I always find it curiously interesting when universities feel compelled to introduce courses on ethics to their student body.

This is because ethics essentially reflect, or at least, are supposed to reflect our basic core human values. Well if this is the case then do we not already have deep within each of us an awareness of such “human” values?

We should, that is if we are card carrying human beings. The idea that ethics, and hence core human values need to be “taught” to human beings is a sign that something has gone awry.

Have we forgotten our basic human values or even worse have we stopped being human beings? Well when you look around on this planet at the multitude of “inhuman” i.e. “unethical” acts you might come to the conclusion that human beings have disappeared from the face of the earth. If you’ve ever seen the 1950′s classic movie “The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” I think you’ll see what I mean.

It is my feeling that there are still human beings on this planet albeit in a very unconscious state. By unconscious I mean that they are unaware of who they truly are and what they truly feel about their own choices. “Feeling” here is a crucial element of “knowing” when a choice is aligned with a deep core human value and when it is not.

For instance, when you notice some of the violence that occurs on the planet, the only thing that tells you that it is “unethical”, “undesirable”, “inhuman” and therefore “against” your core human values is the “feeling” of sadness that you feel about what you are witnessing.

The feelings themselves have embedded in them and are a living example of your core human values. It’s when you stop feeling these feelings, that is become desensitized, that you lose an awareness of your values. That is when you stop being human.

You see, the feelings I just mentioned above tell you automatically when a choice that you are about to contemplate is a “human” choice. By “human” I mean that it is ethical, morally right, in your best interests and in the best interests of all humanity and the planet.

By feeling these feelings you are automatically guided or directed to morally higher ground. It’s when you don’t feel these feelings that you have lost any idea of what “morally higher ground” even means. That is you have lost the only reference point by which to run your life in a manner that is fitting for a human being who has any integrity.

So you see teaching ethics is akin to teaching someone to be human. Does this feel right to you? You probably thought you were already human didn’t you? Isn’t it simpler to help individuals reconnect to who they are and what they already know deep within?

Individuals, in my view, progressively lose their connection with their “human-ness” the moment they experience some form of emotional trauma during their lives. By trauma here I mean even something as simple as your mother not coming to feed you instantly when you cried out for food as a young infant.

You see we are “all” carrying trauma that is associated with enormous amounts of emotional pain. In order to function as an adult it becomes necessary to cut ourselves off from this pain. In doing so we also cut off the feelings I mentioned above, those associated with our core human values. This cuts us off from our own human-ness.

When this happens we find ourselves prone to committing inhuman acts that further traumatize others and ourselves. Hence the pain accumulates and the need to “numb” ourselves from it does as well. Isn’t this how “human” history has played itself out?

This is the reason that so many individuals are taking antidepressants today. Depression is simply what one feels when one is carrying all this pain. You’ve heard the expression “walking around like a zombie”? This is where a lot of individuals are today. They walk around totally numb to what they are feeling, especially their human-ness.

So if I’ve gotten your attention and you would like to find a way back to your true human self kindly visit the web link below where you can download a special message from me.

Dr. Nick Arrizza is trained in Chemical Engineering, Business Management & Leadership, Medicine and Psychiatry. He is an Energy Psychiatrist, Healer, Key Note Speaker,Editor of a New Ezine Called “Spirituality And Science” (which is requesting high quality article submissions) Author of “Esteem for the Self: A Manual for Personal Transformation” (available in ebook format on his web site), Stress Management Coach, Peak Performance Coach & Energy Medicine Researcher, Specializes in Life and Executive Performance Coaching, is the Developer of a powerful new tool called the Mind Resonance Process(TM) that helps build physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being by helping to permanently release negative beliefs, emotions, perceptions and memories. He holds live workshops, international telephone coaching sessions and international teleconference workshops on Physical. Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Well Being.

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Tags: ethics, training, program, professional, business

When Merriam-Webster assembled their list of most searched definitions for 2005, they could easily reason why certain words would make the list. Levee, tsunami, filibuster, and refugee were tied to events during the year. Even insipid was explainable due to the timing of the hits and comments made by Simon Cowell of wannabe singers during American Idol. Yet one word, the top word, seemed to be more wide-spread than caused by a single event. The word: Integrity.

More people searched for the definition of integrity than any other word during the year. The searchers were potentially hungering for the days when one’s words coincided with their actions under an umbrella of honesty and morality. There was a day when one could trust their supervisor to have concern for their interests and for the heads of the organization to be concerned about the future of the people working for them. You could work for a company your entire life and depend on them in retirement.

Yet in 2005 we saw cuts in pensions for retirees, the threat of double digit pay cuts, and hefty benefit reductions for workers across industries and supply channels. Even former lifelong employers like Ford, Sears, GM, Kmart, and others announced new layoffs while upper management seemed oblivious to the hardships created for their employees.

For Baby-Boomers, integrity in the business world seems to have vanished – evaporated from a glass once half-full.

People want to trust their customers, employees, and employers. At the same time employee theft is on the rise, pension funds are being raided, and customers are increasingly treated as interruptions.

Integrity slips away quietly even under the loud cries of those that inevitably see it happening. Customers complaints silenced by uncaring frontline employees or deaf managers and owners. Leaders isolated from the frontlines of the operations. Employees seeing owners buying beautiful new cars and homes while payroll and benefit deductions are reducing discretionary income.

A Life Lesson from Kmart

Failed integrity is often the result of good intentions derailed by business needs. While working at Kmart in the mid-1990s there was heavy investor pressure to the number of out-of-stock items in the stores. Wall Street was bitterly complaining about Kmart’s slumping market share, blaming the empty store shelves as a customer turn-off. Anderson Consulting had been brought in to assist in determining a way to get the merchandise on the shelves, especially during ads. At first the program had noble intentions.

A vendor report card would show each manufacturer which shipments were late so that supply chain impediments could be identified and eliminated. Unfortunately red ink was beginning to show on initial balance sheets and the scorecard became a way to generate revenue through penalties. Kmart’s president at the time had used the same tactic to save a supermarket chain ad previously led from almost certain bankruptcy. Before long the program was assigned huge income goals which destroyed many longtime vendor relationships.

As the manager of vendor development, I had been the most visible executive on the program in its early days, teaching vendors how to use the scorecard. As pressures built to generate revenue from the scorecard through vendor fines, I resisted. As the face of the scorecard, upper management spun off the compliance program and left the scorecard and training program under my responsibility while a different team was chosen to automate and expand the compliance program. As it grew to a nine figure income stream, my continued training and consulting duties solidified vendor thoughts that it was still my program.

Knowing what I know in hindsight, integrity would have taken me down a different road.

So it is with integrity. People do not judge your integrity by motives or intensions. They discern your integrity by outcomes.

My experience, exhaustive research, and interviews with experts, I developed a concept I call Trust Ball™, a vivid correlation of integrity, honesty, and trust built on the game of baseball. It follows a simple notion that trust is disciplined game with procedures and rules that make it easier to follow and understand. Just as in baseball, you get to go straight to the batter’s box when you first encounter a new individual or team. If your initial impression conveys honesty, integrity, and trust, you get to move to first base. Specific attitudes and actions will allow you to move around the bases, one at a time, until you eventually score a home run. If at any time you break one of the tenets of trust, it constitutes an out and you must return to the dugout. No longer can you simply go to the batter’s box, from this point on you must make a stop at the on-deck circle before you can get back into the game.

Five Important Questions

When you are faced with a new situation, policy, procedure, or opportunity (which I’ll refer to singularly as an “event”) ask yourself these questions:

1. How does this event apply to my personal belief system?

2. How will others view this in hindsight when the event is over?

3. If something goes wrong or is changed/expanded/shifted in mid-stream, how will others in hindsight view me?

4. What can I do in advance to prevent a negative impression of my integrity and honesty when the event is occurring and when it is completed?

5. Is the price worth it?

Integrity is an essential leadership quality. What are you doing in your day to destroy trust? Are your words consistent with your actions? Do you catch others off guard or do they know what to expect from you? Master integrity and you will build relationships stronger and faster than you ever imagined possible.

Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement. Building on a strong retail background, Rick moved to full supply-chain involvement, working with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results.

As Rick’s interaction in varied industries expanded, he became troubled as he increasingly noticed that people and companies had untapped or unfocused talent.

Coupled with Rick’s passion for training and development, popular style of interactive workshops and seminars, and strong desire for continuous improvement, he founded Max Impact Corporation to be singularly focused on helping individuals and organizations achieve high performance.

Rick is a popular speaker at seminars, workshops, and conferences. He has spoken in 43 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and in Canada and Puerto Rico. He is available to speak at groups of all sizes.

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Tags: ethics, practice, research, professional, corporate

While watching Face the Nation one Sunday earlier this year, Bob Schiffer discussed the airline industry, his mother and ethics in business. Like Bob, I think it is a sad commentary today, that we have to police businesses. Whatever happened to going into business to provide a needed service, being loyal to employees, and keeping promises.

It seems like no one today is concerned about doing good business or being ethical in the process. Our forefathers would be ashamed at what this society has come to. I know I am.

Chuck and I teach our students how to run a good business, by being ethical, and making sure that everyone is happy. We run our business using the adage, “The customer is always right”. We know, however, from looking at others in business both on and offline, that we are in the minority. For most it is all about making money. They don’t care who they have to step on, how many lies they tell, just “show them the money”. As I pointed out in my article regarding “The Almighty Buck”, this should not be your only incentive for going into business, and if it is, you won’t be in business long.

We see sites every day that you can’t find a telephone number on, an address for, they just want you to take it on faith that they are on the up and up. Years ago, a business would never even think of operating this way. Their name, address, phone number, slogan etc. was very prominent on everything they did. Unfortunately today, you can’t take people on faith anymore. It’s very sad, but it seems if you do so, most of the time, you will get burned.

Years ago, companies were known for their honesty, their integrity, and their good products. They had to be to stay in business and keep the good image they wanted to project. This gave their company a good name. As many of you know, we come from New York. Kodak, Grumman, and IBM were major companies in down and upstate NY. If you got a job with them you had a job for life, and once you retired you didn’t have to worry. Today, people are losing their medical benefits, their pensions, their life savings; due to businesses thinking of only the bottom line.

Every time you open a newspaper or watch the news today you hear about another business’ unethical business practices. They cook the books, take bonuses they don’t disclose, while they expect employees to work for less. There is something very wrong with this picture. It also says to our future entrepreneurs, that this behavior is alright, just don’t get caught.

Like Bob Schiffer, I’d much rather go back to the time when businesses dealt with us in an ethical manner and didn’t only concentrate on lining their pockets, like today. Also, like Bob, I think what we need are different teachings in our business schools. The philosophy of today’s teachers, needs to re-vamped to reflect the philosophies of old. What we need is to “throw out the new, and bring back the old”. As Bob said, if his mom was teaching today, students would get a completely different view…an old fashioned one. Kudos to Bob’s mom!

Copyright 2003 DeFiore Enterprises

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Tags: business, ethics, professional

We live in a world full of lies and deception. Most of us (or all of us?) lied or were forced to do so, in a small or larger scale, because of some circumstances. Unfortunately, some individuals use to prevaricate or lie deliberately. They use to do it frequently in every aspect of their life.

So the question is how can you detect people who lie or how can you trace the lies in general? There is not a magic recipe for that but you can use some fundamental rules to do so:

- The person who lies will make little or no eye contact. A person who is lying to you will do everything to avoid eye contact.

- He is reluctant to face his accuser and may turn his head or shift his body away.

- He tries to move away from the accuser, possibly in the direction of the exit. There will be little or no physical contact during his attempt to convince you.

- He places physical objects (drinking glass, e.t.c.) between himself and his accuser to form a barrier, as if he tells that “I don’t want to talk about it,” indicating deception or intention to cover something.

- When a liar is questioned about something he delays the response for a few seconds in order to think or come up with a fake story. On the contrary, the honest person answers immediately in a spontaneous manner.

- If there are so many repetitions of some points, it means that he lacks of answering the critical facts the other person needs. That means he can’t tell the truth.

- A Liar maybe willingly answers your questions but on the other hand he will not ask you relevant or same questions. He tries to change the subject as soon as possible in order to avoid the awkward situation he was into.

- When the subject is changed he feels relief instead of the honest who seeks further explanations.

- He exaggerates (that’s a nice trick) so much, that makes you think that if he is lying he can’t come up with such as stupid and excessive explanation.

You can use some simple tricks to detect the lies while the conversation goes on. First speak for general things regarding your suspicions. Ask general questions and watch the liar’s response. If he takes some time to answer then he obviously lies because he is making a fake story, and that requires some time, at least few seconds which are enough for you to understand.

Commerce Tricks.

- The salesman is asking for your hobbies in order to create a bond with the potential client. For example: “I see you have pet magazines… you have pets?” “Yes I do.” “So do I!”

- Greasy agreements. When you have someone to agree all the time with you, even with some arguments you use that lack of rationality…then beware. It’s a fake response to get your approval and sympathy, although most of the times that attitude get the opposite results.

- Ask for little favours. There are no little favours. The little always leads to the big one. If someone keeps asking you for little things to do, most of the times (not always) is looking for the valuable action he is expecting for you to do. The reason for asking the little one first is that when you say “Yes”, you create the appropriate mindset which inevitably will come to the big “Yes”.

Christos Varsamis is an internet marketing consultant and the creator and publisher of this site

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Workplace Ethics is a subject that we have all heard of. In fact, the subject of Ethics in general is something that most people are familiar with. And, what is commonly understood about ethics is there are ethics and then there are workplace ethics. What most people don’t realize, however, is that there is no such thing as workplace ethics; ethics are the same, (or, should be) whether in the workplace or in personal life.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Ethics are ajavascript:void(0)bout making choices that may not always feel good or seem like they benefit you but are the “right” choices to make. They are the choices that are examples of “model citizens” and examples of the golden rules. We’ve all heard the golden rules: Don’t hurt, don’t steal, don’t lie, or one of the most famous: “Do unto others as you would have done to you.” These are not just catchy phrases; these are words of wisdom that any productive member of society should strive to live by.

In our personal lives, most people try to do exactly that. Ethics are thought of by many people as something that is related to the private side of life and not to the business side. In many businesses, having ethics is frowned upon or thought of as a negative subject. This is because business is usually about doing what’s best for number one, not about what’s really the right thing to do. You probably are already feeling uneasy just reading this.

A GOOD EXAMPLE

Take ENRON, for example. Were the actions of ENRON’s CEO’s a good example of ethics? No. But, what they WERE was a CLASSIC example of was two things: One, those actions displayed how ethics were not used in any way. Two, their actions painted a grim and realistic picture of what can happen when ethics are neglected. Had ethics been considered in the first place by the leaders of the company, there would have been no scandal. If ethics were used on a daily basis in every company, there would never be scandals.

Martha Stewart comes to mind when speaking of ethics. Again, there is a feeling of uneasiness when dealing with this topic. But, why is it like that? Ethics are supposed to improve our lives and invoke good feelings. Perhaps the reason ethics is such a sore subject is because they are so often poorly used, if used at all.

A NEW WAY

Ethics are making a comeback. To begin with, more and more corporations and businessmen and woman are now realizing that ethics aren’t checked at the door when entering the workplace. Ethics have every bit as much a place in the public as they do the private. How is it there should be separate sets of ethics, depending upon whether it is your personal life or your work life? The answer is that there shouldn’t be a separate set and in light of recent events that we see on our television sets as of late, more and more companies are realizing this fact.

Some companies are incorporating ethics into their training. It is s subject that can go hand-in-hand with business and when employees and CEO’s alike understand what ethics are about, business can improve. Not only will the community take note of the ethical nature of a business but also so will customers.

Periodic reevaluations are suggested in ethics training as well, since times change many things that some would never consider ethical or non-ethical. For instance, when the first computer hacker to send a work into a university computer system crippled the entire network that the system was a part of, including that of public utilities – simply because he could do it – a question of ethics is hard to pose. Computers were new, at the time. And, no one had ever been able to do such a thing before. With new times comes new technology and new ways of doing things. Ethics will still play a part of it all and refreshing ethics training only re-strengthens what has already been learned, when new ages come about.

In the end, it’s all about what a person understands about ethics. Many university curriculums are now heavily applying the teaching of Ethics and for good reason. Young minds will take this information into the workforce and understand that ethics need to be applied there as well as in the private sector. Corporations will be able to avoid embarrassing scandals that are presented all over national news. Small business will be able to keep and attract more clients and customers. Negotiations between businesses could be accomplished with more consideration for the other company in mind, which would only help both.

Above all, a high level of ethics in your business should be in place at least for the customers. If anything, it is the customer that should be considered the most when it comes to ethical business practices. In the long run, a company will reap great profits from a customer base that feels it is being treated fairly and truthfully.

About The Author

Myron Curry is President and CEO of BusinessTrainingMedia.com a leading provider of workforce and business development training programs designed exclusively for corporate deployment. Myron has over 20 years of successful management experience with leading fortune 500 companies and has written numerous articles about workforce management issues. You can visit his company’s website

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“Introduction to Business Ethics
By Jonathon Hardcastle Platinum Quality Author

Article Word Count: 466 [View Summary] Comments (0).
Is it possible for an individual with strong moral values to make ethically questionable decisions in a business setting? What affects a person’s inclination to make either ethical or unethical decisions in a business organization? Although the answers to that question are not entirely clear, there appear to be three general sets of factors that influence the standards of behavior in an organization; individual factors, social factors and opportunity.

Several individual factors influence the level of ethical behavior in an organization. An individual’s knowledge level regarding an issue can help to determine ethical behavior. A decision maker with a greater amount of knowledge regarding an object or situation may take steps to avoid ethical problems, whereas a less-informed person may unknowingly take action that leads to an ethical conflict. One’s moral values and central, value-related attitudes clearly influence his or her business behavior. Most people join organizations to accomplish personal goals. The types of personal goals an individual aspires to and the manner in which these goals are pursued have significant impact on that individual’s behavior in an organization.

A person’s behavior in the workplace is, to some degree, determined by cultural norms, and these social factors vary from one culture to another. For example, in some countries it is acceptable and ethical for customs agents to receive gratuities for performing ordinary, legal tasks that are a part of jobs, whereas in other countries these practices would be viewed as unethical and perhaps illegal. The actions and decisions of coworkers is another social factor believed to shape a person’s sense of business ethics. For example, if your coworkers make long-distance telephone calls on company time and at company expense, you might view that behavior as acceptable and ethical because everyone does it. Significant others are persons to whom someone is emotionally attached-spouses, friends, and relatives, for instance. Their moral values and attitudes can also affect an employee’s perception of what is ethical and unethical in the workplace.

Opportunity refers to the amount of freedom an organization gives an employee to behave ethically if he or she makes that choice. In some organizations, certain company policies and procedures reduce the opportunity to be unethical. For example, at some fast-food restaurants, one person takes your order and receives your payment and another person fills the order. This procedure reduces the opportunity to be unethical because the person handling the money is not dispensing the product, and the person giving out the product is not handling the money. The existence of an ethical code and the importance management places on this code are other determinants of opportunity. The degree of enforcement of company policies, procedures, and ethical codes is a major force affecting opportunity. When violations are dealt with consistently and firmly, the opportunity to be unethical is reduced.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Employment, Education, and Finance

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Tags: introduction, ethics, business, professional, training

Competent, educated and in prison – I would never have considered that this is where I would be some 11 years ago. But, there are consequences to every choice we make and though one might think that we can avoid the consequences – we can’t. They are unavoidable and certain. We just don’t know how or when we will face the inevitable.

As a former CPA who, through a series of choices, became a white-collar criminal, I now take the time to review my time in prison and write about that experience so that others may gain benefit from my experience. Some of us learn lessons the hard way. Yet, through sharing the experience of my incarceration, others have stated that they’ve been able to look at their choices in a different and more productive way.

While the prison experience was painful, as the following excerpt from my memoirs shows, it provided a foundation for an incredible opportunity for growth. Likewise, through the prison experience I found numerous ways to help others.

My journal dated – October 6, 1995 reads as follows:

“8:37 a.m. — Reading this morning brought up feelings of sadness, once again. I understand I’m here to be punished, and being away from my children and the things I hold dear is punishment.

4:00 p.m. — Its time for mail call and stand up count time. I live for this time. Being cut off from society is difficult. I hope each day that someone cares enough to send me a letter.

9:40 p.m. — At dinner tonight I had a revelation, I need to talk to high school children and college kids, about the effects of the choices they make. 70% or more of the people here are here for drug-related crimes. It’s sad to see the educational level of most of the inmates. How can anyone expect to ever break the cycle of poverty and crime, if they don’t have the education to do so? I don’t know my role now, but hopefully someday I can make a difference.”

Now, some eleven years later, I find that the personal growth from the prison experience provided a foundation for help to others. The revelation to speak to high school and college students has manifested through the establishment of the Choices Foundation, which provides a forum to educate young people on the effects of the choices they make.

It’s extremely powerful to see and hear how young people react to the message of choice and consequence. All too often they don’t experience the direct consequence of the choices they make. The detriment of youth is you haven’t lived long enough to see the link between choice and outcome. Likewise, many youth, other than perhaps those extremely disadvantaged, have no connection with anyone who has been incarcerated for their actions. Therefore, being exposed, in a direct way, to someone who has made unethical choices and faced the consequences, to some is profound.

All too often we find that “ethics” and “ethical choices” dominate our media through new events of what has been done wrong. In order to change our focus, we must create an awareness of what should be done right. Ethics and ethical thoughts must begin with an understanding that one cannot escape the consequences of their personal choices.

For a free report on the five most common corporate ethics violations, go to www.chuckgallagher.com.

Chuck Gallagher is a successful sales executive, business entrepreneur, and professional speaker with humble beginnings: he was raised by a single parent in the projects. He has led a $25 million sales region with 100 sales representatives and started his own training business with projects in 30 states. Gallagher currently helps corporate employees realize the ramifications of their ethical choices. Through his own choices, Chuck learned this lesson the hard way.

In the middle of a rising career, Gallagher lost everything because he made some bad choices. He has since rebuilt his career and his life back to immense success. With more vulnerability than the average keynoter, Gallagher shares with his audiences his life journey, the consequences of his bad choices, and how life gives you second chances when you make the right choices.

For information on this article and more or to book Chuck as a speaker for your meeting, click here

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Tags: business, ethics, professional, workplace, corporate

Integrity – Noun; Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code; the state of being unimpaired; soundness; the quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness.

The date is January 16, 2009. The day after US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger of Danville, CA, maneuvered his crowded passenger jet over New York City and ditched it in the Hudson River – successfully. All 155 passengers and crew are safe and miraculously escaped major injury – just bumps and bruises really. National media is abuzz with reports and first-hand interviews with passengers, now all safe, warm and dry, along with their rescuers and safety experts describing the ordeal. NBC dubbed the accident “Miracle on the Hudson”.

Pause now. Think about your values as if you had to list and describe them. What are your core values? If you are like most individuals and organizations Integrity shows up on your list of values. But what does it mean, this word, ‘integrity’ (perhaps the ultimate virtue)? What does it mean to you? How does your value for integrity show up for others daily? How is it you developed your integrity? How might you further develop this quality? Why does it matter?

For most of us, integrity means something like “doing what you say you will do”, or “how you act when no one is looking”. These are good tests of integrity, but don not really explain how one develops integrity. Structural integrity for a building is defined as “uncompromised ability to safely resist the required loads”. Structural integrity of a person could be defined as “uncompromised ability to appropriately resist challenges to virtue”. How do we develop this steadfast adherence to a strict moral code, this ‘sound’ response to difficult circumstances?

Like most things we do well, integrity comes from practice. In fact, the proper manner with which to refer to the quality of integrity as a human value would be “to practice integrity”. A person speaks and acts with integrity out of practice. Integrity is the result of preparation and choice, when one has lived long enough to have recognized one’s own innate capacity to act on whim, caprice or selfishness rather than deeply-held principle. Integrity comes from training and increases with the quality, length and adherence to the intent of that training. Integrity follows solid neural pathways, developed over time, that stimulate certain attitudes and habits, which produce seemingly instinctual right actions. But these actions are not based on animal instinct; right actions result from human desire and practice.

My favorite value-based definition of leadership is “authentic self-expression that adds value through relationships”. This includes relationships to both people and events. When self-expression begins to consistently add value over time, through every human encounter, through every decision and through every split-second reaction to events, then you have integrity.
Aspire to have integrity: practice discerning what is right, saying that you will do right, how and why you will do right, and doing so whether or not someone else is paying attention.

You can bet there are at least 154 people in this world who are thankful for the value Chesley Sullenberger has added through their brief relationships. What do “Sully” Sullenberger and Flight 1549 have to do with integrity? Sullenberger is reportedly an U.S. Air Force Academy grad who flew F-4 fighter planes in the 1970s while in the Air Force. He started flying commercial jets in the 1980s. “He is about performing that airplane to the exact precision to which it is made,” says the wife of her hero-husband. In addition to working for US Airways, he runs a safety consulting firm focused on the psychology of keeping airline crews functioning in the face of crisis. He has been an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. I understand he is also certified to fly gliders – skills that surely helped land an Airbus A320 with both engines on fire in a controlled descent on a nearly frozen river rather than in the middle of a neighborhood of one of the world’s most densely populated cities.

Instinct didn’t take over for Sullenberger as he steered his jet toward those icy Hudson waters, practice kicked in – the practice of integrity. This is a man who decided earlier in life that safety and human lives were important enough to him that he would dedicate himself to preserving those ends. He trained, he studied, he learned day after day, year after year with those ends in mind. What once began as a pilot’s tenuous first flight, over the course of 40 years of practice became unconscious competence – the right attitudes, habits, decisions, actions and demeanor to save lives in a crisis.

Reflections to inspire personal growth in Integrity (with your learning partner)

How would your life be different if you were to practice integrity with greater intent and consistency? What can you do daily to increase your integrity? What is your personal code of ethics; what must you change to demonstrate them more fully? Find an accountability partner or hire a coach to help you practice integrity and take these actions:

* Integrity is the glue that binds your other virtues. What are your other core values? Why these?
* How do these values, together, define who you are, how you think and act, and how you are viewed by others?
* What words and behaviors do other people observe of you daily that demonstrate your values?
* What purpose would you have your life lead toward that you are willing to practice day after day, year after year, to be prepared for the chance event that may provide the ultimate test of your Integrity?
* What specific attitudes, habits and behaviors must you practice consistently to become the person of Integrity you aspire to be?
* Describe an experience or event when you were at your personal best and demonstrated Integrity.
* Describe a current situation in your life that, in your heart, you could apply the same level of Integrity as you did in your example above.
* Make plans to touch base with your learning partner in the next month about how you each are practicing Integrity. Hold each other accountable.

There are no natural leaders. Leaders have developed qualities that attract others. Leadership is when others follow you because of who you are and where you are going. Discover how you can be the leader you really want to be. http://www.pdncoach.com

Mark A. Sturgell, CBC, is a Certified Business Coach and president of Performance Development Network. Mark coaches individuals, teams and organizations to achieve the measurable results they really want.

Copyright 2009 Mark A. Sturgell. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, and give author name credit.

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Tags: ethics, inspirations, value, intergrity, professional

Are you thinking of ending your business partnership? Are you unsure as to how to go about ending a business partnership? It is never easy to break up a partnership whether it is within a personal or business relationship. In this article I will be writing about the best ways to formally end a partnership agreement.

So you have decided that you want out, it is time that you ended the business relationship with your partner and to go it alone. You are slightly unsure about how to proceed as you do not want to upset anyone.

The best thing to do in this situation is to plan exactly what you are going to say to your business partner. I would suggest a meeting to explain the full reasons as to why you feel the end to break up the partnership. Ending this type of relationship via e-mail or text is just unprofessional and is basically out of order.

Your partner should at least have a right to reply, face to face and there is even the possibility that you may be able to iron out your differences at this meeting.

Before attending such a meeting you should fully prepare all of the finances and how such a break up should proceed. Your partner is likely to want to gain more than your initial offer mainly due to the anger factor that they are likely to feel. Your initial offer should therefore be quite a way higher (in your favour) than what in reality you would be willing to accept.

Any agreement should be signed and sealed within a legal document. It would be nice to believe that a shake of hands would be sufficient however business is business.

Ending a business partnership is a messy, stressful ordeal therefore you need to be one hundred percent sure before you propose such an action.

Steve Hill is a webmaster from Birmingham, he has interests in a number of websites including: stuttering therapy, stuttering treatment

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Tags: professional, ethics, workplace, article, training

The challenge for many in their life at work is simply this: how to be a business person and a human being at the same time compete yet cooperate, be hard-nosed yet be ethical, keep ones nose to the grindstone yet take time to see and acknowledge others, be professional yet personal, make a profit yet not be greedy. You get the picture.

We don’t have to look far to discover folks whose life at work takes the low road. Business magazines, journals, and news shows are replete with instances of individuals whose workplace demeanor is described as rude, insensitive, disrespectful, unethical, uncivil, egomaniacal and self-serving, greedy and dishonest. You might rub elbows with one or more such folks on a daily basis. And, all this despite the plethora of books, courses, seminars, workshops, policy and procedure manuals and treatises focusing on ethics and codes of conduct.

On the other hand, there are those whose lives at work are driven by their internal moral compass, a life at work guided by principles that support one to behave decently, truthfully and in integrity who take the high road even when they face major challenges, problems and difficult choices.

What supports one to change lanes and move from the low road to the high road is Li, and Confucius expounded greatly on the nature and practice of Li.

Li, what is it?

Around 500 BCE, Confucius discussed the notion of Li a spectrum of rites and rituals, i.e., a code of conduct, that focused on such things as learning, tea drinking, how to dress, mourning, governance, and interaction with humans. The underlying notion of Li was how to be respectful of nature, and one another. The term Li has several meanings some of which are: propriety, reverence, courtesy, ritual or the ideal standard of conduct.

Li is what the sage uses to find that which is appropriate; it is both the means which sets the example for others, and the end which maximizes understanding, pleasure, and the greater good. In this way, the words and behaviors one uses to show respect for another are contained within the framework of Li.

As the practice of Li was continued through centuries, one central theme began to stand out the natural tendency to be decent and kind towards ones fellow human beings.

Confucius believed that Li was the source of right action in all behavior that living life from a place of respect for all others was at the heart of living a harmonious and worthwhile life.

Li, however, does not come to ones consciousness naturally. Li has to be cultivated. One must first learn and then practice the art of being in integrity, respecting the dignity of every human being and then become committed to, and disciplined in, the practice of Li.

Li in the workplace

The practice of Li runs the gamut from smiling at a co-worker, to holding a door open for another, to serving others, to being self-responsible, to questioning practices that are unethical, corrupt, and disrespectful or demeaning of others each behavior having a conscious focus and intentionality on working toward and supporting the well-being of the workplace, and those who work there.

The challenge in todays workplace is that the practice of Li is a practice that is, for many, one of fakeness, phoniness, and convenience where more often than not, rudeness and selfishness become the guiding principles where one is ego-driven and not cognizant of others around him or her interrupting others at meetings, speaking over others, one-upping others, hijacking others experiences, needing to be the first one on and off the elevator, not holding a door for another, not saying please and thank you, and speaking ill of, or gossiping about, others. In fact, the opposite of Li is me i.e., rudeness, insensitivity, verbal abuse such as bullying, gossiping, and being disrespectful, and treating others as irrelevant.

Cultivating Li

The way to cultivate and practice Li at work begins with becoming conscious asking ones self, How am I behaving right here, right now? Am I taking an opportunity to allow my natural tendency to be decent, good and kind to arise? How am I showing up? “Am I being authentic”?

Li is not syrupy stuff. It’s not fluff. Its not being effusive. Its not being fake or phony. Its not being patronizing. Li is being natural, honest, sincere, self-responsible and relaxed when we interact with another, any other.

Practicing Li does not mean we stop being firm and assertive, stop holding others accountable, stop telling the truth, stop telling the bad news, etc. Practicing Li allows us to come from a place of internal truth and integrity that supports us to be forthright, confident, courageous, and trusting that we will show up in a way that is respectful, decent and just be who we are right here and right now without the edge that we might heretofore have used to shore ourselves up.

Confucius believed that in order to truly achieve the principles of Li, the character of the true person, one must look within oneself. Confucius tells us to go inside in a sense, when he says, We know what is proper (li), especially in difficult situations, from the wisdom arising out of contemplation. regularly going into self-reflection, inner listening, and sensing our gut, to access our inner wisdom that leads us to right knowing, right understanding and right action.

Cultivating the practice of Li supports us to live our life at work from a place of self-responsibility, honesty, decency, integrity, strength, courage, and humaneness even when we feel it might be inconvenient. Each of us is born with Li. Over time, however, we have lost our sense of Li as we allowed (often unconsciously) life get in the way of being our True and Real self. Over time, our Li morphed into fake personalities, fake persona’s, and masks. So, many of us became poseurs. In the process, we learned to navigate life, even life at work, with our eyes wide closed – reactive, fearful, and resistant losing our humanity and decency.

Li supports us to live life, even life at work, with our eyes wide open.

So, some questions for self-reflection are:

·Do resentment or greed drive your interactions with others?

·How might you experience fear in your workplace? How do you act when you feel fearful?

·Do you ever lie or stretch the truth?

·Do you feel white lies are OK? Do you ever lie, cheat, or steal simply because its convenient…because you can?

·Are there others you admire because of their integrity, sincerity and authenticity?

·Does you organization have a code of ethical conduct. Do you follow it? Do others?

·What one or two things can you do to cultivate and practice Li at work?

·Do you keep agreements?

·Do you admit when you are wrong? Do you apologize for mis-deeds?

·Do you have a personal code of conduct? Do you follow it?

·Do you recognize the dignity in all others?

·Would folks at work (and at home and play) characterize you as a decent human being? Would you characterize yourself as a decent human being?

·Do you ever react to others in a way that communicates to them they are “irrelevant” or “irritants”?

(c) 2008, Peter G. Vajda, Ph.D. and SpiritHeart. All rights in all media reserved.

—ABOUT THE AUTHOR—

Peter G. Vajda, Ph.D, C.P.C. is a founding partner of SpiritHeart, an Atlanta-based company that supports conscious living through coaching, counseling and facilitating. With a practice based on the dynamic intersection of mind, body, emotion and spirit – that is, Essential Well BE-ing – Peter’s approach focuses on personal, business, relational and spiritual coaching. He is a professional speaker and published author. For more information visit this Source

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Tags: business, code, ethics, practice, professional

“Have you heard the phrase fake it until you make it? It’s something which is increasingly common among business owners, especially on the internet or in direct mail. The basic idea is someone sells you a program or course teaching you how they made millions- only they haven’t yet made the millions, they hope to do so by selling thousands of copies of the course they sold you. They were lying about being rich to begin with, but if all goes to plan they’ll get rich in the end. Odd huh? These tactics are on the rise, so we’re going to try and explode some of the myths in this area.

What’s The Point?

What is the point of this kind of business? After all would you take flying lessons from someone who couldn’t fly a plane? In one word, the point is laziness! The “fake it until you make it” guys are typically internet or direct marketers who are possibly new to the whole thing, or just the more experienced kind that are plain lazy. They find a web page or direct mail ad that is very convincing, promising millions of dollars just by following these few simple steps, working just a few hours each day from home. Is there anyone that wouldn’t want that lifestyle?

So they part with their money, and are sent a course explaining how to set up a very similar website, selling an almost identical product. They will make money if they can make some sales from this site, the end result hopefully being that they make enough money to take care of the “make it” part. And then the cycle repeats and repeats, until there are thousands of people selling products, making a few hundred dollars, but claiming to make millions from it on their web pages. A truly strange phenomena, but somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy.

The Legal Standpoint

Is it legal for advertisers to work on a “fake it until you make it” basis? I don’t know what the FTA would make of it, but I would guess it’s some kind of grey area, as it’s very difficult to prove how much anyone is or isn’t earning from their website. Most often they will provide screenshots of proof of earnings etc on the sites that they sell their courses from. They can look pretty convincing, but these days it’s pretty easy to swipe such images from another site, or just create them yourself with Photoshop or some similar program.

Do Any Of Them Make it?

Very few if any. You can make millions from the internet and other direct marketing methods, but it takes consistent effort and skills that are built up over time. If the “fake it until you make it” guys are too lazy to find their own manner of working and too dishonest to be bothered about telling lies, the chances are most of them are not going to apply the consistent efforts required to learn the ropes or make any money at all. Those new to internet marketing are pretty susceptible to these schemes, and many people do start there before getting their own (better) ideas and becoming successful doing something else.

Is It On The Increase?

Yes, unfortunately so. Modern web technology makes it possible for complete amateurs to create or acquire tremendously impressive websites, sites which can really snare and captivate a viewer. The casual web browser has no way of knowing how old the site is or if the proof of incomes are real or fake or even just stolen from another site. The only remedy is to be extra vigilant.

How To Tell?

It’s very tough to tell if any person is being honest about the claims of their product. Thankfully there are a few tricks we can keep up our sleeve.
Visit whois.net – This site will give you details of any website, the name of the owner, when it was first registered etc etc. Very useful, as it’s unlikely that a website registered 6 weeks ago is making millions for its owner!
Visit Alexa.com – This site keeps traffic stats for virtually every page on the web. A profitable webpage will usually have hundreds or thousands of daily visitors, especially if the site is making the owner millions. It’s very easy to see if this is true by using the graphs here.
Google the site owner’s name. You can find out many useful things with a simple Google search, and if there are bad reports or reports of the site being a scam, you can usually find them with some smart searching.

Look for a guarantee – Many online payment processors, Clickbank.com for example, will have a guarantee, so that if you aren’t happy with your purchase you can get an instant refund.

Hopefully you’ve found this useful – Remember-If you avoid “faking it” you’ll have a better chance of “making it!”"

Dave Origano runs seven successful business, all doing at least 6 figures per year. Learn from this successful serial-entrepreneur how he does it, what marketing secrets he has and what strategies he uses at his website.

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Tags: personal, ethics, code, professional, social

Last month in Part 1, I discussed several of the reasons that have lead the residential real estate mortgage industry to the crisis it faces; at its core in my view, is the whole notion of originators being commissioned sales type ‘closer’ personalities, a relatively recent concept.

As we work our way through today’s industry wide mess, out the other side should emerge a wiser group of survivors, hopefully YOU will be one of them.

The benefits of replacing LO’s and AE’s ‘big fat commissions’, and instead offer a more traditional salary + modest bonus structure, will result in a great number of improvements to the new organizations that ‘make it.’

Considering all that went wrong these past several years since ‘big fat commissions’ were common, history won’t repeat itself with the absence of such available excessive personal gain as has been commonplace, plus the positives will be numerous. On the plus side we have:

A). The effect of better management control over it’s employees, since as W-2 salaried people, owner/operators and managers will be more careful on who they hire and how much they’ll invest in training and how closely they’ll supervise their activities. Not so many loose cannons poking around in the unsupervised darkness.

B). With this payroll structure, those LO’s & AE’s won’t be so quick to “close’ every applicant on a STATED Wage Earner 100% Option Arm with a 4 point YSP; this difference will surely result in overall better quality originations in the long run.

C). These better trained and now salaried employees, will work towards creating an improved credibility environment for themselves and their employers, and move away from the ‘big fat commission’ concept of putting their own selfish interests ahead of the customer’s.

D). There will be far fewer thinly capitalized organizations, as this payroll structure will provide for a larger remaining checkbook balance for employers after payday. With that they can/will have better furniture, fixtures and equipment for their employees, better employee benefits and significant cash available to advertise their products.

E). This model also insures that new owner operators will begin their operations with a significant financial investment. Therefore their outlook will be to establish and maintain at the core, a more ethical and solid company than many of the fly-by-night operators we can see today on both the wholesale and retail sides.

This list I’m sure you can add to as well as I can. What I describe here isn’t a ‘pipe-dream” it’s what I saw with my own two eyes, my first 30 years in this industry; it’s how my first employer operated, and how I operated for several decades also.

Returning to this way of operations naturally is not the solution to all our problems, but it will mitigate future ones a great deal; as well as help restore the former luster we all had as home loan providers.

If on the other hand, you’re left standing after this cleansing is over, and you are in a position within your own organization to make these payroll changes and you don’t, then you can expect to not receive the benefits A thru E above (and others), but instead you’ll be part of the problem next time.

Article by industry veteran Peter Samuel Cugno, Chairman & CEO of Secret! University, the educational division of Americas Money Center, Inc. Questions or comments may be directed to Peter at this website.

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Tags: workplace, ethics, business, training, professional

The best professional advice!

All of your possibilities from this moment, are located in your own personal expectations. All of your expectations are located in the very personal relationship you have with yourself. The relationship you have with yourself is the relationship you will have with others.

What matters most is how you see yourself! Take very good care of the relationship you have with yourself at all times.

I was a member of Toastmaster International and in 1984 Caroline Sander RN introduced me to the National Speakers Association. I went to all the local chapter meeting and to the National Conventions. The first meeting I attended, I felt a little uneasy about being in this new setting. Billy Arcement came up to me and introduces himself from Donaldsonville Louisiana. Billy knew that I was uneasy about being at this meeting. He said, “If you have a dream in your heart long enough, you have what takes to realize that dream.
I never forgot those words.

Ginger Bondi was the president of our local chapter. Ginger was tough love. I listened and took notes of everything other speakers in the chapter said that I must do to convince people to hire my topics. I practice all of these ideas.

I called Ginger Bondi and ask if I could come and speak with her. I told her that I did not want to do anything to hurt the speaking profession. That I wanted to abide by the code of etitics of the National Speakers Association.

I shared with Ginger how I just signed a contract for a speaking engagement in Tampa Florida. This was my first really serious paying engagement. I told her I was nervous that they would find out that I was just a Bicycle Shop Owner. This audience was to executives of the steel industry. Ginger said, “Knock it Off, Mike Marino; I want you to go to Tampa and just be yourself! If you go there thinking they are better, you will not do well. If you go there thinking you are better than they are, you will definitely not do well.

You must go to Tampa and be who you are and allow them to be who they are, and you will do just fine.” I embraced Ginger’s advice. I did well and was privilege to speak with many of the other chapters in the steel industry after that.

The next best advice that I received was from Michael Lebouf PhD. I was attending a local chapter meeting of NSA and everyone was sharing what it took to be a full time professional speaker. When it was Dr. Lebouf’’s turn to share he said, “Just be good!”
If you are good, people will say she is good! He is good!”

Rick Phillips sales & staff trainer gave me this advice. “Never beat a dead horse!” All good things come to an end and then something better begins. Get on a new horse to take you the rest of the way. Forward ever, backwards never!

All of this advice applies to any profession. Keep your dream in your heart. Be yourself, and be good at what you do. Never beat a dead horse. It’s over! What are you going to do about it?

The room for improvement is still the greatest room in the world. You can improve on your dreams. You can improve on your relationship with yourself and others. You can improve on your proformance in your profession. You can get a new horse. It does not cost anything to think big. It pays to be good.

All advice translates into the same thing. Take care of yourself. If you want to do twice as much for yourself, your family, your profession, community, take care of yourself twice as much.

Mike Marino, Jr. aka “In Person,” is the co-author of two books and a Distinguished Toastmaster who helps people fall in love with learning. He speaks and writes on the love of Knowledge is the root of all good!. To book Mike for your next association meeting, conference or corporate event, contact Mike Marino, Jr. Proud member of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. All presentations are available in PowerPoint or Keynote.

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Tags: good, ethics, business, professional, work

Unfortunately, what many people do not understand is that many of the rules that are being broken are actually regulations that should have never been made in the first place, as they go against the innate characteristics of the species and the normal interaction between human beings. Additionally, it should be noted that you cannot regulate morality that is something that happens everywhere; morality issues are all over. It happens in government, the schools, churches, nonprofits, sports teams, politics and of course in business too.

Is business behaving badly or is it simply the blob of bureaucracy that we should really blame? The reason I point this out is that we are making criminals out of normal entrepreneurs. If you look around yourself right now and consider that every place you go and everything you see was brought there and made by an entrepreneur or a business or a corporation. If we over regulate these businesses then the American citizenry will get less and pay more for what they do get.

After all it is the consumer that desires something and it is the entrepreneur or business, which delivers it and makes it available for a corresponding unit of trade that we call a dollar. Each time the regulatory agencies make another law to regulate morality they find businesses trying to go around that law and therefore they shore it up with another regulation until there are so many regulations that no one knows what the law is including the lawyers who the businesses must hire just to explain it to them. All this does is stifle our economy and hurt the flows of our civilization. Perhaps you might consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online ThinkTank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

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It seems like a harmless fabrication. It allows you to avoid that undesirable conversation. It helps you to seize control of your schedule. The end justifies the means. Right? But, is it really so harmless? Is this efficient management or the start of a Pinocchio Effect? Let’s examine this closer.

* Aren’t you really asking your assistant to lie for you? Has this become an unwritten part of the assistant’s job description?

* Have you forced the assistant to compromise his/her values and beliefs to support for your procrastination? How does this values compromise affect your assistant’s attitude and performance?

* How long before that attitude becomes contagious in the organization?

* Can you legitimately expect complete candor and loyalty in return?

* How does it establish conduct for future transactions in your department or company?

* When you begin by blowing off vendor calls, how long before you’re saying: “The check is in the mail?” …when it’s not true?

* What will happen when you need that something extra from the vendor?

* How long before your people start blowing off customers… “That order’s going right out” … when it’s not true?

* What happens when your customers sense your organization’s lack of integrity?

Global manufacturers establish a rigorous process of documenting procedures and certifying their compliance for ISO Certification. The ISO process is designed to establish trust among international strangers. Simply stated, ISO compliance certifies that you “Say what you do. And, do what you say.”

What really happens to your business when any of your stakeholders question your ability to say what you do or do what you say?

“Just tell him, I’ve gone to lunch.”

Is the Pinocchio effect threatening your prosperity?

Tom Lemanski is the President and founder of Vista Development, a boutique strategic development firm serving metro Chicago, IL Tom has served as business catalyst and executive coach in over thirty different product and service industries. Tom can be reached through this site.

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Tags: ethics, corporate, responsibility, social, professional

The 2008 presidential election was historical for many reasons. For PR professionals, it was a case study on how to appeal to your audience (in this case, voters) and stay on message – no matter what was thrown your way.

President Obama – with his aptitude for calmly and confidently handling the most dogged of reporters – is a PR lesson in the making. His message discipline during the grueling presidential campaign – and ability to connect with audiences of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds, genders and race — will be the subject of PR textbooks for many years to come. In fact, a recent poll (February 2009) shows that 92 percent of Americans think the President is an effective communicator despite their feelings about his economic stimulus plan.

Regardless of your political affiliation, you can learn to become a more effective communicator by observing masters of the art, like President Obama. The following principles apply whether you’re the President with a staff of speechwriters or a small businessperson trying to get media coverage about your first major deal or product.

Five tips to help successfully “tell your story” to the media:

1. Develop your “pitch.”
Brainstorm about what makes your organization unique and develop a message based on your story. Condense your thoughts into a 30-second “elevator speech” – PR speak for delivering your pitch in the time it takes to share an elevator ride with someone.

2. Practice your pitch.
Again and again! Be sure to talk in simple, laymen’s terms. Leave out the jargon and pretend you’re explaining something to a friend, not an industry insider.

3. Always come back to your pitch.
Resist the urge to answer every question in excruciating detail. If you’re conducting a telephone interview, have your talking points in front of you for reference. And, most importantly, always segue back to your main message: “That’s an interesting question but the real issue is…”

4. Punctuate your comments with key points.
President Obama is a master of this tactic. “What I know is this….” or “the real issue is this” or “my view is this…” By re-framing the interview, you’re able to return to your key points without being evasive.

5. Believe what you say.
In today’s cynical society, this may seem whimsical. But reporters – and the public – sense sincerity. And the most effective communicators are ones that stick to their message and speak from the heart.

Karen Preiss Miller is a partner in JKP Group, a marketing communications consulting company. For more tips, visit this site

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Tags: pr, lesson, president, professional

Luck is not part of a winning PR formula.

Those that succeed at story placements have learned the proper way to court reporters. They also agree to play by the rules of the press. Think about it from a reporter’s viewpoint. All publications whether local or national, receive hundreds if not thousands of faxed and electronic press releases daily. Aside from the reality there are not enough proficient staff to read through the prodigious flood of information, most of it is self-serving advertising and not newsworthy. Here are four critical rules of winning PR strategy you should follow:

Rule #1 – Don’t try to sell a reporter on your product or service.

Pitch them a unique story instead. They know a sales job when they hear it. It’s a big turn-off. We all loathe someone trying to sell us something we don’t need. Now multiply that times 100. That’s what a reporter feels like every day in their office.

Rule #2 – Have a PR practitioner help you find and write your story.

Over 90% of all press releases submitted have poor grammar, spelling errors and a complete absence of proper writing skills. This causes a disconnect between the journalist and sender. Your credibility is shot immediately. Any “luck” of getting a story just went in the trash along with your press release. What is often missing from the homegrown press release is a compelling storytelling style. Remember, the reporter is a buffer between you and the audience. If your audience cannot understand and follow what is written, they will certainly not buy what you are selling. Your goal should be to tell your story better than anyone else. This does not require luck, it simply requires common sense. A good PR practitioner can save time and energy and often will write a press release and help with distribution. In the end this is always money well spent.

Once you make it past the first two rules and have a proper press release ready, you need to consider what the reporter will do for further information. Almost always reporters will look at your website before calling you for a story. Again, think like a reporter. The faster and easier you can make their work, the better.

Rule #3 -Have a solid marketing plan in place before a PR plan.

Your website and marketing materials better be in top-notch shape. Your company logo and image must be branded effectively and consistent. Trying to get press coverage before your marketing plan is in place is like putting the cart before the horse. So many overzealous business owners make this mistake. A reporter on his own can deduct quickly if you are not ready for PR. Their reputation depends on the readership interests and approval. The information on your website must be in complete harmony with your press release and all the marketing elements in alignment.

Rule #4 -Develop the relationship with reporters.

You must accept the need to communicate with journalists properly on their terms, not yours. Take a local reporter to coffee. Exchange cards at your next networking event. Journalists are interesting people and love to hear about new exciting things. If they like what they hear, you now have an “in” with that reporter. They will remember you and will be more open to looking at your release. They are the ones that will get it in print for you, not luck.

You now have some added clarity to the process of effective media relations, which is an important and vital aspect of winning PR strategy. Good PR practitioners are already well versed in these rules and are far ahead of the average business owner when it comes to media relations. They will have good relationships with reporters established and have credibility when it comes to pitching your PR story.

Effective PR like many business elements comes down to this: “Good planning and preparation brings its own luck.”

Copyright 2008-2009. Michael Gallion & Vicky Gallion. All rights reserved. Michael and Vicky Gallion are owners of The Gallion Company in Redondo Beach, CA and offer sales optimization through marketing and public relations strategy. They also focus on developing marketing recession strategy for small businesses. For more information about The Gallion Company, visit their website at this site

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Tags: win, strategy, pr, public relations, professional

You have all these great story ideas about your company and its products, you’ve written your press releases with a sure hand and are ready to get the word out. But where do you start? Other than reading the bylines in your local newspaper, you know no journalists. Well, it’s time to start meeting some and begin building relationships with them, just as you would with a new customer or prospective lead.

Building media lists is very much like building your database of key customers or a list of new leads: you must know your audience and your market intimately. First, think about the geographic regions you want to target, based on where your customers and potential customers are. Then, think about the publications of interest to your customers in those regions. It could be a daily newspaper, a local magazine, or even a trade publication. What are the local TV affiliates in these areas? Are there any local community newsletters? Create a master list, then find out the correct contact at each outlet for your type of business story or product area. Sending a release about a new piece of software to the travel editor at the Boston Globe will simply wind up in the circular file. But by learning the name of the technology editor of the business section and finding out how she likes to receive newsworthy information (phone, fax, email, snail mail only), you will be one step closer to having your story heard and considered by the right person.

Where to Find Media Contact Information
There are many free and paid resources available to help you build your media database. Visit your local library for a listing of regional publications or free online sources like political parties (they sometimes have listings). Or use search engines to find specific newspapers, magazines, or local TV stations. Look up the media outlet online. Many of them have specific places on their websites where you can submit your release directly to the publication. There are also paid services like PR Newswire and Vocus that will not only build your lists for you, but handle the distribution as well. These services offer huge master databases housing every publication from The Town Tattler to the New York Times. Gather all the information you can, including the journalist’s name, specific title or department, phone, fax, email, and snail mail address. If possible, determine how the journalist would like to receive information. Some prefer email, others fax, and some still say “write only,” which means if they receive anything other than the old-school press release in a #10 envelopes officially stamped by the United States Post Office, there’s a good chance you’ll never hear from them.

Be sensitive to these folks’ time, too. Calling a reporter to “chat about an idea” while he’s on deadline trying to file a story will not only aggravate him, but will most likely ruin your chances of any story placement in that publication.

Lead Times
If you’re looking for some free publicity for an event, don’t call two days before it’s scheduled to take place to see if the newspaper “could put something in tomorrow’s paper.” Newspapers traditionally work on a three to four week lead-time; magazines anywhere from six to 12 months. TV, sometimes in less than an hour! If your event is on June 12, you’ll want to send out your press release by the middle of May. If your new product launch is slated for fall 2009, start thinking about sending information to magazines by spring/summer 2008.

Understanding the journalists’ world and how they operate is the key to building a successful media list, one that’s juicy with hot contacts and leads looking for the right story to tell. Just remember, developing your media list is like developing your customer list. Get to the heart of what the media want and when they want it – then deliver it! And while a big mass media list covers more territory, your story pitch may not apply to all on the list, reducing your chance for good quality editorial success. But if you have a targeted, well-thought out list that contains up-to-date contacts, there’s a good chance you have the start of some beautiful relationships, which ultimately will garner some fantastic free publicity!

A dedicated marketing professional, Michelle Kabele has been helping technology companies develop award-winning channel partner programs and marketing strategies for over 10 years. Michelle has worked extensively with small businesses throughout North America.

Michelle has an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Evanston, Ill.)

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Tags: media, media relations, professional, ideas, journalist

“Failure is not the only punishment for laziness. There is also the success of others.” –Jules Renard

I’ve been working in PR for over 15 years, so you can bet I’ve got some expert thoughts in how to make the absolute worst PR decisions possible. Below are my top 5 ways to ensure the worst PR outcomes.

1. Be inconsistent in your messages. Sure, big successful companies come up with a clear platform of messages around their product that they use over and over again, but that’s so boring. Rework your key messages frequently and make sure they change radically. Use lots of industry lingo too, to make your messages obscure. People should have to work to be able to understand who you are and what you stand for. Don’t make it so easy for them.

2. Hire a professional PR firm but don’t listen to them. It’s true, you weren’t getting great results on your own, which is why you hired the professionals in the first place. But once they start getting results, (or even before), decide that you know better and over-rule their recommendations.

3. Only reach out to the media when you want something. Don’t bother to familiarize yourself with media outlets. They won’t notice. And take your time responding to media requests. They overstate the importance of deadlines anyway. Operate your media relations on a sporadic basis, and only when it suits you. Keep your focus on how important you are. Everyone will realize it soon enough.

4. Don’t work from an annual plan. Shoot from the hip. Planning is too fussy and besides things are always changing anyway. It’s more fun to make decisions about what people think about your company on the fly.

5. Don’t respond to your PR firm in a timely manner but still expect them to produce quality deliverables on time. They can pick up your brainwaves. After all, telepathy is a valid means of communications in many television shows and Hollywood movies.

I suppose that by now you’ve noticed that my tongue is firmly in my cheek for this list, but I truly have seen people implement these tactics and still expect great results. Don’t let that be you.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included. ©2009 Barbara Wayman, BlueTree Media, LLC.

Barbara Wayman, APR, president of BlueTree Media, LLC, publishes The Stand Out Newsletter, a free monthly ezine for people who want to know how to leverage the power of marketing and public relations. Get your free subscription today at this site.

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Tags: pr, media relations, professional, media, plan

Isn’t it time America found out about you?

Are you getting the amount of referrals that you deserve?

Do enough people know you? Do they trust you? Are you a credible source for them?

If you answered “no” to any of the questions above (except #1) might I suggest you take a look at some standard credibility builders. These things must be in place. They are expected by everyone you meet. Without them you appear to the other person as unprofessional, dis credible, and not really trustworthy as an authority in alternative medicine.

I want to have you take a look at your practice and see if you have these in place for yourself. I am serious about this because there are too many people out there mindlessly going back to the drugs and surgery routine because they don’t know you exist or when you met them you didn’t have the things below and you drove them away!

The Book Yourself Solid standard credibility builders are:

1. You MUST have a professional email address. The address joanieloveschachie@aol.com on your card is not going to cut it if you are trying to appear credible and professional. AT MINIMUM you should use your name i.e. robthomas@yahoo.com.

2. Spend the money on high quality business cards. I ran into a real estate agent the other day who has been in the business for decades he said and he gave me a perforated card printed on his printer and it got wet so the colors ran! Are you kidding?! Anything other than quality business cards will undermine your credibility.

3. Invest in a website right now! I mean this. Maybe you should wait until after reading Chapter 12 of Book Yourself Solid first or having me coach you on it, but get one immediately. Please don’t use a template unless it rocks the house and doesn’t undermine your credibility. The website should MAKE money for you so whatever you put into it, expect it back in abundance! Most of your new patients will use the web to find you! Go there to meet them.

4. Have professional photographs taken. Put these photos on your cards and your website. Do not use a picture that looks bad or shows you in a less than expert light. I see too many “this will do” photos on websites and cards and it is a major turn off. You can even use pictures of you at conventions or seminars. You will end up using these photos on any products you produce or articles that you write. Having no photo at all makes me feel like you are hiding something.

5. Let’s talk testimonials. In a former business I caught another business using my own real testimonials on their website! How bad is that? Please use your own real and specific testimonials rather than generalized ones. The more specific you are the REALER you are and you will strengthen your connection with your patients. It’s easy to get them. Anytime you hear you patients saying how good they feel or how it helped them with their condition, you pull out your testimonial form that says “ok to publish” at the bottom and you hand it to them and say, “That’s great! Will you write down your win on this sheet please?” Imagine how many you would have if you got one from every patient? The specific testimonial is the best way to establish yourself as an expert with your patients but it is coming from someone else! When people see these they think to themselves,” if they were good for them they will be good for me!”

6. Establish an advisory board. This can be other experts and they can lend you so much credibility early on and then once you are well known you pay it forward.

As you look at your practice and you read the 6 points above, do you see room for improvement? I hope so. I hope you were able to really take another look at your business from outside the business to evaluate.

If you don’t own Book Yourself Solid yet, I recommend that you get it. I have worked with alternative medicine doctors for years and I know what is made available to them through the practice management companies. This book has the “how-tos” that you have been looking for and paying those high practice management companies fees for.

I help alternative medicine doctors get booked solid in their practice. My reason why is this: TRUE WEALTH IN HEALTH. I hope to contribute more to your purpose. I encourage you to sign up for my free mini course “Get Patients Out the Wazoo” by going to this Site

Please let me know if you did one of the steps above and it helped you establish more trust and credibility.

Rob Thomas
Visit him Here

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Sales promotion tools can be varied. They can be aimed at different target audiences: the consumer, the sales team and the trade. Whoever they are targeted to, they have one common goal: to increase sales. Since the sales function is the most important functioning of any marketing activity, sales promotions have to be taken seriously and have to be part of the strategic marketing plan of the brand. Let’s take consumer-oriented sales promotions first. These can be a price-off which is the simplest, easiest and probably quickest way to get a buyer’s attention. It makes a buyer pick up the product, because he thinks he’s saving by doing so.

A variation on this scheme is the more-for-less or a prize-pack deal where there is additional product in the same pack. Or, there could be an offer of one pack free on every pack you buy. This, too is a great incentive as far as the consumer is concerned. Somehow, it seems to stand out in shop shelves. Yet another tool targeted to the consumer is the free sample. These can be in-store, out on the roads or can get into the home through a magazine, newspaper or mail. This is a great way to get the consumer to try the product. Who can resist getting anything free? Also through the same mode, you can get coupons to the consumer.

If you offer a free ice-cream to a consumer when all she needs to do is cut out a coupon from the newspaper and present it at the store, she’ll do it! Yet another way to keep the consumer coming back for more would be to start a loyalty rewards program. Competitions, too, arouse interest and involvement. Of course, having POP or point of purchase displays ensures that you catch the customer’s eye and make him aware of the scheme that is on. Having a sales promotion program in place is not enough. One needs to carry one’s sales team along to ensure that it becomes a success. Towards this end, in order to motivate the sales team, there can be sales contests and incentives for achieving sales targets. The incentives can be in the form of prizes or cash. There could even be competitions.

This not only enthuses the team but also helps to push the sales targets even higher. Once the sales team is motivated – and what greater motivation than money- you’ll find that the sky is really the limit! When it comes to the trade, again, incentive programs and contests seem to get the adrenalin flowing. These measures just inject a new lease of life into the sales curve of the brand. For the trade, conferences, conventions and trade shows are also very necessary. For one, it shows that the company takes the brand very seriously. For another, it is a sort of support for not just the brand but the trade as well. It means new customers could be added, new products announced with fanfare. Also very welcome is joint advertising when two manufacturers join hands over a promotion and in-shop POP or point of purchase razzmazztazz.

Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to Google Adsense, do please browse for more information at this site.

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Tags: pr, tools, communications, online, professional

The concept of press promotion KPI, or key performance indicators, actually entails the importance of web presence. When you evaluate press promotion KPI, you actually need programs and applications that collect relevant data. As many as they are in the market right now, there are only a few that are efficient at the job they claim to do. This is quite sad because there is indeed a need for the appropriate press promotion KPI analysis to be made.

What’s more, finding the most appropriate press promotion KPI tracking tools can be very difficult. There is so much more than meets the eye when it comes to finding the appropriate software applications here. The determination of the success of the promotion KPI that has been set is actually dependent on tools on web analytics. These tools are needed in developing a detailed image of the feedback and KPIs that a certain promotional ad generates. So, the more tools on web analytics you have, the clearer this image of the promotion KPI would be. The underlying concept here is to utilize key information as much as possible. Utilizing this can even give you a clear idea on how certain promotion KPI is managed on the Internet.

Yes, it may be a bit hard a notion to fully understand. However, press promotion KPI, in its simplest form, just refer to how efficient the promotional tools you are using are. Take a look at your advertising and marketing department, at the approaches they are currently employing. If the results garnered by the marketing schemes and ads are not that successful, then it is high time to inspect your press promotion KPI. This way, your thorough inspection of press promotion KPI would then pinpoint the areas that need improving. You can then formulate the solutions to deal with these issues accordingly.

With the many press promotion KPI tools on the web, choosing amongst them is understandably confusing. What’s more, all of these tools will claim that they are the best you will ever find in the market. This makes the selection process even more daunting! The safest thing to do here is to avail of the trial versions of these tools. Go for the trial versions first because these are free for a limited time. This way, you are given a glimpse of what you can expect from a certain press promotion KPI tool. And if you find that tool satisfactory according to your very own needs, then you can choose to buy it once the trial period is over. You do not even have to wait for the trial period to pass at all. You can choose to buy the tool right away!

But be wary in considering getting the package that offers the most number of options. Yes, this package may seem the safest and most reliable choice, which can be true to some extent. However, there is no safe guarantee that you will be using all of the features offered by that press promotion KPI tool. You just might be paying a high price for features you won’t even need to use. So, the best thing to do is still to go for trial versions.

If you are interested in press promotion kpi, check this web-site to learn more about promotion scorecard.

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Tags: pr, tools, communications, online, professional

There is always lots of talk in small business and entrepreneur groups about getting Free press. Most want to know how to get plugged into this opportunity, some never jump in and risk rejection and others are rejected again and again and keep on trying without success. A few of the intrepid have earned their success by learning how to whip up media frenzy and reap the rewards.

Let’s be clear on this. There is no magic way to get press.

Even PR professionals cannot guarantee that their client’s stories will be picked up by the media.

If you hit the right topic with the right perspective on the right day with the right person you will be bowled over by the prompt response and the peppering of questions that will ensue in the phone calls you receive.

It’s quite a rush to realize that someone is so interested in what you sent them that they want to make sure they are the first person to do an interview/story on the topic of your Press Release.

Doing business is about making things happen. These are some of the “happening” ways have the media dancing at your door.

1. Don’t wear yourself out sending releases to every publication & media outlet you can think of again and again with no result.

2. Choose a targeted list of media and research the stories they run on subjects such as yours. Identify which writers pen stories on topics and in a style you think appeals to your niche market.

3. Don’t see a story on a business like yours, write a release on the same topic and send it in thinking they will run yours because they ran the earlier story. It’s already been done. Provide a new perspective and it just might work.

4. If you are going to write your own releases get a friend to read/edit it before you send it. Make sure it’s someone who cares enough to tell you if they think you need to start over again, take a different tact or even suggest that you get someone else who has a different perspective to write the release.

5. Yes a press release should tell a story but if it’s too much story and not enough fact it’s not a release. Every release needs to have a news core that the story is fleshed out around. If you are telling a customer’s story get their permission and include a relevant short information piece about them to give credence to the story. Even the reputable no-charge web press release distribution companies won’t distribute it if the content doesn’t meet certain criteria.

6. Skew the odds in your favour by calling up your favourite reporter and asking if you can have a few moments of their time or take them for coffee. Interview them about their work instead of talking about what you want. Find out which topics and issues get them excited. Ask them for help on focusing your information. Be respectful of their time and show your appreciation for any time they can give you.

7. If the first person doesn’t respond, send it to someone else. Not all news people are created equal some are friendlier & more helpful than others. Some, quite rightly, stick to writing on their specialty or special areas of interest only.

Whatever you do, don’t take any rejection of your release personally.

Nancy Fraser, of Nota Bene Consulting provides marketing know-how to entrepreneurs, small businesses & independent professionals. Nancy works with clients Internationally to ramp up the results they get with their advertising and marketing. Get the FREE report 10 Biggest Marketing Mistakes Business People Make when you sign up to receive Free MarketingTips in her ezine Notable News

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Tags: media, professional, media relations, press, topic

Public relations is defined as: Positive communications and interactions between a person, organization, or company and the public on whom its success or failure depends.

Like it or not, we are always engaged in public relations. From the time you step out of your house and greet your neighbor, until the time you say good night to the parking attendant when you leave work, public relations are inevitable.

Who you are as a person, and how you are as a professional is delicately intertwined. There is seldom a total disconnect.

Simultaneously (and subconsciously) we communicate messages about ourselves in the way that we dress (visually), how we talk (verbally), and the things you do and don’t do (actions). In fact, communication is involuntary and we are always conveying something about how we feel, what we value, and who we are – without even trying.

The key to making personal PR work for you is to become adept at managing your own, and reading the personal PR messages of others.

As a professional, you have a public that you are accountable to. By public I mean group or community of people whose approval, support, assistance, or patronage you rely upon for success.

This is the group who you need to put your best foot forward with; however, be cognizant of the fact that anyone you meet could potentially migrate into this group so it behooves you to engage in positive public relations with everyone at all times.

Yes, it’s tiring, but it can also be fun, and it’s definitely worth it.

The following are some examples of visual, verbal and action communication messages that can instantly improve your personal PR efforts whether you are an independent contractor, employee, or business owner.

-Under promise and over deliver
-Inquire about satisfaction with a sold product or service
-Give random gifts
-Give compliments
-Offer a discount
-Make a referral
-Don’t take calls while with a client
-Arrive early
-Stay late
-Say ‘thank you’
-Greet people enthusiastically
-Become a better listener
-Take someone to lunch
-Sponsor an event or charity
-Verbally express appreciation
-Overhaul your appearance
-Upgrade your wardrobe
-Write a thank you note
-Send Christmas cards

Once you begin to consciously conduct yourself and your business affairs with mindfulness of the impressions that you leave, and the involuntary communications in which you engage your public, it changes your behavior – for the better.

This is not about pretending to be something or someone you are not; it’s about becoming the professional that people want as a business associate, and the person that people want to maintain a relationship with. Every encounter and every interaction you have with someone gives you this opportunity.

Making personal PR work for you is all about awareness and practice, and it can be practiced everyday until it is mastered.

Gian Fiero is a seasoned educator, speaker and consultant with a focus on business development and music/entertainment industry operations. He currently teaches at San Francisco State University where he is an adjunct professor of music industry studies. His affiliations include National Association Of Record Industry Professionals (associate director); CLA (speaker); West Coast Songwriters (consultant); The Muse’s Muse (producer of the Muse’s Muse Awards); and SBA (business advisor).

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Tags: pr, association, professional, firm, news