http://read.bi/oxkET2

How would you like a job at Google?  Take a look at the infographic depicting the 9-step process.  Think that’s too many?  Google used to take 29 steps.

CNNMoney.com Poll (9/2011, with 14,029 responses.)

53% of workers are satisfied with their pay, down from 58% in 2005.

33% say they are seriously considering leaving their current organization.

49% are satisfied with their job security, vs. 55% in 2008.

34% are unhappy with their level of job stress.

9.1% U.S. Unemployment rate.

4.3% U.S. Unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

It’s always a thrill to be on tv and whatever the reason a network or station is having you on their show, it goes without saying that you need to be prepared.

Here’s five quick tips to get you started on the path to a successful interview.

1) Dress the part – who is it they’re expecting? How do you want to be portrayed? If you’re portraying a college student, pjs and flip flops may be fine. But if you want to demand respect, dress the part in a fitted suit, sport coat, or button-down shirt. Oh, and please ensure it’s pressed.
2) Have three messages you want to disseminate, then say those three messages repeatedly throughout the interview. Even “gotcha!” questions can be responded to with your message. Something like “Not really sure what you’re getting at, but did you know that company x has generated an increase of 1000%?”
3) Know the format of the interview. Will you be in the studio? Will the interviewer be in the studio with you? Is it a satellite/remote interview? Will you be able to see the reporter? Will there be a delay? Who else will be on at the same time? Etc…
4) Record the interview. Re-purposing electronic media is an excellent way to maximize your marketing dollar. Don’t expect the network to hand over a copy of the segment – do it yourself, then immediately air it on your social media sites.
5) Follow-Up. Did the discussion stir any pots? If so, address the issues discussed in the Op-Ed. Discuss it online and clearly articulate your position/stand. This will only increase your exposure and capitalize on the segment.

Good luck and don’t forget to rehearse.

http://bit.ly/disneyheadscarf

http://usat.ly/headscarvespark

The buzz this morning is arrest of a dozen or so Muslims who insisted on keeping their headscarves on during an amusement park ride. The park policy is that ALL head-gear, regardless of whether it’s a yamaka, a ballcap, or a headscarf, is to be removed during the ride for safety reasons.

Why is it that more and more people who come to the US have a mis-belief that our nation is based upon freedoms and rights regardless of impact?

Yes we have freedom of speech, but that gives no one the right to yell “fire” in a public place. When your actions impact my rights, you no longer have a clear cut right.

When the park manager asked the headscarf-wearing patrons to remove their head-gear prior to getting in the ride, he had EVERY right to do so. He bears the burden of responsibility when it comes to the safety of their patrons. If you don’t like it, you don’t get to ride.

As a Marine, I’ve traveled the world and have accommodated and adjusted my habits, lifestyle, and rights to that of the host nation. My Marines and I have always attempted to assimilate and be respectful. However, it seems more and more visitors and immigrants to the US seem to feel that they have every right to throw their weight around in our ring of political-correctness.

http://n.pr/dropoutsinamerica

Of all the problems this country faces in education, one of the most complicated, heart-wrenching and urgent is the dropout crisis. Nearly 1 million teenagers stop going to school every year.

The impact of that decision is lifelong. And the statistics are stark:

The unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma is nearly twice that of the general population.

Over a lifetime, a high school dropout will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate and almost $1 million less than a college graduate.

Dropouts are more likely to commit crimes, abuse drugs and alcohol, become teenage parents, live in poverty and commit suicide.

Dropouts cost federal and state governments hundreds of billions of dollars in lost earnings, welfare and medical costs, and billions more for dropouts who end up in prison.

The Dangers of Do-It-Yourself Crisis Communications

It’s well known that lawyers who represent themselves have fools for clients. Politicians and other public figures who try to handle communications crises without assistance are no better off.

The latest example is Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), the glib, up-and-coming lawmaker who admitted Monday afternoon that he had repeatedly lied to his constituents – and the country – in denying that he tweeted a lewd picture to a female college student in Washington state. In a tense and tearful news conference, Rep. Weiner said he has in fact sent multiple inappropriate messages to other women too, but that he had done nothing illegal and would not resign.

Huffington Post Political Editor Howard Fineman noted on MSNBC immediately following the news conference that the congressman was ill-prepared to face the clamoring journalists. Standing before reporters for more than half an hour – with not a single colleague or influential supporter by his side – he said his wife knew about some of the women, he didn’t know if any were under-age, and that he was unclear about whether he engaged in phone sex. According to the pundits, he “opened up new lines of inquiry” likely to eventually force him from office.

“He needed crisis counsel and it looks like he is trying to handle this himself,” noted Fineman, a veteran journalist who has covered scores of scandals in his three decades as a newsman.

As a former journalist myself, I too thought Weiner was showing all the signs of a do-yourself crisis manager. He made the mistake of underestimating the media and overestimating the instincts that made him a rising political star. But like a star player who doesn’t believe he needs a coach, Weiner boldly took on the news media with classic defensiveness and poor messages.

At times during the ordeal, he sounded like former President Richard Nixon, blaming others for his woes and dodging questions. Weiner’s memorable “I can’t say with any certainty whether that picture was of me or not,” will be remembered in the same breathy as “It depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.”

Today’s social media networks – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and millions of blogs – have accelerated the game to the point that no single person, no matter how talented, can formulate and execute a crisis strategy capable of withstanding the relentless and instantaneous scrutiny public officials face in this Age of Instant Transparency.

For Weiner, a seven-term congressman who was seen as a leading candidate to become the next Mayor of New York City, the collapse is all the more stunning because of the heights he had reached as a Party spokesman.

Standing alone at the lectern Monday, admitting his grievous lack of judgment and offering no concrete plan to move forward, Weiner paused.  “If you are looking for any deep explanation,” he said, “I don’t have one.”

Weiner could have done much better. With the right counsel, he would have.

Gene Grabowski is the Senior Vice President of Crisis and Litigation at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s top crisis communications firm. He is also a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog. Connect with him @crisisguru.

Read more: http://www.bulletproofblog.com/2011/06/07/the-dangers-of-do-it-yourself-crisis-communications/#ixzz1PROsCMW5

So why was a newly-formed democracy designed with a precautionary buffer between the people and its presidency? Why form an electoral college? Why not allow the populace to vote directly for their democratically-elected leader?

Fast forward to present day.
How many people do you know who are well-versed in our daily politics? Or for that matter, when’s the last time you voted? Or, if you did vote, what did the candidates stand for? Did you really understand the issues at hand?

The truth is most do not.

We vote for the most charismatic… The one who spends the most on negative ads…

It’s been said that our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, considered one of our most influential leaders of all time, could never have been elected president in today’s media-intensive environment. He didn’t look the part.

It’s easier to watch the ads and be swooned by the multi-million dollar ads than to actually read and research the candidates’ past voting history. We fail to see who these people really are. Rather, we see what is easy.

We are deceived.

Today, the leadership we vote into office lie to the American voting public with a pointed finger; they order our naval vessels in harm’s way to fire $100 million-dollar cruise missiles at empty warehouses in third-world countries to take the spotlight off of their indiscretions.

Today, we allow our leaders to allow a former Goldman Sachs CEO to the post of Treasury Secretary, only to bail them out a few years later. The fox tending the hen house? You think?

Today, we have a president who stood petrified while our entire nation and it’s government nearly came to a screeching halt. Several hundred thousand federal employees would have been directly out of work, in addition to the nearly 10% already unemployed… Not to mention the secondary effects on businesses dependent upon federal workers. Yet the president stood still.

Our leaders are more concerned with their next elections than with the welfare of its citizens. Why? Because we are so easily swooned and influenced.

We are today’s proletariats.

Too Big To Fail?

Do you truly believe that if we allowed GM to fall apart that a nation as innovative and hard-working as ours could not rebound? Lehman Brothers was allowed to fall for many reasons, none so clear as the fact that its CEO was not a part of Hank Paulson’s inner circle. But when JP Morgan Chase, Meryl Lynch, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and others began to feel the flood waters around their ankles, Hank Paulson, the Treasury Secretary of the United States and most recently the former Chairman and CEO of the same Goldman Sachs, had golden parachutes and balloons at the ready for them.

All this happened while the everyday proletariat was hit with record-high gas prices and a climb towards double-digit unemployment rates.

As house prices plummetted and foreclosures began spiking all over the nation, we are reminded of how this began. Mortgages were qualified at the cyclic rate with little to no regard for any capability for repayment. This was done with complete confidence of course, because mortgage brokers such as the now defunct Countrywide packaged and resold these mortgages as securities. Then they were resold again and again until they were re-leveraged 30 times over.

Thirty times over until this house of cards came tumbling down and the American people were saddled with a debt so great, that we are now facing our national deficit threshold. I.e., even China doesn’t want to lend us anymore money.

$14 Trillion Dollars Later

So here we are. A president voted in on a campaign of “Change”. Gas and milk prices more than double since he’s taken office. Unemployment still unhinged. Democrats and Republicans more stubborn than ever before. And a complete lack of leadership.

CONCLUSION

Our leadership has bailed out our corporate big businesses with dollars out of your pocket. By way of fallen house prices, higher gas prices, and continued inflation, we the proletariats are being robbed daily.

So as we face this next election ask yourself this: will you continue to be the child in this relationship, or will you take charge of our collective future together by demanding from our leadership, accountability and responsibility.

Ask yourselves why in the face of government shutdown, our congress was to continue receiving their pay? Why do our leaders continue to receive automatic pay raises every year while our military and federal employees face a pay freeze? Ask yourselves why we are relegated to the seat of responsibility for our leaders’ mistakes while they continue to reciprocate with big business on our dime?