Sunday, April 29, 2007

The boss is always wrong!

Clever people know their worth and expect you to know it too. So how does a manager deal with people who are much smarter than him?

Franz Humer, the CEO and chairman of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, knows how difficult it is to find good ideas. “In my business of research, economies of scale don’t exist,” he says. “Globally today we spend $4 billion on R&D every year. In research there are not economies of scale, there are economies of ideas,” he adds in an article by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones in Harvard Business Review.
For a growing number of companies, according to Humer, competitive advantage lies in the ability to create an economy driven not by cost efficiencies but by ideas and intellectual know-how. In practice this means that leaders have to create an environment in which what we call ‘clever people’ can thrive. These people are the handful of employees whose ideas, knowledge, and skills give them the potential to produce disproportionate value from the resources their organisations make available to them.
If clever people have one defining characteristic, it is that they do not want to be led. This clearly creates a problem for you as a leader. The challenge has only become greater with globalisation. Clever people are more mobile than ever before; they are as likely to be
based in Bangalore or Beijing as in Boston. That means they have more opportunities: They are not waiting around for their pensions; they know their value, and they expect you to know it too.

Contrary to what we have been led to believe in recent years, CEOs are not utterly at the mercy of their highly creative and extremely smart people. Of course, some very talented individuals artists, musicians, and other free agents can produce remarkable results on their own. In most cases, however, clever people need the organisation as much as it needs them. They cannot function effectively without the resources it provides. The classical musician needs an orchestra; the research scientist needs funding and the facilities of a first class laboratory. They need more than just resources, however; as the head of development for a global accounting firm put it, your clever people “can be sources of great ideas, but unless they have systems and discipline they may deliver very little.”

That is the good news. The bad news is that all the resources and systems in the world are useless unless you have clever people to make the most of them. Worse, they know very well that you must employ them to get their knowledge embedded. In clever people’s minds and networks, all it would need is a better knowledge-management system. The failure of such systems to capture tacit knowledge is one of the great disappointments of knowledge-management initiatives to date.

The attitudes that clever people display toward their organisations reflect their sense of self-worth. They tend to be scornful of the language of hierarchy. Although they are acutely aware of the salaries and bonuses attached to their work, they often treat promotions with indifference or even contempt. So don’t expect to lure or retain them with fancy job titles and new responsibilities. They will want to stay close to the ‘real work’, often to the detriment of relationships with the people they are supposed to be managing. This doesn’t mean they don’t care about status—they do. The same researcher who affects not to know his job title may insist on being called ‘doctor’ or ‘professor’. The point is that clever people feel they are part of an external professional community that renders the organizational chart meaningless. Not only do they gain career benefits from networking, but they construct their sense of self from the feedback generated by these extra-organizational connections.

This indifference to hierarchy and bureaucracy does not make clever people politically naive or disconnected. Most clever people are quick to recognise insincerity and respond badly to it. David Gardner, the COO of worldwide studios for Electronic Arts, knows this because he oversees a lot of clever people. EA has 7200 employees worldwide developing interactive entertainment software derived from FIFA Soccer, The Sims, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, among others. “If I look back at our failures,” Gardner said, “they have been when there were too many rah-rahs and not enough content in our dealings with out people. People are not fooled. So when there are issues or things that need to be worked out, straightforward dialogue is important, out of respect for their intellectual capabilities.”

7 TRUTHS ABOUT CLEVER PEOPLE

They know their worth

They know how to work their way around in an organisation

They ignore corporate hierarchy

They expect instant access

They are well connected

They get bored easily

They won’t thank you

Friday, April 27, 2007

Build a Buzz around your brand, Article from Small Business Articles posted on Microsoft Site

It's not easy being a baby. Raising the profile of a just-launched brand has always been a challenge.

But nowadays, as customers lean toward tried-and-true products, building buzz for a brand-new business takes real smarts, creativity and persistence.

What is a brand? It's the promise you make to customers. It's the "emotional connections that create feelings of loyalty to a product or a company," says Jim Bolton at Ridge Associates, a coaching firm in Minneapolis. It's how you distinguish yourself from competition and capture mind and market share.

To get customers to notice your infant brand quickly and affordably, you must stay focused. Don't chase after huge or unlikely prospects right away. Don't squander time and resources by broadcasting mixed messages. Keep it simple. Make sure your marketing material has a recognizable identity, with a consistent logo, palette and tag lines.

1. Get inside the customer's mind.

Most new business owners research their target buyers. So you likely know something about your customer demographics, such as income and age. That's good, but it's hardly enough.

You need a serious fix on what will propel people to buy so you can gear your messages accordingly. "What need will you fill for the customer?" asks Scott Gold, chief executive officer of The Brand Consultancy in Washington, D.C. Once you know that, he suggests, "it's easy to find the low-hanging fruit."

2. Get endorsements that ring the right bells.

Expert or third-party endorsements can mean a movie star, a banker or a tech wizard. If you have invested in characterizing target customers, coming up with personalities who will fuel buzz should be a snap. The hard part may be getting access. You might need special marketing to reach them.

For example, Los Angeles fashion designer Chrissy Azzaro launched My-Tee, a line of casual wear, a few years ago. She targeted the entertainment community. So Azzaro paid to join a special star-studded bazaar hosted by a Los Angeles company, Backstage Creations.

Backstage charges corporations $5,000 to $10,000 (depending on how exclusive the access) to attend behind-the-scenes gatherings at TV award shows and other celebrity events. Marketers get an opportunity to meet and chat with stars before or after the show. In turn, celebrities get free gift bags filled with sometimes very fancy and expensive samples. The idea is that stars will not only wear or try the products, but they'll be seen doing so — which will boost the company's image and sales.

Hooking up with Backstage allowed Azzaro to present her fashions one-on-one to various celebs. Soon, former "Friends" star Courteney Cox and pop singer Nelly Furtado were photographed wearing My-Tee tops. That viral marketing led to stories about My-Tee in media like InStyle.com, the Los Angeles Daily News, Essence and more. Azzaro got known, fast.

3. Get the attention of hot prospects.

Find the industry seminars or annual shows that attract your top-of-the-line customers. Then spend what it takes to design a snazzy booth. Or, sign up for media coaching and pay a speechwriter and design team to develop newsworthy presentations. Or, hire a marketing firm to create a memorable way to demonstrate your product. You want to make a standout impression at the high-profile show.

When New Yorker Robin Blum launched In My Book, which markets greeting cards that are also bookmarks, she found it a challenge because the combination was a new concept.

Since her target customers included the multiple markets of booksellers and stationers, Blum decided to exhibit at the two best-known trade shows in those fields: the National Stationery Show in New York that year, and BookExpo, held in Chicago. Blum also paid for ads that featured her logo in show publications and sent free samples and literature to every publishing, library and gift publication she could find.

That netted some terrific product reviews from trade media. In addition, Blum commissioned a big backdrop painting for her exhibition booth, which transformed it into the stoop of an antiquarian bookshop. That made her booth a must-stop destination on the show floor.

All of it, she says, led to "excellent results, though not volume, which takes time." As a result, she is mailing updated catalogs to a wider audience of booksellers, librarians and gift and card retailers that appear at the shows.

4. Get public relations pros to open markets.

Your products don't have to instantly make people attractive, guarantee weight loss or offer the promise of eternal youth to benefit from press attention.

Let's say, for example, you invented a clever improvement for a medical diagnostic imaging machine — clearly neither a killer app nor anything of broad public interest. But your PR agent garners reviews in the medical journals read by the imaging community. That generates sales calls from hospitals and medical centers. It also provokes interest from potential investors and partners.

In fact, there's a great range of small, local or industry press and media coverage that can boost business. But you could benefit from the expertise of a public relations agency to do the legwork and the pitching for media placement.

That's the lesson learned by Jamey Bennett, who was co-founder of LendingTree.com before selling out to partner Douglas Lebda in 2000. After a stint as an "entrepreneur-in-residence" at a venture capital firm, Bennett decided to start another company.

Bennett's latest enterprise, LightWedge, markets an innovative personal reading light, made from an optical-grade acrylic lens powered by AAA batteries. You hold the see-through light flat on the page and read through it. He began selling the $35 lights a few years ago and says he's grossed $1 million within six months.

"I've been using PR exclusively to get the word out," says Bennett, who credits his New York agency, Margeotes / Fertitta + Gordon, with "great placement."

In addition, he says, "I'm using PR to explore niche markets via trade publications." He makes a point of asking every customer how he uses the light and whether he knows other people interested in LightWedge. That's the way Bennett discovered the astronomy market. An astronomer bought a light so he could read charts without blocking night-sky stars. Likewise, the PR team places stories in sailing, boating and aviation trade press, all of which Bennett has opened as niche markets.

A good PR agency can come up with a hook or positioning that works for editors in that field. Bennett advises entrepreneurs to choose a small agency so you become a key client. Make sure you interview a few agencies before signing on. Retainers typically run $3,000 to $5,000 a month, but you might try a fee-for-project probationary period until you're sure of the fit.

Buzz and word-of-mouth marketing is a cheap and effective way to get out your message. Figure out what it will take to start customers talking about your brand. That way, every customer turns into a brand ambassador.

Friday, April 20, 2007

The paradox of our time in history is

Taken from a chain email, who say chain emails are bad!


That we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because
THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BE AROUND FOREVER.

People for Betterment of Society Through Education

Education without any doubt is the biggest liberator of all. It liberates a person from various ills that plague a society prominent among them being ignorance, poverty and high fertility rates.

For a country like India, education can and has proven to be the best leveler among people. Education makes even the poorest of the poor to achieve high living standards and compete equally with those born with a silver spoon.

Unfortunately, education has remained a neglected area with almost all governments that have ruled the country. Basic education needs to be driven by an undying effort for 100% penetration. Higher education should be made completely free for all deserving candidates. Education should not be treated as an expense but as an investment.

It is upon all of us to make efforts to help reach this 100% target.

The education system is plagued by high drop out rates. This is true mainly for students who come from poor background and who often drop out due to demands that the family makes on them for providing economic support. As the child grows, he is made to work more and study less. This is truer in rural India and the phenomenon can be observed in the urban areas too. Although government does provide for free primary education, the effort is not enough. In this direction the government has taken steps like providing a free mid-day meal, which has worked as an incentive for poor families to send their children to school.

The government’s effort needs to be supplemented with private effort. Providing students support for expenses that are a collateral to education can do this. School dress, textbooks, note books and other equipments that can help a student learn better are still the sole prerogative of parents.

The People for Betterment of Society Through Education aims to bridge this gap. In a city like Mumbai where there are 250 to 300 private schools where the rich and the affluent send their children, there exist more than 1200 schools run by the local municipal corporation. These schools provide for the bulk of learning facility to the cities masses. The society aims to adopt these schools and provide aid to students in the area of textbooks, notebooks, school uniform and other learning aids.

The society aims to work with the local municipal corporation to provide aid for upkeep of the school premises, providing technical and financial support for up gradation of learning aids such as charts, maps, computers, audio-video equipment and other tools that can help the students learn better.

The Society also aims at conducting teacher-training programs that will help raise the level of the teacher and the taught.

We seek your active enrollment and contribution in any shape and size. Contributions can be made in cash or in kind and may include used equipment that is fit for refurbishment and deployment.

The Society is in the process of being registered with the Charities Commissioner, Mumbai and tax exemption benefits will be made available to all who donate to the cause.

All monetary donations should be made by an account payee cheque favoring ‘People for Betterment of Society Through Education’ payable at Mumbai.

All donations in kind should be coordinated with the Society for effective deployment and acknowledgement of the same.

The Society is a voluntary organization that seeks active participation from individuals and organization in support of its activities.

A board of directors who work for the society in purely honorary manner is conducting the Society’s affairs. The Society aims to keep organization expenses to the minimum and aims to set up a secretariat to coordinate the donation efforts.

The Society aims to expand its network to the entire country and set up facilitation centers in both rural and urban areas of the country. Towards this the society invites individuals to volunteer to take up this task in setting up urban and rural centers.

A website is being planned which will provide donors and members information about the activities of the society and how the funds that are being received are being deployed.

Mumbai a ticking time-bomb

There can be no denying the fact that our city, Mumbai is a ticking time-bomb. Sea locked Mumbai has little space to grow while migration into the city continues unabated. The question that comes to mind is why is this migration happening? Is it a phenomenon restricted to our city?

People migrate to other places in search of better earning potential, for living a better life and for gathering riches which have become reachable due to their education. People seek greener pastures to fulfill these dreams. They head to cities which can provide them with comforts and better lifestyle. This is a global phenomenon and not restricted to our city alone.

Mumbai’s population has grown from a modest 3 million people in 1951 to a present population of 120 million. This 40 time jump has happened in the space of 55 year while the space available for housing people has remained constant. Today more than 50% of this population lives in slums and shanties in sub-human conditions. They have no access to toilets, clean drinking water and in some cases even to electricity. Whatever facilities that are available to them are through a slum-lord who at the connivance of corrupt officials and local leaders provides them with stolen water, electricity and other basic amenities.

The political leadership of the state has failed to provide any relief to these people. Whatever schemes that have been floated to re-house these slum dwellers have ended up benefiting the builders. The unholy nexus between the politicians, builders and the land mafia is primarily responsible for the state of mess that this city is in. Politicians ensure that the land available for housing is always in short supply. The builders corner this land in connivance with the politicians and the land mafia uses brute force to capture government land and raises slums and shanties in connivance with the local government officials and local goons.

So much so that even attempts to spawn sister cities like Navi Mumbai and distant Thane have failed to stem the growth and influx of migrants into the city.

As more and more people end up living in slums, the conditions of these slums is turning worse by the day. Every human being has an inbuilt level of endurance; once this limit is crossed anything can happen. These slums are often beyond any control of any law keeping authorities and are often home to the anti-social elements of the society. Crime and criminals thrive in these pockets. It is not that crime does not happen in high-rise buildings, more often than not rackets like prostitution and drug trafficking involve people from the high society, but the chances of detection of such crimes is much higher in buildings compared to the slums.

Recent events like the bombing in 1992 followed by riots and the more recent train blasts in suburban trains have shown that Mumbai is not only a ticking time bomb but literally a city that is exploding in every sense of the word.

Who then is responsible for this mess? City planners are often tasked with the responsibility of planning the cities infrastructure. The city should be able to handle the requirements of its residents. These include roads, open spaces, recreational areas, water supply, electricity, drainage, rain water management and transport being the major requirements for leading a decent life. The city planners are also tasked with the requirement of demarcating commercial, industrial and residential zones. We see all around us that there has been total failure in all aspects of planning. We have a city where people are commuting from one end of the city every morning to get to their place of work and rushing back in the evening to their homes.

Recent rains have reduced the roads to lunar surface, where there are more pot holes than the road itself. Often it takes more than an hour to travel a distance of even ten kilometers, a task better done in the time of the horse drawn carriage. Government after government has failed to upgrade the city’s infrastructure. Bad planning and lopsided development has lead to catastrophic results. The development of Bandra Kurla Complex which restricted the flow of Mithi river led to the loss of hundreds of life’s in the Kalina Santacruz area during the rains of 2005.

Therefore in conclusion from the facts that I have presented it becomes abundantly clear that Mumbai is indeed a time-bomb ticking away. The day is not very far when people start killing each other in fits of road rage brought about by drivers frustrated by the condition of the roads. The day is not very far when it will become extremely difficult to prevent a second and a third and a fourth bomb blast of the local trains. The day is not very far when power cuts become the norm and people fight over clean water supply.

If the city of Mumbai is to be saved, the unholy nexus between the politicians, builders and the land mafia will have to be broken. And as the Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh said while inaugurating the Metro Rail Project recently, that for achieving progress we have to weed out corruption from the civic body and all other agencies that manage the city. Coming from the mouth of the Prime Minister, this is the solution that this city needs and each one of us should wake up to the malaise of corruption and save this city.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Three Experts' Tips for Hiring, Retaining IT Staffs

September 28, 2006

By John McCormick, Baseline

When it comes to hiring and retaining IT staffs, the future doesn't look so bright. The Baby Boomers are getting ready to retire, the number of college students entering computer science has dropped 50 percent in the last five years, according to the Computer Research Association, and the need for corporate IT people is growing. In a survey of its members released last month, the Society of Information Management (SIM), an organization of CIOs, found that nearly 40 percent of the nation's information chiefs are looking to increase their staffs, while another 33 percent said they are looking to maintain their current staffing levels—which means they'll have to find people to fill the spots left by workers moving on to new jobs or retirement. It's no wonder, then, that the same SIM survey found that attracting, developing and retaining information technology talent is now the No. 2 concern of CIO’s—right after IT and business alignment. So what steps can CIOs take now to ensure they have the people they'll need in the days ahead? CIO Insight sent question by e-mail to three leading IT staffing experts. Here is the advice they sent back:

Paul J. Groce

Partner

Christian & Timbers, executive search firm

Paul Groce leads the firm's Chief Information Officer (CIO) Functional Practice, which specializes in the areas of Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Application Development, IT Operations and other information technology human capital needs. In addition to IT assignments, Paul has search/consulting experience in operations, information security, quality, business process outsourcing and inclusion/diversity focused teambuilding. He also served on sabbatical in the Office of White House Personnel in Baghdad in 2003 in support of international reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

TIPS FOR ATTRACTING IT TALENT

  1. Organizations must recruit for the "CIO 2010." Many of today's older CIO’s came out of the "wiring closet," so to speak. They are savvy technologists. Tomorrow's CIO’s—CIO’s 2010—will be different. They will be tech-savvy business leaders. Current early-career IT professionals have much stronger business backgrounds than yesterday's CIO’s. Organizations must understand this shift, and put in place career opportunities and professional development plans that meet the needs of the CIO 2010. Then these organizations must clearly communicate in recruitment materials and other collateral that the organization is on the leading edge of the CIO 2010 career path development.

  1. Turn your IT team into evangelists. Any CIO knows that the IT team is connected to the larger tech community. Word of mouth about the organization, management and the state of IT projects is highly influential, perhaps even more so than anything HR can say. If the IT organization is functioning well and engaged in interesting projects, the most visible and satisfied among the team should be encouraged to spread the word. Incentives, such as bonuses, should be developed to support the IT evangelists. Hesitation about encouraging IT team members to talk about the opportunities and organizations signals bigger internal issues, which must be addressed.

TIPS FOR RETAINING IT TALENT

  1. To keep the best and brightest, the CIO should develop and mentor his or her own replacement. Unfortunately, CIO’s often find this extremely challenging. Some are afraid that by developing the next generation of leadership, they may be pushed out of the leadership limelight and actually watch these individuals leapfrog ahead of them and win the next stellar career opportunity. However, CIO’s who let fear rule and do not mentor and develop the "next-in-line" talent risk losing team leaders to organizations that will fill these individuals' career development needs.

  1. Create cross-functional career development plans. You might be familiar with the saying "once a dishwasher, always a dishwasher." Today, we might change that to "once a tech geek, always a tech geek." And that's the mold that many early- and mid-career technology professionals are trying to break. The old IT stereotypes—that IT professionals are unable to communicate effectively with the business side or that they innovate for innovation's sake—are dying too slow a death. One way to hasten these clichés' demise is to create cross-functional career development plans. IT professionals—even those who crave to stay on the hardcore tech side—can benefit from cross-functional training and assignments. They will have a chance to see how the other half lives, create new relationships and enhance their business acumen.

  1. Review your IT team member resumes annually. This is a counterintuitive approach to retention, but one that fosters trust. An effective performance review technique is to have your employees brush up their resumes every year. The employee with nothing new to add is one you need to be concerned about. The simple act of discussing resumes and sharing in an open conversation creates a level of trust that too often does not exist between managers and employees. Put the employee's career first...discuss successes and failures and areas of need. At the end of the day, if the employee is not happy or not right, help that person find something else. This technique is a proven win-win approach.

Katherine Spencer Lee

Executive Director

Robert Half Technology staffing firm

Katherine Spencer Lee has been with the company since 1995 and has more than 15 years of experience in information technology consulting services. She is a frequent public speaker and guest hosted several live events on Web sites such as Monster.com, Techtarget.com and CareerPath.com. In addition, she is currently providing career insight and advice through columns in Computerworld, CIOUpdate.com, Optimize and Certification Magazine.

TIPS FOR ATTRACTING IT TALENT

  1. Offer competitive salaries and comp plans. Let's face it, money still talks. Check in with recent hires or those completing their first year and see if they feel their salaries are still competitive. Evaluate them frequently.

  1. Play to your company's strengths. IT workers, like all of us, can be ego driven. If your company has an outstanding reputation for cutting-edge technology, industrial design, hip culture or an ability to draw top tech talent, play that up in the interview process. People love to know that they are going to a place that everyone else is dying to get into. But keep your sales pitch relevant: A database administrator may not be too dazzled by the fact that you have a first-rate creative team.

  1. Highlight cool projects they will work on or may someday aspire to work on. If you're about to release an anticipated new application or technology, people may take less money for the opportunity to work on a true resume-builder. But be careful to keep them interested after the product/service is completed, or they'll just jump ship.

  1. Emphasize the pedigree or reputation of people they will get to work with or under. Got rock stars? Then let potential employees know.

  1. Look internally to your employees for referrals—good people know good people. IT is a small world and networking with your current staff and even enticing them with a referral bonus can lead to great talent.

TIPS FOR RETAINING IT TALENT

  1. Re-evaluate your compensation plans annually or even twice per year and ensure they are up to date. Our 2007 Salary Guide for IT Professionals will be released in early October and will include salary ranges for more than 60 IT positions, regional and national employment trends, management strategies and more. How do you stack up?

  1. Provide professional development opportunities to retain your best people. We conducted a survey earlier this year of 1,400 CIO’s nationwide and found that 63 percent of these technology leaders were offering these types of opportunities. Firms recognize that technology workers, in particular, value ongoing educational opportunities that will enable them to keep their skills current and continue learning on the job.

  1. Offer flexible schedules. Our survey found that 47 percent of the CIO’s we polled were willing to provide flexible schedules. Effective retention programs also address work-life balance and salary issues. Offering flexible schedules or telecommuting options is a cost-effective way to improve overall job satisfaction, show appreciation and build loyalty. Competitive compensation packages are equally important and demonstrate to employees that their contributions are valued.

Rick Davidson, SVP, Global CIO

Manpower employment-services Company

Rick Davidson is responsible for worldwide IT strategy and operations at Manpower. He joined the company in January 2003. Before signing on with Manpower, he worked at the Feld Group—an IT consulting company that placed temporary CIO’s—and, prior to that, he was the senior vice president and CIO at CNH Global and the vice president of global information services at Haworth Inc.

TIPS ON ATTRACTING AND RETAINING IT TALENT

Manpower has developed and refined strategies for companies to attract engage and retain quality employees, including IT professionals. The world's most populous country is faced with a talent paradox. China, despite its 1.3 billion population, is short on talent. Manpower developed its proprietary Workforce Optimization Model that is used to assist clients in recruiting and retaining permanent employees. The five strategies of this model are not only useful to employers in China, but globally, and apply across all industries and sectors.

The five strategies of Manpower's Workforce Optimization Model to improve employee attraction, engagement and retention are:

  1. Create a learning organization.

  1. Appoint competent leaders.

  1. Establish an appropriate organization and culture.

  1. Provide competitive compensation and benefits packages.

  1. Select the right people.

It is vital that organizations view the five areas as a holistic, integrated solution; neglecting even one of the areas will weaken the solution considerably.

1. Create a learning organization. Fast learning for high-potential employees can be facilitated through the following channels:

  • Give employees projects that go beyond their current job's responsibilities.
  • Participate in global tasks to learn Western culture and business management, and broaden employees' views.
  • Invite employees to present at next-level local and global management meetings

2. Appoint competent leaders.

  • Appoint hands-on leaders and provide role models.
  • Improve leaders' communication skills.
  • Explain company strategy and link personal goals to business objectives.

3. Establish an appropriate organization and culture.

  • Create a simple and "flat" management structure.
  • Demonstrate the organization's values.
  • Repeatedly communicate the organization's values.

4. Provide competitive compensation and benefits packages.

  • Review salaries frequently.
  • Expect to give bigger salary increases than in developed countries.
  • Develop comprehensive packages with multiple benefits.

5. Select the right people.

  • Be open and honest to candidates in interviews.
  • Look for soft skills such as flexibility and adaptability.
  • Find candidates who have the capacity to grow quickly.

‘All highlighting mine’- Vinod Chand

17 Rules for Marketing Success

#1 Understand Who Buys Your Stuff

  • Understand who buys your stuff. Business people? Other lawyers? Consumers?
  • Define your audience from every possible perspective: socio-economic, geographic, image-sensitivity, age, risk-sensitivity, etc.
  • If your firm provides services to more than one group, design unique marketing strategies (messages and delivery vehicles) for each group.

#2 Define and Target Your Audience

  • Before you design any marketing communication, know who wants or needs your services? know your potential customers intimately.
  • Design your communications to meet the needs and desires of your potential customers.
  • Speak to only one customer at a time.
  • Buy media that reaches your target audience, not media that reaches the largest number of people.

#3 Understand the Difference Between What you Offer and What People Buy

  • You offer services; people buy solutions to their problems. (Proctor and Gamble sells shampoo to people who want clean hair.)
  • Go deeper. (People want clean hair because?)
  • People buy perception, not reality.
  • Express your services in terms of what people buy (security, confidence, experience, value, likelihood of success, understanding, tax-savings, etc.).

#4 Define Your Unique Market Position

  • Why should somebody hire you rather than your competition? Be realistic.
  • Brand your unique market position (e.g., “the insider,” “always here,” “the lawyers’ lawyer”).
  • Find ways to communicate your unique market position in an irresistible fashion.

#5 Know Your Resources

  • How much money do you have to invest in marketing? How much time do you have? Allocate your resources to achieve the maximum return on investment for your marketing programs.
  • If you have more money than time, hire a consultant with a track record of success and give her a budget. Step out of the way and monitor results.
  • If you have more time than money, pursue marketing programs that are time-heavy and money-light. (Direct contact, seminars and workshops, networking, volunteering, public relations, practice brochures, publishing, trade services, etc.)

#6 Lead Your Marketing with the Highest ROI Vehicle

  • Of the hundreds of marketing vehicles, which one offers possibility for the highest return on your marketing investment? Invest in the highest-ROI vehicle first. Only after you have saturated your highest-ROI vehicle should you move forward to your second-highest-ROI vehicle.
  • Monitor and modify frequently. Any time your ROI slips, adjust your message or delivery mechanism. After adjusting, if you don’t see a return to high ROI, withdraw your funding and invest in the next highest ROI vehicle. Review frequently.

#7 Design Your Marketing around Problems and Solutions

  • People hire lawyers to solve problems, or to prevent a problem from occurring. Design your marketing so that it is clear—you solve problems.
  • In print advertising, use the headline to present a problem. In the subhead, provide the solution.

#8 Be Faithful to Your Unique Voice

  • Once you have created your unique place in the market, stick with it: actively and intentionally grow your brand. Remember, people buy things (including services) because of their uniqueness, not because they are like other things.
  • When you stand apart, you get noticed. (Don’t follow others.)

#9 Make Yourself Easily Accessible

  • Create an image of warmth and availability. (Too many law firms create images that focus on prestige and tradition. Granite walls may create the image that you’ve “made it,” but if those walls get between you and your potential clients, your marketing will have to work a lot harder to generate new clients.)
  • Create marketing-only telephone lines for your office. Publish a unique number in all of your advertising so when that line rings, everybody knows it’s a prospective client calling.
  • Create a welcoming, we-are-here-to-please-you message both within your office and in all of your external marketing.

#10 Know Your Competition

  • Your firm is not the only firm actively pursuing new customers. To win the lion’s share of the pie, you must know what your competition is doing. You must be more aggressive. You must be smarter. To edge out the competition, you must know what they are doing, and you must play the marketing game better than they play the marketing game. When it comes to generating new clients, the second choice never gets the telephone call.

#11 Keep Egos and Marketing Separate from Each Other

  • Your marketing is not about you; it is about what you can do for potential clients better than anybody else.
  • If you create a marketing message that makes you look good, throw it away. Even Charlie knows people don’t want tuna with good tastes.

#12 Don’t Design Marketing Communications to which You Think You Might Respond

  • You are not your potential client. Your potential clients don’t think like you think. They don’t even like the same food you like! Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that if you like a marketing message, potential clients will like it too.
  • Don’t design an ad layout or direct mail piece so you will like it. Too many truly great marketing pieces have been left on graphic artists’ tables in favor of less powerful pieces because the client liked the lesser piece, and did not see or understand the value of the powerful piece.
  • Don’t look at your marketing messages through your eyes. Take your marketing messages out to others for their opinions. (If you take your marketing messages to your staff or to your spouse for “more objective” opinions, you will get more, and varied, opinions, none of which will be much more valuable than your own. The only person whose opinion counts is the potential clients’. Think of it this way: Don’t ask your wife and staff what flavor of ice cream the kid standing on the street corner likes the most. You may love your wife and your staff, but they don't know what flavor of ice cream that kid likes any more than you know. Ask the kid.)

#13 Don’t Buy Statistics

  • Most people who sell advertising have compelling statistics that demonstrate buying their advertising vehicle is a prudent choice. Ignore these statistics; they mislead. If you need to rely on statistics, get them from an unbiased source.
  • Statistics are not clients. (Nobody has 1.9 children.)

#14 Tell the Truth

  • Always.

#15 Adopt a Winning Attitude

  • The return you get on your marketing investment is influenced by your attitude. Create and maintain a great outlook every time you participate in building content, designing marketing material, or buying media. If you discover you have a bad outlook on a day you have scheduled yourself to work on your marketing, reschedule.
  • Go all out, as though you are designing your future. You are.
  • Plan to win. Big.


#16 Never Advertise From Fear of Loss

  • Advertising decisions that are motivated by fear (“some other firm will get these clients if I don’t advertise here”) will almost definitely result in poor returns.
  • Advertising decisions that are motivated by possible gain tend to produce? gain.


#17 Sell Only the Best

  • If you decided to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door, wouldn’t you research to find the best-value, best-performing vacuum cleaner on the market, and then get a job with that firm? Your advertising will always reflect your beliefs about your firm. If you don’t believe you can offer the best value and performance, your advertising will reflect that.
  • If you can’t offer value and performance, change.

Nine Essentials of Entrepreneurship

  1. It is all about hard work and applying your mind properly.
  2. It needs complete dedication to your ideas and putting your best efforts into them.
  3. It is going to bed thinking about the idea and waking up in the morning thinking about it.
  4. It is a field where you need constant attention at every detail.
  5. It is about driving yourself: If you are a professional, your boss will remind you that you are not working, if you are an entrepreneur you have to remind yourself.
  6. It is about convincing other about your ideas too: You have to get the full support of your family and friends to succeed.
  7. It is about networking: Being an entrepreneur also means that you have to be constantly in touch with clients, customers and business partners at close quarters.
  8. It is about leadership: You should know how to be a leader and add value to the leadership with your ideas.
  9. It is about confidence: You have to live with the conviction that even if things don't work out in the initial stages, later on everything will be in place and you will emerge a winner.

I can see further...

If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.
  • Modernized variants: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
    If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
Issac Newton
as appearing on wikiquote
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

Best Point makers


Below the Waterline

In remarks before the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario titled "Empowerment: Myth or Reality," Michele Darling, executive vice president, CIBC, human resources, uses an analogy to illustrate her point about allowing employees greater latitude for making decisions... and making mistakes:

"The W.L. Gore Company in the United States uses another analogy to reinforce the concept of boundaries and risk with their `Waterline Principle.'

"Imagine an organization as a ship sailing on the ocean. All of the personnel on board, in carrying out their responsibilities, are obviously cognizant that putting a hole in the side of the ship is not a desirable thing to do!

"When working above the waterline, however, making a mistake and creating a hole in the side of the ship will have no serious consequences. We'll have the time to repair the hole, learn and sail on.

"Below the waterline, an action that creates a hole could quite literally, sink us.

"I know we can all think of examples in our companies and in our careers that help illustrate the point. One of the most powerful examples I can think of is the Tylenol scare that seized the entire continent in the early 80s. The entire management team at Johnson & Johnson was clearly working at the waterline. And knowing the risks, they first consulted their company values to establish the boundary, or waterline, below which they would not work. Second, empowered teams across the organization were formed to break down the issue and contribute equally to the decision that would ultimately result in removing Tylenol from every shelf in North America.

"Ownership of the problem was broad-based, the decision was a courageous affirmation of the company's commitment to its customers and values.

"What could have been a fatal blow to the brand actually served to generate high trust in the ethics of the corporation and a gain in market share."


Expert Testimony

An example based on a novel and unexpected source with a darkly humorous twist helps to dramatize a point about progress in the reduction of auto emissions. Adding to the effectiveness are the two preceding examples involving more conventional instances that help set up the climax (from remarks titled "The Elusive Electric Vehicle," by Robert J. Eaton, chairman and chief executive officer, Chrysler Corporation, before the Comstock Club in Sacramento):

"Let me give you some idea about how far we've come in cleaning up the automobile.

"If you drove a 1995 Dodge Caravan from here to Carmel, you would put fewer smog-forming emissions into the air than if you drove a 1965 Mustang from here to the State Capitol building!

"If you drove that 1995 Caravan from here to Stockton, you would emit fewer emissions than you would if you left that 65 Mustang parked in the driveway all day long--with the engine turned off!

"And if you really want a testimonial about how clean the modern automobile is, take it from The Hemlock Society. (You know who they are, don't you?)

"In the January 1993 issue of Hemlock Quarterly, members were warned that car exhaust is no longer considered a satisfactory means of self-deliverance.

"Maybe that's why Dr. Kevorkian hasn't been in to see us about a new car lately."


Calamity

In remarks titled "Humor & Speeches" before the Chicago Speechwriters' Forum, speechwriter Eugene Finerman, takes listeners on a rhetorical tour highlighting the use of humor in speeches throughout history. Included in his comments is Disraeli's droll definition of a calamity:

"Disraeli's political rival and comic foil was William Gladstone. Gladstone was a man of great ability and achievements, but even Queen Victoria found him a pompous bore. To quote Disraeli, William Gladstone `has not a single redeeming defect.' This is how Disraeli distinguished between a misfortune and a calamity. `If Mr. Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune; if someone pulled him out, that would be a calamity.' Gladstone was to be Prime Minister for 19 years, while Disraeli stayed at `the top of the greasy pole' for only seven years. Yet, if you were to compare the space that Bartletts assigns to each, you would guess that the quotable Disraeli was the more victorious of the two. From history's perspective, he was. We remember Gladstone for being Disraeli's rival, but we remember Disraeli for himself."


Cost Cutting

"Then there is the true story of Harold Ross who began The New Yorker magazine in 1925. Mr. Ross started the magazine on a limited budget and to keep it in production had to keep a close eye on expenses. Too close, as far as the employees were concerned.

"During these lean years, he hired Dorothy Parker to do an article for the magazine, but she failed to show up for the assignment. He called her and asked why. She said, `Someone else was using the pencil.'"


On History

In "Past and Future: Some Reflections," James R. Houghton, chairman and chief executive officer of Corning Incorporated, at the time several months from retirement, addresses his last senior leadership meeting as chairman and CEO.

His remarks include a review of the company's history and observations on the future, which focus on performance, quality, and the individual. In moving from his introductory remarks to his reflections on company history, Mr. Houghton employs a number of proven devices and techniques including personal, conversational language, contrasts, paired elements, humor, and a quotation:

"Let me indulge in a little historical reflection. The record of the company has been a good one, but I want to take us back, not so much to bask in the glories of past successes, but to help set the stage for tomorrow.

"Now, it's not all that easy to learn real lessons from history-- or from historians. You remember that marvelous variation of Murphy's law, which states that the first rule of history is that `History doesn't repeat itself--historians merely repeat each other.' Or the famous Churchill quote: `History is simply one damned thing after another.'"


Affirmative Action

"An Affirmative Action official of the State of Pennsylvania wrote to a business officer of a company whose policies were being investigated: `Please send to this office a list of all your employees broken down by sex.'

"Some time later, this reply was received: `As far as we can tell, none of our employees is broken down by sex.'

"(And while none of us is broken down by sex, we are sometimes worn down by filling in all those forms....)"


Truth & Change

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent an aphorism to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this, too, shall pass away."
--Attributed to Abraham Lincoln


More Disraeli...

A novelist as well as a politician, Disraeli left us with many delightful and memorable lines, including this selection taken from his nearly three-page listing in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:

  • "I never deny; I never contradict; I sometimes forget." -- Said to Lord Esher of his relations with Queen Victoria in Elizabeth Longord Victoria R. I (1964) ch. 27
  • "The right hon. Gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes."--Speech, Hansard 28 February 1845, col. 154 (on Sir Robert Peel's abandoning protection in favour of free trade, traditionally the policy of the [Whig] opposition)
  • "Never complain and never explain." In J. Morley Life of William Ewart Gladstone (1903) vol 1, p. 123. Cf. Fisher 283:5, Hubbard 353:9
  • "Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant." --Speech at Edinburgh, 29 October 1867, in The Times 30 October 1867
  • "An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children." --At a banquet given in Glasgow on his installation as Lord Rector, 19 November 1873, in The Times 20 November 1873
  • "A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity." --Of Gladstone, in The Times 29 July 1878
  • "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." --Attributed to Disraeli in Mark Twain Autobiography (1924) vol. 1, p. 246
  • "Every day when he looked into the glass, and gave the last touch to his consummate toilette, he offered his grateful thanks to Providence that his family was not unworthy of him." --Lothair (1870) ch. 1
  • When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world." --Lothair (1870) ch. 28
  • "Mr. Kremlin himself was distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea--and that was wrong." --Sybil (1845) bk. 4, ch. 5. Cf. Johnson 373:10
  • "Damn your principles! Stick to your party." --Attributed to Disraeli and believed to have been said to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in E. Latham Famous Sayings and their Authors (1904) p. 11
  • "Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel." --To Matthew Arnold, in G.E.E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 23

Work

In remarks titled "Value-Added Attitude & Action," William I. Gorden, professor emeritus of Organizational Communication, Kent State University, discusses ten principles dealing with adding value to what we do.

As an example of the principle of self-improvement, he mentions that he had decided to memorize more poetry and prose passages, among them selections by the Syrian poet and essayist Kahlil Gibran. The poet's inspirational insights on the nature of work quoted by Professor Gorden also restate and emphasize several of the principles mentioned earlier in his remarks:

"So a Value-Added Attitude and Action begins with you and me. What new skill, new thing, new love, or new concern will you add to your life? Lately, I've decided to increase the number of poems and prose I have memorized. For example, within this past two months I have rearranged and memorized what the author, Kahlil Gibran, had to say about work:

`....And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads
drawn from your heart, even as if your
beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in
that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and
reap the harvest with joy, even as if your
beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things that you fashion
with a breath of your own spirit.'

"Gibran tells us that work is work that makes love visible."


Job Creation & Destruction

In remarks before the Commonwealth Club of California, Tapan Munroe, Chief Economist and Manager of Economic Vitality Programs for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., uses a three-step approach to make a point about job creation.

He first quotes an authority, he then backs his initial assertion with a general statistic about job destruction and creation, and finally provides statistics from a specific year that further bolster his argument. Mr. Monroe's speech was titled "California--Transition to a New Economy":

"Stephen Davis of the University of Chicago has found from his research that large scale destruction and creation of jobs have been fairly normal for the U.S. economy. Over a typical 12-month period, 10% of manufacturing jobs disappear in a region, and do not appear at the same place in the next two years, but other jobs in a different region are created in the meantime. The year 1988 illustrates the point well.

"Nationally, there was no net change in manufacturing jobs that year--a very placid year--but what happened in reality was that 1.6 million manufacturing jobs vanished in 1988, and 1.6 million new manufacturing jobs were created in locations different from where they disappeared."


Misunderstanding

In remarks titled "Old Lessons, New Perspectives: Moving Toward a Global Mindset," Wiley Bourne, vice chairman and executive vice president, Eastman Chemical Company, outlines "some of the lessons we are learning at Eastman as we put new plants and people around the world."

One lesson has to do with communication..."that talk is sometimes NOT cheap. It can cost you in terms if credibility." In establishing that point in the minds of listeners at the Fourth Annual East West Conference, Mr. Bourne turns to a short, graphic anecdote:

"But first, let's talk about the conflict between trying to broadly communicate in advance what you plan and hope to do, versus the reality of what later turns out to be feasible. Often this is only a matter of things taking longer than you had hoped, but until you actually do what you have promised, your credibility is open to question.

"This reminds me of the story of the fellow who came to work one day with a black eye. His friend asked, `What happened to you!' And the fellow said, `I misunderstood my wife. I stood up when she said shut up!'

"Well, that's what can happen when you misunderstand or misread a situation. You can end up with a black eye, and in a real sense, that's what was happening to our credibility, both with our employees and in certain influential circles abroad, when we first started our globalization efforts."

Some of the Best Closings for Speeches

It's Up To You

In remarks titled "The Brewing Industry: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," Thomas Koehler, vice president--sales, Miller Brewing Company, has discussed issues facing the industry and has urged members of his audience at the convention of the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania to take an active role in waging a battle for their industry. His closing relies on an inspirational fable that reinforces his theme of involvement:

"I would conclude with a story that applies to all of us in this industry.

"In ancient times there was a philosopher who had many disciples. One day a cynical young man decided to humiliate him by asking him a question he couldn't possibly answer correctly.

"The cynic put a recently hatched chick in the palm of his hand and asked the philosopher, in front of a large audience, whether what he had in his hand was dead or alive. His intention, if the philosopher said `alive,' was to crush the chick to death and show the master to be wrong. If the philosopher said `dead,' then he planned to let the chick live--to prove the great man wrong.

"In response to the question, the philosopher looked the cynic in the eye, smiled, and calmly replied: `The answer, my son, lies in your hands.'

"Well, like that young man, the future of our industry lies in our hands. Our actions over the next few years will determine whether the brewing industry--as we know it today--will be alive. . . and will thrive. . . or only a memory."
(4753)

Prospects & Customers

In remarks before a GM Women's Club Annual Meeting, then-GM vice president and group executive Edward P. Czapor discusses the importance of customer focus in the quality equation. An anecdote on the treatment of customers closes his remarks:

"I'd like to close with a story that talks about customers and how they're treated.

"A woman shows up at the gates of heaven and St. Peter informs her that, according to schedule, she was ten years too early and would have to return to earth until her appointed time. She greeted that news with mixed emotions, but since she was already at the Pearly Gates, she asked St. Peter if she might just have a quick peek at heaven.

"St. Peter said, `O.K.' and let her in. She looked around and saw people sitting on clouds playing golden harps. This wasn't exactly her vision of heaven, but it was rather peaceful.

"Reflecting on what she'd seen, she then asked if she might also take a look at hell before going back to earth. St. Peter was somewhat taken aback, but nevertheless buzzed the devil on the intercom. Receiving an affirmative answer, our friend quickly descended to the nether region and was met by the devil, who took her over to a door which he opened.

"The scene was magnificent. There before her was a tropical island; warm breezes; beautiful sunset; people surfing, dancing on the beaches, and generally having a grand time.

"With that, our friend was sent back to earth. Sure enough, ten years later to the day, she died and was back at the Pearly Gates where St. Peter welcomed her, gave her a golden harp and assigned her to Cloud Number 1368, `just down the third row there on the left.'

"At this point, the deceased inquired if she might elect to go to hell instead of heaven. While St. Peter was surprised and disappointed by this request he nevertheless granted it. Upon her arrival in hell, the devil quickly escorted her over to the door and again opened it. This time, however, the scene was different. There, in full view, was the inferno--people tied to trees, cries of anguish, animals biting at their legs, snakes slithering everywhere.

"Our friend turned to the devil and said, `Wait a minute. Ten years ago, when I was here, this was an absolute paradise. This is awful now--not at all what I expected. What happened?'

"The devil replied, `Ah, my friend, ten years ago you were a prospect. Today, you're a customer.'

"I hope at General Motors once people are customers, we still treat them like prospects.

"Thank you and good evening."

Inspiration & Refreshment

"If I've gotten my message across, it's my hope that some of you will leave here inspired. . . and the rest of you will at least wake up refreshed."

The Politician's Prayer

"Finally, as a former government official, let me leave you with the politician's prayer: `Dear Lord, please make my words sweet and gentle because tomorrow I may have to eat them.'"

Career Planning

In remarks titled "Career Strategies for Corporate Communicators," John R. Luecke, independent public relations counselor, has discussed the need for career planning, especially in light of the external threats that have taken their toll on public relations staffs.

In his closing, Luecke uses two short, apt quotations--one serious from a famous literary figure, the other humorous, drawing from the comic strip character, Pogo. A short toast concludes the speech by driving home the point that corporate communication and public relations professionals must take responsibility for their own career planning:

"Let me close now with three quotes which I think capture something of this whole subject of career planning. The first is from T.S. Eliot. I doubt that he engaged in much formal career planning, but he did leave us with this warning: `If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms on life, then you must accept the terms it offers you.' Not bad, T.S. Here's something from another literary figure, Pogo. Now Pogo is a comic strip character who's no longer in print. He's best known for reminding us that we are our own worst enemies. In another particularly lucid moment Pogo realized that `we are confronted with insurmountable opportunities'. I like to think of career planning that way. And finally, here's a traditional toast which seems only too appropriate. It goes: `Drink not to my past, which is weak and indefensible. Nor to my present which is not above reproach. But let us drink to our futures which, thank God, are immaculate.'"

Regulatory Decisiveness

A baseball analogy and an anecdote were used by Wayne Brunetti of the Florida Power & Light Company to make a memorable point about his company's expectations from regulatory decision-makers:

"I've made a number of references to the game of baseball today. It is, after all, that time of year when the boys of summer reappear on the playing fields of America much to the delight of baseball fans everywhere.

"In closing, let me return to the suggestion that regulators are very much like umpires--that, in general, after everything is said and done, the final decision is theirs to make.

"The importance of that role is perhaps best illustrated by the story of the three umpires who found themselves comparing notes on their profession.

"The first umpire said, `There are balls and there are strikes, and we call them as they are.'

"The second one disagreed slightly. He said, `There are balls and there are strikes, but we call them as we see them.' "The third umpire said they were both wrong. `There are balls and there are strikes,' he agreed, `But they ain't nothing until we call them!'

"In addressing the regulatory decision-makers of tomorrow, the electric utility industry would ask only that their calls be made with the greatest of deliberation and the greatest of care... for in many respects, our nation's energy future will depend on the outcome of those calls."

A Conspiracy of Silence

An Oscar Wilde anecdote succeeds as a closing both for its humor and the sense of finality in its last 10 single syllable words (from remarks at the 104th Annual Commencement at the Catholic University of America by Monsignor Robert Paul Mohan, a CUA professor emeritus of philosophy):

"And finally: Oscar Wilde was once approached by the most boring man in England who asked him: `There is a conspiracy of silence against me. What ought I to do?' And Wilde said: `Join it.'"

Quality with a Passion

Florida Power & Light president Marshall McDonald says there is a revival of quality in America for three key reasons. The first is consumer demand for it. The second is the belief that America"may find itself positioned on the bottom shelf of the worldmarket" if it does not get its quality act together. The third is an emerging corporate culture that is being" built around such terms as `company-wide quality management' or `total quality control.'"

Mr. McDonald discusses his company's Quality Improvement Program (QIP), which concentrates on the customer; utilizes the PDCA cycle (planning, doing, checking, acting); and teaches employees how to manage by fact. He says that Florida Power & Light's QIP is viewed as a triangle of three separate parts that include quality improvement teams, policy development, and quality in daily life which focuses on the customer and customer satisfaction. Mr. McDonald, whose remarks were delivered before the Philadelphia Area Council for Excellence, closes on anemphatic, passionate note with three inspirational quotations that epitomize his dedication to total quality:

"I've spoken at great length today about quality in the workplace, but what about quality in a broader sense? Does our commitment to excellence end when we walk out the office door? "I believe that question was answered many years ago by the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. He put the pursuit of quality in perspective when he said: `The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence.' "Some of today's generation might not be familiar with Vince Lombardi. They'd be more likely to listen to someone like Mike Ditka, the coach of the Chicago Bears. A few months ago, Ditka was inducted into the national Football League Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech were these words: `Excellence in football and excellence in life. . . is bred when men recognize opportunity and pursue it with passion.'

"We all face magnificent opportunities every day of our lives. Sometimes these opportunities can be brilliantly disguised as impossible situations, but the opportunities are always there. .. and it's up to each of us to pursue them.

"I believe our quality improvement program helps enable our employees to recognize opportunities--opportunities that they have pursued with great passion.

"A famous author once wrote that `It's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.'

"In closing, let me wish nothing but the best for each of you. .. and thank you for your patient attention this morning."

The Impossible

The ever-paradoxical Casey Stengel is called on for a touch of closing humor which lightens a call for social, economic, and educational transformation by Joseph T. Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of TRW Inc., in remarks titled "The American Dream: From Rhetoric to Reality," before the Economic Club of Detroit:

"In concluding, and looking at all that must be done, it is easy to understand why so many have avoided for so long the confrontations and efforts necessary to pull it off. The time is long past due, however, and we must take it out of the `too hard' box and get going.

"Indeed, it reminds me of that great aphorism from Casey Stengel: `They say it can't be done, but sometimes that doesn't always work.'

"Thank you."

The Tyranny of the Or

Intriguing phrases from a recent management book serve as the basis for a memorable contrast in an inspirational closing by Northwestern Mutual Life president James D. Ericson. Mr. Ericson's remarks, titled "Going for Growth," were presented at the company's western regional meeting:

"There's a recent book called Built to Last published by the Stanford Business School. The book describes what separates truly great all-time companies--or visionaries--from respectable also-rans.

"The authors focus on one clear difference. `Visionary companies,' they say, `do not oppress themselves with the Tyranny of the Or.' The Tyranny of the Or. Let me explain how a little word like or can be a tyrant.

"The tyranny of the or moves people to believe that things must be one way or another... but never both. I'm sure you've heard people talk like this. They say--we can either be conservative or bold. We can work for purpose or profit. We can be a low-cost producer or offer a high-quality product.

"But then there are visionary companies. They don't believe in such restrictions. Visionary companies embrace The Genius of the And. Just what is the genius of the and?

"As the authors write, `A visionary company works to preserve its core ideology and encourage vigorous change. It does both... at the same time... all the time.

"So how does this apply to us? My friends, Northwestern Mutual is a visionary company. Our tradition, our record, and our current position qualify us to make this claim.

"You and I are in the very position that many business pundits claim is unattainable. Look at what they say! They say that no company--no company--can be a low-cost leader and still have the following--the highest-quality product, the finest distribution system and the best service. Yet we offer all four, at the same time, all the time.

"Low-cost leader... highest-quality product... finest sales force... and superior service. This is our genius of the and.

"I believe this. I know you do, too. Our magic is believing... believing that we will enjoy lasting quality... and strong, healthy and sustained growth. My friends, I can assure you-- quality and growth are in our future. Quality and growth begin with you."

Hard Work & Greatness

Inspirational verse from Longfellow made for a memorable closing in remarks from former British Petroleum chairman Robert B. Horton to a graduating class:

"I congratulate you all on your achievement and I also congratulate your parents and your families and all who have supported you during these years of hard work.

"And I also welcome you to the world of a different sort of work- -for that is the destination of many of you.

"Don't be downhearted if, in the coming years, your reach occasionally exceeds your grasp. Martin Luther King used to quote from Longfellow--I like it and you may too:

`The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.'

"May I wish all of you graduating today great good fortune in the journey ahead."

Presidential Persuasion

The Brigance Forum is an annual public lecture in memory of Wabash College teacher and scholar, William Norwood Brigance. The 1993 address, presented by Charles J. Stewart, head of the Department of Communication at Purdue and a scholar of American protest rhetoric and the rhetoric of social movements, dealt with how American Presidents justify military actions.

In his remarks, Professor Stewart looks at Kennedy's speech on "The Cuban Missile Crisis," Johnson's "Gulf of Tonkin Incident," Nixon's "Invasion of Cambodia," Reagan's "Bombing of Libya," and Bush's "War in the Gulf" and considers how each President portrayed "their decisions as desirable, obligatory, and admirable to gain our acceptance and our support."

Among the passages Dr. Stewart quotes is one from what is arguably the best speech from the Bush presidency and which relies on repetition and good guy/bad guy contrasts for its power:

"While the world waited, Saddam sought to add to the chemical weapons arsenal he now possessed, an infinitely more dangerous weapon of mass destruction--a nuclear weapon. And while the world waited, while the world talked peace and withdrawal, Saddam Hussein dug in and moved massive forces into Kuwait.

"While the world waited, while Saddam stalled, more damage was being done to the fragile economies of the Third World, emerging democracies of Eastern Europe, to the entire world, including to our own economy.

"While the world waited, Saddam Hussein met every overture of peace with open contempt. While the world prayed for peace, Saddam prepared for war."

Also included is the closing from Kennedy's missile crisis speech which is a study in the power of antithesis, in the forms of [this] but [that] and not [this] but [that]:

"The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is one of the most consistent with our character and our courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high--but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and this is the path of surrender or submission.

"Our goal is not victory of might but the vindication of right--not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved. Thank you, and good night."

Sit Down & Be Quiet

In remarks at the Blandin Foundation Leadership Conference in Brainerd, Minnesota, Win Borden, president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, has discussed the public's frustration with education and business over quality; what the business community expects from education; what education should expect from business in return; and several other issues like educational spending, merit pay for teachers, a longer school year, and discipline that education and business must face together.

In concluding what has been a wide-ranging discussion of a serious topic, Borden chooses to close on a lighter note. He uses two humorous references to public speaking, one of which is self-directed:

"I'm looking at my watch and remembering what Muriel Humphrey told her late husband, Senator Hubert Humphrey, after a particularly windy speech. She said: `Hubert, you don't have to be eternal to be immortal.' "My son's the world's happiest little first grader. He loves to talk talk talk. One day he came home with a note from his teacher. She's wonderful and she's had all our kids in her class. The note was addressed to my wife. It said: DEAR BETTY, YOUR SON AND YOUR HUSBAND HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. NEITHER ONE OF THEM KNOWS WHEN TO SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET. "Now I'm going to take her advice. Thank you very much."

Waste & Consequences

Stephen M. Wolf, chairman and president of UAL Corporation and United Airlines, discusses a number of serious wastes in our society that are "sapping our national strength and lessening our ability to face the challenge of the next decade and the next century." He cites our education system, crime, lessening work ethic, a legal system that encourages costly litigation, and a financial system whose integrity is being questioned as primary examples of how we are wasting our human and other resources.

In his closing, Wolf uses a quotation from a famous author that epitomizes his theme:

"I don't have any magic solutions. But I do have at least a cautious optimism that good sense will prevail--that people who genuinely care about the future of this country increasingly will see that we are not a collection of feuding tribes, each concerned only with its own narrow agenda. We want the same things: economic opportunity and a continuing improvement in our quality of life.

"We cannot get them if we continue wasting much of our potential strength. Losing a young person to drugs or illiteracy is far more costly than losing a business deal. Wasting talent on a labor/management war is far more expensive to both sides than can be measured in dollars alone.

"The author Robert Louis Stevenson once said that `everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.' In my view, the most serious consequences in the 1990s and beyond will result less from the obvious dangers than from the more subtle one of wasted opportunities.

"Waste is a luxury we cannot afford. With the help of U.S. business, it need not prevent us from making the 1990s a time of promise."

Towards a just society....

Pure human greed is ruining our lives. We have become exploitative of our fellow human beings. Those who are involved in this game, cre...