The Ultimate Power Hobby and 16.8

Writing for the Wall Street Journal this week, Katherine Rosman’s article The Ultimate Power Hobby shared the experience of bankers, lawyers and executives that jockey to teach a university class or two. The article nudged me to think a bit differently about something that we have written about here before: volunteerism and work. Rosman’s article discussed the dynamic at colleges and universities whereby high performing, fully employed, and highly engaged professionals are seeking adjunct teaching positions at local colleges and universities. Sometimes this means significant work for very little pay, and many come away donating to the institution much more than they actually get paid to teach. Generally, adjuncts fall into one of two classes of either the professional/practitioner adjunct or the academic adjunct. The professional/practitioner adjunct brings the experience of a successful career and usually is not in it for the money, while the academic adjunct , many of whom have doctorates, are looking for a tenured position.

According to the WSJ, reliance on adjuncts is increasing with part-time teachers making up 50% of faculty at degree granting institutions. (Think about that next time you write your university tuition check!) My father had a plaque given to him for his leadership and teaching responsibilities for Ranger School with the US Army and it reads “Let him teach who himself excels.” In business, as in the military, who better to teach and lead than those that are actually making the real world happen? According to the article by Rosman, professional adjuncts offer students a window on the industry unfolding far from the academic world.

Hmmmm. Maybe there is a bigger lesson here. Maybe, just maybe, the way to get work is to start and stay working, even if it means you don’t make that much in the realm of income, but the experience is the real gain. We know what it means to work, but what about the volunteerism part. And in the spirit of the blended life, is it possible to blend our work with our volunteerism?

We here in the Bible belt are quick on the draw to toss out the idea of donating 10% to our church or charities. What what about your time and talent? I submit that when you try to give 10% of your time that it is really giving until it hurts. How you think about this may depend on if you are a tithe “after tax” or “before tax” thinker. If you are an “after tax” thinker, then you would donate 4 hours of your 40 hour work week, but if you are a “before tax” thinker than you may reach for the 16.8 hours of donated time and talent from the full 168 hours in a week. I don’t know about you, but the thought of carving out two full eight hour days to give away of my personal time seems daunting. But, maybe it isn’t as hard as you think. Take a look at how you spend your time, and you may have some opportunities to go deeper in your volunteerism. And your volunteerism may richly enhance your work. Volunteering with your chamber, helping out with little league, assisting with your church youth group, carving out time for your local Women’s Center, participating in Relay for Life are just a few examples of volunteerism that can tie directly in to your professional day.

I recall from my early classes in physics a very simple law that an object in motion will stay in motion until outside forces slow it down. Are you in motion? With unemployment up, and underemployment up, what are you doing with your time? What are you doing with your “free” time? Make the hours and minutes count.

Does Your Reputation Create A Competitive Advantage?

If I ask you to list elements of your organization that make it competitive you would probably list your product, your sales team, your education, your leadership strategy, maybe your pipeline of products, or your longevity in the marketplace. What about your reputation though? The idea of reputation as a competitive advantage is a fairly new market consideration that has been born in the times of market frustration with governmental and corporate mistrust. We have discussed here previously that marketers are waking up to the awareness that trust is a perishable asset. Distrust of corporations is at an all time high, and that is not good news. “Trust is what drives profit margin and share price,” says Larry Light, consultant veteran with McDonald’s. It is what consumers are looking for, and share with each other.

Typically companies would be categorized into one of several types such as banking, pharmaceuticals, retail, fast food or medical. The goal is to carve yourself out from the category in which you find yourself. It is important to not be one of the masses as a large, faceless entity, but rather to be a distinct company with your own creative presence, personality and REPUTATION. The primary way to keep your organization from moving toward being perceived as a commodity where your market is based only on price is to succeed in building a positive reputation. A positive reputation will allow you to sustain premium pricing. A strong value proposition that includes a good reputation for quality and innovation will allow a company to charge and price goods accordingly.

How do you do this? Transparency in executive pay as well as company performance and responsibility is a good beginning. A strategic effort toward creating a more socially responsible face is key as well. Customers are watching and they are looking for a more altruistic and ethical corporate face. In fact, there is an evolving reputation-monitoring science. Companies appraise a reputation not only on specific values such as trust, esteem, admiration and good feeling but also how the company engages its stakeholders. Yes the products and services are key, but they are evaluated not just in quality but also on innovation, workplace governance, sense of citizenship, and leadership.

. According to BusinessWeek (July 2007), “Sure it looks great to tell the world about your innovative culture or that you are the greenest company, but does this really move the needle with your target customers and investors?” How does reputation effect the bottom-line? While this is early science, a few general connections have been found. The Reputation Institute (Singapore, December 2004) has found that a 5% positive change in reputation translates into a 3-5% change in market capitalization. Indeed, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer in 2006 quality, customer service and strong financial performance drove trust. After the financial meltdown that we have been through it is little surprise that financial performance dropped to number ten on the trust list. The top drivers for corporate trust in 2010 are transparency, honest practices, and high quality products.

Whether you are an AIG or a Ford, a local grocery store, or a neighborhood salon, take a look at the loyalty factor of your employees. Employee loyalty is the only way to insure the health of your reputation. We can not assume that employees are grateful for dodging the last downsizing bullet. With corporate loyalty down, it is not surprising that customer trust is down too. Sylvia Ann Hewlett writes in the Harvard Business Online to “Go Pro Bono to Rescue Morale.” Corporate involvement in philanthropy can help polish your brand and hold on to top talent. As we have written here previously in the Top Ten Ways to have Great Customer Service, you need to partner with your customer in something bigger than just your sales model. Pick a project with your employees and customers in a philanthropic endeavor as a tool to recreate that positive energy that may be dwindling. There are many advocacy groups with direct impact on your bottom-line. Now is the time to roll up your shirt sleeves, jump in with your team and customers and help out.