In the first part of this two-part article I'll cover the market changes and changing business needs that have made the career practice not only viable, but the most lucrative and flexible career approach for the senior executive. Then, in the next issue, I'll explain how a senior executive can successfully create a career practice out of available market opportunities.

A career practice is simply managing one's personal brand and professional opportunities as a strategy, without the standard reliance on a single income stream and the typical gaps with job transition efforts in-between different positions. A career practice substitutes simply going from role to role with an intentional market focus that includes multiple simultaneous roles and the bandwidth to continue to acquire future roles. A successful career practice ensures continuous activity and attractive revenue streams over the long term.

The Issue

Tenures have been continually shrinking for senior executives. Stability is no longer possible with standard full time roles. Many senior executives go from job to job more frequently, while finding less and less control in their career. For many the question is what’s next? How can I take the wealth of my 20+ years of experience and best leverage this in my career moving forward? How can I ensure significant and lasting financial wins for myself and my family?

The Market

For companies, trends in both hiring and outsourcing have caused dynamic shifts in the market. We see less retention and higher costs as tenures drop. Competitive needs are more dynamic, while having the right team now doesn't necessarily translate into being competitive in the next season. According to Execunet in 2008 the average tenure for an executive with Chief in his or her title was 3.2 years, with an even lower average in smaller companies. At the VP level in small to medium businesses (SMBs), retention is much shorter averaging just over 2 years across the C- level. Given these market trends, and the prevailing systems for hiring leadership, the move to hire has become much more costly for a company.

The Chinese symbol for crises is also the symbol for opportunity. We’ll look at the dynamic changes in the market for companies that are providing new opportunities for senior executives.

Let's say a CEO hires a new VP of sales to align the sales strategy, implement any systems, processes, and/or the right people, and then to drive the team forward to higher levels of revenue. Given a $140k base salary, with say an additional $40k in benefits and bonus potential, there’s typically an immediate unrecoverable recruiting cost to the company of $40 - $60k. Yet, it normally takes about 6 months before a CEO knows that they made the right choice.

Meanwhile, as many SMBs are experiencing, simply hiring a VP of sales may not address the complex issues the company is facing. SMBs often struggle with a broad range of issues related to revenue such as the high costs of sales, a misaligned or non-competitive go-to-market strategy, and leadership team limitations. Many smaller companies face core systemic issues that affect growth and costs. Often these issues trace ‘upstream’ to the leadership team and ownership. With these challenges, many SMBs have experienced a swinging door of hires with significant additional hard costs, not to mention opportunity costs. Given these combined trends, hiring leadership team members at the SMB level has become both costly and risky. Yet the CEO wouldn’t be hiring if they could simply take the work on. So it seems like a necessary gamble. Is there another option?

Interim Solution

Let’s apply the interim alternative: hiring an executive on a limited, contract basis. This option has proven very successful in lowering the cost of hiring by removing the recruiting and separation costs. It’s a method especially proven with the CFO function, and has gained prominence in the United Kingdom, and a fast-growing popularity in the United States as an alternative to hire. Secondary benefits of hiring an interim include gaining a try-before-you-by option which lessens the commitment for both companies and executives. With an interim, the hiring risk and upfront costs are significantly reduced. In the example, the CEO hiring an interim VP of Sales instead of a full time employee at the $140k level saves around $100k immediately by not having the recruiting, benefits, or separation costs.

Though the cost and risk saving advantages to this approach are significant for the CEO, a key limitation which I described earlier remains. Often within smaller companies, systemic issues usually relating to the leadership team and the CEO can prevent growth as much as having the right strategies, systems, processes and people. In short, the key issues which limit revenue growth for smaller companies are often not controllable by the interim or full time VP of Sales. Though the costs and risks go down, how can the interim VP of Sales make a sustainable impact on revenue for the company if the key issues are outside their control?

Comprehensive Engagement Solution

Now, picture this. Let’s say that rather than hiring an interim as an alternative to hiring a full time VP of Sales, the CEO decides to bring in a highly qualified senior executive to assess the company top to bottom and to implement needed strategies to increase revenue. The chosen senior executive understands the different elements of running a company, understands sales and increasing the top line at a deep and broad level, and knows the vertical industry of the company. He or she can work directly with the CEO on a peer basis while developing and implementing the sales strategy, among other related company needs. Systemic, up-stream issues can be confronted and dealt with. Essentially, the senior executive would take on a consultative role, peering up with the CEO, while providing hands-on implementation of a developed revenue strategy that the senior executive. The senior executive would have full control to implement as best suits the company, and therefore would have control over the results.

Given the level of this senior executive and the smaller size of the company, he or she can work on a strictly part time basis, one to three days per week for the length of the engagement. Upon successfully implementing the sales strategy, the senior executive can find their replacement to manage the new strategy going forward, while the senior executive exits the engagement and the company.

To summarize this approach, the CEO is given access to senior-level leadership experience and expertise that they likely couldn’t hire full time. The CEO gains this experience on a part-time and affordable basis, taking advantage of the same interim savings we talked about above. The CEO gains an objective and outside perspective as well as a respected partner in the growth and direction of his or her business and goals. Lastly, the CEO is left with a successful growth strategy, needed systems, and the right person to run it long term once the senior executive exits. If effectively structured and successfully implemented, this is clearly a major win for the CEO from a cost savings, risk savings, and value-add perspective. Going back to our main topic, how can this approach work for the senior executive?

The Opportunity

If you are a senior executive who understands the elements of running a business you can capitalize on the typical shortage of talent, systems, and effective leadership in small to medium companies as well as the high-risk, costly method for recruiting full time leadership.

Because of your experience you can engage with a SMB company on a limited, 1-3 days per week basis, while having a peer-level relationship to the CEO. Engaging part-time is the key to your opportunity at this level, because this allows you to take on multiple engagements. Just as importantly, you can reserve the bandwidth necessary to maintain the relationships in the market that lead to further engagements.

Taking on multiple, simultaneous engagements will allow you to create an attractive income for yourself, on par with or better than taking a full time role with a larger company. The ability to maintain your business development and brand-building efforts while delivering engagements gives you the control necessary to ensure on-going work, and thereby allowing you to recreate stability, growth and ‘equity’ in your career. The peer-level, comprehensively structured engagements you take on give you the flexibility to engage with full control of your role and results. Taken together, these advantages allow you to have a lucrative career practice and growing personal brand based on creating meaningful and self-sustaining changes to companies that could really use your help.

In the next issue I’ll delve into the different elements needed to make a career practice work.

A career practice is simply managing one's professional roles and opportunities as a strategy, included with a personal brand, and ever-growing brand equity, all without the standard reliance on one income stream and the typical gaps in between different roles.

Senior executives and businesses are finding ways to side-step the expensive and ever-riskier recruiting process by engaging on a less formal and shorter basis, normally with an agreed end date.

Taking objectivity a step further, the most successful interims create a peer relationship with the CEO, and act as both adviser and operational executive, working directly with the CEO.

• “70% of family businesses never make it to the second generation.”1
• A “Transition Deficit” grows as decision making is concentrated in the founder.
• An objective SWOT analysis and overview of the current business is a needed starting point.
• Prepare for the future by integrating new long-term strategies into current annual planning procesess.

Before diving into the details, let’s get some perspective on why so many family businesses find it too difficult to work on important generational issues. Fundamentally it’s hard to find time to “work on the business” when you are neck deep doing “work in the business." When you work in the business, urgent issues consume all available time so there’s no opportunity to work on the important positioning of the business for multi-generational success.

Here’s a comparison to illustrate “why” it’s so hard to work both “in” and “on." On a recent trip I was hiking in Sedona, Arizona. As I hiked early in the morning, my vision was fixed on the immediate trail and where my next step would be placed. If I looked up I lost my balance and stumbled over the loose rocks and uneven terrain. To see the actual big picture of where I was going, I had to stop, look around and re-check the map. Unfortunately stopping to look around also stopped steps forward and I definitely needed to keep moving to beat the Arizona heat.

On a hike it’s easier to find a balance between looking at the immediate trail and looking at the big picture destinaiton. In a family business, time must be dedicated to work on the long-term business destination without stumbling over urgent immediate issues in the business. The good new sIt doesn’t have to be an either / or approach – it can and should be both. But work on the big picture requires intentional and disciplined effort – it won’t just naturally happen.

The best way to approach such planning is to designate regular time to consider the future. It doesn't have to be done all at once, but it does have to be done consistently. It certainly helps to have someone whether external or internal, facilitate the process and maintain regular communication to all parties. The process of "visualization" is a non-threatening (typically) process that allows all concerned to convey what they envision and what success looks like. Thus the ensuing dialogue is an exchange on the future and how best to get there. It provides a forum for realism given the current business statistics as those visions are reflected upon in the context of hard business analysis. Ultimately, any succession planning does depend (as described below) upon a good faith approach from all parties and willingness for some level of compromise. If those conditions are in place, the family succession planning process can energize the company and create a new level of unity among the generations of leaders.

Marq Enterprises, a family business, effectively dealt with the “work on” vs. “work in” dilemma as it positioned their business for ongoing success. Check out this 3-minute video to see through a founder’s eyes what satisfaction with the big picture looks like.

OVERRIDING ISSUES

As you start the process to visualize your successful future be wary of “overriding issues.“ Overriding Issues” have the potential to completely negate other positive steps. It’s like multiplication where zero is the overriding factor that can discount all other positive factors. Effective plans developed and executed in the 5 components of the business we looked at in the second article could be completely negated by the following two overriding issues.

Issue One - Avoidance Behavior

The first overriding issue is the question “Am I and is my management team willing to listen and are we open to objective information." This is overriding because any investigation is completely wasted if there is no willingness to listen and learn. For some leadership teams “avoidance” behaviors have become the norm. Avoidance in a family business reflects family dynamics where separating business from personal is extremely tough. Clarity on business issues is complicated by compassion for the family member. The compassion, although well intentioned, results in indirect communication that prevents accurate problem definition and incorrect solution identification.

Malcom Gladwell, in his book OUTLIERS depicts avoidance behavior in crew members of jet aircraft and the resulting “mitigated speech which refers to any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what’s being said.”2 Avoidance creates an environment where pilots (decision makers) aren’t clearly told necessary information (good and bad) by crew members to deal effectively with situations that lead to what might have beenpreventable crashes. To minimize the negative affect of avoidance and mitigated speech, objective feedback may necessitate a non-family third party so information (good or bad) can be honestly, directly and clearly delivered.

Issue Two - Liquidity and Estate Planning

The second overriding issue wasn’t initially on my radar screen but became apparent from feedback on the first two articles in this series. Kevin Kolson of Family Wealth Leadership shared family estate “life events” to consider:

• “Does the owner’s estate have sufficient liquidity to avoid selling the family business for estate taxes - generally due within 9 months of death?” 
• “If there are multiple owners, are there plans and funds to handle death, disability or divorce of an owner?” 
• “What value or funds does the owner need from the business to fund retirement?”3 

Estate issues are unforgiving and mistakes made in prior years cannot be undone once the “life event” occurs. Liquidity and capital requirements from “life events” are so large they overwhelm the capabilities of the business. Effective estate planning is a critical requirement that requires both experience and expertise. The leaders of family businesses are seasoned professionals in their specific industries, but it’s unlikely they possess the needed expertise to deal effectively and accurately with estate issues. Simple rookie mistakes in estate planning are overriding issues that can undermine even the best strategic planning.

Celebrating the past is important so accomplishments are recognized and rewarded. This is an easy area to overlook as we all tend to focus on problems and take success for granted. Part of the reason to celebrate the past is to put it in proper perspective – it’s the past. Fond memories are good to celebrate and then move firmly forward by building on the past. Some organizations let their desire for “the good old days” keep them from looking forward.

To effectively visualize your successful future three W’s must be covered – Who , What and When. In the previous two articles we covered the “what” and “when” so let’s now focus on “who”. “Who” is not one picture; it’s a composite of individual pictures from each stakeholder. It’s important to distinctly look at each stakeholder from their unique point of view as they are inherently different. Beside the primary owner(s) the stakeholders include employees, vendors, suppliers, the community and family members (both active and inactive in business operations).

To fully understand the “who” each family member should create their own personal vision in four time buckets: 1 year; 5 years; 10 years; and 20 years. Use the progression of questions below in combination with the “five why” technique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys) to paint a picture of each family member. The goal is to establish “agreed to” expectations that fit into the overall plan for the business. “Agreed to” will take serious work to peel back the onion which is why the “five why” technique is suggested.

One of the biggest problems for a family business is unreasonable expectations by family members that are unspoken but yet resonate very loud for specific individuals. Because it’s a family business the founder will likely have expectations for the next generations that speak loudly to the founder but completely silent for future generations. Remember our discussion about avoidance – these questions below, although pretty straight forward, can generate complex answers that are steeped in avoidance. So to combat the anticipated avoidance take needed steps to create an atmosphere where discussion and sharing is confidential and open.

The above considerations must be determined individually. By separating into buckets of time: 1-year; 5- years; 10-years; and 20-years, a progressive picture emerges. This takes time as you want answers that are well thought through and get to the root issues and opportunities. Individual coaching and review of these questions may feel cumbersome but doing this sooner rather than later is critical to achieve win-win results. Because expectations are so powerful the answers to the above questions should drive a documented Personal Plan for each individual family member. Once you know where each individual wants to see themselves in the family business you can begin crafting the collective picture for the business. Don’t be surprised if some individual pictures have trouble fitting together.

The goal of positioning a family business for ongoing success should be to win for the business and win for the individual family members. This win-win is possible to achieve but to achieve it you have to watch the immediate trail and at the same time create a vision for the big picture. Family succession planning can be a thrilling and rewarding process if indeed the organization can avoid the overriding issues such as avoidance and lack of proper estate planning. Visualization can indeed help both in the future planning and can also have a positive impact on the nearer term functioning of the business.

If you want more information on creating a vision for the future, putting a stake in the ground and taking steps to insure your “win-win” success story, contact dale.hintz@oneaccordpartners.com or call 972-824-6923.

In a family business, time must be dedicated to work on the long-term business destination without stumbling over urgent immediate issues in the business.

The best way to approach such planning is to designate regular time to consider the future. It doesn't have to be done all at once, but it does have to be done consistently

The current situation analysis will likely identify numerous actions and the strategic action plan creates needed prioritization. Avoid the temptation to jump right into an "action plan" without an "objective review of the current business situation." The resulting "action plan" will likely focus on symptoms rather than deeper problems and significant opportunities.

Does your company rely on relationships to generate revenue? If you said yes, you are in good company, because the majority of our economy is tied to the skill of being able to connect with others. An exception to this would be companies that drive transactional business from strangers, through a conduit such as ecommerce.

If your revenue performance is tied to relationships, you may have succumbed to a common trap and not realized it. Business relationships that begin with the primary purpose of making connections just to drive revenue, are easily undermined because true relationship, is not utilitarian in nature.

On the other hand, if your focus is on serving your prospects and customers, by focusing on their needs and objectives, then the well-known phrase often referred to by Zig Ziglar, can become a reality for you and your team. Zig is well known for stating “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want”

No one wants to be viewed as just a dollar figure on the way to your financial goal, I have never met a person yet, that wants to be seen as a financial stepping stone on the path of someone else’s road map to success.

So what does it look like to build authentic relationships that begin by focusing on the needs of others? Lets break that down:

1. Approach communication with an intentional focus on the person that you are communicating with
2. Learn to ask high quality questions that demonstrate an authentic interest in identifying the needs and objectives of the other person(s)
3. Focus on their responses by being an active listener and ask second and third tiered follow up questions if applicable
4. Offer feedback on what you have uncovered, to clarify that you have accurately comprehended
5. Make notes of your discoveries. A week does not go by that someone in our life makes a commitment to get back to us on something and their follow through ends up falling flat.
6. If you are not in a position to help them directly, think of the people that you know, who may be able to help.
7. Don’t commit to deliver results on the spot, unless you are 110% certain that you can hit the mark. The concept of under promise and over deliver applies here in spades.

Once you develop a reputation for serving the needs and desires of others, regardless of the short-term financial benefit to you, you will become a trusted, credible and likable person in the marketplace. With the wind of this reputation at your back, you will find your self with a considerable advantage over a competitive company that approaches the marketplace in a self-centered manner, the majority of the time.

The other advantage of this approach, is the way in which it validates your abundance mentality. I have never met a person that consistently places an emphasis on the needs of others, while maintianing a scarcity paradigm. The folks that are only looking out for themselves, are the same people that approach business from a scarcity and fear based vantage, which leads them to act in a way that undermines relationship, rather than encourage them.

If this is a new way to approach your prospects and customers, I challenge you to the thirty day test, follow these seven steps for thirty days and if you don’t like what you’re getting, you can always go back to what you have done in the past, IF stronger revenue performance is not as gratifying as you had hoped it would be!

Blain Wease, Regional Managing Principal, Mid South

Blain Wease is a seasoned business executive with an extensive background, working with companies to create and retain revenue. He has deployed a broad range of strategies and experience to grow small to mid range organizations into healthier futures. Blain has primarily focused his expertise within organizations in the business-to-business space, utilizing direct sales teams. Serving in a variety of roles has uniquely positioned him to take a holistic approach with his client's objectives. Blain is experienced in training, public speaking and facilitating entrepreneurial development. BIO

Contact: blain.wease@oneaccordpartners.com

If your revenue performance is tied to relationships, you may have succumbed to a common trap and not realized it.

Once you develop a reputation for serving the needs and desires of others, regardless of the short-term financial benefit to you, you will become a trusted, credible and likable person in the marketplace.

"Social Media” has become a catch all buzz word for both the latest interactive technological advances and burgeoning forms of social interactions made possible by those advances. Over the past five plus years more and more companies have jumped on seeking to harness the power of social media to support their business development. The question for some is “How can we more effectively incorporate these channels for our business interests?” The question for others is “What's next? What's the next wave of advancement?”

The key for realizing present opportunities and for catching the next wave of advance is focusing first not on the technology itself, but on goals of the business and the potential of existing and evolving models of interaction. Having been involved in web development since the mid 1990's I've observed two major pitfalls that distinguish the leaders from the late or inadequate adopters: 1) the focus on technology itself rather than the core business goals in an environment of advancement; 2) the wrong people driving and directing the adoption of technology.

Internet development has sometimes been understood in successive waves. A superficial approach to “social media” at this juncture means a firm is catching the wake rather than the next wave of progress in the digital realm. The vital key to realizing current and coming waves of technology is to first identify the relational and transactional breakthrough the advance represents and second, to connect that to key opportunities in your specific business and industry. Notably also, there are a myriad of social business initiatives worth exploring and learning from across the board.

Below we have offered ten keys for evaluating and maximizing your business' position in the social media space both in the present and in anticipation of the future.

Ten keys for the present and future:

1. Engage at the Executive Level: Don't relegate the strategic discussion of social media to the marketing department, but consider it carefully at the executive level. Likewise, don't delegate the decisions as to the technical platforms for delivery solely to the IT department, but consider these decisions comprehensively at the executive level. Additionally, carefully evaluate the “voice” being expressed through various channels and make sure it authentically and effectively represents your brand identity and supports your goals.
2. Whatever you are doing, do well. The biggest issue with many companies is a lack of commitment to see through their strategies. Is your social media presence static or dynamic? Is it constantly being refreshed. Is your staff trained and encouraged to participate? Are you seeking to broaden your reach actively? Some business owners question the Return On Investment (ROI) of such activities. That's a valid and broader concern. But an equally important concern is what image you are projecting with a stagnant or out-of-date presence. It's a straightforward as implementing basic approaches such as having all your staff “like” posts or other online elements.
3. Social Scoring. Social networks are a critical business asset and should be valued. Some companies are now evaluating customers based not on traditional benchmarks such as income, but rather on “influence” as defined by the strength of their social connections. Social media scoring is an up and coming trend. (Examples: http://klout.com/home and http://empireavenue.com/). Consider identifying, cultivating, and rewarding key influencers both internally and externally as you refine your social marketing strategy.
4. Focus on enhancing business value. Don't focus simply on the “brands” of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc.), but rather focus on the key interactive models that are available / emerging and connect those to your core business goals. With this in mind, labor to establish social solutions that target and offer specific business value and let that drive adoption and strategy.
5. Physical Applications and Proximity Focus. Connect the physical to the virtual. An emerging trend is where interactive tools and applications are connected to the real-time, real world. Examples include:
   http://gowalla.com/, a social travel guide that makes it easy to keep up with friends, share photos, highlight your favorite places and discover the world around you all in real time.
   http://soundcloud.com/: a platform that puts sound at the heart of communities, websites and even apps and is the catalyst for social interaction and networking.
   Think about your own offerings and consider how a real-time connection could enhance your customers' relationships with your company either with the constitution of the actual product or service or communities of knowledge / practice associated with your product or service. Review emerging applications on smart phones for inspiration. Additionally, posting signage encouraging participation in your social initiatives is a simple, but effective measure.1
6. Integrate Your Data. Connect all of your databases of people, prospects, etc. into a unified target for your social media strategy. At a recent social media conference there was a discussion of how in some larger organizations the various databases of prospects, customers, stakeholders, etc. were completely un-related and there was a lack of a unified social media and communication planning. This lack of coordination impeded the impact.
7. Integrate Your Delivery and Analysis. Look for technologies / products to integrate your reaches via email marketing, social media, etc. A number of companies are offering this type of integrated approach to maximize impact and centralize control and evaluation. Dave Parker, one of the founders of OneAccord is helping to launch Bundled.com (http://www.bundled.com/) which offers this type of service. Other services include Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) and Sprout Social (http://sproutsocial.com/signup/start/pro).
8. Keep your strategies and content fresh and diversify. A Gartner survey2 shows some social media fatigue among early adopters. “31 percent of Aspirers [younger, more mobile, brand-conscious consumers] indicated that they were getting bored with their social network.”3 Content must be kept fresh, creative, and condensed for easy digestion for short attention spans.
9. Communicate and Brand Yourself on Multiple Channels. Anticipate multiple information hubs, modes of collaboration and modes of communication. People are increasingly using mobile devices to access information, communicate, collaborate, etc. Trends are showing that social media contexts are taking on a significant portion (20%)4 of what was traditionally handled via email. Businesses should consider holistically all of these channels and tools as part of their virtual presence and identity, rather than focusing unduly on just their web site for instance. Because of their immense size and presence, businesses should explore and build upon Facebook and Twitter key business presences. See a comprehensive list of third party business aps associated with Facebook (http://www.focus.com/fyi/facebook-marketing-toolbox-100-tools-and-tips-tap-facebook/) and Twitter at http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/the-most-comprehensive-twitter-app-list-youll-ever-need/
10. Evaluate and Plan. Evaluate your social media strategy and use the right tools for the right messaging. It is important to identify who you are targeting and how to cultivate real relationships versus “thin”5 relationships that aren't substantive. From a basic perspective, below are some key ways to think about your communication strategies:

Facebook: Research shows that people's expectation of this media is general information on what is current.

Twitter: Research shows that people expect the information to be explicit about current offerings or happenings and do not wish for extraneous.

E-Newsletter: This media tends to support an emotional connection to the company.6

To take it a step further, there are tools to evaluate where you are and where you want to go. One tool developed by Forester research offers you the ability to analyze your position and prospects in the social space. It helps you analyze when, how and where your clients are using the Internet.: http://www.forrester.com/empowered/tool_consumer.html Another broader grid was created as part of an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled What's Your Social Media Strategy. 7 The authors break down strategic engagement in four categories: predictive practitioner, creative experimenter, social media champion, and social media transformer. They offer a useful quiz as well to evaluate and determine one's own quadrant in their schema.

Conclusion
Social media is a dynamic way to advance business interests through intelligence gathering, promotion, and customer engagement. It is critical that businesses engage this trend at the top level to ensure that the strategies and tactics are united, integrated, authentic and on point to meet overall business objectives. The approaches mentioned above will help your company both better realize present and future opportunities.

1The presentation at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam by Robert Scoble helped inspire and inform this topic. Additionally the blog article by TNW, The Future of Social Media.
2 Gartner Survey Highlights Consumer Fatigue with Social Media, August, 2011 - http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1766814
3 Gartner Survey Highlights Consumer Fatigue with Social Media, August, 2011 - http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1766814
4 Gartner Reveals Five Social Media Predictions for 2010 and Beyond http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1293114
5 The Social Media Bubble, Havard Business Review, Umair Haque, March, 2010 http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/03/the_social_media_bubble.html
6 Nielsen Norman Group Report, Email Newsletter Usability, Executive Summary
7 What's Your Social Media Strategy, H. James Wilson, PJ Guinan, Salvatore Parise, and Bruce D. Weinberg, Harvard Business Review, July, 2011

David Mitchell,  is owner and creative director for Interactive Consulting, a Spokane, Washington firm focusing on emerging interactive technologies, marketing and creative services. Since 1998, David has worked with local and regional firms helping them to develop their web-based strategies and presence and has provided a plethora of design services and products (print, identity, web, exhibit, presentation). David specializes in electronic communications and his firm has been a value added reseller for Constant Contact since 2002. Interactive Consulting is the developer for the OneAccord site and designer for the Topline View newsletter.

Contact: davidm@futureinteractive.com

I've observed two major pitfalls that distinguish the leaders from the late or inadequate adopters:  1) the focus on technology itself rather than the core business goals in an environment of advancement;  2) the wrong people driving and directing the adoption of technology. 

This quiz was developed by the authors of the HBR article, What's Your Social Media Strategy and can be viewed in larger form there.