On September 22, I participated in a Harvard Business Review chat (#HBRchat) on obtaining quality feedback from customers. The great thing about this chat is that HBR provided the questions and instructions in advance (HBRChat 9/22 instructions) and posted highlights from the question and answer series, which can be reviewed by clicking the link below. This, in my opinion, is an interactive and proactive approach to addressing and adhering to getting quality feedback from customers and putting it to good use!

If you like to engage in pertinent information of any kind, I encourage you to participate in or even start a twitter chat!

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According to author and WSJ writer Ron Alsop, for the first time ever, there are four generations in the workplace. Each generation bringing their own experiences and knowledge to add the diversity of minds of an organization and can be categorized as follows:

• Traditionalists: Born 1925 – 1945
• Baby Boomers: Born 1946 – 1964
• Gen Xers: Born 1965 – 1979
• Millenials (Gen Yers): Born 1980 – 2001 (although I would suggest this generation should start at least in 1985

The generations are grouped not only by their birth year, but by the experiences they have in common such as the Vietnam War or the introduction of the AIDS epidemic. Furthermore, according to Alsop, the generations have common traits such as Baby Boomers being workaholics and Millenials being multitaskers.

Although “The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the millenial generation is shaking up the workplace” focuses on Gen Yers, a key takeaway from this book is how to deal with diversity of minds in the workplace. Diversity allows a workplace to be well rounded and well versed. Traditionalist employees have “institutional knowledge” that comes from experience and maintains the very being of an organization. On the other end, Millenials deal with ever-changing technology cycles like second nature. Each of the four generations, working cohesively, can create a progressive work environment! Some companies have hosted workshops and established mentor/mentee relationships to nurture the potential productivity in the workplace, and benefit from the investment in its employees. Thus, everyone in the workplace has something to offer and something to gain.

TIME: Starbucks CEO Calls for a Boycott on Campaign Donations

While doing my occasional Google search of myself, I found a twitter account out there using my first and last name, constantly tweeting about random stuff. It appears to be linked up to an RSS feed. As someone with a very unique name, I was pretty bothered by this and reported the violation with twitter claiming impersonation and name squatting. The next day I received a reply from “WANNASAURUS” saying that the account was not in violation of twitter’s privacy policy because of two things:

1. Yes it was my name, which I apparently have no rights to, but there is no harm in using my name as long as there is no spamming, misleading or bad activity involved.
2. It is an active account thus name squatting cannot be considered. Twitter may revoke access if there were no tweets being posted.

Wannasaurus (yes I laugh every time I type this) suggested that I continue to monitor the account to see if it violates any of these or other twitter policies. This account is very misleading and I hold my identity, image and reputation with high value, whether personally or online. Unfortunately I have no answers on how to combat the misuse of one’s name/identity. But if anyone has an idea on how to protect your social/online footprint, please do share your thoughts! Many articles I found geared toward financial security and such. Thanks in advance for your assistance!

TIME’s “Techland” blog reported on how easy it is to find a person online. Check out the below link to see how you can be searched and basic ways you can protect yourself.

Nine Degrees of Separation: How Easily Your Personal Info Can Be Found Online

The phrase “work hard and you will advance,” appears to be an unequal challenge according to a report conducted by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. The study which utilized data from the 2002 Census Report and converted the dollar figures to equal modern day values. According to the data, Feministing.com points out that “women need a PhD to earn as much as men with a BA.”

The differences in income over a lifetime are just as widely spread out for the ranges in ethnicity and race. The Georgetown report goes on further break down these numbers by particular degrees and industries. It is a little deterring that whether you work smarter or harder, your personal characteristics can set you back despite your accomplishments. In the above photo you have a diversity of people, sitting to the same table offering a diversity of talents. Yet they may not receive comparable salaries according to their training.Keeping in mind there are other factors that determine pay scale, the occurrences of unequal pay seem far too consistent.

I would believe some companies have made initiatives toward improving equal opportunity employment. Furthermore, internet resources such as Salary Wizard have made salaries somewhat more transparent allowing employees and candidates more access to the worth of their compensation. I am looking at this situation with hope that things are improving but…. what do you think?

Instagram is a photo sharing service created for iPads/iPhones/iPods. I had an Instagram account over a year ago. But I ended up getting rid of the  application soon after I downloaded it because it seemed to be one more unnecessary social medium I was logging into. However, lately, I have been noticing that many of my friends, on various social networking sites, have been uploading these beautiful, vintage looking photos! I found out that Instagram is now the new photo sharing craze and can be linked to Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter! If it had those capabilities before, then I just didn’t notice. But I will be downloading the Instagram app again and linking it to my various social networking accounts! I guess I can be considered part innovator and part early or even late majority in the technology product life cycle!

Check out a few Instagram photos taken from the company website (www.instagr.am):

I completely appreciate independent artists for their creative passion and entrepreneurial aggression! Last Friday I attended the premier screening of Gun Hill Road, an independent film about “a young man exploring his sexuality in an intolerant and judgmental world and his exploration’s impact on his relationship with his parents and himself” according to the website. The film has won numerous awards, including the Jury Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Earlier today IndieWire.com reported Gun Hill Road as the #1 Independent Film opening for the weekend of Aug 5 – Aug 7. As a patron of the film, I attribute the success to its well-managed social media campaigns. I first learned about the movie on when a Facebook friend posted the opening weekend event link. I later began to see tumblr, and twitter posts about the movie. By August 4, I was already set to see this movie which many of my close friends raved about on various social networks. I began tweeting and posting about the movie and friends who viewed the trailer during a screening of Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest were convinced that they would go see Gun Hill Road during the opening weekend as well.

My days in radio advertising remind me that consumers must see or hear messages and advertisements at least three times before they act upon it. Furthermore, messages from friends and well-known sources further improve the chances that consumers will act on advertising messages. This is why social media can be so important. The use of social media is about engaging and sharing messages with a target audience. It appears that the team responsible for sharing the message about Gun Hill Road knew their audience and the places these potential patrons hung out whether online or not. And this awareness aided the film toward a box office, opening weekend success after airing in three NYC movie theaters.

In brief review, I enjoyed the movie and continue to spread the word. I enjoyed the way the film addressed various aspects of how families deal with a multitude of issues that are relevant in society today. If you haven’t seen the film, and live in the NYC or Los Angeles area, I urge you to take a moment to support a good film dealing with real issues.

I have decided that the graduation gift I want to purchase is a NOOK Color! I am excited at the thought of being able to have all my favorite books, as well as my ever growing book list, with me at all times! I’ve run out of space for my books a long time ago. Thus, I am looking forward to not worrying about whether or not to purchase a book because I have no space for it. I am also excited to be able to read at leisure again — no more school textbooks!

For all those out there who own a NOOK, please share with me your best (and worse) experiences with you NOOK! Also, what are the best covers, accessories and applications for the NOOK? I want to know what I can expect!

I read this book during my first semester of business school, and every semester that followed, this book as continued to be applicable toward my studies. Last week during a church service “Good to Great” was mentioned, and yesterday I saw a first semester b-school student toting around the Good to Great book. Needless to say, this book does not escape me, so I had to blog about it.

The subtitle of this book “Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t” pretty much sums up what this book is about. The reoccurring theme is that “Good is the Enemy of Great” and when companies seek to move beyond being complacent, a breakthrough can take place leading a company to continuous success and not banking on just doing good, or good enough to stay afloat.

Good to Great, which was first published in 2001, has remained on the bestsellers list! Possibly because the well presented research case studies that follows several companies through six areas in which Collins and his team suggest are the areas that make a company become great (see flywheel above). Some have even noted that not only does this book help business executives achieve greatness, but it may help individuals become great, as blogged by The Lifetime Fighter, Katarina Marsha Utama Nugroho who currently resides in Japan.

In all, I suggest anyone who took the time to click on this blog to purchase this book as it is insightful to any ambitious person seeking to be better than good! If you feel that I haven’t explained more about this book, then that is because I want to give you just enough information to urge you to purchase the book. This is just a point of reference to encourage and inspire others to benefit from the information provided by “Good to Great.” Enjoy the book and be great at everything you aspire to do!