In August, I was pumped to be starting on a challenging project at a new client.  I had met the team, and was content with the fact that I was faced with a few long days of ramp up.  I had all of the documents laid out on my desk and only one thing was missing – my standard afternoon Diet Coke.  So I strolled into the break room, and BAM.  It hit me.  There it was, like a shining beacon of despair.  The PEPSI machine.

I think Coke takes better, and I’m not alone.  Yet Pepsi and Coke alike have blasted us with their blind taste test campaigns to try to turn their non-believers.  I’m not buying it.  What I am buying, is the notion of Brand Imagery, supported scientifically, that when study participants are aware of the brand before they drink, three quarters of the participants chose Coke over Pepsi.

American Cancer Society VP Andy Goldsmith gives you more detail in his article Coke vs. Pepsi: The Taste Test They Don’t Want You to Know About. Goldmith highlights studies that suggest that there is such a thing as Brand Imagery:

The brain studies suggest that Coke’s iconic brand and arguably stronger cultural connection may in fact make a difference in preference. And that preference is linked not just to taste (hello, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) but also memory-related brain regions that are related to cultural influences.

At the most basic level, this means that your company, and your product, are not evaluated on quality alone.  It means that your sales process has to appeal to both rationally and emotionally to your target customers.   This example focuses on the Coke vs. Pepsi debate, but the phenomenon certainly transcends consumer goods.  Technology vendors and consulting firms need to be aware that there is an emotional response to their brand that affects their ability to penetrate new accounts and grow their business.

You may be a handshake company that doesn’t need marketing or fancy brand strategists.  I won’t disagree… that type of overhead isn’t a fit for all organizations.  But there is no denying that there are no companies that are isolated from science and human psychology.  If your sales are lacking or you are having trouble convincing new clients to invest in your product or services, your lack of focus on brand positioning may pose an improvement opportunity for your company.

Now can someone get me a Coke please?  This Pepsi vending machine has got to go…

Coke vs. Pepsi: Brand Image is a post from: HR Think Tank

I get it, some of you may never like soccer.  Some of you just can’t stomach the annoying buzz of the vuvuzela for 90 minutes just to watch a game end in a 0-0 tie.  Like it or not, the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world.  So big in fact, that according to Digital Blog All Things Digital, the World Cup is creating some unparalleled buzz out there on Twitter.

Trendrr, which pulls data from Twitter’s API had 48 different World Cup-related terms showing up about 150,000 times an hour, similar to the intensity from Monday at Apple’s iPhone 4 unveiling. Kafka goes on to note that while the iPhone 4 traffic crested only in the last hour of Steve Jobs’s presentation, the World Cup intensity has been pretty steady with more than 8,000 per minute (that’s a rate of 480,000 hourly) right after the first goal of the tournament.

Love it or hate it, the World is passionate about soccer.  There’s just something about national pride that incites a level of passion that’s unifying and really cool.

I use soccer as the example, because the World Cup is hot right now.  You get a similar unifying force and passionate outpouring for the Olympics and in any big sports city right here nationally.  I was at the Celtics – Lakers game last night and it was so loud, you would have though everyone in the crowd knew each other and had coordinated chants in Sully’s Tap before the game.  Red Sox fans are so loyal, they have long eclipsed the consecutive sell-out record (455 games was previous record, broken September 8th, 2008 – I was there) , and are still adding to that tally.  We are so unified we refer to ourselves as Red Sox Nation, and we have a President, the Rem Dawg!  I use Boston as an example, because I live here and love Boston sports, but there are fans like this in Philadelphia and Chicago too.  Great sports cities with rich tradition, and a knack for developing passionate fan bases.

Here’s my challenge for the businesses out there: Try to replicate that kind of passion amongst your workforce around your brand.  I know you already have at least 3 excuses in your head for why it can’t be done.  I can hear them now – my company is too big, we need these strict corporate policies, our employees can’t buy $7.50 beers two at a time like they can at the Fenway.  I know, I hear you, but I think you’re wrong.  In fact, think there are a lot of companies getting this right, and the dividends are incredible!  Talent attraction AND retention!

Who is getting this right?  Video interviewing firm HireVue definitely comes to mind.  Here’s a company that has a ton of momentum, and I think it’s because of their people.  Give Josh Schwede 15 minutes over a beer and tell me that you aren’t an advocate for what they are trying to do, or that you don’t want to replicate that kind of passion in your company.  Need something bigger?  Locally, one company that I consistently see employees buzz about is EMC.  Here’s a sample of tweets from Polly Pearson, VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement from last week:

“Just got EMC’s 2011 FORTUNE Best Places to Work For book: “Innovation, Passion, SUCCESS!” Includes refs to 2.0, TWITTER + EMC Tweeps”

“Excited to share EMC’s story at BU tomorrow! Attendees are business leaders looking at new models for innovation, workforce management”

3 of Polly’s top 5 words in her tweet cloud are #emc, EMC, and thanks.  Her top 5 hash-tags: #emc, #emcworld, #emcs, #jobs, #1.  I know what you are thinking.  Jason, that’s obvious, because Polly is EMC’s VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement.  Isn’t that her job?  Yes, of course.  But she’s out there talking about her company, and people like me are writing about how it’s cool that there are people out there being passionate about their company.  And let me ask you – does your company have a VP of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement?

That’s what I thought.

(Note: If you were wondering, neither HireVue nor EMC are clients of SEI-Boston, LLC. or of me personally at the time of this post.  I am, however, guilty of liking soccer, going to Sully’s Tap before Celtics games, and being a loud and obnoxious member of Red Sox Nation.  Now stop reading this disclaimer and go out and make your company a great place to work)

Sports and Business: Are Your Employees Passionate About Your Company? is a post from: HR Think Tank

Over two hundred years ago, a bunch of really smart guys in bad wigs drafted and eventually adopted a Bill of Rights to limit the power of federal government and ensure the protection of what they saw as fundamental liberties of the people.  The freedom of speech became the First Amendment, adopted on December 15, 1791.

To the Founding Fathers, I raise a glass.  Freedom of speech is a great thing.  I’m also a huge fan of the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) in case I eventually have a daughter.  But anyway, I digress…

I am also a huge Dilbert fan.  I like it for the same reason that I think the office is a great show, and similar to why I have Office Space in my DVD collection: I find all three to be really funny because there is a shred of truth in their skits and jokes, and that makes it relevant.  At some point in our careers, there are things about our jobs that really suck.  Sometimes those things are bosses or coworkers.  Maybe it’s a particularly difficult clients, or an annoying policy.  Some of these people and things will be borderline ridiculous, to the point of being funny (like when in my first job my boss asked me to write down on his white board the three things I found to be most annoying about him.  Not a good situation to be in during your first review, or ever).

In any case, you know what isn’t funny? Getting fired. Especially for saying something stupid, including disclosing company sensitive information, on your blog, Facebook, or anywhere else that is public and readily available to your employer.  Say it with me: My employer is monitoring social media.  My employer is monitoring social media. My employer…. you get the point.

In August 2009, Proofpoint released a study that found 18 percent of the companies surveyed had investigated a data loss event via a blog or message board in the past 12 months.  17 percent disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies and nearly 9 percent reported terminations related to those activities.  The study also found that there was almost a 50 percent increase in exposure incidents over social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn (17 percent compared to 12 percent in 2008), and eight percent reported terminating an employee for these violations.

There’s a new market out there for companies like Teneros, who is developing software-as-a-service products that automate the process of examining employee activity on social networking sites.  Don’t believe me?  Check out this article on Network World.  As social media continues to explode, companies are becoming more and more keen on keeping their finger on the pulse… listening to the conversation so that they can be quicker to react and proactively impact consumer and employee satisfaction in a positive way.  Your company’s customer feedback is out there, and so is your griping and complaining about the boss who takes credit for your work and pawns it off as his own or your comments about how your company’s vacation plan sucks so you just call in sick whenever you want.  In college?  You are at risk as well.  As you graduate and join the large pool of job seekers potential employers will be ‘Googling’ you, reading your tweets, and checking out your keg-stand pictures online.

So the next time your boss asks you if you are using your proper TPS reports just take your medicine and don’t start ranting on Twitter.  You may have freedom of speech, but you are likely employed ‘at will’….well, used to be employed.

Be Careful, Thomas Jefferson Isn’t Signing Your Paycheck is a post from: HR Think Tank

It was April 2009, and my small consulting firm was drinking frosty beverages and celebrating a major milestone together at a sold-out Springsteen show in Boston.  It was my first show, and I must say that at almost 60 years old, love him or hate him, Bruce Springsteen brings an intensity to the stage that is unrivaled in the music business.  While ripping out the opening chords to “Badlands”, you can’t help but laugh – it’s all a bit cheezy and you would like to think you are cooler than the sea of Bruce fanatics on the floor, but hey, you have your ticket too.  You’re there, and it’s a truly amazing show.  I said it.  It’s awesome.  You have to do it at least once.

Outside of obvious musical talent, Springsteen and the E Street Band have some serious business chops – you just can’t compile a resume like that on sheer talent alone.  They have composed an exceptional team (with low turnover for the industry, mind you), ensured consistent, sustainable customer satisfaction, consistently deliver a high-energy performance (they are known for putting on some of the longest shows in the biz), and have unbelievable brand consistency.

What else can we learn about life and business?  Read on for some keen advice in business, direct from The Boss.  No, not your Boss… THE Boss.

1. “I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said “Sit down”, I stood up…” (Growin’ Up, 1973)

Here’s an “oldie but goodie” from Springsteen about adolescence as a rebellious teenager, written in the first-person and played live over 270 times.  Good career advice too, as Samantha Ogborn recently pointed out on her blog, Oscar Wilde said it best, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” It’s a good thing to have mentors and professionals who you rely on for career advice.  It’s also a good thing to have a professional community to bounce ideas off of.  It’s not a good idea to get stuck in a group think rut, always striving to be in someone else’s shoes or doing their job.  Figure out what you like, and go get it.  It’s likely going to take some swimming against the current.

2. “I ain’t here on business, baby, I’m only here for fun” (Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), 1973)

Rosalita.  Amazing.  Bruce closed out the show with this tune.  Anyway, Matt Cheuvront just wrote a phenomenal post over at lifewithoutpants.com about the Generation “Now”.  The whole post was great, but my favorite line was: Your world doesn’t, or shouldn’t revolve around your career. Too many people get so wrapped up in where they are going with their career, that they forget to actually live their life.  My advice – work to live, don’t live to work – the best memories will never be made within the confines of your cubicle (oh, you have an office?  congrats, you probably definitely work too much! disclaimer: great times CAN be had with your coworkers, just probably not AT work).  And don’t forget, as Laurie says over at punkrockhr.com, “I would also like to remind everyone that there’s a place for creamy ice cream, cold beer, and salty potato chips when love & work are the cornerstones of humanity”

3. “Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain’t satisfied, till he rules everything…” (Badlands, 1978)

Isn’t that the truth?  How many of you went through college begging for a certain position after graduation from college?  Nearly all of you, ok.  And how many of you were actually content when you locked up that job?  Oh, none of you.  That’s what I thought.  This is one of the reasons I got into consulting in the first place – I figured that consulting could move me around enough to keep things fresh and prevent me from continuing to plot my next three positions like a chess match three months into a new job.  My recommendation – try to direct that energy to being great in the job that you are in, not in the endless search for the job you don’t have yet.  If you spend your career in this cycle of always wanting more, you are destined to be an unhappy worker, and unhappy workers tend to turn into poor performers.  And poor performers, well, they suck.  Bruce doesn’t suck, and neither should you.

What other performers lines that you know are applicable to your career?  Have you seen Bruce?  Let me hear your thoughts in the comments section!

Business Lessons From The Boss is a post from: HR Think Tank

Even in a down economy, employee retention is a key management issue.  Despite rising unemployment, some employees have critical skills and intellectual capital that make them very attractive to your competition.  These employees, likely amongst your top performers, will look for continuous reinforcement that your company is right for them, and that they should stay.  If you don’t identify, recognize, and reward top performers, the inevitable WILL happen:  Your best employees will be working for your competition.

It’s no secret that this is a complex topic.  Employee retention sits somewhere at the intersection between stimulating and challenging work and recognition and rewards. What I do know is that intrinsic rewards are a huge factor.  In 2002 I participated in an extensive analysis of the results from a longitudinal study on Air Force retention across two types of motivators: extrinsic, intrinsic (for a full analysis, altruistic and social motivators could also be considered). The study found that intrinsic motivators – such as personal development, intellectually stimulating work, and the ability to produce feelings of accomplishment – outweighed extrinsic motivators like level of pay and yearly pay increases.  With that being said, I’ll leave the real heavy lifting around incentive, recognition, and reward strategies to guys like Paul Herbert but I’d like to talk about one critical piece of employee retention that should not be overlooked: Company Culture.

One key to retaining top talent is to establish a meaningful relationship between the employee and the company.  It comes down to creating an environment that breeds bidirectional loyalty.  What does this mean for you as a company?  In a world of thinner margins and tighter budgets as long as compensation is within a reasonable range, you can retain employees by focusing on your corporate culture.  Good, transparent “what you see is what you get” leadership and a strong focus on hiring and protecting the door can go a long way in developing loyal employees.

The importance of team chemistry cannot be emphasized enough.  I can speak from experience – In 2006 when I was making the decision to leave the Air Force, the one thing that kept nagging at me was the feeling like I was letting my coworkers down.  I felt an intense loyalty and closeness to the people I served with, and despite traveling 180-200 days a year, and being paid about 25-30% less than my market value, I didn’t want to leave.  Lucky for me, I eventually landed at SEI.  Recruited by another colleague who I have immense respect for, I’m working for a company that really get’s this right.  SEI has an intense focus on recruiting the right people, and then reinforces a strong business model with an engaged leadership team.  Recently, leadership reinforced their proactive approach by unveiling a well planned 5-year succession plan, which in itself was architected with a focus on ensuring the long-term viability of our unique corporate culture.

So when considering retention, focus on what matters and what you can readily influence – your corporate culture.  Hire the right people, protect the integrity of your organizations culture, and don’t sacrifice long term team chemistry for short term revenue gains.  Be loyal to your employees, and give them a reason to be loyal back.

(Photo Credit: http://www.aurora-tds.co.uk)

Retention Issues? Focus on Culture First is a post from: HR Think Tank

Imagine your candidates showing up to their interview totally unprepared – not at the top of their game – expecting you to look past the wrinkled clothes, poor resumes, and bad attitudes and hire them anyway.  It isn’t the first impression you hope for when you greet the candidate in the lobby.

First impressions matter – in person, on the phone and especially online.  Similar to how you are judging your candidates, your customers will make inferences about your capability as an organization based on the quality of your website, and candidates will make snap judgments about the attractiveness of working at your company within minutes of seeing your careers site.

In fact, everything you put out there in the social media space has the potential to play into someone’s impression of you as an individual, or as a company – twitter bios, tweets, blogs, websites, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pictures – all fair game.  And when it comes to securing new customers and attracting new talent to your organization, none of these are more salient than your corporate website.

The company I work for, SEI, is going through a complete website redesign.  I tell it like it is, so I’ll say that I have been hesitant in the past to show this website openly to potential clients.  While I’m completely confident our service offerings adapt to change with the demands of the market to meet the needs of our clients, our website remained static.  Even more importantly, a stale and out of date website has the ability to affect recruiting.  It’s tough to on one hand say you are a premier business and technology consulting firm, and on the other have your careers page asking candidates to fax resumes.  Best practices for website development have changed rapidly – content density matters, and the best websites have gotten increasingly more visual and interactive.  Did we lose candidates because of our website?  It’s too hard to know, but the risk alone has us engaging in a redesign.

How do you know if your website needs a redesign?  Basically, if you start to feel like your website doesn’t reflect your company’s employment brand, people, or culture without you sitting next to the reader, don’t wait.  You should assume that you only have one shot at the next candidate that goes to your page.

If you are okay with candidates that don’t reflect their true value in your interviews, then sit tight with your sub-par careers page, but if you expect your candidates to be their best during their interview, pitching their experience and value proposition to the firm, you should be making sure your company is doing the same.  If not, your competition will.

Photo Credit

People Will Make A First Impression From Your Website: Don’t F It Up! is a post from: HR Think Tank