In an earlier blog titled 5 Great Lessons of Team Sports I outlined some of the universal lessons that are learned in youth sports that prepare young men and women for success in the business world. While the lessons I cited are anecdotal in their direct application to the workplace I have continued to discover research that supports the theory as well.
As examples on the women’s side, former E-Bay CEO Meg Whitman was on the Lacrosse and Squash teams at Princeton and former Spherion CEO the late Cinda Hallman was a basketball player at Ashdown High School in Arkansas. On the men’s side we need to look no further than GE for two prominent examples. Former CEO Jack Welch was a high school hockey player while his replacement, Jeff Imelt, was an offensive tackle at Dartmouth.
A 2002 study by Oppenheimer revealed that an astounding 82% of women executives played organized sports after elementary school and it has been well documented in numerous surveys that a disproportionate number of male executives also played organized sports in high school and beyond. An article that appeared in Human Resource Executive related that people of BOTH genders that play high school sports go on to earn more money than those who don’t.
Not only does playing sports have an impact on the job but just being a sports fan has a positive impact as well. In a study commissioned by Hudson it was revealed that 63% of men and 52% of women reported that their favorite team winning had a positive impact on their approach to work! Whether you watch them or play them there is no denying the positive impact of sports at work.
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
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March 28, 2011
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Driven by the expression “It’s the economy, stupid” Bill Clinton rolled to victory in the 1992 Presidential election. Although the phrase was actually coined by political strategist James Carville it has become not only synonymous with Bill Clinton but an enduring catch phrase in the American culture.
So what about the economy stupid? I believe we are finally on the rebound. The Fed declared the recession had ended some time ago but most business owners weren’t so sure. Billions of dollars have stayed on the sidelines for the last year or so as companies have taken a conservative approach to the fragile economy. The Dow has risen fairly steadily to over 11,500 but it is only now that I’m prepared to declare that the economy, at least the B2B economy, is officially back.
Why am I so confident? What trends am I basing this on? What economic formula am I calculating? The answer is “none of the above.” I am basing it on the observation of two bellwether industries. After declining margins in 2008 and 2009 the cardboard industry rebounded strongly in 2010 and is forecasted to be even stronger in 2011? Why cardboard? Because almost everything that is sold is packaged in cardboard boxes of some sort so when production is up it is an indicator that more “stuff” is being produced and sold. After a dismal 2009 the jet leasing industry is also bouncing back with a very impressive performance for 2010 and a 2011 forecast that is near record setting. When firms are leasing jets, businesses are flying and that means more B2B action in 2011.
I admit that that my data points might be subjective and my conclusions somewhat myopic but what can I say? I am always looking for the half full glass. The bottom line is, if I am right B2B enterprise will be back in a big way in 2011 and beyond.
What are you doing to prepare for the big B2B rebound? Are your sales teams at full strength? Is your production capacity ready for a big year? How is the morale in your organization? Now is the time to grab the optimism, communicate it to your folks, put your “house” in order, and make 2011 a record setting year in your company.
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
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December 28, 2010
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When it comes to how we communicate it certainly is a brave new world. Social media is the hottest thing since sliced bread, if Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest country in the world. Statistics show that 96% of Generation Y have joined a social network which isn’t that surprising. What IS surprising is that the fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55 to 65 year old females. Not only are we communicating more frequently through social media but we are doing it on the fly. Statistics show that 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. In my last blog “Is Talking to Customers a Dying Art?” I cited the amazing shift to communicating by text message versus person to person.
What does all that mean to how we buy? The answer is simple; word of mouth is now far more powerful than advertising for determining how we purchase. An astounding 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are actually links to user generated content! If you own a business today your past customers may be impacting future sales far more than advertising, marketing, or sales initiatives. There are over 200 million bloggers and 34% of them post opinions about products or brands. We live in a world where 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations and only 14% trust advertising. In the future we may not search for products and services; they will find us through social media!
How we buy is certainly changing but the revolution has not quite caught up to how we sell! When it comes to leveraging social media it is far more about how well we listen than how well we sell. It is more about providing constant access to information than it is about providing advertising messages. We need to be more focused than ever on making sure every customer has a great experience because there is a pretty significant chance their experience with us will end up being chronicled through social media.
Almost two years ago I wrote a blog called “A New Way to Prospect” about leveraging social media such as LinkedIn as a viable method for aligning prospecting with the new business reality. LinkedIn is now recognized as the primary tool for how 80% of companies find employees. Understanding and leveraging social media as a sales tool is not just a good idea, it is a mission critical strategy for success in the new economy. How well you understand and creatively leverage resources such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. is the new ticket to the game.
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
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November 17, 2010
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