Growing & Learning Archives - Page 14 of 23

Do it for mom

May 9, 2007

I can’t think of a better week to be writing this post. We’re a few days ahead of Mother’s Day and everyone is scrambling to buy the card or the perfect gift. I wonder how many of us stop and actually think about the true gifts our parents give us.

Security. Safety. Knowing that no matter what, it’s okay. We’re okay.

I don’t care how old or successful you are sometimes you just need to crawl into the shelter of your parent’s unconditional love.

For many families, the epicenter of that shelter and unconditional love is their family’s home. It is their shelter. Their safety. It is where their family comes together.

Unless of course you don’t have a home.

Habitat for Humanity doesn’t just build houses. They build homes. They build families. They build esteem. They’re a charity that believes you don’t just hand something out, you give families an opportunity to earn their helping hand so that it is a source of pride, not dependency.

A worthy charity for this week. Made more worthy because we’re raising money to honor a mom who raised her two daughters to honor those same values. Home. Family. Pride. And most of all, serving your community with all your talents. CK’s mom gave her girls security. Safety. And in their mom’s spirit, we band together to remind them that no matter what, they’re okay. Because for a change, their community is the one stepping up to serve them with love, support and compassion.

You have until Mother’s Day to give. Give to honor CK’s mom, Sandra. Give to honor your mom. Give to say thank you for the gifts you’ve been given as a parent. Find your own reason. But give.

Good news for Iowa Businesses!

May 1, 2007

Today is a great day for Iowa Businesses! IowaBiz.com officially launches and boy is it packed with content!

IowaBiz.com is designed with only one goal — helping small businesses grow stronger and more profitable. We’ve lined up 12 incredibly smart and generous Central Iowa bloggers who are going to create new content every single day of the month.

Meet the Team

Accounting/Finance: Joe Kristan
Human Resources/Leadership: Shirley Poertner
Intellectual Property Law: Brett Trout
ESOP/Company Culture: Victor Aspengren
Life/Work Balance: Mitch Matthews
Insurance: Brian Honnold
Networking: Adam Steen
Social/Viral Media: Mike Sansone
Business Law: Rush Nigut
Call Center/Customer Service: Tom Vander Well
Project Management: Tim Johnson
Marketing/Branding: Drew McLellan

All of the authors are open to topic suggestions, so stop by, enjoy the high quality insights and ask a question or two.

Special thanks to Professional Solutions Insurance Services for being our corporate sponsor!

Want to know the SOBCon secret?

April 25, 2007

As one of the presenters at the SOBCon event next month, I was invited to do a brief interview about the conference and got to talk about what I think is the coolest aspect of the whole weekend.

I call it the SOBCon secret because it’s what the conference is all about. It demonstrates the heart and the difference in this event. Of course, to find out what it is, you’ll need to listen.

Even more fun for me, I was interviewed by Des Moines own Mike Wagner. Mike is one of my two (Mike Sansone is the other) co-presenters at the event.

There’s still time to register and join in the sharing, learning and join Mike, Mike and me and all the other SOBCon attendees.

Special thanks to Zane Safrit for hosting the podcast series.

Office politics are not optional

April 15, 2007

When someone utters the words "office politics" everyone shakes their head in dismay and comments that it sure would be great if there were no such thing.

But the reality is, office politics are not going anywhere. So wouldn’t it be to our advantage to learn how to recognize and deal with it when it appears?

Carpe Factum’s Timothy Johnson tackles the realities of office politics in his new book, Gust, The Tale Wind of Office Politics. Written in an easy-flowing business parable style, Johnson introduces us to a team of professionals that we’ll all recognize.

One of the greatest insights from the book is that office politics are not inherently bad.

Every business is filled with human beings and in some ways the book is as much a personality and psychological study as it is a business book. Being able to step back and objectively see the game being played is the first step to understanding what’s creating the problems at hand. The book also examines the power of influence within an organization and all the different ways someone exercises that influence.

Practical, straightforward and easy to remember solutions are woven all through the book.

Included in the book’s resource section, there are surveys that both employees and managers can take to facilitate a discussion around office politics.

Why is this a book all marketers should read? In most companies marketers rely on the cooperation of many departments and people. Without the ability to spot office politics and do the necessary analysis to identify the motives behind the behavior, we don’t stand a chance of being successful.

How to use informal surveys to generate some buzz

April 14, 2007

People are very curious about each other. Which is why the media loves surveys.

Surveys needn’t be massive, scientifically rigorous affairs to generate buzz for you. There is definitely a proper time and place for quality market research. But, in this case, I’m talking about just polling your customers with an interesting question that does not have an obvious answer so you can create some buzz.

Wonder how you could adapt it to your profession? Let’s try a couple.

Photographer: "If you could take only one of your photos with you before evacuating your home, which one would you choose?"

Restaurant owner: "Do you count calories when you go out to eat?"

Computer consultant: “Do you ever talk to your computers (cursing and coaxing included!)

If nothing else, it’s great for newsletter filler, blog post, bag stuffer or a bill insert, etc. It will spark a conversation with your customers and who knows, you might even uncover an idea for a new offering!

The Age of Conversation: 100+ authors!

April 13, 2007

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Gavin and I are so excited — The Age of Conversation is going to be an amazing book. We exceeded our goal of 100 authors (in less than a week!) and the topics they are writing about is going to blow you away.

We’ll be posting a complete list of authors in a few days (it’s going to take me that long to catalog them all!) and we thank each person for stepping up and offering their thinking/writing to this very cool project.

Again, thank you for helping us make this crazy idea a reality! And for making the world a little nicer for kids across the globe. Here’s what Variety is up to in Gavin’s neck of the woods.

A legacy

April 10, 2007

Any parent will tell you that their child/children are their greatest legacy.

I talked about this in my belief statement a few months back. My daughter is my gift to this world and even at 13, I could not be prouder of person she is and is becoming.

So when I heard that my friend CK has lost her mom suddenly, my heart broke a little not only for CK and her loss, but also for her mom.

I can only imagine how proud Sandra Kerley was of her daughter’s accomplishments, talents and most of all, her heart. And I can only imagine how much she wanted to stick around and keep watching from an earthly vantage point.

They say that the acorn rarely falls far from the tree, so it came as no surprise to me that CK’s mom was a giver as well. One of the charities that touched her heart was Habitat for Humanity. Home is something most of us take for granted. Through this organization, families that couldn’t even conceive of home ownership now can.

The child. The parent. The community. It’s time for us to add our voice to this story by coming together and creating a memorial that captures what words cannot. Our friendship, our love, our respect and our admiration.

For a spirited, wise woman and her daughter…her legacy.

By clicking on the badge, you’ll be taken to a PayPal site where you can make a donation to Habitat. We’ve also created (thanks Cam for the site and David for the badge) a memorial site.

Had to get out of my own way

April 6, 2007

A few days before this blog received its 1000th comment, Gavin Heaton’s Servant of Chaos celebrated the same milestone. Just like I invited David Reich to be my guest blogger to commemorate the occasion, Gavin asked the same of me.

Wow…what a daunting task. It’s a very cool thing, don’t get me wrong. But it’s also nerve wracking. If you bomb on your own blog, that’s one thing. But to bomb on someone else’s? Yuck.

Check out my post on Gavin’s site. If you don’t read Gavin’s blog, you need to start.

Check out David’s post here on The Marketing Minute. And check out David’s blog, My 2 Cents. It is always worth the read.

Is it Greek to you?

April 3, 2007

Often times, when you receive concepts from an agency, you’ll see a headline and visual. And in the place of the body copy — you’ll see what we refer to as Greek or Lorem Ipsum.

Typically, it will look a little something like:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem Ipsum is basically dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry that has been adopted by agencies as a basic placeholder. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

It has survived not only five centuries, but also evolved into all realms of electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It’s based on the theory that readers will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the source.

However, you can – thanks to the web, have you very own Lorem Ipsum generated.

Just a little fun fact for the day!

Is branding only an external activity?

April 1, 2007

The answer is no.

In fact…as a business owner or leader, you should be branding your organization to your employees every day. There is no audience more important to your brand’s success.

But all too often, its internal communication budgets that get cut. Or leadership consistently says one thing and then does another — losing credibility and trust.

If you want to learn how to lead an employee-centric company, you only need to go to one blog to learn the ropes. Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand focuses on how to inspire your employees to help you deliver the brand promise to your clients. Her posts on leadership, retaining employees and her podcast series are packed with gems you can put to immediate use.

Last week, I had the incredible good fortune to speak to Anna on the phone. We talked about how the relationship between the employer and the employee is experiencing a power shift, just like the one we’re seeing between customers and companies. We also talked about recruiting, generational differences and a whole lot more.

Anna captured our conversation and I’m very proud to be the voice of Show #73 of the Engaging Brand podcast series — Secrets of a Great Employer.

Go over and take a listen. And while you are there — bask in the smarts of Anna Farmery.

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