Chapter Two: Six Ways to Make a Lasting Impression… (The first three) [ARR]

Annie's Reading Room

Although part two technically contains six ways to make a lasting impression, I am only going to focus on the first three this week. I think each of these are useful enough that they require some time and energy to process without getting lost in the full list of six.

Part Two: Six Ways To Make a Lasting Impression

Take Interest in Others’ Interests. To see the power in this tenet, we may turn to our canine friends. “Dogs know by some divine instinct that you can make more friends in minutes by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in months of trying to get other people interested in you.” Dale Carnegie is not suggesting licking other’s faces, but how can you not be won over by someone who is so excited to see you? “The one who chooses to take interest in other’s interests on a daily basis is set apart. We remember such people, befriend them, and come to trust them more deeply.” So in other words, you don’t have to sacrifice your own interests, but “when you incorporate others’ interests into your own...you find that your interests are met in the process of helping others.”

Smile. Hopefully, smiling while engaging in face-to-face conversation is something you practice already. However, the challenging part is indicating a smile through digital conversations. Beyond emoticons, which may not always be appropriate, we have the opportunity to demonstrate a smile through our voice and tone, whether that be spoken or written. Always begin and end your message on a positive note. If you are unsure of your ability to convey positivity, it may be best to forgo a written message altogether and instead conduct the conversation in person.

Reign with Names. The primary payoff of remembering people’s names, and using their names in conversations with them, is that they therefore remember you. For most people, nothing is sweeter than the sound of their own name.

Up next week, the remaining three!

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Simone Gockel

By Supriya Agarwal (MBA '14)
 

Many Baruch graduate students want to become entrepreneurs, but for some the risk associated with it can lead them to choose a more established career path.
 
Baruch MBA alumna Simone Gockel 
(MBA ’12) is currently an e-commerce and social media manager at OSP Group (formerly Redcats), a catalog retailer and online marketplace for plus-size consumers. Recently, Simone also co-founded a travel venture start-up company called travtap.


Supriya Agarwal had a chance to sit with Simone one balmy evening where over cups of coffee, she shared her Baruch MBA experience and how she has been able to balance her regular job with her start-up company.

Simone, thank you for meeting with me. Can you share a bit about your current role as an e-commerce manager at OSP Group?
Sure, Supriya. In my current role, I manage all e-commerce projects for the OneStopPlus brand of OSP Group. I am responsible for enhancing the user experience on the desktop and mobile websites, managing the OneStopPlus loyalty program and OneStopPlus.com’s social media strategy. Each day is challenging in many unique ways, and I find my work to be a lot of fun. My work also gives me an opportunity to combine a range of skills from analytical to managerial, and every day I have a chance to learn something new and exciting.
 
It sounds like you are doing very dynamic things. With that in mind, what inspired you to launch travtap ?
My co-founder and I recognized that there was a huge potential to disrupt the travel industry with new mobile solutions that enhance the overall travel experience by engaging the traveler not only pre-trip (booking) but also while they are on their trip. Our aim is to bridge the gap between hotel booking, arriving somewhere and having personalized, local recommendations by other travelers. No app install is necessary, the users can conveniently use their device browser to search and book hotels and then continue to remain engaged through the on-trip stage through relevant local info and deals from local vendors (things to do, restaurants and shopping).

I noticed that travtap does not have a corporate website. So the plan was really to be iPhone and iPad specific?  
travtap is an HTML5 based platform that is device agnostic, however as our initial release we optimized travtap.com for iPhone and iPad. Moving forward, we plan to extend it to other platforms like Android as well. As travelers are constantly connected on their mobile devices we decided to build our solution for mobile devices first.

I’m curious, how do you find information for ‘killer deals’ featured on travtap.com?
My co-founder has been in the hotel industry for a long time and has an established network of contacts. We negotiate deals through our network and feature the best ones in our beta city NYC. As we expand we will add more hotels and more cities. My co-founder and I complement each other in our skill sets very well (him in distribution and technology  and me in marketing)
 
Looking ahead, what is your long-term vision for travtap?
We want travtap to become “your mobile travel assistant”. This goes far beyond just booking a hotel. Our vision is that travtap.com is with you pre-, during and post-travel, for example, helping you to find things to do, restaurants and shopping venues, etc. as recommended by locals and other travelers We also plan on partnering with local vendors offering personalized and location-specific deals to our customers.

Looking back on where you have come to now, how did the Baruch MBA experience help you in your professional journey?
The classes I took at Baruch (e.g. Digital Marketing and Information Systems for Managers) helped me to develop a broad understanding of digital marketing and e-commerce. The MBA experience also gave me a lot of cross-functional knowledge, international exposure and helped me develop my managerial skills. I have also been able to blend in my European work experience with my work in corporate America, and now have a good understanding of both worlds.

Those are some very strong differentiators. What advice could you share with Baruch graduate students who want to work for a short time to gain industry exposure and later become entrepreneurs? 
Students who want to become entrepreneurs later in life should work at small to mid-size companies where they will be exposed to all the different aspects of the business. Hands-on experience will give them the confidence to deal with the difficulties when they start out on their own.

Chapter One: Essentials of Engagement [ARR]

Part One: Essentials of Engagement

Annie's Reading Room

Part One: Essentials of Engagement from How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie boils down to this: be kind, be genuine, be empathic.

Bury Your Boomerangs. In other words, “technology has made it possible to blow one’s reputation faster and easier than ever.” To maintain your status as a great influencer, “don’t criticize, condemn, or complain...shift your use of media from a spirit of exposé and objection to a spirit of encouragement and exhortation.”

Affirm what’s good: Not to be confused with flattery. “Affirmation, in contrast to flattery, requires seeing someone well enough to sense what to affirm, knowing someone well enough to be aware of what really matters...the one who speaks in a spirit of respectful, unhyperbolic affirmation will always win more friends and influence more people.”

Connect with Core Desires. “Influencing others is not a matter of outsmarting them. It is a matter of discerning what they truly want and offering it to them in a mutually beneficial package.”

Next week, we will learn from Part Two: Six Ways to Make a Lasting Impression.

Introducing Annie's Reading Room

I have been a graduate student. I understand that there are many “non-school” books that you might want to read, but you just don’t have the time. That being said, I don’t want you to miss out on some good information simply because you have other pressing assignments, which is why I’m starting...

Annie’s Reading Room:
“I read the books...so you don’t have to!”

In this little project, I hope to create my own version of a book’s “Cliff’s Notes” (remember those?) by breaking the book into its chapters on a weekly basis and conveying some key takeaways by highlighting useful quotations.

My first installment is "How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age" by Dale Carnegie & Associates.

Stay tuned for next week’s installment when we will dive into the book itself. But to serve as an introduction, below is some information on the book and why it is still relevant almost 8 decades after its original publishing:

Dale Carnegie wrote the original, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" in 1936. Although this updated version of the book incorporates the nuances of relating to others in the digital age, most of its core recommendations still center on the principles of relationship-building. If we do in fact want to win friends and influence others, application of these basic principles are made even more critical by the constant flurry of today’s digital message exchange. Here are some initial key takeaways.

·         The message means just as much as, and is sometimes amplified by, the medium in which it is delivered.  Therefore, once you have something meaningful to offer, only then should you choose the most efficient medium.

·         There is no such thing as a neutral exchange. They all either leave someone a little better or a little worse.

·         The two highest levels of influence are when people follow you because of what you’ve done for them, or follow you for who you are.

Next week we will start at the very beginning with Part One: Essentials of Engagement.

*As a side note, if there are any books that you would like me to add to my “reading list,” please list them in the comments section.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: David Master

Sustainability Reporting: The Financial Bottom Line

David Master is a full-time MBA student who has recently procured a great opportunity working with the Governance & Accountability Institute. The G&A Institute provides clients in the corporate, public and investment sectors with systematic resources that help address sustainability measures. David was one of the primary researchers and authors of a report looking at the possible relationships between S&P 500 companies that release sustainable business reports and other factors, such as financial performance and the appearance on reputable lists and indexes. The GCMC sat down with David to find out more about his experience and role in this insightful venture.

GCMC: David, your internship and work on the ESG report sounds like a phenomenal opportunity. How did you get involved with this project?

I had the opportunity to join this project through an internship with the Governance & Accountability Institute. My work was mainly focused on supporting efforts to analyze the possible relationships between S&P 500 companies that release sustainable business reports and other factors, such as financial performance and the appearance on reputable lists and indexes. It was a project that took nine months, and culminated in a report titled "Corporate ESG / Sustainability Reporting – Does It Matter?” that was released in December 2012.

GCMC: When companies and individuals think of sustainability issues, many are skeptical about their impact. From a business perspective, does ESG reporting hit the financial bottom line for companies?

ESG reporting (Sustainability Reporting or Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting) has been gaining prevalence in corporations over the past several years. Putting out a report highlights two main areas:  First, how transparent a company is, and second what is going on behind the scenes regarding its environmental and social impact.

One primary finding is that more than half of S&P 500 companies publish ESG reports. If you’re an S&P 500 company that doesn’t release such a report, you are [considered] in the minority and behind the curve. The other finding is that in every area the report examined, including financial performance, equity indexes, key corporate reputational lists/awards, and key corporate ratings and ranking, companies that released reports scored better than those that did not.

Ultimately, these reports are important because they add standardized metrics to qualitative aspects of companies that can otherwise be difficult to measure. Focusing on these areas allows for a long-term, stakeholder-focused company growth [in comparison to a] short-term shareholder-focused approach, [which has] been proven ineffective for a company to gain and retain a competitive edge. An added benefit is that the emphasis on social and environmental impact allows companies to increase employee productivity and consumer loyalty, while decreasing risk by managing issues before they have a chance to become crises.  These areas, while more difficult to measure, influence the positive relationship that exists between companies that release ESG reporting and their financial bottom line.

GCMC: That seems like a highly involved and rigorous process, and we’re sure many individuals don’t even know the impact it has. Were there any unexpected results that came out in your work on this report?

While the overall findings were not unexpected, the high degree of relationships between each of the factors we researched was surprising. Another surprise was the media pickup of this report and its findings. Since its release, this report has been referenced in more than a dozen publications, including Bloomberg and Motley Fool.

I encourage everyone interested in the topic to read the findings. The report is public, and can be downloaded for free at http://www.ga-institute.com/research-reports/2012-corporate-esg-sustainability-responsibility-reporting-does-it-matter.html