Black Friday was "Whack Friday."

That shopping buzz of my past Black Friday experiences was not in the air at the Palisades mall. We tried to catch the full complement by going to the place that has most of the stores we want to go to. Plus it has a Circuit City that is going out of business. The stores were not having any really unbelievable deals like I have experienced in the past and Circuit City, in particular, was a bust. Best Buy, who is not going out of business actually did have some cool sales. Not enough to make me buy a flat screen tv or the surround sound set I was hoping to find. Even Macy's was a disappoinment, at least in the plus size section. Lord & Taylor did work out well with the 70% off steal deals I was looking for and I was feeling the shoppers high there. Then we checked out "Twilight" and did a little Cheesecake Factory.

After a long day at the mall, I learned that Jdimytai Damour, a Walmart employee, was trampled and killed by shoppers for $798 flat screen televisions and more. I was stunned when my friend texted me. I was looking for a flat screen television, but perhaps the people were seduced by their own hype while waiting for the store to open? I just cannot believe that something so senseless could happen. They actually broke down the doors at 5am. WTF? The same television was available on the Walmart website and was not sold out when I checked that night and its still not (as of this posting).

I wonder how do those people feel now. Was it really worth killing someone? Can Walmart put a positive spin on this? I know I went to thier site to find out what kind of sale did Jdimytai Damour die for, but I certainly did not buy the television. Just seriously turned off by it all.

Shopping For the Holidays?

The NY Times has an article on about Mothers Doing Without so their children can have during the holidays. This isn't something new to those who don't have it like they do, but I am curious to see what their Christmas will look like. What will they be doing without to sacrifice for their children. Christmas has become so commercial, it will be a beautiful thing to see people really rejoice in the spirit of hope and love. Christ being born is suppose to be a celebration of hope because the savior is born. There is a celebration of hope in the spirit of change.

Hope

You can visit the presidential transition site to see all the positions that need to be filled to complete the team Barack Obama is pulling together and more. Today Timothy Geithner was nominated to be Secretary of the Treasury. This along with the Citigroup bailout has somehow has restored some faith in Wall Street and the DOW has had its "biggest two day percentage gain since October 1987"

(Side bar: Did you know that Chase Bank has been around longer than the United States has been in existance. They have rediculous fees, but I guess that is where the money is because they are the ones helping out or taking over many of the losses happening right now.)

Today marks a taste of our future, we are unstoppable. We are Generation O. My future is bright and there is hope in site.

Forbes Goes In on Paulson

Steve Forbes says Henry Paulson is the worst treasury secretary we've had in modern times" My professor said that "something wasn't right with that man"  January 20th can't come fast enough. Hopefully the more people with influential power that speak out will lead to some sort of something to happen.  You just don't mess with other people's money.  Period.  No, change to the system won't happen on January 20, but like Alstate, we'll be "in good hands." 

Feeling Confident About My Future

Although these are really scary times financially, I feel so confident about my future. I just know I will be okay, because our president elect is trying to secure and change our future. He is not doing it alone, it is a team effort and that team includes me & you. Its exciting to participate, even in the smallest way to lay the ground work for all of us.

Identify a Conflict

Conflict:
One of the longest employed staff members was constantly late or not able to work the shift assigned. Although her personal issue was clear to me, it was not clear to her coworkers and they started to believe there was favoritism for this employee.

Competitive conflict:
We had a staff meeting to go over the rules.

Conflict Trigger:
Status differentials, unrealized expectation, & communication breakdown

Resolution:
The conflict was resolved with a staff meeting. This allowed me to explain all at once what changes were happening and why. It also allowed me to hear the staffs’ issues and perspective on what was going on. The meeting helped to boost their moral by showing them that their opinion matters as well. It allowed for unification and teamwork to shine through.

Airborne Owner Takes Her Company Back

On November 8th I wrote about miscommunication and the millions of dollars in loss miscommunication caused Airborne. Well now Victoria Knight-McDowell has taken her company back, simply because she did not like the way it was being managed and she is sending a very clear message to those who believe in Airborne. No miscommunication here. I love it. Check it out: http://www.airbornehealth.com

A Little Escape: Sasha Fierce Has Arrived.

I am...Sasha Fierce has finally come out. My favorite songs are "Halo" & "Video Phone" I can bet they will go #1 on the charts. "If I Were a Boy" is number 5 on the billboard charts and "Single Ladies" is right behind at 28. The album will debut at #1 with 500 - 550k in sales. Live performances on SNL, TRL's finally and 106th and Park has helped this icon in the making an assured success.

How fair is the fare increase?

After 21 increases in the airfare thus far, the airlines have decided to charge $5 to $35 for picking your seat. We doing bad, but do they really have to kick us when we are down. Its not like oil is at an all time high.

I missed my Blackberry.

11/16

I haven’t had my phone since Thursday night. I left it in a cab after leaving my home due to a personal upset and my world was upside down ever since. According to the NY Times, Barack Obama may have to surrender his Blackberry in 65 days. “A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.” That is just so unbelievable. Chapter 12 is focused on Communicating in the Internet Age, that would be today and 65 days from now. “The chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive.” How can they be so primitive? I understand that it can be hacked, but there has got to be better options especially with the technology we have today.

Excutive Director Quits

11/15
An article in the NY Times talks about an Artistic Director of a musical theater in California who chose to support Prop 8 and was forced to resign because of his personal choice. This reveals another side to what we learned in chapter 5 about management’s social and ethical responsibilities. He used defensive social responsibility and quit. I understand that the world of musical theater has a large group of homosexuals, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. I’m sure they feel betrayed, but I am sure he has his reasons. I do think it was stupid to do, especially if the information would be made public, but why resign, why not stand up for what you “believe” in? Where were the ethics in outing him and pressuring him? Who knows? But this is the United States of America and freedom of choice is what we are about.

This is reason why he should not have resigned and the reason why he should not have been pressured to resign. I don’t know; I am on the fence. I don’t know how I would feel if I worked at that theater. Gay or straight, I wouldn’t think it is right for him to step-down because of his personal choice. That’s like quitting because your coworkers don’t like the fact that you or your partner had an abortion.

Why?

11/14

Tonight we had a performance there was hardly an audience. It blows my mind how we couldn’t even give tickets away. The artist was really great and deserved to have at least a half full house. It’s like we don’t even support or promote ourselves. She had a two night run and we could have had the New York Times come out for the first night to review and perhaps push her second nights of performance. It just seems like the message we give off is we don’t like it here and you shouldn’t either. We had an unsuccessful benefit and could give tickets away to that either. How could you have a benefit performance on Halloween and not embrace the holiday? No wonder there was hardly an audience. Is there something wrong with listening to the ideas of those who don’t have a degree, but have a great deal of common sense? I can’t wait to get that piece of paper.

Magazine Circulations are Down

11/13
Today I got an email from Essence magazine about Rihanna’s hairstylist’s birthday party. I found this to be just as odd as when I saw the email alert of Lisa Raye McCoy-Missick’s fight with her estranged husband. I think this is a result of Change, Conflict and Negotiation. Magazine sales have gone down so far this year. I believe it has everything to do with communicating in the Internet age. Magazines have to change the way they get their message across. Magazines are getting more expensive everyday. What magazines and the Internet have in common is advertising. The only way Essence, Vogue and Elle can keep their legacy alive is to change with the times. I am afraid the directions they will choose will be gossip and scandal. They clearly don’t believe in the value they’ve added to our lives. What a shame.

Assignment - Change

1. Anticipatory Change is planned change based on a situation.

a. A female manager temporarily replaced for maternity leave. One would expect to hire a temporary replacement for the position until the manager returns from maternity leave.

2. Reactive Change changes made in response to unexpected situations.

a. 9/11 caused extreme reactive change to Performing Arts Center. A staff of 22 people was cut down to a staff of 5. This was due to the fact Lower Manhattan shutdown for almost a month. When everyone came back they were told that there wasn’t any reason to keep all but 5 on staff since all the programming and rentals had been canceled or refused to perform. The loss of jobs came as a reaction to the loss of support of business from the community and clients.

3. Incremental Change is subsystem adjustments required to keep the organization on course.

a. Incremental change may come from revising a marketing plan. Perhaps the public is not responding to the initial promotion of a product, a coupon or discount may be created in order to get butts in seats and meet the expected income.

4. Strategic Change is altering the overall shape or direction of the organization.

a. The Obama/Biden team will alter the overall shape and direction of the running of the US Government. Almost everyone’s positions will be changed to those Barak Obama selects. This would mean a very different way of decision making, communication and policy than what has happened in the past 8 years.

Let's Talk About Miscommunication

You know how you are use to people's ways and you build up a mechanism that helps you filter through the bull crap, well that can lead to miscommunication. I received a notice to attend a meeting from an organization that tends to give short notice when scheduling meetings. My filter was in full gear and I assumed when I saw the word "Tuesday" that it meant today at 7pm. I realize this was a conflict with the business of my education, so I referenced the meeting in an email to my professor stating that I could not attend class tonight because I had to be at this meeting. I literally made a copy of the agenda and left it with my classmate in order be accountable to both my class and the group I was meeting with. I arrived at the meeting location at 7:19pm to meet complete darkness. No one was there, at which point I pull the agenda from my bag, remove my filter and I read the 2nd line "on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 7pm"WTF I filtered the wrong information. Now I will miss two days of class because the meeting will be the following week.

Expectation: To attend a meeting
Deviation: I did not read the notice fully
Result: Wasted time and missed out on valuable class time for no reason and will have two absences instead of one.

Miscommunication: SENSELESS

Transition is the word of the day

It makes perfect sense that there would be a transition team for Bush and Obama. Our text book says, "A productive balance is required." Conflict management is at its peak and the press is instigating every move. They say the Obama's team is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on stem cell research, oil and gas drilling, and more. Is this the beginning of Cooperative Conflict? I know we are past the Iceberg of Conflict, but somehow it has to be part of this process. Barack Obama seems to be quite skilled in the Iceberg of Conflict. I am sure that as he learns more his perception of conflict will change. He is the perfect example of how to explore your iceberg. It feels great to have someone to look up to.

Honesty

Is it too much to ask for honesty especially in business. I suppose this would be in a chapter on ethics, but I can't explain how important trust is in all relationships. Somehow today I am told I am wrong for not enabling a liars lie. One of the coolest things about Barack Obama is that I feel safe knowing he will be in charge. When he speaks it feels honest. In his first press conference, he made it clear that he would not speak about things he could not speak of. I felt like that's what I was looking for honesty. I can talk to you about most of this, but there is a part that is grown folks business and its OK. I want to be that person in all that I do. Someone said that politics will be defined as, "before Obama and after Obama" After Obama will hopefully be honesty in politics and business overall.

Miscommunication

Go back in business history and find a monumental business miscommunication.

Airborne

Expectation: To sell a “miracle cold buster”

Deviation: “They made the claim, Airborne products are clinically proven to treat colds.”

Result: The loss of $23.3 million to settle a class action lawsuit over false advertisement and the removal of the word cold on all packaging.

Actually happened:

“An effervescent dietary supplement that was created by a school teacher” was marketed to be the cure for the common cold through commercials, the Oprah show, famous people and placement on drugstore shelves. It was touted as a product a teacher created because she worked with germy children. They took in $100 million in sales of Airborne in 2006 alone.

Airborne’s claims were strategically mis-communicated to the public as clinically proven to treat colds, but they had no data to prove it.

The FTC ruled there is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made by the defendants that Airborne tablets can prevent or reduce the risk of colds, sickness, or infection; protect against or help fight germs; reduce the severity or duration of a cold; and protect against colds, sickness, or infection in crowded places such as airplanes, offices, or schools.

Airborne Health Inc. settled to pay 30 million dollars in settlement funds.