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The Kibbutz Model of Social Media

July 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

IMG_3203I have been thinking, for some time, about the different aspects of social media and how they can apply to the day-to-day challenges of leadership and the opportunities of business.

In particular, I want to understand where social media can impact customer oriented thinking.

Interestingly, for me, social media almost seems like a perfect storm of convergence. For example, just look at how:

  • Technologies are getting easier to use – blogs make it easy for executives and non-technically savvy leaders to publish their thoughts and ideas on the internet
  • People are attracted to ideas and connections – like moths to the flame, we all find topics that we are passionate about and engage in spirited conversation with others who share our passions
  • Conversation and opinion rule – the conversations and opinions of customers are not only important online – they drive web traffic, promote products, deliver feedback, do a great job of marketing our offerings, and they can “encourage” a strong customer service ethic given their public nature
  • Behaviors are shifting – we are becoming more used to “participating” in the online communities that form using social media

But while social media applies easily to the marketing arm of your business – it strikes me that there are many ways to align social media and business value beyond just the marketing funnel. One such method would be to look at the complex models that govern the kibbutz. Let’s compare the elements and qualities of kibbutz and social media:

Kibbutz Social media
A form of unique rural community An online space which allows for the creation and curation of unique or niche communities
A socioeconomic system based on the principle of joint ownership of property, equality and cooperation of production, consumption and education A social system which is challenging notions of ownership, provides equal opportunity for participation, places the means of production in the hands of its participants and has the potential to transform the consumption and creation of knowledge
A home for those who have chosen it Provides a sense of belonging and connectedness – an online home – for those who embrace it

The kibbutz has been able to survive – and in some cases to thrive – because it was culturally self-reinforcing. The experience of working and living on a kibbutz is a meta-experience – after all, “For the founders, tilling the soil of their ancient homeland and transforming city dwellers into farmers was an ideology, not just a way to earn a livelihood.”

A brief look at blogs and at sites like Twitter provide more than a snapshot of some aspects of a similar meta-experience. Participation in social media is evangelized by those who “get it”. It is encouraged and advocated as a force which is changing the nature of the very way that we live, work and play (see my points above). But where the kibbutz was strongly predicated on aligning social activity with economic progress, we are only just starting to see this focus in the realm of social media. This will come but there is more work to be done. Perhaps we could start by following Olivier Blanchard’s better business doctrine and simply “giving a s#*t”.

But the kibbutz model of social media goes beyond this also. It covers:

  • Social: the relationships that we have are all personal. And with a personal relationship comes a form of interdependence. It is part of the fabric of our lives.
  • Economic: our social relationships also tie us to economic realities. In business as in life, we choose where to lay our affinities and how to act upon them. Increasingly we will choose to work with those we like and trust.
  • Cultural: like life on a kibbutz, living in the realm of social media brings with it an understanding of the customs and behaviors of the online social environment. Adhering to such aspects makes for easier engagements with others online and fosters a greater social reputation. This is important when taken in the context of social media background checks.
  • Participation: each member of a social forum chooses their respective level of participation and engagement. As such, those that contribute more eventually “earn” higher status and recognition. Similarly, while historically people on the kibbutz were compensated equally, regardless of individual work done, more modern kibbutzim use a more capitalistic approach to compensating the members.
  • Commitment: stating one’s commitment is easy; but, demonstrating a true commitment takes hard work. Remaining active on the social networks is time consuming, but can foster relationships that would otherwise not exist. My efforts have resulted in relationships with several great writers, thinkers and leaders such as Wally Bock, Dan McCarthy, Erika Andersen, just to name a few. Likewise, being committed to a kibbutz takes hard work. Many members realize that it is too challenging and leave after a few years. The same can be said of bloggers, social media enthusiasts and the like.

By focusing on these five elements and learning from the kibbutz, as business leaders, we can begin to transform our businesses – and the ecosystems in which they operate. We may start with the customer relationship, but the opportunities clearly extend into almost every other part of the enterprise.

Surely leaders can see the impacts of their participation and commitment across social, economic, and cultural arenas. These play out be they in day to day leadership, interactions with key stakeholders be they investors, clients, partners or vendors, and in pursuit of business opportunities such as acquisitions, mergers or divestitures.

Nina Nets It Out: Learning the lessons from the historical kibbutz-style collective communities can shine a spotlight on how to succeed in the modern, online social networks of today. Be certain, while the means of interacting with the “collective” may be vastly different, the approaches to communal engagement are tried and true and the lessons learned from them very real.

Filed Under: Blogging, Customer Oriented Thinking, Innovation, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Are You an 18 Second Boss?

November 15, 2010 By 2 Comments

I have a task for you.

During your next customer call, or a team meeting – ask about pain points. Delve into the issues that your customer or your team has. Ask for the number one issue and ask for the context so that you can adequately understand it.

Now, time yourself.

  • How long does it take for you to interrupt?
  • How long does it take for you to offer a solution?
  • How quickly do you step into this conversation?

In this interesting video from leadership guru, Tom Peters, we learn that many professionals (in this instance he profiles doctors – but extrapolates to a wider business audience) interrupt their team within a very short time. So short, in fact, that it can be measured in seconds – 18 seconds.

Now, even if you quadrupled the amount of time that you listened to your customer – or your team – you’d still only be “listening” for about a minute. Is a “one minute boss” better than an 18 second boss? I’d suggest that we need to follow Tom’s advice here and recast how we act and perform as leaders. If we did, indeed, place “listening” ahead of strategic plans, how would our organizations change? If we did actively engage in “strategic listening”, how would our teams perform? What would our customer satisfaction ratings show?

So once you have listened – well beyond that 18 seconds. Well beyond that one, single minute – how do you respond? How do you build on the moment?

I am making a leap here – but it strikes me that listening and empathy go hand-in-hand. As this Harvard Business School article explains, it’s not necessarily what is communicated but the manner of that communication that is important:

In effect, the delivery was more important than the message itself. And everybody knows that when people feel better, they perform better. So, if leaders hope to get the best out of their people, they should continue to be demanding but in ways that foster a positive mood in their teams. The old carrot-and-stick approach alone doesn’t make neural sense; traditional incentive systems are simply not enough to get the best performance from followers.

So as we listen more, become attuned to our customers, our teams, our bosses and even our partners, we can begin to transform these relationships. We start by listening and then continue through positive communication. Does this sound hard? Not at all – it’s just a matter of time.

Nina Nets It Out: It’s easy for leaders to jump into a conversation – to offer an opinion, a solution or a way forward. But how quickly do we do this? Do we listen long enough? Do we listen strategically? Maybe, as Tom Peters suggests, we should wait longer than 18 seconds.

Filed Under: Leadership, Meetings, Team Building Tagged With: , , ,

Customer Leadership

July 21, 2010 By 2 Comments

Earlier this year I took on a new role – leading SAP’s Premier Customer Network. Now, I have been working with SAP since 2004 and have taken on some challenging roles, but there was something particularly interesting about this opportunity. And while I could not quite articulate the attraction at first, some months into the role, it is certainly becoming clearer.

If you take a look at the blogs I read and the topics I write about, they are clearly focused around the topic of leadership. But I have restricted this focus on what it means personally, to be a leader. I have written about how we become leaders, what we can (and sometimes cannot) do as leaders and the role of communication, teamwork and how to manage the “work-life balance.” And now my new role, my new focus is taking me in a slightly different direction – I’m fascinated by the idea of Customer Leadership.

Customer Leadership is like a business tango – relying on passion and commitment to the dance – but still allowing the participants to go on to separate lives once the music ends. It’s living and giving 110% in the moment, but also being willing to walk away at the drop of a hat when the balance of power shifts too much to one side. In this way, Customer Leadership only exists when there is participation by the business and the customer – in some form of balance.

As Head of SAP’s Premier Customer Network for North America, my role is to help our organization hear the music of the dance. I’m no longer calling the tune, but responding to the shifting needs of our customers, and the changing business conditions that are transforming the economy before my eyes. I am also making introductions, connecting individuals, business units and teams. I’m not talking the talk or walking the walk – I’m tripping the light fantastic, showcasing innovative leaders not just from my business but from within this network of customers. It’s very much a process of reinvention – not just for me and my team, but for our customers as well. Finding a new way ahead together is proving, for me at least, one of the most exciting times of my career. And while it’s early days, we’re all focused on and beginning to see, serious results.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of this journey with you.

Nina Nets it Out: Customer Leadership is a far more delicate process than corporate leadership. It comes down to relationships, to benefits and to value – all the hard to measure intangibles of the business world. But I am convinced this is a true future of business.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , ,

Are We a Woman’s Nation?

November 2, 2009 By 4 Comments

When we look at the facts and figures it seems clear that women are not just transforming the workplace, they are transforming the entire country. The recent Shriver Report indicates that for the first time, half of US workers are female – and in 40% of American families those women are the primary breadwinners.

With more and more men forced to stay home, more and more women are bringing home the bacon. Women are more likely than ever to head their own families. They’re doing it all—and many of them have to do it all. When they work, it’s no longer just for “the little extras.” Their income puts food on the table and a roof over their heads, just like men’s income always did.

First Lady Maria ShriverEven a quick glance at the Shriver Report signals the widespread changes that have occurred in just a generation. Between 1975 and 2008, the “traditional” family structure (a working husband only) has more than halved, from 52% to 21%. This has impacted families and women in particular in a myriad of ways – generating political, policy and organizational challenges around flexible working hours, child care, opportunity, equal pay and family care. At the same time, it is clear that women are reaping the benefits of education – women now receive 62% of college associate’s degrees, 57% of bachelor’s degrees, 60% of all masters degrees, half of all professional degrees and just under 50% of all PhDs – a stunning turnaround since 1970, especially at the upper end where women received fewer than 10% of professional and doctoral degrees.

Yet despite these indicators, and despite the fact that we have women in the high ranking public positions of Secretary of State and Speaker of the House, it seems that appearances are, in fact, deceiving. In her New York Times article, The Mismeasure of Women, Joanne Lipman suggests, “… Somewhere along the line, especially in recent years, progress for women has stalled. And attitudes have taken a giant leap backward.”

Rather than focusing only on the statistics – on the numbers, the gains, the incremental improvements, we need to look, as Joanne Lipman suggests, to changes in perception, alterations in behavior and how this creates the conditions for a change in the way this nation thinks of, and engages, its women citizenry. We need to take the same approach within our organizations – looking at what Jo Miller calls the “shadow organization” – the networks of relationships that hold and carry influence, and create action across the enterprise regardless of hierarchy – and actively put in place plans to promote our achievements and influence the way that they are perceived and even valued.

For sure, we have made progress, but better jobs, more pay and greater opportunity is one thing. Respect is another. Our challenge as leaders is to shift the conversation around the topic of women. After all, if you want profits, you have to smash the glass ceiling. It’s time to put the numbers to work – our numbers, the numbers that lie behind Maria Shriver’s report – and we’ll all be better off for it.

Nina Nets It Out: Women have made significant gains in the last 30-40 years. But for all the statistics, there are still inequalities – cultural inequalities which threaten to undo the good work of a generation. Leaders, as the custodians of organizational culture, have an important part to play in transforming both the perception and reality of women in business.

Filed Under: Glass Ceiling, Leadership, Women Tagged With: , , , , ,

It's Time for the Do-able Strategy

September 29, 2009 By 1 Comment

Budget Meeting 19Every organization has politics. Every business has a power base and a structure. And every organization has internal and external barriers that need to be straddled, worked-around or overcome. This often means that success comes not from following the rules but from delivering outcomes. And this also means that success also comes with inherent failure – after all, governance processes are in place for good and valid reasons.

But as we reach the last quarter of the year, leaders will be turning their attention to closing what business they can before the year end, as well as planning for the new year ahead. With the economy remaining tight, we may be tempted to focus only on the short term – securing business, bringing in every last dollar of revenue and squeezing out extraneous costs – leaving the 2010 plan open ended or only half-baked. If you find yourself in this situation, you may want to consider what I call “Do-able Strategy”.

  • Direct business engagement – work with your leadership team to identify and prioritize the new business opportunities in your sales pipeline. Determine where best you can inject yourself into the process with a view to closing the deal – or get out of the way and let your team do its job.
  • Objectives – scan your opportunity pipeline for the emerging “need states” of your top customers. Are there new issues or business problems appearing on your customer’s horizons? Use these to begin feeding your 2010 strategic objectives. Make sure that these are folded back into any customer discussions that are taking place during the last quarter.
  • Authority and responsibility – Now it is time to invest your team with what Wally Bock calls authority and responsibility. Make them responsible for achieving outcomes and then ensure they have the authority to make it happen (remember the do-able strategy is as much about doing as it is about strategy).
  • Breakdown – as all the elements of your near and short term plans begin to take shape, it can become overwhelming. Remember to breakdown your strategy into executable programs. Ensure that there is someone responsible for each program.
  • Learn – we can always learn from a process. Make sure that your learnings are being recycled into your forward planning. Don’t repeat the same mistakes. The goal is to become a scholar-practitioner.
  • Engage the emotions – many leaders tiptoe around emotions. They see them as the messy side-effect of dealing with people. But emotions can supercharge your team. Rather than avoiding emotions, engage them. Talk to your team about your vision. Work to include them in operationalizing it. As Steve Roesler reminds us, “emotions prompt us to act”.

Nina Nets It Out: Sometimes circumstances conspire against our best strategic efforts. Rather than sacrificing longer term planning for short term gain, consider accelerating your planning process. It’s not a substitute for a formal, rigorous plan, but it can alleviate the pressure in the short term.

Filed Under: Innovation, Leadership, Strategy Tagged With: , , ,

Striking the Right Balance

June 6, 2009 By 8 Comments
Balance by KarolusLinus

Balance by KarolusLinus

President Obama recently sparked an interesting dialogue about empathy when he stated that he would nominate a Supreme Court justice “who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract theory. … It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives,” to replace the outgoing Justice David Souter.  In short, he wants someone with judicial empathy.  This has caused outrage from some and applause from others.  Regardless how you feel about this issue, it is interesting to see so much attention being paid to empathy within the context of the Supreme Court.

Personally, I am a definite believer that empathy has a place in leadership and business in general.  That said, it must be properly balanced with power in order for long-lasting, sustainability to be achieved.  Karl Long wrote a wonderful piece discussing this balance.  Leaders must find a way to appeal to those that they lead and simultaneously command the respect of these individuals.  Some people respect a leader who demonstrates care and concern for them.  Others respect a powerful authority that leads based on a command and control approach.  I have written about a related topic in the past in a piece entitled “Democratic Dictatorship“.  In this piece I made the point that a leader is ultimately responsible to the organization’s best interests, not those of any particular individual.  However, to be clear, this does not imply that a leader cannot show empathy toward individuals within the organization.  On the contrary, it is often in the organization’s best interests to keep the people who work there satisfied.  In fact, loyalty expert Fred Reichheld, has written extensively about customer loyalty and its direct linkage to employee loyalty.  And in these turbulent economic times, nothing can be more important to a business than keeping the customers that they have satisfied; in large part, by keeping the employees they have satisfied.

There’s even real science to back up the power of empathy within a leader and the physiological effects that it can have on others.  In a recent HBR article about social intelligence and neuroscience, the findings demonstrated “that certain things leaders do—specifically, exhibit empathy and become attuned to others’ moods—literally affect both their own brain chemistry and that of their followers.”  For example, in performance feedback settings, it was more the tone and emotional signals given during feedback vs. the actual feedback itself that established the recipient’s attitude and feelings about the feedback.  In essence, the way things were communicated were more important than what specifically was communicated.  In fact, we can all recall seeing this same effect when talking to a baby or even a pet.  If you speak with a particular tone, it is not relevant what specific words you are saying.  In these cases, the words are not even comprehensible to the baby or pet, but the tone of voice is clearly what dictates their response.

What does all of this mean to you as a manager or leader?  Well, if you want to get the best out of your teams, colleagues, subordinates, etc., use an easygoing tone and humor to engage the best neurons your folks have to offer!  In one study, it was found that “top-performing leaders elicited laughter from their subordinates three times as often, on average, as did mid-performing leaders.”  For business, it is true when they say, laughter is the best medicine!

Nina Nets It Out: A good mood can not only make your day better, but also that of the people around you. I guess this science has proven the French proverb “more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar.”  Be sure to balance your own drive, ambition and intelligence with an ability to empathically and socially connect with co-workers, business colleagues, customers, etc.

Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Corporate Performance, Leadership, Nina Simosko Tagged With: , , , ,

Understanding the Leadership Contract

May 11, 2009 By 4 Comments

BusinessmanIt doesn’t matter whether you are a chief executive or a newly hired intern, it is up to each and every one of us to tap into our drive, our ambition, and our creativity to transform our work and the business of business. We do this by taking on the responsibility for both actions and results. We do this by reaching out to members of our village – drawing them in, sharing a vision and encouraging them to build on, and take ownership in, the opportunities for transformation.

But in amongst all this, we must also understand the nature of the implied leadership contract.

I was reminded of this by Wally Bock’s excellent post, Don’t Just Tell Me. Show Me. In this post, Wally writes of a colleague who challenged him early in his career – rather than offering praise, she said “don’t just tell me, show me”. As Wally explains, praise is powerful and financial incentives can be very effective:

But if that’s all you use with team members, you risk moving out of the realm of social covenants and into the realm of economic contracts.

And this is one of the most important aspects of leadership. Just because you may not “know” every person that works in your business unit or across your enterprise, this doesn’t mean that those people don’t have a sense of who you are. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have some sense of relationship with you. After all, if you have been following my advice and working on your communication skills, you will have built a great deal of rapport with and amongst your teams. But with this sense of relationship also comes a covenant – the leadership contract.

The leadership contract goes way beyond a mere transactional relationship. This is not just about financial reward, recognition or even performance. It is both personal and collective. When your teams buy-in to your vision and commit to making it their own, they are doing so by first providing what Robert Putnam describes as “bridging capital” – the type of social capital that connects us to people outside of our close circle. But I think that the leadership contract spans the space between bonded and bridging social capital (bonded capital refers to those close personal relationships and trust that we have with family and friends). As time goes on, and as leaders deliver on their promises, the bonds between us change. This happens because we derive satisfaction from our work far beyond the financial reward. We identify with our company, with our business unit and with our colleagues – so our work becomes “part” of who we are.

Leaders who recognize the complexity of this type of relationship – the leadership contract – will find higher levels of performance, resilience and innovation within their organizations. And in this day and age, that can only be a good thing.

Nina Nets It Out: As leaders our influence extends far beyond the casual employee-employer relationship. It is multi-faceted. Understanding some of the nuances of the leadership contract can keep us all ahead of the curve.

Filed Under: Leadership, Nina Simosko Tagged With: ,

We Are Only What We Do…

April 20, 2009 By 8 Comments

doodle01511A recent series of articles from Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper featured Isadore Sharp’s new book, Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy. One thing that struck me when reading this was an expression that too many leaders don’t internalize nor demonstrate as often as they should: “We are only what we do, not what we say we are.” Of course, there are many variations of this mantra: “Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk” or “Actions speak louder than words.” But when reading this piece, it hit me. These are not just words on a page or ancient words of wisdom that don’t have any real place in our modern day worlds. We all must read expressions like this and, as leaders, live them to their fullest intentions. Merely giving lip service to employees, partners, superiors, etc. does not make for an authentic leader.

Too many leaders, along with their communications staff, spend too much time thinking about how to say whatever it is they need to say. And, for sure, I commend those with the gift of gab for whom communicating clearly and with well-chosen words comes easy. I’ve surely written about the tremendously valuable ability to communicate clearly on my blog over the past year and think it is, without a doubt, one of the most critical skills anyone in business [and it really isn't nor should be limited at all to people working in the business world] can possess. However, as important as such communications are, the benefits from them can be completely eroded when the actions don’t support the words. How often have people in our lives, be it in professional or personal circumstances, said one thing and done another? What are we to believe when such things occur?

One way that Isadore Sharp has integrated both communications and actions is in the creation of the “Glitch Report.” Every department at the hotel creates a diary of the previous day’s mistakes and uses this to both inform teams of issues and to ensure that, wherever possible, those mistakes are not replicated. Isadore Sharp explains this approach in this interview with National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog:

By keeping close tabs on what’s happening at the hotel every day, the management team has the ability to work closely with staff to continually teach, reinforce and empower them to make great customer service decisions.

This is not to say that there are times when our actions can’t match our words. We can have the greatest intentions to follow up our words with the appropriate actions, only to realize subsequently that we cannot do as we have said. In such times, express the changing circumstances aloud and let others know that you are fully aware that your prior words cannot be supported by current actions. In this way, you can demonstrate the realization that your initial words and actions won’t match, but you can modify the words, provide explanation, if necessary, and get your words and actions re-aligned to one another. People may not like the change, but they cannot disregard the effort to openly communicate and to keep the synchronicity of words and actions required for a trusted relationship intact.

This follows along my philosophy of telling it like it is. I know that this approach won’t please all of the people all of the time; but, it will allow all of the people to know where I stand all of the time. And given the choice of pleasing everyone all of the time [as if this could even happen] or being authentic and having all of the people know that what I say is so, I will always choose being regarded as authentic and honest to my words. And this recalls my belief about leaders in general in regard to the expression: “it is better to be respected and not liked than to be liked and not respected.”

Isadore Sharp understands that actions tell others who we are and what kind of person we are. He spent years evangelizing his laser focus on service and living up to the expression “We are only what we do, not what we say we are.” These words are easy to say but challenging to live up to. It required shifting mindsets, delegating responsibilities, giving up control when necessary, firing people who did not live up to the credo, despite them being competent in various other areas, and other such actions that demonstrated the seriousness with which his company was going to follow this path. Without a doubt, to those who have ever had the good fortune to stay at a Four Seasons hotel, the service ethic has been instilled throughout every level within the company. From the bellmen who greet arriving cars, to chamber maids, to wait staff and desk personnel. The Four Seasons chain of hotels demonstrates the possibilities of a corporate-wide focus on doing the right thing, not just saying the right words.

Today, the Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts “is considered among the finest luxury hotels worldwide, according to Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey, and operates 78 hotels in 32 countries including 22 AAA Five-Diamond properties.” Now if we can only get business leaders in all sorts of companies, industries and countries to follow the Four Seasons approach!

Nina Nets It Out:Words are just that…they’re words. If we say we are going to do one thing and we do another, of what value are the words we spoke? Clearly, we all want to be considered honest, authentic leaders. To achieve this, we must make certain to maintain synchronicity between what we say and what we do. If you must do something that differs from your words, at least offer an explanation and demonstrate your awareness of the discrepancy. The importance of this cannot be overstated for leaders who wish to be held in high regard and worthy of being considered a leader.

Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Leadership, Nina Simosko Tagged With: , , ,

Seventh Annual American Business Awards(SM)

April 8, 2009 By 2 Comments
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SteviesABALogo The Stevie Awards has named nine executives who will chair specialized final-judging committees for its Seventh Annual American Business Awards. I am proud to say that I have been selected as the chairwoman for the Management category. The American Business Awards (www.stevieawards.com/aba) are open to all organizations operating within the U.S.A. – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Entries will be accepted through April 30 in dozens of categories from Executive of the Year, Company of the Year, and Best New Product or Service to Best Web Site and Best Annual Report.

The nine committees are based on the categories that will be judged. The appointments are as follows:

  • Company Categories: Ted C. Mesa, founder, president and CEO, Pointandship Software, Inc., Walnut Creek, CA
  • Corporate Communications & Public Relations – Richard Ramlall, Senior VP for Strategic External Affairs, Programming, and International Marketing, RCN Corporation, Herndon, VA
  • Customer Service – Troy Carrothers, Senior VP-Credit, Kohl’s Department Stores, Menomonee Falls, WI
  • Human Resources – Rosemary Haefner, VP-Human Resources, CareerBuilder.com, Chicago, IL
  • Information Technology – Anyck Turgeon, Chief of Market Strategy and Security, Crossroads Systems, Austin, TX
  • Management – Nina Simosko, Senior VP of the Global Ecosystem & Partner Group, SAP Americas, Palo Alto, CA
  • Marketing – Mimi San Pedro, VP-Global Marketing, Acxiom Corporation, Little Rock, AR
  • Product Development – Glen Tindal, Chief Technology Officer, Intelliden, Colorado Springs, CO
  • Sales - Sanford Brown, Chief Sales Officer, Heartland Payment Systems, Princeton, NJ

Finalists in The 2009 American Business Awards will be determined in preliminary judging to be conducted in April and May by volunteer professionals nationwide. Final judging, led by the committee chairs, will take place May 18 – June 3. The results of the 2009 competition will be announced at an awards dinner in New York on June 22.

“The Stevie Awards have named some of America’s most respected, influential executives to chair this year’s final judging committees for The American Business Awards,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. “These executives have demonstrated a profound understanding of the rapidly-changing dynamics of the marketplace, and they have a keen appreciation for the factors that contribute to success in their professions.”

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. I am proud to have been the recipient of the 2008 Best Executive – Service Business – More than 2,500 Employees category.

To enter The 2009 American Business Awards, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. And to learn more about The Stevie Awards visit www.stevieawards.com.

Nina Nets It Out: The Stevie Awards are a wonderful recognition for worthy companies and executives. I encourage my readers to click on the provided links and read a bit about some of the wonderful participants, candidates and recipients. I am excited to be on the judging side of the Stevies which will afford me the opportunity to learn about so many wonderful executives..

Filed Under: Corporate Performance, Leadership, Nina Simosko, Stevie Awards Tagged With: , , ,

Pay it Forward

March 25, 2009 By 16 Comments
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Pay It Forward logo for blogThe concept of paying it forward is one which can truly benefit many and was featured in a great movie from 2000 starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt & Haley Joel Osment. It reminds me of a commercial from the 1970s for Faberge shampoo in which they had the expression “if you tell two friends and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on…”.

Well, the idea of paying it forward is really a good one. In fact, Benjamin Franklin demonstrated the idea of paying it forward in a letter to Benjamin Webb dated April 22, 1784:

“I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you [...] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”

In business, there are SO many ways in which this concept can take hold. But to me, the greatest impact of this wonderful approach to helping can be done at the grassroots, or individual, level. I myself have experienced both sides of paying it forward. I have had the great fortune of being helped by many people along my career path. And to be clear, these folks did not do so with the expectation that they would receive anything in return; but rather for the sake of helping me out at a time when I was in need of assistance. I have had a few great mentors who took me under their wings and guided me through then-uncharted paths within my career. I am humbled by the unselfish nature in which this help was given and greatly benefited from it. It is, in large part, the reason I am where I am in my career.

So, in the spirit of paying it forward, I now offer assistance to others whenever I can so that they too can benefit from outside perspectives and guidance. I participate on the board of a non-profit [Reading Partners], I mentor colleagues both within and outside my company whenever I am able to, and I encourage those in my village to do the same. There are a couple of great commercials from Liberty Mutual insurance company that totally inspired me to write this entry and to shine a light on the notion of paying it forward. These commercials show how one person witnessing someone helping someone else, can find that helpfulness within themselves to pay it forward.

If each person who reads this blog entry, thinks about one person they can help with the explicit ‘rule’ that that person must repay the favor by helping someone else, imagine how quickly this valuable concept can generate massive good. Think about it, mathematically it doesn’t take long for things to grow incredibly fast as shown in this great piece by Alan Yu called “A Penny Doubled Everyday“. Starting with just one penny on day 1 and doubling the number each day, in just thirty days, you’d have over $10 million dollars…$10,737,418.23 to be exact.

As leaders, we must be sure to foster a culture in which people understand the value of helping one another. I try to do this as often as I can and those who work with and around me, are always welcomed to ask for assistance or the time to assist others. We all have times in our lives where we need(ed) help. The greatest thing we can do with what we have learned is to share this knowledge with others in our networks so that they too can benefit. It’s like, as Wally Bock asks, “what do you want to be remembered for?”.

Nina Nets It Out: Be sure to take every opportunity to help others and to ask them to do the same for people within their network. If we can create an atmosphere in which this type of behavior is commonplace, recognized and encouraged, the limits we have are boundless. And in these difficult times, helping others will be appreciated tremendously by all involved.

Filed Under: Communication, Corporate Performance, Leadership, Mentoring, Nina Simosko Tagged With: , , , ,
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