The Chairman's Blog: Americans Can’t Handle the Truth

The Chairman's Blog: Gallup:

David Stockman’s new book, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America, is getting a lot of attention these days....

united states currency eye- IMG_7364_web (Photo credit: kevindean)

Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s first budget director, confronts us head-on with blunt truths we simply can’t handle. He argues that our current economy -- and recent prosperity -- aren’t real. Instead, they’ve been fueled by a series of artificial bubbles created by runaway deficit spending and reckless money-printing at the Federal Reserve. This is all going to lead to an epic crash, Stockman predicts, and next time around, there won’t be any bailouts.

I hate to say it, but most of us would rather the president and our representatives in Congress don’t cause us any pain. ... We elect our officials to create no discomfort for us, and they deliver.

Inspired by Stockman’s blunt assessment, I’d like to focus on three areas where all of us -- the White House, Congress, and citizens, too -- need a heavy dose of truth-telling: the unemployment rate, the unsustainability of healthcare, and the reality of America’s economic growth.

English: United States mean duration of unemployment 1948-2010. Data source: FRED, Federal Reserve Economic Data, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Average (Mean) Duration of Unemployment [UEMPMEAN] ; U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics; accessed August 14, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The unemployment rate in the U.S. is stagnant at best. Yes, the U.S. Department of Labor says the rate has dropped from 7.8% to 7.6%, but it’s actually frozen when you apply a more accurate measure. In simple terms, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of 60,000 households per month doesn’t count you as “unemployed” unless you looked for a job in the past four weeks.

I think it’s better to turn the number upside down and ask, “What percentage of the population does have a good job?” According to Gallup’s monthly payroll to population (P2P) survey of 30,000 adults, the employment situation has failed to improve recently and has remained relatively little changed year-over-year. Workers haven’t found the full-time jobs they’ve been seeking, and the labor force and unadjusted unemployment rates are flat.

Healthcare costs are out of control. We must confront this problem now... At $2.5 trillion annually, the U.S. healthcare tab is ... nearly two times the whole Russian economy. It’s also roughly twice the size of the whole Indian economy, and India has a billion-plus population.

The fact is, healthcare is breaking America faster than Social Security and other pension benefits. And healthcare is growing at an average of 6% per year, which means the new costs over the next decade will be a staggering $10 trillion over and above where we currently are.

Components of economic growth (Saari 2006) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We need authentic economic growth. While I agree with Stockman that the current booming stock market is an illusion driven by money-printing and deficit spending -- ... many of his solutions are more political in nature: ... I have a more straightforward fix: Restore and encourage the spirit of American free enterprise. ...

Chart of economic growth; from spreadsheet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whatever anyone in the White House or on Wall Street says, don’t forget that our economy is currently growing at a pathetic 1%, where we need a minimum of 2.5% GDP growth just to tread water, in my view. ... I think we need GDP growth of about 4.5% to get the economy humming again. We’re not going to get there with more deficit spending and with the Federal Reserve handing out more free money to investors.

What will get us to authentic economic growth and job creation is for federal, state, and local governments to do everything in their power to help America’s 6 million small businesses succeed. That means restoring their confidence in the future -- 30% of small-business owners are worried they may not be in business in 12 months, according to a Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey -- and removing any barriers they may face. What most people probably don’t know is that small businesses -- not large enterprises -- create most of the good jobs in America.

Maybe Stockman’s political reforms are the right way to go, but whatever the case, I think that restoring the spirit of robust, free-market capitalism will cure most of our ills and put the country on a sustainable path for the future.

But first, we need to start telling ourselves the truth about what really drives prosperity and what’s just an illusion. David Stockman has done us all a favor by getting us to confront reality. Of course, I actually do recommend his book.

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Ruin your professional reputation in 5 easy steps

By DAVE JOHNSON / MONEYWATCH/ May 30, 2013, 7:00 AM:

PHOTO COURTESY FLICKR USER EDITOR B

(MoneyWatch) Your professional reputation is the currency that you can use to purchase advancement in your career. It will bring you the respect of your peers and elevate their willingness to work for or with you. It's enormously important.

Reputation (Photo credit: krossbow)

Recently, US News & World Report summarized a number of ways that you can squander your professional reputation through stupid moves at work. I thought it was worth taking a look at some of these; many people -- especially new college grads just entering the work force -- sometimes don't realize just how easy it is to ruin it.

Here are five of the fastest ways to shatter your reputation. And remember: Your reputation is something that is easily sullied but difficult (and time-consuming) to restore.

Accept a job offer but back out before starting. If you're the sort of person who likes to pursue multiple leads simultaneously, once a job offer is made, make a choice and stick with it. You shouldn't continue to go on interviews and consider your options after accepting a position. You never know when you'll encounter someone from the company you jilted, and if they tell the story about how you backed out on a job offer, you're done for.

Leave a new job for a better offer. I once started at a new company and met a manager in a different division who had just started weeks before me. I took him out to lunch to pick his brain, and he admitted that he'd just accepted an offer to move across town to "a role too good to pass up." This guy took a safety job and kept shopping -- and then abandoned the role before his seat even had a chance to get warm. Word of this spread like wildfire around town. I guarantee he'll have a hard time finding a job the next time he wants to move.

English: Reputation management graphic that breaks down the elements of reputation management and how they fit together. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Quit without notice. Yes, your employer can fire or lay you off without notice -- the world isn't a fair place -- but you should never reciprocate. To quit without giving proper notice and creating a transition plan that allows a graceful exit means burning your bridges, plain and simple.Your employer will never provide a good reference, and encounters with your colleagues there elsewhere in your industry pose a constant danger as well. Be smart, be polite, be professional.

Recommend an underqualified candidate. Many companies like to hire from personal internal references. Don't abuse that trust, though. Recommending a friend who isn't really a good fit is bad enough for you buddy, but it may do worse damage to your own reputation.

Lose your temper. No one is perfect, and you can't be expected to act like a Vulcan every moment of every day at work. But professionalism demands that you keep your emotions and your ego in check. If you yell in a meeting, insult a co-worker or send an inappropriate e-mail, that damage cannot be easily undone, if ever. Anyone who was in the line of fire won't want to work with you, and your performance review may have after-effects in many review cycles to come.

What do you think of this list? Are there other reputation burners? Sound off with comments.

Photo courtesy Flickr user Editor B

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The Power of the Post-Recession Consumer

An analysis of attitudes and spending reveals a return to traditional values, driven by consumers searching for quality, affordability, and connection.

strategy+business magazine
February 22, 2011 / Spring 2011 / Issue 62
by John Gerzema and Michael D'Antonio

Illustration by Lars Leetaru

Image via WikipediaThe wave of hyper-consumerism that propelled the U.S. economy through the last decades of the 20th century and into the first years of the 21st century has passed. …Consumer spending patterns are changing as part of a trend that has been quietly gathering strength over the past 10 years. …People are returning to old-fashioned values to build new lives of purpose and connection. They also realize that how they spend their money is a form of power, and are moving from mindless consumption to mindful consumption, increasingly taking care to purchase goods and services from sellers that meet their standards and reflect their values.

This change in consumer attitudes … is …, in part, a reaction to economic hard times. But it is also closely related to the civic dissatisfaction that is rocking the political establishment, and additionally has some roots in environmental awareness and changing aspirations. That is why this Spend Shift movement, as we call it, is here to stay. It will create opportunities for businesses that heed its message, and penalize those that do not. (For another perspective, see “Values vs. Value,” by Timothy Devinney, Pat Auger, and Giana M. Eckhardt, s+b, Spring 2011.)

Our view of the Spend Shift is based on two years of gathering and analyzing data, and traveling around the U.S. to discover how the recession has affected people’s lives. We started with Young & Rubicam’s BrandAsset Valuator (BAV), which is a poll of consumer values, attitudes, and shopping behaviors that goes back nearly 20 years. …

The BAV data revealed that even before the recession took hold in mid-2008, there were dramatic shifts in what people expected in the consumer marketplace and how they defined and pursued what they considered the good life. … More recently, the BAV surveys show sharp increases in the number of consumers who want positive relationships with marketplace vendors and who focus more on corporate behavior. Between 2005 and 2009, a growing number of people rejected status-driven values such as snobbishness and exclusivity, and embraced attributes related to bringing people closer together or making the world a better place. Among the once-prized brand attributes that declined in this period were: “exclusive” (down 60 percent), “arrogant” (down 41 percent), “sensuous” (down 30 percent), and “daring” (down 20 percent). On the opposite side of the scale, the brand attributes Americans found more important as they began to sense the impending recession and then suffered through the crisis were: “kindness and empathy” (up 391 percent), “friendly” (up 148 percent), “high quality” (up 124 percent), and “socially responsible” (up 63 percent).

… Between 2005 and 2009, U.S. consumers expressed a nearly fourfold increase in their preference for companies, brands, and products that show kindness in both their operations and their encounters with customers. This desire for companies to be more empathetic toward consumers is the biggest shift in any attitude that we have ever seen during the BAV survey’s two-decade history. …

1. United by Change

The Spend Shift is a far-reaching and inclusive phenomenon that can’t be defined by any particular demographic. According to our data, 55 percent of all Americans are part of this movement; in addition, about one-quarter of the U.S. adult population embraces many of the Spend Shift attitudes and characteristics (we call them Fast Followers). Although the word values tends to polarize U.S. citizens, the Spend Shift is blind to geography, education, age, and income. …

What unites all these Spend Shifters is a common sense of optimism and newfound purpose. As the shock of economic loss wears off for many people, they are redefining what it means to be successful and happy. They are living with less and yet feeling greater satisfaction. …

2. The New Thrift

…Consumer spending will no longer be able to grow faster than personal income, as it did during the 30 years leading up to the crisis. … If you look at historical savings rates in the U.S., people have on average saved 10 percent of their income going back as far as six decades. It was only in the mid-1980s that … ordinary people [ere encouraged] to get out over their skis. In only 20 years, average American households swung from being net savers to being net borrowers. Now, however, consumers are returning to traditional values that have long defined the U.S. ideal.

Image via Wikipedia… In the post-recession economy, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency are viewed as virtues, and excessive consumption as a sign of weakness. … We examined the 2009 performance of a basket of “retooling” companies — those that are in the top 10 percent of our data on being “helpful,” “reliable,” “educational,” and “durable,” such as LeapFrog, Weight Watchers, Craftsman, and DeWalt, because they help people help themselves. The performance of these companies against all others is notable: They performed 249 percent better than other companies when respondents were asked whether they would recommend these brands to a friend, 234 percent better when respondents were asked if they used the products regularly, and 210 percent better on whether the products were worth a premium price.

…[Many] people, … are seeking ways to experience a sense of competence, self-sufficiency, and accomplishment. … If you have an idea for helping people learn new skills and connect with others, your business has a good chance of success.

3. Transparency Breeds Trust

… Companies serving these customers, who know more and expect more, will need to continuously listen, respond, and innovate. They are in for a challenge: Our data shows that confidence in all types of big organizations, including big government and big business, has declined by nearly 50 percent in the past two years. …

Wary consumers are going beyond just reading labels to get the best products and the best deals. The most tech-savvy are using online services as they stand in the supermarket aisle to get instant access to information on prices and on a company’s social or environmental record. …

… Today, however, customers have equal (and sometimes superior) access to data. As a result, transparency becomes all the more crucial. Today’s stakeholders … crave a true, authentic story. They will be interested in how a company thinks and how it makes decisions. …

4. Companies That Care

… The ability of a company to identify with its customers is now a prerequisite for any brand in the post-crisis age. Today, openness, humility, and understanding are critical. Generosity binds a company to its community and its stakeholders.

The rising importance of generosity reflects the fact that the post-crisis era will be defined by inclusion rather than exclusion. … Spend Shifters are buying artisanal food because they trust companies that reveal how their food is produced and handled. They patronize cooperative small businesses because such businesses use their profits to build up their local regions. Passionate customer groups will also band together to fund niche offerings that speak directly to the areas about which they feel most strongly. Because 71 percent of U.S. consumers are now aligning their spending with their values, businesses that practice in a new way will find a vibrant marketplace. Instead of selling shoes, such businesses sell empathy and respect. … Instead of serving food, companies create communities of hope. Instead of making cars, they promise fairness, openness, and shared discourse.

Consumers will be looking for signs that companies care about their impact on communities and are investing in making things better. … The vanguard companies understand that showing kindness and humanity is now a competitive advantage.

Microsoft is a telling example. … In our BAV survey, Microsoft always scores high on measures of its reputation, exceeding Apple by a wide margin. … Despite its massive size, Microsoft is still widely associated with the single personality of its founder, Bill Gates. He gives Microsoft a human face and, more important, his philanthropy gives the company a heart. …

When we talked to Akhtar Badshah, Microsoft’s senior director of global community affairs, he told us that in its response to the recession, Microsoft pursued three main areas of focus: education, innovation, and jobs and economic opportunity. … The key point is that Microsoft uses both its money and its true areas of expertise to maximize the good it can do as a citizen corporation, showing how a company can be charitable by redeploying its existing assets and infrastructure as tools for social and economic development.

The Consumer Connection

… Although the growth of consumer spending appears to be slowing, we believe that people are simply reallocating the way they spend — looking for a connection to the creator of the product; banding together to get better deals; and pushing service and product creators to do more, price better, and connect more deeply to their wants and needs.

Image via WikipediaEven as people find themselves less rich, they are deploying their dollars in a more calculated and strategic way to influence institutions such as corporations and government. …

The most successful companies will respond to this shift by adopting a business model in which all three parties — the business, the customer, and the community — win in every transaction. Although the Spend Shift will dampen domestic demand for some products, the market for values-oriented goods and services offers opportunities for growth in what might otherwise be considered mature categories. We examined the performance of a group of companies and brands that scored in the top 20 percent in the BAV survey on the values we had noted were becoming increasingly important — self-reliance, adaptability, honesty, quality, and community. And we found that in aggregate they enjoyed nearly three times as much usage and preference as brands that did not represent these values.

We believe that the future face of capitalism will be defined by delivering value and values. Those that embrace this reality and adapt will find extraordinary opportunities. Those that ignore it will do so at their peril.

Reprint No. 11107

Author Profile:

• John Gerzema is president of Brand Asset Consulting, a Young & Rubicam Brands company. He is a pioneer in the use of data to identify social change and to help companies both anticipate and adapt to new consumer interests and demands. Gerzema oversees the BrandAsset Valuator, the world’s largest database of consumer insights. Follow him on Twitter at @johngerzema/Twitter.
• Michael D’Antonio is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist based in New York. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O’Malley, Baseball’s Most Controversial Owner, and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles (Riverhead Books, 2009).

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More Workers Staying Put During Economic Uncertainty

November 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - All three generations in today’s workforce are exhibiting a decreased propensity for change, according to the 2010/2011 PwC Saratoga U.S. Human Capital Effectiveness Report.

Image via WikipediaAn executive summary of the report says voluntary separation rates across the three generations continue to decrease, with steady declines among Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y since 2007. Baby Boomers continued to voluntarily leave the workforce at the lowest rate among the three groups - just 4.9% in 2009, compared with 5.9% for Generation X and 10.9% for Generation Y. The Baby Boomer voluntary separation rate has decreased 18% since 2007. …

The report said one key measure PwC Saratoga uses to measure quality of hire is turnover in the first year of service. After climbing in the two years prior to the recession, turnover rates in the first year of service are down by 16% since 2008. In 2009, less than one in four employees departed within the first year of service (compared to nearly one in three in 2007).
While employee compensation costs per full-time employee (FTE) remained flat between 2008 and 2009, the recession had a direct bearing on performance bonuses. The percentage of employee compensation made up of performance bonus pay has declined 55% in the past three years, from 8.8% of salary in 2007 to 4% in 2009. The past year alone saw a decrease of 44%, from 7.2% to 4%.
PwC Saratoga found increases in the cost of employee health care. Health care costs per active employee increased nearly 6% between 2008 and 2009 to an average of $8,335. While costs are increasing, the share of health care costs borne by employers has decreased by nearly 2% between 2008 and 2009 with employers responsible for 79.7% of health care costs.
After rising every year since 2005, workforce productivity fell in 2009. Revenue per FTE dropped 6%, from a high of $413,690 in 2008 to $387,993 in 2009. Nevertheless, 2009 results are 18% higher than 2006 results of $330,060.
Human capital return on investment (ROI), a key indicator of return on workforce investment, is down 23% to 43 cents in profit for every dollar invested in the workforce compared with the 2007 and 2008 result of 53 cents in profit for every dollar invested in the workforce. Additionally, PwC Saratoga results show that organizations have increased their investment in workforce compensation and benefit costs for each dollar of revenue generated. In 2008, organizations invested $221 for every $1,000 in revenue. In 2009, organizations invested $259 for every $1,000 in revenue.
The report includes data from nearly 300 organizations representing 12 industry sectors that provided information from the 2009 calendar year. The average company in the report has annual revenue of $5.7 billion and more than 19,000 employees.
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com

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Finding the Right Job Still Challenging for Many

October 14, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Thirty-six percent of workers with college degrees in a new CareerBuilder survey now say they wish they had studied something else when they were in school.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Image via CrunchBaseA CareerBuilder news release about the poll said 26% saw the market for jobs in their field get worse from the time they started their college studies to when they actually hit the job market.

Fifty-six percent of respondents found a job in their field within 12 months of graduation, but others were apparently not so lucky. Nineteen percent of college-educated workers still have not found work in their desired profession, according to the poll.

Not only that, 27% who graduated from college 10 years ago or longer say they still haven’t found work in their field, while 21% say it took three years or longer, and 12% five years or longer.

"The job market has been challenging for all workers, regardless of degree level, and has prompted many to think about learning skills for high demand and emerging jobs," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, in the news release.

Building new skill sets is a priority for more than one in (13 %) workers who said they have plans to go back to school this year to make themselves more marketable.

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive among 2,042 U.S. workers with college degrees (employed full-time, not self-employed, both government and non-government), age 18 and over, between August 17 and September 2, 2010.

Fred Schneyer

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Why I Hire Former Convicts and Gang Members

BNET Blog

By John Shegerian, Electronic Recyclers International, Fresno, Calif.

Image via Wikipedia

When I took over Electronic Recyclers International in late 2004, it was a failing company. I decided to restructure and rebrand it. And when it came time to hire new employees, I saw an opportunity to hire individuals from what have typically been marginalized segments of society: former convicts, former gang members, the homeless, people recovering from drug addiction, and people coming off of welfare.

Image via WikipediaIt wasn’t the first time I’d hired employees looking for a second chance. Back in 1993, I co-founded Homeboy Tortillas and Homeboy Industries — two small businesses that train and employ former gang members, helping them transition into the workforce. It was a landmark moment in my life, and from then on, I wanted to make sure any business I took part in had a bottom line for profit and for social responsibility. I felt strongly about continuing that mission at the recycling company, which safely dismantles and recycles electronic waste.

Everyone at our company buys into that mission. … We all agreed that we need to make money, but also that we can seek to turn people’s lives around by opening our doors and our hearts to those in need.

Hiring marginalized workers
We hire our workers through a temp agency, and all different types of jobs — from scraps sorters to management positions — are open to applicants. It just depends on their skills and education level, and what they’re interested in doing. They go through extensive background checks, drug testing, and questioning. We put them through a skills test to see if they’re as capable as they claim to be. Depending on the position, they’ll generally start at the bottom, but if they prove themselves, they’ll have the chance to work their way up.

We partner new at-risk employees with those who’ve been on the job longer. They’re able to mentor the new hires and help them adjust to their work situations. But we emphasize personal accountability, so the workers are aware that they are responsible for making the right choices. … I’ve generally found that when you hire someone who’s looking for one last chance to turn his life around, he’ll roll up his sleeves and give you everything he’s got.

Sometimes people don’t work out, but in the 17 years I’ve been hiring people from disadvantaged backgrounds, I’ve never had a major problem. Most of the time, if someone we’ve hired is slipping back into old habits, he’ll just stop showing up or he’ll give notice to his supervisor. …

From drug dealer to top salesman
About four years ago, a former convict came in for an interview. He was a smallish guy with over 100 tattoos over his body. … I talked to him for a while and he told me he’d had 60 interviews, but no job offers. He said, “They don’t even want to talk to me after they see all the tattoos.”

He’d been in prison for dealing drugs, but he seemed very intelligent, so I hired him. He did a great job working his way up on the line crew, and after a while, my wife, who is our COO, took notice of him. She said, “He’s a really smart guy, he’s got some good skills. If he could sell drugs years ago, what’s so different about selling commodities for our company?”
Now, he’s our top commodities salesperson. He’s taking calls 19 hours a day from places around the world, buying and selling plastics, glass, copper, and other materials. …

Building a stronger company and a better world

Image via WikipediaBetween 50 and 60 of our 400 employees come from traditionally marginalized groups, and we’re receiving some tax incentives for hiring workers through the welfare-to-work program — depending on the state, employers can receive up to $9,000 in tax credit for each employee who meets certain criteria through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program.  …

I think our hiring practices make our company stronger because they show that our management is sensitive to the human condition. We’re all one accident or one tragedy away from being in a tight spot. Business can be a battle, but when a company shows its DNA this way, it makes for a very tight-knit group and helps us work together.

There’s not a community in America that isn’t suffering from drug, gang, and recidivism problems. … If every business owner hired just one person from the margins, it could make a world of difference within the community. Helping people get that second chance is our great opportunity and our great challenge.

John Shegerian serves on the California Governor’s Gang Advisory Committee, helping state legislators create policies to reduce gang violence.
– As told to Kathryn Hawkins

Resources:

• Consider the pros and cons of hiring workers who’ve been incarcerated.

• Learn about the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides tax incentives to companies that hire disenfranchised workers.

• Help support the nonprofit Homeboy Industries, which was forced to lay off most of its staff due to California’s budget crisis.

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• Recycler adds 100 jobs in Fresno, other sites (fresnobeehive.com)

Pay and Benefits not the Only Drivers of Employee Loyalty

September 28, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A recent global poll conducted by Monster shows that good pay and benefits is the top reason cited for securing employee loyalty (27%).

However, the survey also showed that having a solid team (21%) and being recognized for good work (21%) were also highly rated by workers polled. In addition, according to a press release, respondents cited challenging/interesting work (20%) and opportunities for advancement (11%).
Globally, having a great boss and co-workers, challenging/interesting work and gaining recognition all recorded results at 20% or above, demonstrating that, for many workers, there is more to their loyalty than financial rewards, Monster said.
Pay and benefits was the biggest factor driving loyalty for workers in North America, where 32% of respondents reported so, as well as workers in Hungary (38%), the Gulf (38%), Singapore (31%), Canada (30%) and the UK (24%). Respondents in India (31%), Italy (27%) and Ireland (24%) rated gaining recognition as the foremost reason for them being loyal to their employers.
Challenging or interesting work is the most important factor driving loyalty in Finland (35%) as well as for respondents in both France and the Netherlands (20%).
"It's not surprising that pay and benefits top the list, but it is very important that an employer recognizes they need to provide a good experience in the workplace overall," said Jeffrey Quinn, senior director, Monster Intelligence, in the press release.
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com

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