Continue reading »]]> Society progresses over time. Humans are conditioned and their behaviour changes according to the environment. Accordingly, the difference in behaviour between different behaviour is to be expected.

Today, employers have to grapple with how to attract and retain GEN Y. The challenges associated with GEN Y are new and many: “to be promoted quickly after a short spell”; “dislike the strict rank and file, want equality and freedom of expression”; “enjoy being connected all the time” and “like to share and like flexibility”.

While appreciating the differences in the behaviour and attitude in the GEN Y (Post 80s), the employment market is struggling to modify the traditional workplace to cater to many of the differences, if not all. One can learn from the happenings in the USA. Many American companies were unprepared for the differences and encountered low morale and high turnover situations. Obviously, these situations brought about severe adverse impacts on the companies.

Consequently, the American companies spent many years and considerable significant resources to research and understand GEN Y with the objective of eliminating these severe adverse impacts.

PWC Chairman, Mr. Dennis Nally said, “The millennium generation is probably the most technological group of people ever joining the workforce. How they want to work, use social media and team within a company is very different than the prior generation. If your human policies aren’t responsive to what they are looking for, they are going to go to a company that is. They want less-hierarchical structures, they want more flexibility, they want to work as hard but they want to define how they do their work. If you can’t figure out a way to accommodate that kind of flexibility, you’re not going to be able to retain that talent.”

In addition, Charlie Johnston, HR Director of technology company, Cisco Systems Limited said, “Understanding and responding to Gen Y is vital to our business. Gen Y has become a strategic priority for the company.”

Serious employers may want to learn from the painful lessons of the Americans and take pro-active steps to cater to the major differences, if not all the differences. Failing to do this may risk suffering the same fate of the American companies. As GEN Y will form the main bulk of the workforce, this will become more critical.

Of course there are many detractors who prefer to think that GEN Y is a fad. There are others who think that companies should focus on individuals, rather than generations. There are definitely some truths in this line of thought. Still, the most cautious and logical approach will be to be sensitive and adaptable to generational differences while at the same time, focusing on key individuals. This would be by far, the more balanced and risk-free approach.

For companies to be able to attract and retain GEN Y, employers need to learn and understand the challenges posed by them now, and make appropriate adaptations in the workplace to foster a conducive workplace for the Gen-Y.

By Stan Tan (http://www.facebook.com/stanleytan1000)

GEN Y Specialist

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This month Andrew Chow shares his insights on social media landscape, its business applications, analysis of corporate concerns and implementation road maps.

The rise of social media has created many new opportunities and threats to companies finding a footing in today’s digital world.  It is no longer a question of whether we should adopt social media but rather the more relevant question is how we can leverage on social media as well as mainstream media to create a powerful hybrid communication strategy for your business.

Leveraging new media is just like a chess game – and you need a game plan.

http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/radio/938live/programmearticle.aspx?cp-documentid=5718116

Continue reading »]]> Logos are undoubtedly an important part of branding a business. Today, anyone who sees the golden arches would think of McDonalds, a bitten-into apple of the tech behemoth Apple, and a fairy tale castle of Walt Disney. Logos do not have to be complicated to be good, but they do have to symbolise the company and give it an image that nothing else can provide. And just like anything else, some logos are better than others in terms of design and its ability to give brand recall. We found some logos that actually have meanings cleverly hidden in the design. Take a look at them, and you will most not likely see them the same way again.

• Not only does the arrow form a smile, it also cleverly shows that Amazon sells everything from A to Z.
• Guess where they inserted their 31 original flavours? Cant see it? Check out the pink parts of the letters B and R.
• Carrefour means “crossroad” in French, which could explain the two arrows on each side of the arrow. The negative white space, meanwhile, actually forms a letter C.
• Egg n Spoon is a national courier service for the UK whose slogan is “Speed with care”. Their logo, which looks like a simple letter “e” at first glance, actually has an egg and spoon. See it? Check out the white space.
• You can plainly see that the Fedex logo spells out the companys name,but if you look between the letters E and x, you will see an arrow which represents the speed and accuracy of their deliveries.
• If you look closely at the logo of Galeries Lafayette, a lifestyle store inFrance, you will see that the logo represents Paris with its joined letters “t” to form Frances most famous icon, the Eiffel Tower.
• Goodwill, a global social services enterprise, has a logo befitting what itdoes. If you take a look at the figure inside the blue box, you will either see a small letter “g” – or half of a happy face.
• Do you see the knight in armour with a spear in the middle of the K? You might also see the head of a horse in the same letter.
• Le Tour de France, is of course the globally famous cycling race. Can you see the cycling man in their logo? Hint: The yellow circle is the wheel!
• Some say the LG logo is actually Pacman in disguise.
• The London Symphony Orchestras logo looks like a flowy interpretation of its acronym, LSO. But if you take another look, you might also see that its a conductor waving his baton.
• NBC is also known as the “Peacock network” because of its stylised logo. It consists of the 3 primary and 3 secondary colours, which correspond to the networks six divisions when they redesigned the logo: News, Sports, Entertainment, Stations, Network and Productions.
• The N inside the circle of the Northwest logo can be plainly seen. But with the triangle, you can see the letter W too. Coincidentally, the W is pointing – where else? – northwest.
• Roxy is a female clothing brand owned by Quiksilver. Its logo is made up of two Quiksilver logos that form the shape of a heart.
• You might wonder why the logo for Sonys laptop line is stylised like that. It is actually a marriage of digital and analog. The VA actually forms an analog wave while the I0 represents the binary digits 1 and 0.
• Staples is an office supplies store, among other things, in the US. Notice the L? Its actually a stylised stapler.
• The Sun logo, designed by Professor Vaughan Pratt of the Stanford University, is one of the most famous ambigrams in the world – you canread the brand name in every direction; both horizontally and vertically.
• The T in the logo of TaylorMade, a golf equipment company, is the bottomside of a driver.
• Toblerone is originally from the town of Bern in Switzerland. The town Bern is also known as the “City of Bears”. Can you see how the chocolate bars logo paid tribute to this?
• Tostitos, a brand of tortilla chips, has two people enjoying the chips and dip in their logo. Clever, eh?

Source : http://business.asiaone.com/Business/SME%2BCentral/Brand%2BMe%2521/Story/A1Story20111220-317293.html

20 Famous Logos with Hidden Messages

Continue reading »]]> Over the last 5 days, there has had been at least 3 disruption of train service by SMRT. It is interesting to note that SMRT is using Twitter to keep the public informed ever since 17 Dec when they had the 3rd disruption in as many days.

Is Twitter becoming a favourite platform for online crisis management? DBS bank did that when their ATM network for the entire Singapore failed a year ago.

It is also interesting to note, that SMRT has garnered more than 8500 followers in 3 days ever since the account is active.

If the fire didn’t start on social media, getting onto social media for update can be even more dangerous. Companies which are going though a crisis may end up having more channels to maintain.

Continue reading »]]> From : http://socialmediatoday.com

Top 7 Social Media Bloggers – Introduction

Social media bloggers in the social media industry know that building an online presence through different social media platforms is essential to growing a business. Also, branding is a HUGE part of showing that you are a leader in your industry and are someone that people want to associate with. These social media bloggers have provided tremendous content and that’s why I am privileged to include them on my list of top 7 social media bloggers.

Top 7 Social Media Bloggers

1. Chris Brogan -  Chris is arguably the number 1 guy in the social media industry. He runs a company called Human Business Works which provides business systems for small businesses. Numerous Fortune 500 companies such as General Motors and PepsiCo have consulted with him. Chris is the best time New York Times co-author of the book Trust Agents (which is a must read no matter what business you’re in) The thing I love the most about Chris’s blog is that it covers everything from life lessons to social media to how-tos. There is a ton of information on Chris’s site and he definitely deserves a spot on my list of top 7 social media bloggers.

2. Brian Solis – Brian (other than having the coolest name) is one of the most well-known leaders in the social media industry. He has published numerous books on new media including Engage - a book about branding and how to adapt to the social world.  Brian’s blog articles are very informative and really inspire me to want to take action in my life and my business.

3. Dan Zarrella – Dan’s is a social media strategist whose posts are not only informative but easy to read as well. I highly recommend you get his free 22 page report that illustrates ways to get your tweets retweeted. He also has a great book called “Zarella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas”. It’s a very amusing read.

4. Mari Smith- Mari is one of my all-time favorite social media bloggers because she constantly is putting out incredible content.  Fast Company dubbed her “The Pied Piper of the Online World” due to her vast knowledge of Facebook and her frequent speaking arrangements. I frequent Mari’s blog every day and if you check it out you will see why.

5. Lori Taylor – Lori is a social media consultant who runs Social Caffeine. I love the layout of the site and how easy the articles are to read.  I recommend you subscribe to get a daily dose of Social Caffeine.  I have gotten tons of ideas from her website.

6. Jason Falls – Jason runs Social Media Explorer – a go-to site for everything social media.  Social Media Explorer also does social media training and consulting. I highly recommend the website and company.

7. Scott Monty – I’ve only recently come across Scott’s site but it has become one of my favorites.  Scott is head of social media for Ford Motor company. His personal blog reflects wisdom into the social media industry. I appreciate how he uses interesting images and videos to get the reader’s attention.

Top 7 Social Media Bloggers – Conclusion

These top 7 social media bloggers all have blogs that you MUST check out. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know what is going on in the social media industry. These leaders provide wisdom and advice that every business and person should take. I hope one day I can become as influential as they are.

Who are some of your favorite social media bloggers?

Continue reading »]]> by Dr John C Maxwell

A group of American tourists walked through a quaint English village in wonderment. They were enamored by the town’s winding cobblestone streets, the beauty of its courtyards and plazas, and the sense of history emanating from its ancient churches. While strolling through the local park, the tourists struck up conversation with an elderly gentleman and found out that he had lived in the town for his entire life. One of the Americas, eager to hear more about the town’s history, asked, “Sir, have any great men been born in this village?” “Nope,” said the old man, “only babies.”

Personal Growth Is a Process 

In our twenties, we think ahead to when we’ll be ideally situated in our career, positioned to do exactly what we enjoy, and enjoying immense influence in our occupation. Like children on the way to Disneyland, we impatiently await arrival at our destination instead of appreciating the journey there. However, as we age we encounter an uncomfortable truth: growth doesn’t happen automatically. We cannot coast through life hoping one day to stumble across our dreams. Unless we set aside time to grow into the person we desire to be, we’ll not reach our potential.

Leaders develop daily, not in a day. They commit themselves to the process of growth, and over time they reap the rewards of daily investments in their development. In this lesson, I’d like to share five principles to encourage you to adopt a lifestyle of personal growth.

#1 Growth is the great separator of those who succeed and those who do not. 

When I went to college, there was no gap between my peers and me—none at all. We started on the same level. However, at the age of 17, I made a commitment to spend an hour a day on my personal growth. I studied and read, filing the lessons I learned along the way. Now, in most cases, the gap between my former classmates and me is pretty wide. Am I smarter than they are? Absolutely not. Many of them got better grades than I did in college. It’s the growth factor—my commitment to the process of personal growth—that has made the difference.

#2 Growth takes time, and only time can teach us some things. 

When it comes to personal growth, you cannot substitute for time. Yet, the mere passage of time doesn’t make you wise. Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is the best teacher. To gain insights from your experience, you have to engage in reflective thinking. I have a habit of taking ten minutes every evening to look back on the day. As I reflect on what happened, lessons emerge, and I capture them in my notebook so that I can learn from them.

#3 Growth inside fuels growth outside. 

The highest reward of our toil is not what we get for it, but who we become by it. At the age of 17, I decided that I would read, file, and begin to prepare lessons. From that simple discipline I accumulated a wealth of content that fueled my speaking and writing. I never set out to be a leadership specialist; I was simply diligent about reading, filing, and studying. With respect to personal growth, take the long view on results. The most important question to ask is not “What am I getting?” from the discipline of personal growth, the most important question is, “Who am I becoming?”

#4 Take responsibility for your own growth. 

For 15 to 20 years, the school system holds us responsible for growth. Educational curriculum clearly spells out, “here’s what you do next,” and “here’s the next step.” Then we graduate with diplomas and certificates, and we no one longer have anyone to map out the next step for us. If we want to continuing growing, we have to do it ourselves. We have to put together a game plan so that we become students of life who are always expanding our minds and drawing upon our experiences.

#5 Determine the areas of your life in which you need to grow. 

You’ve probably heard someone say, “You can do anything as long as you put your mind to it.” Sadly, as nice as that sounds, it simply isn’t true. In watching people grow, I have discovered that, on a scale of 1-10, people can only improve about two notches. For instance, I love to sing; that’s the good news. The bad news is that I can’t carry a tune. Now, let’s be generous and say that, as a singer, I’m a “two.” If I put lots of money, effort, and energy into developing my voice, perhaps I can grow into a “four.” News flash: on a ten-point scale, four is still below average. With regards to my career, it would be foolish for me to focus my personal growth on my voice. At best, I’d only become an average singer, and no one pays for average.

Don’t work on your weaknesses. Devote yourself to fine-tuning your strengths. I work exceptionally hard on personal growth in four areas of my life. Why only four? Because I’m only good at four things. I lead, communicate, create, and network. That’s it. Outside of those areas, I’m not very valuable. However, within those areas of strength I have incredible potential to make a difference.

Continue reading »]]> Andrew Chow, is invited to delivery a key note at  the 12th Annual Greentech Environment & CSR Conference 2011 on “The Role of Social Media in Corporate Social Responsibility” at Srinagar, India on 20-21 Oct 2011.

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IDEAMART presented a short seminar on “What can Social Media do for you Business?” at the Singapore National Employer Federation (SNEF) on 29 Sep 2-5pm

Andrew Chow, highlights 20 examples of the following main points:

• Branding & Crowd Sourcing
• Networking & Referral
• Sales & Marketing
• Competitive Insight
• Public Relations & Crisis Management
• Customer Relations Management
• Internal Communications

The presentation is attached below for download, interested parties for the Social Media Course can contact :

Name: Shirlin Lee
Tel: 68276920
Fax: 68276803
E-Mail: shirlin_lee@snef.org.sg

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