Posted by Elena del Valle on September 21, 2012
The Innovator’s Way book cover
Photos: The MIT Press
Many entrepreneurs may believe innovation, the adoption of change, leads to success. Data do not support that belief: The success rate for innovation initiatives is an unexpectedly low 4 percent, according to Business Week (2005).
Peter J. Denning and Robert Dunham, authors of The Innovator’s Way Essential Practices for Successful Innovation (The MIT Press,$29.95), 434-page hardcover book published in 2010, believe innovation is a personal skill that can be developed and expanded. They are of the opinion that there are innovation regularities that recur and make it possible to learn and practice the skills that foster innovation. They make a distinction between innovation and invention and clarify that invention doesn’t have to preclude innovation.
Denning and Dunham noticed two notable exceptions to the low innovation rate. They are individuals who are “serial innovators” with a higher than 50 percent success rate; and “collaboration networks” made up of volunteer groups with limited managerial oversight such as the internet, the World Wide Web and Linux.
The authors define eight personal practices they believe successful innovators share: sensing, envisioning, offering, adopting, sustaining, executing, leading, and embodying. Weakness in any of these, according to the authors, may lead to lack of innovation.
Peter Denning, co-author, The Innovator’s Way
In their book, divided into 16 chapters and four appendices, they outline the eight practices, how readers may apply them at an individual and group level. Their goal in writing the book is to present to readers an explanation of the way that they can develop a sensibility to innovation and learn the skills it requires through practice.
Robert Dunham, co-author, The Innovator’s Way
At the time the book was published, Denning was Distinguished Professor, chair, Computer Science Department, and director, Cebrowski Institute for Information Innovation and Superiority, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Dunham founded the Institute for Generative Leadership, and Enterprise Performance, a consulting company.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 17, 2012
Alex Nogales, president, National Hispanic Media Coalition
Photo: National Hispanic Media Coalition
A podcast interview with Alex Nogales, president, National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, he discusses the National Latino Media Council National Hispanic Media Coalition NLMC/NHMC Writers Program with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Alex is also chief executive officer of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Since the late 90s when he was elected president of the organization, Alex has advocated for the Latino community. He led boycotts against the advertisers of the syndicated Howard Stern radio show as a means of getting Stern off the air when he offended the Latino community and the family of the late singing star, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, with his comments following the singer’s tragic murder.
Under his leadership, the NHMC has filed over fifty petitions to deny broadcast licenses with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), including one against a Spanish-language radio company for encouraging its DJs to air pornographic radio programming to boost their ratings. Alex also led high-profile demonstrations against ABC and its parent company, Disney, for its lack of diversity and apparent exclusion of American Latinos from local news reporters and anchor jobs, and intensified discussions with local TV stations across the country. As leader of one of the more visible organizations under the umbrella of the National Latino Media Council (NLMC), for which NHMC acts as secretariat and staff, Alex was instrumental in the signing of Memoranda of Understanding with NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox in the year 2000.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Alex Nogales” or click on the play button below. you can also download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the September 2012 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on September 14, 2012
The State of Nonprofit America book cover
In The State of Nonprofit America Second Edition edited by Lester Salamon (Brookings Institution Press, $36.95 ), a 708-page softcover book, numerous researchers, analysts and academics examine the state of our country’s nonprofits. To make the publication of the book a reality Salamon partnered with the Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program.
Twenty-nine contributors (in the order in which they appear in the book) wrote the 19 chapters spread out into three main sections: Overview, Major Fields, and Major Challenges. They are: Bradford H. Gray, Mark Schlesinger, Donald M. Stewart, Pearl Rock Kane, Lisa Scruggs, Steven Rathgeb Smith, Stefan Toepler, Margaret J. Wyszomirski, Avis C. Vidal, Carmen Sirianni, Stephanie Sofer, Abby Stoddard, Mark Chaves, Elizabeth T. Boris, Mathew Maronick, Alan J. Abramson, Rachel McCarthy, Leslie Lenkowsky, Eleanor Brown, David Martin, Dennis R. Young, Mary Clark Grinsfelder, Kirsten A. Gronbjerg, Kevin P. Kearns, Atul Dighe, Marla Cornelius, Patrick Corvington, and Pascale Joassart-Marcelli.
Lester Salamon, editor, The State of Nonprofit America
“The greatest achievement of the second edition of The State of Nonprofit America is to identify four impulses that are shaping the future of America’s nonprofit sector and to assess the future options that face the sector as a consequence,” said Salamon by email.
Although there doesn’t seem to be an official finite number for nonprofits, in part because many are unincorporated and data is scarce, the editor estimates in the book that by the late 2000s there were nearly 2 million organizations divided into four subgroups: service and expressive; social welfare and lobbying; foundations and funders; and religious congregations.
Nonprofits, Salamon states at the beginning of the book, continue to struggle in an environment that emphasizes profits; and the forces of volunteerism, professionalism, civic activism, and commercialism shape the country’s nonprofit sector. Many of the organizations respond with resilience, creativity and resolve; and although most nonprofits are constantly squeezed between their organizational identity and their need to survive the nonprofit sector is robust, according to him. He argues that broader understanding and support are necessary in order to preserve the unique characteristics that make up the individual nonprofit organizations and allow them to thrive in the coming years.
Contrary to what many may believe, relatively few nonprofits represent the needs of minorities or the poor, according to Joassart-Marcelli, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, San Diego State University, and author of the final chapter. He indicates that a disproportionate number of nonprofits serve middle and high income individuals and communities with education, arts, culture, recreation and health amenities.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 10, 2012
Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph.D., president, EcoArt South Florida, Inc.
Photo: Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph.D.
A podcast interview with Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph.D., president, EcoArt South Florida, Inc. is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses combining art, science and community with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
An “accidental environmentalist” Mary Jo seeks to make a difference for South Florida’s environment through art that engages community. To this end, in 2007, she founded EcoArt South Florida, a nonprofit that brings together art, science and community engagement. Mary Jo’s increasing interest and self education in environmental issues led her also to several volunteer advisory experiences, including most recently as a consortium member of 7/50, a 50 year planning effort engaging seven counties in South East Florida, and funded by the United States Department of Housing and Community Development, and with her own city, West Palm Beach.
She is a member of the relatively new City of West Palm Beach Sustainability Advisory Committee where she serves as the chair of the subcommittee on natural resources and water conservation, and is a past member of the city’s Art in Public Places Board and the Comprehensive Plan update committee.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph.D.” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the September 2012 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on September 7, 2012
Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition book cover
Many times in academic and business situations success hinges on test taking, interview taking and other skills that have little to do with the eventual employment, appointment or other opportunity a candidate applies for in a given situation. Why are some people selected and others with similar credentials rejected? Robin Kessler, a human resources consultant, believes that recognizing change and being able to adapt to it before others do increases the probability of succeeding.
In Competency-Based Interviews, Revised Edition: How to Master the Tough Interview Style Used by the Fortune 500s (Career Press, $14.99), a 223-page softcover book published this year, she discusses her ideas about behavioral interviews targeting relevant competencies.
The author strives to provide prospective interviewees an edge in an interview by helping them understand how human resources professionals approach interviewing and hiring, and anticipating what an interviewer may seek; recognizing the changes in interviewing that are being implemented at sophisticated organizations; pointing out to the decision makers how the interviewees competencies match their needs; and developing a plan to drive top performance during interviews.
In the 16-chapter book, she stresses the importance of thinking strategically. Three first steps she points out are to discover what it takes to win, doing the things required to win and being aware that what it takes to win may change. At the end of each chapter she summarizes the essence of the chapter in a question and answer format.
Kessler, president, The Interview Coach, a Texas based career consulting and human resources company, has 20 years of experience. She is author of Competency-Based Performance Reviews and co-author of Competency-Based Resumes.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 1, 2012
I’ll Have What She’s Having book cover
Photo: The MIT Press
In what ways does social learning shape human behavior? In other words, does what a friend or acquaintance think or say affect what someone does? If the well known scene of the movie When Harry Met Sally where Sally, while having lunch with Harry at a deli, fakes an orgasm in a loud way audible to her neighbors prompting one of the patrons of the deli to order “what she is having” from the waiter is to be believed social behavior is clearly impacted by the behavior of others.
Alex Bentley, Mark Earls and Michael J. O’Brien believe that social learning affect social behavior in a variety of ways, expending from an individual outward to a community and population. In I’ll Have What She’s Having Mapping Social Behavior (The MIT Press, $22.95), a book with an an academic tone published last year, they describe their ideas about social learning and its impact on society. They believe that many people are lazy, relying on others to think and store knowledge.
The book, they say in the Preface, is meant to provide a human behavior map to readers. According to the authors, people are “beset with emotions and cognitive biases, and much of the time we avoid thinking altogether” instead of the calculating and rational beings some like to believe they are. The social nature of evolution and behavior affects culture, especially among masses of people in modern times, they say.
Social learning drives the spread of culture and human behavior and diffuses innovations, according to the authors. To understand the learning patterns they identified three models: diffusion, cascades and undirected copying. The 146-page hardcover book is divided into seven chapters: Out of the Trees; Rules of the Game; Copying Brain, Social Mind; Social Learning en Masse; Cascades; When in Doubt, Copy; and Mapping Collective behavior.
Bentley is professor of anthropology and archeology at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Earls is a London-based author and marketing consultant. O’Brien, dean, College of Arts and Science, professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Missouri.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 30, 2012
Information provided by Event Partner
The 10th Annual Hispanic Television Summit
Wednesday, October 3rd
The Marriott Marquis New York Hotel, Times Square
Discount pricing for HispanicMPR.com subscribers
$393 through September 14 (10% off regular price of $435)
$449 after September 14 (10% off regular price of $499)
Enter Promo Code: HTS1
The 10th Annual Hispanic Television Summit will be held Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at The New York Marriott Marquis Hotel. It is presented by Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News. This year’s award recipient is Telemundo network news anchor, José Díaz-Balart. Additionally, a new award will be introduced in acknowledgement of a company’s or organization’s tenacious commitment to continued service to the Latino viewer. This first-ever award will be presented to Comcast Cable, with a special address by Comcast executive, Marcien Jenckes.
The Hispanic Television Summit is the signature conference for executives involved in the business of television and digital video targeted to the US Hispanic and Latin American viewing audience.
To register, please visit http://hispanictvsummit.com/
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 27, 2012
Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women cover
Photo: Forbes
For nine years Forbes has compiled a list of 100 Most Powerful Women around the world. German Angela Merkel was at the top followed by Hillary Clinton in this year’s recently released list. The cover is occupied by Dilma Rousseff, president, Brazil and number three on the list. The magazine dedicated pages 64 to 69 to her. Of the top ten women on the list six are from the United States and there is at least one Latina, Jennifer Lopez in the Celebrity category, among the 100 influential women from around the globe. She appears in the thirty eighth spot.
Some Latinas like Shakira and Sofia Vergara among the celebrities and several in other categories who United States audiences may recognize appear on the list but they are listed in the country where they reside. In the case of Shakira and Sofia Vergara that is Colombia. While 28 countries are represented 61 of the women reside in the United States.
Although there is no list of most powerful men there is a list of Most Powerful People due to be released later this year. A spokesperson declined to identify “how much time it takes to report for our lists.”
For this year’s list the publication selected the 100 most influential women from seven categories or power bases: billionaires, business, lifestyle (including entertainment and fashion), media, nonprofits/NGOs, politics and technology. Staff assigned the rank within each category, as well as overall rank on the list of 100, by applying three metrics: money, media presence and impact.
For the money metric, the staff took into account 2011 company revenue and market value if it was available for business, media and tech; for lifestyle salary, they relied on the Forbes 2012 Celebrity 100; for GDP, politics and net worth they looked at the Forbes 2012 World’s Billionaires list for those with 10-figure bank accounts; and women from nonprofits/NGOs were rated on dollars spent fulfilling the organization’s mission.
They took into consideration media component accounts for news hits (Factiva) and TV and radio appearances (Nexis) from the past 12 months, as well as number of followers on social media channels Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as of July 2012. They scored candidates on their impact including “the extent of their reach across industries, cultures and countries, the number of spheres of influence and people they affect and how actively they wield their power.”
The top names from the United States were: Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, United States; Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Jill Abramson, executive editor, New York Times Co.; Michelle Obama, first lady, United States; Janet Napolitano, secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States; Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook; Oprah Winfrey, entrepreneur; Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO, PepsiCo; and Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO, Kraft.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 24, 2012
The Power of Communication book cover
Photo Helio Fred Garcia: Newman Communications
To be successful leaders must posses outstanding communication skills. That is the firm belief of Helio Fred Garcia, executive director, Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership. To master the skill of effective communication a leader must reach his or her audience where they are, he says.
In The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively (FT Press, $26), published this year, he explains his thinking. He relies in part for his theories on Warfighting, the Marine Corps strategy doctrine military manual.
Communication has power that must be harnessed to keep it from backfiring, he says at the beginning of the book. At the same time, he believes that many of the principles necessary to lead armed forces are applicable to the discipline of public communication.
His goal in writing the book was to convert the Warfighting ideas into guidelines leaders can rely on for effective communication; share best practices lessons he has learned over his extensive years as a leadership consultant; and outline prominent case studies of communication failures and successes. Among the failures he cites Tony Hayward’s ineffectual handling of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster and spill. He closes, in Chapter 10, with Nine Principles of Effective Leadership Communication.
Helio Fred Garcia, author, The Power of Communication
“Age by itself is not necessarily an issue, but generational temperament is. One of the core principles (Principle No. 2) is that if we are to move people, we need to meet them where they are. That includes knowing what they care about, knowing how they prefer to be engaged, and even knowing what their capacity is for engagement,” Garcia said by email in response to a question about the possible role of age or generation on the principles he proposes.
“One of the key drivers of engagement is attention span, and we’re finding that generations that have grown up with technology and television tend to have a shorter attention span than prior generations. So leaders need to adapt to be able to reach them. The generation that is growing up with social media is a multi-tasking generation. So leaders have a particular challenge engaging them. For example, in the book I point to research showing that there’s no such thing as multi-tasking. There’s only serial micro-tasking. But two tasks aren’t done simultaneously: when someone is doing one thing, he or she is not doing the other thing. But folks toggle in and out of each activity very quickly. That’s why distracted driving is such a problem. And also why leaders need to adapt their engagement strategy to deal with those who would otherwise be inclined to be easily distracted.”
In response to a question about the applicability of the concepts in his book to diverse audiences he responded: “Per the prior question, the key to moving people is meeting them where they are. I do a lot of work with religious groups, with students and clients in other cultures, in other countries, and and in other languages. The principles don’t change, but what is necessary to connect given cultural, linguistic, emotional, or spiritual concerns does.
I have taught these principles on five continents and in dozens of countries, and I have found that the principles work. But how they are executed is culturally varied. When I work with religious leaders (wherever I may be) I focus on authenticity and living our values. When I work with corporate leaders I focus on what works. When I work with academics I focus on what research shows.
But even within these groups there are further cultural issues. For example, when I’m teaching government leaders in China I don’t prescribe. I don’t say ‘Here’s what you should do if you want to accomplish X…’ Rather, I say, ‘Here’s what we know works in the United States. It would be inappropriate for me to presume that it works here, but if you find it useful I would be very gratified…’ That usually has people smiling and nodding their heads.
I find that audiences whose first language is not English have embraced the book. For example, last week I heard from students in an MBA program in Santiago, Chile, who are reading the book. They were assigned to do a class presentation on it, and they reached out to me for materials. Is sent them some slides, and a video introduction I recorded in Spanish. And I’ll be speaking about the book next month in Lima at the International Public Relations Association’s Latin American Congress and Global Conference. I will be doing introductions in both Spanish and Portuguese.”
The 295-page hardcover book is divided into ten chapters and three main parts: Leadership and Communication: Connecting with Audiences; Strategy and Communication: Planning and Execution (one chapter long); and Building Skills: Getting Good at Communicating Well.
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