The Merchant Stand a blog by Bob Williams

Superheroes among us

Posted on January 24, 2015 220 by Bob Williams 234 Posted in Career, Ideas Leave a comment

Action is his reward. My favorite childhood superhero was Spider-Man. I loved reading the comic book series, seeing the villains stopped, and the thinking about the vivid colors in the red and blue suit. I remember wishing I could spin webs like old spidey. I loved the theme song to 60s cartoon as well. Towards, the end there is a great line: Spiderman, Spiderman Friendly neighborhood Spiderman Wealth and fame He’s ignored Action is his reward. I love the concept of finding reward in the challenges and action required to solve a puzzle or problem. It’s a fundamental motivator in the workplace. Superheroes living among us. Jump forward to today. I’m still enamored with superheroes. But they don’t live on comic book pages or cartoons. These are people that benefit my daily routine with their God given ability and strengths which I like to call “superpowers.” I’m talking about what

The distraction inside the annual performance review

Posted on January 18, 2015 252 by Bob Williams 234 Posted in Ideas Leave a comment

Tis the season to be writing. Annual performance reviews are upon us. It’s a topic that most employees I know loathe. They might even rank it up there with public speaking for most feared and disliked events in life. So last year I tried to give some practical advice on getting value from the annual review process. Most employees only have to write their own self-review whereas managers write multiple. But even so, many of the employees choose not to document information in a self-review. They supply the minimum amount of information necessary to check-off their requirement and wait for their manager’s assessment. I told a group of co-workers this year that your self-review is a chance to be who you want to be. It was a fun play on words. I wasn’t saying to make up accomplishments, but rather that this was their opportunity to self-assess for their own

A simple way to keep your resume updated

Posted on January 11, 2015 240 by Bob Williams 234 Posted in Career Leave a comment

I have a simple way to keep my resume updated. I update my resume once a year at the same time I write my annual performance review. It’s easier this way because I have already gathered data needed to summarize my accomplishments for the year and it’s only a small amount of information to add. If you keep your resume in an electronic file it’s a simple step to open, edit, and be done. If you’re like me, I consider my resume and online LinkedIn profile one in the same. I blogged about merging the resume and online profile back in 2011 and I haven’t gone back to the old way. If you need the online profile in a document LinkedIn provides the ability to save your profile as a PDF. The LinkedIn profile can be far more feature rich as well. LinkedIn provides the ability to link to work

A case for voice mail

Posted on January 4, 2015 220 by Bob Williams 234 Posted in Career Leave a comment

Do you use your office phone and voice mail? Dan Kedmey of Time Magazine recently listed 4 reasons we should never leave another voicemail. I agree in part with Kedmey that the role of voice mail and the office phone is decreasing. I see it at work too, as some co-workers opt to have no desk phone, or simply forward their desk phone to their cell phone. As studies show, more of us prefer to send an electronic message rather than leaving a voice mail. Think about how many times recently you’ve called someone and when they don’t answer you hang-up rather than leave a voice mail. But wait….. We shouldn’t be so quick to abandon the office phone and voice mail. Here’s why: Bad habits on email and instant messaging don’t justify getting rid of your office phone. I’m talking about the times when people want to have a

Would Netflix original content make it through your Shark Tank?

Posted on December 20, 2014 263 by Bob Williams 234 Posted in Ideas, Technology Leave a comment

How is Netflix making money on their original content series? Their latest release, Marco Polo, is reported to have cost $90 million for 10 episodes. At $7.99 a subscriber you can do the math for payback and ROI. But wait. This isn’t the first show Netflix has made costing tens of millions. The popular of House of Cards and Orange is the New Black head-up a rapidly expanding list of Netflix original content. At face value the strategy appears to be a money pit of immense proportions. I’ll admit that the business case was not immediately clear to me. Matthew Ball provides an excellent economic review of Netflix original content for the Ivey Business Review. Reading Ball’s analysis you can start to feel Netflix’s business drivers of customer retention, third party licensing costs, and the ability to price subscriptions based on value received. Competition in streaming video services is increasing