Archive for the "Gen Y" Category
Jun14

Next Big Chance in CRM

Posted at 9:47 AM • View Comments

Last week, I attended Merkle’s impressive CRM Super Bowl (aka CRM Executive Summit) in SoBe.  Having worked with Merkle for just over a year now, I am always impressed with the strategies and tools they bring to the table for their clients.

2 common themes peppered throughout the conference were that this is the year that mobile and SaaS CRM platforms will take off.  Barry Judge, CMO of Best Buy, emphasized that the next 12 months would be the time that mobile hit.  I feel like I’ve heard that line for at least the past seven years.  With 2+ million iPads sold, the new iPhone 4, increased Android (Froyo) handsets and the upcoming release of Blackberry OS 6, it’s hard not to be wide-eyed at all the potential money making opportunities in mobile; however, there is still too much fragmentation amongst the market to scale at the level experts preach mobile hitting.  I don’t think 2010 will be the year mobile CRM climaxes…not even close.

SaaS CRM platforms are out in full force (I work for SaaS provider Dukky).   It really is amazing to see how the cloud has allowed companies to focus on niche CRM SaaS platforms.   Brands are starting to become more comfortable with having their valuable data run on the cloud enabling them to cash in on the speed and flexibility of running on the cloud.  Just look at the recent news about Enterprise 2.0 company Jive.

The next big thing will be technology that allows brands to channel all of this data into a few measurable and useful results.  It’s uncanny that we have all this individual user data, but brands are still marketing to them as mass demographics.  I don’t think the 30-second spot is dead (or the other traditional formats); but the decision makers are in denial about their business models.  Agencies and consultancies that focus on this change are going to be the Mad Men of the new generation.

Thoughts?

May24

Social Media in the 1870s

Posted at 9:45 AM • View Comments

I’ve been intrigued with History Channel’s recent product America: The Story of Us. Last night, I caught up with my DVR to watch Episode 6 (Heartland).  One entrepreneurial story covered was that of R.W. Sears.  It obviously struck me from an entrepreneurial aspect; but it really dawned on me that in the 100+ years of advertising & direct response marketing innovations we have undergone, we are in the exact same spot from which we began in the 1870s.  The quick story on Sears:

Once the four standard time zones were created (reduced from 8,000!), Sears bought a handful of unwanted pocket watches and through the use of Morse Code sold them to other train station attendants using the trains to make deliveries.  The next year he expanded his product offerings by getting products to farmers and their families in the Midwest that had limited access to stores for products such as bicycles, sewing machines and even automobiles.  At its maximum, the catalog was over 700 pages!  People ordered what they needed and received it in a relatively timely manner.  Less than 20 years later, he was fulfilling 30,000+ orders per day.

So how have we not evolved in over 100 years of direct marketing?

Big brands are freaking out and having to work harder than ever for customer loyalty because customers are back in control with word-of-mouth discourse that can be released to thousands of people on impulse.  That impulse is very real and very measurable. Customers tell brands what they want and not the other way around.  When I think about it, the time of Mad Men (1950s) to let’s say 2000 were really an anomaly in our nation’s history with regards to advertisements.  Brands used to push and tell people what is popular.  The people are back in control of their buying habits.

The only difference between now and the 1870’s is that the scope of access has dramatically increased.  I can now go to Google to find my favorite sewing machine* at the lowest price and then virtually truck on over to Facebook to instantly discuss my potential purchase with thousands of my sewing buddies*.  Relatively soon, I will use my Android-based GoogleTV to purchase my favorite advertised sewing machine* (based on my Facebook viewing habits) at its lowest price in the middle of my favorite History Channel show.

*Disclaimer: I do not sew!  That is all.

Apr1

UPDATE: Leadership Video Toolbox

Posted at 7:34 AM • View Comments

The Leadership Video Toolbox project is barely a week old, and I have 3 video submissions already!  The 3 qualities taken thus far are: Vision, Initiative & Teachability.

I’ve got 18 more qualities to cover so just pick the one that sounds best to you.  You can also redo 1 of the 3 already chosen.  I’d like to hear as many viewpoints as possible.

Click here for the details on the project.

Let me know if you have any questions or ideas.

Mar30

Leadership Video Toolbox…BE PART OF IT!!!

Posted at 1:28 PM • View Comments

HELP: CALL FOR VIDEOS ON LEADERSHIP!!

Background: I’m currently working a on video blog for my MBA Leadership class.  The project is called a “Leadership Toolbox.”  The professor wants us to create a “toolbox” that future leaders can refer to for guidance.  My idea for the toolbox is to create a video blog that has individuals whom I see as leaders spend 30 to 60 seconds on the one of the 21 leadership qualities discussed in the book by John Maxwell “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader.” It’s simple to do.  Pick one of the 21 Leadership Qualities and send me your 30-60 second video commentary about that topic.

In the past, this project has been a static one.  I want to use the the collective minds to create and grow a living, breathing toolbox for myself and others.  I plan to continue growing this toolbox long after my class has been concluded.  But, I need your help now!

Directions: The video can simply be recorded with a webcam and shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes of your time.  If you need help recording it, just let me know as I have several methods for doing this.  Don’t worry about editing it. I’ll do that.  Just film it.  Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or ideas on how to start.  You can email the video to me; or if you use Dropbox, let me know, and I’ll setup a shared folder between the two of us. (You can sign-up for Dropbox free here)

The final video blog will be located here: CLouvi’s Leadership Toolkit (Note: the current videos are just placeholders).

Timeline: Before Monday, April 12, 2010

21 Indispensable Qualities: Character, Charisma, Commitment, Communication, Competence, Discernment, Focus, Generosity, Initiative, Listening, Passion, Positive Attitude, Problem Solving, Relationships, Responsibility, Security, Self-Discipline, Servanthood, Teachability, Vision  Here is a 21 Indispensalbe Leader Qualities Summary that overviews each chapter.

Extra: If you’d like me to include any links to your blog, LinkedIn profile, bio, etc, please let me know and I’ll be sure to include it online.

Great thanks to all the people have submitted videos thus far! Special thanks to Liz Philips for the suggestion to crowdsource this project.

Mar25

Onto the 3 NEXT Twitter Ideas

Posted at 11:33 AM • View Comments

An acquaintance of mine, Josh Martin, today asked, “What is Twitter’s future?”

It’s a question that has been asked many times and answered many ways over the past 15 months or so.  Many who attended SXSW this year were hoping for some earth-shattering insight into Twitter’s next big thing and were largely underwhelmed with the announcement of @anywhere.

Here are 3 future areas of development I see for Twitter:

TwitterSense: I’m more anxious to see Twitter release and ad revenue model similar to that of Google’s AdSense.  Many 3rd party apps such as HootSuite are already doing this, but I bet stakeholders in Twitter are dying for a piece of this action.

Loyalty Marketing: An area being severely overlooked in my eyes as I see many opportunities to tie dollars back to loyalty marketing campaigns.  @CoTweet, which was recently acquired by @ExactTarget, has the right model.  Who will adapt it for the loyalty marketing space?  With my company, Dukky, our clients’ offers are shared across Facebook 3 times more than Twitter; but Twitter redeems at 10 times the rate of Facebook.

B2B Twitter: This is CoTweet’s bread and butter; but no one has really pushed the boundaries of selling internal business Twitter technologies.  For instance, at tech conference all of us geeks go to town with our hash tags to communicate; but do people really efficiently utilize this in other industries such as healthcare or industrial machines?

These are a just a few future growth areas I see for Twitter.  What do you see?

Feb5

10 Reasons to Bet on the Saints to Win Super Bowl XLIV

Posted at 5:41 AM • View Comments

The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts will play for NFL supremacy in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, February 7th, 2010.  All the “experts” are picking the Colts purely based on Peyton Manning’s mastery of the game.  Mastery may be an understatement as he is so good that his name may one day become a verb in football vernacular.  No one searches the Internet anymore because they “Google” it.  The golf world had to “Tiger Proof” courses to level the field.  Future NFL quarterbacks will one day learn how to “Peytonize” their play.

But, Manning hasn’t been canonized yet; and I have yet to see any real hard stats on why the Colts are going to beat the Saints.  I continually hear that they tore apart the #1 ranked defense in the NY Jets.  Well, hell, just give the Colts the trophy now.  Read the top 10 below to see how irrelevant that stat is.

Since I have seen very few numbers provided as to why the Saints will lose, I’m going to provide you with 10 hard statistics that prove why the Saints have a fighting chance to win Super Bowl XLIV.

First…Numbers That Cancel Out

#9 & #18: As expected, most of the talk about Super Bowl XLIV has been built-up around the quarterbacks playing on Sunday.  Trying to compare these two is like splitting hairs.  Drew Brees and Peyton Manning lead the NFL in touchdowns with 122 each since 2006.  For the 2009 season, both had stellar passing percentages with Brees slightly ahead at 70.6 (NFL Record) and Manning at 68.8.   Brees threw 34 touchdowns to Manning’s 33.  Manning threw 16 interceptions to Bress’ 11.  Brees was the highest rated passer at 109.6.  Manning was 6th at 99.9.  The bottom line is that you will see the top two quarterbacks in the game today play on Sunday.  Regardless of allegiance, what a treat!!

5: Football games are won in the trenches.  The Colts and Saints are very evenly matched on their offensive lines.  Both are ranked in the top 5 in sacks allowed (Colts 13 / Saints 20) & hits on the QB (Colts 44 / Saints 52).   Neither offensive line is legendary, but they have stellar leaders that possess great internal clocks and know how to move in/out of pocket.

34: Receiving TDs – Both the Saints & Colts are tied for 1st w/ 34 (Vikings also had 34).

#1: The most overrated stat I’ve heard is the Colts beat the NFL’s best defense already, which in 2009 was the Jets.  The pedestrian logic is that since Peyton tore up the #1 ranked Jets’ defense in the AFC Championship, then the Saints are doomed as they are ranked #25.  The only one stat used to declare the best defense in the NFL is yards per game allowed.  Of the top 10 teams in this category, 4 did not make the playoffs and the other 6 have been knocked out already.  The Colts rank 18th giving up 15 yards less per game than the Saints.

Now…10 Stats That Back the Saints to Win SB XLIV

0: The number of kick-off Returns of 40+ yards the Colts have made, which ranks them at 28th.  The Saints are ranked 4th with 5 on the season.  Both teams are about even on kickoff touchback percentage, so it could be a big kick-off return that gives either Brees or Manning the edge they need.

3: The Saints defense has beaten 3 more Super Bowl tested quarterbacks than the Colts have.  The 5 quarterbacks the Saints played are E. Manning, Delhomme, Brady, Warner & Farve.  The Colts have only beaten 2 (Warner, Brady).  Combined, those 5 quarterbacks have 11 Super Bowl starting appearances and 6 championship rings.  In contrast, the Colts opponents have 7 appearances with 4 rings.

4.5: The Saints running backs are just better than the Colts as they are ranked 5th in team rushing with 4.5 yards/carry.  The Colts are ranked 31st with 1 full yard less per carry (3.5).   The Saints are a much more balanced team as they accomplished that stellar mark on 812 more rushing attempts than the Colts.  Ironically, the Jets, whom the Colts beat, also had 4.5 yards/carry.

…so why will the Saints fare better?…The Jets were a 1-trick pony (no pun intended)…

8.3: The Saints are ranked 3rd for number of passing yards per attempt at 8.3.  The Jets were ranked 31st with 6.6.  The Colts place 10th at 7.7.

11: The Saints are ranked 3rd in turnover margin at +11.  The Colts are 14th at +2.

21: The number of rushing TDs by the Saints, which ranks them 3rd in the NFL.  The Colts are 13th with 16 rushing TDs.  This difference of 5 will prove to be relevant since the both teams are near even in the passing game.

31.9: The Saints are ranked 1st with 31.9 points per game (PPG). The Colts are ranked 7th with 26. (Vikings 2nd 29.4 / Jets 17th 21.8)

32: The Colts rushing attack is ranked dead last with 1,294 yards.  As a team, the Saints are ranked 6th in rushing with 2,106 yards.

39: The Saints are ranked 2nd in total takeaways with 39.  The Colts are ranked 18th with 26.  The Saints defense is so hawkish that it caused the Minnesota Vikings to turn the ball over 5 times.  If the Saints had recovered every turnover, then they would have had 9 on the day.  Until the NFC Championship, the Vikings had turned the ball over no more than 2 times all season.

889: Total defensive penalty yards racked up by the Colts, which is good for 24th place.  The Saints finished 9th with 717.  It will be interesting to see if the refs pay special attention to the “late” hits on Peyton seeing how the Saints have already roughed up Warner and Farve to this point.

A Few Extra Points…

8: The Saints are ranked 1st in defensive touchdowns with 8.  The Colts are tied with several teams in 16th place with 2.

Rushing: Only 2 Saints (Bell, Thomas) have rushed for more than 100 yards this season.  No Colt has rushed for more than 80 yards this season.

SB Teams That Were Given No Shot: 2008: New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14…2003 Bucs 48, Raiders 21… 2002: Patriots 20, Rams 17. … 1998: Denver Broncos 31, Green Bay Packers 24. … 1970: Kansas City Chiefs 23, Vikings 7. … 1969: New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7.

Intangible: I believe the Saints are collectively playing with higher sense of purpose than their counterparts. The Super Bowl trophy is named after Vince Lombardi and he once said, “Success demands singleness of purpose.”

Prediction: Saints 38 Colts 34

Gene Wojciechowski’s Take On the Colts Winning

Dec8

The 4-Letter Word Gen-Y Can’t Stand

Posted at 7:02 AM • View Comments

Hell's Kitchen

“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” – Harry S. Truman

Do you want to be the best in your field?

People are inherently good, which in turn makes them dishonest because everyone walks on eggshells today for fear they might offend someone. The hypersensitivity of my generation (Y) has made it even worse.   Criticism is seen as a four-letter word; but if you want to be the best at what you do, then you better learn to ask for criticism, accept it and then fix it.

Real Coaching

I remember during my prime athletic days when everyone would tell me what a great job I had done, regardless of my performance quality; and I’d always take it with a huge grain of salt.  I learned quickly not to read the papers (blogs weren’t relevant yet) because they can only see 2 sides to any issue.  Plus, they only offer problems and never solutions.   Until college, the only person that I always felt gave me a real assessment of my performance was my dad.  The great thing about it is that he never offered it to me.  If I asked (which I always did), then he told me what he thought.

When I was first invited to be an author on Brazen Careerist, I was fortunate enough to get some 1-on-1 coaching with Penelope Trunk.  She told me straight up that the only people that care what you write about are your family and the person you’re currently sleeping with.  She was right because now I have people that write to me from all over the country.

While at LSU, I was fortunate enough to spend time playing under Nick Saban.  Saban’s reputation is not a sparkling one, but I hold immense respect for him because I learned a great deal about my mental toughness.  I was a back-up kicker on a field of 21 future NFL draft picks, and he tore into me with the same fervor that he did all the others.  At the end of the day, he made me better.

Driven

Most reading this blog are hungry people, but sometimes you need to get out of your own head and gain some perspective.  Everyone sees a performance in their own way, so an outsider’s view should always be welcomed.  Good coaches and critics are hard to find, but if you want to rise above the rest in life, then you need to find a few.   They’ll be honest with you.

Photo: tdub303 via flickr

Dec3

3 Vital Tools for Honest Communication

Posted at 7:01 AM • View Comments

stopcollaborateandlisten

So now you have your Innovation Dream Team.  Are you being as effective as possible using your current tools to communicate and collaborate with your team?

I’ve written about the importance of communication when it comes to change management and/or innovation.  Below, I’ve listed some of the tools that I use because of their ease and effectiveness.

  1. Google Talk – I send very little email because it’s time consuming and too formal for the majority of conversations.  Aside from instant messaging, the best features of Google Talk are: On / Off-the-Record Chatting, Free Voice and Video Chat & Instant File Transfers.  Also, Google Talk has mobile apps for the most popular mobile OSes including iPhone, Blackberry and of course Android.  If your group doesn’t have Gmail accounts, then you can easily sign up for one.
  2. Basecamp – 37signals has a nice package of collaborative tools that are perfect for any organization from bootstrapped to venture funded.  Basecamp is their project management platform.  It allows you to manage multiple projects, assign certain users to certain projects and milestones.  The dashboard provides an easy to follow snapshot of everything that is going on within a project.  My favorite part is that I can subscribe via RSS or email to the reminders, so I always know where everyone stands.
  3. Food / Drinks – Not “hi-tech,” but I’m a firm believer in getting away from my static habitat to increase productivity.  With my laptop and a mobile phone, there is nothing I can’t get done from a coffee shop that I can’t get done from my office.  Besides a change of scenery, it does 2 important things for my teams and me: 1) It provides an opportunity to talk one-on-one with team members about their concerns and/or accomplishments.  People like to be known other than a name on a screen and this helps achieve buy-in. 2) Change management requires innovation and innovation requires new perspectives.  A change of scenery always stirs my creative juices simply by having new surroundings.

What other tools are vital to your organization’s success?

Photo: liz burnunzio via flikr

Dec2

Change Management: 5 Ways to Be a Successful Leader & Innovator

Posted at 7:30 AM • View Comments

No Fear from the Lion

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin

How do you lead innovation in an environment that is resistant to change?

Unless you work in a zoo or some place where people are the minority, then you will face resistance to change because people are inherently resistant to it.  Innovation leaders understand how to manage change when people want to run from it.

I’ve been successful at several companies where innovation is a necessity; and the people inside them that survive adapt to the change that naturally comes from innovation.  Some of my companies have changed their business model every quarter, month and even every week, so it becomes a necessity that your team adapt to change that naturally occurs from innovation in order to survive.  The need for speed in change management varies from start-ups to corporations; however, these 5 factors will ensure successful change management regardless of size:

  1. Endorsements – Get true sponsorship for your idea from the top to the down.  If you’re serious about your idea, then don’t settle for simply getting one or two sponsors.  Make sure you have sponsorship from all the people that will be required to make the idea work.  Always be prepared to sell your idea by showing its immediate benefits.  If you are the “top dog,” then it’s your job to make sure the people you bring on to help you buy-in to your idea.
  2. Honest Communication – Typically, honest communication relates to something that you could read about in the self-help aisle.  As far as change management is concerned, it relates to deadlines, realistic expectations and real needs.  The success of innovation will come if communication is always open and timely.  Priorities are constantly shifting inside of innovation endeavors, so deadlines are in constant flux.  The person that doesn’t provide a realistic deadline will commit the crime not the person that has to change it.
  3. Employee Investment – A simple concept…but usually the hardest for leaders to execute.  Let people show-off their strengths by taking over responsibility for their parts of the project.  Trust them to succeed, and they (and you) will shine.
  4. Change Agents – #4 won’t happen without #3 happening first.  The change agents are the ones that become the internal champions for your idea.  Once they buy-in, they will become the best PR ever because they have true blood invested.  In essence, they should become mini-yous.
  5. Culture – You either have it or you don’t.  And if you don’t, it will make your job harder; but it’s crucial to the long-term success of your innovations.  Culture is not something that can simply be created overnight.  Culture takes time to grow.  Steps 1 – 4 will lay the groundwork for your culture change and at the same time providing a blue print for a successful change management strategy.
Photo: ucumari via flickr

Mar9

Nike Shox Wedding Contest – Win $50!!!

Posted at 9:32 AM • View Comments

If you read my blog, then you know I’m a big fan of the Nike brand and their commercials.  They’ve been there with me through all my days as an athlete in soccer, basketball and football.  At all levels whether it was all-star teams or the powerhouse that is LSU football, I more often than not chose Nike gear.  I figured they ought to be with me on one of the most important days of my life too.

During my wedding reception (5.9.2009), I will need that extra confidence and bounce to make sure I can make it to each food station with ease as they unveil new dishes throughout the night, meet n’ greet my guests with grace and, more importantly, glide with elegance and style on the dance floor.  I will only be able to perform at my maximum in a set of Nike Shox.  Using this reasoning and my superb litigation skills, I convinced my fiancee to let me wear a pair of Nike Shox during the wedding reception!!

The best part: I’ve chosen the shoe, but YOU get to choose the style and have a chance to win $50!!!  It’s quite simple to compete and win, so here are the rules:

1)    Go to NIKEiD and design a pair of Nike Shox for me to wear at the wedding reception.

2)    The model has to be a running shoe, which are the “Turbo+ iD,” “Experience+ iD,” “ NZ iD” or the “Turbo+ VI iD.”

3)    Save the design to your Nike profile (aka “myLocker”), use the “share” feature at the bottom right to copy the hyperlink to the design and then comment on this post with your design and hyperlink for all to see.

4)    The winner, chosen by us, will receive a $50 Nike gift card!

5)    Pictures of the shoes in action will be posted upon return from the honeymoon.

You can read the backstory on this contest here.

clouvioffdamkt1

Considerations…

1)    My groomsmen and ring bearer will have the option to wear these shoes as well, so your design could be on eight pairs of feet!!

2)    Feel free to comment on the blog with questions or check here regarding anything about the wedding so you can better tailor your design. e.g. What are your colors?

3)    Feel free to email me the wallpaper download, so I can put a copy in my Flickr Stream.

4)    This is a subjective contest, so if you like someone’s design, please leave a comment saying so.  It may influence the results.  Also, my wonderful fiancée gets the final say-so.

5)    Even if you’re not competing, pass along the link to this blog.  Increased competition yields better results.  That’s what Nike and I are all about.

6)    Feel free to ask me any questions about the NIKEiD site or this contest.  Contest ends when my bachelor party begins at Midnight EST on  April 1, 2009!!

Oct28

Facebook Is Dead..Now What?

Posted at 6:05 PM • View Comments

Over a year ago, my friend Darren Herman wrote a post about the social networks Facebook and LinkedIn colliding.  I saw this happening on a small scale at the time but not on the major scale it is now.  I now have clients, MBA classmates, colleagues, friends, family, Michael Phelps, dogs, cats, etc. all in one place!  This is NOT why I signed up for Facebook!  I signed up because I wanted to have easier access to my family as well as friends of past and present.  Also, when I was single, I could see if that girl I just met was crazy or not.  Anyway, like Darren, I wanted a place that I could keep in touch with real people or friends that I’ve actually met.

I have another acquaintance Ryan Coleman, a successful entrepreneur, that runs NextForce and argues (in short) that it shouldn’t matter what picture, videos, etc. are on your site because if your culture lines up with a prospective employer’s culture, then it’s all “gravy.”   I agree and disagree with him, and this is where my aggravation with Facebook comes into play.

Gen-Y understands Facebook…the new business networkers (largely Gen-X and beyond) do not understand it beyond having an electronic organizer.  I can tell they don’t get it because they have no picture or one, most likely from their company website, and then there is nothing else on their Facebook page.  People are becoming scared to put things up about themselves.  I have friends looking for jobs that feel the need to take down their walls, delist their relationship status and disassociate themselves with groups their passionate about.  I don’t blame them.  I would do the same…now.

Facebook is about to become LinkedIn Part 2.  It’s going to become a contact tool instead of a place to share things.  Facebook isn’t going to be the only one dying off.  This cycle will repeat until a solution is found.  Maybe an invite-only Ning is the way to go or the ever-elusive ASW.   Maybe Web 3.0 is all about tagging people as entities or degrees of separation.  i.e. Darren Herman (email, facebook, linkedin, mobile, AIM, in-person) or Ryan Coleman (email, facebook, mobile).

Gen-Y is still another 10 years from being the majority in hiring roles.  Until then, I can’t fully buy into Ryan’s way of thinking.

BTW, ONLY add me to Facebook here if you meet any of the following criteria:

1)    I have no idea who you are.
2)    You have 1 or 0 pictures of yourself up.
3)    You are reading my blog for the first time.

Oct9

Down Economies Are Fun!!!

Posted at 1:43 AM • View Comments

I’ve always tried to do things a little different than the person next to me.

This world is so competitive that you have to do things to set yourself apart if you want to get noticed.  While this holds true for careers, it also holds true for life.  Stop watching ticker tapes all day.  Forget that the Dow is plummeting (You do realize it’s only 30 stocks right?).  Forget about what certain candidates have to say about it (You don’t think you’re going to get a real answer until after election day do you?).

It’s easy to go along with the crowd; but it’s harder but more fulfilling to go against the grain.  We’re Gen-Y, and by our nature that’s what we’re about.  Improve your personal brand by being the person that others look to for a light in the darkness.

Here are 5 ways to be part of the solution instead of the problem:

Take a Vacation
Grab a friend so you can spread some joy.  You don’t have to go to a tropical island.  Head down south with a buddy for a powerful SEC football game, hit a local beach or just go visit a friend you haven’t seen for awhile in another town.

Buy Some Stock
Undergraduate finance: buy low, sell high.  Do your part to help with the $700B buyout.  If you have a little extra cash, buy a little extra stock.  All I know is if RIMM drops a bit below $50, I have Chuck all over it!

Break Your Horn
Before you go cranking on your horn because you’re stuck in traffic, sit back and crank up your iPod.  Horns release middle fingers.  Music releases pheromones.

Grab a Drink
Finding friends to grab a drink right now shouldn’t be hard.  However, don’t let the talk steer towards the economy or politics.  Talk sports, sex or TV shows.

Breathe
It’s fall right now, which means it’s beautiful outside.  Find a spot in the park, sit on your balcony or lie down in front of a window with nothing on and take a breath or two or three.  Clear your mind and try to focus on what you have instead of what you don’t.

My point is not that you become this corny person that’s one-step away from working at Disney.  However, enough is going on right now to make everyone think the apocalypse is upon us.  Be a little different.  Try to be the light, and maybe it will be a little contagious.

BTW, hometown (New Orleans) featured in this V-Dub Spot.

Sep30

Good Resumes Lack Objectives!

Posted at 5:20 PM • View Comments

With the job market following suit of the economy, it is hyper-competitive to land a great job.  If you believe that you are the best of the best, then you better have a solid resume that will drive that point home.

I have been working on a project for a client, which required research of thousands (probably hundreds) of resumes.  Now, I truly understand why HR professionals spend less than 10 seconds reading each resume that floats across their desk.   Aside from reading many generic resumes that looked like they came straight from a Microsoft Word template, I noticed that the “objective” part of the resume is the biggest waste of precious space.  The resumes that stood out to me had no objective but instead contained a “personal brand statement.”

The PBS doesn’t have its own section or bold highlight that reads, “Personal Brand Statement.” It is simply the first statement that the reader sees below the header.  The PBS is a quick but powerful definition of who the candidate is.

Why the objective is irrelevant?

1)    If you’re applying for a specific job, then the hiring manager knows what your objective is.
2)    It looks like everyone else in the database.
3)    Each resume gets viewed for 10 to 30 seconds and a generic objective isn’t going to stop anyone in their tracks.

What should be in my “personal brand statement”?

1)    Quantify what you can bring to the table.  Use experience, goals achieved or both…people like numbers because they relate easily.
2)    Once quantified, briefly highlight the steps you made getting to that point.
3)    Immediately below your PBS, list (horizontally) 5 (not 6) or 7 keywords that describe you.

I have been listening to my iPod relentlessly all week to rid the voices in my head that repeat phrases such as, “seeking a mutually beneficial position” and “seeking a rewarding and educational career.”  Blah!!

Aug24

Seinfeld and Bill Gates Go to College

Posted at 5:00 PM • View Comments

Microsoft’s ego is so large that they fail to acknowledge the principles that have helped make Apple a successful lifestyle products company and are increasingly losing market share in the computer space.  Since Steve Jobs has come on board, he has shown Apple as a simple design company by using young and fresh technology, and their ads have always reflected this.  Microsoft’s new Vista strategy is to do the opposite with a 54-year old comedian.  Really?

I have always loved Seinfeld and Apple.  I don’t hate Microsoft at all, but I feel as though the only reason I keep a copy of their OS (Windows) on my MacBook Pro is because I have to do so, and I rarely use it.  I assume that most Windows users feel the same.  More and more people are asking me if they can buy a Mac and still do “A, B or C” on the Mac like they do Windows.  95% of the time, I answer, “Yes.”

Since Apple switched from Apple Computer, they have run their “Windows versus Mac” ads that use Justin Long to illustrate Leopard’s superiority over Windows.  Apple has always had a high cool factor, but the ads are genius because they bring the idea of switching to consumers in a simple fashion.

Microsoft wants to attract a new generation of users by targeting young people.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is about to unveil a “Seinfeld Campus Tour” around the country where Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates do a series of commercials.   Seinfeld is one of the most popular celebrities in the world, but his show ended in 1998; and although you can find it on TBS every night, I don’t see him as the cool person to help Microsoft push their latest message.

College is a time when most kids go nuts and discover new things.  Listening to parents is not a commonly practiced pastime of college students and that seems the premise behind the campaign.  I have a feeling the next generation of Apple ads will be about Apple making fun of Microsoft ads being irrelevant.

Aug21

‘Our Country (USA) Is the Best’

Posted at 10:00 AM • View Comments

That is a direct quote from Kobe Bryant in an interview this Friday past with NBC’s Chris Collinsworth (download link).  I picked up on this story from an opinion piece on the WSJ.  The piece mentions that TV commentators keep opining that the Olympics are all about the brotherhood of man, rather than national ambition or patriotism.  The Olympics should and are about two things:

1)    Competition, aka Bragging Rights
2)    Class, aka True Character

Excerpt from the interview:
Collinsworth: Where does the patriotism come from inside of you? Historically, what is it?

Kobe: Well, you know it’s just our country, it’s… we believe is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say ‘You know what? Our country is the best!’

Collinsworth: Is that a ‘cool’ thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by.

Kobe: No, it’s a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor.

Collinsworth’s reaction gets under my skin.  A ‘cool’ thing to say???  This should be applauded!!  Reading an American newspaper, people think that everyone around the globe hates us and that is simply not true.  Collinsworth gives off the impression that Kobe should not maintain an elitist attitude.  Why not?  It’s made us the country that everyone in the world strives to be in some way.    At this very moment, immigrants are trying to move their families here to give them a shot at life.

Kobe seems to know what he has here and is proud to represent that.  Kobe has never been one of my favorite athletes, but he’s gained back some favor with me.  The USA may be in trouble if the majority thinks like Collinsworth.  However, I’ve been in various bars watching people like Bryant, Phelps and fantastic American athletes do their thing; and I haven’t seen a lack of pride.