Who Is the Real Mr. Wonderful?: The Kevin O'Leary Story

October 29, 2015, 1:20 pm

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I was asked to explain who I was in five minutes or less for a speaking event. It turned out to be much harder than I thought! Here is my attempt at answering the question, "Who is the REAL Mr. Wonderful?"

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How to Turn the Team You Got Into the Team You Wanted

October 29, 2015, 1:26 pm

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In an ideal world, leaders get to handpick the best people to build the best teams - "A-Teams". But here in the real world, recruiting top talent can be a long and difficult process . But results can't wait: leaders of fast-growing teams often have to work hard to fine-tune their less-than-perfect cast of characters into the best possible team they can get.

Smart leaders figure out how to get the best out of team they are handed and try to shape it into the team they want. Just as financial investors use tools and frameworks to shape their portfolio of capital investments, smart leaders also apply tools to make smarter decisions about how to invest their own time and energy.

In our new book Lead Inside the Box - How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results, my co-author Mike Figliuolo and I present the Leadership Matrix, or "the box" for short.

The premise is that you need to evaluate the amount of output you get from a team member and compare that to the amount of time and energy you have to invest in them to get it. We call that time and energy your "leadership capital." The comparison of personality types with expected levels of return on your leadership capital we call the "Leadership Matrix".

Within the Matrix, we define performance patterns and personality types that team members demonstrate from "Square Pegs" to "Rising Stars" and everything in between. The real insight lies in practical advice on how to lead those folks to improve their performance.

With your understanding of your team members' behaviors will and the expected return on your"Leadership Capital", you'll get a clearer picture of the 8 archetypical behaviors that can show up in the "Leadership Matrix". Equipped with a better understanding of your team,  you'll learn where you should dial back your investment of leadership capital with some people on your team so you can invest more with others. Thanks to the Matrix, you'll be in a strong position to lead with greater efficiency and bring about better overall team results.



Those archetypes are as follows:

• Exemplars (High Output, Low Input) can be categorized based upon their career aspirations. Some Exemplars want their great performance to provide them a stepping stone to larger roles and responsibilities. These are the "Rising Stars." Other Exemplars are content remaining in their current roles. They're experts and they're satisfied with delivering outstanding results without much interference from their boss. These individuals are the "Domain Masters."


• High Cost Producers (High Output, High Input) break into subtypes based on the kinds of costs they incur. Some get results but at the high cost of damaging team morale and destroying the goodwill you and your team have accrued with others. These individuals are the "Steamrollers." High-Cost Producers who get results but require an inordinate amount of hand-holding from their leader to get them done are the "Squeaky Wheels."


• Detractors (Low Output, High Input) are defined by the root cause of their performance issues. Some don't have the skills they need to do their job. These individuals are the "Square Pegs." We call Detractors who have the skills to do the job but they lack the will to do it the "Slackers."


• Passenger (Low Output, Low Input) subtypes are determined by the kind of output they produce. Some only work to get their paycheck. They expend the bare minimum amount of effort required to keep getting paid. These are the behaviors of your "Stowaways." Other Passengers exert a great deal of energy but they focus on tasks they want to do, not tasks you need them to do. We refer to Passengers behaving this way as "Joyriders."

Once you have identified the behavioral-performance patterns present on your team, you will see your team in a new light. (You can use our simple online tool to assess your team using this framework.) Armed with these new insights, you can figure out the specific type of leadership each team member needs from you to improve their performance.

By seeing your team as a portfolio, you can also figure out where you should invest less of your time in some parts so you can shift it to invest more in other parts. In short, you will learn to get better results out of your team by working smarter, not harder, as a leader.



Victor Prince: Today's guest post is by Victor Prince, co-author of Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results (you can get your copy by clicking here).As the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Victor Prince helped build a new federal agency and led a division of hundreds of people. As a consultant with Bain & Company, he helped clients across the United States and Europe develop successful business strategies. Today, Victor is a consultant and speaker who teaches strategy and leadership skills to clients around the world.

Originally published by Amol Sarva and Victor Prince at Knote.com -- a blog about productivity, collaboration, and flow.

Knote publishes great ideas for how to be more productive every day. Get on the mailing list for the Best Of. And sign up for Knotable, the app we made that lets you bring people and messages together in one place -- so you have fewer meetings, less email, and you can get back to work.

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How to Experience True Happiness and Shine

October 29, 2015, 1:29 pm

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Guest Post by Mary Warner

London teems with signage, but the phrase that everyone knows is "Mind the Gap." It's not a message for the locals. This gentle reminder is strategically placed in a city that welcomes tens of millions of people a year to look out for their lives in a way.

A little over a year ago, I needed similar signage in a foreign land, only it was a business world comprised of people who I literally couldn't understand. They spoke Italian. I decided to try something different in my life and left a fairly low-key job that was based in Atlanta to work with an Italian company I really knew nothing about.

From day one I encountered challenges, but after a disastrous trip abroad that left me feeling vulnerable and unfocused, I realized I needed help. I needed someone to teach me how to "look left."

I still remember our first meeting.

My mind was racing a hundred miles an hour with ideas of what I wanted to accomplish and how I believed I had already failed. At the time, too, I was rarely able to pull myself out of bed. For two weeks Nozomi was my wake up call -- literally.

My biggest fear at the time was that I would learn the truth about myself: I was really just a lazy, talentless, push-over, and that's why all I could do was move from my bed to the bathroom. I was certain that all the self-examination I would experience working with Nozomi would require me to remove my mask and reveal a pretty ugly character.

At the time, I wasn't sure I would like whoever was behind the facade.

What I saw in the mirror actually turned out to be pretty amazing.

Within a month, I peeled back several layers of myself and rediscovered a woman who was passionate about helping others, loved writing, was driven, and more importantly, committed to growth. Whatever monster I was sure was lurking under my bed turned out to be dust bunnies.

To finesse my genius though, I needed to hunker down and do some work, starting with setting goals and deciding that I wanted to grow.

Last year, Nozomi and I kicked off the New Year by laying out the groundwork for change. We examined all areas of my life and set goals that were not only realistic, but were also complementary.

One thing I was certain I wanted to do was become more financially stable and stop living in fear of being poor.

Nozomi and I honed in on what was triggering this emotion and we put a strategy into play that would help me take control of my situation. I met my goal of building a nest egg and paid off a burdensome credit card debt I've had since graduate school.

Paying off debt wasn't enough though. A second leg of the plan involved generating more revenue. I set a financial goal and with the combination of new clients, a creative idea to rent my house while I traveled, and writing, I nearly made my goal by the end of the year. Then something happened that pushed me over and beyond my financial goal.

I was offered a job that would increase my income by more than 59% of what I was making when I first started working with Nozomi.

It didn't end with the finances. A few months ago the CEO of an international luxury brand called me. "Mary," he said, "I have something for you." He had begun his pursuit almost a year before -- they had been on my radar for a few years-- and after the first and second offer, I told him I wanted to shine before I made a move.

During his stay in Atlanta we met to talk about a position he thought was "perfect" for me and I thought so too. The existing clients I was working with only marginally allowed me to do what together Nozomi and I had defined as my "genius work," whereas this new opportunity in Los Angeles, would marry my love of art and design with leadership and directing.

In 2013, I also published my work in reputable magazines, explored and defined my values, rediscovered how to be loved and the meaning of joy. 

I worked with Nozomi to create a distinctive vision for my life because I believe clarity allows us not to cross things off a list, but to experience true happiness.

I didn't have to do it alone.

Nozomi has been there for me in each of these moments. Whether it was a gentle reminder to "WAKE UP!", or easing me through a complicated round of negotiations, or just to cheer me on.

I use tools she has created to strategically guide me on my path.

Whether a phone call or a message away, she always listens and responds to me. And yet, she has also done something else.

Nozomi has taught me to be comfortable asking for help, an action I've learned that defines a leader.

Now I'm shining and others seem to notice.

One of those times was while in San Francisco. I met up with an old friend. "You seem grounded," she told me. "You've changed and it's not just your hairstyle. What are you doing? " I told her about my work with Nozomi, the apotheosis of my transformation, and why I needed to change.

Mary Warnerprovides brand and communication strategy within the home and design sector. She also writes for the Los Angeles Review of Books and has contributed writing to Paste Magazine, Edible, and Garden & Gun. She recently wrote about home for the Bitter Southern. Reach Mary at mw[at]marywarner.com , via Twitter @coucouhome and see more of her pictures on Instagram.

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Nozomi Morgan, MBA, is a certified Executive Coach and the Founder and President of Michiki Morgan Worldwide LLC. Addition to coaching, she speaks and trains on leadership, career, professional development and cross-cultural business communication.

Visit www.nozomimorgan.com to learn more about Nozomi . There, you can download the free Leadership Discovery Tool. Follow Nozomi on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.

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Making the Chattanooga-German Connection

October 29, 2015, 1:32 pm

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Tennessee is home to hundreds of international companies worth billions of dollars. Chattanooga, the smallest of Tennessee's four major cities, is the site of the only Volkswagen plant in the United States. VW is not the only German company in our area, but its arrival a half dozen years ago made cultural competence a high priority. German companies orient their executives to Southern culture, energizing Chattanooga's globalization and investment in cross-cultural training.

When Volkswagen built the plant on an old WW II military base, the Chattanooga area underwent major changes. A railroad was revived, industrial parks were developed, roads were built, vendors arrived, and new businesses sprouted up creating thousands of new jobs. Education began to include German language courses and German-style internships. Volkswagen helped fuel our passion for technology and we're now known as Gig City. Chattanooga is becoming a Southern-style global village, a process that's unlikely to be derailed.

Several weeks after the news broke about Volkswagen's diesel cars, the International Business Council (IBC) of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, presented "Doing Business Between Germans and Americans." Entrepreneurs, financial experts, professors, and students gathered to hear IBC's panel of cross-cultural experts.

The panel's moderator is Eric Kruger, a cross-cultural management consultant and Professor of Economics at the College of Business UTC (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). With roots in England, France, New York, and now Chattanooga, Eric's mellow multicultural voice is an attention-grabber. Years ago, Eric and I coached newly arrived VW executives with a duet serenade of Chattanooga Choo Choo. As he introduced the panel, I wonder if he heard me humming, "I want a one way ticket down to Tennessee..."

Panelist Karen Claypool is an American business linguist and cultural consultant to German and international companies. She ran an import business in Germany and a language school in Brazil. Now a Chattanoogan, Claypool provides multicultural and diversity training, and language training.

Christian Höferle, originally from Germany, is President of The Culture Mastery, LLC, Höferle relocated to the Chattanooga area in 2004. As a cross-cultural consultant, trainer, and coach, he helps American companies master cultural issues, improve their international businesses, and develop global leaders who work effectively across cultures.

Eric began the discussion quoting sociologist, Geert Hofstede. "If the minds of human beings are their hardware, then cultures are their software." Attempting to upgrade our software, Eric explained how 90% of culture is hidden from us. The panelists tackled the hidden assumptions behind cultural differences in everything from meetings to meals. Stressing the German discomfort caused by being late, making last minute changes, and insisting on instant informality. the panelists emphasized the value of order. "Without Order, there is Chaos." Acknowledging that Germans can be brutally honesty when Order is disrupted, Christian urged us not to take German criticism personally.

Christian then addressed "the elephant in the room." He explained how the Volkswagen scandal has become a matter of national identity. "The German people today are eager to change the view that the world has of them." Given Christian's description of Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant, Tennessee may be a factor in that change. The plant is unlike other VW plants with its open spaces and lack of doors. An informal uniform is worn by all employees. The innovation is unique to the Chattanooga plant.

Will Chattanooga impact Volkswagen's future path? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we continue to Go Global. The experts training us in cross-cultural communication not only help Chattanooga make the American-German connection, but they also help transform Chattanooga into a successful global village.

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Five Stock Market Misconceptions Traders Need to Avoid

October 29, 2015, 1:35 pm

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When it comes to doling out advice on stock market trading, there are plenty of experts who are willing to tell people the "best" ways to do things. However, what many experts fail to tell new traders is that there are a number of common misconceptions that those new to the trading world tend to have. Believing in these misconceptions can lead any trader down a slippery slope and cause you to start making poor decisions that can majorly impact your financial success in the trading world. With this in mind, here are five of the biggest stock market misconceptions that any trader know about, and do their best to stay away from.

1. Stock Picking is Easy

There are many people that believe that stock picking is easy. The truth of the matter is, if it was so easy, everyone would trade to make money. Take a look at the real statistics. Approximately, 90% of traders lose. Furthermore, around 80% of professional money managers fail to beat the S&P 500 every year, yes even in a bull market. In today's market approximately 70% of stocks go down, meaning there are about 30% that are outperformers. It is very difficult to pick stocks in that 30% which is why you should never assume that picking stocks is easy.

2. Commissions Really Matter

Here is the truth about brokers, they love advertising. Everyone has seen these attempts, with brokers angling to save consumers $2, $3 or even $5 per trade. However, unless you are a scalper or a degenerate day trader small commissions savings don't really matter. Instead focus on the big picture, look at finding stocks that can spike anywhere from 20-50% so you never have to worry yourself with small fees.

3. Penny Stocks are All Scams

There is a common misconception that penny stocks are scams. However, most people only think this because they don't really understand what penny stocks are. Before you make assumptions about penny stocks, it is important to learn the basics of penny stocks and how they work. Yes, there are some penny stocks that are scams, but there are others that are just small developing companies. Investing in these companies and their speculative products may be a bit risky but it is not illegal. In fact, there are some penny stock companies such as True Religion Jeans and Jazz Pharmaceuticals that have grown into massive multi-billion dollar companies.

4. You Can Only Make Money in Bull Markets

If you go into trading with this mindset, you will never make any money. People should learn about short selling, or betting on lower prices, if they want to make money. In fact I'll give a little crash course right now: short selling (or simply "shorting") is what you do when you expect the price of a security (in this case a stock) to go down. When you expect this to happen, you borrow stock from a lender in order to sell it off to other customers. You'll have to repurchase everything you sold later through a process called "covering," but if the price of the stock does in fact decline, you will profit from the difference (depending on the agreement with your lender, you may also have to give them a cut of the profits). The bottom line is that you're selling something at a high price and buying it back at a much cheaper price. This is important as unfortunately, many companies fail, especially small ones. You can actually profit from stocks going down, you just have to know how to do it. Here are some examples of my profiting from shorting penny stock pumps so you can see this in action.

5. You Need Big Winners to Get Rich

If this misconception was true, many of today's most successful traders wouldn't have any money. Look at my millionaire students, they average around $1000 to $2000 in profits per trade. However, over years and years this adds up to millions. Plus, if you start with trades like this, you can take on bigger positions for bigger potential profits. However, you need to remember that it is best to take it slow like this first and avoid feelings like you need to go for grand slams early on with small accounts.

Knowing tips and tricks in the industry is important, but so is being aware of the most common misconceptions that tend to lead many new traders down the wrong path.

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5 Reasons to Have Your Car Loan Ready Before Buying

October 29, 2015, 1:35 pm

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Why go through the trouble of getting a car loan from a bank or credit union, rather than just getting it through the dealership? It's certainly easier to let the dealership handle the financing for you, but by doing so you may be conceding too much. Here are five reasons to have your car loan ready before buying.

1. It Gives You a Stronger Bargaining Position

It's all too easy to "throw yourself on the mercy of the dealer" for the entire purchase transaction. After all, car dealerships routinely handle virtually all aspects of car purchase, including:

• Buying your current car as a trade-in



• Providing down payment assistance (a.k.a., cashback arrangements)



• Providing the financing



• And of course, supplying the car you will buy

That may be a convenience, but it also gives the dealer way too much power. The more of those steps that you can handle on your own, the weaker the dealership will be, and the stronger you will be. This is especially important when it comes to financing.

When you have your loan already in place walking in the door, your bargaining position is immediately stronger. It shows that you aren't totally reliant on the dealer, but just as important, it's validation that your status as a qualified buyer has been reviewed and approved by a lending institution.

2. You'll Have More Confidence Going into the Deal

There's a huge psychological advantage to having been preapproved by your own lender before walking into a dealership. You will have the confidence of knowing that you are fully qualified, and you don't have to rely on the dealer to make that decision.

That confidence will show in all aspects of the car buying process. The dealer will be forced to respect it. After all, since you already have your financing lined up, you can walk out the door and buy a car from any other dealership in town.

3. It Forces the Dealer to Give You a Better Financing Deal

There may have been a time, very long ago, when the primary reason why car dealerships offered financing was to ensure the sale of their cars. But today, financing is an important part of car dealerships profit on any given sale. If the dealer's handling the financing, they'll not only make money on the sale of the car, but also on the loan.

For that reason, the dealer will almost certainly make you a financing offer even though you have your own loan waiting in the wings. That also means that the dealer will be forced to give you a better deal than the one you have on your own.

This is doubly important because it virtually eliminates the possibility that the dealer might put you into a high priced loan that will increase their own profit, while costing you more money every month.

4. You'll Have a Chance to Clean Up Your Credit If Needed

Applying for a car loan before you actually go into a dealership gives you an advanced opportunity to make sure that you are in fact qualified to get the best terms available. And if you're not -- if there are certain credit issues -- you will have an opportunity to fix them so that you can get a better deal.

This is not something you ever want to find out for the first time when you're sitting in a car dealership and have already chosen a car and become emotionally attached it. At that moment, you might go ahead and complete the transaction - high rate loan and all - because you have passed the point of no return on the purchase.

5. It's One Less Party Having Access to Your Identity

This isn't an issue that most people think about when getting a car loan, but it shouldn't be ignored either. The more people who have access to your identity, the greater the chance that your information could end up in the wrong hands. That's a recipe for identity theft.

Making the possibility even more likely is the fact that dealerships often have financing arrangements through third-party sources. That means that your personal financial information will not only be sitting somewhere in the dealership, but it will also go out to a third-party lender. That's at least two open doors for identity theft. More if the dealership shops your application through multiple lending sources.

By contrast, when you apply at a bank, the loan will be made by the bank itself, so your information won't be shopped around. And if you obtain a loan from a bank or credit union that you already have a business relationship with, they will already have your information on file, and they won't be putting your information in someone else's hands.

When you think about all that you gain by having your car loan ready before buying -- especially your improved bargaining power -- it's well worth the advanced legwork to do it on your own.

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How Business Intuition Led To Success With Jack Canfield

October 29, 2015, 2:19 pm

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Hi friends! Do you believe in the power of intuition?

I happen to think that listening to your intuition is a key element to success. My inner voice had always been whispering to me that one day I would share my story and become a best-selling author.

So here's what happened... my husband, who is also a freelance multi-media journalist in his spare time, invited Jack Canfield (whose book I contributed to) to do an interview about his current endeavors and latest book.

For those of you that may not know, Jack Canfield is the co-author of the best-selling book "Chicken Soup for the Soul," that evolved into an entire book series that sold over 500 million copies worldwide. It just so happened that Jack was here in our "backyard," in Scottsdale, Arizona, to conduct one of his popular Breakthrough To Success seminars recently.



In the interview, he mapped out the future of his training and that his goal would be to train millions of people around the globe to achieve success in life! I was deeply moved and touched by his comments and mission.

As the interview was finishing, the news got around that I was an intuitive, natural-born healer and Reiki master. One of Jack's top assistants, Rick Kurzac, came to me and asked if I would be willing to do a healing session on Jack. I realized how much of an impact he has on the life of others and how it must be challenging to manage and keep a high level of energy and health. YES!! Of course I was happy to help and I believe I was able to make a little and helpful difference in his day.



Evidently I must have, as Jack invited me and my husband to return the next day to an additional private training event!

Wow... what a day spent with extremely successful, and light-minded individuals. I speak from my heart and can share that Jack is someone who loves to help others and shared with me his future business ventures. I felt humbled and honored to be able to connect with him and just listen.

The weekend with Jack Canfield was significant, meaningful and enlightening, for I know that through his courses on success, he has unleashed a bright path for so many people around the world and impacted so many lives that I know that his voice will be heard.

Although what appeared to be just "luck," was in fact divine timing as a result of my intention. I'm excited to announce that I just finished co-writing a book with Mr. Jack Canfield, titled "The Soul of Success, Volume 2," that was just just recently published!



I truly believed that my contribution to the book would be very powerful, but I did not expect to win an award for my work! Not only was I able to co-author the book, but I was surprised to discover that I won an award for my contribution!

In the meantime, to celebrate, I'm giving away my section of the book away for free for a limited time, so if you are an entrepreneur or business owner, you may find it very helpful in discovering an easier and faster way to make the right business decisions every time. For your free download, please visit http://Biztuition.com

I feel fortunate to have listened to my own business intuition, followed my truth, and am ready to help even more people to achieve their dreams. Please be sure to follow me, so I can share with you the experience I had about connecting with this celebrity...



Can you guess who this is? If not, I'll tell you more about this enlightened entrepreneur, my journey as an author, and how you can use your own business intuition to create your own success in my next post! Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

For the highest good...
Love.Serve.Celebrate.
Namaste

Julie Christopher

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Your Venmo Transactions Leave a Publicly Accessible Money Trail

October 30, 2015, 11:59 am

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How I built a Chrome extension that found thousands of Venmo users PUBLICLY revealing their failed dates, late night food runs, losing poker streaks, and more...

This blog post was adapted from findings in this paper published in Technology Science.

As a college student in the U.S., Venmo has become an app that is hard to live without. Whenever I end up owing someone money for a meal they covered, a bet I lost, or even rent, Venmo is there to help settle the tab instantly. By simply typing in a name, an amount to send and a message describing what the payment is for, I can send almost anyone money using nothing but my phone. It's just so easy to instantly settle debts on the go. 

After a few uses of Venmo, I noticed that the app was giving me the option to share transactions (minus the amount) publicly on my Venmo newsfeed.

This transaction (the message, who is paying whom and the time the payment was sent) will be shared publicly, which can been seen by the setting highlighted in red.

Upon first glance at my newsfeed I didn't think that this was an issue. What do I care if the world can see that my roommates and I paid each other for dinner from time to time?

My summer roommate's public Venmo newsfeed on the Android app.

As I started to poke around these newsfeeds though, I realized that Venmo had a default to share all transactions publicly, which many of my friends never turned off. This meant that if I, or anyone else on Venmo, scrolled back through my friends' newsfeeds I could view their entire transaction histories.

I decided to write the Money Trail extension, which you can get here, to aggregate and visualize the data from an individual's Venmo newsfeed. With Money Trail I could see what the app was really revealing about my friends.

A walkthrough of Money Trail using my Venmo data, to give a sense of how the extension works.

What I Found

It may be hard to imagine that the simple information that you made a transaction with a certain message could reveal anything invasive about you. However, I discovered that if I add up the information from all of the transactions you make on Venmo I can start to see patterns about who you interact with, when you interact with them, and most importantly the context of interaction, which lets me infer a lot about your life.

A screenshot of my summer roommate's public newsfeed on Venmo.com. Including a charge from me for "August rent".

Let's start with my summer roommate's public Venmo transactions. At first glance it is pretty easy to tell that we spent a lot of time together, because of the large number of transactions we had over July and August. Additionally a July 3oth payment with the message "August rent" makes it easy to tell that we were roommates.

The people my roommate interacted with the most over the summer according to Venmo.

Money Trail's bubble graph visualization of his newsfeed data shows that my roommate had a large number of public Venmo transactions with me, his high school friend Sanjay and our other roommate Nikhil. This reflects the fact that we all frequently spent time (and money) together over the summer.

On top of this I realized that my roommate, along with many of my other friends, frequently split transportation costs and meals via Venmo, often including things like Uber destinations and restaurant names in the message. This made it easy to find out exactly who these friends are getting dinner with most evenings as well as where they are going on outings with others.

Because all these transactions are shared publicly, not just with friends on the network, anyone on Venmo can discover these things. As an example I looked at the transaction history for someone I had no connection to on Venmo, let's call her "Sarah".

The transaction history for a user I am not friends with and have no mutual friends with.

Like with my roommate's history, with Sarah I am able to tell who her roommate in New York is, who she is eating meals with, and where she is going on outings with others. I can even see who she is going on dates with.

It does not stop there. Last semester I was in an active poker group on campus organized by a small group of individuals, and since almost no one carries cash, Venmo became the default way to buy into these games.

Money Trail's transaction chart for one of the poker game organizers, highlighting a buy-in from one of the frequent players.

Diving into the chart for one of the frequent game organizers (who collected buy ins and paid winners) I can tell when these games are taking place, who is buying into each one, and who is walking away empty handed.

Individuals aren't the only ones sharing data publicly on Venmo. Small businesses around Harvard's campus have recently begun to use the app.

Money Trail's transaction chart for a campus grill that accepts Venmo payments highlighting orders from a frequent customer (incidentally this is a great analytics tool for the grill).

Last semester a grill on campus started accepting Venmo for food orders. Looking though the public transaction data, I can see who is ordering from the grill, when they are ordering food, and even the exact items they are ordering. For example, from this data I was able to tell that one of my friends was a frequent customer at the grill, and tended to order a chicken quesadilla and milkshake most weekend nights around 2 a.m.

It isn't just campus businesses that are using Venmo to collect cash, many student-run organizations have started to accept dues over Venmo. This means that I am able to get a pretty comprehensive list of an organization's members by looking through their public Venmo history.

All the members of a student-run drinking Society at Harvard who have paid dues via Venmo.

I discovered I could find member lists for many of the ethnic, religious and cultural associations on campus, as well as most of the fraternities and sororities. This isn't just limited to Harvard organizations.

All the members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity at a university in Pennsylvania who paid dues via Venmo.

Many of the student organizations on Venmo also sell things via the app, such as swag and tickets to events.

The Venmo transaction history for an organization over the week that they were selling tickets for their formal event.

Beyond letting me see who is buying T-Shirts from an organization, this public data allows me to generate a comprehensive list of who has paid to attend an organization's events, such as concerts and parties.

Even with all this, it seems that I have only scratched the surface with the kind of things I can find by looking though users' public Venmo feeds with Money Trail. If you want to visualize your friends' Venmo data to see for yourself what fun (and creepy) things you can uncover, you can download the extension for Chrome here. The code is also available and open source on Github.

Is There An Issue?

You may wonder if this is even a problem? After all, users always have the option to switch the visibility of their payments to "Friends only" or "Participants Only", so people must know that they are sharing this information.

The menu on the Android app to let you change an individual transaction's public visibility. This is accessible by holding down on any transaction in your newsfeed.

However, the fact that many of the friends who I showed this extension to were taken aback by accuracy with which the chart described their social life, suggests that the issue is more nuanced.

The problem seems to be similar to the one I uncovered with my previous work on Facebook Messenger's location sharing default. Because public sharing of transactions is the default setting on Venmo, people rarely go through the trouble to change it, especially when it's so easy to ignore the fact that any given transaction is being shared.

With Venmo's Android notification, highlighted here, you don't even have to think about who you are sharing your transaction with. All you have to do is hit "Accept".

People often don't realize that through their use of Venmo they are inadvertently broadcasting a lot of information about themselves over time, and this data can be added up to reveal some pretty personal things. 

Beyond being a privacy issue, the availability of this data may also become a security problem. Slate showed in a few recent articles that fraud on Venmo is already happening in a variety of ways and an M.I.T. paper published in 2014 mentioned that having public transaction data available could make users more vulnerable to fraud, since attackers can use it to identify users' close friends on Venmo and pose as them.

Make it Stop!

At this point you might be asking if there is an easier way to keep your Venmo history private than individually setting the visibility of each one of your new transactions. At first glance it seems pretty easy. As soon as you open the settings page, without even scrolling down, you can see the "Default Audience" setting under Sharing and switch it to private.

A screenshot of the settings page on Android app immediately after being opened, highlighting the "Default Audience" sharing setting, which is set to private.

However you may soon realize that public transactions involving you are still showing up on your newsfeed. That's because the "Default Audience" setting only makes the charges and payments you initiate private. Any charges or payments initiated by friends who have not changed their default privacy setting will still be shared publicly. 

To hide these kinds of transactions you have to go back into the settings page and scroll down to find the easy-to-miss "Transactions Involving You" setting, which was only recently added to the Android app, and switch that to private as well.

A screenshot of the setting page the Android app after scrolling down, highlighting the "Transactions Involving You" setting, which is still set to public.

While Venmo.com and the iOS app were recently updated with a setting that let's you make your entire transaction history retroactively private, as of the most recent version of the Android app the only way to hide your past public transactions is by individually setting the visibility of each one.

This jumble of settings strikes me as not very streamlined and leaves me wondering why managing Venmo privacy is so complicated? I'm not saying Venmo is purposefully trying to make this process tedious or hard for users, however there certainly aren't huge incentives for the app to make users share fewer payments publicly. I gave my financial information to Venmo because I could see online that so many friends of mine were frequently using the app, and Venmo's head of growth confirmed that users join the app at a higher rate if they are able to see other people, especially friends, publicly using it.

I am not the first person to notice the potentially privacy invasive nature of the default sharing feature on Venmo, and I am not the first person to build an app that demonstrates it's consequences. While Venmo has been forced by regulators to be responsive to security issues, the company has done little to tighten its privacy controls in response to public criticism.

With all this said I am probably going to remain a Venmo user, even though I know that I must be constantly vigilant about my privacy when I am using the app. This is not because there is no better alternative, Square Cash does essentially the same thing without a sharing feature, and this is not because I don't care about sacrificing my privacy. This is because everyone I know and almost everyone I meet is already on Venmo, making it simply too convenient to stop using entirely.

It seems as if the price Venmo is charging for the convenience that it provides is a bit of your privacy. With the Money Trail extension you can see for yourself how much of your privacy Venmo is costing you and decide for yourself if that is a price you are willing to pay.

For deeper analysis check out the corresponding paper in Technology Science.

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Why Bridging the Iran-Saudi Divide Is Vital for Peace in Syria and the Region

October 30, 2015, 12:14 pm

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Archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran are experiencing their first regional talks in Vienna on the Syrian conflict. Since assuming office in August 2013, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has initiated several overtures to Saudi Arabia, attempting to mend what has steadily devolved into a dangerously adversarial relationship in the years since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Rouhani, who called for better ties with Saudi Arabia shortly after his inauguration, made his first diplomatic outreach to Saudi Arabia at a critical juncture. He dispatched his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to visit several of the Arab Persian Gulf states shortly after the November 2013 interim nuclear deal was reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations.

"I believe that our relations with Saudi Arabia should expand as we consider Saudi Arabia as an extremely important country in the region and the Islamic world," Zarif said at the time. "We believe that Iran and Saudi Arabia should work together in order to promote peace and stability in the region."

Zarif was in effect signaling that Iran was willing to take proactive steps to ease any concerns its southern neighbors had about a post-nuclear deal regional environment.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran. (Photo by Iranian Presidency / Pool/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Rouhani followed this move with numerous other attempts at détente: Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian visited Riyadh in August 2014, Zarif met with his Saudi counterpart during the 2014 United National General Assembly, and Zarif went to Saudi Arabia to attend the funeral of the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in January 2015.

After the new Saudi king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, appointed U.S. Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir as foreign minister earlier this year, Zarif also congratulated him and announced that he hoped "relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Saudi monarchy will develop."

Zarif reached out al-Jubeir to meet during this year's UNGA, but was shunned. Nonetheless, at a recent press conference with Arab reporters in Tehran, Zarif reiterated that Iran and Saudi Arabia "have the same interests" and should "work together."

By opting to increase rather than ameliorate tensions with Iran, Saudi Arabia has brought itself and the rest of the region to a dangerous precipice.

For its part, Saudi Arabia has rebuffed all of Iran's attempts at engagement. To be sure, the Saudi government has not shied from making faux offers of cooperation, predicated on senseless preconditions like Iran ending its "interference" in Arab countries. The unfortunate reality is that Saudi Arabia, doubly so since the ascension of King Salman, has overtly opted for a more confrontational approach towards Iran. As the Brookings Institution's Suzanne Maloney has said: "Saudi leaders have adopted a more aggressive diplomatic, economic and military campaign aimed both at marginalizing Iran and reasserting its own ambitions for regional dominance."

There are multiple reasons why Saudi Arabia is not ready for serious negotiations with Iran at present. For one thing, the hothead son of the King Salman, Mohammed bin Salman, is battling for power and to move up in the succession line. The Saudi war in Yemen is largely his design, and the sensational extent to which supposed Iranian intervention in Yemen has been hyped up has helped bin Salman consolidate power, much to the derision of other members of the royal family.

Furthermore, as one member of the House of Saud told me in New York City during this year's UNGA, the Saudis do not want come to the table with Iran because they believe Iran has the upper hand in the region. They feel that if they did engage Iran, it would be tantamount to accepting Iran's position the region. However, if this is indeed the case, the Saudis have fundamentally misread Iranian strategic thinking in this regard. Iran's history since the revolution demonstrates that whenever it feels it is in a position of strength, it becomes more flexible, and whenever it comes under increased pressure, it becomes obstinate and acts in ways to increase the cost of pressuring it.

A Yemeni soldier stands guard at the Cairo Castle in Taiz, which has been turned into ruins. (Photo by Abdulnasser Al Seddik /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

By opting to increase rather than ameliorate tensions with Iran, Saudi Arabia has brought itself and the rest of the region to a dangerous precipice. Dialogue and broad cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the only way forward and imperative if the various crises in the region, whether in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen or elsewhere, are to be resolved. Saudi Arabia and Iran can either jumpstart negotiations or continue down the path of escalation, practically ensuring a devastating war becomes an inevitability.

There are three paths Saudi Arabia and Iran can take to bridge their differences. The first is formal, official high-level talks between foreign ministers and other senior representatives of the respective governments. Unfortunately, the Saudi government does not appear receptive of this option at this stage. Another alternative is for the two countries to engage in track one-and a-half or track-two diplomacy -- contacts between former officials and prominent non-government figures and experts -- to discuss a package to build trust and move towards official dialogue. There have been some efforts made on that front, but it is crucial that they be significantly expanded.

It is crucial that diplomacy efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia be significantly expanded.

One other way of escaping the pressures of public negotiations is for Saudi Arabia and Iran to confidentially exchange special envoys. These meetings would be strictly off the record and allow for the two sides to engage in high-level talks and more effectively hash out their differences. During the mid-1990s, I engaged in precisely this type of diplomacy with Saudi Arabia in my capacity as a senior diplomat and advisor to then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Back then, Saudi Arabia and Iran both sought to take steps to reconcile with one another after more than a decade of hostilities. I negotiated and agreed on a "peace package" with then-Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, during that time. After four nights of intense negotiations, we reached agreements which paved the road for amicable relations between our countries that would last until the mid-2000s.

Rather than trying to constrain Iran and isolate it in its own region, the leaders of Saudi Arabia should acknowledge that Iran is their neighbor and that they can and should live in peace with each other. Negotiations should be done without preconditions and both sides should act to understand and address one another's concerns. Cooperation between Saudi Arabia, Iran and the other Persian Gulf states is vital and will fill the vacuum causing much of the conflicts raging in the region today. Détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia can indeed be the first step in creating a formal regional cooperation system that makes this goal a reality and helps stabilize the region.

Earlier on WorldPost:

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Emotion Is the Future of Customer Experience

October 30, 2015, 12:38 pm

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No purchase is void of emotion. Brands have spent millions attempting to connect positive feelings to a product, from De Beers equating diamonds to affection to McDonald's insisting that their customers are "lovin' it." Increasingly, brands are striving to bring emotion beyond slogans and packaging and incorporate it into the entire customer experience.

One reason that companies are examining the emotions surrounding customer experience is because it has been found to be a huge indicator of whether or not a customer will return. As best-selling author and psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman once observed,

How customers feel when they interact with an employee determines how they feel about the company itself. In a psychological sense, the "company" as experienced by the customer is these interactions. Loyalty is lost or strengthened in every interaction between a company and its customers.

It's becoming clear that companies cannot afford to funnel their customers into traditional demographic profiles that once may have been sufficient enough to provide a somewhat enhanced customer experience. Now that this is the status quo, best in class brands must stay one step ahead of the competition and build more robust customer profiles with information that wasn't previously accessible. The new data that everyone is scrambling to understand: emotions and behavior. In a recent study, Forrester found that emotion and how an experience makes a customer feel, is the number one factor in customer loyalty- ahead of effectiveness and ease - across 94 percent of the industries that they studied.

One way that companies can harness data around emotions and behavior is by analyzing previously hard to quantify information such as linguistic patterns and personality styles captured during services calls to contact centers. Now that brands can collect this information, it's becoming easier to detect patterns and make predictions. For example, a company may find that a certain segment of their customer base would prefer to speak with a warm and caring call center agent that demonstrates empathy and concern. Meanwhile, another customer may be emotionally fulfilled by an interaction that is frank and direct without extra friendliness and small talk. Regardless of differences in specific emotional and communicative preferences, a recent Mattersight study of 1000 consumers found that, if given the option, 92 percent would prefer to choose their customer service representative, based on the representative's personality, compassion and knowledge.

As with previous eras that made new customer intelligence data available, companies that take the time to embrace these insights and use them to develop a deeper and more robust understanding of their customers will find themselves ahead of the competition. Emotion and the customer experience go hand-in-hand. Empathic brands will be able to emotionally engage their existing and prospective customers and, in turn, enhance satisfaction, retention and recruitment.

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The Top 10 People to Know in Silicon Valley

October 30, 2015, 12:44 pm

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When it comes to navigating the difficult waters of Silicon Valley, it is important to know who the big movers and shakers in the industry are. These are some of the top people that have shaped the Silicon Valley that the world knows today. These are also the most important individuals that anyone looking to make their way in this market should know.

1. John Rampton
Serial entrepreneur John Rampton was recently named as #4 on the list of Top 50 Online Influencers in the World by Entrepreneur Magazine. He was also awarded as being one of the Top 10 Most Influential PPC Experts in the world for the past three years. Around Silicon Valley he is known for being one of the most successful advisors for startups in the area. He is also the co-founder of Due.com.

2. Murray Newlands
Also a co-founder of Due.com, Murray Newlands is a startup and venture capital advisor and serial entrepreneur. He is a Venture Advisor to the Nothingsfund and is a frequent contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur among others. Murray is perhaps best-known as the author of Online Marketing: A User's Manual published by John Wiley & Sons.

3. Robert Scoble
Many people know Robert Scoble for his blog Scobleizer, which he wrote when he was working with Microsoft. Today, Scoble working for Rackspace and their sponsored community site Building 43, which focuses on highlighting and promoting cutting-edge startups and breakthrough technology. If you want to be featured in Silicon Valley, he is the individual to turn to. After all, his influence in the area is long-standing as Scoble grew up in Silicon Valley, just blocks away from Apple's head office.

4. Brian Solis
Digital marketing analyst Brian Solis, focuses on the effects of technology in business and is a self-proclaimed futurist. He is also an award-winning author and keynote speaker. In both Silicon Valley and around the country, Solis is known as being one of the most innovative leaders in the worlds of innovation and digital transformation.

5. Ben Parr
In addition to being a venture capitalists and entrepreneur, Ben Parr is also an established American Journalist with a great deal of influence in the media. He was the co-editor of Mashable and a columnist and commentator for CNET. He was once famed to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and today he is the co-founder and Managing Partner of DominateFund, a seed-stage venture capital firm.

6. Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is the co-founder of PayPal and one of the first outside investors in Facebook. He also has a reported net worth of over $2 billion and is a serial investor in Silicon Valley. When it comes to Silicon Valley royalty, there are very few that can compete with the reputation or the success of Thiel.

7. Joe Lonsdale
Joe Lonsdale is one of the founding partners at Formation 8 Partners, a tech investment fund in Silicon Valley. He has also worked closely with Peter Thiel at PayPal. His real influence has come from his work as an angel investor and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley where he has helped countless entrepreneurs build smarter companies and has worked with companies such as Addepar, Bagedville, Practice Fusion and Blueprint Labs. He also worked on a project with Lady Gaga to launch Backplane.

8. Paul Doersch
In addition to being named as one of Forbes Top 30 Under 30 in 2015, Paul Doersch is also the founder of Kespry, an emerging Silicon Valley brand that designs and builds commercial-grade drone systems. When it comes to finding an expert in financing, Paul Doersch is the person to turn to. The CEO raised $10 million in Series A financing for his brand shortly after developing his drone company.

9. Ronny Conway Jr.
Ronny Conway is not only the son of SV Angel co-founder Ron Conway, one of the original names in the world of Silicon Valley, but he also has his own reputation in the world of seed investing. In addition to being the former Head of Early Stage Investing for Andreessen Horowitz, Conway is also the founder and General Partner of A Capital, an emerging early stage venture capital firm that focuses on consumer and enterprise technology.

10. Salil Pradhan
Sail Pradhan spent 10 years at Hewlett Packard before he became an early stage investor with Draper Nexus Ventures. Salil is also a founder of two startups and has been issued 54 different US patents. He also is an advisor to corporate LPs on product strategy, partnerships with startups and M&A. He is focused on helping seed and early stage startups in retail, healthcare and agriculture with an emphasis on IoT, making him a valuable person to know if you are looking to develop this type of brand in Silicon Valley.

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Chasing Squirrels and Breaking the '80/20' Rule

October 30, 2015, 12:47 pm

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Have you seen the movie Up? The movie has one of my favorite characters, Dug. I laughed so hard the first time Dug was introduced, when he started talking about how much he loved his new master and -- squirrel! He gets distracted, as do the other talking dogs in the movie. I can relate to Dug, sometimes a little too much! With hundreds of new opportunities popping up every week, I can get distracted from the business at hand. We all do. However, I need to be dedicated to picking out the right squirrels to focus on, which ones to ignore, and which ones to kill.

Once you've removed all the distractions, it's time to focus on the business side of things, on how to streamline the process and figure out what will make your business profitable.

One of the rules I would use daily is the 80/20 rule. If you're in business, you know about the 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto Principle. For those that don't, the Pareto Principle dates back to 1906 when Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, studied the patterns of money and wealth in Switzerland and discovered that 80 percent of the nation's land was controlled by just 20 percent of the population. Upon further research, Pareto discovered that the same pattern occurred in other countries. Other economists paid attention to this, and started noticing similar unequal patterns. In business, we apply this as a general rule that the top 20 percent of your customers account for 80 percent of your revenue.

Hence, the 80/20 rule. It's something that you and I often use to evaluate people, customers, tasks, and even ourselves.

As leaders, it's our job to push our teams to the limit, exposing excuses and causing tension. Sometimes, the 80/20 rule can lead to excuses -- like sales teams focusing on just the 20 percent and ignoring everyone else. I sat down to talk with Peter Philippi, CEO of Strategex, a business that focuses on creating customized growth strategies for mid-to-large B2B organizations. When it comes to the 80/20 rule, Peter has an interesting take on it -- a take that has helped his team push past self-imposed limitations and excuses.

To understand Peter's idea, grab a piece of paper and pencil. First, make a list of all of your customers from the last 12-month period. Organize the list in descending order of revenue. From there, split the list into four equal groups, with the top being the top 25 percent in terms of revenue, the bottom the bottom 25 percent and so on.

According to Peter, what you should see is that "the top 25 percent should account for 89 percent of your revenue; the second 25 percent accounts for 7 percent; 3 percent on the third; and 1 percent on the bottom." An 89/7/3/1 is quite a bit different than Pareto's 80/20 rule, and Peter is so sure of this that it's printed on the back of his business card!

By breaking out your customers according to the 89/7/3/1 rule, you and your sales team should be focusing on the "whales" -- the top 25 percent that bring in 89 percent of your revenue. That's a more efficient way to target rather than the previous 80/20 model, don't you think? Your "minnows," the 7/3/1, should still receive attention of course, but more proportionate to the revenue you receive. The goal of the 89/7/3/1 rule is to help you and your team focus on the right business. However, according to what Peter told me, most businesses don't do that. Why is that? I believe it comes down to one of three things:

Won't Focus

There are some people who just don't want to focus on what needs to get done. And it takes all kinds of people to keep the world spinning. But I don't have time for these people, so I have nothing to say to them.

Can't Focus

Thinking big and acting bigger can take time to adjust to. There are people who jump in feet first to the deep end, and others who take time to wade in from the shallow end. Whatever way they get to the deep end, at least they're getting there. If your team is having trouble getting there due to lack of education or tools, it's your job as a leader to give them what they need in order to achieve the goals you've set forth for your company.

However, sometimes people are too preoccupied with other things to focus. It's up to them (and you) to help them realign their goals to meet yours. We all can be distracted squirrels, but it takes dedication to push past the distractions and focus on the big picture.

Don't Want to Focus

Then, there are times when people simply don't want to focus. It could be because they're too close to the client that they'll offer to do free work -- even at the expense of paying clients. It could be that you've always used this specific product or service and refuse to look elsewhere, even when other products or services are obviously better. Whatever the reason, emotional attachment can cause people to not want to focus. That isn't where your focus should be; your focus should be on your business and doing what it takes to make it the best. If clients, employees, or services are holding your business back - find a way to help them, and then let them go.

In the end, it's up to you as the leader to focus your business, team, and even yourself on the business that matters. Remember Peter's 89/7/3/1 rule to help keep your focus aligned on what's best for business, and then go after it.

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Leveraging Islamic Finance Promotes Growth and Prosperity of SMEs

October 30, 2015, 12:54 pm

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From the smallest, rural villages in Bangladesh to the large, bustling metropolitan centers of Cairo or Istanbul, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of Islamic communities around the world, keeping local economies humming.

I first became interested in the potential of leveraging Islamic finance to grow SMEs when I led a seminar on the topic in 1997. I've come full circle, almost 20 years later, when I had the opportunity to speak last week in Istanbul at a conference on "Leveraging Islamic Finance for SMEs," organized by the World Bank Group, the Turkish Treasury, the Islamic Development Bank and TUMSIAD, the largest association of SMEs in the country with 10,000 members.

The report that was launched at the conference notes that SMEs account for more than 60 percent of employment and 50 percent of GDP in high-income economies. They are equally important in emerging economies where they contribute on average to more than 50 percent of employment and 40 percent of GDP.

But even though SMEs play such an important role in the global economy, they have historically struggled to gain reliable access to capital. Our IFC Enterprise Finance Gap Database tells us that between 55 and 68 percent of SMEs in developing countries are either financially underserved or not served at all.

These high numbers translate into significant lost opportunities to develop viable businesses. Even in the G20 countries, it is estimated that SMEs face a financing gap of $1.3 trillion.

The Islamic finance industry has expanded rapidly during the last decade, with annual growth rates of over 15 percent. Today, Islamic financial assets are estimated at over $1.7 trillion. In many majority Muslim countries, Islamic banking assets have been growing faster than conventional banking assets.

There has also been a surge of interest in Islamic finance from non-Muslim financial centers such as the UK, Luxembourg, South Africa and Hong Kong. For example, the World Bank, acting as treasurer for the International Finance Facility for Immunization, has helped raise $700 million through two through two Sukuk issuances.

Mobilization of financing from nonbanking channels, such as private equity, venture capital and capital markets, offers innovative asset-based and equity-based financial products that overcome the shortcomings of banks' SME financing.

I believe it is imperative for policy makers and development practitioners to unlock the potential of Islamic finance. Although key standard-setting bodies, such as the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and the Accounting and Auditing Organization, have made substantial progress for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), the regulatory framework, supervisory processes and standards for the industry have yet to be fully formed and implemented.

Addressing these challenges effectively will put Islamic financial institutions in a position to design and offer financial products that are relevant to SMEs, while reducing transaction costs and adequately securing their exposures.

Islamic finance has relevance across the range of development solutions that we at the World Bank Group deliver. In 2014, we established a Global Islamic Finance Development Center in Istanbul. The center serves as a Knowledge Hub spearheading a wide range of research, training and advisory activities aimed at improving general understanding of Islamic finance globally and supporting regulators and policy makers to introduce and maintain sustainable Islamic finance industries.

The priority reform measures supported by the G20 Investment and Infrastructure Working Group and the Global Partnership on Financial Inclusion Database could provide a roadmap for the use of Islamic financial products by SMEs. It is my hope that we will all continue to work together toward the sustainable development of the Islamic financial services industry and bolster its contribution to alleviating poverty and fostering shared prosperity in developing and emerging markets.

To find out how the private sector can help meet global development goals, sign-up today for the Massive Open Online Course on Financing for Development. The free course launches November 12.

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3 Time Management Tips on How to Slay the Time Vampires

October 30, 2015, 12:58 pm

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Vampires are out in full force on Halloween night. But it doesn't have to be Halloween to be "tricked" by the time vampires who suck the time out of our (work) day.

Urban dictionary (if you've never heard of this dictionary -- ask your kids) defines a time vampire as: "something or someone who literally sucks your time like a vampire sucks blood."

Perhaps you can relate to one of the following situations.

Work Life Time Vampires

We've all been slayed at work by a time vampire. Their attack takes many forms. Perhaps they send you emails or maybe they stop by your desk and casually ask: "Hey you gotta second?" or "Can I ask you a quick question? It will only take a few minutes." Then they proceed to go on and on. Before you know it an hour has gone by and they are nowhere near finished asking for your help.

You've just been slayed!

Personal Life Time Vampires

You just walked into your home after a long day at work and your phone rings. The second you answer "hello," your friend immediately begins to babble on about -- who knows what? The next thing you know you've been on the phone for an hour -- and the time you were going to spend reading your new book or cleaning out your closet gets shelved for another evening.

You've just been slayed!

Most time vampires do not intentionally suck the time out of your life, but they do so nonetheless. It's not that they are bad people, however, it is your individual responsibility to manage your life by managing your time.

Following are three time management tips you can use to slay the time vampire -- to regain control of your life, at work and at home.

1. Just say NO! Many people do not intend to consume your time. They are innocently seeking your advice, opinion or suggestion. And for this, you should be flattered.

You, however, are the master of your own fate. How you ultimately use or misuse your time is up to you. The ability to say "no" to a request for something because it will negatively impact your ability to get your work done -- and here is the operative phrase -- in a timely fashion, is up to you.

To all you people pleasers out there, a respectful "no" to a colleague is not about putting them off. It is about putting you "on-time!" Tell your colleague you are facing a time constraint and once you have completed your task, you will be more than happy to help them -- if your time permits.

2. Avoid or Ignore the Known Time Vampires. We all know many of the time vampires in our lives. We see them walking towards us, or we watch their email come in or their name light up on our phone -- and we automatically sigh to ourselves and think: "Ugh, I really don't have time for "this" now -- whatever "this" is.

The best way to handle these situations is to not break your stride as the time vampire approaches you -- smile, say a quick "hello" and keep walking. This sends a very clear message that you are busy and do not want to stop and talk.

Do not open up their emails until it is convenient for you, (assuming your boss is not the time vampire) or answer the call until you have the time.

3. Create a No Drama Policy and Avoid the Gossip Gremlins.You will be amazed at how much time you save if you avoid work drama and gossipers. Unfortunately, every office has drama and a gossiper. And everyone knows who loves here all the dirt.

Gossipers thrive on telling anyone who will listen -- who said what about whom. Or who did what to whom. These stories are total time suckers.

Let it be known that you do not want to hear any gossip and that you do not want to be part of any drama. Period.

Office drama and gossip is a total waste of your time and energy.

Following these three time management tips while at work will help you take back your day -- so you will own your night.

To learn more about Dr. Patty Ann, CEO & Founder of Relationship Toolbox LLC, go to: www.relationshiptoolbox.com

Amazon best selling author of: "Not Tonight Dear, I've Got a Business to Run!"

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7 Company Cultures Worth Replicating

October 30, 2015, 1:16 pm

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In recent years, we've seen a significant shift in our professional ethos. Once upon a time people settled at a job for 10 to 15 years. Today we're more likely to job hop until landing at or launching our own dream company. I hopped around multiple times over a four-year span before I decided to venture out on my own.

Businesses interested in retaining top talent must answer the question of "How can we create a competent workforce with A+ players?" Often, a positive company culture is the answer.

Google (now Alphabet) has consistently taken home the top position as one of the world's most desirable employers, and for good reason. They are the poster child for a more innovative approach to company culture, which includes nap pods, hybrid car subsidies, and free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. These perks come at a cost for Google, but so does employee dissatisfaction and high turnover.

Your company culture has the potential to either crush or skyrocket your profit. Here are seven businesses that have successfully created company cultures that are worth replicating.

1. HourlyNerd

When the HourlyNerd considers onboarding new employees, they don't hire with an immediate role in mind. Co-founder Pat Petitti says HourlyNerd "considers how likely potential hires can (in the near future) take on substantially more responsibility." Through a comprehensive feedback policy that encourages regular communication from leadership, HourlyNerd consistently sees young employees push themselves into more senior roles.

2. Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft takes a personal approach to ensure employees are happy. "It's about finding people with true passion, and putting them in roles and in a position where they can achieve their aspirations and dreams," says Chief People Officer Hal Halladay. An example of this personal approach is Infusionsoft's internal social network for employees, which limits email exchange so that employees can share their ideas with one another through a more informal correspondence system.

3. Capture Higher Ed

A large part of Capture Higher Ed's success can be attributed to allowing employees to make bold moves. "I believe innovation can occur anywhere in the company, not just in leadership or technology, and encouraging people to take risks is key to being an innovative company," says CEO Steve Huey. Believing in the potential of their employees has led Capture Higher Ed to be championed as a "Great Place to Work" by Fortune Magazine.

4. Bright Funds

"When a new employee joins Bright Funds, I tell them that they are the CEO of their respective domain," says CEO Ty Walrod. By empowering employees to become proactive leaders, this gives them the opportunity to add value to the company in ways that might otherwise not be achieved. Bright Funds is known for designing an all-in-one giving program that employees trust, but the company also gives back to its own employees by encouraging them to take the reigns of their lives.

5. Compass

Compass is a growing online real estate platform that recently raised $50 million in September at an $800 million valuation led by Institutional Venture Partners and boasts a 99 percent employee retention rate -- an anomaly within the startup environment. The company is very selective about whom it accepts as agents -- only 17 percent of applicants are hired -- to ensure that there's a culture fit between the company's values and those of the people it hires. With their strong emphasis on aligned company values, it's no wonder employees never want to leave Compass.

6. FlexJobs

It's one thing to run a company with 65 staff members, it's another feat to run a company with 65 staff members that has no central headquarters and is spread out across 27 states. According to FlexJobs founder and CEO Sara Sutton Fell, "Company culture is much more than a building." She emphasizes the need for greater flexibility to allow people to do their work well no matter where they're located. FlexJobs practices what it preaches by giving employees the option of a flexible work environment.

7. TinyPulse

While TinyPulse recognizes that certain perks aren't "essential for building a stronger work culture," the company does admit that some perks assist with boosting engagement and retention. Whether it's offering massages, creating dog-friendly areas, or providing weekly lunches, funding benefits responsive to employee needs can help overall company morale. With a mission to reduce employee turnover for their customers, TinyPulse believes that people are the most important asset it has.

-- 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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Who Cares About How Nonprofit Foundation Boards Govern Themselves? I Do, and You Should Too.

October 30, 2015, 1:24 pm

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This week, the Center for Effective Philanthropy released a new study on the practices of foundation boards -- a project on which BoardSource had the opportunity to collaborate. The report is a straightforward report-out on responses from 64 private foundations about the composition and practices of their boards, which might prompt some to ask: So what? Why should we care how foundation boards and trustees are governing themselves? In the grand scheme of things, how much does it really matter?

Well, I, for one, think it matters a lot. Here are three reasons why:

1. It's a signal of transparency. While this study focuses on the aggregate practices of foundation boards, rather than on individual practices, it still represents a willingness of the participating foundation leaders to share with the world how their boards are leading their institutions -- and openness to the curiosity, questions, and even criticism that might come with that. That level of openness and transparency is not insignificant and should be celebrated throughout the nonprofit sector.

2. It's an opportunity for foundation boards to reflect. There is a tremendous amount of mystery around the practices of foundation boards. As a result of these 64 foundation leaders' willingness to share openly, other foundation leaders now have the opportunity to understand their boards' practices in the context of what other foundation boards are doing. That's not insignificant, particularly for those boards that are "outliers" on issues such as board member composition, discretionary grantmaking for individual board members, and delineation of board and staff responsibilities. The average or median is not necessarily the "right" way to do things, but if you're significantly outside the norm, this study certainly invites some reflection on why that might be and whether or not there may be a case for change.

3. It shows where foundation boards are leading (and where they're not). There are some clear bright spots in terms of foundation board leadership. Based on the skill sets represented, foundations seem to demonstrate real intentionality around board recruitment, ensuring that they have the skills and expertise that they need at the board level to lead effectively. There are also encouraging signs in terms of board involvement, and where boards are engaging most in terms of the time that they are investing. In general, they seem to be most focused on developing and evaluating the long-term strategy of the foundation, as well as on essential governance functions such as evaluating the CEO. With that said, there are some clear opportunities for foundation boards to step up and begin modeling stronger board practices to each other and the sector as a whole. As Phil Buchanan rightly pointed out in his blog post on the study, foundation boards are not prioritizing board self-assessment as much as they should be. This is a practice that would institutionalize regular reflection on all board leadership and governance practices.

What boards do - or don't do - matters. And when it comes to foundation boards, it matters not just because of its impact on the success of the foundation and its philanthropic goals, but because of the signal that it sends to the rest of the nonprofit sector. Foundations have the power to send powerfully positive messages about the importance of strong and effective board leadership that is committed, invested, intentional, and inspired. And as is always the case, the message is much more compelling when it's based on what they do, rather than simply what they say.

-- 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.

Afraid of Being Seen? How to Bust Through Your Visibility Roadblock

October 30, 2015, 1:35 pm

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During a conversation with one of my clients recently, she actually verbalized a fear that many of us have - but few are willing to actually admit to...

A fear of being "visible"... a fear of being a public persona.

This is basically a fear of success. A fear of visibility keeps us safe... and small. When we keep playing smaller than we're capable of, we prevent ourselves from living out our mission in life.

Being visible requires vulnerability. Period. Let's figure out why you might fear visibility - and how you can overcome your fears.

The Many Reasons Why We Fear Success
"... Our very deepest fear is that when we really reclaim our power and succeed, we have to face the knowledge that we have always been powerful to change all along and that we could have changed a year or five or 10 years ago." -- Ti Caine

We humans are complex creatures, so it makes sense that the reasons why we actually fear success are just as complicated. Hypnotherapist and life coach Ti Caine explained in a Psychology Today article that the fear of success is a "very unique issue that arises when you are genuinely creating change and moving forward in your life."

Maybe you fear putting something out there because too many people might see it and/or criticize your work. Or you think that you're not really worthy of success. Or that you'll eventually fall flat on your face.

And you know that the more visible you are, the more people there are to see your failures. The what-ifs creep in...What if I fail big time? All those people will be watching - everyone will know. What if I succeed? Then everyone will have even bigger expectations.

Oh, and of course, there's always the fear that once you do find success, you're just doomed to fail and lose it all - and then everyone would know what a "fool" you are. We also stress over thoughts of being bothered by others wanting money or other things because they perceive us as successful.

In essence, we fear the unknown. And for many of us, the big "unknown" isn't success itself - but how to handle success.

Say Hello to the Unknown
Before you can deal with your fear of success, it helps to do some self-discovery first. Try asking yourself a few key questions, like:

• What do I fear losing the most if I am a success?
• By not embracing success, what do I get to avoid?
• What am I getting out of holding back from being more visible?
• What is my version of the worst-case scenario?
• What are the benefits of putting myself out there?

How to Deal With Your Fear of Success
Many of us are absolutely clueless when it comes to knowing how to deal with our fears of success. And as I explained above, that's what makes it so scary. The truth is, you can still be "safe" - even when you feel vulnerable.

Here are three guiding principles to help you overcome your fear of visibility:

1. Understand - and accept your fears. I've already gone over some of the major reasons you might fear being visible, being successful. You might have your own secret reasons. Identify them. Refer to some of the questions I mentioned above to help you get real about your fears. Once you do, accept them. Stop focusing on the doubt and fear - and move forward.

2. You determine your worth. Your net worth will never exceed your self-worth. Being liked by other people doesn't determine your worth. There will always be naysayers, people who want to bring you down... people who just don't like you. Take all that power you've been throwing away and put it to work in your own life.

3. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Yep, there it is. I said it. Life is uncomfortable. Change doesn't always feel good. It isn't meant to. But if you're not open to change, what happens? Stagnation. When you stagnate, you're not going anywhere fast.

If you want to play the "what if" game to your advantage - fast forward five, 10, 20 years and envision yourself looking back at your life now. What if you let fear get in the way of being more visible, of finding success? How would you feel? I think you already know the answer to that. Doing this exercise may just give you the shift in perspective you need to overcome your fears.

Share your insight - how do you overcome the fear factor in your life?

-- 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.

Why the Hell Did You Hire a Web Developer?

October 30, 2015, 1:59 pm

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Snap out of it partner, unless you are in the business of making websites or software then you're marketing department doesn't need a web developer. Here's why:

1. They aren't marketers: A web developer is somebody who can build/maintain websites or take a design and make a website out of it. A more seasoned developer may be able to build a web or mobile app. Those are useful skills kids, believe me, but they aren't marketing-related at all. Do you really think that a web developer is going to help your business get leads or sales? How could they? Sure they can code until their eyes bleed. Great! None of that is going to help you look any better in front of your boss without the right marketing strategy behind it. This is money you could spend on other things like creating content, running marketing campaigns, or hiring the people your shorthanded marketing department might actually need.

2. They lack the skills you need: Let's be honest. Even though marketing departments are getting more tech-savvy, many still have a long way to go. We see this all the time in our line of work. The VP of marketing goes out and hires a web developer thinking that they can fire their agency of record and just do everything in-house. Here's the problem with that. A web developer may only be good in a particular skill set or technology. Maybe they know how to program Salesforce apps, or build/maintain a Wordpress website or write a .NET custom application. Your business may be using one of those technologies now, but what about in the future? What happens when your IT department decides they want to change technologies? Or a new marketing platform shows up that you want to use? Your web developer is going to be as useful as a Christmas Tree on Easter when that happens. Lastly, who on your team is really capable of hiring a developer? You? HR? Please. It's hard not to cry a little every time I see this happen.

3. You can't afford one: A more realistic example is that your budget only gets you a half-decent web developer. You need Michael Jackson (a great marketer in his own right), but can only afford Tito. Here's the thing. Marketing agencies and technology companies hire very high-end developers since they code websites or apps every single day. They need great developers to make money and the developers relish the opportunity to work on lots of different projects. Similar to how law firms have the best lawyers. Do you go to Chili's because you love the way their development team slices PSDs into HTML or because you love the Lunch Double Burger? Depending on your business, your marketing department is probably responsible for something else other than coding.

4. They are a bottleneck: Let's say you hire a web developer and things go great. You're a match made in marketing-technology heaven. You've been together for a few years and the developer does what you need them to do. However, no relationship is perfect. You've probably seen firsthand how the absence of your web developer hurts your department when they go on vacation or miss time for any reason. What happens to your projects then? They probably all go on hold. Which is not their fault. It's yours.

Nonetheless, if you're happy you're ok. Right? Heck, all you need is love these days. That might be great for now, but what about later on? What if your web developer, who you are happily married to now, suddenly decides to go and see other people? What are you going to do? Sing My Heart Will Go On as your marketing-technology Titanic sinks? Because that's what will happen. All of the knowledge, code and logic of code is in your ex's brain and probably not documented very well. That will make it hard for anybody to come in after them and take their place. Believe me, turnover among web developers in marketing departments is extremely high. Further, their skills are usually in demand quite a bit. They are often the targets of Bobba Fett-like recruiters on LinkedIn and other places. If your web developer isn't being recruited then that's another problem because they are probably not very good.

How You Should Address Web Development Instead

Partner with an agency to address your web development needs. It's their job to develop websites, applications and mobile apps. As such, they will have the most skilled developers on their team already. They need them to stay competitive. These days, most agencies can give you access to an entire team of developers at a fixed monthly fee cheaper and without the emotional baggage of hiring a full-time employee anyway. Plus you can easily exercise a non-compete if you have trade secrets going into their hands or being coded. That's all quite common in the web development world. Usually it's an agency's job to take an internal marketing department strategy downfield anyways. This plays right into the ideal agency and marketing department relationship.

As marketing battles become more and more digital you are going to need the services of web developers. No doubt about it. However, there is no need for a shorthanded marketing team or small business to hire them in house. They aren't marketers, they are expensive to train and often keep critical business processes in their heads. Phase your web developer out or don't hire them in the first place. Instead, read this e-book on agile marketing and who to hire on your small marketing team.

About the Author

Sajeel Qureshi is the Vice President of Operations atComputan. Computan helps short-handed marketing departments, businesses and marketing agencies streamline marketing tasks by providing them affordable and reliable back-end support. He has a degree in business administration from St. Bonaventure University, and an MBA from Eastern Illinois University.

-- 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.

Business Owners Must Give Thought to Warehouse Safety

October 30, 2015, 2:02 pm

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As a small business owner, warehouse safety procedures may seem like a responsibility that's best reserved for your distribution center manager, but ultimately, it's your job. If you want to avoid workplace injuries, expensive lawsuits, and outside scrutiny, you must start giving more thought to the protocols that you have in place.

The Significance of Warehouse Safety

Business owners have a lot to worry about, but the health and safety of employees must be a top priority. Deaths and injuries on the job are not only catastrophic for those directly affected, but they also greatly harm a brand's image and tie up resources in legal battles.

While there's a number of ways to improve workplace health and safety, not enough attention is being given to warehouses and distribution centers. With that said, consider the following statistics pulled from this infographic on warehouse safety:

• Each year, 20,000 employees are seriously injured in warehouse forklift-related accidents. Roughly 100 employees are killed by forklift-related accidents each year - with one out of every four fatalities caused by the forklift overturning.

• In addition to forklift-related accidents, ergonomic related issues and slips, trips, and falls make up the top three warehouse injuries.

• The five most accident-prone areas and activities in warehouses are docks, forklifts, conveyors, materials storage, and manual lifting and handling.

• Damage to pallet racks commonly lead to injury because it's often challenging to detect damage upon first glance. There must be stringent protocol for repair.

• Unsafe working conditions may lead to hefty Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) fines, lost employee time, lost product, and workers' compensation increases. OSHA fines start at $7,000 for non-serious violations and scale all the way to $70,000 for repeat offenders.

• The average work-related injury leads to $38,000 in direct expenses and $150,000 in indirect costs. This means that a single injury could cost your business a total of $188,000.

• OSHA citations are issued in 10 common areas: forklifts, hazard communication, electrical wiring methods, electrical system design, guarding floor and wall openings, exits, mechanical power transmission, respiratory protection, lockout, and portable fire extinguishers.

• Since OSHA was created in 1970, occupational deaths have reduced by 62 percent, while injuries have experienced a 42 percent reduction. However, warehouse-related incidents still remain higher than national industry averages.

As you can see, warehouse safety is a big deal. It can't be something that you skim through during the hiring process and forget thereafter. Safety must be a priority for your warehouse employees.

Four Practical Tips for Improving Warehouse Safety

While certain aspects change depending on the size of the warehouse and your total number of employees, the same basic principles can be applied universally, from one company to another. In an effort to improve worker safety, and reduce the risk of accidents, let's review the following tips:

1. Use the Right Warning Signs and Labels

Because safety transcends language, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed a standardized warning label system that can be recognized all over the world. This eliminates confusion and ensures that anyone anywhere can understand when dangers are present.

"The key, here, is that your system of product safety labels must be tailored to match the safety communication needs of your product, take into account the characteristics of the people you are communicating with, and comply with the latest safety label standards for your market," Clarion Safety Systems reports. "If your labels fail in any one of these three areas, safety communication and compliance will not be optimal."

While it may seem like just another expense or complicated step, it's important that you use the appropriate signage to create an environment that's conducive to safety.

2. Train Forklift Drivers Carefully

As you noticed in the statistics referenced at the beginning of the article, forklift-related accidents are incredibly pervasive in warehouses. And, not only are they frequent, but they also cause significant harm. While it's important that forklift lanes are designated and marked, the biggest key to enhancing safety is making sure that drivers are trained thoroughly.

While annual OSHA forklift training isn't required, it's not a bad idea to revisit protocol on a regular basis. The most seasoned drivers are often the most dangerous, as they tend to get stuck in their ways, forgetting about proper rules and procedures. New drivers should undergo extensive training before being allowed to operate forklifts, and they also need to be paired up with other drivers for a probationary period.

3. Reevaluate Racking Strategies

Poor racking strategies can lead to serious injuries if you aren't careful. Because of this, OSHA is always on the lookout for issues during inspections. While there's a long list of racking strategies, you can't judge based on price. You must think about safety, and have a system in place for dealing with problems.

"There can be no grey areas when it comes to racking safety," writes safety expert Justin O'Sullivan. "Decide well ahead of time what your business considers to be a yellow alert and what your business considers to be a red alert. Racking safety is not like poetry class; there is no room for interpretation."

4. Offer Incentives and Rewards

While you have hundreds of thousands of incentives to enhance warehouse safety - speaking in dollar signs, of course - it's important that you put yourself in the shoes of your employees. Other than for personal reasons, what's going to make them care about improving overall safety for the organization?

Offering rewards and incentives for responsible behavior and smart practices is a great way to get people involved. Make a competition out of it, and reward employees for discouraging irresponsible behaviors and encouraging positive ones. When employees have more skin in the game, they're more likely to make warehouse safety a priority.

Warehouse Safety is No Longer Optional

As a business owner, you shouldn't ever rest when it comes to warehouse safety. Regardless of how long it's been since the last injury, there's always room for improvement. A single slip-up can mean catastrophic results for your brand's image and your company's finances. Keep the aforementioned tips in mind, and work continuously to develop a warehouse environment that's both safe and productive.

-- 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.

How to Win Shoppers by Turning Them Away

October 30, 2015, 2:12 pm

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That most American of holidays is almost upon us: Thanksgiving. It's a time to enjoy (or perhaps tolerate) family, eat way more than you should, and on the day after, shop to your wallet's content. "Black Friday" has become part of the holiday festivities (along with "Small Business Saturday," "Cyber Monday," "Giving Tuesday" and so on). So is it downright un-American for a retailer to shun commercial tradition and close its doors on one of the biggest selling days of the year?

That's exactly what outdoor recreation retailer REI is doing this coming Black Friday. Instead of super specials and "doorbusters," REI is giving its staff the day off to bust their own doors wide open and enjoy the great outdoors. They have even created a website and hashtag - #OptOutside - to celebrate the day off, and encourage customers to do the same. On the face of it, this is retail suicide - after all, Black Friday has been a top 10 sales day for REI. When you look a little more closely however, REI may not be so crazy - and in fact, the strategy is not even completely original.



Firstly, REI is just at the leading edge of retailers who are dialing back Black Friday trading hours. For many years, store openings have crept earlier and earlier, until they typically now edge back into Thanksgiving. But now, online retail makes that practice less and less of an event. Why stand in the cold in front of a physical store at 4am, when you can just jump on the web to purchase?



Is there also something else bubbling beneath the surface - a feeling amongst consumers that we all have enough stuff, and do we really need another opportunity to splurge?

That's part of the mood that REI is really tapping into. As REI President and CEO Jerry Stritzke said in USA Today, "We define success a little differently. It's much broader than just money. How effectively do we get people outside?"

This is a clear case of offering "values" as much as "value." And in a world where Millennials are taking hold of the reins (as well as the purse strings), it's increasingly what customers are responding to. Shoppers want retailers who are authentic and stand for something beyond just price and product. "We are seeing this trend loud and clear in our surveys," says Michael Sussman, who runs the BrandAsset Valuator* research worldwide. "Our latest study of shoppers shows that over 75% of Americans prefer brands which make responsible choices about ethics and the environment."

REI's choice is also a way for the brand to stand out in an always-on retail world. "It used to be that you could build a brand on awareness - today, the key pillars are differentiation and relevance," Sussman told me. "By closing on Black Friday, REI is making a clear statement about its brand values that will connect well with its customers."

REI has two structural benefits that give it permission to shut on Black Friday. It is a private company and so its executives don't feel the heat of shareholders who want to squeeze every last penny of value from their investment. REI is also a co-op - it's owned by its members and managed democratically, with an open commitment to treating its sales associates well. (Maybe there is something in the whole co-op idea. UK department store John Lewis is also a co-op and is arguably one of the most successful retailers in the world).

While REI's effort is bold, it is not the first time that a retailer has taken an anti-consumerist stance on Black Friday. In 2011, Patagonia famously published a full-page press advertisement with the provocative headline: "Don't Buy This Jacket."



As the copy in the ad read, "Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time - and leave a world inhabitable for our kids - we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else." You can hear the echoes of Patagonia in REI's initiative this year.

It will be fascinating to see the result of REI's store closing this Black Friday. Already their ROC (Return On Closing) is evident in the enormous amount of PR and goodwill generated. My tip is that customers will reward REI with enough business around Black Friday to make the loss in sales on that day worthwhile. Perhaps this is a call too for other companies to turn their brand positioning into a brand stand. After all, a principle is not a principle until it costs you money.

*BrandAsset Valuator is owned and managed by Y&R, the parent company of Labstore, of which Jon Bird is Managing Director.

-- 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.