Lessons from Kraft shutting a Cadbury factory

Today, Kraft executives came before the British Parliament to answer queries about the closure of a Cadbury’s factory near Bristol with the loss of 400 jobs. The reporting on this by the news media is sloppy and sensation-seeking. Kraft is positioned as the “evil empire”, too arrogant to even send its CEO to the hearings.

Yes, Kraft “promised” before the Cadbury’s takeover that they would not close any factories. And, yes, it is tragic that another few hundred people will be out of work by the end of next year. But, there is no surprise here, and Kraft should not be seen as the (only) villian.

Firstly, Cadbury had already announced the closure of the factory in 2007, planning to move production to Poland. Secondly, over the past two years, Cadbury has reduced their staff count by 7,000 people (that’s halving their workforce – according to the FT). Kraft it could be argued has, in fact, stemmed the flow of retrenchments from Cadbury. Why is there no mention of this today?

Notwithstanding the talk from headline seeking journalists or nationalistic Brits who can’t stand to see American firms take over “British” companies, there is actually no surprise over the way workers are being treated by Kraft/Cadbury. Until we fundamentally change our mindsets, the relentless pursuit of profit at any price will inevitably lead to workers being treated badly, and losing their jobs.

It’s no use moaning about this unless you’re prepared for the consequences of the alternative. As we approach Easter, would you be prepared to pay more for your chocolates knowing that you were securing 400 jobs at a factory near Wales? Would you pay a premium for Cadbury chocolates? Seriously, would you? It’s easy, for example, to moan about how the greedy bankers led us into a recession with their easy credit. But if you have an interest-only mortgage, or have a “portfolio” of properties that you have financed on cheap credit with the dream of filling them with tenants and selling them when their values escalated, you are as much part of the problem as any banker was. Ditto if you drive a car you can’t really afford, but were able to finance on cheap credit.

Until we, the world’s consumers, tell companies to change their behaviour, their only rational approach is to continue to cut costs. And we send that message by what we buy. If you join in with the general indignation at Kraft in Britain today, then take a few minutes to ask yourself what you will do to make your feelings known. Otherwise, it’s all just bluster.

Facebook killers?

Today, the UK press is full of headlines about Peter Chapman, the rapist and murderer sentenced yesterday to 35 years in jail. He has been labelled the ‘Facebook Murderer’ – and that really irritates me.

He connected with unsuspecting young women through Facebook, wooing them and trying to lure them into face to face meetings with him. But he also used email and text messages to do the same thing.

The victim he has been jailed for killing was 17 year old Ashleigh Hall. She thought he was a teenager, and on the fateful night of her murder, she believed she was receiving text messages from a teenage friend who told her ‘his father’ was coming to pick her up. That ‘father’ was Chapman himself.

So, why have the press not labelled him the SMS killer?

Then, on the train home, I was flipping through The Evening Standard and saw a story about Paul Bristol, a 24 year old who had been in the Caribbean when his London-based girlfriend announced she was dumping him – by way of Facebook. He flew back to London and stabbed her 20 times until she died. The headline of his story also shouted “Facebook” and “killer” in the same bold type. Do the journalists and headline writers really think Facebook is the problem here?

The media has real issues with social media. Is this victimisation of Facebook because the media has seem deep seated antagonism towards social media and blogging and all things digital that are undermining and destroying their industry? Or is it just lazy journalism and sensationalistic reporting?

Either way, it winds me up. Big time.

Twitter 10 Billion – quality not quantity

In the last few hours the 10 billionth tweet was tweeted on Twitter. As one would imagine there was all kinds of hype and excitement, as Tweeps with the necesary skills attempted to predict the time it would happen, and I imagine even be ‘the one’?

My last tweet was 9999989724. Wild. Will be at 10 billion by next tweet. – @Scobleizer

… and then seconds later….

Yup, already hit 10 billion. My last tweet was 10000011727 so now we can get on with real news. – @Scobleizer

This morning when I woke up it was all over, and followed:

Twitter reaches 10 billion tweets. (2 artcles)http://bit.ly/cApU1O http://bit.ly/a7KKcD – @MelanieMinnaar

…. to find who the Tweep was and what they Tweeted?

I’ll save you the pain of going along there yourself. Drumroll, the 10 billionth tweet on Twitter….. was a protected user, so the identity of the person is not known, and secondly because of that, nobody knows what they tweeted.

A complete let down. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it felt like it should have been one of those moments. In hindsight I realise my expectations were way off the mark.

Here’s what it’s taught me….. Twitter is not about quantity. It’s all about quality. The 10 billiont tweet was a let-down because the quality was terrible. It also doesn’t matter how many people follow you, or how many you follow, if the quality is bad, the entire experience is bad.

Keith Coats, a colleague of mine, often quotes a mentor of his… “Worry not the size of the stage on which you will be called to perform, worry that you have something to say!”

Nuf Sed

Role models for a new generation of young women?

I am the father of three pre-teen daughters, which is why I am very interested in the role models currently fighting for the attention of adolescent and pre-pubescent girls. So far, Miley Cyrus is a clear winner. I’m happy with that – old fashioned family values, Christian heritage, sickly sweet country-inspired music with inspiring lyrics, and seriously rocking concerts… what’s not to like?

But, on another extreme somewhere is the apparation known as Lady Gaga. So far, I’ve just tried to ignore her (but 18 million album sales says that’s not a clever strategy). But then, I read an article by an elderly editor of a conservative Catholic magazine in The Spectator, and he had a different take. Altogether different, and he gave me pause for thought. I think I need to check out what Lady Gaga is doing. It might not be that bad for my girls after all. Read for yourself…

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Which movie does that come from? (Wonder know more!)

I picked up a tweet recently which talked of a great new resource called MovieClips. Simple concept – you can remember a line from a movie, but cannot for the life of you remember which movie it’s from. You could search the Internet Movie Database or Google, of course, and find a text reference to it.

But why not search a movie database where the output is both the movie AND the clip you were looking for? That’s what Movie Clips does – 3 minute clips from movies with an exciting search feature. They have kicked off with about 12,000 clips, so you won’t find everything you’re looking for. But hopefully it will be supported and will grow. What a great idea!

But, I want to say more about this. When I checked it out, it told me that the content was only available in the USA and Canada, and that I should email them (link was provided) if I was from another country and wanted access. I was disappointed, but sent the email anyway. I expected very little. The next day, I received an email (from a real human being) saying that they had just switched on the functionality for the UK and that I had access. Oh, and could I comment on the speed and usability, too, please. They’re phasing in different countries, so as not to overwhelm their servers. Good thinking! Great service! Excellent connection! Superb product!

I’m already a huge fan! Long live MovieClips. Check them out.

Book Review – Free: The Future of a Radical Price

Chris Anderson is the editor of Wired, one of my favourite magazines. He has written two great books based on HBR articles. The first was “The Long Tail” – an awesome concept (Google it). Now, he has offered us another view of how the Internet is changing the world. It’s “Free”. A deputy editor at The Economist (my favourite magazine of all) has written a review. You can read it here, or below. Buy the book at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Kalahari – South Africa.

Chris Anderson is a guru of the information age. Under his editorship, Wired, the voice of the digital world, has won zillions of prizes. His speeches on the economics of the internet command vast sums. He’s a brilliant journalist; I know that, having worked with him before he was a big shot. But it is as an author that Anderson has gained most fame. He writes, broadly, about how digital technology has made the world a better place. His first book, The Long Tail, was hugely influential. In the bricks-and-mortar world, it said, in which the costs of marketing and distribution are high, companies make money by selling vast quantities of a few blockbuster items. In the digital world, in which the costs of marketing and distribution are low, companies can make money by selling small numbers of lots of different items.

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S+B’s Best Business Books of 2009

Booz & Co’s Strategy + Business ezine is one of my favourites, and one I always make time to read. Last week’s edition looked at the best business books of 2009, selected by their top team, and helpfully categorised.

If you want to read their reasoning, and some excellent background comments, start here. All I am going to do is list the books (and make it easy for you to buy them – choose from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Kalahari.net – for South Africa):

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Millennial Muddle

Kids these days. Just look at them. They’ve got those headphones in their ears and a gadget in every hand. They speak in tongues and text in code. They wear flip-flops everywhere. Does anyone really understand them? Only some people do, or so it seems. They are experts who have earned advanced degrees, dissected data, and published books. If the minds of college students are a maze, these specialists sell maps, so says Eric Hoover in his recent article in The Chronicle called The Millennial Muddle

The article covers the thoughts of leading authors, covering issues they agree on and disagree. It’s lengthy but well worth the read.

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Newspapers and Blogs. A great conversation

It’s not often I get sent a read like this one. And I follow a truck load of ‘reads’ everyday. Twitter, RSS, e-mail links, etc, etc. There is a lot of stuff that flows through my browser (is anyone else frustrated by Flash and Safari with the new Snow Leopard upgrade?).

The article I’m referring to (Let’s get sentimental; the readers deserve it) can be found on Marketingweb. It’s written by Gill Moodie:

Gill Moodie spent 14 years as a salaried hack in print media in South Africa and the UK before escaping to the blogosphere and freelance journalism. She is the publisher of Grubstreet in between unpacking and packing the infernal dishwasher and bringing up a four-year-old with attitude.

I suppose in all web 2.0 fairness I should take the time to credit Mel Stevens for sending it on, via e-mail (she’s barely a Tweeter or a FB’er). Thanks.

Back to the article. It’s an overview of the conversation between, primarily, Peter Bruce (Business Day editor) and Matthew Buckland (20FourLabs) and their good natured exploration of the future of newspapers in the midst of a web 2.0 onslaught. It brings in Barack Obama’s recent comments, along with a host of other great thoughts and comments from other great thinkers in this space.

Now, here’s why I love newspapers. Most of this excellent debate came from people schooled in the rigours of newsrooms. I, as a blogger for instance, may delight in thumbing my nose to traditional media but I can only do so because I was knocked into shape and learned how to be fair, accurate and (sometimes) thoughtful because I worked at newspapers, including at OMG’s (Peter Bruce).

I can’t do justice to her great article. Definitely worth going ‘there’ for a read. Certainly you’ll leave with at least one thought.

Social Networks and how we communicate

On Friday 2 October 2009, I was interviewed by Rueben Goldberg on Classic FM on his show, The Internet Economy.

I’d not met him before we recorded the show. He’s a good guy, fairly active on Twitter, and interesting and interested to talk to.

Our PR company, SimonSays Communications, assisted in getting the interview and I’m hoping this wont be the last chat to Reuben. Yeah, it won’t be.

If you’d like to listen to the PodCast (7 min) of my interview on his show, you can find links to it here.

How the world has changed (since 1909)

Today is precisely 60 years since Mao Zedong proclaimed the formation of the People’s Republic of China, based on communist principles which were immediately applied across the country. I am sure a lot will be written today on this anniversary.

I thought I’d mark the day of looking back by going a touch further to 1909. I was recently sent this email, and thought you’d enjoy thinking about how much has changed in 100 years. (By the way, 1909 was the year that Peter Drucker was born). The picture is of a 1909 Model T – the very best car money could buy…

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Motivation: Harvard’s ‘powerful new model’

Harvard Business Review’s ’summer reading’ (their big summer edition) has a big piece on motivation. This is obviously because motivation can take a big dip during an economic downturn, when the pressure is on and the incentives are low. They trumpet a “powerful new model” in a piece written by Nitin Nohria, Boris Groysberg and Linda-Eling Lee. Read it here.

Using the results of surveys they conducted with employees at a wide range of Fortune 500 and other companies, they developed a model for how to increase workplace motivation dramatically. The authors identify the organizational levers that companies and frontline managers have at their disposal as they try to meet workers’ deep needs.

Simply stated, their model suggests that we can learn from the neuroscience of leadership – using MRI scanners to see which areas of the brain light up to show activity and engagement – and says that there are four key drivers of motivation:

1. The drive to acquire – rewards and experiences
2. The drive to bond – building a sense of belonging
3. The drive to comprehend – work must be meaningful
4. The drive to defend – fair play for all

“By using all four levers simultaneously, and thereby tackling all four drives, organizations can improve motivation levels by leaps and bounds.” This is essential, as a recent Hay Group survey of more than 3,100 organizations found that 41% of employees felt demotivated by their managers.

Reporting on the HBR research in the FT, Stefan Stern says that the “powerful new model” doesn’t actually add anything to what we know already, and which was summed up in the iconic 1968 HBR article by Frederick Herzberg: “One more time: how do you motivate employees”. According to Herzberg, what really motivates people are their sense of achievement, recognition for their work, the work itself, responsibility, advancement and personal growth. Herzberg called for “job enrichment”: trying to make sure that people had interesting work to do.

Herzberg’s is probably most famous for this paragraph:

“If I kick my dog…he will move. And when I want him to move again what must I do? I must kick him again. Similarly, I can change a person’s battery, and then recharge it, and then recharge it again. But it is only when one has a generator of one’s own that we can talk about motivation. One then needs no outside stimulation. One wants to do it.”

So, yes, a nice summary of what motivates from the HBR. The problem is not in the model, but rather in its application. We know what to do as managers. We need to just jolly well get on and do it!

Competing rights and freedom claims

In a world of increasing complexity, we will continually need to deal with competing claims and rights (and the flip side, too, of responsibilities). America, as the sole superpower, must currently find a balance between “bringing freedom to the world” and protecting its own national interests. It is internally engaged in raucous debates about the competing rights of people with and without healthcare options. Companies must find a balance between shareholder demands for profit, customer demands for service and staff demands for work-life balance and a reasonable wage.

There are many ways to deal with this issue of competing rights. Here is a fun way…

I grew up in a cat loving family, and some of my favourite childhood pets were cats. But I have married into a family with a chronic genetic allergy to cats, and so we can’t have them at all. I am caught between two worlds – one that loves cats, and one that does not. I therefore had a good laugh at this article in the most recent Spectator magazine. It tells the story of a cat, a python and some enraged neighbours who don’t understand the limits of their rights. Enjoy it, and reflect on the bigger issue behind it.

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The increasing bankruptcy of 24 hour news media

I enjoy Jon Stewart’s Daily Show – the satirical news program from the States. Sometimes puerile, sometimes just dumb, but quite often genius, it is an (irreverent) look into US politics, culture and media. This past week, Stewart once again poked fun at the US media giants and the dumbing down of mainstream news media.

If it wasn’t so sad, it would be hysterical. Mainly, it’s just sad that the people we’re supposed to trust to report on what’s happening in our world have descended to these depths.

Watch the video below, or go here if you can’t see it.
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Mind the Gap in Fairlady magazine

Graeme Codrington was recently promoted in the South Africa Fairlady magazine, with an article focused on the generation gap. Read it online here, or below.

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A View from London – Graeme is blogging at BizCommunity

Graeme Codrington, one of the co-founders of TomorrowToday, and now based in London, has started a new blogging column at South Africa’s BizCommunity. It will only be two or three posts a month, but the content is focused on what South African business can learn from trends in London.

Why not bookmark the column now, and check back regularly (or add it to your RSS feed). It’s here.

The Bruno Movie – unhelpful cultural analysis

OK, so maybe the title of this post is a bit over the top. But the new movie from Sacha Baron-Cohen (aka Ali G, aka Borat), which portrays him as a gay Austrian television presenter, has the stated aim of providing cultural analysis. His goal is to shed light on inconsistent prejudice. Lofty goals indeed. Unfortunately, he fails to do so. In fact, he may do the opposite of his intention.

Probably the best review I have read of the movie comes from Toby Young of The Spectator. See what you think…

Status Anxiety
Toby Young
Wednesday, 8th July 2009

As funny as Bruno undoubtedly is, Baron-Cohen’s film is fundamentally dishonest

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Getting it very, very wrong! The Spectator on Global Warming

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of The Spectator magazine. I am normally quick to point out that I do not support their underlying political persuasion (which can head in the direction of Conservatism quite quickly) – this is important in the UK, where magazines and newspapers are very aligned politically, and what you read says almost more about you than what you say.

For the record, I mainly enjoy the magazine for its brilliant use of the English language, and the insightful analysis of current events (even if I don’t always agree with the application of the analysis).

But last week’s edition was a HUGE disappointment. The cover story banner read: “Relax: Global Warming is all a myth”. At first, I thought it was spoof cover – they do have a good sense of humour at The Spectator. Sadly, it was not. But that is not the issue. When a good magazine, with excellent journalists, does a lead article on any topic, it captures my attention, even if I don’t agree with them. But I was disappointed.

The lead article was a fairly facetious toned report of an interview with an Australian geologist who has written a book on cliamte change, called “Heaven and Earth”, in which argues – over 500 pages, and 2,300 footnotes – that humans are not causing climate change at all. The “tudh factor” of his book, and the look of academic scholarship in the footnotes unfortunately blinded an otherwise decent journalist. And that’s the disappointment. Thirty seconds on Google would given enough contrary evidence to alert the journalist to the possibility that “Professor Ian Plimer” (to use the full title accorded him in the story’s byline) has not quite got all his facts straight. The fact that no mention was even made of the contrary views (some of which are by the experts Plimer himself quotes to back up his version of the story) indicates that the journalist lost some journalistic integrity and did not do a good job on the story.

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Why my generation mourns Michael Jackson

As in life, so in death. I am watching the live broadcast of Michael Jackson’s gaudy memorial service at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, complete with golden coffin. Forgotten – for a moment at least – are the excesses and eccentricities of a very troubled individual. Today, the world mourns one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

Why is he so mourned?

The answer is simple. In a world gone mad – and global – Michael Jackson became an icon of a new generation. Born after “drugs, sex and rock n roll” had shaped the Boomer generation, the 1980s needed something new. “Generation X” came of age in a world filled with change when it was clear the old way of doing things was not sufficient for the path ahead.

Into that melting pot came a strangely asexual, non-cultural (black or white?), global icon, who created a new art form – the music video – and danced like no-one had ever danced before. “Thriller” was ground breaking in every possible way, but mainly because it created the fusion of music and visual overload that has become the staple of the MTV generation. It gave a generation not just a voice, but a moving image too. This was the first generation that needed more than a voice to express itself. Michael Jackson showed us how.

His grisly life has been a sobre reminder to my generation of what could become of us – destroyed by the things we pursue, haunted by our dreams, empty even though we own everything we want, never quite achieving what we set out for… yet, somehow, in that melancholy, able to raise a thin, clear voice to say, “Heal the world / Make it a better place / For you and for me / And the entire human race”.

He had a way of saying – and showing – what a generation was thinking.

He may have been flawed. But he was a genius. And he is mourned by a generation that is now growing older, and take this shared moment to reflect on our own legacy – and mortality.

The author as performer

The FT (Financial Times) had a great piece recently on how authors are now using the art of dramatic storytelling to enhance the value they add when doing live presentations based on their books. Specifically focusing on Malcolm Gladwell (who seems to be living my dream life) and TED, it’s a great read if you’re interested in writing, speaking, communicating ideas and the art of the dramatic in business life.

Read it online here, or see the extract below.

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Graeme Codrington suggests books on Classic FM

Graeme Codrington was recently interviewed on Classic FM’s “JSE Direct” show. It is a book review show, and Graeme highlighted two books he feels everyone should be reading, if they are interested in tracking key trends that will be shaping the world of work over the next 10-20 years.

They are: Ken Dytchwald, “Age Power” (Buy it at Amazon) and James Martin, “The Meaning of the 21st Century” (Buy it at Amazon or Kalahari).

Subscribe to out PodCast feed to listen to the interview:

• :: iTunes
• :: RSS

PWC “Millennials at work” survey

The “Millennials at Work” research to be published by PricewaterhouseCoopers later this year is based on survey responses from over 4200 graduates in 44 countries (click here to see last year’s survey). The headline results include some interesting insights into how this younger generation thinks about ethics and their company.

Young members of staff especially want ethical employers and training, and will work for less pay if treated well. While 61% of employers worldwide say they have challenges recruiting and keeping young employees, new research shows that the young – far from being the self-centred job-hoppers employers depict them as – are idealists who want ethical employers.

In a key finding, 88% of young staff say they want employers with corporate social responsibility (CSR) values that reflect their own. Additionally, 86% would consider leaving an employer whose CSR values no longer reflected theirs. An employer’s policy on climate change is seen as important or very important by most graduates globally (58%).

A billboard made of money – it cost a billion dollars!

Zimbabwe has been so messed up by Bob Mugabe that their currency is worth nothing. Literally. For the last year or more, bank notes have had expiry dates on them. When these expire the money is useless. Actually, because of hyperinflation, the money is mainly useless anyway.

A Zimbabwean newspaper used a billion of these dollars to create this billboard. It’s a great way to make a point. If only the international community would do something about the man who has singlehanded destroyed a nation!

How can this happen in the modern world?

Incorrect Thinking in the Financial Crisis

The current economic crisis has seen a deluge of woolly thinking. At TomorrowToday we work hard to bring clarity in the midst of such defective views of the world. Here are just a few of the nonsenses being perpetrated on logic and reason:

There are many statements about consumers being “impacted by the credit crunch”. I have read this phrase in particular with reference to houses and cars.

House prices are currently in decline in most parts of the world – and most journalists (probably fuelled by estate agent press releases) perpetuate the nonsense that this is “bad news”. It’s about as much bad news as petrol, food or beer prices falling, isn’t it? There are a number of reasons why this could be a nonsense statement. For some people, their house is still worth more than what they bought it for (and more than they have borrowed in mortgage to pay for it). So, they are mourning the “loss” of an estate agent’s valuation, rather than any actual monetary loss. For others who overstretched themselves to buy their house, they are now in a “negative equity”. But unless they have to sell their house in the next few months, this should have no real impact on them. The only people for whom this crisis is, in fact, a crisis are those who have multiple properties in the “buy to let” market, and now have empty properties with no rental income but mortgages due.

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Barbie is 50 years old this week

Yes, Barbie – the doll – is 50 years old. As a father of three young daughters, I know Barbie. She (and her clones) are in my home. Is this good or bad? Too much rubbish has been written about this.

But, then in the New Statesman magazine, I read this fantastic little piece that put it brilliantly! By the way, this week’s edition of New Statesman is awesome! It looks at the crowds that changed the world in 1989 – get it and enjoy a brilliant magazine!

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The day I saw the future of the News

This is synchronicity. I had just finished posting my previous blog about Bernie Madoff and the biggest fraud of the downturn (although that’s debatable, really). Then, I watched the recording I had made of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show from earlier this week. Two things struck me.

Firstly, how the whole financial system is sick. The SEC failed. The directors and Board members of companies failed. The central banks failed. Governments failed. Financial media failed. Investors were gullible, greedy and foolish. And now honest, hard working people like myself have to struggle for survival and fear for our homes and our children’s futures! And a lot of them in the system are still thieving and lying! During the last Great Depression, the bankers were hailed as heroes and seen as the pillars of society. How times have changed. And the future will not be anything like the past.

But the second thing that struck me was that I had witnessed a moment in history. I have put the clips below, so you can witness it too.

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Let the (dumb) markets speak

I am a fan of Jon Stewart and his satirical news show, “The Daily Show“. While it’s not as clever (or funny) as some of the British shows (such as Mock the Week, or Have I Got News For You), it does often have great moments of clear insight into what’s going on in America. It is a great example of the powerful use of parody as a political tool.

One of the most pieces they’ve ever done on the show was aired earlier this week, and showed just how wrong the Wall Street pundits have got it over the past few years. Now that the US government is trying to put some controls on Wall Street, it’s frothing at the collective mouth. But it’s all bluster and fury, signifying nothing, as Jon Stewart and co so brilliantly point out. Enjoy the two video extracts from the show on 4 March. Links are below:

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Visit Johannesburg – go on, you’ll love it!!

I may live in the cold and clammy climes of London, England (one of the world’s greatest cities). But I was born and brought up in Johannesburg, the city of trees (more than any other urban area in the world), afternoon thunderstorms (the most number of air to ground lightning strikes of any urban area in the world), and Africa’s economic heartbeat. I love cities. I love Johannesburg most of all.

It’s a dangerous place, to be sure. You can’t be stupid, and you have to stay awake. But if you do, it’s one of the greatest places in the world. Check out a previous post about this. But, don’t believe me. Jeremy Clarkson, BBC journalist and famous host of the greatest car show on earth (Top Gear), has had his say on the city of my birth.

From The Sunday Times
March 1, 2009
I dare you to visit Johannesburg, the city for softies
It’s the least frightening place on earth, yet everyone speaks of how many times they’ve been killed that day

Every city needs a snappy one-word handle to pull in the tourists and the investors. So, when you think of Paris, you think of love; when you think of New York, you think of shopping; and when you think of London – despite the best efforts of new Labour to steer you in the direction of Darcus Howe – you think of beefeaters and Mrs Queen.
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How to avoid death by Powerpoint

It is very rare to find a truly captivating presenter.  It is very easy to come across cringe-inducing ones though.

How should you design a good presentation?  How can you get your message across?  How can you develop power, presence and confidence when public speaking?

Watch this excellent talk by Garr Reynolds (author of PresentationZen).  It is 60 minutes long but the time will fly by, as any engaging presentation should.

 Link to the talk on YouTube.

Motivating your senior staff (remember, they’re Boomers)

A lot is written about how to attract and retain talented young staff. And, right now, in the midst of a global recession, even more is being written about how to get them engaged and passionate about what they are doing. But a recent survey from CEB (the Corporate Executive Board) reminds us not to think that older, top level staff are settled, focused and sticking around.

“Most companies think that in the downturn employees, especially senior leaders, are just grateful to have a job,” says Jean Martin, executive director of the CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council. In fact, valued players are increasingly likely to be looking around. Among high-potential employees (identified as such by their employers) one out of four plans on quitting in the next 12 months. The best way to motivate the top group? Money. They are Baby Boomers after all. Read more about what TomorrowToday has to say on generations in the financial crisis.

The CEB survey shows that employee engagement is falling faster among top executives than any other group. Only 13% of senior executives at the vice-presidential level or higher say they are “willing to go above and beyond what is expected of them”—a decline from 29% two years ago. In the December 2008 survey of the CEB’s 79,000 member employees worldwide at 123 organizations, 20% of all respondents said they were disengaged – that was only 10% two years ago.

CEB says compensation-based incentives are three times as likely to improve engagement among senior executives as among the workforce as a whole. To keep high-potential employees from defecting, companies should be investing in rewarding them and have a rigorous performance-management process in place to ensure a genuine meritocracy.