by Shelly Strom + Daniel Pink

We already know cities such as Seattle and Portland boast a treasure trove of creatives. We’re still learning, however, about the ways in which creatives are, and will continue to be, economic drivers.

Daniel H. Pink, who served from 1995 to 1997 as chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore, sheds light on this subject in his best-selling book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.” 

“A Whole New Mind” synthesizes big picture trends to explain how a new epoch of our post-industrial society is rising and how right-brain types are the sort of entrepreneurs and workers who will succeed.

Pink suggests that we are evolving away from the Information Age, during which the left-brain dominant knowledge worker reined supreme and are moving into the Conceptual Age, a stage where creatives and other types of right-brain people take center stage.

The main characters in the Conceptual Age, Pink says, “are the creator and the empathizer, whose distinctive ability is mastery of R-Directed [right-brain] Thinking.”

We at 52 Ltd. enthusiastically recommend “A Whole New Mind,” which is a quick, uplifting read.

It brings clarity at a time during which the global situation seems increasingly complicated.

It tells us that we in the creative community are doing is the right thing-cultivation of creative types over the long-term will make us economically healthier.

Pink points to downward pressures on U.S. jobs, forces that he labels Abundance, Asia, and Automation.

Abundance, he says, has satisfied the material desires of many in the developed world. In turn, significance of beauty and emotion are heightened, as is desire for meaning.

Asia, Pink says, is fulfilling demand for white-collar left-brain knowledge workers, not to mention reduced labor costs. The dynamic is forcing knowledge workers in advanced parts of the world to “master abilities that can’t be shipped overseas,” he says.

Automation is impacting today’s desk workers the way it did for yesterday’s factory workers, thereby forcing workers to bring value in ways that computers never can, he says.

These forces, Pink said in an email to me, are likely to intensify during the current downturn.

“When consumers are strapped for cash and credit, they’re unlikely to open their wallets for modest, incremental advances in goods and services. They’ll do that only for huge, bold, conceptual leaps. As a result, for both individuals and organizations, right-brain thinking might be even more important, not less important, in a downturn,” Pink wrote via email.

In these economically challenging times, “A Whole New Mind” is a welcomed bit of encouragement, especially for those of us already honing these right-brain abilities.

“L-Directed [left-brain] Thinking remains necessary but no longer sufficient, we must become proficient in R-Directed Thinking and master aptitudes that are high concept and high touch,” Pink says in “A Whole New Mind.”

“We must perform work that overseas knowledge workers can’t do cheaper, that computers can’t do faster and that satisfies the aesthetic, emotional and spiritual demands of a prosperous time,” he says.

 “A Whole New Mind,” published in the thick of a booming economy in 2005, gives us vision and points us in the direction of a yet untapped wellspring of potential, something for which many of us are looking right now.

Succeeding in this paradigm, Pink says, amounts to understanding and mastering six specific high-concept and high-touch aptitudes. He calls these aptitudes “six senses”-design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.

“These six senses increasingly will guide our lives and shape our world. But to many of you, this vision might seem dreadful-a hostile takeover of normal life by a band of poseurs in black unitards who will leave behind the insufficiently arty and emotive. Fear not. The high-concept, high-touch abilities that now matter most are fundamentally human attributes. After all, back on the savannah, our cave-person ancestors weren’t taking SATs or plugging numbers into spreadsheets. But they were telling stories, demonstrating empathy, and designing innovations. These abilities have always comprised part of what it means to be human. But after a few generations in the Information Age, these muscles have atrophied. The challenge is to put them back into shape,” Pink asserts.

Roughly three-quarters of “A Whole New Mind” is devoted to explaining these six senses in order that the reader can begin to master them. At the end of each section on the senses, Pink presents what he calls a “portfolio” of specific exercises applicable to mastering each aptitude.

For the left-brain skeptic, these exercises likely yield valuable insight into Pink’s thesis. For the right-brain creative, these exercises are a worthwhile reminder of the various facets of creativity.

Regardless of your thinking, the portfolios offer what seem to be good suggestions for cultivating creative aptitudes. Not to mention that the 50,000-foot view Pink provides via “A Whole New Mind” is important and illuminating.

It is often said that we live in a “throwaway” society. It is frequently easier, maybe even cheaper to dispose of things, rather than repair them. When was the last time you had your TV repaired, or your toaster, or your cell phone? When it breaks or is obsolete, or a new model appears on the scene, junk the current version.

DISPOSABILITY

We live in a world of convenience. When something, or someone, is no longer convenient our first reaction is to dispose of the offender. Even people have become disposable. Tired of your wife? Get a new one. Tired of your parents? Ship them off to an “old folks” home. This “out with the old, in with the new” mentality has become pervasive, and it is not without implications and consequences.

In the workplace the emphasis is on productivity. New employees typically bring more up-to-date knowledge and skills. It is easier to acquire these new “models” than it is to “repair” the old, by investing the time and cost of training. And there is frequently not an acknowledgment of the value of organizational memory and experience.

A COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

Business decisions are dollar-driven. The costs and benefits of each course of action is calculated and weighed. Emphasis is on cost-effectiveness, as the business must generate profits to survive. Although we may not always  do a careful analysis when making personal decisions, hopefully in business we will be more objective, as the overriding concern is profitability.

William Bliss, President of Bliss & Associates, has a formula for calculating the cost of employee turnover. In The Advisor (www.isquare.com) he outlines a detailed list of considerations totaling over thirty-five separate cost items. The primary categories include: Costs Due to a Person Leaving, Recruitment Costs, Training Costs, Lost Productivity Costs, New Hire Costs, and Lost Sales Costs. The calculations reach an impressive 150% to 250% of annual salary, depending on the position. So, before you terminate that $50,000 employee think of the $75,000 to $150,00 you will spend in replacing them.

Of course the turnover costs may not apply to every situation. If you don’t plan on replacing the employee you are not confronted with this problem (although you may have others). With a straight layoff you will not experience many of the turnover costs but you may have severance pay and benefits, decreased productivity, and other direct and indirect costs.

DECISIONS

Human Resources decisions are seldom easy. Whenever these decisions involve employee separation, either by the employee’s volition or a business decision it can be a painful and costly process. Company policies and practices which contribute to a reduction in employee turnover usually pay off. Employee retention has its benefits and these benefits can be dollarized. Other intangibles like morale may also be considerations.

The decision to terminate an employee should not be taken lightly as it impacts both the employee and the employer. Carefully consider the decision before taking action. It might be cheaper to retain and retrain the employee, transfer them to another assignment, or just keep them on the payroll. You don’t really know what the replacement employee will be like, how they will perform, or how long they’ll stay.

We may live in a “throwaway society” but this norm is based on convenience and low cost. When it comes to people it may be neither.

Copyright © 2008, Dr. Ben A. Carlsen, MBA. All Rights Reserved Worldwide for all Media.

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Chris Newmarker Staff Writer

There may be grumbling that the country is slipping into another Great Depression, but firms in the advertising and public-relations industry want to put the situation in the best light, and treat the economic crisis as an opportunity.

At Fallon Worldwide, a new sign posted in the meeting room at the firm’s Minneapolis headquarters states: “Fortune favors the brave.”

Fallon was started during the early 1980s recession and has come out of previous recessions pretty well. Chief marketing officer Rob Buchner said the reason is Fallon tries to keep its advertising campaigns clever but affordable, and that ad firms that do the same will be served well in the coming year.

Buchner mentioned a recent ad campaign by Hyundai Motor Co.in which the South Korean automaker said it would allow customers who lost their jobs to bring their car back through a 12-month vehicle return program. He said people should expect to see more daring advertising gambits, especially as some companies use the recession as a chance to grab larger market share.

“If you do work with advertising that is memorable and provocative, you’ll be rewarded at the cash register in the end,” Buchner said.

Howard Liszt, a senior fellow at the University of Minnesota and a retired CEO of Minneapolis-based Campbell Mithun, said, “All boats are not going to be lifted.”

Still, there’s opportunity to get clients to try new things.

“Undoubtedly, there will be some agencies who flourish in spite of this economy and that’s going to be a direct result of their ability to be innovative and resourceful,” Liszt said.

Carmichael Lynch President Mike Lescarbeau said he thinks it’s going to be a tough year for everybody. His own firm laid off around 5 percent of its workers in December.

Still, he’s hopeful that the Minneapolis-based firm’s double emphasis on advertising and public relations will serve it well. He said there was a recent case of a public-relations client also picking up the firm for advertising, and a prospective client seeking advertising who instead decided to sign up for public relations.

“They want some efficiencies. They want one-stop shopping. They also want a one-stop idea,” Lescarbeau said.

Public-relations firm Padilla Speer Beardsley Inc. may be handling fewer new product introductions for companies, but the Minneapolis firm’s CEO Lynn Casey said there’s another service that clients need: crisis management.

“You really want to get that critical communication right and PR firms that have that capability, for better or worse, exercise a great deal of that in an economic downturn,” she said.

In light of the troubling economic climate and tightening job market, what is the one thing that job-seekers must do in order to be successful in landing a good job in 2009?

Exhaust All Options

Tell everyone you know about the type of position you are looking for, network online and at industry events, go on informational interviews, work with a recruiting firm, take on temporary assignments, and be flexible when meeting with prospective employers.

When developing your cover letter and resume, quantify the value of your contributions to previous employers, including how you helped cut costs, reduce inefficiencies or improve profitability. There are opportunities available, but job seekers will have to work harder to find them and cannot afford to leave even one stone unturned.
- DeLynn Senna, executive director of North American permanent placement services, Robert Half International

Network With Smarts

Candidates must be building and strengthening their network - ideally before it’s needed. Find networking events to go find other like-minded individuals and connectors. Build your online presence through your social networks and be an active participant in the community. And remember to give more than take - share your knowledge, help others be better, and invest time in building strong, long-lasting relationships. These are the relationships that could turn into future job leads.
- Lindsay Olson, partner, Paradigm Staffing

Flexibility Is Key

Stay open to opportunities in new or related industries, companies of a different size, or in a different location; and be aware that with the advent of technology, a new location just may be your home office.

Be flexible. You may or may not have to travel a bit more, take a different title, or give up some of the perks you’ve had in the past to assume your new role. All things being equal, if you’re flexible around these topics you’re chances of getting hired increase considerably.
- Cheryl Ferguson, recruiter, The Recruiter’s Studio

Diversify and Listen

My advice is two-fold: Be ready to diversify the ways in which you communicate your experiences AND listen well.

First, make a laundry list, just for yourself, of all the projects, contributions, ideas, etc., from your last three positions. This is what’s not on your resume. It jogs your memory about how you have differentiated yourself. You’ll recall and distill examples of your success, and you’ll be ready for more questions.

Second, listen closely to what the recruiter and/or hiring manager is asking you. They are looking for something very particular, whether the opportunity is leadership or entry-level. Walking someone through your resume or citing examples that they’re not seeking could hinder your ability to seem specific to their job. You want to be very clear about your transferable skills and your willingness to adapt to their environment.
- Ross Pasquale, recruiting/sourcing consultant, Monday Ventures

Tailor Your Resume

The most important thing that job seekers must do in 2009 to be successful is to diversify the content of their resumes based on the roles that they are applying for. For example, a job seeker may have worked in the past as a Java engineer, and also obtained project management along the way. However, a resume that is oriented strongly toward being a Java engineer has only a slight chance of being considered for a project-manager position.

For job seekers to increase their chances at success, they should shape their resumes to reflect relevant matching skills with the job posting(s) they are applying to. By doing so, a recruiter and/or hiring manager will more easily understand how a job seeker’s past experiences apply to the posted role. This method increases the chance of being considered a strong candidate, receiving an interview, and, ultimately, a new position. 
- Joanna Samuels, senior account manager, GravityPeople

Online site has advantages, risks for businesses trying to draw customers

The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by Rich Kirchen

Steve Thuilliez posted a video for his window and door business on YouTube recently as he strives to determine which online advertising venue will best attract customers.

He hired a California Web advertising firm to produce the video and is paying $200 per month for the firm’s services, including the video. Since the video was posted in September 2008, it received 270 views for Thuilliez’ HomePro Window & Door LLC - but no indication of any sales leads.

“I’m trying to increase my ‘Net presence,” said Thuilliez, who runs the window and door replacement business from his Delafield home.

YouTube is one of the most rapidly emerging frontiers in advertising and marketing via the Internet, but advertisers are only in the early stages of figuring out how best to tap YouTube.

The selling points are that it’s free and it’s already one of the most-used online communities in the world. The challenge for an advertiser is how to draw Internet surfers to its video.

Seventy-five percent of Americans watched a video online last month, and YouTube is the leader in the category with hundreds of millions of videos viewed daily, according to YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc., Mountain View, Calif.

The consensus among advertising executives is anything that smacks of conventional advertising won’t work on YouTube because people prefer not to watch commercials. Also, advertisers need to know their videos will run among thousands of amateur videos ranging from well-done and creative to cheap and distasteful.

“It’s very crowded - there’s a lot of really bad stuff on there,” said Steve Koeneke, owner of Milwaukee advertising agency Thirsty Boy.

The biggest successes on YouTube have either offered entertainment that coincidentally tied in to a product or surprised viewers at the end by identifying the advertiser.

An example of the former is blender-maker Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” series where the host tries blending everything from an iPhone to a Chuck Norris toy. The latter approach was demonstrated by JCPenney and its “Doghouse” video that promoted Penney’s jewelry department in a humorous take on men “going to the doghouse” for buying their wives bad presents.

A growing number of southeast Wisconsin advertisers are posting their television commercials on YouTube and others are creating videos specifically to run on YouTube.

Videos of Russ Darrow Group’s TV commercials have generated fewer than 200 views each on YouTube, but owner Russ Darrow Jr. said it’s important to enter this relatively new advertising medium.

“It’s a start,” he said.

Paulo’s Pizzeria and Banquet Hall on Milwaukee’s southwest side created its own low-budget one-minute, 15-second video and posted it on YouTube after Christmas. Paul Ohalek said it’s one of the multiple avenues he’s using to promote his restaurant online and possibly generate Google searches from Milwaukee residents looking to order pizza. As of this week, the video had seven views.

An example of taking an entertainment and educational approach is Sub-Zero and Wolf, a Madison high-end appliance-maker that has attracted more than 70,000 views for its video “How to Make Perfect Pizza” in one of its ovens. The company already was producing “mini-Food Network-type segments” for its Web site and an Apple iTunes channel and jumped on YouTube when it launched in 2005, said Christopher Parr, marketing and creative director.

The attraction to YouTube is that it’s free and it offers the possibility that a video will become “viral” - that other Web sites or blogs will add or link to the videos, multiplying the number of viewers, Parr said.

“Being on YouTube is all about being social, linking and the viral component,” he said.

Risky venture

Risks to advertisers abound on YouTube as well. Viewers can comment negatively on a video and YouTube users can post their own critical videos on a company’s products, brand or service.

Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Department Stores has received positive spins for some of its commercials, including those featuring designer Vera Wang and pop star Avril Lavigne, that were posted on YouTube by adoring fans and viewed thousands of times. On the other hand, a bleach-blonde calling herself “TechnologyGoddess” posted a video on her experience shopping at a Kohl’s on Black Friday morning at 4 a.m., titled “Black Friday Part Two: Drunks in Kohls.” The video had 887 views as of this week.

“I noticed some of the people are drunk,” she says of other shoppers while in the store. “Like they think it’s a holiday party.”

Boston Business Journal - by Lisa van der Pool

As companies trim their advertising budgets, the ad agencies they work with are also learning how to survive the recession with less business than in recent years.

Jeff Freedman, co-founder and marketing principal of Boston-based ad shop Small Army, says that he has had to tweak his - and his clients’ - strategy.

Many of the agency’s clients, which include Bugaboo Creek Steak House, SolidWorks and Emerson Hospital, among others, are focused more on planning and how to spend their media dollars in this economy. For instance, some clients have trimmed print work, but beefed up their online advertising.

“There might be less ads, but more messaging and positioning work,” said Freedman, who is encouraging clients to be bold with their marketing messages to grab attention during the downturn.

As for his own business, Freedman, whose 18-person shop is on Newbury Street, has a positive outlook.

But Freedman is nevertheless taking precautions to keep costs in check by being conservative about hiring.

“We won’t hire people unless we know we can take care of them for a while. We never want to be in a position where we hire people and then the economy hits us. So we’re more dependent on freelancers,” said Freedman, who notes that there’s a large pool of talented freelancers in the market now.

by Linda Zerba of Deputy Consulting

Working in the planning capacity in the marketing industry for more than 10 years, I and other account planners run into the similar challenges.

One of the biggest is clients and creatives who don’t believe in research. Usually the aversion has to do with an experience(s) involving bad research or a lack of knowledge on what to do with information once it is presented.

Research-averse people need to know that gathered information is a launching point. From there, you grow, create and excel.

On rare, and very lucky occasions, clients say out loud and directly that they don’t believe in research. However, the usual and unfortunate situation (and a source of ongoing contention) is that most clients will not admit this. Instead, they will hem and haw over the budget, methodology, your background, the timeline, the recruit and/or anything else they can use to pick apart the project. In so doing, they are avoiding the real issue—that they truly don’t believe in research.

Experience has shown me this amounts to a lack of understanding.

At the same time, creatives will fight tooth and nail to avoid doing research. When a creative, hears “research,” they equate it with “creative testing,” which to them signals the death of creativity.

Resistance to the concept of research puts planning is the role of the ugly stepsister: Abused and misunderstood.

It is seen as the last step to validate and confirm opinions, soothe egos or kill campaigns. We’ve all been there and it isn’t pretty.

The process that is “planning” is at least helpful and hopefully inspiring. Done correctly, research (creative testing) can yield insights regarding the target audience that can be used to help hone messages.

It can be a great tool for selling the work to the client, for creating effective resonance with the audience and giving vision and voice to the brand.

After all, brands live in the hearts and minds of consumers, and you are nowhere if you don’t know how to speak their language. Research provides understanding and interpretation!

But, I digress. Let’s get back to the root of this problem. When it comes to resistance to research, it is most likely because people have conjured in their minds a notion that research is some blue-haired lady at the library, using the Dewey Decimal system to look up a book written in 1967 by Professor So-and-So.

Or, worse yet, there may be a sense that research is the net result of one of those annoying phone surveys where you are called just as you are sitting down to dinner and are asked to rate the likelihood of whether you would buy whitening toothpaste over tartar control paste. In that moment, who cares what kind of toothpaste you use—all you are thinking about is your meal getting cold, your screaming kids and getting off the phone.

That’s not research. That’s simply the dinner-hour at one middle-American household.

This can all be boiled down to two points to keep in mind when dealing with clients and creatives. Those who, a) don’t believe in research or b) have never experienced good research.

How can this battle be overcome? Education.

performed by talented people who know what methodologies to use, how to get from consumers information of depth, how to interpret resulting insights and how to take action. Creatives need to know that the planner is here to support them, to help inspire the process and help ensure the work is the best it can be.

Not to kill it.

Good research brings clarity and leaves everyone with a deep understanding of the target, the playing field, the brand as it is, what it can become and what it will take to get there.

It is simple: the right research + a good planner = successful project!

We just need to overcome the stereotypes of research as it has been known. There is a better way, one less concerned with quantifying and more aware of understanding.

After all, is that not the foundation for all things great?

by Shelly Strom

As veterans in the competition for talent, we at 52 Ltd. have learned a thing or two about what it takes to attract and retain the best in creative services. And one thing that is crystal clear: Organizational culture plays a huge role. Companies that want to be successful in retaining employees—which really means being appealing from the inside out—are realizing they better get a strategy. Even places like Portland and Seattle need to adapt. And even at a time when the jobless rate is on the rise. It might be nice if the “cool” work that attracts people also would sustain and retain them as workers. But it doesn’t. Newness wears off of cool. And if it was the only thing that made a job attractive—if the organization hasn’t cultivated a culture of retention—talent is going to be looking for the next great thing.Up and comers are more likely to stick with a workplace that reflects their own personal values. A lot of them expect it to actually enhance their quality of life. When it doesn’t, they aren’t afraid to move on. These attitudes cannot be ignored. Not at a time when the country is seeing a sea change in the demographics of its labor pool. No longer are they the demographics that propelled a 30-year expansion in the labor pool. The 500 largest companies in the U.S. will lose half their senior managers in the next several years or so, according to a report by The Economist magazine. The losses largely are due to retirement. And it’s more than just retiring baby boomers draining the labor pool. Two other important trends have played out: Neither the entrance of women into the workplace nor the increase in college-educated workers is bringing the marked increases to the labor pool that they did for so many years.At the same time, an increasing number of people are choosing not to affiliate as an employee with any one organization: The number of independent contractors annually is growing at 4 to 5 percent. The culture has to be all about retention, retention, retention. Practices that are more functional than “that’s just the way we’ve always done it. ”It means not just talking about work-life balance but actually putting the concept into play. “Companies are finding out that when they demonstrate values that mirror our quality of life—perhaps by offering flexible schedules and embracing social issues—they find employees want to stay,” says Ann Mangan, spokeswoman at Portland Development Commission.Another way to devise successful organizational culture, according to The Corporate Executive Board, is to focus on “employment value proposition.” An EVP is what a person gets out of becoming an employee for a particular organization. A company with a well-managed EVP—one where culture is congenial and there is room for professional development—can get away with paying 10 percent less in compensation, The Economist reports. Having an unvarnished view of workplace culture helps, especially when it comes to hiring. That way, cultivation of a functional organizational culture can be supplemented with seeding.“In hiring, we put as much, or more, emphasis on someone’s personality and thought process as their resume or skill set. Good, collaborative work starts by appreciating and fitting into the unique creative energy of our shop,” says David Karstad, creative director at Frank Creative Workgroup. “Besides, good ideas can come from any person at any position. Even ADs can think of great headlines,” Karstad says. Finding that awareness of your organizational culture and figuring out how it needs to mesh with workers is what 52 Ltd. is here for.Our approach to hiring is all about retention.We build relationships. With our clients. With the people in our bank of talent. It lets us make matches between the two. We do it because it raises the bar on quality of work. And we save our clients time and money.

Today is the first day it really feels like Fall. One day it was warm, the next day the temperature has dropped considerably.Sometimes this ushers in a busier hiring season. Hiring in the summer is sometimes tough in Portland. Hiring happens for sure and sometimes it is the busiest season. But it also the season when your thoughts can be on play and not work. Maybe you stare out the window more and pretend you are outside. Just doesn’t happen as much when it’s pouring down rain. After Labor Day (maybe that makes sense) people start thinking they better “buckle down” and get to work. No time for play now, time to get busy. That can translate into more projects, more activity, more work more hiring. Not a bad thing. Here’s to Fall. Â

I’ve been involved with hiring and placing workers in creative positions since the late 90’s. It’s something that is easy to do, but difficult to do well.  Most creative staffing agencies, or staffing agencies in general, will look to match paper resumes to paper job descriptions and hope for the best.

Throughout my 5 years of running the recruitment and hiring practice for a large interactive agency, I learned that making that connection is only part of the equation, and sometimes the best candidate might not appear to be the best on paper. 

While never professing to be perfect at it (we are dealing with people after all) 52 strives to take creative staffing to a level that views the whole employer/employee relationship as just that….a relationship…one that can be a good or bad, but making that determination should never be based merely on what looks to connect on paper. It’s all about nuance and knowing the people involved.  Again, easy concept but one that many miss or chose to ignore as it takes time to develop the knowledge and relationships required.