC results show improvement over last year, we still have more work to do,” said Scott Pearson, Executive Director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, in a statement. “We will keep improving the educational options available to D.C. students and their families.”
More than 14,000 charter students in schools throughout the district took the PARCC assessments in the spring. The enrollment is 79% African American, 12% Hispanic and 6% White. In the charters, 82% of students are considered “economically disadvantaged,” 19% are special-education and 8% are English-language learners.
Enrollment at the public schools last year was 48,439. The demographics are similar with 64% African-American, 18% Hispanic and 13% White enrollment. About three-quarters receive free and reduced-price meals, 15% of the population is in special education and 11% are English learners.
One way that the D.C. public schools are pushing for better outcomes is with an extended-day program at lower-performing schools. Students at 32 elementary and middle schools this year will attend class until 4:15 p.m.
“The PARCC scores show us that our approach of helping great educators teach rigorous content is producing real results at many of our schools,” said Kaya Henderson, Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, in a statement. “But there is no shortcut to the hard work of improving student outcomes.”
Though there are bright spots in the public high schools - like the selective Benjamin Banneker Academic H.S., which saw significant gains in test scores – there are more major problem spots. At eight of 17 public high schools, 0% of the students met or exceeded expectations (categories 4 and 5) in math and/or language arts. That means no students are considered on-track for college in those schools.
For the charters, among the top performers in elementary school are those run by D.C. Prep and KIPP.
Among the charter high schools, the top performer is BASIS, where 91% of students scored a 4 or 5 in language arts and 86% scored in those top two categories in math. BASIS, the Arizona-based chain of charters that I profiled here, operates a grade 5-12 school located not far from the Smithsonian. It has been growing by a grade each year and will offer grade 12 for the first time this year.
And for those who wonder if they cherry pick their students, BASIS is part of the common application and lottery pool known as My School D.C.
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dd1620d3e0db151c0dbbe27edfd76634 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2016/10/31/hillary-clinton-promises-to-spend-25-billion-on-historically-black-colleges/ | Hillary Clinton Promises To Spend $25 Billion On Historically Black Colleges | Hillary Clinton Promises To Spend $25 Billion On Historically Black Colleges
Hillary Clinton campaigned with first lady Michelle Obama in North Carolina on Oct. 27. (Photo by... [+] Alex Wong/Getty Images)
In the last week of the presidential campaign, Democratic contender Hillary Clinton offered up a plan to spend $25 billion in federal funds on historically black colleges and universities. There are 107 HBCUs in the U.S., including Howard University in Washington, D.C., Morehouse College in Atlanta and Tuskegee University in Alabama.
“African Americans still face unique barriers when it comes to graduating college,” she said in an op-ed piece today for The Root, an online news and opinion site from the African-American perspective. “Black students are still less likely to graduate within six years, and they are significantly more likely to need to work part-time while in school. So we need to do more to close the gaps and give all our kids the best chance to succeed.”
The HBCUs, many of which were established in the South after the Civil War, accept students of all races but the principal mission remains the education of black students. Clinton’s plan for a $25 billion “investment” would go to all the HBCUs, public or private, and each would get $234 million, on average. “That includes expanding on-campus child care and creating more scholarships for students who are also parents to make it easier for them to obtain a degree” she added.
It's clear this is a get-out-the-vote giveaway just a week before the election. “This has to be more than just a public-policy issue,” she wrote. “It has to be a voting issue.” (Emphasis hers.)
She took a swing in her op-ed at her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, whom she mocked for his “claims (that) black communities suffer from ‘horrible education.’”
Clinton, who gets strong support from the public teachers’ unions, did not wade into the data that shows African-American students in inner-city public schools have some of the worst standardized test scores and graduation rates in the country. She also avoided the on-going argument in the education community over the role of charter schools, usually staffed by non-union teachers, in urban communities. In fact, she has avoided almost all talk of K-12 education during the year and half of campaigning.
Trump, for his part, promised in September to move $20 billion in current education spending toward K-12 school-choice initiatives, such as tuition vouchers. He said he would make it a “national goal” to give 11 million children living in poverty a choice of schools, including traditional public, charters, magnets and also private schools.
Once again, Clinton gave thanks to her former opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who insisted on moving her towards a position of “completely tuition-free” at in-state four-year public universities for families making under $125,000 a year and free two-year community college for all.
She also pledged to let black students refinance existing college debt so that they never have to pay more than 10% of their income. “Since black students at any given institution are more likely to need to take out loans and graduate with more student debt than their white peers, this issue disproportionately impacts the African-American community,” she added.
“And we’ll work toward making sure students attending public HBCUs never have to take out loans to cover the other costs of obtaining a degree, like textbooks, activities and living expenses,” she wrote.
She also pledged to let black students refinance existing college debt so that they never have to pay more than 10% of their income. “Since black students at any given institution are more likely to need to take out loans and graduate with more student debt than their white peers, this issue disproportionately impacts the African-American community,” she added.
No word on how she would finance this new spending.
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135cf383fa84addec37edea879adbb1b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2017/01/17/betsy-devos-is-public-enemy-number-1-with-teachers-unions/ | Betsy DeVos Is Public Enemy No. 1 With Teachers' Unions | Betsy DeVos Is Public Enemy No. 1 With Teachers' Unions
President-Elect Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The forces in and around the teachers’ unions of America are engaging in a massive assault against Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Education Secretary. From her wealthy family to her Christian faith and support of school vouchers, DeVos ticks off the education establishment, which sees her selection as a direct shot at the grand tradition of public schools.
“DeVos’ anti-public education positions and her lack of any experience or qualifications show she would be a disaster for public education,” the horrified NJEA, the New Jersey affiliate of the National Education Association, told its members, providing them with numbers to call (and call again!) for Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez.
"Her efforts have been laser-focused on undermining our public schools and, in doing so, have harmed students," wrote an equally terrified Steven Cook, president of the Michigan Education Association in an op-ed last month for the Lansing State Journal.
DeVos’ confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee will be held Tuesday at 5 p.m. and the vote is scheduled for Jan. 24…and it’s expected to go in her favor. She will face a friendly Republican majority, including Tim Scott (S.C.) and Rand Paul (KY), who support school choice. The Democrats, however, are ready to pounce: Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Al Franken (MN) come to mind as well as the Independent from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who was in New York earlier this month stumping for “free" college with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Republican Lamar Alexander (TN), the chairman of the committee, met with DeVos last week and said he she will make an “excellent” Secretary of Education. “I'm looking forward to her hearing because I know she will impress the Senate with her passionate support for improving education for all children,” said Alexander, who served as Education Secretary from 1991-1993. “I am fully confident that she will be swiftly confirmed by the full Senate."
Not so fast, says Warren. Last week, the former law professor sent DeVos a 16-page letter with 66 footnotes and 21 questions that snarks at what she sees as the nominee's lack of experience at everything from running a trillion-dollar student loan program to “developing regulations.”
DeVos, 59, does not appear to be cowed by politicians. She chaired the Michigan Republican Party two different times and sat on the Republican National Committee. Her husband, Dick DeVos, ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor of Michigan, their home state, in 2006. That political race and their campaign locally and nationally for school-choice initiatives were funded in large part by their family wealth – his father co-founded Amway, and FORBES estimates the family fortune at $5.1 billion. Her father, Edgar Prince, operated a successful auto parts manufacturing company.
DeVos’ opponents are convinced she can’t serve as head of the Department of Education because a) she didn’t attend public schools, b) her four children didn’t attend public schools, c) she supports school choice, d) she’s a devout, Bible-quoting Christian and e) she’s rich. The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation had $15.1 million in income in 2014, wrote Crain’s Detroit Business in June.
“She has used her money, power and influence to destroy public education in Michigan, and advance her religious beliefs,” says Marie Corfield, a teacher and “education activist” who rose to prominence when Gov. Chris Christie reamed her out at a 2010 town hall meeting for “put(ting) on a show” and giggling when he started to answer her question about budget cuts.
As an editorial in The Wall Street Journal put it, DeVos “has committed the unpardonable sin of devoting much of her fortune to helping poor kids escape failing public schools.”
DeVos was not an early Trump supporter. Nevertheless, her long-standing support of alternatives to traditional public schools dovetails with Trump’s vow to move $20 billion in federal education money into school choice initiatives. Her early philanthropic work with education included aiding the introduction of a charter-school law in Michigan back in 1993. Her husband, a pilot, in 2010 started the West Michigan Aviation Academy, a charter school that teaches flying to about 600 students in Grand Rapids.
Her rise to a position in the Cabinet is galling to teachers’ unions and activists such as the Badass Teachers Association (BATs), who see an end to the government monopoly on K-12 education. The number of charter schools has been growing: there are now about 6,800 charters out of the nearly 100,000 public schools in the country. Voucher programs remain a small segment of the education system, with about 100,000 students getting vouchers to attend private school and another 190,000 getting tax-credit-funded scholarships to private schools, according to the Center for Education Reform. It’s still a tiny number, thanks in large part to lobbying by the unions. This year, the government says nearly 50 million students are attending K-12 public schools in the U.S. Another 5.2 million attend private schools.
To block her nomination, Twitter is chock-a-block with #DumpDeVos and #NotMySOE hashtags. There’s also #PublicSchoolSuccess pointing out that successful Americans, including Alexander, Warren and Sanders, are all public school graduates. Like Trump and President Obama, DeVos did not attend public schools. She graduated in 1979 from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, a liberal arts school affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church.
DeVos is a “radical extremist,” says school-choice denier Diane Ravitch, who switched sides after serving as Assistant Secretary of Education under Alexander in the early 1990s. To hear her opponents tell it, DeVos is the boogie lady who destroyed the ailing Detroit schools by bolstering the charter schools there. Her foes claim she wants to eliminate traditional public schools through privatization and plow under the sacrosanct church-school divide. And they claim she wants to turn back the clock to the days of George Wallace-style southern racial segregation of schools.
DeVos in turn sees school-choice foes as Luddites, clinging to a Model T style of education in the era of Tesla. She has attacked Obama for trying to eliminate the successful federally funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program that allows low-income students in Washington, D.C., to attend private and parochial schools while sending his own daughters to the $40,000 a year Sidwell Friends School. “It’s illogical, it’s hypocritical, and frankly it’s immoral,” she said in a 2015 speech.
In June she told Crain’s Detroit Business: “Dick and I chose the best education for our children, realizing at the same time that there were many parents and children — there still are — who didn't have the same opportunity. And I didn't think that was fair. I still don't think it's fair."
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17468837fde0083d9cdda23544d51cb6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/07/22/jacksonville-jaguars-to-unveil-worlds-largest-hd-video-displays/ | Jacksonville Jaguars To Unveil World's Largest HD Video Displays | Jacksonville Jaguars To Unveil World's Largest HD Video Displays
There’s an arms race going on out there. It’s not nuclear weapons, pitchers, or quarterbacks. No, this arms race is about the ultimate man cave item if you own a sports facility.
Yes, from ballparks, to race tracks, to football stadiums, and beyond, it’s no longer just about being able to have fans close to the action, you have to give them something that displays video on a scale that makes a zit on someone’s forehead look like Mt. Everest.
Who’s the next in line?
This Saturday at EverBank Field, the home of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, the club will unveil 35.5 million LEDs that will light up during the unveiling of the world’s largest HD video displays that were manufactured and installed by Daktronics (NASDAQ-DAKT) of Brookings, South Dakota. To commemorate the unveiling EverBank Field will host a friendly soccer match between Fulham F.C. and D.C. United followed by concert from country music star Carrie Underwood.
To give you an idea of the sheer size of the display, Daktronics provides this infographic showing the scale of the them in relationship to you, a car, semi, home, goal post, and yes... Washington's face on Mt. Rushmore
Taking video displays to massive levels, Daktronics has built this behemoth that will be unveiled at... [+] EverBank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars
The unveiling of the displays puts the Jags in first place (at least for the moment) as they surpass Texas Motor Speedway (who had the title beginning in March) to take the title of “World’s Biggest Screen” and beats out its second-best NFL rival the Houston Texans who unveiled their displays in August of last year when they unveiled their 14,000+ square feet display boards. The new displays will outsize the Texans displays by more than 7,000 square in the new Jaguars' end-zone boards alone.
The question is, will anyone watch the actual game and concert, or be mesmerized by what can only be described as an HD television on steroids?
“The Jaguars have done a great job in preparing an exciting unveiling event for the world’s largest video displays,” Daktronics Vice President of Live Events Jay Parker said. “These displays will set a precedent in professional venues in terms of the fan experience and what can be witnessed by going to the stadium. The team can show a never before seen combination of content with essentially three huge HD screens on one massive LED display. It’s going to be amazing when they fire them up to host their first home football game.”
Not content with one, the unveiling will feature two massive end zone displays that each measure a massive 60 feet high by 362 feet wide and feature a 13HD pixel layout. With more than 21,700 square feet of digital canvas, each display is longer than a football field and can feature three full-size HD windows for maximum versatility during any event. A section of 60 feet high by 106 feet wide provides enough real estate for such a feat while also providing an extra 44-foot-wide buffer space for additional graphics, statistics and other content.
The 13HD technology was selected for this installation for many reasons, chief among them being the high brightness that helps overcome the Florida sunlight – especially in the direct sunlight received by the north end zone. The high contrast and wide viewing angles are unmatched in the industry for this type of product, thus providing the outstanding visual impact desired by the Jaguars for their fans.
The bottom line is, the race to have the biggest video displays are bolstering the bottom line of companies like Daktronics. Expect the title to be held by the Jacksonville Jaguars for about as long as it takes you to find that lost TV remote in the couch cushions.
SEE THE VIDEO DISPLAY BEING BUILT:
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a0dbaea2b138a1012c33877d7cdaf8dc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/07/23/have-concerts-and-sporting-events-become-too-expensive-for-the-average-fan/ | Have Concerts And Sporting Events Become Too Expensive For The Average Fan? | Have Concerts And Sporting Events Become Too Expensive For The Average Fan?
For entertainment, many might argue that seeing a concert or going to a sporting event rates right up there with some of the best things to do. There’s something magical about being there live when it happens.
The two have been intertwined in many people’s life, certainly this author included. I quit counting concerts I had been to when I hit 1,000 and I’ve been to hundreds of sporting events.
There have been some dramatic changes in the two industries since I started regularly attending both beginning in the 1970s. In sports, many like to cite the advent of free agency as the reason for cost increases, but as sure as we’re sitting here, if a magic wand were waved over professional sports and free agency was removed, costs would remain pretty much the same. Ask yourself when the last time any business owner didn’t try to ultimately charge what the market would bear. For concerts, changes in the recording industry and how we consume music has affected the importance of concert tour revenue.
Seeing national acts in concert or going to collegiate or professional sports has become nearly out of reach for middle-income households. Here’s what has caused the changes, and how things such as tribute bands and minor league sports are providing lower cost entertainment alternatives.
The iTunes Generation, Making It Up With Concert Fees, And The Growth In Tribute Bands
For music, the seismic shift occurred in the Apple iTunes era, where few purchase an album’s worth of artist material, and opt to go a la carte, picking and choosing tracks often as low as $0.99 each. When this became the norm over purchasing CDs or records, the recording industry took a nose dive.
According to a mid-year report by Nielsen SoundScan via the Wall Street Journal, during the first six months of 2014, only 62.9 million CDs were sold, less than half of 2009′s six-month total of 136.4 million (although interestingly, in the first half of 2009 1.2 million vinyl albums were sold compared to 4 million for 2014).
Interview after interview with mainstay artists show that as revenues from recorded purchases decline, they’re picking up the slack with concert tours.
Along the way, conglomerates like Clear Channel Communications have gobbled up a large swath of the market. From radio stations, to promotion, to concert venues, the increased costs that are associated to attending live music events by the top stars have become exceptionally expensive.
My first concert was Bill Graham’s “Day On the Green” #2 in May of 1976 at the Oakland Coliseum. Not yet a teen, I saw Peter Frampton at the height of his “Frampton Comes Alive” fame headlining with Fleetwood Mac, Gary Wright, and U.F.O. for $10.50 general admission, or $43.98 in today’s dollars when accounting for inflation.
Today, terrace seats for Frampton at the Hollywood Bowl are $105-$225. Nose-bleed seating in my hometown of Portland, OR for Fleetwood Mac are going for a “low” of $94 on Ticketmaster.
This isn’t to say that the figures should not have increased somewhat by now due to other factors. Fleetwood Mac in 1976 had just seen new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join the band. Their massive hit album Rumors had not yet been cut.
There’s other reasons, as well. Certainly the target demo now for all the bands listed on that Day on the Green bill has now grown into 50 and 60-somethings. For that target demo, disposable income is greater and more readily available.
But, there’s other signs that concerts have become an elitist affair, or at least artists have figured out that like sporting events, you can offer tiered pricing structures.
Let’s not take bands that have been around for decades and go for a newer artist.
For $1,500 you and a guest can do a VIP package for the Justin Timberlake show. You don’t get to meet Timberlake, but you get to go to a swanky lounge, get a pre-show reception, and other trimmings like a tee-shirt. If not there, then Platinum seating for JT run as high as $590. At a minimum, you can currently get tickets for the show through StubHub for a price starting at $134.
And, if you look at those links presented, there’s another reason for the cost escalation: ticket brokers and resellers.
In the 1970s and 80s, the idea of a “reseller” was the corner ticket scalper. Now, tickets sold on the secondary market account for large percentages of a venue’s inventory that are sold before the average consumer can get in on them.
Throw all of it together, and concerts have become something that many have to pick and choose to go see, as opposed to a time when many went to each and every show that came through town. For young music lovers, the ability to simply go on a whim to a live concert and possibly expand their horizons by seeing an act they may have known little about has become more expensive, and therefore further apart than the past generation.
The Growing Rise Of Tribute Bands Feed Nostalgia, And Save Fans Money
The accelerated cost of concerts has created a growing live music industry in “tribute” bands. Either unable to see these bands any longer (think Led Zeppelin, or the original Pink Floyd) or the cost of seeing landmark bands that tour rarely (Rolling Stones, AC/DC, or U2), fans are paying less money to see someone mimic the artists they love.
Tribute bands, such as "Shoot to Thrill" from Portland, OR play to large scale crowds with pro... [+] production when the real AC/DC isn't touring. (Photo credit: Jim Dorothy)
J-Fell Presents (www.J-Fell.com) provides tributes ranging from Journey to Led Zeppelin to Guns 'N Roses and beyond for clients that run everything from County Fairs to larger festivals in the Pacific Northwest. On a given weekend, I’ll do this as part of an AC/DC tribute called “Shoot to Thrill” that's part of the J-Fell Presents stable of bands. I asked Jason Fellman, the musician and promoter that runs J-Fell Presents why he sees such popularity in tributes.
"A lot of it comes down to price and availability,” said Fellman. “Many tribute concerts see reasonable prices at around an average price of $10-$15 per show, and there are lots of them to choose from of high quality performance. Tribute bands will never be a replacement for the real thing, but it's certainly something that people enjoy when seeing their favorite bands isn't an option for whatever reason, whether it’s cost or the band not touring often."
But, it’s not just in the Pacific Northwest that you’ll find thriving tribute scenes. As concerts have grown more expensive, tribute shows that charge less, can pull in massive crowds and with it, earn big money.
According to a Boston.com article from 2010, “the Australian Pink Floyd show - an elaborate homage to the British progressive rock band that has played at the 2,800-seat Orpheum Theatre - sold $3.4 million worth of tickets in 2009, according to the concert industry trade publication Pollstar. The multimedia Beatles tribute show Rain made Pollstar’s list of top 100 touring acts, coming in at number 69 with $11.7 million in ticket sales.”
So, costs for concerts have created a cottage industry for those that can't get into expensive shows as often as they like. This trend shows how costs are influencing the live music experience for name acts as prices escalate.
How HD TV, Streaming Media, And High-Cost Of Sporting Events
With the advent of HD television, and its crystal clear picture (just wait till we all have 4K, Ultra-High-Def displays), many are opting for the creature comforts of home for sports over sitting in traffic, and paying an arm and a leg to sit and watching it live.
Team Marketing Report has been running what they call the Fan Cost Index (FCI) for years. The FCI is designed to somewhat mimic what a family of four would pay to take in a sporting event. For each club in a given sport, Team Marketing Report creates the FCI which comprises the prices of four (4) adult average-price tickets, two (2) small draft beers, four (4) small soft drinks, four (4) regular-size hot dogs, parking for one (1) car, two (2) game programs and two (2) least expensive, adult-size adjustable caps.
Below shows the average FCI for each of the major leagues in the most recent season:
Major League Baseball - $212.46 National Basketball Association - $326.60 National Hockey League - $359.17 National Football League - $459.65
Remember, this is the average for a family of four. A Dallas Cowboys fan? The FCI is $634.78. Toronto Maple Leafs fan? $615.62 (Canadian). Boston Red Sox fan? The FCI is $350.78. Like to take in a Knicks game at the Garden with the family? The FCI is $659.92.
A key change has been ticket pricing options.
Back in the 1960s if you wanted to take in a baseball game, there really were just three types of tickets you could purchase: Box, Reserved Grandstand, and General Admission. Now, clubs slice up ballparks as many as eight different ways with varying pricing structures, and this doesn’t include suites.
This fantastic look via the Twins Trivia blog shows just how things have changed for and how over the years. This associated chart from the research shows how not only costs have rapidly escalated over the last decade, but the increase in ticket options.
This graph, courtesy of the Twins Trivia blog, shows how costs and pricing options have dramatically... [+] escalated since 2000 for the Minnesota Twins
The Minor Leagues Fill The Gap
So, while attendance for games has remained flat for the most part across the major sports leagues, many are either staying at home or deciding that much like taking in tribute band concerts, they can still get solid pro sports entertainment, but through the minor leagues.
Last year, Minor League Baseball saw total attendance of 41,553,781 passed through the turnstiles an increase of 0.7 percent over the 2012 season.
Going back to the average FCI for Major League Baseball, by comparison the average for a family of four for Minor League Baseball this season is $63.55 or a whopping $148.91 less. While families may want to take in big league games, they may opt for minor league Americana, instead.
And the same goes for other sports.
Minor league hockey via the AHL can see prices as low as $15 with max prices hitting $50.
While LeBron James’ return to Cleveland will surely push prices skyward, cost to take in the Canton Charge, the NBA Development League affiliate of the Cavaliers, is no higher than $25 per ticket and as low as $7.
Have Concerts and Sporting Events Become Elitist?
So while we want to catch the best players in sports, or the biggest stars in concert, many are saying that cheaper forms of entertainment can often be suitable. They certainly aren’t the big leagues, but if your pocketbook drives how frequent you take in entertainment, and you decide volume entertainment over the top-shelf brand is good enough, there’s a growing industry around them.
The question is, have these entertainment options become more for upper-to-upper middle class to attend, and have we gone the way of the Romans in the Coliseum. To the commoners sit in the upper seats while Caesar and his minions take stock of the games from the quality seats below? Will there come a day when the majority watch events from their home via television, and only the most privileged get to see the premier entertainment? If a sporting or concert event was held, and no one came in person, would it really have happened?
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65f7616458f2b0a7c724346712586e92 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/07/30/with-pressure-from-fcc-and-congress-twc-agrees-to-arbitration-over-dodgers-network/ | With Pressure From FCC And Congress, TWC Agrees to Arbitration Over Dodgers Network [UPDATED] | With Pressure From FCC And Congress, TWC Agrees to Arbitration Over Dodgers Network [UPDATED]
The article has been updated by a statement from Major League Baseball
It was big news when LA SportsNet, a regional sports network of Time Warner Cable , was announced in January. The deal that could pull in as much as $8.35 billion over 25 years to the Dodgers has been seen as a complete game changer in how much revenue can be pulled in via television media rights.
Fans gawked at the gaudy number, while those watching the sports media landscape reached for the Alka-Seltzer. The figure reached was so astronomical, it was bound to have adverse effects, not only for the television industry, but everyday consumers that pay subscriber fees for cable and satellite pay-TV services.
The 2014 MLB season got fully under way in April, and with it, SportsNet LA began showing games. But to the consternation of many fans, the vast majority in the Los Angeles area are blacked out from seeing the Dodgers.
That’s because to date, SportsNet LA is not currently carried on Cox, Charter, Suddenlink, Dish, DirecTV, FiOS (Verizon) and U-verse ( AT&T ). The reason is the reported cost of carrying the channel—reportedly for a fee as high as $4 per subscriber—to meet that lofty $8.35 billion in total rights fees. The $4 sub comes at a time when sports programming continues to account for the vast portion of a cable bill, regardless of whether someone is a sports fan, or not.
With the 2014 MLB season now past the halfway point, several Southern Californian members of Congress wrote a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last week, expressing their growing concern over the dispute.
“Consumers deserve the opportunity to watch their program of choice,” the letter read in part. “For Dodger fans across Los Angeles, this is not an option and there is no clear resolution on the horizon.”
The letter went on to ask Wheeler to engage the FCC in mediation between TWC and the other pay-television providers and reach an end to the dispute.
On Tuesday, Wheeler met with Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), the key author of the letter sent last week. According to Broadcast & Cable, Cárdenas said, after he wrote the letter, Wheeler called him and asked to talk. He suggested the carriage fight was a "subset" of larger media consolidation battles, and that this would not be the last of what he hoped would be "respectful, cordial and overdue conversations."
Wheeler then called Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus and said he had "strong concern" that Time Warner Cables’ actions in the dispute "have created the inability of consumers in the Los Angeles area to watch televised games of the Los Angeles Dodgers."
Wheeler’s call coincided with a letter from six other southern California Congressmen to Marcus, led by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), urging TWC to head into arbitration with the carriers in the dispute.
"Now, on behalf of Dodgers fans throughout Southern California, we urge that Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and all other TV providers enter into binding arbitration, so that a neutral third party can determine the right price and terms for the Dodgers network," the letter said. The letter added that before arbitration started that, “SportsNet LA be made available immediately to all fans before an agreement is reached, beginning with tomorrow night’s game against the Atlanta Braves. The arbitration would determine the amount payable for tomorrow’s game and all subsequent games."
The pressure seems to have worked. Late Tuesday, TWC agreed to arbitration.
"We prefer to reach agreements through private business negotiations, but given the current circumstance, we are willing to agree to binding arbitration," a Time Warner Cable spokesman said to the LA Times.
Major League Baseball released a statement late Tuesday seeing the offer by TWC as positive.
“Major League Baseball appreciates the letter sent by six members of Congress, who made a thoughtful and fair proposal to resolve the ongoing dispute over the distribution of Los Angeles Dodgers games," the statement read. "Like the Dodgers, MLB supports the proposal. We believe that Time Warner’s acceptance of the proposal is in the best interests of loyal Dodger fans who deserve to see the games. We applaud Time Warner’s willingness to accept the proposal and are hopeful that Dodger fans will soon have access to game broadcasts.”
But while arbitration may be acceptable to Time Warner Cable and Major League Baseball, not all the carriers agree. DirecTV would rather not have everyone be forced to have SportsNet LA on their channel listing, and rather allow just Dodger fans that wish to subscribe do so ala carte.
"Rather than force everyone to bail Time Warner Cable out, the simplest solution is to enable only those who want to pay to see the remaining Dodger games to do so at the price Time Warner Cable wants to set," a DirecTV spokesman said to the LA Times, adding that non-fans should not have to pay for Time Warner Cable's "excess."
In a case of the ironic, on the same day that TWC said it would agree to go to arbitration over carriage of SportsNet LA, Hall of Fame Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully said he'd be returning in 2015 to the booth. Scully does all the home games on SportsNet LA. Let's hope fans in Los Angeles will be able to watch him by then.
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628e3bb2c34e251cc886e86a55207a50 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/09/16/nfl-players-association-files-appeal-of-ray-rice-suspension/ | NFL Players Association Files Appeal Of Ray Rice Suspension | NFL Players Association Files Appeal Of Ray Rice Suspension
Late Tuesday evening, the NFL Players Association—the union for players in the National Football League--formally filed an appeal of the indefinite suspension of Baltimore Ravens RB Ray Rice by the NFL. Rice, was indicted by a grand jury in Atlantic County on third-degree assault over knocking his then fiancée, and now wife, unconscious in an Atlantic City casino Later he plead not guilty and prosecutors granted Rice’s request to enter into an offender-rehabilitation program. Commissioner Roger Goodell gave Rice a two-game suspension, but then after a second video tape emerged showing the brutal hit by Rice to his fiancée, Goodell changed the suspension to indefinite. This after Goodell made changes to the personal conduct policy that would see a six-game suspension for a first-time domestic violence offense, and being banned permanently upon a second domestic violence offense.
Goodell has been criticized for the handling of the case.
The NFLPA said in a statement that action taken by them was to “protect the due process rights of all NFL players.” The statement added that the “appeal is based on supporting facts that reveal a lack of a fair and impartial process, including the role of the office of the Commissioner of the NFL.” They have asked that a neutral and jointly selected arbitrator hear this case saying “the Commissioner and his staff will be essential witnesses in the proceeding and thus cannot serve as impartial arbitrators.” The NFLPA’s references to Goodell as a witness stems from conflicting reports on when Goodell had access to the second video, regardless of the fact that the police report on Rice stated that he rendered his now wife unconscious. Goodell said on the CBS Evening News that he knew of no executive of the NFL that had seen the video, saying, when we met with Ray Rice and his representatives, it was ambiguous about what actually happened.” The next day, the AP reports that a law enforcement official sent the video to an NFL executive in April. Goodell continues to deny that he’s seen the video.
Things will move fairly swiftly after the filing by the union for the players. Based upon the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and NFLPA, it requires a hearing date to be set within 10 days of the appeal notice.
The NFLPA was quick to note that based upon governing labor law, an employee cannot be punished twice for the same action when all of the relevant facts were available to the employer at the time of the first punishment. The union’s request for a neutral arbitrator is said to be needed to determine what information was available to the NFL and when it was available.
Gallery: NFL Team Values 2013 32 images View gallery
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3185203a6264074d60215c1eadf1af40 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/10/30/cheeky-jockey-unveils-madbum-underwear-saluting-world-series-mvp-madison-bumgarner/ | Cheeky? Jockey Unveils 'MadBum' Underwear Saluting World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner | Cheeky? Jockey Unveils 'MadBum' Underwear Saluting World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner
Could this be considered cheeky? Is it designed for comforting giants? Is it just the kind of marketing idea that could be the butt of some jokes? Maybe. But, this is one sponsorship deal that had a pitch that was probably unlike any other.
Hot off the Giants World Series Championship win last night, Jockey International, Inc. announced that they have unveiled Jockey “MadBum” underwear as part of its ongoing Supporting Greatness campaign. That campaign on TV, in print, online, outdoor and through media partners currently features Babe Ruth, “Buzz” Aldrin and General George Patton.
Bumgarner was the 2014 World Series MVP posting two wins (he was nearly credited with the Game 7 win which would have given him 3), got the Save last night pitching 5 innings and had a ridiculous World Series ERA of 0.43.
“Jockey is an iconic American brand that has supported baseball and the greatness of its players for years,” said Madison “MadBum” Bumgarner. “I’m proud to wear Jockey and celebrate this championship with my teammates and the great ‘bums’ everywhere.”
So, you think you’re worthy? Got a mad bum, yourself? According to Jockey, a limited quantity of “MadBum” underwear will be distributed at celebrations around the city tonight and at the championship parade in San Francisco.
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6e5fc019731447c48cac4cd26b359124 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/02/05/is-this-a-possible-solution-to-mlbs-tv-blackouts-dilemma/ | Is This A Possible Solution To MLB's TV Blackouts Dilemma? | Is This A Possible Solution To MLB's TV Blackouts Dilemma?
No one likes television blackout policies with sports. Nobody. Even if you try and say the owners do, the reality is, they see the blackouts as a necessary evil that they now can’t get away from.
Fans will disagree with this. Fans, understandably, aren’t going to be sympathetic to an owner raking in millions (or in some cases, billions) of dollars in media rights revenues when you’ve paid to see a game on television or streamed to their computer and mobile devices only to see “Sorry, this game is blacked out.” When you pay to see games, the expectations is that, well… you get to see them.
As to how we got here, it didn’t begin to greatly affect fans until pay-TV—cable and satellite packages—began becoming a large percentage of the household market share. When it was over-the-air, you got your national games, and if you were lucky, maybe your local team. With pay-TV and the advent of MLB Extra Innings, MLB’s out-of-market TV package, suddenly you could be all the way across the country and see games from your favorite team.
For the better part of 15 years, I’ve figuratively (and probably in more than one case, literally) pounded on the table, asking when the league would fix the matter. How long was it going to take? How much longer would fans suffer?
So, when I interviewed new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred recently for Forbes, I spent the vast majority of it discussing the media landscape. Within the interview, the matter of blackouts was discussed:
Maury Brown: The #1 customer complaint to MLB.com is about the league’s blackout policy. There are some markets that see as many as 6 teams blacked out due to club TV territories. What would you say to fans that pay to see games, yet wonder why a business would limit its product to them? Commissioner Manfred: Television territories that cause these blackouts are integral to the economics of the game. They’re a foundation of the very structure of the league. Blackouts are actually caused, not by our desire not to cover that area, but by the inability of the rights holder to get distribution in certain parts of the television territories. It’s not solely our issue to resolve. Having said that I am aware of these complaints and whenever we have an issue like this we are constantly evaluating how we do business to make sure we are as fan friendly as possible.
When the interview hit social media, this question and answer garnered the largest response. And, understandably, no one seemed to like Manfred’s answer. The consensus was, “Manfred isn’t going to do anything about blackouts.”
But, there was something within Manfred’s answer that was key. Something that was likely overlooked, yet something that is part of the problem, and at the same time, the lynch pin in the solution
"Blackouts are actually caused, not by our desire not to cover that area, but by the inability of the rights holder to get distribution in certain parts of the television territories."
The key words here were “rights holders to get distribution in certain parts of the television territories”.
While there has been a thawing of blackouts on the national level, it is local broadcasts that create the most trouble due to territories for each club that started out as over-the-air reach, and ran amok as pay-TV took hold. They are, to the fans, arbitrary, and at the very least, arcane.
Below shows how MLB’s broadcast territories are defined (CLICK TO SEE IN LARGER VIEW).
Note how this hodgepodge has colors that overlap in many places. In parts of Iowa and in Las Vegas, as many as 6 teams can have games blacked out on a given day.
Manfred, and the league are smart people. It’s easy for me to come up with an idea. It’s far different to make it happen. But, there might be a way to address local blackouts. There could be a way to remove this thorn in the side of the fan.
The biggest media partner that Major League Baseball has is FOX. They air the national Game of the Week on Saturdays, and cover the postseason, including the World Series. On-air personalities from MLB Network are on FOX broadcasts, and members of the FOX broadcast team are often on MLB Network.
Larger still, FOX owns the majority of the regional sports networks that air games at the local level in their respective club territories.
The answer may start with FOX.
First off, this is in no way to say this is easy. At best, what you have here is a way to get a domino effect by getting the largest player in the game to go along with the plan, and have the others fall in line after.
Looking at game data, there were total of 4,667 games broadcast last year. Of those, 1,709, or 37 percent were on a FOX owned regional sports network. From FOX Sports SW to FOX Sports KC, and beyond, a large chunk of the total were broadcast by FOX.
If the owners and FOX could agree on a way to lift blackouts on their networks, would that be enough to push others into doing so?
Behind FOX, Comcast controls the second-largest percentage. The various flavors of Comcast SportsNet across the country broadcasted 775 games last season, or 17 percent of the total. From there you get into single digit percentages, but some of these are critical for another reason.
Something that has grown over the years has been ownership stakes by clubs in the RSN that broadcasts their games. From YES (Yankees) to MASN (Orioles and to a less extent Nationals) to SNY (Mets) and more, clubs have a vested ownership interest. So, can Manfred, with the help of newly appointed COO Tony Petitti who has a deep network background and ran MLB Network, as well as Bob Bowman, who grew MLB Advanced Media into a massive digital machine, but now is MLB’s President, Business & Media, help negotiate something that Manfred said is, “integral to the economics of the game” while also lifting the black curtain often in the fans’ eyes? It is a monumental task. Maybe blackouts get lifted by tacking on additional costs for in-market? Maybe you’ll get to have blackouts lifted, but it will come with an increase in subscriber fees? It’s not perfect. But, given whether fans had the option to pay what they are now and feel jilted with games blacked out, or knowing up-front that costs could increase, yet fans avoid blackouts, the odds seem exceptionally high that they’d opt to open their wallets wider and kiss blackouts goodbye.
This issue has been dogging MLB for years and there was hope in 2008 that it might get resolved when former MLB President Bob DuPuy was still with the league. But then media rights values exploded and owners tightened their grip. Former commissioner Bud Selig always said it was an “important matter to address” but never seemed to have a solution that the owners could sign off on.
In speaking with those in and around MLB, while Manfred’s answer to my interview question comes off more on the side of, “Sorry, the blackouts are just part of what we have to live with,” word is that now that he’s in office it’s a matter he takes the blackout matter very seriously.
The possible idea of looking at the network partners to help push the solution for lifting blackouts forward is vastly complex. The moving parts just around contractual obligations seems especially daunting. But if Manfred can get the owners to see some solution that satisfies fans, without killing the golden goose of media rights, then there is way to make the “blackout blues” a thing of the past. Let’s hope Commissioner Manfred, as the new face of the league, can help foster a way to make it happen.
BELOW SHOWS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF GAMES DURING THE 2014 SEASON BY EACH NETWORK PARTNER THAT AIRED THEM (CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE IN LARGER VIEW):
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c91b1ee4574f15fd67f624da11c0de47 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/05/27/more-than-10-fifa-officials-arrested-over-corruption-scheduled-to-be-extradited-to-the-u-s/ | More Than 10 FIFA Officials Arrested Over Corruption, Scheduled To Be Extradited To U.S. [UPDATED] | More Than 10 FIFA Officials Arrested Over Corruption, Scheduled To Be Extradited To U.S. [UPDATED]
UPDATED: Complete list of those indited, as well as quote from United States Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch
It has long been said that FIFA, soccer’s global governing body has been corrupt. Early Wednesday, accusations turned to action as Swiss authorities began arresting officials at the posh Baur au Lac hotel ahead of FIFA’s annual meetings where a new president is set to be elected. Those arrested are scheduled to be extradited to the United States.
According to The New York Times, the charges allege a widespread pattern of corruption—including the bid process for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals, according to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case. According to the report, charges include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, and officials said they targeted members of FIFA’s powerful executive committee.
Nine of the defendants were FIFA officials by operation of the FIFA statutes, as well as officials of one or more other bodies:
Jeffrey Webb: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) executive committee member and Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president. Eduardo Li: Current FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member and Costa Rican soccer federation (FEDEFUT) president. Julio Rocha: Current FIFA development officer. Former Central American Football Union (UNCAF) president and Nicaraguan soccer federation (FENIFUT) president. Costas Takkas: Current attaché to the CONCACAF president. Former CIFA general secretary. Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser. Eugenio Figueredo: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member. Former CONMEBOL president and Uruguayan soccer federation (AUF) president. Rafael Esquivel: Current CONMEBOL executive committee member and Venezuelan soccer federation (FVF) president. José Maria Marin: Current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic football tournaments. Former CBF president. Nicolás Leoz: Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL president.
Four of the defendants were sports marketing executives:
Alejandro Burzaco: Controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates. Aaron Davidson: President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. (Traffic USA). Hugo and Mariano Jinkis: Controlling principals of Full Play Group S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.
And one of the defendants was in the broadcasting business but allegedly served as an intermediary to facilitate illicit payments between sports marketing executives and soccer officials:
José Margulies: Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd.
FIFA’s president Sepp Blatter was not part of the indictment.
The case was made by United States Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. She had been previously involved in the investigation when she served as the United States attorney in Brooklyn.
“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Attorney General Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable. Today’s action makes clear that this Department of Justice intends to end any such corrupt practices, to root out misconduct, and to bring wrongdoers to justice – and we look forward to continuing to work with other countries in this effort.”
While Switzerland refuses to extradite individuals over matters such as tax crimes, according to the report in matters of general criminal law, the Swiss have been known to hand over individuals for extradition.
FIFA has wielded incredible power due to the massive revenues they generate. According to FIFA, revenues from 2011-14 were $5.7 billion.
As noted, accusations of corruption has long dogged FIFA. There have been recent accusations of bribery. A whistleblower claimed officials were paid $1.5 million each to support Qatar getting the World Cup. And executive committee members have secretly doubled their pay.
Gallery: The Billion Dollar Business Of The World Cup 5 images View gallery
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1aa11d2f8b6a519c259437395a816c0b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/08/18/andrew-mccutchen-matt-kemp-buster-posey-others-show-how-they-fit-their-caps-as-part-of-new-era-ad/ | Andrew McCutchen, Matt Kemp, Buster Posey, Others Show How They Fit Their Caps As Part Of New Era Ad | Andrew McCutchen, Matt Kemp, Buster Posey, Others Show How They Fit Their Caps As Part Of New Era Ad
On Monday, we ran a thought provoking story on how the brims of baseball caps are worn. From sea-to-shining sea, everyone seems to have an opinion on whether wearing brims flat is “incorrect” while bent caps are “correct”. It has created a bit of a holy war between baseball fans.
On the eve of publication, I enlisted help from Chris Creamer who runs the SportsLogos.net website, and Phil Hecken, the weekend editor for Uni Watch along with a cast of thousands on Twitter to discuss what players actually used their brims flat in MLB, both now and prior.
The investigation was illuminating. Sure, there were lots of pure flat brims, but there were shades just off being fully flat, and every seeming degree of “bent” in-between. Whether it was Kris Bryant, Joba Chamberlin, or players since retired, such as Dontrelle Willis, or Babe Ruth the flat brim is everywhere.
But, over the course of the evening, what was really discovered is players take their caps very personal, and can not only change how they are from season-to-season, but sometimes in the middle of one. And here’s what you may not know: the standard headshots that you see of players on ESPN or listed on websites with their stats are done during Spring Training. Players often are simply handed a regular season hat and jersey because they’ve been wearing Spring Training unis.
But, if there’s fans that seem to have some idea on how caps are worn by players, it’s really the players themselves that know them inside and out.
In a great bit of timing, New Era is releasing this ad as part of their “This Is The Cap” campaign today. The ad has footage of Andrew McCutchen, Matt Kemp, Manny Machado, Buster Posey, Brett Lawrie, Joc Pederson and Dellin Betances fitting their New Era 59FIFTY caps to their liking. The campaign by New Era gets into the nuances of the baseball cap communicating “fitting your standards,” “flexing your fit,” “setting the curve,” “showing your style,” “broken-in comfort,” and “that changes to fit your style.”
Below is the ad. Bottom line: how you wear your baseball cap is distinctively “you”. Whatever works for you is the “correct” way to wear it.
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0011a7195f4f38c034c48ed15a926a66 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/08/25/espns-uncomfortable-unnerving-relationship-with-the-nfl/ | ESPN's Uncomfortable, Unnerving Relationship With The NFL | ESPN's Uncomfortable, Unnerving Relationship With The NFL
Maybe it’s all just a coincidence. Stranger things have happened. Given enough time and enough events, things just happen to align. After all, Walt Disney -owned ESPN is the biggest sports outlet, and the NFL is the most popular sport in America. Given enough news and enough stories, could ESPN simply appear to be favoring the NFL with biased stories, peddling misinformation, and making moves to protect the NFL?
I’m not the first to whisper these words. And, given the amount of money that ESPN pays the NFL to air games, well, every story that favors the NFL as the league continues to be mired in controversy begs the question, is ESPN afraid to not only bite the hand that feeds, but is also pandering to them?
ESPN has oddly handled the controversial stories in the NFL, with the Ray Rice story being one.
But it’s the Deflategate matter that has really called into question whether ESPN has been carrying water for the NFL and Goodell. By now you’ve probably been made aware of the whole story of how Tom Brady had allegedly been involved in a scheme to deflate footballs. That originated with a story by ESPN insider Chris Mortensen that said 11 of 12 New England Patriots footballs were deflated below league standards as part of the AFC Championship game. But the problem is, when you look at emails between the Patriots and the NFL, you’ll find that the story was clearly a plant of misinformation and that the only source that would have had a reason to pass on the misinformation to Mortensen was the NFL. The whole case against Brady in the court of public opinion begins with that ESPN story. And while Mortensen said on the Dan Le Batard Show that he could have done a "better job vetting" the story, he backtracked saying of the story, the footballs were "significantly under inflated."
In fairness to Mortensen, he wasn't the only one to take sourced information about the 11 of 12 footballs being under inflated and ran with it. Peter King of Sports Illustrated did likewise. But the difference here is King went out on record as saying he was wrong:
"Clearly, this story, along with the Ray Rice story from last fall, has made me question sources and sourcing in general, and in a story as inflammatory as this one, you can’t just take the story of a person whose word you trust as gospel," King wrote. "It’s my error. I need to be better than that. Readers, and the Patriots, deserve better than that."
ESPN has kept the pedal to the metal on Deflategate as the sordid matter has now wound its way into a Federal court. While judges are exceptionally hard to read in matters—especially when it comes to overturning arbitration rulings—most all following the meetings in court with the lawyers for the NFL, the NFLPA and Tom Brady have seen things tilting. Judge Richard Berman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 12 could only be described by the overwhelming majority of the media as “grilling” NFL lawyers over the process used to dole out Tom Brady’s suspension and Commissioner Goodell upholding the suspension on appeal. And yet, ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson didn’t take the path in the face of the stiff leaning by Berman and simply say that regardless of how one-sided the case may appear to be now looking to be in favor of Brady, the ruling might be up in the air. No, Munson went so far as to say that for all the figurative spankings that the NFL lawyers have been getting in Berman’s court, it’s all part of a plan to show that the NFL is actually highly favored to win the case. As Munson writes:
In this case, recognizing that the NFL has convincing evidence and significant legal precedents on its side, Berman knows the only way he can produce a settlement is to show the league that there is a possibility it could lose a case that it should win. That is why he devoted most of a hearing Wednesday to picking apart the Goodell opinion and the league's legal position.
First of all, “convincing evidence” has been shown to be a leap of incredible proportions. In fact, the evidence (if you want to call it that) has been a large part of what Berman has been questioning.
But setting all that aside, Munson’s premise is incredibly flawed. And while I was thinking this, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk described it about perfectly:
Munson essentially believes that Judge Berman is doing whatever he can to force a settlement so that he won’t have to issue a ruling in the case, because Judge Berman fears being reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. But if the case is as clear as Munson seems to know it is, why should Judge Berman worry about anything? He should bang the gavel and move on, as confident as Munson is that the Second Circuit would quickly uphold the ruling.
Maybe Munson really believes this. After all, he’s written more than one story making a case that the NFL’s been in the catbird seat all along, even though it looks anything but, and any legal analyst worth their salt would simply say they really don’t know which way a judge is leaning. But, there’s that uncomfortable matter sitting in the corner... this is all coming from ESPN.
Now, before ESPN jumps down my throat and screams that not all articles are biased in favor of the NFL, there has been the recent story by Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada for ESPN the Magazine on the damages of head and neck injuries, “Why former 49er Chris Borland is the most dangerous man in football.” After all, the two wrote League of Denial, the story of how the NFL has worked to covered up the damages of concussion in the sport. And that’s true. But, it’s but one story. And, it's not running on SportsCenter.
ESPN's last ombudsman, Robert Lipsyte, addressed the overarching concerns of the media outlet's ties to those that they have media rights agreements with, saying:
I think that improvement is most needed in ESPN’s inconsistent execution of journalism, which does not appear to be the highest of company priorities. That’s understandable from an economic perspective. College football and basketball, for example, are important revenue producers for the company. Extensive investigative reporting into the exploitation of college athletes, and the legal battles around that, would seem to conflict with ESPN’s business model. How do you turn over the rocks in the Southeastern Conference, for instance, while owning the SEC Network?
It's here that ESPN truly shined in having an ombudsman in place. But, Lipsyte's last piece was in December of 2014. Since then there has been no replacement announced, which has had some pondering whether there is a back-and-forth at ESPN over the value of having an ombudsman. It's certainly not required and has not been part of ESPN's entire history (the position was started in 2005), but in times like ESPN is seeing over the Deflategate matter, the position serves as a solid sounding board.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on the ESPN set with Chris Mortensen prior to the Minnesota Vikings... [+] and Washington Redskins game at FedEx Field in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2006. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Once again, maybe all of this is coincidence. Maybe this is all some Oliver Stone conspiracy theory. Maybe all these stories siding with the NFL, the feeding of misinformation, the legal analyst going against the grain, maybe it’s all going to come out in the end as the truth and those like I will be the ones writing mea culpas.
Maybe.
But here’s the thing: what you need ESPN to be is the clearest of lens, not clouded and a champion willing to take on big business. And make no mistake, the NFL is the biggest business in U.S. sports. The extension reached between the Worldwide Leader and the NFL in 2011 is for $1.9 billion a year, that’s four times the rate that CBS , FOX, and NBC pay. So, with ESPN filling their programming space with as much NFL as they can, would it be surprising if someone at the NFL called them and said, “Do you mind seeing if you can get your journalists to tone down the rhetoric against us a bit?” To my knowledge, no one has said as much. There are no emails or off-the-record stories making that case. But the relationship between the two presents a problem.
The cozy nature of a media outlet trying to stand on the grounds of journalistic integrity and at the same time having massive media rights deals with sports leagues presents serious ethical dilemmas. Sometimes things are said directly (as one former ESPN baseball writer told me, in the late ‘90s writers were told to back off critical columns on former commissioner Bud Selig), and in some cases—ESPN or other outlets with media deals—do you think writers are going to go out and purposely take on a critical league partner? There would always be something in the back of your mind saying, “If I do this too many times I may get a pink slip.”
There’s nothing saying ESPN is sitting there with Goodell and is complicit in some grand scheme to become a mouthpiece for the NFL at every turn. What should be a real concern is that one day something like that could happen. That the relationship between a major league and media power broker will become so tight that they become nothing more than a PR arm of a league. Some may say that it’s already happened. I’m not willing to go there, mostly because the thought of it spells the beginning of the end for independent voices in the media. But what I am willing to say is the relationships are becoming unnerving and edging on uncomfortable. ESPN, prove me wrong.
ESPN declined to respond to a request for comment after the publication of this article.
Gallery: The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams 2015 51 images View gallery
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6eeb81c7e3df044266058ec063f4ffd3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/09/28/new-sponsorship-deals-help-power-mlb-toward-another-record-revenue-year/ | New Sponsorship Deals Help Power MLB Toward Another Record Revenue Year | New Sponsorship Deals Help Power MLB Toward Another Record Revenue Year
While the 2015 Major League Baseball regular season has not yet ended, for Commissioner Manfred and the league, it’s already a winner. While the final numbers will not be out until just before the December holidays, it will, yet again, be a record-setter in terms of revenues. In 2014, MLB marked its 12th consecutive year of record industry revenues with an all‐time high exceeding $9.0 billion, and this year will go well above that. To place the league's revenues growth in perspective, industry revenues in 2014 doubled the figure of 10 years earlier, when 2004 produced $4.5 billion.
While most of the focus on MLB’s record revenues have centered on the explosion in media rights, other areas of the league are doing a robust business, including the area of sponsorships.
Over the course of this year, there have been several key new sponsorship deals, including Esurance, The Hartford, Draft Kings, Maytag, Dunkin' Donuts, as well as Amazon Web Services who have sponsored “MLB.com Statcast powered by Amazon Web Services”.
To add, today the league announced that a multi-year integrated marketing agreement has designating Falken Tires as the Official Tire of Major League Baseball. The new partnership represents a strategic expansion of Falken’s sports sponsorship program, marking the company’s first deal with a professional sports league after enjoying significant success in motorsports marketing for 30 years. Beginning in the 2016 MLB season, Falken and MLB will join forces for multiple promotional opportunities including virtual signage behind home plate and branded in-game enhancements for nationally broadcasted games, including the All-Star Game, Postseason, and the World Series. Falken Tires will also participate in fan giveaways, in-game promotions and have access to MLB marks and logos for broadcast, print and digital use during these events. In addition, Falken Tires will have global marketing rights for the 2015 MLB Postseason.
All told, these new sponsorships reached in 2015 have total contract value over the life of the deals of $225-$275 million , according to industry sources. Major League Baseball declined comment on revenues surrounding the sponsorship agreements.
NEWARK, NJ - JULY 22: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred signs the Commissioners Letter, a joint... [+] commitment from all the major leagues to go Beyond Sport and creative positive and lasting impact to the communities and individuals they serve, at the Beyond Sport United 2015 event on July 22, 2015 in Newark City. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Beyond Sport)
One of the first changes made under Commissioner Manfred’s tenure was to restructure the core leadership of the league into what is called “One Baseball”.
The seven officers have provided a more unified and centralized way in how the league does business, which has created dividends this year.
"One of Commissioner Manfred's top priorities was to lead the sport under the theme of One Baseball,” said Noah Garden, MLB Executive Vice President, Business. “The combining of our sales forces into one unit has allowed us to showcase and sell the enormous assets of Major League Baseball more completely and efficiently to the corporate community."
Indeed, Garden highlights how the ability to activate deals across multiple platforms as a key driver in the league reaching out to sponsorship partners, as well as business seeking out MLB. With the league being a leader in digital media, and now having former President & CEO of MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) Bob Bowman now serving as MLB's President, Business & Media, it’s allowed direct revenue-generating and media rights activities across all MLB entities. That plays well into the work that Garden has done with his group. Whereas digital presence for sponsorship activation would be a static banner on MLB.com, there is more in the way of video being used. A prime example are the Esureance ads with Buster Posey where he’s in the delivery room as “sorta doctor”.
Other sponsorship deals, such as the one with The Hartford adds presenting sponsorship of the Reliever of the Year Awards and a partnership with legendary closer Mariano Rivera. The Maytag partnership has the “Filthiest Plays of the Week,” where Maytag and MLB ask fans nationwide to vote to determine the filthiest play in baseball each week. Announcing the select plays is Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.
While it’s just now the end of Commissioner Manfred’s first year under his tenure, the reorganization of One Baseball, on top of sponsorship opportunities that the league’s sale’s force is aggressively seeking add up to increased revenues in new places not tapped prior. Could MLB see total gross revenues of $10 billion by the end of the year? It’s too soon to tell, but if not, they’ll be awfully close. If so, Manfred will likely look at the growth in league sponsors as one key reason.
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52200eb8180847f3ca4105305e6e0fba | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/10/01/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-touts-mexico-as-a-possible-expansion-location/ | MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Touts Mexico As A Possible Expansion Location | MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Touts Mexico As A Possible Expansion Location
Rob Manfred, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
If Major League Baseball expands to 32 teams, don’t rule out one being in Mexico. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told me in an interview that while U.S. locations are on the table, and Montreal continues to pursue bringing a team back, Mexico City and other Mexican markets possess qualities that suit the league.
“We see Mexico as an opportunity internationally,” Manfred said. “We also think a team in Mexico and a larger number of Mexican players in the big leagues could really help us continue to grow the Hispanic market in the United States.”
Manfred also said that the choice of expansion locations in the U.S. would not be affected by clubs with regional networks that blanket the country.
“As a general proposition, I do not see the television territories for the clubs as a significant issue in considering expansion in domestic markets,” he said.
The last time a team relocated to another club’s broadcast territory was 2004 when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., and were rechristened the Washington Nationals. Then, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos threatened to sue the league over what he saw as the Nationals cannibalizing the Orioles fan base and television market. The solution, crafted by Commissioner Bud Selig and the league, was the creation of a new regional sports network, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) that airs both Orioles and Nationals games, that is majority-owned by the Orioles. That relationship has been problematic as the two clubs seek to increase media rights. The issue has become so contentious that the sides have gone to court.
When asking Manfred if he saw the same problem occurring should MLB decide to expand domestically, he said it was a matter of how close the teams would be.
“I think the Baltimore/Washington matter was just too tight in terms of proximity,” said Manfred. “I don’t think that if there was relocation into a club’s outer territory that it would be such a problem.”
Manfred touched on other issues around expansion…
Asked if the number of game played for each team would be altered with expansion to 32, Manfred said he favored staying at 162 games and moving to four-team divisions. “From a technical perspective it would be easier to divide the schedule up by four. Having five teams in the divisions is problematic from a scheduling perspective.” On whether there could be expansion of the Wild Card to a best-of-three, Manfred noted how there is a need for slack in the schedule. “The need for extra time due to weather, tiebreakers, etc. really is what drove the consensus for the one game Wild Card. Even with the one game, the Division winners have a significant layoff. If you put in a two-out-of-three series and run into a year like we are seeing now with weather related matters at the end of the season, the delay at the end would create a real disadvantage for the Division winners. Obviously, we don’t want to do that.”
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786270307e8eb8fd077c46b6bc830d11 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/12/04/mlb-sees-record-revenues-for-2015-up-500-million-and-approaching-9-5-billion/ | MLB Sees Record Revenues For 2015, Up $500 Million And Approaching $9.5 Billion | MLB Sees Record Revenues For 2015, Up $500 Million And Approaching $9.5 Billion
Major League Baseball continues to hit home runs on the business side of the industry. With the year nearly complete, the league can report that gross revenues increased $500 million for 2015, marking the 13th consecutive year MLB has seen record growth. While exact figures are not released, the league will enter 2016 with revenues approaching $9.5 billion.
Growth for baseball continued around media rights and other facets. While there continues to be talk of the media rights bubble bursting, dividends continue to come in. As an example, the Philadelphia Phillies saw rights fees increase from $25 million annually to $100 million as part of their new $2.4-3 billion deal.
In terms of fan apparel, retail sales of MLB merchandise exceeded $3 billion annually according to The Licensing Letter.
New sponsorships added to the league’s coffers. All told, these new sponsorships reached in 2015 have total contract value over the life of the deals of $225-$275 million.
MLB Advanced Media had more than 3.5 million subscribers to its suite of digital products last year, including MLB.TV and the MLB.com At Bat mobile application. MLB.com At Bat, the highest-grossing iOS sports app of all-time, was downloaded 11 million times in 2014, surpassing its previous record of 10 million downloads set in 2013.
MLB’s attendance of approximately 74 million fans in 2014 was seventh highest ever. The last ten years have been the ten most attended seasons in baseball history.
And there’s little doubting that the league will see 2016 be rosy. Next year, the Arizona Diamondbacks will see the fruits of a new television rights deal with FOX Sports Arizona that increased from $250 million for the rights from 2008-15 to $1.5 billion for 2016-21, and the league already announced that in-market streaming will come to the 15 clubs that have FOX Sports support their regional sports networks. To add, the league will shortly announce partnerships for the new BAM Tech spin-off of MLB Advanced Media.
Gallery: MLB Team Values 2015 30 images View gallery
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cefa540f80fec56eed1279d3218caf7f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/05/11/a-texas-high-schools-planned-63-million-football-stadium-thats-an-800-lbs-gorilla/ | A Texas High School's Planned $63 Million Football Stadium That's An 800 Lbs. Gorilla | A Texas High School's Planned $63 Million Football Stadium That's An 800 Lbs. Gorilla
As they’re proud of saying, everything is bigger in Texas. And for those that follow, high school football in Texas isn’t just big, it borders on religion.
So, should it come to anyone’s surprise that Texas voters approved a $62.8 million, 12,000 seat football stadium in the McKinney Independent School District? Forget that the stadium was buried in a larger $220 million bond package that includes an event center, infrastructure, and improvements to other aspects of not only McKinney Boyd High School, but also Evans and Cockrill middle schools. What you’re witnessing is now the 800 lbs. gorilla in the room of every other high school in Texas.
Maybe we shouldn’t be shocked at such a thing. Maybe this is just an extension of what’s been occurring at the collegiate level where donations from Phil Knight of Nike infused a massive growth of athletics related facilities for the University of Oregon Ducks, his former alma mater.
But, this is different. And different in a big way.
Artist rendering of the proposed $62.8 million high school football stadium (photo McKinney... [+] Independent School District)
While college athletics have seen a massive change around the creation of conference television networks, and the billions of dollars that come with it, should others get on what some might view as a grotesque bandwagon of Taj Mahal high school football stadiums, the money comes exclusively from taxpayers.
And while voter referendum was used to pass the bond packages to allow McKinney to gain funding for that nearly $63 million football stadium, it was conveniently buried in that larger bond deal. Maybe McKinney is taking a page out of the Miami Marlins playbook. Still, at least the Marlins generate some revenues of significance. McKinney residents will get a nice shiny toy that kids that go there can brag about. And who knows? Maybe they’ll gripe when they go to college to play football and find that it’s entirely possible that the stadium they play in is less appealing than what that had in high school.
This all gets back to keeping up with the Jones’. McKinney may be the biggest Taj Mahal high school football stadium now, but only a fool would think that there isn’t already boosters from other areas trying to mount a charge to get theirs built. Everything is bigger in Texas… including stadium envy.
Pray this newfound trend doesn’t gain a foothold outside the state. Imagine what the response from the state that prides itself on saying, “don’t mess with Texas” might be.
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a3e27f8d603f1aa4b78a6598a8832832 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/06/20/how-jblharman-could-corner-the-athletic-headphone-market/ | How JBL/HARMAN Could Corner The Athletic Headphone Market | How JBL/HARMAN Could Corner The Athletic Headphone Market
Short of oxygen, food, and water, is there anything more common to the human race than the love of music? There may be differing tastes in styles and genres, but you’d be hard pressed to find a single soul that doesn’t think that music drives the rhythm of life.
In athletics, music takes on elements beyond the pure joy of it. It sets the pace. It provides inspiration. It distracts from the pain. It puts you in the zone.
So, is it any wonder that in the world of professional and amateur athletics, as well as personal health and wellness that the headphone has become nearly as critical as the athletic shoes and apparel one wears?
New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez recently signed with JBL/HARMAN as a brand ambassador (image HARMAN)
Watch sports on television and you’re now just as likely to see ads for headphones as you will athletic wear. While the scale and resources thrown at it are on a different scale, some have said that the headphone market is the new sneaker deal for pro athletes.
Into this mix steps JBL/HARMAN. For years, the company has been synonymous with professional audio products and top-tier home systems for the audiophiles of the world. For some time the company has focused on professional musicians as the platform for sponsorships and ambassadors, but has moved into athletics.
“Music is endemic to sports,” said Ralph Santana CMO for HARMAN. “We, as casual athletes, use music to workout. We train to music, and professional athletes do the same thing. So for us, the ability to jump into sports was a way for us to jump into culture, but in a whole different way that is critical to what we at JBL/HARMAN do.” Landing on the core aspect of what music is to so many, Santana latched onto the core of what the company does, adding, “Music is emotional.”
JBL/HARMAN has had a deal with the NBA that sees over half the sound systems in arenas sporting JBL pro sound, but also has two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry, and NBA star Damian Lillard as brand ambassadors, the latter of which is seen as one of—if not the—best rapper in the league. It should come as no surprise that JBL helped provide part of the backing for Lillard’s rap album. So, JBL is vertically integrated with the league.
JBL Presents "Listen in Color" featuring Stephen Curry with song by Dame DOLLA
Looking to expand beyond the NBA, the company also has a deal with the Bronx Bombers for pro sound and technology for new Yankee Stadium. They also have a deal with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, and recently signed Alex Rodriguez to be a sponsor. JBL/HARMAN looked to Rodriguez as an active player after Rivera retired, and absent the woes that A-Rod has had around PEDs, they see him as a player that expands the Yankee legacy. If there were ever a player that has needed to get into a zone, work back into the Yankees lineup after the age of 40, and be able to use music to get away from the New York media, there isn’t an athlete that works better. New York is also in JBL’s backyard their flagship store the city, so it plays well for the company.
If the headphone market itself is crowded, for JBL they see themselves as being able to break away from the field due to their integration with sports venues and with athletes, while others don’t have that sense of vertical integration. With that, the company continues to grow in the space.
And while over-the-ear headphones such as the Everest Elite 700, which uses JBL’s NXTGen Active Noise Cancelling Technology which allows you to precisely control the level of outside noise you let in, seem to be one of the products that may be the most recognizable due to pro players wearing them as they walk off the bus into arenas or stadiums, the largest growing sector for headphones and JBL is in-ear headsets.
The worldwide headphone market is now $13 billion, and while ads may show many wearing over-the-ear as near fashion for casual wear, when it comes to fitness and training, the in-ear systems are where the key growth is.
JBL has been quick to see this, and recently partnered with Under Armour to bring connected health and fitness technology to consumers with a line of wireless sport headphones. According to HARMAN, the next wave of earbud systems will move beyond the need for a FitBit-styled wristband, but instead the flagship model, UA Headphones Wireless Heart Rate that is designed by JBL will provide instant heart rate measured directly from the ear at the touch of a button, letting athletes fully embrace their workout without the need to pause to check a band, watch or phone. With a built-in connection to UA Record, Under Armour’s health and fitness platform, these headphones constantly stream heart rate data to keep athletes synced with their fitness goals 24/7/365.
And while there are still wired systems, as smartphones move to exclusively using Bluetooth, athletes are no longer encumbered by the distractions that wired systems can have.
As noted the headphone market is a massive industry worldwide, but as athletics continues to technology become more and more part of the landscape, music will continue to be there as the driver to go further, farther, and faster while doing so through music, that emotional unifying force we all enjoy and crave. For JBL/HARMAN, they are strategically placed in the market both in terms of form in design for athletes, as well as the long history with designing top-quality audio products. Could they corner the market? Only time will tell, but they are certainly music to many athlete’s ears.
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e4b764b42e7dd8da98b277a5ab6bd329 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/09/03/as-sam-bradford-heads-to-vikings-it-shows-even-so-so-qbs-valuable-in-the-nfl/ | As Sam Bradford Heads To Vikings It Shows Even So-So QBs Valuable In The NFL | As Sam Bradford Heads To Vikings It Shows Even So-So QBs Valuable In The NFL
PITTSBURGH, PA - AUGUST 18: Sam Bradford #7 of the Philadelphia Eagles drops back to pass in the... [+] first quarter during a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 18, 2016 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
When word broke that Philadelphia Eagles QB Sam Bradford had been traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a first-round pick in 2017 and a fourth-round pick in the 2018 draft, the mind had to say, “Well, you take what you can get.” Sure, the Vikings had lost Teddy Bridgewater to a season-ending knee injury, but Bradford seems hardly a “replacement.”
While it’s only the preseason, in the two games that Bridgewater played he had the highest QB rating (141.5) of any quarterback in the NFL for qualified players. Bradford rates 17th for the preseason with a 105.6.
That’s the preseason. While it wasn’t stunning, Bridgewater ranked 17th in the NFL last season for qualified QBs with a 88.7 rating. Bradford wasn’t far behind at No. 20. Bradford has a career QB rating of 81.1. In two seasons Bridgewater’s career quarterback rating has been 87.
But from there the similarities disappear.
Bradford was a highly touted #1 pick in 2010 but even before then he had been prone to injury and has never truly lived up to the expectations of that No. 1 draft pick status. In 2009 as a collegiate player he underwent surgery on the A/C joint of his shoulder and missed 10 games. Later that same year he was hurt against Brigham Young and missed an additional three games. Once with the NFL, he suffered the following:
2011 – High ankle sprain of his left ankle. Missed 5 games. 2013 - Torn left ACL in Week 7 against the Panthers. He’s put on the IR and had to have reconstructive surgery. 2014 – Reinjures ACL in preseason and is out the entire 2014 season. 2015 – Gets hit hard, dislocates shoulder and suffers concussion in Week 10 and misses 2 games.
In other words, Bradford is a high risk QB not in the top-tier discussion. The Eagles get a solid return, and Bradford, who had been asked to get traded, gets his new zip code.
But it’s a sign that even high-risk, so-so QBs are of value. So much so that the Vikings are willing to ditch a critical first-round pick next season, and a pick in 2018. After winning the NFC North last season, the move to get Bradford at such a high cost means Vikings general manager Rick Spielman believes they can compete again, even though he said that he wasn’t willing to engage in trades that would jeopardize the future.
The only logic here is that Bridgewater isn’t just damaged to the point of missing the upcoming season, but beyond. Bradford bridges a gap while other options present themselves in the future. Shaun Hill didn’t seem to be the savior by any stretch. The Vikings had to do something, so Bradford—warts and all—is where the Vikings are putting their eggs. For now, Spielman appears to be focused on what’s directly in front of him. The Vikings were in a no-win situation: everyone knew they needed a QB for the upcoming season and therefore were operating from a position of weakness.
Looking at the current landscape, the conversations around controversial Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick being cut should be ignored. For one, Kap had a good offseason—even in the backup role— but beyond that, even if his polarizing position of not standing for the national anthem is a PR liability, he becomes valuable trade material. There never seems to be lack of interest in QBs around the trade deadline and Kaepernick could provide that.
If the move by the Vikings shows one thing it’s that the NFL is driven largely by the successes at the quarterback. It is a hype-valuable position that can see Super Bowl wins more easily attained if they are of high quality, but even if they are not. Look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Super Bowl XXXVII win with Brad Johnson. Or, Trent Dilfer guiding the Baltimore Ravens over Kerry Collin and the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.
There will always be a need at the quarterback position. There are only so many Tom Bradys, Russell Wilsons, or Drew Breeses to go around. The Vikings now know that all too well.
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ebcada18c68857e50d395c6e1058ac98 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/09/03/conservative-group-said-colin-kaepernick-was-breaking-federal-law-over-anthem-protest/ | Conservative Group Said Colin Kaepernick Was Breaking Federal Law Over Anthem Protest | Conservative Group Said Colin Kaepernick Was Breaking Federal Law Over Anthem Protest
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick talks to the media at a news conference an NFL... [+] preseason football game against the San Diego Chargers Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has created a debate around race relations, how it intersects with racial profiling by some in law enforcement, and protections under the First Amendment due to his making a political statement by not standing for the national anthem .
The stance has been a polarizing subject with many believing Kaepernick is unpatriotic.
No one has said that Kaepernick is breaking the law. That is, until today.
Conservative non-profit American Family Association took to Twitter , and somehow got to thinking that not only what Kaepernick was doing unpatriotic, it was against federal law.
The AFA citied U.S. code for the National Anthem, specifically § 301, off the Cornell Law website, part of which reads:
C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart
There’s a slight problem with the AFA’s rendering of the code. It says “should” not “must”. It’s a guideline. There’s good reason for this as after all saying that it was against federal law not to stand for the national anthem would fly in the face of the First Amendment of the Constitution and with it, the Bill of Rights.
And while the police chief of Santa Clara Co. where the Niners play, has said that, “Many of us in the law enforcement community have been saddened and angered by Kaepernick's words and actions,” he also said that police officers are sworn to uphold the Constitution. Thusly, the American Family Association didn’t quite understand that part and whoever was running their Twitter account, read the U.S. code for the national anthem, put two and two together and got "anyone not being patriotic and standing for the national anthem should get thrown in jail" and with a conviction would wind up with a felony.
As Twitter is wont to do, those that caught wind of the gaffe took to shaming them for it. Less than an hour after the tweet was published, the American Family Association deleted it. No word on whether Kaepernick was part of any citizen's arrest by an AFA member.
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b15f6bd4aea1aa3b491534e06ac272ab | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/09/28/here-are-the-2016-mlb-prime-time-television-ratings-for-each-team/ | Here Are The 2016 MLB Prime Time Television Ratings For Each Team | Here Are The 2016 MLB Prime Time Television Ratings For Each Team
With the 2016 Major League Baseball season nearing an end, it’s time to begin looking at the popularity of the game, and with it, how it fared on television. The league continues to be a dominate force in prime time during the summer; something that bodes well for advertisers that take advantage of the large number of games, as well as the craving of sports fans who seek live content outside of the grips of DVRs.
TV ratings for Major League Baseball continued to be strong in 2016. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
The data culled from Nielsen by way of one of their key clients that covers the 29 U.S. clubs in the league from April 3-Sept 25 shows that nine clubs had the No. 1 ranking across all TV networks in prime time (Royals, Tigers, Orioles, Pirates, Indians, Red Sox, Mariners, and Giants). More than half the league (16 out of 29) saw them rank in the top 3 across all television networks . Out of the 29 clubs charted, 24, or 83% of the league saw the No. 1 rated programming in primetime on just cable over the course of the season.
Overall, for the 29 clubs, ratings were up 1% over last year’s data of the 29 U.S. teams. Fifteen of the 29 saw ratings increases over their prime time ratings in 2015.
RELATED CONTENT: Local Ratings Show MLB Ruled Prime Time Programming In 2015
For the second year in a row, the Kansas City Royals led the league with a stunning 11.70 rating, down from the whopping 12.98 in prime time last season on FOX Sports Kansas City. The Royals were the only club this year to see their average rating in prime time in double-digits. Coming in with the second-highest ratings for the league in consecutive years was the St. Louis Cardinals with an 8.54 rating on FOX Sports Midwest, down from a 10.86 last season. They were followed by the Tigers (7.56 average rating, up from 6.42 last season on FOX Sports Detroit), and Baltimore Orioles who saw a 36% increase in ratings over last season pulling a 7.28 average rating on MASN.
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In a sign that baseball has shifted to a more regionalized fan experience, local sports fans are also choosing regional sports networks over ESPN on the nights their MLB teams play. ESPN’s average local ratings crack the top 10 compared to RSN MLB ratings in only three markets (Kansas City at #9, Cleveland at #7 and Atlanta at #7). Otherwise, ESPN falls somewhere between 11 and 20 across the remaining markets.
In terms of the largest increase in prime time ratings, the AL Central winning Cleveland Indians rank at No. 6 seeing an eye-popping 71% increase in their year-over-year average rating in prime time pulling a 7.03 compared to a 4.10 average rating last season on SportsTime Ohio. The Indians were followed by the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs who pulled a 39% increase over the 2015 season posting a 5.00 average rating on CSN Chicago. From 2014 to this season, the Cubs have seen a complete turnaround in viewership in prime time. Over the course of two seasons, the Cubs have gone from a 1.54 average in prime time, a 225% increase.
On the declining side, the disappointing season for the San Diego Padres were reflective in terms of television interest. Ratings dropped from a 4.13 at the end of 2015 to a 2.65 on FOX Sports San Diego, a decline of 36%. The Padres were followed by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves who each saw ratings drop 34% compared to last season in prime time.
And while they continue to see struggles in getting broad distribution, the Los Angeles Dodgers saw ratings increase 28% over last year on SportsNet LA. The NL West champions saw Vin Scully call his final home game on Sept. 25th.
For those wondering about ratings for the Toronto Blue Jays, while the culled Nielsen numbers do not correspond directly to the viewership data in Canada, ratings through July on SportsNet were up 50% over last year, averaging a solid 928,000 per game across all time slots. Those figures are likely to have increased over the remainder of the season.
Below are shows ratings and viewership numbers for the sports prime time window from April 3-Sept 25, how the programming ranked across all networks, how the programming ranked against cable, last year’s rating average, the increase or decrease from the year prior, and how games ranked on ESPN when the home team played to the national audience.
Rnk Mkt Team Rtg 2016 000s Rtg 2015 + or - 2015 All TV Cable ESPN Rnk All TV 1 Kansas City Royals 11.70 105 12.98 -10% 1 1 9 2 St. Louis Cardinals 8.54 104 10.86 -21% 1 1 12 3 Detroit Tigers 7.56 138 6.42 18% 1 1 18 4 Baltimore Orioles 7.28 80 5.35 36% 1 1 18 5 Pittsburgh Pirates 7.22 83 9.15 -21% 1 1 20 6 Cleveland Indians 7.03 105 4.10 71% 1 1 7 7 Boston Red Sox 6.93 167 5.20 33% 1 1 19 8 Seattle Mariners 5.84 103 5.48 7% 1 1 20 9 Bay Area Giants 4.71 117 4.99 -6% 1 1 15 10 Chicago Cubs 5.00 174 3.60 39% 2 1 13 11 Dallas Rangers 3.96 105 3.19 24% 2 1 11 12 Minneapolis Twins 3.59 62 4.52 -21% 3 1 18 13 Tampa / St. Pete Rays 2.95 55 4.12 -28% 3 1 16 14 Denver Rockies 2.84 45 2.09 36% 3 1 12 15 Wash, DC Nationals 2.78 68 2.73 2% 3 1 15 16 San Diego Padres 2.65 28 4.13 -36% 3 1 17 17 Cincinnati Reds 3.44 30 4.42 -22% 4 1 14 18 Philadelphia Phillies 3.26 95 3.00 9% 4 1 11 19 New York Mets 2.92 215 2.84 3% 4 1 14 20 Houston Astros 2.88 68 2.42 19% 4 1 11 21 Phoenix Dbacks 2.57 48 3.89 -34% 4 1 20 22 Milwaukee Brewers 2.97 26 3.95 -25% 5 1 18 23 New York Yankees 2.52 196 3.06 -18% 5 2 14 24 Atlanta Braves 1.25 30 1.9 -34% 6 2 7 25 Miami Marlins 1.86 31 1.78 4% 7 1 15 26 Los Angeles Dodgers 1.32 73 1.03 28% 7 1 17 27 Los Angeles Angels 1.14 63 1.6 -29% 9 2 17 28 Chicago White Sox 1.00 35 0.79 27% 9 3 13 29 Bay Area Athletics 0.77 19 0.91 -15% 12 5 15
Source: Nielsen Arianna Live+SD Data Stream 4/3-9/25/16
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3c6668b65352c862d30ed1d20bf3aeb6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/10/25/mlb-sponsorships-in-2016-will-reap-360-400-million-to-already-robust-bottom-line/ | MLB Sponsorships In 2016 Will Reap $360-$400 Million To Already Robust Bottom Line | MLB Sponsorships In 2016 Will Reap $360-$400 Million To Already Robust Bottom Line
In a sign that baseball continues to be healthy, the nine league sponsorships that are new or part of renewals for Major League Baseball will total $360-$400 million over the life of them, according to industry sources.
The league continues to grow activation of sponsorships through a business line restructuring under what Commissioner Manfred labeled “One Baseball.” This realignment put television, online, and the traditional business of the league for sponsorships under one umbrella, giving those that reach deal with the league blanketed coverage across the platforms.
Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs has turned into one of MLB's big stars. He and other young players... [+] are part of why sponsorships for the league are growing in a big way. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
The league saw considerable growth over last year when league sponsorships over the life of the contracts totaled $225-$250 million.
The league reached renewals with strong corporations in the financial, automotive, telecommunications, and home care sectors. Bank of America, MasterCard, Chevrolet,T-Mobile, and Scotts, all long-time partners, renewed deals with the league since last year. New deals included Evan Williams, New Relic, Papa John’s, and TuneIn .
The league continues to use new teams, markets, and young stars as key selling aspects on the business side. With the intense national interest in a Chicago Cubs vs. Cleveland Indians World Series, that will continue.
“With the droughts that both teams have had in winning a World Series—1948 for the Indians and 1908 for the Cubs—the close proximity to each other, and the major markets they represent,you get a more casual fan interest across the country,” said Noah Garden, MLB Executive Vice President, Business.
Garden also pointed to several stars that gained visibility last postseason, and continued that trend this year. Cubs players such as Kris Bryant, Jake Arrieta, and Anthony Rizzo with Francisco Lindor from the Indians are some examples in the World Series, but it also included seeing Noah Syndergaard with the Mets.
Major League Baseball continues to focus closely on building interest with youth through its Play Ball initiative that Rob Manfred touted on his first day as commissioner. Business partners are maintaining a partnership in those efforts as baseball looks to make lifelong fans out of kids that play any form of baseball or softball in their formative years. According to Garden, that has played well with sponsors who see baseball as gaining a younger demographic in which to target.
“In the 18-24 months we’ve seen incredible success due to the combination of the Baseball One realignment along with the focus on youth. Whether it’s consumer products, or traditional sponsorships, we’re finding a lot of enganement from companies that may not have had interest prior that we’re clearly reaching these days.”
As to the deals reached over the last year, determining what their annual value for total gross revenues for 2016 is difficult to know. Industry sources would not indicate what the value of each would be for just this year, and given that all have some form of escalators built into them, it’s difficult to assign a figure.
What is known is that the league continues to see incredible growth on the business side. While sources have not indicated, it’s very possible that MLB will see gross revenues surpass the $10 billion mark when the books are closed on the year in late December. The real question is likely to be, just how far past $10 billion, not if they will reach the record amount.
Here are some examples of sponsorship activation for MLB partners during the World Series:
Taco Bell
For the fifth different World Series, Taco Bell is putting on the “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion, which gives America a free Doritos® Locos Taco if a player steals a base during the World Series.
Chevrolet
Presenting the World Series MVP Award. This year’s winner receives a 50th Anniversary Edition Camaro. Adding an online vote component for fans to weigh in on the MVP of the Fall Classic Sponsoring a new “Most Awarded” plays on MLB.com – fans vote every day on Twitter for the top plays from the previous World Series game Bringing a Kid Reporter from the Chevy Youth Baseball program to World Series Media Day in the AL city who will interview players and be featured on MLBN
Mastercard
Giving away texting gloves to all fans in attendance before Game Four Presenting annual donation to SU2C prior to first pitch of Game Four; SU2C moment after the 5th inning of Game Four.
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e24d31296ae9d5f936e7be08314ef885 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2016/11/01/the-highest-rated-world-series-games-of-all-time/ | The Highest-Rated World Series Games Of All Time | The Highest-Rated World Series Games Of All Time
Since 1968, the Nielsen Media Company has been tracking ratings across the television landscape. From landmark events such as the final episode of M.A.S.H. to who shot J.R. on Dallas to The Walking Dead to The Big Bang Theory, the ratings game has tracked the evolution of television.
So too have the ratings for the World Series been chronicled. From the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Detroit Tigers in ’68 to the first five games of this year’s Fall Classic between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, the Nielsen data has held sway.
Kansas City Royals batter Amos Otis, right, watches his homer head out in the second inning of a... [+] World Series game, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1980, Philadelphia, Pa. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Bob Walk, center, catcher Bob Boone and umpire Harry Wendelstedt also watch the two-run blast. The 1980 World Series is the highest-rated of all-time. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)
Television has dramatically changed since those first numbers in the 1960s. From the Big Three networks in ABC, CBS, and NBC to hundreds on cable and satellite, the fragmentation of where the viewers in the U.S. are watching all or parts of programming is now harder to retain. Throw in digital offerings from the likes of Netflix and Hulu and a splits further.
Still, with the robust numbers for FOX through five games of the World Series, it’s good to look at the highest-rated, and most-viewed World Series games of all-time, as tracked by Nielsen (sorry, baseball fans, we don’t have numbers prior).
First off, some context as it pertains to the current World Series:
Game 5 that saw the Cubs edge the Indians 3-2 on Sunday night pulled a 13.1/21 household rating/share with 23.6 million on FOX. That ranks as the most-watched World Series Game 5 since 1997’s 24.2 million for the then Florida Marlins vs the Indians. It was the highest-rated Game 5 since 2003’s 13.2/21 for the New York Yankees and Marlins and is the most-watched baseball telecast of any kind since the 2011 World Series Game 7 between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals (25.4 million viewers).
That shows how much interest there is in the Cubs, and to a lesser extent, the Indians breaking World Series win droughts (to see what the ratings have been for each game in the series, go to the end of this article).
But, as mentioned, the television landscape has changed dramatically over the years. The exceptional numbers that FOX is pulling this year could never match what happened before the advent of pay-TV and the explosion of channel offerings consumers now have.
Here are the highest-rated, and most-viewed World Series games and series since 1968.
Highest-rated, most-watched World Series: 1980, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Kansas City Royals. Went six games and aired on NBC (Tue-Tues with Sat and Sun day games). Had averages of 32.8/56 ratings/share with an average of 42.3 million viewers per game.
YEAR Network # DAY Rating Share # of Households # of Viewers 1980 NBC 1 Tue (Eve) 33.5 52 26,060,000 42,040,000 NBC 2 Wed (Eve) 34.4 53 26,760,000 42,990,000 PHILLIES NBC 3 Fri (Eve) 32.0 53 24,900,000 39,170,000 VS. NBC 4 Sat (Day) 23.9 60 18,590,000 29,320,000 ROYALS NBC 5 Sun (Day) 32.0 60 24,900,000 45,460,000 NBC 6 Tue (Eve) 40.0 60 31,120,000 54,860,000 AVERAGE 32.8 56 25,380,000 42,300,000
The Top 10 Most-Watched World Series Games:
The perfect intersection of television saturation in households and the point just prior to cable television becoming commonplace in the U.S., it makes sense that the most-watched World Series games all take place from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Unsurprisingly, the highest of the highs are Game 6 and 7s with three Game 5s rounding out the top 10. Here are the top 10 most-watched World Series games :
Game 6, 1980 (Phillies-Royals) - 54,860,000, Tues. night game on NBC Game 7, 1975 (Reds-Red Sox) - 51,560,000, Weds. night game on NBC Game 7, 1987 (Twins-Cardinals) - 51,180,000, Sun. night game on ABC Game 6, 1978 (Yankees-Dodgers) - 50,600,000, Tues. night game on NBC Game 7, 1991 (Twins-Braves) - 50,340,000, Sun. night game on CBS Game 7, 1982 (Cardinals-Brewers) - 49,930,000, Sun. day game on NBC Game 7, 1979 (Pirates-Orioles) - 49,890,000, Weds. night game on ABC Game 5, 1982 (Cardinals-Brewers) - 48,990,000, Sun. day game on NBC Game 5, 1978 (Yankees-Dodgers) - 45,870,000, Sun. day game on NBC Game 5, 1980 (Phillies-Royals) - 45,460,000, Sun. day game on NBC
Largest Number of Households For One Game
31,120,000 for the deciding Game 6 of the 1980 Series between the Royals and Phillies. Second is 30,320,000 for Game 6 in 1981 between the Dodgers and Yankees.
How High Was That Ratings Number for Game 6 in 1980?
The 40.0 rating for Game 6 between the Royals and Phillies in 1980 is the only ratings number to hit the 40 threshold. In other words, by Nielsen’s reporting, 40% of the total number of televisions in 1980 were tuned into the game. The only other one that got close was Game 7 of the 1975 Series between the Reds and Red Sox that pulled a 39.6 rating.
Did Viewership Tank After The 1994 Strike?
There was no World Series in 1994, which begs the question, did ratings drop in 1995 compared to 1993? The answer is no… sort of. The 1993 World Series saw 17.3/30 average with 24,700,000 viewers. The 1995 World Series saw 19.5/33 average with 28,970,000. So, why sort of? The 1993 Fall Classic had the Toronto Blue Jays win it all. Nielsen doesn’t track Canadian viewership so it skewed the numbers compared to ’95 between the Indians and Atlanta Braves.
How Did The Most-Recent Seven Game Series Do?
The last World Series to go the full seven games was 2014 between the Royals and San Francisco Giants. It averaged an 8.2/14 with an average viewership of 13,825,000. Game 7 had 23,517,000 viewers, far and away the highest total for the 2014 Series.
Year Network # Day Rating Share # of Household # of Viewers 2014 FOX 1 Tue (Eve) 7.3 12 8,534,000 12,191,000 FOX 2 Wed (Eve) 7.9 14 9,212,000 12,917,000 GIANTS FOX 3 Fri (Eve) 7.2 13 8,419,000 12,133,000 VS. FOX 4 Sat (Eve) 6.3 12 7,309,000 10,742,000 ROYALS FOX 5 Sun (Eve) 7.3 12 8,546,000 12,635,000 FOX 6 Tue (Eve) 8.1 13 9,438,000 13,372,000 FOX 7 Wed (Eve) 13.7 23 15,936,000 23,517,000 AVERAGE 8.2 14 9,556,000 13,825,000
Some Signature Series….
1968 – Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals – OK, it’s not remembered as one of the greatest of all-time, but it probably should be. The Tigers rallied from a 3-1 deficit largely on the back and arm of MVP Mickey Lolich. This is the first Series that Nielsen began tracking so it’s interesting to take in. Note that, of course, they’re all day games.
YEAR Network # DAY Rating Share # of Households # of Viewers 1968 NBC 1 Wed (Day) 20.4 53 11,630,000 Data N/A NBC 2 Thur (Day) 20.4 53 11,630,000 Data N/A TIGERS NBC 3 Sat (Day) 26.5 68 15,110,000 24,780,400 VS. NBC 4 Sun (Day) 26.4 61 15,050,000 27,541,500 CARDINALS NBC 5 Mon (Day) 21.2 54 12,080,000 Data N/A NBC 6 Wed (Day) 21.2 54 12,080,000 Data N/A NBC 7 Thur (Day) 21.2 54 12,080,000 Data N/A AVERAGE 22.8 57
1971 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Baltimore Orioles – Beyond this being a shining moment for Roberto Clemente. Besides the Series going seven games, this was the first World Series to have a game broadcasted at night. That was Game 4 on a Weds. evening airing on NBC, and as the numbers show, was a rousing success. It was the most-watched of all games, including the deciding Game 7.
YEAR Network # DAY Rating Share # of Households # of Viewers 1971 NBC 1 Sat (Day) 21.8 58 13,540,000 24,778,200 NBC 2 Mon (Day) 16.5* 51* 10,250,000 13,632,500 PIRATES NBC 3 Tue (Day) 16.5* 51* 10,250,000 13,632,500 VS. NBC 4 Wed (Eve) 34.8 54 21,610,000 38,898,000 ORIOLES NBC 5 Thur (Day) 16.5* 51* 10,250,000 13,632,500 NBC 6 Sat (Day) 28.1 72 17,450,000 28,094,500 NBC 7 Sun (Day) 34.2 72 21,240,000 37,420,000 AVERAGE 24.2 59
2001 – Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Yankees – Considered one of the best Series of all-time
YEAR Network # DAY Rating Share # of Households # of Viewers 2001 FOX 1 Sat (Eve) 10.4 19 10,998,000 16,476,000 FOX 2 Sun (Eve) 15.0 23 15,795,000 23,550,000 YANKEES FOX 3 Tue (Eve) 15.4 24 16,280,000 23,407,000 vs. FOX 4 Wed (Eve) 15.8 27 16,717,000 23,692,000 DIAMONDBACKS FOX 5 Thu (Eve) 14.4 24 15,207,000 21,323,000 FOX 6 Sat (Eve) 13.8 24 14,515,000 22,672,000 FOX 7 Sun (Eve) 23.5 34 24,826,000 39,084,000 AVERAGE 15.7 26 16,519,000 24,528,000
1986 – New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox – Notable for the insanity that ensued in Game 6, culminating in the ball between Buckner’s legs at first.
YEAR Network # DAY Rating Share # of Households # of Viewers 1986 NBC 1 Sat (Eve) 24.2 42 21,150,000 33,100,000 NBC 2 Sun (Eve) 25.5 41 22,290,000 32,340,000 METS NBC 3 Tues (Eve) 25.6 40 22,370,000 33,200,000 VS. NBC 4 Wed (Eve) 26.0 41 22,720,000 34,490,000 RED SOX NBC 5 Thur (Eve) 29.8 47 26,050,000 38,710,000 NBC 6 Sat (Eve) 30.3 52 26,480,000 44,510,000 NBC 7 Mon (Eve) 38.9 55 Not Available Not Available AVERAGE 28.6 46 23,640,000 36,370,000
2004 – Boston Red Sox vs. St. Louis Cardinals – Boston breaks 86-year World Series win drought dating back to 1918.
Year Network # Day Rating Share # of Household # of Viewers 2004 FOX 1 Sat (Eve) 13.7 25 15,029,000 23,168,000 FOX 2 Sun (Eve) 15.9 24 17,390,000 25,463,000 RED SOX FOX 3 Tue (Eve) 15.7 24 17,156,000 24,422,000 VS. FOX 4 Wed (Eve) 18.2 28 19,930,000 28,844,000 CARDINALS AVERAGE 15.8 26 17,270,000 25,390,000
2005 – Chicago White Sox vs. Houston Astros – White Sox win World Series for first time since 1916
Year Network # Day Rating Share # of Household # of Viewers 2005 FOX 1 Sat (Eve) 9.5 17 10,451,000 15,015,000 FOX 2 Sun (Eve) 11.1 17 12,190,000 17,190,000 WHITE SOX FOX 3 Tue (Eve) 11.0 21 12,135,000 16,654,000 VS. FOX 4 Wed (Eve) 13.0 21 14,281,000 19,979,000 ASTROS AVERAGE 11.1 19 12,272,000 17,162,000
2015 – Kansas City Royals vs. New York Mets – Royals win first World Series since 1980
Year Network # Day Rating Share # of Household # of Viewers 2015 FOX 1 Tue (Eve) 9.0 17 10,514,000 14,948,000 FOX 2 Wed (Eve) 8.3 14 9,609,000 13,722,000 ROYALS FOX 3 Fri (Eve) 7.9 15 9,240,000 13,205,000 VS. FOX 4 Sat (Eve) 7.8 15 9,094,000 13,587,000 METS FOX 5 Sun (Eve) 10.0 17 11,622,000 17,206,000 AVERAGE 8.7 16 10,130,000 14,700,000
2016 – Chicago Cubs vs. Cleveland Indians – As of publication, we don’t know who will win. What we do know is one will break an incredible World Series Championship drought (1948 for the Indians, 1908 for the Chicago Cubs). While the household data is not yet available (this data was culled from FOX Sports), we do know that regardless, this is one of the best rated, most-watched World Series in a very long time. Here’s the data as of Game 5 and will be updated as soon as the Series ends.
Year Network # Day Rating Share # of Household # of Viewers 2016 FOX 1 Tue (Eve) 11.3 20 N/A 19,400,000 FOX 2 Wed (7pm start) 11.3 19 N/A 17,400,000 CUBS FOX 3 Fri (Eve) 11.0 20 N/A 19,400,000 VS. FOX 4 Sat (Eve) 19.3 18 N/A 16,700,000 INDIANS FOX 5 Sun (Eve) 13.1 21 N/A 23,600,000 FOX 6 Tue (Eve) ?? ?? N/A ?? FOX 7 * AVERAGE 13.2 19.6 19,300,000
* If Necessary
Source: Nielsen Sports Marketing Service, Nielsen Sports Decks, NTI Pocketpieces, National Audience
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