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From good old boys to good governance

Robert C. Harris Association Management

Perception is reality. If it is perceived to be true, it will seem more important than the facts. If members perceive the organization’s leadership to be good old boys, it can damage the credibility of an association or chamber. Characteristics of good old boys include directors with seemingly perpetual terms, a lack of diversity, and director ages representative of baby boomers and older (55 to 75) blocking the entry of young, diverse and emerging leaders.

Why your business needs an editorial calendar for marketing

Mashaal Ryan Marketing

Business marketing isn’t just about throwing money at influencers or trying to find out when to post on social media. It needs to be a complete and total project that is ongoing, timed, creative and budgeted. Marketers usually use the word "campaign," which is a series of maneuvers they are using to aggressively market a product or service. You don’t have to have a marketing degree to implement some of this at your own small business. The first step is to create an editorial calendar.

Infographic: Opioids and the American workplace

Brian Wallace Pharmaceutical

The opioid crisis has started to affect workplaces, where 31% have already seen an overdose, injury, or arrest related to opioids. Getting people the help they need is about more than just being compassionate — it can also make a workplace safer. Employees who are suffering from addiction can often feel their job would be threatened if they were to come forward and seek help. Providing employees with a path to rehab and then back into the workplace can address the opioid crisis head-on.

Why cultural-fit hiring is the enemy of diversity

Simma Lieberman Business Management, Services & Risk Management

A study by Cubix International of 55 organizations, including Ikea, found that 9 out of 10 recruiters passed over applicants that were not a "cultural fit." Hiring for "cultural fit" has become somewhat of a trend and buzzword. It usually applies to values, visions, norms and the way a company does business. Some people have told me that hiring for "cultural fit," as opposed to just skills, is a way of ensuring that the new hire gets along with everyone and be a "team player." I’ve also been told that it is a way of increasing diversity since you’re not just hiring based on degrees and grades. But what if this is part-fallacy?

3 ways to say no

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

No is such a powerful word, and yet few of us seem to know how to use it. We gracefully accept additional work, commitments and obligations, then spend our energy either trying to improve our time management to fit it all in or stressing about the fact that we will never have enough time to do it all. Instead of focusing our efforts on getting it all done, here are three ways to say no and save our energy.

5 ways you can identify fake and misleading consumer feedback

Lisa Mulcahy Marketing

Consumer comments — whether they're online and given face-to-face to your company's service employees — are invaluable indicators of what your brand is doing right or wrong. When that feedback is fake, however, or when you don't get a complete or accurate picture of what your audience is trying to tell you, you don't make the right moves and your brand can suffer. You need to know when that feedback is fake and get the true picture of how your products and services are perceived. Want five outside-the-box ways to do it? Follow this science-driven advice.

Meeting production goals with remote conditioning monitoring

Abhishek Jadhav Manufacturing

Hitting production goals are key to driving revenue and growth for any manufacturer. But there are many unknown factors in the road to production. Equipment failure and downtime have no place in plants with aggressive goals. In this article, we will discuss how conditioning monitoring can help diagnose potential problems and prioritize addressing those issues by revealing the presence and development of defects. By taking advantage of remote condition monitoring, those same manufacturers can gather the insights necessary to safely maximize production while minimizing disruption.

Infographic: Find and hire the best candidates with better interviews

Brian Wallace Business Management, Services & Risk Management

When you say, "tell me about yourself" in a job interview, the most likely response is going to be a repeat of what's already in the candidate's resume and cover letter. Why ask the question if you're not going to get any new information? Better job interviews lead to better hires, and better hires build better teams. Asking questions to test a candidate's creativity can show you how they will perform better than asking what school they attended. Learn more about better interviewing practices from this infographic.

Watch what happens when you align your team

Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk Management

On a crisp late September morning, as I stood on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill River just outside downtown Philadelphia, I witnessed a tremendous lesson on alignment. An eight-person rowing team was practicing for an upcoming race and one of the oarsmen was having difficulty staying in sync with the other seven rowers. Principles of alignment are true in business and almost every other human activity. Failure to properly align means missed goals, wasted time and resources, and a less-than-optimal working environment. Results range from poor to good, but never great.

New home sales rebound as resales dip

Michael J. Berens Construction & Building Materials

In a pattern all-too-familiar to builders and realtors, housing market activity flipped again in June, with the scales tilting up for new homes and down for resale homes. Sales of new homes surged in June following two consecutive months of dismal declines. On the other side of the market, tight inventories and rising prices put a dent in sales of existing homes, which similarly had trended upward in May after two previous months of negative growth. Despite mortgage rates remaining relatively low, affordability and availability continue to be the primary factors influencing consumers’ willingness to purchase a home.

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