Six Quick Questions:

1. You work with a Colombian guy and you have heard that he has a very sick cousin. Should you inquire about this, or is it none of your business?
2. Three people come late to a meeting. One is an American from San Diego, one a Venezuelan who has lived in the USA for five years, and one is a visiting Chinese businessman. Can you guess the order in which they will arrive, simply from knowing their cultural background? Why?
3. What one extra feature would probably significantly have helped the sales of US vehicles, in Japan, in the 1970s -1990s?
4. You meet a client from the UK. She orders a beer at lunch and uses some language that makes you blink. Is she a bad woman with an alcohol problem?
5. African-American culture tends to be higher-context or  more ‘diffuse’ than Caucasian American Culture. True or False? What would this mean to your sales process with an African-American client?
6. If someone asked you for the percentage of household spending done by disabled family members, or for the approximate spend of the disability community in the USA, what would you reply? (www.EnableAmerica.com)

Five Strategic Questions:

1. New York culture is lower-context or more ‘specific’ than Florida culture. How would this affect your customer service training if you have many more customers in FL than in NY?
2. You are in retail and your IT is outsourced to an applications/data storage management IT company. Most of their team is Indian and they seem to deal unusually well with confusing, ambiguous situations. Is there some sort of cultural advantage operating here? How can your company develop a competitive advantage from examining this factor?
3. One of your new sales reps reports a sharp downturn in business from an account that was previously a steady stream of income. S/he describes the (Lebanese) customer as “from one of those South American countries.”  Your senior manager wants to see your coaching plan for the new sales rep. What does it include?
4. A major client company has recently gone through a merger. Their new head office will be in Paris instead of San Francisco. What are you going to do about retaining this account and the flow of business from it?
5. Your customer base is getting younger. A new check shows that the median age is eight years younger than your last measurement.  What should you do about this change in customer demographics?

You are invited to schedule a CPS workshop on Finding and Keeping Multicultural and Diverse Customers: glynis@c-psolutions.com or 813 598 9184.

CPS apologizes for any hitches  in our new, evolving but extra-safe website. IT security is one of the three major issues that futurists predict will affect business in the coming decade.

Tampa, Fla. – The National Association of Tourism and Conventions (NATC-TV) covered the 4th International Business Summit that was held on March 11th here in Tampa Bay. The event bought together nine multicultural Chambers of Commerce, Coca-Cola, the Tampa Port Authority, and other corporate sponsors. The NATC knows it witnessed something that will inspire the world to collaborate and cooperate with Tampa Bay’s business community,  not only to prevent chaos but create a beloved community. In short, the NATC knows it witnessed a model for unlocking the potential of the global economy.

Therefore, on Friday March 26th 2010 at 7pm, the NATC will be broadcasting this event on www.natc-us.com so that the world can see its vision reflected in the summit.

The NATC says the reason why it is sharing the exclusive coverage with the world with so much passion and conviction is because in times of great racial and international conflict along with explosive economic tensions at home and abroad, the world needs to see overwhelming American leadership and direction. The International Business Summit in Tampa Bay was an example of how American business can be a symbol of liberty and prosperity throughout the world.

Moreover, the NATC asks itself with will happen to Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, corporate America, and the commercial real estate industry if all Americans and the rest of the world didn’t see what happened in the summit. The answer to this question was so frightening the NATC said to itself it had better share what happened in Tampa Bay and do it in a hurry.

That’s why everyone should go to www.natc-us.com on Friday, March 26th to view the highlights of the annual International Business Summit. Let’s all see how we can reshape America’s potentially great business institutions to create more of a people centered global economy instead of a profit centered global economy.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Donald Hallback
813-625-0103
Email Donald@natc-us.com
Website www.natc-us.com

In July 2009, the BBC World Service reported a $180 million cost to United Airlines, when Dave Carroll’s viral video “United Breaks Guitars” led to a share price drop of approximately 10%. www.longislandexchange.com

Carroll’s band and other passengers witnessed guitars being thrown on the tarmac by careless baggage handlers before take-off, and reported this to United staff. Three people showed no interest in their plight, and United dodged his $1200 claim for a $3,500 guitar for a year before denying it completely. Carroll’s song (complete with the badly-mutilated guitar) is apparently destined to become a United training tool. Enjoy it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Disengagement is a major business problem, with many causes. These include a lack of skillful management, selection/succession procedures that do not put the right person in the right job, and inattention to climate and culture. And, of course,  measurable, affordable and effective learning interventions.

CPS is privileged to work with some truly excellent companies, who drive engagement from the top, and have a strong awareness of the cost of disengagement, and its consequences.  They have put the real numbers on retention,  productivity, service, quality, innovation, on-going process improvement, collaborative intelligence and the on-going development of competitive advantage.

Those who want to drive change in the engagement issue do best when they produce the numbers. No one gets out of their comfort zone without a compelling case for action, and many of the people who make key decisions have a background of thinking in terms of numbers, not on whether their people bring their whole selves to work.

Give them the real, hard numbers, plus the basis on which those numbers were derived (c-psolutions has things like how to calculate the cost of turnover etc if anyone needs them). Show them the hard research on why people go through the motions at work or leave their jobs. Give them valid metrics on the impact of disengagement on sales, service and customer retention.

Theory speaks to some people, but the business case is the best and most compelling reason to take the action needed to engage our workforce.

And to stop people breaking those poor guitars.

CPS is eligible to provide custom solutions to clients with state funding assistance, and helps our clients to source these. As a values- and ethics-based small business, CPS specializes in affordable, lasting solutions to people and business challenges.

A How could our education system be making you poorer, even if you do not have children in school, and already have a good education yourself?

Forbes.com has plenty of data on the best place to locate a business or build a career. The South East is generally doing well, but Tampa-St Pete is now is 132nd place on educational attainment, compared to similar metros.

(And Florida ranks 48th out of 50 states on indicators like the national ACT college entrance test.)

Good education is the tide that lifts all ships.

Businesses move to, or grow in, areas where they can find educated workers…
–> Successful businesses create local customers, and a strong economic base.
–> Resources recycle back into maintaining an educated, healthy, stable community.
–> More entrepreneurship thrives in the prosperous, safe, high-skill community.

Weak education systems affect everyone.

1) You can be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, but no-one makes good money without good people.

CPS has both the research, and years of experience in analyzing business processes and people issues, to show the costs to organizations, when education systems fail to deliver properly.

2) Bad education costs everyone: Anyone who leaves school without full literacy is largely excluded from the new knowledge economy.

Our educational failures become targets for illegal industries such as drugs. They face a high risk of minimum wage poverty, or time with the 1% of the US population in prison. The community picks up all the extra health /social/criminal justice system etc costs. (That means you pick up these costs.)

3) Education for all kids becomes “dumbed down”. Parents and colleges want straight A’s, so schools can be pressured move away from the higher-order thinking and creativity, which the US desperately needs for international competitiveness.

It is much easier to give out A’s for simple knowledge and basic-level understanding. Teachers may also be rewarded for teaching-to-the-test. These practices then result in the occasional “drop-out factory” statistics scandal, or the discovery that many new hires lack the analytical, innovative and critical thinking skills we need to create a competitive advantage.

B Can you and your organization can something small, inexpensive but effective about this?*

1) Offer courses for employee-parents on reading with children, and other skills which lead to school success. Invite your customers and suppliers too.

2) Teach your employees how both adults and children learn. You are investing in the future of your employees and your community. Off-set the pain by inviting customers too. CPS has this material for you.

3) Get books to kids. Reward employee performance with vouchers for books for home libraries. Arrange used book-swaps. Invite new or second-hand bookstores to put on book displays or sales. Offer a lunch-‘n-learn on “how to choose engaging books for kids”. Create a company family library.

4) Encourage employees to coach kids in need of extra tuition. Add a tutor link-up page to your intranet. Buy tutoring guides or home-schooling type material for your company library, to help volunteer tutors. Summer is a great time to get this going.

5) Call your local schools, public and private. Ask what they need. Some teachers pay for supplies out of their own meager salaries in disadvantaged areas, so basic stationery is treasured. Upgrade and donate old computers.

6) Sponsor a continuing education program, with follow-up coaching, for the teachers at your local school.

7) Contact local colleges and universities. Offer whatever mentoring, research opportunities and internships you can afford.
Consider sponsoring your ex-employees into a career in education during outplacement, if it becomes necessary.

For ideas on long-term vision: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1713557,00.html

*CPS focuses on sustainable, affordable, customized business learning, but we have sourced accredited help in the education field for organizations if required. CPS is involved in presentations to parents and communities regarding reading with children, achieving school success etc. We are very willing to help your organization with these subjects, or to put you in touch with suitable resources.