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Forbes: Four Reasons Social Capital Trumps All

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags: ,

We’ve all heard (or said) the phrase, “it’s not what you know but who you know.” And, entrepreneurs really shouldn’t take that casually. Because, your connections really can make a difference in whether your company just gets by or truly thrives.

This may still be a new concept for some, so take note. While financial and human capital continue to be important for your company, social capital can potentially gain your business the most benefits of all.

In this article, Chris Cancialosi shares four reasons why social capital is the most important for entrepreneurial success, and reveals how to make social capital work for you.

Forbes: Cross-Training As The Best Defense Against Indispensable Employees

By gothamCulture
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If one team member is unable to get his work done, another should be prepared to step up. So, consider cross-training as your best defense for unforeseen circumstances or relying too much on a sole employee. Not only is this level of strategic planning beneficial for organizational purposes, but it can also help the inner workings of your business. From increased sustainability to efficiency, cross-training ensures that your company — and its employees — will be able to handle whatever challenges may come its way.

If you’re not cross-training your employees, Chris suggests in this article that it may be time to start.

Change Culture From Within

By gothamCulture
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The conversation about a company’s culture, and the effects on productivity, satisfaction and overall success, is a widely popular one. In this Employment Notebook podcast , Chris Cancialosi talks with Tim Muma about strategies for changing that culture from within, instead of waiting for management to make adjustments. As Chris notes: “everyone has the capability to improve a company’s culture from the inside.”

http://www.localjobnetwork.com/radio/play?rp_id=758

Forbes: How to Communicate Change

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags: ,

When Microsoft announced it was laying off 12,500 employees in a 1,100-word email, it inadvertently sparked a discussion on company communication. How can business leaders effectively communicate company changes to their staff? What is the protocol?

Big or small, changes are changes, and they need to be reported to employees accordingly. By approaching discussions with factors like timeliness in mind, leaders can have more success in talking with their teams.

In this article, and with added insight from Jenny Dervin, the former Vice President of Corporate Communications for JetBlue, Chris Cancialosi outlines three lessons to be learned from Microsoft’s recent layoff.

Moving Toward a Code of Ethics for Data

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags:

In my previous post, I talked about the status of Big Data.  In this post, I’d like to discuss some of the ethical issues we’re facing in the data world.

We are at an interesting crossroads between data and culture.  Today, we have the ability to collect and analyze large amounts of data (much of it from social media) but our increased use of data is changing how we view concepts such as privacy and confidentiality.  In light of the NSA Surveillance debate and a recent thought experiment from Facebook, people are beginning to question the boundaries between acceptable and not acceptable use of personal data.

This is more of a question of ethics than anything else, but it will likely become an integral aspect of how companies engage consumers and define their brand and image. In this new environment, some of the challenges businesses and consumers face include:

  1. The nature of private vs. public information: What does privacy actually consist of when we are all connected through social networks?
  2. The confidentiality vs. profitability of information: Is data kept “in-house” or is it sold for use by other businesses?
  3. The use of analytics to serve the customer vs. “manipulate” the customer: Are analytics used to better understand customer preferences or to subtly sway the customer and restrict their choices?

It doesn’t take long to realize that there is a fine line that separates these areas.  In many cases, the distinction is blurred and hashing out the details will require a broader social conversation that weighs the costs (in terms of privacy) with the benefits (in terms of improved customer service) of our growing reliance on analytics.  On the one hand, there is uncertainty surrounding how our data and information is used, while on the other hand, we gain the ability to more precisely fulfill consumer needs and even improve more fundamental factors such as the safety and reliability of the products we purchase.

These are key questions organizations need to ask, especially with regard to how they define their mission to customers.  They also have implications for how an organization is perceived publicly and the type of culture they embrace internally (see Chris Cancialosi’s article on establishing a Leadership Brand).  When launching a new data-driven initiative (whether Big Data or conventional), there are several questions to consider:

  1. Could it cause significant distress to a customer by revealing potentially embarrassing or unwanted information?
  2. Are you trying to understand a customer or strongly steer their behavior?  Does it sound eerily similar to something out of 1984 or Brave New World?
  3. How secure is the data from potential hackers?  What are the associated risks?
  4. What is the problem this initiative will solve?  What is the method to acquire the data, and how is it better than other options?

These are complicated questions that won’t be answered any time soon and there are a number of different perspectives on what needs to happen (see here, here, and here for some examples).  At the end of the day, the key question is one of tolerance: how much “privacy” are consumers willing to give up for the benefits data provides (see my post for an example of this trade-off)?  This will be different for each person, so it is important for consumers and organizations to become educated in understanding how data is used, weigh the costs and the benefits, and make informed choices.

Forbes: Indiana Jones: hero, archaeologist, and…innovation entrepreneur?

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags: ,

Just as the “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” movies tell the stories of ancient relics that give their handlers power, so, too, can innovation give companies great power and a sense of command. From failure to organization, the problem solving of the Indiana Jones character provides insight on business innovation.

In the first post of the series, Chris Cancialosi explains how the hero archaeologist discovers innovation. In the second post, Chris goes into the Indiana Jones-style innovation implementation process.

Forbes: Don’t Believe the Hype

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags: ,

Being the top dog in an industry can bring previously unknown rewards and accolades, but how close to the sun can you fly before your wings fail?

Many companies are guilty of the “Icarus trap” because they begin believing their own hype. This active inertia can lead to overconfidence and an insular perspective. As a result, many businesses lose focus and experience a loss of momentum and awareness. Rather than proactively planning, they revel in past successes.

In this article, Chris Cancialosi discusses active inertia and provides five tips for combating this potentially fatal flaw.

Five Ways To Change Your Company Culture

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags: ,

Free donuts can only accomplish so much. Sure, they’re tasty, and the sugar rush can help you make it through the next 30 minutes, but are they really boosting company culture or just your blood sugar?

If you want to see a real difference in your company, you don’t have to wait for your CEO or department head to introduce the next great idea. You have the power to initiate changes to boost your fellow employees’ motivation and your company’s bottom line.

In this BrazenCareerist article, Chris Cancialosi describes how you can take the reins and trade the dull donuts for a chance to truly revolutionize your company’s culture.

Big Data, Small Data, and Everything In Between

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags:
measuring performance data

I’m definitely not the first person to say this, but the term “Big Data” is significantly overused.  In fact, Big Data has become a catch-all phrase for anything related to data analysis, (regardless of whether it actually involves data sources commonly associated with Big Data).  In some ways, a lot of people probably think they are working with Big Data when in fact they are not.

So, what exactly is Big Data, how is it different from more conventional data sources, what is the benefit of using it, and how does it relate to organizational culture?

Over the past 7-10 years our ability to collect and store digital information has increased exponentially.  In fact, it is estimated that the world’s per capita data capacity has doubled every 40 months since 1980, currently we generate about 2.5 exabytes of data every day (that’s about 500 million hard drives or 1 billion digital movie downloads).

This data comes from social media, GPS sensors, digital pictures, video, and purchase transactions, among other sources.  The term “Big Data” comes from our attempt to collect, compile, and analyze this information in meaningful ways.

More simply put, Big Data is information that is too large and complex to use traditional data management practices.  Since Big Data comes in a variety of formats, it needs to be cleaned and structured before it can be analyzed.  Due to its size, this takes time and can be a very involved process.  In terms of ease of use, it is definitely on the more challenging side of things.  If you think of data management as a continuum, datasets (i.e. surveys) are on one end, databases (i.e. sales records, employee information) are in the middle and Big Data is on the other end. The larger the data source the harder it is to manage.

The hype surrounding Big Data is usually focused on two things: (1) its sheer size, which potentially gives us a more representative sample of the population, and (2) its content, which allows us to look at areas that would not have been feasible 10 years ago.  Because of this, Big Data is touted as the key to unlocking our ability to understand large social, medical, biological, and emergent trends.  The ultimate goal is for businesses, nonprofits, consumers, and policy makers to leverage this data to make more informed choices and better understand the potential cause and effects of those choices.

While I’ll be the first to push for using data to better understand our client’s needs, bigger isn’t always better.  Ultimately the type of data we use depends on the scope of the questions we want to answer.  For instance, if you are trying to figure out what genes are linked to diabetes, then leveraging a large amount of complex data (i.e. Big Data) will probably help you reach your goal. However, if you want to understand what contributes to employee satisfaction and performance, then a traditional dataset or database is more appropriate.  Most analyses of organizational culture leverage smaller data sources such as surveys, interviews, and metrics reports (see my post on using text mining to understand culture).  As of now, Big Data is too complex and resource intensive for most organizations to utilize; however, it is likely that companies such as Google, Apple, and Facebook (which have both a sizable workforce and processing power) may become pioneers in using Big Data to understand the inner workings of their organizations and fine tune the customer-business relationship.

One last remark on Big Data.  Big Data is still in its infancy.  There are a lot of interesting things people are doing with complex data sources, but there are a number of kinks that still need to be worked out.  Researchers have a very good grasp on using Big Data to predict trends, but they are far behind on the ability to make inferences.  For instance, Amazon can recommend products based on your search and purchase history (prediction) but I am not sure whether they are able to determine how likely you are to actually purchase the product.  In other words, the models are robust, but our confidence in the models still needs some improvement.

At the end of the day, regardless of its format, data is becoming an integral part of the way we do business and make choices as customers.  While there will likely be only a handful of people doing the actual analysis, it will be essential for people to be critical consumers of data so that they are able to assess the quality of the analysis, understand its strengths and weaknesses, and discuss their thoughts with others.

Now that we’ve touched on the basics, you may be wondering about how businesses acquire and use this data.  I’ll discuss the ethics of data in my next post (stay tuned).

Forbes: Why Pivoting Shouldn’t Influence Your Company’s Core Values

By gothamCulture
Published at In Category Blog Tags: ,
corporate culture and values

How invested are you in your company’s core values? While some businesses might switch their values at the drop of a hat if it means more revenue, those that maintain consistent values ultimately benefit from their dedication to a vision.

The marketplace can, however, demand that businesses develop interim values to address possible shifts. Your business needs to have the ability to reinvent itself for new audiences, but this process should still retain that adherence to your core values and vision. Interim values may come and go, but consistently communicating what you stand for should always be a top priority.

In this article, Chris Cancialosi discusses how to make and your core values congruent so your brand’s vision isn’t compromised.