Category: Leadership

Here’s How Many Jobs U.S. Companies Cut In September

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

The computer industry was hit hard.

Last month saw a surge in layoffs, primarily due to large-scale employee cuts at companies like Hewlett-Packard.

U.S. companies laid off 58,877 workers in September, according to data released Thursday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. September layoffs are up 43% from August when about 41,000 workers were let go.

In total, employers have announced 493,431 planned layoffs so far this year, a 36% jump over the same period last year and 2% more than the 2014 total.

“Job cuts have already surpassed last year’s total and are on track to end the year as the highest annual total since 2009, when nearly 1.3 million layoffs were announced at the tail-end of the recession,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The computer industry accounted for the heaviest job cuts in September primarily driven by Hewlett-Packard, which said it would cut 30,000 jobs. The job losses, which were announced in mid-September by CEO Meg Whitman, should save the company $2.7 billion annually and represented about 10% of the company’s workforce, HP said.

Source: Here’s How Many Jobs U.S. Companies Cut In September

5 Common Networking Mistakes You’re Making

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

Mixer_0By Scott Kriz

Building a network of people that you don’t get along with is completely pointless.

The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question: What’s the best way to network? is written by Scott Kriz, CEO of Bitium.

All too often, I see people at networking events exchanging business cards and starting up superficial conversations for obviously one-sided, self-serving purposes. But what happens when you leave the happy hour or the conference? How many of those conversations resulted in something substantial? Networking should be viewed as the beginning of long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship. While there’s no formula to creating a valuable network, there certainly are guidelines. Here are five lessons I’ve learned while building and strengthening my network:

Be authentic
When I was fresh out of college, I used to attend events and come home with a pile of business cards, trying to figure out how each person could benefit me in my career. Guess how many of those turned into valuable relationships? Not one. Realizing this, I stopped bringing cards with me to events. Instead, I started attending events with smaller groups of people and focused more on getting to really know everyone on a personal level. Over time, I found that people with whom I shared common personal interests tended to provide more value than those with closer professional ties.

See also: What a game of chess can teach you about networking

Listen and ask questions
While I love sharing stories, I have never learned anything by hearing myself talk. So I try to focus on learning from other people’s experiences by taking a genuine interest in that person and asking them questions instead. For example, a few years ago, I found out the CMO from Microsoft had retired and was living in Southern California. Marketing has always been an area that fascinated me because it didn’t come naturally. I wanted to learn about marketing from the top mind in B2B marketing software so I could better understand it for my own business.

Through my network, I found out that she was going to be at a local accelerator event so I decided to attend as well. It’s amazing how generous people are with their time and their knowledge when you express genuine interest. Mich Mathews is now an investor and board member for Bitium–and a close friend of mine.

Seek out people that you like
Building a network of people that you don’t get along with is completely pointless. Every one of us has our own opinions, tastes and tolerances. Spend your time with people you like and you will find natural alignment. When I started my current company, I was lucky enough to have a co-founder that I had enormous respect for both personally and professionally. We wanted to hire the smartest employees, of whom we also enjoyed working with. Everyone on our current team has been hired through a personal or professional connection. I’m proud of this, not only because I love what we do as a company, but because I love the people that I am building the company with.

See also: Business cards aren’t outdated and 4 other networking tips

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes
Some of the best networkers that I know are busy and overcommitted by nature. In order to leverage their networks appropriately and get the introductions I want, I’ve found that the less intrusive and more specific that I can be, the more likely they are to help out. Put yourself in the shoes of the person who is being solicited and read the content of the email as if you are that person. Make your email request is concise, specific, not completely self-serving and most importantly, easy for them to forward on to the person you want an introduction to. Help them help you.

Be yourself
Remember that everyone is just a person, no matter what they have achieved or how well-known they are. It’s easy to get star struck when meeting someone you’ve read about or who is considered a ‘celebrity’ in your industry. Approach them like you would anyone else at an event. Too many times people try to force a conversation because they really admire someone and want nothing more than to be associated with that person. Relax, have fun and don’t try to foster relationships that aren’t natural.

Read all answers to the Leadership Insider question: What’s the best way to network?

How to work a room at an important networking event by Carol Leaman, CEO of Axonify.

The one question you have to ask everyone you network withby Clark Valberg, CEO of InVision.

3 signs you’re a serial meet-and-greet networker by Shadan Deleveaux, director of sales multicultural beauty division at L’Oréal USA.

Forget what you know about networking. Do this instead by Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge.

3 networking mistakes you don’t know you’re making by Dan Finnigan, CEO of Jobvite.

Why face-to-face networking will never go out of style by Kevin Chou, co-founder and CEO of Kabam.

How to effectively network (even if you dread it) by David DeWolf, president and CEO of 3Pillar Global.

The only thing you need to keep in mind when networkingby William Craig, founder and president of WebpageFX.

Why social media alone won’t get you a job by Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founder and CEO of VaynerMedia.

NYSE President: I owe every job I’ve ever had to networking by Tom Farley, president of the NYSE.

4 Valuable Leadership Lessons You Can Learn From the Transformers

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

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By Minda Zetlin of Inc.

Can toys and cartoon characters really make you a better leader? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

That’s the word from Seth M. Spain, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Binghamton University. He and his colleague Peter Harms have turned their analytic skills on the Transformers, the popular Japanese-American toys, comic books, animation, and movie characters that can turn themselves from robots into vehicles and other types of machines. Spain and Harms found that the lessons in their character descriptions are full of wisdom about what makes a great leader.

Why study the Transformers in the first place? For one thing, Spain explains, each toy comes with both a rank and a rating of the character’s abilities, which makes it easier to compare them to each other. Also, “Peter knew I was a general-purpose mid-30s nerd and the Transformers would be something I’d be interested in.”

The two put together a database of each Transformer characters using the toys’ rankings and “my painfully extensive knowledge of the cartoon series,” Spain says. They published their findings in a Psychology Today blog post titled “What Would Optimus Prime Do?” In it, they make the argument that emulating the leader of the Autobots (the good Transformers) really can improve your leadership skills.

“What was most surprising—given this is a toy and cartoon series for fairly small children—was how representative the findings were of what we know about leadership from regular academic study,” Spain says. Here’s a look at some of the wisdom you can glean from the Transformers:

1. Don’t Have Too Many Bosses

Leaderless, flat, and more democratic organization structures are getting lots of attention these days—mostly because they work surprisingly well and sometimes outpace the competition. That’s because removing management layers and the high salaries that go with them allows such companies to run leaner and more efficiently.

Same goes for Transformers. “The Autobots have a flatter, less hierarchical, more equal organization,” Spain says. “Whereas the Decepticons (evil Transformers) are more vertical, with a despot ruling by fiat.”

2. Be Very Smart

“The most important quality for Transformer leaders is intelligence,” Spain says. “We looked at good guys and bad guys separately and the best predictor of rank was a high rating in intelligence.”

That mirrors the real world. “The academic literature says that intellectual ability is a predictor of both leader emergence and leader effectiveness,” Spain notes. “We’re not necessarily talking book smarts or academic achievement,” he adds. “It could be what used to be called a shrewd business sense. There’s a certain swiftness of mind.”

3. Know Who You’re Leading

“One of the main things we did was look at followership in the cartoon show,” Spain says. “We broke it down into examples of both constructive and destructive followers. The Decepticons have really good examples of both excellent and really bad followers.”

One outstanding example of a really bad follower is Starscream, a lieutenant in the Decepticons. “He’s constantly plotting to overthrow the leader Megatron, but Megatron keeps him around for some reason, even though he often tells him he’s not smart enough to be a leader.” That strategy backfires in an early animated episode when the Decepticons are about to defeat the Autobots until Starscream mucks things up with an assassination attempt against Megatron.

“On the other hand, Megatron has other followers who are extremely loyal and dependable,” Spain notes. “One lesson from that is to be aware of your followers and what they’re all about.” That may be difficult for a leader such as Megatron, he adds. “Classic Dark Triad leader may not be paying a lot of attention to their followers and may miss a lot of information,” he says. “But even evil leaders need good followers if they’re going to succeed.” (Here’s more on the Dark Triad and how a small dose of evil qualities can benefit every leader.)

4. Care About Everyone

Caring for others may be the most important attribute that sets Optimus Prime apart from Megatron. “Optimus Prime is constantly trying to make sure his followers are OK, and that human beings aren’t harmed in the fights between robots,” Spain notes. Compassion and integrity are vital traits for a leader, he adds.

That’s really the central message of this research. “The sociological point we’re trying to make is that narratives of all kinds can communicate norms and expectations about leadership,” Spain says. “So holding up a popular example can be very useful.”

In other words, try asking yourself “What would Optimus Prime do?” It really can lead you to the best decision.

About The Author

Inc.com is where you can find everything you need to know to start and grow your business now. Inc.com is replete with small business ideas, information, and inspiration, as well as practical advice from those who have done it before.

5 Steps For Building Trust And Credibility

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

In today’s hyper-connected and transparent marketplace, brands and products arrive and depart at hypersonic speeds.

According to the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, For the first time, trust and transparency are just as important to a company’s reputation as the quality of their products and services. In U.S.A., these two elements stand even higher than product quality.

Cautious of fraud, scams, and scheming marketing tactics, customers are beginning to perceive the world defined by genuine or contrived. More often than not, they’re basing their buying decisions on how authentic they judge an offer to be.

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Unfortunately though, many companies don’t practice trustworthiness and credibility. Alternatively, they attempt to grow their firms based what they believe customers want to hear.

But listening to prospects and customers and mindlessly responding back what they state isn’t going to earn trust or relationship capital from the customer. It is not about deceiving people with amazing commitments. Rather, it is about courageously proclaiming what you believe, and then withdrawing to observe who is attracted to your idea.

Credible brands are able to earn a loyal following; a social community, so to speak. Happy customers will share their experiences with peers and friends, and if the company stays true to its messaging and continues to deliver products and/or service that are in alignment with the customers’ hopes, it will be on the path toward building a relationship capital brand built for the long-run.

If you’re thinking of elevating your organizational culture, launching a startup or developing a brand, think of the 4 attributes of earning Relationship Capital (RC):

•Character
•Competence
•Good Intent
•Proactivity

Take the Free Relationship Capital (RC) Test. I welcome you to take this assessment in confidence as we never share this information outside Standard of Trust.

 5 Steps For Building Trust And Credibility

The following steps are by no means the only ways to build trust, credibility, and relationship capital, but they are the most important.

1. Define Your Purpose and Guiding Principles

The first step is to determine what your credibility is composed of. You will need to choose which guiding principles you are willing to commit to no matter what. If you commit to the open standard principles of Relationship Capital (RC), they are the following:
•Honesty
•Accountability
•Responsibility
•Support
•Respect
•Trustworthiness
•Emotional Boundaries

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Your ability to embed this relationship capital guiding principles into your company’s purpose will be an effective way in earning and building relationship capital with your stakeholders that will sustain long-term distinction.

For example, the Purpose of the Standard of Trust Group is:

To make a difference to business organizations and their stakeholder relationships through the capture, measurement, and utilization of open standards of relationship capital. To assist business leaders and their organizations to compete by out-behaving the competition.

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Let me “Warn” you. Do not make superficial commitments to the relationship capital guiding principles or other principles you may select. Inauthentic behavior will be found out by the social and digitally connected tribe and your reputation and credibility will be damaged

2. Determine How You Will Demonstrate Authenticity

Look for the moments to demonstrate your authenticity. Whether it’s online with social media or your LinkedIn blog, or in offline interactions with others, take the time to learn and understand your audience and permit to learn and understand you too.

3. Be Open

How far would you go to show your authenticity and credibility? Decide how you will demonstrate your guiding principles and how open you want to be. Then make a plan of action for showcasing this openness.

4. Be Consistent

Keep your communications consistent. The messages that you’re sending out through marketing, promotions and social media should be in alignment with the offline experience that you provide to customers.

5. Prepare For Resistance

Finally, get ready for the resistance. When you build a certain level of awareness, you’re going to get people who oppose. Don’t let this dishearten you or sidetrack you from your guiding principles and purpose. Stay committed to your principles, and you will earn respect (and relationship capital) from the people around you. Your loyal and customers, employees, partners, and brand ambassadors will defend and support you.

Conclusion

Whether a business leader, entrepreneur or startup, committing your authentic self is about being true to your guiding principles and fulfilling your stated commitments to your stakeholders (customers, employees, or partners).

Leading with authenticity is not for everyone, but those who decide to utilize this as the foundation for establishing or nurturing a relationship capital business or a relationship capital brand will learn that building a company based on purpose, performance, and relationship capital will provide sustainability despite the accelerating changes that may come in the future.

By Robert Peters

Sources: Standard of Trust: Leadership

Executive Presence: Proven Leadership Strategies for Corporate America

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

 

According to Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, “Really great people make you feel that you too, can become great.” This well-kept secret is the key concept of effective leadership and team management. Bringing the best out of others through inspirational leadership, team building, and effective communication will catapult you to the ranks of history’s greatest leaders.

Invest in your team members and they will in turn invest in your company. Inspirational leadership is inspiring your team members through active engagement by helping them to connect the dots between the work they do and the mission of the organization or company for which you work for. By bridging the gap for employees, you help them understand where they fit in the company and how that company fits into the outside world. Helping employees understand where they fit into the company is only half of the battle. An inspirational leader must also lead by example, exemplifying high character, moral and ethics in both a professional and personal setting.

Teams are often a representative of their manager and building a team in your image is critical to the success of a group. Of course this concept only works when the manager is a positive representative for the team and leads by example. Team building is imperative and gives employees the opportunity to get to know their manager and vice versa. Team building activities should include the entire group and be led by a committee of team members chosen by the manager. The key to the team builder is to get your team involved in the planning and the implementation of the event. Putting individuals into leadership roles among the team through the delegation of activities empowers them and gives them the desire to perform at a higher level. Team builders are not only engaging for team members but it also improves communication among the group.

Effective communication can be summed up in two simple words- active listening. Often times leaders fail to listen to the needs of those that look up to them and as a result their employees eventually tune them out. Listening to the needs of your employees will help you to determine their needs and what motivates them to perform at a high level. The top Fortune 100 companies understand the importance of investing in their leaders and implore training tailored to the vision and values of the organization. The relationship is often reciprocal in that the company that invest in the leader will in turn invest in his staff that benefits the organization and the community in which they service.

Urban Ecology Center- Riverside Park

Posted on by Nkozi Knight

Image I am always amazed when I find new and exciting places to visit here in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and Urban Ecology Center’s Riverside Park is one of those places. Made of 76% recycled material, the Urban Ecology Center “Green” building boast that it using rain water for all restroom purposes and is not connected to the Lake Michigan water filtration system, saving thousands of dollars a year. On the roof are solar panels that produce enough energy to sustain it for the summer months and get a rebate from Wisconsin Electric Energies (WE Energies). The hardwood maple floor is over 100 years old and was donated after the demolition of a nearby elementary school gym. The wraparound porch is made entirely of wood scraps of trees from Africa from the construction of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Although the building is amazing, the best feature of the Urban Ecology Center is its people.

Led by the unassuming Executive Director, Ken Leinbach, the Urban Ecology Center has grown year after year as one of the key organizations designed to connect urban areas with the beauty of the outdoors. In just 10 years the organization has grown from a $50,000.00 annual budget to over $3 million dollars as of the 2011. To ensure that all of the employees of the Urban Ecology Center share the vision of the organization, they are required to go on a 3 day camping retreat with no access to technology while being immersed in nature. This helps drive the purpose of the mission and the importance of what they look to accomplish; improving the relationship between nature and the urban community while promoting green energy alternatives.

If you are interested in learning more about what the Urban Ecology Center has to offer, please visit their website at: http://urbanecologycenter.org/ for more information.