A GPS for business

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: If you don’t know where you’re going any road will do.

A GPS for business

November 27, 2009 by Stan Maupin
http://www.richmondbizsense.com/2009/11/27/guest-opinion-a-gps-for-business/

The views expressed in Guest Opinions are those of the author and do not represent BizSense or BizSense reporters.

Have you ever started out on a long trip using a set of directions from Google or MapQuest and found yourself off the path or found that the road was closed? Once that happens, your only choices are to retrace your steps or stumble along, hoping to get back on track.

Many growing businesses face the same situation in today’s uncertain economy. They know where they are, and they know where they want to be, so they develop a business plan that provides great directions to their destination. But somewhere along the way, they run into a roadblock or take a detour, and their business plan is no longer as useful.

In the past, the biggest complaint about business plans was that, once they were finished, they were “put on the shelf” and never looked at again. Today, it may not even make it to the shelf. It might be saved to a thumb drive and thrown in a drawer.

Today, even if management tries to use a plan to keep it heading in the right direction, the pace of change in business today means it will probably need major revisions time and time again.

Think of the telecommunications industry. The telephone didn’t change dramatically for most of the latter 20th century. It had one application that allowed you to talk on it. Just a couple of decades later, it has 85,000 “apps” that allow you to spend hundreds of hours looking for new uses that will save you hundreds of minutes by using your phone to improve your productivity (or unproductivity, as the case may be).

Now, try to imagine what the phone will look like in 10 more years. How do you develop a business plan for that?

To bring that example closer to home, think about INM United. This company was founded by Joel Erb, who started his entrepreneurial career in his mid-teens. (He is way up in his twenties now.) Joel’s company develops apps for the iPhone, so he has to develop and execute his plans in an industry that has 85,000 new products in a little over a year.

How can businesses stay on the right track in this environment?

I think that Tom-Tom and Garmin have the answer.

Instead of thinking of business planning as a set of direction or a road map, we need to think of it as a navigation system that provides directions but, more importantly, “recalculates” those directions whenever we got off the path or the road ahead is closed.

A GPS system even gives you periodic updates on your progress in a pleasant and calm voice.

The idea for GPS-like planning came about in discussions with Mike Appleby, the founder and CEO of Charlottesville-based Mikro Systems, Inc. Mikro has developed a lithographic molding technology that has applications in many industries. With a number of current contracts in place, and with opportunities appearing every day, Mike and his team have recognized that they need to be disciplined in the way they allocate their time and resources in the next few years if they want to reach their long-term goals.

We quickly realized that, in such a fluid environment, a traditional business plan would be out of date before it made it to the shelf.

Our answer was to focus on developing a planning process rather than a plan. Like a GPS system, the process will record and communicate the company’s destination, but it will also be proactive in keeping Mikro on the path to that destination and recalculating the path when needed.

Keep in mind that even the best GPS system needs to have a clearly defined destination in order to be effective. The most important step in developing any business plan is still agreeing on where you plan to go.

I know that male business owners will like GPS planning. They won’t have to stop and ask for directions.

Stan Maupin is a managing director with Transact Capital Partners and has worked with technology and emerging growth businesses in Virginia for more than 25 years. He is also a founding member of the Richmond Venture Forum and the Greater Richmond Technology Council.

Filed under: Business | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

How to Make $100 Billion

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: This is a transcript of a TV interview that appeared over 15 pages.

Warren Buffett And Bill Gates Explain How To Make $100 Billion…
Henry Blodget|Nov. 15, 2009, 10:04 AM
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-on-cnbc-2009-11#why-did-you-buy-burlington-northern-1

Why did you buy Burlington Northern?

BUFFETT: You know, when I was six, I wanted a railroad set and my dad didn’t get it. [APPLAUSE]

You think about it. The railroads are tied to the future prosperity of this country. You can’t move a railroad to China or India or anyplace else. We start out with the premise, and I can’t think of a more sound premise, that there will be more people in this country, 10, 20, 30 years from now. They will be moving more and more goods back and forth to each other. And you have the most environmentally friendly and the most cost-efficient way of doing that on the railroads. The Burlington Northern last year moved — on average it moved a ton of freight, 470 miles on one gallon of diesel. That is far, far more efficient than what takes place over the highways. You have the situation where overall they use 1/3 less fuel, they put far fewer pollutants into the atmosphere than trucks will. One train will supplant 280 trucks are so on the road. So the rails are in tune with the future. I like the West. I like the 30-some-thousand miles of roadway that Burlington has. And, you know, if this country has a poor future, the rails have a poor future.

I’m willing to bet a lot of money, 34 billion to be specific — [LAUGHTER] — on the fact that 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years from now, there will be more and more goods being moved by rail and better for the country and it will be better for the shareholders of the Burlington Northern.

What keeps you up at night?

BUFFETT: I try to live my life so nothing keeps me up at night.

[APPLAUSE]

I don’t like to sound, you know, like a mortician during an epidemic or anything, but last fall was really quite exciting for me. [LAUGHTER] I don’t wish it on anybody, but there were things being offered. There are opportunities for us to do things that didn’t exist a year or two earlier. So I really don’t — I don’t want to be in a position where I am leveraged or something of the sort that does keep me up at night. I did not worry about the ultimate survival of our economic system. We were messed up. Wasn’t any question about that. But the plants haven’t gone away. The cornfields haven’t gone away. The talent of the American people hasn’t gone away. The innovativeness of the next Bill Gates hasn’t gone away. This country was going to do fine. I knew that. We just had to get things straightened out. And we’re well on the way to having that happen…

[I]f you had a wonderful farm and you knew the next 50 years there would be five droughts but there would be 45 good years, I mean, you would not become paralyzed thinking about the five drought years. You would recognize that you’ve got a system that works very well over time, and that’s our American economic system.

GATES: The financial system, fortunately, good leadership has a lot of self-correction built into it. I think there are a few things that could surprise us that are negative. You know, big terrorist event sometime in the next 20 years, that would be a big negative. And a pandemic, which we’re actually having in terms of the rate of spread of a new flu, one right now. And fortunately, its actual impact is very modest, way less than any such thing. So you have to keep your eye out for a few outliers like that. Those are the two that I would point to. But overwhelmingly, the rest of the system, you know, there is self-correction built into it. The long-term thing that I don’t lose sleep over but I worry about is that we do have our education system, particularly the K through 12 part, not improving as much as we should. And it’s an important system for opportunity, it’s an important system for the economic strength of the country, and since it hasn’t improved that much, that’s a bit scary and needs a lot more attention.

What’s the market going to do?

BUFFETT: What’s going to happen tomorrow, huh? [APPLAUSE] Let me give you an illustration. I bought my first stock in 1942. I was 11. I had been dillydallying up until then. I got serious. [LAUGHTER] What do you think the best year for the market has been since 1942? Best calendar year from 1942 to the present time. Well, there’s no reason for you to know the answer. The answer is 1954. In 1954, the Dow … dividends was up 50%. Now if you look at 1954, we were in a recession a good bit of that time. The recession started in July of ’53. Unemployment peaked in September of ’54. So until November of ’54 you hadn’t seen an uptick in the employment figure. And the unemployment figure more than doubled during that period. It was the best year there was for the market.

So it’s a terrible mistake to look at what’s going on in the economy today and then decide whether to buy or sell stocks based on it. You should decide whether to buy or sell stocks based on how much you’re getting for your money, long-term value you’re getting for your money at any given time. And next week doesn’t make any difference because next week, next week is going to be a week further away. And the important thing is to have the right long-term outlook, evaluate the businesses you are buying. And then a terrible market or a terrible economy is your friend. I don’t care, in making a purchase of the Burlington Northern, I don’t care whether next week, or next month or even next year there is a big revival in car loadings or any of that sort of thing. A period like this gives me a chance to do things. It’s silly to wait. I wrote an article. If you wait until you see the robin, spring will be over.

BUFFETT: Well, I was — it prepared me very well, not the whole degree, but specific professors prepared me very well for what I wanted to go into. I knew I was interested in investing, like I say, from the time I was six or seven years of age. So I was lucky that I found what turned me on early on.

And I had these two marvelous professors here at Columbia that just being around — I had read all the stuff they had written. So it wasn’t I was acquiring lots of incremental knowledge but I was getting inspired. They were terrific for me. They treated me like a son. They would take me out to dinner. Ben Graham did the same thing for me. So it gave me confidence in myself. It just propelled me into a field I already love with a terrific tailwind from these professors that believed in me. [APPLAUSE] But let me add one point because — to the MBA situation. Right now, I would pay $100,000 for 10% of the future earnings of any of you. So anybody that wants to see me after this is over — [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] If that’s true, you are a million-dollar asset right now, right, if 10% of you is worth 100,000? You could improve — many of you, and I certainly could have when I got out, just in terms of learning communication skills. You know, it’s not something that is taught. I actually went to a Dale Carnegie course later on in terms of public speaking. But if you improve your value 50% by having better communication skills, that’s another $500,000 in terms of capital value. See me after the class and I’ll pay you 150-thousand. [APPLAUSE]

BECKY: Warren, you bring up your time here. I don’t know if you can see the monitors back here, but we did take a look at your yearbook and steal your picture from 1951 year.

BUFFETT: Uh-oh.

QUICK: I think we have a picture in the back. There you are. [APPLAUSE]

BUFFETT: I don’t think I’d pay $100,000 for 10% of that guy. [LAUGHTER]

How big a role did luck play in your success?

GATES: Well, I was lucky in many ways. I was lucky to be born with certain skills. I was lucky to have parents that created an environment where they shared what they were working on and let me buy as many books as I wanted to. And I was lucky in terms of the timing.

The invention of the microprocessor was something profound. And it turned out only if you were kind of young and looking at that could you appreciate what it meant. And then I had been obsessed with writing software. It turned out that was the key missing thing that would allow the microprocessor to have this incredible impact.

So in timing and skill set, in some of the people I was lucky enough to meet, you know, meeting Warren and talking to him, learning from him, it is unusual to have so much luck in one life, I think. But it’s been a major factor in what I have been able to do.

What do you two (Buffett and Gates) most admire about each other?

BUFFETT [To Gates]: My athletic ability. Say that. [APPLAUSE]

Well, I would say what I really most admire about Bill is the view he has about what he should do with the wealth he’s accumulated. I mean, as he said, he was very lucky. He was born in the right country, at the right time, with the right wiring and all of that sort of thing. In the end, he knows he’s a beneficiary of a terrific society, and not everybody gets the long straws like he and I did. So he is — and he has this view that every human life worldwide is the equivalent of every other human life, and he’s backing it up not only with money, but backing it up with his time. And his wife, Melinda, is backing it up with her time. And they are really going to spend, you know, the last half of their lives or so using both money, talent, energy, imagination, all improving the lives of 6.5 billion people around the world. That’s what I admire the most. [APPLAUSE]

BECKY: Bill.

GATES: With Warren, there are a lot of things you could pick, you know, his integrity as an example for the world. His sense of humor. But I think I’d pick his desire to teach, his desire to teach things that are complex and put them in a simple form so that people can understand and get the benefit of all his experience, all his models of how the world works. He loves to teach. And he does it meeting with students. He does it in his annual newsletter. He does it when he’s talking to me on the phone. It’s a real gift that I admire incredibly. [APPLAUSE]

What should we do if we don’t know what we want to do with our lives?
GATES: Well, finding the thing that you are passionate about and that you are good at can sometimes take a period of years. I think Warren and I were lucky we kind of ran into it. I wasn’t even sure it was software. I was kind of obsessed with it but then it wasn’t clear it could be a career. When that happened, it was great. I think most other people get into their 20s and have to try out some different experiences. And some things will expose you to a lot of different businesses, a lot of different work opportunities. And I think you can make your first few jobs optimized for getting that exposure. And then when you want it, see the thing that you want to be fanatical about and just jump on to that.

BECKY: All right.

BUFFETT: First of all, I’d say marry the right person. [LAUGHTER] And I’m serious about that. [APPLAUSE] It will make more difference in your life. It will change your aspiration, all kind of things. It’s enormously important who you marry. Beyond that, I would say that do what you would do if you were in my position, where the money means nothing to you. At 79, … I work every day. And it’s what I want to do more than anything else in the world. The closer you can come to that early on in your life, you know the more fun you’re going to have in life and really the better you’re going to do. So don’t be driven where you think the last dollar is presently or anything of that sort. And then also go to work, if possible, for an organization or an individual that you admire. I mean I offered to go to work for Ben Graham because there was nobody I admired more in the business than him. I didn’t care what he paid me.

When he finally did hire me in 1954, I moved from Omaha to New York and I didn’t know what I was getting paid until I got my first paycheck. But I knew I wanted to work for Ben Graham. And I knew I would jump out of bed every morning and be excited about what I would do and I would go home at night smarter than I was in the morning. Go to work at a job that turns you on and a person that turns you on and institution. [APPLAUSE]

How can we find good investments?
BUFFETT: I just advise looking at as many things as possible and you will find some bargains. And when you find them, you have to act.

It doesn’t — it hasn’t changed at all since I was here in 1950, 1951. And it won’t change the rest of my life.

You start turning pages. When I got out of school, I turned every page in Moody’s 10,000-some pages twice, looking for companies. And you have to find them yourself. The world isn’t going to tell you about great deals. You have to find them yourself. And that takes a fair amount of time. So if you are not going to do that, if you are just going to be a passive investor, then I just advise an index fund more consistently over a long period of time.

The one thing I will tell you is the worst investment you can have is cash. Everybody is talking about cash being king and all that sort of thing. Most of you don’t look like you are overburdened with cash anyway. [LAUGHTER] Cash is going to become worth less over time. But good businesses are going to become worth more over time. And you don’t want to pay too much for them so you have to have some discipline about what you pay. But the thing to do is find a good business and stick with it.

BECKY: Does that mean you think we are through the roughest times? You had always kept the cash word around, too.

BUFFETT: We always keep enough cash around so I feel very comfortable and don’t worry about sleeping at night. But it’s not because I like cash as an investment. Cash is a bad investment over time. But you always want to have enough so that nobody else can determine your future essentially.

The worst — the financial panic is behind us. The economic spillout which came to some extent from that financial panic is still with us. It will end. I don’t know if it will end tomorrow or next week or next month. Or maybe a year. But it won’t go on forever. And to sit around and try and pick the bottom, people were trying to do that last March and the bottom hadn’t come in unemployment and the bottom hadn’t come in business but the bottom had come in stocks. Don’t pass up something that’s attractive today because you think you will find something way more attractive tomorrow.

What is the most important character for a business leader to have?
GATES: Well, it’s surprising that the fundamentals of business are pretty straightforward, you know. You try to take more in income than you spend in cost. That’s a pretty straightforward subtraction. But it’s surprising in terms of projecting out into the years ahead that, you know, are we making the right investments, are we gaining on the competition, are we making it a little bit harder for people to replace what we’re doing? That kind of common sense, I guess you’ve got to develop it through experience. And I think it’s neat if you are young and you can see that in a small scale and be hands on with it because a lot of people who start with large businesses may have a hard time with it.

So, you know, the basics are pretty straightforward. Learning how it works and doesn’t work in a variety of industries, by reading a lot, I think that’s something that comes with time and a business school is an intense period where you can get ahead of the game.

BUFFETT: I send one message out every year and a half or two years. They get one letter from me every couple of years. And basically it says, run this business like it’s the only business that your family can own for the next 100 years. You can’t sell it. But every year don’t measure it by the earnings in the quarter that year. Measure it by whether the moat around that business, what gives it competitive advantage over time has widened or narrowed. If you keep doing that for 100 years, it’s going to work out very well. Then I tell them basically if the reason for doing something is everybody else is doing it, it’s not good enough. If you have to use that as a reason, forget it. You don’t have a good reason for doing something. Never use that.

How are you two different from everyone else? What’s the secret to your success?
BUFFETT: It’s always interesting when Bill and I appear together, they don’t figure they can do what Bill does, but they know they can do what I do. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

We did both have a passion. We were doing what we did because we loved it. We weren’t doing it to get rich. We probably felt if we did it well, we would get rich. But we’d have done it, you know, if somebody was slipping bread in under the door, you know, to keep us going. And so I think that passion for it is enormously important.

I was lucky enough to have a couple of great teachers, particularly one great teacher. I had a great teacher in life in my father. But I had another great teacher in terms of profession in terms of Ben Graham. I was lucky enough to get the right foundation very early on. And then basically I didn’t listen to anybody else. I just look in the mirror every morning and the mirror always agrees with me. And I go out and do what I believe I should be doing. And I’m not influenced by what other people think.

GATES: Well, we talked about some of the basics, having great people around you, reading a lot, thinking long-term. I also think, though, there become a few magic moments where you have to have confidence in yourself.

You know, Warren when he set off on his own, he could have gone and taken a job as an analyst somewhere. But he knew that he had the skill, that he was going to raise money and have his own partnership. When I dropped out of Harvard and said to my friends, ‘Come work for me,’ there was a certain kind of brass self-confidence in that.

You have a few moments like that where trusting yourself and saying yes, this can come together — you have to seize on those because not many come along.

Who were your most important mentors and what did you learn from them?

GATES: Well, I benefited from my dad and mom who set a great example. My dad was a lawyer and shared what he was doing at work. I have had some business partners that we have learned together, Steve Balmer in particular. And then I pick Warren as somebody I have learned an immense amount from, just hearing his stories of how he dealt with tough situations, how he thought long-term, how he models the world. If you get a chance to spend time with people like that, it’s great!

Bill, what do you think of Steve Jobs?

GATES: Well, he’s done a fantastic job. And Apple is in a bit of a different business where they make hardware and software together. But when Steve was coming back to Apple, which was actually through an acquisition of NeXT that he ran, Apple was in very tough shape. In fact, most likely, it wasn’t going to survive. And he brought in a team. He brought in inspiration about great products and design that’s made Apple back into being an incredible force in doing good things. And it’s, you know, great to have competitors like that. We write software for Apple, Microsoft does. They compete with Apple. But he, of all the leaders in the industry that I have worked with, he showed more inspiration and he saved the company.

Warren, you’ve said you sometimes make huge decisions in five minutes. How?

BUFFETT: Well, that’s 50 years of preparation and five (minutes) of decision making. [APPLAUSE]

BECKY: Can you just look at the spreadsheet? Can you look at an annual report and make a decision like that?

BUFFETT: Yeah. Sometimes I can. Just take Coca-Cola, for example. I sampled the product for 60 years and then I saw a couple of key ingredients, you know, that essentially tipped the scale in terms of buying it back in 1988. But the good big decisions, they don’t take any time at all. If they take time, you’re in trouble.

If America was a stock, would you buy it?

GATES: You bet.

BECKY: Warren.

BUFFETT: On margin. [LAUGHTER]

Filed under: Business | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Tips on becoming a Networking Expert

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: It took me eight years to become somewhat proficient networking (I’m a slow learner). Follow Kris tips (below), consistently practise / live her tips, and you’ll be an expert in less than six months.

5 Ways to Beat the Ugly Networking Stigma
Posted: 22 Nov 2009 06:59 PM PST
By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Kris Parfitt

“My intention is to meet five people at this function who I really connect with and that two of them eventually become clients.” My friend was impressed while somewhat doubtful of my declaration. My actual success that night was that I met ten people with whom I connected, but I didn’t find the opening to give all of them my business card. It’s not that I’m shy – by nature I’m quite the extrovert. But I have a stigma about networking – I don’t want to be viewed as someone who only introduces herself in order to plug her services and hand out business cards. It’s a limiting stigma, one that would best be left at home with the bad breath, but I want to connect with people on a level that we both feel acknowledged, respected and heard. It’s when we have those connections with people that our networks become stronger. But my concerns are valid and I know I’m not the only fresh-breathed stigma-minded networker out there.

It’s NOT About Selling Yourself

Networking is not limited to selling oneself – in fact that outlook is its demise. There is depth to networking that goes beyond meeting people. It’s about connecting, building relationships and listening to the pulse of individuals who make up your network. It’s about listening and the art of inquiry. It’s about asking questions, providing answers and being engaged such that the person you’re talking to experiences being heard, respected and acknowledged. There is power in providing that experience for others. In the words of Maya Angelou, “People will not remember what you said or what you did; people will remember how you made them feel.”

The old adage, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is still the tall and solid wise oak of networking. Although that saying has been spun differently over the years and in different industries, it continues to be a networking motivator. Networking affects growth in careers, businesses, campaigns and whatever other groups and efforts that goes beyond the individual’s forward progress. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a network to move us forward.

We all know the appropriate actions for successful networking: meet people in person, make eye-contact, have a firm handshake, ask questions and follow through with statements of interest, ask for contact info and follow up with a thank you communication and request for further contact with that person or a reference for a future contact with another they recommend, etc., etc. In short, stay in communication and be consistent with your leadership brand.

The Art of Connection Takes Practice

What I encourage my clients to do is to practice the art of connection as a part of their brand. You need to connect with people to instigate a meaningful relationship. Connecting is not only a catalyst to strong networking relationships; it’s also an expression of who you are for yourself, that person and the community or communities you represent. In other words, how you connect with people will make the biggest impact on building a relationship. The people you meet will always remember how you made them feel, not necessarily what you do or what witty comments you made during your conversation with them.

How do you connect with someone and make a lasting impression? It’s actually easy and with a bit of practice quite fun. In fact, when you begin to feel comfortable with a more intimate form of connection with people, you’ll discover a new level of enthusiasm when entering a networking opportunity.

Listen, listen, listen

If you are aware of the monologue in your head, you are not present to the dialogue in front of you. For example, if you are practicing your elevator speech while you are talking
with someone, you will miss plenty of opportunities to authentically connect with this person because you will not hear what they are saying.
Ask questions and inquire into their interests and activities – There is power in asking a great question that came from having listened. Often you will find that by listening closely and being present, you’ll find yourself becoming curious about what this person is talking about; what they do; and who they are. Curiosity begets questions begets inquiry begets connection begets stronger networks.

Find a natural opening to share about yourself – When you are listening and coming from a place of being connected you will find many natural openings for sharing about yourself. For example, if you’re talking to someone who builds greenhouses for a living and you are a webinar facilitator a natural opening would be to say, “Hey I have an idea. We could create something great by teaming your knowledge on how to build a green house by developing a webinar that people pay to listen to online.” This opens up a new conversation, complements their skills and demonstrates that you were listening and connecting ideas on how to move this person and your relationship with them forward.

Be sincerely interested in what YOU ARE saying

Be excited about whom you are and what you are up to – confidence is a great branding tool. If you have a tendency to downplay what you do, who you are and how you present yourself, the people listening to you may not be inspired to listen or connect. This isn’t license to be arrogant, demonstrative or patronizing, it’s an opportunity to enthusiastically share with someone about what you have to offer as a person and as a network relationship. The more authentically, humbly and confidently you share the more drawn to you they will be.

Follow-up quickly with someone you connected with and especially mention the part of the connection that struck you most – If the person said something that interested you about themselves or what they do, mention that in your follow up communication. For example, “Cheryl, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you at the Women of Influence Awards banquet and was quite impressed with the book you are writing. I would love the opportunity to have lunch with you soon and learn more about what inspired you to write about that topic.”

Network with intentionality, become known as someone who listens, acknowledges and connects with people – people seek out those who are leaders. Be an intentional leader; humble, engaged, interested and in demonstrated inquiry with the people with whom you are connecting.

Building relationships is about listening, talking and communicating. It’s an important part of your brand and who you are for not only the people with whom you network, but with everyone in your communities. The real key to all of this? When you’re intimately connected with yourself, you’re connected to everybody.

Kris Parfitt is a career strategist and leadership branding coach who is committed to finding your roadblocks and moving them out of the way so you can have the career success you want. Kris has over twenty years experience in leadership, counseling, and training positions all of which have provided an exceptional education which allows her to be a dynamic coach, one that focuses on inspiring you to acknowledge and express your extraordinary abilities and potential. Connect with Kris via LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter. This article was previously posted on www.careerrocketeer.com

Filed under: Networking | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Major Google Customer Defects

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Major Google customer swinging its business to Bing (Microsoft). Loyalty to a single search engine could fracture the internet? I think the internet is too bing for this to happen!

Rupert Murdoch Is Quitting Google, Leaving Readers With Only Millions Of Other Web Sites To Choose From
11/24/2009 by Weston Kosova
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/techtonicshifts/archive/2009/11/24/rupert-murdoch-is-quitting-google-leaving-readers-with-only-millions-of-other-web-sites-to-choose-from.aspx

So Rupert Murdoch, who has suffered for so long at the hands of Google—what with all the traffic Google directs to his NewsCorp Web sites for free—has finally had enough. He’s threatening to pull out of Google altogether and throw all of his business to Bing, Microsoft’s rival search engine.

There’s nothing wrong with Bing. It works just fine. And if Microsoft agrees to pay Murdoch for exclusive rights to list his content, all the better for Murdoch. It just drives him crazy that Google won’t give him money for the privilege of providing him a valuable service. So off you go, Mr. Murdoch. It was nice knowing you.

Now all Murdoch and Microsoft have to do is convince us to start using two search engines every time we go to the Web to look for news. First Google, which most of us already use; and then, oh yeah, I should now go to Bing in the hopes that one of Murdoch’s properties also has something to say on that subject.

Good luck with that, fellas.

The deal may sound great to Murdoch and Microsoft, but neither seems to have given a moment’s thought to what’s best for their customers. Instead of making it easier for people to find what they’re looking for, they’re making it harder.

It’s kind of like this: I like breakfast cereal. I routinely buy Cocoa Puffs and Cap’n Crunch. But you know what I really like? I like Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. They’re delicious, don’t you think? So simple and pure. Whenever I go to the Giant Food store where I buy my groceries and other cereals, I make sure to buy a box of Corn Flakes. Try them with strawberries. So good.

But let’s say Safeway Food stores offers Kellogg’s an exclusive deal to sell Corn Flakes. The cereal will be removed from the shelves at Giant. Now in order to get them I either have to switch to the Safeway across town for my general shopping, or continue to shop at Giant but make a special trip just to buy Corn Flakes.

Which of those things am I going to do?

Neither.

Here’s why: When I go to the grocery store and see that the Corn Flakes are missing, I’ll be disappointed. But hey, look, that spot on the shelf where the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes used to be isn’t empty—something else has taken its place: AnotherCompany brand corn flakes. The box looks different, but they are corn flakes, and they’re less expensive. Turns out they’ve been selling them for years, but I never noticed before. What the heck, I’ll try a box. Beats making a special trip across town to Safeway.

And here’s what I’ll discover: AnotherCompany brand corn flakes are pretty much the same as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Maybe the flakes themselves are shaped a little differently, and they taste just a little different, but after a few bowls I really can’t remember what that difference is. And these new corn flakes taste great with strawberries too!

The next time I’m at Giant, I buy another box of the new corn flakes. I am happy, and go on with my day. If I’m at a hotel and they serve Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, I have a bowl. Yep, they’re good, but not good enough to rearrange my life for.

See where we’re going with this? News on the Web is beyond plentiful, and most of it is similar. Make it less convenient for me to find your Web site, and I’ll switch to one of the many, many others that are just waiting for the opportunity to win my loyalty. It might not be exactly the same as yours, but after a short adjustment period I’m going to be just as happy. The sad truth is, you’re really not that special.

That would seem like a pretty basic lesson in economics that any executive—especially one as astute as Murdoch—would instinctively get. But he doesn’t. And neither do many of his cohorts.

Today, Bloomerg.com’s Greg Bensinger and Brian Womack report that other media companies, including A.H. Belo Corp., which publishes the Dallas Morning News, and MediaNews Group, which publishes the Denver Post, are considering following Murdoch to Bing and removing some of their stories from Google as part of their suicidal plan to start charging readers for news that can be found a million different places for free.

MediaGroup’s CEO Dean Singleton explains the logic of this decision:

“The things that go behind pay walls, we will not let Google search to, but the things that are outside the pay wall we probably will, because we want the traffic.”

Let’s unpack that amazing quote. Singleton recognizes that Google drives valuable traffic to his sites. So he’s going to let Google users see some of his papers’ stories. But not the good stuff. To see that, you have to pay. But potential newcomers to the sites won’t even know that there is supposedly really good stuff locked up inside, because all of those stories will be invisible to Google users.

In other words, Singleton wants to make it so that newcomers who come by way of Google will be greeted at the door with the least desirable content—the kind of stories lots of other sites have. Many of those readers will leave and have no reason to come back. Meanwhile, the most desirable content—the stories he believes set his sites apart from their many competitors—will be hidden away, invisible to the very people who came looking for them. That’s a bold business plan, to put it mildly.

Yes, some readers will pay up. But not most. And yes, some Google users will switch to Bing to get The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. But not most. Most readers will simply forget that The Wall Street Journal and Fox News exist online—or they’ll remember but their needs will be met with all the other sites that pop up in their Google search. And since Bing only captures 10 percent of the search market, that means Murdoch is going to be giving up a lot of readers. (How much will Microsoft have to pay him, year after year after year, to make it worth his while?)

Media companies are obviously desperate and willing to try all sorts of crazy things. That’s not necessarily bad. But it makes no sense when those things mean a worse experience for their readers. No matter how the search wars eventually shake out, the winners are surely going to be the companies that make it easy for their customers to get what they want.

Several bloggers have argued that by signing exclusive deals with Murdoch and others, Bing might just succeed in stealing a lot of customers from Google. Maybe that will happen. I doubt it. But it’s also beside the point. Even if these deals wind up helping Microsoft and hurting Google, that doesn’t mean they’ll help the likes of Murdoch or Singleton—since these agreements will make life more difficult for their customers and drive them away from their sites.

If the Web gets divvied up, with some sites pledging loyalty to this search engine and others to that one, we’ll likely see a slew of search engine aggregators that unite the disparate results on one page. Why? because people don’t want to have to wander all over creation to find what they’re looking for, and they’ll reward companies that make it so they don’t have to.

Don’t alienate your customers. This is not a difficult concept. Yet Singleton and Murdoch and a growing number of their peers seem to think that the best way to attract customers in a vibrant, highly competitive market is to make their products difficult, frustrating, and expensive.

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Top 10 Underwater Archaeology Sites

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Atlantis off of Havana? See #5.

Top 10 Underwater Archaeology Sites Around the World
Submitted by Sean Williams on Wed, 11/25/2009 – 11:17
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/sean-williams/top-10-underwater-archaeology-sites-around-world

Underwater archaeology may still be in its relative infancy, but that hasn’t stopped it making some of the world’s biggest recent discoveries. From Cleopatra to ancient plonk, there’s plenty more under the sea than a load of old shipwrecks – though they can be pretty spectacular too. Even Egyptological legend Zahi Hawass is getting a piece of the action, scouring the Nile for ancient treasure. So we thought we’d strike while the iron’s wet and bring you a top ten of the world’s underwater archaeology sites. If you think we’re talking rot, or if there’s anywhere we’ve missed, don’t hesitate to have your say either via the comments box below, our contact page or by emailing me direct. Happy snorkelling!

1. Alexandria, Egypt

Pretty much all of Alexandria’s been connected with an Egyptian or Greek legend at some point, including the ongoing quest for Cleopatra’s tomb by Zahi Hawass and Dominican expert Kathleen Martinez. Some claim the tomb is at suburb Taposiris Magna, others think it’s buried under the sands of its harbour. Others say it’s not there at all.

Large square building foundations at Pavlopetri. – Image credit Jon Henderson
What is known about the city is that there’s still a sizeable chunk of its famous Pharos, or lighthouse, both in the sea and on land. Great lumps of its masonry went into making Sultan Quaitbay’s 15th century fortress, and you can still see parts of it languishing underwater on specially organised digs.

2. Pavlopetri, Greece

Easily weighing is as one of the world’s most important underwater sites, Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconian coast of Greece, is the world’s oldest submerged town, having been inhabited up to 5,000 years ago. The Mycenaean town was once a throbbing trade centre, with modern researchers discovering roads, houses, burial sites and the remains of a megaron: a large rectangular building which may have been a Neolithic marketplace. In a time when an area’s locals don’t always get the best from archaeology, Pavlopetri has been a revelation with its modern neighbours, who have been keen to get involved in learning their ancient past.

3. Ventotene, Italy

The tiny island of Ventotene, off the west coast of central Italy, may not seen the obvious candidate for a dramatic archaeological breakthrough. But this June it became the centre of the ancient world, when the Aurora Trust stumbled on five Roman shipwrecks, each with its own invaluable stash of artefacts.

The island was once a safehaven for ships seeking refuge in stormy seas – but it appears some never made it. Among the quintent’s cargo were fish sauce, mortars, and no shortage of ancient wine. There’s no word on whether the team got their hands on any 2,000-year-old plonk (the term ‘vintage’ doesn’t quite seem enough), but celebrations must have been worth some.

4. Phlegraean Fields, Italy

The Campi Flegrei are well known in Italy, where they occupy a spot just west of Naples in a 13km-wide caldera. In fact it’s probably the world’s most active underwater site, with up to 24 diving locations and an official underwater archaeological park. It also boasts no small historical importance: it was the first Greek colony on the Italian mainland, and a Flavian amphitheatre is one of its showcase attractions. Other significant sites are Portus Julius, the Pisonian Villa, Protiro Villa and the fields’ fish pools.

5. Havana, Cuba

Anyone for Atlantis theories? Plato’s legendary city might not be off the coast of Cuba (it’s probably not off the coast of anywhere), but the small central American island, more famous for revolutions and cigars, is the location for one of the world’s most intriguing underwater projects. Experts from a host of institutions are investigating megalithic ruins in the Yucatan Channel. Some say the results could show the oldest pre-Columbian civilization in the region. Only computer mapping has been carried out so far, but watch this space…

6. Aswan, Egypt

The Nile has reclaimed much of Aswan’s ancient Egyptian treasures since the building of the Aswan High Dam in the middle of the last century. Abu Simbel temple was even moved to make way for Gamal Abdel Nasser’s giant construction. But now, thanks to technology, Aswan’s hidden artefacts are beginning to poke their heads above water – under the watchful eye of SCA chief Zahi Hawass. Check out our great video to see how Aswan’s underwater back yard is proving one of Egypt’s hottest, and wettest, archaeological sites right now.

7. North Sea, between Britain and continental Europe

Another one for the not-so-distant future, this. The North Sea may now be a 600-mile stretch of water separating Britain from The Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia, but 60,000 years ago it was once a frozen roadway, populated by Neanderthals searching for new lands. That’s why, six months ago, a Swedish team found a Neanderthal skull to accompany the myriad prehistoric mammal remains that get caught up in fishing nets each day. The Natural History Museum’s Chris Stringer says the area could have massive repercussions for Britain’s own human heritage: "This specimen might indeed be the kind of Neanderthal that was crossing into Norfolk around that time. It will help us understand our British sequence when we can much more precisely map what’s under the North Sea."

8. Solent Strait, Britain

This site is in its relative infancy, but could hold the key to understanding Britain’s Neolithic past. Hidden in an underwater cliff at Bouldner, off the Isle of Wight on the country’s south coast, lies an 8,000-year-old structure, which has left Garry Momber, director of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, "in shock". Yet Mr Momber might be feeling another emotion if the settlement is swept away. Funding is needed fast for the site to survive.

9. Cape Greco, Cyprus

Another one for the wine-lovers out there. Cape Greco, off the east coast of Cyprus, is where, 1,800 years ago, a Roman ship carrying a cargo of 130 amphorae of wine met a tragic end. Olive oil is another possible shipment found at the site (the wine can’t be that good, then), and some of the wine had even come from France.

Ever found an ancient seaport on your holidays? Image by Mladen Zagarčanin
Possibly the most interesting aspect of the haul is that it included artefacts that lend a careful insight into the daily lives of sailors in the Roman Empire, such as storage and cooking items. Remote sensing work is due, and may find even more fascinating objects buried beneath the seabed.

10. Maljevik, Montenegro

It’s every budding Jacques Cousteau’s dream: 16-year-old Michael Le Quesne was snorkelling near the Montenegrin city of Bar earlier this November when he spotted something out of place in the azure Adriatic Sea. Sure enough, what at first looked like odd lumps of rock turned out to be ancient fluted columns, part of what experts think could be an important Graeco-Roman port.

Only time will tell whether young Michael’s endeavours make any more headlines. Southampton University boffins are poring over his discoveries as we speak: if it turns out to be the real deal, Michael could end up being our underwater archaeology hero of 2009!

Filed under: Antiquities | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

So that’s what the Romans gave us.

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Roman ruins in Scotland.

So that’s what the Romans gave us – more historic camps than anywherePremium Article!
Published Date: 20 November 2009 By Tim Cornwell
http://pasthorizons.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/scotland-already-has-more-identified-roman-camps-than-any-other-european-country/

SCOTLAND already has more identified Roman camps than any other European country – reflecting Rome’s repeated attempts to stamp its rule on the troublesome north.
Now the number is set to increase. The first comprehensive survey of Roman remains for 30 years will boost the total of officially recognised sites and give them greater legal protection, officials said yesterday.

Archeologists have been mapping Roman sites in Scotland since the 18th century, and aerial surveys began in the 1920s. Now remote sensing technology featured in TV programmes such as Time Team can detect ancient features below the ground.

They can be spotted today mostly from the air, where the distinctive bank and ditch defences thrown up by the legionaries still mark the land.

Archeological experts at Historic Scotland are now setting out to identify important archeological sites that do not have "scheduled" status to protect them from development or unauthorised digging.

"We anticipate an increase in the number of Roman camps scheduled, " said Dr Sally Foster, head of Historic Scotland’s scheduling team.

Interest in the Roman effort to subjugate Scotland is set to grow with two forthcoming films. Centurion, about lost legionaries on the run from Pictish warriors, partly filmed in the Cairngorms, is due out in March. Also due in 2010 is Eagle of the Ninth, directed by Scottish film-maker Kevin Macdonald and based on the classic historical adventure by Rosemary Sutcliffe. It was inspired by the story of the lost Ninth Legion. Filming is taking place at Loch Lomond.

About 8,000 historic sites are scheduled in Scotland. About 55 include Roman camps, several with more than one, with others covering more permanent forts.

The Romans waged at least three large military campaigns in Scotland from the late 1st to early 3rd centuries AD.

The Antonine Wall, the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire, was named a World Heritage site last year. But legions ranged further in their efforts to crush Caledonian tribes.

It helps explain why Scotland has more than 200 military camps against an estimated 150 in England, and only about 30 in another frontier region, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Legionaries would camp in one spot for several months, under leather tents, building ramparts and a ditch.

Sites vary in size from a half-acre fort at Duntocher, on the Antonine Wall, to a camp near Lauder covering 170 acres.

Some sites, ploughed over for centuries, leave outlines that can only be seen with certain crops or weather conditions. But at Kintore, in Aberdeenshire, the largest excavation of any Roman camp in Britain has found evidence of more than 100 bread ovens, latrines and rubbish pits.

"It opened our eyes to how much survived in the camps despite how little you see in aerial photographs," Dr Foster said.

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What’s Your Favorite Form of Rejection?

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: I apologize out front, I laughed when I read this, and I know its not funny; NOTE TO SELF, need to laugh more.

What’s your favorite, a phone call rejection or a rejection in the mail?
by PiperChiangAccent (Senior Chimp, 17 Points) on 11/24/09 at 11:46pm
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/whats-your-favorite-a-phone-call-rejection-or-a-rejection-in-the-mail

I have received over 100+ rejections in my career.
I feel like both of them are terrible, but I actually prefer a rejection in the mail.

Sometimes by phone, you feel like you had a great chance of getting an offer so your hope gets up when a number from NYC calls you, while with a letter in the mail, you know it’s a rejection.

What are your guys’ thoughts?

Filed under: Networking | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Follow the Pain

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: I’ve always had problems trying to figure out what a company’s pain points are, I wish I’d had the advice from this article years ago. One of the reasons I was successful in ‘landing’ my most recent job is that the company was experiencing ‘pain’ and the I presented myself as the ‘solution’ to the pain.

In A Job Search? Follow The Pain

Posted by Liz Ryan / November 25th, 2009
http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/job-search-follow-pain/

Last week we talked about why the black hole is your worst-odds job-search channel. We won’t get a job by pitching resumes into the Black Hole. We’ve got to find ‘our’ hiring manager, and reach out to him or her directly.

If the employer you’re targeting is on the small side, with a few hundred employees or fewer, your target decision-maker may be the head of your function. If the employer is larger, your decision-maker may be a few layers down from that functional VP.

How to Find A Decision-Maker’s Name:

If you’re targeting the VP of your function, the odds are good that you’ll find that person on the company’s website. Piece of cake! If you’re looking for someone a bit further down in the organization, here are four ways to find the name of your very-possibly next boss:

Conduct a LinkedIn search on the company’s name and your target person’s most likely title.
Use ZoomInfo.com to find the manager you’re looking for.
Google the company name plus the title — ‘your’ manager’s name may pop up in a search result.

It’s easy to find a mailing address for your manager, once you’ve got a name. If you check LinkedIn and check with your three-dimensional network and can’t find a conduit person (someone who knows your hiring manager, who’d be willing to make an introduction for you) then your best bet is to send a snail mail letter straight to the decision-maker’s desk.

Now, Spot the Pain

Finding the decision-maker’s name is fairly easy, unless your target organization is a huge company like IBM. After you’ve got a name and a street address, your next job is to spot the pain the employer is facing — that is, the reason for the job opening.

Every job opening springs from some sort of business pain. If there’s no pain, there’s no opening. If things were working perfectly, why would the CFO approve a job opening? Your job is to spot the business pain and show the decision-maker how you’ve surmounted a similar problem in the past.

You can extrapolate the business pain from the job ad itself, at least fifty percent of the time. Read the job ad carefully, and ignore the list of requirements — X number of years of this, and Y years of that and certification in Z. We don’t want to write a letter to talk about those requirements. They aren’t central to the job opening. We want to talk about the pain, instead.

Identify A Company’s Pain: It Isn’t Rocket Science

There are only so many kinds of business pain — there’s growth-related pain, and contraction-related pain. There’s acquisition-related pain and globalization-related pain. If we can’t see the pain staring up at us from the job ad, we’ll move to the company’s own website and read as much as we can. From there, we’ll move to Google News to see what the rest of the world has to say about ‘our’ company.

Here’s an example. If we’re applying for a call center manager job and the job ad talks a lot about training staff and motivating staff, we’ve already got something to write about. Let’s do a bit of our own research to see how ‘our’ employer stacks up against its competitors. We can do a Google Blog search, and check Yahoo! message boards as well as visit Glassdoor.com to get the scoop on the company we’re targeting. We may learn that the company is number three in its market, and that turnover is high. Glassdoor users on the payroll say that the training in the call center is weak and motivation is low. That is business pain! If we’re up for the challenge of turning things around, we can write a pithy ain letter to the VP of Operations, a.k.a the hiring manager.

Here’s an example:

Dear Rodney,

I was struck by your observation in last month’s Call Center Manager magazine, “Capacity planning is the next frontier for savvy Call Center managers.” Given XYZ Inc.’s rapid growth and the spate of recent mergers among your competitors, I can just imagine the capacity-management issues you’re facing. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that customer experience, employee training and retention are also major issues on your 2010 agenda.

When I ran the call center at Charismatic Software, we launched an on-call system to allow off-the-clock agents to log on and take overflow calls as needed, keeping our hold times under two minutes and customer-sat ratings high. At the same job, I built an agent training system that gave more senior agents Mentor Points for working in groups or on-one-one with newer arrivals — and reduced turnover by twenty percent in one year.

I’d love to talk with you about XYZ’s call center opportunities when your schedule allows.

Yours,

Cassandra Martin

A good pain letter is conversational and direct, with no old-school flotsam like “I’m a results-oriented professional” but with at least one concrete, relevant story. Our job is to let the hiring manager that we can imagine the sort of dragon that’s flying around his castle walls this very minute – and that we’ve slain the exact same dragon before.

Guest Blogger Liz Ryan is a member of the Glassdoor Clearview Collection and a former Fortune 500 HR executive; she is the Workplace Expert for Business Week Online and the Networking Expert for Yahoo! Hot Jobs. Liz’s advice columns reach 50 million readers per month. Ryan leads the 25,000-member Ask Liz Ryan online community, where she shares business, career and life advice with members every day. She authored the book: "Happy About Online Networking: the virtual-ly simple way to build professional relationships" and is a sought-after keynote speaker. She has addressed a wide range of audiences including the United Nations, CEOs, HR leaders, and entrepreneurs.

Filed under: Networking | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

10 Reasons You’re NOT closing the ‘deal’

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: This article provides a good overview of how to put yourself into a better position to succeed in landing a job. Here’s the ‘meat’, but I’d recommend you read the article (below) provides a lot of clarity / insights around each of these points.

1: Do toot your own horn — but not too loudly
2: Don’t expect your network to do all the work for you
3: Do follow up — but don’t be a pest
4: Do be prepared — but make sure your references are prepared, too
5: Do be accommodating — but not obsequious
6: Don’t expect them to “show you the money” too early
7: Do clean up your online “house”
8: Don’t tell people about your chickens before they hatch
9: Do upgrade to “Skills 2.0″
10: Don’t give up: The right job, like the Truth, is out there

10 reasons you’re not closing the deal in your job search

Date: November 25th, 2009
Author: Debra Littlejohn Shinder
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1186

If your job leads fail to pan out – again and again – it might be time to rethink your approach. Deb Shinder offers some job search do’s and don’ts.

You’ve got the credentials, the education and experience, and you haven’t had a problem getting job interviews — but for some reason, you can’t seem to close the deal. Leads that looked promising fizzle out after the first or second interview. Is it the economy, or is it something you’re doing (or not doing)? As a once-upon-a-time personnel director who’s interviewed many job candidates, I’ve been listening to some of my friends’ tales of woe regarding their recent job searches. I put together a list of some of the reasons that otherwise good candidates don’t make the final cut, over and over again.

Often, the problem stems from taking good, standardized advice about how to conduct a job search and implementing it in a way that ends up rubbing interviewers the wrong way.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Do toot your own horn — but not too loudly

It is absolutely appropriate to tell the interviewer about your accomplishments in a way that paints you in a positive light. What some job candidates don’t understand is that when you come off as arrogant, when you sound as if you think you’re better than everyone else, when you go overboard in singing your own praises, interviewers don’t see that as positive.

It’s always better if you can let others deliver the extreme accolades, even if second-hand. A letter of reference or a magazine article that refers to you as someone who “knows more about identity management than anyone else in the world” is likely to impress hiring authorities (unless, of course, the author is your mom or your spouse). Referring to yourself that way in your own résumé is more likely to just result in raised eyebrows. You don’t want them breaking out the DSM-IV after you leave to review the symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder.

I actually saw a job hunter’s email signature that said, “John Doe, visionary and industry thought leader.” That’s not a job description — it’s an indicator of self-infatuation. Other terms to avoid in describing yourself include guru, foremost authority, and the ever-popular “minor god.” Yes, I really saw that in a résumé and yes, I’m sure it was intended to be humorous. But it doesn’t come across that way when it’s embedded in a document that’s supposed to be a serious summary of your suitability for a professional position.

Unless you’re interviewing for the job of comedy writer, keep the laughs out of the résumé and confine any witty comments to the verbal interchange — and even then, be very, very careful. Humor is always a minefield when you’re dealing with someone you don’t know well. What one person finds hilarious may sound silly, or even offensive, to someone else.

2: Don’t expect your network to do all the work for you

In today’s very connected world, the value of personal networking in finding a job has been heavily emphasized. And it’s absolutely true that when faced with two candidates with equal qualifications, most hiring authorities will lean toward the one who was referred by a mutual friend or acquaintance. It takes some of the “unknown” out of the equation — or at least it appears to. On the other hand, before you bring up the fact that you’re best friends with the interviewer’s old college roommate, it’s a good idea to do some investigation and make sure there’s no bad blood between the two of them.

When you’re unemployed, job hunting is your job — and you should put the same amount of time and effort into it that you’d put into the job itself, if not more. Don’t expect your network to carry you and don’t focus only on the online variety of networking. The Internet is a great resource, but don’t neglect more traditional channels for job leads, either. The more people you know — both online and off — the better your chances that one of them can provide you with a productive job lead or serve as a reference whose recommendation makes the difference.

3: Do follow up — but don’t be a pest

When I was in my twenties, I was selected for a high level job in municipal government that I never expected to get. I didn’t have any public sector experience and I was competing against more than 50 applicants, some of whom had worked for decades in public administration. About a dozen of us were chosen to interview before the whole city council — a terrifying experience at that age. Although I felt I’d done well in the interview, I was completely surprised when I got the call telling me to report to work.

Months later, one of the city council members told me that the council of five was divided between me and one other candidate, and that he had the deciding vote. And the thing that tipped that decision in my favor was the fact that I was the only person who had bothered to send a brief note to each council member, thanking them for the interview, following up on one of their questions (tailored individually to each of them), and restating my interest in the job.

Your follow-up strategy can make (or break) the deal. Some people take the advice to follow up on interviews as license to harass the interviewers, secretaries, HR personnel, and anyone else who might be involved in the hiring process. Daily phone calls or emails so they “won’t forget you” are probably not a good idea, and I’ve seen it taken to that extreme. Definitely follow up once with each person who interviews you, as soon as possible after the interview. A second follow-up might be appropriate if the decision-making process drags out for several weeks. More than that and you begin to look like a pest.

The old adage “all things in moderation” is a good one when it comes to following up. That also means don’t go overboard in your follow-up. Tell them why you were impressed by the organization, but don’t gush. Don’t get personal, either. You don’t want the interviewer to think you fell in love with him/her and are going to turn into a stalker. And never, ever send gifts with your thank-you note; they could be construed as attempted bribes.

4: Do be prepared — but make sure your references are prepared, too

If you really want the job, you’re likely to spend a lot of time trying to anticipate what you’ll be asked in the interview and practicing what you’ll say and how you’ll say it. Part of being prepared involves having a list of references who can vouch for your capabilities and/or character. Don’t just go with the first few people who come to mind or those whose addresses and phone numbers you happen to know without looking them up. (Believe it or not, that’s the way some job hunters choose their references.)

Decide on your references beforehand and have all that information with you when you go in to interview if you haven’t already been asked for it on an application form. It’s usually best not to print your references on your résumé because you may want to use different references for different jobs. It’s best to choose at least some of your references from members of the industry you’re trying to get hired into, if possible. Don’t list your former bosses as personal references; they will already be listed in your employment history. Former co-workers are fine, especially if they happen to be well respected in the industry. Don’t list Senator X or some other high-placed official who’s a friend of your uncle and doesn’t really know you.

And no matter who your references are, tell them that you want to list them as references and ask if it’s okay. Let them know what types of jobs you’re applying for and when they might expect to be contacted. It can be disturbing to get a call saying, “My name is Joe Smith and I’m with the FBI. Please call me back.” If your friend knows you’ve applied for a job with the bureau and have put him down as a reference, you’ll save him a lot of grief. Otherwise, when he does find out what it’s all about, he may be so annoyed with you that he won’t give you the glowing reference you deserve.

5: Do be accommodating — but not obsequious

It goes without saying that when you’re asking someone for a job, you should be nice. Don’t get into arguments with your interviewers. Don’t come on too strong and judgmental with your opinions, no matter how right you believe you are. Be flexible; if an interviewer calls and asks you to reschedule, be gracious and try to accommodate their schedule. After all, they’re the ones with the most power in the relationship. Even if you’re the ideal candidate and they are pursuing you doggedly, don’t forget that nobody is indispensible. And even if you aren’t really sure you want the job, you never know when you might encounter the interviewer(s) again in a completely different context, so it can never hurt to leave a good impression.

On the flip side, some job hunters take “being nice” a little too far. Don’t fawn over the interviewer. Don’t pretend an avid interest that you don’t really have in all the same hobbies, paintings, authors, etc., that you might see evidence of in the interviewer’s office. If you can find a genuine point of commonality, that’s great. But fabricating one will often backfire on you. If you tell the interviewer how much you love sailing even though you’ve never been, you’re going to feel pretty silly when you find yourself waist-deep in a conversation about masts and booms and halyards and sheets.

And even though you shouldn’t get into a heated debate, it’s not usually a good idea to mindlessly agree with absolutely everything the interviewer says. Today’s business world is about teamwork and carrying your own weight. Few hiring authorities are looking for someone who has no opinions of his/her own or who is afraid to express any of them. In fact, some want an employee who thrives on controversy. This is where it pays to do your homework beforehand. Find out what the company’s general philosophy is. Are most members of the organization staid, dull “yes men” (or “yes women”) who play it safe at all costs? Or do those who have risen quickly in the company exhibit more of an independent streak? Don’t pretend to be something you’re not, but it’s perfectly acceptable to accentuate or deemphasize certain sides of your personality, depending on the tone that’s set by those at the top of the organization.

6: Don’t expect them to “show you the money” too early

In today’s economy, job candidates are more likely than ever to have money on the brain. Your bills are piling up and you need to pay them. Yes, you’re interested in the job, but you want to know what it pays. You don’t want to waste your time (and theirs) going through numerous interviews if the salary is too low for you to realistically consider. But this understandable concern can lead to making a sometimes-fatal mistake: bringing up money too early in the process.

Somewhat like a potential spouse, a potential employer wants to be loved for something other than money. If you bring it up too soon, it may appear that that’s the only thing you care about. Realistically, interviewers know that money matters, but they want a chance to hook you on the job itself — and, frankly, they want to be sure you’re someone they want to hook — before getting to the subject of compensation. Your focus should be on making them want you so badly that they’ll use the compensation package to try to woo you.

So how do you avoid wasting your time on jobs that don’t pay nearly enough? Again, do your homework. Research the average salaries for the type of position you’re applying for within the industry and in that geographic region. The Internet makes this much easier than it used to be. If you’re diligent enough, you may be able to find out what the job pays at that particular company. In the public sector, salaries, or at least ranges, are often pretty much set in stone by the budget, which is a public document (although for some high level positions, there is much more flexibility). It’s easy to find out what the jobs pay because it’s public record. In private companies, it can be more difficult. Some organizations frown heavily on employees disclosing the details of their compensation and some even make you sign nondisclosure agreements that cover the financial arrangements.

Nonetheless, people like to talk. If they’re well paid, they like to brag. If they’re not so well paid, they like to complain. That’s especially true when they believe their comments are anonymous. Some directed Web searches can turn up a wealth of “private” information, as can casual conversations with friends who have friends who work for the company.

Even if you can’t dig up the exact salary info, you can usually get a good idea about the pay scale based on the job description and the required qualifications. And if you find out that the last person who held the job made $50,000 less than your target salary, don’t despair. Sometimes it’s possible to turn an interview for one position into a springboard to a different, higher-paying position, even one that didn’t previously exist — if you’re good enough at selling yourself and your abilities.

7: Do clean up your online “house”

Just as the Internet has provided new resources for job hunters, it has also provided new ways for employers to conduct background investigations on those candidates. If you knew that the company you want to work for might send someone to your home to see how you live, you would probably take extra steps to get the house as clean as possible, and you certainly wouldn’t leave your dirty laundry lying around in the living room. But many job candidates do leave their virtual “unmentionables” in plain sight on the Internet, even when they know that potential employers can see it if they happen to drop in.

Ideally, you should start thinking about your online reputation long before you need it to be pristine. Every time you post to a public forum, put up a personal Web page that’s not password protected, or send a political diatribe to a widely distributed mailing list that’s open to the public, you should think about whether you would be uncomfortable if it came to light during a job search. But even if you haven’t been completely circumspect in the past, there are still things you can do to minimize the chances of an HR investigator coming across a photo of you drunk, dancing on the table in your underwear or that passionate post you made during the last election season about the candidate not of your choice.

If you have your own Web site, scrutinize it carefully and remove anything that’s questionable. If in doubt, take it out. Some forums will also allow you to remove your own posts. If you have social networking pages where you (or your friends) get a little rowdy, check the privacy settings and make sure the pages can’t be viewed by the general public.

For more tips, see Job Hunting? Don’t Forget to Manage Your Online Rep.

8: Don’t tell people about your chickens before they hatch

The interviews went well. You were called back for a second and third one. You got to the point of discussing salaries and the company’s pay scale seemed to fit your expectations. You received positive feedback from all the interviewers and you were really excited about the prospect of working for this company. In fact, you were so excited that you posted all about it on your blog or told your 500 closest friends on Facebook (many of whom you’ve never met). Suddenly, it all went sour. You got no more calls from the company and when you finally got up the nerve to check back with them, you were told that the position had been filled.

What happened? Chances are that word of your premature announcement reached the wrong person. But even if it was something else entirely that caused you to lose out on the job, now you’re stuck with explaining to all those friends that, ummm, no, you won’t be starting work with XYZ Corporation after all. It makes you look flakey at best and at worst, it leaves people wondering what terrible blunder you made or what awful secret from your past was uncovered that caused you to be “fired” before you even started. They may even think twice before recommending you or referring you to an opening they know about. The moral: Don’t celebrate until you’re sure you have something to celebrate about.

9: Do upgrade to “Skills 2.0″

If you find yourself breezing through the initial interviews with HR and/or department supervisors with flying colors, but you fail to get a call-back after the more in-depth technical interviews that come next, consider brushing up on your skills. In the tech industry, in particular, things change fast, and a mastery of yesterday’s technology won’t get you as many points as an up-to-date skill set. If you were in the same job for a number of years and your company put off upgrading, you might have let your skills fall behind.

Oddly, you’re likely to find that even if hiring companies haven’t upgraded to the newest hardware and software themselves, many of them want to know that you know all about it (as well as the old stuff they’re currently running). That’s because a) they think — or at least hope — they will eventually move up to more current technology and b) they want someone onboard who is interested in constantly learning.

10: Don’t give up: The right job, like the Truth, is out there

It can be easy to get discouraged if time after time, you get just so far in the application and interview process and then no further. But in times of high unemployment, it can take a while to find the right fit, no matter how qualified you might be. And remember that the higher up on the corporate food chain you’re aiming, the longer it’s liable to take to find a new job. Above all, don’t give up and don’t get sloppy. The right job for you could be the very next one you try for.

In the meantime, consider alternative means of bringing in income, such as consulting or writing in your field of expertise. You might even discover that you like being your own boss and can make a living at it that’s as good as or better than what you were making as a “wage slave.” Flexibility is the key, and that key can open the door to a new career that makes you thankful you lost or quit your old job.

Filed under: Networking | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Three Reasons Microsoft Should be Thankful

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Windows 7 is not Vista, Office still owns the Enterprise and Bing is holding its own.

Three Reasons Microsoft Should Be Thankful
Shane O’Neill, CIO.com
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/11/24/urnidgns852573C40069388000257678007C979D.DTL

What should the software soldiers in Redmond be thankful for? Well, Microsoft has certainly had a topsy-turvy year. But despite layoffs, dismal revenue reports and great difficulty getting anyone to take Windows Mobile seriously, the software giant has much to be thankful for as we head into Turkey Day.

[ For complete coverage on Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system -- including hands-on reviews, video tutorials and advice on enterprise rollouts -- see CIO.com's Windows 7 Bible. ]

Here are a few reasons why Microsoft should stay resilient against its many rivals through the holidays and beyond.

Windows 7 Is Not Vista

It’s a safe bet that Windows 7 will not end up like its embattled predecessor, Vista. The new version of Windows, launched on Oct. 22 in a modest fashion compared to Vista’s garish debut three years ago, has received mostly positive reviews, its early sales exceed those of XP and Vista in a comparable time frame, and its market share for last weekend passed 5 percent, according to Web metrics company Net Applications.

Windows 7 still faces roadblocks. Those clever Apple TV ads will continue to taint perceptions of the Windows brand, but Windows 7′s true enemy is the economy. The upcoming holiday season is ripe for new PC purchases, but the sour economy could prevent buyers from opening their wallets. Also, on the consumer side, if fairly new PCs running Vista ain’t broke why fix ‘em? And then you have cash-strapped businesses content to run the competent Windows XP into the ground.

Nevertheless, Windows 7 has silenced the Vista stigma — an important accomplishment. Also, its frequently-aired TV ads are lively and engaging, and with Gartner forecasting that PC sales will actually make modest gains this year, Windows 7, now running on everything from netbooks to all-in-one touchscreen PCs, is in an ideal position for when consumers and businesses start spending again.

Office Still Owns the Enterprise

It’s hard to deny the lure of cheap, Web-based productivity suites such as Google Apps, OpenOffice and offerings from Zoho and IBM. But the fact remains that enterprises still choose Microsoft Office desktop tools more frequently than any other suite.

A recent survey of 2,000 IT decision-makers by research firm Forrester shows that 80 percent of companies surveyed support some version of Microsoft Office, and 78 percent have no plans for implementing an alternative to Microsoft Office.

The main reasons for Office satisfaction are that businesses are comfortable with it and Office is compatible with Microsoft’s ubiquitous Sharepoint enterprise collaboration software, as well as other business applications.

On the other hand, Web-based e-mail and productivity tools, though much less expensive than Office, require that IT managers retrain workers who are old hat with Microsoft Office. Also, storing company data on someone else’s servers in a cloud environment remains a sticking point with many businesses.

But with cloud computing becoming more prevalent, enterprises won’t resist Web-based apps forever. Microsoft knows this, and will include Web versions of Office 2010 apps when the software launches in the first half of next year.

Bing Is Holding Its Own

When Bing, Microsoft’s "decision engine," launched back in June, nobody knew what to expect. Could Bing actually compete with Google search?

Well, Bing has not revolutionized the search engine world, but it has been surprisingly successful. Putting photos of exotic locations on its main page brought visual flair to search, and its categorized search results, hover preview feature and enhanced video search provided streamlined results in a way that made Google look both disorganized and boring.

Bing vs. Google: The Feature War Begins

Bing’s U.S. market share has increased to 9.9 percent, which is almost two percentage points higher than when it launched, according to October data from online market tracker comScore. Yet Bing has hardly taken any share from Google’s comfortable 65.4 percent. Bing’s share gains have come at the expense of Yahoo, not Google.

But Microsoft is committed to Bing growth, dedicating close to $100 million for marketing and advertising. Also, this month Microsoft unveiled new features in Bing.

The latest updates include Facebook previews, full-page weather reports, expanded hover preview showing a snapshot of the Web site you want to go to, and the integration of Wolfram Alpha, a computational technology that returns deeper search queries such as a person’s body mass index or how many grams of sugar are in a banana.

What’s next for Bing? You can expect Bing and Google to try to one-up each other with new search features in the coming months, and Bing will experience a market share jump as it gets rolled into Yahoo when the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal is finalized.

Shane O’Neill is a senior writer at CIO.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/smoneill. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter at twitter.com/CIOonline.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/11/24/urnidgns852573C40069388000257678007C979D.DTL#ixzz0Xz06iL62

Filed under: Business | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

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