Posts Tagged "Gen Y"
Dec8

The 4-Letter Word Gen-Y Can’t Stand

Posted at 7:02 AM • 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

Oct28

Facebook Is Dead..Now What?

Posted at 6:05 PM • 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 • 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 • 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!!

Jun4

Real Men Suit Up For Success

Posted at 3:35 PM • Comments

I love the scene below from Boiler Room (viewer discretion advised) in which Ben Affleck delivers his “Act As If…” speech. The point is that if you’re going to sell, then you have to look the part. It doesn’t matter if you’re in sales or not, you need to dress for the position you want because you’re always selling yourself. The position you want may not even be with your current company; but you need to always look good because you never know who is looking at you.

Unlike the boys hustling shares of stock, we’re not all pulling down $25K per month; so lining our closets with the latest trends seen in Men’s Health or Playboy is not an option. Here are 5 ways to cut some corners with suits and still look good:

1) Suits

Buy the inexpensive styles of the suits you saw in the magazines. Jos. A. Bank and Men’s Wearhouse are constantly having sales on decent quality suits. Pick a store and find a dynamic contemporary pattern you feel comfortable with. Dillard’s and Macy’s always have sales too, but getting a good opinion or measurements from a general department store salesman can be hit or miss.

On style, feel free to venture from the typical browns and blacks as just a subtle charcoal pinstripe or a something cooler for the summer months such as a taupe are fetching. Go with the 3-button suits as they are seen as more stylish.

Also, when shopping for a suit, you will need a second set of eyes because the colors will all begin to bleed together. I suggest bringing a girlfriend (platonic or otherwise) or a gay male friend. If you have a friend that still wears Croakies around his sunglasses for any activity aside from boating, do not bring him!

2) Dress Shirts

If you’re on a budget, then your shirts are the most important aspect of your wardrobe. This is where you get a chance to create your own sense of style. This doesn’t mean buying a Polo dress shirt from a department store. It means looking to some high quality designers and custom clothiers. Spend the $125 required on a high quality dress shirt. You need at least three. Find your style with the likes of Thomas Pink, Paul Smith or Ted Baker to name a few. They can be found online or at your local haberdashery. Never doubt the power of a custom shirt. Check out a company such as Tom James that has been manufacturing custom made shirts for years. It’s big boy time, so only get French cuffs. It takes us approximately 45 minutes less than the average woman to get dressed in the morning, take the extra 90 seconds to put cuff links into your shirts.

3) Cuff Links

Again, you have a chance to exhibit your own style without having to dye your hair or install permanentMF Cuff Links ink onto visible areas of your body. For the most part, cuff links can be anything you choose. My only rule of thumb is to make sure the metal (usually gold or silver) matches your belt buckle (and watch if you wear one). I can go into any haberdashery and find hundreds of cuff links that will match my shirts and ties. Unless you are close with your client or work in familiar office space, I would stick with a more conservative design during the day. Night time is the time to break out the spinning roulette wheels.

4) Sport Coats

The sport coat is great because there is almost no wrong answer. They are versatile in that one or two coats can pair with many combinations of dress pants or nice jeans. I wouldn’t go nuts like TNT’s Craig Saeger, but you should definitely feel free to express yourself some here.

5) Rule on Blue

I can’t stress this enough. If you were blue slacks or have a blue suit, you need to wear brown NOT black shoes. Unless you are in the United States Marine Corp, there are no exceptions to this rule. Ok, there really are, but to be safe please use brown. If nothing else, the ladies will definitely notice your dress savvy.

Bottom Line

Perception is reality. Dress how you want to be perceived.

Jun3

The Engagement

Posted at 11:20 AM • Comments

I’ve given the short, short version several times to many people, but there is always a plethora (Three Amigos) of questions that ensue about the setup, espionage and deceit (necessary) that took place to make this magical event everlasting and memorable. Three months of planning and preparation went into the engagement night, so I’ve decided to break the entire story up into a few posts. In this post, I will give you the story about the night I asked Heather Platt to be my wife…I think that’s what I said to her.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

630PM – Heather and I left my parents house for dinner at one of my most favorite restaurants…Restaurant Cuvee on Magazine Street in downtown New Orleans. She had known about the dinner reservation for nearly two months as I told her that I was dying to go back since I hadn’t been back since before Katrina. When I asked her, she had no suspicions because we both love to try great restaurants.

At this point, I wasn’t nervous at all. I felt all the pieces were in place, so all that was left was the timing and execution.

At a traffic light outside the Superdome, I flashed a picture of Heather looking beautiful in her black dress. As she fiddled with the camera, I grazed my right hand across my left jacket pocket to make sure the two rings were still in there.

700PM – Dinner was served at Cuvee over a nice bottle of French red. Heather went for the filet marinated in bleu cheese served over a piece of prime rib. I had some sort of soft-shell crab that I wasn’t too impressed with largely because I felt it didn’t reflect its menu description. She polished off the filet but left the slab of prime rib. The conversation was light and interesting as always. Dinner was being served at a nice pace and the bottle of wine began to take our conversation off onto strange tangents. I wish I could say that I remember most of it, but my mind was heavily occupied with the two brilliant ovals in my left pocket.

I still wasn’t nervous. I kept reminding myself that she still had no idea what was coming, and I relaxed by listening to her childlike enthusiasm. Her vigor kept me at ease because I knew she would always be able to make me smile.

730PM – My family (Mom, Dad, Chenae, Chris, Caitlyn, Jacob (Caitlyn’s BF) and Heather’s parents were having dinner at Café Adelaide at the Lowe’s Hotel.

825PM – We ordered dessert and two cappuccinos. We weren’t really hungry, but she has a sweet tooth and I needed to kill about 15 more minutes. After we ordered, I excused myself to the restroom.

I was alone in the marble-lined restroom. I removed the two rings from the small jewelry bag in left pocket. I put her Grandmother’s ring in my right pocket beneath my money clip…the engagement ring into my left pocket beneath my Blackberry. I looked at myself in the mirror to make sure I was in order and then I repeated several times, “Old…right…new…left, old…right…new…left.”

840PM – We wrapped up dessert. I went to the restroom again because I actually had to go and had forgotten before. She then went, and I paid the bill.

845PM – On the way to the car, I suggested we go take a walk on the River until Kim and Paul (already in town) could meet us for drinks. It was a mild New Orleans night with that pinkish-blue sunset. It was turning out to be a nice night. She was excited to go for the walk because we had spent time in downtown New Orleans but rarely alone.

9PM – We walked out of the Hilton parking garage towards Spanish Plaza. I called Kim, strategically, on my cell phone to let her know where we should meet when she got downtown.

As I hung up the phone, we were about 50 yards from the River barricade. All of a sudden, I finally felt my heart rate increase rapidly. I knew my plan was to hold the older ring (missing the center stone) and act like I saw it on the ground. I had my hand in the correct pocket, but I couldn’t seem to shake it free from under my clip. Meanwhile, I was doing a poor job of playing it off as we were basically walking in miniature circles.

Heather quickly saved me and pointed out some ship doing something fast in the water.

“One question,” I asked myself as she spoke. “Are you ready for this?” “Yes,” I answered and quickly bent over on my right leg…

“Look at this baby,” I acted as though I’d just picked it up off the ground. She looked over curious and confused, and I handed her Grandmother’s ring to her.


I watched her face carefully for three seconds (felt like ten).

As soon as I saw the recognition of the ring in her eyes, I pulled the new ring out of my left pocket and dropped to one knee. Her initial reaction was confused as I could see she didn’t know if I was serious or not, but she soon realized I was serious as I began my speech with my right hand on her waist and my left clenching tightly to the ring. Her hands were resting on my shoulders. She burst into her tears for the first time. Her poor eyes were covered by the seemingly endless stream of joy. She later told me that all she initially saw of the ring was the sparkle because there was so much haze over her eyes.

My speech began with, “Heather…” and I honestly can’t tell you (neither can she) what I said after that. I know the points I wanted to make to her, and I did do that.

I ended with, “Heather, will you be my wife?”

“Yes!” she tried to scream out in a teary voice. I put my arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

Then, I stood up, hugged her and said, “I gave you four of the five things (missing family) that are most important to you on your engagement.”

“Baby, it was perfect,” she cried towards me as we walked away from Spanish Plaza.

Almost finished…the hard part is over…just get to the hotel.

­915PM – I started walking her away from Spanish Plaza as she pulled out her Blackberry.

“I guess you saw my parents earlier, so that’s family…right…that’s five then?” She agreed. “Don’t you want to call your parents?”

“Oh yes!” she laughed like she’d forgotten about the whole world.

As she did that, I texted Caitlyn, “She said yes! On our way!”

“Oh, I guess they’re in bed by now,” she sighed.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

She then called her brother, Victor and her friend Star in Seattle. As she told her, she started crying immediately. Meanwhile, I was rushing us to the Café Adelaide because I wasn’t sure if everyone was finished eating.

Standing outside of the Lowe’s Hotel with the doormen staring at us, Heather continued to gab about something completely unrelated to marriage to Star.

Typical!! My heart was racing because I knew I was so close to completing the last step.

I was dragging her into the hotel and asking her to get off the phone. She finally told Star that she really had to go because of me.

As we turned into the bar of the hotel, Kim and Paul sat on the edge smiling. As soon as Heather saw Kim, she burst into tears for the third time. I reached over and shook Paul’s hand.

Almost there…only one more step to make this night perfect. Paul played it great like the night was already concluded. Kim was great in asking Heather if she wanted to go sit at their table in the back. Heather obliged.

Kim guided Heather to the back as Paul and I slowly pulled up the rear. Caitlyn was standing on the far side of the large table and snapped shots of Heather as she stopped dead in her tracks and cried for the fourth time. Her tears came from the six people (my family) she saw sitting at the table. She had failed to notice the other two. As she walked over toward Chenae (I think), she noticed the two other people at the table…her Mom and Dad. Heather’s tears turned to waterfalls.

Heather Seeing Her Parents

Heather Hugging Her Dad

Me Whispering to Her

She ran to them and hugged them aggressively. She then rushed to me to bury her head in my shoulder. I put my arm around her, put her ear to my lips and whispered, “Now, your family is here too. I gave you the five most important things. I love you baby.” She cried more and hugged me tight.

I pulled up a chair in between my mom and dad. I watched her enjoy herself with everyone seated at the table. Over our freshly poured Vodka-Sodas, we listened to everyone recount their stories of the planning over the previous 3 months. The topper was the “Proposal Agenda” I’d created for everyone that night.

Heather and My Parents

Heather and Her parents

The Agenda

The New Fam

Good Friends

Pure Joy

Jun2

Engagement Story…Delayed

Posted at 10:47 AM • Comments

So, I’ve been engaged just over a week.  I know I’ve promised many of you a detailed version of the story via my blog.  First of all, thank you all so much for caring!  It’s great to know so many people have your best interests at heart.  Second, my plan was to do it this past weekend; however, viewing wedding sites is a more time consuming process than I thought.  Needless to say, after viewing 5 wedding sites spread all over metro Atlanta (drove over 300 miles in two days) and a soccer game on Sunday, I was quite worn down.  One thing I noticed is that looking at wedding sites starts to be like shopping for a suit…eventually, they all start looking alike.

The engagement story…it’s coming…I promise!

May22

5 Ways to Be Rich and Powerful

Posted at 7:58 PM • Comments

The perceived recession is over hyped. A recent Business Week article finally proved as much. Regardless of the economy, I maintain the mindset of ABS…not brakes…ABS = Always Be Saving. Our generation isn’t going to collect a dime of social security, so it’s important for us to save now.

George Costanza said very few intelligent things, but he did once say, “Interest…it’s an amazing thing. You can make money without doing anything.” He was half correct because you have to put the pieces in place to work for you. Here are 5 ways to get your money working for you:

1) 401(k) and/or Roth IRA

This is the biggest no brainer in the book especially if your company has a match. It’s tax free money. If your company has a match, then max it out. If your company doesn’t have a 401(k), then open a Roth IRA. I prefer Fidelity and Schwab, but you can use any brokerage service. Each brokerage I mentioned offers a method for incremental contributions just as you’d have with an employer. That way you can open an account with $50 instead of $3,000. The maximum contribution for 2008 is $5,000…try to hit that! You have until tax day 2009 to contribute.

Be a ROCKSTAR! If you can afford it, open a Roth on top of the 401(k).

DON’T TOUCH!! Pull the money out and you’re taxed 30%. However, there are little loop holes. For instance, you can make a withdrawal as a down payment on your first home purchase.

2) Mint.com

I work hard for my cash, and I want to know where it’s going. Throughout college my mom was baffled that I could never fully balance a checkbook. However, I’ve always been able to budget. I’ve used Quicken and Money in the past…never again! Mint is barely a year old. It has won an award, received major funding and is more efficient than those other two. The security is top notch, and the only information they need is your email address. It helps you track expenses, bills, budget, savings opportunities and much more!

3) Payment & Punishment

Once you have Mint setup…use it! Figure out your biggest expenditure, aka weakness, and exploit it. Take whatever you spend there and match it into your own savings. For instance, my weakness is for random runs to the nearest crack house…errrr…espresso distributor; so each month I find out what I spent on it and put that same amount into my money market fund.

So, if you spend $175 a month on Marlboros, then you put $175 into your savings of choice. This practice will have several positive effects on your financial life.

4) High Yield Checking

I only need a physical bank for one thing…ATMs. When I moved to Atlanta, I went with Wachovia because they are everywhere. My paychecks are direct deposits and my bills are paid via online checking.

Schwab now has an award winning checking account the garners interest. I can do everything with them that I do with Wachovia and earn 2% on my cash. In the rare occasion, I need a physical check, they are free. Visa debit card is included. If I need cash, the world is my ATM! They reimburse for ATMs worldwide.

5) AMEX One Card

This is a little known card from American Express. The only AMEX card I see less than this is the elusive black Centurion card. The One card is boring in appearance except as it’s mostly green. Green because it earns you money. AMEX One has replaced my ATM/Debit card. I use this card for all of my purchases.

AMEX opens a savings account for you and matches your spending into your savings account. They start you with $50 after your first purchase. Thereafter, they match 1% of your monthly expenditures directly into the savings account. While your money is sitting, it earns interest (currently 2.75%). It has interest protection for new purchases. Basically, this means that you don’t pay interest on the full balance but only on what was due before the current month. Having said that, I strongly suggest you only using this method if you typically pay your credit card off in full each month. Paying interest defeats the purpose of the savings account.

Bottom Line

Money, Knowledge and Sex are Power…Know where your money is going, use the intelligence to distribute it so you can attain more, this will make you more attractive on several levels and then you’ll have more sex. You are now ALL POWERFUL!!

Photo Courtesy of DeShawn Stevenson ;->

Mar31

Life Without the Net

Posted at 1:04 PM • Comments

So this weekend I had to go without the Internet at my complex. There are times where I will purposely not use the Internet, so I can focus on other things. I had to play host to two special guests, so I didn’t have much time to really worry about it; but it always interests me how much I rely on it. Like most things, I never realize how much I miss it until I don’t have it. It’s like when I get a paper cut, and I have to invent new ways to lift things. Sometimes I get shampoo in there too…ouch!!!

It really is amazing to me about how things revolve around the Internet and how much it makes us a
“need it now” culture. For Saturday, our crew considered going to see an IMAX show. I mindlessly clicked on Firefox and remembered that I was without service. I actually had to call the IMAX hotline to get movie times. I can’t remember the last time I did that. The last time I saw someone do it was on an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer pretended to be Moviefone. Thank God for Google Mobile!! Earlier that morning, I began writing a piece for this blog and needed a little research. Again, out of habit, I clicked on my Wikipedia shortcut…nada!

For those of us that began Gen-Y (1979-1983), remember when we had to learn all of that card catalogue stuff to do research? I don’t think I ever really learned it all that well. Even early in high school, they tried to teach it to us…crazy. In high school and college, I used the Internet constantly for research. Parents used to say, “We didn’t have the Internet. We had to carry books!” I wonder if I’ll say, “When I was in high school, I didn’t have Google Images, Reader, etc. We had to use Lexis Nexis Boolean search!” I turned 27 today, and the Internet is starting to make me feel old!! ;->

BTW, I’m writing this from one of the four Starbucks in the area because I’m still down on Monday morning…sometimes I just have to have the Internet.

Mar23

Nike SPARQ – My Brand is Better

Posted at 7:17 PM • Comments

I recently made a post about Nike understanding what athletes are about. The Cinderella commercial I referenced was about doing whatever, whenever to get where you want to go. The newest commercial is about their Nike SPARQ (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness) training program. To most athletes, SPARQ is nothing new. It is a training program used to condition athletes for their particular sport. I’ve seen this training program administered by people such as Velocity from early high school through the professional level. Nike has rebranded this program SPARQ and is showing it the public. Yes, the commercials are very cool. The one most will remember is the long version with Saul Williams singing “List of Demands” in the background.

Nike’s brand is just better. If you’re serious about training, then you will head over to their website. The site doesn’t just show off professional athletes’ ratings. It lists individuals you’ve never heard of playing high school football, soccer, baseball, etc…male and female…can find their training results online comparing it to others around the country. If you played high school anything, think about how valuable that knowledge would’ve been then. The top competitors always assume someone else is trying to work harder than them at any moment, so they push. This site can give you even more “juice” to perform better. To get on this list, look at Nike’s scheduled list of events. All you have to do is find the scheduled events, show up and they will test you. Nike offers training videos to prepare or train on your own. Of course, you can even buy SPARQ branded equipment; but, the real value for Nike is in everything but the merchandise. They’ve created a massive amount of conversation from 90 seconds of commercials and a top-notch user interface

Many would call this viral marketing, but as my friend, Darren Herman, has said, “They are creating a conversation with the consumers.” This is what it takes today to be successful in business. The brand doesn’t control the consumers and the consumers don’t control the brands. If either of these is too off-tilt, something will give. Brand communication today is about emerging media. A main component of all emerging media is ongoing conversation.

“My better is better than your better. Thank you very much for coming.”

My Better is Better Than Your Better

My Better is Better Than Your Better

Mar16

Gen Y – Declining Use of Email

Posted at 12:40 PM • Comments

Declining use of email?

Research suggests that teens rarely use email to communicate. They prefer to send text messages to each other. Considering that they are more likely to be in contact with each other during the day by phone than computer, that makes sense.

But do you think this will continue once they enter the workforce?

In other words, is disinterest in email a factor of their youth, or do you think they will continue to shun email as they get older?

And if so, will business correspondence change as a result?

___________________________________________________________________________________

A business owner on my LinkedIn network posted the question above today. At the time of this writing, I saw many good responses to her question (you can read it here). Some excerpts and common themes were:

“E-mail is the ideal way of sharing documents, files and information in workgroups that are working dispersedly around the globe.”

“Reality is that once you enter the workforce and are no longer able to drop what you are doing to text someone, texting goes away.”

“E-mail will continue to be the medium of choice until a better system comes about. SMS messaging is nice to get something quick out, but you cannot write a business proposal in SMS format, etc.”

I read some good answers, but here are my thoughts. Working in advertising can be an intense daily life…a typical life cycle of an idea is: CMO gets a new idea, passes the responsibility onto his marketing team, they throw it to their agency which in turn has to completely revamp the plan they created yesterday for yesterday’s idea, vendors’ plans get scrapped, which they’ll hear about two weeks later. With all these channels much can get lost along the way just like the telephone game we used to play as children.

Email may decline but it’s still largely useful for storage and lengthy conversations. People used to think phones would die off completely because of email. When I worked in my dad’s company at 12, I remember hearing that phones would be obsolete in ten years. I use one every day. It may not be a land line, since I only use my mobile or Skype; but voice communication is still vital to business. Email is now, and will be more so, used as a filter. It is another ring in the degrees that separate us, and it’s becoming the least credible because anyone has access to it. I used to work for CBS and anyone had access to any employees email in any division of this massive corporation. I doubt seriously Sumner Restone was replying or even reading the emails sent to him unless a screener deemed it necessary. The people he needs to speak with know how to get him. SMS is not the future of Gen Y workers, but mobile is.

I’ll use Mark Cuban as another example, the seemingly rebel owner of the Dallas Mavericks and successful entrepreneur, and dub him the “most tech savvy CEO.” He has a very popular blog which routinely gets at least fifty comments per post. Anyone can email ideas or suggestions to him from the blog. You can find him on Facebook, MySpace and I’m sure countless other social networks. The point is that if you really know him or he wants you to know him, then you will have another way to touch base with him outside of email.

My Blackberry provides you the opportunity to touch base with me via AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, SMS, MMS or email; and if you have my Blackberry PIN, you can get me on Blackberry Messenger too. And after reading all of those, there are still methods that I’m not using where business is being conducted. I don’t actively use Second Life or WOW, but I know people who would never have otherwise worked together are so now because of their common interest in MMORPGs. All of these niche worlds create new places for people to meet and congregate. Content delivery and quality are being reconstructed to be more efficient and effective in mobile delivery. Intel is about to release a chip that will power a laptop the size of a PSP because some people just need a laptop to run applications not a full blown system. I travel often and don’t need a laptop with huge amounts of storage and/or a DVD player. For around $200, I can buy a 250GB USB hard drive no larger than a Passport and a program that will store and play presentations/movies/games/pictures/etc. I can put the new laptop and hard drive into my jacket pocket…the cell phone into my pants pocket. The point of bringing up the laptop is to illustrate another incentive for content providers to rethink the quality of delivery.

Working in business development, I routinely call media directors, planners and buyers at advertising agencies. Everyone wants a piece of their time. Everyone has something new to show them. The bottom line is that they’re not going to put your idea in front of their client unless it’s A) a better way to do something they already use, B) a game changer that they can’t miss out on or C) they trust you. “C” is the most important because the other two are least likely. They don’t check voicemail at all because they know that, unless they’re waiting to hear back on something specific, it’s probably not anything important. If I want to get in touch with some of the decision makers, I know to try them via SMS, IM or BB Messenger. I even have two senior level ad execs that prefer I get them on Facebook because it doesn’t get flooded with random emails and newsletters…they control their environment. Last week, I had a conversation via SMS with a WPP exec that was attending an AAAA Conference in Orlando. His voicemail, in NYC, said he would be out all week not returning phone calls.

One of the many things my father taught me about running a successful business is that you must change to stay ahead of the curve. In his case, it was all about using new technologies to reinvigorate an old industry…tying things no one else was willing to try.

In recruiting Gen Y and eventually letting them run organizations, people don’t have to become experts on every form of communication or shift entire groups around those methods; but it’s important to be knowledgeable of those forms, and, if needed, hire experts to educate you on them. If you’re older than Gen Y, don’t be scared…reach out and/or listen. If you’re in Gen Y, as I am, be cognoscente of the fact that you will need to grace the presence of the next generation repeating the cycle of older generations today.

Mar11

Jordan Clock Tower Commercial – Become Legendary

Posted at 10:22 PM • Comments

I was a huge Michael Jordan fan when I was young. I used to try, notice the italics, to imitate him as a kid. I watched the training videos, read the Bios and scraped together what I could on the young Internet. Jordan and Nike have always put together wonderful commercials. They have been consistent in understanding the amateur athlete and showing that they understand via their various branding initiatives. Phil Knight started making running shoes on the back of a pickup truck, and then he gave universities (see Oregon) free stuff if they used it in public and somehow he managed to maintain that image with the largest sports clothier in the world.

Commercials like this give me chills…because whether you’re playing now, have played or are going to play…we all compete. Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets make an appearance. Think the NBA loves this guy? Amazing fundamentally, off-the-radar in a star-studded NBA West, in a Cinderella town…potential to be Legendary. Recognize some of the others…Boise State and Appalachian State playing late.

Mar10

Eleanor Roosevelt Wouldn’t Like Starbucks

Posted at 1:43 AM • Comments

Earlier this year, Howard Schultz decided to return to his vision at Starbucks (SBUX), and everyone is anxious to see if he can turn around the coffee bean behemoth. Hopefully, he can “pull a Steve Jobs.” About a year ago, I gave my McStarbucks theory about Starbucks starting to serve breakfast. Two months ago they began serving $1 cups of coffee and free refills. This latest strategy is furthering of my McStarbucks theory, and it isn’t what the original vision of Starbucks was intended to be.

I should note that I worked for six months at a Starbucks in New Orleans. I wanted to work there. I had become an evangelist for their brand. It had nothing to do with the coffee. It was the atmosphere and the ambiance associated with it. Based purely on flavor, I could name two places in New Orleans that were better for coffee. New Orleans and Austin, Texas were two markets Starbucks went into carefully because of the loyalists’ attitude each city has for its coffees.

Back to McStarbucks, they are offering $1 cup of coffee and breakfast to compete with McDonald’s. The problem is people don’t go to Starbucks for $1 cups of coffee. They go for the $4 cup of coffee, the atmosphere, the passion of the staff and the free refill you can get if you know the secret way to ask. So, one answer to getting that share price up again has nothing to do with $1 coffee. In fact, I can see it hurting before it helps. They don’t need to ward off their most passionate users. They’ve already started doing it. It just hit me the other day that they’re beginning to push me away. Starbucks is now like an insecure woman, and it’s starting to turn me off. Starbucks can be an insecure man too, but I only date women.

Starbucks has become that needy date. I remember when I was fully single, and I’d be out with friends in one of the same five bars around Atlanta on a Friday night. There was always this one girl who just tried too hard to be available. She was usually cute enough and a great disposition, but she was trying to please everyone. I guess it’s sick or just human nature, but it’s a turn off. For me, I needed the girls I dated to challenge me a bit. By challenge, I don’t mean hostile or playing games. I mean willing to go through the process of getting to know someone…not just being attractive and becoming a ‘yes’ person. It was like everything I talked to her about she seemed to have an answer for or was willing to do. The bottom line is it was too easy, and I had no interest. If I’d wanted to do so, I know what I could’ve done. I don’t know what the female equivalent is, but I’m quite certain there is one.

I’ve often told others that Starbucks creates their most passionate users with the partners they hire. Because even I after I left, I continued to push their products because I’d learned about the culture. I’ve even defended them on occasion. I take pride in knowing about the ideals behind Starbucks. This is starting to leave me. Recently, I moved into a ‘live, work and play’ condo development that has a Starbucks 100 yards from my door. It’s pure evil. The past few trips I’ve made to get coffee have taken me five miles outside of my complex to a Caribou (CBOU) or this great little Atlanta shop called Octane. And along the way, there are 3 other Starbucks before I get to either alternative. I have 4 Starbucks within two square miles of me! It’s too much! Please, stop; leave me alone for a minute. Go talk that other guy’s ear off!! Get the point? I’m not sure she ever did.

I do think Caribou and Octane have better coffee than Starbucks, but I used to bypass them most of the time for the atmosphere. Now, I’m literally driving out of my way to get other coffees. Starbucks has made itself too available to me. Atlanta is about to jump to the number seven market in the country, so it demands many Starbucks, but it’s not NYC or Chicago yet. I don’t need two within 500 feet of each other. Starbucks needs to create that passion, want and mystery again. Whenever I go clubbing in Los Angeles, I always have to wait in a line for at least thirty minutes. When I get inside a place, they are never all that special; but I picked it based on the line. They keep that line outside to capture the bewilderment of the crowds, so everyone is trying to figure out what is the hot place for the night. Starbucks needs to get that back because they’re in danger of becoming just another fast food option.

Make me search for you a bit. I keep thinking that you’ll be at my beckon call when I need you. I’ve begun to take you for granted. Go away for a bit…let me miss you. Eleanor Roosevelt must have been a secure woman as she has famously stated, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” FDR was a lucky man!

Apr22

Praise Inflation

Posted at 5:10 PM • Comments

I can’t take credit for coining the term praise inflation
seen in the title. The credit goes to Mr. Jeffrey Zaslow of the
WSJ. Having said that, I did pick up (AKA click to) the article read it
and ‘borrow’ the title…so can I please have my damn cookie now? I’ll be
out to lunch in a few hours…can you please make sure there is an applause
note from my celebration assistant on my desk? Please don’t ruin my day
by disappointing me because I’m having dinner with my uber-attractive
girlfriend tonight on my ego-lifting dinnerware.

No, I’m not this much of an ass…or maybe I am? I am from the same
generation the article titled, “The Most-Praised Generation Goes to
Work,” mentions. Twentysomethings are now coming into their own in
the workforce. Some right out of college, some seemingly hot shot
MBAs…they expect praise for everything they’ve done. I’ve mentioned
several times in the past about crippling people with such low standards of
achievement. Employers and professors are finding it necessary to
compliment every little thing that students/young workers are doing today for
fear that they might damage their already fragile ego. According to
Zaslow, major corporations, like Bank of America, are hiring consultants to
teach older managers how to deal with the sensitive younger crowd.
Or for instance, the Scooter Store and Container Store:

“The 1,000-employee Scooter Store Inc., a power-wheelchair and scooter
firm in New Braunfels, Texas, has a staff “celebrations assistant”
whose job it is to throw confetti — 25 pounds a week — at employees. She also
passes out 100 to 500 celebratory helium balloons a week. The Container Store
Inc. estimates that one of its 4,000 employees receives praise every 20
seconds, through such efforts as its “Celebration Voice Mailboxes.”
Those two examples are so ridiculous that I couldn’t’ paraphrase it. My
initial thought was, “You must be kidding me!!” However after
thinking about it, like the kids coached by Dr. Phil, I’m going to blame the
parents. I really want to blame my peers believe me, but everything is
usually someone else’s fault (insert sarcasm).

When I think about it, I’m not really surprised. We have completely
coddled our youth. The pattern is evident. (Here comes sports analogies.) When my dad was in high
school in the 60’s, they got a trophy in basketball for championships
only…there was no second place trophy. When I was young (in the 80’s) playing
soccer/basketball, everyone received a trophy. In tournaments,
medals were awarded to 1st/2nd place teams. Now, my godson (7) plays
baseball in a league in which everyone gets to bat once regardless of the
number of outs. The poor kids must be sorely confused when they watch the
games on TV; and they must be even more upset when they realize how wrong they
were about the rules of the game and require a hug to get over their initial
shock.

Seriously, a basic human need exists for encouragement, but it should be used as
a way to increase drive therefore increasing self-worth/confidence.
Instead, we have turned encouragement into a crutch that is required for
someone to function on a daily basis. It’s almost impossible for me to
blame my generation though because the majority has been raised so weak that as
soon as something doesn’t go their way, they fold up like a cell phone.
The strength of character is extremely low. It’s so blatantly obvious
today. I don’t watch American Idol, but Simon Cower from the show is the
perfect example. I’ve never understood why everyone hates him. He
tells it like it is and people simply can’t handle it. They cry on
stage. My job requires me to do many presentations. When my
President has the time to come with me, I invite him to accompany me. He
would come anyway, but I’m proactive in my approach because I want to improve
based on actual merit and not fluffy compliments. As soon as we get out
of a presentation, I immediately inquire as to what areas I need to improve on
and how to do it. The man has twenty years on me…the best thing I can
possibly do is listen. I’m no saint, but one thing I realized (too late
as most of us do) is that the best thing I can do is listen. I realized
this in my early twenties, and I truly believe it’s contributed to my
success. I’ve proven to myself because as I’ve gotten older I’ve had to
work harder to listen and noticed that when I don’t tasks can be harder to
accomplish. I’m no one to talk about being sensitive. Anyone that
knows me, probably is aware that I can be quick to get down on myself if I hear
something negative and sometimes I will ‘fish’ to get myself back up.
It’s important to realize it and take control of it. If I got down on
myself every time I didn’t get praise for something, then I’d literally be
checked into a clinic on medication right now. People now want credit for
things they’re supposed to do. Chris Rock said it best, “I take care
of my kids! Hey, Dummy!. You’re supposed to take care of your kids!”
I never been to jail! So what do you want? A cookie!!”

This really scares me because I do plan to run my own company one day, and I
will be in charge of these so-called men and women. I don’t think I will
be good at this coddling thing, but I need to be because most don’t know any
better. And maybe I won’t get the smartest cookies in the jar, but
honestly I’d rather have the average guy/girl with a heart and character.

I truly believe it all goes back to the parents where your foundation is
laid. It doesn’t have anything to do with video games, music or
movies. It has to do with the people you surround yourself with on a
daily basis…your parents are the first ones you’re surrounded with. Of
course, I’ll have a chance to walk the walk when I have kids of my own. I
can only hope and pray that there is someone around to pat my back each time I
tell my kids how godlike they are.