Bottling The Past: Using Nostalgia To Connect With Customers

http://www.fastcompany.com/1775388/nostalgia-hendricks-gin?partner=homepage_newsletter

Some important thoughts in here for university alumni relations and development professionals.

How are using nostalgia to our advantage? Are there stories and photos on the college website that take people back to shared experiences? Are we asking "nostalgic" questions when meeting with alumni? Are we creating nostalgia in our programming?

Would love to hear/see some of the ways you are using nostalgia-inducers in your marketing and outreach. Please share with us.

 

Nice guys earn less, study finds

http://www.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/08/16/money.and.meanness/index.html?&hpt...

Great! This doesn't bode well for a guy who's regularly told, "You're such a nice guy." While I tend to agree, I paid close attention to this statement in the article:

 "A company full of people in agreement would have a hard time establishing or maintaining any kind of hierarchy," he said. "Someone has to differentiate themselves from the pack, and being 'disagreeable' seems like a way to accomplish that. I don't think it's fair to associate disagreeableness with meanness, though."

 In other words, you can disagree in a nice way, at least, in a professional and cordial manner.

Groupthink is rarely good. There should be some disagreement. Thing is, some bosses like agreeable people. They want everyone to agree with them. When that happens, nothing new or different ever happens. You have to choose your battles wisely and make sure you know your bosses style. Disagreement can get you ahead, but it can also mark you as a troublemaker and get you fired. You want to find a balance. You don’t ALWAYS want to be the one who disagrees. 

You want to disagree when it truly matters to the company. When your understanding of/passion for the enterprise's mission makes you question decisions being suggested or made, speak up. Also look at those around the table. Do you see signs that others may feel as you do? You may be able to ally yourself with people who will disagree with you, so you aren’t the only person making a stand. If it’s important enough, there are even cases when you go around your boss with your disagreement. This can be workplace suicide but if it works, you can get noticed by others and move ahead of a boss who may be holding you back.

 It’s a battlefield out there, my friends. But you can kill with kindness when done right. 

New Run Training Shoes

Starting back into endurance fitness training this week. Needed new running shoes. These Saucony Grid Flex were on the sale rack for under $40. Score!

New Run Training Shoes

Starting back into endurance fitness training this week. Needed new running shoes. These Saucony Grid Flex were on the sale rack for under $40. Score!

Parents Face Sticker Shock at Enrollment–in Public Schools

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/08/01mct_ilfees.h31.html?tkn=UMWF9Ft6%2F%2F8vF%2BdEuxON2wcHsAF2SQ4N3QD%2F&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

There is no such thing as a FREE public education anymore. Even in higher education, so-called state "supported" universities are now state "assisted" universities/colleges with no more than 12% of their budgets being made up of public tax dollars. When nearly 90% of the funding comes from sources outside of the public tax base, how can it be called public? It's quasi-public at best.

I can tell you that my parents could not have afforded $800 in school "fees" without severe economic hardship. We have already priced out many from a higher education. We are now pricing them out of elementary school.

Even private schools are tacking on fees on top of already exorbitant tuition payments.

As a fundraiser, I don't see how this can be sustainable. Fundraising was used to enhance education. Today it's being used to maintain basic education. We need private dollars to help pay the bills. Forget about strategic planning and a vision for "what could be." We can't support what we have, much less what we want to have.

This is the beginning. Where does it end? The system is broken and it needs transformation of the kind that will require pain and sacrifice. Are we willing to go through the short-term pain for the long-term gain? I'm afraid we are not and I worry greatly about the consequences for our lack of both discipline and courage.