Matthew Kenney

Talent = Money

Posted on: 07.03.16 | by Matthew Kenney

Did you know in ancient times the word talent was used as a unit of measurement for silver and gold?

We are each born with talent. This talent has economic value. Historically, one’s talent was equated directly with pay. One’s talent was considered currency, which was compensated with silver or gold. Your talent would determine your wages.

Therefore, there was an economic incentive to build one’s vocation around his/her natural talent because this was the source of income. To the Ancient Greeks, Romans and other civilizations this was the norm. It was really common sense. If you had a talent for carpentry, why would you work as a butcher, baker or candlestick maker?

Unfortunately, this simple concept has been lost. People are not always encouraged – be it within family units and/or schools – to align their natural talents with a vocation. Some are taught – either explicitly or tacitly – that work is a chore to be endured. As a result, there are disconnects between what many people do professionally…and what they should be doing based on their natural talents. This misalignment costs individuals unknown fortunes and joy. The reality is this: A career is an opportunity for your talent to shine.

A common question to educators is “How do you find things to write and talk about daily”. However, teachers will generally tell you that ideas flow to them like a bubbling spring. Finding content isn’t the problem. Finding time to share everything they want to share is the challenge.

Teaching is only arduous when the teacher doesn’t have a natural and refined talent for teaching.

Think of it this way: Within each person is an unlimited amount of gold and silver (i.e. talent). He/she polishes and exchanges with customers a tiny piece of this talent daily for cash. A teacher has an unlimited source of income so long as his/her readers find value in his/her words. The same principle applies to any vocation. Your gold and silver already rests within you.

Yet, it’s common across industries for some people to find themselves in positions not aligned with their talents. They look outward for money rather than inward. As a result, work feels like an unnatural struggle. Talent alone won’t get us to where we want to go. Talent must be continuously polished with hard work, but building upon our talent is the starting point for career success. Study those who’ve excelled in business, government, and the arts and sciences. You’ll arrive at an inescapable conclusion: Success is a merger of talent and dedication to refining that talent in service to others.

A Marketing Lesson from the Toy Aisle

Posted on: 06.27.16 | by Matthew Kenney

Do you remember visiting the toy aisle as a little kid? Toys for boys were on one aisle, and toys for girls on another. Toys for boys normally had masculine imagery, while toys for girls emphasized femininity. This is the way toy companies and retailers wanted it: A clear gender-based line of demarcation.

The only problem: This is not how kids wanted it. To a kid, a toy is a toy. Toy retailers were — and arguably some still are — reinforcing outdated social norms in their marketing. Savvy toy retailers are doing away with this approach. So called “boys” toys are now intermingled with so-called “girls” toys. The focus is now on gender-neutral marketing.

In Practice: Go Where the Market Goes

One’s gender is sociological not biological. One’s sex is biological not sociological. While children begin understand gender as toddlers, sociologists tell us there usually isn’t full understanding until a child is about 7 years old.Look at little kids on a playground, for example. While there is some awareness of gender…kids couldn’t care less. Kids just want to play. The same principle applies to retail. There is no reason to segment toys for boys and girls. This is done purely for the benefit of retailers, not customers.

Of course, the broader lesson: Society is constantly evolving. Norms slowly change. Sometimes — as in the toy industry — the values of consumers are not aligned with retail practices. However, when retailers adapt their practices…the outcomes are well received. For example, companies like Amazon and Target have received positive public relations benefits (i.e. free advertising) by focusing on gender neutrality in their toy marketing.

The lesson for entrepreneurs in other industries: Go where the market goes. Think of it this way: If the market is constantly evolving; and your business stays the same; how long will it be before your company is totally disconnected from the market?

Understanding Customer Cognition

Posted on: 06.15.16 | by Matthew Kenney

When you visit the Kenney College web-site, you’ll notice it doesn’t look like other college web-sites. We intentionally take a minimalist approach to web-design, and pretty much instruction in general. Let me explain why using a metaphor.

Have you ever been in an airport, placed your boarding pass in your pocket and two-minutes later can’t find the boarding pass? Maybe you then go to your hotel, check-in, and can’t remember where you put your room key. Then, after a few frantic seconds you find it. Why does this happen? Thank your unconscious mind.

When in a new environment your unconscious, unbeknownst to your conscious mind, is processing hundreds of bits of information. Putting your boarding pass in your coat pocket gets blended with other bits of information (like going through security, listening to overhead announcements, and seeing ads for $12.95 grab-n-go sandwiches). It isn’t until your conscious mind realizes your boarding pass is needed that this vital information is differentiated from noise and clutter.

Now, imagine a customer feeling the same way walking into your business — or visiting your web-site — for the first time. He/she experiences a flood of stimuli. Just like the airlines at an airport, your business is taking people from where they are to where they want to go. The only difference is that you are facilitating arrival at some other preferred destination. In our case, the desired destination is the acquisition of knowledge. For your business, it will be something else. Yet, every entrepreneur is in the business of transporting customers to a desired state of mind.

It seems logical to flood a web-site, or showroom window, with a lot of content. It is tempting to fill web-pages with image, after image, after image. However, this is often counter productive. If your goal is to help people understand anything, it is best to remove as much visual noise as possible. Try to place yourself in your customer’s unconscious mind.

Here are a couple of tips to help crystallize a consumers cognition, so that he/she is focusing on what you want him/her to focus upon:

Ask visitors if they are return customers. First time visitors may need more time to acclimate to the stimuli they are processing.
Give customers your name; ask theirs; and refer to customers by name often. This will enhance both communication and the customer’s recall. Entrepreneurs who jump right into sales mode without establishing inter-personal rapport will blend into the consumer’s subconscious. Essentially, they will block you out until their conscious mind is ready to accept the value proposition. As a customer, have you ever dealt with a salesperson at retail store, and a week later have no memory of the person’s name or what they told you? This is likely because they didn’t connect with you the correct way. They missed an opportunity to make a mutually beneficial connection, likely, because they focused on selling their product….not meeting your needs.
Focus on the person, not the product. People generally visit a business with a desire to learn more, or buy something. Thus, entrepreneurs cut-to-the-chase and start talking about products. Remember this: The product is incidental. Focus on the customer’s needs and desires and they will buy more often than if you simply focus on the product. Entrepreneurs (and professionals in general) often know everything about their products…and nothing about their customers. When you understand how your customers think, you’ll be better prepared to market your goods and services. This process is easier to begin when we resist the temptation to inundate the consumer’s unconscious mind with a lot of unneeded clutter. Just give customers what they need to make an informed decision….that’s all they want.

Entrepreneurship Requires Humility

Posted on: 06.05.16 | by Matthew Kenney

One key lesson I learned from my dad, while growing up in our family business: The value of humility. Never walk past what needs to be done, regardless of how unpleasant or tedious the task.

My dad was a caterer and prominent local merchant. I recall a fancy reception for a judge, attended by all the leaders of our community, when I was a teenager. We were short on waitstaff, and my dad — in his best suit and tie — assumed the role of clearing tables. A court employee saw this, and said to me “your father shouldn’t be doing that, it’s demeaning”. That person didn’t understand entrepreneurship. There is nothing demeaning about doing what is needed. This was a great lesson, and one my wife and I try to impart to our children.

This it is also a principle we; our team and faculty try to impart to our students. Entrepreneurship requires doing things we might not want to do. Why? Because they need to get done or the business will fail. It isn’t that complicated, but too often entrepreneurs think first about outsourcing unpleasant tasks. This is generally a mistake. We should outsource what we cannot do ourselves…not what we don’t want to do. There is a big difference.

Take delivery as an example. I’ve seen many examples of entrepreneurs outsourcing their delivery, which can easily be rationalized as a sound business decision (especially if the items being delivered are heavy and/or labor intensive). Yet, when we place a variable between our companies and our customers…we are adding risk. We are also missing what marketing professors call “touch points”. That is, an opportunity to connect with a customer and build loyalty. You want as many touch-points as possible.

Bottom line: If we want to own a business, we cannot expect others to run it. We cannot walk past what needs to be done. My family’s business lasted nearly 63 years, until my dad’s retirement for health reasons in 1996. It was started in 1933. Fewer than 1-in-10,000 businesses last over 50 years. Why did my family beat-the-odds for so long? We had good products and good service, but lots of companies that failed during those 63 years had good products and service. The need for good products and service is self-evident. I believe what differentiated us was humility. Every job and every task was viewed as important, and nobody saw what need to be done as beneath them.

Leadership Rule #1: Know How Employees Learn

Posted on: 05.26.16 | by Matthew Kenney

Did you ever see a textbook filled with highlighted passages? Have you ever re-read the same passage several times in an attempt to remember it? When it comes to learning….both these efforts have been proven ineffective.

If these techniques do not work it means the information you want employees to retain will not be there when they need it. It matters not what they are attempting to learn. Knowledge is like a savings account: We can only take-out what we put-in.

So, how do we make sure information sticks in our long-term memory? Over a century of research on this topic suggests there are five proven methods.

One of the best techniques is called Distributed Practice. This is a process where practice is broken into a number of short sessions. Think of it this way: A daily five-minute sales meeting will likely be more effective than a 30-minute weekly meeting.

Retrieval Practice is also effective. This approach utilizes short quizzes or tests. The same premise applies: A number of small quizzes will be more effective than one big test.

Interleaved Practice is where we blend topics while learning (yes, the exact opposite of how just about every company and college tries to educate people). If you want employees to learn about management and marketing, integrate the topics for better results.

Elaborative Interrogation means that we should be asking ourselves as we learn: What is the purpose of this effort, and how will it be applied? This approach is essential in adult education. Adults do not learn the same way as children, and they shouldn’t be taught like children.

Self-explanation is a technique whereby we teach ourselves without any assistance. We just figure it out. Business doesn’t always come with a playbook. Sometimes we learn effectively by relying upon our own common sense and talents. The key is to not rely on intuition solely if possible.

Reference:

Roediger, H. (2013). Applying Cognitive Psychology to Education. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 14(1). p. 1-13.

If your company is experiencing any employee related issues, contact us today for a complimentary consultation.

What’s in a Name?

Posted on: 05.25.16 | by Matthew Kenney

Here is something you might not know: Kenney College graduates receive a custom made diploma, in Latin, crafted by a calligrapher. Our diploma is truly a work of art. We are happy to make this extra effort for our graduates. After all, an MBA is an amazing accomplishment worthy of special recognition.

Yet, there is also a personal reason: My family name is on each diploma. Those diplomas represent, to me, sacrifices made by my parents; grandparents; and distant ancestors who boarded a boat in Ireland to embark on a new life in a new world.

I share this simple example so that professionals will consider something: Would you do things differently if your name — indeed the name of your loved ones — was on the side of the building; or atop the company letterhead?

It wasn’t too long ago that using surnames in the branding of a business was the norm. Ford, Proctor & Gamble, Edison, Westinghouse and others put their names on the line routinely. Today, branding consultants advise against the use of surname for valid reasons. But as a society…haven’t we lost something? We don’t recommend, of course, that all business owners use a surname in their branding. We simply suggest creating a culture of accountability begins with pride of ownership.

It’s easy to hide behind brand names in relative anonymity, but that doesn’t mean we should. We should run our businesses like everyone knows the founder(s) are accountable. The scientific findings are undeniable: A company culture is going to develop the personality traits of the founder(s) as their norms. Stated differently, what the founder values….his/her employees value. If you take pride in your company’s name, so will your employees. We need not use our surnames for branding, but we should manage our brands as if we did.

When founding Kenney College, a lot of friends and advisors gave advice. Some said to name the school for a famous entrepreneur. Others suggested a generic name that conveyed business and leadership. Nobody suggested calling it Kenney College. However, the Kenney College name was chosen for metaphorical reasons. My wife and I wanted our students to know “if we can do it, you can do it”. We want to humbly serve others, and be the best we can be. If we stick to this simple premise, I’m sure we’ll do my parents, grandparents, and those pioneering ancestors proud.

Perils of Plagiarism

Posted on: 05.25.16 | by Matthew Kenney

Plagiarism is the use of another person’s words or ideas without attribution. The word plagiarism derives from the Latin words meaning “Literary Thief”. Today we’ll explore how this complex issue relates to professional communication, and how to avoid professional embarrassment and risk.

Plagiarism is a type of theft. Yet, nobody has ever been charged in a court of law for plagiarism. That’s because plagiarism is primarily an ethical issue, not a legal doctrine. The punishment a plagiarist receives is social stigma and professional embarrassment.

However, it’s important to understand that plagiarism does not occur just because one person expresses the words of another without attribution. For example, politicians use speechwriters; lawyers use junior associates to draft briefs and memos; celebrities use ghostwriters etc. This is not plagiarism because of one word: consent. If a person has the permission to use the words of another person (with the exception of an academic environment) it is not plagiarism.

The problem arises when there is no consent. While plagiarism isn’t illegal, copyright infringement is. If an entrepreneur takes information from a competitor (e.g. a published report of research findings etc.) and expresses it as his/her own, it’s possible the plagiarist could also be sued under the legal doctrine of unfair competition. Bottom line: What might be seen as harmless “copying and pasting” could cause a lot of problems for your company and a career.

When creating marketing and web-content, producing employee policies, or anything else that involves the expression of words and ideas through writing….make sure the words are original. If they are not, make sure you have the permission of the author(s).

In 2002, a Pulitzer Prize winning author lost a prestigious TV job because she plagiarized the work of another author. A few years later, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company plagiarized a management booklet…the Board of Directors cut his stock compensation by $1 million. While these are extreme examples of the perils of plagiarism, they go to show the professional costs can be significant.

Most people caught plagiarizing chalk-it-up to sloppy note taking; or they believe their ideas are original despite being influenced by others (psychologists call this phenomenon cryptomnesia). This is probably true in most cases. Yet, intent doesn’t really matter in courts of law or public opinion. Plagiarists are viewed as thieving, lazy or both even if the plagiarism was accidental. Those who attribute credit to others will be viewed as more trustworthy. Trust advances careers.

Writing can be a great way to advance a career. Obviously, what we write will — in part — be influenced by the words and thoughts of others. So, how do we write without plagiarizing? First, avoid copying and pasting. Secondly, note that common knowledge and your original thoughts needn’t be attributed. However, if you are conveying a thought that derives from another person’s thoughts — whether those thoughts were written or spoken — give that person credit.

References:

Green,P. (2002). Plagiarism, Norms, and the Limits of Theft Law: Some Observations on the Use of Criminal Sanctions in Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights. Hastings Law Journal. 54(1).
Karp, J. (2006). Raytheon Penalizes CEO Financially After Plagiarism. Wall Street Journal.

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