Big Brands Are Being Built on Big Name Celebrities

September 18, 2015, 1:46 pm

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Make it big in movies, on TV or in sports and then launch products with your name on it. This has always been a pathway to successful brand marketing. But with the rise of social media and big brand ideas, celebrities are taking things to new heights.

Shay Mitchell recently launched a critically acclaimed line of active-wear called Fit To Wander with RDG Global, racking up hundreds of thousands of Instagram likes. Richard Gossett, the owner of RDG Global and co-founder of the brand says "Active-wear and active leisure wear are now part of every woman's daily wardrobe. And our brand is exploding."

Jessica Simpson is a massive name in fashion overseeing a $1 billion retail empire according to Forbes, and the top is no where in sight.

Even older celebrities are getting in on this craze. Recently, Bjorn Borg, the Swedish sports fashion brand named for famous tennis star Bjorn Borg, showed a line of clothes that's out of this world. When Borg first played at Wimbledon in 1973, his ice-cold countenance and flowing blond hair created as much attention as the five consecutive titles he subsequently won between 1976 and 1980. His blond locks and shy blue eyes had young girls faint and his impeccable sense of style made him a fashion icon that still stands to this day. Bjorn Borg was the defining rock star of tennis. This led to the launch of his fashion line which is sold through bjornborg.com

Celebrities can do a lot to propel a brand forward, especially these-days when they have millions of social media followers. Shay Mitchell's social media channels ignite fans to Fit to Wander every minute, day in and day out. Check out #FitToWander for example. Now that's a fashion movement.

Older celebrities who still have cache but a lot fewer social media fans have to work much harder at capturing consumer attention. Cue Bjorn Borg's latest marketing campaign. Not shying away from provocative advertising to make waves, Borg has taken an active stand for world peace with an outrageous campaign that urged people to send dirty underwear to warmongers. They did a campaign promoting gay marriage and now they're taking the next step by celebrating more love in the universe - Mars to be more specific . In a tribute to, and inspired by, the brave and visionary project Mars One, a non-profit organization aiming to colonize Mars, Borg takes a stand for the love of Mankind during Fashion Week Stockholm. The brand showcased their main fashion sportswear line, as well as a limited edition show piece collection, exclusively designed by the brand Head of Design James Lee, in collaboration with the show stylist Naomi Itkes.

But this gets me back to Mars One. In 2026, a human settlement on Mars will be initiated with the four first volunteering astronauts. Mars One is the space project offering 100 people the chance to move to our neighboring planet Mars. Inspired by nomads of bygone and future generations, the Borg SS16 show at the Stockholm Fashion Week was a tribute to this ground-breaking space mission and to the concept of the ultimate challenge: Training for Mars.

"The SS16 show is inspired by the concept of breaking new frontiers for the love of mankind. Mars One epitomizes this idea and our show is a tribute to the bravery and faith these pioneers show by venturing to the unknown for the sake of evolution and innovation. The journey sets the scene for the show featuring our fashion sportswear collection that is perfectly fit for the ultimate challenge - training for Mars!" says James Lee, Head of Design at Bjorn Borg.

Mars One is a groundbreaking project, founded by dutch entrepreneur Bas Landsorp, that aims to establish human life on Mars by the year 2026. A vast casting process resulted in 100 candidates from all over the world willing to leave everything behind in the name of research, science and the future of man to travel and live the rest of their lives on Mars. Four of the Mars One Candidates attended the fashion show. Seems like the little red planet will continue to inspire sportswear with great function, and moreover taking on the ultimate challenge - moving to Mars.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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The Importance of Real-time Collaboration

September 18, 2015, 1:46 pm

≫ Next: 4 Ways to Cater to Your Email Marketing Audience

≪ Previous: Big Brands Are Being Built on Big Name Celebrities

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Image by Norman Lear Center via Flickr

Of the 8.7 hours average Americans spend at work each day, less than half of their time (45 percent) is used performing the primary duties of their job, according to a 2014 report conducted by Harris Poll. Approximately 14 percent is spent managing email, 8 percent on interruptions for non-essential tasks, and 7 percent for 'wasteful' meetings--and that is frightening. Employees find nearly one-third of their work day hijacked due to inefficient internal communications. But with smarter collaboration tools and project management programs, enterprises may expect to raise worker productivity by minimizing the distraction of email, unnecessary meetings and other workplace interruptions.

As businesses aim to accelerate growth, employees will need to learn to work together intelligently. Real-time collaboration plays a critical role in ensuring everyone is accountable and productive. This way, communication flows more fluidly and team members have access to the information and materials they need to produce high-value deliverables in a timely manner. By empowering workers to make an immediate impact, fewer initiatives get put to the side or thrown on the back burner. Plus, projects are often completed sooner.

Let's consider the increasing importance of real-time collaboration for businesses looking to become more efficient even as they grow.

A system of exchange, feedback and quality assurance

"One of the lessons I learned early on after launching my firm, LexION Capital Management, was the importance of fostering team-work," says CEO Elle Kaplan. "This is why I created a system of real-time exchanges and feedback in order to establish a more collaborative work environment, and ultimately get the best out of my team."

The company, an independent wealth management firm, uses a digital task system which "allows team members to communicate directly with one another on any project." Email and instant messaging alone are limited solutions. "By uploading projects to this unique system, team members are able to conduct quality checks on the work of others and improve upon the quality of the project through real-time collaboration," added Kaplan.

With a collaboration solution in place, managers and peers alike are able to gain better control of the review process, tracking changes and comparing current and past versions. Critical information is kept centralized, with all team members always having access to the latest content and materials (e.g. marketing and sales collateral, legal documents, etc.).

Real-time collaboration also reduces barriers to success. For Kaplan, it is important to let her team at LexION Capital self-manage--a primary motivation for developing "a system of accountability that works to deliver good work using the strengths of each individual team member."

Improved knowledge management and productivity

When FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm, tripled its headcount, it needed to streamline its internal knowledge transfer processes to improve onboarding for new employees. For better knowledge management, FSG licensed Central Desktop and developed dedicated workspaces in which teams working on specific consulting engagements could collaborate.

With client-specific content and conversations in one place, outsiders looking in can easily pick up where their peers left off and take action immediately. Collaboration platforms are huge time savers since workers rarely ever have to search for hours or days to retrieve critical project information or wait on a response from a busy colleague. This minimizes confusion, improves enterprise-wide communication, and keeps agile and productive teams in-the-know at all times.

User adoption and the future of work

According to a study by business technology solutions and managed services provider Avanade, "77 percent of business and IT leaders say their companies are currently using social collaboration technologies" and "82 percent of businesses currently using social collaboration tools want to use more of them in the future."

Real-time collaboration is well on its way to being standard practice.

Marc-Alexis Remond, Global Senior Director of Polycom, says, "Businesses, government agencies, education, and healthcare institutions must embed collaboration solutions into the DNA of their organization to unleash the power of human collaboration."

As firms explore new ways of working, they must embrace "business transformation to improve performance, efficiencies, and operations by integrating people, process, and technology," says Remond.

Of course, collaborative tools are only a partial solution to productivity woes. At their core, enterprises and small businesses must avoid self-sabotage and should foster a culture that champions real-time collaboration.

This post originally appeared on the Central Desktop blog and is republished with permission.

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Danny Wong is the co-founder of Blank Label, an award-winning luxury menswear company. He is also a digital marketing consultant and freelance writer. To connect, tweet him @dannywong1190 or message him on LinkedIn.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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4 Ways to Cater to Your Email Marketing Audience

September 18, 2015, 1:56 pm

≫ Next: Why Content Marketing Is Essential for Early-Stage Startups

≪ Previous: The Importance of Real-time Collaboration

By Jessa Barron, NextAdvisor.com

Email marketing is an essential part of any and all marketing strategies now. It allows you to build relationships, communicate new ideas, generate feedback and also helps you gather important data that could translate into sales and relationships with future prospects. While the benefits of email marketing are obvious, what isn't so obvious is how to create successful campaigns. To avoid losing subscribers or having your subscribers delete your email campaigns, there are some things you want to pay attention to and certain things you want to steer clear of. Here's how you can cater your newsletter to your marketing audience:

1. Make it personal

Instead of sending out emails with only company updates, encourage dialogue from your recipients. Ask for feedback on things, and provide social media share buttons so you can get a better idea of what they like to share with friends and peers. Many services, such as MailChimp and GetResponse, let your customize your greeting and subject line to include individual names. For example, an email that begins with, "Hi John!" is a lot less likely to end up in the spam folder than one that begins with, "Dear user." Also be sure to use simple, easy-to-understand language so your recipients feel like they are hearing from a real human being, not an automated computer service.

2. Know your audience

Many email marketing services, such as the two listed above, have features that allow you to segment groups, so you can test different campaigns on different groups based on proven preferences. This is an important tool to utilize, because not only can it help you get to know your demographic and how it varies, but it also improves your click rate by creating customized content for different interests. Test out different delivery dates, subject lines, content, surveys, images and layouts to see what keeps your audience the most engaged. For example, depending on the type of business or service you are offering, you may have more consumers engaged on weekends than weekdays or vice versa.

3. Create share-worthy content

One of the most useful things that email marketing services offer is tracking and analytics tools. Most services will send you detailed reports of each campaign you schedule, numbering how many recipients opened the email, how many shared to social media, how many clicked on links within the email and where on your website they landed on. These reports also note how many deleted the newsletter without opening and how many marked it as spam. This is especially helpful because it shows you what type of content your audience likes, ignores or deletes. In addition to these tools, doing your own research can help tremendously. Want to create more of a following on social media? Pay attention to what your consumers like and share the most and duplicate that type of content on your newsletter. In addition to creating share buttons in your newsletter campaigns, your newsletter itself should also always include the option to "Like" or "Follow" your company's social media networks.

4. Avoid overkill

This point cannot be stressed enough. Most of us have unsubscribed from emails due to receiving too many in a single day. Our inboxes are constantly filled with work emails, personal emails, coupons, offers and spam, so when you send out multiple emails daily, your subscribers may get annoyed and opt out of receiving anything from you in the future. Try to limit your campaigns to once a week, or offer an option on your newsletter sign up that allows subscribers to choose how frequently they'd like to receive your campaigns.

To learn more about what all email marketing services can do, check out our email marketing blog. And if you'd like to get more information on selecting a service to use for your campaigns, visit our reviews of the top services for businesses of all sizes.

This blog post originally appeared on NextAdvisor.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Why Content Marketing Is Essential for Early-Stage Startups

September 18, 2015, 1:56 pm

≫ Next: Confession: How I (Almost) Lost My Husband in 10 Days

≪ Previous: 4 Ways to Cater to Your Email Marketing Audience

If you run a startup, maybe you've already been through an accelerator program and you have some bites from investors. You've received seed or angel funding, or closed a Series A round, and now you have somewhere between $500,000 and a few million in investments: enough to finance office space and bankroll a couple of salaries for core employees like developers, but not enough to go on a hiring spree. You want to start building a buzz about your company and getting on your prospects' radar. So how do you do it?

Focus on content marketing. Here's why content marketing is an essential strategy for startup companies today:

Content marketing is more effective and cheaper than traditional PR.

The harsh truth is, unless you're Google or Apple, no one really cares about your press release. It's not likely to gain traction among the tech blogs, and spending thousands of dollars on distribution is almost always money poorly spent.

However, there is a much more direct path to getting coverage for your startup on tech blogs: developing a guest blog strategy. By developing informative, helpful articles that appeal to top tech blogs' target audiences, we've helped our startup clients get published on top sites such as VentureBeat, Forbes.com and KillerStartups.

These posts may not be directly focused on your company's mission, but they go a long way towards getting your business on your prospects' radar, and can help you build high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites, increasing your search engine rankings. Additionally, by developing opinionated thought leadership content, you're far more likely to get on media publications' and event planners' attention for interviews and speaking opportunities, as the startup Groove has discovered.

Inbound marketing is the most affordable way to increase your business leads.

Yes, you could pay for Google or Facebook advertising to generate new leads. But depending on your industry, you could end up paying more than $20 or $30 dollars per click. "Insurance," for instance, costs more than $50 dollars for each Google AdWords click. And even after those expenses, there's no guarantee that the lead is going to turn into a sale. Even worse, keyword advertising isn't a self-sustaining solution: The only way to keep popping up at the top of the Google search results every month is to keep shelling out for those ads.

In contrast, by investing in developing high-quality, unique and insightful content that generates discussion and links, you'll build a site that Google loves, organically. That means that over time, you'll naturally rise to the top of the search results for many of your chosen keyword terms, without having to pay Google for the privilege. So your web traffic won't vanish the next month if you decide to cut back your ad spend.

Outsourcing to a content marketing agency allows you to focus on running your business.

Many larger companies hire full-time content marketing managers to develop and manage their editorial strategy. But in your case, that's probably not a good idea just yet. You don't have the capital for non-essential hires, and besides, you're still in the process of working out your marketing strategy. One option is to write all of the copy yourself. But as a busy startup founder with a million other things on your plate, that's not too likely to happen, either. Instead, consider outsourcing your marketing needs to a content marketing agency. Here's why:

It lets you to hire experienced marketing writers on a tight budget. Let's say you only have $3,000 dollars a month to allocate towards content development. Just try to find a full-time marketing employee willing to work for those sorts of rates, especially in a big city. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll stumble upon a fresh college grad, but he or she won't have the experience you need to drive your business growth and build your credibility. By contracting with an agency or using a freelancer, you can avoid all the time of onboarding and training a new employee, and get high-quality work from writers with far more experience than anyone you'd be able to hire on a salaried basis.

It helps you build your reputation as a thought leader with minimal time investment. You have a lot of insights into the business world that you want to share, but never have the time to write down your thoughts. A content marketing agency can support you by collaborating with you on quick phone interviews to get a sense of the topics you want to cover, then developing thorough think pieces written from your point of view, which can be published on your own blog and in industry-leading websites and media publications. This will help you quickly improve your reputation, and pave the way for interviews, speaking invitations and other opportunities that will grow both your personal and business brands.

It provides a scalable model for growth. Some content marketing agencies, including ours, work primarily on a monthly retainer basis. We often contract with our clients for three months at a time, so clients are able to adjust their content needs and budgets on a quarterly basis. That means that over time, clients can decide to add new projects to their retainer to optimize their growth. Conversely, if they want to scale back their content deliverables to invest in other marketing needs, that's easy to accomplish as well. When you hire a full-time employee, you're stuck either paying that person's salary regardless of how much work they're producing, or you're compelled to lay them off if you realize you don't have the budget to keep going. This retainer model provides a flexible, scalable way to adapt your marketing needs, in line with the Lean Startup model.

A version of this post originally appeared on the Eucalypt Media blog, here.

Kathryn Hawkins is a principal at Eucalypt Media, a content marketing agency that works with national B2B, B2C, nonprofit, and education clients, including Fortune 500 companies. She specializes in spearheading comprehensive content marketing and PR strategies to spotlight her agency clients' thought leadership, and developing custom content on their behalf with their internal team and pool of freelance journalists. She's also publisher of Gimundo, a website and daily newsletter focused on positive content and inspiring videos.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

↧

Confession: How I (Almost) Lost My Husband in 10 Days

September 18, 2015, 2:15 pm

≫ Next: F*ck Average: 19 Ways to Elevate to Excellent, Now

≪ Previous: Why Content Marketing Is Essential for Early-Stage Startups

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I packed up my office. Clicked off the light and skipped all the way to the door. Oops, did anyone see me click my heels in the parking lot? Better simmer down.

All that happened the day I ditched my corporate job as a marketing communications manager to become a full-time Word Boss.

OMGeee, I was so ecstatic! I raced home about 2:30 p.m. and gave my husband a mind-blowing afternoon "snack." Yep, life was great.

That was Friday.

Monday morning, I woke up, slipped into business casual wear like I was going to work and walked about 50 steps from my bedroom to our home office.

That was at 7:30 in the morning.

Damn, it's 4:30 p.m. already? Time to pick up our son from daycare. (Why in the heck was I so mad about ending the workday?)

Tuesday, I woke up and did the same thing. Only this time my husband picked up our son from daycare. I worked until 5:30 p.m., ate dinner with him and my son and disappeared back into the office until 2 a.m. Just me, Pandora and the 90's R&B station (I can't write a thing without listening to Jagged Edge or Lauryn Hill.)

By the 9th day of my corporate freedom, I was spending about 14 to 15 hours locked up in the office. On the 10th day ... things got pretty crazy at my house.

Before I get into what happened on day 10, let me rewind and tell you about a discussion my husband and I had before I quit my full-time job.

You see, I was building my business and working full-time for over a year before I took the BIG leap. I was working all day and night and promised that would stop once I ditched my full-time gig.

I also vowed to cook more. Clean more. Spend more time with my husband.

Now, remember the day I quit and raced home for a freedom freak session?

That was the first and last day I cooked, cleaned and spent time with my husband. Now that I've set the scene ... you can only imagine what was going on in my house on day 10.

So back to day 10. My husband came into the office, sat down in the chair and folded his hands. And bit his bottom lip. (I've known my husband for 12 years ... long enough to know trouble's brewing when he bites his lip.)

I stopped typing and looked at him. "Apryl, we have a problem ..." he started. He went on to list all the promises I made before quitting my job and how I hadn't kept any of them. He spoke for about 45 minutes before saying, "do you think that's fair?"

Absolutely not! It's not fair that I chose building a business over my marriage. It's not fair that I left my husband feeling alone and neglected for 10 days. It's not fair that I nearly lost my husband in 10 days.

I needed to set some ground rules. And fast ...

1. Work less

I was the Word Boss. (AKA a freelance writer, but Word Boss sounds so much better doesn't it?) Being the boss meant I could work as much or little as I wanted.

I bypassed the standard 40-hour workweek because I was trying to do everything at once. Marketing. Sales. Client projects. Accounting. The list just keeps going. But guess what I learned? I wake up every morning to 24 glorious hours to get stuff done. It's okay to do what I can today. Tomorrow, the clock will reset (God willing).

2. Intimacy often

Intimacy is important in every relationship and mine is no different. So whatever I need to put on hold, not do, pass off ... I do it.

Happy Spouse. Happy House.

Want to keep a happy home? I have three words for you, ladies: Know. Your. Man.

3. Just say no

This powerful slogan worked well for the war on drugs. And it has worked even better for the war on insanity in my life.

You see, I have always been a massive word, nerd. Friends and family ask me to write their resumes. Create flyers for their yard sales. Rewrite their kids' college applications. All for free. My heart was saying: "it's the right thing to do."

But my household and business was suffering from all the freebie projects. The first time I said no, I felt like the world was going to end. But it didn't. Instead, I heard angels sing.

So now, when I'm not able or just don't feel like doing something ... I say no. (And sometimes, I say "hell naw," depending on what I was asked to do.) Feels so good.

So there you have it ... how I nearly lost my husband in 10 days. Had this been some fly-by-night relationship, I might have been a single lady again.

But nope, I'm writing this as a happily married woman!

You see, I have one of the most understanding and loving husbands in the world. Some days are better than others, but I'm learning how to be a Word Boss, mommy and wife ... all at the same damn time.

Service providers and creative women entrepreneurs rely on Apryl Beverly, Word Boss and founder of BAAB Writing and Marketing Services, to sprinkle their business content with authority, influence and flava.

For the past 30 days, Apryl has been chronicling the ups and downs of being a boss chick since launching her firm in 2011. September 30 marks her firm's 4th birthday! Download the Write Like a B.O.S.S. Guide for insider secrets on how to write in a way that propels people to whip out their credit cards and smack the "buy" button!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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F*ck Average: 19 Ways to Elevate to Excellent, Now

September 18, 2015, 2:28 pm

≫ Next: 6 Monsters Killing Your Writing Ability

≪ Previous: Confession: How I (Almost) Lost My Husband in 10 Days

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Today is not a day for fucking around, procrastinating, telling yourself you still have time or you're not yet ready.

Today, as with any day, is a day when - purely through the power of choice! - you get to CHOOSE the future you now wish to create.

But today, perhaps NOT like the previous days? You're going to actually choose to choose. Today you're going to put your hand on your heart, look yourself DEEP in the eye, nod your head firmly and decide:

Fuck.

Average.

Today you're going to commit - ABSOLUTELY commit - to elevating to excellence, to going ALL the way in, to being honest with yourself about what it would look like and what it's gonna take, and then?

Well then to doing it.

Let's talk how, in just 19 exciting steps ;)

1. How Do You Eat an Elephant?

It's not as though you struggle for ideas, for creativity, for INKLINGS of what you could be doing if only you were living life fully on your terms, is it now? The problem, if you want to call it one, is that you want it ALL, now if not sooner, and completely your way. You want to do ALL the ideas. Well, the problem isn't wanting that the problem is that it's kind of ... overwhelming. Which is to say it's vast, endless, like the ocean, you'll never be done - aughhh! - and so why even start? WHERE should you even start? You don't know, and besides, you're PRETTY sure you need to just go take a nap first, and check on Facebook.

Wanna Stay Average? Keep telling yourself it's all just TOO much and you're not sure how.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Getthefuckoverit. How do you eat an elephant? One. bite. at. a. time. Just start.

2. The Secret to Starting

Everybody wants to know, HOW do I start, WHERE do I start, how can I be SURE? I just need to figure out my PLAN!

Wanna Stay Average? NO figuring shit out.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Wanna know the secret to starting? It's to start.

3. Wahhhh! I Need More CERTAINTY

Yes but HOW DO I START IF I DON'T KNOW WHAT I REALLY WANT (never mind how to get it), I hear you say? Good news! This is even MORE simple -

Wanna Stay Average? Use lack of clarity or certainty as a reason to not take action

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Smarten up! You'll FIND clarity when you take ACTION.

4. How Can I Be SURE?!

The answer requires no need to even compare average vs excellent 'cause it's SO damn obvious that even just having to put it down as a point makes me feel stooooopider.

You can't.

5. HABITS, Baby

Those who are excellent in their outcomes are such because of who they ARE. And who they are? Is very much reflected or defined by what they DO (although what they do starts with who they are, and we'll get to that next). So if you want to know your outcomes - a prediction, no less! - in a given area, then just do a simple off-the-cuff analysis of where your current habits are likely to get you.

Do you HAVE a habit of daily attention to your health and fitness?

Do you have a habit of DAILY getting your message out?

Do you have a habit of daily asking for a sale?

Do you have a habit of daily doing anyfuckingthing or is it just pretty much showering, reading your Facebook feed, and fighting to keep your head above water as you hurtle through your busy day? 'Cause I gotta tell you ... that last 'normal' reality? Kind of not going to get you anywhere awesome. Just a guess of course!

Wanna Stay Average? Keep doing what you're doing. Stay busy! You'll figure it out ... maybe next life?

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Ask yourself, simply: what would a person who is already living your dream be doing, day in and day out. Hint: you need to then also do it. Extra hint: you can do this exercise for every single big dream or goal.

6. The ONLY Guarantee of Success

It's kind of implied, already, in the previous point, but it bears repeating:

PERSISTENT CONSISTENCY.

That's it.

Wanna Stay Average? Take action based on every possible thing that might happen or impact your motivation, ability, or know-how, which is to say most of the time do NOT take action as it's just not the day for it and you're not ready.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Do the fucking work. Every day. No matter what.

7. It's Not About What You DO!

Average people are constantly trying to work out what to do, what the secret is, what the one task or project or idea is that's going to solve ALL their problems, fast, and elevate them to success (so that then they can go back to taking it easy and being average).

Successful people know that their actions are a product of their beliefs, of how they see themselves and the world, and so the number one thing they can do to grow or improve is to GROW AND IMPROVE. Internally.

Wanna Stay Average? Keep looking for the secret sauce or system, the missing link which is clearly the ONLY reason you don't yet have your dreams.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Get to work on YOU. Learn how to think, breathe, walk, talk, act and BELIEVE as someone to whom the success you crave would be a done deal because that's just how it IS for them.

8. Hustle, Baby

Consistent action taking? I'm not just talking about making fancy to-do lists and pretty little plans about everything you, well, PLAN to do. I'm talking about the actual daily grind of doing what it takes to get the result. I.e. - if you want to make more money then a DAILY action needs to be hustling to make more money. This does not mean planning ways to make more money or learning about how to make more money. This means you are SELLING. Offering stuff for sale every day. But but but ... you don't know what to offer, haven't created anything yet, aren't sure where to start ...?! Figure it out. NOW. Will it be perfect? NO. Will it 'automatically' make you money just 'cause you're selling? No! Will actually offering shit for sale every single day ultimately make you more money and also elevate your learning about what WORKS faster than sitting back waiting to know what to sell or how to sell it? Umm ...

Wanna Stay Average? Wait. Prepare. Learn. Research. Hold off! Get busy being busy.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Jump into the fray and start acting like you ARE the person you intend to be. Identify the 1-3 top tasks for each goal or dream that are, when all is said and done and no matter how much you might try to spin it otherwise ESSENTIAL to actually making progress on your dream. And DO THEM.

9. Stop Easing Off When The Going Gets Good!

Ugh, this is a big one. I've done this so many times! Times are a bit tough, or stressful, or you feel yourself slipping away from a goal, maybe cashflow eases up a bit, or your weight creeps up, so you hustle your sweet butt off and you make shit HAPPEN, and you're so proud of yourself and damn well you SHOULD be, because look how awesome you are at getting results when you just set your mind to it, and then - PHEW - you can relax a bit now! Right ...?

Wanna Stay Average? WRONG

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? When things start working and the pressure eases off PUT THE FUCKING PRESSURE BACK ON. Wanna know the difference between survival and success? To get to MASSIVE success all you have to do is just keep doing the stuff that got you out of ohmyGodAUGH and into surviving; having your head back above water. It's so fucking simple! Yet most people just go back and forth back and forth at the bottom level, never making it to the top let alone staying there.

10. Do the Work. Do More Work. Continue the Work. Continue Continuing the Work

Look, I know we covered the habit thing pretty much twice already. But SERIOUSLY. Success is not a complex beast. It's not EASY, no - you have to sweat blood and tears, you have to HURT for success. (Joyful hurt, in my opinion, the pain of striving for something amazing is AWESOME pain!) ... so no it's not easy, but complicated? Ha! Give me a break. Most people just don't freaking well put the work in, and then if they do manage to figure their shit out and finally do SOMETHING thet back straight off again or else come up with all sorts of reasons why maybe they should just jump around here there and everywhere instead of just CONSISTENTLY doing the BASICS.

Wanna Stay Average? Look for the fancy, complicated super-extra-cool approach. Pay attention ALWAYS to what others are doing; you should probably change course to match them. Daily.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Keep your eye on your own fucking ball.

11. What to Do With Fear

Tell it to get fucked :) No, seriously, I get it. Fear and resistance, those evil twins can KILL your dreams and ultimately destroy your LIFE, if you think that the whole idea of living the life you're called for and CAN HAVE matters.

But the goal is not to eliminate fear, or never feel resistance. They will ALWAYS be part of business, of success, of life. It's about learning to dance with them. To act ANYWAY. To realise that it doesn't matter how far you go on your journey you'll still have those days, those phases, everyone does, but it doesn't have to stop you from BEING someone who does the work anyway.

Wanna Stay Average? Seek to eliminate fear, self-doubt, resistance, before taking action. That way you'll have a clean path forward and be able to breathe.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Learn to look fear and resistance in the eye, remind yourself of why you're doing what you're doing, and then do the work anyway. Most fears are not real anyway. Those that are, i.e. the fear is VALID or truly possible, all you really need to know is does that matter enough to stop you creating your dreams.

12. Embrace Chaos

Look, I know you want to have everything just so and your entire freaking life organised in perfect little squares of perfectly perfect perfection ... but honestly? That is not the creative entrepreneurs way. If you were THAT person you would not be THIS person. So, you know - embrace what YOU rock at. Stop trying to do other people's jobs and steal their zone of genius; focus on your own damn zone of genius and learn to be OKAY with the so-called downsides of that.

Wanna Stay Average? Be prepared, organised, punctual and perfect. Always.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Create like the messy motherfucker you are, and leave a wake of chaos in your trail. If it bothers you or impacts you or others in a way that bothers you, pay someone else to deal with it. Speaking of which -

13. Creators Gotta Create

You wanna be excellent and truly have your version of 'it all' then you need to REALLY be okay with who you are and what drives you. Commit RUTHLESSLY to sculpting your business and life in a way that allows you to embrace your natural gifts and desires. IT IS MORE THAN POSSIBLE, it's also the only way to create TRUE wealth and success!

Wanna Stay Average? Try to follow the rules. All of 'em. All the time.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Be you baby. You were born for it!

14. Business is Life is Business is You is Life is Everything

How to be you? Let it blend. Let it MESH. People wonder why so many entrepreneurs work 7 days a week ... well, maybe they have to or feel they have to, but for many who I know (the ones I follow, 'cause they're for real and awesome!) they can't NOT. Their business is simply an extension of THEM. So going to work, corny as it sounds, simply means doing what they love and being who they are; the 'most awesome and alive' version.

Sounds pretty good to me :) and it is PRECISELY how I built my business to the 7-figure level, whereas prior to that I was FIGHTING to create wealth and success doing shit I wasn't born to do, didn't like doing, CERTAINLY would not do for 'fun' or just because, and often with people I didn't like!

Wanna Stay Average? Create a business and life that requires you to spend most of your time NOT being you.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Make it all the same.

15. What If ...?

What if it's not that easy? What if it's not that simple? What if you don't make money? What if it DOESN'T WORK?

Quit then.

Simple.

16. Go Within. Often.

So you know - the MOST powerful business or any success tool you have? Is you. Who you are. How you think. How you ACT, which is of course based on who you are and how you think. How you deal with your SHIT, and take action anyway. Your ability to hear your inner guidance, listen to it, have faith, act accordingly. Etc.

Going 'internal' is CRITICAL as part of your daily routine. ALL successful people swear by their own preferred mix of journaling or meditative thinking or meditation or inner observation and detoxification.

Wanna Stay Average? Stay busy being busy ... the busier you are, the more you should push and force, clearly!

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Do the daily work of stepping into who you need to BE. Use the power of journaling and /or meditation to create clarity, focus, gratitude, an elevated level of thinking and a nerves-of-steel ability to STAY THE COURSE. As I write this I have over 600,000 words in my current online journal and literally BOXES full of leather-bound handwritten journals back at my Mums house. I credit ALL my success to the fact that I first create it in my mind, and in my journal.

17. Nurture YOU

Journaling is, in my mind, one of the top most critical 'do it for you' tools to use on a daily basis, and it really needs to be done BEFORE you worry about any sort of actual 'work' or action taking. It's just one thing though - there are many things I have made a habit of doing each day for me, so that I'm in the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual state of awesome I need to be in order to take action. What do YOU need for you, so that you can actually operate at a premium level?

Wanna Stay Average? Don't take care of yourself.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Take fucking care of yourself, inside and out. Take time for what you need for physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing as well as for fun, adventure, flow, living, connection, etc. Whatever matters to you, this stuff MUST take place. Hint ... the more that you blend business and life the easier it is to fit all this stuff in :)

18. It HAS to Feel Aligned, Exciting, Empowering

There's nothing wrong with a bit - a lot! - of hustle and grind. Clearly. But there's a difference between hustling towards an outcome that is RIGHT for you and what you value versus pushing shit up a hill just because you think there's some kind of reward in it purely because hey, hard work should pay off. Write this down ... it's not about HARD work, it's about the RIGHT work. (Which will probably be hard as well, just as an FYI though)

Wanna Stay Average? Hustle for the sake of hustling

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? Work smart AND hard, and base it on what you value and what is aligned for YOU and also aligned TOWARDS the life you want to create. You wont' accidentally end up in alignment by trying to get there in a way that is NOT in alignment!

19. Wake the Fuck Up and Press Play

What it really comes down to:

There are always reasons to not take action.

Either your reason TO do so anyway is greater, or it's not.

Wanna Stay Average? Let life rule you.

Ready to Elevate to Excellent? START RULING LIFE and living like you give a damn. You DO have what it takes, your dreams ARE possible, you CAN have it all, and it can be on your terms but honey if you want it then for the love of God! YOU have to be the one who takes it. So you can hold off as long as you like but that truth ain't NEVER gonna change and waiting? Doesn't make it fucking easier!

So wake up.

STAND up.

STEP the fuck up.

And remember:

Life is Now. Press Play!

Kat

PS Ready to fuck average and elevate FAST to excellence? I created my Tap Into Your Calling Bootcamp PRECISELY to help you get clear on what it is you really want from life, what you ARE called to do in your business but also for you, and what you need to NOW know and act on in order to make it happen.

It's time to press play gorgeous! And this time? ALL the way. ---> www.katloterzo.com/tapintoyourcalling

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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6 Monsters Killing Your Writing Ability

September 18, 2015, 2:42 pm

≫ Next: How to Wrap Up Your Work Day...On Time!

≪ Previous: F*ck Average: 19 Ways to Elevate to Excellent, Now

2015-09-17-1442516528-6912873-Monsters.0011024x726.jpg

When was the last time you sat down to write, and all you could generate was the flashing cursor on your screen? Has it ever happened to you? Recently, I was writing a post for my site and encountered a severe case of "what am I supposed to write next?" I identified these six monsters and took action to eliminate, or at least tame them.

Up until the moment I encountered these issues, I had been cranking out thousands of words (About 10,00) almost daily. I do this while working full-time, attending college full-time, being a father to three children, a husband to a wonderful wife, and managing an up and coming online business.

So, how do I do it?

First, like any writer, I deal with an issue known as "writer's block." It is real, I promise. If you have been writing for any length of time, you know what I am talking about. What I discovered through my experience is that my surroundings either contribute to me producing valuable content, or it hinders my ability to write well.

Here are six monsters hindering your ability to write valuable content:

Music: There are certain types of music that help boost your creative ability to write. Then again, there are types of music which will inhibit your ability to write amazing content. Find your sweet spot. For me, I listen to either classical music or smooth jazz. Cheesy, I know. Some hard rock may work for you, but for me, it kills my ability to create well.

Excessive Tabs Open: I will confess that I have been guilty of allowing at least fifteen tabs open in my browser at one time. If the first window you open before you begin to write is a social media site, you are killing your chances of producing epic content. Close the tabs. It can wait.

Checking Your Smartphone, Repeatedly: Impulsive much? There are numerous studies proving how impulsive our behavior has become with our smartphones. Many people will check their smartphones more than a half-dozen times in less than one minute. Turn. It. Off. It will be difficult, but you will survive.

Lack of Clarity: I have found it easier to keep track of ideas for articles and other writing topics by writing them down as they come to me. Maybe you would benefit, like I have, from giving yourself some time of complete silence before writing. If you have kids, chances are, this will only happen when they are at school or asleep.

Television: Who watches television anymore? Other than an occasional sitcom or sports show, I have almost eliminated television from my life (College football season presents a challenge for me.) Turn the television off before you plan to write.

Location: Maybe your place to write is in your bedroom, your closet (If you have kids), or outside. If you find yourself stuck after eliminating the above five things, maybe you should consider changing the environment from where you write.

These six things may sound ridiculously simple. However, they are real hindrances to writing. Find your "sweet-spot" when it comes to writing. Find your ideal place to write. These are not all-inclusive. All of them do not apply to everyone, but, it has allowed me to become a better, more productive writer.

What are some things that distract your ability to write excellent content?

Photo: McKenzie Matlock

This article was orginally featured on www.DukeMatlock.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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How to Wrap Up Your Work Day...On Time!

September 18, 2015, 2:57 pm

≫ Next: Robert Reich Is Wrong

≪ Previous: 6 Monsters Killing Your Writing Ability

Stuck at Work?

I personally use these strategies to stop working on time and still complete the most critical tasks:

In the afternoon, I take a quick assessment of how many hours I have left and what needs to be done to hit my ending goal. This could mean moving on to a new project, pushing to complete an assignment, or revising my expectations for the day.

To really ensure I stick to my end time, I schedule activities right after work. It could be something as simple as a scheduled phone call, a walk with a friend, or going to a networking event. Knowing that I will cause inconvenience to someone else by working late really helps me stop myself. (My clients who have trouble starting work in the morning use this trick at the beginning of their day.)

As a final level of reinforcement, I time block out my evening. Like Tim Ferriss says in The 4-Hour Workweek, you have to clearly define what you will do to fill the void created by working fewer hours. For me that means inviting friends over for dinner or planning a specific projects like going grocery shopping or doing laundry. By giving myself a clear objective, I remind myself that working beyond my set schedule comes at a cost. If I procrastinate or over commit, I know I'm keeping myself from doing other activities. This motivates me to plan my time and my responsibilities so I can stick to 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and then stop--guilt free!

How do you leave work on time...?

About Real Life E®
Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E® a time coaching and training company that empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished. She is an expert on achieving more success with less stress. Real Life E® also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and work/life balance through training programs.

McGraw Hill published her first book The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success with Less Stress. Harvard Business Review recently published her second book How to Invest Your Time Like Money. Elizabeth contributes to blogs like Lifehacker, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and the 99U blog on productivity for creative professionals and has appeared on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Robert Reich Is Wrong

September 18, 2015, 3:14 pm

≫ Next: Weekend Roundup: Connecting Minds Across Cultures

≪ Previous: How to Wrap Up Your Work Day...On Time!

Robert Reich is at it again. The ex-Labor Secretary and unabashed free-market critic calls for breaking up Big Tech in the NY Times. From the piece:

Whenever markets become concentrated, consumers end up paying more than they otherwise would, and innovations are squelched. Sure, big platforms let creators showcase and introduce new apps, songs, books, videos and other content. But almost all of the profits go to the platforms' owners, who have all of the bargaining power.

There are so many problems with this argument that I hardly know where to being.

Let's start with Amazon. Does anyone really think that its customers pay more than they should? This is the same Amazon that has earned the ire of traditional publishers and many authors by insisting on lower prices.

On the innovation front, he must be 'shrooming. The company spends more than $3B per year on R&D, one of the large percentages of sales among firms worldwide.

Say what you will about the company, but you certainly can't fault it for its lack of innovation--a point that I make in The Age of the Platform. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of another company that pushes the envelope nearly as much.

And don't get me started on platforms and monopolies. Last time I checked, there were dozens of other search engines other than Google. One shouldn't confuse powerful companies with monopolies.

Criticize Big Tech all you want. These companies certainly aren't above reproach. It just helps if you don't let your ideology overlook important little things like facts.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Weekend Roundup: Connecting Minds Across Cultures

September 18, 2015, 5:09 pm

≫ Next: A present we can't unwrap

≪ Previous: Robert Reich Is Wrong

"Forty years of crisscrossing the planet has led me to suspect that the world isn't growing smaller," the inveterate traveler and literary journalist Pico Iyer laments. "If anything, the differences, the distances between us, are growing greater than they've ever been. In the Age of Information, many of us know less about other perspectives and other cultures than ever before."

This week, the Berggruen Institute announced the launch of a philosophy and culture center that responds to this rift by connecting minds across borders through an exchange of scholars from East and West that will be hosted at prestigious universities from Cambridge and Harvard to Stanford and Tsinghua in Beijing. In order to promote foundational concepts for the future, the center will co-sponsor an ideas contest with the Aspen Institute as well as establish an annual $1 million Nobel-like prize for philosophy.

Behind this unique endeavor is the notion that what is least material most endures. Power wanes, buildings crumble and people die. But ideas, paradigms, worldviews and narratives live on. They shape the world by cultivating the soul, organizing the intellect and animating the will.

In our exponential technology series this week, neuroengineer Miguel Nicolelis tells us that "the brain is not a mechanism" but "an organism" that evolves. He worries that "if we keep relying so much on computers, we will begin to resemble our machines." In our "Following Francis" series, Sébastien Maillard recounts from Rome how the pope went to a local shop himself to buy -- and pay for -- new lenses for his old glasses.

The saga of refugees trying to reach safe harbor in Europe continues. Rami, a 17-year-old refugee from Damascus, recounts his "escape to Germany" and the hurdles he faced along the way in Macedonia and Serbia. Mary D'Ambrosio humanizes the refugee influx with profiles of four individuals. Jonathan Portes says immigration can be good for economic growth in Europe if people are meaningfully integrated. From Munich, Sebastian Christ scores the new German policy this week of border controls as "voodoo politics" aimed at shoring up right-wing constituencies. Writing from Berlin, Alex Gorlach -- a child of Turkish immigrants to Germany half a century ago -- hopes the mistakes of integrating that Muslim population will not be repeated. Writing from Paris, Rokhaya Diallo calls on French leaders to live up to their rhetoric of universal human rights. Daniel Wordsworth, president and CEO of the American Refugee Committee, reminds us there are still 7.6 million refugees within Syria. In an interview, Oxford's Alexander Betts spells out what we can learn from previous refugee crises in history.

World Reporter Nick Robins-Early reminds us of the brutal violence in Syria that is causing so many to flee their homeland, debunks the 5 major myths of Europe's refugee and migrant crisis and describes a unique startup by three Columbia University graduates that connects Arabic learners with Syrian refugees.

In a series of photo essays, we look at the images Christopher Furlong has taken of what is left behind as refugees move on with their journey; World Reporter Charlotte Alfred presents unsettling images of the Hungarian border emptied of refugees and, in another report, we show satellite views of the impact of Hungary's border crackdown. Christoph Asche of HuffPost Germany reports on the mounting crisis on the Serbia-Croatia border where refugees have now moved. Margarita Mavromichalis shows the "human face of refugees" on the streets of Athens.

Willa Frej stakes out the positions of the U.S. presidential candidates on the refugee crisis. Writing from Moscow, Georgy Bovt asks whether Vladimir Putin is seeking to exchange Syria for the Donbass region of Ukraine as his new international focus.

In an interview, former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou worries that the large inflow of refugees combined with austerity policies will bolster the political fortunes of xenophobic parties like the Golden Dawn in this weekend's election. European parliamentarian Gianni Pittella expresses the same worries. In another interview, To Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis says he hopes to be "the third pole" that can balance Greek politics. Writing from Istanbul, Behlul Ozkan sees a similar peril in Turkey as President Erdogan plays the Kurdish card to win nationalist votes in the upcoming election.

Writing from Tehran, Reyhaneh Tabatabaie describes the hopeful mood of the middle class in anticipation of the removal of economic sanctions. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former top Iranian official, calls on Republicans in the U.S. Congress to finally abandon militarism for diplomacy. Faysal Itani sees worrying signs of Iranian influence in Syria.

Sonia Maria Dias examines the vulnerable lives of women waste pickers in the developing world. Environmental scientist Johan Rockstrom describes how "Arctic tipping points" as a result of climate change will have ripple effects around the world. Bianca Jagger tells President Obama that he can't both preserve the Arctic while allowing Shell to drill for oil there. Lydia O'Connor reports on a key summit of Chinese and U.S. mayors, governors and provincial leaders who met in Los Angeles to "tackle climate change from the bottom up."

WorldPost China Correspondent Matt Sheehan reports on what 300,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S. are reading -- the digital "College Daily" that combines hard news and lifestyle advice.

In this week's "Forgotten Fact" we examine why the recent coup in Burkina Faso is a disaster for Africa.

Fusion this week look at the 10 cities in the U.S. where it's especially difficult to scrape by on minimum wage. Finally, in our Singularity series, we look at the open source upside of "biohackers" and DIY amateur sciences.

WHO WE ARE

EDITORS: Nathan Gardels, Senior Advisor to the Berggruen Institute on Governance and the long-time editor of NPQ and the Global Viewpoint Network of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media, is the Editor-in-Chief of The WorldPost. Farah Mohamed is the Managing Editor of The WorldPost. Kathleen Miles is the Senior Editor of the WorldPost. Alex Gardels and Peter Mellgard are the Associate Editors of The WorldPost. Katie Nelson is the National Editor at the Huffington Post, overseeing The WorldPost and HuffPost's editorial coverage. Eline Gordts is HuffPost's Senior World Editor. Charlotte Alfred and Nick Robins-Early are World Reporters. Rowaida Abdelaziz is Social Media Editor.

CORRESPONDENTS: Sophia Jones in Istanbul; Matt Sheehan in Beijing.

EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Arianna Huffington, Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Pierre Omidyar (First Look Media) Juan Luis Cebrian (El Pais/PRISA), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute/TIME-CNN), John Elkann (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa), Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera), Dileep Padgaonkar (Times of India) and Yoichi Funabashi (Asahi Shimbun).

VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS: Dawn Nakagawa.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Moises Naim (former editor of Foreign Policy), Nayan Chanda (Yale/Global; Far Eastern Economic Review) and Katherine Keating (One-On-One). Sergio Munoz Bata and Parag Khanna are Contributing Editors-At-Large.

The Asia Society and its ChinaFile, edited by Orville Schell, is our primary partner on Asia coverage. Eric X. Li and the Chunqiu Institute/Fudan University in Shanghai and Guancha.cn also provide first person voices from China. We also draw on the content of China Digital Times. Seung-yoon Lee is The WorldPost link in South Korea.

Jared Cohen of Google Ideas provides regular commentary from young thinkers, leaders and activists around the globe. Bruce Mau provides regular columns from MassiveChangeNetwork.com on the "whole mind" way of thinking. Patrick Soon-Shiong is Contributing Editor for Health and Medicine.

ADVISORY COUNCIL: Members of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council and Council for the Future of Europe serve as the Advisory Council -- as well as regular contributors -- to the site. These include, Jacques Attali, Shaukat Aziz, Gordon Brown, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Juan Luis Cebrian, Jack Dorsey, Mohamed El-Erian, Francis Fukuyama, Felipe Gonzalez, John Gray, Reid Hoffman, Fred Hu, Mo Ibrahim, Alexei Kudrin, Pascal Lamy, Kishore Mahbubani, Alain Minc, Dambisa Moyo, Laura Tyson, Elon Musk, Pierre Omidyar, Raghuram Rajan, Nouriel Roubini, Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Schmidt, Gerhard Schroeder, Peter Schwartz, Amartya Sen, Jeff Skoll, Michael Spence, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, Wu Jianmin, George Yeo, Fareed Zakaria, Ernesto Zedillo, Ahmed Zewail, and Zheng Bijian.

From the Europe group, these include: Marek Belka, Tony Blair, Jacques Delors, Niall Ferguson, Anthony Giddens, Otmar Issing, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Peter Sutherland and Guy Verhofstadt.

MISSION STATEMENT

The WorldPost is a global media bridge that seeks to connect the world and connect the dots. Gathering together top editors and first person contributors from all corners of the planet, we aspire to be the one publication where the whole world meets.

We not only deliver breaking news from the best sources with original reportage on the ground and user-generated content; we bring the best minds and most authoritative as well as fresh and new voices together to make sense of events from a global perspective looking around, not a national perspective looking out.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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A present we can't unwrap

September 19, 2015, 1:20 am

≫ Next: The Results of Being the Dumb Down Party

≪ Previous: Weekend Roundup: Connecting Minds Across Cultures

In only 150 years or so, we will have burned all fossil fuel on the planet, if carbon emissions keep rising like last year. Over time all ice on Earth will melt and cities like New York will be commited to the sea. Humankind has found other energy sources already, but coal, oil and gas are a gift to those who own them and as long as they can be sold for more than it costs to get them out the ground there is no economic brake for carbon emissions. We need to solve this problem. And for this, we might want to link the climate risk with its cause to incentivize company strategies that have a chance to survive.

Long before it was born, humanity got this incredibly valuable present: fossil fuels. Oil, coal and gas are captured sunlight once collected by tiny algae and huge forests. Over time this fossilized solar energy sunk into Earth's depth. Not everyone got the same piece of the cake; some regions got more, some less. It took us a while to discover how to use this wealth, but its energy density was unprecedented, so much greater than that of wood. So it fueled our industrial evolution - it was a present that meant prosperity as well as cultural development.

Yet in the meantime it has turned out to cause climate change and we are forced to think how to use solar power directly, without the carbon-detour. If emissions continue to rise linearly by 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon every year, we will have burned everything we found in the second half of the next century. That sounds far away, but it is also an incredible amount of carbon. Once turned into CO2 and blown into the sky, a large part of it stays there for hundreds of years and even millennia. Already now, it causes changes of the Earth system that will last for thousands of years.

Burn it all - melt it all

Last week we showed in a study in Science Advances that if we do that, burn all the fossil fuels, we melt all the ice of Antarctica. Since Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth this means we would turn all the ice on the planet into liquid water and hence raise sea level worldwide higher than ever before in the history of humanity - let alone human civilization. That would reshape our coastlines and thereby change the face of our planet (see National Geographic maps for ice-free world). Cities like New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Calcutta, Hamburg, Jakarta, Cairo would be committed to the sea.

Eliminating all ice on Antarctica would take thousands of years. That is even further away than the 150 years we need to burn all fossil fuels. And, understandably, possible changes in the far future are perceived as something we can ignore for now. But that is not true. As mind-blowing as it is: What we do now, within just a few decades, triggers changes that will be felt for thousands of years to come. We are setting the Earth system in motion and, on the way, destroy important parts of our cultural heritage.

But not just that. Even though melting all ice on Earth will take long, the sea-level rise will be quick enough to pose a real challenge for us to adapt to: Already in the first few centuries of the great melting, sea levels will rise up to two feet every ten years (see graph). This is a lot. New York City is currently preparing for a sea-level rise of about four feet for the end of the century. More than two inches every year is faster than most administrative processes can handle.

All this only happens if we do not stop emitting carbon. We carried out comprehensive computer simulations for this hypothetical scenario - gedankenexperiments, if you like. Now people might say: who knows what's in a thousand years? The answer is: physics does. While it's hard to predict the speed of near-term melting, because the climate system is complex, long-term projections are easier. If you put an ice-cube into your living room, in most families guesses on the rate with which the ice cube disappears will diverge. But none of us has a doubt that it will disappear. The reason is that we know the melting temperature of ice - and it is lower than what we normally like to endure in our living room.

A diamond that needs to stay coal

Sea-level rise is just one example of why we might not want to warm our planet by 20°F or more. If we want to avoid that we have to keep coal in the ground. That is a well-known fact. So fossil fuels are a present to those who own it, yet one that we cannot unwrap, if we do not want to change our entire planet.

Now here is a problem: Even if renewables can provide all the energy humanity needs, fossil fuels would still be worth something as long as you can sell them for more than you need to get them out of the ground and around the world to its consumers. What is needed is an economic mechanism to keep it in the ground. The simplest way is to put a price on carbon emissions.

Complement the trading by relocating future risk

Europe uses an emissions trading scheme to do exactly that. Emission rights are given to the emitting industries and they can trade them among each other. The total amount of certificates is, in principle, following the emission reduction path that is politically set. The carbon price is then determined by the demand - similar to the trading on a stock market.

So much for the trading. But if a company gives out stocks, it receives investment money in return. How does this work for the emission certificates? When the trading scheme was introduced in Europe all emission rights were given out for free and companies were able to profit by selling emission certificates they did not need. Later, part of the emission rights were auctioned which brought some money into public budgets, but the initial price of the certificates was and is not linked to the actual damage the emissions cause. It is an undetermined variable in the equation.

An alternative could be to couple this initial price of carbon to climate damages. This should not be confused with a "cost-benefit analysis" because a lot of climate impacts cannot be monetarized. There is no price tag one can put on a refugee that is fleeing a monsoon flooding or even "just" on a polar bear that is drowning? A lot of climate impacts cannot be monetarized in an ethical way. Thus the total amount of emission should continue to be determined by political will.

But just because there are not only monetary reasons to reduce carbon emissions does not mean we have to ignore the monetary ones that exist. It makes a lot of sense that the price of carbon should also reflect the price society pays to repair at least some of the damages caused by climate change. One way could be via the initial price of emission certificates. This way the risk of an increase in climate damages including those that are difficult to predict, like extreme weather events, would be transferred to the emitting industries.

The damages are likely to increase over time which creates an additional incentive to find future strategies of carbon reduction. Such a scheme would change the price of carbon but it would not replace a carbon trading scheme. It would complement the trading to incorporate the risk of future climate change and the societal need for adaptation into the price of carbon. Including future risks into your company's strategy is a very common challenge. At the moment the carbon risk for companies lies within the uncertainty of future European policies - not within the uncertainty of future climate. But it is the climate uncertainty against which we want to protect ourselves. It should be the one that determines our strategies.

The principle is simple: Once you use the carbon you pay for the damages it creates. This is not uncommon in situations concerning our global commons. For example, damages caused by the disaster of the Deepwater Horizon in 2010 had to be paid for by the company that caused it. The final claim filing deadline for the court-supervised Economic and Property Damages Settlement program for compensation of damages induced by the oil spill has just passed in June this year.

Since, in the case of climate change the attribution of specific events to the carbon emissions is scientifically challenging, one might withdraw to an attribution of the total damage increase over time adjusted for economic and demographic growth effects. Also the distribution of the money that is collected for the emission certificates needs some thought. But neither of these complications question the principle: incorporate the risk of future changes into the price of carbon to create the right incentive.

Make emission reduction a direct benefit

Obviously, all costs-of-carbon will come back to society. We will all pay the price for our emissions. The question is how these costs are distributed to create an incentive to best reduce the emissions and thereby the risk of future damages. At the moment, European companies try to assess the decision makers in Brussels because they represent the biggest uncertainty with respect to the future price of carbon. In reality however, the biggest risk for society lies within the uncertainties of future changes of climate itself. To incorporate this risk into the price of carbon is a step that is currently missing.

The Munich Re reinsurance company has calculated the meteorologically induced damages during the past three decades to be of the order of four trillion US$, one of which was insured. That means one trillion US$ of uninsured weather-induced damages per decade in the last thirty years. Integrated over a century, this is the same order of magnitude as the cost of transferring our global energy system onto a renewable path as estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - and that sum does not even include possible future changes in the intensity of weather extremes as they are likely to develop in a warming climate.

We are currently spending a similar amount of money as we would need to completely transform our energy system just for repairing the damages caused by weather. If we learn how to link changes in this enourmous monetary flow to the emissions of carbon, we will be faster on our path towards a renewable energy system.

100 million years ago, we were given a diamond that has to stay coal, if we want to avoid dangerous climate change. We need to find a way to achieve that. A sensible way is to incorporate the risk of future climate change into the price of carbon so that reducing emissions will become a direct benefit.

Graph: Rate of sea-level rise for different cumulative emissions. The available fossil fuel carbon is estimated to be around 10000 billion metric tons of carbon (10000 GtC) as depicted by the red line (Winkelmann et al., 2015).

Further reading:

R. Winkelmann, A. Levermann, A. Ridgwell, K. Caldeira; Combustion of available fossil-fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet; Science Advances 1 (2015), e1500589; DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1500589.

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The Results of Being the Dumb Down Party

September 19, 2015, 8:09 am

≫ Next: 3 Proven Ways To Help You Achieve Your Goals

≪ Previous: A present we can't unwrap

We saw in the latest CNN Republican candidate debate the results of what seems to be a prolonged campaign to discount almost all scientific facts, as well as intelligent discussion of the most important issues of the day.

Especially scary was Donald Trump saying if we build up our military enough, we won't have to negotiate with anybody. Or Marco Rubio, the seemingly most moderate Republican, endorsing a 1,900 mile fence along our entire border with Mexico (or double fence, says Dr. Ben Carson) over mountains and rivers, or Carli Fiorina saying that Planned Parenthood was aborting live babies to harvest their organs.

Global warming is one of the most important issues today, since there is almost unanimous agreement among scientists that it is man-made and rising alarmingly. Hence the record heatwaves, cold spells and catastrophic storms the world has been experiencing recently. Yet thanks to the funding of multi-billionaires like the Koch Brothers, none of the Republican Presidential candidates said they believe global warming is man-made, or even real.

What is the reason Republicans have become the party of anti-intellectuals--some even want to abolish the Department of Education, and otherwise defund public education? Journalist Chris Hedges said in a PBS interview President Clinton in co opting moderate Republican positions, such as deregulation of the financial industry, putting 100,000 more cops on the street, and 'reforming' welfare, had driven the Republican Party to "insanity".

But the anti-intellectual, anti-science bias goes much further and deeper. It is in fact an almost totally American phenomenon that Republicans have taken advantage of, in an attempt to dumb down the electorate to levels that would even deny evolution. Why would anyone not want to support public education, when it educates more than 80 percent of our students? The result is that higher education is also falling behind.

According to the National Research Council, only 28 percent of high school science teachers consistently follow the National Research Council guidelines on teaching evolution, and 13 percent of those teachers explicitly advocate creationism or "intelligent design," said Psychology Today in a very damning 2014 article entitled, Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of America:

"After leading the world for decades in 25-34 year olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12th place," said Psychology Today. "The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly 50 percent of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are foreigners, most of whom are returning to their home countries"

Republican candidates were echoing the Republican platform that advocated the deportation of all illegal aliens, would abolish or cripple whole government agencies (including the Environmental Protection Agency), shut down the federal government over Planned Parenthood funding, and maintain that a fertilized egg is a viable human being that can't be aborted.

Pundits give other reasons for such a dumbing down of a segment of the electorate--such as social media and television replacing literacy, or education that no longer teaches math and science or even history. Maybe that has enabled the Donald Trumps of the world to shout louder. The danger is that it may drown out any intelligent discourse about the most important issues of our day. It's driving at least one of our political parties into insanely ridiculous positions, at the moment.

Harlan Green © 2015

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen

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3 Proven Ways To Help You Achieve Your Goals

September 19, 2015, 2:47 pm

≫ Next: How To Deal With These 3 Difficult Managers At Work

≪ Previous: The Results of Being the Dumb Down Party

It's sad to think how many people go their whole lives dreaming of goals that they will never hit. While many of us have aspirations we want to reach, few of us actually get to the final destination.

The main reason behind this is consistency. We lack the ability to stick through the changes we need to make to turn our visions into reality. This in part can be blamed on the way media portrays the successful. It's a common belief that some giant act of heroism is what catalyzes success to begin. In reality, this path to reach success is rare. For all the people who got lucky and hit a homerun his or her first time at bat, there are a million others who struck out and gave up.

Thus the true way to hit our goals is by working on them every damn day. Below, I'll go through 3 proven methods that will get you to your goals. This isn't some get rich quick scheme, or the type of advice you get from infomercials selling you the latest "Ab maker 3000." These are time-consuming and tedious habits that will get you to your goals the old fashioned way: through consistent and determined effort over a long period of time.

1. Focus on one habit to change and be consistent

The number one reason why people fail to hit their goals is because they don't keep up the routine they originally start. For instance, say you want to lose weight. Instead of going cold turkey, what if you just cut the ice cream sandwich at night. Lets say it's only 300 calories. You don't change anything but you just change that one tiny thing. By the end of a year, you just saved over 100,000 calories off your body.

This is a simple example, but it highlights how core consistency is to reaching your goals. Don't try and do a complete magical transformation overnight. Instead, focus on one thing, and execute it everyday for about 2 months. The change will lead to more and more habit changes, and soon you'll be well on your way to hitting your goal.

2. Track everything

From now on, write down everything throughout the day that you're doing in regards to the goals you set for yourself. If you want to get healthy, write down everything your eating everyday. Lets say you're a business owner. Write down everything that you did to move your business forward.

By the end of the day, the results will surprise you. You'll be able to look at what you did for the business and realize that many of your activities were unnecessary. Tracking what we do has such a profound effect on us because it forces us to measure our progress through tangible metrics. We also are unable to forget the 2 hours of TV we watched or the 3-layer cheesecake we scarfed down. The key to getting to our goals is tracking what's holding us back, and removing those distractions.

3. Write your goals down

Write down the 3 main things you want to accomplish. These should be major goals that you want to achieve. Until these goals are written down, they are just fantasies. Putting your goals on paper brings them to life. There are so many distractions in today's world, and we ignore 99% of them. But when we physically have our goals in front us everyday, we naturally start thinking about them much more. Force all your effort and time thinking about what you want to achieve, and you'll graviate in the right direction.

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How To Deal With These 3 Difficult Managers At Work

September 19, 2015, 3:00 pm

≫ Next: 5 Reasons People May Not Be Following Your Leadership

≪ Previous: 3 Proven Ways To Help You Achieve Your Goals

One of the biggest challenges for any employee is learning how to work well with a manager. A good working relationship with your manager can increase productivity and engagement, while a bad working relationship can help inspire you to find a new job.

After all, a recent Gallup survey of 7,272 U.S. adults found one in two have left a job to get away from a bad manager and improve their overall life. That means building a working relationship with your manager is more important than ever.

When dealing with a difficult boss, understanding personality is key to identifying the best course of action to take. Here are three difficult managerial types you may encounter and what you need to know about dealing with them, so you'll never have to quit to get away from a difficult manager again:

1. Goal-Focused Gary

Goal-Focused Gary cares about only one thing: the goal he sets for himself. The problem is, he usually doesn't share that goal with his team, and that makes him difficult to deal with.

Since Gary thinks he's the most valuable employee in the company, he tends to ignore ideas he didn't come up with and rarely -- if ever -- will give you the recognition you deserve for a job well done.

Managers like Goal-Focused Gary like to be involved in every decision made in their group, so they get the credit for the team's success. In other words, you're probably going to be running all of your decisions by Gary first, no matter how experienced you are.

How to deal with Goal-Focused Gary: The trick to getting along with managers like Gary is understanding what drives them. According to Isabel Briggs Myers' theories of personality type, Goal-Focused Gary is a Thinking type, who is more focused on the task at hand than any relationships he could be building (or destroying).

Use this to your advantage. Find out what Goal-Focused Gary is trying to achieve and make sure what you do at work helps him achieve that goal. By doing so, you're showing Gary you're also interested in his success. When you show Gary you're interested in his success, your responsibilities will increase and you may end up climbing the corporate ladder with him.

2. Pleasing Patricia

Pleasing Patricia is agreeable. For her, management is all about being liked. Sounds great, right?

It is -- until you realize she's doing it because she doesn't like confrontation. When a manager is highly agreeable, it's actually pretty difficult to get things done.

Agreeableness is the "Big Five" personality trait that measures an individual's tendency toward empathy, affection, kindness, and its namesake, agreeableness. The problem is, Pleasing Patricia has it in spades. She's not just empathetic and affectionate, she's also afraid to hurt an employee's feelings or say no.

Since she's worried about hurting her employees' feelings, Pleasing Patricia will rarely give honest, constructive feedback, and she'll always avoid making decisions between competing ideas in a group setting. This lack of managerial instinct slows down productivity for the group and hurts your professional development.

How to deal with Pleasing Patricia: Your approach with a Pleasing Patricia needs to be two-pronged.

First, you've got to make an effort to assure Pleasing Patricia that, at least with you, honesty is the best policy. Explain how your goal is to be the best employee you can and how constructive feedback plays into achieving that goal. Balance your need for feedback with Pleasing Patricia's agreeable nature by encouraging her to always include one or two things you could do better when she gives you positive feedback.

Second, since Pleasing Patricia is most concerned with her employees liking her, work hard to make sure she knows you're on her side. Stop by to chat occasionally, ask about life outside of work, and generally try to be as nice as possible to help provide Pleasing Patricia with the support she needs.

3. Micromanaging Mitchell

Possibly one of the most difficult manager types to deal with, Micromanaging Mitchell is a handful. Whether he's hovering over you to make sure you're doing things his way or leaving out key information so you can't finish a project without getting him involved, he always finds ways to stay in the loop.

What psychologist David Keirsey called a "Guardian" type, Micromanaging Mitchell likes things in order and doesn't mind letting his employees know about it. He cares about deadlines and wants to be a part of every aspect of a project, so he constantly asks for updates and rarely delegates full responsibility to his employees.

How to deal with Micromanaging Mitchell: You can try to fight it, but the first thing you have to accept when your manager is Micromanaging Mitchell is that things are going to take you longer to finish, and they're going to include multiple interactions with your manager.

Instead of waiting for Mitchell to request your latest status update, be proactive. Adjust your workflow to include regular status updates (how often depends on the manager) and longer project meetings where you get as much information from your manager as possible. This will help you build your manager's trust and keep you from walking out of a meeting without the information you need to finish the job.

While this strategy may slow down your productivity, proactively keeping Micromanaging Mitchell in the loop ensures status report distractions come on your terms, not on his.

Dealing with a difficult manager is something we'll all have to at some point in our careers, but it doesn't have to keep us from being happy at work. Consider how your manager's personality drives his or her managerial style and find ways to build a productive working relationship by appealing to that personality.

Have you ever had one of these managers? How did you deal with him or her?

Molly Owens is the CEO of Truity, developer of the TypeFinder® personality type assessment and other scientifically validated, user-friendly personality assessments that connect people with powerful insights about their strengths, talents, and traits. Find Molly and Truity on Twitter and Facebook.

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5 Reasons People May Not Be Following Your Leadership

September 19, 2015, 3:04 pm

≫ Next: Jeff Woods, Community Evangelist at The Grid, Talks About Not Being Good Enough

≪ Previous: How To Deal With These 3 Difficult Managers At Work

There are times throughout a leader's tenure that he/she must look behind them and see if anyone is following. Are the goals that have been set being accomplished? Is the organization moving in a positive direction? Are people working together to achieve the desired outcomes?

Losing your influence over the people that you lead often does not happen quickly...but, rather, happens over a period of time. People are forgiving at the beginning, but the longer you lead, the less they are willing to forgive your shortcomings. Those that you lead need to be led...want to be led.

We've probably all known "leaders" who were leaders in name only. The people who have been put in charge of a team, but they have no influence over those that they are leading. Or, maybe we've been involved in a group, a ministry, a task where we've been put in charge - but for some reason no one is following us.

There are lots of reason why people may not be following your leadership, but here are a few common reasons that I've discovered:

1. You're disorganized.
Organization leads to clarity. Clarity of mission, clarity of tasks to be completed, clarity of who does what, etc. When a leader is disorganized, he/she immediately loses credibility with the team. Being disorganized leads to confusion, missed deadlines, and a lack of care for the needs of the team. This is you if you find yourself late to appointments/meetings, misplacing documents, your unprepared for meetings, you forget who's supposed to do what, etc.

2. You're inconsistent.
Consistency helps people understand what is expected. When a leader is inconsistent, the team can be unsure of what is happening or what to do next. This is you if you change meeting times often and with very short notice, change your mind about how to accomplish the goals of the group, and/or you're moody and varied in your reaction to things, for example. Consistency gives people on the team a feeling of safety and security - which is vital to team success.

3. You don't follow up.
Answering emails, texts, and phone calls in a timely way. Following up on assignments that were assigned to you. When you don't follow up, people don't feel important and can interpret this behavior as a sign that they're not needed on the team. This is you if you don't have a system in place to follow up on communications/requests that you receive, you don't take minutes/notes at meetings that you lead, and/or you find yourself regularly saying that assigned items are not completed by the deadline.

4. You're a discourager, rather than an encourager.
As the leader, one of the primary responsibilities you have is to encourage those that you lead. This is a non-negotiable and extends to everyone under your leadership, regardless of position. It's enough for someone to stop following you if you simply do not encourage them, but when you also discourage those that you lead, it can be a deadly outcome. When you discourage those that you lead regularly, you are taking away the one thing that is most personal to them - the pride in their work. This is you if your first reaction to others' work is criticism, or you find it easier to tell others what they did wrong than what they did right, and/or you struggle to share the praise your team receives with the other people on the team.

5. You care more about your success than their's.
If you're on the team and leading the team because you want the accolades and to take the credit for the success, people will not follow you. One of the goals of leadership is to make those around you better. And, if they happen to surpass you in title, responsibility, and praise - so be it. That only looks good on you. But, if you are threatened by others who have better talent and ideas than you, you may want to reconsider your role as a leader. This is you if you regularly need to be praised for the progress of the team you lead, or you find yourself jealous when someone else's work is recognized or rewarded instead of your own, and/or you accept the praise when the team wins and quickly point fingers at everyone else when the team fails.

This article originally appeared on timparsons.me.

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Jeff Woods, Community Evangelist at The Grid, Talks About Not Being Good Enough

September 21, 2015, 6:53 am

≫ Next: Doubling Down on Denial and Deceit

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2015-09-21-1442843319-6070561-InterviewJeffWoodsImage.png

Jeff Woods is the Community Evangelist at The Grid. Woods is also an amazing photographer and an accomplished entrepreneur.

There is no clear route to becoming a creative. That very same journey becomes even more labor intensive when you strive to become a creative entrepreneur. Woods' struggle with his journey was not based on the lack of talent but on believing his disempowering story... "you're not good enough."

This statement is a common story that we tell ourselves which can limit your potential. But Woods had plans to becoming a world class photographer, so those limiting beliefs had to be removed.

Jeff found a mentor that could guide him and Woods also modeled Donald Miller, founder of Story Brand. Jeff understood that building a community that would support him was critical to his success.

As Jeff advanced on his epic journey, he began to believe deeply in his potential as a creative entrepreneur, and this allowed Jeff to take massive action. Woods became a platform speaker for Canon. And Jeff evolved into different mediums like design work for humanitarian projects, filmmaking, consulting, UX/UI design, and Jeff's latest project as Community Evangelist for The Grid.

It's been a chaotic trip but through the conflicts and wins Jeff Woods is living a fulfilled life.

So, Jeff, what is your story?

Something that learn early on from one of my favorite authors (Donald Miller) is what makes a good story. A good story is one that has a character that is faced with conflict or struggle and must dig deep to find resolve. When we choose our ambitions, they should be difficult, and we should anticipate and even welcome conflict.

I started out my career as a creative jumping into Photography. I had a mentor who was a photographer, and he took me under his wing. I never expected what would open up. When it all began, I did not know the first thing about photography. I could not even tell you what a F-stop was. However, that jump in the deep end put me on an amazing journey. I was a platform speaker for Canon and I was allowed to photograph all over the world. It came with its conflicts, trying to keep the lies in my head to a minimum.

We tend to listen to the lies that would say, “you are not good enough.”

What I learn by sitting in that process is that the soul usually knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind. Part of the process of progress is the struggle. It’s important to align yourself with those on the same mission as you. (more on that later). Once I understood that I began to work on my strengths and neutralized my weaknesses. Over the years, I evolve into different “mediums” other than photography. I went into design work for humanitarian projects, filmmaking, consulting, UX/UI design, and as of late community evangelist for The Grid.

I get bored easily… I have more than one craft, more than one way of doing things. As one of my friends pointed out you are not ADHD, you’re a polymath. A polymath is a person whose expertise spans into a significant number of different disciplines. I am grateful to find the common ground between all my “Mediums.”

The execution of a creative idea can be a chaotic experience. So how do you organize, prioritize, and manage your creative ideas?

A great question and one that could be a book in an of itself. A creative by choice tends to live life with a bit of a chaotic approach. One thing I have notice that comes with this way of being is you will have high highs and low lows.

Exploring for me is a big part of my everyday life. I have taken that advice from my wife who is a well-known photographer as well. You have to prioritize time for yourself as a creative. You have to dip your toe in the cold water. Meaning, take on some new ways to create.

You don’t have to jump in, but you might want to experience some new things so I have learned to carve out time to allow that. I tend to have a Moleskine handy most of the time or my iPhone with various apps to help me align my day or my project.

I tend to collect article, art pieces, marketing material that appeals to me and my brand. I have created an idea box both physical and virtual where I store all those creative ideas or schemes. The hard part of managing my ideas is that sometimes they will be epic fails.

In those time, I am learning to take what I can from that and move on. I have learned to create a culture for myself that encourages experimentation and the free flow of ideas. And if I don’t know how to do something I look for resources to partner with me or teach me what I need to know.

How I prioritize is instead of focusing on one “big idea,” I consider many ideas and assess the opportunity for each. Then I validate those ideas and decide which path to go down. The validation process includes some variables like the market, customers, and competition.

I recognize when fear paralyzes me, it is a good sign. Fear is an indicator that I am on the right path. Fear tends to get me stuck in a proverbial rut. The dirty little secret no one talks about is that everyone is making it up as they go along.

Fear tells us what we need to do next.

What's the biggest mistake you made in your life and what did you learn from it?

The biggest mistake is being too hard on myself when I make a mistake.

That means being able to be vulnerable with myself and those close to me. Failure is misunderstood, failure means there is room to grow. Today I allow people to come alongside me and help me “grow” in my vision.

I am not in this alone. I now look for resources, while in the past I would put it all on myself. Resources could mean taking on side projects. Side projects allow me to be stupid. Going off the path creates a new appreciation.

I have many butterflies that come in and out of my life. Some just have a way of sticking around.

How can entrepreneurs find success in a marketplace that always seems to change?

I heard this a long time ago and have adapted it to my everyday life: “Old ways won’t open new doors.”

Disrupt yourself or be disrupted. Prime example of this is the story of Kodak. They could and did not want to realize what was coming around the bend, even though they built one of the first digital cameras.

Today they are irrelevant in the marketplace, they were insecure in who they were. Its one of the reason we struggle with insecurity because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. Have the confidence in yourself to figure out what to do next and if not fake it until you do.

What would you say to someone who wants to take the plunge into entrepreneurship?

Don’t look around for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work. Products and services are being dematerialized and demonetized like never before. The entrepreneurs who win are those who can think exponentially.

If you are going to take on something take on something that others think you are crazy for taking on. We have all seen examples of this through Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Larry Page to name just a few. Same with what we are doing at The Grid. We are taking on a difficult problem, the website problem. Nobody has touched this technology that has been ignored by bigger tech companies.

We are using algorithms to publish content with the ease of social media. Using artificial intelligence to teach the computer to make decisions instead of humans. A personal designer consultant for the user that is doing the heavy lifting.

That would be my first advice dream big hustle harder. Align yourself with those who want to get into the arena with you and don’t listen to the critics who are outside the arena. Dream. Risk. Hustle. Repeat.

Why have you chosen to work for The Grid as Community Evangelist?

I did not see The Grid as a job but a movement. Work was never meant to be something we do just to make a living. It was meant to be a means of making a difference.

I just had to get out of my way and stop talking myself out of jumping into the deep end of the pool. Many thought my wife and I were crazy when we uprooted our family sold our home in Illinois and went on an adventure into the unknown. You typically don’t make those moves in your forties.

However, I have a strength, and that is being a connector and pioneer. The partnerships that I am able to create globally allow me to help remove the barriers of entry for small business to have a meaningful place to call home on the internet. I am too familiar with the struggle that small business owners have in today's marketplace.

The biggest pain point of my business was building a website. Then keeping it relevant and fresh was another issue. As soon as I built it, it was already stale. There is a profound shift happening on the web, a more personalized web. Most solutions being built on aging platforms, make personalization scalability, not reality. A website is the vehicle that people, like small business owners or artisans, use to communicate and execute their vision, product, or service.

There have been a few years of developing going on behind the scenes with The Grid. We are a platform first company. Instead of cashing in when Facebook came with an offer to buy us out. We wanted to stay the course and build something that was years ahead of it's time. Game changing platform tools that we have created like The Grid Colorverse and Typographyverse will ensure that your site will always be uniquely yours.

Reader Question: Are you waiting for inspiration so you can start your journey? Don't. You just need to start – so what will you do today to move one step closer to a life fulfilled? Share your answers on Twitter.

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Doubling Down on Denial and Deceit

September 21, 2015, 7:28 am

≫ Next: 3 Key Pieces of Technology Entrepreneurs Can Leverage to Grow Their Business

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Thanks to a months-long investigation by the Pulitzer-prize winning Inside Climate News, we learned last week that ExxonMobil's own scientists had secretly confirmed the science behind human-caused climate change as early as the late 1970s.

Yes -- this is the same ExxonMobil that has funded efforts to attack the science of climate change for more than two decades. As I recount in The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars ('HSCW'), I found myself at the center of those attacks because of the iconic Hockey Stick graph my co-authors and I published back in the late 1990s. The graph highlighted, in an easily understandable way, the unprecedented nature of modern global warming. As a result, it proved greatly inconvenient for vested interests, like ExxonMobil, who are opposed to regulation of carbon emissions -- from the burning of fossil fuels -- that are behind the warming of the globe and the associated changes in climate.

Two Exxon scientists measuring carbon dioxide levels as part of a project that ran from 1979 to 1982. (Credit: Richard Werthamer) [Source: Inside Climate News].

The parallels with the tobacco industry, which knew about -- and hid from the public -- the health dangers of cigarette smoking, are staggering. Indeed, the industry-funded climate change denial campaign, as I discuss in HSCW, has its roots in the earlier tobacco industry disinformation campaign.

In their blockbuster new article, Inside Climate News ('ICN') details how key senior Exxon scientists had warned top executives about the reality and threat of continued fossil fuel burning and the associated warming of the planet and changes in climate "well before most of the world had heard of the looming climate crisis." They describe a rather prescient presentation made by one of Exxon's senior scientists as far back as July 1977:

At a meeting in Exxon Corporation's headquarters, a senior company scientist named James F. Black addressed an audience of powerful oilmen. Speaking without a text as he flipped through detailed slides, Black delivered a sobering message: carbon dioxide from the world's use of fossil fuels would warm the planet and could eventually endanger humanity.

"In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels," Black told Exxon's Management Committee, according to a written version he recorded later.

ExxonMobil, we learn from ICN, chose as a result to fund an internal research effort over the next few years to assess the threat posed by climate change:

Exxon budgeted more than $1 million over three years for the tanker project to measure how quickly the oceans were taking in CO2. It was a small fraction of Exxon Research's annual $300 million budget, but the question the scientists tackled was one of the biggest uncertainties in climate science: how quickly could the deep oceans absorb atmospheric CO2? If Exxon could pinpoint the answer, it would know how long it had before CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere could force a transition away from fossil fuels.

They even worked closely with outside climate researchers, ultimately reaching the conclusion that the potential threat was indeed great (emphasis added):

Exxon also hired scientists and mathematicians to develop better climate models and publish research results in peer-reviewed journals. By 1982, the company's own scientists, collaborating with outside researchers, created rigorous climate models - computer programs that simulate the workings of the climate to assess the impact of emissions on global temperatures. They confirmed an emerging scientific consensus that warming could be even worse than Black had warned five years earlier.

ExxonMobil executives were informed in no uncertain terms, by their own science division, that climate change impacts could be "catastrophic" and potentially "irreversible" unless there were major reductions in fossil fuel burning:

Exxon's research laid the groundwork for a 1982 corporate primer on carbon dioxide and climate change prepared by its environmental affairs office. Marked "not to be distributed externally," it contained information that "has been given wide circulation to Exxon management." In it, the company recognized, despite the many lingering unknowns, that heading off global warming "would require major reductions in fossil fuel combustion."

Unless that happened, "there are some potentially catastrophic events that must be considered," the primer said, citing independent experts. "Once the effects are measurable, they might not be reversible."

ExxonMobil scientists, furthermore, recognized that the company had an ethical obligation to come forward with what they had learned. Staff scientist Roger Cohen stated as much in a September 1982 memo described by ICN:

He warned that publication of the company's conclusions might attract media attention because of the "connection between Exxon's major business and the role of fossil fuel combustion in contributing to the increase of atmospheric CO2."

Nevertheless, he recommended publication.

Our "ethical responsibility is to permit the publication of our research in the scientific literature," Cohen wrote. "Indeed, to do otherwise would be a breach of Exxon's public position and ethical credo on honesty and integrity."

A good faith effort on their part to acknowledge and communicate the scientific basis and the risks involved would, their own researchers argued, grant them legitimacy when it comes to the honest debate that is to be had about policy prescriptions for dealing with the climate change problem. According to ICN:

In the early 1980s Exxon researchers often repeated that unbiased science would give it legitimacy in helping shape climate-related laws that would affect its profitability.

So let's be clear. ExxonMobil chief executives could have heeded that advice. They could have gone down in history as heroes who helped save the planet from the ravages of climate change.

But that was not to be.

ICN quotes me at the end of the article:

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, who has been a frequent target of climate deniers, said that inaction, just like actions, have consequences. When he recently spoke to InsideClimate News, he was unaware of this chapter in Exxon's history.

"All it would've taken is for one prominent fossil fuel CEO to know this was about more than just shareholder profits, and a question about our legacy," he said. "But now because of the cost of inaction -- what I call the 'procrastination penalty' -- we face a far more uphill battle."

Economic pressures, ICN notes, led Exxon to dissolve their climate research division by the late 1980s. In his famous July 1988 congressional testimony, NASA scientist James Hansen had meanwhile announced to the world that human-caused climate change had arrived, and that the cause was the burning of fossil fuels. ExxonMobil had to make a decision: would they choose to be part of the solution, or part of the problem? ICN lays out the answer for us:

Exxon helped to found and lead the Global Climate Coalition, an alliance of some of the world's largest companies seeking to halt government efforts to curb fossil fuel emissions. Exxon used the American Petroleum Institute, right-wing think tanks, campaign contributions and its own lobbying to push a narrative that climate science was too uncertain to necessitate cuts in fossil fuel emissions.

Perhaps nothing better conveys the dramatic shift in ExxonMobil's attitude toward climate change than the subsequent activities of the aforementioned staff scientist Roger Cohen, who had once warned of the potentially "catastrophic" future impacts of climate change and had expressed concern about the implications for Exxon's "honesty and integrity" were it not to come forward with it's knowledge that human-caused climate change is real and a threat. You see, Cohen went on to work for industry front groups like the George C. Marshall Institute that advocate for fossil fuel interests like Exxon by denying the reality and threat of climate change. Austin is one of a small fringe group of scientists who sought to sabotage the American Physical Society's position statement affirming the science of human-caused climate change. One is reminded of the famous Upton Sinclair quote "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

One might think that the latest revelations about ExxonMobil and their tobaccoesque decades-long effort to hide the findings of their own scientists, would end climate change denialism for good. If you're a hardcore climate change denier, after all, it must be rather demoralizing to learn that ExxonMobil's own scientists expressed contempt for your views behind your back. If you've lost ExxonMobil's own scientists, you've lost the scientific debate.

But let's remember that climate change denial isn't actually about the science. That was settled long ago -- including by Exxon's own scientists no less. Climate change denial is about opposition to regulation. It is about science-denying front groups, industry shills, bought-and-sold politicians, and other bad faith actors who continue to provide cover for corporate polluters like ExxonMobil by fooling the public.

By any reasonable measure, just about every conceivable climate change denier talking point had been shot down by 2007 (and arguably much earlier). As I explained in chapter 12 ("Heads of the Hydra") of HSCW:

The complete or near collapse by 2007 of the pillars of defensible climate change skepticism represented a critical juncture in the debate over the science. Would climate change contrarians throw in the towel and at least concede the reality of human-caused climate change? Would they engage constructively in the discourse, focusing their efforts on the legitimate remaining uncertainties, such as the uncertain nature of climate change projections and the worthy debate to be had regarding what to do about the problem? Or would they retrench and continue to contest the ever-accumulating evidence supporting the reality of the climate change problem? The question is of course rhetorical; we already know the answer.

As we know, of course, the climate change disinformation campaign simply ratcheted the denial machine up a notch. Attack dogs doubled down in their campaign of denial and deceit, and so we soon got the ironically-termed 'climategate' campaign, wherein climate scientists emails were stolen, combed through, cherry-picked, and misrepresented through out of context quotations in an effort to call the scientific evidence for climate change into question on the eve of the December 2009 Copenhagen climate summit (read chapter 14, "Climategate: The Real Story" of HSCW for further details).

The irony, of course, is that rather than uncovering any wrongdoing or indiscretion by climate scientists, the 'climategate' affair simply revealed that climate change deniers were now more than willing to engage in criminal behavior in their efforts to misrepresent the science and scientists and deceive the public. Like Watergate before it, the real scandal was the criminal theft, not the content of the stolen materials -- a fact that was oddly lost on many media organizations who readily bought into the denialist framing of the matter. As I note in the epilogue of HSCW:

While the campaign did have the immediate impact of casting doubt over climate science, it also marked a critical juncture, and indeed potentially a turning point, in the climate change debate. Perhaps "climategate" was the moment when the climate change denial movement conceded the legitimate debate, choosing instead to double down on smear and disinformation, a tacit acceptance that an honest, science-based case for denying the reality of human-caused climate change and the threat it presents could no longer be made. Maybe it was the moment when the seamy underbelly of the climate change denial movement became exposed for all to see.

So one might well wonder as we head toward the critical December 2015 climate summit in Paris, have the latest revelations about ExxonMobil caused climate change deniers to see the light, to reconsider their position? And one might well suspect the answer...

Since the ExxonMobil story broke, the "merchants of doubt" have instead engaged in a campaign of misdirection, presumably hoping they can distract the public and policymakers from the stunning new revelations. Among other things, we have seen these events unfold in the few days since the story broke:

1. The right-wing Canadian newspaper National Post engaged in a reprehensible personal attack against climate advocate Naomi Klein and her opposition to mining the Canadian tar sands (something James Hansen has warned would be "game over for the climate"). The piece included a false and libelous allegation of "fraud" against yours truly. It is worth noting that the National Post has previously lost a defamation suit brought by a climate scientist. It is also worth noting that the columnist who penned the piece, Conrad Black, is best known for having served a prison term for actually committing fraud. Chalk one up for chutzpah.

2. Conservative commentator George Will, known for his serial distortions when it comes to the matter of climate change, has attacked Pope Francis for his efforts to raise awareness about the threat of climate change. Though Will's commentary is filled with half-truths, falsehoods, and innuendo, what is most cynical and pernicious about the piece is the pretense of concern that acting on climate change "would devastate the poor" when preciselythe opposite is known to be true.

3. Professional climate smearmonger Marc Morano joined with Koch Brothers-funded attack dog John Hinderaker and others in the conservative media and blogosphere accusing climate scientists of wanting to "arrest climate skeptics". As with just about anything that comes out of the climate denialosphere, the allegation is of course completely untruthful. The reality is that a small group of climate scientists recently suggested that the department of justice investigate the possibility that certain fossil fuel companies (not individuals) might be subject to civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ("RICO") charges. Civil RICO seeks the payment of fines (not imprisonment of any individuals) by corporate entities that knowingly hid the damages done by their product. That is precisely what happened with big tobacco, and the same Department of Justice lawyer who successfully brought a civil RICO suit against tobacco companies more than a decade ago has recently argued that Exxon and other fossil fuel companies might suffer similar liability given the latest revelations over what they knew about the dangers of climate change, and when they knew it.

As the curtain continues to be lifted on the climate change denial machine and its deceitful tactics, we must assume that the smears and distortions will simply grow more desperate, the misdirection and distraction more brazen. Expect the worst as the 2015 Paris climate summit -- potentially the last opportunity to reach an international agreement that will stave off dangerous and irreversible changes in climate -- approaches. Bad faith actors have shown they will do anything they can -- including engaging in criminal actions -- in their efforts to sabotage global agreements aimed at limiting carbon emissions.

Let's not allow their cynical efforts to be successful. Call out climate change disinformation when you encounter it, and do what you can to correct the record. Explain to your family, friends, coworkers and classmates the importance of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations below dangerous levels. And most of all, keep your eye on the prize -- a binding international treaty to reduce carbon emissions later this year in Paris.

__________

Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and author of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines and the recently updated and expanded Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change.

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3 Key Pieces of Technology Entrepreneurs Can Leverage to Grow Their Business

September 21, 2015, 8:12 am

≫ Next: Sanders's Winning Issue: Repealing The Corruption Tax

≪ Previous: Doubling Down on Denial and Deceit

Starting a business used to require a lot of time and effort. All the paperwork needed to be filled out manually and submitted via snail mail. If you were lucky, you could go down to some clerk's office and submit the forms in person, but you knew it would be weeks before anyone looked at it. You cringed at the thought of your papers sitting in a wire basket on the end of someone's desk, waiting to be processed.

Fast forward to 2015, and the landscape has completely changed: getting up and running takes days, not weeks, and you don't need a brick-and-mortar location or a receptionist to give your micro business the look and feel of a large corporation. The Internet, and particularly cloud-based platforms, has made entrepreneurship simple for anyone with an idea, some decent skills, and the drive to make it happen.

When I started Infographic World, I did it in my boxers (literally). I set up the infrastructure virtually and built my first team with solid contractors across the U.S. Had I done this the traditional way, it would have taken years to shape the workforce that I currently employ. All of our staff members are now full time IGW employees, and the Internet helped me land some of the best designers and leaders in the industry -- and build systems crucial to our success in three key areas.

Virtual Assistance

When you're running a startup, funds are limited (to say the least), but there's always a boatload of work. Being able to hire help at an affordable rate is golden. It's a luxury that web-based platforms have afforded entrepreneurs, and one that is in high demand.

When I was the sole employee, it was difficult to keep up with administrative tasks as the company grew. I eventually hired a virtual assistant to manage these jobs while I focused on business development. The assistant took over several recurring tasks including:

Documenting policies and procedures. These would later become the operating/governing documents for designers and managers.

Project follow-up. The assistant would follow up with clients after the completion of a project to ensure satisfaction and capture referrals.

Billing and invoicing. This included invoicing clients at the completion of each milestone as well as following up on unpaid accounts.

Email management. The assistant responds to general inquiries within 24 hours, and separate and sorts emails by order of importance.

Finding the right person for the job makes all the difference in the world. I found our VA on Elance, and it took several tries to get someone who was a great fit. There were dozens of applicants, and all of them had relevant backgrounds. I was able to narrow down the search by speaking only with individuals who had legitimate references. This helped me quickly identify the applicants who would add the most value to the company. With the help of our VA, I gained valuable time and focused on development and growth.

Project Management

When spreadsheets won't cut it, project management platforms dominate. They're easy to use, fairly inexpensive and effective in connecting team members from around the world. If you're thinking of switching from spreadsheets to a PM system, remember that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Some of the spreadsheets that you currently employ can be imported and used as a reference for historical information. Also, play around with the system first so that you can decide how your information should be organized. Some people like to just upload documents and tag them, while others utilize several different functions to create a program tailored to their needs.

We use Basecamp as a PM tool, and it's efficient for our needs. The main features that we utilize include:

Document storage. This enables us to store all documents related to a single project in one designated area.

Project communication. Designers, project managers and clients all use the platform to communicate ideas and share information about the project.

Task manager. We specifically use the task lists to assign work to various staff members.

Project calendar. We use this tool to schedule events related to client projects like reporting and milestone check-ups.

Aside from Basecamp, there are tons of other project management platforms to explore. Many of them offer a free trial period and an affordable starter plan for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Payments and Invoicing

Whether you prefer PayPal over Square, or any other online platform, there's no denying that the Internet has totally changed the game when it comes to collecting payments. Starting out, we used PayPal for invoicing and payments. It was easy to use and offered some much-needed features for small businesses. As we grew, it became apparent that we needed something more robust for the financial side of the business, so we turned to QuickBooks. We primarily used this for:

Employee invoicing and payments. This is a great platform for keeping up with employee payments.

Vendor, customer and employee tracking. This was important to review regularly as the company grew, and a cloud-based platform offered more features and was more user friendly than traditional software programs.

Financial reporting. We were able to quickly review profit and loss statements and run revenue by client reports to see what our largest clients contributed towards revenue.

Business taxes. This was important, as we needed to be compliant in the beginning but hiring an accountant was not an option. With the tax center in QuickBooks, we're able to stay on top of what is owed and are reminded to send out quarterly payments on time.

Cloud-based accounting and invoicing programs are a godsend for startups as they offer a simple alternative to hiring an accountant. In fact, most startups could get away with a cloud-based accounting platform for at least the first few months of operation. If you're working with a handful of staff members, have an annual revenue of less than $500K and very basic business expenses, this is the best option to start with. You can always hire a professional as the business grows.

The basics of starting and operating a business have not changed, but the process has become faster and much more efficient. We can only imagine what the future will bring with the addition of new technology and other cloud-based platforms. If you haven't made the decision to get your business up and running, there's no better time to do it than now.

Justin Beegel is the founder of Infographic World, a visual communications agency specializing in infographics, animations and interactive media.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Sanders's Winning Issue: Repealing The Corruption Tax

September 21, 2015, 8:12 am

≫ Next: How to Resolve Organizational Conflicts as One Team

≪ Previous: 3 Key Pieces of Technology Entrepreneurs Can Leverage to Grow Their Business

Bernie Sanders has attracted a devoted segment of the electorate partly largely by promising to tax the rich special interests, especially on their loopholes. Unfortunately, his segment is likely to remain a segment: tax equity bores general election voters, few of whom see the connection between these tax loopholes and their own tax burden. Otherwise the tax code would never have evolved the way it has.

So what if, instead of simply railing against giveaways to special interests, Bernie made that connection clear and immediately relevant? What if he did a little math and calculated that the three most indefensible loopholes in combination force every taxpaying household to pony up at least $400/year extra to subsidize them? That simple math would make taxpayers more painfully aware of this subsidy.

And what if, instead of just making the math clear, he made it immediately relevant? How about offering to directly refund this subsidy to every taxpaying household?

Collectively, the components of this subsidy could be called the "corruption tax." The definition of a "corruption tax" is a transfer of wealth to the very rich or well-connected that blatantly lacks economic merit. The economic platforms of these two otherwise completely dissimilar candidates could be summarized in the slogan: "Repeal the Corruption Tax. And, more tangibly, refund it to the rest of us.

The $400/household is comprised of three specific corruption taxes, not just one -- but "Repeal the Corruption Tax" just sounds better in the singular than the plural. The first such tax is the "carried interest" loophole, allowing billionaire hedge fund managers (and some others) to pay taxes on interest at capital gains rates. This windfall amounts to at least $10-billion/year.

Unless we are worried that we are running out of hedge funds, or unless hedge funds are a "social good" benefiting everyone, like education or public health, this preference has so little justification that even the ultimate establishment candidate, Jeb Bush, says he will end it (while apparently replacing it with other giveaways). Donald Trump is also a big fan, and President Obama just proposed repealing it as part of budget negotiations, largely to make Republican legislators show their true colors.

Next would be special tax treatment and other direct subsidies for fossil fuel companies, roughly $21 billion/year. America is not running out of fossil fuels, and if it were, these subsidies wouldn't alleviate the shortage. (They did nothing to avoid gas lines in the 1970s.) Production and pricing of oil and gas is driven by price, technology and discoveries, not giveaways.

The third would be the government's self-imposed prohibition on negotiating drug prices. This costs about $10-billion/year in foregone discounts for Medicare. Imagine if you had to pay the sticker price every time you bought a car. That's what the government has agreed to do when it buys drugs.

These windfalls for special interests aren't found money -- the money comes from you and me... and our desire to get our money back is what's fueling Bernie's candidacy. (Also Trump's, to a degree. But no other candidate could credibly attack these taxes because they all get or want to get money from the people who benefit from them, as candidates have for years.)

No doubt there are more such hidden subsidies, but just these three, when divided by the nearly 100-million income tax-paying households, require each individual tax return to cover the aforementioned $400/year to subsidize people who by definition don't need the money.

The bottom line: If Bernie Sanders really wants to be president, adoring segments alone won't get him there. He needs to take the next step: Stuff the wallets of the average voter with refunded special interest subsidies. Don't just rail against the Corruption Tax. Repeal it... and let the rest of us pocket the difference.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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How to Resolve Organizational Conflicts as One Team

September 21, 2015, 8:51 am

≫ Next: What to Expect During the Pope's Visit to the U.S.

≪ Previous: Sanders's Winning Issue: Repealing The Corruption Tax

2015-09-21-1442850448-1628689-7.4HowtoResolveOrganizationalConflictsasOneTeam.jpg

"So oft in (organizational) wars

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has seen!"

-- John Godfrey Saxe

An appropriate conflict is not a problem. On the contrary, it is the best way for teammates to collaborate and help the team win.

An appropriate conflict arises when team members differ about the best way to pursue their common goal. This may be because, as the proverbial blind men who went to see the elephant, they are touching different parts of the picture. (See poem at the end of the post.)

One of the most difficult challenges for any team is to make decisions with incomplete and decentralized information about costs and benefits. Each team member has some data about his local environment, and partial knowledge about how each strategy can affect his performance metrics. But no team member has all the relevant data or the full knowledge about how each strategy can affect the team goal.

For example, if you are in sales, you may know that discontinuing a current product will disappoint some customers and produce a loss in revenue, but you don't know how much can be saved in costs by such decision. If you're in accounting, you may know that discontinuing a current product will save some costs, but you don't know how much will be lost in revenue by such decision.

The salesperson and the accountant are touching different parts of the "elephant." Only when they integrate their information can they maximize the profits of the organization.

Much as we'd like to think that costs and benefits could be assessed accurately, these variables are not really observable. How much will the organization really save from discontinuing the product depends on factors such as which costs are fixed and which variable--and in what time frames. How much will the organization really lose from discontinuing the product depends on factors such as how many customers will switch to other products, what are the profit margins of those products, and how much will customers not buy from the because of the discontinuation.

Honest, intelligent and well-intended people can disagree about these things, giving rise to an appropriate conflict.

Clean Escalation

Clean escalation means involving a more senior person in the discussion to help integrate the information, bring a more systemic perspective, and make a judgment call if necessary.

Another term for clean escalation is "systemic collaboration," since both conflicting parties agree that it is best to engage their manager's help to make a system-optimizing decision.

A clean escalation fulfills the following criteria:

1. Both parties understand one another and come together to the manager with a shared narrative and a shared objective. For example, "Discontinuing Product X entails tradeoffs that are hard for us to evaluate. One of us believes that the savings outweigh the losses; the other has the opposite view. We'd like to explain the two arguments and ask for your help in evaluating what would be the best way to proceed given that we both want to maximize the profits of the organization."

2. Each party advocates for his or her point of view respecting the other. For example, the finance person will explain why he believes it would be best to discontinue the product recognizing the assumptions and inferences that lead him to such conclusion. The salesperson will explain why she believes it would be best to keep the product recognizing the assumptions and inferences that lead her to such conclusion.

3. The two parties may present alternatives that involve relaxing some constraints outside of their control, but within the control of the manager. For example, they could argue that if Product Y were to be reengineered to include some of the features of product X, discontinuing product X would be a clear win for the company, but that they can't evaluate the costs of this reengineering.

A clean escalation doesn't guarantee the right decision, but it produces a more intelligent process that strengthens relationships and helps everybody feel appreciated as valuable contributors.

In this video you can find out more about how clean escalation helps resolve organizational conflicts as one team.

7.4 How to Resolve Organizational Conflicts as One Team from Fred Kofman

Readers: Have you escalated an issue recently? Have you received an escalation? Do those escalations fulfill the above criteria?

Fred Kofman, Ph.D. in Economics, is Vice President at Linkedin. This post is part 2.1. of Linkedin's Conscious Business Program. You can find the introduction and structure of this program here. To stay connected and get updates join our LinkedIn Group: Conscious Business Friends

You can Follow Fred Kofman on LinkedInhere.

Blind Men And The Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:

"God bless me! but the Elephant

Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, "Ho! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me 'tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,

And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

Thus boldly up and spake:

"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant

Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

And felt about the knee.

"What most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plain," quoth he;

" 'Tis clear enough the Elephant

Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: "E'en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;

Deny the fact who can

This marvel of an Elephant

Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,

Than, seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant

Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

So oft in theologic wars,

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has

seen!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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