This Is How Facebook Is Tracking Your Internet Activity

Excellent article from @BI_Insider

Facebook really is watching your every move online.

In testing out a new diagnostic tool called Abine DNT+, we noticed that Facebook has more than 200 "trackers" watching our internet activity.

Abine defines trackers as "a request that a webpage tries to make your browser perform that will share information intended to record, profile, or share your online activity." The trackers come in the shape of cookies, Javascript, 1-pixel beacons, and Iframes.

For example, cookies are tiny bits of software that web pages drop onto your device that identify you anonymously but nonetheless signal useful behavior about your background interests to advertisers who might want to target you. Facebook uses these types of cookies to activate the "like" buttons on other websites.

Critics call this spying. Advertisers call it targeting. That's how advertisers use Facebook to figure out when you're pregnant.

In an email to Business Insider, Abine privacy analyst Sarah Downey explained why users should pay more attention to trackers, and block them:

In addition to invading your privacy, these tracking requests can consume large amounts of data.  And transferring lots of data takes time. Generally, the more tracking requests on a website, the slower that website loads. That's why DNT+ gets you surfing at 125% of the normal speed and with 90% of the bandwidth, compared to a browser without DNT+ running.

Equipped with this insight, an inquisitive Facebook user might be wondering why they wouldn't block all trackers and cookies alike. The Facebook page cautions:

Technologies like cookies, pixel tags ("pixels"), and local storage are used to deliver, secure, and understand products, services, and ads, on and off Facebook. Your browser or device may allow you to block these technologies, but you may not be able to use some features on Facebook if you block them.

Not all cookies are used for tracking or for other purposes, such as those used for Facebook's "like" button. Many are simply placed in order to store information for later use. But it is the broader scope of "requests" that present the larger issue. In simple terms, Downey explained that when you navigate to a website, your browser constructs that site by communicating back and forth with the server where the site information is stored. These communications are the “requests.”  

But it isn't just the website you are visiting that makes requests for information: online trackers from other companies hidden on the site do it, too. They act as third parties on your computer: you can't see them without privacy software, you probably wouldn't expect them to be present, and you probably don't intend to share your information with them. 

They request information like your geographic location, which other sites you’ve visited, what you click, and your Facebook username.

In terms of what the "requests" represent, Facebook declined to comment because, in the company's opinion, the requests do not mean much unless you can see exactly what they are and how they are being used. Facebook's entire site is run off of JavaScript and other such tags that have an array of purposes other than tracking.

So, we set out to see just how much Facebook is watching our internet browsing activity. Using the Abine software, we tracked to what extent Facebook trackers increased for each new click. We started by cleaning out the browser cache and search history, and then went about using the browser like it was the start of a typical work day ...

Click here to see how Facebook's spying increases with every click>

The Millwright Died

One of my favorite book on leadership is a short book called Leadership is an Art by Max DePree. In a simple and straightforward fashion, the author tells the following story in this excerpt entitled, “The Millwright Died”.

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My father is 96 years old. He is the founder of Herman Miller, and much of the value system and impounded energy of the company is…a part of his contribution. In the furniture industry in the 1920’s the machines of most factories were not run by electric motors, but from pulleys from a central drive shaft. The central drive shaft was run by a steam engine. The steam engine got its fuel from the sawdust and other waste coming out of the machine room – a beautiful cycle. The  millwright was the person who oversaw that cycle. He was a key person. 

One day the millwright died.

My father being a young manager at the time, did not particularly know what he should do when a key person died, but thought he ought to go and visit the family. He went to the house and was invited to join the family in the living room.

There was some awkward conversation – the kind with which many of us are familiar. The widow asked my father if it would be all right if she read aloud some poetry. Naturally he agreed… When she finished reading, my father commented on how beautiful the poetry was and asked who wrote it. She replied that her husband, the millwright, was the poet.

It is now nearly 60 years since the millwright died, and my father and many of us at Herman Miller continue to wonder: Was he a poet that did millwright’s work, or was he a millwright who wrote poetry?

In our effort to understand corporate life, what is it that we should learn from this story? In addition to all of the ratios and goals and parameters and bottom lines, it is fundamental that leaders endorse the concept of persons. This begins with the understanding of the diversity of people’s gifts and talents and skills. Recognizing diversity helps us to understand the need we have for opportunity, equity, and identity in the work place.

Recognizing diversity gives us the chance to provide meaning, fulfillment and purpose, which are not to be relegated to  private life any more than are such things as love, beauty, and joy.

When we think about leaders and the variety of gifts people bring to corporations and institutions, we see that the art of leadership lies in polishing and liberating and enabling those gifts.

 

12 Things Happy People Do Differently

by Jacob Sokol

“I’d always believed that a life of quality, enjoyment, and wisdom were my human birthright and would be automatically bestowed upon me as time passed.  I never suspected that I would have to learn how to live - that there were specific disciplines and ways of seeing the world I had to master before I could awaken to a simple, happy, uncomplicated life.”
-Dan Millman

Studies conducted by positivity psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky point to 12 things happy people do differently to increase their levels of happiness.  These are things that we can start doing today to feel the effects of more happiness in our lives.  (Check out her book The How of Happiness.)

I want to honor and discuss each of these 12 points, because no matter what part of life’s path we’re currently traveling on, these ‘happiness habits’ will always be applicable.

1. Express gratitude. – When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Kinda cool right?  So basically, being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy anything.  It makes sense.  We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.
2. Cultivate optimism. – Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.
3. Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. – Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.  If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of superiority.  Our ego inflates – KABOOM – our inner Kanye West comes out!  If we’re ‘worse’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, we usually discredit the hard work that we’ve done and dismiss all the progress that we’ve made.  What I’ve found is that the majority of the time this type of social comparison doesn’t stem from a healthy place.  If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself.
4. Practice acts of kindness. – Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain.  (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.)  Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside.  What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness.  How extraordinary is that?  Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on.  A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin.  Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.
5. Nurture social relationships. – The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships.  Did you know studies show that people’s mortality rates are DOUBLED when they’re lonely?  WHOA!  There’s a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from having an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with.  We feel connected and a part of something more meaningful than our lonesome existence.
6. Develop strategies for coping. – How you respond to the ‘craptastic’ moments is what shapes your character.  Sometimes crap happens – it’s inevitable.  Forrest Gump knows the deal.  It can be hard to come up with creative solutions in the moment when manure is making its way up toward the fan.  It helps to have healthy strategies for coping pre-rehearsed, on-call, and in your arsenal at your disposal.
7. Learn to forgive. – Harboring feelings of hatred is horrible for your well-being.  You see, your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion.  When you ‘hate’ someone, and you’re continuously thinking about it, those negative emotions are eating away at your immune system.  You put yourself in a state of suckerism (technical term) and it stays with you throughout your day.
8. Increase flow experiences. – Flow is a state in which it feels like time stands still.  It’s when you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you become one with the task.  Action and awareness are merged.  You’re not hungry, sleepy, or emotional.  You’re just completely engaged in the activity that you’re doing.  Nothing is distracting you or competing for your focus.
9. Savor life’s joys. – Deep happiness cannot exist without slowing down to enjoy the joy.  It’s easy in a world of wild stimuli and omnipresent movement to forget to embrace life’s enjoyable experiences.  When we neglect to appreciate, we rob the moment of its magic.  It’s the simple things in life that can be the most rewarding if we remember to fully experience them.
10. Commit to your goals. – Being wholeheartedly dedicated to doing something comes fully-equipped with an ineffable force.  Magical things start happening when we commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to get somewhere.  When you’re fully committed to doing something, you have no choice but to do that thing.  Counter-intuitively, having no option – where you can’t change your mind – subconsciously makes humans happier because they know part of their purpose.
11. Practice spirituality. – When we practice spirituality or religion, we recognize that life is bigger than us.  We surrender the silly idea that we are the mightiest thing ever.  It enables us to connect to the source of all creation and embrace a connectedness with everything that exists.  Some of the most accomplished people I know feel that they’re here doing work they’re “called to do.”
12. Take care of your body. – Taking care of your body is crucial to being the happiest person you can be.  If you don’t have your physical energy in good shape, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected.  Did you know that studies conducted on people who were clinically depressed showed that consistent exercise raises happiness levels just as much as Zoloft?  Not only that, but here’s the double whammy… Six months later, the people who participated in exercise were less likely to relapse because they had a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

5 Rules For Making Your Vision Stick

BY CRAIG CHAPPELOW

A corporate mission statement isn't merely words to slap on a coffee mug or on the wall of your reception area. It should guide decision-making on every level--so learn to communicate it effectively.

In the mid-1990s, I was working with some leaders from Iams, the premium pet food company. Its mission: “Improving the well-being of dogs and cats.”

Over a beer after the workshop finished, some of the executives were telling work stories when the subject turned to then-CEO Clay Mathile. As the legend goes, he was approached by one of the leading business magazines of the day to be the subject for the cover story--and turned it down.

Most business leaders would jump at that opportunity. When asked why he didn’t accept, Mathile is rumored to have said, “I just can’t see how that would improve the lives of dogs and cats.”

I love that story. It’s a great example of leading by example and using the organization’s mission and vision to make decisions.

If you spend a lot of time in company headquarters like I do, you will often see organizations’ visions, missions and values written down somewhere, often in the main lobby for you to ponder as you go through the “sign in here, wear this nametag, your host will be right down” process. Other likely spots: the employee cafeteria, coffee mugs, and the corporate website.
Yet, senior executives are often blind to the reality that these guiding principles should play--and how well understood they are outside of the executive suite. If you asked the average employee who passes through the lobby, eats in the cafeteria, or drinks form the mug, my guess is that they might not even know the mission, vision, and values, much less how to use them to inform their work.

The fact is, even the greatest mission and vision statements fall flat unless they are shared effectively. Solid research finds that people see you as a better leader if you are able to communicate your organization’s vision effectively.

A study published in Claremont McKenna College’s Leadership Review shows that when leaders discuss their organizations’ vision in a specific way, not only is the vision better understood, the leaders are also seen as being more effective in general.

So what’s the practical lesson in that research for you?

Simply put, if you’re a leader, you need to exhibit the following five qualities in communicating your vision: 

1. Inspiration: The way someone discusses the organization’s vision can be just as important as the content. Eye contact, facial expressions, hand gestures, tone of voice, and enthusiasm all contribute to the increased impact of the message. In this short interview, Sal Kahn, founder of Kahn Academy, describes his vision in a casual, upbeat, almost infectious way.
2. Challenge: While simple works, easy does not. An element of challenge is critical. TheLeadership Review study showed that vision discussions that were ambitious and difficult were actually perceived as a plus by employees. If you talk about your vision as fiercely maintaining the status quo, you’re not being effective. In 2005, when he was president of Walgreens., Jeff Rein told me about their vision for growth. Their research showed that most of us use whatever pharmacy is four miles or less from our home or work. His vision was to have a Walgreens store within four miles of most people’s offices or homes. Since then, the company has gone from 5,000 stores to 7,900.
3. Clarity: Making a vision easily understood is critical. Drop the buzzwords and corporate speak. Use terms that are easily understood, unambiguous, and as simple as possible. There are a lot of clear mission statements out there, but my favorite was used by Nike in the 1960s: "Crush Adidas." The results from my own unscientific research study in which I counted the number of photos of athletes wearing Nike and Adidas shoes in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated: Nike 64, Adidas 8.
4. Task–specific: At any level in the organization, the challenge for employees is to try to convert the vision into their day job. By mentioning specific tasks, actions, and behaviors that bring the vision to life, leaders can help employees convert the concept into practice. Jeffery Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, in their Harvard Business Review article called "The Knowing Doing Gap," suggest that organizations use the act of creating and discussing mission/vision statements as one of the most common substitutes for actually taking action. The trick is to create a solid vision statement that is easily translatable by everyone in the organization into actions on their day-to-day job.
5. Inclusion: Certain key words registered as more positive in the Leadership Review study. Inclusive language such as “we,” “us,” and “our,” (instead of “they”) tended to unify people to the vision. Leaders scored higher when they stated how they were personally living out the vision. Etweda "Sugars" Cooper, mayor of Edina, Liberia, describes her vision for the small town's future in the wake of 14 years of civil war in a way that embraces everyone involved.

In 2004, by which time Iams had been purchased by Procter & Gamble, another Iams employee jumped at the chance for her cover shot. Euka, a golden retriever whose job as Vice President of Canine Communications was to hang out at headquarters to greet guests and represent IAMS at corporate events, posed with Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley forFortune--an outstanding example, by the way, of inclusion.

--Author Craig Chappelow, who specializes in 360-degree feedback and the development of effective senior executive teams, is a portfolio manager at the Center for Creative Leadership, a top-ranked, global provider of leadership education and research.

Working Out Doesn’t Just Make You Stronger, It Makes You Smarter

by Morgan Clendaniel via @fastcompany

We already know the facts: Our country is in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Few American adults exercise enough, and that poor lifestyle choice is getting handed down to our children, who are getting fat at record levels. And all that obesity is affecting our health, causing heart disease, diabetes, and untold other health consequences. But what if the effects aren’t only physical?

This new infographic, from OnlineCollegeCourses.com points out that exercise has some great benefits for not just how our body works, but how our brains work, too. It’s clearly important for kids, who need all the brain power they can get for school, but it’s equally important for adults: A fit worker is a fast, efficient worker.

First, let’s review the facts. Children--who should be buzzing about with so much energy that we have to ask them not to exercise--aren’t moving around that much anymore. (Ironically, part of the problem is the diminished role of phys ed in many public schools.) Only one in four children get 30 minutes of daily exercise, and by the time they’re teenagers, only 12% are getting their daily recommended amount of physical activity.

So what? Bill Gates probably spent more time tinkering with computers than he did on the basketball court, and he turned out fine. But not all of us are Bill Gates. In fact, only one of us is. Most of us could probably use a little brain boost, and it turns out that exercise does just that. In studies of students, vigorous exercise was shown to improve IQ scores by 3.8 points--and test scores, too.

This applies to adults, as well. Exercise improves memory, releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (a protein that makes your neurons healthier), and has been shown to potentially increase the size of your hippocampus--the part of the brain responsible for memory and spatial recognition. It’s no surprise, then, that college students who work out before class do better on tests, and workers who work out are more efficient.

The lesson? If your employees want to take a longer lunch break to hit the gym, you should let them. You’ll be getting more than enough out of them in the afternoon to make up for the lost time.

See the full infographic here or see it below, if you’re not too busy at the gym!

MORGAN CLENDANIEL

Morgan is the editor of Co.Exist. Formerly, he was the deputy editor of GOOD.Continued

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Let's talk like idiots...

This made me laugh!

Many CEO's and Business Owners Are Caught in Holding Pattern

By ANGUS LOTEN via @wsj

Economic and political uncertainties—including the coming elections, the so-called fiscal cliff and the shaky European market—are putting many small businesses into a holding pattern.

Roughly half of 799 heads of small businesses expect economic growth to remain sluggish in the year ahead, according to the August Wall Street Journal/Vistage Small Business CEO Survey.Many small business chiefs said they're not planning to boost hiring or increase investment spending any time soon.

Only 37% said they planned to increase plant and equipment spending within the next 12 months, for instance. That is up from 36% in July, but still down from 40% in June, the survey found.

Additionally, fewer than half said they expect to hire new workers within the next 12 months, largely unchanged from July."It's very tough to have a clear view forward these days," said Ed Herinckx, president of HMHagency Inc., a Portland, Ore., marketing firm with 60 employees.

Mr. Herinckx said planning cycles have shortened among his firm's two-dozen clients—which include small and large companies in a range of industries, including Nike Inc., Louisiana-Pacific Corp. and Subway restaurants. Many aren't willing to make commitments beyond the next quarter, he says.

"We're only building to meet projected demand, rather than speculate," he added.

Launched in June, the monthly survey is aimed at gauging changes in the outlook of the heads of small U.S. companies.

Richard Curtin, a research director at the University of Michigan who analyzed the August results, said most owners are waiting for several key issues to be resolved over the next few months—not least the presidential elections in November—before committing any capital to new equipment or employees.

"There is substantial uncertainty out there," with many small-business owners asking themselves, 'Why make a big decision now?' " he said.

Many are postponing investments into their businesses until they have a sense of when and how the fiscal cliff will be bridged, which presidential candidate will prevail, and whether they might suffer as a result of the European financial crisis, he said.

Slightly more owners in August said they expect sales and profitability to improve, or at least remain steady, than in July—though not by enough to kick-start any significant business investments before year end.

Frank Flanagan, the owner of Sentry Control Systems Inc., a Los Angeles-based firm that automates parking-garage payment systems, said he's hoping to tap into growing demand from clients who are trying to trim operating costs through automation.

As a result, he said, his 90-employee firm is ratcheting up spending to boost production. "If we guess right, we can pick up market share," he said.

Sixty-five percent of respondents anticipate stronger sales in the next 12 months, and 50% said they expect profits to improve, according to the survey, fielded online from Aug. 13 to Aug. 24.

Only 9% are girding for weaker sales, while 17% expect to be less profitable.

The survey's small-business confidence index—a composite based on survey responses and benchmarked at 100—rose in August to 93.7, from 91.7 in July.

A monthly survey in July by the National Federation of Independent Business, a small-business lobby group, and a quarterly survey in July by Wells Fargo & Co., both found declines in optimism about the economy among small-businesses owners.

Click here for additional August results of The Wall Street Journal/Vistage Small Business CEO Survey.

7 Tips for Creating Your Own Destiny

by Kevin Daum 

Are you working on your life or just in it? Here is the perspective and method you need to plan and execute the life and career worthy of your potential.

Too many people whine about not having the life they want. The main reason people fall short of their own expectations is the same reason most companies fail to achieve their objectives: poor planning and execution. In fact, I am amazed at how many successful executives create strategy for their business, leaving their life to chance. Often it's more comfortable (note I didn't say easier) to complain and blame outside factors for lack of accomplishment or unhappiness than to take time to work on life rather than in it.

I choose otherwise. A close entrepreneur friend, J, and I are taking our annual four days away to determine our futures and hold each other accountable. Here are the tips that will assure us of success. 

1. Plan a Preferred Future

As Lewis Carroll said: If you don't know where you are going, then any road will get you there. Both J and I are close to 50, so our 60th birthdays are the milestone for this journey. Twelve years is plenty of time to make course corrections and absorb any external factors thrown at us. Our planning will be specific and measurable. We'll take time to examine and discuss the details of every aspect of our lives, personal and professional, to achieve integrated success and happiness. 

2. Be Pragmatic

Neither of us will be playing for the NBA at our age (or my height). The future has to reflect what is physically possible with available resources and limitations. Pragmatism isn't in itself restrictive, however; J and I will harness our creativity to design aspirational futures that exploit every opportunity and asset we have. We'll also create filters to keep us from wasting time and energy on what's unachievable or irrelevant. 

3. Decide the Who, Not the What

We're defining who we want to be at 60, not what we want to be doing. The whocenters on passion, core competencies, and core satisfaction, such as material requirements. If I know who I truly want to be, I can detail what to do, own, resources I need, etc. I can also determine what not to do, own, etc., focusing time and resources where required.

4. Be Honest

J and I will challenge each other constantly to get to the truth of who we are and who we wish to be. There will be no quiet politeness on this trip (not that I'm capable of it). I can't let J believe his own stories and rationalizations, causing misdirection and distraction. Warning: Allowing this dialogue requires intimate knowledge of each other and great trust. Pick your accountability partners wisely.

5. Consider the Tools Around You, Old and New

Every resource is important. On my old list is Napoleon Hill, who nearly 100 years ago connected creative visualization to success. And I will also consider new resources like crowdsourcing. Although I'm a natural skeptic for overhyped Internet trends, my friend and talented designer Elena Kriegner inspired me with her KickStarter campaign. It's simple, interesting, and elegant (like her jewelry), which is why it's gaining traction, unlike many others. In this planning exercise, no resources, new or old, are off the table to achieve my desired future.

6. Ignore the Naysayers

I live for constructive criticism. But outside perspective that is baseless conjecture or stems from emotional baggage (think dissatisfied family or friends) is destructive for achievers. Put these people in a box where they can't distract you from your ambitions. Find people who get it, and put them in your corner. Engage them in your preferred future, and help them achieve theirs.

7. Don't Settle for Mediocrity

Although being the next Steve Jobs or U.S. President is likely off our agenda (as it should be), J and I both want to be pushed to the limits of our potential. Too many people settle for what is easy rather than engage their energy and creativity to create something different and meaningful. Then they wonder why their work has no significance. I choose to pursue the Awesome Experience.

People who take a reactive approach to growth and development will suffer the same fate as companies, managers, and employees who let the markets, technology, and competitors determine their destiny. The game of life rewards aggressive players who leverage their energy, smarts (note that I didn't say intelligence), and creativity to determine and obtain the life that truly makes them happy. As Jim Collins points out in Great by Choice, good and bad luck comes to all; it's how you plan and execute that determines your return on luck.

Listening to Complainers Is Bad for Your Brain

by Minda Zetlin

Exposure to nonstop negativity actually impairs brain function. Here's how to defend yourself.

shutterstock images

Do you hate it when people complain? It turns out there's a good reason: Listening to too much complaining is bad for your brain in multiple ways, according to Trevor Blake, a serial entrepreneur and author of Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life. In the book, he describes how neuroscientists have learned to measure brain activity when faced with various stimuli, including a long gripe session.

"The brain works more like a muscle than we thought," Blake says. "So if you're pinned in a corner for too long listening to someone being negative, you're more likely to behave that way as well."

Even worse, being exposed to too much complaining can actually make you dumb. Research shows that exposure to 30 minutes or more of negativity--including viewing such material on TV--actually peels away neurons in the brain's hippocampus. "That's the part of your brain you need for problem solving," he says. "Basically, it turns your brain to mush."

But if you're running a company, don't you need to hear about anything that may have gone wrong? "There's a big difference between bringing your attention to something that's awry and a complaint," Blake says. "Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, 'Isn't it terrible?' This will damage your brain even if you're just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you'll become the target of the complaint."

So, how do you defend yourself and your brain from all the negativity? Blake recommends the following tactics:

1. Get some distance

"My father was a chain smoker," Blake confides. "I tried to change his habit, but it's not easy to do that." Blake knew secondhand smoke could damage his own lungs as well. "My only recourse was to distance myself."

You should look at complaining the same way, he says. "The approach I've always taken with complaining is to think of it as the same as passive smoking." Your brain will thank you if you get yourself away from the complainer, if you can.

2. Ask the complainer to fix the problem

Sometimes getting distance isn't an option. If you can't easily walk away, a second strategy is to ask the complainer to fix the problem.  "Try to get the person who's complaining to take responsibility for a solution," Blake says. "I typically respond to a complaint with, 'What are you going to do about it?'" Many complainers walk away huffily at that point, because he hasn't given them what they wanted, Blake reports. But some may actually try to solve the problem.

3. Shields up!

When you're trapped listening to a complaint, you can use mental techniques to block out the griping and save your neurons. Blake favors one used by the late Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros during a match against Jack Nicklaus--a match the crowd wanted Ballesteros to lose. "He was having difficulty handling the hostility of the crowd," Blake says. "So he imagined a bell jar that no one could see descending from the sky to protect him."

Major League Baseball pitchers can sometimes be seen mouthing "Shields on!" as they stride to the mound, he says. He adds that his own imaginary defense is "more like a Harry Potter invisibility cloak."

A related strategy is to mentally retreat to your imagined favorite spot, someplace you'd go if you could wave a magic wand. "For me, it was a ribbon of beautiful white sugary sand that extended out in a horseshoe shape from a private island," Blake says. "I would take myself to my private retreat while people were ranting and raving. I could smile at them and nod in all the right places and meanwhile take myself for a walk on my private beach."

Blake first saw the picture of the island in a magazine, and the image stuck with him. Eventually, he got a chance to try it for real. "It turned out the island was for rent, and it was the same one I'd seen," he says. "So I rented it for a week. And I got to take that walk."

Innovation is Creativity x Risk Taking

by Robert Brands 

Innovation is impossible to achieve without taking a necessary amount of risk. In a world where the success rate of new product entries in the grocery business is 1 in 100, it is inevitable that every success sees failures along the way. An effective innovation leader should encourage creativity andrisk taking, while also practicing a tolerance for failure.

In order to foster initiative and innovation, ask yourself these questions.

• Do you allow free research and development (R&D) time?
• Do you invest in innovation: money, people, resources?
• Do you celebrate failure and risk taking?

In a tough economy the willingness to take risks can wither, so it’s critical to let team members know that failure will not result in punitive measures. A strong leader practices failure management by setting and agreeing on the risk taking bandwidth or budget. It is ok to fail but that failure should be seen and recognized as a learning experience.

Fear of failure is an innovation killer, so here are some simple steps to develop a failure management plan that will lead to a culture of sustainable innovation.

1. Clearly communicate the risk profile you are asking your people to adopt and state why it is important to the organization’s success. This limits your potential loss, while opening up the floor for creativity and risk taking.
2. Never allow an unsuccessful risk to hamper a team member’s opportunities and advancement. A culture of innovation depends on trust.
3. Create and communicate the results of an award program created with a high intraorganizational profile. It should, ideally, reward risks that pay off and “gee, nice try’s” that don’t.
4. Establish a formalized, non-accusatory process for harvesting key learnings from unsuccessful risks. Distribute these lessons learned. The key here is that all risks, whether successful or not, contribute towards the end goal.
5. Give your people the situational risk assessment tools they need to help them improve their risk-taking decisions. This can include risk scoring systems to identify different levels of risk, and ways to deal with adverse situations as part of a preventive strategy.

For more tips on achieving innovation through risk taking and failure management, see “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Guide for Corporate Survival.”

The Five Rules for Negotiation

Jack Kaine is a master negotiator.  Negotiation is the process for addressing and solving problems. Problems and conflicts must be negotiated as soon as they arise, because they do not age gracefully. This is particularly true where money is concerned. Conflict is inevitable. It can be positive, negative, or irrelevant; it is how the conflict or problems are handled that makes the difference.

So what are the five key rules for negotiation?

Jack is speaking to my Vistage group and select guests next week.  If you would like an inviation feel free to contact me directly:  tom dot cuthbert at vistage dot com

11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn't Run Your Social Media

By Hollis Thomases via @inc

Sure, she understands Instagram. But do you really want a new grad controlling your brand online?

 

Pardon the generalization: I don't mean to attack 23-year-olds specifically. Nor do I believe there are no young people capable of managing a business's social-media responsibilities.

I am, however, trying to make a point: Just because you don't understand social media doesn't mean you should forfeit all common sense and hire your niece, nephew, or any other other recent college grad (say, your best friend's sister-in-law's kid) because "they're really good on Facebook."

If your business targets the young and hip, most definitely look to a recent grad or young social-media nerd to help your business. But don't assume, either, that you need to hire someone young to manage your social media "just because."

Frankly, this kind of logic makes me crazy--and yet I'm seeing it more and more these days. But you really shouldn't be entrusting your entire social-media efforts to a newly graduated intern. Here's why.

1.  They're not mature enough. Compared with young people 50 years ago, who were eager to enter adulthood and settle down, today's youth are not only not eager to do so, but most do not feel that they've reached adulthood until late into their 20s or early 30s, according to research from Clark University. Instead, they tend to feel unstable and self-focused and would rather explore who they are and how they can transform their lives. This is great for them but not so great for you, their employer--particularly because social media is all about communicating with your audience in mature and accountable ways.

2.  They may be focused on their own social-media activity. Because of the above, if you hire a young person to manage your social media, you may also need to need to worry about how he or she is actually spending his or her time. Will you need to be monitoring the person?

3. They may not have the same etiquette--or experience. Your recent college grad may have experience with Facebook and Instagram, but make sure you check out the substance of his or her updates and posts. You need to make sure your posts reflect your brand--and that you don't wind up with a late-night smartphone photo landing in the wrong account. At the very least, ensure you have a social-media policy in place.

4.  You can't control their friends.  This isn't exclusive to recent grads, of course, but it's a risk to consider: Even if you hire a real winner, be sure that his or her friends won't post inappropriate content to your company's social-media accounts.

5.  No class can replace on-the-job training.  Social media for business is really so many things wrapped into one: marketing, customer service, public relations, crisis management, branding. How deep is the experience of a young person in delivering any of these things?

6.  They may not understand your business.  You are handing the keys to your social-media kingdom to a newcomer, but there's plenty that he or she needs to understand beyond the social tools themselves. What are the nuances of your products or services? What makes you stand out in the marketplace? What are the typical expectations of your customers? How do you troubleshoot issues or cajole customers into working a bit more with you? What does your company stand for? No new hire will be able to absorb these issues overnight, of course--but a brand-new graduate will have an even steeper learning curve.

7.  Communication skills are critical. Communication is critical to solid social-media execution. Before you let a young hire take over your company blog posts, take stock of his or her writing skills. Also: Many young people have not yet learned the "art" of communicating. Make sure they know how to read between the lines, rather than taking things too literally.

8.  Humor is tricky business.  People like to be entertained, on social media as well as elsewhere. Will a young hire understand the boundaries of humor and entertainment appropriate to your target audience, or could your audience wind up being offended?

9.  Social-media savvy is not the same as technical savvy. Good social media requires a combination of both. Successful social-media management involves production requirements, tools, analytics, and other aspects of work.

10. Social-media management can become crisis management. The real-time nature of social media can quickly turn fun engagement and conversation into apublic relations disaster, especially if the person behind the wheel isn't thinking a few steps ahead. Are you really willing to take that risk?

11. You need to keep the keys. If you do go ahead and hire a new grad, make sure he or she sets up the social-media accounts using your company's email and shares the passwords with you. Otherwise, you could wind up with no access to these social-media accounts--and no way to take them over.

Social media is not the be-all and end-all. It's a marketing tool--part of an ever-growing arsenal of ways to bring your company to your prospective customers' attention.

Thinking of it this way, you will perhaps slow down and consider more closely whom you're hiring--and why.

How to use Google Two-Factor Authentication

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Do you really think security is too much trouble? That no one is ever going to bother with your accounts? Ask former Gizmodo employee Mat Honan if he feels that way after his accounts and devices were wiped clean. That could have been you, and it could have been worse. There are several ways to try to protect your online accounts and one of the more important of these is two-factor authentication. 

Two-factor authentication is ancient IT technology. If you've ever worked in a shop that required you both to show an ID card and enter a pin to go through a door, you've used it. As the name suggests it requires you to both show you know something, typically a password, and have a unique item that identifies you. On the Web, two-factor authentication typically requires you have both a password and a phone with its unique number, which can be used as the item.

Since Google played a role in the Honan case and almost everyone uses some Google service or the other--and Apple doesn't support two-factor authentication—let's go over how to turn on Google's version of two-factor authentication:  two-step verification. 

Before jumping in that though here are some other basics. First, don't use passwords, use passphrases. “Always color outside the lines!” is both much easier to remember and far harder to break than say "Tr)ub4DORm1."

Second, use different passphrases for each of your accounts. These days, as in both the Honan situation and the recent Dropbox breach, a major reason things went bad was that one password was used for multiple accounts. If you use a different passphrase for each account, you limit your damage to that one service.

And, if you have trouble remembering all those passphrases—as we all do—I suggest you invest in a password management program. I use, and like, LastPass myself. I have many tech. savvy friends, however, who swear by 1Password. 

Got all that? Good. 

What Google two-step verification adds to your security blanket is to get access to your Google account and all its services is that to break in a cracker needs not only your password but your phone as well.

To use Google 2 step verification, you'll need your phone as well as your PC.

Here's how to set Google's two-step verification up. The first thing you'll need is a phone that will accept anonymous SMS (aka text) messages or voice calls. You're going to need that because Google uses your unique phone and its number as its second factor. Google recommends that you use a mobile phone number as opposed to a landline or Google Voice number.You can use either, but I suggest you don't use a Google Voice number since that could trap you in a situation where you couldn't easily access any of your Google services  

Next, you need to sign-in to your Google account and head to the two-step verification settings page. Once there, you'll need to choose “Using 2-step verification” from the menu. From here, you'll enter the country your phone is registered I and enter your phone  number. You can also choose whether to get your verification code by voice or SMS on your phone. In a matter of seconds, you'll get a call with your verification number. You then enter this code into the data entry box provided by your Web browser. Your computer will then ask you if you want it to remember the computer you're using. If you answer, “yes” that computer will be authorized for use for 30-days. Finally, you turn on 2-step verification and you're done.

Well, not really. You see, you're not really authorizing your computer,as you might think from the instructions, you're authorizing the use of a particular Web browser on that computer with 2-step verification. If, like me, you run more than one browser you'll need to go through this process with every browser. You'll also need to go through it with every computer you use. Since on an average day I use half-a-dozen different computers that adds up to a lot of time for the initial setup. 

Also, while most Google services work with 2-step authenticaiton, not all of them do. Services that don't support the 2-step authentication dance include: 

POP and IMAP email clients such as Outlook, Mail and Thunderbird 
Gmail and Google Calendar on smartphones 
ActiveSync for Windows Mobile and iPhone 
YouTube Mobile on Apple devices 
Cloud Print 
IM clients for Google Talk and Adium 
3D Warehouse, Sketchup, and installed applications 
AdWords Editor 
Sync for Google Chrome 
Gmail Notifier

So, if like me, you use a smartphone and clients for email and IM, you'll also need to set up application specific passwords. This will not, can not, be the same as your master Google password.

Google, not you, generates your application specific passwords.

You'll get these application specific passwords by first giving it a name, such as e-mail, Android, and so on, and then Google will automatically generate a password for you. You then enter this new password in for the application and your application will be good to go. There are also a handful of applications, such as Google TV Gallery, that don't work with any version of 2-step verification. 

From this same page you can also see all the services you've authorized to use your Google ID as your identification. So long as you're cleaning up your security act anyway, you might as well go through the list and Revoke Access to any service you're no longer using. 

Let's say though that you don't have your phone, or you're somewhere without a signal when your laptop's 30-days of grace are up. No problem. Google gives you two answers.

The first is to download the Google Authenticator app for Android, Apple and Blackberry tablets and smartphones. With this you can generate a PC/browser password. You can also create a batch of ten backup codes, which you can use to authorize a computer. 

Is this perfect? No. There's no such thing as perfect security. A man in the middle attack can still grab your password and your authentication number. And, a good old fashioned people hack led toCloudFlare CEO's losing control of his Google account even with two-factor authentication.

Even so, if you don't want  your personal security disaster you should follow all these suggestions. Yes,setting Google, or any other two-factor authentication, up can be a pain but you'll be far safer with it than without it. 

http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-use-google-two-factor-authentication-7000002345/

How to Work Harder & Not Burn Out

by Maura McCarthy via @inc

You might think keeping work and your personal life separate is best for balance. But it might actually be causing you to burn out.

 

For so many of us, keeping work and a personal life fairly balanced is a constant struggle.

Maybe it’s time to rethink the “separate but equal” work-life balance theory and find ways to rekindle and nurture the passions that drew us to our career choices in the first place?

If we don’t, we risk burnout. Here are three strategies for avoiding burnout by staying connected to work, both as an employee and as a person.

1. Connect the dots between the Home You and the Office You. 

One cliché that still holds very true: Finding what you love is central to being your best at work. Within your industry and organization, be sure that your talents and abilities in “real life” (the things that are important to you in your day-to-day life at home) are in line with your tasks at work. In the best scenario, the talents that make you who you are in your family life, your social life, your hobbies, etc. are also put to use in your job (think meticulous attention to detail, compassionate understanding in social situations, drive to creatively problem solve, etc.).

Not there yet? Even some small changes--like taking on pieces of projects that you feel connected to--can help give you a more personal relationship to your work and company.

Some of the best decisions I’ve made for Blu have involved helping employees find where they are best suited and where their passions within the business truly lie. Productivity goes up, of course, but so do morale, fresh ideas, and a host of other invaluable and highly contagious effects.

2. Keep the big picture easily within reach--literally.

Getting caught up in the minutiae is so easy, especially when your job is high stress, involves managing others, or demands intense attention to detail.

There’s much research to support the idea that visual reminders can be powerful motivators. So find one and keep it in plain sight. Hokey? Maybe.

But I remember one day when I stopped by my local pizza place for a slice, I was struck by, of all things, the box: The ambitious little pizza company had designed its box to incorporate the words that evoke its mission and message. It depicted visually the ideals at the core of the business. That stuck with me. I cut out the box top and still have it to this day at my desk.

Reconnecting to the reasons you were inspired in the first place is crucial to keeping your own work exciting--and, if you are the boss, provides the fuel for continuing to inspire others.

3. Create opportunities for employees--or for yourself--to be in the thick of it.

When you’re staring at this month’s budget spreadsheet under the glow of your desk lamp at 11 p.m., it can be hard to remember the why.

When the going gets rough, it’s hard to remind yourself that it’s thanks to that budget that resources can be adequately allocated in the development of new and better ways to bring clean, beautiful, green homes to Americans looking to live healthier lives, for example.

Combat this by putting yourself “in the field,” even if your job has nothing to do with frontline work. One non-profit I know does this with a program that rotates employees through an “ambassador” program that gives people working in all parts of the organization a chance to represent their company and witness firsthand the impact of their work on the ground in Third World countries. This is an ambitious solution, but it doesn’t take such extravagant programs to have a similar effect. Look for events outside the office that bring you closer to your business’s core.

If you don’t step outside of your cubicle (or your corner office), you risk feeling disconnected from your business and why you’re there. 

If your workplace can’t help facilitate enrichment of this kind, then take it on for yourself. It’s an investment in your career and your happiness. 

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

via @HarvardBiz

Why don't successful people and organizations automatically become very successful? One important explanation is due to what I call "the clarity paradox," which can be summed up in four predictable phases:

Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success. 
Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities. 
Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts. 
Phase 4: Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.

Curiously, and overstating the point in order to make it, success is a catalyst for failure.

We can see this in companies that were once darlings of Wall Street, but later collapsed. In his book How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins explored this phenomenon and found that one of the key reasons for these failures was that companies fell into "the undisciplined pursuit of more." It is true for companies and it is true for careers.

Here's a more personal example: For years, Enric Sala was a professor at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. But he couldn't kick the feeling that the career path he was on was just a close counterfeit for the path he should really be on. So, he left academia and went to work for National Geographic. With that success came new and intriguing opportunities in Washington D.C. that again left him feeling he was close to the right career path, but not quite there yet. His success had distracted him. After a couple of years, he changed gears again in order to be what he really wanted: an explorer-in-residence with National Geographic, spending a significant portion of his time diving in the most remote locations, using his strengths in science and communications to influence policy on a global scale. (Watch Enric Sala speak about his important work at TED). The price of his dream job was saying no to the many good, parallel paths he encountered.

What can we do to avoid the clarity paradox and continue our upward momentum? Here are three suggestions:

First, use more extreme criteria. Think of what happens to our closets when we use the broad criteria: "Is there a chance that I will wear this someday in the future?" The closet becomes cluttered with clothes we rarely wear. If we ask, "Do I absolutely love this?" then we will be able to eliminate the clutter and have space for something better. We can do the same with our career choices.

By applying tougher criteria we can tap into our brain's sophisticated search engine. If we search for "a good opportunity," then we will find scores of pages for us to think about and work through. Instead, we can conduct an advanced search and ask three questions: "What am I deeply passionate about?" and "What taps my talent?" and "What meets a significant need in the world?" Naturally there won't be as many pages to view, but that is the point of the exercise. We aren't looking for a plethora of good things to do. We are looking for our absolute highest point of contribution.

Enric is one of those relatively rare examples of someone who is doing work that he loves, that taps his talent, and that serves an important need in the world. His main objective is to help create the equivalent of National Parks to protect the last pristine places in the ocean — a significant contribution.

Second, ask "What is essential?" and eliminate the rest. Everything changes when we give ourselves permission to eliminate the nonessentials. At once, we have the key to unlock the next level of our lives. Get started by:

• Conducting a life audit. All human systems tilt towards messiness. In the same way that our desks get cluttered without us ever trying to make them cluttered, so our lives get cluttered as well-intended ideas from the past pile up. Most of these efforts didn't come with an expiration date. Once adopted, they live on in perpetuity. Figure out which ideas from the past are important and pursue those. Throw out the rest.
• Eliminating an old activity before you add a new one. This simple rule ensures that you don't add an activity that is less valuable than something you are already doing.

Third, beware of the endowment effect. Also known as the divestiture aversion, the endowment effect refers to our tendency to value an item more once we own it. One particularly interesting study was conducted by Kahneman, Knetsch and Thaler (published here) where consumption objects (e.g. coffee mugs) were randomly given to half the subjects in an experiment, while the other half were given pens of equal value. According to traditional economic theory (the Coase Theorem), about half of the people with mugs and half of the people with pens will trade. But they found that significantly fewer than this actually traded. The mere fact of ownership made them less willing to part with their own objects. As a simple illustration in your own life, think of how a book on your shelf that you haven't used in years seems to increase in value the moment you think about giving it away. 

Tom Stafford describes a cure for this that we can apply to career clarity: Instead of asking, "How much do I value this item?" we should ask "If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?" And the same goes for career opportunities. We shouldn't ask, "How much do I value this opportunity?" but "If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?"

If success is a catalyst for failure because it leads to the "undisciplined pursuit of more," then one simple antidote is the disciplined pursuit of less. Not just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials. Not just once a year as part of a planning meeting, but constantly reducing, focusing and simplifying. Not just getting rid of the obvious time wasters, but being willing to cut out really terrific opportunities as well. Few appear to have the courage to live this principle, which may be why it differentiates successful people and organizations from the very successful ones.

GREG MCKEOWN

Greg McKeown is the CEO of THIS Inc., a leadership and strategy design agency headquartered in Silicon Valley. He was recently named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Greg did his graduate work at Stanford. Connect with him on Twitter @GregoryMcKeown

Stung By Click Fraud Allegations, Facebook Reveals How It's Fighting Back

by Robert Hof @forbes

It’s a question that has haunted online advertisers since soon after Google perfected pay-per-click search ads a decade ago: Are those clicks from real potential customers, or are they from scammers draining my ad budget?

Now the issue of “click fraud” has hit Facebook full-force. On July 30, Limited Run, which provides software to enable bands and music labels sell physical products like records, said it was closing its Facebook account after finding that some 80% of the clicks it got during a recent ad campaign on Facebook were likely generated not by real people but by bots. Those are coordinated groups of computers hijacked by scammers or spammers, so any clicks they generate cost advertisers money for no benefit. (In a separate issue, in fact the main reason Limited Run said it’s leaving Facebook, the company also said Facebook asked it to spend $2,000 on ads in order to change its Facebook page name, something Facebook has said is not its policy.)

Limited Run said it came to the conclusion that the clicks were fraudulent after running its own analysis. It  determined that most of the clicks for which Facebook was charging it came from computers that weren’t loadingJavascript, a programming language that allows Web pages to be interactive. Almost all Web browsers load Javascript by default, so the assumption is that if a click comes from one that isn’t, it’s probably not a real person but a bot.

To be clear, Limited Run isn’t charging that Facebook itself is responsible for those apparently fraudulent clicks. Often the culprits in click fraud are small-time ad networks and other outfits that pay people to click on Google and other ads they run on their sites, though that’s unlikely to be an issue for Facebook, which does not yet run its ads outside its own site as Google and others do. Perhaps, Limited Run has suggested, rivals could be using the bots to cost the company money by forcing it to pay for useless clicks.

The click fraud issue has at times loomed large for Google and other companies because of the potential impact on advertiser trust, and Googlecontinues to fight click fraud–as does Facebook. Indeed, the issue isn’t new for Facebook either, with complaints, including lawsuits, bubbling up since at least 2009.

But while click fraud doesn’t seem to have driven away a large number of Google advertisers, whether because the company has minimized it or because advertisers simply factor it in as a cost of doing business online, the issue is a particular concern for Facebook now. It’s trying to prove to skeptical advertisers and investors that its ads work, and claims that there’s rampant click fraud don’t help. At the same time, Facebook has said recently that some1.5% of its nearly 1 billion accounts are “undesirable,” meaning “user profiles that we determine are intended to be used for purposes that violate our terms of service, such as spamming.

Facebook has declined to say much about the Limited Run situation, though the company says it believes it catches and filters out the vast majority of “invalid clicks” before they’re even charged to advertisers. Its own page on“click and impression quality” doesn’t reveal much detail about how it deals with click fraud, however, so I asked the company for more insight on what it’s doing about the problem.

Mark Rabkin, an engineering director on Facebook’s ads team, responded to questions by email. While at times he’s repeating what Facebook has said before, he also reveals that the company has a growing staff of 300 people working on security and safety and explains in more detail the various ways the company tries to catch bad clicks. Here are his answers:

Q: To establish what we’re talking about, what is the nature of “click fraud”–people setting up bots to click, or accounts that manually manipulate clicks?

A: Our goal always is to deliver valuable ads to our users and for our advertisers.

We have multiple systems in place to help optimize ads and detect invalid clicks. As is common throughout the industry, we filter out different types of clicks that we believe do not represent a real person intentionally clicking on an ad.  We also filter out some other clicks that we determine may have low value to an advertiser based on a variety of factors.  For example, we filter out double-clicks and overly repetitive clicks even if they came from real people.

Q: What is the process by which Facebook tries to prevent or ameliorate click fraud? Are there certain qualities of accounts or click activity that are red flags? And once found, what does Facebook do to investigate and then correct as necessary?

A: Facebook has a few unique properties: you have to have an account to use the service which means you have to be logged in to see or click on an ad.  We use historical information and statistical models to identify which accounts may not represent real people and to evaluate click quality.

We also monitor user click activity over various intervals of time and we use this information and several other signals to inform what clicks we do or do not charge for. For example, a user who repeatedly clicks on ads is not likely providing real value, so we don’t charge for those clicks. When our systems detect click activity that we think is invalid, we mark it as such and do not charge for those clicks.

We can’t say much more as the effectiveness of our systems ultimately depends on keeping certain details confidential.

Q: Limited Run singled out Javascript being disabled as a key indicator of bot activity. Is that a good indicator? If so, is that used as a signal to filter out clicks from that source?

A: We have systems in place that filter out clicks coming from browsers with Javascript disabled. We believe that these systems can identify click activity from bots that do not use Javascript. We were surprised to learn of Limited Run’s experience because it’s not consistent with ours. We have asked Limited Run for their data and analysis so we can investigate their claim, but they have not yet provided it.

Q: What is the process by which Facebook refunds businesses whose advertising budgets are the victim of click fraud?

A: We believe the vast majority of invalid click activity is filtered by our automated systems, does not appear in our reports, and is not billed to the advertiser. On the rare occasion that we learn of potentially invalid click activity that was billed to an advertiser, we will work with them to investigate the issue and, if necessary, issue credits or refunds.

Q: Google has said the rate of click fraud after it filters out most of the invalid clicks first is .02%. What is the rate of click fraud on Facebook?

A: We believe we filter out the vast majority of invalid click activity through our automated systems. We don’t give out specific numbers, but we believe the rate of invalid click activity on Facebook is comparable to other companies in the space.

Q: Facebook said in 2009 that click fraud was under control. Has the problem gotten worse or better or remained steady since then?

A: We are continuously improving our detection systems as well as our sophistication in detecting bots and compromised user accounts. In addition, we also have a specially trained engineering incident response team that is on call at all times and reacts to spikes in activity by possible bots or malware. Finally, we have an independent company periodically review samples of our click data. [Facebook declined to identify the firm.]

Q: A key challenge seems to be the creation of fake accounts to engage in this activity. How does Facebook prevent this or stop it if it slips through?

A: We classify all account registrations and activities on the site in real time and take actions on accounts that we believe are false or suspicious. We identify anomalies in the activities coming from a particular user or group of users and take action on the users involved. Some of the actions may include suspending the account, blocking activities from a specific IP address range, limiting the interactions an account can have with others, or forcing the user through a “checkpoint” where they must pass a test such as a CAPTCHA, phone verification, identify photos of their friends, or provide a copy of their government-issued ID to prove that they are the person they claim to be.

Q: What can advertisers do themselves to identify or prevent click fraud?

A: We are committed to partnering with our advertisers to continually optimize their return on investment from the ads they run with us. We encourage advertisers to measure and track both their campaign performance and the traffic resulting from their campaigns, and to contact us with any questions.

Q: A recurring theme in story and blog comments is that Facebook is slow to respond to queries on apparent fraudulent clicks. Does Facebook feel it has the problem under control, or does it need to apply more staff or other resources to further reduce the problem?

A: We believe our systems perform well in identifying invalid click activity, and we remove such clicks from our reports before an advertiser ever sees them. As our usage grows, we continue to invest more and more engineering resources to combat all types of invalid click activity, spam, and malware on Facebook and across our platform. We employ over 300 full-time staff focused on security and safety.

We are reviewing our help center and other educational materials around our click systems and policies to see if there are areas where we can provide additional information for our advertisers.

---

This article is available online at: 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/08/08/stung-by-click-fraud-allegations-facebook-reveals-how-its-fighting-back/

Wondering why unemployment is still high despite the stimulus plan?

Me too...

The chart below  (via @businessinsider) shows three lines:

1. The incoming Obama Administration's projections for what the unemployment rate would be if no stimulus was enacted in the depths of the financial crisis (light blue).
2. The Obama Administration's projections for what the unemployment rate would be with the President's stimulus plan (dark blue).
3. The actual unemployment rate (it's now 8.3%).

The actual unemployment rate in the chart, you will note, is much higher than the "nightmare scenario" initially envisioned by the Obama Administration (with no stimulus). In either case--stimulus or no stimulus--the unemployment rate was supposed to be down to 5.5% by now. And it's actually still 8.3%.

Eric Platt/Business Insider, Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The Job Impact of the America Recovery & Reinvestment Plan," 2009, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein for the President's Council of Economic Advisers

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-obama-unemployment-2012-8-v#ixzz233osUYRJ

How Leaders Build Trust

BY ANDY ATKINS

 | 

via @fastcompany

Companies with high levels of trust enjoy higher stock prices, improved profits, and better retention of key employees. Here's what trustworthy companies do to strengthen ties.

Trust me. When's the last time you actually believed those words on the job? If your answer is a long time ago, you're not alone. In fact, many people instinctively recoil from those two words--especially when uttered by business leaders or professional colleagues.

A sign of the times, perhaps, but there's a ray of hope--good news, in fact, for leaders looking to make quick progress in building trust in their organizations.

First, I'll share some perspective on the challenge leaders face regarding trust.

The Downward Spiral

Trust--and its close-cousin, confidence--is way down everywhere you look. In fact, confidence in most of the 16 public and private institutions tracked by Gallup has either remained flat or decreased this year.

Four years of research into the overlapping areas of trust, leadership, and collaboration conducted by us at Interaction Associates has shown steady erosion in the level of trust people feel at work. Trust took a nosedive in 2009 and has continued to decline each year during the recession. The 2012 results show trust at its lowest level since the start of the recession.

The Edelman Trust Barometer has looked at a similar set of questions for a dozen years, and their findings around the decline confirm this grim outlook.

Trust is a necessary component of successful leadership--leaders need trust in order to drive business results. Yet trust in business has been eroding for some time. Judging by many employee engagement scores, employees have been disengaging for at least a decade.

While it's hardly surprising given the economic downturn, layoffs, and employees being asked to do more with less, the decline in trust poses a risk to business results. 

But there are important hopeful indicators--and some tangible, highly effective steps for building trust that leaders can take now.

Bright Spots Of Trust

So, what's the silver lining in all this? In the 2009 Trust in Business survey, findings showed that companies with self-assessed high levels of leadership capability, collaboration, and trust enjoyed a premium in their stock's price/earnings ratio of over 25%. In other words, higher levels of trust inside a company correlate directly with higher P/E ratios for that company.

In 2012, looking even more closely at companies with highly engaged and highly involved employees, findings show that high-profitability companies are twice more likely to have high involvement cultures than low-profitability companies.

Another key data point: high-engagement and high-involvement companies are more confident in their ability to retain their key employees--a group that makes a disproportionately large contribution to business results.

Why We Trust

The Building Trust in Business study specifically identifies three reasons why we trust our work colleagues: 

1. Past Behavior: If you've behaved as expected in the past, I trust you to behave that way in the future. In this case “past performance” may very well predict “future returns.”
2. Capability: We trust people based on our perception of their capability, so I trust my doctor to treat my illness because of her training.
3. Alignment: If you and I are trying to achieve a common goal, I'll trust you to do your part. Soldiers trust each other with their lives, because they are pursuing a shared goal.

While all three reasons frequently come into play, in high trust organizations, alignment was cited as a trust driver by over 90% of the companies.

How Leaders Build Trust

Building trust doesn't happen overnight--but there are important steps leaders can take to foster a more trusting climate. Steps that do impact business results.

Here are three important steps to consider:

Involve people in decisions that directly affect them. When people are involved in a decision, even if they don't make the final call, they are more likely to support the decision. This means bringing people in before you've made the decision. If you've already made the decision, and you're not open to changing your mind, don't go through the motions of bringing people into the process. You won't get buy-in. In fact, people will feel conned. On the other hand, treating people as capable adults shows you trust them to be part of good decisions. They'll trust you more in return.

Be transparent and consistent in your actions. We tend to focus on outcomes and ignore the process. Understanding how a decision was made, and the thought process behind that decision, can have a huge impact on how people feel about the decision. In one study, employees who understood how their performance bonus was determined were more satisfied than employees who received more money, but didn't know how the bonus had been determined. If you are transparent and consistent, people will see your motives and learn to rely on you.

Pay attention to relationships. It's a given that people join companies but leave managers. The connection between employees and managers makes a huge difference in the degree of engagement and involvement people will feel. If people know you understand what matters to them, they'll trust you to act in ways that align with their interests.

Those strategies work. Trust me.

Andy Atkins is the Chief Innovation Officer of Interaction Associates, a global leadership development firm headquartered in Boston. 

[Image: Flickr user Mo Riza]

Concocting The Right Business Strategy

by Joe Evans 

A cornerstone of corporate strategy is knowing your organization’s true value proposition and using that knowledge to innovate the business model so that existing customers can be better served and share of markets can be extended. Developing effective strategy requires business leaders to examine their value statements and to learn how to utilize and navigate the Organizational Value Quadrant (OVQ)¹ model. The four quadrants of organizational value define distinct operating models that relate the company’s positioning relative to the markets served by the business. Knowing which quadrant your business lives in and understanding how to navigate within the OVQ form the backbone of every strategic plan. This article explains the organizational value quadrants, and what they mean to a business in terms of strategy and investment.

Value Proposition; how well do you know it and live it?

For any business, understanding the company’s value proposition is the first step in strategy formulation and must be addressed as a key input to the OVQ discussion.

A value proposition can be thought of a business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. In essence, this statement should help the firm connect with a potential target market in a way that differentiates a particular product or service as to how it will add more value or solve a problem better than other similar offerings.

 

The purest three elements of a value proposition are:

The connection: What is it that makes the product or service inspirational and innovative? The connection must compel the customer to want the product and say, “I need this”.

The differentiation: What is it that makes the product or service indispensable? The differentiation should help eliminate the thought of substitutes in the mind of the buyer.

The substantiation: What facts can you state about the product or service to help create credibility and trust? The substantiation should help the potential buyer to believe in the product or service and take action.

Organizational Value Quadrants

Businesses operate on models designed for value creation that are in alignment with their stated value propositions for each class of products and services. While the value proposition helps communicate the marketing and sales message, the business model must deliver the value promised. That leads to the discussion of value quadrants.

Strategists should always be thinking in terms of value quadrants when considering their firm’s competitive positioning. Method Frameworks focuses on four primary quadrants to classify the business model a company is following. The quadrants are  shown in the graphic below:

 

Each quadrant represents the focus of a company or business unit and can be thought of as the strategy and business model generally being followed. Below is a synopsis of each quadrant:

The Customer Intimacy & Synergy Quadrant

Companies operating in the Customer Intimacy & Synergy Quadrant focus on the customization and tailoring of products / services. Their missions are geared toward know their customers well, delivering what specific customers want and “personalizing” the experience.

Customers of businesses in this quadrant have the expectation of a close relationship that is solution-based for their needs. In return, they are willing to accept a higher cost for the goods or services they are purchasing.

The Operational & Organizational Excellence Quadrant

Companies operating in the Operational & Organizational Excellence Quadrant focus operational efficiencies, supply-chain optimization, maintaining low overhead and accomplishing more with lean structures. Their missions are focused on creating predictability in delivering quality, low price, no-hassle purchase experiences and ease of use.

Customers of businesses in this quadrant have the expectation of low cost and best pricing. In return, they are willing to accept less in the areas of service and relationship intimacy.

The Customer Enrichment & Fulfillment Quadrant

Companies operating in the Customer Enrichment & Fulfillment Quadrant focus on helping their customers reaching and fulfilling their potential. Their mission themes relate to creating better lives for their customers and the opportunity for self-actualization.

Customers of businesses in this quadrant have the expectation of enjoying an experience and learning through exploration and discovery. In return, they are willing to accept a higher cost for the goods or services they are purchasing.

The Product / Service Superiority & Innovation Quadrant

Companies operating in the Product / Service Superiority & Innovation Quadrant focus on creating superior or unique “One-of-a-Kind” value-add services or products. Their missions are geared towards innovation and creating the best products and services available in their class.

Customers of businesses in this quadrant have the expectation of receiving high quality and benefiting from innovation in the products or services being purchased. In return, they are willing to accept a higher cost for the goods or services they are purchasing.

Utilizing The Quadrants In Strategic Planning

Each quadrant groups companies relative to their value propositions and respective customer expectations. Most companies standardize on a business model and force a fit of that model to all their customers. Although it may seem illogical to combine a strategy of individual service (custom-tailored and expensive) with a model of operational excellence (where cost-minimization requires a high degree of process standardization), it can and has been done successfully. A business does not have to be entirely committed to an exclusive relationship with only one category and can use strategy to navigate and position themselves in different quadrants of the OVQ.

Sales organizations have developed impressive sophistication in analyzing their customers and segmenting them appropriately. Likewise, CFOs are highly tuned into profit analysis and many have developed the equivalent of “heat maps” for profitability. Together, they have analyzed their sales and profit data and have developed a clear understanding of which customers are providing them with high sustained profitability. With this combined insight, customer segmentation can then be applied to strategically approach these profit areas with segment sub-strategies. Segment strategy can be applied to invest resources in securing and growing key customer relationships through integration of the company’s operations with those of the key customer’s in a tailored  and effective approach. When this approach is followed, the investments can result in lowering key customer’s cost while increasing the profits of the supplier business.

Customer integration within a value quadrant can be accomplished by tuning customer inventories, smoothing order patterns and even deploying substitute products in carefully-selected situations. The key is to partner with key customers and shift the focus of supply chain efficiency initiatives from optimization solely within the organization’s supply-chain ecosystem to an optimization of the joint vendor-customer supply chain domain. This shift creates enormous new efficiencies for both organizations and helps increase the cost of switching vendors for the customer in the future.

The example above illustrates how an organization can straddle both the operational excellence and the customer intimacy quadrants. With strategic positioning companies can begin to dominate in other quadrants through the creation of other differentiated serving models for important customer segments. Through careful strategic planning and follow-though in execution, a business can actually implement and sustain multiple parallel service models to operate successfully across quadrants.

Recap

Business leaders must begin with a clear and realistic understanding of their value proposition, the first step in strategy formulation that must be addressed as a key input to the Organizational Value Quadrant analysis. A value proposition can be thought of a business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.

The purest three elements of a value proposition are the connection, the differentiation and the substantiation. While the value proposition helps communicate the marketing and sales message, the business model (represented by quadrants of the OVQ model) must deliver the value promised. Each quadrant represents the focus of a company or business unit and can be thought of as the strategy and business model generally being followed. The four primary quadrants to classify the business model a company are:

- Operational & Organizational Excellence

- Product / Service Superiority & Innovation

- Customer Enrichment & Fulfillment

- Customer Intimacy & Synergy

Most importantly, a business does not have to be entirely committed to an exclusive relationship with only one category and can use strategy to navigate and position themselves in different quadrants of the OVQ.

Suggested Reading:

-  Organizational Authenticity

-  Corporate Strategy: 5 Critical Alignments To Assess

-  Value: Create – Capture – Share

-  Corporate Strategy: Multinational Organizations

^{1 – Organizational Value Quadrant based on the work of Edgar Papke}

Facebook Plummets, Google+ Strong in American Consumer Satisfaction Index

Facebook suffers the largest decline in customer satisfaction according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report. The social media juggernaut plunges 8 percent to 61 on a 100-point scale, setting a new record-low score for e-business and placing it among the five lowest-scoring companies of the 230 measured by the ACSI.

Full story here:  http://www.foresee.com/news-events/press-releases/acsi-e-biz-2012-foresee.shtml