Month: February 2011

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Charlie Sheen’s Business Ethics

Two colleagues reviewing work documents together in the office

It’s ironic that Charlie Sheen played the character with the ethical conscience in the 1987 film “Wall Street.” Now he’s at the center of a titillating Hollywood scandal that has lessons to teach us about business ethics and the business of Hollywood.

As has been widely reported in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere, CBS Warner Bros studio announced that TV’s most popular sitcom, “Two and a Half Men” will be suspended, and perhaps canceled, due to the public dispute between the lead star of the show, Charlie Sheen, and the show’s writer-producer, Chuck Lorre.

Television critic Mary McNamera summarized the issue this way in a column this weekend in the LA Times:

If you are the star of a hit comedy on CBS, you can keep your job in spite of accusations of: threatening your pregnant second wife; holding a knife to your third wife’s throat on Christmas Day; and indulging in cocaine-fueled weekends during which your bizarre behavior causes your female companion to fear for her life.

But say mean things about Chuck Lorre and You Are Toast.

It is difficult to feel anything but relief regarding CBS’ recent decision to officially halt production of its hit comedy “Two and a Half Men.” A crazed Charlie Sheen once again took to the radio airwaves this week, this time to denounce the show’s creator, whom the troubled actor accused of stealing from him. Within hours, CBS and Warner Bros. finally put their foot down; for once, the writer trumped the performer, perhaps because Lorre also produces two other very successful comedies on the network, “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mike and Molly.”

The impact of both Sheen’s off-screen behavior as well as his dispute with the producer has significant financial ramifications. Some estimate that the cost of canceling the show could exceed $200 million in lost licensing revenue to Warner Bros.

In most other companies that generate this much revenue, there is clarity as to standards of behavior and accountability to meet those standards, or face the consequences. The stories of numerous CEOs who have been forced to resign for engaging in far less egregious activity are proof. But Hollywood, like many professional sports franchises, have trouble deciding how to treat their stars. Does the business demand that everyone adhere to certain standards, including the stars, or does the franchise revolve around the idiosyncrasies of its stars, apologizing and rationalizing unacceptable behavior? Would the show go on with a new star? There are many examples, in Hollywood and in sports, where the business transcends the personalities, and the franchise has the ability to withstand the personality foibles of any one individual.

Two and a Half Men is a major business. Clarity as to its values and standards would help guide its stakeholders to know how to best protect the value of the franchise for the long-run.

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How We Communicate

A person holding a gadget with social media on it

Social media has changed the way crisis management works

The impact of social media on crisis management has been the story of the year, with the maturation of services like Facebook and Twitter sparking a massive surge in use that has literally changed the way we communicate. To help illustrate that, the professionals over at MediaBadger have put together what they call a “message map” displaying the most common routes that communications now take:

As you can see, traditional media still has its place and can certainly be effective if used correctly, but the Web, and social media in particular, is clearly dominant in terms of variety of purpose because of its capability for simple, rapid and widespread communication across a myriad of platforms.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

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Build Your Social Media Plan Right – From Scratch

Social media in colorful letters

How to Reach Your Target Audience

In addition to your primary site, social media sites leverage your messages online. The wonder of social media is that it naturally connects people who have similar interests. You want to reach your friends, and your friends’ friends.

When you engage in discussions online through social media, your message can even “go viral”, gaining momentum and reaching well beyond your friends’ friends. The ultimate goal of an internet marketing campaign is to create a meaningful message that reaches its target audience and is virally spread to others who are interested in the topic.

Social Media Plan Fundamentals

Build your social media presence and interaction very deliberately. Certain basic fundamentals will make your social media efforts most rewarding:

  • Write down your business goals.
  • Find and listen to the conversations that are already taking place online about you, your products, your competitors, and your competitors’ products.
  • Find and listen to your ideal customers’ needs. Remember, when you offer a solution that solves a pressing problem, fulfills an urgent need, or gives them hope and joy, people will eagerly buy it.
  • Choose key social media sites for your target niche and establish your online profile.
  • Integrate those sites for maximum exposure, brand-building, and traffic.
  • Engage in conversations.
  • Build your network or following. Build your email database.
  • Track and monitor activity and results.
  • Tweak to continually improve results.
  • Repeat.

Listen, Engage, Add Valuable Content

A site that allows users to interact and add content (comments, links, photos, video, etc.) is social. Use first person. Make your interaction sound and feel genuine. The people you meet online will be attracted to you (and what you offer) when you add helpful, meaningful input. If you’re new to social media, it is widely recommended that you first LISTEN to the conversation in order to become familiar with its unique style and flow.

Do you have success tips for getting your work associates to support this process?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book has a name change! The Net-Powered Entrepreneur – A Step-by-Step Guide will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Trainers: Between the Rock and the Hard Place

A-woman-standing-in-between-rocks

Training can be misinterpreted by managers. It can be looked upon erroneously as the solution for a host of business productivity problems, and time or credit given reluctantly for attendance. Some managers see training as a way of moving forward. Some see cross training employees and enhancing professional skills of value only in times of trouble. So, why waste money?

Training is rarely given the problem-solving prominence it deserves; while giving the employee new or improved skills to do a better job, it can also point out what is not a training issue at all. Instead of accolades for serving the company interests well, employee training seems shunned by management as a waste of productive time, and a point of avoidance, derision, and refusal among employees for a variety of reasons. Potential boredom, the lack of desire to vary their routine and the fear of change are pretty basic. However, among those reasons, is the one they share with management: it is seen as either a waste of time or taking valuable time away from the “real” work at hand.

What should be a win-win for both groups becomes the opposite.

Managers can misinterpret a trainer’s intentions or be threatened by the training results should those results be negative to the company or management. What the trainer does in preparing the participants and management is crucial to alleviating this concern.

It is up to us to work with the managers and trainers-in-residence to find out what is truly needed by the company to make sure we can deliver it. Knowing the company’s frame of reference in the big picture, local management’s view, the training developer’s experiences and the employees’ attitudes toward the company’s concerns can all help us in the training process to prove its value.

I recently wrote a few blogs that focused on the need for the employees or trainees to be as much a part of this process as management and trainers. If a employee doesn’t want to be trained, or sees no value in it, chances are it will do no good anyway and management is bound to echo those sentiments once the lack of results are evident. Training with a great deal of local preparation works better than canned scenarios. Check out Training Brainstorm: Evaluating Trainers, Who Needs Training: Who Gets to Decide, and Was the Guy Who Won the Client’s Audition Better than You?

From a communications side: Isn’t this what it’s all about? Managers can’t communicate what’s needed; trainers can’t ask the right questions. Since we are the trainers, maybe we ought to be concentrating on asking the right questions. And, it’s not just a matter of providing the right information. It has to be about communicating that information in such a way as to be memorable and motivating.

If we want to be seen as successful, we have to bring the messages home so well they get to management and make them see the value of training.

Managers can also be threatened by training that illuminates negative issues–not training-related–that may be affecting productivity. At that moment, trainers can be right in the middle of the fray. Caught between the participants and management. Say the wrong thing and you’ll never work for the company again; say the right thing and you are the hero of the day and hopefully remembered longer than that.

Effective delivery of training also involves presentation skills that can soften that blow to management. We need to allow time to prepare our participants (and management) and present the material in a positive way–one that tries to eliminate or soften the negative issues–if we can. Some may not agree, but I think trainers need to be expert at presenting material in as much as they may need to be the subject matter expert, offering technical advice.

Remember that boring professor who knew so much, but lost you in 10 minutes? Knowing the answers is not the same as being able to communicate them well and for positive effect. If presenting isn’t a strong suit but analysis and providing solutions is, use a forum that best suits your methods. Perhaps a more intimate discussion forum with key management types.

Now, I see myself as a pretty good presenter, but I have to do a lot of homework on my subject matter. See my article When Learning Takes Place: PowerPoint vs Presenter and Training Assessments: Personality Counts, we come back to knowing our audience: participants and managers, and what they need and want. The practice, preparation and homework helps, whichever way we have to go.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

For a look at the human side of training from my Cave Man perspective, please check out my book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development.

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Challenging Our Own Mental Models and Our Growth as Consultants (Part 2 of 3)

A laptop with "consulting" written on it

(See part 1 of 3.)

The personal development lessons come from putting myself into what Richard Leider called “The Land Of I Don’t Know. “ Putting myself into a total situation where I literally do not know how to survive on my own or I literally do not know what is going on half the time, or how things work. Imagine putting yourself in a small village in Western Kenya for a month. Living without electricity, getting water from a well, or rainwater collected in tanks. Imagine you do not know how to cook without poisoning yourself and your comrades. Most of the food in the local market doesn’t look much like what you are use to and the bed sags and the rooster wakes you up too early to imagine.

And also imagine that you are in a loving tribe whose physical space is in your face and touching you to see if that color rubs off. You are in a world of children and adults who beam to see you and greet you and bless you and want to hear and learn from you. It is a world where no one passes on the road without shaking hands and greeting each other as if it has been years since we saw each other yesterday.

It would sharpen your perceptions. It would help you to get clear about who you are and who you are not. You would extend your physical and mental antennae to not miss a cue that might be a clue as to how to operate successfully as a stranger in a strange land. You would spend a lot more time making sure you understand and are being understood. It would teach you a lot about yourself.

To Live In The Land Of I Don’t Know is to question assumptions in uncertain situations, where we experience every now and then moments of insight into the ambiguity of it all. Stepping into this land requires social sensitivity and behavioral flexibility. You have to be able to “read” what’s going on and respond appropriately. You have to work hard for communication clarity and getting at what’s behind the words. You have to hear the words and “dwell in” the non-verbal meaning. You have to make the environment your own – even if you are scared. Oh of course, we don’t get scared- we get anxious. Who wants to admit to being scared? But then what do we do when we get anxious? What do we do (behaviorally) when we feel like we are losing control? Do we deepen our listening or do we get in our own way.

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For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

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Jim Smith has over 40 years of organization development experience in a wide range of organizations. He can be reached at ChangeAgents@gmail.com

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Career Plateau: Feeling Boxed In?

A-man-thinking-of-a-career-move-to-make

career plateau“I’ve been in this position for four years. My boss drops hints about where I might go from here, but nothing comes of it. I feel stuck. ”

When you have been in a position for a while you may feel like you have reached a plateau. But I think that plateaus are not necessarily bad. They don’t always signal a stalled career. It could also be a time to recharge and get ready for the next opportunity.

Take stock and then take action.

1. Don’t assume your boss will look out for you.
Placing primary responsibility on your boss for advancing your career is not a smart move. She’s probably more concerned about her own, especially in these are difficult economic times. So use this time for your own career planning.

2. Clarify if it’s you or the company that’s the problem.
Are you burned out? Has your last performance appraisal been a downer? The worst thing is to pretend everything’s fine. The problem may be you. What can you do right now to get you back on a success track?

However, if you’ve been getting good performance review and have advanced with regularity then ,most likely, it is not you that has stalled. It may be the company. How well have they dealt with the recent recession? Are they starting to show signs of growth?

3. Tune up to be in the right place at the right time.
Remember have skills, will travel. Periodically inspect your skills portfolio. Which skills are state-of-the-art and in great demand? Which skills are somewhat rusty that need to be improved? How many are transferable to other areas inside your organization or even outside to other companies or industries?

The best way to find out about new opportunities is to stay connected with others. Who, in your company, are in a position to know where the potholes and potentials are? Also look outward. Be involved in your community and your professional organization. The more visibility you have, the more opportunities will appear.

Career Success Tip

If you career stalls, don’t wait for the career fairy to appear and make everything better. It’s up to you. What career options can you start exploring for challenge, variety, or greater personal satisfaction? What internal training or external seminars will enhance your marketability? Who can mentor you to get your career moving?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

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Major Donor on The Board

a-board-of-donors-in-a-meeting-room..

Got an email, not long ago, asking: “Is there any danger with placing a major donor on the Board of a nonprofit organization?”

I responded that: Ideally, a non-profit organization will have a list of criteria for prospective Board Members and a formal procedure for (identifying and) recruiting new Board Members — meaning that no one can become a Board Member without going through steps A through Z.

The list of criteria should include, among other things, consideration of ethical and conflict-of-interest questions.

Too many NPOs make the mistake of placing a major donor on the Board without consideration of whether s/he can/will do all those things required of a Board Member.

An option would be to ask the major donor to serve on the development (or other) committee for a year or two. Then, other Board Members can get to know him/her and determine if this is a person who has what it takes to be a Board Member and is someone with whom the others would want to work.

It would be nice if all Board Members could be major donors. It would also be nice if all major donors had what it takes to be Board Members. Reality, however, teaches us differently.

As to the dangers you questioned, there are no legal implications, unless you violate your own by-laws and/or policies. The one issue that raises a red flag is that you could create the impression that your board seats are up for sale – that board members are selected on the basis of the size of their checkbooks and not on the basis of whether they can best serve the needs of the nonprofit … and of the community.

Bottom line: A seat on the board should never be a reward for giving; and, sometimes you must decline a major gift, because the attached strings would be too costly … in too many ways.

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

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Training Brainstorm: Evaluating Trainers

A-teacher-asking-questions-to-students-based-on-what-she-taught
A trainer can only be as good as his or her research and talent. Follow the specific training guidelines if they are relevant to the trainees in your audience.

Piggybacking on two of my latest blogs– Who Needs Training: Who Gets to Decide and Was the Guy Who Won the Audition Better Than You, I’m going to take a few minutes to brainstorm how we evaluate trainers and what it can mean. Obviously this is not going to be an in depth study, but I hope it will give us some ideas.

Let’s start from the basic evaluation after a training session. Some questions you will find include:

  • did the trainer meet your specific needs for training?
  • was the trainer qualified to speak to this subject?
  • did the trainer hold your attention throughout the training session?
  • was the trainer interactive in his/her approach?
  • did the trainer offer you a chance to voice your questions or concerns?

These are just points I picked off the top of my head. I didn’t even consult a training form, but I’m sure you’ve seen questions liked this or statements and the from one to nine, with one being the worst and nine being the best…

Make sure interactive is indeed the most desired method of delivery. In some cases it may not be. It could be demonstration works best.

I could substitute or add “speaker” to “trainer” because often they are referred to in the same way, but to keep it simple throughout, I’ll just refer to the “trainer.” Now, let’s address the questions one at a time.

Did the trainer meet your specific needs for training? Think back about how much he would know about your specific need for training. If you are the manager or the trainer-in-resident (my term for training person in charge), did you discuss at length and provide additional materials to help the trainer determine the breadth of subject he or she was to cover. Additionally, did you tell him/her about the level of proficiency his or her audience had coming into the session? Did you have an accurate gauge of such information? Did the trainer or speaker?

Was the trainer qualified to speak to those specific needs? One would presume so–especially if he were selected to perform or facilitate the training. Granted, some oversell does exist, but it can exist both in the training company and management: the trainer who wants the job and feels he/she can handle it and the manager who hopes for the same because training is sometimes thought (erroneously) to be the answer to any productivity problem. Either way, the trainees have been had when that question has not been fully determined.

Did the trainer hold your attention…? A number of factors come to bear here, including the individual communication talent of the trainer, but consider also the audience frame of mind. Is the audience the “after lunch bunch?”

Sometimes it is better for a trainee or an audience member to have an in depth discussion at another time with the trainer. Meanwhile, has management disclosed the audience level of competency for the trainer to work with and build on?

They don’t really want to be there. Or they have predetermined all training is boring.

They are sure they have too much real work to be done back at the office.

Or, maybe some of that work made it to the training subconsciously, unconsciously or surreptitiously in paper or electronic data form. I could ask a lot of questions here about who is not ready for training, but use your imagination and let’s keep it short.

The last two questions are easy to answer. Either the trainer did something interactive or he/she didn’t. Was he supposed to according to the contract? Did he need to? Was his subject of the nature, where anecdotal tales are more memorable. Or, do we assume because it is in the form, it is a must for any trainer? Research does show that “interactive” or participatory training is good, but not for everyone. If the question– “did the trainer’s approach seem appropriate to the subject in question?”–is not in the evaluation, maybe it should be.

Did the trainer allow you time to voice questions or concerns? Were there questions? Was there time? Did the trainer offer to answer questions later, or have discussions after the training session in a different location, or even offer a card and a chance to discuss anytime? Some of these options can prove even more fruitful.

The trainer can do only so much. He or she can improve presenting, facilitating or speaking skills, but they can’t change what wasn’t given to them by management or the trainer-in-residence.

The connection to the other blogs: trainers have some control of the training situation they are about to be put in, but not all of it. If they ask the right questions, they can be prepared. If management asks the right questions and offers the information the trainer asks for as well as anything else they might think relevant, the result can’t help but be more useful. No guarantees, but opening the door wide for effective communication to take place is never a bad idea. People who don’t want to be trained for whatever reason are resistant and liable to sabotage the training for everyone else.

Armed with enough information, a trainer, working with management and the trainer-in-resident, can make the training event positive and worthwhile.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

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How to Make Your Online Ad Campaign Profitable

A lady looking at an ad on her phone

Don’t Keep Losing Your Shirt!

It’s all about the numbers, so here’s the down and dirty. It sounds harder than it is. Follow this step-by-step and you’ll go from losing money to making money.

When people search for your chosen keyword, Google, Yahoo! and Facebook display your ad that contains a link to your site. The keywords you choose are critical to the success of your campaign. First, decide how much you’re willing to spend on the campaign AND what returns will make that campaign profitable.

Ad campaigns use a pay-per-click (PPC) model. With PPC, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Facebook also offers a cost-per-impressions ad model, or CPM. With CPM, you pay per thousand impressions, whether they click or not.

Calculate the Payback

Start by calculating your conversion ratio: Divide your monthly click-throughs by your monthly sales revenue from those click-throughs. Then, to convert that number into a percentage, simply multiply it by 100. For instance, if you get 10,000 click-throughs and sell 250 products, your conversion ratio is (250/10,000) x 100 = 2.5%. Or, for every 100 click-throughs, you sell 2.5 products.

You charge $125 for the product, so for forecasting purposes, your revenue from that ad should be $125 x 2.5 = $312.50 for every 100 click-throughs.

To determine how much you can bid on a keyword in the campaign, divide your revenue per 100 click-throughs by 100 ($312.50 / 100 = $3.12) and this is your breakeven bid – $3.12. This is the most you are willing to pay for that keyword, anticipating breaking even. If you paid more, you would anticipate losing money.

Increase Your Ad Profits

When you use longer tail keywords that are less expensive and your click-throughs remain high, your profitability increases. Experiment and tweak the ad, sales page, or call to action to increase the click-throughs, thus further increasing profitability.

Each of the advertising programs works a bit differently, and it’s quite important to spend time learning the ins and outs before you dive in. If you don’t, you could waste a lot of time and money. Each of them offers instruction, but the real tips are often available in forums, articles or blog posts on specific topics. Search Google for information like, “How does Google AdWords work?” or “How does Yahoo! Search Marketing work?” for consumers’ explanation of their experiences and insider tips.

Do you have success stories or tips for profitable ad campaigns?

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s new book has a name change! The Net-Powered Entrepreneur – A Step-by-Step Guide will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

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Plans for Business-to-Business Ventures

A work laptop beside a calculator on a desk

While many entrepreneurs tend to think first of selling products or services to consumers, far larger markets exist in selling to other companies. Those sales, known as business to business, or B2B, roughly account for ten times the sales directly to consumers. So if you are undecided about what kind of business to launch, and are looking for larger, more consistent markets for selling your products, consider business to business. Continue reading “Plans for Business-to-Business Ventures”