Women Benefit More From Social Networks Than Men

Interesting research out of the University of Oregon found that women benefit more from social networks than men as it relates to labour and incomes. Women can make up to 68% more simply by being referred by a family member, compared to not having any connections to an employer.

"Personal networks and the incomes of men and women in the United States: Do personal networks provide higher returns for men or women?" by Michael Aguilera, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, was published in the September edition of Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.

The National Post's article on August 25 notes that his findings show "women who found their current job through a close relative like a parent or sibling earned $32,691 a year on average, researchers at the University of Oregon found, while those who landed a job through a close friend earned $28,546. Those with no previous connection to their employer pulled in just $19,415 annually. Men, meanwhile, didn't enjoy any salary benefits from their personal grapevine."

This is powerful information for women and great motivation for women to let family and friends know when you're looking for a new job.

What I wonder is why men don't benefit as much as women. Are they already perceived to be valuable candidates without the referral? Is there a bias against women vs. men in their productivity ? Are organizations simply not discounting men, compared to women, so the salary is simply the salary for men?

Inspiration for Climbing the Proverbial Mountain

I have read and enjoyed a few of Paulo Coelho's books. He is probably best known for "The Alchemist" also known as the book that makes the world dream. Tonight, however I became a true fan Coelho because of his understanding of the power of networks and his willingness to engage with people. He has opened his life and thoughts on a multitue of social networking sites, including Twitter, Plurk, MySpace, Flickr, and also shares his work fairly freely. His generosity of providing free books and texts, at first appears to be contridictory to traditional promotions authors and publishers use, yet he has achieved phenomeonal success. I believe he has uncovered the power of online networking and promotion and is doing so with genuine passion. It's hard for me not to be drawn in.

On Coelho's blog site he offers e-cards. But not the traditional cheesy animated ones that you usually see, but a mini story or mini- e-book, in a flash-based book layout. I'm looking through each of the e-cards but my eagerness to share this with the world is side-tracking me.

My favourite e-card thus far is titled A Manual for Climbing Mountains. His inspirational worlds in this mini e-book have brightened my spirit and enthusiasm for pursuing my goals and dreams, while enjoying the journey. And for this reason, I share this with you. Hopefully it will light your motivation or give you courage to work towards your dreams. Enjoy.

RaspberryFox

For those of you interested in branding and marketing strategy, check out a new blog called RaspberryFox. It's my other blog focusing on, you guessed it, branding and marketing strategy.

Canadian athletes clothes were awful

Here's a little detour of the day...

Who designed the closing ceremonies outfits or apparel for the Canadian athletes? The print was awful and was accentuated by the television cameras. Our lean, muscular athletes' bodies were not flattered by the print or cut. The design of the pants looked like pajamas. I'm embarrassed at the lack of style. Canada should have used the Olympics as an opportunity to showcase our excellent designers and style. Now - no one will believe that Canadians have any style. Any thoughts to add? Do you disagree?

The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List: The 77 Best Business Books In Print

Have you ever considered taking your MBA? I have too. What makes me hesitate is the financial cost and trying to evaluate if the value is there for me. I already have a business undergrad degree and, while the experience to meet new people would be cool, I don't think it's worth the investment.

Friends who have business undergrads, a decent amount of work experience and have taken an MBA say the value of an MBA comes mostly from the connections and relationships formed during the program. So, if you already network strategically, can learn from reading books, are attentively learning through experience and have a business undergrad degree - an MBA is not going to bring to much value.

Do you need to take an MBA? Josh Kaufman, The Personal MBA doesn't think so. His philosophy is that you can learn everything you need to know to succeed simply by reading books. They have a list of 77 Best Business Books In Print. (Available for bulk purchase from Amazon - great feature and great business idea, Josh!)

I haven't read most of the books he recommends, so I can't make a personal comment on the chosen book list, but Josh mentions he has pulled in a variety of business experts to help develop the list and he reviews and updates the list to ensure it's still relevant. (Disclaimer: some of the experts' books are on the recommended book list.)

Some of my favourite and most useful business books I have read are (links to amazon.com):
- Good to Great, Jim Collins
- The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
- Managing the Professional Services Firm, David Maister
- Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends, Tim Sanders
- Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands, Kevin Roberts

Which business books are your favorites?
Do you agree that people can do their MBA on their own?

Strategic Planning in Today's Rapidly Changing World

Today I'm thinking about meaningful strategic planning and business planning in a world that is rapidly changing. As a marketing and branding strategist, I've always preached about having:
- goals and measurable objectives;
- clear strategies to achieve those objectives;
- a focused target market that is well understood;
- rational and emotional reasons to believe and engage in your brand;
- a strong understanding of the organization, competitors and environment; and,
- a tactical plan that links back to the objectives.

I think these fundamental still hold true. So, what has changed?

What has changed is the frequency that an organization needs to examine and perhaps tweak its plans. A business plan or marketing plan should be in arms reach, not collecting dust on the shelf. How often do you reference your plans? How often do you ask, is this still relevant and true?

In particular, the SWOT analysis and PEST analysis should be reviewed and updated every 6 months. Don't assume that everything is the same. Our environment changes rapidly and an organization needs to be slightly ahead of the curve. How often do you survey the environmental landscape? How much has changed since you last took a close look?

Plans are not static. They evolve and improve. Yes, the process of planning is still crucial because it makes you stop, listen, evaluate and make strategic decisions with a specific purpose in mind.

Not many people love to plan. Or, they get stuck in the process of planning and never move forward. For the entrepreneur or small organization, my suggestion, is once a quarter dedicate 1 day (8 hours) to reviewing your plans, surveying the broader market and making modifications.

Of course, you should be listening and having an ongoing dialogue with your customers almost daily. (Hopefully you're using social media and web 2.0 tools.) As you encounter interesting ideas and opportunities. Jot them down. If they're mid-to-long term then add them to your plans quarterly. If it's a short term opportunity, pull out your plan briefly, ask yourself if it is inline with the objectives and strategies - if yes. Do it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you think business planning has changed and how your organization has adapted.

Knowing Your Target Market

I had a devastating encounter on Friday. I was at a corporate event and one of the individuals there made a couple discriminatory remarks and told inappropriate stories about women. He was, at the same time, courting my business. Of course, his behaviour completely turned me off and he lost an potential business from me. If he lacked social judgment how could I trust him to manage my business with thoughtful intelligence? He made quite an impression and has severely hurt his brand in my eyes.

We all know that a brand is owned by a customer, not the corporation. A brand is the manifestation of all the multiple experiences a customer has with your organization. It's a wide spectrum that affects a brand, some of which can be controlled and some things that can not.

Here are a few things business learnings that I take away from the situation:

1. Your customers are living in "today", which is almost "tomorrow". Ensure that your policies, procedures, marketing, customer service, products, services and all portion of your value chain reflect today's reality and start evolving them for tomorrow.

2. Required IQ + EQ. An organization needs to be both brainy intelligent but also emotionally intelligent. You need to intimately know your customer. What hits their emotional buttons, both good and bad. Often it is the EQ that means more than the IQ. If you treat them with respect and interact with them on a genuine caring level they will start to trust and value you.

3. What is appropriate for one audience is not always appropriate for another audience. Be aware of your messaging, your product offers, your marketing vehicles... Does it reach and speak to the people who your are targeting. The phone companies have recognized that they needed to launch a brand targeted to youth because their existing brand didn't have much street cred (e.g. Telus has recently launched Koodo, similarly to how Bell (Fido) and Rogers (Solo) have youth brands.)

What other things do you take away from this situation?

What can social media sites do for my organization?

I'm sure many of you are on Twitter, Plurk and other conversational social media sites. This dialogue is nice and all, but what does it mean for branding, marketing and public relations? Well, it is incredibly important because individuals wield the power to sway, convey and share anything, and everything, they want. There was an old marketing saying that said 'for every positive experience a person has they tell two people but for every negative experience a person has they tell 7 people'. This helped to direct companies to do what was in the best interest of the customer. From here flowed the concept of being consumer centric or consumer focused. Today, with the help of social marketing sites, people can share their opinions and experiences in an instant, and to multiple people around the world, who may then share it multiple times again. It is powerful.

So, what is your company doing to be proactive with their online marketing strategy? Are you listening to your customers? Do you know who your customers are? Do you know how to find them? How often are you having conversations with your best customers? Can you quickly identify a customer who has voiced a concern online and address it immediately before it spirals through viral communications? What sort of value or savings comes from having satisfied customers who feel engaged and appreciated?

Ok, so there are a lot of questions to consider. I'll try to address these over the next month. Maybe give you the rationale and motivation to make the leap to 2008... and shift your organization's thinking about engaging customers.