The Heartache of a Subordinate

I write this down on behalf of all the people employed out there. As my first job that entails a "boss" I finally understand the pain of being a subordinate.

I admit I'm not a perfect employee, I cannot stand doing silly tasks, and I don't like being told what to do, and even less being criticized, especially when I am right.

However, it helps.
Being an employee helps you become a better boss.

This is what I have learned:

• I understood that the first 15 seconds are the most important to make an impact.
• Sometimes it is not what you say, but rather how you say it that matters.
• The way you greet and the way you say goodbye are the most important criteria in all the conversations.
• Memorizing names and faces is a must, and when you know the name, use it!
  
• When you know something of value, share it.
• Cut down on the gossip, it never fails to get you in trouble.
  
• It is ok not to answer questions when they're tricky.
• Never pretend to know what you do not.
• Ask as many questions as you think necessary.
• Interact, do not be a passive listener, direct the conversation in ways that could be beneficial.
  
• I learned that it is important to be authentic and true to yourself as well as to others. Even if the person whom you put up the mask for can't see your true face, those who get to see your many faces will figure it out, and you'll eventually loose all credibility.
• It is important to remain positive in all circumstances. I suppose it is common for a boss to become stressful and to spread the tension around.
• Yes, you should keep your employees motivated, and it definitely helps to give compliments, but how about if they were truthful? mean what you say, or do not say it.
• Take responsibility for your own failures, especially when others get blamed.
• I realized that loud people tend to be the most confident and they tend to get ahead in their careers, as they put their best foot forward. Of course, not all loud people.
• Let your little stars shine, give them the freedom to grow and take initiatives, and maybe, just maybe, you'd relieve yourself of some of that stress and responsibility.
  
• Love to be loved. The more I see, the more I get convinced that to love is the single most essential thing, even in business. It's like how people say "the more you give, the more you get".

I suppose I am no longer a fan of the high EQ leader. I am more inclined to believe that an authentic leader makes a better one. I am currently seeking to read the book "The leader as a mensch: become the kind of person that others want to follow" by Bruna Martinuzzi as I believe it describes my views today of the ideal leader. (and no, this is NOT affiliate marketing).

MIT Arab Business Plan Marketing Campaign

The MIT Arab Business Plan campaign was a broad regionally-spread marketing effort to incite people to participate in an entrepreneurial competition. Thus the marketing message was action-oriented: register online. The participation is free of charge, thus it eliminates the pricing factor on the measuring of campaign effectiveness.

Yet, I was shocked to realize there was only 1,241 completed applications, better yet, of which only 266 qualified for grading? OK, so if you do not live in the Middle East, I understand that you are bedazzled at my surprise. However, you must understand that this campaign ran on a top national TV for months, was featured in newspapers, it was even paralleled with a television program and was supported by direct mailing and facebook targeted advertising.

Bad marketing?...

Real-Life Product Placement

"Product placement" is a term generally used for the act of paid brand visibility featured in a movie or TV series. However, the consumer is becoming more and more aware of this practice which makes it lose its effectiveness. The latest Jim Carrey movie "Yes Man" seems to have carried the Red Bull product placement a bit too far plotting the script of an entire scene around it, and mentioning the brandname several times in a row... OK!!! We understand it was paid for!!! Now STOP!!
That said, what consumers are less conscious about is the real-life product placement. I have noticed it, because, well, I am a marketing freak. However, this marketing is as subtle as effective.
In my opinion brands like Rolex have it down to an art: from placing their brand and retail stores in the most fascinating city streets (in Paris, Geneva, Milan...) to associating themselves to monumental items and high-end activities. What actually generated this article is the watch in the middle of down town Beirut. It has a big fat ROLEX logo on all four sides, and this was not the first time I notice a real-life product placement for this brand: at the golf center in Grenoble they had a big branded Rolex watch too. Of course, they also had Evian bottles (and I was wondering, since this was a mutually beneficial association, how discounted the products were).
This got me thinking about the advertising function. The ultimate aim of ads is to make you familiar with the brand and communicate a positive intuitive attitude towards it. The essence of this would be the strength of the brand recognition factor on our decision making process. This leads me to consider brands like Siemens, which are widely known, but not specifically for one industry. They've spread out on so many levels. The common ground? A brandname. This big product and services distribution network, although spread on different items, remains, in my opinion, the best marketing strategy. It provides an unintentional real-life product placement. The brand is familiar. It is recognized. The idea might be ambiguous as to what it represents, but the message and recognition is there. They mass-branded and generated a branding economies-of-scale effect not by production, nor by cost reduction, but rather by a shared branding initiative. By seeing the brandname and experiencing it, the public is more likely to remember it. The down side is: one bad experience with any of the related products would affect the opinion on all the lines. Thus, I suppose it takes a quality-oriented German engineering firm to pull this off. Kudos.

The Industry of Information

In digital marketing, we often emphasize the need for online Public Relations. This can be done in different and various ways. One of the most common being the creation of press releases. I had, for a while, randomly added online press releases to give more visibility for my brand and website, without ever questioning the motives or business model of these portals that permit the publication of my work.
Of course, a contact is always required. There! They got a database, and then I started receiving promotional materials in my name. Test. Changed my title on these online portals. Bingo! There was their source. Did they intentionally make a living out of selling our contact information? It is not clear to me. However, I do know that those direct marketing gurus are getting my contact from the internet.
What I had never realized crossed me yesterday night, as I was investigating open local job positions. Zawya.com, one of those portals, was looking for a data analyst. What for? To investigate and analyze the data provided to the benefit of firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton and Merill Lynch. They were in the business of selling up-to-date market information, which, us marketers, willingly offer them.
Brilliant! It seemed clear now that they needed us as much as we needed them, and what's wrong with a win-win relationship after all?

The KAIZEN Approach

I have recently learned a new process for goal achievement: the Kaizen approach.
Apparently the word-for-word translation for it is: good change; while the more accurate translation is improvement.

What is your daily life about?
I was first happy for having found passion for a subject. Then I found myself adding up issues and goals to achieve. I drained myself in too many ambitions and spread myself so thin that I ended up tired for having thought about them all; and still stood in the same place, looking up, as the goals I had set were too high and seemed almost impossible to reach.
Now I need to move forward. I took a break from bumping my head against a wall and feeling guilty of being unproductive. It seems that waking up early and sleeping late are not enough in order to get things done. Something else needed to be changed.

Solution? moving backwards with the process:
So this is where I need to go. How do I reach it? by creating small steps and turning them into a ladder. I had not invented the wheel.

This step by step approach to getting things done have been around for ages: "The seven step approach to financial success", "a 5 step approach to behavioral change"... everything seems possible when it is taken one thing at a time. Apparently this has a name in the Japanese culture. It is called the Kaizen approach: setting small goals to reach the big one. Too bad, I had to learn it the hard way.