Mazak Corporation, OMAX Corporation, and Seco Tools Workforce Development Story

In early 2012, dgs was referred to a CNBC reporter who was doing research for a potential workforce development story centered on the manufacturing industry. The referral came as a result of editorial copywriting and media relations efforts for our clients throughout the past decade on a variety of workforce development topics. Working within the parameters of the network’s directive to include several North American manufacturers in the story, we provided the reporter with direct access to key executives at Mazak Corporation, OMAX Corporation, and Seco Tools, all of whom had been directly affected by and/or involved with different aspects of workforce development. In addition, dgs provided the reporter with general background information and other relevant content throughout the development of the story. After weeks of research and interviewing by the network, the story broke at 6:30am on March 8, 2012, first as a page on the CNBC website, then in a series of three CNBC live broadcasts throughout the day, finishing with a feature on the NBC Evening News with Brian Williams. The results were incredible. Within a few hours of posting, the story garnered more shares than most stories do after several days, if ever. Within a week, the story generated 120 Facebook recommends, 102 Twitter shares, and 98 LinkedIn posts, placing it among the most shared stories in 2012 according to CNBC published statistics. Even more impressively, nearly 200,000 people saw the CNBC broadcasts, and the viewership for the NBC evening news for that day was close to 9 million. To further leverage these placements, the initial story and broadcast segments were shared to the client’s social media sites and linked within company websites.

Watch the Nightly News with Brian Williams [VIDEO]
Download the full story as featured on www.cnbc.com [PDF]

Writing has underpinned everything I do since I was nine years old.

And it’s one of the many things I’ve come to love about working at dgs – everyone here, no matter their role, is really good at it.

I’ve always been a communicative person, but I started to write simply because I wanted to remember the things that were popping in my head.

Like the way I felt when I saw a gigantic Star Destroyer scrape across a movie screen in Star Wars. “I thought Earth blew up!” I wrote. My dad, a corporate attorney and master pragmatist consoled me the only way he knew how, “We’re still here aren’t we?”

Or the first time I saw him REALLY cry after receiving news his sister died in a house fire, “so sad and couldn’t stop crying, just like I did when I fell off my bike,” I wrote.

Or when I learned violence isn’t always the answer . . . I wanted to punch a kid when popped off to her, “Jeez, you sure are a big lady!” during one of our dreaded fitness walks. “OH MAN!” I recalled rolling up my sleeves and clinching my fist and seeing clearly in my mind’s eye a battleship swinging its giant guns around to unleash Hell. My mom put her hand on my shoulder and disarmed me immediately, “He’s right Mike, but we’re out here to prove him wrong.” I still have a picture I drew of the incident  - my mom and I watching white-starred B-52s strafe the kid behind his fence.

I kept writing and was lucky to land a job at a newspaper right out of college. I still loved telling stories rather than reporting in my journalism assignments and reconstructing my college fraternity brothers’ horrendous term papers.

For these last five years, I’ve focused my writing efforts into creating, planning, writing and editing blogs; as well as engaging the marketplace of ideas on Twitter and Facebook. A tweet or a “meme” are opportunities to tell new stories . . . to take a crack at describing what others find indescribable.

Now I’m sure that I haven’t wowed every reader with my writing style, but I’ve always been blessed with the ability to avoid writer’s block.

I do empathize with our clients who gnash their teeth behind the phone as we coax them into telling stories their customers – and potential customers – want to hear. They do a great job because eventually they find a way to begin sharing what they really like and understand.

So how about YOU? Ever stumped by a writing assignment? No matter how technical the piece or what areas it covers – every writing effort should begin with the answer to one question:

“I like to . . .”

“Too basic,” you say?  Look, you can reword this question a million ways:

“My company is . . .”

“My department enjoys . . .”

“Our product can . . .”

It just gets down to sharing something you like to do or think about. If you need help, contact us.

Or how about this question –  “Would you care to dance?”

The reader accepts and as you both find a place on the dance floor the world joins you, but doesn’t interfere.

I like to write. I like to dance.

Thanks for joining me today.

What do you like to do?

Recently, I have experienced several “moments.”  No, not the senior- or blond-kinds (neither of those applies!), rather just periods in time when I realize how much things have changed.

A few weeks ago, my 14-year-old son began the process of selecting what courses he will take as a freshman next year. Since he is my first born, the fact that he will be in high school is enough to trigger one of these moments, but even more, going through the planning process has made me realize how different it is than when I went through it more than 30 years ago.

When I was in high school, there weren’t many choices.  You took a foreign language or not.  Some people were in music or art; others weren’t.  We certainly didn’t have AP or dual high school and college credit classes. When I graduated, I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I chose to attend a liberal arts school. While I wouldn’t change my decision and see tremendous value in the education I received, my father who payed large amounts of money for this top-notch education, expressed more than a little concern with my lack of direction. (For reference, he’s a CPA.)

Today, students are encouraged to begin thinking about their future careers much earlier. Many high schools offer specialized programs designed to get students headed down the right path. My son, for example, excels at science and math. I suggested he consider the Biomedical track, which could lead him into a career in the ever-growing healthcare field, but he responded that he thinks “people are gross.”  So, instead he will take an introduction to engineering class, as a freshman, in a program called Project Lead The Way. He will have an opportunity to see if it’s something he might be interested in, and if he continues in the program, choosing a college will be much easier as he narrows the choices to those with engineering programs. He even spent a few minutes nosing around SME’s Education Foundation Web site, www.manufacturingiscool.com to learn more about what engineers do. How awesome is that?

I have no idea if my son will end up an engineer, but I am grateful our education system has evolved to better help guide students to make these decisions.  Plus, as a parent who has yet to see our kids’ 529 Plans fully recover from all they lost several years ago, I think a targeted approach to college and a career choice might be best. (Maybe I have a little “CPA” in my genes, after all!)

In our industry, the need for work travel is a given. There will be days, weeks or months were several members of the dgs team are traveling on behalf of clients and/or to visit clients for a brainstorm session or strategic planning powwow.

I recently traveled on behalf of one of our client’s, and it got me thinking…

”With the increase in workload plus our sometimes-hectic travel schedules, how are we staying efficient?”

And here’s my conclusion…planning, dedication, organization and teammates.

I planned for my trip by spending time beforehand completing time sensitive tasks such as media buying that was on a tight deadline, coordinating with vendors on projects due this week, and communicating with clients on projects with urgent deadlines. By planning ahead, it decreased the need for others to reprioritize their tasks and ensured projects stayed on track.

I dedicated myself to be on hand after regular work hours in order to answer requests and inquiries that were received while I was in-transit.

I organized and updated project status reports so all members of the dgs team were able to reference a project’s status when necessary.

And most importantly, I relied on my teammates at dgs to help answer urgent client and vendor calls.

By staying on track and dedicating myself, I was able to travel, and keep on track.

Quick Response (QR) codes are appearing everywhere these days. Realtors, manufacturers and restaurant owners, among many others, are slapping the codes on everything from products to menus to all types of signage and advertisements and even business cards. However, in recent newspaper reports, the question has arisen as to whether or not the codes are simply more of a novelty as opposed to providing value.

Take for instance, a small Northeast Ohio beverage store that has a big 3-ft square QR code on the outside of its building above the entrance. The code can be scanned from 40 ft away, and the owner’s goal is that people walking on the sidewalk or in their cars driving by will scan the code and be informed of the store’s weekly specials. And while the owner gets as many as 10 hits a day with the code, most of the people scanning the code are simply doing so because of its big size. They simply want to see if their mobile phones can do it.

According to a recent article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, QR codes must deliver value. The key is to use them to provide more and different types of information while utilizing a very small amount of space. But many businesses, the article stated, are using the codes ineffectively.

For example, the codes lead to a website that cannot be viewed on a mobile phone, or the codes fail to offer some type of direct payoff, such as a coupon or video. One industry expert quoted in the article even said that businesses are missing the point if all that their codes do is take a person’s mobile phone to a regular website.

In the case of the beverage store owner, I believe he covered all the bases with his code. But most noteworthy and whether he knew it or not, he hit upon another, shall we say new, important point concerning QR codes – people must first be drawn to a code before scanning it or reaping its hidden benefits.

CNBC is running a story today that features several of our clients talking about their experiences butting up against the skilled labor shortage in the US. (Here, if you’re interested.) With unemployment where it’s been for the past 3 years, you’d think this topic would have gained a lot of traction by now, but it seems most people haven’t even heard about it, hence the title of this entry. Even among those who have, a fair number refuse to believe it. I participate in several online forums from time to time and got sucked into a discussion thread on the economy after a story similar to today’s ran on the national news several months ago. The relevant exchange, which was among a typically sharp group of individuals with diverse backgrounds, education levels and political persuasions, went something like this:

General Consensus: We can’t believe the news has the nerve to run stories about a labor shortage when unemployment’s so high. It’s obviously just spin from the government and companies that are offshoring jobs.

Me: My job puts me in close contact with a lot of American manufacturers and the skilled labor shortage is quite real and was discussed for years prior to the recession.

General Consensus: Nonsense. Maybe there’s a shortage of people willing to try to support their family on minimum wage and work for the peanuts people are paid in other countries.

Me: Actually, skilled manufacturing jobs pay quite well and people who excel in them can demand a premium right now.

General Consensus: You’re full of it. We all know people who were in manufacturing and had their jobs outsourced by employers who gave uneducated foreign workers an afternoon’s worth of training and pay them $1 an hour.

And there’s part of the problem with the public’s perception. When companies talk about skilled labor, they’re not referring to skills that can be picked up in an afternoon, or even a week or month of training. There are plenty of jobs for CNC programmers and operators, welders and other similar or related roles. When people bemoan the loss of manufacturing jobs, they’re often talking about unskilled jobs that anyone can do with little to no knowledge. And they’re right when they think that most of those jobs are gone for good. Their mistake is in not differentiating that type of work from the reality of what manufacturing in the US currently entails.

Of course, a large part of the issue also stems from decades of parents wanting their children to do ‘better’ than ending up with a manufacturing job. How many writers for TV shows and movies use shop class as lazy shorthand for a kid being dumber than his or her peers? And what parent would want their son or daughter to take such a path? In reality, though, today’s manufacturing jobs usually feature clean workplaces and require math and computer expertise that far surpasses what most of us are walking around with. And they do pay quite well.

So if you’re a parent, grandparent, high school teacher or in another position of influence over a high school kid, do them a favor and help them make an informed choice for their career instead of reinforcing outdated biases. I’m sure a local shop would be glad to have you bring them in to see what US manufacturing is like today. Taking advantage of such an opportunity might just spur an interest that leads them to a long and profitable career in an industry with high workforce demand.

For those of us who like to write, words can be powerful weapons.

TPS reports anyone?

Forbes.com recently put together an outstanding list of 50 business phrases that should motivate you to bite your tongue before you utter them.

As I clicked through the list, I was sure that I would not be guilty of using a single one of them. But at the end of the day (on the list) I was.

Here’s a link to the irreverent (not on the list) piece: in photo-slideshow format. http://onforb.es/yMtzPZ

I hand-picked my favorites, and gave a reason why. All are funny, some are PAINFULLY funny since I’ve spewn (not a word at all) them myself.

Core Competency: This compound-awfulness refers to a firm’s or a person’s fundamental strength—even though that’s not really what the word “competent” means.

Buy-In: I have an idea! I didn’t involve you because I didn’t value you enough to discuss it with you.  I want you to embrace it as if you were in on it from the beginning, because that would make me feel really good.

Empower: This is what someone above your pay grade does when, apparently, they would like you to do a job of some importance. It’s also condescending as it suggests “You can do a little bit of this, but I’m still in charge here. I am empowering you.”

Open the Kimono: Some people use this instead of ‘revealing information.’ I’ve just always thought it’s kind of creepy with or without the ina-propro (teen slang for inappropriate) sexual overtone.

Bleeding Edge: Someone decided that his product or service was so cutting-edge that a new term needed to be created. It did not. Unless you are inventing a revolutionary bladed weapon – which some one of our clients could – leave this one alone.

Lots of Moving Parts: A Civil War- era pocket watch has lots of moving parts. Do you want your business to run, or even appear to run, like an antiquated device? Then do not say it involves lots of moving parts.

Corporate Values: This expression is so phony it makes me want to punch somebody. Corporations don’t have values, the people who run them do.

Best Practice: This refers to a method or technique that delivers superior results compared with other methods and techniques. It is also perhaps the single most pompous confection the consulting industry has ever dreamed up.

Solution: This word has come to mean everything from the traditional way to solve a mathematical proof to a suite of efficiency-enhancing software – and it is the epitome of lingual laziness.

Boil the Ocean: This means to waste time. The thinking here, we suppose, is that boiling the ocean would take a long time. It would also take a long time to fly to Jupiter, but we don’t say that. Nor should we boil oceans, even the Arctic, which is the smallest. It would be a waste of time.

Reach Out: Jargon for “let’s set up a meeting” or “let’s contact this person.” Just say that—and unless you want the Human Relations department breathing down your neck, please don’t reach out unless clearly invited.

Giving 110%: The nice thing about effort, in terms of measuring it, is that the most you can give is everything—and everything equals 100%. You can’t give more than that, unless you can make two or more of yourself on the spot, in which case you have a very interesting talent indeed.

Take It to the Next Level: In theory this means to make something better. In practice, it means nothing, mainly because nobody knows what the next level actually looks like and thus whether or not they’ve reached it.

It Is What It Is: Thaaaaaanks.

Now it’s your turn, What words would you add to the list? Are there any that don’t belong there? If you can’t think of one, this “jargon generator” can help: Please comment below!

My husband got me an iPhone for Christmas. While I am certainly not one of those people who can’t live without their phone, I recently became addicted to Words With Friends. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a lot like Scrabble only it enables you to play with your friends online.

Right now, I have six games in progress, two of which started almost two weeks ago. The beauty of the game is that you can play it at your own speed—and from anywhere. While I am constantly checking my phone to see if it is my turn (after I’m off the dgs clock, of course), some of my opponents choose to wait hours, even days, to take their turns, which drives me crazy.

However, my brother-in-law, Scott, who has become my nemesis at this game, seems to be just as addicted as I am. While I am running neck-and-neck with my other opponents on our first games against one another, Scott and I have already burned through four or five games—and as much as I hate to admit it, I have lost them all.

While Scott takes playful jabs at me for losing and says he is just kidding, I know deep down he is basking in the glory of beating me, especially since I am a writer. However, to my defense, just because I am a writer and a good speller does not mean I am an expert Words With Friends player.

I do realize, however, I lack strategy, and that is the real key to winning Words With Friends. For example, you might be able to piece together an impressive word, but if none of your high-point letters land on a premium “DW,” “DL” or “TL” square, then you probably won’t have much of an impact against your opponent.

I’ve done some online research and found there are a couple of strategies that might help me beat the pants off of Scott the next time we play.

An aggressive strategy involves the formation of long words as a way to get rid of your tiles as soon as possible. After all, both players share 90 tiles, so the more you use, the less your opponent has. However, this approach can be risky because it gives your opponent ample opportunity to take advantage of premium squares.

The more conservative way to play is to form both long and short words while paying attention to premium square proximity. Meaning, if you can form a long word that reaches a premium square, only then should you go for it. However, with longer words, you should make sure your word does not extend so far that it allows your opponent to branch off your word and reach a premium square. Also, with longer words, you want to try to avoid placing vowels next to a premium square because high-point tiles, such as X, come before or after a vowel in many words. And when it comes to shorter words, if you place enough of them, your opponent is more apt to branch out, putting you within striking distance of a premium square.

These are just some of the tactics I found to improve my game, but if you’re interested in learning more, I recommend visiting the OS X Reality web site. But in the end, if I still can’t beat my brother-in-law, at least I can say I am prettier and have more hair.

While it’s true that no two business-to-business marketing situations are exactly alike, there’s something to be learned from comparing your plan to what other companies are doing. For that reason, we’re always on the lookout for relevant data and trends on marketing communications in the business-to-business sector. One of the many resources we have valued over the years, BtoB Magazine, recently shared insights from their research on what business-to-business marketers plan to do in 2012. Here are just a few highlights from that study:

• Customer acquisition tops the list of primary overall marketing goals, followed by brand awareness and customer retention.
• Roughly half of the respondents say print advertising, events and direct mail spending will not change from 2010, but almost all of them say online spending will increase.
• Brand building is by far the most important use for social media, followed by lead generation, thought leadership, customer feedback and advertising.

So, how does this compare with your plans for 2012? Are you surprised to see these findings? If you have comments, I’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment here, or email me at diebold@dgsmarketing.com. Thanks for reading.

For those who don’t know, I have a 14 month old little boy. He’s our buddy and he thinks we’re hilarious. But the days are making him older, and it’s now time for redirection.

Enter the power of “No”.

Have you ever noticed truly successful people have little trouble saying “No”? They do it politely, but they do it and do it often. “No” is a control word, a word that has real power. When we use it, we’re in control. When we don’t, we’re open to the control of others. By saying “No”, we guard our time, our efforts and even our money. When we say “yes”, or even “maybe”, it can make all three vulnerable.

“No” is such a simple word–only two letters–yet saying “No” out loud is hard for most people. Most of us said, “No!” quite well when we were two. After all, it’s the two-year-old’s job to say “No.” The authority figures in our lives at the time, our parents, expect us to say “No.” (But I’m not looking forward to it…)

However, many of us grow up to be people pleasers. We void “No” from our vocabulary, and we substitute ways to be agreeable and keep the other person happy. Saying “No” to authority figures or clients is not expected. Underneath it all we believe that saying “No” will cost us something of value.

Our Reluctance to “No”

• We want to please others
• Saying “Yes” is easy; saying “No” opens up questioning
• We don’t like confrontation
• Saying “No” indicates you’re not a “team player”
• We learned to hate hearing “No” when we were small children and never outgrew it

“No” Problems

Not saying “No” complicates our lives. Its infrequent use takes us away from our goals. It also has the potential to complicate life by involving us in situations we have no business being in. Consider problems we bring on ourselves because we don’t want to say “No”:

We over-extend. How many obligations can you manage? The more you say “Yes”, the more obligations you take on. We only have time and energy for so much, and if we get pulled in too many directions we quickly become part of the problem, not the solution.

We lose focus. Focus is an under-appreciated concept. The more directions we’re pulled in, the less focus we have. The less focus we have, the less successful we’ll be.

We set ourselves up. If you’re a “Yes-(wo)man”, then others will have undo control over your time and efforts. Some people can never do anything on their own while others are perpetually needy. You can’t fix that and helping them will never improve their circumstances. The best thing you can do for them is to cut them off and let them learn to fend for themselves.

We damage our self-esteem. What usually happens when we say “Yes” to someone is that we give them our time and efforts. If we say “Yes” to all requests, we then degrade our own time and effort. In most cases, we’re giving away our resources—time and effort—for free. If we’re giving them away, then they effectively become worthless. When what we have to offer doesn’t have value, we begin to question our own worth.

Benefits of “No”

Let go. Each of us can only wear so many hats and still be effective. When we say “No”, we’re getting rid of them. No matter how talented you are, you can’t do it all. It’s just a delusion, and once its gone life gets more productive.

Change expectations. People have a way of coming back again and again to those who help them. While it might feel good to be needed, it’s not always productive. If you stop trying to put out fires, people start respecting your time.

Increased concentration. Each of us have so much time and energy to live so it’s necessary we spend it on activities that will have the greatest impact. It’s better to accomplish one or two goals completely than a dozen halfway.

More free time. We all like free time, right? Accomplishing our goals is important to our well-being, but so is having time to enjoy life. The more we say “No”, the fewer obligations we have, the more time we have for everything, like a little R&R. It’s a win-win: the better rested we are, the more effective we can be at what ever.

Sometimes it may seem we wander through life blind. We have so much coming at us that we feel overwhelmed. It’s not that we can’t handle it—most of us can—we just can’t handle so much at once. One of the best ways to get control is by entering in the power of “No”. It’s a simple and direct form of redirection. It blocks distractions, intrusions and manufactured obligations that can slow us down. Practice saying “No” more frequently and see if you don’t find yourself having more time, energy—and success.