Nevada Best Kept Secret: #1 in Crime

05 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Crime, Crisis Management, Ethics, Government, History, Politics, Pride, Print Media, Public Relations, Rotary, Taxes, Traditional Media, Travel, Violence in the Workplace, Women

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Article first published as
Nevada #1 Crime Rate Not Acknowledged
on Technorati

On a late October morning a Wal-Mart employee was ‘disgruntled’ and he decides it’s time to take action. He smuggles a gun into the store and buys ammunition for it in the Sporting Goods department. He then goes to the restroom where he hides in the handicapped stall mulling his decision. He makes a final commitment to confront his bosses and leaves the restroom, straight toward the manager’s office. Once there he confronts the manager, the one he likes, and, at gunpoint, orders him to call two other managers to the office. When they arrive they find an angry man with a gun. At some point the three managers make a run for it and all three are shot. All three live, but their lives will never be the same.

Last week’s shooting of three managers in a Wal-Mart in Reno (Nevada, USA) should not be surprising in a State that has the worst crime rate in the United States. Nevada has been ranked as the Most Dangerous State for the last four years (2006-09) by Morgan Quitno’s (morganquitno.com) annual crime rate report.

Nevada’s Crime Story

Nevada ranks #1 in women being killed by men (1)
Nevada ranks #1 in stolen cars per capita (2)
Nevada ranks #1 in robbery per capita (2)
Nevada ranks in the top 10 for assaults per capita for the last 4 years (3)
Nevada ranks in the top 10 for forcible rape per capita for the last 4 years (3)

What is a surprise is the deafening silence about the State’s notorious ranking by local media. The top 50 hits of a Google search of ‘Nevada High Crime Rate News Media’ offer no mention of the issue among the State’s primary television and print media resources. It also was not an issue discussed in most of the major political contests this year despite the fact that Nevada’s #1 status in unemployment, foreclosures, and bankruptcies were all fodder for candidate mud-slinging.

It should be noted that Nevada’s crime rankings are not an artifact of the 2007-09 Recession. The State has been a leader in crime independent of the economic environment. It is unknown if Nevada’s out of control crime issues are effecting tourism because for over half a decade the State has experienced a steady decline in gaming revenues because of increased competition due to Indian gaming in California and other States. Any impact of Nevada’s high crime reputation would be masked by the larger trend; however, as there seems to be little awareness of the State’s crime issues, it is unlikely that it has had an impact…yet.

Nevada’s gaming industry would likely suffer more revenue losses if the crime woes were widely publicized and lower gaming revenues would have a trickle down effect on newspaper and television advertising revenue but, there is no evidence that the local media intentionally avoids the subject to risk offending their advertisers. Gaming also plays a significant role in Nevada politics but, there is no evidence that politicians avoid discussing the issue for fear of offending potential major contributors to their campaigns.

However, the lack of discussion seems to only be feeding the problem. If any effort is being made to turn around Nevada’s position as the Most Dangerous State it is being done without fanfare ….and without success.

NOTES:
(1) – Statistic for 2008 (from crimeinamerica.net)
(2) – Statistic for 2009 – #2 in 2005-08 (from disastercenter.com)
(3) – Statistic for 2006-09 (from disastercenter.com)

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A Question of Ethics

02 Tuesday Nov 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, History, Honor, Human Resources, Management Practices, Passionate People, Pride, Public Relations, Relationships, Respect, Rotary

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Business ethics have waxed and waned over the centuries, but recently we have observed a severe lack of ethical conduct on a large-scale in recent years. The most recent world-wide economic crisis was triggered by years of unethical business practices that nearly put the United States in its first depression in almost a century. In hindsight the questionable business practices were often created by a subtle system of pressuring employees to take actions that were demanded by executives and managers in order to improve earnings for stockholders. This type of ethical dilemma often leaves no one person to blame, and even those involved sometimes do not realize that they are participating in inappropriate and/or unethical acts.

I have been caught in ethical dilemmas that created a moral challenge for me and in one situation I lost a stream of revenue in a seemingly no win scenario.

For a time I assisted a seminar speaker who was considered to be an expert in his field. He hired me to participate in group activities during his seminars. Occasionally, he would ask me to update or write scenarios for his seminars. In one case I based the scenario on someone I knew, but I added the possibility of suicide. The scenario was also combined with a possibility of doing harm to someone else. We used the scenario in one of his seminars and it went very well.

Bigger horns make the bull seem smaller...just like some consultants

A few weeks later we used the same scenario, with minor revisions, with another client. Interestingly enough, the night before the seminar, the speaker told me that someone else had just written the scenario. However, when I read it I realized that it was the same one I had written for him a few weeks earlier. When I mentioned to him that I was familiar with this scenario and tactfully reminded him that I had been the original author he quickly acknowledged it and moved on.

The next day exercise went well and afterward the participants were given the opportunity to discuss the activity. Participants began asking him about what happened in real life to this person. Instead of explaining that this was a fictional scenario based on a combination of multiple real situations, the speaker began explaining that in the real life situation that the person did indeed kill himself. He continued to answer more questions that were also fabrications, but passed off as his ‘research’. Afterwards I did not mention anything to him about his handling of the post-activity questions. He was hiring me to assist him, not criticize him and so I did not pursue it with him.

He had already hired me to work with two more clients in the next few weeks and at both he insisted that I stay out of the room, except during the group activity. He stressed that it was not good for his clients to ‘get to know me’ too well. He also did not schedule me for any more work with his clients.

Later I tried to understand what I might have done to cause an abrupt end to our relationship. He and his clients raved about my work. I then realized that the sudden changes occurred after I witnessed his unethical handling of questions in the previous seminar. Apparently it had a significant impact on him that I observed his breach of trust with his client and that earned me a permanent seat on the bench.

Perhaps I should have confronted him, but I think that would have just made him mad, with the same result. It was a good lesson: A lack of ethics by one person…sucks.

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HR/Security Hot Topic: Should you watch your employee’s personal Internet activities? (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.)

28 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Consulting, Crisis Management, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, Government Regulation, Honor, Human Resources, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Pride, Privacy, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Recreation, Relationships, Respect, Rotary, SEO, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Violence in the Workplace, Website

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

One of the hottest topics in the world of employment is whether or not an employer should monitor his or her Internet activities. This is a subject I’ve written about before, but it is an issue that is still emerging and has yet to have any significant case-law to provide guidance to employers.

It is well-known that a large number of employers perform a ‘Google’ search on the Internet before they hire an applicant, but now companies are feeling the need to continue to monitor an employee’s Internet activities after hire. Many experts, especially those involved in employee liability prevention support an employer’s right to monitor an employee’s Internet activities even when those activities occur off-duty and offsite. The logic is that it is prudent to aware of anything an employee might say or do that could embarrass the employer, or any indication that the employee might take an action that might involve the company and its facilities.

These are rational arguments, but I believe that monitoring an employee’s activities is opening the door to bigger liability issues. Sound odd? Here’s the scenario I see happening in three Acts.

Should the Employer be Big Brother?

Act One: A busy-body employer or manager casually checks his or her employee’s Facebook, MySpace, and/or Twitter accounts. The employer might even do a Google search on an employee from time to time. When the employer or manager finds something that they see as objectionable they confront the guilty employee and take the proper action. It becomes known throughout the company (and the employee’s family) that the employer monitors its employee’s personal Internet activity.

Act Two: An employee has been reprimanded for content they have posted on the Internet. Six months later the same employee posts information on the Internet that he is considering suicide and describes in detail how he is going to kill himself. Two weeks later the employee carries out the suicide as described. The family is aware the employer monitors the employee’s Internet activity and sues the employer claiming that the employer should have reasonably been aware of the planned suicide and taken action.

Act Three: Companies find themselves with two polar opposite choices. Either the company does not monitor their employee’s Internet activities or the company assigns resources to constantly monitor the Internet on every employee to insure they capture any relevant data for which the company should take action.

I was trained in Human Resources under the policy that what the employee did on her or his own time was off-limits to the employer unless it had a direct impact the job performance. That policy has had to be adjusted in a world where work and off-duty time can often be hard to differentiate, and where drug testing, researching credit scores and background checks have become standard operating procedure for many companies. However, an employee’s personal Internet activities is almost impossible to track in a society that is increasing involved in hours of daily online social networking. The question is whether an employer wants to be liable for monitoring its employees 24/7/365 and being held responsible for taking the appropriate action, or whether the employer would be better served by not being sucked into liability issues that can be avoided by simply not playing the role of Big Brother ?

I know which strategy I would recommend to my clients.

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Rotary@105: 7 Relationship types that affect membership retention (Part II)

27 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, Honor, Human Resources, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Pride, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Women

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

NOTE: This article is a secondary article to
Relationships Typing: 3 factors that the affect quality and depth of friendship

As mentioned in the first part of this article, I have defined three factors that seem to determine the quality of my relationships. 1) Trust, 2) Common Interests and/or Experiences, 3) Equality.

By using a 21-point scale to rate each factor in various relationship types we can see how Trust (or the lack of), Common Interests and/or Experiences (or the lack of), and Equality (or the lack of) define the relationship. Below are seven types of benchmark relationships and how they might affect membership retention in a Rotary club.

Too much friendship?

The Star
We all have people who we look up to, but there are just a few people that we put on a pedestal. I see the Star relationship as one where the trust level is relatively high (+7 on a scale of -10 to +10) as well as the common interest level (+8 on a scale of -10 to +10), but we feel inferior (a -9 on a scale of -10 to +10) to this person. In this relationship the depth and quality of the relationship is usually shallow. These people are not close friends, but rather an admired acquaintance. A new member in a Rotary club might see the Club President as the Star.

The Mentor
The Mentor is a different version of the Star. The difference is that we trust the Mentor implicitly (+10) and we have a strong common interest (+9); however, we see ourselves as inferior (-6) to our Mentor. The Mentor has achieved a level of success that we hope reach and our relationship is based on a mutual effort to gain an equal level of success in the future. I think it is a mistake to believe that a Mentor relationship can be imposed. The only successful Mentor relationships I have observed are those that have occurred by a mutual agreement of both parties. In over nine years in Rotary have witnessed few successful Mentor relationships. When it does happen it is a win-win situation for both members, but the Mentor must be highly skilled and/or knowledgeable, a passionate person, and a great trainer. In addition, the ‘trainee’ must recognize the Mentor’s superior knowledge and have a desire to learn from him or her. If not, the relationship will fail.

A Partnership is not necessarily a friendship

The Partner
I see the Partner as a relationship seeking mutual benefit for both people, but without the level of trust of a Mentor relationship. In a Partner relationship the trust is conditional (0, not + or -) and the two people usually see the other as his or her equal (0) or at least they have something of value that balances the relationship, but the common interest is high (+9). I would consider the Partner relationship to be a symbiotic or co-dependent relationship and while the relationship may seem to be a strong bond, the slightest feeling of inequality or betrayal can end the relationship. In Part I of this series I mentioned that the employer/employee relationship might be a partnership, but I also believe that some marriages can start out, or devolve into Partner type relationships. In a Rotary club a member who has established mostly Partner relationships with other members is likely to have no deep attachment to the club and likely to leave.

The Friend
Of all relationships, I think a Friend is the hardest to achieve. A quality friendship involves a high level of trust (+9) and a significant level of common interests and/or experiences (+6), but also a genuine feeling of equality (0) must exist. The trust and equality factors for a friendship are difficult for most people to offer to another person. It is a special relationship and one to be highly valued, but once achieved it is a strong bond that lasts over time and distance. If every member were to have only one other true ‘Friend’ in his or her club most members would never consider leaving.

The Rival or Competitor
A rival is a relationship, even though we usually don’t think of it as one. It is a relationship based on mistrust (-8) of another person and somewhat ironically, a relationship that includes a high level of common interests (+8). I think that while we may feel we are superior to our rival that the truth is that we are afraid that we are not, thus I give an equality rating of (+3) to a Rival relationship. The Rival relationship is one of the worst possible relationships that could develop in a Rotary club. Sooner or later the club is going to be drawn into the conflict or one or more members will leave because of it. Ironically, it is the high level of common interest that seems to set up the Rival/Competitor situation. Without the envy or jealousy caused by the common interest both people would probably ignore each other.

Common Interest can enhance a relationship, or create conflict

The Subordinate or Submissive
Note that with the Subordinate relationship I am talking about someone who sees another person as their subordinate or submissive. This can be an employer/employee type relationship, but it is any relationship where a person sees him/herself as superior (+10) to another person. The trust level is relatively high (+5) as the person with the bigger ego expects the subordinate to obey their wishes and typically there is somewhat of a common interest (+3), but not necessarily a significant level of commonality. The big problem I have seen with this type of relationship is that the target of this attitude may not feel that they should be the subordinate. In a Rotary club it is surprising easy for a club leader to see other club members as their subordinate. Nothing creates a false sense of power like a title and in a volunteer organization titles are meant to assign responsibility, not authority, but not everyone understands that concept.

The Alien or Blank
It seems somewhat pointless to talk about the lack of a relationship as a type of relationship, but the I find it interesting to understand that some people just don’t show up on our relationship radar even though we may see them on a regular basis. I didn’t fully understand this until I was in Rotary, but after a few years in a club you learn the some people can disappear in plain sight. I feel the lack of a relationship, when there realistically should be is a type of relationship and I refer to it as an Alien or Blank relationship.

The quality of Friendship
I would not argue the point that it takes two to make or break a relationship; however, I would argue that the quality and depth of any relationship is determined largely by our own attitudes, in concert with the way the other person treats us. Understanding the factors that influence a relationship is the first step to making positive changes. In a Rotary club, failing to recognize that not all relationships are constructive can have major consequences on membership retention.

In Part I of this series I talked about a facilitator at a meeting who didn’t want to dilute his ‘friendships’ with people in the Social Media. My response to him is this: friendship is more about what we bring to the table and not the method of connection. The Social Media is not a threat to good friendships, just a different way to engage in them.

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Relationship Typing: 3 factors that affect quality and depth of friendship (Part I)

27 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Employee Retention, Ethics, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Relationships, Respect, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Several weeks ago I was at a Rotary District Leadership training meeting and I made a comment that the Social Media tools like Facebook and Twitter allow us to have more friends and more connections to other people. I was shocked into silence when one of the facilitators said that he didn’t want that. He explained that his friends were those very close, very special people that he choose to be friends with, and that he didn’t want to dilute his social circle with people from the Social Media.

It was an interesting point and it caused me to start thinking about the quality and depth of the relationships of the people around me. In several decades of business, procurement of two bachelor’s degrees, and almost a decade in Rotary I have learned that not everyone is my ‘friend’ even though I may have frequent contact with them. All of us have people who are important to us and we all have people who we just don’t like, but until now I hadn’t focused on the factors that seem to define my relationships.

Understanding what shapes my attitude is a significant step towards taking an active role in building better and less conflictive relationships with the people around me. For this reason I wanted to explore what determines what type of relationship we have with another person.

I have come up with three factors that seem to determine the quality of my relationships. 1) Trust, 2) Common Interests and/or Experiences, 3) Equality.

Trust, Common Interest, and Equality

The trust factor seems obvious, but I find this to be a complex issue. Trust can be absolute, non-existent, or conditional. For example, I would propose that many employer/employee relationships are based on a conditional trust where both parties are on the constant guard of the other person betraying his or her trust.

The common interest and/or experiences factor may also seem obvious; however, sometimes common interests or experiences can create feelings of jealousy, envy, rivalry, or disgust. Just because two people have a lot in common doesn’t result in a bond of appreciation.

The final factor is not as obvious. My experience is that the level of equality felt by a person is a significant factor in determining the quality and depth of a relationship. In an organization of volunteers like a Rotary club we often mistakenly believe that everyone is equal, but my experience has been that the relationships that form in a typical Rotary club are often shaped, at least in part, by one person’s feeling of superiority over another.

Using these three factors I have been able to better define the quality and depth of my relationships. Because each of these factors have a positive and negative component, I use an 21-point scale (-10, -9, -8, … -1, 0, +1, … +8, +9, +10) to score their significance. For example a Relationship Type might be low in trust (-7), high in common interest (+8), and neutral in equality (0). While all relationships reflect a continuum of these factors I have defined seven benchmark relationship types and have scored each factor on the 21-point scale.

In part two of this article I will define the seven relationship types and their scoring. I also will discuss how the relationship type might impact membership retention in a Rotary club.

Click on the link below for the continuing article
Rotary@105: Relationship types affect membership retention

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Starbucks is Re-Imagining the business…again

22 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Tom Peters, Traditional Media, Travel, Website, Women

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

This week Starbucks continued to add value to its stores and more Re-Imagining seems to be in the forecast. A few months ago Starbucks did the smart move of offering free WiFi for everyone (see article below) and on Wednesday they took it one step farther with a Digital Starbucks that features free web content if you sign on to their WiFi service while you’re in the store.

(Free WiFi at Starbucks)

Now when you use the free WiFi service in any Starbucks you can also read a digital version of the day’s Wall Street Journal, New York Times, or the USA Today. The New York Times requires software download of a reader, but the USA Today loads up its own reader and retains the exact look of the paper copy. The site also includes Yahoo! news and GOOD content.

In addition to news, the Digital Starbucks offers access to a selection of entertainment, wellness, business/career, and local online resources. There is also a page to access most of the functions found on the Starbucks website. It seems apparent that Starbucks has teamed with AT&T, the WSJ, NYT, USA Today, and several others to offer this value-added service. Recently all Starbucks stores received new labeled newspaper stands with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today in the top three shelves with the local paper given the bottom shelf. In my October tour of stores in Houston, Boston, Denver, and Reno I have seen more papers sold out than I have ever seen at a Starbucks store. Obviously the collaboration is a win-win.

A screen shot of the DG Wellness page

While some information has been sent out regarding the new online features most people have not caught on to the major remake of the log-in page and the new free media resources. That will change over time and I expect Starbucks will see a positive increase in store traffic as customers become aware of what they can access for free at their local store. I have already noticed high occupancy of the key ‘power’ tables (tables next to a power outlet) in almost every store I’ve visited since the free WiFi service started on July 1st.

Starbucks After Hours
The value-added virtual Starbucks is small change compared to what may be coming to some Starbucks locations. As reported in this Monday’s USA Today, the company has been testing wine and beer service at a Seattle location. The three-month remodel of a standard store resulted in a cafe-type look and feel, moving away from the glorified fast food feel of most coffee houses. The move is designed to generate more late day revenue when coffee sales die down. There is little doubt that local bars may find a Starbucks too much to compete with as it creates a middle ground for those like getting out in the evening, but seek a relaxed atmosphere free of loud music and single men on the hunt.

While I remained concerned that Starbucks is allowing accountants have too much say in store operations, I have to congratulate them on bringing value-added service and innovative ideas into the forefront. The winner is the customer … the only person that matters.

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Dear Teresa Laraba, SVP of Southwest Airlines Customer Service

20 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Pride, Public Relations, Relationships, Respect, Travel

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Teresa Laraba
Senior Vice President Customer Services
Southwest Airlines

Dear Teresa:

Last Friday I felt betrayed by Southwest Airlines and while the outcome of the event was not horrible, the stress it caused me has profoundly effected the trust I place in your airline. I also felt that some of your key people failed in their duty toward customer service.

I have been on 28 Southwest flights since the beginning of August and the one that was the longest was last Friday’s flight from Boston to Reno. I was on the flight for almost eight hours. I knew it was going to be a long flight, but I always pay for Early Bird boarding so that I can get a window seat and settle in. I have relied on this service to make the ‘open seating’ policy less of an ordeal, especially on long, full flights where the last to board are the Big Losers who have to sit in the middle seat.

The Boarding Pass of Shame

The day started out stressful as a major storm hit the northeast and I had to drive through heavy rain, in the dark to get to the airport. After getting to the airport, gassing up the car, and turning it in, I took a sigh of relief as I went to get my boarding pass. I had early boarding, which was critical on a flight that would be five minutes short of 8 hours on the same plane. I finally found the TSA line and as I stood there I looked to see where I would be in the ‘A’ Boarding Group. I was shocked to see that I was in the ‘B’ Boarding Group, and that I was at the end of the ‘B’ Group.

I got through the security line and went to the Gate Counter. I asked the gate agent at the counter, (who seemed like she was in a bad mood at 6:30 AM in the morning,) if this was a mistake. She said that there was a ‘computer glitch’* and that all Early Boarding passengers lost their Early Boarding status. She told me I would be refunded $10.

(DEFINITION: Computer Glitch – One of our computer programmers applied a change to the system that screwed everything up, and while it was human caused, we’re going to make it sound like a mechanical problem, so we don’t have to take responsibility for the error and actually do something to make it right.)

Southwest Airlines doesn’t seem to understand that when you fail to do what you promise, giving back the money you took in exchange for that promise is not making it right. Giving money back for a service not performed is what you are legally obligated to do, it’s not doing me a favor. It is essentially saying, “We’re not going to try to screw you out of your money for our failure to do our job.”…thanks a lot.

So I was going to sit in the middle seat for an eight-hour flight because Southwest screwed up and that was your ‘best’ customer service response. I complained further and the gate agent reluctantly said she would let me board at the end of the ‘A’ group. That was a good half measure at a solution, but I still don’t know why she didn’t offer it when she first admitted the error.

I was still frustrated so I called your Customer Service line. I was met with the same cold, uncaring, “..we’ve had a computer glitch and you’ll be refunded your $10.” When I told her that I was going to be stuck on the same plane for eight hours she acted like she didn’t believe me. I then helped her with the math and explained the three time zones we would be crossing, to which she said, “Oh, yes, that is eight hours.” In her defense she did suggest that I could talk to the gate agent, but I had already done that with little results.

I’ve flown SWA a lot recently, and I’ve come to trust the Early Bird boarding system. I used to try to pull my boarding pass at 24 hours before boarding in order to get a decent seat with limited success. The Early Bird boarding option has made all the hours in a loud aluminum tube where I have no rights, no say, and no real food, … bearable. BUT, on the longest flight of 29 (tomorrow is #29), the system failed me…big time. What I’ve learned from this not only is the Early Bird boarding system unreliable, that when there is a problem, Southwest does not, 1) recognize the significance, or attempts to minimize the problem, and 2) offers no reasonable solution unless you really complain.

I do have three positive experiences to report that kept this flight from being a disaster. First, I was able to get a window seat and that kept me from going over the edge. Second, another SWA employee, (Mark, I think) who actually loaded the passengers on the plane, recognized that the loss of the Early Bird boarding passes was a major problem. He made it clear that anyone with Early Bird boarding would be allowed on the plane at the end of the ‘A’ Group. He admitted that it was a big problem and he apologized several times for it.

That was it! Admitting it was a major problem, apologizing for it, and then attempting to make it right was the key to showing that someone cared. The gate agent and the phone ‘customer service’ showed a lack sympathy or concern. Your ‘customer service’ staff has become too good at minimizing the problem and being ‘professional’ by not caring.

The third positive came from the flight deck. We boarded the plane to sit there for an hour so someone (a professional mechanic) could come and tape up an exit sign that was hanging down. However, the pilot (possibly the co-pilot) came out and personally explained, multiple times what was going on and during the flight he came out and walked the plane explaining where we were in the flight. He cared enough to show his face and give us the news, bad and good.

I don’t understand why your customer service staff is so uncaring, leaving the rest of the employees at SWA to pick up their slack? I will likely continue to fly SWA because we really don’t have a choice anymore, but I will go back to pulling my boarding passes 24 hours in advance, even with my Early Bird boarding fee, just because I can’t trust your system to do what it supposed to do, and because when it fails, your CS staff could care less.

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What I’m Not Buying This Year

13 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, History, Honor, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Politics, Pride, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Respect, Rotary, Taxes, The Tipping Point, US History

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Tis the season and there are a lot of political candidates out there selling their version of what is wrong with this country/state/county/city and how they are going to fix what ails us. This year is different from most because it seems that a lynch mob has taken over a prominent role in politics and like most lynch mobs they don’t need facts, they just need someone to be angry at and someone to blame.

It would be easy to label the people behind this political lynch mob as ‘stupid’, but that is probably overly harsh. These people are driven by emotions, not a lack of intelligence, so stupid is not the correct term. I prefer to describe the lynch mob as people who have a Lack Of Critical Observation Skills (LoCOS for short.) This year the LoCOS are trying to sell a lot of garbage and I’m not buying it. For example:

Nevada: The best at doing it wrong

LoCOS: Lower taxes will improve the economy
To the LoCOS who are selling the load I have one word. Nevada. Nevada has no Income tax. Nevada has no Capital Gains tax. Nevada has no Corporate tax. Nevada has no Inventory tax. Even conservative business groups rate Nevada as one of the most ‘business-friendly’ states. Nevada is to business what the Bunny Ranch was to male ego.

According the LoCOS argument, Nevada should be awash in new business. Nevada’s economy should be booming. Nevada should be the poster child of the low tax concept.

The fact is that the State exposes the Lo Tax/Mo Biz as a myth. Nevada is Number ONE in unemployment (2nd place Florida is over a full point better than the Silver State.) Nevada is Number ONE in crime. Nevada is Number ONE in housing foreclosures. Nevada is consistently among the lowest in unbiased education rankings. Nevada is proof that lower taxes does not make for a better economy.

(Article: Nevada’s State of Disaster)

LoCOS: Business is better at running our government
Let’s remember that it wasn’t government that put us in a recession but business…BAD business. Government was an enabler, in that it stopped regulating and monitoring the unbridled greed of the incestuous investor-run business world, but at the end of the day it was business people who made all the decisions. The corporate executives chose to ignore the obvious result that would happen from their greed and dove head on into unethical practices that doomed our economy.

Greed is inherent in business. Greed is why business exists. There is no ‘care for fellow citizen’ in the business world. Business is based on competition, winners and losers, and often the losers are not the weakest, but rather loser’s are the one’s with morals. Business only keeps to a moral compass when there is an unbiased arbiter oversees its activities. That is the role of government.

This year we are seeing the perversion of investor-run business with clearer eyes. The Chamber of Commerce has abandoned their mission of promoting good business in the community in favor of attacking local governments and promoting only those candidates that will remove the protections for honest business and our citizens. It is ironic that anyone would suggest that business, with its greed-driven motives and proven track record of unethical practices, should replace good government.

Don’t get me wrong, a strong economy needs good, healthy businesses, but good, healthy businesses need a strong government to create and monitor the rules for which guide and protect all. The leap of logic of the LoCOS, that our government should be run as a business, is as absurd as saying that FIFA needs fewer referees on the soccer field.

LoCOS: The trillion-dollar debt is bad
The LoCOS must have Alzheimer’s.

I’m not in favor of a large deficit, especially when it involves sending US dollars to finance the destruction of another country …. but I’m really not in favor of is a Depression. That is what we faced in early 2009. Business had raped our economy through outrageous, unregulated practices and we were on the brink of an abyss that had no bottom. Again, business, not government caused our economy to fail. Initially, our country let big banks suffer the consequences of what they had done, but it quickly became apparent that what was about to happen was the massive collapse of the entire economic system, which would have forced the United States government to take over the day-to-day operations of almost all of our major financial institutions.

Cheney's Folly: The start of our debt problems

The alternative to a nuclear meltdown of our economy was to lend money to those institutions, help initiate controlled purchases of ailing banks, and invest government money in key assistance programs. Was it a bailout? Yes, but it was investing, not buying, which meant we would get the money back in almost every case.

The government also invested money in the mismanaged auto industry that, if not preserved, would have sent us into Depression-era unemployment overnight. Yes, it increased our nation’s debt. A debt that had gone from surplus in President Clinton’s years, to a deficit under George Bush. It would have been better if we had not spent so much money on Cheney’s overseas folly and already been in the hole when the house of cards of bad business fell, but there was no choice. The decisions made in late 2008 and early 2009 were necessary and save our country from disaster.

Have we recovered? No. But the LoCOS rage over a big deficit is being driven and financed by the major corporations that would prefer the citizen forget what really happened. I wish business hadn’t forced us to use trillions of taxpayer’s dollar to remedy their greed, but we had no choice.

LoCOS: Government is bad
Government is really, really good providing it is run by reasonable people who truly care for the citizens … all the citizens. There is one difference between civilization and anarchy and that is government. Every time I hear the LoCOS point out an example of bad government I can think of a hundred ways that government has made our country great. I mentioned to a person that the airlines need to be regulated again and they pointed out how, under government regulation, an airline was forced to maintain a route to a small city that was not profitable. Yes, that is tough, but what about the scores of lucrative routes that government regulation handed that same airline on a silver platter? I’m really weary of the single exceptions to how great government has been in making this the strongest country in the history of the world. Single exceptions do not make an argument for destroying our country.

Government is the foundation of our society and the only people who don’t benefit from a strong government are the greedy and unethical. When we were in school we would have rather had no teachers telling us what to do, but that wouldn’t have made our education better. It’s time we stopped making the argument of a 5th grader…and time we started respecting what a blessing it is to have a government that keeps our society from devolving into anarchy.

The Face of the LoCO People

LoCOS: Electing stupid people is smart
This one mystifies me. A candidate from any other party would be laughed out of politics for saying or doing something stupid and yet candidates for the LoCOS wear their stupidity like a new hat. LoCOS candidates are avoiding the media, saying one thing, then changing their story. They scream about illegal aliens and how they are destroying our country, then it’s revealed they were employing them. They dress in Nazi uniforms. They steal other people’s work and claim it as their own. They take campaign money and pay their personal bills with it. They have to explain to people why they are not a witch. They threaten violence on people, yell about almost anything, deceive, and often outright lie…and the LoCOS cheer on.

I know that the quality of candidates of the LoCOS is a reflection of the lack of respect they have for our country and government, but isn’t prima facie evidence that the LoCOS can’t really be trying to improve our country when they are represented by the worst of the worst?

LoCO S: Illegal aliens (=Hispanics) are destroying this country
First, let’s remember that a major portion of the United States (California, Nevada, Utah, southwestern Wyoming, western Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas belonged to Mexico until the mid-1800’s. We took the land from them at gunpoint and paid fifty cents on the dollar for the land. I could make a strong argument that Mexican nationals are not really the illegal aliens in Alta California, Nuevo Mexico, and Tejas, but I will let that dog rest.

(Article: America’s Hostile Takeover of Mexico)

Regardless of the history of Mexico and the United States, the fact is that a typical tactic of a lynch mob is to find a symbol (person or group) that has little or no opportunity to defend themselves and present them as evil. This is a tactic used by the KKK, the Nazis, and every ultra-right wing, nationalistic, racist group. It doesn’t matter of whether the targeted group is guilty of anything, just that they, or no one else, is able or willing to stand up and challenge the accusations. Mexican immigrants are the perfect target for a group like the LoCOS.

The facts are that:

Most Mexican undocumented immigrants lead quiet, peaceful, law-abiding lives in the United States (a fact that the LoCOS lie about)
Mexican undocumented immigrants are working jobs that no American citizen wants to do
That the United States is the primary enabler of the drug wars in Mexico (we buy the product and sell them the arms)
Mexican undocumented immigrants can’t file for Income Tax refunds (which most would get if they were citizens) so the United States collects and keeps all the money deducted from their pay.

But according to the LoCOS, they are pure evil and responsible for our all our economic and societal ills. In Arizona, a sheriff’s deputy called that he was under attack by Mexican drug smugglers and was shot. He became the hero of the LoCOS.

Deputy Puroll's wound

Despite a massive effort, no drug smugglers were found. Now it turns out that the wound was from a bullet fired at close range (not from 25 yards as he claimed) and likely self-inflicted. Almost no one questioned the story of the deputy at the time, despite the inconsistencies in his account. Why should they, blame it on the Mexicans. Naturally, the story has to be true!

To me, the whole issue of ‘illegal aliens’ is a tornado in search of a trailer park. The damning terminology, the use of single examples, and falsified facts all indicate that the LoCOS need to create a threat and it the Muslims are too far away to pick on so the target is Mexican nationals.

The New Testament of the Bible has clear instructions on how a Christian is behave. Jesus said to love thy neighbor as thyself. The Apostle Paul says, “…as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another..” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). The LoCOS often boast of their devotion to Christ and then desecrate his teachings by their un-Christian attitude towards those of Hispanic descent.

I’m not buying it.

LoCOS: Threatening our government and the electorate with armed rebellion
Several members of the LoCOS, including LoCOS candidates have indicated that ‘some people’ may be mad enough at our government to invoke ‘their Second Amendment Rights’. I don’t care how you say it, to suggest that some people are going to take up arms against their fellow citizens (if the LoCOS don’t get their way) is wrong. In this country we vote, and we don’t take up arms to enforce the LoCOS will on the majority. Anyone who suggests this is a threat to our Constitution and to this country. Mad or not, there is a line that cannot be crossed over.

I know that everything I said here will not make any difference to the LoCOS. In fact, they will be outraged that I spoke out against their unbridled illogical arguments. You can’t reason with a lynch mob. But sometime in the future we will all look back on this and say, “What were the LoCOS thinking?” The problem is that they are not.

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Richmond Embassy Suites: The best at true Hospitality!

01 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Pride, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Recreation, Relationships, Respect, Rotary, Rotary@105, The Tipping Point, Tom Peters, Travel, Women

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

In August I stayed in hotels in seven different cities (Dallas, TX; Bloomington, IL; Chicago,IL; Minneapolis, MN; Norfolk, VA; Richmond, VA; and Virginia Beach, VA..) In a previous post I expressed my displeasure with pay-for-Internet at the Millennium Hotel* in Minneapolis, which was slightly unfair as the hotel was a pleasant, although completely expected, experience. As a people warehouse the Millennium Hotel fits the mold that is typical of most business traveler-type hotels. However, out of the seven hotels of which I was a guest, there was one that made a big impression on me, the Embassy Suites in Richmond, Virginia.

(*Millennium Hotel: Go Away)

The main entrance the Embassy Suites in Richmond

The Embassy Suites hotel in Richmond, Virginia is not a flashy, Vegas-type hotel. From the outside it is a modern, yet modest building tucked back from busy streets; however, access to the Interstate is nearby. Like many hotels it is surrounded by a massive asphalt parking lot; however, the entrance is behind a landscaped island of trees. The great thing about the foliage is that it creates the sense from the outside that this hotel is not just a people warehouse like so many others.

After entering the hotel one doesn’t have to hunt for the Registration Desk as it is positioned in such a way that it oversees the entrance area, but it doesn’t intrude into the path of a guest walking to their room from the parking lot.

The Inner Courtyard

The striking feature of the hotel is the inner courtyard. I have seen this design before, but it was a refreshing change from institutional interior designs of most people warehouses. The open interior gives a community feel to the hotel rather than the impression that you just walked into a U-Store-It facility, as is the feel of most hotels. The interior landscaping and flowing water features create a tropical environment. This hotel was number six for me during my August travels and it was a refreshing change from the five previous corporate institutions of I had visited.

My room was also vastly different from my previous guest experiences. This was a true ‘suite’ and not just a room with a bed. There was a clearly defined living space with a television, desk, couch, and bar area. The bedroom was in the rear of the suite with a door that would allow privacy if two people were in the room and one wanted to watch television or work while the other one slept. The bedroom had a counter with running water and its own television. The bathroom was in the transition area between the living room and the bedroom offering easy access from both rooms. The entire suite is a brilliant design.

Of course the Internet was free (my minimum requirement) and I had no problems making a connection. If needed, I could have easily made the suite my home base. It is a comfortable living and working environment. I would have had no concerns about hosting small meetings in my room. I had everything I needed except for my Starbucks Chai Tea.

The Embassy Suite's Dining/Reception Area

One of my issues with most hotels is the assumption that people don’t want to interact with other people when they stay in a hotel. I’m as reclusive as most, but to visit a city and never come out of my hotel room is what creates that ‘warehouse feeling’.

At the Richmond Embassy Suites the open feel of the courtyard was put to good use by encouraging guests to congregate twice a day for a free manager’s reception each evening and free breakfast each morning. The reception offered adult and non-alcoholic beverages along with a variety of choices of snack items (hors devours.) The breakfast was as good or better than the breakfasts I’ve eaten at eaten at most Sunrise Rotary Clubs. Those who have eaten a breakfast at a Rotary Club may think that may not be saying much, but I typically pay $14 to $15 to eat a Rotary breakfast and this was free. The free gatherings were the most ‘value-added’ service I have experienced in a hotel.

From the few interactions I had with the hotel staff it was obvious that the Chief Executive of this property, Kathleen Lyons, and her staff understood the meaning of the word ‘guest’. I was always treated with respect and a smile. It was apparent that they were pleased that I choose their hotel over the other options in Richmond.

Giving great customer service is not that mysterious, but it requires that everyone from the bottom (no offense intended, Ms. Lyons, but in my world that means you) up to the top (the maintenance and housekeeping staff) must enjoy what they do and enjoy working with people. It was clear that the Embassy Suites in Richmond is not run by ‘management’, but managed through leadership. Bravo to Ms. Lyons and her team!

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Nevada: State of Disaster

30 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Crisis Management, Ethics, Government, Higher Education, History, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Pride, Public Relations, Random, Respect, Rotary, The Tipping Point, US History

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Among our Country’s 50 States, Nevada has been imploding for several years and is on the brink of complete collapse. Nevada ranks:

1st in Unemployment at 14.4% (over a point higher than the next highest State)
1st in Foreclosures (1 in 84 homes)
1st in Crime (2009 – CQ Press)
44th in 8th Grade Math Scores (2009)
48th in 8th Grade Reading Scores (2009)
49th Smartest State (2004, 2005, and 2007 – based on 21 factors)
45th Healthiest State (2009 – United Health Foundation)

Nevada has managed to take advantage of traditional and non-traditional industries to keep its economy viable, but it has typically been dependent on easily exploited, non-competitive markets (gaming, quickie marriage, quickie divorce, and …quickies.) Unfortunately, in the past decade the strategy of taking advantage of human vices and lusts has failed as other States have decided they’re not as moral as they thought. As one might expect, Nevada’s government has been as precariously designed on a Natural Law type framework where accommodation of business needs supersede governing for and by the people.

Clouds on the Nevada horizon

As the statistics show, all that has now caught up with the Silver State and the result is a failing, under-funded, dysfunctional society that is so deep in a hole that they can’t see the way out. But to understand Nevada, a person needs to understand the history of a State that had a premature birth and since then it has behaved like the bastard child of our Country.

Nevada’s Sordid History
Nevada was founded in 1864, not because it met the minimum requirements for Statehood, but because of a marriage of convenience when; 1) President Abe Lincoln needed more political support and, 2) the residents were trying to rid themselves of Mormon control.

The re-election of Abe Lincoln eight days after Nevada became a State was not a coincidence as the political powers in Nevada openly favored President Lincoln. By giving Nevada Statehood, President Lincoln was assured that his Administration would maintain control as the Civil War reached a crucial stage in the last year of the conflict.

Nevada's State Flag

At the same time, many of the residents of the region were motivated by a distaste for the governance by the Utah Territory authorities as it was being handled by the Church of Latter-Day Saints where all positions were filled by faithful Mormons. Fortunately for the soon-to-be Nevadans, the Church was not in good graces with the U.S. Government and the Mormon Rebellion in 1857-8 (a saber rattling affair) led to the Mormons retreating back into the Salt Lake area, leaving the door open for residents to split off the western two-thirds of existing State as the Nevada Territory. They then pursued Statehood ensure a local government free of Mormon domination.

Although initially rejected, Nevada’s application for Statehood became seductive to the Republicans who sought to outmaneuver political opponents in Washington, D.C. Thus, Nevada’s motto, “Battle Born” is probably more reflective of the political games of the time, rather than the State’s birth during the Civil War.

Open For Business
Though it is the nation’s 7th largest State by area, it is in the bottom third of the Country as measured by population. Eighty-five percent of Nevada’s 2.5 million people live in either Las Vegas or Reno and only 14% of the residents were born in the State.

Because Nevada’s population has always been small and transient, it has been easy for the State government to be controlled by business interests. In the early years mining, ranching, and railroad interests heavily influenced the government and while Railroad owner’s power has faded, the gaming industry has stepped in to take their place.

One example of how the State has been run by and for business men is John Sparks, for which Reno’s sister city is named. John Sparks was a shrewd, unethical man who purchased small parcels of land in Eastern Nevada around water sources and then denied access to other ranchers. In this way he could use public land for grazing his cattle but prevent other ranchers from having access to water for their cattle. He and a partner eventually became mega-land owners through shady manipulation of Homesteading laws.

Although he lost most of his wealth when his company’s cattle died in a severe winter near the end of the 19th Century, he was elected Governor in 1902. In political office he became the darling of the Railroad owners who gave him free train travel from his home south of Reno to his office in Carson City. Governor Sparks political legacy is measured by the favorable railroad legislation produced during his administration. In 1905, the City of Sparks was founded soon after his death and to this day associates itself with its ‘railroad heritage’.

The Road Not Taken

The mining industry has the longest association of political clout with the State and even today enjoys an unusually favorable tax status in Nevada as they pay taxes on net profit. Because the taxes are calculated on net instead of gross profit, the mining corporations can avoid paying taxes in years of high revenue by spending more money on equipment and services. Much of the money spent goes to companies outside the State, leaving the Silver State holding the bag, not the money. Mining companies have major lobbying forces in Nevada that not only promotes their interests with State legislators, but also have been rumored to aggressively go after citizens and groups who oppose their favored tax status.

How favorable is Nevada’s mining tax status? This year mining is projected to contribute on 1.4% of the State’s revenue. That is roughly equal to the total tax paid for renting a car in Nevada OR the tax paid on liquor purchases. It is half the tax collected on cigarette and tobacco sales. Mining is a $1.5 Billion dollar industry in Nevada and contributes one of the smallest portions to the States revenue, but is voraciously defended by senior legislators of both parties at both the State and Federal levels.

In the last half of the 20th Century, gaming interests have assumed a share of influence as almost 25% of the State’s budget is financed by gaming taxes. Because of the massive lobbying efforts of mining, gaming, and Chamber of Commerce groups, the State government is run predominantly by and for conservative business interests. Nevada is ranked as one of the top business-friendly States and is a safe haven for wealthy individuals and corporations who seek to take advantage of Nevada’s lack of corporate, inventory, income and capital gains taxes.

The Failed Argument
Conservatives across the nation have suggested that taxes are killing the free market and all economic ills would disappear if not for the evil of a government-created fair playing field. That argument is proven wrong in Nevada. Despite the State’s business-friendly environment, it has the highest jobless rate in America and businesses are not thriving, but dying. There is no spin anyone can put on Nevada’s grand experiment. Government is not the source of our economic ills.

In a recent political debate in California, the Republican candidate for Governor argued that businesses were leaving California because of more favorable business environments in neighboring western States. She even went so far as to name them. Ironically, the one State she couldn’t add to her list, Nevada, has a more favorable businesses environment than any of the State’s named. If her argument were true, why aren’t businesses flocking to Nevada?

The Disaster Brewing for Decades
Politicians have known for decades that the economy of the Nevada was unsustainable and that economic disaster is a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’. Dependence on only a few industries for the State’s economy has always kept Nevada vulnerable to significant changes in economic and/or business conditions. For years, Nevada’s main source of tourism and gaming revenue have been consistently in decline because of California Indian gaming.

2010 Projected Nevada Tax Revenue

Over reliance on the gaming tax revenue coupled with the lack of traditional tax revenue sources like income taxes have pushed the State to make up for it by having among the highest sales and gasoline taxes in the nation. The lack of corporate and capital gains taxes on wealthier tax payers has pushed the burden on those who are least able to pay.

Epic Failed State
Last year, like many States, Nevada felt the crushing blow of the 2007-09 Recession. Massive cuts (Higher Education was presented with a 36% cut in the Governor’s budget) and a few minor tax increases made it possible for the 2009 Legislature to finalize a budget. But in 2011, the well is dry. No one can predict how the politicians will come up with a budget, but with the Tea Party’s domination of Nevada politics and a hysteria over cutting taxes that don’t even exist it is obvious that any solution will involve gutting programs and shredding the State’s infrastructure. As Nevada is already No. 1 in crime, unemployment, and foreclosures, the continued devolution of the State’s government will mean we can only watch the situation go from worst to Epic Fail.

Poor Role Models: Governor's Dinner in Washington, D.C. - image thanks to 8NewsNow.com

Political Wackos Rule
A rational person would probably look at the current situation in Nevada and determine that this would be the time to find people of high moral character and great thinkers to take control of the crisis. This would also the time to capitalize on those people who are in positions to use their influence and power to act on behalf of the State at all levels of government. Unfortunately, a lynch-mob mentality has besieged the electorate and a blood-hunt by the national Republican Party has poured millions of dollars in an effort that will eviscerate Nevada’s voice in American politics.

There is little reason to believe that anything can prevent Nevada from an economic meltdown along with a catastrophic failure of government infrastructure. The cities and counties will experience the full brunt of the disaster as the Nevada constitution prohibits Home Rule, which means that they cannot take independent action to preserve themselves by isolating and controlling their revenue sources.

There is one positive aspect of this situation. As the nation works to recover from the Recession of 2007-09, every other State in the nation will be able to say, “Well, at least we’re not Nevada.”

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What most non-Rotarians don’t know about Rotary

28 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Pride, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Most non-Rotarians have little background information on Rotary and when we try to explain what Rotary is about we usually discuss the aspects of Rotary for which we are most familiar. Often a Club will become involved in eight to ten programs or projects each year and Club members know and understand those programs but may be unaware of how many programs Rotary offers at a District level.

Each District has a menu of support services and program opportunities for its Clubs. The goal is to assist and improve Club operations as well as help develop effective local, regional, and international programs and projects. Each of the over 500 Rotary Districts are supported by a staff of Rotarian volunteers to assist in the formation and maintenance of each project or program.

The unique aspect of Rotary is that a single member typically initiates her or his Club’s participation in a new project or program, so a new member can often take the lead in expanding the service opportunities in her or his Club, while also becoming connected to the Club through involvement. When talking to a potential member, every Rotarian should remember that a non-Rotarian might be the person to ignite a new fire in the Club.

The scope of Rotary
In any given year our Rotary District (5190) there are typically almost 150 District positions staffed by volunteer Rotarians representing many clubs. Among the positions are:

A District 5190 Leadership Meeting

15 Current or Future District Governors and Assistant District Governors assisting the Clubs
2 District Officers (Secretary and Treasurer)
41 District Project and Program Committee Chairs including
- Membership
  - Development
  - Extension
- Clean Water
- Health & Hunger
- Literacy
- Community Service
- International Service
  - World Community Service
  - Partners and Projects
- Vocational Service
  - Ethics Project
  - Speech Contest
  - Music Contest
- Youth Services
  - Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
  - Interact Clubs (Ages 12 to 18)
  - Rotaract Clubs (Ages 18 to 30)
  - Rotary Youth Exchange Program (including Safety, Orientation, and Procedure Training)
  - New Generations Exchange
- Club Administration
  - Club Awards Program
  - Newsletter Editor
  - Visioning Team
  - Rotary Academy
- Public Relations
- Rotary Foundation
  - Annual Giving
  - Ambassadorial Scholarships
  - Peace Fellowship
  - Foundation Alumni
  - Major Donors/Permanent Fund
  - Paul Harris Society
  - Group Study Exchange
  - Polio Eradication
  - District Simplified Grants
- District Assembly
- District Webmaster
- District Directory
- District Conference
- District Nominating Committee
- District Finance Committee
80 (approximately) additional Club and District support positions and/or committee members

Each of the functions listed above may have multiple sub-functions, projects, and/or programs. The scope of Rotary is larger than most Rotarians realize, but non-Rotarians also have little, if any, understanding of the dynamic projects and programs that operate under the banner that is Rotary. Our 105 year-old organization has developed highly effective programs that are led by passionate volunteers who invest their time, money, and energy at the Club and District level. The Club and its members are the center of the Rotary universe, but our universe extends far beyond the Club. Rotarians and non-Rotarians should understand the full extend of our organization’s capabilities of service to the Club and to Humankind.

For more information about Rotary visit www.Rotary.org

For more information on Rotary District 5190 programs go to www.RotaryDistrict5190.org

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Thank you, Mr. President

23 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Ethics, Government, History, Honor, Lessons of Life, Pride, Public Relations, Relationships, Respect, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Traditional Media, US History

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Blogging, Blogs, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, Group Behavior, Jed Bartlet, Loyalty, Lynch Mob, Management Practices, Office of the President, President, President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, Public Image, Public Relations, Rotary, Thank you, The West Wing, United States of America

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

I happened to catch a West Wing episode while traveling this week, which was one of my favorite television shows. One of the things that I liked about the series is that when a character spoke to the President, no matter what happened in the discussion, before the person left they always said, “Thank you, Mr. President.” It reinforced the respect for the office and for our Country. Regardless of how the person felt about the Jed Bartlet or what he said, they still respected the office of the most powerful leader in the world. It was a fictional show with fictional characters, and yet the concept of respect of our Country’s leader is fundamental to our Great Society…fiction or not.

Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet (image thanks to CNN.com)

Today we have some who people have forgotten that part of their citizenship because they have shown disrespect to the Office of the President of the United States of America. This includes people who should understand respect (e.g.; some military and former military), but who show a complete lack of respect, disgust even, for our President. You can debate ideas, you can have contrary opinions, but the moment you speak ill of, forward an email, or in any way promote the idea that our President isn’t really worthy of respect, you have crossed the line. Those who have gone so far as to make up falsehoods (e.g.; he is not a citizen, Christian, etc.) are violating a sacred duty as a citizen of our Country to honor the Office of the President of the United States.

The lack of respect boils down to a few who are: 1) either completely ignorant and don’t care, or 2) intentionally attempting to deceive others for their own purposes. This type of behavior is common for a lynch mob consisting of people who are focused on satisfying their own lust for power. Lynch mobs don’t need facts or reason, because they are driven by emotions. They are the most gullible of all humans and they don’t regain their common sense until they have done something horrible. We have come to a point in our Country where people have to choose whether they wish to be decent citizens who respect our Country and value truth, or become part of the lynch mob driven by lust and hate.

President Barack Obama and the Oval Office (image thanks to acclaimimages.com

If I had been given an opportunity to have an audience with President George W. Bush when he was in office I would have still been proud to say, “Thank you, Mr. President,” when he was done with our conversation…even though I strongly disagreed with many of his policies. Respect for the Office of President isn’t governed by the political whim of the day, but by our love for our Country and all who live in it.

For me, it would be an honor to be in the same room as President Obama, let alone speak to him. In fact, my bucket list would include having the opportunity to stand with him in the Oval Office and at the conclusion be able to say,

Thank you, Mr. President.

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Rotary@105: Making Rotary Sexy

20 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, History, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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2008 Rotary Focus Group Study, bad behavior, Blogging, Blogs, Club Members, Executive Management, History of Rotary, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Paul Harris, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Rotary District 5190, Rotary International, Social Media, Social Networking, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - Rotary Public Relations Chair - District 5190

In 2008, Rotary International did a focus group study to discover the perception of non-Rotarians about our organization. It was an eye opener. In order to avoid a conditioned or biased response to the questions the participants of the study were unaware of who funded the study . While no cities in the United States of America were included in the focus group study, it is the best information we have to date about the Public Image (what other people think) of Rotary. At the risk of airing dirty laundry, here’s what we learned:

Study Finding:
People are very cautious about ‘volunteering’

“In most cases individuals are inclined to volunteer, however they are very intent on maintaining enough ‘personal’ time, and they do not consider humanitarian efforts or volunteering as something for which they would give up their ‘personal’ time.”

What may look like fun to some may be scary to others

This is important to note because most Rotarians often remark that ‘giving back’ and ‘service’ is one of the reasons they belong to Rotary, and we tend to readily share with prospective members that volunteering is one of the positive aspects of joining a club. However, this seems to be something we LEARN AFTER we become Rotarians. By approaching potential members with an emphasis on volunteering, we may be dissuading, not persuading them.

We have to remember that all Rotarians usually pick the volunteer activities in which they participate based on their passion for the need. While ‘Service Above Self’ is our motto, the magic of Rotary is that most clubs offer a wide variety of projects and programs, which allow the individual member to choose how and where to invest their time, money, and/or energy. This makes volunteerism a rewarding experience, rather than an obligation. My experience is that every successful new project or program has had a single member who was passionate about the need and was able to excite the other members to join in. The great feeling we have about volunteering is something we learn by experiencing.

Study Finding:

Mistrust of Large Organizations

“An issue that came up in all three regions was the mistrust or skepticism towards large organizational structures …. Respondents also noted that there is a tendency to view smaller organizations as more effective in getting things accomplished at the local level.”

This finding is what caused me to start using the phrase, “All Public Relations is local.” A big billboard about Rotary International will not be as effective as a one license plate holder driving around town on the back of a member’s car. The face of Rotary is and always been the face of our members and those who benefit from our projects and programs at the local level. This is not to minimize the value of our regional and international involvement, but when talking to someone who might be interested in Rotary, they want to know about the club, not the mega-organization.

Study Finding:

Rotary’s Public Image

How Rotary is perceived: “business men, elite, secretive, older, wealthy, largely based on formal rules, inflexible, not sure that women are allowed into local clubs, associated with Free Masons, not ‘trendy’, not ‘sexy’.”

Every time I have presented these findings to Rotarians I have had some uncomfortable laughter, some squirming in the seats, and/or a small gasp. Deep down we know that these perceptions are valid. While we often become blind to the Public Image of our club, by visiting another Rotary club that is more than ten years old we often see how someone could have the perceptions listed above.

I have observed members in some clubs behaving in ways that would not normally be acceptable in a public environment. Professionalism sometimes gives way to fraternity-type behavior with rude jokes, harsh ribbing, and political references that are inappropriate in a business setting. Last year I listened to a speech by a prominent Past District Governor who began by making an offensive political-laced joke about our nation’s President and his wife. All of these behaviors are contrary to Rotary’s mission and our organization’s Constitution.

The challenge is to: 1) accept that we have a Public Image problem, 2) identify the behaviors and actions by clubs and their members that reinforce a negative Public Image, 3) educate the members, 4) perform a Public Image makeover. This process may begin with the Board of Directors, but progress will only be achieved with the acceptance and cooperation of every member regardless of position.

We have one uniting goal in the next 24 months, and that is to make Rotary ‘sexy’ again. Rotary was ‘sexy’ when Paul Harris and three other people created our organization 105 years ago. Within five years cities around the nation were falling all over themselves to start a Rotary club in their community. The unique combination of an emphasis on ethical business practices, friendship, and reaching out to others was the fire that made Rotary’s lamp so bright. It’s time we fueled that fire again.

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Dear Business Person: It is 2010. Please update your brain.

17 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Government Regulation, History, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media, Website

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Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Business, Customer Loyalty, Education, Executive Management, Facebook, Internet, LinkedIn, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, MySpace, Networking, Nevada, New Business World, Newspapers, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Referrals, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Sales, Selling, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Value-added, Year 2002, YouTube

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Recently I listened to a presentation on how to network to increase referrals of potential customers. The speaker made her living by teaching people how to do this, so there is no doubt she knew her subject. Personally, I agree that face-to-face networking skills are critical if you are going to be in business, especially if you have direct customer contact.

However, she quoted statistics from a 2002 study done by the Chamber of Commerce on referral effectiveness based on the method of contact. 2002. That is where she lost me.

How far back is 2002? In 2002, the Department of Justice announced it was going to investigate Enron, the UN Security Council froze the assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban, the Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, The US Secretary of Energy declared Yucca Mountain, Nevada to be a suitable nuclear waste depository, the Space Shuttle Columbia completed a mission to update the Hubble Space Telescope…it’s last before it would be destroyed on re-entry from it’s next mission in 2003, the United States led coalition invaded Afghanistan, A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture, United Airlines and WorldCom filed for bankruptcy, Congress approved a resolution to go to war with Iraq, and President George W. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security.

Columbia Space Shuttle Breakup in 2003

To some, it may seem like 2002 was yesterday, but when discussing a topic on how business referrals are made in 2010, quoting data from a single, eight year-old study makes me question the relevancy of any of the information provided. Note that the Internet was only eleven years old in 2002. The first Social Media site, Friendster was started in 2002. It wasn’t until 2003, that the more known sites of LinkedIn (May) and MySpace (August) were introduced. Facebook didn’t come on-line until February 2004, YouTube began a year later, and Twitter didn’t start until July 15, 2006.

The world of communication and business have changed dramatically in the past 36 months, let alone the changes over the past eight years. To discuss ‘networking’ from a perspective of the world in 2002 is to be in Denial* of the world of 2010. While ‘more experienced’ business people scoff at “these young people” and their Social Media, the reality is that referrals are being replaced by customer recommendations read off of blogs and other Internet sources. ‘Experienced’ business people can be angry, condescending, and ignorant all they want about the impact of Social Media on business…but it won’t change what has happened. Many people blame government regulation for business failures, but more businesses fail because of outdated business minds and practices than anything other cause and we are neck-deep in 2002 business thinking.

(*See Rotary@105: Grieving Change)

Face-to-face networking is important, but compare the number of face-to-face interactions/connections that a person can make in a day with the number of interactions/connections that can be made through blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter in an hour, and it becomes apparent that dismissing the power of Social Media makes a business person appear uninformed and outdated…sort of like a man who wears shorts, sandals…and black socks. That analogy may not make sense to some people, but then again, those people probably aren’t reading this blog…or any others.

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Selling Watered-Down Beer: The best spin campaign in advertising

10 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Rotary, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media

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advertising, Beer, Blogging, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, light beer, lite beer, Management Practices, Marketing, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Selling, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

It is one of the best spin campaigns ever sold in the age of advertising. Few people would ask for diluted beer, but mega brewers have managed to make the ‘light’ in light…or lite beer seem like a health drink instead of one of the most clever advertising sell jobs in history.

Have you ever wondered what makes light beer, light? It’s a question most people don’t ask, but they should. Don’t get me wrong, making light beer usually is a different brewing process than brewing regular beer. Different enzymes are used to breakdown the carbohydrates, which helps reduce the calories; however, in the end the prime ingredient in most light beer is….water. Light beer is, at least in part, water-down beer. Of course, mega-brewers don’t put it that way. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid the subject, but to achieve any significant reduction in calories, some water must be added. One brewer’s motto is, “It’s the water, and a lot more,” but with their light beer the motto should be, “It’s the water, and more of it.”

One ad campaign that amuses me is the brewer that touts ‘only 64 calories’ with their light beer. I’m not an expert, but from my research, the only way you can get down to 64 calories is to add as much water as possible while retaining a beer flavor. That demonstrates the power of advertising. To create a product that people pay more to get less. Never underestimate how advertising can disguise the reality of a product and create an impression that the product has more value added by giving you less.

Lets not tell wineries about this. We don’t need light wine.

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Rotary@105: Grieving Change

07 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Book Review, Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media, Website

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Acceptance, Anger, Bargaining, Blogging, Blogs, Book, Change, Club Members, Customer Loyalty, Denial, Depression, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Executive Management, Facebook, Grief, Grieving, Grieving Loss, History of Rotary, Internet, LinkedIn, Loss, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, New Business World, On Death and Dying, Paul Harris, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Rotary District 5190, Rotary International, Social Media, Tradition, Twitter, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

On October 16th, our Rotary District (5190) will hold the second annual Public Relations (PR) seminar. It is a difficult topic because PR is a vital component to all aspects of Club operations, especially Membership recruitment and retention; however, for very ‘human’ reasons many members/clubs may not ready to listen to many of the key concepts because they are not ready to face the reality of the current situation.

To understand the resistance to the topic I need to refer to the 1969 book by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying and her model of the grieving process. Her book became a major work in the fields of psychology and counseling for decades and while many experts now reject the idea of ‘stages’ of grieving, her model serves to remind us that people are influenced by their emotional state and some information will not be easily accepted when change intersects with tradition.

On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

In the book, Kübler-Ross proposes that the grieving process involves five stages that help us recover from personal crisis back to a more balanced life where the incident or loss does not rule our lives and influence our decision-making. The stages are: 1) Denial, 2) Anger, 3) Bargaining, 4) Depression, and finally, 5) Acceptance.

So what is happening in Rotary that would cause a member or a club to be in crisis? Two issues come to mind.

Membership in Crisis
First, Rotary has been battling a significant membership issue for almost 15 years. For example, in 2005, Rotary Zone 23 (now re-zoned as Zone 25) had 568 clubs consisting of 33,921 members and five years later (2009) Zone 23 consisted of 33,304 members in 588 clubs. While the number of clubs had increased by 20, total membership had decreased by over 600 people. This is only about a two percent loss over five years; however, the problem is that, 1) this has been a consistent trend for most of the last 15 years, and 2) every Rotary International President for the last nine years has pushed for increased membership as part of the key programs for his year.

The facts are simple: Rotary is bleeding membership and clubs are getting smaller (in Zone 23, an average of 3 members smaller over five years.) In seven years Rotary has brought in 1.2 million members…and lost 1.2 million members. Membership in North America, and many other western countries is on the decline. If current trends continue, over the next 15 to 20 years many community Rotary clubs will shrink until they are no longer relevant and then disband. Many small clubs are already facing this problem today and have less than five years to solve their membership crisis.

A New Business World
The second issue is external to the Rotary club. Business and communication is undergoing a rapid change and all the rules are changing. The Internet and, in particular, Social Media have challenged how business operates in a world where one person can be heard by millions, and if that person is talking about your product or service you have to be plugged in and listening or be lost in ignorance of what your customers and potential customers know about you. This new world demands personal involvement, yet many people (especially older business people) don’t want to be forced to participate in Social Media tools that put them and their company up for public scrutiny. There is a growing division between older professionals that tend to reject Social Media tools and younger professionals that tend to accept them. Guess in which category most Rotarians fit?

Action Obstructed by Grieving
Public Relations offers potential solutions to both issues. By becoming aware of the Club’s public image (how non-members perceive Rotary) the members can adapt their PR plan to maximize the value of the club projects and programs to help non-members understand the purpose and scope of Rotary. Members can also be aware of behaviors and information that reinforce negative stereotypes that non-members may have about Rotary, then avoid situations that might damage the reputation of the club. PR can also help members understand and adapt to the Social Media tools and use them to the best advantage for the club…and their business.

The problem is that discussion of these solutions is premature when someone is grieving. It is akin to telling the man who just lost his wife that, “there are plenty of fish in the ocean.” The combination of scrambling to understand a new business environment while facing a slow bleed of Rotary club members has many Rotarians in the one of the stages of grieving.

For some it is the first stage: Denial:

Stages of Coping with Loss

“There is no membership crisis. The world is the same today as it always has been. Our club is fine, we’ve been around for decades and we will continue to be here for decades to come.”

For others it is Anger:

“This is our club! We don’t need to change, if someone wants to belong to our club they need to change to our way of doing things! Don’t tell me what to do, I’ve been around a lot longer than you! Most of our members aren’t even on Facebook!”

For some it is Bargaining:

“We need QUALITY members, not more members. What help are we going to get to make these changes? How do you know this will work? How do I know this is not just a waste of time?”

And for some it is Depression:

“….”

Of all of the stages, a club should fear depression the most. Apathy and membership are never good combinations; however, for some members who are overwhelmed by change, the depression over the issues will open the door for them to quietly leave Rotary. In some cases, a member who is entrenched in tradition may not be able to accept change and leaving Rotary is the only option, but hopefully we can be aware that grieving change is part of the process and present the message in a way that will help members to the final stage of grieving, Acceptance.

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Millennium Hotel: Go away, spend your money elsewhere

27 Friday Aug 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Tom Peters, Travel

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Blogging, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, Free Internet, Free WiFi, hotels, Internet, Management Practices, Millennium Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Social Media, Social Networking, Tom Peters, Value-added, WiFi

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

This week I spent a couple of nights in the Millennium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Now this is a good hotel and it has everything you would expect for the business traveler. The rooms are clean and reasonably updated. The staff is pleasant. It has a restaurant and a bar (although it struck me that maybe both were afterthoughts in the lobby design.) It has a pool on a fitness room (I didn’t go to hunt for them, but I’m assured that they exist.) It has a television with a selection of stations and optional pay-for-movies.

They have everything you might expect, save one item. Free WiFi/Internet. To access the Internet in the Millennium Hotel in Minneapolis you must add $10 (okay, $9.95) to the daily room rate.

Some business practices reflect old ideas.

This means one of two things. Either they decided to contract out their Internet service and they are getting some kind of kickback, or they have a bean-counter in their organization that has said to management, “Hey, we can boost our room rate by $10 if we charge for the Internet!”

It doesn’t matter why they charge for Internet service because what it says to me is simply, “We would prefer that you go elsewhere for Internet service.” In my case, I go to Starbucks where I can get online for free…and buy my tea with my extra $10…and then, rather than go back to the hotel to eat I find a place near Starbucks. Is that what they want their guests to do? Apparently.

A better place to spend $10/day

Next month I will be going back to Minneapolis and I will find my hotel on Priceline.com. That may land me back in the Millennium Hotel and once more I will go outside the hotel to connect to the world…and spend my money. I wonder if they have a clue? I seriously doubt it.

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Is it time to fire yourself?

27 Friday Aug 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Communication, Consulting, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Government Regulation, Higher Education, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Tom Peters, Universities

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Blogging, Blogs, Employee evaluations, Employment, Executive Management, HR, Management Practices, New Business World, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

One thing I have observed in government, hospitals, universities, and small business management is that all of those fields tend to be people collectors. What I mean is those particular fields have a high incidence of people who have passed their expiration date.

Why?

Government, hospitals, and universities tend to: 1) pay their employees well, 2) offer good to great benefits, 3) offer prestigious positions, and 4) have incompetent human resource professionals. A person who lands in any of these three fields may be an excellent performer for several years; however, every human being needs new challenges and after five to seven years they lose the excitement of the job. The problem is that because they have moved up to the top of the pay scale (pay scale: an example of HR incompetence) the person discovers that if they were ever to leave that job they would have to: 1) take a pay cut, 2) risk losing their excellent benefits, and 3) not find as prestigious position as what they have in their comfy current job.

Now that excellent performer is trapped like a caged animal in a job that has no challenges for them. The result is what we have in America today. Government services, hospitals, and universities that are operated by uninspired people who’s most important priority is to go home at the end of the day. And where is the human resources professional? Standing there preaching that all those systems they created that cause employee burnout are absolutely vital for retaining employees. People collectors.

Show me an organization that prides itself on long-term employees and I’ll show you a group of people who shoved innovation and creativity into a file drawer decades before.

So why did I include small business owners in with this unhappy, unproductive group of people?

For small business owners the trap of mediocrity is different, but it has the same result. Initially, a new business owner is excited by the challenge of creating a business from nothing. If they are successful they find the satisfaction of beating the odds, which is like a drug to a business owner. Then comes the fear of losing everything they built. That fear always, always, always leads to becoming conservative. Don’t take chances and don’t risk failure. But it doesn’t stop there.

Eventually, the intelligent business owner realized that his/her business has become stagnant. He/she then tries a series of half measures that stirs the pot but doesn’t make anything new happen. They shake up their sales team, join a peer group (they serve the same function as HR), purchase clever productivity software, or…God forbid, hire a consultant. The result is a temporary change in activity that fails to address the real problem. Fear of failure. Thus, the small business owner becomes a people collector, and they are the one collected. Stuck in a place they can’t get out of and yet, don’t want to be.

My best advice I can give to a small business owner who is stuck in this trap? Fire yourself. Put someone in charge of your company, expect that they will drive it into the ground, and go out and build a new business. At the very least you will no longer live in fear, but you will more alive than you have been in years.

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Up in the air down in Texas

19 Thursday Aug 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, College, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government Regulation, Higher Education, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Travel, Universities

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Blogging, Blogs, Dallas, Employment, Executive Management, GPS, HR, Management Practices, New Business World, President George Bush Turnpike, Public Image, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Social Media, Texas, Toll roads, traveling, turnpike, Value-added, WiFi

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

I’m traveling a lot for my corporate acting/role-playing gigs lately and that has kept me out of my normal routine. During the last two weeks I have been traveling for The American College and playing multiple roles with students in their Master’s degree program.

I love traveling, but hours on a plane, all day seminars, and a quirky Microsoft Outlook/firewall issue (it conflicts with most hotel WiFi) puts me in a position of scrambling to stay up with email. Everything else begins to fall behind and my blog is one of the victims.

I spent three days in Dallas, Texas and I learned that they like to name their roadways after people. They also like toll roads. The problem with naming roads after people is that the President George Bush Turnpike is a lot for the GPS to spit out before it says, “exit right now”.

Lover's Lane in Dallas

Toll roads are not as common in the western United States, but over the past two decades Denver has been joining their eastern sister cities with pay-to-use roads. Both Denver and Dallas are going over to the dark side with cashless toll roads. The concept is that you don’t have stop and pay to use the roadway. Instead you obtain a transmitter that records your car and deducts the toll from your account. Great idea, but it has a wicked ‘gotcha’.

The “gotcha’ is that if you don’t have a transmitter, they just take a picture of your license plate and send the bill to the owner. The problem is that rental car companies are making a killing heaping fees on renters who are caught unaware by the cashless toll roads. I went to downtown Dallas for dinner when I left my GPS took me to a toll road. I didn’t know it was cashless until I was on it and it was too late to exit. GOTCHA!

Dallas is the only city I know that will charge you $2 to drive by the airport. I understand that this road is the access to all the terminals at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport, but it also continues past the airport and if you are using the road to get from south of DFW to north of DFW it will cost you $2. Ironically, I dropped someone off at the airport and it only cost $1 even though I spent longer in on the DFW property.

Thanksgiving Square in Dallas

Despite my negative comments, I liked Dallas. It reminded me of Denver, without the mountains…and warmer…a lot warmer. I spent just enough time in Dallas to get a 10,000 foot view and that is not enough to really know the city. The next time I’m back I will have a better plan to ferret out the cool things to do in Dallas.

I met with the District Governor and District Membership Chair for the Dallas/Fort Worth region and discovered that Rotary clubs in Texas are not that much different from the clubs in northeast California/northern Nevada. We face similar challenges in membership recruitment and the adaptation to using Social Media tools is on a similar pace; however most of their clubs have an existing website. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with them and learn about Rotary Texas style.

I was in Chicago last week and I have trips to Minnesota and Richmond, VA coming up. Might as well make this a travel blog…or not.

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I mow my lawn because…

17 Tuesday Aug 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, Government Regulation, Higher Education, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Recreation, Relationships, Rotary, The Tipping Point

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Agent Smith, Blogging, Blogs, Club Members, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, HR, inevitability, lawns, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, movie, mowing, mowing the lawn, Mr. Anderson, nature, Neo, New Business World, overcoming the odds, parenting, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Rotarians, Rotary, Rotary Club, Social Media, The Matrix, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Mowing the lawn is a futile task.

It’s like Agent Smith said to Mr. Anderson (Neo) in The Matrix as he held him as the subway train rushed toward them:

Do you hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your own death.

That is what my lawn says to me everyday as it smirks and says, “Do you hear that Mr. Kiser? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of nature winning.” It doesn’t stop with the grass. Everyday we face the battle against the march of time. We live in a reality that will always have the last word…and last laugh. We cannot win….

: Agent Smith: The sound of inevitability

…but I don’t see it that way.

I mow my lawn and I do it as an act of defiance. Yes, it is going to grow back, and yes, I could spend my time some other way than weekly harvesting my valueless grass, but that would be giving up.

We can have small victories. We can defy the odds and make nature work for her ‘inevitability’. Yes, the grass will grow, but look at my lawn and today… it didn’t win. The day belongs to me and my lawnmower. Take your inevitability and chew on it, Mother Nature, because today I own you.

In the past few years I have noticed that many people have given in to Agent Smith. They see only the inevitability. Everything will only lead to failure, so why try? The only problem is that everything great that humans have accomplished have been done by defying inevitability. bridges, tunnels, interstate highways, monuments, dams, water systems, sewer systems, powerlines,….the list goes on. It is in our nature to defy nature…and win….even if it is only for today.

Whether it is the start of a new school year, greeting the 833rd customer of the day, inviting the 18th prospective new member when the first 17 didn’t join, planning the fundraiser…again, walking around and talking to the employees for the third time today, or convincing someone that a new creative idea really can work, we beat the odds and make inevitability wait and that’s why we exist.

Beating inevitability

So I will continue to mow my lawn…until Alexander is old enough to do it.

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WiFi on Southwest Airlines: Is it ‘Shovel Ready’?

09 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government Regulation, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Travel, Website

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Air travel, Blogging, Blogs, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, Management Practices, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rotary, Social Media, Southwest, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, SWA, Value-added

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

In the July edition of Southwest Airlines ‘Spirit’ in-flight magazine SWA takes a swipe at “President Obama’s” Recovery Act (I’m pretty sure that more than one person put together the program that pulled us out of economic disaster) and informs the passengers that the definition of ‘Shovel Ready’ is also associated with a project that has failed. Obviously, there is no LUV coming out of Texas for our 18-month old administration, but I was surprised that they would put a political biased slam in their customer publication.

Regardless, I will take their lead and use their definition to ask if the Southwest Air WiFi program is ‘shovel ready’?

Southwest was testing WiFi on four planes (I’ve also heard that only one plane had/has the service) as early as March 2009. I flew a WiFi-enabled plane from Denver to Reno a several months ago when they had to replace the plane we were supposed to fly. After boarding the plane several hours late the flight attendant announce that to make up for our delay we at least would have WiFi because we were on the ‘special’ plane. She then immediately said that we would not be able to use the service, but didn’t say why. That seems to typify Southwest’s efforts to get WiFi off the ground.

Southwest has a page on their website that announces the new WiFi service to begin in early 2010. Is July early? Note that you can only find this page by a Google search or by going directly to the page at:

Southwest Air WiFi Page

If the link is dead that will mean that Southwest read this post and someone in IT probably got chewed on for not killing the page. In case they update the page, here is what it said as of today (July 9, 2010):

“Southwest Airlines is excited to offer satellite-enabled Wi-Fi internet access onboard. The service is currently on four aircraft, but we hope to begin equipping more of the fleet with this cutting-edge technology in early 2010.”

In Gary’s Greeting on the SWA website titled “Technology is Our Friend,” CEO Gary Kelly spends two sentences on the WiFi service:

“Many Customers want to stay connected while aloft, and your chances of flying on a Southwest Wi-Fi-equipped jet improves as the year progresses. In April, we began a two-year process of installing this state-of-the-art connectivity on our entire fleet.”

Other than that Southwest is making no effort to publicize the new WiFi service, which begs the question “Is there a problem?” Early 2010 has come and gone, April 2010 was three months ago, where’s the WiFi? I understand that it will take some time to install it on all the planes but this is a marketing opportunity and a major addition to in-flight service. Is SWA just unenthusiastic, uncaring, or embarrassed about offering WiFi, or is there a problem? If it was meant to be a secret it was not the smartest move to build a webpage to announce the service. My guess is that there have been major problems and the corporate PR people are hoping no one will notice. If that’s the case then they would be wrong.

LUV is the SWA Way, but you pay for WiFi

They have said that the service will not be free. That’s disappointing from a business standpoint. For an airline that is full of LUV’ it would seem that one inexpensive way to build customer love would be to offer free WiFi like Starbucks. I published an article today praising the wisdom of free WiFi and rather than repeating here I’ll offer the link to the article.

(The business benefits of free WiFi)

I admit I am biting the hand that feeds me. I will only fly SWA unless I can’t get to a city with their routes. But between the political jab in Spirit magazine and the noticeably absent WiFi service I am not feeling the LUV right now. I’m sure I’ll get over it and in a few weeks I’ll be flying to Dallas on SWA and I’ll be happy to do it … but just in case Gary Kelly reads this please note that ‘thump’ you hear outside of Las Vegas or Austin might be me landing a few minutes before the plane does. You never know, some people have no sense of humor.

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Starbucks makes a smart move: Free WiFi

09 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Branding, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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Blogging, Blogs, Circus Circus, Coffee, convention authority, Customer Loyalty, Executive Management, Free Internet, Free WiFi, gambling, Gaming properties, Grand Sierra Resort, hotels, John Ascuaga's Nugget, Las Vegas, Management Practices, Nevada gaming, New Business World, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Reno Gaming, Rotary, Social Media, Social Networking, South Point, Starbucks, The Atlantis, The Eldorado, The Peppermill, The Silver Legacy, Value-added, WiFi

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Customer Loyalty: Paul Kiser in Starbucks style

Today I’m dressed like a Starbucks employee to honor the wisdom of the decision-makers at the famous coffee company to team with AT&T to offer free WiFi to all. They started it on July 1st. It is a smart move…a very smart move.

Why? There is one common aspect of every successful business and it is simply to give your customers a reason to love you. That’s it! Customers who love a service or product is an absolute ‘must’ if you want to build customer loyalty and business referrals. You can spend millions of dollars in advertising and not get the return that a company gets with requited love from their customers. With free WiFi Starbucks has found a way of creating value-added service that will cause many people to love Starbucks.

If you have a ‘butts-in-the-seats’ type of business and you want customers to: 1) frequent your location, 2) spend time and money in your business and, 3) be loyal to your business then free WiFi is one of the best ways to make it happen. Here’s what will happen for Starbucks over the next 12 months.

Starbucks will see increased traffic of laptop users (a ‘small’ market of people who will buy almost 200 million laptops in 2010)
Starbucks will see more repeat business
Starbucks will be more visible to more people
Starbucks will not need to spend as much on advertising and will get more social media publicity

All butts-in-the-seats organizations would like to experience these four outcomes in their business, so why don’t more places offer free WiFi? In brief, the answer is ‘accountant-think’, which is always short-sighted. The common rationale is one of two issues. First, instead of seeing free WiFi as an inexpensive way to add value to their service the accountant-think business people try to make it a revenue source. In Reno, Nevada the major hotel/gaming properties have been known to charge as much as $500 to ‘turn on’ WiFi in their convention areas and most of the properties charge around $13/day for guests to have access to WiFi. The result is that technology conventions go elsewhere rather than be charged for a service that they can get for considerably less (or free) in another market. The Reno gaming properties have boxed themselves in with contracts or dependence on the revenue source from WiFi, so they are now in a death spiral of losing more and more business or give up a piece of their dwindling revenue.

Last year I was in Las Vegas on a business trip and stayed at the South Point property. They charged a fee for WiFi, so I went to Starbucks to get online (my home account is with AT&T, so I’ve always had free access at Starbucks.) Afterward I picked up dinner at the Outback Restaurant next door and took it back to my room. South Point didn’t get me to stay on property, nor did they even get me to eat at in-house, simply because they didn’t offer Free WiFi. Is that a smart business move on their part? Nope, just good, solid accountant-think.

The second rationale accountant-think executives is that WiFi customers don’t have a revenue impact. In August of 2009, Erica Alini wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal (NOTE: the Wall Street Journal or WSJ is a historical archive of old business trends written by accountant-think reporters) that declared, “Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users.” For her article Ms. Alini cites three examples in New York that discussed limiting or eliminating laptops at a cafe or coffee shop. The most common problem seemed to be too many customers … what a tragic problem … and that some laptop users were purchasing minimal product. However, Ms. Alini admits that some places were using laptop users to ‘make the place look busy.’

A deserted restaurant is cause for people to avoid the business, so having customers, even minimal revenue producing customers, can mean more paying customers. My question is how much would a coffee shop have to pay people to sit and look like customers? Free WiFi is a small price to pay. I spend $10 to $15 per day at my Home Starbucks on Keystone in Reno, NV, USA. It will not make me a shareholder, but it is money I would not spend in one place, except for the fact that I am a captured customer. I also always meet with people at a Starbucks, so I bring in additional customers. The major factor in my customer loyalty is the access to free WiFi.

Starbucks has made a very smart business move with making free WiFi a value-added service for all and the return on the service will reap big dividends in customer loyalty and increased traffic (butts in the seats.) Starbucks customers have a new reason to love Starbucks and that is key to survival in today’s world. But don’t try telling that to the accountant-think executives running other stores and restaurants. They just won’t understand it … and I’m sure that’s okay with Starbucks.

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The shock of the McChrystal story: Story is over before the article is published

24 Thursday Jun 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Communication, Crisis Management, Ethics, Human Resources, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Print Media, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Traditional Media

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Afghanistan, Army, Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, David Pertraeus, denver post, Executive Management, Facebook, General Stanley McChrystal, latimes, Magazines, Management Practices, McChrystal, Military Command, New Business World, Newspapers, npr, nytimes, President Obama, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Rolling Stones Magaizine, Rotary, scandal, Social Media, Social Networking, traditional media, Twitter, US Military, War

by Paul Kiser [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - CEO 2020 Enterprise Technologies

Today is an amazing day! It may not seem that different to some people, but they just don’t realize what today signifies in the world of social and traditional media. Still, not clear? Think about this:

General Stanley McChrystal

Monday, June 21 – Reports surface that President Obama is angry about an article that would be appearing in Rolling Stones magazine. The article has several remarks by General Stanley McChrystal that were derogatory in nature about several people in the Administration. It is announced that McChrystal has been ordered to appear in person at the White House for Wednesday’s staff meeting, normally done via a secure video transmission.
Tuesday, June 22 – Thousands of articles, blogs, and news stories on television and radio discuss the article, the General and what should be done. All this happens while the General is in transit to Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, June 23 – General McChrystal reports to the White House, his resignation is accepted and it is announced that General David Petraeus will assume his command.
Thursday, June 24 – Continued discussion around the world about the article, the General, and President Obama’s solution to the issue. A Google search of the terms ‘McChrystal runaway general Obama’ nets 464,000 hits (many refer to another situation in October 2009) and the same terms appearing in blogs nets 92,000 hits.

So why does this make today an amazing day? The article that is the cause of bringing down the US Commander of the war in Afghanistan, the President making a swift, major change in his top military administrative staff, and has been the subject of discussion around the world for days…isn’t published in print until tomorrow.

But that isn’t even the best part! The best part is that no one is amazed by this bizarre situation. We have become so accustomed to the Internet trumping print media that no one sees the significance of the reaction to a news story superseding the news story actually being published.

What does it mean?
There is no better example of what has happened in the worlds of Social and Traditional Media than the events of this week. Print media used to ‘be’ the news but now print media is only a historical account of news. It is impossible for print media to have any impact on the world because it is too slow. Yes, television and radio were leaders in promoting the story; however, it was the Internet that provided the mechanism for so many ‘civilians’ to react to the story. The story was discussed in blogs, on Facebook, and on Twitter…all in real-time, not on a news cycle.

For the business person it is simple. If you think that Social Media is a waste of time and that it has no ROI (return on investment) for your company then know that your business could be dead before you even know why. If you are not plugged in and aware then you are flying blind in a world that quietly watches you and everything you do. The Google search will give your customer access to the good, the bad, and the ugly about you.

Think about this: a very powerful and successful military man was brought down by one reporter through some inappropriate remarks. In this situation he worked for a major publication, but it could have been a blogger with a video and the impact would have been the same. Social Media is not about how much time it will take out of your day, nor is it about the return on your investment. It is about your survival.

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Tony Hayward: The very model of a modern Major General

23 Wednesday Jun 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Branding, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary

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Blogging, Blogs, BP, British, British Petroleum, CEO, Conservatives, Deep Water Drilling, Disaster, England, Executive Management, Great Britain, Gulf of Mexico, King George III, Management Practices, Mega Oil Companies, New Business World, Oil Companies, oil leak, oil spill, petrol, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Republicans, Social Media, Tony Hayward

by Paul Kiser [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype: kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Tony Hayward - Modern Major General

Enough with the BP CEO bashing! Regardless of any verbal gaffs, or ill-advised yacht racing, if Tony Hayward, the shining star of BP, is guilty of anything he is only guilty of being the perfect CEO. A corporate executives first and last duty is to his investors and when we measure up Mr. Hayward he is, in fact, the very model of a modern corporate executive. If it please the court of the business world I’ll present my case:

POINT ONE: When he took the reins of BP (that does not stand for Bloody Petrol) he immediately weeded out all those people who, and I quote, “….wanted to save the world.” Saving the world is not the goal of business, making money is, and no one can say that Mr. Hayward didn’t make money for the investors of BP. Score one for the British! They’ve become as obsessive about profit as the an American conservative!

The Public Image of Tony Hayward...but it doesn't count

POINT TWO: After the fire and rescue of the victims from the platform Mr. Hayward’s legal team leapt into action to detain the survivors until they signed a release saying that they were not injured…which, in legalese is to say they were signing a waiver of all liability, not a just that they were not physically injured, but that BP could not be sued for any mismanagement, negligence, etc. This reflects devotion that Mr. Hayward and his team have for the investor. Duty first and last!

POINT THREE: Within hours of the disaster BP’s crack crisis response team sprung into action securing all information and potential access to protect the corporation from negative portrayals by the world media. First there was no oil leaking, then only 5,000 barrels, then, well, no comment. Carefully crafted statements were released to reassure the investors, (not the public,) that the event was a minor setback and the amount of oil would have a minimal impact on the excessive amount of water in the Gulf of Mexico. Textbook Public Relations work!

POINT FOUR: Unfortunately, BP could not hide massive oil slicks from the cameras of the media and that could scare the investors…but wait a minute…they could hide them by pouring millions of gallons of toxic dispersants on the oil at the point of origin! Yes, it would make collection the oil impossible, but that was save-the-world thinking, and this was not the time to shirk the duty to the investor with ethics. Again, Mr. Hayward shows us his stuff!

POINT FIVE: The pièce de résistance (my apologies to the British for resorting to French) was the yacht race that Tony Hayward took leave of the United States to attend. As outrage among the American public reached a fever pitch it was a stroke of genius by a perfect corporate executive to again restore order with the investors by demonstrating that this oil spill event is all much ado about nothing and normal aristocratic life is alive and well in this man’s corporation.

It is true that not since King George III have the average, non-conservative American been so incensed with a British national, but the public is passé (again my apologies for using French) in the corporate world, especially in the world of big oil companies. The public will trade ethics for petrol (I’m trying to compensate for using French by using British words) any day of the week. The public’s role is to buy their product, not tell them how to obtain it. Tony Hayward has been true-blue to the investors…I wouldn’t be surprised if his urine is blue! No one can dispute that as a model of the corporate executive, Tony is the best of the best.

I rest my case.

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Leash Your Accountant Now!

09 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!

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Tags

Accountants, Evil, Executive Management, Star Trek, Value-added

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

Accountants are evil. They are generally nice people…outside the company walls, but that changes once they walk into an office. Once in their natural environment an accountant becomes a ravenous predator that feeds on nickels and dimes. Like any beast they need to be caged and carefully watched.

The problem with accountants as business managers is simple. They hate the customer. Customers are messy, demanding, fickle, illogical, expensive, unreliable, and in general, not conducive to an orderly stream of revenue. For accountants the world breaks down to revenue and expenses. Everything that is ‘business’ falls into these two categories. For accountants business is about increasing revenue or decreasing expenses or both. Everything else is irrelevant.

Your Typical Accountant Eating the Customer's Money

To an accountant the customer is an income stream and they want that income stream to be efficient and reliable. Accountants get down right testy when customers defy the rules of their little world and become demanding and emotional.

By now those few accountants who might be reading this are probably fuming. How dare I say accountants hate the customer! Most accountants would vehemently argue that they love the customer! That they wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for the customer!

But what they love is the customer’s money…the nickel and dimes. They love to romp through a company and institute new policies, slash budgets, shut down experimental divisions, and in general kill anything that smacks of fun or excitement. Show me a happy accountant and I’ll show you a company where the employees are considering other job offers and customers are re-thinking their loyalty. Show me an unhappy accountant and I’ll show you a company where the leadership keeps them on a short leash and as far away from the customer as possible.

Unfortunately, most businesses go through a cycle where money becomes an issue and then somebody lets the accountants out of the cage and they start chasing all the loose nickels and dimes. In the short-term the bottom-line might improve which reinforces the myth that the problem with the company was not giving the accountants free reign in the first place.

Then the company begins a slow death. Customers discover that the business no longer provides value-added service

(See Previous Blog on Surprising the Customer)

and employees and managers find that the little extra money that they had to provide better service and/or address problems has been eaten up by accountants. What follows is company stagnation.

Mr. Spock from the Original TV Series Star Trek

All this stems from a lack of control on the accountants. Accountants should be able to tell you how much money is in the bank and where it was spent, but then they need to be muzzled. If a company is going to succeed or fail it will be done by giving the customer what they want, when (or before) they want it. Business is emotional. It is driven by intangible things like satisfaction, surprise, joy. Accountants don’t get emotion. Like Mr. Spock on Star Trek, accountants see emotion as irrelevant because it isn’t a revenue or expense.

The moment an accountant says, “you know we could save $x.xx, if we just…” is the moment that a CEO needs to say, “Don’t you have something that needs ledgered?”

Do that and everyone else will be happy, especially your customers!

Ahem…I now apologize to my accountant friends..I still love you Dave!

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3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

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