Madison Who’s Who Blog

The secret of the secret of success is that there are as many secrets as there are success stories. Elements of success are as impossible to nail down as the cure for the common cold. The success of the common cold is due to its capacity to evolve. The ability to evolve or to sense a trend before it becomes a trend is necessary for success.

There are no hard and fast rules for success, but there is a common element to all success stories. Hard Work.

The following is based on the Atlantic Monthly article authored by Jim Manzi, founder and Chairman of Applied Predictive Technologies, and the author of Uncontrolled: The Surprising Payoff of Trial-and-Error for Business, Politics and Society.

Sell the Dream to Others Not Yourself: A new venture is usually based in a whole lot of hope. Iinvestors, customers, and employees need to believe in this hope. The Head Dreamer needs to promote the hope but be aware of the reality of the situation.

Pair Up: Find a partner and base this relationship on mutual respect and trust. The partnership should have a consensus about company’s vision. However the skill set of each should have a limited overlap. This enables a broader range of abilities.

Set the Trend – Start Something New: It seems easier and safer to jump on a bandwagon and follow a well-worn path. However the more people in the bandwagon, the more that have walked on the path, the more competition, the smaller the piece of pie.

Pay No Attention to Capital Markets and Industry Analysts: If the capital markets have given the thumbs up to what you are starting, you might be too late. They deal in hindsight. You should be doing what they can’t even conceive of.

Plan not to plan so much: The best laid plans…. is a cliché because it’s been proven true many a time. Some planning is good, too much is a waste of time. The plan should be created in Excel and not Word. Plan for this standard truth: you’ll have an average amount of luck in the long-run and terrible luck in the short-run.

Your Money Matters: Stake yourself with your own money for as long as you can. Set up a revenue stream that will offset costs partially and will begin your operation as a business, beyond a concept.

Other People’s Money: Venture Capitalists should only hold the purse strings if they are allowed to grab onto the reins it’s time to get out of the CEO chair.

Advice for the Next Few Years:

1. Don’t see your board members as superheroes. They won’t save you. You have to be your own caped crusader.

2. Spend each cent as if it was your last one.

3. Pick the best team: Ability trumps congeniality. Overlook quirks if the talent is their.

4. Run the company as if it will be your livelihood for the rest of your life.

5. Revenue and Profits are the best feedback on an idea.

6. Turn a blind eye and deaf ear to: all and any competitors, external advice, and capital markets. The focus should be on delivering value to customers at a foreseeable profit.

7. Adapt when your company evolves into the version of your concept that starts to work. If successful, the company is likely to end up focused on something different (and usually narrower) than you first thought. This usually becomes evident after it’s been in the market for 6-18 months. The transition will be brutal and action must be swift.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

A statistic that is on an upward trend is that of the percentage of workers who are working from home. This choice of an office locale includes the self-employed and those who telecommute. Sometimes it’s a temporary or sporadic workplace option, sometimes it’s always the workplace. There are many reasons for this choice, too many to go into. This trend is only going to increase, and the question arises how to best translate the comforts of home to a productive and professional environment. The evolving theories on how to make the Home Office as productive as it is convenient so far agree on a strict narrow parameter, and that is to establish a perimeter within the home that is strictly business.

One of the biggest mistakes made about working at home is that we fool ourselves into thinking we are behind close doors in the privacy of our own home. That no one can tell if we are wearing p.j.’s, or checking a Facebook status while on a conference call. Oh but they can.  Debra Benton the author of The Virtual Executive, which hit shelves this April, says that everything that goes on behind a computer monitor can be sensed, from your body language to your confidence level to how much attention you’re paying to your colleagues in Tokyo.

From The Virtual Executive, Forbes Magazine published 10 No-No’s that are common mistakes made by those who work from home:

Not Smiling

“Smile when you pick up or click on the phone,” says Benton, “and continue to smile as you talk regardless of who’s calling or what the conversation is about.” A smile is audible through the phone. You don’t need an ear-to-ear grin; Benton advises saying the words “Cheese Wiz.” The lips are parted only slightly and the corners of the mouth turned up—and the smile will come through in your tone.

The same smile is as important in written communiqué, she says—try it. “In email a smile on your face will keep you from selecting nasty or harsh words,” she says. “With a grimace you can punch out negative language all you want.” And it goes without saying that you should smile in video conferencing, she advises. “People wear serious faces and think they appear focused, when all that comes across is uncomfortable, even constipated.”

Not Getting Dressed

“I’ve talked to a female CEO who says she puts on lipstick, perfume and high heels when she makes a phone call,” says Benton. “And another executive who brushes his teeth before he leaves voicemails because he thinks it makes him sound ‘clean.’ Whatever your trick is, Benton says it’s just as important to dress the part at home as it is at the office, particularly on days when you have important calls or, of course, video conferences.

“These appearance things are more to help you than to impress others,” she advises. Looking good gives you a sense of confidence that no pair of sweatpants can ever impart. At other times, particularly when you might be visible on camera, it is about others. As Benton says, “The reason to pay attention to pay attention to dress is really so that you don’t have to pay attention to dress.”

Video rules of thumb: No patterns, no orange shirts (“it looks like you’re in prison!” Benton says) or dangly jewelry.  And if you make the strategic stay-at-home move of only dressing from the waist up, she says, “Make sure you don’t stand up!!”

Bad Posture

The same body language that’s required in person needs to be enacted online, says Benton. “People sense it.” Behind a computer screen (off camera, that is,) pay attention to comportment which will steady breathing and—as with clothing—increase your sense of confidence and professionalism when making calls or typing emails. “Bad posture conveys boredom and bad attitude,” she says. “It makes you sound out of breath and look weak or tired and loser-like.”

On camera, of course, posture and positioning can be the difference between appearing like a shlub (“I’ve known people who have been fired after participating in conference calls,” says Benton. “Their bosses were embarrassed by how casual they appeared.”), or like a prize employee.

Try this set up: arrange a chair in front of your computer monitor, close enough to a surface where you can rest one arm asymmetrically. Over the back of your chair works, or resting on a table. “Sitting with both arms and hands doing the same thing—symmetrically—makes you look tense.

Not Checking the Background for Skype

In video, Benton says a huge mistake is the casualness of your presentation, but she’s especially emphatic about backdrop. In other words, booting up Skype or Face Time without first considering whether there’s a plant growing out the top of your head is a bad idea.” Take a look around, she says: is there a bra on your chair? Is there smoking paraphernalia in the room that shouldn’t be there? (Yes, she speaks from experience—her clients’ not her own!) “You want to strive for a clean, uncluttered backdrop,” she says, “But avoid the terrorist white sheet.”

Malaprop Props

One executive Benton worked with decided he wanted a glass of water on hand during a video conference. “But the glass he chose was a beer mug!” she says. When the man lifted the glass to drink and his colleagues saw him through grainy web video, it appeared he was drinking on the job. Rule of thumb: choose your glasses wisely.

Other props Benton says to nix: ashtrays, personal care products, children’s toys and paperwork pertaining to other clients.

Saying No in Emails

“You can say ‘yes’ in every email you send,” Benton says. “But when you have to say ‘no,’ pick up the phone. Any communication you need to have from home that is either critical or could be perceived as critical should be first addressed on the phone. It’s courteous and allows you to clarify any outstanding issues in real time. “Consider this the golden rule of online communication.”

If you’re worried about paper trail in negative communiqué, Benton says to place the phone call, and then follow up with an email. “But by all means, have the first conversation over the phone.”

Bad Email Form

This email is too long – the longer the email with multiple requests, the more likely something will get lost in translation. Benton says that every request you make to a colleague, employee or client over the phone should be included in an individual email. “Five requests, five emails with clear subject lines,” she says. This helps your colleagues to keep each task straight—but also helps you to follow up on each important issue.

This email is too short – Emails replies to avoid: “fine,”  “thanks,” or “no way, that’s crazy.”  Instead, Benton says to opt for: “great idea, go for it!” “I really appreciate your time!” or “please help me to understand what you really mean.”

Immune to Your Home’s Inappropriate Ambiance:

“Working from home it’s easy to become numb to the noises that you’re used to in your own house,” Benton says. The barking dog, the lawnmower, the chatter from kids all get tuned out after a while. “But getting used to these noises is a mistake,” she continues, “Because while you don’t hear them, the people on the other end of the phone line or computer screen certainly will.

“I know a woman who’s a remote worker and the pool was open for the kids in the summer time,” Benton says. “She’s outside doing business over the phone and every three minutes there’s a splash or a kid crying, “Marco! Polo!” She didn’t think anything of it but it undermined her credibility.

If a “home” noise does pop up while you’re in the middle of business, Benton’s advice is sound (get it?): Have a phrase on-hand to explain it away. One client brushes off her dogs barking by saying “Even my dog has an opinion on this subject!” Addressing the sound shows you are aware and in control of the situation.

Forgetting the Handshake

In person we never introduce ourselves or greet another person without the pleasantry of a handshake or hello and yet Benton says we quite regularly skip this step in an online setting. This is a big mistake. Make a point of perfecting what she calls a “virtual handshake.” Begin every email or phone conversation by discussing something that’s important to the other person—whether it’s their family, a recent vacation or a business interest—to set the tone of pleasantry and cooperation. “If I’m the recipient of an email whose focus is on my interests first rather than his, I’ll definitely pay more attention.”

Multitasking Personal and Professional Duties

“It’s so easy to multi-task as a remote worker,” says Benton. “I can run a load of laundry while I’m on a conference call or check on my order from Zappos while I fill out an expense report.” When we think we’re not being watched we often lose focus as we take on more and more personal tasks simultaneously with professional ones. Don’t get in this habit, she warns. Your loss of focus will show, no matter who’s watching.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Pinch me I must be dreaming. Or, am I in some parallel universe where corporate greed takes a back seat to the workers’ personal growth? Nope, I’m awake, and I know I’m still present in the world as not every corporation is doing this. United Technologies Corporation has been breaking ground and news with their Employee Scholar Program, a plan where the company pays for any college or graduate school degree any employee wants to pursue, not only paying for tuition, books and fees but also giving employees $5,000 worth of stock when they got a degree, regardless of whether it had any connection to a UTC job. Sounds crazy, right? Won’t last, right? Well, it was instilled 16 years, one billion dollars, and 32,000 college degrees ago. Is this company still in business? Yes, and it is number 48 on Fortune’s new 500 list.

UTC has reined in the plan, a bit, with reason, not with parsimony. The Employee Scholar Program’s is now budgeted at $50 million down from $60 million; the $5,000 stock bonus for finishing a degree is no longer, funds per undergraduate degree are limited to $40,000 and $60,000 per graduate degree; and employees must have worked a year with the company under their belt before they can take UTC up on this benefit.

Why would a company do this in the first place? The chief executive of UTC, when the plan began, was George David, and he said, “We’re not softhearted. It’s in our interest to have an educated workforce.” UTC’s current head of Human Resources, Tom Bowler Jr. affirms, “This program is a big differentiator for us.” To heighten his distinction, earlier this year The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities gave the company its advocacy award. This is the first time the award has gone to a company instead of a person.

Why should other companies follow in UTC’s footsteps? For the slogan, “Corporations are people too.” to lose its sardonic taint, corporations need to show they have a heart. The heart of a corporation is only as good as its people. UTC has compiled statistics that show its retention rate and the rate of promotion among the people who had used this program was higher than among the others. This sort of incentive draws good people, keeps good people, and makes them better people. It is a win-win-win.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Those who are old enough to believe the Goldwynism: “a verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” are wary about trusting their documents to some intangible construct on the internet, in other words: The Cloud. However looking into this Goldwynism we find that it is a misrepresentation of what was actually said. Samuel Goldwyn was praising a colleague and said, “His verbal contract is worth more than the paper it’s written on.”  Perhaps then it’s time to trust the Cloud. Now which Cloud to pick?

The Question of Trust: It may be time to trust the Cloud, but that doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind. It is a fact, and a fact not clearly explained by online data storage sites, that when you put your data in the cloud, employees of the company trusted with your data can look at it. ‘Can do it’ does not mean ‘will do it’, and ‘employees’ does not mean ‘every employee’. Specific employees can but even so there are systems to prevent abuses. However, one of the Clouds, SpiderOak, guarantees it can’t look at your stored data. They don’t keep the keys. For the other Clouds you can encrypt highly sensitive data before you store it online.

The Question of Price: SkyDrive wins this competition. Those who signed on early have 25GB’s free space, but even though this was dropped to 7GBs they still have the best deal as their pricing structure is:  20GB for $10 per year; 50GB extra for $25 per year; and 100GB for $50, however you can not store more than 100GB of data with SkyDrive (this seems to be the only drawback, and if the time comes that Microsoft sees this as a drawback this will no doubt be expanded). Google Drive offers 5GB for free and 25GB extra storage for $30 a year, 100GB for $60 per year, all the way up to 16TB for the bargain price of $9,600 per year. SpiderOak offers 2GB for free and an extra increments of 100GB for $10/per month or $100/year. Amazon Drive offers 5GB for free and doesn’t charge for the space Amazon downloads take up and their extra pricing packages price 1 GB at $1 so 20GB for $20 to 100 GB for $100; SugarSync offers 5GB for free and an additional 30GB for $4.99/month or $49.99/year, 60GB for $9.99/month or $99.99/year, and 100GB for $14.99/month or $149.99/year. iCloud gives you 5GB for free then after that 10GB goes for $20 per year, 20GB goes for $40, and 50GB goes for $100. Dropbox and Box are among the more expensive services. Dropbox offers 2GB free with upgrades of 50GB for $99 and 100GB for $199. In the case of Box, the company’s real focus is on business users.

The Question of Access: SkyDrive and iCloud offer remote access, meaning you can access files from a device if that device is on.  On the subject of accessing the Cloud Drives on mobile devices: SkyDrive is compatible with Windows Phone, iPhone and iPad, Moblie web, and Android via OneNote; iCloud is compatible only with Apple mobile devices; Dropbox is compatible with all but Windows Phone; and Google Drive is good with Android and Mobile web; SpiderOak is Cross Platform compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux and is accessible via mobile devices; Box is compatible with mobile devices except for Kindle Fire, Windows Mobile app, and Symbian app; SugarSynch is compatible with the widest variety of Mobile applications – this area is SugarSynch’s niche.

The Question of Quantity: The winner here is Google Drive not only do they offer a price point for 16TB of data storage they support large files. Google Drive allows for 5GB file sizes. Skydrive and Dropbox limit a file’s size to 2GB.

As for the quantity of each Cloud’s user base (as of April 25, 2012): Google App users number around 40 million, Dropbox has 50 million users, SkyDrive users respectably show at 100 million, while Apple iCloud clocks in at 125 million.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Going back to the drawing board, sometimes literally means going back to the drawing board. This is one of Toyota’s getting back in gear after their recall ordeal. Once upon a time Toyota was the Prince Charming of quality until the company was befallen by a curse of recalls that began in 2008. Their reputation appeared more amphibious when they were accused of having a slow response to the recall situation. Since then Toyota has been active in getting their charm back on by launching a two pronged attack on design flaws in production and product.

The recall revealed a problem Toyota had with their production line:  they pursued growth over improvements in production. Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi stated, “When production plunged, we could see big-scale production was a burden. We needed an assembly line that could respond to the ups and downs of production needs.” One of the innovations Toyota unveiled today was a highly flexible assembly line that can grow or shrink over a weekend to adjust to demand. Also cars move along assembly lines on stands with wheels instead of hanging from above practice of most car plants. This translates to a line that could be changed more quickly, company officials said.

As for the design of the car itself, Toyota has handled these issues with the latest technology. In the manufacturing process there is a special stamping that allows car doors to be carved into molded shapes and instantaneous laser-welding that adds to the stability of luxury models. Toyota said the metal stamping technology is new and developed within the company. The new stamping, which also produces sharper shapes on car exteriors, will be introduced for the limited edition iQ subcompact model going on sale in a few months, according to Toyota. Still in the realm of design, but design for purely aesthetic purposes, a new paint technology was demonstrated that allows different shadings without causing an uneven surface. Officials said they hope to make cars with custom paint jobs and contoured stamping to order. No timeframe was given.

A Toyota pièce de résistance still some years off is the mood-sensing electronics system that will be able to determine the emotions of the driver. This new system is planned as a safety measure that will customize a vehicle’s safety alert times based on the driver’s mood. Cameras mounted inside the cabin will be able to interpret a driver’s face and react accordingly. The emotion-sensing cameras will be able to judge a person’s emotions based on one’s position in the driver seat, as well as monitoring 238 points on the driver’s face. The system will reportedly be able to determine emotion even if the driver’s face is covered by sunglasses or a beard. As research shows that sad or angry drivers have delayed response times if this system picks up these negative emotions it will automatically adjust the vehicle’s warning systems to give the driver more time to react.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

One of my favorite character actors is Strother Martin. He probably is best known for saying the following line in Cool Hand Luke, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” However, I don’t think there is another character who expresses himself more clearly than Strother’s “Captain”.  You can hear this in the way he enunciates the word ‘communicate’. His enunciation is skillful, but it is the least of his communication skill set. The credits of this film list his character as “Captain”, and rightly so, for he is a leader. Communication is a primary skill in leadership.  Earlier this month Forbes contributor Mike Myatt listed 10 Communication Advisos time tested by great leaders. What follows is the gist of this list.

1. Speak the Truth:

Truth builds trust. People open up when they trust someone. It’s much easier to get the message across when the lines of communication are open.

2. Know Your Audience:

How can you know you have been understood if you don’t speak their language? Bonus clarity comes when you can speak on a person to person basis no matter how large the audience is. Those that feel you are speaking directly to them are more apt to listen.

3. Count Your Words:

Less is more. Brevity saves time. The shorter the message the less room there is for your listeners to move around in it and get lost. In addition if the goal is to limit your words, specificity is the effective result.

4. Be a Giver:

Communication is a two way street and/or a multi lane highway. There must be both a give and take for communication to be effective. Focus on the listener’s needs and wants. Gather some information but leave behind ideas, inspiration, and expectation.

5. Be Flexible:

A different opinion can be a leader’s best friend.  Communication is a dialogue not a debate. Hearing out an opposing view without the intent to change it allows for understanding.

6. Switch it up:

Great communicators don’t just talk. They listen. If your sole purpose is to broadcast a message, your audience will hear you are all talk and sooner or later tune you out. So Stop, Look, and Listen.

7. Leave your ego at the door:

Or rather have a healthy enough ego that you don’t need to prop it up with bravado. Human beings are most attentive when they see someone being human. Don’t hide behind a façade, don’t be afraid to reveal yourself.

8. Read between the lines:

A sign of any great leader is the ability to see beyond the black and white to what is behind the black and white. Seeing where someone is coming from makes it easier to alter their course.

9. Think Before You Speak:

Or rather put thought into what you are going to say. Research it to an expert’s level. Good communicators address both the “what” and “how” aspects of messaging so they don’t fall prey to becoming the smooth talker who leaves people with the impression of form over substance.

10. Have a Plan B:

There is no such thing as a sure thing. A message can go south fast with no hopes of reining it in and turning it around. When this happens acknowledge it and change up to an alternate strategy. There are many tools and proven techniques such as asking great questions or using: humor, analogies, relevant data, or a light smattering of bold statements. When all else fails sometimes it’s good to pull out the “Shock and Awe”.

And there is one major Don’t:

Don’t Assume:

The biggest communication mistakes all stem from the root of assumptions. Thinking someone knows where you are coming from the get-go is a no-go. You have to tell them. Inform them of your objective and justify it with logic and data.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Yeah, I said YAY! For all our whining about the taxman according to the IRS Seventy-seven percent of taxpayers received refunds in 2011 and the average refund was about $3,1001.

It also isn’t news that the top 1% don’t seem to pay as much tax as the lower percentiles do. The Buffett Rule made the rounds of the Senate in an attempt to change that, but got stuck in a Republican filibuster. Republicans are crying this is a political ploy. This won’t be much of a defense if the voters reflect the  Gallup survey released Friday that found six in 10 Americans favor passing the Buffett Rule bill, with 74 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents favoring the policy, while 54 percent of Republicans oppose it.

While the top 1% has their tax ways and means, it can only profit the rest of us to study their system and see if it is adaptable to other income levels. Jesse Drucker of Bloomberg Businessweek published an article that lists some tax tricks of the ultra rich. It is best when reading the following descriptions you spin in your chair counterclockwise, as the reading of it alone will make you dizzy, the counter spin can only help to stabilize you.

The ‘No Sale’ Sale

Cashing in on stocks without triggering capital-gains taxes

1. The executive borrows about $200 million from an investment bank, with the shares as collateral. Now he has cash.

2. To freeze the value of the collateral shares, he buys and sells “puts” and “calls.” These are options granting him the right to buy and sell them later at a fixed price, insuring against a crash.

3. He eventually can return the cash, or he can keep it. If he keeps it, he has to hand over the shares. The tax bill comes years after the initial borrowing. His money has been working for him all the while.

The IRS has caught on to this ploy, and has challenged it to eventual victory but it took about ten years.  And this strategy is still alive and well.

The Skyscraper Shuffle

Partnerships that let property owners liquidate without liability

Two people are 50-50 owners, through a partnership, of an office tower worth $100 million. One of the owners, let’s call him McDuck, wants to cash out, which would mean a $50 million gain and $7.5 million in capital-gains taxes.

1. McDuck needs to turn his ownership of the property into a loan. So the partnership borrows $50 million and puts it into a new subsidiary partnership, which contributes the cash to yet another new partnership.

2. The newest partnership lends that $50 million to a finance company for three years in exchange for a three-year note. (The finance company takes the money and invests it or lends it out at a higher rate.)

3. The original partnership distributes its interest in the lower-tier subsidiary to McDuck. Now, McDuck owns a loan note worth $50 million instead of the property, effectively liquidating his 50 percent interest.

4. Three years later the note is repaid. McDuck now owns 100 percent of a partnership sitting on a $50 million pile of cash—the amount McDuck would have received from selling his stake in the real estate—without triggering any capital-gains tax.

5. While this cash remains in the partnership, it can be invested or borrowed against. When McDuck dies, it can be passed along to heirs and liquidated or sold tax-free. The deferred tax liability disappears upon McDuck’s death under a provision that eliminates such taxable gains for heirs.

The Estate Tax Eliminator

How to leave future stock earnings to the kids and escape the estate tax

A wealthy parent with millions invested in the stock market wants to leave future earnings to his kids and avoid the estate tax on those earnings.

1. The parent sets up a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, or GRAT, listing the kids as beneficiaries.

2. The parent contributes, say, $100 million to the GRAT. Under the terms of the GRAT, the amount contributed to the trust, plus interest, must be fully returned to the parent over a predetermined period.

3. Whatever return the money earns in excess of the interest rate—the IRS currently requires 3 percent—remains in the trust and gets passed on to the heirs free of estate and gift taxes forever.

The Option Option

Stock options allow executives to calibrate the taxes on their compensation in a big way

An executive is negotiating his employment contract for the coming five years. The company might offer millions in shares. But who wants to pay taxes on millions in shares?

Better to take options. The executive owns the right to buy the shares at a time of his choosing; he’s been compensated, but he hasn’t paid any taxes. Gains from nonqualified stock options, the most common form, aren’t taxed until the holder exercises them. That means the executive controls when and if the tax bill comes. It isn’t just icing, either. Often, it’s the cake.

If you want the six other spins go to the article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-17/how-to-pay-no-taxes-10-strategies-used-by-the-rich#p4

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

An early lesson we all learn is that you can’t judge a book by its cover. This is a wise saying, but there is another fact about the cover of books… the more intriguing and attractive the cover design, the more popular and profitable the book will be. The latter doesn’t challenge the validity of the former as these two elements live in two different worlds. Not judging a book by its cover is deep rooted truth in the world of philosophy, psychology, and basic human relations. The land of economics is where the ability of a book’s cover to persuade you purchase it is highly prized.

The details and design that Steve Jobs made a priority at Apple is by most accounts what turned the company around and has kept its success on the rise and still in the news. Hours ago the presses lit up with the question, “What is it exactly that acclaimed French designer Phillippe Starck is working on at Apple?” While being interviewed on the radio by France Info, Mr. Starck revealed that within eight months a “revolutionary” new product for Apple will be released. This news is setting off rabid hopeful speculation that an Apple TV Set is on the horizon. This guess is paired with supposition more expected, particularly that of the possibility of a new iPhone sporting a completely redesigned exterior for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The fact that Apple consumers are willing to stay in a state of giddy anticipation for eight months, shows that the legacy of Steve Jobs lives on. He was right – design and detail are worth the wait and the higher price.

Ford Motor Company is doing some bar raising of form and function of their own. In early April they rolled out the first of the new Lincoln models. The 2013 Lincoln MKZ comes standard with MyLincoln Touch, a touch-screen entertainment and navigation system and will include such options as: a panoramic glass roof option, a hybrid version that can get 41 miles per gallon in the city, and a lane monitoring system. In an effort to revive a luxury brand whose sales peaked two decades ago seven new or revamped Lincoln models will be rolled out by 2015. Ford is anticipating that fresh designs and a tailored mode of service will increase sales. “We realize we have a long journey ahead of us, but I think we have set a good foundation for it from the product and also what we’re trying to do with the consumer experience,” said Mark Fields, head of Ford operations in North and South America. To encourage more car shoppers to test drive a Lincoln, Ford is considering initiatives like “the Lincoln date night,” Ford’s head of global marketing, Jim Farley said. “To reward you for sampling the brand, we’d like to take you out to dinner, on Lincoln,” Farley said. This is geared to relieve the ‘friction’ conquest customers feel. A ‘conquest customer’ is a key target of Lincoln in order to accomplish the goal that over time half of its buyers will come from other luxury brands. Currently, Lincoln’s “conquest” rate is 37 percent.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

In TV Land Mad Men rules the wide world of advertising. This is of course a fictionalized reign, although, with its popularity Mad Men has influenced advertising in the real world. Some of the commercials, that bookend the show, are set in a Mad Men motif. The popularity of a show is a factor that determines which advertisers can vie for a spot in its timeslot and the price of ad time. This is where ratings come in. Pretty much since the beginning of Television Nielsen has been calculating the ratings of shows, and this is the baseline analysis that has set the market for advertisers. In Nielsen’s name is synonymous with TV, but this ratings system got its start in radio in the 1930’s, then providing statistics as to the markets of radio shows and now it still surveys radio. Nielsen entered the overall online market analysis realm when last summer it unveiled its Campaign Ratings, a product that brought TV-style ratings to online; it also has a focused eye on metrics for mobile devices. A few weeks ago, Nielsen had the ad world abuzz with a new service called Cross-Platform which is geared to detect ad overlap. By finding out if ads are reaching the same people in different outlets advertisers can retarget the field to reach a broader range of potential customers. Steve Hasker, the president for media products and advertiser solutions at Nielsen, states that in the future Nielsen will extend the cross-platform system to include smartphone ad views and international ad views.

To make Cross-Platform happen, the Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings product (which provides reach, frequency and GRP measures for Internet advertising) is configured with data from existing television audience measurement capabilities, to provide clients with total and overlapped reach and frequency of their marketing campaigns.

In basic terms this is how Cross-Platform will be utilized:

a) Advertisers identify all of the TV ads (encoded with a Nielsen Audio Watermark) and online ads (tagged with a Nielsen tag) from a cross-platform ad campaign.

b) Nielsen measures campaign reach and frequency for each media independently – Nielsen People Meter panel for TV; Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings for digital

c) Nielsen uses the industry-standard Nielsen People Meter panel and Cross-Platform Homes panel to adjust individual media reach measurements by a duplication factor

d) Nielsen combines and calibrates the measurements to generate the final combined and overlapped measurement for the campaign.

The effort will first be made available to GroupM clients. Nielsen and GroupM will also work together to develop innovative new measurement tools that extend beyond TV and online to other platforms. Mindshare, one of Group M’s media agencies, created a TV-ratings equivalent for online video buys with video ad network Yume, in 2009.

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.

Creative thinking is not the exclusive realm of the artistically minded. You have to be creative in this day and age if you have a mind to start a business and get your idea out there. More and more new businesses are stepping out on a stage that previously has been used as a springboard for creative projects – Kickstarter. What is Kickstarter? Kickstarter answers that question with, “The world’s largest funding platform for creative projects.” Kickstarter was founded in 2008 by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler. The percentage for success in funding projects has been on the increase: 43% in 2010, 46% in 2011. At the recent SXSW Film Festival 33 entries were Kickstarter-funded films and 5 took home awards.

Now that you know what the “What” is here is the “How”: A creator will post their project, usually with an explanatory and entertaining video. A goal amount is set and then regular folks drop by see if this is something they’d like to see happen. If so they pledge some money. Depending on how much they give they will get some form of tribute: a copy of the movie on DVD, a CD of the music, a sketch of the prototype, dinner with the creator, etc. If the project doesn’t make the goal amount, the money pledged is not taken.

Kickstarter projects have had pretty modest funding expectations up until the game recently changed with a video game project. Double Fine Adventure is an adventure video game that due to its “thinky, word-driven leanings” its makers were doubtful it could play against high-action content contenders in the video game market. The creators gave Kickstarter a go, and they made a detailed and funny and pitch that promised to open the window to the process of how the game got made. They aimed for the $400,000 mark and within 8 hours hit it and went on to raise nearly $3.4 million.

That Kickstarter is shining more and more like an internet star comes as no surprise to those in the online know. Jeff Howe, a professor of multimedia journalism at Northeastern University observed, “They’ve been steadily increasing and doubling everything from traffic to number of projects pledged to the actual dollar amounts given to the number of pledges themselves. So, Kickstarter has not changed the secret sauce, they’ve always had a great secret sauce, it’s just that more and more people are coming into contact with it.” Harvard Business Administration Professor William Sahlman chimes in, “People love the association; they love the feedback loop that’s built into Kickstarter. They love the memento they might get from having providing some sort of funding. So, I think it’s social, I think it’s engagement.”

Some small businesses and entrepreneurs see it as a way to raise money to supplement and support their business in new ways. Take the case of the cases and cases of records that indie record label Polyvinyl Record needed to get rid of.  Co-president of the company, Matt Lunsford, decided to try to clear the surplus inventory through Kickstarter. The company structured its reward packages for donors to resemble a clearance sale — for a $5 payment, patrons received a concert DVD; a payment of $15 or more would get five albums and a concert DVD. Mr. Lunsford said the company originally set a goal of raising $1,000. A few weeks after the project was created on Kickstarter, word about Polyvinyl’s efforts went a bit viral due to Twitter and a few choice music blogs. The company ultimately sold $15,000 of inventory. “We doubled or tripled what we would normally ship out of our office in the same amount of time,” said Mr. Lunsford.

However there are lessons to be learned from those that don’t see success on Kickstarter. Fran Bittakis, posted a project on Kickstarter to raise the capital she needed to start selling Thai food from a converted school bus, but she did not reach her goal of $2,500 in the allotted time frame. The pledges she received totaled $130. She realizes she might have fared better if she had included a blog documenting her progress as some of the more successful projects did. “My project is a bit different — I can’t send people food,” she said. “I could make a video, have a menu tasting and film it,” she said. “I need it to be more interactive.”

Before rushing into the world of crowdfunding, or micro-finance, as Kickstarter has alternately been called, there are a few facts to consider.

1. You have to get past the bouncer.

Kickstarter is open to everyone, but each project must be approved by the site. The more inventive the pitch for projects the more likely they are to gain entrance. A business venture with adequate existing funds will send you to the back of the line.

2. Set your goal and limits.

When a project is accepted, the target amount and time limit is set by the creator. If that amount is not reached in the time period, you do not pass go and you do not collect anything and the donors keep the amount they pledged. If the amount is reached or exceeded that’s money in the bank.

3. Build your social network infrastructure.

A good start toward achieving success is to field your established online support. Kickstarter takes facebook friends, twitter followers, or any other web presence into account. One of the founders, Perry Chen says projects succeed more often when they are a creative idea backed by strong network with existing gravitas.

Then there is the matter of location, location, location.  It is particularly a good sign if you land on the Kickstarter.com homepage or suggested projects pages. How does this happen? Luck might be an element, but more likely it is that you have an intriguing and well-executed project introduction.

Chicago textile designer Jane Palmer and Brooklyn musician April Smith both had success on Kickstarter. Jane Palmer chose Kickstarter to help launch Noon Design Studio, her natural-dye business. She was featured on the front-page of the site for almost the entire duration of her project. Her explanation, “I would say that the video quality is probably one of the most important things. I felt so lucky, because there are lots of other projects buried. But it was really visible, and it was project-of-the-day once. But in truth, my video was really good, with professional lighting and music composed just for it. So that, I think, made the difference.” Palmer says her pledges were split fairly evenly between people she knew and those who just stumbled upon her project, which demonstrates the power of enlisting help from friends, fans, and anyone else who has an established connection online. April Smith not only got funding but increased her fan base, she advises “Offer as much as you can in return for their investment and keep them a part of it. When people start a project on Kickstarter, they don’t realize that it’s really fun and an awesome way to connect with your fans.”

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Madison Who’s Who publishes articles and information that will be of interest to the members of the Madison Who’s Who Directory, which consists of a vast and varied list of business professionals and academics.