The Art Of Magazine: Volume 14

Three Deadly Digital Marketing & Analytics Myths, De-mythified!

Avinash Kaushik

What Your CEO Should Know About Productivity, Profits, Work and Family Anne-Marie Slaughter

The Art and Error of Alpha Body Language Mark Bowden

Be The Fool That Tries Jessica Herrin SPR 16 Price: $7.95

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CONTENTS FEATURES 19

BE THE FOOL THAT TRIES Jessica Herrin

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THREE DEADLY DIGITAL MARKETING & ANALYTICS MYTHS, DE-MYTHIFIED! Avinash Kaushik

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PRESENCE Amy Cuddy

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WHAT YOUR CEO SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY, PROFITS, WORK & FAMILY Anne-Marie Slaughter

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THE ART AND ERROR OF ALPHA BODY LANGUAGE Mark Bowden

ARTICLES 9

CAN YOUR BRAND SURVIVE THE LIVE VIDEO REVOLUTION? Mitch Joel

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TO FEE OR NOT TO FEE. THAT IS THE QUESTION Stephen Shapiro

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CULTURE STILL EATS STRATEGY FOR BREAKFAST Bryan de Lottenville

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I CAME THIS CLOSE TO GIVING UP... HERE’S WHY I DIDN’T Michael Bungay Stanier

DEFINING AND DEMONSTRATING LEADERSHIP An interview: 4 Women from TD Canada Trust

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THE KEY TRAIT SUCCESSFUL LEADERS HAVE, AND HOW TO GET IT Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson

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HOW TO MARRY CONTENT AND STRATEGY FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT John Jantsch

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5 CRAZY (AND SUCCESSFUL) WAYS COMPANIES HAVE REWORKED STANDARD BUSINESS PRACTICES David Burkus

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DOWN WITH THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN Kirstine Stewart

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FBI VS. APPLE, BIG DATA VS. SMALL DATA, AND THE DANCE FOR CONSUMER PRIVACY Martin Lindstrom

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HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE LEARNING ROI OF YOUR TRAINING PROGRAM Bill G. Williams

DO WE NEED A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO DEVELOPING FEMALE LEADERS? Tammy Heermann

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MINDING THE GAP Stephania Varalli

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ACTIONABLE SUMMARY: SHERRY TURKLE’S RECLAIMING CONVERSATION Ronni Hendel-Giller

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FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Avinash Kaushik

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Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, Bestselling Author andCo-Founder of Market Motive Inc.

Mark Bowden

Page. 61

Communication Expert, Performance Trainer & Bestselling Author of Winning Body Language

Anne-Marie Slaughter

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Bestselling Author of Unfinished Business & CEO of New America

Jessica Herrin Author of Find Your Extraordinary and CEO & Founder of Stella & Dot

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Founders’ Letter

CO-FOUNDERS

“What do artists do? Artists give people something they didn’t know they were missing: a dance, a piece of music, a painting, a piece of sculpture. Catering to that need is the best business strategy.”

- Daniel H. Pink

A frequent speaker at The Art Of, Daniel Pink has been saying for a long time that artistic thinking is one of the most important cognitive abilities in today’s workforce. In particular, the rewards now go to people who can give the world something it didn’t know it was missing, which is what poets, painters, and composers do.

Certain industries are often thought of as being more creative-right or analytical-left brained thinking. Artists and entrepreneurs are historically more creative and tend to rely on the imaginative sphere of their right brain. Senior executives and managers are more logical in their decision making who leverage their left brain for deductive reasoning and analysis.

Of course, we all use both parts of our brains on a daily basis, but the idea of engaging the right brain more readily for business is the inspiration and foundation for our forthcoming book Everyone’s An Artist which will be published this fall.

Scott Kavanagh Christopher Novais

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Joey Van Massenhoven

HOW TO REACH US The Art of Productions Inc. 46 Sherbourne Street 3rd Floor Toronto, Ontario Canada M5A 2P7

ADVERTISING Ron Bester - Director, Business Development 416-479-9701 ext. 322 ron@theartof.com

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Can Your Brand Survive

The Live Video

REVOLUTION? How good can your business be at “live”?

If social media accomplished anything, it brought brands out into the open. It forced brands to respond - in public - to their consumers. Not just the bad stuff… everything. It was (and continues to be) a huge paradigm shift that has forced all businesses (B2B, B2C, small, medium and large corporations) to change how they operate, how they communicate, and even how they innovate. For consumers - and more evolved business leaders - this is a good thing. This “publicness” of brands created a sense of egalitarianism - a way to create and engage in more human-to-human connections between a business and a consumer. Now, customer sentiment mixed with traditional brand messaging creates an arena where everyone can

better understand if a brand truly does deliver on its vision, mission and brand promise. It has also created a platform for interactions. Brands can connect directly to consumers and - perhaps more importantly - consumers can also connect to one another about a brand.

Don’t believe me? Go and check out the customer reviews on Amazon.

What is the evolution of brands in our digital age?

It’s hard to argue that Snapchat is not the latest and greatest shiny, bright object to capture all of our attention.

And, if you break down what Snapchat delivers, it’s images (now, it’s mostly videos) in a very direct, quick and interesting way. When Snapchat first launched, I called this the beginning

of The Impermanent Internet (back in 2012). The Impermanent Internet is a place where consumers can connect with brands, but once that interaction is over, it’s gone. Poof. There is no search results there, lurking beneath, that change the brand impression.

Snapchat also feels more “live.” Video does that. YouTube enabled brands and consumers to publish video online. The adoption of smartphones enabled brands and consumers to create videos on the fly - quickly and easily. Snapchat shifted videos to a faster - more messaging-like - space.

Now, video, social media, mobile and publishing seems to be all about moving from a “record and publish” model to a “live” model. Shoot it and stream as it happens.

By Mitch Joel

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It’s hard to script. There’s no “fixing it in post-production.”

There’s no second take.

There’s no taking it back.

Mitch Joel is President of Mirum – a global digital marketing agency operating in close to 20 countries. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation - named after his successful blog and podcast - is a business and marketing bestseller. His second book, CTRL ALT Delete, was named one of the best business books of 2013 by Amazon. Learn more at: www.mitchjoel.com.

Live video is a whole other beast for business.

It’s hard to script. There’s no “fixing it in post-production.” There’s no second take. There’s no taking it back. While Periscope and Meerkat could well be the platforms that drove live streaming to a larger recognition, the real excitement is happening on both Snapchat and Facebook Live videos. It’s early days for Facebook Live (currently, it’s available to those with verified Pages and public figures using Mentions), but the current slew of news that has come out - in the past short while - is pointing to some very important changes to Facebook, that will affect all brands.

Live videos will get ranked higher.

Brands still jockey for position in search engine results. Getting to the top rank on search engines - or a news feed - can make all the difference in the world for a brand. Facebook believes that people want more live videos, so they’re going to make them more relevant (or… top of feed), to make the news feed experience more engaging. This past March, Facebook made an important announcement about how live videos would start appearing in their news feed. From the press release: “Now that more and more people are watching Live videos, we are considering Live Videos as a new content type 12

different from normal videos - and learning how to rank them for people in News Feed. As a first step, we are making a small update to News Feed so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live. People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that’s no longer live. This is because Facebook Live videos are more interesting in the moment than after the fact.”

While brands scramble to optimize their videos, please consider this…

It’s easy to think that there’s this new search engine optimization in town that has to do with social media, and placement within the various news feeds. There is that, and it is something that all brands will now need to take into consideration, but this will also require brands to be smarter, faster, sharper and more interesting. Still, even more fascinating is the fact that people spend more than three times more time watching live videos on Facebook, compared to a video that is no longer live. When we talk about real time marketing, could you have ever imagined that real time wasn’t about reacting to something in our culture, but being live - in the moment - with it?

Facebook will start pushing brands into the live arena.

Along with this news and the tweaks to the news feed, re/code also recently reported that Facebook has begun incentivizing celebrities to hop into this live video streaming service.

Facebook has, traditionally, not paid content creators, but there is both a push towards this kind of service and a need to establish (grow) advertising revenue from live video for Facebook.

Facebook’s video viewership continues to grow. Facebook is seeing a trend that consumers want live video. Facebook is giving all of us a glimpse into the future.

Brands are next.

Brands can decide if they simply want to advertise along with these celebrities, or if they want to have real skin in the content game. It’s easy for brands to want to do this, but it’s going to be very challenging to execute. It will be easy to blame legal, as to why a brand should avoid the world of “live” at all costs, but - much like social media - the movement towards live video is clear. And, this is not just Facebook. It’s going to happen across a myriad of digital channels as live becomes the logical evolution of publishing content.

Will brands to be able to capitalize on this next frontier of being truly live and in the now?

VOLUME 14

CULTURE STILL EATS STRATEGY FOR BREAKFAST:

By Bryan de Lottinville Founder and CEO of Benevity

don’t forget that you have a powerful tool available that goes beyond offering perks like free yoga and unlimited vacation time.

An oft-quoted statement from acclaimed management consultant Peter Drucker asserts that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Yet even today, many companies pay more attention to their strategies than their underlying culture, often at the expense of success. That’s

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because many business leaders think that changing corporate culture is near impossible, while shifting a strategy is only a productive whiteboarding session and a new scorecard away.

Yet both data and our experience with Fortune 1000 clients show that an

extremely effective way companies can shape their culture to better support strategic initiatives is by strengthening and leveraging their Goodness Programs – or, rather, their giving, volunteering and other philanthropic efforts. Here’s why.

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Start with Grassroots Engagement Best-in-class programs that positively transform culture have engagement at their core. These initiatives focus on companies’ most sustainable differentiator – their people – and connecting with them around interactions with causes and issues they are personally passionate about.

When companies embed easy ways to feel, interact and experience these passions as part of their day-to-day work, their people feel more connected and purpose-

driven. This same ethos can work to drive customer engagement and brand loyalty, as well.

Above all, grassroots engagement is crucial to shaping culture. Progressive corporate giving and volunteer programs provide a great way to foster broad-based participation across teams, geographies and languages. Rather than mandating a few causes to contribute to, the most compelling programs provide open choice

for participants, and reduce friction around where and how employees’ hard-earned money and valuable time and talents are donated. They also aim to localize efforts in a way that will unify groups of people and put employees at the center of decision making. In fact, companies that empower employee choice in workplace giving see five times more participation than those that limit contributions to a few causes or annual campaigns.

Where the Heart Meets the Head By making it compelling and easy to participate in giving and volunteering in a local or global context, companies have a straightforward path to cultivate widespread engagement around collective impacts in a personally resonant way.

In simple terms: If you speak to the heart, the head will follow. Well-designed and well-executed corporate giving and volunteer programs meet people at a place where their heart and head intersect –

where culture and strategy come together.

So by influencing culture, more effective corporate giving and volunteer programs can also have a positive impact on strategy and execution. These programs also provide authentic and action-oriented ways for businesses to live their values, and “do well by doing good.” And that feeling of authenticity and alignment pays tangible dividends over time. According to studies, companies that adopt well-

designed corporate responsibility programs see an increase in employee engagement and productivity, and a reduction in employee turnover.

More than ever, people are looking for meaning in their work – but they are less likely to find that meaning in a corporate strategy or vision document. They want to see commitments to positive change in action, and have opportunities to be co-creators of that change.

A Meaningful Cultural Shift for the Future Workforce Millennials in particular are swiftly changing the rules of the road for business, as they will grow to be 50% of the workforce by 2020. Stereotypes and misperceptions aside, millennials are in fact the most community-driven and connected generation to date. Rather than just work/life balance, they are seeking work/life integration, which requires different approaches on most things, including corporate giving initiatives.

Never has the need for a more

engaged corporate culture been greater, nor a more opportune time to galvanize people around Goodness Programs.

Millennial employees demand it-with more than half of recent college graduates saying they want to work for a company that has corporate social responsibility values that align with their own, and 56 percent saying they would consider leaving a company that didn’t live up to values they expected.

As you examine conventional ways to create and impact your corporate

culture, don’t forget that you have a powerful tool available that goes beyond offering perks like free yoga and unlimited vacation time. Modern giving and volunteer programs are no longer a nice-to-have but rather an essential way to shape culture in a manner that helps attract, retain and develop talent, while building employee loyalty and support for strategic initiatives. In addition to creating greater social impacts, your business will be all the better for doing it right.

Bryan has an indelible passion for grassroots

biggest struggles facing the charitable landscape.

and scalable Goodness Programs that strengthen

“recovering lawyer,” he is constantly dreaming

relating to social-good programs and a recognized

vision and leadership is perfectly paired with the

philanthropy and constructive disruption. A of novel ways to help clients reinvent corporate giving programs to provide better social and

business returns, and simultaneously tackle the 14

Bryan is a frequent speaker and blogger on topics thought leader in the space. He believes that, with the help of our clients, we’ll shape the story anew

and build on our aspirations to create innovative

the social fabric of our communities. His strategic

right mix of passion and industry expertise to

keep the company, our software and our client service top-notch.

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I CAME

THIS CLOSE TO GIVING UP… HERE’S WHY I DIDN’T

By Michael Bungay Stanier I had a new book come out on February 29th. [The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever is elegant, compact and is already getting lots of nice reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. I’m really proud of it.

And yet, this was the book I’ve come closest to abandoning. It’s taken me more than three years, at least four false starts, and a certain amount of head-banging despair to finally get here, something I didn’t experience with my other books. So what happened? And how did I make it after all?

FEELING GOOD. PERHAPS EVEN A LITTLE SMUG. The Coaching Habit will be book #5, and I’d really thought I’d got the hang of things. Do More Great Work [was originally self-published, but it got picked up almost immediately by a

New York publisher and has gone on to sell nearly 100,000 copies. End Malaria was a whirlwind collaboration with Seth Godin, and it hit #2 on Amazon. com and has raised close to $400,000 for

Malaria No More. Even my first book, Get Unstuck & Get Going, won a number of prizes.

I had this book writing thing down.

Right? Nope.

but it turned out that he only complicated my relationship with my editor.

I fired my book agent.

I asked for a new editor at my publishing house. That was awkward.

The new editor also didn’t like the first draft.

I gave up for a while and sulked.

I wrote a second draft. My editor remained unimpressed. (“I love it … I

DERAILED So where did things go wrong?

I wrote a draft. I though it was OK. (It wasn’t OK.) I persisted in it being the idea for the book, ignoring feedback.

I hired a book agent. He’s a great agent,

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just don’t *love* it”. Actually, he never said that.) I tried to bully them into taking it. Awkward. And No. More sulking on my part.

I tried to guess what my editor wanted, and wrote a third draft to that imaginary

spec. Still unimpressed. I tried again to push it through. Still no.

I discovered that my publishing house didn’t really do business books, so they may not have understood what I was trying to write.

And finally I remembered what book I really wanted to write. Pitched it in an adult, non-sulky, non-bullying way. They said No again. We parted ways, and after weighing up the options,I decided to self-publish.

And I was back on track.

LESSONS LEARNED 1. IT’S ALMOST ALWAYS BAD BEFORE IT’S GOOD. And by “almost” I mean “always”.

Ernest Hemingway put it most bluntly: “The first draft of anything is shit.” I just wish he’d added, “and drafts two through five will probably be rubbish as well.”

What almost killed me was that for my other books, the good drafts came along pretty quickly after the bad ones.

I figured out the idea, saw the arc, imagined the end point and then got there.

But as the advertisements for

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financial investments always remind us, “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” When the struggles continued for me, I began to lose a little faith in myself. Maybe I was done with book writing? Perhaps I’d peaked.

Two things helped me renew my faith in myself. First, hanging out with my Friends-I-Can’t-BS. My Brain Trust, Jill, Pam, the VP of Everything Else. They weren’t about to let me subside into selfdoubt, at least not for very long. But you can’t just rely on external validation. I needed to spend some time remembering what I was good at, what I’d done before,

and how it was likely I could do it again.

2. IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING, NOBODY ELSE DOES EITHER By version three of the book, I was wandering the wilderness without a compass or a canteen. I was now writing the book that I was guessing that my editor was guessing that their readers might like, if they in fact published business books (which they didn’t). In short, I was lost and relying on others for guidance was turning me into Captain Oates on trip to the South Pole.

And then I found my map.

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I remembered who I was writing for - the engaged but time-crunched manager. I remembered what I strove for in my writing - practical, lean and funny. And I remembered my purpose behind the book. One of the high points of my entire career had been when writer Peter Block, one of my intellectual heroes, wrote a blurb for my first book saying “coaching isn’t a profession but a way of being with each other”. When I first read that, I realized that I really wanted to democratize coaching, make it something that everyone could give and receive. When I remembered that again, I found the North Star for The Coaching Habit.

3. YOU CAN’T DO GREAT WORK BY YOURSELF How humbling to have to learn this yet again. I’ve clearly got a very strong streak of the stoic, self-contained, uberresponsible, don’t ask for help ever that even years of writing articles about why it’s good to ask for help, hasn’t cured. (“Take my advice. I’m not currently using it.”)

Finally I figured it out. I asked Seth, who recommended Catherine who become my brilliant editor. I found a wonderful award-winning Canadian designer Peter Cocking, who then recommended Page Two publishing consultants (and I was brilliant enough to go against my instincts and

hire them.) I asked Pam Slim for help, and she found Lindsay, researcher extraordinaire. And there are many more people who’ve played crucial roles. In short, I found myself building an outstanding team who have heaved me onto their shoulders and carried me across the line.

This isn’t just about getting things done, nor is it just about scaling up impact (although both these things happen). It’s about creating the resilience and momentum to help you trust yourself and keep faith in your project.

Great Work? You need the help of others.

ARE YOU CLOSE TO QUITTING? There’s no shame in quitting.

Sometimes, that’s the smartest thing to do. But like “buying low and selling

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high”, it’s hard to get the timing right.

If you’re grimly hanging on, how will you renew your faith in yourself?

How will you find direction? Who will you invite on to your team?

ONWARDS!

19

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BE THE

FOOL THAT TRIES

By Jessica Herrin

To create extraordinary in your life, perfection is not required, but a degree of foolishness is. When I cofounded the company that became WeddingChannel. com, I was only 24, so I certainly didn’t have it all figured out. Though, ironically, like most people at this stage of their lives, I thought I did. I was all energy and confidence. I look back and attribute much of my early success to being naïve—too foolish to realize that I had no business dreaming so big and actually succeeding at what I was doing.

I still very vividly remember the moment this dawned on me. When I was in business school, about to drop out to start a company, my co founder, Jenny Lefcourt, and I reached out for advice before fundraising meetings. Jenny called on her old boss and serial entrepreneur that I’ll call John.

John met us in the Stanford Business School cafeteria, which at the time was a windowless basement (nothing like the resort it looks like today!), and we offered him a rice bowl in exchange for an hour of his “been-there-done-that” wisdom.

We got the better end of that bargain!

We sat down and shared our pitch for an online single stop wedding gift registrybringing together all the titans of retail and content, in one spot on the Information Superhighway. We were pretty impressed with ourselves. The customer value was clear, and better yet, the proof was all right there in our excel model. This was going to be huge! What was his advice on negotiating the best terms with Venture

Capitalists for our seed round?

A very amused and cool John sat across from us, leaned back and said “Wow. I really envy you…. Because you are SO naïve….”

This was one of those moments when you’re thinking, “Was that a compliment?” Because, “thank you” is not rolling off the tongue.

John then went on to say, “I admire

your inexperience. You look at things for the first time and you see this easy path.

You just see one wall ahead of you and you think, ok, I can climb over this wall.

I get funding. Done. I can declare victory.

But I have been down this path before, so I know that wall is much higher than you think, and instead of looking straight ahead at that one wall, I see it from above

and I know that right after that wall, there is another one, and it’s just as high, and then another, and another and another. It looks so daunting to me- I’m too tired to start climbing!”

I stayed silent just a second longer, and then with great sincerity, I quietly said “Thank you!” knowing in that very moment I learned more then I had in any classroom on that campus; right there and then I made a pact with myself to never let life and experience take away my energy and optimism. I vowed to myself I would rather stay a bit of a naive fool than someone too tired to try.

In fact, with the right entrepreneurial spirit, you can gain enough wisdom to see you have more choices than to just use brute force to climb over every single one of those many, many walls. If you ask for it, and you’re the kind of person that will return the favor, you’ll find people to give you a boost. And, sometimes, if you look carefully, there is a door. You can just open it and walk through.

Holding onto your optimism, while cultivating your wisdom, is an art you can master. We want to think that the road to success is paved with golden bricks, but even Dorothy and the gang encountered creepy flying monkeys along their path to Oz. You will always encounter challenges and setbacks on your journey. But the bold remain steadfastly optimistic and always on the lookout for that hidden doorway -because if think of any road less travelled as too daunting, you never even begin the journey to an extraordinary destination.

Excerpted from Finding Your Extraordinary by Jessica DiLullo Herrin. Copyright © 2016 by Jessica DiLullo Herrin. Excerpted by permission of Crown Business, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved.

Three Deadly Digital Marketing & Analytics Myths,

DE-MYTHIFIED!

By Avinash Kaushik

Nothing worth doing is without a collection of awesome myths. The original intent is lovely. “Steer folks towards the right thing faster.” “Reduce the time to market.” “Here’s something that works, come follow me!”

The problem with myths is that they impede critical thinking. All of us want shortcuts, all of us have busy lives, we jump into tactics without understand what the higher-order bits are or understanding the key underlying facts that made something a success for someone else.

I adore digital, and its transformative power on human lives. My practice sits at the intersection of marketing and analytics, and hence here are three myths to encourage more critical thinking at your company and encouraging your peers to dig for the underlying facts.

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1. Programmatic platforms are a panacea.

If you are a warm-bodied mammal, of any species, you’ve heard of the glorious glory of programmatic platforms. World hunger is no match for what this baby can do!

The promise is that a programmatic platform allows for your display ads to be delivered via real-time bids, data-powered, via ad-exchanges to automagically deliver audiences you need to sell the wonderful things you sell. And, you don’t even have to think!

Everything happens in 0.0002 seconds!

The elusive goal of right message to the right person delivered at the right time. Finally. TV could not do it.

Magazines could not. Radio could not.

Digital baby!

I have to admit, the technology piece of all this is super impressive.

The problem is how we, Marketers, think about this. Of the three critical components, programmatic only solves for two: right person at the right time.

And this is important. But, what about the right message?

You still have to come up with that.

And, most companies don’t make nearly close enough of an investment required in that area. There are many different types of intent out there, all we do via our programmatic display ads is to annoy audiences with our one-intent pimpy ads.

Is it any wonder they turn to ad-blockers?

Your audiences contain people with weak and strong commercial intent, would you show them the same message?

They contain people with no commercial intent, what should you tell them? And, they contain your existing customers, what’s your message for them?

If you want to win with programmatic (and you should want to, the world is headed that way quickly), don’t just buy the platform. Obsess about understanding audience intent, and then invest in people, processes and stories to identify the right messages for them.

Now, go buy a programmatic platform.

2. The web is dead. Mobile web is dead. Apps are the past, present, future.

I’m sure you’ve heard this myth: 86% of the time spent on mobile devices is spent using mobile apps. The “lame” browser just accounts for 14% of the usage.

The next conclusion is a quick on: Dump the site, let’s just build a mobile app!

Make no mistake, I love my apps just as much as the next person. But, the above conclusion is a career-limiting move.

Remember what I mentioned the problem was with myths. Reduce critical thinking, and understanding the underlying facts.

If you break up the 86 points, it will reveal that 40 points are Gaming and Entertainment, 28 points are Social and 18 points fragmented into an area best represented as Other.

So, if you are Canadian Tire, Bank

of Montreal, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, are you still of the mind that you need to focus obsessively on mobile apps?

Wait, before you answer that, one more set of facts to dig into.

If you look at mobile commerce, 6% happens in apps, 66% happens in browsers and 28% folks use both apps and browsers.

Now? Still want to dump your mobile website?

Even if you take a raw Unique Users view of things, 68% use mobile browsers while only 32% use mobile apps.

I hope the apps-only myth is finally dead in your mind.

People use mobile apps and mobile

sites, and do so with different types of intent. Our role is to identify what intent we are solving for (commercial intent? time-sucking-up intent? just paying bills?), and then identify what platform best solves for that intent.

The best apps solve for one or two goals. We should find what those are and solve for that beautifully and with love in creating those apps. The best websites solve for a multitude of goals because we have a broader canvas to paint with.

Create mobile websites that solve for the main goals of your mobile users.

When it comes to apps and browsers, solving for an OR is a terrible idea, we have to solve for the AND. In terms of a priority, for most companies it will be 1.

Mobile site and 2. Mobile app.

3. A data-first strategy is a winning formula.

This has to be bizarre coming from a bestselling author of two books on digital analytics and the world’s most popular blog on digital analytics (www.kaushik. net).

I’m a passionate believer in a datadriven product development, marketing, employee hiring, stocking the pantry at

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your office, and so much more. I. Love.

Data!

Yet, I believe that if your company has a “data-first” strategy you are likely doomed.

A data-first strategy is defined as data before everything else.

It is the quest to implement systems

(usually massive) to collect data of all shapes and manner before all else. It is an investment in numerous report writers or data (puking) automation or hiring a small army in India or Philippines to do that, before investing in a single smart Analyst.

It is being hyper-conservative when it comes to creativity and experimentation

23

because of quant-issues. It is represented by 90% of the data budget invested in Agencies and Consultants driving implementation and re-implementation and hyper-customization of the code.

Data is important. I believe it can help drive your business strategy smartly. But, a data-first strategy, defined as above, is nuts. It will only slow down your progress

and allow your competitors to crush you like a bug (even if you are a top player in your market today!).

You should reject data-first.

You should accept data-with.

Assuming you have a great product and/or service for the world, in our context the most important thing to do is to focus on content next. That

will quickly be followed by amazing, incredible marketing (owned first, earned next and paid as the final piece of the puzzle). Along the way, rather than over-indexing on a data obsession before everything, use data as an aid to keep getting smarter. For how to go about this, use my wonderful Analytics Ladder of Awesomeness:

Digital Analytics “Ladder of Awesomeness”

Customer, Lifetime Value Profitability, Offline Value Micro Outcome Rate, Economic Value Conversation Rate, Amplification Rate Abandonment Rate, Assists

Cost per Acquisition,

Macro Outcome Rate, Page Value Bounce Rates, Pages per Visit Visits, Click-thru Rates

Start with your initial marketing initiatives, at the bottom. As your marketing becomes more savvy, start climbing the ladder.

Collect data, find insights, action them, use more data, look for smarter insights, if you come up short, go up one more step in the ladder. Rinse, and repeat.

From a tools/data collection strategy perspective, you’ll invest in a free tool first (and there is a free tool for pretty much everything, and free data is everywhere – for example you don’t need any tool to 24

Digital Analytics_ “Evolution works, Revolution stinks” tell you that Esurance’s Facebook strategy is a dud, just scroll through their public posts, the average amplification rate is a tiny 20, two and a zero!). Exhaust the free tool, take the initial steps in the ladder of awesomeness, make the organization smarter. Then, move to a paid one as you deal with more complex challenges. Make sure this comes with a commensurate investment in smart, really smart analysts (and not report writers). Climb up the ladder some more.

You are going to drive your organization to use data to make smart quantitative and qualitative decisions along the way. You’ll execute a data-with strategy. Perhaps it is best to think of it as a data-with business success first strategy.

Please don’t have a data-first strategy.

It is the kiss of death. And innovation.

And people. And anything amazing.

Three simple, but deadly myths. Now you know how to avoid them.

All the best!

VOLUME 14

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HOW TO MARRY AND FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT

By John Jantsch The only way to wring more value out of your content is to understand the intricate connection between your content and your strategy.

Now, don’t hit the back button just yet – I purposely left the word strategy out of the title of this article because I know that what you want is a magic bullet, but here’s the deal – content put in the context of strategy is the closest thing there is to the magic bullet.

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The purpose of a business is to make and keep a profitable customer – the purpose of content is to help you make and keep a profitable customer – if that’s so – and it is – then why don’t people create content with that intention?

The idea of content marketing begins and ends for so many with – “It’s Monday, what the heck should I write today?”

What if instead you thought a little

bigger – what if you thought we want to be seen as the trusted, go-to service provider for what we do and our value proposition is that we bend over backwards to make you happy when nobody in our industry even tries to.

Now, perhaps you’ve had a strategy meeting with your team and you all agreed that’s your core strategy, but no one thought to bring that into the content you produce.

27

If you did you would: • Write a blog post that outlined the 7 questions you should ask your current provider and make it a core lead generator • Turn that blog post into a series of videos that the sales team can send out one by one to prospects • Develop a Slideshare deck and presentation that you feature on your LinkedIn profile • Turn that presentation into a value packed webinar • Record the webinar and feature it on your homepage • Create an autorepsonder series that delivers emails to prospects over the course of a month • Create an infographic and shop it around to high traffic websites • Turn your infographic into a direct mail postcard for a targeted blast • Get seven of your happy customers to pose one of the questions via video and feature it all over your website • Dig up case studies that map to each question and extend the original post and graphics into an eBook

Did you see what I did there – I just took one landmark content idea and turned it into 10 useful iterations. See, the secret to success with content isn’t quantity – it’s intention. If you create content with the intention of finding ways to use it to create awareness, trust, connection, education

28

and conversion, you’ll likely create an asset that provides massive return.

Now, understand this isn’t simply recycling content into different mediums, it’s giving the same content a different and needed useful stop along the customer journey.

Oh, and I didn’t even get to point where you turn this content into an evaluation process and ultimately a part of your service delivery.

So you see you don’t need more content – you need the right content in the right context – and that’s all.

VOLUME 14

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PRESENCE

By Amy Cuddy

Once, while I was washing my hands in an airport restroom, the woman at the sink next to me turned and said, “I’m really sorry, but are you . . .” She paused, and rather than finish the question, she stretched her arms out and up. I said, “I think so, yes.” (I’ve become more accustomed to “Are you . . .” followed by hands on the hips.) Her name was Shannon, and she told me that not only had she incorporated power posing into her own life, she also continues to share it with coworkers, friends, and family. In fact, she and her husband and their four kids have their own name for it: “Starfish up!” When her kids are nervous, she reminds them to “starfish up!”

30

What I loved was that Shannon and her family had made the practice their own.

And it worked. To convince me how much it had affected her, she showed me her favorite piece of jewelry — a delicate diamond starfish ring that her husband had given her for her birthday to remind her of the personal power that she always has access to.

The activist Maggie Kuhn said (and I think most of us would agree), “Power should not be concentrated in the hands of so few and powerlessness in the hands of so many.” This is true of personal power as well as social power.

Too many of us suffer from pervasive feelings of personal powerlessness. We

have a terrible habit of obstructing our own paths forward, especially at the worst possible moments. Too often we acquiesce to feelings of powerlessness.

We consent to them, which does nothing but reinforce them and take us away from the reality of our lives.

But we can use our bodies to get to personal power. A mountain of evidence shows that our bodies are pushing, shaping, even leading our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. That the body affects the mind is, it’s fair to say, incontestable. And it’s doing so in ways that either facilitate or impede our ability to bring our authentic best selves to our biggest challenges.

VOLUME 14

“Your body shapes your mind.

Your mind shapes your behavior.

And your behavior shapes your future.”

Copyright © 2015 by Amy Cuddy. Reprinted with permission of Little, Brown and Company.

Does this mean that “starfish up!” or standing like Wonder Woman will be effective for every person in every situation? Of course not, as I’m sure you know; there is no intervention that will work for every person in every situation.

What I most want you to understand is that your body is continuously and convincingly sending messages to your brain, and you get to control the content of those messages. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of studies have examined the body mind connection, using many different methods — from breathing, to yoga, to lowering vocal pitch, to having people imagine themselves holding an expansive pose, to simply getting people

VOLUME 14

to sit up straight. There are countless ways for us to expand our bodies. And whether the body mind effect is operating through our vagal tone, our blood pressure, our hormones, or some other mechanism we haven’t yet discovered, the outcome is clear: expanding our bodies changes the way we feel about ourselves, creating a virtuous cycle. So what matters to me is that you find the techniques that best suit you. If you don’t, you’re squandering a precious opportunity.

Ultimately, expanding your body brings you to the present and improves your performance. Although our body language governs the way other people perceive us, our body language also

governs how we perceive ourselves and how those perceptions become reinforced through our own behavior, our interactions, and even our physiology.

Why should we not carry ourselves with pride and personal power? When we do, we are able to be present in our most challenging moments. How you carry your body shapes how you carry out your life.

Your body shapes your mind. Your mind shapes your behavior. And your behavior shapes your future. Let your body tell you that you’re powerful and deserving, and you become more present, enthusiastic, and authentically yourself.

So find your own way to starfish up!

31

TO FEE OR NOT TO FEE.

THAT IS THE QUESTION

By Stephen Shapiro Should you ever give away your services (or products) for free?

This has been an on-going discussion in the speaking community. And recently I found that the same debate is taking place in the magic community.

There are some of my speaking colleagues who are adamant that no one should ever give a speech where they don’t get paid. “Always a fee; never free” is their mantra. And there are quite a few magicians who are up in arms about a program called “The Magic Castle at Sea” where magicians agree to perform on cruise ships for no fee in exchange for a free trip.

What’s all the hooha about speaking

for free? One concern is that if you do unpaid or low fee speeches, you will be labeled as such, making it harder for you to get full-fee speeches in the future.

Personally I think this concern has been blown way out of proportion.

I make my living getting paid to speak. And yet I will, from time-to-time, work for no fee or at a reduced fee. This is always a strategic decision, and I turn down low paid/unpaid requests when they don’t meet my criteria (e.g., a good marketing opportunity, a good charity, highly desirable destination etc). However accepting these lower fee gigs has not branded me as a low-fee speaker and has not impacted my ability to get my full fee.

However, there is a bigger and trickier issue I want to address. One that is not about the individual, but rather the industry as a whole. This is the issue that ruffles the most feathers.

The belief is that if a speaker/ magician/artist performs for free, they rob others the chance to be paid. Or if performers are willing to work for pennies on the dollar it devalues the market making it harder for everyone else to get their regular fee.

I believe that this is true to some degree.

I compete on a regular basis against people who charge less than I do. In fact, in my world of innovation, I am sometimes

Should you ever give away your services (or products) for free?

32

VOLUME 14

competing against the innovation vendors (e.g., innovation software providers, innovation consulting firms, etc.) who are not only willing to speak for free, they are willing to pay the event organizers tens of thousands of dollars to sponsor their speaking slot.

Competition is tough and it is getting tougher.

However, I am not one of the people complaining about the competition or pricing pressures.

I recognize that this is a reality of any free market. Markets change. What was valued yesterday may not be valued tomorrow.

Blackberry is probably upset that Apple introduced a smart phone that killed their market. But that’s a fact of life. Blackberry didn’t change when the expectations of the buyers shifted.

Taxi drivers are clearly upset that Uber charges less per ride and is eroding their monopoly. But it is inevitable that new entrants will dethrone the old kings.

Getting regulators to shut down Uber is not the long-term solution. Just as hoping

others will stop speaking for free is not a reasonable expectation.

Markets change, and we have to change with them.

Pricing issues are not the only concern.

Technological shifts are also raising a concern for many in my industry.

Collaborative technologies have the potential to reduce the number of faceto-face meetings, reducing the need for speakers and entertainers. And there are some who believe that YouTube could kill the speaking industry. Their belief is that if you can get the entire speech for free online, why hire a speaker?

Technology will force every industry to adapt.

Speakers who give the same speech over and over with little interactivity should view YouTube as a threat. But for those of us who create a full-body experience for our audiences, we know that YouTube will never replace us. In fact, if used correctly it will generate more demand for our work.

Pricing pressures, technological advances, demographic changes (e.g.,

Millenials), economic downturns, and other market shifts will continue to impact every company in every industry.

Although I am using performance arts as an example, my point applies to everyone.

Pricing models are changing in every industry.

The way I look at it, these pressures force me to up my game. If the traditional keynote speech becomes a commodity, I need to create new ways of delivering value. I need to think beyond the speech and ensure that I provide long-lasting results.

Am I concerned that other speakers are reducing their fees? Am I worried that new technologies may make my bread and butter business less relevant?

Of course I am. Business would be so much easier if things never changed. But that is unrealistic, and potentially undesirable. I love innovation. I have dedicated my life to innovation. And I am a believer that innovation is the key to staying relevant and desired when competition heat up.

So stop your whining and start innovating!

DEFINING AND DEMONSTRATING

LEADERSHIP

Great TD women share their thoughts on being a leader and achieving success We sat down with four inspiring women from across Canada from a number of TD Wealth businesses to learn about: how they define and demonstrate leadership, their role, working at TD Wealth, and how they help their clients reach their goals.

Bev Kumar, Senior Financial Planner Delta, British Columbia How do you define leadership?

I define leadership as having the ability to focus on solutions rather than problems.

Life is about change, so you need focus on moving forward with the best approach and attitude. At TD, we have amazing women leaders that consistently encourage and inspire me to reach my best potential.

It’s important to be around great people – people who are understanding, respectful and know how to motivate talent and leadership in others.

What is the most rewarding part of your day?

The biggest reward in my role is connecting with clients: when I review a client’s financial plan with them.

Sharing the roadmap to their goals, and encouraging and enabling them to see their future with more clarity is truly the best part of my job. I also take great pride when I hear my clients provide updates such as, “I can now hand in my retirement notice after seeing my financial plan and truly knowing that I’m prepared.”

What advice do you have for women starting out in their career?

Work hard, work smart, work well with others. Don’t set limits to your success.

34

Keep learning and learn to accept change. Learn to empower other women and importantly surround yourself with people that influence you in the most positive way.

Jennifer Kozan, Wealth Advisor, Private Client Group Calgary, Alberta How do you demonstrate leadership in your role?

By acting with respect, responsibility, resourcefulness and resiliency in order to inspire my team to believe in themselves.

Why is TD a great place to work as an advisor?

TD has the size and scope to offer clients an integrated approach to Wealth Management.

What is great about being an advisor?

You get to develop mutually-beneficial relations with interesting individuals and be engaged in the community.

Kathryn Del Greco, VP, Investment Advisor Toronto, Ontario How do you define leadership?

Leadership is having a clear vision of what direction your team needs to take

VOLUME 14

Facts about TD: • TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves 24 million customers in locations in key financial centres around the world.

• TD has more than 80,000 employees who work in financial services, but also human resources, economics, technology, marketing, communications, legal, compliance and customer service.

• TD

was named one of the World’s Most Admired Companies for 2015 by Fortune magazine and recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index list, the benchmark for global leaders in economic, environmental and social responsibility.

and having the ability to inspire those around you to see that same vision.

With a shared team goal, it helps define individual ownership of responsibilities and a keen awareness of the value of their contribution.

from your male counterparts – it can be a strong competitive advantage. Forget about the term “glass ceiling”…if you acknowledge it, you give it power. Forge ahead with no risk of any limitations in front of you.

What advice do you have for women starting out in their career?

Women have the ability to look at and solve problems from a different angle, so don’t be afraid to have a voice and express your viewpoints. Celebrate what makes you different and unique

Why is TD a great place to work as an advisor?

Autonomy and the freedom to make my own choices that are in the best interest of my clients. There is an entrepreneurial spirit here, not only are we the comfortable bank for our clients,

VOLUME 14

TD is a comfortable place to work.

What is great about being a clientfacing advisor?

By taking the time to do proper due diligence on your clients, what you are in effect really doing is taking the time to get to know a family on a much deeper and more personal level. You learn about their hopes and dreams as well as their fears and worries. If we are successful in our role, we play a crucial part in helping to facilitate their bucket list. What could be more rewarding than that?!

35

TD is a great place to work for women • Women make up 36% of senior leaders (an increase of 60% since 2005), over one third of board members and 60% of the employee base.

• Women and men report equally high confidence in meeting their career objectives.

•

TD has provided nearly $1 million in support of charities who work to advance and support women and girls.

•

TD has an employee Women in Leadership network of more than 11,500 women, which offers mentoring, career development and encourages flexible work options.

•

TD is expanding its wealth management platform and is adding nearly 400 financial planners and financial advisors by 2018 to help support the Women Investor Program.

Bev Kumar

Jennifer Kozan

Jillian Bryan, Portfolio Manager and Investment Advisor Vancouver, British Columbia

Kathryn Del Greco

How do you demonstrate leadership in your role?

As head of our investment team my leadership represents responsibility.

Ownership of problems when they occur is key. Following through on my commitments to my team and supporting them in reaching their goals is paramount. Creating a work environment where the team feels valued and respected is a top priority.

The most rewarding aspect of my role is being able to help clients with the challenges they face managing their wealth. This will often pertain to non-financial aspects of their lives such as looking after an elderly parent, providing for educational funding for their children, and assisting them to ensure they have no “holes” in their life plans. It’s my duty to ensure that they are prepared – and considering all implications (i.e. necessity to have health insurance while travelling outside of Canada, ensuring they have critical illness or disability insurance).

What is the most rewarding part of your day?

What advice do you have for women starting out in their career?

To learn more about job opportunities at TD, visit jobs.td.com

Jillian Bryan

Work hard. When you start out in a career it’s essential to give it 110%. A positive “can-do” attitude is critical to success. Sometimes you have to do a task or start at an entry level that you may perceive is beneath your abilities.

But in a competitive work environment, be dedicated and focused will help you advance.

Why is TD a great place to work as an advisor?

TD’s culture is amazing. We have incredible partners to work with such as private bankers, who are dedicated high net worth consultants who work with our most valued clients. It really is a team work culture.

For more information on Women in Leadership at TD, visit TD.com/WIL

CONNECTED COMMERCE

The Key Trait

Successful Leaders Have, and

HOW TO GET IT

By Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson Which quality do you need to possess if you want to lead effectively? You are probably thinking it’s something like confidence. Or maybe vision. Or emotional intelligence – you hear about that one all the time. Those are all good qualities for a leader to have, I’ll grant you, but the answer is actually trustworthiness. Technically, it’s not just being trustworthy, but being seen as trustworthy, that’s key.

Why is trustworthiness so essential?

It turns out that Can I trust you? is always on our minds whenever we interact with other people - particularly when we meet them for the first time - though we usually aren’t consciously aware of thinking it. Studies suggest that in order to figure out whether or not someone is trustworthy, we analyze their words and deeds to find answers to two questions: Do you have good intentions toward me – are you a friend or a foe? and Do you have what it takes to act on those intentions?” (Because if the answer to the latter is “no”, then you are more or less harmless no matter what your intentions are.) Again, we don’t necessarily realize we are asking (and answering) these questions because much of this is happening very quickly at a non-conscious level.

So how do we find the answers?

Decades of research show that we are all highly tuned-in to two particular aspects of other people’s character, right from the get go – their warmth and their competence. Your warmth – being friendly, kind, loyal, empathetic – is taken as evidence that you have good intentions toward others. If you

1. Pay attention. Make eye contact,

and hold it – both when you are speaking and listening. Nod from time to time to show you are understanding what’s being said to you. Smile, especially when they do. And above all else, really focus on what is being said to you – everyone needs to feel that they have been heard, even when you can’t give them what they are asking for.

2. Show empathy. Take the time

to mentally put yourself in your employees’ shoes, to really try to grasp their perspective. Use phrases like “I

VOLUME 14

are warm, you are probably a friend.

If you are cold, you are a potential foe.

Your competence – being intelligent, creative, skilled, effective – is taken as a evidence that you can act on your intentions if you want to. Competent people are therefore valuable allies or potent enemies. Less competent people are objects of compassion, or scorn.

It should come as no real surprise that being trusted is essential to good leadership. When your team trusts you as a leader, it increases their commitment to team goals. Communication improves – ideas flow more freely, increasing creativity and productivity. Perhaps most important, in the hands of a trusted leader, employees are more comfortable with change, and more willing to embrace a new vision.

When your team doesn’t trust you, you don’t get their best effort, or all the information you need from them to make good decisions. And you find yourself unable to inspire, unable to influence, and unable to create real change.

So we can all agree that trust is good.

The problem, however, is that most of us see leadership as being first and foremost about competence – as about strength and confidence and accomplishments.

We are so eager to prove that we “know what we’re doing” as leaders that we neglect the arguably more important part of the trust formula: proving that we will act with others’ interests in mind.

In other words, trust is an afterthought.

Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, author of many of the key studies on trust and leadership, has argued that when you project competence before warmth, you run the risk of appearing cold…and eliciting fear from your employees. They might respect you, but fearful employees are rarely able to work at their best. And you certainly can’t blame them for wanting to jump ship once an offer to work for someone who doesn’t make them constantly anxious comes along.

So, are you a leader that projects warmth - a leader your team feels they can trust? If you suspect the answer might be no, you need to start working on your warmth pronto. In a nutshell, what you want to do is convey the sense that you have your employees welfare and interests in mind – that what they experience matters to you. Think about how you can use the following strategies to up your trust quotient:

imagine you must have felt….” to convey that empathy directly.

yourself to be a bit vulnerable is a great way to project warmth.

3. Trust them first. Human beings

have a deeply-rooted tendency toward reciprocity. We are naturally inclined to want to do favors, give gifts, and work to promote those who have done these things for us in the past. And the same holds when it comes to trust - we are more likely to feel we can trust someone who has trusted us first. Share personal (but appropriate!) stories, talk about your struggles and challenges, let them know your fallible, human side. Allowing

All that said, if you just aren’t the warm-and-fuzzy type, and maybe talking about “feelings” makes you uncomfortable, fear not. Evidence suggests that the moral character aspects of warmth – the sense that you are fair, principled, courageous, and honest – are also highly effective for establishing trust.

In other words, to get your employees to trust you, be someone they can always count on to do the right thing. After all, this is ultimately what trust is actually about.

39

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DOWN WITH THE

FIVE-YEAR PLAN

BY KIRSTINE STEWART VOLUME 14

Openness to new opportunities, however unpredictable or unexpected, has been a major element of my success. When people, usually women, ask about my professional achievements, I can honestly say they have had more to do with taking chances than setting a career goal. I never set out to navigate a route to the top tier of any organization or corporation. To me, the most exciting career paths are those that unfold in unexpected ways.

I am anti five-year plan because in my experience the best things do not flow from making a plan and sticking to it.

The key is to believe that you have what it takes not only to meet the challenges you find along the way, but to be open to what you learn on that journey. If you lock yourself into a single dream job you’re desperate to attain, you may close yourself off from something even grander.

There’s a growing recognition that following one’s dreams or passions is no guarantee of success or happiness.

Author Cal Newport, a computer scientist at Georgetown University, calls it the “passion trap” and suggests that passion may in fact be the root of widespread workplace unhappiness.

In his recent book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Newport argues that if people only seek out work they love, they are bound to become disillusioned when they fail to love the work they do and essentially find their dreams unfulfilled. The passion trap prevents people from pursuing opportunities that don’t match their preconceived dreams.

As technology rapidly reshapes the global economy, relying on your dreams to guide your worklife could hold you back from what can make you truly happy. Traditional industries are being transformed (or failing) and traditional jobs are morphing and vanishing too.

Today’s list of dream jobs simply doesn’t include the many possibilities for work that tomorrow is bound to bring. The US Department of Education, for instance, estimates that 60 percent of all new jobs created over the next two decades will 41

Excerpted from Our Turn by Kirstine Stewart. Copyright © 2015 KAS Creative Inc. Published by Random House Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

require skills that only 20 percent of the current workforce possesses. The smart approach may be to unhook your ambitions from a particular plan because those plans are informed by the world of today where, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for many traditional vocations is rapidly shrinking. For example, metal and plastic machine workers are increasingly not needed as manufacturing becomes more automated; so, too, mainstream journalists, whose numbers are diminishing along with traditional print outlets; travel agents who find it hard to compete with DIY travel sites; postal workers, as people write fewer letters; and so on. At the same time, new occu42

pations are emerging in the knowledge economy that no one ever dreamed of at those old-school career fairs, jobs like directors of community engagement, brand strategists, chief experience officers. What’s hopeful about this from a gender perspective is that none of these titles have a traditional gender.

Say “doctor,” “lawyer,” or “taxman” and people still tend to picture, well, a man. But if you think “industrialorganizational psychologist,” “genetic counsellor,” or “information security analyst”—all occupations the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will grow robustly over the next decade— likely no gender comes to mind. Which is why today, for women, and men, too, keeping

your mind open to the widest range of opportunities will reduce the chances you’ll find yourself boxed in.

In my own case, when I arrived at Paragon Entertainment all those years ago, my unfamiliarity with the television industry was an asset. It prompted me to learn as much as I could. And as receptionist/girl Friday I got to see and hear it all. I was a blank slate, with the desire and curiosity not only to learn the business, but also to bring to it fresh ideas precisely because I was new. And in Isme Bennie, I found the perfect boss for an eager protegée, one who recognized my energy and encouraged my opinions. She threw me into challenges all on my own and also included me in on the high-level

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business deals she was negotiating. One thing we soon did together was look at shows that we might want to add to the roster we were selling to broadcasters worldwide, from Channel 9 Australia to HBO Ole. One of the first shows I lobbied for reflected the kind of outside-the-box thinking a newbie can bring. Unlike the dramas and cartoon series that Paragon was known for, I thought the time was right to pick up a bare-bones how-to decorating show from a complete unknown. Her name was Debbie Travis, a former UK fashion model who had worked in TV editing and production.

After moving to Montreal to be with her new husband, Hans Rosenstein, a video

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distributor who’d worked with Paragon, Debbie had time on her hands and she decided to paint and redecorate their old Victorian house. She did it with such style that clients came calling, so many that she and Hans produced an instructional video with Debbie demonstrating her crafty techniques in a show they called The Painted House.

I loved the idea instantly, and Isme agreed. Decorating shows like Trading Spaces and Changing Rooms had recently debuted in the UK and the US, and I had a strong sense that lifestylemakeover programming was about to take off. Most home improvement programs until then had been of the This Old House variety, where someone

with deep pockets took whole properties down to the studs and renovated them top to bottom. But The Painted House didn’t feature historic mansions, just rooms—a makeover of a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom. All you need is “a little bit of paint” was Debbie’s motto.

It empowered people. She was selftaught and presented fantastically. With her model looks and Lancashire accent intact from her hometown in England’s northwest, she sounded like she’d walked off the set of Coronation Street.

As it turned out, The Painted House exceeded all expectations, in Canada and beyond. With infinite possibilities for time slots in the expanding cable universe, in primetime or daytime, it became a worldwide hit. It also proved to me that while I had no talent in front of the camera, I could spot it from behind.

You could call it a sixth sense or intuition. I think of it as an aptitude for stepping outside of myself, and the moment, to ask not whether I personally like something, but whether others will like it—metaphorically becoming part of the crowd and sensing what turns them on. I am not a fan of Monster Trucks, or an avid watcher of figure-skating specials, but I have represented both enthusiastically because I appreciate their appeal to others. I think this ability to have a bead on broad public tastes has always been with me. I love being able to spot “it”—that quality that makes someone or something shine above the rest. And I feel immense satisfaction when I get it right. Even as a kid, I used to listen to new releases from Madonna or early Duran Duran and be able to predict which song would be a hit. A few bars in, I could just tell. I dreamt about one day becoming a music industry executive, plucking potential stars out of the crowd. I dropped that dream in the midst of university applications and career- planning classes. But as fate would have it, I landed in a completely different career that allowed me to pick out the “it” and help make it shine.

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FBI VS. APPLE, BIG DATA VS. SMALL DATA, AND THE DANCE FOR CONSUMER PRIVACY Martin Lindstrom

If we want to glean real insights, Big Data and Small Data should be partners in the dance.

Today we live in a post-privacy society.

Nothing drives this point home more poignantly than an observation noted in a speech from former IBM head Sam Palmisan. Today, 32 closedcircuit cameras sit within 200 yards of the London flat where author George Orwell wrote “1984,” his dystopian book about the prying eyes of Big Brother. This trend has continued into our personal living spaces. Only two weeks ago, Samsung admitted that their TV sets were able to monitor everything said in your living room and transferred it to some nameless digital cloud, owned by an undisclosed 3rd party.

Brands are beginning to use this slide into omnipresent observation as a rallying point for their tribes. One public move, a recent statement from Apple’s Tim Cook to fight a court order, helped Apple regain a trust level that the tech industry as a whole seems to have lost over the past years. However, as engendering as their stance is to the consumer, few are aware that Apple has unlocked phones for authorities at least 70 times since 2008. To avoid damaging their brand further, they decided to take a public stand.

Companies, in their thirst for Big Data, have forgotten about the risk they’re exposing their brand to as they search for competitive advantages. As Warren Buffett once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” And here’s

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my question: isn’t it time for brands to do something different?

Over the past decades, I’ve been searching for that “something different.”

Yes, Big Data reveals a ton about consumers, but what I’ve come to realize is that there’s only so much you can learn from cold analytics. Think of it this way-to what degree are you able to describe the love of your life by numbers? Do love your girlfriend because she’s 5 ft. 7, her hair color is Pantone 39134 and the last 4 digits of her cell phone number simply make you wild?

The issue is that not only do we rely on Big Data to understand the emotions of our most important asset, our customers, but we have become addicted to it. Businesses have slowly become blind to the missing information from spreadsheets and numbers, because it’s so much easier to sit behind a desk.

It reminds me of a speech I gave to 3000 executives. I asked them to raise their hands if they had spent any time at all in their customers’ homes. There were only 2 hands in the air.

Just recently, one of the major U.S. banking institutions misinterpreted the reason for an increase of “churn,” a term referring to customers who move money around, refinancing their mortgages, or generally show signs they are on the verge of exiting the bank. As a consequence, the bank began preparing letters to its customers asking them to reconsider leaving.

Before sending them out, though, the

bank executives discovered something surprising. Yes, Big Data had seen evidence of churn. But it wasn’t because customers were dissatisfied with the bank or its customer service.

No, most were getting a divorce, which explained why they were shifting around their assets. If the bank had spent just a little bit of time with their customers, they could have completely avoided the waste of man hours and resources to create those letters.

Where the bank relied on correlation generated by Big Data, an essential brick was missing--the causation. It’s the counter balance to Big Data. I call it Small Data.

In contrast to Big Data, it’s harmless to people. These seemingly insignificant insights about our lives are collected from just 20-30 consumer visits, with permission naturally, and are shown to reveal amazing insight about our lives, our personalities, dreams and imbalances. They’re also able to capture the heartbeat of the consumer without putting the brand at risk.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an opponent to Big Data. If we want to glean real insights, Big Data and Small Data should be partners in the dance.

I am a huge believer in securing the right balance between causation and correlation. Tapping into the amazing powers that Small Data has been proven to hold can give both the CEO and, perhaps most importantly, the consumer some well-deserved peace of mind.

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How to Maximize the Learning ROI of

Your Training Program Learning is about behaviour change. It only happens when people stop doing something the old way, and start doing things the new and better way. If someone does something the same way over and over again, they can’t expect different results.

If people aren’t behaving the way you want them to, training isn’t the silver bullet to change that. I believe that you only need training when there’s a knowledge gap. Instead, ask yourself, why aren’t people behaving the way you’d like them to? What in your company’s culture keeps change from taking place?

Here’s a step-by-step checklist to ensure that your training program is set up to get people to behave in the new and better way.

By Bill G. Williams

1. ENSURE THE PROGRAM FITS YOUR COMPANY’S DNA Your training program should fit with your organization’s vision, mission, and values. If you ask people to do things contrary to the company’s culture, don’t expect learning to take place. That’s like recommending a Microsoft employee use Apple’s Pages instead of Word. It just wouldn’t happen.

The message has to be consistent with both your stated and the underground cultures for it to stick.

2. ALIGN THE TRAINING PROGRAM TO YOUR CORPORATE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES All programs should align with your goals. Explain how this program supports your corporate aim of ‘X’. If you decide on a training program, make sure you send the right message, especially during times of fiscal constraint.

3. CUSTOMIZE THE DELIVERY OF THE PROGRAM Generic examples aren’t good enough to drive change. They’re the reason why your participants say, “Yeah, but that will never work in our world. Things are different here in our 46

industry.” Training programs should bridge the gap between the facilitator’s vision and lessons, and the status quo. Once that happens, participants will see the possibilities.

Make sure that the facilitator knows your business well enough to tackle tough discussions. They will need to share examples and practices from your company.

Off-the-rack suits get the job done, but they will never fit like a bespoke suit tailored for you. Similarly, generic training programs may produce the results, but not at the level of a training program that’s customized to fit your participants.

4. PARTICIPANTS AND MANAGERS SHOULD MEET BEFORE THE SESSION You should meet with the participant before they go through the training program. Look at the program objectives together.

Create a focus for the participant during the session. I believe that at least 25% of the value of training comes from this often overlooked meeting.

5. TAKE CARE OF THEIR DAY JOB Training should not be a vacation, but it also shouldn’t be punishment. Have a plan for things that might come up while

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participants are in the training program. Adjust deliverable dates and priorities. Attending training shouldn’t just give participants more work to do before and after. Don’t text, email, or call them out of the program. Remember, every fire that they’re helping you put out comes at the cost of learning.

Let them focus on acquiring knowledge, and putting what they learn into action plans.

6. CREATE FOCUSED ACTION PLANS The best action plans are ones that your participants can actually put in place. I’m okay if they choose to take on three action items. I’m happy if they pick two action items. I’m ecstatic when participants take away one action item.

You might notice this reaction is the reverse of what many would think. Consider how busy you and your participants are. When a participant gets back to their world of work, they’ll see all the things that have piled up while they were away.

If they have a list of 10 ideas to choose between, they’ll get stuck deciding between which one to do first. They will end up implementing nothing.

Focus on one, two, or (at most) three, action items. I’m confident that by narrowing your focus, you will see an increased ROI from your participant learning.

7. PARTICIPANTS AND MANAGERS SHOULD MEET AFTER THE SESSION After the program, you and the participant can identify the obstacles you can help them remove. You can also show your support for your participant’s ideas. Have each participant make a commitment to their action plan. This is a great way to keep them accountable after training.

Participants will return to emails, meetings, messages, and the rest of the day-to-day whirlwind. Meet up with them to discuss their action plan. You’ll recognize at least another 25% of the training program’s value during this meeting.

8. REGULAR MEETINGS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY Participants should have an accountability coach or partner

from the program they can meet with on a weekly basis. The best accountability partners are ones that are not too familiar with each other. They might be comfortable shrugging off poor performance with their best friend, but not with a colleague. Also, conversations won’t get sidetracked. Even just a quick 10-minute coffee works wonders. During these meetings, they’ll share the roadblocks they’re experiencing in implementing the learning.

This means participants can connect with someone who heard the same message, the same way, in the same class. It clarifies questions and reinforces each other’s memories. They can remind each other of the key content that will help them apply the new techniques.

9. NOTICE PARTICIPANTS’ NEW BEHAVIOURS Remember that the new way will be slower at first. Set up transition targets and goals to improve performance.

Encourage participants who are changing their behaviours (and perhaps struggling a little bit) during this phase, because it will be frustrating for participants at first. When you notice and recognize new behaviours, participants will repeat them with pride.

10. INCENT THE NEW BEHAVIOURS Incentives and rewards don’t have to be monetary. In fact, frankly, we’d recommend that they not be.

But you have to set the expectation for behaviour change.

Oftentimes, there’s actually an unintentional misaligned reward for doing things the old way. There’s also a corresponding punishment, or lack of reward, for doing things the new way.

Make sure all incentives encourage participants to behave and execute in the new way.

Learning sounds simple, but it’s definitely not easy.

Having your team learn consistently means changing the processes around learning. You’ll have to reward participants for changing, and keep them accountable. The most outstanding organizations create the environment for their participants to turn acquired knowledge into behaviour change and learning success.

Bill G. Williams has 20+ years experience developing leaders across North America. Bill is a Partner & Vice President with The Art of Learning. For more information on The Art of Learning you can visit: www.theartof.com/learning or email Bill - bill@theartof.com VOLUME 14

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WHAT YOUR CEO SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY, PROFITS, WORK & FAMILY

By Anne-Marie Slaughter As a CEO, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to recruit and retain talent and how to create a work environment that maximizes productivity. New America is a non-profit, but we depend on the quality and quantity of research, great ideas, good writing, and effective advocacy that our employees engage in to attract grants and donations. And as someone who has spent the last three years reading studies on work and family stress (56% of American women and 50% of American men report that it is somewhat or very difficult to balance work and family) and trying to figure out why American companies are losing so much of their top talent as women leave or drop off the leadership track, I have developed a new approach to thinking about and addressing these issues. That is the subject

of my new book, Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family. But here are three of the items on what I have come to think of as a CEO Checklist of solutions.

Stop talking about “women” and start talking about “parents,” or better yet, “caregivers.”

Employees are happier, more productive, and far more loyal if you make it possible for them to make room for care – self-care, care for family members, or volunteering in their community. Stop seeing care issues through the lens of working mothers and crafting policies aimed at women. Instead, think about the full range of caregiving obligations that employees face: care for children, for aging parents, for ill or disabled family members. If a loved one needs you, it is very hard to focus effectively on work.

But if you can attend to those needs when they arise, you will work that much

“Customize career plans for your employees–one size won’t fit all.”

harder and better when you get back to work. And team members can cover for you in the interim, knowing that you will do the same for them.

In 2014 I gave a foreign policy speech at a big annual forum for the top management of PIMCO, one of the world’s largest investment management firms. The organizer asked if I could give a second speech on work and family. I agreed and was pleasantly surprised to find myself talking not to a group called “PIMCO Women,” but to “PIMCO Parents.” The audience of more than fifty people was at least one-third men. These name changes may seem small, but it is a big step in the direction of ensuring that family responsibilities are the province of all family members.

Women who are caregivers will love you, but so will a growing number of fathers. Studies at both Harvard Business School and the Wharton School – two highly competitive schools that attract

a disproportionate number of alpha males to begin with – show that a third to a half of millennial men expect to split childcare responsibilities fifty-fifty with their partners. Their fortunes may depend on it; women are increasingly outperforming men at all educational levels, with the result that many women are now earning bigger starting salaries than their husbands. And in male same-sex couples it will be one or both men who are caring for children.

Mark Weinberger, CEO of EY (formerly Ernst & Young), has a great catchphrase for this shift. In his words, “Women don’t want to be singled out; men don’t want to be left out.” Exactly.

So stop seeing care as a women’s issue.

Customize career plans for your employees—one size won’t fit all.

I wrote on CNN recently about “flexibility stigma” – how companies that have great flexibility policies on paper immediately penalize the employees who take advantage of those policies, both women and especially men. The mommy (or daddy) track is the opposite of the leadership track, but why? Working parttime or flexibly or even taking some time out and coming back will understandably put you on a slower track for promotion, but why should it take you off the track entirely? Because the deep assumption in the American workplace is that the fast track is the only track. Up or out. Change that mindset. If someone you thought was on a leadership track slows down to work

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part-time or on a more flexible schedule due to caregiving responsibilities, assume that his or her ambitions have not changed.

Initiate a conversation to find out. Talk about this period as an “investment interval” valuable for family reasons and for acquiring different skills and experiences. Plan together for ramping back up when she or he is ready.

Accounting firms, both big and small, have been particularly innovative.

Deloitte, for example, has a program of “mass career customization” for all employees, based on a book of that name co-authored by Deloitte vice chairman Cathleen Benko and Anne Cicero Weisberg. If even the most intense workplaces made it more possible for employees to adjust their own rhythms, individual bonuses might go down, but the quality of life and employee retention would go up.

Working Less Often Means Working Better.

“Time macho,” as I like to call it, is the relentless competition to work harder, stay later, pull more all-nighters, travel around the world and bill the extra hours the international dateline affords you.

But we actually have a growing body of data in support of the proposition that working less means working better. This relationship between working better and working less holds particularly true in any job requiring creativity, the well¬spring of innovation. Experts on creativity emphasize the value of nonlinear thinking and cultivated randomness, from long walks to looking at your environment in

ways you never have before. Making time for play, as well as designated downtime, has also been found to boost creativity.

Experts suggest we should change the rhythm of our workdays to include periods in which we are simply letting our minds run wherever they want to go.

Without play, we might never be able to make the unexpected connections that are the essence of insight.

I know first-hand that many jobs have crises or deadlines where roundthe-clock presence really is necessary to get the job done, where being there and doing your best really does matter. But I also know that those times can alternate with times where you leave early, take a vacation, spend an unexpected day doing something fun with your kids. A leader should want all her employees to be doing the very best job they can. That means alternating rhythms and understanding that less is often more.

A full CEO checklist should also include recruiting from the enormous pool of “phase three” talent like women who have taken time out or worked part-time while caregiving who are now more than ready to come roaring back into the workplace. Adopting the “tour of duty” model from Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh’s The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, instituting OpenWork, and a number of other approaches that I describe in Unfinished Business. Circulate this list in your workplace and ask your colleagues what else your CEO should know! Then find a way to start the conversation.

Remember, work, family, productivity and profits is not either/or. It’s both/and.

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COMPANIES HAVE REWORKED STANDARD BUSINESS PRACTICES When you think of standard business practices, a few things come to mind. The organizational chart, performance appraisals, payroll confidentiality, etc. These principles have been around so long it would be unthinkable to question them right?

Perhaps not. Many leaders, armed with the latest research, are challenging some of the oldest practices in business in order to innovate and achieve greater profitability and success. What follows are five examples of companies who have successfully challenged the status quo.

By David Burkus

1. Make Salaries Transparent.

Dane Atkinson of SumAll has gone from a proponent of salary secrecy to a champion of transparency. This change of heart mirrors a growing body of research suggesting that keeping salary information from employees can actually damage employees’ engagement, as well as their pocketbooks by keeping salaries below fair market rate. Openness keeps every thing fair and gives employees

the ability to have open conversations about salaries with each other and management. This is perhaps why SumAll team members find it so easy to stay with the company. Atkinson has said that SumAll employees regularly get offers from companies like Google and Facebook and turn them down because they’d rather work in SumAll’s open salary culture.

2. Put Customers Second.

In February of 2006, Vineet Nayar, the president and CEO of HCL Technologies made a shocking announcement to a global meeting of their biggest customers. He told them that they were no longer his top priority. Nayar was announcing a reorganization of HCLT’s structure and its priorities around a new strategy that he labeled “employees

first, customers second.” It took time and a lot of focus, but eventually things began to turn around. By 2009, the company was ranked as the best employer in India and that recognition came with some great benefits: HCLT’s annual revenue almost tripled and its market capitalization doubled.

3. Abandon Performance Appraisals.

In March 2012, Donna Morris, SVP of human resources at Adobe Systems, had just arrived in India to spend time at the company’s offices there when she agreed to an interview with a reporter from India’s Economic Times. During the interview, Morris was asked what she could do to disrupt HR. Sleepdeprived from the long flight, Morris answered back quickly, “We plan to abolish the annual performance review format.” By the fall of 2012, Adobe had

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totally redesigned its performance management system to eliminate the yearly performance review and replace it with a more frequent and less formal ‘check-in’ process. Managers and employees meet for check-in discussions at least once a quarter. Two years after the death of the old annual review, Morris has found that morale among employees and managers has increased significantly, largely owing to the more frequent feedback.

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4. Write the Organizational Chart in Pencil.

Design firm IDEO has sought to create a culture in which the organizational chart is relatively stable but people still feel free to move around to assist various projects. Instead of locking himself away and creating a master diagram, IDEO founder David Kelley decided to let the organizational chart develop organically.

Kelley called a meeting and explained to everyone that, instead of one big

organizational flow chart, they would instead be working in and around five leaders, with each heading a new ‘studio.’

The staff then chose which leader they preferred to work with. Nearly twenty years later, this unique philosophy continues to permeate IDEO’s culture despite its expansion to more than 500 employees scattered across ten offices worldwide.

5. Skip Noncompete Clauses.

Noncompete clauses in employment contracts is a practice as old as business itself. Evidence suggests however, that noncompete clauses hurt not only departing employees but also those who stay with the company as well as the company itself.

Proctor & Gamble has taken the idea of the non-noncompete environment to another level of commitment. For many decades, P&G was noted for its culture of secrecy, including strict rules for conversations about company products and programs outside of the workplace and rules against conversations with employees of competitors. Under the leadership of new CEO A. G. Lafley, ‘Research and Development’ became ‘Connect+Develop.’

While some employees may still sign noncompetes, the company has created several lines of communication with academic researchers, suppliers, and sometimes even competitors dedicated to finding and cross-pollinating ideas.

Connect+Develop has worked so well that the company launched its own online portal where anyone could submit ideas. Since launching Connect+Develop, P&G has more than climbed back from its decline in valuation, much of which has been due to hitting Lafley’s target: more than 50 percent of P&G product initiates now rely on collaboration outside of the company.

While it’s true that long-held business practices exist for a reason, there’s nothing wrong with revisiting them from time to time to determine if they are in fact,

still valid. As the above examples show, innovation sometimes relies on being able to look beyond traditional models and ways of working.

David Burkus is the author of the forthcoming Under New Management. He is host of the Radio Free Leader podcast and associate professor of management at Oral Roberts University.

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Let’s crush the barriers between women and success.

We know the barriers women face – 75% of our students are women. With many juggling multiple responsibilities of school, a job, and caring for family members, the challenge of getting an education can be truly overwhelming. So we launched a movement called 1000 Women Rising to raise $1,000,000 to help women overcome barriers to getting an education. Because when women rise, the world rises. Visit bowvalleycollege.ca/1kwr to see how you can help.

DO WE NEED A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO

DEVELOPING FEMALE LEADERS? Tammy Heermann, Vice President, Global Leadership Development Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions Many people think so. Several organizations are leading the way for female development programs because of a perceived need to bring women along a different path than men when it comes to fostering leadership. Programs encourage women to be more aggressive in pursuing leadership opportunities and to work harder to raise their profiles as prospective leaders. Much of that leadership development has value—to a point.

The fact is there are no special gender rules for good leadership. In other words, organizations and employees want good leadership regardless of whether the leader is a man or a woman.

The unresolved question is whether we need to treat men and women differently as we develop them into leaders?

The barriers for female leaders are still very much in place. The senior ranks in most organizations continue to be dominated by men, making it difficult for women to break through or even to be seen as leadership material.

If gender balance has been identified as a priority, men are still more likely to encourage and mentor other men to take on leadership roles.

In some instances, women themselves continue to be their own worst enemies.

Although women are generally better at collaborating and building communities within large organizations, we often see that they lack the confidence to network on their own behalf, upward in the hierarchy or build the relationships that can translate into leadership opportunities. Men tend to “own” their successes and use them as springboards for advancement; women are still more likely to share the credit for success, rather than take the spotlight, therefore missing the leadership opportunities that normally come with success.

While men seem to automatically seek leadership at the first chance, women are more likely to decline leadership opportunities out of a fear they do not have the relevant experience or skills, or whether they want to take

the job on period. Men see office politics as a necessary evil; women think office politics are “dirty” and tend to steer clear. Women are still more likely to be perceived as not “tough enough” to be leaders, even if they display all of the best practices of effective leadership.

Do these realities require a separate stream of leadership training for women? We believe they do and here’s why. Having worked with hundreds of female leaders worldwide, the same challenges arise time and time again.

Although the expected skill set of a good leader is gender neutral, women still need some specific attention when it comes to positioning themselves for leadership opportunities. Women also need a different type of support toward their development.

Whether introducing a program for high potential females targeted for progression into senior ranks, or a broad based program for females throughout the organization, keep these ten tactics in mind:

1. FOCUS ON MINDSET. Leadership is intentional. Focused.

Deliberate. For females this means delving into some deep reflection around where

I’ve come from, where I can go, and what’s holding me back. The biggest barrier tends to be the mindset shift required to get there

– not the skills. When programs focus on mindset shift, the most cited outcomes are confidence and fire to succeed.

2. LINK CONTENT TO LEADERSHIP SKILLS THAT MATTER. Any program targeted at females should have content that is tied to the leadership competencies organizations

require for success in the future. For high potential programs it is critical to include components that stretch the business,

financial and strategic acumen to progress into more senior roles.

3. PAY ATTENTION TO RESILIENCE. Females get trapped in taking on too much, delegating insufficiently, and believing they actually can accomplish everything on the ‘to do’ list. Add to this the primary role most have in running the home and you have a recipe for disaster.

The impact takes its toll on themselves and their teams. Many women have described themselves as ‘just hanging on to the cliff’; while others said their teams have intervened or expressed a desire not to go into management

if what they observe is what it takes.

Supportive dialogue needs to happen around resilience and mental health, creating boundaries, and how to say the ‘strategic no’.

4. PROVIDE ONGOING COMMUNITY SUPPORT. With most programs women begin by wondering why they need to be in a separate program; some even come in kicking and screaming. Then something shifts. There is a palpable difference

when a group of women come together.

The connection grows quickly and the support for individual and collective success is strong. We know women are wired for community, so it’s important

to keep it going through peer group coaching. Most participants say that the network and community they build after the program is the most valuable investment of their time.

5. BRING IN ROLE MODELS. Females crave hearing from senior women in their own organizations who are vulnerable and provide messages

about their own successes and struggles.

Source and prepare a few female senior speakers who can inspire participants

from a place of authenticity.

6. REQUIRE COACHES WHO HAVE BEEN THERE. Whether run in house or with a partner, these programs are much more than training. The program leader must be more than a trainer or facilitator. They

are a coach, and a trusted advisor who is guiding women through a journey.

Participants want to hear the stories of how they too were challenged, how they

rose above and achieved success. The best program leaders are role models.

7. ANCHOR IN ONE-ON-ONE COACHING. Especially for high potential programs or senior female leaders, one-on-one leadership coaching is a priceless

investment for females to accelerate progress on goals. It also provides the objective support system to keep

accountability for embedding new mindsets and behaviors ongoing.

8. HAVE SPONSORS PRESENT. Ensure that you have visible male sponsorship for the program. This can include kick-offs, wrap ups and networking dinners around the program.

In one organization several women scheduled post program meetings with the senior male leader of the region and confessed that they were ready to resign

prior to the program being launched. They were now reengaged, reenergized, and ready to carve out a future for themselves with a sense of confidence and control.

they reap from development programs are passed on. Whether formally or informally ensure to provide time

and mechanisms for females to pay it forward throughout the organization.

9. PAY IT FORWARD. Females have a strong desire (and feel it’s their duty) to ensure that the experiences, skills and connections

10. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR.

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When highly capable females with potential feel emboldened with a renewed sense of confidence and drive, they will seek opportunities for advancement.

Some of these opportunities may come from the organization they are employed by, while some will leave to find progression elsewhere. Be sure to

stay close to high potential females and provide the projects, experiences and roles to support their desired progression, or they will find it elsewhere.

All leaders have to go through a process of figuring out who they are and what they want to achieve in their organizations. That said there is a need for some specific encouragement at the outset of leadership development to pull in the best female candidates.

Essentially programs need to target the leadership competencies important for all leaders to develop while providing the one-on-one and peer community support that addresses the specific challenges women tend to face.

That doesn’t make the rules for

leadership different for men and women. It does, however, recognize the challenges that must be conquered to help establish a new generation of female leaders who will, just by their presence, encourage others to follow in their footsteps.

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MINDING THE GAP THE TROUBLING STATE OF WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY, AND THE HOPE THAT’S ON THE HORIZON Gender equality has come a long way.

The milestones are easy to plot out, from voting rights to decreasing barriers for women entering the workforce.

Examples of overt discrimination that used to be the norm are now punishable offences or, at the very least, frownedupon behaviour. And we’ve gone from segregating employment ads for males and females to examples of successful women in just about every industry and occupation—from corporate CEOs to combat military personnel.

As co-CEO of an organization dedicated to the advancement of women in the workplace, I’m elated by

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By Stephania Varalli, Co-CEO, Women of Influence

the progress women have made. I’m also shocked when anyone suggests that we’ve largely solved the problem of gender inequality. And it’s an argument that I’ve heard, in varying forms and degrees of conviction, from both men and women.

The major issues have been addressed, so we’ve fixed it, right?

I like to respond with this analogy: gender inequality is like a weed, and though we may have lopped off the stem sticking out of the ground, the roots run deep. Fortunately, we’re starting to dig.

In short, no, we haven’t fixed it.

Let’s look at the big picture: last year,

the World Economic Forum predicted it would take until 2133 to achieve gender parity. The most disappointing part of this estimate? It put us 38 years further from the goal as compared to their 2014 prediction, which suggested we would close the gender gap by 2095.

That means global progress hasn’t just stalled, it is heading in reverse. And if you think Canada must be an exception to the rule, think again. In that same Global Gender Gap Report, our 2015 ranking was 30th out of 145 economies.

In 2006, we were ranked at 14.

Narrowing the scope to employment, we see similar stalled progress. Yes, 57

doors have been opened to most professions, but getting in has proven easier than moving up. In the political sphere, according to UN data, we’re currently sitting at an all-time peak of 19 female heads of government or elected heads of state (in some cases, they are both). For context, there are 196 countries in the world.

In the corporate world, the benchmarks are equally disappointing: women hold less than five per cent of Fortune 500 CEO roles, and just over fourteen per cent of the top five leadership positions at S&P 500 companies. A report by executive search firm Rosenzweig & Company found only 45 women in the highest-paid positions in Canada’s top 100 listed companies in 2015, the equivalent of 8.5 per cent. And on the whole, Canadian women are making 27 per cent less than men—a gap that has barely budged in the last ten years.

These markers paint a picture of where we’re at, but they don’t explain why we’re there. Why has progress stalled? How could we still be this far from equality, when we’ve already tackled the big issues?

Like most large and complex problems, there is no singular, simple answer, but there is a common thread: discrimination that is subtle, subconscious, and pervasive.

Unconscious bias is the term most often used to describe all of the preconceived notions and preferences that guide our decisions without us being aware of it. It can also be called hidden or implicit bias. Laura Liswood, a thought leader in diversity and inclusion (whom I had the great pleasure of meeting at our Global Senior Executive Dinner in Washington, D.C. last year), coined the term “grandma”

Stephania Varalli is Co-CEO of Women of Influence, an organization dedicated to women’s career advancement.

Visit womenofinfluence.com for access to inspiring and informative content and info on upcoming events and programs in Canada and abroad.

“In a culture filled with male CEOs, is it unreasonable for a woman to subconsciously view the role as unattainable?”

to refer to all those things we have learned in our past that stay with us as adults, and ultimately impact our behaviour in the workplace. By any name, it limits opportunities and creates disadvantages.

Numerous studies have shown that unconscious bias can cause hiring managers to give unequal weight to candidates with equal qualifications, or for women to get negatively judged for negotiating a raise (too aggressive!) while men are applauded for the same behaviour (a go-getter!), or for mothers to be perceived as less competent and committed, or for white males to erroneously believe that they are operating in a meritocracy. It can even impact women’s perceptions of themselves, how they feel they should act, and what they see as achievable in their own career.

At the end of last year, Women of Influence partnered with American Express Canada on a study that explores female ambition in Canada. It yielded very interesting results. While 51% of women surveyed defined themselves as ambitious in their careers, and over 80% scored themselves high on skills they identified as necessary for successful leadership, only 32% believed the c-suite is within reach.

In a culture filled with male CEOs, is it unreasonable for a woman to subconsciously view the role as unattainable?

This is the key reason Women of Influence offers events featuring female role models at the podium, and profiles in our magazine and online.

We recognize the need for women to be aware of and inspired by stories that prove success for women is achievable.

This is lacking in mainstream media,

where gender bias continues to impact the content and quantity of female coverage. Women’s physical attributes are still unnecessarily discussed, and they are less likely to be used as experts; according to research from the last quarter of 2015, men accounted for 71% of all those quoted or interviewed across seven Canadian newspapers and broadcasters.

On the positive side, we are starting to see mainstream coverage on topics like unconscious bias, wage inequality, and even gender bias in media.

It’s a sign of hope on the horizon, providing evidence that in business, in government, and more broadly as a culture, we are beginning to have meaningful and necessary conversations about inequality, and are taking steps towards change.

After too many years of stagnation, there is now much progress to be excited about.

Major corporations are releasing diversity numbers, like the wave of tech giants that came clean in 2014.

Many are taking the next step by investing in unconscious bias training or technology—and it’s a positive sign in itself that these tools and services are turning into an emerging business sector. Men are joining in the cause, with individual pledges for parity— like Justin Trudeau’s widely publicized “because it’s 2015” comment—and with broader initiatives like the UN’s HeForShe campaign. Organizations are voluntarily correcting wage gaps, from Salesforce.com to McMaster University, that is adding $3,515 to the base salaries of all full-time female faculty members.

Singular examples of progress are now easy to find, and those are always the precursor to overarching change.

CTIONABLE SUMMARY

Summary written by Ronni Hendel-Giller

The very sight of a phone on the landscape leaves us feeling less connected to each other, less invested in each other.”

- Reclaiming Conversation, page 4 .

Both focused and far-reaching, Reclaiming Conversation is a book with a powerful message. Our relationship to technology— especially our smartphones—has evolved in ways that put our capacity for conversation at risk—at an enormous cost.

This is a book that forced me to think hard about the ways in which devices are changing our lives—and reducing our capacity for empathy, creativity and true connection with others. For people who didn’t grow up with a smartphone (me), it’s a wake-up call to reclaim the behaviors that once dominated my life (like quiet time and uninterrupted conversation.)

For those who’ve known no other reality— it’s a call to develop new capacities—and a testament to why they matter.

Sherry Turkle writes at a time when many of us know that something is not working— and are feeling uneasy. She shares quotes from hundreds of interviews, with people of all ages, that eloquently describe that unease. She describes a profound problem— and offers up an alternative, including suggestions for creating new practices in our homes, schools and workplaces.

Living into these new practices will require both honesty and discipline—understanding the power of technology in our lives, acknowledging our vulnerability, and creating new ways of living with our devices.

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Reclaiming Conversation, Sherry Turkle Conversations Matter Conversation is on the path toward the experience of intimacy, community and communion. Reclaiming conversation is a step toward reclaiming our most fundamental human values.”

- Reclaiming Conversation, page 7 .

Our devices are creating a world in which true conversation is rare. Conversation requires undivided attention to another person or group of people, staying engaged when things get a bit boring and slogging through the unknown and uncomfortable.

Conversations include both being heard and listening—they require full presence.

We learn to converse as children— both by learning to be alone and by learning to be together. We learn through quiet, unhurried time with our parents— when they are with us fully.

Our devices are changing our relationship to conversation. They encourage distraction—when even

slightly bored, we go to the device. We come in and out of the conversation.

Parents check emails when we’re with their babies—meaning that they do not get our undivided attention—and perhaps not a lot of our eye contact.

Young adults learn to text rather than speak—meaning that their conversation is mediated, planned—they create their personas carefully—and take far less risk.

We know that multi-tasking doesn’t work—and we continue to multi-task.

Uni-tasking becomes increasingly difficult. We create rules (no phones at dinner) and we don’t abide by them.

We have largely given up on holding

meetings where we expect full attention— and we have created all kinds of ways of accommodating for distraction.

Conversations are powerful—we create new thinking through conversation, build things that are bigger than any one of us alone, create deep and abiding connections, become happier. Through conversation we understand other people, developing the capacity for true empathy.

Studies show a precipitous decline in the capacity for empathy among the generation that is being raised with smartphones. We are losing the ability to walk in another person’s shoes because we aren’t talking.

Learn to be Alone–and Together We are so accustomed to being always connected that being alone seems like a problem technology should solve.”

- Reclaiming Conversation, page 10 One of the most powerful claims made

by Turkle is that “in solitude we find ourselves”—and that the capacity to

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be alone is critical to the capacity to be together. It is also critical to the capacity to be creative and productive.

The degree to which we have lost that capacity is alarming. In moments of quiet—we turn to our phones. We don’t

61

allow ourselves to get bored. We are always connecting, always on. Finding alone time—embracing solitude— is a critical first step in reclaiming

conversation.

Turkle posits that the increasing interest in mindfulness meditation is a response to this—a recognition that we need to learn

to “turn off.” She suggests that there are other ways to be alone as well—and it’s critical that we develop and/or reclaim that capacity in ourselves.

Be Intentional About Technology–and Conversation The world’s largest conference call provider, used by 85% of Fortune 100 firms, studied what people are doing during meetings: 65 percent do other work, 63 percent send email, 55 percent eat or make food, 47 percent go the bathroom, and 6 percent take another phone call.”

- Reclaiming Conversation, page 254 And I thought it was me! I admit that, at one time or another, I have used conference call time for ALL of the above. It’s sobering.

Turkle promotes face-to-face conversation—and a profound awareness of the impact of virtual workplaces on how we work and live. She shares studies that clearly demonstrate that face-to-face conversation leads to higher productivity and reduced stress.

By being honest about our vulnerability to the call of our phones and other devices—we can begin to design our lives and our workplaces to support meaningful conversation.

While this is easier in physical workspaces (no-device meetings, planned social time and spaces, active mentorship programs based on face-to-face meetings,) we also need to find ways to work virtually together in ways that promote true connection.

“Remember the power of your phone.

It’s not an accessory. It’s a psychologically potent device that changes not just what you do but who you are.”

Few books I’ve read in recent years have left me so uncomfortable and so committed to doing things differently.

Turkle has forced me to be honest with

myself about my own device habits—and to notice my (almost-grown) children’s habits—and ask them to notice as well.

I’m still trying to figure out what “differently” will look like for me at work—how I can work virtually and still engage in powerful conversations. What I can bring to those conversations—and what I can ask of others.

Turkle gives inspiring examples of the impact of changing behaviors.

Empathy can be restored when habits are changed. We can learn (or re-learn) to converse and to focus. I hope this book serves as a call to action.

This book summary was written by Ronni Hendel-Giller on behalf of ActionableBooks.com

THE ART AND ERROR OF

ALPHA BODY LANGUAGE

When it comes to searching for the right body language that can make you look and feel like a leader, a quick google search will bring you a slew of articles on what to do and what not to do in order to show up as the big “I am” in any and every situation.

As with most highly competitive areas of human interaction, the avenues to victory often turn out to be way more nuanced than these popular online articles may suggest or be equipped to deliver—because if it were it really as simple as following a few easy rules, we’d all be the leader, right?

So what makes becoming the leader so much more complex than all of that?

We humans are social animals that inhabit varied environments. Each social event where we might aspire to lead is therefore bound to be highly situational, and to this point there is no absolute scientific rule on the right or wrong body language to use across the board—just results you wanted or did not want in that specific situation.

In contrast, popular research would have you think that there are a universal set of “power” behaviors that the “top dogs” naturally show and we can all follow to get us the leadership roles.

This idea of “Alpha” body language stems from the Social Dominance Theory, derived from early 19th century European

VOLUME 14

behavioral research into captive wolves.

In a nutshell, the interaction of captive wolves was researched, and resulting theories were applied to address wild wolf behavior, and then further applied to address how domestic dogs behave, and then to humans. While none of the original behaviors seen in the captive wolves can scientifically be viewed as normal for wild wolves (due to the situational differences), the behaviors linked to dominance were seen to reflect human patterns of behavior, and so theoretically taken to accurately describe norms of our human behavior.

The reverse of the approach would be analogous to drawing inferences about leadership dynamics in wild wolf packs by studying imprisoned humans.

Though there maybe some correlation, the species, society and situation are radically different.

Nowadays, after years of more carefully constructed studies, we understand that in some species of social mammals every member of a group has a place in the hierarchy, while in others there is a dominant leader or codominant partnership over a group of subordinates who are equal in power to each other.

Humans are even more complex: we belong to more than one social circle—a person who may be a follower at work may be a leader within their interest group that physically meetup

By Mark Bowden

each weekend, and then positioned somewhere between the two in any of the many virtual tribes of which they are a part; the leader in the workspace may now rank well beneath them in this context. Human social dominance is complex. One size does not fit all in all circumstances; and so one behavior can win you rank in one context and demote you in another.

This is why when working with leaders on their executive presence, I look first at the results they need to achieve within the specific tribal context—then together we can create the right nonverbal strategies to bring them closer to (or to retain) a leadership position, or even help to spread the leadership responsibility across the team. This broadens their nonverbal vocabulary and gives them the confidence to choose more influential, generous and charismatic strategies to get what they need.

To this end let’s take a look at the top three popular “alpha” rules around leadership body language, and also discover further options for leading with body language that can help a modern leader into a calm and assertive state of synchronization: a state that will enable leadership through establishing common ground and community, rather than over relying on the pop psychology of domination.

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POP RULE #1: SMILING IS LOW STATUS

– LEADERS SMILE LESS. SMILING IS A SUBORDINATE BEHAVIOR. WOMEN SMILE MORE TO PLEASE OTHERS AND ARE THEREFORE LESS OFTEN THE ALPHA. Let’s put this one to bed immediately!

Whether male or female, smiling is a universal signal that the environment or relationships within it are good.

The smile is no way a direct indicator of social status or power. Smiling is an indicator of feeling and intention towards the environment and events within it, so of course others will look to a leader or potential leader to gauge their

reactions to events in order to moderate or choose how they react in return. To lead in certain situations where you need to indicate to those around you that what you are saying or what others are saying or doing is viewed as positive— then smile! Indeed, give a full duchenne smile (that’s the “true smile” when both the sides of your mouth curl up and your eyes narrow to form wrinkles at

the edges) for more than three seconds, as this is the time needed to it to be fully registered in others minds. Giving no expression often will simply cause others to default to a negative assessment of your feeling and intention towards the environment of events. So, yes, if you do want to come across as a negative nelly because you feel this exerts social power then don’t you dare ever crack a smile!

POP RULE #2: ALPHAS ONLY DELIVER EYE CONTACT – TRUE LEADERS HOLD EYE CONTACT WHEN THEY ARE SPEAKING BUT LOOK AWAY WHEN OTHERS SPEAK TO THEM. Oh, come on! To put this in it’s rightful place, let’s look at why we humans use eye contact and how special it is to our species. In humans, the greatly exposed whites of the eyes—the sclera, surrounding the darker colored iris—makes it easy for others to discern the direction of our gaze.

This characteristic is not found in other primate species or other social mammals.

It’s a human adaptation that specifically enhances the gaze signal.

Looking back in our human history, this has meant that we can hunt and protect, silently and together,

by indicating the direction of prey or predators without making a sound or drawing undue physical attention (and thus giving ourselves away) which could easily happen by indicating through moving larger more visible body parts.

So eye contact is profoundly linked to our survival as an essential way to quietly target for our tribe where something of importance/danger is situated.

So delivering eye contact has the potential to give power, share power, and give status to others; and importantly, actively accepting eye contact from others

implies an acceptance of sharing power and status; and also in certain contexts, accepting eye contact can establish you as being the target. It therefore goes both ways—it is important for a leader to deliver the feeling and intention towards their target... ie look at others when talking to them. Of equal importance can be to synchronise with the group you lead and accept with their eye contact the feeling and intention of that tribe that you are their target and so the leading entity of the group.. in other words, look at them when they talk to you!

POP RULE #3: TOP DOGS DOMINATE WITH THEIR HANDSHAKE – NOT ONLY DO ALPHAS GIVE A EXTREMELY FIRM HANDSHAKE, BUT THEY ALSO TRY TO BE THE DOMINANT HAND IN THE HANDSHAKE WITH THEIR HAND ON TOP OF THE CLASP AND ONLY GIVING THE OTHER THE BOTTOM PART OF THE HANDSHAKE WHICH HAS LESS PHYSICAL ADVANTAGE AND MORE RISKY EXPOSURE. This is an “old hat” idea for domination!

But of course as modern leaders we often need to give out status not take it.

And of course a great indicator of high power status is your ability to give out power. That’s why I often coach leaders to give others “the upper hand” when

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giving a handshake. This is when as the leader you offer your hand out with the palm up so that the other’s hand can only go on top of yours. Contrary to popular body language law, this is not submissive–it is generous! And with generosity comes reciprocity.

Give others a little of your leadership status by giving them an upper hand shake and they are way more likely to be compelled to synchronise with you and unconsciously to give you what you need from them in return.

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Our newly-designed Fairmont Luxury Rooms are a fresh, modern addition to the regal elegance that is synonymous with the hotel. With currently over 500 newly renovated Luxury Rooms available, Fairmont Royal York continues into the next phase of its multi-million dollar revitalization plan - adding an additional 300 Luxury Rooms by the end of 2015. Fairmont Royal York is proud to be entirely smoke-free, and focused on providing the highest standard of service and sophistication in the core of Downtown Toronto.

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With a newly revitalized Front Street and neighbourhood surrounding us, Fairmont Royal York is currently located at the ideal focal point of downtown Toronto. All modes of transportation, including VIA Rail, TTC and the brand new rail link UP Express – connecting Toronto Pearson International Airport and Toronto’s Union Station in 25 minutes – are only steps away from our front doors.

Leadership Development • Employee Engagement • Change Management • Career Transition • Recruitment

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Lee Hecht Harrison Knightsbridge helps organizations achieve their business objectives at every level, by helping people navigate change, improve performance and attain their career goals. Our expertise in Career Management & Transition, Talent and Leadership Development, and Recruitment provides unique perspectives on complex talent issues and challenges. With our technology-driven customized and scalable solutions, our clients can find, develop and deploy accountable, engaged talent, ready to achieve the organization’s business objectives.

With 29 offices across Canada, and over 300 offices in 60 countries worldwide, Lee Hecht Harrison Knightsbridge has the expertise and capability to support a single executive or transform an entire workforce.

For more information visit www.lhhknightsbridge.com