WITI Teleclass: Connectivity is the New Currency ™

Social Networking Savvy for Smart Business Women Who Want to Increase Influence (& Profitability)… Getting Your Voice Heard in a Noisy Online World!

Its 11 p.m…. do you know where your online audience is?

Bottom line, buyers have questions and Blogs and social networks are providing them with answers.

Tens of thousands of conversations are happening online, with you or without you. If you are like most people, you’ve heard about social networking but you don’t know how to cash in on this business-generating phenomenon.

In the new “Network Economy” your “network” is your “net worth”… savvy companies and entrepreneurs will either learn how to connect with prospects and customers using the new tools of Web 2.0 (blogs, RSS, social networks, podcasts, social video-sharing and more) or face being left out of the conversation.

On this call you will learn:

  • What Web 2.0 and social networking is and why it’s changing the game of marketing as we know it forever

  • 4 questions to help you think like a master connector… build your social network by design (vs. by accident)

  • The 5 power tools in your Web 2.0″ toolbox” & why blogs are the new “little black dress”

  • How to maximize networking on Facebook & Twitter to grow your influence and income

  • 5 biggest mistakes smart women make in social networking

FREE for WITI Members ($50 Nonmembers) REGISTER NOW

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Is Texting Good for Business?

iStock_000006561903XSmall_1_.jpgby Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

More than one trillion text messages were carried on carriers’ networks in 2008—breaking down to more than 3.5 billion messages per day. That’s almost triple the number from 2007. Meanwhile, there was a reported 2.7 percent increase in labor productivity in the business sector from 2007 to 2008. Based on this data, one might be tempted to say that increased texting leads to increased productivity but it is just not that simple.

First, there is the impact of the interruptions. Based on research from Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California at Irvine, it takes 25 minutes for the average worker to return to a task after being interrupted. Couple that information with research from Basex, a knowledge management company, that says a typical worker gets 200 e-mails, dozens of instant messages, multiple phone calls (office phone and mobile phone), and several text messages daily. Basex tabulates the lost productivity from information overload at $650 billion a year. And then add in all the other factors involved in productivity including the number of hours worked, the size of the work force, and other advances in technology.

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The Accidental Environmental Activist

Joyce_03_1_.jpgby Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

At the beginning of her career, Joyce LaValle, a senior vice president with Interface Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet, never would have dreamed she’d be the impetus for a seismic shift in her employer’s business plan or that she’d become a spokesperson and advocate for sustainability.

LaValle began in a junior position as the DC showroom manager with Interface. Ultimately, the company seized upon her prior experience with an architectural firm to move her into a position selling to the design community. In 1994, she was actively pursuing a potential customer who was courting vendors for the most sustainable building at that time. LaValle realized she wasn’t even sure what sustainability was all about. Her daughter, who had earned a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies and had voiced her concern about the harmful materials and production methods used in the carpet industry, gave her the book, “The Ecology of Commerce” by Paul Hawkins. The book, which talks in depth about the detrimental impact such methods were having on the environment “had a profound effect on me…I was pretty horrified that my daughter was so ashamed of what I was doing,” said LaValle.

LaValle summoned the courage to take it to the top of the company and had someone put the book on a corner of CEO Ray Anderson’s desk. “It was a little intimidating: he was two bosses above me. But because my daughter was so disappointed, I tried to do whatever I could to fix it.”

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Get More Money in Your Next Job in Any Economy

Learn the secrets of negotiating better salaries, benefits and perks in any economy.

When the economy is strong, job seekers feel not only that they can negotiate, but that it would be foolish not to. When the economy is weak, however, many candidates wrongly feel that they have to accept what’s offered or risk losing the offer. This is a myth that employers are only to happy to perpetrate. Whatever the economic climate, what really matters is how you negotiate.

Lee E. Miller, a Harvard trained employment lawyer and former head of Human Resources at US Networks, TV Guide and Barneys New York and author of the soon-to-be-released “Get More Money on Your Next Job in Any Economy” (McGraw Hill April 2009) shares the secrets of negotiating better salaries, benefits and perks in any economy. Whether you are a supervisor or a CEO, the Eleven Commandments of Employment Negotiating will work for you. Even if you are unemployed you can negotiate a better salary when you get hired if you know how. As the co-author of A Women’s Guide to Successful Negotiating Lee will also offers tips for women and how they can avoid the most common mistakes women make when negotiating.

Pre-registration necessary. NO WALK-INS ALLOWED. No payment at the door. To purchase tickets click here

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Be Bold Cocktails: Celebrate Social Change

Be Bold Cocktails is an annual cocktail party and fundraiser for Echoing Green, the leading nonprofit social venture fund for rising social entrepreneurs. Hosted by our Social Investment Council, Be Bold Cocktails is a lively evening of celebration – join us in the elegant Prince George Ballroom for music, light food, libations, and the Be Bold Awards, which honor three bold leaders for their inspiring work. This year, we will be honoring William A. Ackman (Founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, philanthropist), Doug Ulman (1999 Echoing Green Fellow, Founder of The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, Founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation), and one as-yet-unnamed awardee!

Seventy members strong, Echoing Green’s Social Investment Council is a group of highly talented and socially conscious rising leaders from the private sector who support our work through mentoring our fellows, helping with the fellow selection process, and hosting fundraising events. The network offers a powerful way for motivated professionals to apply their own knowledge toward their desire to effect social change.

Tickets are available here

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Catalyst Award Winner: KPMG LLP

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In the early 2000s, KPMG had a turnover rate of employees in the mid twenty percent, with an even higher percentage for women. “The profession itself is very challenging and demanding. And if you look back into the early 2000s it was particularly so in general and more so for us because we were the smallest of the large professional services firms. There was a tremendous war for talent, and it was very competitive.”

The wakeup call came in 2003 when a commissioned employee satisfaction survey revealed that only 53% of employees surveyed agreed that KPMG was a great place to build a career. “Our chairman at the time, Gino Kelly, decided that it was not going to be business as usual. We put a lot of focus on a lot of different initiatives, one of them being the women’s initiative,” added Angela Avant, Partner in Charge of Diversity at KPMG. And that was the foundation for their award-winning Great Place to Build a Career Initiative, which was recognized by Catalyst this year. Read more

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WIIT: Classification 101

Guest Speaker:

Heather K. Pinnock, Esq., Regulations and Rulings, Office of International Trade, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security

Duty rates for imported goods are determined by their correct classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Correct classification is also important for determining quota applicability and special program eligibility. Because the Customs Modernization Act imposes a duty on importers to use reasonable care when classifying their goods, knowing how to correctly classify imported merchandise is not only important to the business decisions importers make but is also a legal obligation. This program will provide a basic understanding of the classification process, including how to use the General Rules of Interpretation (the GRIs) and the Explanatory Notes, and will be most useful for those new to classification or for whom classification is an occasional part of their responsibilities.

Please RSVP to Kristen Smith – ksmith@strtrade.com

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Webcast: Way out of Economic and Financial Crisis: Lessons and Actions

Japan Society’s Corporate Program will feature Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa at a luncheon program. Governor Shirakawa will address the current global economic crisis and offer lessons from Japan’s recent experience.

Register here

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Cap-And-Trade Forum: Carbon Constraints and the Economy

Don’t miss this is unique opportunity to gain information valuable to your business on an element of strategic importance to the North American Economy.

Learn about:

  • Carbon constraints, credit crunch and pragmatism (North America and Internationally)
  • US House and Senate Action
  • Status of the Federal Climate Change Policy (tentative)
  • North American regional update: RGGI, WCI, and the Midwest Governor’s Accord
  • The credit crisis’ associated impacts
  • Refocusing on core business vs. continued engagement in carbon finance
  • Using project based credits – structures to manage emerging market project and country risk
  • “Managing” risk through not-so-obvious partnerships
  • Essential building blocks of a successful carbon management strategy
  • Carbon credibility and verification
  • The cost of climate change – integrating carbon into financial disclosure — how much, how little and why
  • Protocol development and the Carbon Offset solutions
  • Market mechanisms – still a credible way of going forward?

Register here

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Latinas in Corporate America

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by Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

Latinas are statistically the most underrepresented group in the workforce amongst minorities in the U.S. according to Ramona Armijo, a Latina Ph.D. candidate in Walden University’s Masters in Education/Knowledge Management. That’s the bad news. The good news is that their cultural understanding and language skills make Latinas extremely competitive candidates for filling top positions in the private sector to serve the growing Hispanic segment in the U.S. So why so few Latinas in corporate America? “Societal factors, including education and cultural traditions, often compromise the career objectives of high-achieving Latina women, but the lack of research on Latina professionals makes it difficult to address these factors,” Armijo said.

Successful Latinas often say that some of the biggest challenges they faced had little to do with finances or the pursuit of education and more to do with their culture, family, and selfless guilt as the top reasons they felt held back. Carmina Pérez, former Vice President of Lehman Brothers, editorial producer at CNN, and personal finance writer for AOL Latino, felt the strange cultural pressure to dream small as a young girl growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “One of the professional hardships I’ve had to overcome is the attitude towards women in business that I learned from Latin culture. Growing up, I was never really pushed to study hard or find a high-paying job because it was more important to be a señorita and to focus more on looking good and finding a husband,” Pérez said.

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