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January 19, 2012 by Marc Hausman

The General's Disgrace

They call him the General.

He amassed 902 wins in a collegiate basketball coaching career that spanned more than 40 years. He is the only coach to win the NCAA championship, the NIT title, the Olympic gold medal and the Pan-Am gold medal.

Bob Knight is a legend and should be revered as one. Or should he?

He’s always been combative and controversial which I viewed admirably as a sign of a strong competitive spirit. Plus, he had the reputation of being tough on his players, yet many publicly admired and adored him.

Then, I came across this 90 second halftime speech he once delivered to his players: (Warning, the audio of this video has excessive profanity.)

Keep in mind that Knight is speaking to a collection of young adults he has the responsibility to mentor and motivate. Is this the way to do it? Would you ever condone someone speaking to you in this manner? How would you react to a coach dressing down your child with this language?

I’ve been managing people in a work environment for 17 years. I have had my share of stumbles. Plus, I do pepper my language with the occasional four letter word when I am trying to emphasize a point.

However, I subscribe to the philosophy that if you treat colleagues with respect the outcome is typically a productive one. For me, it is all about four things:

–Be clear and consistent in your expectations

–Focus on the positive result that comes with a high level of performance

–Provide honest and candid feedback, even if it is not what the person wants to hear

–Never make it personal

January 17, 2012 by Marc Hausman

Zappos Glibness Rubs Raw

Marketers who work for information and network security vendors tend to steer clear of the “fear, uncertainty and doubt” themes that dominate the industry.

Yet, spend ten minutes with one of their subject matter experts about the threats and risks in the digital and social world and the temptation to unplug becomes overwhelming. Hacking is now the domain of sophisticated cyber criminals, organized gangs and intelligence agencies — both foreign and domestic.

So, the news today that online retailer Zappos had been compromised wasn’t much of a shock. It has happened (and will continue to occur) to retailers because of the challenges that come with installing, managing and maintaining complex security procedures, processes and technologies.

Conducting commerce electronically has its risks. As a consumer, I’ve evaluated them and concluded the benefit outweighs the danger.

What I find irksome about the Zappos hack is the rather flippant tone of their Email informing customers. Here’s the Email I received today:

First, the bad news:

We are writing to let you know that there may have been illegal and unauthorized access to some of your customer account information on Zappos.com, including one or more of the following: your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of your credit card number (the standard information you find on receipts), and/or your cryptographically scrambled password (but not your actual password).

THE BETTER NEWS:

The database that stores your critical credit card and other payment data was NOT affected or accessed.

OK…I get it…it could have been worse. The cyber criminals could have slinked away with my credit card information and social security number, in addition to the personal information they obtained.

Plus, Zappos prides itself on a culture defined by employee happiness with a dash of weirdness. It’s part of their brand differentiation.

Yet, any security breach creates a breakdown in trust between an organization and its customers. Simply put, their failure to adequately defend their network has compromised my personal information.

This is no time to be glib. What I want to hear is that they will put in place resources to help me protect my online identity while taking steps to better secure their network.

I asked about steps Zappos plans to take to protect their customers and received this Email response from their customer loyalty team:

Thank you for your response to our earlier email. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused and we truly understand the severity of the situation. As indicated in the previous email, the database that stores your critical credit card and other payment data was neither affected nor accessed.

The possible illegal and unauthorized access to customer account information is the standard information you find upon order receipts (i.e. your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number and/or the last four digits of your credit card number).

Although not quite what I wanted to hear at least the reply was minus the jokes.

January 14, 2012 by Marc Hausman

Welcome to the World of WordPress

I use to love me some Plurk.

It’s true…my initial foray into microblogging more than four years ago was in the Plurk community. I assessed a handful of viable platforms, including Jaiku, identi.ca and a relatively unknown site called Twitter.

Plurk logo — Once the microblogging platform of choice.

Why go with Plurk? I liked the visual icons that enabled the user to express emotions and concluded that this community was poised for a dramatic rise in size and relevance.

Within 12 months I jettisoned my Plurk presence and embraced Twitter. The market picked its winner and Twitter now reports more than 300 million users. Plurk declines to report the current size of its community.

On November 25, 2007 my “Strategic Guy” blog was introduced with a post entitled CEOs Talk PR. I stood up this executive thought leadership site on the Blogger platform because of its ease of use and ability to positively impact search engine optimization. (Blogger is owned by Google.)

And now 400 posts later I leave behind Blogger for WordPress. The reason for my switch is the enhanced functionality offered by WordPress because of the open source community that continually develops, refines and maintains its features.

Welcome to the all new Strategic Guy blog!

You’ll find on the site my perspective on industry trends, issues and developments related to social media, public relations, sales methodologies and corporate culture. It will be original content and I’ll never shy from expressing an opinion.

Please also check out my “Lifestream” which is an aggregation of my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook updates.

And finally, I’ll update the blog site with links to my articles published in the Washington Business Journal, WashingtonExec, Govwin, DC Techsource and Social Media Today.

I write about corporate strategy, the Washington, DC technology community, social media, public relations and marketing. Plus, my columns in Govwin and WashingtonExec profile top level professionals and their innovative approach to business and life.

September 14, 2011 by Marc Hausman

Why Innovation Thrives Throughout the Washington, DC Region

Geographies with thriving technology, software and telecommunications communities share a number of key attributes.

One such characteristic is the presence of a collection of market leading companies that serve as a breeding ground for executive talent. In the Washington, DC region, past innovators such as AOL and MCI once filled that role. They spawned a myriad of spin-outs and start-ups, which helped create an eco-system of innovation.

Today, government focused systems integrators such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Booz Allen Hamilton, as well as fast risers like Living Social, Merchant Link and Broadsoft provide the ideal environment for the cultivation of the next generation of business and technical leaders.

Additionally, centers of technology are populated with a capital community – from angel investors, venture funds and private equity firms to investment bankers who help entrepreneurs realize a successful financial exit.

Washington, DC scores high in access to funding. Consider the membership ranks of professional organizations like the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) and the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). Executives with a bold idea, a credible business plan and a track record of execution typically find funding in town.

Finally, one vital – yet often overlooked – ingredient necessary for technology to take off in a region is the presence of high quality, research oriented universities. Think of the impact Stanford has in Silicon Valley or how MIT and Harvard define Boston.

Again, the Washington, DC region shows well when it comes to colleges that flood our business community with trained talent and viable ideas.

The University of Maryland, College Park is a prime example. While the business school and engineering program typically bask in the accolades, there are also less profile initiatives with a comparable level of benefit for the region.

For the past decade, the University of Maryland has fielded a team to compete in a global competition called the Solar Decathlon. Pulling students from multiple areas of study, including architecture, business, medicine, engineering and journalism, Maryland’s solar decathletes are charged with the design and construction of a house that meets the most stringent levels of environmental sustainability.

With funding provided by the US Department of Energy, as well as a handful of corporate sponsors, Maryland’s team will unveil its eco-friendly house this month for formal judging. The competition includes collegiate teams from the across the United States, plus countries like Canada, Belgium and New Zealand.

Win or lose, many of the 30 plus students who comprise the university’s Solar Decathlon team will enter the Washington, DC’s region work force primed to a contribute in a meaningful way.

And we’re all the better off because of it.

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