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1. Are we still having productive discussions?

Like the executives who ran Ford Motor Company in the 1950s, top teams produce mixed results. One reason is the tendency top teams have to cascade toward a decision without adequately assessing alternatives, as was the case with the Edsel. Given this tendency toward group-think, it pays to assess the strength of your agreement or disagreement by responding to a few simple statements regarding your top team’s interactions. To make this easy, we suggest your team take a brief check-in survey adapted from management scholar Anneloes Raes. If your answers fall more to the right side of the scales, then you should ask whether your team is really just a group of lone wolfs or even one that sends results-impeding ripples across your organization.

2. Do we need to realign our priorities?

Studies show that high-level agreements about goals can mask deeper misalignments that affect top team performance. When these differences go unaddressed, teams are slower to make decisions and implement them or implement them in the wrong way. A key difference in how the Ford executives handled the V-8 and Edsel decisions, is that in the first case, they were willing to readjust their priorities, while in the latter, goals were never up for discussion. Once you begin having more productive discussions, make a point of checking in on your strategic priorities to ensure they are in alignment with your organization’s capabilities and your customers’ needs.

3. Have we become too isolated?

Just as members of a top team need to make sure they are aligned behind shared priorities, the whole top team should ask whether it is aligned and connected enough with the rest of the organization and the broader environment. In this sense, every member of the team should make organizational relationship-building a priority. Studies reveal why these relationship networks are essential: 90 percent of the information a top team uses to make decisions comes through informal channels rather than formal reports. Bringing fresh perspectives to strategic planning meetings whether through new data, or new voices such as Morsey’s, can help you avoid the blind spots that plague all teams.

Every brand has a story to tell, but is your story newsworthy? How does an appearance on Good Morning America sound? What about making the front page of your city’s newspaper? Every business owner wants great public relations and TV appearances, but two things hold them back from pulling the trigger – understanding of the industry and money. Small businesses have limited budgets and many can’t afford to hire someone to handle their PR, but that doesn’t mean a small business can’t have as good of PR as a big business with a much bigger budget.

 

When it comes to the media relations aspect of PR, all a business needs is a great story to tell. To do that, keep these three things in mind.

 

1. Be different. The media gets a lot of phone calls, emails, and even snail mail every day. If you are too conventional, you will get lost in the shuffle. Find a creative way to stand out. While you’re thinking outside the box, think of great visuals, interesting interviews, and unique talking points. For example, instead of sending a pitch with text in an email, try sending a video instead.

2. Remember your goal. Yes, it’s to get publicity, but why? Is it to bring in new customers? Is it to add the media organization’s logo to your website? Is it to motivate your staff? Don’t waste your time or money going after something you may not even want. Keep your eye on the prize and that will help you when you pitch the media.

3. It’s not who you know, it’s what you have. Sure, knowing someone in the media helps, but having a great story is even more important. There are so many brands who have made international news without a publicist, but with an incredible story. If you use that story to target your goal publication or TV show, and include lots of personalization in that pitch, you will be golden!

Remember, your local TV station or newspaper is not going to give you a free commercial. If that’s what you want, you need to buy an advertisement. If you want free coverage, you need to tell a newsworthy story.

Making something newsworthy means having a real person to interview. Here’s an example: If you own a bilingual preschool and want to drum up media exposure, tell the story of a young boy who is now able to converse with his grandparents because he learned Spanish. Tell the story of the little girl who is teaching her parents how to speak another language. Those are real people with real stories.

Use the the three E’s to determine if a story is newsworthy:

Will it entertain the audience? There is so much stuff, for lack of a better word, on TV and online, that it’s hard to stay engaged. Make sure your story will keep an audience’s attention.

Will it educate the audience? People like to read and watch stories that offer them some kind of value or take away. Give it to them.

Does it have emotion? Your real person is usually your emotional element, and a much needed one. Why do you think animal videos go viral so much? They play on your emotions. Look for the emotion in your story in employees or customers.

Now, think about your business – how it started, where it is located, the people you work with, the people you help. There must be a story in there somewhere.

About the author

Christina Nicholson is a former TV reporter and anchor who now owns and operates a public relations firm, Media Maven. She teaches small business owners how to handle public relations on their own. She lives in South Florida with her husband and two young children.

1. They’re kind without being weak. One of the toughest things for leaders to master is kindness. It’s a balancing act, and the key to finding balance is to recognize that true kindness is inherently strong -- it’s direct and straightforward. Telling people the difficult truth they need to hear is much kinder than protecting them (or yourself) from a difficult conversation. This is weak. Also, true kindness doesn’t come with expectations. Kindness is thin when you use it in a self-serving manner -- people can see right through kindness when a kind leader has an agenda.
2. They’re strong without being harsh. Strength is an important quality in a leader. People will wait to see if a leader is strong before they decide to follow his or her lead or not. People need courage in their leaders. They need someone who can make difficult decisions and watch over the good of the group. They need a leader who will stay the course when things get tough. People are far more likely to show strength themselves when their leader does the same.
A lot of leaders mistake domineering, controlling and otherwise harsh behavior for strength. They think that taking control and pushing people around will somehow inspire a loyal following. Strength isn’t something you can force on people; it’s something you earn by demonstrating it time and again in the face of adversity. Only then will people trust that they should follow you.
3. They’re confident, without being cocky. We gravitate to confident leaders because confidence is contagious, and it helps us to believe that there are great things in store. The trick, as a leader, is to make certain your confidence doesn’t slip into arrogance and cockiness. Confidence is about passion and belief in your ability to make things happen, but when your confidence loses touch with reality, you begin to think you can do things you can’t and have done things you haven’t. Suddenly it’s all about you. This arrogance makes you lose credibility.
Great, confident leaders are still humble. They don’t allow their accomplishments and position of authority to make them feel that they’re better than anyone else. As such, they don’t hesitate to jump in and do the dirty work when needed, and they don’t ask their followers to do anything they aren’t willing to do themselves.
4. They stay positive, but remain realistic. Another major challenge that leaders face is finding the balance between keeping things positive and still being realistic. Think of a sailboat with three people aboard: a pessimist, an optimist and a great leader. Everything is going smoothly until the wind suddenly sours. The pessimist throws his hands up and complains about the wind; the optimist sits back, saying that things will improve; but the great leaders says, “We can do this!” and he adjusts the sails and keeps the ship moving forward. The right combination of positivity and realism is what keeps things moving forward.
5. They’re role models, not preachers. Great leaders inspire trust and admiration through their actions, not just their words. Many leaders say that integrity is important to them, but great leaders walk their talk by demonstrating integrity every day. Harping on people all day long about the behavior you want to see has a tiny fraction of the impact you achieve by demonstrating that behavior yourself.

The United Kingdom's surprising decision to leave the European Union, known as the "Brexit," sent the British pound sterling (GBP) tumbling in foreign exchange (forex) currency markets in 2016. In fact, the pound lost more value than any of the world's major currencies from January to mid-July, and plunged to 30-year lows in the process. It isn't the only currency that struggled, however, and some have been far worse. Minor currencies such as the Argentine peso (ARS), Nigerian naira (NGN), Egyptian pound (EGP) and Venezuelan bolivar (VEF) have each fallen significantly against the U.S. dollar (USD).
While heightened uncertainty or questionable monetary policy helps suppress currency used in the United Kingdom, Egypt and Argentina, the calamity in Venezuela is of a different magnitude altogether. The Nigerian situation is unique because the naira was pegged to the U.S. dollar for several months before being allowed to float on June 20, 2016, making it difficult to conduct an apples-to-apples comparison.

Venezuelan Bolivar

Venezuela had a very difficult first half of 2016, and prospects are poor for the second half. Masses of Venezuelans struggle with food shortages, power outages and an increasingly militaristic government desperate to maintain control. It is difficult to get accurate economic information from Venezuela, but there is serious reason to doubt the validity of government statistics that show a 62.2% annual inflation rate.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released projections in April that the estimated annual inflation in Venezuela during 2016 would be 481%. By July, those estimates rose to 700%. Based on current government policy and expected economic declines, the 2017 inflation projection is a dizzying 1,642%.
The situation is quickly resembling a classic hyperinflation pattern. In 2013, Venezuelan inflation was estimated at 41%. This rose to 63% by 2014 and 275% in 2015. To put this into perspective, an American could exchange one U.S. dollar for approximately four Venezuelan bolivars in 2012. The exchange ratio climbed to $1 for 900 bolivars by the end of 2015. If the IMF's projections are accurate, $1 could purchase between 90,000 and 100,000 bolivars by the end of 2017.

Nigerian Naira

The worst-performing currency in 2016 is the naira. By July, the NGN lost approximately 29.5% value on the official market, trading at more than 360 NGN/USD and more than 470 NGN/GBP. All of those losses occurred within a six-week window after the naira began free-floating in mid-June. Sharp swings in relative currency prices are customary when switching from a fixed-rate to a free-floating-rate regime, but Nigeria has a history of dramatic and worrying inflation.

Egyptian Pound

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) strategically devalued the Egyptian pound in 2016, in an attempt to drive out illegal transactions in Egypt's huge black market. Unlike the naira or pound sterling, the Egyptian pound still operates on a fixed exchange-rate system, though there are expectations that the CBE might adopt a more flexible exchange rate regime in response to tough economic conditions.
The Egyptian pound started out 2016 at a fixed rate of 7.73 EGP/USD, well above the going black market rate of roughly 9.5 to 11 EGP/USD. The CBE's decision to devalue the pound should help alleviate this imbalance, but some worry that the extra currency will exacerbate Egypt's already troubling inflation rate.

Michael Phelps may be the most decorated Olympian of all time, but these days he's thinking about putting his energies into a different kind of deep end — by expanding his family!

"We would love a girl. Love, love, love a girl. We wanted a boy first, just in case we did have other children, [so] he could be the protector of his younger sibling or siblings. So we started off on a perfect note: We got a boy. We got a beautiful, healthy baby boy, and we're looking to continue to grow our family."

Source - http://www.teamusa.org/News/2016/August/08/The-Best-Photos-From-Rio-2016-Aug-8-Edition

Following this week’s cash rate cut to 1.5 per cent, owner occupier home loan rates have continued to tumble, pushing many deals well below the four per cent mark.
And St George Banking Group economist Hans Kunnen is predicting there will be two more cash rate cuts to come — in November and May — which would pull the cash rate down to one per cent and home loan rates down even lower.



One of the nation’s mortgage broking firms, Australian Finance Group’s general manager of sales and operations Mark Hewitt, said if customers don’t have a rate in the threes they’re doing themselves a “disservice.”
“Without a doubt you should have a three in front of your rate or you should be considering your options — go to your lender or broker,’’ he said.
“There’s deals that are 3.6 or 3.7 per cent on variable and fixed rate deals for owner occupiers especially if the customers have a low loan to value ratio.”

Watch Full Story Here - http://www.news.com.au/finance/home-loan-interest-deals-should-be-in-the-three-per-cent-range-after-rba-cut/news-story/4b9f5b596c26c60a8a6c42a5527a5c35