Archive for Problem Solving
Brainstorming Still Works – When You Know How to Use It
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Brainstorm ideas
Over the years the term “brainstorming” has fallen out of favor.
An image of people throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it will stick – meaning throwing out ideas to see if they have any merit – is likely to induce fond memories among old-timers who remember when brainstorming was all the rage.
But, done properly, brainstorming still works.
What is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming was the creation of Alex Osborn, a founder of my former agency, BBDO (formerly Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn). He posited that a group could generate more creative ideas for solving a problem than an individual. There’s been a lot of controversy over the years about his methodology, with research both for and against it.
The New York Times last Sunday carried a very long story entitled The Rise of the New Groupthink in which the writer, Susan Cain, debunks the current trend of people working in teams in open space – or possibly cubicles if they’re lucky – as they collaborate on projects. She champions the introvert who needs quiet and privacy to be creative. I think she makes some valid points
When Brainstorming Works
Where Cain and I diverge, though, is when she writes, “Conversely, brainstorming sessions are one of the worst possible ways to stimulate creativity…people in groups tend to sit back and let others do the work; they instinctively mimic other’s opinions and lose sight of their own; and often succumb to peer pressure.”
I beg to differ. I’ve participated in, and facilitated, numerous brainstorming sessions, which I prefer to call group problem solving sessions. They generated many original ideas that were successfully implemented. Read More→
My Email Account Was Hacked — A Lesson Learned
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Beware the password hack
Well, it’s happened to many of my friends and I’ve joined a not-so-exclusive club of people whose emails have been hacked.
Yesterday, I received over 5,000 emails in my inbox from hackers who send out hundreds of thousands of emails using hijacked email accounts. The ones going to defunct accounts are bounced back to the sending email with a message: Mail delivery failed: return to sender. Today, the company that hosts my site, Hostgator, helped to stop another barrage of 10,000+ emails. So how did this happen?
Simple — I had a real easy password that I’ve been using for years. Of course, I’ve changed it. I’m finally following the advice of the experts. A lesson learned the hard way. So, if you, like me, have been too lazy to change the passwords on your important accounts, I urge you to do so.
Here is good advice from Microsoft’s Safety and Security Center: Read More→
TIAA-CREF Chief Engages Employees to Steer Transformation
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Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.
I was inspired today to hear Roger Ferguson, President and CEO, TIAA-CREF, describe how companies must transform themselves to succeed in this new world and how he’s working to ensure that his company stays relevant. Some business leaders, he said, are adopting the burning platform approach that emphasizes immediate and radical change, or “getting out of their comfort zone.” He calls the process in his company continuous improvement.
While TIAA-CREF is not exactly a household name, unless you happen to work in academia, this Fortune 100 financial services organization has $453 billion under management, providing retirement planning for people who work in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. So it’s a very big player in asset management.
Mr. Ferguson is one of the growing number of CEOs who are actively engaging employees in the transformation process to give them “a sense of ownership and what processes they want to see improved.” He’s started a program to train managers to be great coaches and to create what he calls “huddles” in which teams engage in problem solving and paint a picture of the company’s future. He calls it “leading from the middle.” It’s being rolled out gradually throughout the 7,500 employee organization.
Envision a Climbing Wall
From KMBell's Blog
At the breakfast meeting sponsored by my professional organization, The Financial Women’s Association, Mr. Ferguson discussed how professionals shouldn’t think about a career ladder but rather a “climbing wall.” It’s rare these days for a person to have a perfect upward trajectory with specified steps. Instead, most of us are moving between seemingly unrelated jobs. What we need to do, he said, is be willing to take risks, and learn the “bridging steps” to our next job. Figure out how to leverage our previous experience and build the skills for our next opportunity.
His Own Skills
Mr. Ferguson was refreshingly candid about what he considers to be his strengths and where he feels he could improve. I was pleased to learn he believes his communications skills are his greatest strength: the ability to synthesize disparate views into major messages. I personally feel this is where many CEOs are weak. As I wrote in an earlier post, entitled CEO as Chief Communications Officer, “This is the essence of the CEO’s job.” He feels he could improve his coaching skills with his senior team. Several were at the meeting and I didn’t get that feeling based on their guffaws. His personality came through as someone with empathy and I don’t think you can make this up for your “public persona,” as he calls his requirement to speak for the company.
TIAA-CREF is a 93-year-old “start-up,” he said. Sounds like the company is doing all the right things to be around for a long, long time.
11 Types of Blogs To Generate Web Traffic and Please Your Readers
Posted by: | CommentsThere are more different types of blog posts than I can count on my fingers and toes. Tone of voice is important, too. For example, if you’re writing for a business audience, should you use humor in your blog posts? Will your readers think you aren’t serious?
The question you first need to ask yourself, “What is the objective of this article?” If you’re writing to entertain, then it’s OK to use humor. And, yes, business people like humor, too.
When writing about a serious subject such as unrest in the middle East and its implications for business, though, humor would be out of place.
I’ve concluded that many posts fit into the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How Come formula that I learned in journalism class that guided me as a business reporter. See if your posts answer at least one of these interrogatives. It will help to give your blog focus.
The Blog Post List
1. How to. People always want to learn how to do things better, faster, cheaper, safer. How-to blogs appeal to every demographic. Want to learn how to mow your lawn? Head over to Consumer Reports.
2. Promoting a Cause. You may feel passionate about a cause. A particular passion of mine is women and heart disease. I could make the case about why my readers should join the Go Red campaign to educate women on the risks of heart disease.
3. Analysis. In this type of post you can demonstrate your expertise by including your own opinions and those of other experts – linking to authority sites also boosts your SEO. I wrote one recently entitled “The New Leadership Paradigm: Rule by Community” that described the spontaneous formation of new communities of leaders made possible by the power of the Internet. This type of post is also called a Roundup.
4. Reviews. What’s your field? Has an expert written a new book you can review? I just downloaded the Kindle version of Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book “The Thank You Economy” and will write a review after I read it.
5. Q&A. This a great way to conduct an interview with a guest. You can make life easy for readers who don’t like a lot of dense copy. Also, it’s more personal. I interviewed Pat Weber for three blogs that I posted on the elevator speech. She interviewed me for her site and then we decided to turn these posts into an ebook, “Repairing the Elevator Speech to Burnish Your Personal Brand,” which is available to new subscribers of Write Speak Sell.
6. Entertainment. Some blogs are simply meant to entertain. They can be about serious topics – like a lack of service that I experienced at Home Depot in a post “Don’t Forget to Bring Your Own Saw to Home Depot” but written with humor with the primary purpose to entertain your readers.
7. Promotional. You may have a new product or service that you feel the world can’t live without. Write a post – but don’t be too sales-y. Remember that the reader is always asking “What’s in it for me?”
8. Lists. Like this one on blog posts. How about a list of what you consider to be the best books on leadership, or recipes for apple pie?
9. Inspirational. Posts that ask people to be better citizens, to follow their passions in life, to tap their inner spirit are examples of topics that will hopefully inspire your readers to action – and make you feel better, too.
10. Problem/Solution. A demonstrated winner. I wrote a post a while back “Why Can’t WordPress Tutorials be Written in Language for Regular People? I received a lot of comments and I was most gratified by this one, “This was so helpful!!! I’ve been trying to figure this out for almost 24 hours!!! …LOL.”
11. Instructional. I recently wrote a post entitled “How to Insert the Name of Your Website into Your LinkedIn Profile” that received many thank-you’s. So simple, but many LinkedIn users don’t know how – just take a look at some profiles.
Do you have a favorite type of post? What have I left out?
