Executive Compensation and the Golden Parachute
10
May
So if you lose your job today, you may receive unemployment or perhaps a modest severance package.
Take a look at what executives on Wall Street are reaping.
Taking Turns to Save Over $2 Million
10
May
Gary Lauder shows us how a simple addition of a “Take Turn” sign along with roundabouts rather than stop signs can save more than $2.2 million and help save the environment. Simple!
Walking Away From Your Mortgage; Strategic Defaults; Is It Moral?
10
May
People in many states are walking away from their mortgages. These people are not suffering a job loss; they are not burdened with exorbitant medical bills; nor are these people incapable of paying their bills. These people are recognizing that the value of their homes are worth less than what they owe on the house… in other words, they were “under water”.
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An Arizona legal study written by says banks exploit consumers’ sense of guilt and shame to prevent them from walking away from their loans. “It’s a unique time… and people feel too shameful… and people might be better off making economic, rational decisions…” says the study.
If Wall Street is able to make economic decisions in their best interest regardless of the ramifications upon Main Street, why shouldn’t Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith do the same?
Richard Fuld, CEO of Lehman, recently ranked as the worst CEO ever, still pocketed over half a billion. Stan O’Neil, CEO of Merrill Lynch walked away with $165 million after his company posted a $8 billion loss. And this is simply the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Morgan Stanley walked away from five San Francisco office buildings, and other companies are writing off losses while we the tax payers are left holding the hot potato.
A home purchase is a business transaction. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the CEO and CFO of the Smith family, yet they operate under completely different rules. Should they be allowed to make economic decisions oblivious to societal pressures and poor credit?
So who pays the bill for those who walk away?
You, me, and our neighbors, at least those who stay with their mortgage.
And newly formed companies like “You Walk Away” are popping up to help homeowners make economic decisions and walk away from their loans.
Is this right? Does “right” have anything to do with it?
Share your thoughts here.
E-Myth Enterprise’s Essential 5
09
May
Michael Gerber states that successful businesses need the following:
1. Concentration – finish reading this sentence – I dare you! Our focus changes so quickly and so often that we are victims of our multi-tasking lives. FOCUS is the key here.
2. Diversification – group think is dangerous. Be open to new ideas and thoughts.
3. Organization – have a plan and stick to it by organizing your time, your work, and your space. But never fool yourself into thinking you can organize people. According to Michael Garber, people cannot be organized.
4. Innovation – too many businesses ride the wave only find themselves upon dry beach with no where to go. Economics are cyclic. I like Joseph’s business philosophy during his tenure as pharaoh’s operations chief: save during the feast so you can survive during the famine. If you’re not changing, slimming, leaning, and greasing, you’re going to end up on the beach with everyone else who also failed to prepare, while those who did prepare for the famine have steadily made their way back out to the ocean to ride the next wave.
5. Communication – greasing the skids. Without it, you have no operation. Everything from your bank of computers talking to your suppliers to your managers speaking with their front-line operators, communication is essential for any operation to move forward. Communication, if done properly will embody the firm’s culture and transfer not only the message but the context as well. As more and more tools for communication are created, it is incumbent upon the leaders to plan, train and implement the different tools allowing for better communication.
We’ve found the enemy… and it is us
03
May
Here’s the original story by Peter Engel back in December 2009.
The NY TIMES just published the story today along with a photo of the ambassador, the secretary of defense and the general in charge of Afghanistan. All three seemed to be smiling at the slide, or so the story insinuated.
I remember a Marine general once displayed a similar drawing, except his was drawn on a transparency and it didn’t require someone else sitting behind a computer drawing hazardous duty pay and drawing silly pictures like the one below.
Let’s get real and fight the good fight instead of giving our troops busy work. If there’s no work to be done, send them home to their families.
Social Networking for Small Businesses 101
03
May
Facebook:
- Financial Investment Firms need an organizational or “Business Page”. This is the official Facebook site for the business and should be ‘friended’ by all employees of the firm with their profile.
- The goal here should be to acquire as many “Fans” as possible.
- This is the site where official updates of the business are posted, updating your “fans”… to include:
- Upcoming events; open houses; social hour; conference…
- Blog postings, related articles, podcasts and videos…
- Pics of the most recent media training, company outing, or birthday celebration…
- Links are important. Links to sources of information, links to bloggers, links that are of value to current and prospective clients.
- Financial Investment Firms will then need to move onto the creation of a “Group Page”. This is specifically targeted to the audience we want.
- This is the water cooler where topics related, but not necessarily directly related to the business can be discussed.
- This is a great site to eavesdrop on your fans discussing different topics and get an idea of what your potential and/or current customers are thinking and discussing. Pay particular attention to gripes, moans, and complaints… These types of comments should be looked upon as a gift from your customer. It provides insight into a potential future loss, which you are now able to thwart and keep as a customer by addressing those needs before culminating to a point of frustration.
- It’s important to facilitate in a group environment and not attempt to drive the conversation. Allow it to travel its own course. This is the only way you’ll be able to acquire accurate data.
LinkedIn:
- This is a professional site for business professionals to network and “link-in” with each other for opportunities, answers to questions, jobs, and for staying abreast of the business “buzz” of the day.
- Instead of fans, you have links, which in turn provide you even more secondary, then tertiary links to potential clients or business partners.
- The most interesting part of this fascinating Web site is where you can see who’s been looking at your profile. For the most part, it indicates the line of work this person is in, and in some rare occurrences, it indicates the searcher by name.
- On occasion, it’s exciting to see who’s been looking at your profile.
- Credibility is the name of the game when it comes to the social media landscape and a great way to garner this is through LinkedIn’s Answers/Questions.
- You can ask a question, then post it for the next week or two to see what kind of responses you get.
- Or, you can answer already posted questions. If your answer is deemed one of the better responses, the person asking the question may stamp you with “the best answer” label, thus marking you as an expert in this particular field.
Twitter:
- This is the most egregiously misused tool in the social media toolbox. What began as a 140-character update (a tweet) on the most important and pertinent issues of the day, has turned into a social update tool to inform the masses that you are in line at the hot dog stand and it is taking too long.
- “Tweets” should be focused on your area of expertise or a specific target-topic for your audience.
- Every tweet should set you apart as an expert and thus a resource for your audience.
- Remember not to sell. This only turns off your potential clients. As long as you provide information deemed pertinent to their needs, they will eventually come around.
- Step 1. Set up a profile and pay particular attention to “Bio”. This will often determine whether someone wants to follow you or not. A quick, but interesting sound bite, but once again, don’t sell yourself here or anywhere else on Twitter.
- Step 2. Set up a company profile and have every (this is important that EVERY single employee “follow” the company site, otherwise, potential clients will be wondering why…) employee follow it.
- Step 3. Begin wandering the hinterlands of Twitterville. I.e., look up some prominent companies in similar lines of business and see who’s following them. Then, follow them!
- Step 4. Monitor what’s being said by those you’re following. What are the topics? The buzz? The latest news? What stories are they linking and retweeting? All this will direct you in the right direction, not to mention as soon as you begin tweeting your own expert opinion in the matter, tweeters will begin following you.
Networking, whether in the real world or in the social media realm takes time and effort. The bad news is, it’s tough to get started. Just as if you were visiting a foreign country for the first time, you will not understand the language, the culture, nor be in the right time zone. The same can be said of the social media realm. The language is often confusing, the mannerisms are difficult to understand, and your head is spinning with the traffic going back and forth.
A communications expert with a passion for building strategic communication plans through the use of identifying focused key messages for specifically-targeted audiences through the leveraging of both social and traditional media.
His passion is building awareness and inspiring communities and businesses to do the right thing by fostering community goodwill, fueling employee engagement, and driving efficiencies.
