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I loved this image to show a plan on how to continuously improve yourself and your company.

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This video by Harvard Business Review provides a visual on how to manage yourself to ensure your productivity is high.

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Many CEOs I've encountered say, "Here are the top five priorities for the company. Who would be the best at carrying out each one?" Then they propose themselves for all five areas. That might be the right answer, but it's the wrong question, because it's based on a self-centered concept of comparative advantage. It focuses on what an executive does best rather than on what the organization most needs from him or her.

The correct question is, "Which functions can only you as the CEO perform?" You may be the only executive who can meet with a top regulator or persuade a key client to stay. You may also be essential to recruiting senior staff. But a CEO has to hold back from taking on other responsibilities even if he or she excels at delivering on them. When CEO Rob Manning recruited me to join MFS as chairman, in 2004, we explicitly divided the high-priority functions. Although I had run the investment management group at Fidelity, Rob is a talented investment guy and a natural leader who wanted to take charge of that group at MFS. We agreed that I wouldn't even show up on the investment floor.

The same applies to midlevel executives. You may be outstanding in finance and solid in marketing, but if your company is stacked with good finance people and very weak on marketing, your highest and best use is probably in the latter. So don't focus just on what you do best. You're more likely to succeed if you look around and gauge how you can be most useful.

Many executives also spend too much time on operational details, such as the best flight to take or the seating plan at a corporate dinner. Such tasks should be delegated, if possible, to an executive assistant. Of course, the boss must be able to rely on this person to get the tasks done correctly, quickly, and politely. Once confidence is established, he or she should go to great lengths to support and retain such an assistant, who is crucial to being productive.

Listen to an interview with Bob Pozen.
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Principle 2: It's Not the Time You Spend but the Results You Produce

Most executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs put a huge amount of time into their jobs. In a crisis it may be necessary to burn the midnight oil, but the ambitious have a tendency to stay late every night. This tendency arises from the implicit assumption that more hours equal more value added. That is too simplistic. Your success should be measured by the results you produce, not the number of hours you log.

When I joined a law firm in Washington, DC, I soon realized that charging clients for the number of hours worked made no sense. That billing method encouraged lawyers to work lots of hours rather than to get good results quickly. After a few years, my clients knew that I was efficient, so I ran an experiment. I sent them a letter explaining that in the future I would bill them for double the time I actually spent on their work-unless they objected. Not one client did.

Focusing on results rather than hours has the added benefit of allowing a better balance between family and work. When I had young children, I came home most weekdays at 7:00 to have dinner and spend some quality time with them. Later in the evening, if necessary, I would work in my home office. On the weekends my children usually slept late, so I would work from 7:00 to 11:00 in the morning and have most of the day left to be with my family.

Of course, work and home lives sometimes conflict, but that can often be managed. For example, I was working at the Securities and Exchange Commission when mortgage-backed securities started to become big, in the 1980s. There was an intragovernmental task force on the subject with staff from the SEC, the Treasury, and the Fed. I was asked to head part of the task force, which was supposed to meet from 6:30 to 8:30 several nights each week in order to avoid interference with the agencies' normal work. I said, "Well, I'm sorry, I won't be able to do it." They asked why. I said, "Because I go home and have dinner with my kids." So they scheduled the meeting for 5:00 to 7:00-which, of course, didn't interfere with the day's work.

Principle 3: Think First, Read or Write Second

Many people feel overwhelmed by the huge volume of reading and writing they have to do for their business. They don't realize that the key to faster and more effective reading and writing is more-rigorous thinking in advance.

I'm not talking about reading novels for pleasure. I'm talking about the mound of business material that piles up on your desk and clogs your computer. To be a speed reader, you have to be very clear in your own mind about why you are reading. For example, in reading the Financial Times after the Wall Street Journal, I am looking for international issues not covered by the Journal.

Here's an exercise I used with my children and nephews. When I saw them doing dense reading in a history or science textbook, I would ask, "When you get to the exam in a month or two, what do you want to remember from this chapter?" Then I'd say, "After reading this chapter, please write no more than the one or two paragraphs you want to remember for the exam. Then go back and see how you could read more efficiently to obtain that paragraph or two."

With e-mails, the first thing to do is to decide which ones need to be read. Second, if any of them are important, I try to answer them right away. If I can't, or they have lengthy attachments, I have them printed out. The next morning I have hard copies of them on my desk and know what I need to respond to.

When it comes to writing something longer than an e-mail, the key is to first figure out your argument. If I don't fully understand my line of argument, I cannot write even a paragraph. To do this, compose an outline before writing. For an article or a memorandum, that means just four or five key points with a few subpoints under each. I've seen many executives realize what they wanted to say only after they had written a lengthy draft. That is unfortunate. You should know where you will end up before you start.

Try this: After composing an outline, write the concluding paragraph. That will tell you whether you really know where your article or memo is going.

Principle 4: Prepare Your Plan, but Be Ready to Change It

Most executives must give talks to various groups. They often prepare by writing out the full text of their remarks. But that makes them feel compelled to deliver the whole speech even if the audience is not receptive. Speaking is very different from writing. You need a much clearer line of argument, and you have to connect with your listeners at a given time. They may be bored or excited-you won't know in advance. To prepare for a speaking engagement, you should jot down on one page a list of your four or five key points and a concluding paragraph. Then try to arrive early enough to hear the prior speaker or to chat with people during a break. That will allow you to grasp the mood of the audience and tailor your four or five points to its state of mind.

I once spoke after James Carville, the Democratic political consultant. He is a folksy raconteur with a wicked set of jokes about his childhood in Louisiana. The crowd was in a boisterous mood after Carville's speech, so I introduced myself as "Billy Bob" Pozen and the audience exploded with applause and laughter.

The same approach can be applied routinely at work. I'm a big advocate of preparing in the evening for the following day. In reviewing each item on the schedule, I'll write down a few words about what I want to accomplish. I'll also compose a list of tasks in order of priority. At the end of the day I'll review what I've gotten done and decide what I need to do in the future. However, I often have to revise my schedule as events progress. Sometimes a meeting is canceled or added, or I'm asked to comment on a news show. So I just revise my to-do list and reset my priorities.

Many top executives fill every hour of their workday calendars with meetings or phone calls. That leaves little room for dealing with unanticipated developments. I try to keep at least one hour open each day so that I can respond quickly to new events or issues.

Principle 5: Let Others Own Their Space

It is important to be flexible not only in your own plans but also when listening to your employees. Many executives begin meetings in a directive manner: "This is my view about where this project should head. And here are the key steps I believe we need to take." That gives a meeting focus, but it may also discourage participants from voicing concerns.

Exercise

With exercise, the key is actually doing it. Many successful people have a daily routine that involves running, biking, swimming, or fitness machines. I am bored by such activities, so I play doubles tennis two or three times a week.

It's easy to skip your workouts when traveling. The facilities may not be good, or your schedule may be too tight. But those are the days when you need exercise the most.

Healthful Eating

Similarly, it's easy to break healthful eating habits when you're on the road. I know a private equity executive who puts on 10 or 15 pounds every time his firm raises a new fund. Here are three tips for avoiding this fate: Follow your normal breakfast menu even at breakfast meetings. Avoid all desserts at lunch or dinner events. And try to limit alcohol, which is quite caloric, to one glass of wine.

Sleep

Finally, let me give a sermon on the importance of sleep. Some executives say they can get along on four or five hours a night, but I doubt they are as mentally sharp as they could be. Seven or eight hours a night, plus a brief nap during the day, will make your waking hours far more productive.

Again, it can be challenging to stick to this routine when on the road. Evening flights from the East Coast of the United States to Europe last only six or seven hours, so I eat before getting on the plane and go right to sleep as soon as I'm in my seat. The key to sleeping on planes is a blindfold and earplugs, which create the sense of being in a cocoon, cut off from the rest of the world. This feeling is easier to create in a window seat than in an aisle seat, where it's hard to avoid the commotion of the plane's staff.

I take a different approach-the rebuttable hypothesis, which is designed to encourage debate. I might say, "Here is the area where we really need to do something. It is a difficult area, and there are several ways to address the problems. Now, this is my tentative view of the path we should take, but I could be wrong. I want you to feel free to disagree and offer alternatives." Then I have to be willing to discard or modify my hypothesis if someone comes up with a better approach.

At the end of a meeting I will always ask, "What are the to-dos, who's going to take care of them, and when will they be delivered?" I want the participants to agree on the deliverables and to set their own timetable. Then they will have an ownership interest in the follow-up, rather than just going along with my directions. And they often select a more aggressive timetable than I would have had the nerve to suggest.

More broadly, I've become messianic about the general principle that people should own their own space. Under this principle, every employee in a large company is viewed as the owner of a small business. The boss's role is to provide reports with resources, give them guidance, and help them do battle with other people in the broader organization.

You can reinforce the principle of ownership in many ways. For instance, instead of assigning detailed tasks, you can present general priorities for the upcoming year and let your reports formulate specific ways to implement those priorities along with the metrics for measuring success.

When you apply this principle, you must be prepared to tolerate mistakes. If employees own their unit, they must be given leeway to try out new strategies. That invariably means that they will sometimes drive to a dead end or incorrectly assess a market's potential. If you fire them for making such mistakes of judgment, you will undermine the culture of ownership. Of course, your tolerance for mistakes should not be unlimited. You should not ignore illegal or unethical actions. Nor should you tolerate repetition of similar mistakes by the same people. One of my favorite sayings is, "Let's make a new mistake."

Principle 6: Keep Things Short and Simple

On a daily basis, I try to keep the material aspects of life as simple as possible in order to maximize productivity. I get up every morning around 7:00 and have shaved, showered, and dressed by 7:15. Then I read two newspapers while having breakfast and leave home around 7:30. The night before, I set out what I'm going to wear. I have five winter outfits and five summer outfits. And I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning-a banana and a bowl of cold cereal. I'm very boring in the morning.

For lunch I have a chicken salad sandwich and a diet soda, unless I'm attending an outside event. I try to take a nap every day after lunch-I just close the door, put up my feet, and I'm out like a light for almost exactly 30 minutes. I feel refreshed and energized for the rest of the day. When I'm on the road, I usually have meetings at breakfast and lunch, but I still try to sneak in my afternoon nap.

I also have a travel routine. I take the same carry-on bag with a prepacked plastic bag of toiletries. That bag fits on overhead racks, but it's big enough to carry clothes for four or even five nights away. I carry a canvas bag instead of a briefcase, because it's lighter and holds more. In that bag I keep my passport, a set of pens, a blindfold, and earplugs. Plus I have a little flashlight, so if I'm in a taxi and the light is bad, I can still keep working.

The keep-it-simple rule applies equally well to other aspects of work life, such as meetings. Almost any meeting can be completed in an hour or at most an hour and a half. After 90 minutes, people turn off-they get tired and stop paying attention.

The presenter at a meeting should circulate materials in advance to all participants. These should always include a one-page executive summary, and the explicit norm should be that everyone reads at least the summary before attending the meeting.

In a productive meeting, the presenter takes five or 10 minutes to set the stage and tee up the key questions. That leaves the rest of the time for discussing issues and formulating an action plan. But we have all attended unproductive meetings. We sit quietly and politely as the presenter reads every word of 20 or 30 PowerPoints-many of which were included in the advance materials for the meeting. Instead, after the first 15 minutes of slides, we should collectively rise up and exclaim, "We're as mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore!" Wasted time and effort are the ultimate productivity killers. They should not be tolerated.

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Many CEOs I've encountered say, "Here are the top five priorities for the company. Who would be the best at carrying out each one?" Then they propose themselves for all five areas. That might be the right answer, but it's the wrong question, because it's based on a self-centered concept of comparative advantage.

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This provides more information on the practical challenge in chapter 17 about how twitter feeds businesses needs.

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As a social media marketer, I utilize (and happen to love) the tools and programs that allow me to schedule posts and tweets in advance. The ease of being able to compose 10 updates within a short...

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This image shows six sources of power which I thought was interesting after reading chapter 17, how it applies in so many aspects.

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Theory X and Y have very large differences and this simplifies it for me!

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McClelland's Acquired Needs Theory is very easy to follow with this great explanation!

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Acquired Needs Theory

David McClelland proposed that one's needs are acquired over time as a result of their experiences - a notion that soon turned into what is now known as the acquired needs theory. As McClelland studied the needs of various individuals, he was able to classify them as either being achievement-, power- or affiliation- based. That is, every person holds an aspiration for achievement, power or affiliation. Interestingly, each person has a tendency to be motivated by one of these needs more so than by the other two. Consequently, a person's behavior and performance at work are strongly influenced by the most meaningful of the three needs.

Need for Achievement

The need for achievement is greatest for those individuals who have a strong desire to excel. Achievers seek neither power nor approval; rather, their only focus is on success. Achievers prefer work that has a moderate chance for success (about 50/50) and tend to avoid situations that are low-risk and those that are high-risk. Low-risk situations are avoided because of the presumed ease of accomplishment related to low-risk activities and the belief that things which come easy are not a true measure of success. High-risk situations are avoided by achievers because of the fear that success might be more related to luck than actual effort. Achievers need to be able to see the correlation between the level of effort they exert and the success that results.

The achiever prefers to work alone or with other achievers. Managers of achievers should work to provide them with challenging projects filled with attainable goals. For example, because Maria has a high need for achievement, her manager Sam might ask her to work independently on projects that allow for her to use her knowledge and skills in a way that challenges her, but at the same time provide her with a clear path for how she can successfully accomplish her task. Additionally, achievers appreciate managers who provide frequent recognition of how well they are doing so that they can monitor their progress, making feedback extremely important to achievers.

Need for Power

Those with a high need for power seek agreement and compliance; approval and recognition are not of their concern. Managers of power seekers should provide them with an opportunity to manage others. However, they must pay special attention to the type of power seeker they are. Power seekers who are after have a strong desire to control others or cause them to behave in a way that is consistent with the power seeker's wishes. For example, Shawn has a high need for personal power and often manipulates his employees to do his work for him. He later takes credit for it.

On the other hand, those power seekers who need institutional or social power work to use their power to help mobilize efforts aimed at organizational goals. For example, Marco has a high need for institutional power and is regarded as a person who is capable of bringing necessary changes to the organization due to his charisma and ability to assemble and motivate employees to work towards some organizational goal in a matter of minutes. As you might have guessed, because Marco is a manager with a high need of institutional power, he is far more effective as a manager than Shawn, who has a high need for personal power.

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acquired needs theory: need for achievement

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power & affiliation - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Acquired Needs Theory: Need for Achievement, Power & Affiliation - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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David McClelland proposed that one's needs are acquired over time as a result of their experiences - a notion that soon turned into what is now known as the acquired needs theory. As McClelland studied the needs of various individuals, he was able to classify them as either being achievement-, power- or affiliation- based.

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This is another visual aid to show the Life Cycle Theory of Leadership.

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This video is a cute way to show the differences of trait and behavioral theories in leadership.

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Different Leadership Theories

One might think that there is a specific ideology or theory behind what it takes to be a leader. The truth is there are several different theories that can be applied to leadership, thus there really are no right or wrong theories, simply different perspectives. This is much like how someone might look at a painting or listen to music and have one opinion of it, but another person might view it differently. While there are many different theories of leadership, two of the most common are trait theory and behavior theory.

Trait theory of leadership believes that leaders have certain traits that make them a good leader. On the other hand, the behavioral theory of leadership believes that leaders behave in one of several different ways.

Trait Theory

Many people believe that leaders are born, not made. They believe that somehow they have some innate qualities that make them a good leader. You may even agree with this perspective, as it's not incorrect. In many ways, these traits have to be a part of the leader because many believe they are critical to becoming a good, or even great, leader. These traits cover areas such as communication, decision making, integrity or even empathy.

Therefore, as you can see, if you have these traits in you and you develop them as you mature, you can potentially mature into a good leader (based on the trait theory of leadership). If they are already in you and they have matured, then you can use them as you lead your team.

Many of these traits are facets of an individual that we look for when we define a leader. It is open to interpretation, but many of us want a leader that is a good communicator or one that makes good decisions. Hence, the trait theory of leadership believes there are specific traits that a leader must have to be a leader.

Having these traits does not mean you are or will be an effective leader - just that the trait theory of leadership believes you have to have these traits in order to even be a leader.

Behavioral Theory

It is easy to be confused when we talk about behavioral theory of leadership, as some people may think it is how a leader behaves. To some extent, that's true, but there are specific areas or categories of behavior that are focused on when discussing the behavioral theory of leadership. Those areas are:

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trait theories vs. behavioral theories of leadership - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Trait Theories vs. Behavioral Theories of Leadership - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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One might think that there is a specific ideology or theory behind what it takes to be a leader. The truth is there are several different theories that can be applied to leadership, thus there really are no right or wrong theories, simply different perspectives.

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Groupthink is something that managers need to avoid. This image shows exactly why. If everyone is thinking the same way then no one is actually thinking.

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This video is great tool to learn more about informal organizations and how that effects the communication in the organization.

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Where Formal Meets Informal Structure in Organizations

We form relationships with others for a variety of reasons. In the workplace, the relationships that we form are a part of the informal organizational structure, or the naturally forming social network of employees. While the formal organizational structure can be seen in the organizational chart or hierarchy, the informal organization is not explicitly stated. The formal organizational structure provides the much-needed overarching framework, but it is the informal structure that fills in the gaps with connections and relationships that illustrate how employees network with one another to get work done.

Essentially, in the formal organization, the emphasis is on organizational positions and formal power, whereas in the informal organization, the focus is on the employees, their relationships, and the informal power that is inherent within those relationships. This lesson will discuss the common elements of the informal organization, including characteristics, informal groups, and the grapevine.

Informal Organizations

Again, an informal organization is the social structure that connects employees and directs how they work with one another in practice. The idea of the informal organization was first introduced by Chester Barnard, who was a pioneer of management theory and organizational studies. Barnard compared the informal organization to a clique, or an exclusive group of people that naturally forms over time.

Much like a clique, these informal groups are characterized by personal relationships that unite them rather than official ones. The informal structure of an organization is made up of a dynamic and fluid set of personal relationships, communities of shared interest, and social networks that arise as employees associate with one another in a workplace setting. How employees think, behave, and interact with one another in an informal organization is based on those personal relationships.

Because the informal structure of an organization is based on informal groups of friendships, cliques, and social circles, there really is a strong emotional motivation to create strong relationships between organizational members. People make these connections freely and sometimes spontaneously in a formal setting so that they can share their likes, dislikes, commonalities, feelings, and emotions with one another.

Just think about how monotonous your job would be if you weren't able to have relationships with your coworkers; we spend at least 8 hours of our day with these individuals, which is more than many of us spend with our friends and our family. Take those relationships out of your workday and suddenly those 8 hours just got a lot longer.

Additionally, the informal structure creates unique networking opportunities for employees at any level. Individuals, regardless of formal rank, can benefit greatly from their participation in informal groups. Frontline and mid-level workers can network to become more efficient and knowledgeable about how to harness the informal structure to reach organizational goals. Top-level managers can benefit from finding ways to integrate the informal structure into the formal structure to increase knowledge-sharing and decision-making processes.

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characteristics of informal organizations: the grapevine & informal groups - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Characteristics of Informal Organizations: The Grapevine & Informal Groups - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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We form relationships with others for a variety of reasons. In the workplace, the relationships that we form are a part of the informal organizational structure, or the naturally forming social network of employees. While the formal organizational structure can be seen in the organizational chart or hierarchy, the informal organization is not explicitly stated.

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This image shows a break down of what exactly emotional intelligence is.

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Performance Appraisal was a very new term to me. This article provides a simple to follow list of the different advantages and disadvantages of performance appraisals.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Performance Appraisals

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Anyone who has received or been given a performance appraisal could argue why they perceive it to be ineffective and a complete waste of time.

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This video simply explains the division of labor and how it assists management.

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Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/ . Make your own animated videos and animated presentations for free. PowToon is a free tool that allows you to develop cool animated clips and animated presentations for your website, office meeting, sales pitch, nonprofit fundraiser, product launch, video resume, or anything else you could use an animated explainer video.

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This image breaks down the different types of departmentalization. This is a simple graph to show how they all come together to make a successful team while still maintaining individual responsibility.

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This video explains the difference between a manager and a leader. This shows the different responsibilities there are being in a management position.

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Are All Managers ?

Ask yourself this question: are all managers leaders? Some of you will quickly answer 'yes' assuming the two are synonymous with one another. Others will think back to some of their managers and evaluate them as someone who they either do or do not consider a leader. Many of you might immediately respond 'no' to this question because you have heard of the management versus leadership debate in the past and know very well that the two are, in fact, quite different. Regardless of your initial response to this question, this lesson will present arguments that place a manager and a leader into two separate categories, each with their own defining characteristics. This is not to say that there are not similarities between managers and leaders; rather, the essence of this lesson is to show that not all managers are in fact leaders.

What Is a Manager?

A manager is a person in an organization who is responsible for carrying out the four functions of management, including planning, organizing, leading and controlling. You will notice that one of the functions is leadership, so you might ask yourself if it would be safe to assume that all managers are leaders. Theoretically, yes - all managers would be leaders if (and this is a big 'if') they effectively carry out their leadership responsibilities to communicate, motivate, inspire and encourage employees towards a higher level of productivity. However, not all managers are leaders simply because not all managers can do all of those items just listed. An employee will follow the directions of a manager for how to perform a job because they have to, but an employee will voluntarily follow the directions of a leader because they believe in who they are as a person, what they stand for and for the manner in which they are inspired by their leader. A manager becomes a manager by virtue of their position, and subordinates will follow the manager because of his or her job description and title.

Because managers are responsible for carrying out the four functions of management, their primary concern is to accomplish organizational goals. Managers get paid to get things done in organizations. As such, the manager is accountable for themselves as well as the behavior and performance of his or her employees. A manager has the authority and power to hire, promote, discipline and fire employees based on those behaviors and performance. Management is about efficiency and getting results though systems, processes, procedures, controls and structure.

What Is a Leader?

Perhaps the greatest separation between management and leadership is that leaders do not have to hold a management position. That is, a person can become a leader without a formal title. Any individual can become a leader because the basis of leadership is on the personal qualities of the leader. People are willing to follow the leader because of who he or she is and what the leader stands for, not because they have to due to the authority bestowed onto him or her by the organization. The leader will show passion and personal investment in the success of his or her followers reaching their goals, which may be different from organizational goals.

A leader has no formal, tangible power over their followers. Power is awarded to the leader on a temporary basis and is contingent upon the leader's ability to continue to motivate and inspire followership. Notice the shift in terminology here: managers have subordinates, while leaders have followers. Subordinates do not have a choice but to listen to the demands and wishes of their managers, but following is (and always will be) a voluntary choice for those who follow a leader. Those who no longer wish to follow the leader will simply stop. That is, if an employee initially sees his or her manager as a leader and eventually ceases to be inspired by that manager, the employee will still obey the manager, but only because the employee is required to do so, not because he or she wants to.

Leadership is about effectiveness through trust, inspiration and people. Leaders often challenge the status quo that managers spend much of their time upholding to bring innovation to organizations. Leadership is visionary, change-savvy, creative, agile and adaptive. Managers are concerned with the bottom line, while leaders spend time looking at the horizon.

The Manager versus the Leader

To better help you understand the differences between a manager and a leader, we can look to Erin Brockovich. Erin was a true leader in every sense of the word, and it was because of her leadership qualities that her name became well-known in 2000 when Hollywood chose Julia Roberts to play her role in the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich. For those of you who did not see the movie or who have never heard of Erin Brockovich, here is some background information.

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management vs. leadership: the difference between a manager & leader - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Management vs. Leadership: The Difference Between a Manager & Leader - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Ask yourself this question: are all managers leaders? Some of you will quickly answer 'yes' assuming the two are synonymous with one another. Others will think back to some of their managers and evaluate them as someone who they either do or do not consider a leader.

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This article discusses how Tony Hsieh became the success story that he is with Zappos. This article breaks down how he built the customer focused company that he did.

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When Tony Hsieh was 24 he sold a business he had cofounded, LinkExchange, to Microsoft for $265 million. A short time later he became an investor in, and then the chief executive officer of, a small online shoe company with gross merchandise sales of $1.6 million: Zappos.com. Thanks in large part to its unique focus on the customer, Zappos grew dramatically. In fact, within a decade it had over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales, and it was acquired by Amazon. These days Zappos is widely cited as one of the world's most admired companies. I recently spoke with Tony about his remarkable focus on customer service and culture, and his success.

What lies behind Zappos' dramatic growth?

Zappos stands for one thing, the absolute best customer service. We started out selling just shoes online, but today we sell handbags and apparel and even housewares and pots and pans, and hopefully 10 years from now people won't even realize we started out selling shoes. They will just think about Zappos as a place to get the best customer service.

How do you accomplish that with an online store?

We get 95% of our orders through our website, Zappos.com. With most websites, it's hard to find how to contact the customer service people. We take the opposite approach. We actually want to talk to our customers. Our 1-800 number is staffed 24-7, and it's displayed on the top-left corner of every single page of our website. We have found that on average every customer contacts us at one point, so we place a lot of value on that interaction. When people call our call center, our reps don't have scripts, and they don't try to up-sell. They are just judged on whether they go above and beyond for the customer and really deliver a kind of personal service and emotional connection with our customers. For example, if we don't have what the customer wants, we'll actually recommend at least three competitor websites and direct the customer to a competitor if they find the shoe. That's just about us being true to our vision about being known for customer service, even though it may seem counterintuitive in the short term.

Buying shoes online can be pretty scary for most people, because you're not sure if the shoes will fit or if they'll look good with the outfit you plan to wear them with. So we offer free shipping both ways. Also, our return policy is 365 days, and we run our call center 24-7. We run our warehouse 24-7, which is not the most efficient way to run a warehouse but it gets the shoes out to the customers as quickly as possible.

All those things are very expensive, but we think of them as basically our marketing dollars. We take most of the money that we could have spent on paid advertising and instead put it back into the customer experience. Then we let the customers be our marketing. Historically, our number-one growth driver has been from repeat customers and word of mouth.
As CEO, what's your primary focus?
Company culture. We focus on making sure we have a great service-focused culture. If you get the culture right, then a lot of really amazing things happen on their own.

Our hiring process is different from most companies'. We actually do two different sets of interviews. There is the first, which is the standard stuff for technical ability, experience and fit with the team. But then our human resources department does a separate set of interviews purely for culture fit, and you have to pass both in order to be hired. We've rejected many talented people who we know would have made an immediate impact on our top or bottom line. Because culture is our number one priority, we're willing to give up short-term profits or revenue growth to make sure we have the best culture. In fact, after orientation we offer people $2,000 not to work at Zappos. The ones who stay are right for our culture.

We have 10 core values, and when we hire people, we make sure they have similar values. For example, one of our values is to be humble. If someone comes in and is really egotistical, even if they are the greatest, most talented person technically and we know they could do a lot for our top or bottom line, we won't hire them, because they're not a culture fit.

Basically, I believe that at any company what the actual culture is doesn't really matter. What's important is that it's a strong culture and that it's consistent throughout the entire company.
What is the secret to success for an entrepreneur?
The first thing is to have a vision that's meaningful to both employees and customers. For Zappos it's about customer service. You need to be truly passionate about your business. The goal shouldn't be just to make money; I think you need to figure out something you would do even if you didn't make any money from it. You're going to have hard times growing your business, and if you're passionate about it, that's what's going to get you through those hard times.

People, employees or customers, can really sense your passion about something. Your number-one goal really shouldn't be money. It should be something you are passionate about, something that has meaning. Then the money will follow. I like to say, Chase the vision, not the money. That's why I wrote Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. It shares a lot of the lessons I've learned so everyone can make their workplace happier and, in turn, profitable.

What do you do when you hit a wall?

A lot of tough times, looking back, are blessings in disguise. If you don't have the funding, it forces you to figure out, on your own, creative solutions to keep the company going. When we started out, we spent a lot of money on paid advertising, trying to get our name out there. And then when we couldn't get funding, we realized that we couldn't afford to do that anymore, so we were forced to think of better ways to get customers to come back to us again and again, not through paid advertising. That was what led us to focus on giving the very best customer service.

Robert Reiss is host of The CEO Show, which is nationally syndicated by Business TalkRadio Network. This article was adapted from an interview that aired on The CEO Show. To hear podcasts of this and other CEO interviews, visit The CEO Show's .

See also "A Step Ahead," a profile of Tony Hsieh by Helen Coster.

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When Tony Hsieh was 24 he sold a business he had cofounded, LinkExchange, to Microsoft for $265 million. A short time later he became an investor in, and then the chief executive officer of, a small online shoe company with gross merchandise sales of $1.6 million: Zappos.com.

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This article discusses the benefits of setting organizational objectives and how they affect the business world.

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Boundless - Marriage Green Cards Made Easy

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Boundless is for people who want the expertise of an immigration lawyer, not the price tag. We make marriage-based immigration to the U.S. affordable and less stressful with innovative software. Immigrate with clarity and confidence for only $750!

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I included this image because it shows how brainstorming can provide a variety of good ideas that everyone can benefit from.

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This article discusses the differences between programmed decisions and non-programmed decisions and how to use them in different management situations.

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This video explains the concept of SWOT analysis and how to apply it to management and planning.

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This video introduces the concept of the SWOT analysis and looks at how it influences understanding of the strategic position of an organisation. It then moves on to consider how SWOT can be used to fulfill a TOWS matrix and inform the strategic direction of the organisation.

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This article describes some successful marketing strategies for successful global companies. I find it interesting how each company meets their audiences around the world.

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Thanks to the internet, global reach is no longer reserved for deep-pocketed brands, nor is it an incredible hassle for already over-burdened marketing managers.

In fact, a global presence is possible for any business with a creative strategy and an understanding of world markets.

What is good global marketing?

To give you an idea of what a great global marketing strategy looks like, we've compiled a list of brands that totally "get it."

From adapting their social strategies to translate across multiple languages to adjusting their menus to appeal to the cravings of a diverse group of people, these brands are taking positive steps towards creating a solid presence across the globe.

So if you're looking for inspiration on how to craft a successful international marketing strategy and expand your business' reach, check out these examples from 13 successful companies.

13 Companies We Admire for Brilliant International Marketing

1) Red Bull

Austrian company Red Bull does such a great job with global marketing that many Americans assume it's a local brand. How?

One of its most successful tactics is to host extreme sports events all over the world. From the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix to the Red Bull Air Race in the United Kingdom to the Red Bull Soapbox Race in Jordan, the brand's powerful event marketing strategy takes them here, there, and everywhere.

Aside from events, Red Bull's packaging also plays a part in its global appeal.

"Red Bull really looks like a product from a global economy. It doesn't look like a traditional American soft drink -- it's not in a 12-ounce can, it's not sold in a bottle, and it doesn't have script lettering like Pepsi or Coke. It looks European. That matters," explains Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn in a 2001 article. Though it's since diversified its product selection since that article was published, the fact remains that Red Bull's consistent packaging has helped this brand go global.

Airbnb, a community marketplace for people to list and book accommodations around the world, was founded in 2008 out of San Francisco, California.

Since then, Airbnb has grown to 1,500,000+ listings in 34,000+ cities worldwide. A large contributor to the company's explosive global success? Social media.

In January 2015, Airbnb launched a social media campaign around the hashtag #OneLessStranger. The company referred to the campaign as a "global, social experiment," in which Airbnb asked the community to perform random acts of hospitality for strangers, and then take a video or photo with the person and share it using the hashtag.

Just three weeks after the launch of the campaign, over 3,000,000 people worldwide engaged, created content, or were talking about the campaign.

3) Dunkin Donuts

4) Domino's

Similar to Dunkin Donuts, Domino's has prioritized menu innovation as a means of increasing international interest and awareness.

"The joy of pizza is that bread, sauce, and cheese works fundamentally everywhere, except maybe China, where dairy wasn't a big part of their diet until lately," explains Domino's CEO J. Patrick Doyle.

"And it's easy to just change toppings market to market. In Asia, it's seafood and fish. It's curry in India. But half the toppings are standard offerings around the world."

By making a conscious effort to gain a better understanding of the preferences of the markets it's trying to break into, Domino's is able to deliver pies diverse enough to gain international attention.

5) Rezdy

Some companies may not be trying to attract global markets directly, but if their clients are, they better know how. Rezdy is an Australian-based reservation software designed to make online booking smoother for tourists and agents alike.

Though Rezdy's clients are Australian-based, the company needs to cater to its clients' international visitors. Click on the screen shot to check out this fun video on Rezdy's homepage:

The first feature the video spotlights is 'Internationalisation.' The video walks us through how easy the service is for users, but is sure to emphasize the language and currency customization tool upfront. Even if your company is marketing to other regional companies, consider their global customers as if they were your own.

6) World Wildlife Foundation

WWF took its Earth Hour initiative -- a voluntary worldwide event where participants turn off their lights for an hour to show how easy it can be to battle climate change -- and brought it to Norway's mobile audience.

Scandinavian countries like Norway experience extreme daylight hours in different seasons, making the country a prime candidate for WWF's Blackout campaign. Using digital agency Mobiento, the nonprofit placed the Blackout Banner across Norway's top media sites to promote Earth Hour. With one tap of the banner, the screen went black. Finger swiping the black screen slowly revealed the Earth Hour countdown. The banner attracted roughly 1,000,000 impressions and the campaign received three MMA Global Mobile Marketing Awards back in 2012.

Have a cool idea? Don't be afraid to try it out on one international market -- just make sure it's the appropriate audience. (Also, don't be afraid of the dark.)

7) Pearse Trust

With offices in Dublin, London, Vancouver, Atlanta, and Wellington, Pearse Trust has grown to be an international authority on corporate and trust structures. But it takes more than offices all over the map to reach an international audience.

That's why Pearse Trust keeps content flowing on its Facebook page that engages its various markets. In this screenshot below, you can see Pearse Trust posts lots of content featuring international affairs relating to the company's practice.

It also levels out external articles with Pearse Trust content, featuring news from places like Germany, Ireland (where it has a Dublin office), and the U.K. (where it has a London office). This is a great example of focusing on common interests shared among your company's various markets while also making the content relatable to customers by region.

8) Nike

Nike has been able to evolve its global presence through the careful selection of international sponsorships such as its previous long-standing relationship with Manchester United.

Although sponsorship spending can be fairly unpredictable -- demand costs tend to surge due to triggers like championships and tournaments -- these partnerships have certainly helped the brand capture the attention of a global audience.

Nike's NikeID co-creation platform serves as another strategy that the company is using to appeal to international markets.

By putting the power of design into the hands of the consumer, Nike is able to deliver customized products that align with different cultural preferences and styles.

9) McDonald's

We all know McDonald's is a successful global brand, so unlike its menu, I'll keep it light.

While keeping its overarching branding consistent, McDonald's practices 'glocal' marketing efforts. No, that's not a typo. McDonald's brings a local flavor, literally, to different countries with region-specific menu items. In 2003, McDonald's introduced the McArabia, a flatbread sandwich, to its restaurants in the Middle East.

McDonald's has also introduced macaroons to its French menu:

And added McSpaghetti to its menu in the Philippines:

10) Innocent Drinks

Innocent Drinks is the leading smoothie company in the U.K., but that's not the only place you'll find its products. In fact, Innocent products are now available in 13 countries across Europe.

And despite its widespread reach, the company's "chatty branding" remains consistent across the board. For instance, the website is very bubbly, with contact information that reads "call the banana phone" or "visit the fruit towers."

While global expansion and rapid growth can sometimes distract a company from consistent branding, Innocent Drinks has managed to remain true to itself. By ensuring that the brand's voice is interpreted the same way around the world, Innocent is able to create a more recognizable brand.

11) Unger and Kowitt

The phrase 'glocal' can be defined as "Think Globally, Act Locally." But what happens when you switch the two around?

Woah, fasten your seat belts -- literally. Unger and Kowitt is a traffic ticket law firm based in Fort Lauderdale defending drivers in the state of Florida. Not very global, right? Well, Unger and Kowitt understands that America is a melting pot and that Florida is bursting at the seams with different cultures and languages.

Though a domestic service, the firm's website is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole. With these options, Unger and Kowitt can cater to Florida's nearly 3.5 million Floridians who speak Spanish, Portuguese, or Creole. Don't miss out on expanding your client base -- sometimes you don't have to look far to attract international business.

12) Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a great example of a brand using international marketing efforts. Though a large corporation, Coca-Cola focuses on small community programs and invests a lot of time and money in small-scale charity efforts.

For example, in Egypt, Coca-Cola has built 650 clean water installations in the rural village of Beni Suef and sponsors Ramadan meals for children across the Middle East. In India, the brand sponsors the Support My School initiative to improve facilities at local schools. Not to mention, the brand sticks with selling an emotion that can't get lost in translation: happiness. Now, tell me this doesn't look like fun:

13) H&M

According to Interbrand, H&M is on track to increase new store openings by 10-15% a year. One of the secrets fueling its global expansion strategy?

Optimizing its online experience.

With an online shop available in 21 markets, including the U.S., H&M is doing everything in its power to create an easy-to-navigate, mobile-friendly online shopping experience.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in November 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
What other brands out there do a great job with their international marketing? Let us know in the comment section below.

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13 Businesses With Brilliant Global Marketing Strategies

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Thanks to the internet, global reach is no longer reserved for deep-pocketed brands, nor is it an incredible hassle for already over-burdened marketing managers. In fact, a global presence is possible for any business with a creative strategy and an understanding of world markets.

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This image is just a few successful companies that are global. Some of these companies I recognize everyday and it seems to make sense that they are global, however I was surprised at some of these, as I have never heard of them.

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This video explains how the English language has taken over the global business world. When talking global business (pun intended) it is important that everyone has the same understanding and that is harder to do if everything has to pass through a translator first.

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Reprint: R1205H

Like it or not, English is the global language of business. Today 1.75 billion people speak English at a useful level-that's one in four of us. Multinational companies such as Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, SAP, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, and Microsoft in Beijing have mandated English as the corporate language. And any company with a global presence or global aspirations would be wise to do the same, says HBS professor Tsedal Neeley, to ensure good communication and collaboration with customers, suppliers, business partners, and other stakeholders.

But while moving toward a single language at work is necessary and inevitable, Neeley's research shows that implementing such a policy is fraught with complications. English-only policies can create job insecurity and dissatisfaction and generate strife between native and nonnative English speakers in cross-national teams.

Companies can anticipate and plan for inevitable challenges and resistance when adopting an English-only policy. Using Japanese internet services firm Rakuten as a case example, this article outlines guidelines for proper implementation.

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Reprint: R1205H Like it or not, English is the global language of business. Today 1.75 billion people speak English at a useful level-that's one in four of us. Multinational companies such as Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, SAP, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, and Microsoft in Beijing have mandated English as the corporate language.

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I chose this article in regards to the Starwood and Marriott merger to show how companies join together to expand into an even larger global company and do it successfully.

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One Step Closer to More Choices for Marriott Rewards Members

A LETTER FROM ARNE SORENSON

We're excited to announce that we've secured shareholder approval for Marriott International to join together with Starwood Hotels & Resorts-a significant milestone towards creating the world's largest lodging company and strongest loyalty program in the industry. Since we announced our plans to merge with Starwood, you've raised questions about the impact of the merger on your membership and the Marriott Rewards® program. I want to take this opportunity to provide an update on where we stand.

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Marriott Rewards | Marriott - Starwood Merger

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A LETTER FROM ARNE SORENSON We're excited to announce that we've secured shareholder approval for Marriott International to join together with Starwood Hotels & Resorts-a significant milestone towards creating the world's largest lodging company and strongest loyalty program in the industry.

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I including this article about the women in the workplace to show the growth women have made in the past ten years and the importance of judging the qualities not the gender.

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I loved this Ted talk on reviving the Golden Rule. Module 2 discussed the golden rule approach to promoting diversity and I think Karen Armstrong did an excellent job of proving that this needs to be done.

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Karen Armstrong: Let's revive the Golden Rule

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Karen Armstrong looks at religion's role in the 21st century: Will its dogmas divide us? Or will it unite us for common good? She reviews the catalysts that can drive the world's faiths to rediscover the Golden Rule.

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I included this image because it shows the breakdown of the different generations within the workplace and the projection for the upcoming years.

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I included this article as it provides a summary of just some of the benefits of a gender diverse workplace.

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How hiring a gender-diverse workforce can improve a company's bottom line

Men and women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, which enables better problem solving.

Gender diversity is vital to any workplace. Not just because it's a laudable goal; it simply makes bottom-line business sense. If you need proof, look no further than a recent Gallup study, which finds that hiring a demographically diverse workforce can improve a company's financial performance.

The study of more than 800 business units from two companies representing two different industries -- retail and hospitality -- finds that gender-diverse business units have better financial outcomes than those dominated by one gender:

Gender-diverse business units in the retail company have 14% higher average comparable revenue than less-diverse business units (5.24% vs. 4.58%).

Gender-diverse business units in the hospitality company show 19% higher average quarterly net profit ($16,296 vs. $13,702) than less-diverse business units.

And if the gender-diverse business units are also highly engaged, financial performance improves dramatically. Retail units that are diverse and engaged have a 46% higher increase in comparable revenue. Similarly, diverse and engaged units in the hospitality company have a 58% higher net profit than single-gender and less-engaged units. These results show the additive effect of gender diversity and engagement on a company's bottom line.
The advantages of gender-diverse teams
Our research suggests that gender-diverse teams perform better than single-gender teams for several reasons:

Men and women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, which enables better problem solving, ultimately leading to superior performance at the business unit level.

A gender-diverse workforce provides easier access to resources, such as various sources of credit, multiple sources of information, and wider industry knowledge.

A gender-diverse workforce allows the company to serve an increasingly diverse customer base.

Gender diversity helps companies attract and retain talented women. This is especially relevant as more women join the labor force around the world. Companies cannot afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and expect to be competitive in the global economy.

For these reasons and others, it makes sense for businesses to make gender diversity a priority.
What companies should do
A key finding of this study is that gender-diverse and engaged business units outperform those that are less diverse and less engaged. Managers not only need to increase gender diversity in business units but also create workplaces that engage employees. Open, trusting, and supportive relationships among coworkers and supervisors unleash the power of diversity by enabling employees to turn their differences in thought, behavior, skills, knowledge, and talent into innovative ideas and practices that can drive a company forward.

Secondly, the study finds that gender diversity varies substantially across business units within a company, which in turn affects the business performance of these units. To achieve the real benefits that diversity can bring, leaders and managers must look carefully at the gender balance in specific business units when designing and implementing a strategy to increase diversity. A blanket policy designed to increase overall gender diversity at a company, for example, is unlikely to achieve the desired results or to increase financial performance.

Making gender diversity a business priority can lead to financial benefits and help a company realize its full potential. To reap the bottom-line benefits that diversity can bring, business leaders must:

Identify business units that are less gender diverse.

Develop a hiring strategy that increases gender diversity in these units without reducing or ignoring merit. For example, studies indicate that when women feel they are hired to fill quotas, it negatively affects relationships between coworkers.

Create an engaged culture that enables men and women to form trusting relationships and motivates them to perform at a high level.

Set inclusiveness goals, and hold managers accountable for diversity.

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The Business Benefits of Gender Diversity

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How hiring a gender-diverse workforce can improve a company's bottom line Men and women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, which enables better problem solving. Gender diversity is vital to any workplace. Not just because it's a laudable goal; it simply makes bottom-line business sense.

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I included this image of the levels of management to show how easy it is to grow in a company if you have a good split of human and conceptual skills.

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I included this article on strategic organization because we learned that to be a successful manager you have to be organized and plan strategically.

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Organizing for Power, Organizing for Change

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Strategy is your plan to win. Strategy is choosing the ground on which to engage the enemy
Strategy means:

Looking at the big picture

Knowing who has the power to make the decision.

Concentrating the right resources in the right place(s) at the right time(s)

In Ancient Greece...
Strategos = General

Tacticas = Foot Soldiers

Strategic campaigns are an important part of building a movement. They focus our energy on the forces that need to be changed, and can often result in some victory (big or small) or mitigation of damage. These efforts require participation and creativity. As we build power through campaigns, we model what can happen when we work together inspiring others and igniting imaginations that feed more and more organizing. The momentum of success attracts people who in general want to be aligned with those they believe have power. When we organize campaigns we build momentum and power.

Over the generations, people power movements have effectively used the concept of "Pillars of Support" to understand the institutions/forces that prop up unjust systems/power structures. From a strategic point of view, if you can erode or remove those pillars, those unjust rulers/state will not be able to continue. People Power understands that power is a fragile relationship that depends on the compliance of the people. Thus we have the power to alter that relationship at any time. The art of this process is to pull support away from the pillar, which means persuading those people inside that institution/pillar to leave, stop or change their behavior. This means looking for strategies of mass noncooperation, corporate campaigns, creative direct action and community organizing.

A few key elements that can make a People Powered strategy succeed:

CLEAR "WHAT" AND "WHY" LOGIC: Shut down the Financial District to impose a cost on going to war to both deter the invasion and future ones.

BROADLY PUBLICIZED: Front page news stories, repeated lead up actions and press conferences, street posters, tens of thousands of flyers, a widely utilized website and broad community mobilizing made sure a huge portion of the city knew what was planned and why.

MASS TRAINING AND MASS ORGANIZATION: A few thousand people received trainings, at schools, churches, at rallies, well over a thousand people were directly involved in the organizing-in affinity groups, working groups, public meetings.

DECENTRALIZATION: Mass organization does not mean the groups need to be part of one organization or network. Allied can support the strategy, and participated in the action without coming to an organizing meeting or bothering to identify as part of the organizing nucleus. We can work across sectors by developing relationships of respect, negotiating agreement on time and space of activitiesand strategizing and collaborating whenever possible on a common framework of action.

Key Elements Of Strategic Organizing

a fight for power

a market and/or an industry scope; not site-by-site scope

a plan to deal with the economics of the industry or corporation, including definition of market, an approach to handling increased labor or business costs

putting together a broad range of tactics, including direct action by workers, legal and regulatory approaches, extensive research and corporate approaches, political and community campaigns; must have leverage

focus on industry-wide agreements as opposed to site by site recognition

long term plan to dominate industry/geography; short term identification of targets so as to break down plan to dominate industry or corporation into steps

identify positive incentives for settlement where possible

Strategic Planning Methodologies

Identify Problem - assumptions, facts, root, source, stories, get clear

Establish Strategic Objective or Goal aka the SOLUTION or Remedy

Assess Resource and Situation - look at all factors in your world and your opponents' world

Know Your Opponent - strengths, weaknesses, history, interests, resources, plans, VULNERABILITIES

Know Your Supporters - strengths, weaknesses, history, interests, resources, plans

Map your allies and political environment, Vulnerabilities

Web Analysis of Opponent - look for opportunities for leverage, what we can bring new into the situation or relationship that is either a carrot or a stick. Focus more in there capabilities than intentions. Intention change, but what can they really do?

Public Participation - get people participating in small easy steps first that build success and confidence and keeps people in motion.

Dilemma Actions - actions, which cause your opponent to look bad if they try to stop what you are doing. They must either allow an action to continue, meet the demand or act in a way that may lose them their allies and/or credibility.

Containment - we need to be mindful of our own internal problems, weakness, vulnerabilities, abuses lies, corruption, violence in leadership, etc. Certain levels of violence/corruption/oppression will destroy movements internally and externally.

Developing a Plan

Once you understand your opponent's world you can more effectively begin developing a plan. To begin with, zero in on who has the power to decide. You want to focus on them or the institution they represent, focusing on the behavior, policy, etc, but not the person. Over time, however, if things are not shifting you can then escalate more personally. If one chooses to go after the person, possibilities for settlement may be more difficult. The high road is often a good choice, but if over time they do not change, escalation toward a period of compression and crisis is critical.

Click here for tools for campaign planning tools

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Strategy means: Looking at the big picture Knowing who has the power to make the decision. Concentrating the right resources in the right place(s) at the right time(s) In Ancient Greece... Strategos = General Tacticas = Foot Soldiers Strategic campaigns are an important part of building a movement.

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I included the trailer to the movie about Steve Jobs because just like we learned from the articles in the discussion board, watching a movie about how he became the legend his name is can teach us so much more about how to be successful in management.

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I included this image because it is a visual representation of a simplified management process.