Top Ten Reasons Why I Follow People on Twitter

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Suzi

My Twitter account is a business endeavor. Others may be on Twitter as a more personal thing. It’s been a year since I joined and the connections I’ve made have been well worth the time. There is a Twitter bug going around apparently that unfollows people randomly and I decided to pull this post from the archives – all about why I would follow people. My logic is personal and not necessarily right for others. It’s just my way of trying to bring my own content and using my connection time to advance my knowledge and thinking through following others.

What does my current “following” list look like?

My current “people I’m following” list is a wonderful collection of folks from around the globe. They are not all business – they are corporate, entrepreneurs, scientists, students and homemakers with a point of view. It is a great combination of different ages, genders, and ethnic groups. I have many friends in Canada, Australia, India, the UK, Sweden and of course, in my native US. I have increasingly connected with young folks in India and Africa. There are probably people from other countries that I don’t know about as well. Thank you all for the intellectually challenging discussions and unique perspectives.

Reasons I follow others:

They know about and tweet about something I’m interested in;
They tweet throughout the day not 15 tweets one right after the other – sprinkler not fire hose;
They tweet about a combination of things: orig content, news, personal observations & self promotion;
The ratio of content to self-promotion is a reasonable 80/20;
They offer something unique – different perspective, creative thoughts;
They seem to care about fellow human beings on this planet in a genuine way (except maybe the news sources I follow);
They take the time to comment once in a while about what others have posted: listening;
They generally respond if I re-tweet their awesome content;
They’re funny; and
Their links usually work.

By definition, this eliminates weird porn spammers. Who in the world do they think they’re fooling?

Happy Tweeting!!

Business, Beauty or Sexy Head-shots

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Suzi

What is the Right Balance for Women in Business?

There are two issues I think about and ask my female colleagues and friends about with some frequency – aging and standards for female beauty as an entrepreneur whose brand is really myself.

Personal Brand and Beauty Standard

I notice the amount of attention young women pay to looking polished or pretty in their photos for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I am over 50 and self-described average looking. I have this thing about being too critical of my professional pictures. Seeing how other women create a personal brand through their social media head shot photos is interesting. I often wish I had felt as good about myself in my 20s as these confident young business women clearly feel. Here are some of my observations.

Four head shot types:

The very beautiful, “glamour shot” kind of picture. If you are naturally pretty, this one can look almost like a beauty pageant photo. It looks like a head shot an actress might have in a portfolio for auditions or maybe a modeling contract. The funny thing is that the other photos on their site look more natural and a lot less threatening, more normal to us older women or maybe those of us (myself included) that are less naturally beauty-queen pretty.
The “glamour shot” with an overt sexual aspect. This typically includes visible cleavage and a suggestive expression. When you are “followed” by someone with this picture the first reaction is to think you’ve been spammed.
A posed more business-like professional kind of picture. This picture looks more like what the person would look like if you ran into them at a business meeting. Neat, put together in great business clothes.
A candid, no makeup kind of picture. This might represent a more natural style – what the person looks like when they grocery shop. Maybe they are kind of granolary (sp – is that a word?). Maybe they are really secure and comfortable allowing people to see who they really are? Maybe they reject the more beauty queen ideal. It’s hard to know.

I find myself curious about whether these different kinds of photos reflect a deeper overt decision or whether it is just differing regional or generational standards for polish. My mother was raised in Maine and was naturally beautiful. She might have used lipstick when she left the house but unless she was going out to dinner or entertaining she wore no make up. She had dark auburn hair, brown eyes and her olive skin was deeply tanned in the summer. I am more fair with lighter red hair and blue eyes. My make up regimen is pretty simple: I use eye-brow pencil since my fair eye brows are naturally invisible and a little foundation. I use a lip gloss or Vaseline on my lips. I have never used a red lip color. If I try it, the person looking back at me in the mirror seems like a weird stranger. My eyelashes are blond. I use a little light-colored mascara for a wedding or special occasion, but generally, nothing else.

As a young business women I worked for a national company in the 70s and 80s and traveled to every US region. The pace of work and standards for relating to business colleagues differed by region. This manifested in the work pace of the day, whether people stopped to have lunch and how late they scheduled client meetings each day. I loved going to Atlanta because the gentile sales reps would schedule the last meeting of the day around 2:00 PM so I could go back to the Ritz Carleton, put my feet up and presumably re-apply my “face.” I had extra feet-up time because I didn’t really re-apply make up in the afternoon. To my social scientist eye of the time, standards for female beauty in the business context varied as well.

I spent many days in the American southeast. These women knew things about grooming, makeup and fashion that I had never considered at the time. Southern women seemed very beautiful to me. I remember feeling frumpy amongst them. A note might be in order here that my family was in the clothing business. This may be why I notice this stuff. In Boston, the high-powered business women dressed in more classic, expensive Brooks Brothers type wear and less make up. In New York, standards were influenced by high fashion and entertainment industry standards – clothes and make up. At a recent HR convention there was a 60-ish southern woman presenting and she looked fabulous. She had on a Chanel suit and wore a color-coordinated diamond watch. I’m pretty sure she colored her hair. I also noticed that her book’s head shot seemed like it might have been taken a while back. More importantly, she had a lot of smart things to say – innovative, progressive. I took a lot of notes and looked her up online later.

I am curious about why women make the decisions they do. If I had unlimited income I would conduct a study and write a book. I might buy such a book if it contained a sociological or anthropological analysis.

Standards of beauty and aging

I have recently decided to grow my hair out. It is thick and sort of strawberry blond. I get compliments on it. The more I age, the more I think about emphasizing my positive physical assets is on my mind. I make a living speaking to business groups. I have managed to stay fit- keep my weight down; I pay attention to looking a bit more polished; and though my hair has very little grey, I am increasingly aware of the condition of my facial skin. In the past, I would never have considered facial surgery. At this point the price tag makes this a non-issue. I don’t know if I could ever go through with it. There is something creepy about the “housewives” shows where the women all look the same. It’s kind of a “fish face” look as the skin is pulled back and the corners of the mouth get pulled. I think looking natural and well-cared-for is much better than a fish face. (I am aware that some plastic surgery is better, with a lighter touch.) When I have this mental discussion in my head, I consistently come down on the side of advancing my consulting and speaking skills thinking that if I provide enough content, people won’t mind that I am aging. With age, comes experience and skill, I think.

I have a 40-ish friend with long, very curly salt and pepper hair. She is thin and beautiful. All clothes look great on her. She recently decided to color the grey and when I asked about it she shared some of the feelings I’ve had about it too. I was glad to know she was wrestling with the same thoughts I had. This made me feel less neurotic. She feels pressure to look young and seem fit and vibrant. Some of her friends and colleagues thought that “fit and vibrant” did not include grey hair. This is an incredibly smart and talented women. I don’t know any man who does what she does with more intelligence or talent. When I listen to the last business deal she made I am amazed about how she solves thorny, complicated business problems and gets parties to agree. I suspect that her clients feel quite well served but I understand the self-doubt she feels.

While I notice how people present themselves physically, I tend to judge women in a business context by whether they have skill and how they treat others and not by how they look. I hope they judge me the same way. There is room for everyone and varied styles. I sometimes worry a little about the more sexually overt style some women take on in the workplace because of my work in the HR world. Overt sexuality usually causes problems for everyone including the woman, her coworkers and the company. But still every woman needs to decide for herself what to do, how to dress and how to relate to others.

Maybe I will age into looking like those pretty older women with shiny silver/white hair, scarves and soft colorful clothes who wear earrings and lovely make up. Not sure. Just thinking about life today. What got me thinking was a recent 20-something female Twitter follower whose formal head shot was a beauty picture and more natural candid shots appeared on her website. She is obviously smart and talented. I was wondering about her thought process and whether I needed a better head-shot. Maybe I’ll buy an expensive cream to put on my wrinkles. Cindy Crawford does look pretty good.

PS. Word press spell check flagged the word mascara but it is spelled correctly – I have never used it in a sentence before and looked it up. Why do you think WordPress doesn’t recognize it?

Corporate Social Responsibility – an increasingly integrated approach

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Suzi

Community stewardship is increasingly expected from American companies of all sizes. Philanthropy used to be the purview of very large corporations through their own foundations. Today, even the smallest companies have creative ways to show affection for the communities in which they “live.” Old-school practices might have included a cash donation to one or two organized nonprofits in the community. Often these donations were meant to enhance the company’s image and might even be connected to a board member’s pet project. Things have really changed over the last 15 years. While many large corporations still have foundations, the bar has been raised to adopt a more integrated giving approach.

First: More pressing social issues

Global warming, pollution, high gas prices (sustainable agriculture and buy-local campaigns) and unemployment (employment sustainability) have been added to traditional vulnerable populations (poor, disabled, and displaced). While state and federal funds are shrinking, social concerns are in some cases getting worse. They are also top-of-mind when increasingly discussed in a global, media-based society. We know instantly when a rain forest is disturbed on the other side of the earth. When George Bush, Sr. gave his “1000 Points of Light” speech in 1989, we didn’t know it at the time but this would signal a permanent shift to increasing dependence on the private sector. His view was that charity is the responsibility of the private sector (small government, lower taxes, etc). Later, more pressure for this shift would come from severe budget shortfalls at states across the country. But I digress.

Second: Small company owners are passionate about sharing abundance

I recently heard a young woman (28-ish) describe her small company’s philanthropic activities and was struck by how clear and determined she was. Company size just isn’t a barrier in her thinking. She is committed and moving forward with a variety of creative ways to share her success with worthy local causes. I see this in many of the small businesses I advise regularly. It’s got nothing to do with me pushing an agenda. They are just there with a compassion that I imagine comes from a family where giving back is what you do. It’s inspiring and you can see how employees would “catch” the fever.

Third: Giving efforts are more creative and less formal

Companies interested in helping their communities are limited only by their imagination. Ideas include micro initiatives (car washes), macro initiatives (Facebook contests) and everything in between.

The United Way “Day of Caring” combined with the explosion of social media got company owners thinking and moving. In addition, nonprofit fundraising has ramped up in quantity, quality and creativity. A for-profit company writing checks to a few community nonprofits has transformed into: direct support for environmental concerns, buy-local support through employee discounts, funding nonprofit capacity building, education scholarships, community landscaping & gardening, days-of-caring and so much more. In my opinion, younger workers coming into the commercial and nonprofit workforce have influenced creativity both in how nonprofits ask for money and in how corporations are giving. Young people are also donating differently (web-based searches and analysis) pulling nonprofits into Internet-based marketing and online donations.

One small company I know selected a nonprofit through a strategic process (focused on a particular mission); underwrote production of logo wear (polar fleece vests) with the nonprofit’s logo; and sold them at a reduced cost to their 80 employees. All the proceeds of these sales were donated to the charity. Employees were encouraged to explain why the charity’s logo is on their vest when asked in the community. It’s essentially a 360 degree internal marketing campaign for the charity and a clear demonstration of the company’s commitment to the local community.

Fourth: Standards for community investment are just higher

The Human Resources group “Society for Human Resource Management“ (SHRM)considers corporate social responsiblity to be an integral component of every company’s strategic plan and something HR professionals must be prepared to help organize. I studied for the SPHR (Senior Professional of Human Resources) exam in 2009 and learned about a more integrated and institutionalized approach to corporate giving. The SHRM Learning System ® 2009 describes four phases of increased quality giving covered in the “Strategic Management” module in a section on “Ethical Issues Affecting Organizations.” That is a serious endorsement!

The phases begin with 1. Reactive corporate philanthropy, and move to, 2. Strategic contributions, 3. Mainstream involvement, and the most integrated, 4. Corporate accountability. Social responsibility is seen as an investment in the community. Employees want to work at a company that’s engaged in the community. The idea is that companies go through these phases over time as they grow. The highest level, Corporate Accountability, means employee involvement at all levels. This doesn’t mean merely giving money – it can include allowing paid employee time off to volunteer some part of every month on a nonprofit site. Yes, this approach improves the company’s image in the community but it also results more robust support for local nonprofits.

An ancillary benefit of corporations getting smarter about giving is elevated expectations for ethical and efficient nonprofit operations. Companies want to be sure their cash or time donation is used wisely and consistent with the public trust. No waste; good financial checks and balances; and other business-like efficiency practices are raising the bar for community nonprofits. Always a good thing!

Joel Stein’s – “Pimp my Password” – Hilarious!

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Suzi

Time Magazine’s August 29th issue (I know, a little behind on my reading) contains one of Joel Stein’s funniest columns. He isn’t always funny. Sometimes he goes too far – remember the one on placenta? Don’t ask. But when he takes a timely, complicated issue and makes fun of experts he is at his best.

This piece is about hackers hacking by exploiting pathetically guessable computer log in passwords. Here’s an excerpt (p. 62):

“People who do security for websites believe it’s reasonable for everyone to memorize a different password for each site, change it every few months and make sure it contains Greek letters and in no way relates to our lives or the way humans think. That’s because people who do security for websites are nerds. (While this is surely true, I love nerds.) They memorize the names of Tatooine’s (?) moons for fun. They don’t think how they’re going to feel after their mother dies and every website (they log on to after that) keeps cheerily asking for her maiden name.”

Link: Joel’s August 29, 2011 Time Magazine piece

The next brilliant piece of cross-promotion is when he discusses the conversation he had with Kevin Mitnick about this topic. Two pages later is a “10 Questions” interview with THE Kevin Mitnick. You have to marvel. Before I read page 62 I had never heard of this gallactic hacker. Now his name has been reinforced by two different magazine pieces.

While we’re here, I would like to share two quotes from this apparently famous hacker who served time and is now probably rich (p. 64):

Q: What make you a good hacker was less coding skills and more the social engineering skills. What were they?

A. Social engineering is using deception, manipulation and influence to convince a human who has access to a computer system to do something, like click on an attachment in an email.”

One more:

Q. Which of your hacks are you most proud of?

A. I think when I hacked into Pac(ific) Bell Cellular to do traffic analysis on the FBI agents who were tasked with capturing me–not for hacking into Pac Bell but for how I leveraged that information to stay one step ahead of the government.” Geez.

Link: Kevin’s Mitnick August 29, 2011 Time Magazine piece

I hope you enjoy Time Magazine as much as I do.

Global Gender safety: Excerpt from 2011 Study on Homicide

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Suzi

This is a blog-in-brief for when twitter isn’t enough but a full blog entry isn’t necessary.

The 2011 Global Study on Homicide has been released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC). It contains an interesting note on differences in homicide proportions and gender. We can see that women’s safety from abusive partners is expected and confirmed but we don’t often remember that men make up the majority of both perpetrators and victims of crime worldwide.

The excerpt follows below:

“Disparities not only exist in homicide typologies but also in their prevalence in different regions and countries, yet this study shows that intimate partner/family-related homicide is a chronic problem everywhere. Women murdered by their past or present male partner make up the vast majority of its victims worldwide, which explains why in many countries women are more likely to be murdered in the home than elsewhere.

Men, on the other hand, make up the vast majority of both victims and perpetrators of all types of crime, including homicide, and are more likely to be killed in the street. They are also more likely to be young, the street is more likely to be in a built up area and they are most likely to be killed with a gun.”

Suzi Benoit @HRSociology

Benoit Consulting

Strategies to promote a positive workplace culture

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