Before Celebrating Barack’s Victory

What is most difficult is to be still. I have dared to take on the challenge of Hope. I have exulted in my strength and forestalled the apathy of irony and the procrastination in cleverness. Now I seek the calmness of this moment’s Grace. Tonight’s celebration not yet  earned - Barack’s victory or defeat will bring a new vista of change - both large and small that much closer. The notion of a valorized victim will be smashed up against this race for 44^th President’s reign. Despite all the claims, no memory of those nagging days of doubt – blackness – temperament – resolve – organization: He has mastered being still.

There are great changes that come about in the darkest hours where there is, despite my claims, no memory of hope and the encircling gloom of Barack’s defeat is terrifying to the heart. It is this tragic possibility where my mind enacts this drama between hope and disappointment. Calmness in the midst of chaos, serenity in the midst of feverish activity is on one side. On the other is my ego that takes pride in climbing high mountains to tempt the tempter, feeding on the acorns and grass of knowledge and for the sake of community, suffering a hunger in my soul with a glint of haughtiness.

All the while I am reassured that Barak knows the secret that all great commanders know, the secret he revealed in financial crisis, that the soul that is calm with controlled emotion is performing an act of faith – the battle continues.

To encounter these forces Barack has shown me that I must remember the way back into the very center of my being, to that eternal fountain of replenishment. For it is only there that my despair of his losing can be comforted. Otherwise we block, frustrate, and delay, giving over to a frantic spirit and a mind gutted with panic – our will can not feed our heart.

It is a hard lesson; perhaps it should be an easy one!

Consider: Barack’s vision, however vague, of your own sense of godhood, community, and collaboration. Defeat or victorious, we need not stay bewildered, tired, or impatient but be willing to be more and go faster. It is not him, but it is us that must carry the fight. He has shown and we must take up to expand our limited glimpses. But what is an hour, week, a month, yea, even 8 years? In the deep, inner quietness of my spirit, time stands still—before and after are lost in NOW. There is no movement, no action, even the outer edges of awareness blend into the surrounding calm.

It is this calmness that now you must carry with you into the maelstrom of your hectic days and hungers. Let it be remembered that Grace is your nourishing companion. It is your innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, a sacred YES.

Reputation and Customer Experience

All to often firms express the value for serving their customer based on hype. Much has been made about Comcast and other high contact firms - in this sense high contact means the firm provides key services - like phone, internet, banking, food, energy or other commodities - that most of us require to exist in this modern world.

This video describes somewhat sarcastically the pain we have all felt. What this video shows is the ease to which a customer can document their reasons for hitting a firms reputation.

Reputation Formula and ROI

Reputation = experience + actions + history + people

What the formula stresses is that it should be read from people back to experience. The most important method that a leader needs to use to convey this process is to manage relationships between the organization with the their stakeholders, including its customers. Over time this is how to manage reputation, to try and do so, especially in social media takes a consistent strategy

Strong Relationships = trust, commitment, satisfaction, control mutuality, exchange / control. It is easies to explained that most relationship start with the firm - stakeholder exchange, such as money for investment, product, or other exchanges but the important relationship to create is the communal relationship because its about loyalty.

With these exchanges in mind the following is a new way to define ROI

7 Steps of Reputational ROI

1. Define the”R” - define the expected results
2. Define the “I” - what’s the investment
3. Understand your audiences and what motivates them
4. Define the metrics
5. Determine what you are benchmarking
6. Pick a tool to analyze the data
7. Then to do the “so what"

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A Conversation On Leadership

A conversation about leadership at the Harvard Business School centennial celebration with John Doerr - venture capitalist, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Jeffrey Immelt - chairman and CEO, General Electric, Anand Mahindra - vice-chairman and managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra, Meg Whitman - former CEO, Ebay and James Wolfensohn - former president of the World Bank

The conversation ranged from the global difficulty that American Leaders face - the nature of the education that leaders should accrue in order to face the situations that we face - the need for innovation to be supported by government and the reality that government will have to grow just to cope with the world's financial situation.

Where Are the Good Americans!!

Last week Sarah Palin made a comment in North Carolina telling her audience that they represented the good Americans - but maybe she's right - Jon Daily has a view you should listen to.

Tina - Sarah - On SNL

The true art of a parody is to miss the truth slightly - watching Tina then Sarah, well maybe you can tell the difference

TIPS for Reputation & Finance for the Small Business

The recent credit crisis is just a reminder of the importance on every organization's leadership: reputation management. This is where having a sound reputation strategy that you can use to navigate through turbulent times to calm jingled nerves.

Remember that how your reputation functions: it generates perceptions among employees, customers, investors, competitors, and the general public about what your company is, what it does, what it stands for. These perceptions stabilize inter- actions between you firm and its publics.

Don’t hesitate to contact the Reputationist for objective guidance in helping you make intelligent reputation decisions for the future of your business. In the meantime, below are some tips to help you assess your current reputation and financial condition and start re­thinking your business plan to face the current economic challenges.

1. Don’t panic! It’s difficult to make sound decisions if you do. To get a better sense of where you stand, begin by reviewing your position with those who are most alert to your firm’s activities, which includes your finances and anticipated cash needs. Are they both in line with your business’s short-term needs, goals and risk tolerance?

2. Take a fresh look at your methods of communication with your firm’s ambassadors, on one hand. On the other, your monthly income and expenses. Have you been meeting your budgeted projections? How much of a drop in dialogue have your messages and are they closely tied to the revenues? Can your business withstand a dip in either and for how long? What are your cash-flow needs for the next 90 to 120 days? Or 120 to 180 days? Do you have sufficient cash reserves for the next 30 to 60 days?

3. Check with your lenders on the status of your financial reputation - your credit lines. Are you in compliance with their terms? Will your bank renew their commitments at similar amounts, rates and terms?

4. Reduce your reliance on credit by disciplining your spending.

5. Refocus on your balance sheet and how much credit you are extending to your customers – are their reputations in tack?

6. If your credit lines are frozen or at their maximum limits, consider which of vendors you have the strongest reputation with to meet with and working out a schedule of partial payments that would allow continued delivery of critical materials and supplies.

7. Look into alternative types of financing. Some to be considered are loans on life insurance policies, loans from key customers that rely on your business for their materials and supplies or from labor unions, local development agencies or the U.S. Small Business Administration.

8. Keep an eye on your accounts receivable. Watch for new patterns of slow payments and follow up immediately. Review your largest and riskiest accounts to determine whether credit constraint or economic slowdown will affect their ability to pay you - keep receivables aging current at all times.

9. Manage accounts payable more closely. Forfeiting early pay discounts may be more advantageous in preserving cash that may be needed for critical items. Keep payables aging current at all times because that’s an important tool for managing cash

10. Analyze your expenses and determine which ones can be controlled. Can you reduce spending in any areas to put less of a burden on your cash-flow needs? As necessary, communicate to staff/team members about the need to tighten spending. If you are a manufacturer, review inventory management practices. Are there opportunities to reduce your on-hand inventory? Service companies should make sure they’re capturing all their billable hours and invoicing promptly. Have you billed all your contractual items? How about all your pass-through expenses, such as billable third-party services and travel and living expenses?

11. Consider ways to pass your increased costs (i.e., fuel expense) on to your customers.

12. Check the safety of any cash deposits you have. On October 3, 2008 the FDIC deposit insurance was temporarily raised from $100,000 to $250,000 per depositor through December 31, 2009. If you have more than $250,000 in any one bank, move the excess to another FDIC insured bank. Consider investments such as CDARs (Certificates of Deposit Account Registry) to spread the risk of short- to medium-term cash you may have invested in CDs.

13. Don’t engage in panic selling of your investments. Make sure your portfolio is diversified and in accordance with your risk tolerance.

14. Come up with a plan NOW to respond to future declines in revenues, before they actually occur. Re-think your business strategies and update projections. Review your product/service lines to identify the most profitable items and determine how to leverage for future growth in profits.

15. Contact your good customers – continue to build your reputation. Even casual discussions can lead to new business opportunities.

16. Review all your insurance coverage, particularly any from companies with weak balance sheets. Be careful not to surrender a policy, as securing new coverage might require underwriting that can affect your coverage.

17. Calm your employees’ fears about how this crisis will affect the company, their jobs and their retirement or other benefit plans. Speculation and gossip are counterproductive, so it’s better to address their concerns directly.

For help in understanding some of the issues facing small business, you can turn to the CPA profession’s free Financial Literacy Web site for consumers, http://www.360financialliteracy.org. It offers tools and tips to help you make important decisions for your business and your own personal financial planning needs.

Finally, remain focused on your own advantages. Remember that:

Small businesses have greater flexibility and can more easily adjust to changes in the economy than their larger counterparts by taking advantage the reputation built up.

Small business owners can use the recent crisis as an opportunity to buckle down, refocus, assess and make their company more financially sound, disciplined and less reliant on credit.

During tough times, it’s important to maintain communication with our firm, your trusted adviser. Remember that you are not alone. We know and understand your business and the challenges you face, and we can work with you to navigate these turbulent times. We can help you gauge your current situation in the wake of recent market events and create a sound business plan in response. Contact us today for expert advice on how to maintain your company’s success.

Reputation Trumps Greed - The Reputationist Stand

We have seen it - heard all the justification - learned from an early age - self interest trumps cooperation. Time and time again the issue was thrown in our faces - those of us that suggested that communication - honor - caring for others - putting limits on those that would have their way with the least of us - those that demanded that justice had to be taken into account. Now we see - now we know that the cost of Greed is Trust!

Listen to Milton (video below) make the negative argument - Capitalism is best economic system because Marxism failed. The real situation is a balance that now will we are posed to set our financial institutions in search. In an earlier post I have made the argument that alienation is at the core of leadership. The desire to push away to be held aloft not for the money but the spirit of distinction.

In the description of an addict I wrote that alienation - tactic of choice in the lifestyle of greed. For both addicts and non-addicts, one of the more baffling dynamics of greed is the apparent need to live life at the level of a soap-opera. In my Addicts Prayer, I mentioned the tensions and the walls of separation "... make mountains out of molehills," says Narcotics Anonymous (1982, p. 93). The hunger drives us to increase the intensity in our lives. Relationships are often rancorous facts, thoughts of revenge rival any Hollywood movie, are embellished to make life-stories more interesting - getting the greatest or largest collection of "toys" becomes overwhelming. What else can call for such great sums of money as some of the captains. Even a simple flat tire is used by the hunger as proof that God, Himself, has singled out the us for punishment.

In respect to a "life under the influence of greed" what are the responsibilities for building or rebuilding your reputation. If we have any responsibilities, how will I as the Reputationist demonstrate this accounting. There are several different views that must be taken into account - there is the economic necessity of the market - greed alone has failed - on this, the fact that Phronesis, Inc is a for-profit enterprise tells the complete story - I believe in that market can be balanced. If the market demands it (clients that require detoxing like addiction treatment) our approach will flourish, if not - it will fade in silence.

Throughout this post and across our system of communication, we are using two distinct value frame works:

1. Hard value - tangible, easy to see and measure results. Dollars earned (revenue or top line contributions) time saved in mission critical processes, increased efficiencies for mission critical people and/or resources, or dollars, and/or time saved. This is based on the assumption that only advocated product succeeds. Our solution is linked using the marketplaces hunger for lower cost and greater profits. Hard Value is usually expressed by using numbers or percentages.



2. Soft Value - intangible, difficult to see and measure. Shifts in attitude toward meaning of life (in the positive direction), lower stigmatization, less danger, less stress/worries, guarantees, greater image/recognition, ease of use, etc., etc. Soft Value is usually expressed by descriptive words and phrases and/or by painting a word picture— anecdotal stories.

What impact will Phronesis Inc.'s approach to critical demands of building reputation be as opposed to its competitors?

Our methods will prove themselves better - more accurate- performed with less labor or cost and more human -. more empowering and Happier. These are questions that have been answered in other sections and over time in this blog.

Our business and client practice model is predicated on increasingly becoming more mobile and frequently working from remote temporary locations and home offices - social networks in the building and testing reputation at every turn. Close attention will be applied to the physical locations for they have to be keenly understood given the particular social dynamic we all confront.

Our organizational model is a social network of interlocked specialist coming together virtually to approach this market worthy space of behaviorally addicted. Ours is a combination of relatively autonomous entities or "business atoms" that stay together as long as they meet its member’s specific goals while remaining engaged in other activities.

Our basic business philosophy is to create and use positive psychological treatment protocols delivered across a sophisticated technologically vendor standard but uniquely integrated platform, which is in counter distinction to the traditional of control and advise approach of other coaching services.

Tweeting Results - What do your Friends Think?

During the last debate I took part in the use of a service related to twitter: Plodt.com What it does is captures on a free web site yours and others reactions from their tweets. In the graphic to the right it shows how the those that tweeted during the debate rated Obama and McCain. What is obvious in the graphic is that many, many people tweet by tweet scoring shows that Obama was rated higher by a very large margin. One of the features is that by rolling over the points the individual tweets will show up..

This is just one more of the many services that are tying into the micro-blogging systems. Another one of the new services I tried last night is tweedeck which is a desktop application that is currently in public beta. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information .i. e.twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces.

I have posted on other applications - location apps, conversation apps, and even mood sharing. With the rate of development this only a small sample of the applications available.

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Say It Ain't So - Sarah

One would think concern for their reputation would limit, if stop throwing character bombs as Sarah and John have engaged - NO - you would think they would have little or nothing in their background that could offer the opportunity for counter attacks - not so. Not only do they have lots of material but its more substantial than the crap they are slinging out. Here are a couple of sources collected all in one place to learn the evidence. For what makes Sarah the pig she is here If you want to refute the claims against Obama - Ayers here. If you are worried about the Bradley/Wilder effect (where voters tell pollsters one thing and then votes another) here.

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