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THE SECRET TO ATTRACTING TOP MILLENNIAL TALENT TO YOUR FIRM - BY A MILLENNIAL

October 21, 2015, 8:18 am
Next Why Your Company Needs Data Analytics
Previous The Not-So-Secret Service: What Your Company Can Learn From the Rep.
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Do we have any idea what millennials really want out of work?

Firms spend big money trying to understand what millennials want in a job, and
how to characterize the newly millennial-majority workforce. Yet even as
millennials represent a bigger fraction of the workforce than Generation-Xers,
companies still largely hang onto clichés about metrics like turnover rate and
millennial interest in having work that aligns with their values. Instead of
scrutinizing millennial tendencies, it is time to embrace them.

"Research suggests that today's college graduates will have a dozen or more jobs
by the time they hit their thirties. In an uncertain job environment, it has
become societally and culturally okay that they explore." -- Emily He, CMO

The expectations have changed. Your twenties are used as the time where you
actually figure out what you want to do, or gain the tools and skills necessary
to attain your dream position. All the research has been put into what
millennials want out of work and how to mentor young millennials, but there is
still one aspect that nobody has yet touched on: The innate interest millennials
have for an education in the workplace.

Firms should emphasize that their employees receive a true education in
tangible, concrete technological and communication skills that will feed
millennial interest, ambition, and entrepreneurial spirit. This helps
differentiate a firm as an attractive incubator of young leaders, and may even
help reduce turnover.

There are a variety of factors that influence whether or not an employee stays
with any given firm, and many of them are outside of a firm's control (family
situations, geographic preferences, overall economic performance). What a
company can do is offer the kind of educational and mentorship opportunities
that play to millennial tendencies to think big (regarding entrepreneurship and
career progression), while promoting the development of technical skill sets to
attract the most impressive, innovative, and interesting people. Some
millennials will stay and some will leave, but you will have plugged the full
cycle of your workforce into success-oriented professional social networks.
Investing technological 21st-century skills in employees is a marker of the most
successful firms (Google, Kickstarter, Uber, you name it!) and it is what the
best young people are looking for.

What do we know? Well, aside from compensation, PwCs ongoing study of
millennials highlights two features of businesses that make them attractive
employers: (1) opportunities for career progression; and (2) excellent training
and development programs. Conventional wisdom might see this as a contradiction.
How is it that millennials want to develop themselves, but want to leave their
jobs relatively quickly? The answer lies in the fact that millennials understand
that the nature of education is changing, and they see work experiences as
opportunities to learn technical skills, gain legitimacy, and develop
professional networks that will all bolster forays into future entrepreneurship
and ventures. Now more than ever, college graduates are foregoing a graduate
education and immersing themselves directly in the workforce to learn the
hands-on skills and strategies that will build their successful careers.

The lesson is not just to embrace your millennials and leverage their
understanding of the social media, but to give a sense that your company offers
an education in a set of technical and communicational skills. A company that
invests in its employee's facility with skills like data analysis, public
speaking, and basic computer programming will entice talented millennials
regardless of what they ultimately want to go into.

Why Education in the Workplace Matters

1. Millennials are increasingly understanding that the traditional link between
education and employment is changing and weakening. EY and PwC have dropped the
educational screen for new applicants, and the Hack Reactor and App Academy
highlight that millennials understand that employers are looking for expertise
in very specific skills that are best developed with real-world experience.

2. Millennials view stints jobs, whether in research, tech startups, or
consulting, as educational experiences with concrete deliverable new skills that
can be applied in their own startups and ventures down the road. They want to
improve data analysis skills. They want to become better public speakers. They
want to develop professional networks that will support them when they go out
and try their own luck.

3. Part of education is having mentors. "This is a generation that wants to be
heard and have conversations instead of listening to a presentation straight
through," according to Dan Schawbel. Millennials are told to look for jobs
through networking and social media, and they expect that once they are at a
job, part of the benefits package is being plugged into a new network that will
follow them in their next job or startup venture even after they are gone!

Lessons to Employers

1.Articulate the practical technical skills that you will help your employees
hone. Even millennials who want to go off and start an NGO may be interested in
developing their data science skills for some time. Whether it be machine
learning, pivot tables, or public speaking, what are you going to make sure your
employees know by the time they've put in two years?

2.Advertise what your alumni do. This is the LinkedIn generation, and
millennials think seriously about putting the pieces of their career progression
together, and accumulating the experiences to prepare for the big impact career
move. What are the people doing with the skills they develop at your company?

3.Formalize a networking and mentorship structure. It's been well known that
millennials value feedback, however, supplement this mentorship with networking
opportunities to engage your millennials on a whole new level.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use
is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be
distributed on a website.

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WHY YOUR COMPANY NEEDS DATA ANALYTICS

October 21, 2015, 8:27 am
Next Ben Oren: How to Avoid the Most Common Marketing Mistakes SMB Commit
Previous The Secret to Attracting Top Millennial Talent to Your Firm - By a
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Data analytics is the science of extracting patterns, trends, and actionable
information from large sets of data. While often used interchangeably with the
term "business intelligence," it's useful to distinguish the terms. Think of
business intelligence as the ways in which companies use data to improve their
management and operations. Data analytics involves improving your ways of making
sense of that data before acting on it; further still, you can slice and dice
the data to extract insights that allow you to leverage this data to give you
and your organization a competitive advantage.

Data and information, generally, are proliferating at a veritably exponential
rate, thanks to rapid increases in the Three Digital Accelerators I've been
tracking since the early 1980s: bandwidth, digital storage, and processing
power. The "big data" we have today will be nothing compared to the abundance of
data and information available to us in the near future -- data generated by
hundreds of millions of devices, things like wearable tech, smartphones, and
anything that's part of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Improving your capacity to analyze this data works at multiple stages -- from
collection processes to organizing and communication techniques such as modeling
and visualization. Yet, whereas data once required a large team of skilled
analysts to be made useful, today there are a number of enterprise level tools
for running high speed data analytics on massive amounts of data, as well as
publically available free tools like Google Analytics that offer every business
and entrepreneur the opportunity to incorporate data analytics when making
decisions.

The Hard Trend of unstoppable digital disruption -- disruption that will happen
to you and your industry in wave after wave -- has vastly increased the amount
of available data -- hence the term "big data." As I discussed in a previous
post, companies too often only see an overwhelming volume of data when they
should be seeing a more comprehensive resource for elevating business strategy.

By harnessing the plethora of data available, you can put your company ahead of
disruptions in your industry, leveraging the data to augment your competitive
position relative to others in your field.

Data available from social media is a great example of the way in which new
digital technologies provide businesses with a more comprehensive understanding
of the consumer. Social media has become embedded within nearly every sphere of
life. News stories circulate social media channels side-by-side business
promotions and the everyday sentiments of users. The daily actions and
interactions are recorded and collected--you can use this to get ahead of the
curve.

What is your target audience talking about? What are the wider trends of the
day? More specifically, how are they interacting with your company? Are they
sharing or liking what you post? Social media not only expands the reach of data
collection -- it makes the collection process faster. Your company can make snap
decisions based on rapid communication between your customers, the public, or
you and your audience.

But social media is just one field of digital disruption that is generating more
data for us to draw insights from. The ways in which economic transactions occur
has been digitized to such an extent that we can analyze not only our consumer's
interaction with marketing and news, but also how and when they act after liking
or sharing a company's promotion. The generalization of company websites allows
for the tracking of consumers to and from your company's site, teaching you
about who they are interacting with and what is getting them to your site. This
list goes on.

With exponentially increasing amounts of data accumulating in real-time, there's
no reason why you cannot turn data into a competitive advantage.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use
is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be
distributed on a website.

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BEN OREN: HOW TO AVOID THE MOST COMMON MARKETING MISTAKES SMB COMMIT

October 21, 2015, 8:38 am
Next VMware Tracking Stock Will Require Dell to Report Results
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Launching an online marketing campaign can be quite a challenge for most
companies. Many companies hire experts to help them achieve their rankings,
boost their profits and optimize conversion funnels. Hiring someone to take care
of all these things is a common struggle among small and medium businesses, who
often have to work with a limited budget in place.

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Ben Oren, Director of Web Marketing at WhiteWeb

To dig deeper on that subject, I asked a few tips from Internet marketing expert
Ben Oren, Director of Web Marketing at WhiteWeb. With over a decade of
experience under his belt, he specializes in helping brands strengthen their
online presence using both traditional and innovative marketing techniques. His
clients include Caesar's Entertainment (WSOP), Babylon, Bouclair Home and more
(including many start-ups).

His insight can help us to make the most of a startup's marketing budget. He
will also discuss the do's and don'ts for any website as well as the areas to
focus on when launching an online marketing campaign.

Online PR Campaign "Must Haves"

Ben believes that any business with a limited marketing budget should adopt a
hands-on, DIY approach. Thus, he recommends things any business should do, even
before considering hiring a professional.

1. Open a Google Business account. "Follow Google's instructions, which are
pretty straightforward," he said. This is a relatively simple way to gain some
exposure for your business, not only in Google search results, but also in
Google Maps, Google Local and Google +.

2. Make sure your website is search engine-friendly. He suggested to check out
this list from the Search Engine Journal, on how to improve a site's
optimization. Ben said these advanced on-page SEO techniques will do wonders for
your organic visibility online. These strategies "will improve your rankings
even without a large number of incoming links," he said.

3. Read at least one post about internet marketing per day. Ben, whose specialty
is marketing of the creative variety, believes that reading will open your mind
to new ideas and best practices. It will "give you a better handling on the
subject matter when you decide to launch a campaign," he added. Start with these
high authority sites: MOZ blog, SEJ and Search Engine Land.

4. Reach out to major publications in your niche. He said the purpose of this is
to offer to write a post on a relevant topic for an e-magazine or a top blog.
"You'd be surprised how many authoritative sites out there are searching for
quality content to publish, which could help businesses like yours
immeasurably," he said. With that, he came up with two simple steps to follow.
First, find blogs in your niche. He advised to check out this list for the
leading search modifiers. This makes Google work like a scalpel, instead of a
club. The second step is to use a web scraper to gather a list into CSV. "I use
WebHarvy.com. Find reviews of each site, find contact info and email a pitch.
This is called outreach, and it's important you bring something new to the
table. Something you heard and read about that is 'up-and-coming'. Big
publishers love that kind of approach." he added.

How to Enlist "Great Content" for Your Business

Ben understands much has been said about the idea of "content marketing" and
creating "great content." Many business owners are simply frustrated as these
terms are so ubiquitous now. He believes SEO and content have always gone hand
in hand, adding that the confusion stems from a vagueness surrounding the
purpose of said 'great content'.

"I'd go as far as saying most businesses that have branched out into "Content
Marketing" do so because they read or heard that it's important, without setting
clear objectives," he said. What do we need in order to obtain the desired
results from a content marketing strategy? According to Ben, it's necessary to
define the main target audience first, then define the content they're looking
for, as well as the content they want.

The next question we should be concerned with, is who would share this content,
and to what end? "If you can't answer this question, it may indicate your
content strategy should assume a different direction entirely," he emphasized.
He believes that each particular content piece should create interest, and have
the potential to create renewed interest. This is commonly achieved by
generating content showcasing a new angle, point of view or seldom heard
opinion.

"Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it's vital to consider methods of
distribution,"he said. The process is the same, in principle, although it varies
slightly from niche to niche: locate the most influential content platforms in
your field, examine the types of content they circulate, publish and share, and
try to produce something they'd snap up.
An Unexpected Journey

Ben shared that he started in SEO somewhat unexpectedly. "In 2004, a
business-owning friend of mine told me he was paying a large sum every month for
SEO, and wanted me to dig a bit deeper to see if it was worth it." He did it,
and the rest is history.

While he does not follow many individuals in the field, he regularly checks out
professional websites that publish the most cutting edge content from various
experts, including comprehensive guides and important Google updates. "Namely, I
find I stay up-to-date by writing for, and regularly reading, Search Engine
Journal," he mentioned.

He continues to do many things himself because, according to him, that's the
number one way to stay ahead of the game. Ben narrated how many advisors stop
performing actions altogether, focusing on consulting - which is
counter-productive in such a dynamic field. Simply put, Ben believes that if you
don't get your hands dirty, you'll soon find you've forgotten how to do the most
crucial of tasks - and it'll be very difficult to catch up and adapt.

The Typical Small Medium Businesses Mistakes

Ben agrees that there's a lot of information on the web about SEO, and it's not
all accurate. The following are the most common widespread misleading
information he had encountered. These often results in some very costly and time
consuming mistakes.

a. Content stuffing: this is the act of generating short pieces of content for
the sake of cultivating a 'content strategy' targeting various search keywords.
This method stopped working very early on, around 2006, and it certainly doesn't
work nowadays. Actually, publishing short, superficial and uninteresting texts
will be detrimental to any web marketing effort, by putting the site at risk of
receiving a Google penalty. If you're going to invest in content, it's best to
invest in quality over quantity - nix short, generic pieces, instead publish few
but highly relevant, thorough, interesting and engaging pieces your site's
target audience will enjoy.

b. Treating SEO as a separate marketing channel: times have changed, and
nowadays SEO is an integral part of a business' online marketing strategy.
Online and offline marketing channels should be as streamlined and in synch as
possible, meaning that the business' marketing messages should be uniform
throughout a potential client's funnel, from exposure-to-conversion.
Essentially, this means that all your marketing channels - PPC, social media,
PR, TV - should have common goals, a common language, and a common look & feel.

c. Doing the bare minimum: treating online marketing as a necessary evil is the
most common form of wasting time and money among small businesses. Online
marketing is no longer about a series of technical actions; it requires a lot of
creativity, forethought, attention to detail and impeccable execution. By opting
to hire a low cost marketing firm, employee or intern to cover the bases, some
small businesses are setting themselves up for failure. Online marketing is not
cheap, but when done right, it can be a major stepping stone for any business.
A Few Words to Small Business Owners

Although Ben has worked with some major brands, he's also helped small
businesses and startups. He has the faith that SMBs can compete with more
established companies for the contracts of very large brands. Though Google
tends to favor big brands when ranking, over the years, it has shifted its
approach when it comes to the way search results are presented - offering a
surprising advantage to small businesses.

"I'll illustrate my point using an example. A couple of years ago, if we had
searched for the phrase "best running shoes", we'd most likely see big brands
such as Nike and Adidas dominating the first page of search results with popular
product pages, whilst local stores and small brands had no real chance of
appearing in those coveted top spots. Go ahead and Google it now, you'll see
blog posts from Runner's World, and not just a list of shoes from Walmart and
Foot Locker," he concluded.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use
is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be
distributed on a website.

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VMWARE TRACKING STOCK WILL REQUIRE DELL TO REPORT RESULTS

October 21, 2015, 8:40 am
Next Retail Chatter #10
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Michael Dell (Photo courtesy Dell)

By: Roger Kay

Amidst all the brouhaha over Dell's $67 billion bid for EMC, one unremarked fact
caught my attention: that Dell will have to again begin reporting its financial
results to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Michael Dell happily
and eagerly rid himself of that onerous task almost two years ago.

The deal itself has spawned great controversy. On the one hand, the merger
creates a monster provider of enterprise solutions that should be better able to
compete with the likes of IBM. On the other, it will saddle the company with
enormous debt, on the order of $60 billion.

But this is a different Dell than the business that went private in 2013. One of
the most remarkable things I've observed is how energized both the man and
company have become. Without the distraction of quarterly reporting, management
has had much wider scope to underwrite businesses, place longer-term bets, and
focus on what generates revenue growth: making customers happy. From top to
bottom, everyone I've talked to seems full of zest, motivation, and focus. It's
probably largely because Michael Dell at the top has transmitted his own
enthusiasm to employees. It's quite remarkable in contrast to the Dilbert-like
cultures prevalent in so many large organizations.

And Michael, the man running this private company, has repeatedly chortled about
the cherished perk of being able to do pretty much what he wants, far from the
glare of Wall Street. An anecdote I've heard several times over the past months
features a senior employee asking him whether a certain project could be funded.
Then Dell does a kind of Spalding Gray routine with himself in which he turns
his head one way and asks his "board of directors" whether he can green-light
the venture, then turns his head the other and responds, "Sure." At which point
he smiles at the employee and says, "Do it!"

This ability to make lightning decisions and his generally greater willingness
to take risks are surely part of why Michael decided to go after EMC in the
first place. When he made the rounds shopping the company during his own
go-private transaction, he deepened existing relationships and forged new ones
in the private equity/hedge fund/ banking community. No doubt several people
must have said something on the order of, "Once this is done, if you see any
other promising projects along the way, you give us a call, y'hear?" And money
of course is still relatively cheap. All those hot dollars are hungry for a
decent return, in a market where some T-bills have negative interest rates.

But in order to get that money, Dell had to agree to a new reporting arrangement
because of the VMware tracking stock. Now, it's true, the company was required
to report some figures under the existing rules of the bond covenants made
during the management buyout. But after the merger, Dell will own the 80% share
of VMware that EMC currently possesses. So the holders of the public 20% of
VMware have a right to know what's going on in the entity that issued the
tracking stock-which is Dell. So, Dell will be back reporting financial figures
in a form much closer to that required when it was a public company. Informed
sources at Dell tell me that the company will begin reporting what this person
calls "overall financials."

Competitors like Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, and Oracle will surely be
interested in obtaining those figures. What they find may or may not give them
much comfort, since Dell seems to be succeeding in at least some areas where in
the past it has struggled.

But for Wall Street, this inside baseball will mostly be a big yawn, because
traders can't trade the stock. The company is still private. There's no Dell
equity on the market, and the company doesn't have to hold quarterly conference
calls with ill-tempered financial analysts. The bonds are traded, but big whup.
No one will turn out for that boring show, unless Dell fails to make a payment.

I once asked Dell, the man, whether he was a poker player. I was amazed by the
brilliance of his opaque grin during a presentation I had just witnessed and
felt he had the face of a gambler: enigmatic, unreadable, and full of carefully
set contrasting signals. Eyes of steel and a cement smile. And he quickly
responded, "No. I'm too much of a mathematician."

He gambles, but on a scale orders of magnitude greater than your average mortal.
As a mathematician, he has surely looked at high, low, and middling scenarios
for what will come after this EMC deal-projected revenue growth, gross and
operating margins, and free cash flow-and concluded that he can cover his
payments.

Anyone will be able to please themselves by going to the SEC to peruse the
numbers. But Dell has managed to retain almost all of his operating scope and
freedom of action, even as he leverages up the company with his name on the
door.

Original article published at Techonomy.com

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RETAIL CHATTER #10

October 21, 2015, 8:55 am
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What does the luxury experience in the Caribbean feel like for today's consumer?

As a luxury leader, my mission of finding new ways to engage the customer and
provide great experiences is always top of mind. This time I found myself trying
to find it in the Caribbean.

On a recent trip to Barbados, I got to experience first hand what luxury service
feels like on this island. Most countries offer VIP services upon arrival, I was
curious to see if this was true for Barbados. The minute I touched down at the
gate, I was ushered off the plane by a greeter. She escorted me to a waiting
area, and navigated through customs and the retrieval of my luggage.

Every aspect of this experience was great - from the timing of getting off the
plane to conversing with her about the fashion industry. During our
conversation, it was evident that she did her research that this industry is my
trade. Her common threads were quite impressive.

I was offered freshly cut coconut water. And, boy, did I enjoy drinking it while
sitting in the comfort of the outdoor space at the airport people watching and
taking in the tropical Island breeze. No doubt this was strategically done in
order to coordinate the timing of the driver's curbside arrival without missing
a beat...and they succeeded.

This experience didn't surprise me in the least; especially knowing that one of
the main drivers of the economy in the Caribbean is the service industry,
particularly tourism. As a matter of fact, it accounts for three quarters of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Barbados, with numbers of $349 Million spent in
this area last year alone. Imagine how this year will end as the luxury real
estate market is on an uptick.

This is evident in other Caribbean Islands. Tourism on the island of Antigua is
the largest sector of this country's economy, employing about three-quarters of
the work force. Antigua carries the torch in the hotel industry with resorts
like Jumby Bay, which is one of six five-star hotels in the area. However, a
lack of designer brands and luxury shopping is a missed opportunity, especially
as it holds one of the Caribbean's highest GDP, at $23,000.

In Jamaica the service sector contributes to around 70% of GDP and tourism
employs one out of every ten workers. While the Bahamas service sector has seen
steady growth over the past decade, which contributed to the movement of people
from fishing and farming villages, to commercial centers such as: New Providence
Island, Grand Bahamas and Great Abaco, according to Euro monitor. This
population shift has again proved that the island's economic dependence is on
the service industry.

In addition, the competition in the luxury service market is becoming more
intense between tourism-driven countries in the Caribbean and those with
high-income household competing with other low-cost regional destinations like
Jamaica, where investment in luxury tourism is increasingly growing steady.

As I continued my journey in Barbados to find great luxury service, I entered
the beautiful indoor/outdoor center called Limegrove. Limegrove is home to many
designer shops, such as Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Cartier, Ralph Lauren and
Michael Kors. I have been hearing about this center for the past few years, but,
on this hot Monday in August, I was on a mission to discover exceptional service
and luxury experiences for myself. I couldn't help but notice some of the
shoppers carrying the latest Louis Vuitton non-logo handbag, Celine, or Hermes
Birkin bags, but wearing Tory Burch flats or fancy sneakers on their feet.

Navigating from store to store, I discovered a common global retail issue: some
sales associates are more friendly and engaging, while others carried on in
conversation as though I was invisible. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner
of Limegrove and watched him as he walked the corridors of this prestigious
center. He stopped and said hello to everyone he encountered from employees to
customers. His actions made me feel as if I was an invited guest who had entered
his home.

The Limegrove Centre is also home to a boutique theater equipped with table
service, allowing guests to order food, drink and champagne with one touch of a
button. This type of luxury entertainment places Limegrove in the exceptional
service category.

I was equally impressed with the experience at two local luxury hotels. From the
time of arrival to departure, the Sandy Lane Hotel staff acted as though they
had known me for decades. The warm, friendly, and seasoned staff at the Coral
Reef Hotel also made for a grand experience.

Domestic and international investors boast about the service industry in the
Caribbean, so let's not forget that these countries are all duty free, which
also adds to the consumer shopping experience. Crystal Court shops in Nassau,
Bahamas, has become a destination for luxury shoppers looking for timepieces
from brands like Bulgari, Cartier, and Rolex, as well as, accessories from
Ferragamo, Versace and Gucci.

The common thread for a retailer, hotelier or restaurant is great service and
experience; therefore, in the Caribbean, the challenge is keeping the core
values consistent with its international counterparts. This is especially
important for luxury retail, as most international brands in the Caribbean are
franchisees.

The best way for luxury brands to become successful in these sunny islands is
having the right staff, the right product, and providing proper training to all
employees so that they are able to think global but act local.

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INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT? ENFJ OR INFP? -- WHO ARE YOU, REALLY?

October 21, 2015, 9:00 am
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I am an ENFJ. According to my test results it means I am an extrovert who loves
being around people. Truth. It also says that I may have a difficult time being
by myself. False.

I am a strong I/S when it comes to DISC yet that has changed just from over the
last three years where the test result showed I was a strong C. I tend to retake
the DISC every two to three years and I realize that, as time passes, I get
closer to the middle of all four elements. I think this is interesting.

Well, many of the personality tests can help you understand yourself better.
They can help to create a more effective team within an organization and help us
to put into words what we may already feel is true about us. I admit, there are
lots of advantages to those personality tests which can't be dismissed.

However, I see a big problem when it comes to defining our personality through a
test. For one, it is a man-made test that is kept very general. When you finish
filling out your questionnaire there is nobody sitting behind it saying "Oh,
yes, this exactly is John." (Fill in your name.). It is a great tool but really,
doesn't say much about who you are.

Every single one of us is yearning for answers to the question: "Who am I?"
Personality tests become our straw to hold on to. You are sitting on the results
like nobody could ever pull that chair away from underneath your behind. It is
yours and dare anyone to try to take that away from you or try to prove you
wrong. Hey, it is all ok. I, however, would like to invite you to loosen up your
grip on that chair and give it some wiggle room.

Here is why: We naturally have a core desire to wanting to fit in. We want to be
part of something bigger and feel connected. We want to be seen. Unfortunately
in many cases we can't even see ourselves for who we are which makes it very
complicated to figure out who and what to present to the world. Ah, that inner
struggle is killing us. It sends out energy that confuses not just others but
yourself, as well. We subconsciously yearn to find our identity.

We are called to approach life from a perspective of knowing, not wishing. With
everything that is being thrown at us - toxins, negative or even positive
energy, opinions etc - our inner knowing and soulful listening is being covered
up with worldly trash. We try to find out who we are. It is somewhere, right?
Now suddenly a test comes along that will tell you what you have tried to find
an answer for. Great. You can stop looking deeper. In that moment when you take
the test, it will ask you questions that are quite on the surface level of your
being. You can only answer most questions with what you consciously see when
looking at yourself. Yet, what you see is not the truth. Over all those years
you have put on layers of protective measures that keep your deepest and most
vulnerable part of yourself save-your Spirit, your Soul.

With those test results you are simply trying to paint over those survival
mechanisms with some great colors to make them look shinier. After all, it gave
you an idea of who you are and you want this layer to look great for others to
see and value.

While filling out the assessment, you are choosing from what you know with where
you are currently at in life. Unless you have done some significant
self-evaluation and taken the time to understand and to get to know your core,
your assessment results are being sabotaged by your own self. It is a
combination of what you wish of who you are and what you can consciously see.
For a while it will give you a platform to stand on. Others can relate to you.
You can relate to others. You are part of something bigger. Ah, this is how it
all fits together. Wait, not quite. You will see that your subconscious mind and
your soul always know the truth and at some point this foundation will crumble.
You start to feel unsettled and restless. But maybe this is just part of life
because you just found out who you are through this assessment?!

See, personality assessments are great at giving you ideas and a good start into
going deeper at who you are, your purpose and what you are called to do. But it
is not the answer. Way too often do I observe and talk to people that hide
behind their test results as they are the truth when you may actually just use
them as an excuse to not having to step outside of your comfort zone. I believe
that the more we connect within, the more we become centered. This is when
personality tests become unnecessary because we trust what we know about
ourselves.

When there are things I don't want to do, I tend to be an introvert. Now, if it
is something I love to do, I turn into an extrovert.

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BENGHAZI AND YOUR BOTTOM LINE

October 21, 2015, 2:13 pm
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Let's get this out of the way right from the beginning. I don't care about
Benghazi. There, I said it. I. Don't. Care.

Now, that's not to say that I don't care about the four American lives lost or
about keeping our people safe abroad. About those things, I care deeply. I just
don't care about the Congressional investigation which has, by all appearances,
replaced Michael Ende's epic childhood fantasy as The NeverEnding Story.

To me, the Benghazi attack has become more than fodder for an ongoing
investigation. It has become a cautionary tale for anyone who has ever owned or
managed a business.

It doesn't matter whether you're Secretary of State or just supervising
secretaries. Things don't always go as planned. There are always screw-ups.
Some, you never saw coming. Others are of the face-palm variety. Either way, the
right question is: how should you and your organization react to the problem?

Because the thing is, and there's no getting around this, it is almost
impossible to make progress in a gotcha culture.

Learning from Star Trek

A few years ago, one of my lawyers and I experienced a near miss. There was a
small trial coming up and he had put it on my calendar assuming that I would be
the one taking it to court. For my part, I knew it was his case and took it as
an article of faith that he would see it through to the end.

We were right up against our deadline for trial preparation when we realized our
mistake. "Why would you think I would take it," he said? "I put it on your
calendar!"

"Everyone puts their deadlines on my calendar," I replied. "They do it just to
keep me informed as to what's going on with our clients. I thought you were just
keeping me in the loop. You should have told me you wanted me to cover it."

Coming from a military background, he clasped his hands behind his back, stood
up straight, looked dead ahead, and said "yes, sir." But that wasn't what I
wanted. I didn't care about blame. What I cared about was figuring out how we
were going to prevent these issues in the future.

The solution we hit upon was straight out of Star Trek. Whenever the Captain
would leave the bridge of the Enterprise, he would say to whomever he put in
charge "you have the con." That person would have to reply "I have the con" in
order for control to be passed.

My colleague and I didn't do that. We never voiced a transfer and acceptance of
responsibility. We resolved to make sure we did in the future and, from that
point to this, we never transfer a case in my office without actually using the
words -- offered and accepted -- "you have the con."

Looking back, we were only able to have a productive conversation when he
realized that I was neither trying to hang him out to dry nor simply out to
justify my own actions. I was just trying to find and apply the right lesson.

Learning from Benghazi

It's not breaking news to say that we live in a gotcha culture. And nowhere is
that culture more on display than in the arena of national politics. We have
crafted an environment that is exactly the opposite of constructive. It's the
GOP vs. the Democrats or the Obama administration or former Secretary of State
Clinton.

What a shame it is that a series of investigations more exhaustive (and
expensive) than anything likely ever to be carried out in a business will yield
such a small fraction of truly useful information. Sure, some information may be
used to take Secretary Clinton down a peg or two or maybe to score political
points off of one side or the other, but what are the odds that anything coming
out of either side is likely to enable the government to operate better? What
are the odds that this process will save lives?

That's where government and business absolutely must part company. Every
organization makes mistakes. It doesn't matter whether you're working in a Mom
'n Pop bakery or running the federal government. Unless you create a culture in
which people are more concerned with how we get it right than they are with how
you got it wrong, failure becomes more than an option.

It becomes a given.

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5-STEP PLAN TO GET YOUR BUSINESS READY FOR THE ONLINE HOLIDAY SEASON

October 21, 2015, 2:14 pm
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The holiday season is right around the corner, making it the ideal time to get
your online marketing campaigns mapped out. The holiday season provides a
massive opportunity to increase sales and revenue for your business online, but
it takes planning and execution -- your revenue isn't going to just magically
increase.

You need to plan in advance. Waiting until the last minute will result in
throwing together a rushed campaign with very little though or strategy. At the
very least, you need to be fully ready to roll out your holiday marketing
campaign on Black Friday. Use this 5-step plan to make sure your business is
ready to capitalize on the approaching online holiday season.

1. Make sure your website provides a great mobile experience.

You need a mobile-friendly website. Consumers are more comfortable making
purchases on their mobile devices and if your website doesn't provide a pleasant
experience they will quickly leave and find another option. Run your website
through Google's mobile-friendly test to make sure it passes, but don't stop
there.

You also need feedback from real users. Ask family, employees, friends and even
complete strangers to run through your website on their mobile devices and
provide you with feedback. Can they quickly find what they are looking for? Are
they able to easily navigate your website without having to manipulate the
screen by zooming in and out? Are your contact and offer forms easy to submit?
Use this feedback to improve the experience your website provides your visitors.

2. Review the data from last year.

Go through your data from the previous holiday season and find out where the
majority of your conversions came from. Many businesses will look at just the
raw traffic numbers and assume those are the best sources to target again. You
need to see where the majority of your revenue producing conversions came from.

If you determined that Facebook pushed 100,000 visitors, but only converted at a
1% rate, compared to 50,000 visitors and a 4% conversion rate via email
marketing, wouldn't it be wise to ramp up your email marketing this season? This
is something that I am currently doing with my consulting clients. We are using
the data from the previous year as a starting point to map out the campaigns for
the upcoming holiday season.

3. Free up time by scheduling holiday-specific social media content.

The holiday season is the busiest time of the year, so the last thing you want
to do is take time out of each day to create your social media content. Use an
automation tool, such as Hootsuite, to schedule all of your holiday social media
content in advance. You never want to rely 100% on automated social media, as it
can appear very spammy, but using a tool to schedule your content is fine -- it
will actually save you a great amount of time.

You will want to create social media content that features your holiday offers,
as well as uses holiday images and hashtags. You never want to be overly
promotional on social media, but during peak holiday season, don't be afraid to
put more direct offers out there. Your audience is actively looking for deals
online, so put them out there for them to find while they are in buying mode.

4. Lay out your holiday email marketing strategy.

You are going to need to tweak your standard email copy and your funnel system
for the holiday season. Some businesses might put their email leads into a
funnel that drip-markets to their subscribers over a period of several months.
There is no need to slowly nurture during the holiday season.

If a consumer comes to your website during the holiday season there is a very
good chance they are very close to being ready to make a purchase. Adjust your
email marketing to be more aggressive and push for the sale quickly. Rather than
just sending information and providing value, include special offers like free
shipping, exclusive discounts, and direct links to products on your website. The
conversion window is small during the holidays, so map out your email marketing
to quickly convert the leads you generate.

5. Create landing pages for your holiday offers.

If your business is going to have special offers and promotions for the holiday
season you will want to create landing pages that highlight these. You aren't
going to know what landing pages perform better until you actually test them, so
make sure to create several variations to split test.

You will want to eliminate the landing pages that perform poorly early on, so
the majority of your holiday traffic is being sent to the landing pages that are
producing the highest conversion rates. There are several tools, such as
Optimizely, to help you easily create and split-test multiple landing page
variations, even if you have limited or no coding and programming experience.

Jonathan Long is the Founder & CEO of Market Domination Media®, an online
marketing agency that provides SEO coaching and online marketing consulting.
Jonathan also created EBOC (Entrepreneurs & Business Owners Community), a
private business forum. Follow him on Twitter.

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THE BUSINESS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE

October 21, 2015, 2:15 pm
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Social influence is one of those gray areas in the Digital Era. Many lay claim
to the ability to influence as a call to attention, even inserting the title of
'influencer' in their tagline, while constantly marking their territory in the
online forums. Who has the power to influence and who doesn't is a matter of
individual judgment. The declaration of oneself as an influencer is easy; the
demonstration of actual influence over the thought and behavior of others is
quite another.

Moving information within online communities is at the heart of marketing today.
As networks expand, and more content is shared, new engagement patterns have
emerged. Having fully transitioned to the online world, word-of-mouth marketing
(WOMM) is alive and well. Revenue generation is tied to enhanced visibility on
multiple social platforms, and correlates to the strength and frequency of
conversations taking place.

Within the framework of this disruptive technology operates a compelling force
known as influence, one that all brands court on some level. Within the social
space, influencers are seen as people who can move mountains, open doors, and
control fates. Regard as an influencer is a positive identification, one that
altogether connotes authority, carries a high level of accountability, and hints
at expanding a brand's reach.

The study of social influence encompasses socialization, peer pressure,
conformity, obedience, leadership, and persuasion. In his 1958 treatise in the
Journal of Conflict Resolution, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman defined
three modes of social influence: 1). Compliance, 2). Identification, and 3).
Internalization. Separately, and in combination, these measures were intended to
differentiate accepted behavior from privately-held beliefs. (Source: Wikipedia)

In his book, Influence: Science and Practice, Robert Cialdini expands on his
theories of strategic communication, focusing on compliance and persuasion in a
social setting. Based on generalizations and learned behavior in decision
making, Cialdini conceptualizes influence as both as process and an experience,
and lays the foundation for what has come to be known as influencer marketing.
He demonstrates how "compliance professionals" can be deployed by brands to
influence potential buyers.

The Rise of Influencer Marketing

Seeding thoughts, opinions, and emotions in others has been around since the
dawn of communication. Even in a free-thinking society, there are those who need
to be told what to think, how to feel, who to believe, and what to buy.
Throughout the course of human history, there are countless notables who have
proved an uncanny ability to establish their sway and direct action.
Unfortunately, not all that wield the power of influence have used it for the
greater good.

Nowadays, marketers are acutely aware that their consumer groups live online.
Given the velocity with which a message can be disseminated and amplified across
the Internet, coupled with the impact of mobile technologies, more economic
buyers can be reached in a fraction of the time. As the uptick in active use
continues on all the major social networking sites, engaging with influencers
has become a key component of the marketing equation.

Influencer branding is closely related to thought leadership; both pursuits
forge a path to wider recognition, increased engagement, and more business wins.
For brands today, finding the right influencer to provide the right rationale
that will turn indiscriminant consumers into fervent fans can mean everything.
The influencers themselves are highly protective of their reputations and
selective of the brands that they will tout.

Rohit Vashisht, Co-Founder and CEO of Sverve, a company that connects brands
with best-fit social media influencers, believes that we have entered a new age
of digital marketing, one that is driven by sharing. "Marketing today is all
about authentic and engaging content shared by people that others trust on their
channels of choice." He notes that messaging shared by a friend or follower is
"a thousand times more impactful than a photo in a banner ad."

Monetizing and Quantifying Social Influence

Known influencers are the movers, the shakers, the people who can make things
happen. They stir culture, set trends, and put forth opinions that are trusted
and valued by the masses. They are also well-paid for their thinking and use of
their likeness. Of course, not everybody has access to elite athletes, superstar
performance artists, widely-read journalists, or other high-profile
personalities, let alone the budgets to engage them.

The social sharing economy has created a marketplace for aspiring and
self-anointed influencers, those who have amassed huge followings. They are
perceived as creative, cutting edge, and in tune with social mores. However,
their interactions can often cloud the metrics, making assessments on
performance, marketing reach, and ROI difficult, if not impossible.

Whether the goal of a brand is to gain more concentrated coverage or viral
spread, the challenge lies in identifying the most desirable influencers,
evaluating their access to the target market, and setting realistic expectations
of results. "Influencers have their own ways of engaging with their followers,"
explains Vashisht. "Different channels have different ways in which they inspire
people to connect and share content."

Parting Thoughts

♦ The stakes are going up for marketers. In a society compressed by information
overload and attention deficiency, brands know what they are up against in
getting their message across to people. They understand that there is an art and
science to generating conversations, shifting perspectives, and persuading
others to take action.

♦ Influence is talent. Influencer marketing will unquestionably become an
essential talent acquisition strategy for forward-thinking brands. They will
seek to partner with social influencers who are aligned with their ideals and
can create change within their communities.

♦ For brands, capitalizing on trends in buyer behavior is nothing new. When it
comes to creating a consumer craving or engendering long-term advocacy, they
need help. Influencers can provide that relevance, that leadership, and the
megaphone that can turn a napkin idea into the next, best, shiny thing.

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BE GOOD TO PEOPLE

October 21, 2015, 2:17 pm
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The best way to understand the future of work is to go talk to people outside
our comfort zone and become an adventurer pursuing possibilities. If we continue
to have the same conversations with the same people, go to the same conferences
with the same people, or read books by the same people, what will happen? Well,
much of the same in a nutshell. And today, we have created the same culture, one
of sameness. One in which everyone is getting to get together to find out what
the heroes have done so we can capture their best practice and then go do the
same thing that they did. Won't that guarantee success?

Albert Einstein made us aware that this type of behavior is the definition of
insanity. It's like someone telling us the 17 foods that we shouldn't eat. We
may be one of 500 people listening to his talk capturing a photo of these 17
dangerous foods. But then when we sit back and reflect, we realize that the
person up on the stage doesn't really know us. They have no idea what our body
chemistry is so how could they know what's dangerous to us? The best advice that
she could give us is to stop eating mass produced garbage and start eating whole
foods. After a recent talk on 21st century leadership at a conference, someone
came up to me and told me that while she loved my talk, I covered a lot and she
wishes I had provided the five key takeaways at the end. I thanked her and
shared with her that as I don't know her, I could not provide her with her five
takeaways. I was happy to talk and and learn more about where she was in life.

#1 Something remarkable is indeed happening

There is no short cut, magic carpet, best practice or formula for the new world
we are entering in this century. The 21st century leaders from around the world
that have generously contributed to Our Journey to Business Common Sense: What's
New is Old (stay tuned for the upcoming crowd funding campaign for the book
launch) continuously share with us that the new economy is human-to-human. The
leaders and organizations that get the shift that is happening in our world will
thrive. We don't need any more change programs in the 21st century as change is
constant. What we desperately need is a mindset change. And here are some of the
main areas to think about that are emerging from real live stories of 21st
century leaders in the book.

#2 - People are consciously leaving scarcity behind and making way for
possibilities

Notions of fear, scarcity and competition no longer serve us. For us to "win" in
the 21st century means that there is enough for everyone. The organizations that
get it have let go of the notion of taking market share away from their
competitors. They are spending their energy on connecting with people who
believe in their products (their customers) and building unlikely and unusual
partnerships. Why? Because they can in a world that is open and connected.

Only 2% of the population knows how to use social media tools to build
relationships; the rest are stuck in 20th century branding and are using old
advertising models that no longer resonate with many people. Most organizations
are so stuck in their social media strategies that they are missing
opportunities every day to build their business with the people who care about
what they create in the world. So it's time for a massive reboot of our
mindsets. We have everything we need. We just need to open our eyes and hearts
and see it.

#3 - Whole people are creating holistic solutions

Most of the people are sharing with me that they are doing the work in the world
they believe in and at some times, at huge personal costs. I have the honour to
talk to people from around the world who care deeply about themselves, their
communities, the world and the planet. Every single person has a story of
wanting to bring the team back together to do meaningful work. And every story
is not about bringing more band-aid solutions but taking on a big issue in their
organization or the world and bringing people together around shared purpose.
One told me that she not only wants to make a dent in the universe but she wants
the universe to make a dent in her.

People no longer wanted to be segmented and fragmented into a box or a label. We
have spent so much time on organizational structure that the cracks are starting
to show. And when we know how to use technologically effectively, we no longer
need to talk about it as it is simply an enabler of our life and our work.
Technology is not changing the workplace. The fact that it can connect us and
allow for open dialogue (where not censored) is making so much more possible in
our world.

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#4 - Waking up to the human-to-human economy

In a human-to-human economy, it's all about relationships. The biggest currency
of the 21st century is trusted relationships and community. The days of sales
pitches are coming to an end and the most important question any organization
and individual can ask themselves and know the answer as well is who do you
trust? And most importantly, who trusts you? In this economy, you need to know
what are you creating and who wants it.

Our collective consciousness is awakening to the fact that consumers have a
voice and they will make a point of being heard more and more. Our organizations
have antiquated terms like "customer service" and "employee engagement." A new
world is emerging that make these terms irrelevant. In business, you will need
to know how to simply share your creations (products or services) with the world
and connect with the people who could benefit from them. You will need people
who believe in what you are creating and that your values match theirs. It will
no longer be an issue whether they fit into your culture in the new world of
LIFEworking.

#5 - More people are picking themselves, especially women

There is an excitement amongst 21st century leaders that we are able to
incorporate good and people in how we do business. There are conversations
emerging around what people will want in exchange of their time. The days of
patriarchy are coming to an end as more women will stop buying into the
fragmentation that exists today and simply create new spaces for solving
problems. That is what the 21st century leader does; she brings people together
and does not always have the answer.

This is the era to pick ourselves and not wait to be picked. The increasing
number of women leaving to start their own businesses is an indication of it and
large organizations need to start shifting so more women stay and help them lead
in the 21st century. In a world where we pick ourselves, organizations will need
to re-evaluate and update most of their legal, human resource and back-end
systems as they will quickly stop supporting how business is done.

#6 - Always start with people

One of the biggest wishes people have is that their colleagues stop hoarding
information. One of the reasons for the epic failure of Enterprise 2.0 was that
we led with the technology instead of the human side of work. We poured millions
of dollars into creating change management programs to convince people to go to
use online platforms instead of integrating the tools into how we wanted to
work. We know that people don't like change and yet we continue to think we can
stage old world campaigns to convince them that this new way is better. And too
often, the people paying the bills for these massive change management programs
don't understand that if they simply integrated these tools themselves, they'd
all be using them already.

And imagine a world where people in your organization would have access to the
people and information sources to do their work and make the organization
successful. What would that look like in your world?

#7 - It's time to co-create

Collaboration has been so over used that it may have lost some of its meaning.
If people in the 21st century wake up in the morning and are able to practice
their art in their work, then they are able to create something meaningful. An
increasing number of people are realizing they want to grow and are looking for
others to come together and create more meaning in the world. This trend is
taking place increasingly outside of large organizations where people who would
have competed in the past are coming together to work together. It's coming from
the contingent workforce, which is a $1.17 trillion economy now, and it's
growing. As we live in an open and connected world, it is time for large
organizations to start thinking about unusual and unlikely partners to co-create
with or risk missing an amazing opportunity to re-invent their business for the
21st century.

Back to writing now. I'd love to hear your thoughts ... they may make it into
the book!

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NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT A PRICE ON CARBON

October 21, 2015, 2:19 pm
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WASHINGTON -- In just six weeks, world leaders will meet in Paris to negotiate a
new global climate change agreement. To date, some 150 countries have submitted
plans detailing how they will move their economies along a more resilient
low-carbon trajectory. These plans represent the first generation of investments
to be made in order to build a competitive future without the dangerous levels
of carbon dioxide emissions that are now driving global warming.

The transition to a cleaner future will require both government action and the
right incentives for the private sector. At the center should be a strong public
policy that puts a price on carbon pollution. Placing a higher price on
carbon-based fuels, electricity and industrial activities will create incentives
for the use of cleaner fuels, save energy and promote a shift to greener
investments. Measures such as carbon taxes and fees, emissions-trading programs
and other pricing mechanisms and removal of inefficient subsidies can give
businesses and households the certainty and predictability they need to make
long-term investments in climate-smart development.

At the International Monetary Fund, the focus is on reforming its member
countries' fiscal systems in order to raise more revenue from taxes on
carbon-intensive fuels and less revenue from other taxes that are detrimental to
economic performance, such as taxes on labor and capital. Pricing carbon can be
about smarter, more efficient tax systems, rather than higher taxes.

> To help achieve our climate objectives, we need to promote dialogue about the
> necessary policy measures before and beyond the climate change conference in
> Paris.

Carbon taxes should be applied comprehensively to emissions from fossil fuels.
The price must be high enough to achieve ambitious environmental goals, in
alignment with national circumstances, and it must be stable, in order to
encourage businesses and households to invest in clean technologies.
Administering carbon taxes is straightforward and can build on existing road
fuel taxes, which are well established in most countries.

Carbon pricing will be in many countries' best interests, owing to the many
domestic environmental benefits. For example, burning cleaner fuels helps to
reduce outdoor air pollution, which, according to the World Health Organization,
currently causes about 3.7 million premature deaths a year.

It is vitally important to address the impact of energy-price reforms on
vulnerable groups in every society. So these reforms will need to be accompanied
by adjustments to fiscal systems and safety nets, among other things, to ensure
that the poor are not harmed.

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Engine parts from high polluting vehicles are piled up at a scrapyard in
Zhejiang, China as part of a government program to curb carbon emissions. Kevin
Frayer/Getty Images.

The World Bank Group is supporting countries and businesses as they develop
climate-friendly public policies, invest in carbon markets and explore financial
innovations to ease into low-carbon transitions. The Group is leveraging its
experience and global reach for learning and knowledge exchange through programs
like the Partnership for Market Readiness.

From that experience, we have developed, alongside the OECD, initial principles
to help guide and inspire future carbon-pricing schemes. By drawing on these
principles, countries, regions, states and businesses can move faster to tackle
the climate challenge confronting us all. The principles are based on fairness;
alignment of policies and objectives; stability and predictability;
transparency; efficiency and cost-effectiveness; and reliability and
environmental integrity.

To help achieve our climate objectives, we need to promote dialogue about the
necessary policy measures before and beyond the climate change conference in
Paris. That is why we are announcing a "Carbon Pricing Panel," which will bring
together heads of state, city and state leaders and representatives of top
companies to urge countries and businesses around the world to put a price on
carbon.

> The longer we wait, the costlier and more difficult it will be for us -- and
> our children and grandchildren -- to protect the planet.

These leaders have taken steps to price carbon pollution and catalyze greener
investment in their own countries and regions. They include German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, French President François
Hollande, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Philippines President
Benigno Aquino III, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Governor Jerry Brown
of California and Mayor Eduardo Paes of Rio de Janeiro.

Carbon pricing policies are already being implemented by some 40 national
governments, including that of China, the world's largest emitter, and 23
cities, states, and regions that are putting a price on carbon. Many other
governments also are reforming energy prices, and more than 400 companies report
using a voluntary, internal carbon price. That makes sense. Top companies must
effectively manage exposure to climate risk in order to generate higher profits
and ensure more stable earnings.

All of these actions are welcome; but we view them as being only initial steps.
Together with the leaders of the Carbon Pricing Panel, we call on governments to
seize the moment -- for the sake of the planet and future generations -- to put
a price on carbon pollution that reflects the environmental damage it causes. We
stand ready to support governments that act. The longer we wait, the costlier
and more difficult it will be for us -- and our children and grandchildren -- to
protect the planet.

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THE SURPRISING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CAREERISM AND LEADERSHIP

October 21, 2015, 2:26 pm
Next How to Promote Your Restaurant Through Mobile Apps
Previous Now Is the Time to Put a Price on Carbon
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Ask yourself whether you are leading with purpose or just trying to get ahead.

Do you actually believe in something larger than your compensation, your career
trajectory or your next success?

I often tell young leaders, if their work has no meaning or satisfaction, they
are better off quitting and sitting on the beach until they decide what they
want to do.

Many people's work is completely disconnected from their values and their
purpose. This lack of purpose isn't something to deal with by working with a
nonprofit in your spare time. If you don't take action to address this
disconnect, it can become like an insidious cancer that eats at your soul.
Long-run, a lack of purpose can lead to burnout, poor decision-making and even
moral derailment.

Understanding Your Purpose

Your purpose is the genuine deeper meaning in your work. It reflects whyyou do
what you do.

Understanding your purpose is essential to becoming a better leader. People who
lead with a sense of purpose that is aligned with their company's purpose make
better long-term decisions and are more authentic.

But this is not as easy as it sounds. Discerning your purpose takes a
combination of introspection and real-world experiences before you can determine
where you want to devote your energies.

The first step to knowing your purpose is to understand your life story. We all
face times of crisis, pain or rejection in our lives. Reflecting on the life
you've lived helps you to discover your True North - the beliefs, values and
principles most important to you.

Before you take on a leadership role, ask yourself: "What motivates me to lead
this organization?" If the honest answers are simply power, prestige and money,
you are at risk of being trapped by external gratification as your source of
fulfillment.

This never works. Why? Simply, you can never have enough money, fame or
recognition. When you give someone else the power to decide if you're successful
(whether it's the Forbes 400 list or an invitation to Davos), you lose. If you
allow some external force to define your success, you have essentially abdicated
your soul.

There is a deep voice inside you that yearns to bring your unique gifts to this
world. If you neglect that voice, you create deep misalignments that eventually
will surface.

Purpose at Work

Ken Frazier traveled a unique road en route to becoming CEO of Merck, the
leading pharmaceutical research company. Born before the 1863 Emancipation
Proclamation, Frazier's grandfather was a slave in South Carolina. He sent his
son, Frazier's father, to live in Philadelphia. With no formal education,
Frazier's father became a janitor, yet taught himself to read, reading two
newspapers a day. In spite of his limited opportunities, he had a profound
influence on Frazier's life.

After his mother died when he was 12, Frazier and his sisters had to fend for
themselves after school, avoiding the gangs that dominated the streets outside
his house. "I learned very early from my father that one has to be one's own
person and not go along with the crowd," Frazier says. His father asked him,
"Kenny, how are you going to carry on your grandfather's narrative of being free
and your own person? You better do what you know is right, and not be fixated on
what other people think of you."

While studying at on Penn State scholarship, Frazier decided he wanted "to
become a great lawyer like Thurgood Marshall, affecting social change." At
Harvard Law School, he was acutely aware he wasn't from the same social class as
his classmates. He wryly notes, "Lloyd Blankfein [CEO of Goldman Sachs] and I
were the only students who 'were not of the manor born.'"

Shortly after he joined Merck, Frazier took on the extremely difficult task of
defending Merck from over 40,000 lawsuits filed after the pain drug Vioxx was
withdrawn from the market due to alleged cardiovascular problems. Frazier did so
successfully, catapulting him into the CEO's chair where he faced a greater
challenge: short-term shareholders pressured him to cut back Merck's research as
several of its competitors were doing. Frazier stayed the course, committing to
spend a minimum of $8 billion per year on research in order to pursue cures for
devastating diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.

Reflecting on his sense of purpose, Frazier explains, "Merck's purpose is
aligned with my personal sense of who I want to be and what I hope to contribute
to the world. At Merck, you have the opportunity to make tangible contributions
to humanity. There's a yearning in all of us to leave something meaningful
behind, because we know we have a short time on earth. Merck gives me the chance
to leave something to people 20, 50 or even 100 years from now because we did
the right things today."

Asked what his father would say about his remarkable success, Frazier says
modestly, "He'd say, 'The boy did what he was supposed to do.'"

Turning Purpose Into Action

Your leadership purpose is not meaningful until it is applied to solving
problems you encounter in the real world. When you align your personal purpose
with an organization's mission, you unlock the full potential of people in the
organization.

That's what I tried to do at Medtronic where we connected employees' True North
with the company mission of "restoring health, alleviating pain and extending
life." My successors, especially current CEO Omar Ishrak, have pursued this
mission with vigor, contributing to the 100 times increase in the company's
market value over the past 26 years. More importantly, the number of people each
year restored to full health has grown from 300,000 to 15 million.

As long as you focus on your True North, understand your purpose and use it to
make a difference in the world, you can leave a legacy that inspires those who
follow.

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HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR RESTAURANT THROUGH MOBILE APPS

October 21, 2015, 2:44 pm
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Previous The Surprising Difference Between Careerism and Leadership
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There seems to be a new restaurant opening up every other day. Regardless of how
big, or small, the place you live in is, there is always a new local grill or
chain opening up. So how do you differentiate yourself from every other food
joint opening up? Yes, traditional marketing and advertising should be in your
budget, things like radio ads and signage, but if you want to set yourself apart
from the others you'll have to get creative with promoting your restaurant.

With apps continuing to play a near-integral role in our daily lives, it stands
to reason that promoting your restaurant through mobile apps like Belly and
Allset should be at the forefront of your mind. We've compiled a list of
different promotion avenues you should look into when promoting your eatery.
Check them out below.

1. Social media: One of the best ways to entice diners into your restaurant is
with a strong social media presence that is heavy on the food photos. Use
apps like Instagram to get their mouths watering. Being active, and
creative, can be enough entice those on-the-fence diners into your place of
business.

Having a Facebook page should be a no-brainer, as well, and gives you a
chance to connect with loyal patrons, as well as answer any questions left
by customers who have yet to eat at your place of business. You can also use
social media to promote sales and even give your followers the occasional
discount.

2. Convenience Apps: One of the most difficult parts of trying to plan a work
lunch with colleagues is having to plan for wait time. Waiting for a table
in a crowded restaurant and then having to wait for your food to be
prepared. If there were a way to alleviate these wait times you could bring
in a new group of customers, the business professionals.

By partnering with an app like Allset you'll be able to offer the
convenience of a fast food joint, but at a sit down restaurant. Not only are
you offering a new avenue for diners, but you'll be able to increase table
turnover time by being able to plan for table reservations and cooking
times. By being able to plan accordingly you'll be able to optimize the time
for servers and cooks and, in turn, keep tables full and maximize your
employees' time.

There are other apps that allow you to reserve a table, sure, but Allset
takes it that one step further by allowing you to pre-order your food, as
well. Reserving a table can save you time, but most of your traditional wait
time comes from food prep. If you can cut out that time, your lunch options
expand and you're not stuck with the traditional fast food options and
premade meals. Pre-ordering your food at a sitdown restaurant can be a
powerful selling point, one that many competitors will not be offering.

3. Loyalty apps: You should always be looking for ways to get new customers
into your eatery, but keeping them coming back should be a top priority. If
you look at it from a financial standpoint, retaining customers is not
nearly as expensive as enticing new customers. So while using a loyalty app
may result in some discounted meals, you'll be saving (and making more)
money in the long run.

Using an app like Belly can keep customers coming back. By using
gamification, you can entice customers to keep coming back in order to score
a free meal or discount. You could go oldschool with it and use a punch
card, but they can be hard to keep up with and doesn't easily allow for
changes to your discount program.

4. Yelp: Yelp gets its own category. Yelp is a powerhouse when it comes to
restaurants and people's perceptions of them. Yelp allows people to leave
reviews on their dining experience that other patrons can then use as a
deciding point when choosing a place to eat. Restaurants can be made, or
broken, based on Yelp reviews so you want to make sure you're right there
with the customers.

The important thing to remember about Yelp is that regardless if you set up
a profile or not, people can and will review your restaurant. You need to
take charge of the situation and set up and curate your Yelp page as best
possible. By adding as much information as you can and adding enticing
photos and menu pricing you can help set the tone for your restaurant's Yelp
page.

5. Location apps: While Foursquare (and Swarm) has lost some steam, check-in
apps like these can be used by potential diners when deciding on a
restaurant to eat at. It's a great way to check out what others think of the
restaurants around you. Like Yelp, curating your Foursquare page can help
on-the-fence diners with their decision.

Having things like Foursquare and Yelp set up not only gives patrons a place
to review your restaurant, but these additional avenues also help with
search queries, meaning your restaurant is more visible in search results
made by curious Googlers.

6. Mobile POS systems: By expanding the ways you allow customers to pay for
their meal you open up entirely new revenue opportunities. Not only does it
allow for more versatility, but it is also has that modern flair that many
diners desire and it offers an easier way for customers to quickly pay and
be on their way.

Something like Square is a great mobile POS that could allow customers to
pay while still at their table. Have your servers equipped with iPhones or
iPads and simply swipe their card directly at the table. No waiting on
checks and waiters to bring back your receipt to sign. Allset, mentioned
earlier, also allows customers to pre-pay for their meal directly from the
app, continuing the theme of getting in and out quickly while still enjoying
a quality meal.

In a never ending sea of dining choices, restaurants have to find creative ways
to market their restaurant. Creative ads, commercials, and traditional SEO like
Adwords are a great starting point but by adding some of the above tips into
your marketing strategy, you can see even more gains than by traditional
techniques alone. Allset is a great example of creativity sparking virality. The
app is spreading like wildfire in tech circles, with busy techies telling others
how convenient it is to eat at sit-down restaurants, even with their limited
timeframes. Being one of the restaurants utilizing this type of technology can
result in an increased number of customers who maintain a busy lifestyle. It's a
tough demographic to snag, but will be well worth it.

The main thing to remember is that whatever avenues you decide to take, make
sure you put 100% into them. Like mentioned prior, an Instagram account is a
great idea, but if your last post is from 37 weeks ago, people might assume
you've closed shop. Being active on Yelp is also a smart move, but remember to
treat all reviews (even the bad ones) the same, and never stick your foot in
your mouth. Like the meals themselves, the main thing to remember is to be
creative in your restaurant marketing strategy.

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BERNIE'S BRILLIANT IDEA: POSTAL BANKING

October 21, 2015, 2:45 pm
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Previous How to Promote Your Restaurant Through Mobile Apps
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At the Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders famously suggested that the only way to
fix our country was with a political revolution. He suggested that in order to
get our country back on track, millions of people would need to take to the
streets and demand that the government return to its mission of helping people,
not corporations. And by all these measures, one of his ideas would
revolutionize the way people interact with our economy: postal banking.

The idea of using post offices to provide banking services is not a new one. In
fact, from 1911 to 1967, post offices offered savings accounts. The idea was to
get the "money out from under mattresses" and over time, encourage savings and
wealth building. Many unbanked or underbanked people already frequent post
offices, as the postal service offers money orders at a lower cost than nearly
anywhere else.

In the United States, one in five households are underbanked, meaning that while
they may have a checking account, they also rely on a network of predatory
financial service providers (such as check cashers, payday lenders, auto title
lenders, etc) to make ends meet. For Blacks, this number is closer to one in
three households, and for Latinos, Native Americans, and Native
Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, one in four families are underbanked. Eager to
profit off of this exclusion, alternate financial service providers rake in $103
billion per year in fees and interest at the expense of the most financially
vulnerable. Postal banking could change this completely.

One type of predatory financial service that has been in the news lately is the
RushCard, Russell Simmons' self described effort to "empower" black and
low-income communities with prepaid debit cards. This week, thousands of users
have been locked out of their accounts, told they have no account, or unable to
access the wages that they worked for. On top of this, prepaid debit cards such
as Rushcard often charge fees for inactivity, activation, adding money manually,
or calling customer service, making it incredibly expensive to be poor.

This idea is not only possible, we have done it before. But more importantly, it
puts people back in the center of our economy, not the big banks. Postal banking
could revolutionize our relationship to our economy for millions of workers, and
make our economy a more fair place for everyone.

Mike Leyba is the Director of Communications for United for a Fair Economy and
the primary author of State of the Dream 2015: Underbanked and Overcharged.

Also on HuffPost:

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INTRODUCING A RATIONAL WAY TO AVOID FINANCIAL DISASTERS

October 21, 2015, 2:56 pm
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Previous Bernie's Brilliant Idea: Postal Banking
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In 1996, Alan Greenspan used a two-word phrase in a speech, and stock markets
around the world began to drop.

The two-word phrase was "irrational exuberance." Greenspan was famous for
purposely making his words hard to understand, but in this case, the message was
clear. Stocks around the world appeared to be overvalued, especially in the
United States.

In fact, it was the start of the Dot-Com bubble. Millions of amateur and
professional investors alike piled into the NASDAQ hoping to make a fortune on
brand new Internet companies--many of which had never earned a dime.

But then the bubble burst, and people lost a fortune instead. The same thing
happened again with the housing bubble in the 2000's, which temporarily dropped
the DOW by 54%.

When it comes to investing, irrational exuberance is a fact of life. It will
always be a part of investing, but you don't have to be a part of it.

Take Off the Rose-Colored Glasses

On my first real estate deal, I made a 100% return in 3 months. Annualized,
that's a 400% return. And that was the worst thing that could have happened to
me, because now I thought it was super-easy to make money in real estate--even
though I knew it wasn't my strength.

So I quickly abandoned Strengthsvesting. I quickly abandoned due diligence. And
I jumped on board the irrational exuberance train, where every passenger is
wearing rose-colored glasses on the way to pick up their fortune.

Instead of calculating the risks, you're romanticizing the rewards. It's
irrational, it's exuberant and, for me, very costly once I discovered real
estate doesn't match my strengths.

Now I Have a New Way to Battle Irrational Exuberance

Investors are limited by what behavior psychologists call Bounded Rationality:
we have limited information, we have limited cognitive ability including mental
biases, and we have limited time to make a decision.

Due diligence is about recognizing these limitations, and making a plan to
mitigate them as much as possible.

My plan starts with my wealth team. I have a number of different people working
with me that can minimize my limitations and keep me rational.

I have an attorney to look at the details of any investment opportunity and
assess what risks are involved.

I have a CFO look at my current cash flow and my cash position to determine if
the deal makes sense at that time. He also has a vetting process to look further
into the person promoting the opportunity.

I have an investment advisor who analyzes the investment and assesses the
risk--and who knows me well enough to say whether the investment fits my
strengths.

By putting together a team like this, you're fighting that first limitation of
Bounded Rationality, which is limited information. Putting all your heads
together increases your knowledge and can help you make a better decision.

It also helps you fight cognitive limitations, the second part of Bounded
Rationality. Emotions come into play with investing, and that can stop you from
using your brain effectively. You may also have built-in mental biases that keep
you from seeing things clearly. So having other brains involved--with different
emotions and mental biases--helps minimize this limitation.

Having a team look over an investment before I pull the trigger also helps fight
the last bounded rationality limitation, which is time. Connecting with every
other member of the team forces me to slow down and not make any quick
decisions.

Oftentimes salesmen push you to act right away to get in on the "opportunity,"
but that's usually a good sign that you shouldn't get involved at all.

Yes, you may miss a few opportunities by not acting fast. But you'll also save
yourself a lot of regret and lost money by not acting recklessly.

You can steer clear of irrational exuberance and fight Bounded Rationality by
putting together your own wealth team--or utilizing a team like we've put
together at Wealth Factory.

In the end, if you have any doubt, the best thing to do is usually to say "no."
If you trust your gut, stick to your strengths and do your due diligence, the
right opportunities will come along.

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DO COMPANIES HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO HELP SYRIAN REFUGEES?

October 21, 2015, 3:16 pm
Next See Where the Top 10 American Billionaires Were Born
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"When we can't afford both medicine and food, I tie scarves around my boys'
bellies at night so they don't wake up crying from stomach aches because they
are hungry." --Fatmeh, a Syrian refugee in Lebanon

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Clik here to view. The Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East is a daily
heartbreak that eludes simple solutions. Thousands are dying in boats and trucks
as they desperately flee war-torn, drought-parched lands. Thousands more are
bursting over borders to the relative safety of Europe, only to be quarantined
or turned away from overwhelmed or unfriendly countries.

The disaster this is presenting to the global community is nearly unprecedented
in scale, fueling a cascade of emergencies that have far-reaching consequences,
including permanent damage to entire populations. The Guardian reports that the
refugee crisis is bankrupting UN humanitarian agencies, leaving them unable to
provide food and healthcare to millions of desperate people. The dwindling food
provisions and medical attention are driving even more refugees to Europe, and
creating a generation of children -- those who survive, anyway -- whose lives
will be shaped by malnutrition, disease, psychological damage, lack of education
and vulnerability to extremist groups like ISIS.

As the media devotes greater attention to this tragedy, the general public is
finally seeing the consequences of the destabilization in the Middle East
firsthand. And many people are feeling compelled to do whatever they can to
help. Fortunately, some of these concerned citizens are the CEOs of global
corporations.

Amidst a crisis of this nature, can corporate social responsibility make a
difference? The answer is yes, but only to the degree that companies are willing
to demonstrate leadership on the scale of the crisis. While some of the world's
richest companies are indeed contributing support, there is criticism that many
are not doing nearly enough, especially when it comes to coughing up significant
donations, not just raising awareness.

Whether or not this is a fair complaint, consider these outcomes, as reported by
CNN Money:

* Google is giving 1.1 million to organizations that provide shelter, food,
water, medical care and other essentials for people in dire need. The company
has also been offering matching donations up to5.5 million.

* Goldman Sachs is donating 3 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The money will be used to help refugees arriving at Europe's borders from
war-torn countries.

* The UNHCR said it has received17 million in donations from companies and
individuals in just six days.

* The UNHCR said it is also partnering with additional companies to provide aid
(or in discussions to do so). Those include Zara, Ericsson, Volvo, H&M and
Brown Forman.

* Audi is giving1.1 million to support local emergency aid programs, the German
car maker said.

* Uber is offering to send drivers to collect donations of clothes and toys for
charity Save the Children for free in 20 European countries.

* German soccer club Bayern Munich has said it will donate 1.1 million to
charities. It's also setting up a training camp, which will provide refugee
children with meals and free German language classes.

* Spain's Real Madrid said it would match Bayern's donation to help displaced
people taken in by Spain.

* Europe's top 80 soccer teams have agreed to donate one euro for every ticket
sold for their first home matches of the regional league competitions. League
officials expect the initiative to raise between2.3-3.4 million.

* Norwegian hotelier Petter Stordalen has offered 5,000 free overnight stays in
his chain of hotels in Norway.

* Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has offered to buy an island from Greece
or Italy to provide a temporary home for refugees.

Apple just announced that it is making a "substantial" donation to the migrant
cause and also supporting 2-for-1 matches of contributions from Apple employees
to the Red Cross. Additionally, the company is promoting the Red Cross online
and in the App Store. This generosity seems fitting, for the late Steve Jobs was
himself the son of a Syrian refugee.

Businesses are also getting creative in how they're reaching out to the
refugees. For example, some German companies, like KPMG, are giving some
employees paid time off of work to make it easy for them to volunteer in this
humanitarian effort. Others are offering internships and occasional job training
to skilled migrants looking for work. As reported by DW:

* Siemens initiated a paid internship program for ten trainees at its Erlangen
facilities, to be extended to other facilities beginning in October.

* Deutsche Telekom is also advertising paid online internships for refugees.
However, requirements are high: The company is looking for economics students
with good German and English skills. So far, Telekom has not found any
interns, but they have received their first applications.

* Continental is opening up already existing training programs to refugees. The
plan is that young people can earn their high school diplomas while
participating in a paid internship, after which they can enter into a job
training program.

* Daimler is training refugees in four factories where they have taken on
Syrians and Iraqis with work permits in their machining and tooling
facilities. In this way, the automaker assists the city of Stuttgart's work
with refugees financially and, through their program, also maintains contact
with aid projects in the city.

* Trumpf has teamed up with its hometown of Ditzingen to offer German courses
for refugees.

The only thing holding some German companies back from investing more
substantially in job training for the refugees is the risk of deportation, so
many companies are working with politicians to make it easier to hire refugees
by clarifying their legal status. Toward that end, the German Chamber of
Industry and Commerce supports the so-called 3+2 rule, which stipulates that
anyone who undergoes three years of training cannot be deported, and also has
the right to work for at least two more years after their training has been
completed.

The refugee crisis demonstrates a clear example of how the socially responsible
behavior of companies today is being scrutinized more than ever before. It is no
longer an option not to act in times of crisis; companies must get involved, for
the sake of the trust of their employees, customers and stakeholders, if nothing
else.

Most companies don't have the scale that a Google has to make million-dollar
donations and matching initiatives (even if Google should arguably be going
further than that), but every company can and should still do what it can. For
that reason, businesses using the Causecast platform have the ability to be a
part of our instant campaign to support the refugees, making it easy to engage
employees in fundraising and support.

Whatever action your company takes to demonstrate its concern, make sure it does
something. Amidst a historic tragedy like the one unfolding before our eyes day
after day, sitting on the sidelines is an untenable abdication of responsibility
and a corporate disaster of its own.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use
is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be
distributed on a website.

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SEE WHERE THE TOP 10 AMERICAN BILLIONAIRES WERE BORN

October 21, 2015, 3:35 pm
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Previous Do Companies Have an Obligation to Help Syrian Refugees?
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By Morgan Quinn, Contributor

Last month, Forbes released its annual list of the top U.S. billionaires.
Admission to the top billionaires club was harder than ever with the lowest net
worth sitting at $1.7 billion, up $150 million from one year ago.

Combined, the top 10 wealthiest Americans on Forbes' list are worth over $460
billion, just a few billion shy of Taiwan's GDP. From Warren Buffett to Mark
Zuckerberg, here's a rundown of where the top 10 U.S. billionaires were born and
how they became so rich they could buy a country together.

Read: 21 Surprising Facts You Never Knew About Warren Buffett

1. Bill Gates

Birthplace: Seattle

Net worth: $76 billion

Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle. Although Gates started
Microsoft in Albuquerque, N.M., he moved the company home to Seattle in 1979. Up
until 2008, the business magnate worked at Microsoft full-time, leading the
$340.8 billion company.

Today, Seattle continues to serve as the home base for both the software giant
and it's co-founder. Gates lives in a 66,000 square-foot mansion on his Xanadu
2.0 estate, according to Business Insider. With Bill Gate's net worth sitting at
$76 billion, the $63 million mansion comes with a small price tag.

With more free time, Gates has turned his attention to The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation which funds global health projects like drought-tolerant seeds,
malaria vaccines and telephone banking.

2. Warren Buffett

Birthplace: Omaha, Neb.

Net worth: $62 billion

Known as the Oracle of Omaha, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has his roots in --
you guessed it -- Omaha. Warren Buffett got his start selling soft drinks and
delivering newspapers. The young investor made his first investment at just 14
years old, when he purchased and rented out 40 acres of land, according to
Investopedia.

Buffett later left home to attend the University of Pennsylvania, transferring
to the University of Nebraska after two years. He went on to attend Columbia
University for graduate school and returned to Omaha upon graduation to work at
his father's brokerage firm. Despite Warren Buffett's net worth of $62 billion,
the investor lives in a modest five bedroom house he bought in 1958 for $31,000.

3. Larry Ellison

Birthplace: New York City

Net worth: $47.5 billion

Before Larry Ellison founded Oracle -- one of the largest database software
firms in the world -- he lived in a low-class Chicago neighborhood. During an
oral history for the Smithsonian Institution, the entrepreneur recalled an issue
of Look Magazine that called his neighborhood the oldest and most crime-ridden
area in the U.S. But Ellison eventually left his neighborhood and went on to
become a multibillionaire.

Read: 21 Habits of Highly Successful Billionaires Like Warren Buffett and Mark
Cuban

His rise to riches was not without stumbles, however. Ellison attended and later
dropped out of both the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the
University of Chicago before moving to California. Ellison got his big break in
1977 when he left his job at Ampex to start Oracle.

Larry Ellison's net worth is now $47.5 billion, and the businessman has a
lifestyle most can only dream of. Ellison has a rare collection of cars and
private jets, his own America's Cup racing team and a real-estate portfolio that
includes:

* A private golf club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

* A $70 million mansion

* The historic Astor family home in Newport, R.I.

* A historic garden villa in Kyoto, Japan

* The entire Hawaiian island of Lanai

4. Jeff Bezos

Birthplace: Albuquerque

Net worth: $47 billion

Jeff Bezo's net worth is $47 billion. The Amazon founder grew up in Albuquerque
but first found success as a Wall Street investment banker at D.E. Shaw & Co.
Though he was on track to climb the company ranks, Bezos left the firm in 1994
to pursue a passion in online retail. What he created was a little-known virtual
bookstore called Amazon.

Pursuing his dreams of growing Amazon, Bezos moved to Seattle, where his company
would have close access to Ingram Book Group's Oregon warehouse and a deep pool
of high-tech talent. After raising $1 million in startup funds, he rented a
house in the city and set up shop in his garage. The rest, as they say, is
history.

5. Charles Koch

Birthplace: Wichita, Kan.

Net worth: $41 billion

Billionaire industrialists and brothers Charles Koch and David Koch might have
been born into the upper crust of Wichita society, but their father put them
hard at work milking cows, digging ditches and mowing lawns, according to Daniel
Schulman, author of "Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's
Most Powerful and Private Dynasty."

Related: America's 10 Wealthiest Families and How They Got Rich

Even during Wichita's brutal summer months, the brothers would spend their days
working the land while their peers were playing at the country club. Charles was
even sent to boarding school at age 11. But while the two might have had a
childhood full of chores, the payoff was huge. The Koch brothers are now tied
for the fifth spot of America's top 10 billionaires; both Charles Koch's net
worth and David Koch's net worth are estimated at $41 billion.

6. David Koch

Birthplace: Wichita, Kan.

Net worth: $41 billion

While Charles Koch serves as CEO of Koch Industries, his brother David serves as
executive vice president. David is known as New York City's richest resident,
holding $115 billion in Koch Industries shares with his brother Charles. The two
are also well-known lobbyists, spending nearly $900 million on everything from
political activity to criminal justice reform.

7. Mark Zuckerberg

Birthplace: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

Net worth: $40.3 billion

Mark Zuckerberg's net worth is $40.3 billion. The Facebook founder and CEO was
born in Dobbs Ferry and later moved to Massachusetts to attend Harvard. In 2004,
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard and took his newly-created company Facebook to
Palo Alto, Calif., where the social media network grew to international fame.

In 2014, it was reported that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan,
were building a $10 million mansion in San Francisco. Over $1.5 million has
since been spent on building new bathrooms, a wine room, a wet bar and media
room, making for one stellar party house.

8. Michael Bloomberg

Birthplace: Boston

Net worth: $38.6 billion

Politician, philanthropist and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg was
born in Boston. He left home to attend Johns Hopkins in Maryland before moving
on to Harvard. In the 80s, Bloomberg made billions building a financial computer
that changed the way securities data was stored.

Later, he turned his attention to philanthropy with an emphasis on medical
research, the arts and education. He also served three terms as New York City's
mayor before leaving office in 2014. Today, Michael Bloomberg still calls New
York home though he has properties across the globe, including the Hamptons,
Westchester County, Colorado, Bermuda and London. Bloomberg's net worth is
estimated at $38.6 billion.

9. Jim Walton

Birthplace: Newport, Ark.

Net worth: $34.6 billion

Jim Walton is the son of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart and Sam's Club. With
a net worth of $34.6 billion and the No. 9 spot on this list of billionaires,
Forbes estimated Jim Walton holds a 12.8 percent stake in Walmart. The
businessman also serves as CEO of the family's Arvest Bank, which has branches
in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Walton was born in Newport and now lives in Bentonville, Ark., with his wife and
four children. Bentonville is also home to Walmart, the world's largest company.
But Walton didn't grow up rich -- he was a small-town kid whose dad happened to
own a number of successful stores.

This lifestyle is reflected in the Walton family. Despite controlling about $90
billion worth of Walmart stock, the family remains incredibly tight knit,
understated and drawn to Sam Walton's commitment to plain living.

10. Larry Page

Birthplace: East Lansing, Mich.

Net Worth: $33.8 billion

East Lansing, Mich., native Larry Page was born to computer experts, so it's no
surprise he was drawn to computer technology. After earning his bachelor's
degree in science from the University of Michigan, Page left his home state to
study computer engineering at Stanford University. There, Larry Page met Sergey
Brin, who helped him develop Google.

In 1998, after raising $1 million from family, friends and investors, Google
officially launched. It has since become the world's most popular search engine.
After the company's first initial public offering in August 2004, Page became a
billionaire. Since 2004, Page's net worth has skyrocketed to $33.8 billion.

Both Larry Page and Google are still headquartered in California's Silicon
Valley. As a clean energy advocate, Page maintains a network of houses in Palo
Alto that use fuel cells, geothermal energy and rainwater capture.

This article, See Where the Top 10 American Billionaires Were Born, originally
appeared on GOBankingRates.com.

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