Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Companyclick -where Myspace meets the watercooler

One of the newer social networking spots on the web is Companyclick-- It's a place for employees of The Fortune 500 to meet other people in their own corporation. Dimitry Rappoport says he got the idea when he worked in the financial sector. He says he always wanted to meet other people at work but just didn't know how. At best he says his networking circle always hovered around 10-15 people

In its first month, Companyclick signed up around 500 members. Rappaport says when they reach 50,000 they hope to attract advertising.

  You can listen to the entire podcast.

The Final Frontier

It's definitely not for the view. Or the hours .Or the benefits--my health care now costs $700 a month and I'm healthy. Nevertheless, more and more baby boomers are thinking about starting their own business.

This at a time when fewer Americans overall are interested in going it on their own --down to 66% from 72% last year.

Whatever the reason,( and I do have my theories)  baby boomers have Entrepreneurship On The Brain --that from Yahoo's Second Annual Survey of  Entrepreneurial Aspirations.

"Baby boomer-aged survey respondents indicated a significant increase in entrepreneurial aspirations. For example, when asked, "At what age do you think it would be too late to start your own business?," 70 percent of respondents who were 45 to 54, and 72 percent of those 55 and older answered, "I will never be too old to start my own business." The Yahoo survey finds this a substantial increase compared to last year's survey, when 54 percent of those aged 45 to 54 chose the "never too old" response, and 58 percent of those aged 55 and above chose the same response. Across all age groups, respondents choosing "never too old" increased to 60 percent this year, versus 47 percent in the 2005 survey."

I first read about this survey in a post by Jory Des Jardins, one of the founders of  Blogher . For Jory, the survey confirmed her own belief that given the choice most American's would work for themselves. In her post, she shared a quote from Charles Handy from the London Business School.

"Anyone visiting America from Europe cannot fail to be struck by the energy, enthusiasm, and confidence in their country's future that he or she will meet among ordinary Americans—a pleasing contrast to the world-weary cynicism of much of Europe. Most Americans seem to believe that the future can be better and that they are responsible for doing their best to make it that way. It is an attitude that is both infectious and attractive, and it probably accounts for much of the dynamism of their economy, even if it irritates some Europeans on occasion."

In her post Jory said.

"I think of one of my closest friends, a British man, who does very well for himself, and I still don't quite know--after 10 years of friendship--what he does. And yet, when he calls me and asks me how I am I immediately interpret the question to mean, "How's business?" and I proceed to give him the status update of every project on my plate."

A couple of days ago, while driving home in rush hour traffic, I took the opportunity to call Carol, a former associate. Once a high powered executive, Carol  now is a consultant, working very part time. As part of our "catch up" she mentioned she had just seen Susan, another business associate who had "resigned" from her very high powered job after new management at her company made it clear that her services were no longer valued.

Susan  had spent her entire career at this particular company--more than 20 years-- eventually becoming one of the most powerful women in the organization. She's been "retired" for several months.

When I asked how Susan was doing, Carol nonchalantly  mentioned that Susan was planning on starting a consulting business with her partner.

Maybe it was the time of day. Maybe it was the traffic, but my skepticism was heard loud and clear over the wireless magic of Verizonwireless. Carol assumed  my skepticism had to do with their ability to earn an income.

She reassured me, "they have saved a lot of money, they probably never have to work another day of their lives."

"It's not about the money, " I said, not feeling the least little bit in need of reassurance,"It's the mindset. They have spent 20 years in Corporate America. They have no concept of  what it's really like to be a business owner."

If someone were to ask me to bet on whether Susan will be successful as a consultant, I would have to say, probably not.

The general yardstick is that four out of five businesses "close" after five years --the statistic used to be four out of five businesses fail after five years but now that statistic has  been redefined  to acknowledge that some business owners simply want to do something different.

But whether Susan is successful really isn't the point. The point is that for baby boomers, becoming self-employed is often the final frontier.

"The survey found that nearly one-third (31 percent) of those polled said that doing work that they really love was the main reason for launching a business. The second most popular reason, selected by 22 percent of respondents, was "to be my own boss." Less than one-fifth (17 percent) said they decided to start a business "to make more money."

Welcome to the real world.

Image Credit: Flickr image by The House Family

Notes: Susan and Carol are pseudonyms. The conversation did take place. Susan and Carol are real women with real stories.

Tags: Entrepreneurs, Blogher, Business Culture, Women, Yahoo

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Let Me CAll you Sweetheart aka Kibbutz Capitalism

The headline reads: The Best Company to Work for in the World-Period. Featured in this month's issue of The American Way, the magazine for American Airlines, this article will make you smile, create job envy, inspire you, and confirm and reconfirm that in order to have a successful company you do not have to operate as "business as usual."

This is the story of Motek( it means sweetheart in Hebrew) , a software company in Beverly Hills. It's founder and CEO is Ann S. Price. The article begins with a scene where Price is scolding her Marketing Director for taking a three week vacation to Europe. Price wanted her to take five weeks.

“I have had many talks with Amanda about why she isn’t taking five weeks off,” Price says. “It’s impossible to function at maximum productivity without at least a month away.”

Is this a PR stunt or the latest business-management gimmick? Hardly. Price offers her employees a $5,000-a-year travel benefit — for flights, tours, cruises, you name it — but only if they take at least a three-week paid vacation. She gives employees another two weeks off for paid holidays throughout the year and leases luxury automobiles for any employee who has worked at the company for at least 10 years. Then there’s the fact that Price sends employees home at five p.m. sans laptop and locks the doors on the weekend.

Motek's main product is Priya a warehouse automation software that is used by companies including General Electric, Heinz and ConAgra.Observers say Motek's success is not just based on its product but on its processes.

But it’s Motek’s business processes and how it interacts with customers that set the firm apart. Price’s business philosophy — which has been dubbed “kibbutz capitalism” — is enough to make most executives squirm. For starters, everyone at Motek — from executives to the receptionist — knows how much everyone else earns, and they can view the firm’s balance sheet at any time. In fact, Price makes sure that they understand how to understand corporate finances. Employees also vote on strategic decisions, including raises. “By sharing data, we share power,” Price explains.

It’s no idle rhetoric. Consider that every Motek employee has a designated backup available to provide cover while they’re out of the office. The only requirement is to check with the backup to make sure he or she is around before the employee leaves. This, says Price, ensures that “we’re focused on the process rather than on the person.” Employees also know when an employee isn’t able to keep up with the workload. The result? Price offers a financial reward to employees who ask for help in order to stay on schedule. “The goal is to get the work done, not establish a star system,” she says.

This article is so motivating that I want to just copy and paste the whole thing. Most of all, I want to print it out and keep it as a reminder  to myself that the status quo doesn't have to be.

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You want me to add what to my toolbelt?

It had been a tough couple of years for Kate. For most of her professional career she had worked at one company. She was a star. She had been recognized as a top performer.

Her job was to think of new products and bring them to market.  It was exciting, challenging, demanding. There were huge budgets. Big presentations. Some travel.

Kate loved it.

She was very good at it. It was a big job. She had won lots of awards for excellence.

Then, during  the last two years, everything seemed to change.First, there was tension with a boss. Kate tells a story about a time her team had spent weeks preparing for a major presentation on the new product. Typically in these situations, the head person will listen, ask challenging questions and have the team defend their work.

Instead, her boss listened said "thank you." stood up and walked out the door. Not another word. Just thank you.

Then, not one but  two multi -million dollar product launches  were canceled at the last minute.

In Kate's world, having a product pulled is not a good thing. It means you don't have any work to do. Kate was spent. Once her second  product was pulled, she found herself with no immediate work and not eager to campaign to join another team.

" I was fried," said Kate. "So I went to my boss and suggested I take a leave of absence for the summer. I promised her I would come back in the fall rejuvenated and ready to work."

Her boss thought it was a great idea and gushed, " While you are off I want you to visit our stress management consultants and gain some new tools for your tool belt to handle stress better."

As Kate was sharing her story she said, "She really said that to me...'gain some tools for your tool belt.'"

At the time, Kate thought that she needed some new tools and diligently called for an appointment with the stress management folks.

But when she got to the stress management folks, they weren't interested in giving her a 'new tool for her toolbelt".

Once her counselor  heard Kate's story she said, " Your issue isn't stress, Kate, and you don't need any tools to handle stress better. You handle stress just fine. You have different work issues."

It was a life changing meeting. Kate says that until that very moment it had never occurred to her that she might be unfulfilled at work.

Looking back she says she was so focused on the tasks at hand that she didn't do much reflective thinking at all. So when her boss indicated she didn't handle stress well.She believed her boss. And, felt disappointed in herself that she was allowing the stress to get to her.

But with three months with no work tasks to do she  took the time to be introspective. By the time she went back to work ( and she did go back to work) she knew she wasn't going to be there for long because like many talented, creative, smart women she came to the conclusion that she would  never get what she wanted at a large company.

She planned her escape and when the time was right,left the company to start her own firm.That was about 10 years ago. Kate is still working hard.

Like Kate, I too had one of those life altering meetings very early in my professional life. I was a TV reporter making about $5.00 an hour. At that time, the weekend anchors earned a $20 talent fee for each newscast. Just doing the 6 and 11 p.m. news on one night of the weekend would have increased my lifestyle significantly.

In all ,about eight people in the newsroom decided to audition for the spot--we were all broke. When my boss posted the audition list, I was the last one ( I got the message) but was determined to put in a stellar performance ( I was still young and naive enough to think that  hiring decisions were based on performance)

On the Friday before my audition --I was scheduled for the Sunday show--- my boss announced he had hired someone from out of town. Her name was Angel.She looked like a sexed -up  blond version of  Shirley Temple( we became good work friends).

After I calmed down, I asked my boss if we could talk. I questioned his timing of the announcement-- saying that I had been promised an audition and even if he knew he wasn't going to hire me, couldn't he have at least waited to make the hiring announcement on Monday?

That's when he said, "Elana, your hair, your makeup is all wrong. You don't look like someone we want as an anchor."

I didn't quit that day. I did anchor the Sunday Show. My news director didn't bother to watch. People called in to say what a great a job I had done.

It didn't matter. I knew from the moment that I left his office, that I was leaving TV news because the tool that I needed to add to my tool belt was one I could never add. A face like an Angel.

NOTE: Kate is a pseudonym .The amount of time she has owned her business has been slightly altered.

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Women with kids Need Not Apply

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Every time women point to the fact that their pay is lower then men ,or that maybe there really is a glass ceiling, there is often push back that "it's all in our minds"( Isn't it always?)

So I was particularly taken with Jori Des Jardins post on Blogher ,Why Women Don't Always Share Their Family Photos At Work. In this post she shares the very real experiences and fears of associates who are hesitant to tell their bosses they are pregnant.

Jori's post also  includes an excerpt from the Denver Post about a recent Cornell University Study that indicates women with kids are (a) less likely to get called for interviews and (b) when hired, earn less.

"In the study, The Motherhood Penalty, (Cornell University Professor Shelley) Correll sent 300 pairs of cover letters and resumes to advertised midlevel marketing positions in an undisclosed Northeastern city. Some of the cover letters mentioned a family, while others made no mention of children. Applicants who didn't mention a family were called in for an interview twice as frequently as those who did. The study found proof that not only are women with children less likely to get hired, their starting salaries are significantly less than similarly qualified fathers or women without children--an average of $11,000 less."

The article also has some advice to corporations interviewing applicants: don't bring up the children factor in an interview.

"not only is it bad form to ask about children during job negotiations, it is dangerous for the company. While not illegal, if a comment has been made during an interview and then a problem later arises, that comment could come back to haunt. "

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with  Christine Louise Holbaum, an American mom,and freelance writer, blogger, PR Consultant   living in Germany.  She explained that since there was no daycare in Germany and school children all came home for lunch, it was virtually impossible for women with children to work outside the home.

At the time it seemed so antiquated and repressive.  Now, it seems a bit more honest. While I think the  Germany policy is ridiculous, I'm not sure its any more offensive than the situation we have here.

In your face prejudice -- the kind that women with children in Germany experience --is always easier to combat than the kind veiled in political correctness that allows women to think, " it's all in my mind."

Opening the Johari/Nohari Window

Until yesterday I was completely oblivious to a very hot trend that seems to be making the online rounds. It's the Johari/Nohari window . The Johari focuses on positive traits. The Nohari on your weaknesses.

"A Johari window is a metaphorical tool intended to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise. Terms selected only by the participant, but not by any of their peers, are placed into the Façade quadrant, representing information about the participant of which their peers are unaware. It is then up to the participant whether or not to disclose this information.

Terms that are not selected by the participant but only by their peers are placed into the Blind Spot quadrant. These represent information of which the participant is not aware, but others are, and they can decide whether and how to inform the individual about these "blind spots"."

Like the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, this is the kind of tool corporate teams adore.  Businesses spend tons of money to hire certified Meyers Briggs consultants to administer and analyze the results.

Forget about tapping into your budget, you just have to go to Interactive Johari and have technology do the work for you.

I found out about this trend at But wait! There's more... a blog by Canadian Leesepea who, like my friend Tyler, is a first year teacher. Coincidentally I just chatted with Tyler and will be sharing that conversation very soon.

If I understand this correctly, instead of using it for work use, the bloggers have discovered this tool and are asking readers to assess their blogging personality. I wrote about this on Blogher and heard from Divabat who shared

"I've done one - it's making the rounds on LJ.

There are a ton of traits that people see in me that I don't really notice about myself. It's been interesting."

Leesepea at But Wait! There's more... invited her readers to participate in her Johari window. When I tried to check it out I got this message.

Server Overload. Sorry, try again at a less busy time.

I guess a lot of people want to know what people really think of them. The  question I have is once you get your results ,do you take them seriously, or do you ignore what you don't like and blame it on spammers.

The Email Heard Round The Legal World

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NOTE: Spellchecker not working...again.

Not to long ago I was chatting with a former client who happens to be an attorney. I asked him about his email habits. He responded that he didn't use email very much. At the time I thought he was so 20th Century. In reality, he was probably being a very wise lawyer.

And so, I share a cautionary tale.

Remember, before you send an email always ask yourself, 'can it pass the test of public scrutiny? 'Or, in other words, could my email jeopardise my chances of ever getting hired or even worse, could this email be the start of the dreaded email chain?

A bit of background.

Prior to any of the emails in the chain,a  new lawyer was offered a job with a small firm.They agreed upon her salary and set a day for her to begin. Then, the firm contacted her and said ooops...we've decided your starting salary needs to be less than we agreed on because we are going to hire an additional associate.

That is the context for the emails heard round the world.

"Then Korman received an email from Abdala on the Friday evening before the Super Bowl. She had changed her mind. Abdala wrote: "Dear Attorney Korman: At this time, I am writing to inform you that I will not be accepting your offer. After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living in light of the work I would be doing for you. I have decided instead to work for myself, and reap 100% of the benefits that I (sic) sew. Thank you for the interviews."

Korman called Abdala and left a message for her, asking if they could talk and work things out. He suggested she call him on his cell phone. Instead, Abdala called Korman's office and left a voice mail, again declining the offer.

That's when Korman wrote the following in an email to Abdala: "Dianna - Given that you had two interviews, were offered and accepted the job (indeed, you had a definite start date), I am surprised that you chose an e-mail and a 9:30 p.m. voicemail message to convey this information to me. It smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional. Indeed, I did rely upon your acceptance by ordering (sic) stationary and business cards with your name, reformatting a computer and setting up both internal and external e-mails for you here at the office. While I do not quarrel with your reasoning, I am extremely disappointed in the way this played out. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."

Enough said, right? A young lawyer declines a job offer and some awkwardness ensues. Not the biggest deal in the world.

Well, here's where things go haywire.

Abdala countered with the following email: "A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so. Again, thank you."

Oh man. "

To read the entire chain, check out Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. What's most upsetting about the article is that it seems to slam the woman attorney and not the guy who renigged on the salary.

Here's a quote from the male attorney.

"This has taken on a life of its own," Korman told me. "The legal community is tiny, and the criminal-defense bar even smaller. They are surprised by this attorney's responses to my simple queries. It's so early in her career to be attacking someone like this. I just wish it had played out better."

And they included emails from some of his supporters

"Though you don't know me, I wanted to extend to you my sincere apologies for your recent encounter with an extremely unprofessional young attorney. ... It is my hope that your opinion of young lawyers has not been too tarnished by your experience. ... I felt compelled to apologize to you on behalf of the community of young lawyers all across the country that are not sympathetic to Ms. Abdala's egoism."

Am I missing something here? Didn't he change the salary after hiring her? Didn't he hit the keystroke to share a private email converation with friends? Isn't he the scumbag? And doesn't he owe her several apologies?

He acted like a jerk. She responded in kind. Yet, somehow the article doesn't criticize him for forwarding personnel issues from his office. And even worse, changing an 'employment contract' after they had agreed to the terms.

No, the focus is on her bad behavior. How convenient. How myopic. How pathetic.Chalk one up for the boys club.

The World keeps getting smaller for smokers

In case you were wondering how much it costs to get the smoking smell out of a hotel room, Westin Hotel says its $200. That's how much they will add on to any customer's bill who is caught smoking in their rooms after January 1, 2006 ( we still don't have a name for this decade. I still recommend D1/2K)

Meanwhile over in Germany, an employee at a printing company was just fired for smoking in his backyard. According to telegraph.co.uk  the company provided all non-smokers with a bonus. In order to receive the financial reward, employees had to state every month that they did not smoke. The guys's co-workers turned him in.

"The rules were he was to tell us if he smoked. He defrauded us of some 1,200 euros [£800] a year which is enough money for a family holiday. If someone steals from their company, it is normal that they are punished." The company introduced its radical no-smoking policy five years ago and abolished smoking areas last year. Two thirds of its staff are in the programme. "

Last year a Michigan company made the headlines when it fired employees who refused to take a Breathalyzer test after the company instituted a policy forbidding employees to smoke cigarettes --any time, any where 24/7 --365 days a year.

There is a big difference from the firm in Michigan and the company in Germany. The German firm was providing an incentive --a very nice incentive for people to embrace the nonsmoking lifestyle.

The Michigan  firm wasn't  incenting, it was dictating and as much as I dislike smoking, I do not believe a company had the right to fire those employees.

Like the firm in Germany, Roanoke, Va's Cat Communications International  believes the best way to change habits is through incentives. That's why the CEO Norm Mason created a free Vegeteria .

"Mason says he created the "Vegeteria" out of concern for the well- being of his 200 employees of Cat Communications International. So he's giving them all the fresh vegetables, meat substitutes, cakes and drinks they could ever want.

"This was a way to say: 'Look, we don't feel it's right to have the flesh of an animal, an animal killed for your benefit,'" Mason said. "I see it no different than smoking. People are asked to go outside and smoke."

Evidently, some employees felt their rights were being violated and contacted a local television station who challenged Mason's "no meat" policy. Turns out Mason has taken his cue from no-smoking policies.

Employees, can still eat meat in "designated rooms." They just can't eat meat in the corporate funded vegeteria.

Heaven help the shrinking world of carnivore eating, nicotiana inhaling employees.

Geezer Glacier will be women friendly

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to hear Mary OHara Devereaux, a futurist, forecaster and CEO of Global Foresight tell several hundred organizational development professionals that the next 10 years is going to be very good for older women.

According to O'Hara Devereaux , in the next ten years, as we begin experiencing the Geezer Glacier, older women ( that would be women over the age of 50) will become the preferred worker.

It's not that corporate america is seeing the light, it's just that it won't be an option to not be woman friendly.

More women then men now graduate from college
Women continue to outlive men

Six hours after that talk I was sitting at the parents table of the annual tennis team banquet. My daughter Berit will be a senior next year and was elected co- captain.( For equal time I should disclose that my son Noah is captain of the ski team at the University of Wisconsin)

But back to Berit. She is not a gifted tennis player. In fact,80% of the time she plays "exhibition." But this year, instead of awarding the captain position to someone who is very good at tennis, they selected someone who is very good at motivating, encouraging and supporting the team. They chose a leader.

Had I not heard O'Hara Devereaux's talk earlier that day ,  I would have been a very proud mom. Having heard the talk,I was proud and something I don't feel very often when it comes to women's issues in the workplace..I was hopeful.

Stolen Time

After reading my post on  Mental Health Days Tess sent me an email which she agreed I could share. Tess is no fan of mental health days. She prefers "stolen time."

Here is what Tess has to say about Stolen Time.

"Stolen time is those few minutes or an hour or so when you are on the clock but are off site because you are going to a meeting or coming from a meeting that maybe ended before your usual work day. This is time when you are not accountable to your boss or your family. Your boss does not expect you back at work because the travel time would get you there just in time to leave. (This assumes that you have a reasonable boss.) Your family does not expect you because work usually ends at time x and it is an hour earlier. What to do?

Personally, I go shopping and run personal errands that would otherwise intrude on a weekend. The shopping is almost always an optional activity which often results in pleasurable purchases such as a new pair of shoes for myself or a "just right"; gift that I just stumble on and would not have found without that ";stolen time."

Sometimes the stolen time just results in a quiet half-hour with a cup of tea and a good book. Those rare moments occur when the meeting is in the morning and near home -- meetings never begin before 9:00 and I usually get to work at 8:00.

I had an hour or so of stolen time earlier this week., I had a late breakfast with my husband [and then left for a meeting]. After the meeting (again, too little time to effectively return to work) I went to Barnes and Noble and browsed for half and hour, picking up a surprise for my daughter. Then I actually did some "work", stopping at Home Depot to pick up some supplies for our school clean-up day. Even that, however, had a pleasant feel since no one could interrupt me as I compared prices

I suspect I am lucky in that my boss and secretary use my cell phone number sparingly -- only for REAL emergencies. It only rang once the whole day.

Mental health days always make me feel guilty. Stolen time does not-- which is interesting since one counts against my sick-bank and the other does not."

NOTE: Tess is a pseudonym and I have redacted key information about Tess's family which would make it too easy for people to figure out who she really is.