Goldman has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Mashable, The Next Web, SmartMoney, Workforce.com, ReadWriteWeb, The Star-Ledger, ClickZ, and InformationWeek.

@jeremarketer

A lifelong entrepreneur shares his secrets to building a more productive work environment.

Cultivating a happy and healthy work environment is vital to the success of any business–and even more important is developing a sense of community. With the dawn of a new year, it’s a terrific opportunity to look at your corporate culture and see where you might be able to improve it.

Here are six ways to develop and maintain a more positive corporate culture.

1. Establish Trust

A sense of trust is vital to all personal and professional relationships. The best way to build trust is through active listening and open communication. If you are willing to let your guard down and demonstrate that you can truly listen, chances are that others will reciprocate.

“When it comes to establishing positive relationships with your coworkers, the most important thing is to get to know them first as individuals,” says Dorie Clark, author of Reinventing You. “No one likes to be treated ‘instrumentally’–as someone whose only value is in what they can do for you. Instead, ask and learn about their hobbies, families, and backgrounds.” Take the New Year as an opportunity to create deeper, more productive relationships with your work team.

2. Foster Mutual Respect

It’s important that you respect your colleagues’ input and ideas and that they respect yours. When you lose respect for your marketing director, you’ll be less likely to go to her for help, even when it’s an area in which she excels. Furthermore, she’ll be less likely to come to you when she would benefit from your expertise. As a result, less collaboration occurs, and departments become siloed.

When employees feel like you’re respectful and supportive, and that their efforts won’t be undermined by others’ jealousy or fragile egos, their interactions tend to be positive and to create a virtuous, more productive cycle.

3. Take Responsibility for Your Actions

In a work dispute, do you often feel that you’re 100 percent correct, and that the other party is 100 percent wrong? If so, it might be time to take a closer look at how you operate professionally. After all, it’s pretty difficult for one party to be entirely at fault. Even if you’re only mildly at fault and think the other person should shoulder most of the responsibility, admitting that you’re imperfect and could be partially to blame can help the other individual(s) be less defensive.

Rather than pointing a finger at a co-worker, acknowledge your part and then communicate your message in a clear, nonjudgmental way.

4. Show Appreciation

What do your boss, colleagues, and office janitor have in common? All of them want to feel appreciated. So, when someone does something well, offer a genuine compliment to show your gratitude. This not only leads to stronger relationships, but also encourages everyone to continue working productively. People are wired to respond to incentives. While financial rewards are a well-known incentive, appreciation is a rather underrated one.

5. Stomp Out Bullying

Speaking personally: I left one job because of an awful bully. Since then, I’ve had pretty consistent success in my career, which has included working for my former employer’s direct competitors. Meanwhile, my former employer went through multiple hires trying to replace me. Add up all those hiring and training costs, and you can quickly see how bullying costs companies real money. It leads to high turnover, decreased innovation–with the bully focused on bullying and the one being bullied afraid to be vocal in the organisation–and a harder time hiring highly-qualified professionals, as word gets out about your firm’s toxic culture.

Make it a point to not only avoid bullying at all costs, but call out bullying by others as unacceptable.

6. Maintain a Positive Attitude

Nobody wants to be around a Debbie Downer. Regardless of what’s going on in your personal life, it’s important to at least to try to leave it behind when you step into the office. You don’t want people to misinterpret any bad vibes you bring in from the outside, or have your co-workers think your scowl is directed at them. If you walk into the office with a happy greeting in the morning, that upbeat energy will naturally spread to those around you and create a more enjoyable work atmosphere. Try to high five someone today for a job well done; it’s contagious.

@bizzwriter

Focus on a few core components of leadership and you can take your company to new heights.

Company leaders always want to motivate, inspire, and support their people to the absolute fullest.  But most go to bed at night suspecting that they’re coming up a little short.  Maybe more than a little.  Take heart: You can become a truly great leader.  All it takes is:

Perspiration

Great leadership requires effort – lots of effort. And much of that effort revolves around learning: about your people, your operations, your industry, and yourself.  Be relentless in your pursuit of knowledge about everything – and everyone – In your business ecosystem.

Vision

Develop a clear vision for what your business is all about, and don’t lose faith in it.  Know in your heart that you and your team can accomplish anything you set out to accomplish if you work together and believe in one another.  You will undoubtedly encounter setbacks, but don’t be deterred.  Learn from failure and remain confident.

Communication

Great leaders communicate sincerely, often, and in many different ways to everyone in their organisations.  They inform, provide feedback, and motivate – Intelligently and honestly.  Connect with all your people and cultivate multiple channels for two-way.  When you hear your own words and messages repeated back to you from your employees, or when your employees talk among themselves using your words to describe your vision and goals, then you know you’re making an impact.

Collaboration

Form teams and groups that are constituted for maximum effectiveness.  Recognise that in order to do their very best work most employees need consistent support and input from co-workers, peers, and managers.  When you create this kind of environment, you’ll see an immediate impact on productivity and effectiveness – as well as morale.

Decisiveness

Highly effective leaders are decisive when called upon to make tough calls quickly and confidently.  Take a moment to assess a difficult situation and then calmly and rationally consider your options.  As soon as you have the information you need to make an informed decision, make it.  Don’t let fear of being wrong prevent you from making what you know is the right call.

Integrity

Study after study finds that the No. 1 quality that employees want leaders to possess is integrity.  Always be candid, forthright, honest, and fair.  Treat your people as you want to be treated.  Your employees will respect you and respond in kind.

Inspiration

When times are tough, be the person that people look to for inspiration.  Don’t just talk, act.  Reassure your employees and help them overcome their own doubts and anxieties.  Model the kind of positive behaviour you want to see in them.

@MindaZetlin

You know that job applicant has the right skills to fill your open position. But what about the right personality? Ignore cultural fit at your peril, for your new hire likely won’t last long.

I’ll always remember one of my co-workers at my first company. Although she did excellent work, she seemed to zig while the rest of us zagged. In a group of frumpy, often pudgy writers, she was an accomplished martial artist. Where many of us were just getting our feet wet in the business world, she had been around for a while and worked in some legendary places. Where we tended toward the silly-a plastic-encased slice of prosciutto once spent a week tacked to our department’s bulletin board-she was deadly serious. Not surprisingly, she soon moved on to a job at a prestigious non-profit that was working hard to change the world.

Hiring someone who doesn’t fit your company’s personality can be a very costly mistake. To avoid making that mistake, make sure to interview job candidates for cultural fit, as well as job qualifications. That advice comes from Tara Kelly, CEO of customer experience software provider SPLICE Software.

Kelly makes sure to include a culture interview in the hiring process, and she says it’s made a big difference. “It is important to understand employee values, motivators and interests,” she explains. “Understanding what keeps employees fulfilled is a key element to build a truly successful team. Whereas regular job interviews focus on verifying qualifications, culture fit interviews focus on ensuring potential candidates fit the corporate culture and core values of the organization.”

Given that every new hire is a big investment, it’s worth taking the time and effort to interview for cultural fit as well as skills and experience. Here’s how Kelly does it:

1. Define your company’s culture.

You may not need to do this, and Kelly doesn’t mention it, but if yours is a small or start-up companies, your culture may not be something you’ve given a lot of thought to. You should, though, because you definitely have one and a bad cultural hire will hurt you.

Your mission or vision statement is a good place to start-it won’t define your culture, but it should identify the values that drive you and your employees to show up and work hard every day. Beyond that, take a look around and consider how your company compares to others in your industry. Ask your employees or colleagues for input, until you can come up with a sentence or two that captures your company’s personality. Consider this example from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: “Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we’ll settle for intense.”

2. Write job ads with culture in mind.

“Culture fit should be integrated into every aspect of recruitment,” Kelly notes. That begins with your job ads, which should reflect both your company’s brand and its culture. If yours is an informal, family friendly workplace, with child care on site, and where pets are welcomed, say so. If yours is an elegant workplace with a prestigious history, say that.

3. Include culture questions in regular interviews.

From your first conversations with a candidate, interviewers should be thinking about cultural fit, Kelly says. “Once applications are assessed, pre-screening interviews should occur over the phone to see what first impressions candidates make and gauge personality for a possible fit.”

Candidates who pass this screening should be invited to an in-person interview with their potential department head. “The department head should also screen the applicant for culture by introducing a few less technical questions,” she adds.

4. Know which questions to ask, and which not to.

“Ask questions that speak to the core values and culture of the organization, without directly asking about each value,” Kelly advises. “For example, ask ‘what is something you have accomplished this summer that you are really proud of?'” This type of question helps SPLICE find candidates who like to learn new things or improve their skills. “At SPLICE, we really value a love of learning and improving things,” Kelly explains. “Our fundamental core value is, ‘We believe it can be better.’ So we like to see that not only in someone’s work life but their personal life too.”

It should go without saying that there’s a difference between culture and bias, and you should be clear about that difference, especially when it comes to questions that could land your company in legal trouble. To say that your culture is fun-loving and risk-taking is fine; to say that all employees should participate in extreme sports means your workplace discriminates against disabled or older workers.

In Amazon’s we’ll-settle-for-intense culture, an employee who’d just had a miscarriage was told by her supervisor that the company was likely the wrong place for a woman looking to start a family. Not surprisingly, many labor lawyers have been contacted by current or past employees seeking to sue the company for attitudes like these. Someday, one of these suits will get filed.

5. Train employees to conduct culture interviews.

“Once it is verified that a candidate has all the necessary qualifications and has passed all the preliminary culture fit screenings, a culture fit interview should be introduced as the last phase of the process,” Kelly says.

But you’re not the one to conduct the culture fit interview-the candidate’s potential co-workers are. That means they’ll need some training about what to ask and what to listen for. “It’s crucial to ensure the team is prepped on the purpose of a culture fit interview prior to participating,” Kelly says.

In general, she says, you should select four to six employees from around your company to talk informally with the job candidate about hobbies and interest and how these things tie in with your company’s personality. “Employees should be encouraged to ask questions that tie in to the organization’s value system.”

6. Gather feedback.

Employees who conduct a culture interview should fill out assessment afterwards that scores applicants on numerical scales of good-fit-to-bad-fit, and also ask for written comments. After you review those assessments, call the employees together for a quick debrief to make sure you understand their feedback and get a better sense of how the candidate might or might not fit with your company and its values. All of this input, together with the candidate’s performance on your skills assessment, will put you in the best position to make the right choice.

This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/1kkmevy.

@webmarketing007

Research suggests mobiles and millennials are changing the way we travel

For many hotel and attraction owners, capitalizing on summer activities is essential for remaining in the black for the rest of the year. The internet and mobile technology have dramatically changed the way people search for and make travel arrangements. This article will discuss recent research that gives business owners clues to reaching traveling customers in the digital age.

According to research from Hotels.com, millennials comprise 32 percent of US travelers, and are the fastest-growing age segment in travel. This techno-savvy group is changing the way hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues. For example, about one in four (25%) millennials who book hotels does so via a mobile device. The data cited also suggests that mobile marketing can be effective at getting last minute travellers. The study found that 70 percent of hotel bookings by millennials via a mobile device are made for same or next-day check-in.

Millennials are a good target audience because they spend more money when the travel. According to data cited by the MMGY Global, nearly 60 percent of millennials would rather spend money on experiences than on material goods. When put into numbers, the average millennial traveller intends to spend about $5,300 while travelling, whereas Gen Xers, say they’ll spend about $5,000.

A 2014 comScore study reported that 40 percent of the US travel audience only accessed digital travel content via mobile. An eMarketer report estimates that in 2015, total mobile travel research will rise nearly 20 percent to hit 72.8 million, or 54.6 percent of those who research travel digitally. That percentage is estimated to reach about 71 percent by 2018.

Hotels should strive to make their mobile and app experience as easy to use and functional as their desktop sites. Recently, eDigital Research ranked the apps and mobile sites of the most popular traveling sites. According to their research, Holiday Inn’s recently revamped app is a good example of what consumers want. The app got a top score of 81.6 percent on the rankings, which means the app will help in generating multichannel sales. Other notable sites for good multi-channel sales were Bookings.com and Hotels.com.

“As mobile continues to grow in popularity, there will soon come a time when the mobile customer experience will overtake traditional desktop sites,” said Steve Brockway, the Director of Research at eDigital Research. “However, when that day does come (and it could come as soon as this year) digital customer experiences across varying brands will differ only very slightly – we’re already seeing minimal differences between top performing brands. Instead, to make experiences really stand out from the competition, brands need to be investing in their service and customer support. With more consumers heading online to book and browse, on and offline support will become the foundation for a fantastic customer experience”.

A final thing to keep in mind is that social media is extremely important to travellers and business owners can use that to their advantage. One way to do this is by handling customer service issues on social media platforms. People share their experiences from travel with their friends and family via social media. If a business notices that a guest has mentioned them in a negative post, they should proactively try to solve the problem, even if the guest didn’t tell the business directly. For more advice on using social media to address customer service issues, read this article on the subject.

Now is the time for businesses to improve their mobile sites and apps so they put their best foot forward. The days of travel agents and people driving to random hotels to find a vacancy are coming to a close. Using technology to help travelers will help businesses increase their revenue during the vacation season.

To learn more on how mobile marketing and the internet are changing travel, read this article with more stats on hotel marketing.

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@kline_maureen

Sustainability is based on continuous measurement and constant engagement

Sustainability is a journey. On the road, you’ll need to consistently deploy two important actions: measuring and engaging.

You’ll need to measure, because sustainability is a continuous SWOT analysis; you need to be aware of your company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats so that you know where you’re coming from and where you’re going. Sustainability is about measuring where you are today, setting goals about how sustainable your company will be in the future, working backward to define how to get there, and then measuring progress along the way. The more specific and quantitative you are, the greater your chances of effectiveness.

Normally, goals will fall into three categories: environmental, social and governance. Environmental goals can include CO2 emissions reductions, energy efficiency targets, environmentally friendly product development, use of biodegradable packaging, involvement in a biodiversity project, reduced water usage, recycling, and many more. Social goals can range from goals regarding the welfare of your employees to community projects to helping alleviate hunger in developing countries. And governance goals might include setting up an ethics committee for your company, or having a diverse board of directors.

Once you know where you are and what you want to achieve in the future, you need to follow an action plan, and your success will depend on your ability to engage with stakeholders inside and outside the company. Engagement with them will be the key to acceptance and implementation of your sustainability plans, as well as outside recognition of your company as a sustainable one. Some of the stakeholders you may want to interact with are employees, customers, suppliers, investors, the local community, local government, environmental or human rights groups, and competitors.

Competitors? Indeed. There are now many stories of industry collaboration in order to effect change, particularly in raw materials purchasing and in recycling of end-of-life products. The cocoa industry has banded together to insist on certifiable sustainable practices among cocoa farmers, and the electronics industry is working on getting the minerals they need from mines certified as respectful of human rights (and not controlled by violent warlords).

Suppliers can be engaged through insisting on sustainable practices in purchasing agreements, and through training and audits. Customers can be engaged in all kinds of creative ways that marketing departments like to dream up. The local community can be engaged through charity donations and volunteering projects and partnerships.

Employees are the most important piece of the puzzle. Without employee involvement in sustainability, big plans may go nowhere and promises remain shallow. Employees need to be engaged in a way that convinces them to understand and believe in what the company is trying to achieve, and participate. It is not just about getting employees to volunteer to plant trees or serve meals at the community soup kitchen. Employees need to understand the broad strategy, the company’s goals, and the specific action plan. They need to be asked for ideas and listened to. They need to see sustainability on the ground (recycling bins, a strategy on coffee cups, health and safety compliance) in order to believe you really mean it. They need to get excited about sustainable packaging and sustainable product development, and feel they are part of a team. Probably the easiest way to make all this happen is to involve people cross-functionally in committees.

Now that you have engaged everyone, don’t forget to keep measuring your progress and results, and communicating these back to your stakeholders. Once they see the improvement, they will be more interested in getting on board. If the improvement really looks good, it will enhance your company’s reputation in a meaningful way. This will attract customers, and make your employees proud and productive. And the journey continues.

@BarryFarber1

Sales strategies come and go, but serving the customer should always be your top priority.

If you’re like most business owners, you probably re-evaluate your sales strategy on a regular basis. There are many factors to consider when switching up your sales approach, including your customers’ changing needs and your latest product offerings. But one thing should never change: You should always focus on serving first and selling second. Here are a few tips that will help you do just that:

1. Stay True to Yourself

Focus on what makes you unique and differentiates you from the competition. When you’re clear about your core values and the strengths you bring to the table, you’ll have an easier time figuring out how you can address the needs of your prospective clients.

2. Ask the Right Questions

We all have a tendency to talk about our offerings during sales meetings. But don’t let your enthusiasm get in the way of learning about your prospects’ needs. Ask open-ended questions (what, when, where, why, and how) that encourage them to elaborate on the issues they are facing and how you can support them.

One question that has worked well for me over the years is, “What are the top three criteria you consider when investing in a new vendor?” Most prospects end up talking about a lot more than price, including flexibility, response time, and other criteria.

Follow-up questions are also key. For instance, if a prospect says that one criteria is “great customer service,” ask them to define great customer service and give you an example. You can then position your company appropriately.

3. Arm Yourself with Information

Of course, you should research any sales prospect before meeting with them. In addition to the obvious sources of information–the company website, news stories, and industry information – I also scour my contacts for people who might be connected to the business. Then, I reach out to them for insights. You might be afraid to ask your contacts for help, but I’m always amazed by what people are willing to do when I ask them for their expert advice.

4. Go Above and Beyond

What are you doing in the sales process to stand out? I know a salesperson who recently spent weekends and late nights working one-on-one with a prospective client–a sports stadium–during trials of the product he was pitching. He worked with the stadium’s employees to make sure they were comfortable with the equipment and even helped them clean up after a big event. The facilities manager noticed the extra effort, which built a huge amount of trust. That’s one reason why the salesperson eventually landed the account. At the end of the day, how much you serve determines how much you sell.

Being mentally strong is one of those personal attributes that everyone could benefit from. Since we all encounter personal challenges and difficulties in our life, the ability to stay psychologically strong is invaluable. But is mental strength something we are just born with? Or can it be developed? Luckily, there are ways to enhance and amplify mental toughness. Here are six of the best.

1. Stay on target.

A major component of mental strength is the capacity to focus in on the pursuit of long-term goals. People who are mentally weak allow the minor hindrances of life to distract them from their objectives, which inevitably leads to underachievement. Surviving the inevitable setbacks and disappointments of life requires focusing on larger goals and plans.

2. Look at adversity as an opportunity.

Tough times aren’t necessarily a bad thing–in fact, they can often be a positive. That’s because you only really learn and grow through overcoming difficulties. The simple act of embracing a challenge can be a massive psychological step forward. Such a change in attitude can alter your whole outlook on life, helping to increase your mental fortitude.

3. Focus only on what you can control (my favorite).

Worry and fear are the enemies of mental stability and strength. While fear and worry may be impossible to totally avoid, many people bring trouble upon themselves by obsessing over things they cannot really control. For example, worrying about how a project will be received once it is submitted is pointless and accomplishes nothing. Focusing on whatever task is at hand–and letting the rest take care of itself–is simply smarter.

4. Develop resiliency.

No matter how much the perfectionists among us might wish otherwise, no individual can completely avoid setbacks and failure. In fact, what’s far more important than avoiding error is developing the mental strength required to bounce back quickly from a mistake. Learning how to get back on your feet, without spending any time malingering or feeling sorry for yourself, is essential. This is the entrepreneur’s armor.

5. Don’t spend too much time thinking about what other people think.

While everyone should be able to accept constructive criticism and other kinds of helpful input, there’s a definite limit to how much attention should be paid to the opinions of others. Ultimately, other people are responsible for their opinions, not you–and there is no point in dwelling on something that isn’t your responsibility.

6.Strive to be emotionally even-keeled.

Getting either too high or too low emotionally is almost always a barrier to true mental strength, something I’m especially guilty of. However, being out of control emotionally makes it impossible to proceed forward in a rational, constructive way. Those who experience excessive emotional turbulence have a hard time dealing with life’s problems. That’s why the ability to keep control of powerful, disruptive feelings is such a crucial aspect of mental discipline.

Whether it’s in sports, career, or another of life’s competitive arenas, mental strength is often more important to success than natural ability. Fortunately, psychological strength is not an innate talent but rather a trait that can be acquired. With the recommendations above, almost everyone should be able to enhance their mental strength.

Tom Popomaronis is a serial entrepreneur, an e-commerce expert, and a proud Baltimore native. He has been recognized for technology and startup leadership by Fast Company, Entrepreneur, The Washington Post, and Forbes. Tom was also named “40 under 40” by the Baltimore Business Journal in 2014.

@tpopomaronis

@Sales_Source

Coaching is more than just giving advice. Use this process to help your team members hone their own behaviour.

Coaching is the process of preparing your employees to succeed.  Good coaches can create the mental resources, emotional resilience, business skills, and career development that employees need to achieve their goals.

Unfortunately, while coaching is a well-established part of the sports world, it’s a neglected art in the world of business. Much of the time, coaching is relegated to a five-minute conversation at the end of a yearly performance review.

There’s a better way to handle business coaching. Try this five-step process, based on a conversation with Linda Richardson, founder of the huge sales training firm Richardson:

1. Ask for a self-assessment.

Ask the employee’s opinion of a recent event (e.g. meeting, interaction, project) in which the employee was involved.  Don’t accept a pat response like, “Uh, it went fine.”  Instead, ask additional questions that help lead employee to discover both the strengths and weaknesses of the employee’s performance. If the employee says something like “You’re the manager, what do you think?” respond with, “I want you think this through, then I’ll give my ideas.”

2. Give balanced feedback.

Start with honest praise for the employee’s strengths and your perspective on how those strengths were an asset during the event in question. Then identify one or two key areas where you feel improvement would have helped the employee’s performance. You’re not providing advice, just identifying areas. It’s important to limit the discussion to one or two areas, by the way – more than that and you’ll be “flooding the engine.”

3. Check for agreement.

Resolve any differences between your understanding of the event and the employee’s perception of the event.  Gain agreement on the area where there was a gap between the employee’s performance and how the employee would have liked to have handled the event.  It’s crucial to come to agreement at this point, because otherwise the subsequent steps will be off-kilter.

4. Identify the obstacle.

Ask the employee to identify the obstacle that he or she feels is keeping him or her from better performance.  Ask what he or she suggests to remove the obstacle, and what might be done to address that aspect.  Then provide your perspective on the obstacle and your ideas to address that obstacle. Decide together what needs to be done in order to improve the performance.

5. Set the next step.

For each obstacle that’s identified, establish an action step with a time frame for follow-

up.  Provide positive input and express confidence in the employee’s ability to succeed.  Then revisit the issue at the agreed-upon time.

According to Linda, this coaching method works for several reasons:

• It reduces the amount of time that the manager must spend coaching.  Because the coaching process addresses only one or two of the most important skill areas, a typical coaching session need take no more than 15 minutes.
• It encourages the employee to become more independent, because the employee gradually learns the self-assessment technique and is more likely to buy into the solution.
• It puts the action items in the hands of the employee, leading your worker to become more independent and more likely to internalize the training into daily habits.
• It strengthens the relationship between the manager and the employee through mutual success, and builds rapport throughout the entire process.
• It provides a structure that’s easily followed and can apply to virtually any business situation or problem.
• It is not confrontational, thereby making it much easier for the manager and employee to participate in the process.

@EntryLevelRebel

A new study finds that great coaches don’t focus on finding and fixing their team’s weaknesses. They do this instead.

Sure, running a business is about maximizing the bottom line, but few entrepreneurs care only about the dollars and cents.  For most, going into work every day is also about making the world a slightly better place and helping your team get better at what they do.

In other words, most business owners aspire to be not just managers but coaches.

How do you learn to be a great coach?

Thinking back to your Little League days or star turn on the girls’ volleyball team in high school may give you some inspiration.  Didn’t the coach point out your weaknesses and provide guidance on how to get better?  Your memory doesn’t fail you–traditionally, coaching has largely been about identifying areas in need of improvement and supporting folks as they work towards better performance.  But according to the latest science, there’s actually a better approach.

Positive vs. Negative

A new study, published in Social Neuroscience, used brain sans to test two different approaches to coaching on a group of undergraduates.  The first approach mirrored traditional coaching, asking students to identify areas in which they might be struggling at school and think about ways to improve.  Coaches asked questions such as: “What challenges have you encountered or do you expect to encounter in your experience here?” and “How are you doing with your courses?”

In contrast to this negative approach, the second group of coaches focused on possibilities and positives, asking the students about their aspirations and urging them to visualize their future goals.  They asked questions such as, “If everything worked out ideally in your life, what would you be doing in 10 years?”  The student volunteers were then run through a functional MRI to examine how their brains responded to the two techniques.

The different types of coaching lit up different areas of the brain, the scientists found, with the positive approach stimulating areas involved in:

• Visual processing, which come online when we imagine future events
• Global processing, or the ability to see the big picture
• Feelings of empathy and emotional safety
• The motivation to proactively pursue big goals rather than simply react to loss or fear

The Takeaway

If you want people to dream big and actually have a shot at reaching their lofty ambitions, the list above would be a pretty good place to start, right?  The researchers thought so too.

“These differences in brain activity led the researchers to conclude that positive coaching effectively activates important neural circuits and stress-reduction systems in the body by encouraging mentees to envision a desired future for themselves,” UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center reports in their write up of the research.

More research needs to be done, and the encouraging effects of a positive coaching style doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no place for the more traditional find-the-problem-and-fix-it approach, but the results should give business owners a nudge towards a positive coaching style.  Why not try spurring your team to dream big, set ambitious goals, and nurture their strengths?

How do you approach coaching your team?

Image designed by Freepik

@WillYakowicz

Studies show that strategic thinking is the most important element of leadership. But how do you instill the trait in others at your company?

What leadership skill do your employees, colleagues, and peers view as the most important for you to have? According Robert Kabacoff, the vice president of research at Management Research Group, a company that creates business assessment tools, it’s the ability to plan strategically.

He has research to back it up: In the Harvard Business Review, he cites a 2013 study by his company in which 97 percent of a group of 10,000 senior executives said strategic thinking is the most critical leadership skill for an organization’s success. In another study, he writes, 60,000 managers and executives in more than 140 countries rated a strategic approach to leadership as more effective than other attributes including innovation, persuasion, communication, and results orientation.

But what’s so great about strategic thinking? Kabacoff says that as a skill, it’s all about being able to see, predict, and plan ahead: “Strategic leaders take a broad, long-range approach to problem-solving and decision-making that involves objective analysis, thinking ahead, and planning.

That means being able to think in multiple time frames, identifying what they are trying to accomplish over time and what has to happen now, in six months, in a year, in three years, to get there,” he writes. “It also means thinking systemically. That is, identifying the impact of their decisions on various segments of the organization–including internal departments, personnel, suppliers, and customers.”

As a leader, you also need to pass strategic thinking to your employees, Kabacoff says. He suggests instilling the skill in your best managers first, and they will help pass it along to other natural leaders within your company’s ranks. Below, read his five tips for how to carry out this process.

Dish Out Information

Kabacoff says that you need to encourage managers to set aside time to thinking strategically until it becomes part of their job. He suggests you provide them with information on your company’s market, industry, customers, competitors, and emerging technologies. “One of the key prerequisites of strategic leadership is having relevant and broad business information that helps leaders elevate their thinking beyond the day-to-day,” he writes.

Create a Mentor Program

Every manager in your company should have a mentor. “One of the most effective ways to develop your strategic skills is to be mentored by someone who is highly strategic,” Kabacoff says. “The ideal mentor is someone who is widely known for his/her ability to keep people focused on strategic objectives and the impact of their actions.”

Create a Philosophy

As the leader, you need to communicate a well-articulated philosophy, a mission statement, and achievable goals throughout your company. “Individuals and groups need to understand the broader organisational strategy in order to stay focused and incorporate it into their own plans and strategies,” Kabacoff writes.

Reward Thinking, Not Reaction

Whenever possible, try to promote foresight and long-term thinking. Kabacoff says you should reward your managers for the “evidence of thinking, not just reacting,” and for “being able to quickly generate several solutions to a given problem and identifying the solution with the greatest long-term benefit for the organisation.”

Ask “Why” and “When”

Kabacoff says you need to promote a “future perspective” in your company. If a manager suggests a course of action, you need to him or her ask two questions: First, what underlying strategic goal does this action serve, and why? And second, what kind of impact will this have on internal and external stakeholders? “Consistently asking these two questions whenever action is considered will go a long way towards developing strategic leaders,” he writes.

@EntryLevelRebel

You might be a frequent flyer, but flight attendants and travel editors are in the air even more than you, and they have tips to make business travel more painless.

If your business compels you to fly frequently you probably already have strategies for packing so as to minimise the hassle of travel. But according to industry insiders such as travel editors and flight attendants, there are probably some professional-grade tricks you’re not yet using.

Never Neglect the Basics

You probably already know this but it’s so essential, it bears repeating.  The team behind travel site Fathom recently called these the golden rules: Carry-on instead of checking so that you can exit the airport immediately after reaching your destination.  Check in online 24 hours before a flight, not only to save time at the airport but also to get a better seat.

Roll, Don’t Fold

To achieve an all carry-on trip, you’ll need to save space.  So how can you get more clothes in your limited luggage and not wind up with creases on arrival?  Forget folding, says a New York Times article rounding up airline staff’s travel tips:

To make room for these new travel necessities, many flight attendants roll their clothes rather than fold them to save space. Nerea Gomez-Cambronero, an attendant with Air Europa Líneas Aéreas in Majorca, Spain, has taught friends and relatives to roll-pack clothes.  “The rolling-your-clothes tip is the basis of my entire company,” said Don Chernoff, an engineer and frequent traveller.  “It’s a more efficient use of the space.”

Even Better, Bag It

If you’re still space challenged even after employing the rolling trick, then Fathom has another idea.  “Air-compression packing bags are miraculous, squeezing air out of clothes, giving you more room in the suitcase.  Giant Ziploc bags work, too.  Just roll them tight,” suggests the post.

Dodge the Liquids Hassle

Under current safety rules, toiletries cause tons of hassle.  “Attempt to bring a large bottle of shampoo or a full-size gel deodorant through the security line and they will likely confiscate your stuff,” SmarterTravel reminds flyers.

The solution, according to Fathom, may seem like a luxury, but the blog claims this technique pays off in the long run: “Give up squeezing your favourite face wash into tiny tubes.  Buying travel-size items of your favourite products — and laundry detergent — and keeping them at the ready in a Ziploc under your sink might seem indulgent, but it will save time, product, frustration, and your skin.”

Take a Cue From Carrie Bradshaw

You may be more of a hoodie and jeans type than a fashionista like the protagonist of Sex and the City, but in the case of packing, take a lesson from Carrie – accessories count, especially shoes.  “Select shoes, then coordinate outfits around them.  Three pairs should be the maximum,” one Los Angeles-based flight attendant told the New York Times.  Save more space, and keep your shoes shaped, by shoving rolled socks inside your selected footwear.

Fathom also agrees that clever accessories are key to packing light (but well), as is thinking through your outfits from top to toes.  “Check that you’ve packed everything you need by mentally dressing yourself from shoes and socks up to goggles and hats,” suggests the site, which also urges business travellers to “pack something small that can make any outfit smarter.  You never know when you’ll need to look sharp.  For men, an uncreasable silk knotted tie. For women, a fancy scarf.”

@talentsmarteq

Failure is an inevitable part of life, but smart people know how to make it work for them.

One of the biggest roadblocks to success is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is worse than failure itself because it condemns you to a life of unrealized potential.

A successful response to failure is all in your approach. In a study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers found that success in the face of failure comes from focusing on results (what you hope to achieve), rather than trying not to fail. While it’s tempting to try and avoid failure, people who do this fail far more often than those who optimistically focus on their goals.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

This sounds rather easy and intuitive, but it’s very hard to do when the consequences of failure are severe. The researchers also found that positive feedback increased people’s chances of success because it fueled the same optimism you experience when focusing solely on your goals.

The people who make history–true innovators–take things a step further and see failure as a mere stepping stone to success. Thomas Edison is a great example. It took him 1,000 tries to develop a light bulb that actually worked. When someone asked him how it felt to fail 1,000 times, he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.

That attitude is what separates the successes from the failures. Thomas Edison isn’t the only one. J. K. Rowling’s manuscript for Harry Potter was only accepted after 12 publishers denied it, and even then she was only paid a nominal advance. Oprah Winfrey lost her job as a Baltimore news anchor for becoming too emotionally involved in her stories, a quality that became her trademark. Henry Ford lost his financial backers twice before he was able to produce a workable prototype of an automobile. The list goes on and on.

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Henry Ford

So, what separates the people who let their failures derail them from those who use failure to their advantage? Some of it comes down to what you do, and the rest comes down to what you think.

The actions you take in the face of failure are critical to your ability to recover from it, and they have huge implications for how others view you and your mistakes. There are five actions you must take when you fail that will enable you to succeed in the future and allow others to see you positively in spite of your failure.

1. Break the bad news yourself.

If you’ve made a mistake, don’t cross your fingers and hope no one will notice, because someone is going to–it’s inevitable. When someone else points out your failure, that one failure turns into two. If you stay quiet, people are going to wonder why you didn’t say something, and they’re likely to attribute this to either cowardice or ignorance.

2. Offer an explanation, but don’t make excuses.

Owning your mistakes can actually enhance your image. It shows confidence, accountability, and integrity. Just be sure to stick to the facts. “We lost the account because I missed the deadline” is a reason. “We lost the account because my dog was sick all weekend and that made me miss the deadline” is an excuse.

3. Have a plan for fixing things.

Owning up to a mistake is one thing, but you can’t end it there. What you do next is critical. Instead of standing there, waiting for someone else to clean up your mess, offer your own solutions. It’s even better if you can tell your boss (or whomever) the specific steps you’ve already taken to get things back on track.

4. Have a plan for prevention.

In addition to having a plan for fixing things, you should also have a plan for how you’ll avoid making the same mistake in the future. That’s the best way to reassure people that good things will come out of your failure.

5. Get back on the horse.

It’s important that you don’t let failure make you timid. That’s a mindset that sucks you in and handicaps you every time you slip up. Take enough time to absorb the lessons of your failure, and as soon as you’ve done that, get right back out there and try again. Waiting only prolongs bad feelings and increases the chance that you’ll lose your nerve.

Your attitude when facing failure is just as important as the actions you take. Using failure to your advantage requires resilience and mental strength, both hallmarks of emotional intelligence. When you fail, there are three attitudes you want to maintain.

6. Perspective is the most important factor in handling failure.

People who are skilledat rebounding after failure are more likely to blame the failure on something they did–the wrong course of action or a specific oversight–rather than something they are. People who are bad at handling failure tend to blame failure on their laziness, lack of intelligence, or some other personal quality, which implies that they had no control over the situation. That makes them more likely to avoid future risk-taking.

7. Optimism.

Another characteristic of people who bounce back from failure. One British study of 576 serial entrepreneurs found they were much more likely to expect success than entrepreneurs who gave up after their first failure. That sense of optimism is what keeps people from feeling like failure is a permanent condition. Instead, they tend to see each failure as a building block to their ultimate success because of the learning it provides.

8. Persistence.

Optimism is a feeling of positivity; persistence is what you do with it. It’s optimism in action. When everybody else says, “Enough is enough” and decides to quit and go home, persistent people shake off those failures and keep going. Persistent people are special because their optimism never dies. This makes them great at rising from failure.

Bringing It All Together

Failure is a product of your perspective. What one person considers a crushing defeat another sees as a minor setback. The beauty is that you can change how you see failure so that you can use it to better yourself.

How do you handle failure? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/1sRwsaq.

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@MindaZetlin

It doesn’t matter what sort of personality you have. What matters is that you do these four things–really well.

Can leadership qualities be measured? It turns out the answer is yes. Robert Mann, author of “The Measure of a Leader,” has spent the last 43 years developing leadership appraisal tools. Originally created to help the Ontario school system to train principals, his methods can help any leader identify weaknesses and strengths.

When he started his research, Mann says, he expected to identify personality traits of good leaders. It turned out, leaders’ personalities vary widely but, he says, whatever their persona, there are specific behaviors that will make a leader effective. The good news is that you can learn these behaviors, or help an employee with leadership ambitions learn them:

1.     Good leaders have a mission and inspire others to join them.

“What is the organization’s purpose?” Mann asks. “You must be able to understand that and communicate it to a group of people such that they will commit themselves to it. And you have to have a strategy for them  for them to follow to achieve that mission.”

2.     Good leaders create strong organisations.

“The leader has to have a good grasp of what the company is organized to do,” he says. “What’s the most efficient way of producing what it’s organized for?” This is important because the leader needs to understand and manage not only the mission but also the structure of the organization, with sub-leaders who are also important to the company achieving its goals.

3.     Good leaders have strong interpersonal skills.

“Interpersonal behavior will very strongly affect how people feel about the organization’s goals, and whether working toward those goals is worthwhile,” Mann says.

4.     Good leaders are good motivators.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone loves them. “Some leaders rely on the exercise of power–coersion–to motivate employees,” Mann says. A second way to motivate is by the exercise of authority granted to a leader who’s proved superior ability or skill or commitment. “A third way to motivate is with charisma, so that people are drawn to the leader.”

Most good leaders use all three forms of motivation, he adds. “But there’s usually one that dominates. The interesting thing is it doesn’t seem to matter which.” Different situations call for different forms of motivation, he says. “You have to adapt your performance to the culture of your organization.”

@salubriousdish

You’re not going to succeed at business without doing market research. How else are you going to find out if there will be any kind of demand for your idea, who will want to buy it, the size of the market not to mention how you’re positioned relative to competitors?

The good news is that gauging customer sentiment doesn’t need to be expensive. That’s according to Adam Rossow, partner with iModerate, a Denver-based qualitative research firm which has conducted more than 250,000 one-on-one conversations with client customers in the 11 years the company has been around.

1. Turn industry events into a research venue.

The trade shows and conferences your company attends every year are an opportunity to talk with your target audience. Find out who will be attending and schedule times to get face-to-face with these people, if even for a few minutes.

2. Use a text analytics tool to study the wealth of information you’re already getting from customers.

This software can be rudimentary or complex–anything from a word cloud generator to an enterprise solution. It works by uploading customer feedback from various sources–social media mentions, call center feedback or survey data, for example–and looking for themes. “A lot of companies are drowning in consumer commentary, but are not taking advantage of it,” he says. “So if you don’t have anyone looking at all the commentary already in your feeds, put someone on it and give them a text analytics tool.”

3. Collaborate with other companies to glean insights about consumer sentiment.

It can even be competitors, as long as you’re comfortable with the fact that everyone involved will be getting the same insights. For example, a company in the media entertainment industry that wants to know how audiences are consuming TV could team with one or more of the television networks. “If you really need that research and can’t afford it you can team up with other like-minded companies in the field to try and get at it,” he says.

4. Use social media to crowdsource your research.

Use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn to ask simple questions of your fan base. “NPR puts questions on its Facebook page or tweets them out and gets answers that way,” he says. “It’s not going to be the most robust research, but depending on your objectives, the level of bias that you’re OK with, and if it’s the right audience, it’s a good way to get simple questions answered.”

5. A/B test your messages.

Whether it’s an email, digital ad or tagline, test the waters with a couple of versions to see which ones are getting the most engagement and click-throughs. “The downside is you might not really know the motivations and the reasoning behind why one message is doing better than the others, but at least you can [understand] which is the best performing,” he says.

6. Become involved in an industry association.

These kinds of memberships often offer access to copious amounts of research. “There is often a ton of stuff there you can get your hands on that can answer some pretty general questions about the marketplace and where the industry is going,” he says.

7. Use DIY tools.

SurveyMonkey and GutCheck are a couple to check out. “The one thing that I’d caution against is launching those things without having any idea how to ask the proper question and what kind of methodology that’s called for,” he says.

8. Log all your customer input.

Any kind of feedback you’re getting from customers–whether in person, through your call center or via social networks–should be captured. You can’t study customer problems, habits and lifestyles if you don’t harvest and store that information.

9. Start small.

You don’t need to talk to thousands of people if 20 or 30 will give you a good idea what direction to head.

10. Find what’s already out there.

You may be surprised what you can learn by searching the internet for studies that have already been conducted. For example, a wealth of data exists on Millennials regarding how they like to be engaged, what social networks they use and more. While the research you find may not be specific to your industry, you’re wasting money if you’re asking questions that have already been answered.

“You want to use research to either confirm a hypothesis or to get to a new place, where it’s true insight and your company takes away something new that you didn’t know before,” he says.

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This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/21keCca.

@jaredhecht

Inaccurate bookkeeping–whether your books are simply out of date or in total disarray–will cost you plenty in the long run. Here are some of the expensive dangers of bad bookkeeping.

You’re a busy business owner. There are so many tasks and clients clamoring for your attention all day long that bookkeeping is probably the last thing on your mind. And as stacks of invoices, expense receipts, and other paperwork pile up, it gets ever more tempting to tell yourself you’ll deal with them tomorrow…or next week…or next month.

Small business owners frequently hope to save on costs by going the DIY route for bookkeeping rather than hiring a professional bookkeeper. That’s all well and good provided you have the time and the know-how to keep accurate records. But inaccurate bookkeeping–whether your books are simply out of date or in total disarray–will cost you plenty in the long run. Here are some of the expensive dangers of bad bookkeeping.

Obscures the Big Picture

Your books provide a snapshot of your company’s financial viability. Without good records, that snapshot will be out of focus. Inaccurate bookkeeping results in inaccurate reports about your cash flow.

Your business may be struggling financially, but without a paper trail, you won’t be able to clearly see what’s causing the problem. Worse, you may not be able to tell that there is a problem.

Causes Costly Mistakes

Miscalculating profits or costs due to bad bookkeeping can be disastrous. Overestimating your profits when filing taxes needlessly increases your taxes owed, while underestimating them can lead to an audit and fines. Miscategorizing assets (for instance, long-term assets that depreciate over time) and expenses can lead to your paying more in taxes than you need to.

Even a small error can snowball over time if it’s not caught early. If you’re not regularly reconciling your books with your bank statement, this type of innocent mistake may go unnoticed until it causes significant damage to your finances.

Increases Your Chances of Being Audited (and Tax Penalties)

Filing taxes late or having exemptions, expenses, or deductions that don’t add up raises red flags with the IRS [tax authorities]–leaving you vulnerable to an audit. “Even if you have all your ducks in order and can defend your deductions and support your income, the process is still time-consuming, costly, and nerve-wracking,” says Bonnie Lee. How much more unpleasant will an audit be if your ducks are not in a row? And then there’s the matter of any irregularities an audit may turn up, and the penalties that go with them.

Minimizes Your Tax Deductions

You have to document expenses to claim them when you file your taxes, right? Misplaced or overlooked receipts prevent you from being able to claim expenses as write-offs. And without accurate books, your accountant won’t be able to spot every deduction you are eligible for. Make sure you are getting every tax advantage you deserve.

Leads to Payroll Problems

Just as with any other aspect of your finances, payroll is affected by inaccurate records. You may be over- or under-compensating employees on their paychecks or with benefits, and not even know it. And an error that carries over to an employee’s W-2 [wage/remuneration records] from your own records causes tax problems for them as well.

Increases Your Invoicing Cycle

Without accurate records, you won’t be able to keep straight who owes you what–which means it will take you longer to organize and send invoices. And the longer it takes you to invoice outstanding accounts and get paid, the longer you’ll go without those funds. Or you may overlook sending an invoice at all, and never receive payment. Cleaning up your books will help you speed up and streamline your invoicing so that you can get paid in a timely fashion.

Racks Up Late and Overdraft Fees

Falling behind on your bookkeeping makes it easy to fall behind on bills as well. The Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman estimates that hiring a bookkeeper to keep his records in order saves his company “$500 to $1,000 in late fees per quarter.” Likewise, inaccurate books may result in overdrafting accounts and all the related fees.

How much could your business be saving on fees? (That’s a trick question–how would you know how much you’re currently losing in late fees without accurate books?)

Limits Your Financing Options

Messy books can seriously limit your options for getting loans. Ami Kassar tells the story of a client in a bind who needed money fast. But due to his six-months-out-of-date books, the best he was eligible for was a cash advance.

Small business owners who need a loan–particularly in an emergency–may find themselves in a similar situation without accurate, up-to-date financial records. Don’t let bad bookkeeping stand in the way of loan opportunities.

Is Expensive and Time-Consuming to Fix

Once your books are a mess, they will take money and time (lots of each) to get in order. It’s a hole that’s difficult to dig out of–but absolutely necessary. You’ll need to hire a bookkeeper just to make sense of your current records and to set you up with a system for the future, regardless of whether they take over your bookkeeping long-term.

If your books are chaotic, or if you see that you’re consistently falling behind on your record-keeping, it’s time to bring in a professional bookkeeper to help safeguard your business from these pitfalls.

Your financial records should guide all of your business decisions, such as when to hire more staff, seek a loan, or invest in equipment or inventory. But your decisions will only be as good as the information you have.

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This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/217p1eK.

@michaelalter

Here’s how you can determine what type of fit is most needed to successfully move your company forward.

Fit is by far the number one criterion to use when hiring for your team. More times than I would like to admit in my career, I’ve “fallen in love” with a candidate on paper and hired them quickly to avoid the pain of not having their skill set in the company. More often than not, it ends up not working. It’s not because they didn’t have the skills to do the job, but rather they were not the right fit for our company culture.

At The Tie Bar we like to focus on cultural fit before we ever dig into someone’s skills or abilities. We’ve even developed a set of common criteria to draw from when interviewing a candidate to test for cultural fit. Things like brand curiosity, possessing an ownership mentality, being a team player, and willingness to take calculated risk are all attributes I weigh potential hires against. As a result we’ve passed on a number of candidates who possess the right skills and abilities but we felt were just not a match with our environment. It doesn’t mean they’re not a good worker or bad people, just that they would possibly be unhappy or not fit well within our company.

Once you have a qualified candidate and know they would be a good fit, you have to determine whether you want to hire leaning more towards their ability or more towards their skills. You will find that the decision to lean more towards skills or ability is situational. I always rely more on current skills when we need results and/or change quickly-particularly when a department or area is under intense pressure to perform. In these situations you should choose skills over ability, as you don’t really have time to allow them to develop what you need. For example, if you have a department that is experiencing accelerated volume, is underperforming, or has high staff turnover, you need to make sure your new hire has the skills on day one to tackle the situation at hand.

Conversely, if that same department finds itself functioning at an acceptable level, you can afford to bring in someone with a broader scope of abilities. One who is capable of growing into a bigger role than the current one you are hiring. Someone with a “longer runway” if you will, since you have the luxury of time for them to get up to speed and learn the skills specific to their new role. This is a way to grow the depth of your management team without having to hire more staff than you currently need.

We all know that in the “ideal world” you would hire someone with the right fit, who possesses both the skills and ability to handle the job today, tomorrow, and moving forward. But in the real world, running a business requires making choices based on the needs of today weighed against the available talent pool. You need to fill your needed roles, sometimes faster than others, so we must make trade-offs between choosing someone with the right skills today versus the ability to do the role and much more in the future.

Just make sure that as you balance these two factors you consider cultural fit first and foremost. If not, in my experience, you will be settling and likely disappointed in the long-term. Think back on the employees that have not been successful in your company and ask yourself why was that? How many of them were not successful because they didn’t fit versus they did not have the abilities or skills to do the job? I’d be willing to bet that fit was the problem, or a major part of the problem, in most if not all cases.

This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/1RI61um.

@BizzWriter

Marketing and public relations are vital to growing a business and to sustaining its profitability over the long term. Without either, your firm can quickly disappear from the public consciousness, and your sales and profits can plummet.

Not everyone can afford to hire a PR firm, but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop relationships with important influencers, generate more awareness about your company, and stand out from the crowd. The truth is that you can–and in very cost-effective fashion.

I recently asked Amanda Van Nuys–vice president at the Bateman Group, an agency that integrates PR, social media, content marketing, and analytics–for her advice on how anyone can do PR like a pro. Here’s what she told me.

1. Identify what makes your story remarkable

Interesting stories will always be the currency of effective public relations programs. The trick is figuring out what about your company will most likely appeal to journalistic instincts: Do you have an unusual founding story? Do you have a truly innovative, externally validated product? How do you fit into the larger market landscape, and what makes you different from everyone else?

2. Define a brand voice

Before you start your PR and social media engines, consider the tone and voice of your brand. Think of your brand as if it’s a person. Is it irreverent? Thoughtful? Funny? Friendly? Formal? Decide on a voice and stick to it so your customers and fans know what to expect when they engage with you. By clearly articulating a brand voice, people get a sense of what your company stands for–beyond your products or services–and can develop an authentic connection with you.

3. Ask your customers to the party

It’s one thing to say that your company has created value for customers, but it’s quite another thing when your customer says it. Make sure to mention the possibility of future PR opportunities early on in the relationship (even bake it into your contract), and then do everything you can to make and keep a customer happy. Once a customer is willing to talk to the media and value has been realized–especially when the return on investment can be quantified–then you have a great story hook that reporters love.

4. Make data your best friend

Reporters and influencers love data, particularly if it makes a counterintuitive or surprising point. If you have the opportunity to do a survey or glean data in other ways, then use it to your advantage, as Bateman Group recently did for client Animoto. You can use stats to validate a market shift, emerging trend, or changing buyer sentiment. Once you have data, repackage it into an infographic or other visual content, which generally gets high social shares.

5. Focus on reporters that matter

It’s often said that if you can influence the top 10 voices in a given market, they’ll influence everyone else. Identify the reporters or bloggers who will make a difference for your business. Follow them on Twitter, read the articles they write and share, and understand what they consider newsworthy. Reach out in a targeted, personalized way to start a meaningful conversation.

6. Be social for an hour each day

If you’re going to engage with customers, prospects, and reporters on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media, then dedicate at least an hour in your day for social time. Post timely and thoughtful content, acknowledge comments, and be responsive to questions. Start conversations with your content and social posts rather than just broadcasting your opinions.

7. Follow and DM reporters on Twitter

We’re all bombarded with emails, and who has the time to check voice mail anymore? Sometimes the most effective way to reach a reporter is to direct message (DM) him or her on Twitter. Many reporters have their eyes on Twitter all day long looking for breaking news. If they’re active on Twitter, engage them there.

8. Make LinkedIn your new publishing platform

LinkedIn is becoming the place for executives and thought leaders to post their professional content. If you post something on your blog or write a contributed article, then repost the same content on your personal profile and your company’s LinkedIn profile. Write a catchy headline and use a friendly tone, focusing on helpful, relevant content–practical tips and tricks work particularly well. This is a great way to build credibility with customers, prospects, and reporters.

9. Ask employees to help spread the word

Consider every employee at your company an ambassador for your brand. Set some basic professional ground rules, and then encourage your team to spread the word about an article featuring your company, or a LinkedIn post that you’ve published. Beyond creating internal enthusiasm, it’s an easy way to amplify your PR success and help reel in new business or top talent.

This article originally appeared on Inc.com – to view the original article visit http://eur.pe/1B1XNq6.

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@LeeColan

For any leader, passion is the key to success. Here’s how to turn inspiration into action while pursuing your goals.

Passion is not just the way to happiness–it’s also the fuel that ignites success.  Having passion for a particular goal, whether personal or professional, provides the energy and motivation to take the actions necessary to achieve that goal.  It’s the intangible component that explains why some people and teams are better able to stick with their plans and achieve greater levels of success.

Here are eight strategies that the highest-performing leaders use to get the most from themselves and others.

1. Give passion to get passion

Think about how you respond to others.  Are your responses filled with enthusiasm or are they flat and lifeless?  The level of your energy will be reflected back to you–it’s your boomerang to the world.

2. Value your values.

Just as important as what you do is how you do it.  Living and working in alignment with your values reflects your passion as a person.  Living your values also engenders the respect and commitment of others, who will see you as a leader of integrity.

3. Communicate with your community.

The word “communication” comes from the Latin root meaning “community.”  The best leaders surround themselves with others who share their motivation.  Stay connected with your community to find support, to learn, to teach and to remain energised to stick with it.

4. Listen to Yoda.

In the words of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”  If you are nervous that your plan won’t work, you might find yourself saying, “Okay, I’ll try to do it.”  You are laying the foundation for being unsuccessful from the beginning by giving yourself a way out.  Yoda’s adage is a passionate reminder that life rewards those who let their actions rise above their excuses.

5. Be still.

Start each day in quiet meditation or prayer.  Refresh your mind and refocus your heart on what you are passionate about.  Concentrate on one new thing you can do that day to deepen your passion and make progress toward your goal … even if it’s something you don’t like to do.  Your passion helps you endure those daily disciplines that build the foundation of your success.

6. Enjoy the journey.

If it’s only about achieving the goal, you are likely to lose steam along the way.  Take time to be a human being, not just a human doing.  Although high-achieving leaders have a laser-like focus, they also relish being in the moment.  My favourite poem says it best: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift … that’s why we call it the Present.”

7. Imagine the future.

Visualize the things you will be able to do once you have achieved your goal.  Does it feel freeing? What will you be able to do with your precious resources of time, money and energy?  This exercise is particularly helpful when you feel the flame of your passion barely flickering.

8. Serve others.

Use your passion to inspire others.  After all, great leadership is about others, not about you.  Be ready to turn your passion into an example to encourage those around you to pursue their own goals.  A true passion, like love, is limitless … so share it.

@awesomeroar

Are you ready to start the New Year? Here are three critical acts you should do this week to prepare.

The New Year is here and offers the promise of great things to come and there’s always time to get ready for the 2014 adventure ahead.

Here are three actions critical to a promising new beginning.

1. Reflect

Many people will push right into the New Year with no respect or consideration for the last 365 days.  No doubt, victories were had, mistakes were made, relationships came and went and, most importantly, lessons were learned.  Take time to consciously reflect upon the major incidents of 2013.  Ask yourself the following questions:

• What did I do to most contribute to my successes?
• What did I do to most contribute to my failures?
• What would I do differently given the same set of circumstances?
• Who were the people worthy of my time and effort?
• With whom did I spend time where I received no value?
• In what ways did I not measure up to my potential?
• What will I most fondly remember about 2013?
• For what will I be rightly proud?

2. Repent

Nobody is perfect.  Most try their best to be useful, pleasant and to contribute in a positive way.  But we are all human beings, and with humanity come failings, flaws, selfishness, greed and discontent.  The New Year is a time to recognise our shortcomings and acknowledge our own accountability in the parts of our experience that leave us unsatisfied and unkind to those around us.  Ask yourself the following questions and take appropriate action.

• What are the areas I need to improve?
• Who have I hurt and how can I rectify the situation?
• Who and what are truly important and worthy of my dedicated attention in 2014?

3. Renew

Clearing your mind and heart of weight helps give you energy and allows you to focus on the path ahead.  This is the time to make commitments you will keep.  No empty promises.  Be the person you truly wish to be and let this be the year you begin that journey.  My own journey has brought great joy and gratification from the many people around me who continue to inspire and amaze me.  Go into this New Year with hope and wonder.   Ask these questions of the world:

• Who will be my inspiration this year?
• What new adventures are ahead?
• Where are the new lessons to learn?
• How will I be able to contribute in a significant manner?