Exactly how did Bernie Madoff steal his billions? Why are Halliburton’s hands so dirty? What happened with corruption cases in the rebuilding of Iraq? Following a link from EthicsWorld’s e-newsletter, I came to a single URL that has multiple stories on corruption: https://www.ethicsworld.org/publicsectorgovernance/corruptioninvestigations.php#sec.
This is what we’re up against, those of us who believe in ethics.
Perry Marshall has a really good article about online privacy concerns, the Google experience yay and nay, and Google’s first real competitor in general search–Bing. It’s getting a lot of comments, including this one from me. I discuss not only transparency vs. secrecy, but also the Google user experience, talk about the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) I think Google might operate under, and point out the business opportunity that grows out of our society’s lack of privacy.
One point I didn’t make is that in dystopian-totalitarian novels like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, the very tools that provide information and entertainment also eliminate our privacy. While at least in the US, this information gathering has been used primarily for commerce rather than social control, the potential is very real.
The rest of this post is what I posted to Perry’s site:
You write, “Google has done a glorious job of doing what I encourage all my customers to do: Create offers that are so sensationally irresistible that you can’t help but use their search engine. They’ve beat all comers fair and square.”
This is sooo true. If ever there was an example of a huge USP, it would be Google’s. I don’t know how they phrase it, but it may as well be “we let you actually FIND what you’re looking for…in nanoseconds.”
And because they honor and deliver this USP, and because they were smart enough to make ads user-friendly, they have a vast revenue stream. But remember that search was there before ads, a couple of years before, in fact.
As pointed out above, we haven’t had privacy for decades anyway.
–>I feel the lack of privacy is actually an *opportunity* for entrepreneurs. Since we have no privacy anyway, why not run your business with a high degree of transparency and turn it into a marketing advantage? Why not do the right thing and be thoroughly ethical, and then demonstrate this to the world so they beat a path to your door? (This is something I advocate heavily in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First
Back to Google: my concern is not *privacy*, but *piracy.* Google’s respect for others’ copyrights is often in conflict with its desire to index the world’s knowledge. As someone who creates a lot of intellectual property (including eight books), it concerns me deeply that Google assumes the right to index first and ask permission later. I could definitely see circumstances where work created (say, for a high-paying corporate client) should not be placed in the public stream. Google claims to be and for the most part acts as a highly ethical company, but on the issue of intellectual property control, I disagree with their approach.
Still, I’ve been an avid Google user, because it does deliver that USP, and that’s something I need.
I wasn’t familiar with Bing prior to reading this article. Did a search for “shel horowitz” and saw very different results than Google. 1,100,000 hits versus about 23,400 on Google (a number that shifts daily between 14,000 and 54,000). Bing’s results heavily skewed toward big portal sites like Facebook (very first result) and Amazon Subsequent pages (I looked through page 3) include a lot of the blogosphere/podcast interviews I’ve done for others, and some of my major media hits. Only three of the top ten were my own sites. Google’s results skew heavily toward my own sites. I love the popup feature on Bing, and expect that Google will implement something similar; this may be Google’s first real competitor for generalized search. (For specialized search, I’ve often turned to Clusty, Ask, and portal-specific search tools.)
By contrast, on Google, I have 7 of the 12 results on page 1. Google itself has positions 4 (Google book search) and 12, and my twitter and Facebook profiles, along with a book review on an outside blog that was published this week, fill out the page.
GMail is still the best web-based e-mail client I’ve used, but that ain’t saying much. I vastly prefer download-based email such as Eudora. Surprisingly, my biggest gripe with GMail is that its search function is just plain horrible. Something you’d think they of all companies could have figured out better. My other gripe is that you can’t do much in the way of batch processing, and dealing with one e-mail at a time, especially over the web, for anything except delete is frustratingly slow.
Shel Horowitz, ethical/effective marketing specialist
https://shelhorowitz.com
Call me old-fashioned, but I reject the transition of “pimp” form a negative noun–a man who rents out the bodies of women he controls (and a verb to describe that action)–to a positive verb, to make something look classy and flashy by adding gizmos and gewgaws and bling.
I don’t like it. Pimping is not a “virtue” I choose to support. I’m a wordsmith for a living–so let me propose some alternatives. We’ve got great nouns like swank or swanky, chic, glitzy, snazzy–can we turn them into verbs?
Swankify? (awkward-sounding). Chicken? (um, no, that’s taken). Snazz (I like that!). Sparkle? (already a verb, sure, why not). Glitter? Glisten? (ditto)
Let’s use our rich, rich language and banish “pimp” as a “good” verb. It’ll take some work. The phrase “pimp my” brings 10,900,000 search results, and I’m guessing almost all of them from the last two years. I’m not a language purist, believe me, but let’s put this one back in the bottle.
Bad enough that Arkansas State Senator Kim Hendren called Chuck Schumer ‘that Jew’–but even worse is the anti-Semitic trash talk from so many readers of the New York Daily News story about it.
Eeeew! In 2009, we should be better than that! In fact, that kind of racist crap should have been unacceptable in 1809. No matter what ethnic or racial group is being denigrated, the message needs to go out that this is unacceptable. I’m not blaming the Daily News for having an open comments page, but I wonder about these narrow-minded bigots who are posting.
Mind you, I’m one Jew who does NOT believe in “Israel right or wrong.” But I do believe in treating every person civilly, and in condemning racist behavior.
Although I’m a strong advocate of same-sex marriage, and have attended a number of gay and lesbian ceremonies long before they were legal in any U.S. state, I am very disturbed by a ruling of New Mexico’s Human Rights Commission that a photography studio, Elane Photography (owned by Elaine Huguenin and Jonathan Huguenin, was not within its rights to decline a job photographing a same-sex wedding. (That link is to the NPR story–scroll down–and in the midst of the coverage is a link to download a PDF of the actual decision.) And the photography studio is to pick up $6,637.94 in plaintiff’s legal fees!
The decision quotes the actual e-mail correspondence, which was civil, measured,not the least bit threatening, and simply stating that the couple did not choose to photograph same-sex weddings.
When someone contacts me regarding my copywriting/consulting services, I send back an e-mail response that includes the following:
Please note that I reserve the right to reject a project if I feel I’m not the right person for it. This would include projects that in my opinion promote racism, homophobia, bigotry or violence–or that promote the tobacco, nuclear power, or weapons industries–or if I do not feel the product is of high enough quality that I can get enthusiastic about it.
In other words, I am putting out my values and stating clearly that I will not accept projects in conflict with my values. I have in fact occasionally turned down projects because they were promoting causes I actively disagree with. And in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, I even have a section called “When to Say No to a Sale.”
While the values of these photographers are not my values, I think they, too, should have the right to turn down projects that violate their particular beliefs. I feel this on both ethical and practical grounds: the truth is, when someone takes on a project in conflict with deep internal values, that person won’t turn in good work.
I support their right to not be hired to perform their art for a cause they disagree with; this is not a public accommodation, such as a restaurant or hotel denying service. It is not a job discrimination issue, but a self-employed couple in the creative arts choosing not to be hired by a prospective client.
It would be a sad day indeed if someone were to compel me to write propaganda for, say, a homophobic organization, or a company whose primary product is nuclear weapons.
I don’t know if there’s any appeal process for the New Mexico board, but I certainly hope there is. Something is very definitely rotten in this decision.
I had the good fortune to follow Dr. Ron Capps, a/k/a “The Niche Prof,” speaking at Willie Crawford’s 50th birthday celebration in Orlando.
Ron started his speech by saying, don’t worry about taking notes; I’ll send you my slides. But please feel free to Tweet. I was one of several people who took him up on it; these are my Tweets about his talk (in reverse chronological order, as they appear on my Twitter page, shorthand, typos and all–these were all sent while he was speaking. The #bbash tag enables anyone to search for all the Tweets about this conference and find these):
Don’t cheat the process. Having a baby in 3 mos is NO blessing. @NicheProf, #bbash from web
…or where they will find you. So you’ve got to be everywhere (and everywhen), via Ping.fm. @NicheProf, #bbash from web
Social media is farming: nurturing yr reputation & the relationships. & You never know what people respond to…. @NicheProf, #bbash from web
(I still prefer to brand my name) Why not to brand 2 yr name: 1. Too common 2. No exit strategy. @NicheProf, #bbash from web
You can meet people online you could never meet f2f. Post great content & people’ll start talking abt you:@NicheProf, #bbash from web
RTs are Inernet gold: @NicheProf, #bbash from web
30K new jobs posted 7 dys at TwitterJobSearch: @NicheProf, #bbash from web
Soc net profiles that give an edge: support yr claims, good spelling/grammr–soldify hiring decision @NicheProf, #bbash from web
20% firms (& univs) are screening profiles and SEing you-Neg impression could be VY expensive. @NicheProf, #bbash from web
Not who you know, who knows you. And you get known via social media: @NicheProf, #bbash from web
Think about what happens when five or ten attenders are actively Tweeting the highlights of your talk in real time. Think about how many people might see it, learn about you, click on your screenname, start following you, see over the next several months several more streams of Tweets about how great you are–and then that person happens to be planning a meeting. Who are they going to call–you–or some stranger they’ve never heard of?
I’d already panned to offer attenders a copy of the slides, and was certainly hoping to be Tweeted. And I immediately stole Ron’s idea and asked for Tweets early in my talk. These are the Tweets (if I missed any, I apologize). Do you think they might help my career?
Caught_Thriving: @CaseStevens some really good stuff from @nicheprof and @shelhorowitz earlier #bbash
MichealSavoie: Finding that @shelhorowitz is an outstanding speaker who offers a LOT of very actionable information! Follow him! #BBASH
marismith: @mrebay LOL. Hi Kevin! Way cool you’re hanging with many of my fave peeps at #BBASH @FeliciaSlattery @lynnterry @LauraFenamore @shelhorowitz
mrebay: @ShelHorowitz is an awesome marketer!!!! Testimonials in your book can get your referrals and business #BBASH
changenetwork: RT @DrMollieMarti “RT @FeliciaSlattery: Honesty, integrity, quality = the magic triangle of business ethics. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH”
marismith: RT @DrMollieMarti: RT @FeliciaSlattery: Honesty, integrity, quality = the magic triangle of business ethics. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH [Yes!!]
raleighgirl: Retweeting @FeliciaSlattery: competence is the other half of trust @ShelHorowitz #BBASH (it’s also one of my 3cs of credibility!)
FeliciaSlattery: competence is the other half of trust @ShelHorowitz #BBASH (it’s also one of my 3cs of credibility!)
FeliciaSlattery: When you do business w/ ethics & integrity you get more of everything: JVs, customers, referrals. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH
FeliciaSlattery: Customer evangelization is abt as good as it gets. Those who tell the world abt you. Comes from doing biz w/ integrity. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH
DrMollieMarti: RT @FeliciaSlattery: Honesty, integrity, quality = the magic triangle of business ethics. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH
FeliciaSlattery: Holy moly: @ShelHorowitz just used ME & what I spoke about yesterday on one of his slides. I [heart] him now. LOL #BBASH
jimdonovan: I’ve known @ShelHorowitz for a dozen years and he’s one of the true good guys. ##BBASH
life_enthusiast: @FeliciaSlattery I second what @MariSmith said. RT @MariSmith We need more peeps with HIGH standards, ethics, eh! #BBASH
marismith: @FeliciaSlattery Brilliant!! That’s what I love about @ShelHorowitz. We need more peeps with HIGH standards, ethics, eh! #BBASH
FeliciaSlattery: @marismith yep @ShelHorowitz is on stage now giving awesome content abt ethics. He turns down $$ when it’s not a good fit for him. #BBASH
marismith: @FeliciaSlattery Oh, is @ShelHorowitz on stage right now at #BBASH? Give him a hug for me, Shel is the BEST!!
mrjaredjames: @FeliciaSlattery RT: “Honesty, integrity, quality = the magic triangle of business ethics.” Super col. From #BBASH ?
Raven73: RT @FeliciaSlattery: You want to be attracting rather than chasing business. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH
FeliciaSlattery: Honesty, integrity, quality = the magic triangle of business ethics. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH his work is grounded in value & ethics
MichealSavoie: Why are you REALLY in business? @shelhorowitz #BBASH
FeliciaSlattery: RT @lynnterry: @shelhorowitz is speaking at #bbash – last speaker of the day. talking ethics, relationships, expertise
neestaples: RT @FeliciaSlattery: You want to be attracting rather than chasing business. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH
lynnterry: @shelhorowitz is speaking at #bbash – last speaker of the day. talking ethics, relationships, expertise
FeliciaSlattery: You want to be attracting rather than chasing business. @ShelHorowitz #BBASH
FeliciaSlattery: @ShelHorowitz getting started @ #BBASH. His attention-getter had everyone standing up & hugging ourselves. Yay!
One thing to point out here: Several people who retweeted or commented in this conversation weren’t even at the conference! And one of those was social media rockstar Mari Smith, who Fast Company dubbed “The Pied Piper of Facebook,” and who is personally responsible for getting me (and probably hundreds of others) onto Facebook. Mari has 24,205 followers! However many of them happened to be online during my speech saw her multiple endorsements of me within a few minutes’ time.
Oh yes, and meeting planers can use this too. Allison Nazarian included me in an expert teleseminar series this winter. Even though she was interviewing, she managed to Tweet coverage of every speaker, which you can follow here. (The ones about me, specifically, are here: https://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23DIY09+%40shelhorowitz
Someone on a social network forum posted a really great article. The only problem was, it looked like the poster hadn’t gotten permission.
As entrepreneurs, we need to be careful to respect the intellectual property rights of other entrepreneurs, and that includes writers, photographers, etc. It is often not difficult to get reprint permission (I have over 1000 reprinted articles on https://www.frugalmarketing.com and https://www.frugalfun.com, and I have permission for every single one. To simply place a whole article and not get permission or give credit to the source, is an act of theft. If you published a book, you wouldn’t want someone taking your hard work and publishing their own edition.
I’m sure the person who posted was not acting out of malice but of ignorance. Many people don’t think of reprinting an article as stealing, just like they don’t think throwing a toxic cigarette butt on the ground is littering. It’s totally appropriate to quote the first paragraph or two, mention some key points in the article (in your own words), and post a link–or to go get permission from the author.
Let’s not do things that come back to haunt us.
Note: I have posted a whole bunch of articles about business ethics on my ethics site, PrincipledProfit–and yes, I have permission for all of those as well. I’ve also written an award-winning book on success through business ethics: Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First.
Apparently, a lot of players in the international adoption world have been a little too glib about where these babies are coming from, and some children have been stolen from their parents to be adopted by people in the Northern hemisphere.
Even though it delayed and may have prevented her adoption, one adoptive mom, Jennifer Hemsley, got too suspicious. Her courageous battle with the system and great personal/family/financial hardship in order to do the right thing are a model of how to behave in an ethically cloudy situation, even if the outcome is the opposite of what you’re striving for.
Medical reports seemed obvious forgeries, without letterhead or doctor’s signature. And during a critical hearing, Hemsley said, her Guatemalan advisers tried to pay a stranger to pose as Hazel’s foster mother.
“Todd and I felt a lot like, ‘Gee, is this really happening?’ Maybe we should just look the other way and keep plodding along, because every time I tried to tell someone, nobody cared,” Hemsley said. “I couldn’t look the other way. I just couldn’t turn my head.”
Ricardo Ordonez, the Hemsleys’ adoption attorney, denied any fraud and vowed to clear his name by producing the birth mother for new DNA tests. Another court hearing is pending.
If the Hemsleys had walked away, as hundreds of other Americans did after problems surfaced, Hazel would likely have been abandoned or reoffered for adoption under another false identity, Tecu said. Instead, Jennifer Hemsley stayed with Hazel for months, draining more than $70,000 from a second mortgage on their home and paying for a trusted nanny.
Does your skin crawl every time you hear Ann Coulter, William Bennett or some other radical-right wingnut savor the pleasure of saying “Barack HUSSEIN Obama”
Did you take pleasure in learning the famous story of World War II Denmark, when the Nazis ordered all the Jews to wear yellow stars–and the King of Denmark proudly pinned one on, as did many of his countryfolk?
Well, we’re not alone. Mark Hussein Gordon, of sonomacreative.com, has set up a Facebook group called Hussein is my name too! All you have to do is join, change your middle name in your profile, and remember to change it back after the election, and you can show solidarity both with Barack and with the Arab and Muslim communities by being Hussein for a couple of weeks.
I think this is brilliant. And I thank Robin Hussein Blum for drawing it to my attention.
Shel Hussein Horowitz
Lauren Bloom has a sweet new book, “The Art of Apology,” which I really enjoyed. She’s sending me a guest blog for posting on Wednesday–just in time for Yom Kippur (starts Wednesday night)–the Jewish day of asking forgiveness.
Meantime, if you want a preview, she’s giving away a chapter at https://www.ArtOfTheApology.com/preview