Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck

In traditional media it's easy to  differentiate between direct marketing, advertising and pure information pieces. It's not so easy when visiting blogs. They all look and often sound like point of view pieces--information that the blogger is sharing strictly for the sake of sharing information. Over the years, I've had several friends who have "invited" me to attend an introductory seminar for EST and then later, the Landmark Forums. Both promised to help me reach my human potential. I always liked the idea of reaching my human potential. I just never liked the price tag. Or the scientology-zest that members seemed to have for  all things Forum. I never signed up. Blogs are full of recommendation on how to reach your human potential as an entrepeneur. As I was surfing the blogs this weekend to get a sense of how work -at- home moms were planning to deal with having the kids home for the summer, I came across some blogs that were talking about their Mastermind groups. My first introduction was Wendy Piersall's eMoms At Home.

"You may be wondering what a Mastermind group is. Each week, for 16 weeks, we get together with our group of 3-4 people, and publically make known what we are committing to do within the next 7 days. These are commitments above and beyond what we are currently committed to. We also then impose our own consequences. I don't mean light consequences, either - these have to be REALLY PAINFUL consequences. Such as, two of the women in my group have committed to giving each of the other participants $100 if they don't do what they say they are going to do. Another said she would have to go without makeup for a week. I said I would have to grow out my usually well hidden moustache - and don't forget, I am a woman ;). This is just the leverage I need to move ahead on all of my new home-based business projects. I'm already through 5 of my 11 commitments and we just started yesterday. But I'll also admit that I took the easy ones out first!"

Her blog had a link to winbig.org- a site she says she just discovered that day because of her MasterMind Group. As she says,

"WinBig has a series of programs for business growth, leadership training, and, not surprisingly, Mastermind groups! Particularly intriguing is his free Six Steps to SuperGrowth - a 6-CD set audio program. I'm downloading as I type."

Of course when you visit the winbig.org website you'll find that while there are some freebies, participating in their programs is far from cheap. Judith Morgan, who writes about wealth creation for entrepreneurs,is also recommending the power of Mastermind groups.

"All it takes is a dream, a team, and a theme to create a stream of perpetual income."   From The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen. Keep learning, keep fresh and get support and what better way to do this than with a Dream Team or in a Mastermind Group?  People love to help others; you only have to work out what you want and then seek out the experts, the Masterminds, and ask for their help.   The worse that can happen is that they say no. But you've gotta hang with the right group.

Then there is Lynnelle Bianco's Bold Business Vision blog which has had just four or five posts in the past 18 months and serves as a  marketing device for  Bold Vision Consulting which,like Winbig.org, promotes Mastermind groups via their Ocular Forum.

"Ocular Forum was created with Napoleon Hill’s concept of the Master Mind group in mind. You can read about Hill's Master Mind philosophy in his books, Laws of Success and Think and Grow Rich."

Which brings us back to Werner Erhard,the controversial founder of EST. Seems that Mr. Erhard, shared the same fascination with Napolean Hill that the organizers of Mastermind Groups share.

"Of more interest to his transformation, however, are the books he read and was influenced by. William Warren Bartley III (Werner Erhard: the Transformation of a Man) tells us that Erhard was "profoundly dissatisfied with the competitive and meaningless status quo" and was deeply affected by Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich. Hill's three basic principles are: every achievement begins with an idea; plans call for their implementation and; what you think is what you do. Think positive, you will do positive deeds. Hill also advised visualizing objectives and selecting similar-minded friends. Hill gives good advice, but it is very vague and is not very systematic. It doesn't offer much to people who haven't got a clue what their objectives are or should be."

Do these proponents of Mastermind groups need to share with me that the same person who influenced the creation of EST and The Forum is also the inspiration for MasterMind Groups?

If the groups are effective and working for folks should I care?

Is it deceitful to omit that little bit of information when talking about these Mastermind Groups?

And,if a blogger receives a fee for referrals to a program, do they have an obligation to share that with their reader?

The issues for me isn't the benefits and strengths of having a network of entrepeneurs to help you visualize and achieve your goals. I certainly don't have a problem  with someone paying me $100 if they don't complete their action steps for the week.

The issue is I want to know when I am reading a a blog-atisement and when I'm reading a blog.  That way if it's supposed to be a duck, I won't be surprised when it quacks.

This is cross posted at Blogher

Image Credit: Flickr memberFancy Hunt.

Something Special In The Air

It's a story they have probably heard thousands of times. A harried traveler asks to fly standby because its their mom's 81st birthday and they want a few extra hours.

When I picked my friend Nance up at the Minneapolis Airport, she apologized for her oversized suitcase. She is on a two -week jaunt with her husband Dan, who has business here for the next couple of days.

Earlier in the week they were in Philadelphia. Dan flew directly from Philadelphia to Minneapolis but Nance took a side trip through Chicago..so she could spend a few hours with her mom. When she made the reservations she was scheduled to arrive in Chicago late Wednesday night and then fly to Minneapolis early Thursday morning.(the goal here was to visit mom and still have an affordable ticket)

She then shared her extraordinary travel story.

Her first bit of luck was when she told the reservation agent that she would really love a few extra hours in Chicago to spend with her mom. The agent scheduled her flight out of Philadelphia so it would "force" Nance to stay over in Chicago. And, instead of making Nance leave Chicago on a 6:00 AM flight, the reservationist magically made it possible for Nance to leave in the afternoon --giving her the entire morning with mom.

The only catch was...Dan was leaving  Philadelphia early Wednesday morning and Nance's flight wasn't until the evening. That's when Dan suggested that Nance try to fly standby out of Philadelphia so she could arrive in Chicago even earlier in the day.

When Nance got to the ticket counter, she explained the situation. The reservation agent was not optimistic. The next flight was in 35 minutes, there were already four people on standby. In an act of faith, the agent took Nance's over-sized suitcase,put it on the flight with the 4 people waiting on standby and told her to run like the wind.

Nance did. When, hyperventilating, she got to the gate, the folks there were less than optimistic. As they told her, " it's a full flight." Then they called two of the standby folks. The rest of the plane boarded. There was a no-show. The fourth standby made it on the plane. That left Nance next in line for a seat.

At this point the folks at the gate asked Nance why she wanted to get on this particular flight so badly. When she told them it was her mother's 81st birthday, the folks at the gate said that if the last ticket holder didn't show up in 1 minute, they would close it down, and Nance would get on the flight.

About this time a frantic woman waving a ticket approaches the counter. Nance's heart sinks. As she mentally began preparing for a long wait in the Philadelphia airport, she overheard the counter folks telling the woman she was at the wrong gate.

They looked at Nance, smiled and printed out her ticket. Nance did have a middle seat on the flight  but she got to Chicago with plenty of time to see aunts, uncles and pick up pizza for mom's birthday.

What struck Nance about the entire episode is that everyone believed her and really had some heart in trying to make it possible for her to spend more time with her mom on her 81st birthday. What is surprising is that as ticket agents and gate agents they probably hear this story ( not always true) all the time.

So, how did they know she was telling the truth? Did they just choose to believe?  Or is it their culture  to act as if everyone is telling the truth and make them feel so taken care of?

For the record, it was Nance's mom's 81st birthday. She was absolutely telling the truth. It's wonderful when employees acts of kindness can create such a memorable birthday. It truly was "something special in the air."

Your Special Blend

For the past year, Caitlyn has been working at Starbucks, part time. She took the job for the benefits. Starbucks is one of the few companies that allows employees to get benefits for working 20 hours a week. There is a catch-- if you drop below the 20 hours, your  benefits are yanked. This means there has to be a tacit agreement with the "scheduler" that you will always average 20 hours a week.

So while Starbucks does offer these benefits to part timers, receiving and keeping them are two different things.

Starbucks calls their employee benefits package "Your Special Blend".

"Partners that

work full time or part time (20 hours or more per week) may participate in a variety of programs, and make choices based on individual needs and interests. Depending on job and personal situation, a partner’s total pay package may include:

	Progressive Compensation Package
	Healthcare Benefits (Medical, Prescription Drugs, Dental and Vision)
	Retirement Savings Plan
	Stock Options and Discount Stock Purchase Plan
	Income Protection Plan (Life and Disability Coverage)
	Management Bonus Plan
	Adoption Assistance Plan
	Domestic partner benefits
	Referral programs and support resources for child and eldercare
	Discounted Starbucks merchandise
And of course, all partners get a pound of coffee each week.

So for an entire year Caitlyn made put in her time creating half caf, skim super dry  grande caps with a shot of hazelnut. She didn't love the work. She did love the benefits.

Then there was a change in management. The new manager hired three new people --people she had worked with at another location and began slashing the hours of some of the regulars.

Instead of getting the 20 hours a week needed to qualify for insurance, Caitlyn is now getting anywhere from 18 to 9 hours.

When she went to the manager and explained without the hours she wouldn't qualify for the insurance, the new manager was less than sympathetic saying  the reason Caitlyn's hours were being reduced was because she couldn't start her shift until 6:00 pm and the manager wanted her to start at 4:30 pm.

As Caitlyn explained, " I started at 6:00 pm for the past year without any problems, now this manager says I can't close effectively unless I start at 4:30. It doesn't make sense. We don't close until 11:00 p.m."

According to Caitlyn she is not alone-- her friend Janna ,who happens to be pregnant ,is in the same boat -- her hours have been slashed and she will no longer be eligible for Starbuck's Special Blend of benefits either.

Is this typical? Unusual? What is the experience of Starbucks part -time workers?Is this a trend or just an unusual situation at one lonely Starbucks?

Image Credit: Flickr member Recent Topics
Note: Caitlyn is a pseudonym. She is continuing to work at Starbucks for the time being.

Will Swarm of Angels fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee?

If there is one thing about web 2.0 that you can say with certainty -- it will have an impact on just about every possible industry sector and profession. The question is. what industry is next and just how hard a hit will it feel?

If the folks at A Swarm of Angels have anything to say about it, Hollywood will be feel the punch of web 2.0 as it" flys like a butterfly and stings like a bee."

A Swarm of Angels bills itself as "remixing Hollywood"

A Swarm of Angels reinvents the Hollywood model of filmmaking to create cult cinema for the Internet era. It's all about making an artistic statement, making something you haven't seen before. Why are we doing this? Because we are tired of films that are made simply to please film executives, sell popcorn, or tie-in with fastfood licensing deals.

We want to invent the future of film. Call it Cinema 2.0.
To do it we need your help.

The concept is that 50,000 people will contribute 25 (its in British pounds and I have no idea where to find that symbol in Typepad) and in exchange people can download it, share it, use it as they want.

The idea is from writer and  filmaker Mark Hanson who has

'directed a number of digital short films, produced over 40 short films, and two TV series. He also founded the massively influential onedotzero digital film festival which he directed between 1996 and 2002 (co-directing the 1998 festival onwards). He has written a series of books about the future of film–including The    End of Celluloid: Film Futures in the Digital Age–and now he wants to invent that future by enlisting your help in making his first feature film in a completely unique way. Screen International have already labelled him an ‘International film visionary.’

 

 

Hat Tip to Emily Chang

Image Credit: Flickr member Ryan Gessner

Visit the Online Business Confessional -receive absolution for your business sins

Is going to the supply closet and taking stuff home an unethical act? Does it depend on the amount you take? Would one pencil be okay, but a box of pens stealing?

Now, people who are feeling a bit guilty about their business sins can go to  Ethics Confessions . Here's the concept. You share a nasty deed you that you've done and then readers "vote" on just how unethical you've been.

Only thing I can say about the voting is Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling better hope their jury is of the same mindset as the readers of Ethics Confessions.

Some of the confessions so far:

I got a $35 million contract from a company because a VP showed me another vendor's bid and gave me the opportunity to improve on it so I would get the business.

178 people have voted (it's one a 1-10 scale with 10 being never acceptable. This business "sin" is ranking about a "6" with readers.

However, with over 345 votes, the readers gave a ranking of "4" to an employee who stole from the YWCA.

"The YMCA allows people to pay a fee to use the facilities for one-day. Back then I think we charged $8 per person for a full day's pass. We sold around 10 day passes a day, or we could have sold 10 per day. For two years, I took half of them and never put them in the system and pocketed the money."

Either the people doing the voting are confused about the voting scale or they are treating this interactive exercise with as much respect as a vote on American Idol.

So much for integrity in voting on ethical issues. As I read these sins, I would love to also read people's rationales for their votes. Why are so many people "okay" with the employee  who pocketed the money on the free passes?

The Ethics Confession is part of a larger blog
called Ethics Crisisthat bills itself as

A blog about global business ethics, from SRF Global Translations, specialists in nuanced, localized, multilanguage compliance materials for multinational companies.

The creator of the Ethics Confession is also baffled by her reader's acceptance of these unethical business practices. As she shared in a comment on another blog,

No doubt about it, ethics is hot and getting hotter. At Ethics Crisis the blog I recently launched (and write) for SRF Global Translations, people can anonymously confess the most unethical things they've done in business. Others can rate and comment on the confessions.

The feature, meant to bring a fun and possibly viral element to the Ethics Crisis blog, immediately took off.

The scary part is that no matter what people confess, the community seems to think none of it is too bad.

We are surprised at what people confess, but more surprised at the way many hundreds of people are reacting to the confessions.

There seems to be public ethics, or what one says about ethics, and a darker, more private type of ethics.

Our goal is to generate conversation about ethics, and judging from the response so far, people are hungering to talk about the subject.

Posted by: B.L. Ochman | May 17, 2006 at 04:34 PM

For more reading on business ethics, check out Andrea Weckerle's post Corporate Responsibility,Ethics and Good Business. at New Millennium PR.

Is the world finally getting greener?

Earlier this week Random House announced by 2010 it would increase its use of recycled paper from it current usage of 5% to 30%

It seems that Random House is not the only company taking a stand on corporate social responsibility. The team at INSIDE WWF PHILIPINES has a post about a conference that just ended this week on sustainability. Phillip Morris was one of the companies that attended.

There were interesting discussions one of which came early in the workshop in response to the question “Why should business become sustainable?” The obvious answers came up, long-term profits, good for the brand, cost-efficiency, etc. Then the representative from Philip Morris responded, “For a place at the table.” When asked for clarification on the response, she began quite an emotional explanation of how Phillip Morris was being turned away by everyone including NGOs unwilling to accept their money despite the environmental projects they were undertaking. She said words to the effect, “You don’t know how it feels like being turned away because your company produces cigarettes and kills people.” Jimmy Brannigan, one of the British facilitators replied, “Does anybody know how many people the cement industry has killed, or the mining industry?” No response. “Cigarettes are a personal choice. Do people have a choice in the pollution of a cement plant or the devastation caused by a mining or logging concession?” No response.

Meanwhile businesses that are interested in learning more about becoming a social entrepreneur can check out socialedge, a network of social entrepreneurs.

Social Edge has an audience of tens of thousands of current and aspiring social entrepreneurs around the world; it is particularly targeted at social entrepreneurs with limited access to other local resources and practitioners due to the nature of their work (e.g., international development) or their location (e.g., developing countries or in rural areas.)

Diana Reid, formerly part of the Public Affairs team at Starbucks where she was a key business partner to Starbucks Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team, is part of the social edge network. She began blogging four months ago at  Reid On Marketing about providing advice on marketing for social entrepreneurs.

While some corporations may have turned their backs on the green movement in the late 90s, it feels that many are rediscovering the beauty of being green in the word's of Kermit...

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder,
I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.

Image Credit: Flickr member zenroxie

Recycled Paper - Better The Second Time Around

Earlier this week, Random House announced it is increasing the amount of recycled paper it uses to publish its books.from its current usage of 3% to30%.  In making the announcement Random House said,

"When it reaches its target of purchasing 33,000 tons of recycled-content paper by 2010, it believes that will be equivalent to saving more than 550,000 trees a year and removing 8,000 cars from the nation's roads, because of the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions."

The increase is scheduled to be accomplished by 2010. It is part of a larger initiative being launched by Green Press Initiative asking that all publishers increase use of recycled paper to 30% by 2011.

For many the news was surprising --not because  Random House is increasing its use of recycled paper--what surprises many is that Random House wasn't already committed to recycled paper.

It is a false impression that many people have. Time was that it would have been unthinkable to print a brochure, annual report or flyer without proudly displaying the recycling icon.
Using recycled paper was not only corporate policy--corporations wanted to display their environmental friendly policies by plastering big honking recycled symbols on all publications. That was in the late 80s and 90s.

But somewhere between the go go 90's and the harsh realities of 9/11, corporate America's love affair with all things recycled ended.

It wasn't a shocking breakup like Brad and Jen, just a quiet dissolution--that occurred over time with few people even aware that the breakup occurred.

In fact, if you were to survey most people ,chances are they would think that corporations were  still committed to recyled papers.

That was certainly the assumption I was working under until one Sunday afternoon in 2003.

I was spending the day with my dear college friends, Lynn and Larry, in St. Louis,MO. I was watching them negotiate their GLAD Tall Kitchen Drawstring garbage bag, filled with plastic bottles, paper and aluminum products. "Don't you recycle in St. Louis?" I asked.

Larry, who owns a printing company, began explaining St. Louis' recycling protocols, then he casually added, "You know, it's been about five years since customers asked for recycled paper."

I thought maybe this was a St. Louis-centric phenomenon. I was wrong.

Recycled paper, it seems, is no longer on the radar screen of businesses in St. Louis,Minneapolis
or just about any other metropolitan area.

In its heyday, corporations wanted that recycling logo on their printed material to tell the world they were a good corporate citizen.

That was the '80s. Why did corporations reject recylce paper

"Clients came to understand it's the emperor's new clothes," explained Monica Little, president and creative director of Little & Co., a communications design firm in Downtown Minneapolis. "What I mean by that, is that people understand simply using paper designated as recycled may not really be helping the environment after all."

How can this be?

The problem is two-fold. First, there's the definition of recycled paper. Then, there's the use of chlorine in the recycling process.

If you ask most people to define recycled paper, chances are they'll tell you it's paper made from products sent to the recycling plant. At least that's what many of us who sort, separate and lug out bags of recyclables every two weeks hope.

Turns out, to qualify as recycled, paper doesn't have to use any of that post-consumer stuff. It can be made with the scraps and trimmings from the paper mill floor. Stuff that mills were using to make paper long before recycling became an issue.

The federal government and the State of Minnesotahave mandated that their agencies use recycled paper that contains some post-consumer content, i.e., has some of the stuff we send to the recycling plant in it.

Minnesota requires all paper used by state agencies to be 10 percent post-consumer content. Claire, an editor for a Minnesota state agency, says she has no problem finding paper meeting the 10 percent requirement. But, she said, "you have to put in extra effort to find paper with higher post-consumer content."

And she said, since, the printing companies aren't much help and higher post-consumer percentage paper can cost a little more, most people she works with "are not interested in finding any papers that exceed minimum guidelines. They are dealing with a lot of stressful issues, and recycling isn't a top priority."

Now, chlorine

Most people concerned about the environment will tell you that the real enviornmental villian is the use of chlorine (and its byproduct dioxin) in both virgin and post-consumer paper production. Plenty of people I talked to want to support the use of recycled paper but, not if it's a sham.

Nevertheless, Dan Woychick of Woychick Design, another Minneapolis graphic design firm, tries to use recycled paper on the majority of his projects. "The way I see it, any little bit is better than nothing."

Yet, as a designer who is committed to recycled paper, Dan does not usually put the recycled logo on his work. "Clients don't seem to care one way or another."

Even when clients care, the rules around recycled paper are so bizarre they make for a good deal of confusion. Claire, the state agency editor, went above and beyond, finding paper she thought was 80 percent post-consumer. But, it turns out, it wasn't post-anything.

In order to qualify as post-consumer, the source material has to have been purchased. The paper Claire used was made from magazines displayed on retail shelves, but never sold -- it never made it into consumers' homes. Without the sale, the unused magazines are just being recycled. Now Claire is in violation of state guidelines requiring that she use paper that is 10 percent post-consumer.

And so goes the recycled paper saga, where, as recycled-goods purchaser Woychick recalled the words of his father, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Image Credit: Flickr image by Miss Katryn

Note: Portions of this post are recycled from a column that I wrote in 2003  for Skyway News which is now The Downtown Journal.

Claire is a pseudonym

Global Warming blamed on decline in Pantyhose Sales

About a year ago, an inventor approached me about marketing a product for pantyhose. The product reinforced pantyhose so they wouldn't run. They way it worked was simple: you just rinsed your pantyhose in the solution and they would be as strong as steel.

However, when I talked to friends and associates about the product they all looked at me as if I were crazy. "Who wears pantyhose anymore?"

I decided not to pursue the opportunity but it peaked my interest in the pantyhose category --a category that many believe has seen its better day.

The inventor was not the only person trying to create some excitement in the category. In Europe, according to coolest gadgets.com they are now marketing Caffeine Tights.

" There is now a way we can control our caffeine intake by wearing Palmers “Slim Fit 20” caffeine tights (well ladies at least anyway!). Another side effect of wearing these tights on a daily basis is an approximate loss of around 2cm from the thighs, reduces the appearance of cellulite and the dreaded “orange peel” effect – bonus! The way the tights work is that body heat releases caffeine microcapsules into the leg, thus promoting the metabolism to kick in and start fat burning. According to the makers, results should be apparent in about 1-4 weeks, but they do say they may not work for everyone."

According to one report, they work for about 1/3 of users.---probably not enough to save the pantyhose market which the Global Market Review Of Hosiery – Forecasts To 2012,’  report says pantyhose sales are expected to drop 4% by 2012.

More dire, experts don't see a market turnaround. However it is the cause of the sales decline that caught my eye.

"Firstly, the climate in a huge part of the world means that there is no need to wear hosiery...

Reasons for the sector’s decline include the changing social attitudes toward bare legs, and global warming, which casts off the need for extra warmth."

Living in Minnesota, I can tell you that pantyhose provide little or no warmth. In fact, to wear pantyhose in the winter is akin to walking outside bare legged.

No,the decline of pantyhose has a lot less to do with the thermometer and a lot more with consumers who were tired of spending money on a product that didn't last, was uncomfortable to wear  and was a pain in the butt to take care of.

The reason women stopped wearing pantyhose  is quite simple --because we could.

Shout  out

To Tightsplease for background info on Caffeine Tights.

Podcast Interview with Zillow's Director of Communications- Amy Bohutinsky

Just as discount brokerage houses have taken a bite out of stock broker's incomes, there are those that predict the launch of  Zillow- a web-based business that allows home buyers and sellers to get a "zestimate" of a home's value, could  eventually  reduce the fees realtors now enjoy.

Amy Bohutinsky left a job in San Francisco to become the Director of Communications for othe Seattle start-up. It is her job to present the company's brand message, and field questions about the company's "real purpose."

There is a great deal of interest in Zillow.  It' launched as a BETA site back in February. Bohutinsky says it could be months before the site is ready to officially launch. Part of the reason is that Zillow currently has data on 65 million single family homes in the U.S. The goal is to have that data on all homes--a whopping 85 million.

As Bohutinsky says it is incredibly time-consuming and difficult to get the data because there isn't a national database. Rather, Zillow has to extract data from county to county --all through the country.

There are some that predict that the company is a threat to the livelihood of real estate agents.  While Zillow now allows consumers to get their housing "zestimates", Bohutinsky says there are many more tools they plan to make accessible to consumers. And, it is this access of information, that realtors once held as  their own, that has experts wondering " What will this mean for realtors?"

That is a question, Bohutinsky is not prepared to answer.For the time-being, Bohutinsky  isn't talking about the future implications to realtors. Instead, she says Zillow is a "media company" - providing information to consumers and getting revenues from advertisers. While there are some that predict Zillow will eventually become a discount real estate brokerage firm ( much like discount online stock services), Bohutinksy says,Zillow is in the business of providing consumers with research tools.

She says, " we will continue adding tools and information to help people through the process. We have no plans to buy and sell homes on the site."

Click on the audioacrobat icon to listen to Bohutinsky's entire interview.

 

University of Wisconsin gets a "D" On Graduation

From a purely business perspective it was a classic case of the business (The University of Wisconsin) being completely clueless regarding the needs and desires of their customers ( parents of graduates)

Parents have one expectation at graduation. When the announcer calls their child's name they expect to see that child shaking hands and receiving their diploma. Somehow it makes spending a $100,000 on tuition, room and board and in the case of Wisconsin, beer, a little more palatable.

The folks at the University of Wisconsin had a different vision of that day...lets keep this ceremony to two hours and call the graduate's names as fast as humanly possible. Instead of thinking about their customer, their focus was on time-management.

About six years ago I was hired by the higher edcuation division of PricewaterhouseCoopers to do a video on the state of higher education. It was  great project where I got to interview thought leaders at Harvard, Yale, MIT, University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University.

Of all the things discussed in that piece, it was the remarks of the president of Tufts University that have stayed with me all these years.

"Students," he said, " want to be treated as customers."

That message hasn't made its way to Madison. The complete lack of regard for their customer's needs-- the very simple act of syncronizing a child's name to the moment they receive their diploma was completely lost on the officials at the University of Wisconsin.

We didn't care what Chef Odessa Piper had to say.We didn't care about any of the speakers. We cared about our children and seeing them for 5 seconds receiving their diploma.

That was the only thing officials of the Uniersity of Wisconsin should have cared about. They failed.

The University of Wisconsin is a huge school. There are a lot of graduates. So many that there are two separate ceremonies for undergraduates.

We had the 2pm shift. For whatever reason, The University dispensed of doing things alphabetically.

Instead,as the student's make their way to the podium, they hand their name to the announcer. The way it's supposed to work is that as the announcer says the student's name, the parents, looking at the big screen used for watch sporting events, should see their child smiling, shaking hands and receiving their diploma.

Ah Best laid plans...

it didn't happen that way because the announcer didn't quite sync up with the hand shaking thing.

It was like watching Ashley Simpson trying to lipsync the wrong song.
So, as they called Noah Freed's name, he had already received his degree and was walking off the podium. His dad, who had the camera poised to snap at just the right minute--missed the Kodak moment.

Instead, a lovely young woman was shaking hands as they called Noah's name. I'm sure her parents were about as delighted as we were.

It's not good business for the people who write checks to feel robbed. As the  Associated Press reported, graduation is expensive.

"From cap and gown rentals to printed announcements to jacked-up hotel prices, pomp and circumstance doesn't come cheap these days. Some schools even charge explicit graduation fees of up to $160. While the joy of the moment often means families and students happily fork over the money, graduation weekend can wallop the wallet one last time...Still, multiply one family's graduation expenses - roughly $1,100 in Stout's case - by the hundreds of thousands of students graduating from college in the coming weeks, and you've got one very big business. Call it the instant nostalgia industry, and graduation season is its Christmas."

All I really have to say about the University of Wisconin's performance yesterday is Ba Humbug.

This is cross-posted at Blogher