Business Thoughts from Business Dreams

What Can an NHL Fan Do?

I’m an NHL fan. I love NHL hockey and like most fans, I have not been happy with the state of negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA. I went from 'not happy' to 'furious' this week when Gary Bettman made his ‘best fans’ comment. I’m not alone in being upset. My Twitter friend @Artful_Puck (Patricia Teter) said everything I was thinking in her blog entry on the topic.

That’s what is great about social media – I know that I am not alone. It is also easy to see that most fans know that Gary isn’t the problem; he is simply the focal point. Gary speaks for the owners. As Patricia said “It seems to me the NHL’s problems lie with the owners, at the top of the food chain, not with the players”.  Fans get it and in this age of social media, it is easy to see that the majority of fans are unimpressed with the owners' hypocrisy. On one hand, they are signing players to huge dollar value, multi-year deals; and on the other hand, they want salaries brought under control. They blame the players, but sorry, that logic does not fly. In 2004, I was on the side of the owners and wanted a salary cap and ‘cost certainty’. This time – I am firmly on the side of the players and I think a lot of fans are with me.

My frustration lies in the fact that as fans we know all of the above, but the problem is that we have no leverage to express our views. We can say we won’t buy NHL tickets, but that is a vague threat that may or may not happen. Quite frankly, I think the owners know that no matter who the fans side with, once hockey is back, fans will buy tickets. So as a fan – what can I do? I want the owners to negotiate but I know they have no reason to do so. They will lock the players out and impose their will.

I hate not being able to take action, so last night in a Twitter exchange with @Artful_Puck, I said  that I have realized  I can do one thing;  I can stop shopping at Rexall because that impacts the owner of the Oilers. I realize I am just one person and it makes NO difference.  I get that, but my thinking was that if every fan does a few small things, and we harness the power of social media to be vocal about it – maybe, just maybe the owners will get the message. I was off Twitter for a while and came back to a conversation between @Artful_Puck and @BruceMcCurdy that suggested potentially hitting NHL sponsors with a boycott so that those corporations can put pressure on the owners.

This intrigues me, because I remember during the “save the Oilers” times, fans were encouraged to support the businesses that were part of the Edmonton Investor’s Group, and the companies that bought rink board advertising.

So can this work? Can fans make a statement by vocally not supporting businesses with NHL ties? I don’t know, and I do know that this is a fine line because we want companies to support the NHL through advertising and sponsorship. But I keep coming back to the fact that this might be our only leverage as fans. As Bruce said, we want to make the promise that we aren’t moving our business permanently. As fans we are just making a statement in hopes that those businesses will take steps to put pressure on the NHL to get this settled.

I am also not naïve; I know that it takes a lot to make an impact. Nothing makes me crazier than slacktivism. That’s not what this is – this is me telling you what I am going to do. Until I see a deal, I am going to stop supporting companies that I know are affiliated with the NHL via advertising, ownership, or sponsorship. That’s what I can do. I am sharing this message so that it can spread if people think it might work. I know that isolated action is ineffective.

Thinking big, I would like to see a big statement short-term boycott. Tim Hortons spends a lot of money on the NHL through sponsorship, rink board advertising, TV advertising, etc. They also are a company that would immediately notice an impact on sales if NHL fans took collective action (via same day sales comparisons). What if every hockey fan chose to not spend their money at Tim Hortons on a specific day or days? Further, for irony – what is we did it on Labour Day weekend and made sure we were vocal about it on social media? That could get some attention. Trust me, every store knows their same day sales and if they see an impact and know the cause, they would be calling head office. Head office might call the league, which might spur the owners to negotiate. That’s the easiest most visible example I can think of.

But I will come back to the fact that I can’t make this happen. There may or may not be others who want to do something. I wanted to share the only idea I was able to come up with that allows me to express my frustration. Gary Bettman can't buy my loyalty to the NHL with a few words. NHL owners - get a deal done, you do not have my support.

On Being Social

Whether you accept that "Twitter is your resume" or you think that the new social tools are stupid; the fact is they exist and the work world will never be the same. As I mentioned in the previous post, I believe that the work world is changing and that our online presence is going to start to influence our ability to earn an income.

I am no expert but I admit to participating in many social networks. I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family, and to follow people/businesses I am interested in through their "Pages". I don't friend people I don't know on Facebook and I have my privacy settings set fairly high. I don't really understand LinkedIn although I do know it is where business people hang out. I can't find many of my university graduating class on Facebook (baby boomers are just discovering Facebook now), but most of them seem to be on LinkedIn. Or at least they have a profile - they don't seem to be using it much. I admit that I love Twitter. Twitter is the best cocktail party in the world and you can wander around and listen to snippets of conversations (tweets) by interesting people (whoever you follow). I think that my schizophrenic twitter feed is a sign of my mental health!  

If you are starting to feel like you need to participate online somewhere, here are a few rules of thumb and a few websites that I found helpful. First, when you start to read blogs remember to "lurk, learn, and then leap". I cannot remember where I got that advice but it is good advice that basically means - don't start commenting right away. Read the blog, read the comments, and then engage in the conversation. Each blog has a style and you want to learn that style before you start adding to the conversation.

Another thing to remember is that just as you wouldn't meet someone at a party and then ask them to help you move the next day; you don't join a conversation online in any form to simply promote yourself or ask for favours. In simple language, that's rude behaviour. The biggest mistake you can make on Twitter is to use it solely as a way to advertise yourself or your business. Twitter is about being engaging; it is not an advertising platform.

If you want to start using LinkedIn I found this article to be helpful.  If you want to learn about Twitter, then check out this article. Remember that Twitter and LinkedIn are much more public than Facebook (again depending on your settings) so keep in mind the rule that you should never post anything that you wouldn't want written on a billboard!

Creating your online presence is the start of managing your personal brand. Good luck!

It Does Apply to You

I attended the Alberta Certified Management Accountants (CMA) conference in Calgary on Friday. The speakers included digital marketing guru Mitch Joel and business visionary Leonard Brody. My previous knowledge of Leonard came from watching a presentation on-line, and he did not disappoint - lots of food for thought. I have been reading Mitch's blog "Six Pixels of Separation" for over three years, and I love his book. Through Mitch's blog and the links to other blogs, books and news articles, I have started to educate myself on not just digital media, but the direction of business in the future.

Mitch spoke on personal branding and the overwhelming response by the other attendees that I talked to was that they enjoyed his talk immensely but ....  Many accountants believe that they don't need to build their personal brand because they work for a company and aren't trying to drum up business. Many others could see the need, but had no idea how to start.

Here's my take on the situation. Right now accounting hiring is very much as it has been for the last twenty years. We apply to jobs with our resume, we interview, and our references are checked. And yes, jobs are now advertised on-line, and I really hope that companies Google prior to hiring (avoiding fraudsters that way), but that's the extent of the on-line influence. That's what is going to change. 

Why do I think that? One reason is that economic growth is happening in the small business sector. If you want to work for a small company, you need to bring more than accounting knowledge. You need to be able to participate in the business to the extent that the owner/ownership group wants you to participate. It is fine to say "I have great marketing ideas" but most people want to know how you know they are 'great'. One way is by bringing knowledge of the digital landscape and new media, but how can you demonstrate that if you don't have an on-line presence? As Mitch said "your brand isn't what you say it is, it is what Google says it is". I would say the same applies to you. How can you say you have a grasp of this world if you can't demonstrate that you participate?

Another reason that I think that your on-line presence matters is that many business owners are very connected digitally. That's how they find new employees or at least, that's how they check people out to see if they want to interview them. If you don't exist on-line, it might dim your chances of being hired.

I also think that there is a major shift happening from 'jobs' to 'earning an income'. The economic downturn of 2008 is still and will still impact our economy. Companies and government will hesitate to create full-time positions and will instead choose to hire on contract.

However you look at it, you are competing for work - whether through applying for traditional jobs, by competing for contract (short-term) jobs, or by literally trying to make a living through your own business. Your on-line presence is going to influence your success!

Why Not Ask This Question?

A few years ago, I was being interviewed for an accounting position with a company that was clearly experiencing an administrative crisis. The financial results were not reliable (expenses not recognized in the right quarter or even year), cash flow was strained, invoicing was months in arrears, and there were no  financial controls in place.

During the interview, I asked the question "what key skills does this position require now; and how might that differ from what is required long run". I don't think my interviewers understood what I meant because their answer was that there was no difference. As time has gone by I can see that there was a clear need for a different skill set during the crisis and that once processes and controls were in place, a different skill set was needed.

Questions that companies should ask themselves when hiring - particularly if they are in crisis, or if they are creating a new position. What skill set do we need now? What skill set do we need on an on-going basis? What problem are we trying to solve with this hire? 

Understanding the answers to those questions will be key to ensuring that the right decision is made. Examining the issue prior to hiring instead of simply saying 'we need to hire an ..." may lead to a very different hiring decision. In the case I referenced, it would have made more sense to hire for the long term skill set and supplement that with a contract person who would lead the company out of crisis and put processes in place.

The business world has and is changing; your staffing decisions need to evolve as well.  

Business Success is Not Different

I wrote a post for my other blog about business success not being as separate from creating personal success as people might think.  You can read it here . Creating success, whether in business or in your personal life, is about knowing what you want to do, making a plan to do it, and doing it!  I realize that is tremendously over-simplified but I think the fundamental thought is true.  There are times though that I have thoughts that are specific to business and that is what this blog will be about.   You can read my other blogs through the links above this post.