article thumbnail

Comparison, escalation and the golf clap

Seth Godin Blog

Comparison and escalation are at the heart of what makes our culture work We've all encountered a tepid group, an audience that won't make noise, a bunch of disaffected students, or perhaps the distracted masses. Cat taught me this trick, which gives great insight into human nature. Can everyone give me a golf clap, a level one clap, a quiet, polite amount of applause?". Of course, everyone can do this. This is risk-free, enthusiasm-free and easier to do than not.

article thumbnail

48.6% of Spaniards Aged 18-24 Would Take Any Job, Anywhere, for Low Wages; Ikea Spain Gets 100,000 Applicants for 400 Jobs; Walmart, McDonalds Comparison

MishTalk

Walmart, McDonalds Comparison To be fair, there is a major difference between McDonalds'' employees and Spaniards seeking jobs. In contrast to McDonalds'' workers in the US demanding $15 an hour wages, Almost half of young Spaniards accept any job, anywhere, despite low salary 48.6% of Spaniards aged 18 to 24 said they would accept any job, anywhere and even with a low income. felt very or fairly likely to have to work on what is available, 61.7%

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Existing Home Sales Solid, Not Spectacular; Be Careful With Year-Over-Year Comparisons

MishTalk

Existing home sales bounced in April as expected. Compared to pre-recession totals, sales look weak, but compared to the last … Continue reading → Economics

article thumbnail

“Up All Night” Protests Spread to French Prime Minister’s House, Teargas Used; Comparisons to US

MishTalk

The “Nuit Debout” (Up All Night) movement in France spread from the Place de la République (Republic Square) to prime … Continue reading → Economics

article thumbnail

Ukrainian Currency Comparison: Budget Rate vs. Official Rate vs. Interbank Rate vs. Street Rate

MishTalk

Last Friday, reader John told me the " street rate " for currency in Ukraine was not the reported 28 Hryvnias per US$ but rather on the order of 32 per US$. I asked John where he got his information. He replied, " from my sister who lives in Lviv ". Lviv is a beautiful city in Western Ukraine. John did not know what the " street rate " was yesterday, but he informed me the " interbank rate " was 31.50 to 32.50. The interbank rate is higher still today.

article thumbnail

How to Keep Envy from Poisoning Your Team’s Culture

Harvard Business

Create a culture of compassion, not comparison. Managing yourself Leading teams Motivating people Digital Article

article thumbnail

Five (and a half) Pricing Strategies that Will Win You More Projects at Higher Fees

David A Fields

Look no further than the gas pumps to see the extraordinary, often nonsensical, choices made by shoppers reacting to comparisons. Prominent signs proclaim each brand’s current price per gallon, making it easy to compare among alternatives. And drivers whose time is worth hundreds of dollars an hour will drive miles out of their way or wait in line for what amounts to a dollar or two off their total bill.

article thumbnail

All the marbles (and quick money)

Seth Godin Blog

It pales in comparison with money earned over time for a job well done The problem with winning all the marbles is that the game is then over. And owning all the marbles is not really worth the effort if it means no one else has a chance going forward. And quick money?

article thumbnail

The Four Social Media Horsemen Of The Scarcity Apocalypse

Henry DeVries

Are you falling into the social media comparison trap? In her research, marketing professor Kelly Goldsmith examines people’s responses to uncertainty and scarcity, uncovering and explaining seemingly paradoxical effects

article thumbnail

Pricing Strategy – Pricing and Green Team Reviews Best Practices

Granite Leadership Strategies

In Government contracting, the green team review is the pricing review. Most contractors make this all-important review after the technical red team review. What is frightening is that too many companies make it the only pricing review.

article thumbnail

Compared to what

Seth Godin Blog

The good news is that our perception of comparison is up to us Satisfaction is often driven by the story we tell ourselves. How does this rank compared to what I expected? Compared to what I used to have? Compared to the person sitting next to me?

article thumbnail

Having Marketing Challenges Suddenly? Help Is Available

Business Consulting Agency

Marketing has gotten so much more complex in comparison to past times. It drastically changes with the Internet. Furthermore, it changes due to online commerce. Then, the recent couple years changed consumer behavior, which impacts marketing again. Marketing is always adjusting to the times.

article thumbnail

Look, Doc, Before You Cut, How About A Ten Percent Discount?

Alan Weiss

What’s really going on, of course, is that the consultants allow themselves to become commodities by insufficiently differentiating their value, consequently price comparisons are inevitable.

article thumbnail

The lifeguard hack

Seth Godin Blog

Don’t ship that work, it’s not ready… There are endless excuses, comparisons and reasons to hold back. Who am I to walk up to someone at a party and introduce myself? Who are you to start a new project? Who are they to give a talk on the main stage?

article thumbnail

How to Provide Safe and Comfortable In-Person Training as People Return to the Office

Clarity Consultants

Filling a classroom or conference room to the brim with employees isn’t just going to feel unsafe to many; it’s going to feel oddly crowded, especially in comparison to the social distancing standards most people have been following. Re-opening processes are underway in many industries.

Training 115
article thumbnail

PPI Services Shows No Price Pressures

MishTalk

but that is based on easy comparisons and it also includes a big jump in oil prices which barely filtered through. Wholesale prices show continued weakness, especially services. The BLS reports PPI for Final Demand Declines 0.1% in March. Services and goods both decreased by 0.1%. Year-over-year prices are up by 2.3% more…). Economics

article thumbnail

Gap Between Nowcast and GDPNow Narrows to 1.9 Percentage Points: Or Does It? What Happened?

MishTalk

However, that straight-up comparison is invalid for reasons discussed below. On Friday, the FRBNY Nowcast estimate for first quarter GDP dipped from 3.2% to 2.8%. That makes the spread between Nowcast and GDPNow 1.9 percentage points. First, let’s investigate Nowcast changes. more…). Economics

article thumbnail

Better Website Results With Professional Help

Business Consulting Agency

In comparison to the industry, competition, and more of course. Not all websites are the same. This is simply the truth. Even when they look visually alike, they can drastically differ from each other. Usually, they do! This can confuse entrepreneurs and companies.

article thumbnail

Over €1 Trillion Nonperforming EU Loans: EU vs US Percentages

MishTalk

For comparison purposed, a World Bank Report has the US at 1.3%, Japan at 1.5%, and Canada at 0.6%. An EU report out this month shows nonperforming loans were a staggering €1.092 trillion as of the end of 2016. The average non-performing rate in the EU is 5.1%, down from 5.7% in 2015. In contrast, Greece and Cyprus have NPL ratios of 46% and 45% respectively. Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, and Romania all have NPL ratios between 10% and 20%. more…).

article thumbnail

Disruption again, but this time from the supply side

The Source

Demand-side disruption taps into frustration with existing services and price points: New York’s famous yellow cabs are dirty, cramped, and expensive, while in comparison, Uber’s cars are clean, air-conditioned, and usually cheaper.

article thumbnail

Can a Public Company Ever Be Lean?

Markovitz Consulting

But comparisons with Toyota are pointless. Can public US companies really embrace lean? Well sure, they can deploy lean tools here and there, but the whole socio-technical system that comprises lean? I don’t think so. Wall Street pressure for quarterly profits competes fiercely with lean principles, both inside and outside the company.

Company 140
article thumbnail

Choices

Alan Weiss

The prospect will focus on price comparisons and decide whether your particular alternative is needed and appropriate under current conditions. If you approach a prospect as a sales person, or vender, with a program or service to sell, you will be seen as a commodity.

article thumbnail

Outsiders

Seth Godin Blog

All it means is that when people begin to measure themselves only in comparison to others ("How did I rank?") You can't have insiders unless you have outsiders. And you can't have winners unless you have losers. That doesn't mean that you're required to create insiders and winners. then you need to accept the impact of those choices. It's entirely possible to be happy and engaged and productive without creating this dynamic.

article thumbnail

Do You Really Have Time to Do a Do-over?

Makarios Consulting

There is simply no comparison. “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”. John Wooden, Coach, UCLA Bruins.

article thumbnail

People Don’t Want to Be Compared with Others in Performance Reviews. They Want to Be Compared with Themselves

Harvard Business

We call those temporal comparison evaluations. We call those social comparison evaluations. Our findings demonstrate that employees consider temporal comparison evaluations to be fairer than social comparison evaluations. After they finished their task, in one condition their manager provided evaluations that compared their performance from round two to their performance from round one; temporal comparison evaluations. HBR STAFF/Schreiber Sons/nypl.

article thumbnail

The Science of Learning: What Do We Know About How Adults Learn Best?

Clarity Consultants

Adults have far different needs in comparison to children and teens. While it’s easy to assume that learning works the same regardless of a person’s age, that isn’t the case. As a result, educational approaches designed for younger people may not be ideal for adult learners.

article thumbnail

Five Reasons Fed Won’t Hike Even Twice in 2017

MishTalk

Following that comparison, I present my reasons why all the expected hikes are not coming. On December 14, right before the FOMC decision I took a snapshot of rate hike odds and posted them in Fed Hikes Today, Then What? Today, we compare the before vs. the after, the latter is from Friday, December 16. more…). Economics

article thumbnail

Improve Online Sales Through Expert Help

Business Consulting Agency

In comparison to brick and mortar type of companies, it is much less demanding. Are you selling online? Do you have an e-commerce website, but are experiencing low sales? This is common with startups, small and larger companies.

Sales 52
article thumbnail

5 Ways Playing Small is Sabotaging Your Consulting Success

Consulting Matters

These feelings are particularly acute for both new and seasoned consulting and coaching business owners which in comparison to other business owners, growing to the next level is personal because your business is based on you.

article thumbnail

Dueling Forecasts: GDPNow 4.2% vs Nowcast 1.8%

MishTalk

For comparison purposes, Nowcast was at 2.9% For the first quarter, the initial GDPNow forecast was 2.3% on January 30, 2017. The GDPNow forecast spiked quickly to 3.4% then crashed to a final estimate of 0.2% on April 27. on February 3, the closest date to the initial GDPNow forecast. The final Nowcast estimate was 2.7%. The advance GDP estimate from the BEA was 0.7%. Thus the Nowcast was two full percentage points too high. In contrast, GDPNow was in the ballpark but 0.5

article thumbnail

Why Is Change Management Vital to Any Company?

Clarity Consultants

It ensures that employees are able to navigate the new processes correctly, as well as reduces the overall learning curve in comparison to trying to figure it out as they go. Change within an organization can be beneficial, but it also commonly creates challenges.

article thumbnail

Measure the Right Stuff

Martinka Consulting

but wouldn’t a better metric be the comparison of incidents with and without the cameras? There was a news report about the city of Auburn, WA reinstating their traffic cameras in school zones (not red-light cameras). The spokeswoman for the city talked about how without the cameras the percentage of cars going 26 miles per hour or more (the speed limit is 20-mph) is higher than when there were cameras. That’s great but is it the right metric?

Metrics 40
article thumbnail

Cash Flow Relief for Independent Consultants: the CARES Act & Other Ideas

Successful Independent Consulting

An accounting firm has published a good comparison chart of the two loan programs here. We’re in an unprecedented situation because of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and the economic fallout has been drastic for many business sectors, such as travel and restaurants.

Cash Flow 248
article thumbnail

Showrooming: Two Companies, Two Opposite Experiences

1 to 1

Since customers rarely leave their homes without their mobile phones, it''s easy to research an item and make comparisons while still in the store. The concept of showrooming has become ingrained in customers'' shopping habits. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog. customerexperience customerloyalty customerservice customerstrategy sales showrooming

article thumbnail

I Can't Do That

CaseInterview.com

This phrase comparison is a perfect example. Let's take a look at the following two sentences: I can’t do that. I can’t do that. Only one word separates these two sentences. But, they have profoundly different meanings. . The first sentence, “I can’t do that,” implies a permanent state that can’t be altered. By adding the word “yet,” as in “I can’t do that. yet,” it implies that the current status of your skill level can be altered with time. We can debate which statement is true.

article thumbnail

Using the Right Performance Metrics: Watch out for P&Ls

Kates Kesler

For a simple comparison, consider this sports team analogy. We regularly work with CEO’s that are frustrated with leader behaviors that undermine enterprise strategy.

Metrics 100
article thumbnail

Finding Confidence as a Management Consultant

Tom Spencer

Comparison can lead you to forget that our journeys aren’t the same and that you also worked just as hard as the next person to earn your rightful seat at the consulting table.

article thumbnail

Disruption and distraction: Y2K, GDPR and Brexit

The Source

While Brexit is an unpredictable bump in the road somewhere on the horizon (possibly coming rapidly into view), comparisons are being made with two other considerable regulatory, and technological changes—the Y2K millennium bug and the EU’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Whatever your views on Brexit, it’s proving frustratingly impossible to ignore. Since the referendum in June 2016, the process has acted as a vortex, sucking in energy from across sectors.

article thumbnail

Do You Really Have Time to Do a Do-over?

Makarios Consulting

There is simply no comparison.

article thumbnail

5 Effective Content Marketing Tips for Consultants

Consulting Matters

Purchase : Your items for purchase are lower-price offerings, in comparison to a full-on consulting engagement. Content marketing is not some marketing fad. It’s simply the smartest way of finding and connecting with your ideal client, establishing your credibility, increasing your number of discovery meetings and close rates as well as giving you the platform to increasing your fees. Content marketing is essential for consultants because we are in the knowledge business.

Marketing 202