The ROI Podcast

How this CEO grew her business in a volatile economy | Ep. 40

There are certain principles that, once applied, can cause massive growth within a business. Barb Cutillo, co-founder of Stonegate Mortgage, shares the principles that grew her business exponentially during one of the most volatile times in the United States.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

Shane: What’s going on everyone! Welcome to another episode of The ROI Podcast Presented by The Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI Campus in downtown Indianapolis. We are continuing on with our CEO series and today we’re going to talk to someone who, in the midst of a time when businesses were shutting down faster than they could blink, built a powerful company that continues to prosper. We’re talking about Barb Cutillo, a Kelley School of Business MBA and co-founder of Stonegate – a mortgage business that thrived while others had to close their doors… But before we get into that, let’s take you back to 2007…

(Clock ticking sounds)

Shane: It was the end of 2007 and the clock was ticking… 2008 and half of 2009 would be one of the worst recessions in United States history… Businesses were closing, people were losing their jobs, their homes, and their entire lives… The economy crashed.

(Economic crash soundbite compilation)

Barb: It was challenging because there was an online website that was like an implosion meter that showed all the companies going out of business!

Shane: Barb Cutillo, who built their entire business on home loans, remembers it well.

Barb: The market was imploding, home values were dropping, it was scary for a lot of people because they were losing jobs and unable to make mortgage payments.

Shane: So what a time to have a new business in the mortgage world. If you look at the circumstances, you could really say the odds were against Stonegate. But when the economy is down, and most other businesses are, too – that’s when Barb saw an opportunity to grow.

Barb: We had a couple great things on our side, which was we had lenders that worked with us to keep our access to funds available, so they didn’t shut us down - they knew that the loans we were underwriting were quality, so they believed in us, and now we had an opportunity to recruit good salespeople because a lot of them had been let go, and good back-office people.

Barb: When the market was down, we were actually hiring, and these people were now available to us to grow our business! 

Shane: And Barb says if it weren’t for that recession we felt here in the United States – Stonegate wouldn’t have grown to the level it did. So that makes you wonder – how? How did they thrive in such a tough economic time? And how can you push you or your company to the point where you can grow, when others are stagnant?

Barb: It is a daunting situation and I’ve counseled and mentored several companies. We lived it at Stonegate and now that I’m on the other side - an investor, coach, and mentor – I’ve seen a lot of companies struggle with this: how do you get in front of the right people, how do you grow your business? The mortgage product itself was something that there was demand for, so it’s a little bit different than a brand new app or widget. But then again, there’s a lot more competition because people can get mortgaged everywhere!

Shane: So that’ a strong tip for anyone in business… Ask yourself: Who is the exact kind of person your product or service would benefit? Create a customer avatar – and make it very detailed about the ideal customer. Second: figure out how you can scale your business with this particular demographic or demographics. But for Barb’s industry – she was in what some would call a red ocean, or a saturated market because there are so many mortgage companies.

Barb: Exactly, it is. You have to differentiate yourself, and I think it comes down to, and I hate to say this, but you have to spend money to make money. We had to hire a few key, manager-type salespeople that had contacts - even the executives at our company had to sell our services. We had to be able to sell ourselves first – if we can’t sell ourselves and what we’re providing to a few, key employees and customers. We also gave equity – I know a lot of CEOs of small companies are afraid to give away any equity, but you know what, if you really want people on your team, you’re going to have to give a little bit to get more. We always had that philosophy of you’d rather have a little bit of a lot than a lot of a little.

Shane: So hiring the right people is obviously critical, and Barb will be the first to tell you that was instrumental in Stonegate’s success.

Barb: In order to attract those great, talented people that you need on your team, we felt like we needed to promote culture. Sure, we could say, “Here’s your offer, x number of dollars” but dollars aren’t necessarily all that drive people anymore – it’s about culture, the whole package. When we made offers to people to come on board, I came right out and said, “I’m not just giving you a paycheck, this is a place for you to learn, grow, and give back”.

Barb: We knew people were important and that was what was going to take us to the next level. We had once-a-month Friday gatherings for people to come at4 pm and have a beer in the training room, we always had company picnics, tried to have holiday gatherings at the larger locations, etc. In our handbook, from day one, our PTO policy had a section at the very end that talks about our “compassionate PTO policy” – if your co-worker had a sick parent, and they needed extra time, you could donate some PTO to them!

Shane: Creating a company culture that could weather any storm that may arise in the marketplace was key, Barb says. From letting her employees work from home at times, to allowing them to donate their PTO to other employees – it was a culture that everyone felt connected in and also made them feel invested in the company’s success. Now, this final strategy that Barb shared was incredible – and it was implemented after an employer survey that came back with some negative feedback about some of the managers.

Barb: Rather than firing a bunch of people and pointing fingers, what can we do about this, and what needs to be done? A lot of these people that were put in management positions, frankly, weren’t ready or trained – they didn’t have the knowledge! We thought about putting together a management training program so we can have a little boot camp to bring people to speed, level the playing field for our managers and supervisors, and see what happens. I was in charge of the HR area, so myself, my HR Director, and Training & Development guy sat together and sketched out what they would look like. We didn’t recreate the wheel, we took on Covey principles, used some of the Disney best practices, and we put together a management training package with follow-up coaching, mentoring, and with outside people. We ran a group of 100 managers or so through it in the course of a year, and the impact that had on the organization was enormous. Employee engagement scores went up by 30% in one year because people were excited to go to work again – they knew what the goals of the company were, they loved their managers, the managers listened to them and met with them on a regular basis. If you think about it, how come that wasn’t happening? But people didn’t know about it - once they know, then they do better. 

(Closing Music)

Shane: Provide the support, training and LISTEN to your audience. Whether that’s your customers or your own employees. These strategies allowed Stonegate Mortgage to grow into the multi-million dollar company it is today. And here’s one final thought for you:

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: If you’re in business, the principles that Barb shared with us is a winning formula for growth and success. It all comes down to treating your employees right, which carries over in how they treat your customers. It’s a chain reaction of respect – and when consistently implemented – you’ll be amazed at what your team can accomplish. And that’s going to do it for episode 40 of The ROI Podcast. A big shout out to Barb Cutillo for sharing her insight. Now go out there and implement! But before you do, head over to Itunes and Subscribe and Leave a review to The ROI Podcast. Let us know what you think – that helps us out in a major way. Other than that – we’ll be back here next week with another CEO series episode!

How to get more done with these productivity hacks | Ep. 39

Have you ever sat down at night and wondered, "Where did my day go? I feel like I didn't get anything done." We've all been there. Thankfully, there are some very simple hacks you can apply to your life that will allow you to stay laser focused and get more accomplished. Episode 39 of The ROI Podcast will explain these hacks so you can start getting more done.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

(ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: Welcome back! We are recording episode 39 of The ROI Podcast which is presented by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business – coming to you from downtown Indianapolis on the beautiful IUPUI campus. I am your host, Shane Simmons. And today, we’re bringing you an episode about productivity – and the 5 productivity hacks you can start implementing today so you can rock your life and business. And throughout this episode, we’re going to share productivity hacks from some of the greatest entrepreneurs out there, including Elon Musk and others. And we’ll even hear from one of our Kelley School alumni, Scott Abbott, on how he’s able to get more done and face those tasks we all dread tackling. So let’s start with Scott – who says – you’ve got to start writing your tasks down, which will help you hold yourself accountable.

Scott: Let’s take all that stuff that keeps you up at night and deal with it, move it on, do something with it so you can get it out of your life and business. Then you need to go execute! This doesn’t automate you, you still got to go back to work and follow through. It’s so much easier now because you’ve documented it, agreed as a team that this is how you’re going to get rid of it, and now you hold yourself and everyone else accountable for getting it done - you can't hide! I believe you can do that with yourself in your own life as well by assuming and thinking you've got a board of directors, even though it's just you in your house. Write things down, check off your list, make sure you’re getting these issues out of your life – by the way, issues can be also be good, just like how the word “argument” socratically is not necessarily bad because it helps people get through some of the sensitivity of things and get to what needs to be done. So that’s the whole point, get it out there, debate it, solve it, and move on.

Shane: So there’s productivity hack number one: create a list of tasks that need to be completed. Start tackling those tasks and marking them off, and when you can, solve the assignments you are least excited about because once those are off your plate, you can create momentum and relieve the burden of keeping those tasks lingering around. Its ultimate those tasks we continue to procrastinate on that weigh on us the most – but by clearing those and tasking massive action – you can free yourself from that feeling. Here’s productivity hack number two from Scott:

Scott: you need a system – one that’s proven, that’s clear and has results. You put both of those things in your life, the generations come together, the business does better, and the individual lives a tip-top life.

Shane: So hack number two is to have a system in place. You can’t just be blind and firing at the hip – you need to have an actionable plan together, looking at the big picture, and then breaking that down into small, actionable steps to accomplish the task at hand. And this is what the greats do. They don’t get overly stressed out because they look at the big picture, then break that down into daily and even hourly tasks. For example, we interviewed Laura Vanderkam a few months back. Now Laura is the author of many books, including 168 hours – which is a magnificent read on time management. And Laura suggests breaking your days downtown a spreadsheet so you can set specific times to accomplish tasks. Take a listen:

Laura: I use a spreadsheet to track my time. It’s just excel, nothing fancy. It’s got half hours blocks on the left side and the days of the week across the top and so it’s 336 cells to represent 168 hours. And I just fill it in as I go. I wake up, I write what time I wake up, and a couple times a day write what I’ve done since the last time I’ve checked in. And it doesn’t have to be perfect, I can say stuff like “work” or “hang-out with kids” or “drive somewhere” or “eat dinner” – whatever it is.

 Shane: So for Laura – she’s breaking that time down into 30 minute increments, keeping track of her tasks, and ultimately this gives her a view of where she’s spending her time and maybe where she could begin dedicating some of her tasks. So time management is super important here. Take Elon Musk as an example. He’s the CEO of two companies who’ve taken the world by storm – both in Tesla and Space X. According to Elon, he works between 85-90 hours a week between the two companies. And he takes it a step further: breaking his days down into 5 minute increments. And our final productivity tip is one that too many of us need to work on and that’s handling email – and how not to let it bog you down. Here’s Laura Vanderkam on how to get around this:

Laura: Email expands to fill the available space. And so the only way to spend less time on email is to choose to spend less time on email. There’s no one “hack” that’s going to make your inbox be under control. It’s absolutely a decision you must make to decide how much time you are willing to allocate to this. So as much as possible, designate a few times throughout the day to check email. Even if you have to check very frequently, you’re better off checking say for 15 minutes once an hour as opposed to checking constantly on and off through a day. So 45 minutes off and 15 minutes on would be a way you can do it. If you can go longer that’s great. You could be off for 90 minutes, you could be off for two hours, awesome.

Shane: So as we close this productivity version of The ROI Podcast – consider what we’ve heard from guests on the show: Create a list of tasks you need to accomplish, put a system in place to accomplish these tasks you’ve setout to do. Create a time audit and schedule particular time slots for certain tasks and DEDICATE your time to those time slots. And finally, don’t let email be a distraction. Set specific times to opening and sending emails, and if you stick to those times, you’ll notice a jump in how much you can do!

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: So that is our productivity hack episode of The ROI Podcast. We want to thank Scott Abbott for being on the show and giving us some insight. And of course, Laura Vanderkam sharing her interview from a few months ago and how she's tackling productivity. And of course we are going to come at you with more of these types of episodes in the future, but for next week we are going to pick back up on our CEO series where we are diving in to see how the best CEOs are able to grow their companies and thrive in life. So, be sure to stay tuned for that. Don't forget to subscribe to The ROI Podcast and leave us a review on iTunes. Other than that, we will be here next week with another episode for you all.

 

Why you should surround yourself with talent | Ep. 38

In part two of our interview with Kelley School of Business Dean Idie Kesner, Idie discusses how she measures her success, why surrounding yourself with the right people can transform your life and the secret to magnifying your results. This interview is part two of The ROI Podcast's CEO Series.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

(The ROI Podcast Intro Music)

Shane: Welcome Back! We’ve got another episode for you here on The ROI Podcast Presented by The Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI Campus in downtown Indianapolis!!! I am one of your hosts, Shane Simmons. And Phil Powell is here with me. As most of you know, Phil is the Associate Dean of Academic Programs at the Kelley School. How are you, Phil?

Phil: I'm doing great, Shane! It's always a good day at the Kelley School.

Shane: This is episode 38 of the podcast and its part two of our interview with the Kelley School’s Dean Idie Kesner. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to last week’s episode, then I suggest going back and doing that because there was an interesting discussion about the core characteristics of an impactful leader. But today, we’re going to chat more about the emotional drive great leaders have, surrounding yourself with the right team, and we’ll dig into how you can keep yourself away from distractions and perform your work at the highest level. Phil, take it away.

Phil: As you said – last week we discussed the characteristics that make a great executive and an impactful leader. We mentioned people must have the talent to succeed, the humility to grow, and the tenacity to persevere. So we’ve covered the mindset – but as an executive, you’ve got to deliver results. So I asked Idie how do you know on a weekly basis that the organization is moving in the right direction.

Idie: Phil, I think you said the magic words in terms of what needs to happen – you have to identify multiple measures all along the path. Simply setting out the end goal, which is important for getting everybody on the page, is not enough. 9:48 You have to have metrics and measures all along the way that tell you're making steady progress and give you opportunities for celebrating within the organization. That first requires knowing your mission, [translating] that mission into goals, and [setting] up measurable objectives that are very specific – quantifiable both in level and in time – and those measurable objectives that fit your organization, your tasks, projects, and responsibilities. They are unique and customized for each organization, [and] they have to be there. Bottom line, you’ve got to understand your mission, translate it into goals, have measurable objectives that are very specific to the task or project that you’re working on that happen all along the way and guide you on your path.

Phil: Now those key performance indicators, or KPIs, that Idie mentions may be unique depending on the task at hand. A KPI for advertising may be your total revenue generated compared to the amount spent.

Shane: Or, if you’re talking about something like boosting company morale, those indicators could survey responses, number of days people called off sick, or more qualitative measurements.

Phil: Exactly – but Idie says the implementation is the same: Focus on the objective, monitor the results, and keep your eye on the prize.

Idie: I want to key off of something you said when you started that question, and that is, how do you deliver on all of this - basically knowing you’re one person with limited hours, and perhaps even limited capabilities. The ultimate answer is you have to surround yourself with people whose talents are a good compliment to yours. That means you have to be very self-aware, you have to understand where your strengths and weaknesses are, and then you have to surround yourself with people who fill those gaps for you, trust that they’re good people – hopefully, you’ve made the right decisions about who you brought in – and recognize that they’re going to be able to do their jobs. In fact, because they fill your gaps, they’re going to be able to do their jobs better than you would be able to do their jobs.

Phil: To all of you listening out there, think about what Idie just said – you have to surround yourself with a team that compliments your own strengths. That’s where diversity in talents can really play a vital role in a successful organization. Idie shares an example.

Idie: Now I’ll give you an illustration for me personally, I do think I actually have some self-awareness about some of the key weaknesses I have. One of them is I’m an extremely risk-adverse person, but in this job, you really do have to take some risks – you have to place some bets down, and you have to try and move the organization forward. So I try to surround myself with people who are willing to take those risks, willing to hold me responsible for moving the organization forward by accepting the fact that they have to hold me to the same standard. I think that that’s important: I didn’t surround myself with other risk-adverse people, I surrounded myself with a team of people who compliment the few issues that I have that are of concern to me in leading this organization.

Phil: Now the final tip we discussed with Idie when it comes to running a successful organization has to do with passion and getting everybody on board with the organization’s mission. This is important for two reasons: 1. It prevents burnout and 2. Passion is what drives innovation and creativity which can produce extraordinary results.

Idie: There are many times - last night’s a classic example - when I go home and was continuing to work until about 10 o’clock. What allows me to do that and maintain that energy is the feeling of commitment, passion, and focus that I have for the organization – it does not work when you really enjoy what you’re doing. I learned that lesson from my father, who was a stockbroker, who’d work all day in the office and come home at night. He’d study the market intensively, hours on end, and wouldn’t go to bed until late, and he’d be studying the next day to better serve his clients. He enjoyed the stock market, doing well by his clients, making great recommendations, and always said, “I’m not working – this is my passion and hobby and this is what I enjoy doing!” I think, obviously, stay focused on what drives you and what gives you energy from the organization, what inspires you, what makes you feel good about the job you’re doing. If you can’t answer that question, you need to be preparing yourself for that next position, whether that’s advancing yourself educationally or looking for other positions that can speak to your heart and soul. Life is way too short to be in a job that is sheer drudgery, that every hour that I’m there, I’m not enjoying myself. You have to find things that really drive you. Now, some people find ways around this: they have their job, and [a] life outside of work, where they’re doing community service and other things. That’s a great way to compromise to have the best of both worlds, but how much better can it be when the best of those worlds is embedded in your job when you feel that same sort of commitment and passion, and it comes from your daily work, and not just the sidelines? It’s not always easy to understand what that is, but you need to look for it in the organization – what is it that drives me about this organization, what excites me, how can I be a contributor, how can I make a difference? If you find those things, that will be the spark that you need.

(Closing Music)Phil: Wow. Those were great insights from Dean Idie Kesner from here at the Kelley School. Our listeners should know that what you've heard from Idie is reflected in how she leads our school on a day-to-day basis. She is an inspirational leader, and the type of leader we want all of our students to aspire to.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: What a way to kickoff our CEO series! So all of you listeners out there – remember: Understand your organization’s mission, create measurable objectives, and follow through… And when you mix passion with that – that’s when magnificent results can follow.

Shane: That’s going to do it for part one of this episode of The ROI Podcast. We want to thank Kelley School of Business Dean Idie Kesner for her time and insights. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review on iTunes! We’ll be right back here next week. Have an amazing day!

How these characteristics create remarkable leaders with Dean Idie Kesner | Ep. 37

Idie Kesner, Dean of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, lives by the school's desired characteristics of a Kelley student. She believes great leaders must have the talent to succeed, the humility to grow and the tenacity to persevere. As a Kelley School graduate herself, Idie knows what it takes to run a successful organization, motivate others and overcome business challenges. In this episode of The ROI Podcast, Idie discusses characteristics of impactful leaders and gives helpful insights to women executives.

Show Notes:

 

Shane: What’s going on, everybody! I am so excited to kick off a brand new series we are starting on this episode which is a CEO series! We’re going to be talking to a range of CEOs from all different types of industries. We’ll learn how they got into their position, we will talk about their “why”, and see how they deal with pressure, stress and everything that comes along with being an executive leader.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: Welcome back, everyone! It’s a great day for The ROI Podcast, we’ve got 36 episodes under our belt, and we’re kicking off what’s sure to be one of the most valuable series of podcasts we’ve recorded yet! Of course, I’m Shane Simmons, and I’ve got Phil Powell here with me, who’s the associate dean of academic programs at the Kelley School. Phil, are you ready for this CEO series?

Phil: Absolutely, Shane. When talking to leaders of these large and successful organizations, there's just so much to learn. I'm so excited today because I get to interview my boss.

Shane: This is going to be part one of a two-part episode with Idie Kesner – in this episode we’re going to talk about the characteristics that make a great executive, and really narrow in the female leader – and some of the characteristics that have helped Idie get where she is today.

Phil: Idie has studied executives, she’s an executive herself, and I asked her what are two or three things that she believes makes a great executive.

Idie: Well certainly, the characteristics of the executive are very important. Phil, you are well aware of the fact that we talk often about characteristics of the ideal Kelley student, and ultimately, the ideal Kelley alum. Fortunately, those same characteristics are also important for successful executives. We talk about the talent to succeed, the humility to grow, and the tenacity to persevere. Now that talent piece, clearly, we’re talking here about skills and knowledge sets, so talent is important – it’s important for every executive to have talent in order to do the job that he or she is assigned or is tasked to do. But those other two dimensions are less obvious but extremely important – humility means that you recognize that as an executive, there is always more to learn. It means that you’re willing to be able to intake feedback, to make changes based on that feedback, and it means you are willing to admit when you make a mistake and fix it. Then there’s that aspect of tenacity – some people might refer to it as “grit” if you will - the ability for an executive to roll up his or her sleeves, get the job done, and to persist against obstacles and hurdles. We like to think that those characteristics that we train and look for in our students are also characteristics important to executives.

Phil: And Idie says those characteristics translate for women leaders as well. Women executives obviously have a talent or skill set that got them there, they need humility to grow as a leader, and of course, they have to be tenacious to persevere… But, Idie says women also face other challenges.

Idie: But there are some unique challenges that women have that they need to think about, and one of them is to try and overcome doubts or lack of confidence. Based on information that’s presented in a wonderful book that I highly advise all women executives to read, it’s called The Confidence Code, it’s by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, and in that book, there are many great points that they make. They cite a one really intriguing study, in particular, done by HP – it focused on when men would apply to take on a new assignment or role, versus women. What they found is men only needed to be about 60% confident in that they could meet those objectives, versus women, [who] felt that they had to be 100% there, 100% confident that they had those experiences in order to achieve that new role. That’s a big gap! I think sometimes women hold themselves back from taking on new assignments and growing in them. I definitely think that women need to basically turn off that voice in their head that says, “No, you’re not good enough to take on that assignment”. My advice is to overcome those negative kinds of communications that you do internally and talk yourself into something as opposed to out of something.

Shane: That’s a good point that I want to take time and reemphasize. Think about how many times you’ve talked yourself out of something, rather than talking yourself into something. And when you look at the definition of who a leader is and what makes up their character, it’s someone who may not always have all of the answers right away, but they will do what they can to find them.

Phil: Think about the ways men and women communicate. In general, we communicate differently, but that diversity is what can empower an organization… Idie talks about that here.

Idie: I also think that we need to recognize that men and women communicate differently, and it’s the diversity that can actually enhance the organization if it’s embraced properly. Interestingly enough, even when men and women communicate similarly, it’s often interpreted differently – men may be direct to the point, women are bossy in those cases. Men may be passionate or enthusiastic, women are emotional. We have to recognize that communication styles are different, and that difference, that diversity, is actually a good thing for the organization. My advice is don’t get discouraged by the negative comments that you may receive as a woman executive, don’t worry about your communication style is different from your male counterparts.

Phil: And Idie insists that women executives solicit feedback, she says this is very important.

Idie: I think women are very good at listening to negative feedback, sometimes I think they integrate it too much. What I’m advocating for is having effective women executives solicit feedback, you can and should go out and find people who will be mentors, coaches, sponsors, and advisors for you. It doesn’t have to be one person, it can be a team of people. Doesn’t have to be all women, it can be men and women. Doesn’t have to be from your industry, can be people from other industries as well, and it doesn’t have to be from your own functional area. In fact, I encourage you to solicit advice from people from other functional areas, and it doesn’t even have to be at your level!

Phil: But here’s the tricky part about holding a leadership position… Many times someone has developed into a role because of their technical skill and doing the job very well, but when you’re put into a position to lead, you have to know how to help others achieve greatness – and that will reflect on the executive.

Idie: If you have only one [aspect], you’ll be a very technical person, a great tactician, but you won’t necessarily be a great leader. If you have the other, you might be able to inspire people, but the organization may not be able to accomplish it because you have to make sure that that inspiration gets translated into action. You really have to have both components/features to be in a successful role as an executive.

Shane: I have a question, Phil. We know that saying leaders are readers. What books does Idie recommend?

Phil: Great question – and here’s her response to that.

Idie: Let me offer a few practitioner books that I think are good. One classic is Good To Great by Jim Collins. Many of your listeners may have already read this book if you haven’t then I do highly encourage you to do it. There’s some great advice in that book about how to move organizations forward and how to go from good to creating great organizations. A book I just read a couple of days ago was The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. Because it had moments in the title, and because our brand message is go from moment to momentum I thought this might be a good read, and in fact, it was a very good read.

Idie: For women executives, I might recommend one more book and that is the confidence code. It really helps you understand why women sometimes have more challenging roads ahead in their executive positions. And I think it’s a great book to overcome some of those challenges and to know you’re not alone.

(Closing Music)

Phil: So, if we can conclude what Idie has talked about – a great executive needs those three qualities we talk about here at the Kelley School of Business: the talent to succeed, the humility to grow, and the tenacity to persevere. These qualities will make you a well-rounded leader, and set you on the path to great accomplishments.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: That’s just part one of our kickoff to this CEO series and there was some value here that, if applied, can change your entire outlook, and even the outlook of those around you. And hopefully, all of you listening will be able to start applying these strategies in your life today. Next week, we’ll continue our conversation with Idie Kesner, picking her brain about somehow you can measure your success and effectiveness in the organization – and of course, how do you keep yourself motivated when you’re in the trenches.

Shane: That’s going to do it for part one of this episode of The ROI Podcast. We want to thank Kelley School of Business Dean Idie Kesner for her time, and we look forward to sharing part two with you next week! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review on iTunes! We’ll be right back here next week. Have an amazing day!

How organizations can build regulations into strategy | Ep. 36

Often times, organizations view regulations as a hindrance to business, limiting what a company can or cannot do. However, Julie Manning Magid, professor of business law at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business says organizations who build regulations into their business strategy create extraordinary results.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: Hello everybody! Thanks for joining us once again on The ROI Podcast presented by The Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI campus in downtown Indianapolis. Hopefully, you are having a spectacular day – and we’re here to help BOOST your business knowledge through actionable insight! And joining us on this journey is my co-host, Phil Powell, who’s the associate dean of academic programs for the Kelley School. Phil – what’s going on?

Phil: (Replies)

Shane: Well, today we’re going to somewhat pick up where we left off last week when we were talking to professor Kim Saxton about equal pay for equal work. But today, we’re going to be speaking more from a strategy standpoint – and how gender equality will actually increase growth and revenue. I can tell you this is a very interesting discussion.

Julie: One of  the things that we see in the current climate is that there are real consequences to not focusing on and working toward an equitable workplace, a place where people feel they can be heard and appreciated, and understanding the importance of having everybody at the table to do their very best in your organization.

Phil: That was Kelley School of Business Professor Julie Manning-Magid. Julie is a professor of business law and she’s the executive & academic director of the Randall L. Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence. And in our discussion with Julie, she mentioned the legal consequences that organizations need to be aware of when it comes to creating an equitable work environment.

Julie: Certainly there are consequences in terms of legal consequences, legal claims are something that we’re hearing a lot about now, but there are also major public relations issues when you do this wrong - we’re certainly seeing that as well. There is a certain numbers game that you have to think about, and if your numbers do not reflect well [from] the community you’re drawing them from, there’s a problem in your organization and that problem could lead to anything from corporate activism, to your government structure, to large claims that are class-based, to single claims - and even if it is just a single claim here or there, it adds up in terms of time, money, and morale. It’s not a good work environment if you’re getting a lot of these sort of claims.

Phil: As as we watch the news, read the papers, sometimes we wonder: How can such dynamic, well-managed organizations not catch these claims and issues beforehand? How do they not see this happening?

Julie: It is complicated, [and] I don’t want to downplay this requires attention and work and that not every organization that has been challenged is doing something wrong, but it is challenging and something that you have to pay attention to and focus on in a way that says, “Are we being truly inclusive of everyone in our organization and community?”

Shane: I’m gonna pause there for a moment because I really like how Julie breaks this down. Sometimes, we as humans can overcomplicate and over analyze, and in the case of this subject, by stepping back and asking that question “Are we being truly inclusive of everyone in our organization and community?” That can cause some deep reflection, right?

Phil: (Response)

Shane: And let’s talk about FMLA for a second… While this is a protection, there’s still a caveat there that can negatively impact women and their family.

Julie: So in the FMLA, you are protected for pregnancy after working a year for the employer. That works to the negative for women in a way it doesn’t negatively affect men because pregnancy is hard to time. If you think you might become pregnant sometime in the next year, you cannot change employers, because you will not have protection for leave to give birth. It’s something that doesn’t enter people’s minds until it becomes the reality of, “I can’t look for another job because we’re thinking of starting a family.”  Again, this isn’t something that only negatively affects women, because it has a ripple effect on families, [and] it impacts men and how they are able to create a two-income family.

Shane: Let’s talk about this from a strategic angle. Yes, if complaints are filed and investigations are conducted around these issues, it’s going to cost the organization on the bottom line… But what about the impact it has on human capital?

Phil: You know, Shane… That’s an excellent point. The cost this has on your workforce is far greater than anything else… And Julie dives into to the specifics on the cost of this in today’s environment.

Julie: Right now, we’re at historically low unemployment rates, [and] it’s hard to get good workers in your workplace. If you’re an organization that does not treat people fairly, has poor morale, that doesn’t handle these issues well, you won’t have people working there – you certainly won’t have the best people working there. It’s a competitive market, and there are consequences to being a difficult place for women to work, and it’s not just women in of itself, it also is the fact that families are impacted by these decisions that are negative to where women work, and that has consequences as well across the board.

Julie: Law and ethics are such an important thing to think about in terms of business management. Many organizations and executives want a lawyer to handle anything legal-related, so it doesn’t become their problem, but then you’re having somebody else run what are some of the most important business decision that you’ll make. Executives know that there are legal implications to almost every decision they make, and the ethics that that implicates. That has to be something that you embrace as a manager or an executive, or you’ll make poor decisions by having somebody else worry about one of the major issues businesses deal with, legal compliance.

Shane: So what Julie’s saying is the best organizations are seeing a shift in the role of chief counsel… Rather than being somebody who solely protects there organization and quote keeps the governor off their back”, the chief council becomes an important part of an organization’s strategic core.

Julie: Recognizing that regulations and complying with them have to be part of your strategy decisions is the way that you better prepare your organization for excelling. As we’ve been talking about, that law pushes you to be very inclusive of people in your organization and part of your strategic decisions.

Shane: And let’s remember – there have been organizations who have not taken this strategy previously – and it caught up with them.

Phil: So if we’re to summarize what we’ve discussed today – we’ve made some progress for women in the workplace, but there’s a lot of work that remains to be done. Whether it be in programs to help women climb the corporate ladder, tweaks to FMLA, or just being more inclusive – we need to look at the law not as regulation, but as guidance and a start to what we should be doing – and that’s taking a strategic approach and implementing the law to that approach.

Julie: The job of managing people is never done - it is a day to day practice that good managers engage in because people are their most important asset, and that’s how they should be treated and thought about.

Equal pay for equal work and what your company should know | Ep. 35

The year was 1963 when President John F. Kennedy and Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, prohibiting gender-based wage discrimination in the United States and mandating equal pay for equal work. Yet, research indicates that women are still being paid less than men for the same work. Why is this? What can organizations do to ensure they are not discriminating based on gender or race? Kelley School of Business Professor Kim Saxton explains in episode 35 of The ROI Podcast.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

Shane: Before we start today’s episode I want to bring up something that’s no secret and is going to revolve around our discussion today and that’s the issue of equal pay. So I was online the other day and I read an interesting study that found 83 percent of women believe men are paid more than women for the same work – compared to 61 percent of men who believe that statement… So where are we today with equal pay in the workplace? Where did it all begin? That’s what we’ll be discussing today.

(ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: It’s time for episode 35 of The ROI Podcast presented by the Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI campus here in downtown Indianapolis… Of course, I’m one of your hosts, Shane Simmons. And I’ve got my friend, Phil Powell, who’s the associate dean of academic programs at the Kelley School, sitting beside me co-piloting the podcast. How are you today, Phil?

Phil: (Replies)

Shane: As our listeners heard in the opening of this show – we’re talking about a topic that’s hard to believe we’re still having to have this conversation and that’s pay equality. Phil, as a dean to a business school, as a scholar, and as a person in general, when people are paid unequally, doesn’t it hurt our economy?

Phil: (Replies)

Kim: Great question and I don’t know if the MeToo initiative is giving rise to this, but it’s something first, people need safe working conditions, but in addition, they ought to be the same people being paid for the same work, irrespective of gender or race. We know it’s an issue, so if I were talking to a man, the first thing I would say is just own up that it exists. There’s still some people who are debating whether in fact this gap exists – study after study, done as rigorously as possible, controlling for all different kinds of factors does show that there is a gap. We need to recognize that it’s there, first of all, and why has it gotten there? The other thing about the gap is that it’s not a new gap, it’s been around for a long time. If you pull up articles from the ‘60s, there were talking about equality of opportunity for women in 1961.

Phil: And if we go back to 1963, President Kennedy passed The Equal Pay Act which made it illegal to differentiate pay based on skills, effort, responsibility, or working conditions in the U.S.

Kim: And yet, we still have a big pay gap. How does that happen? Well, there are systematic differences that are occurring that are difficult to control for. First of all, one of the ways that pay does get differentiated is based on experience – remember I said skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. Experience is a valid reason to differentiate pay. Women tend to take time out of the workforce, therefore, they tend to have less experience – so that’s one thing that people can justify is, “I should pay him more because he’s been working at this longer”. The second thing is that women tend not to negotiate for their pay, while men do - women just don’t ask that question. Personally, with a group of women that I mentor, I encourage every one of them who is changing jobs to ask for something. It’s really shocking got me that many of them would say, “Oh, I love this offer, it’s exactly what I wanted!” - I said, “Now pretend you’re a man, what would you want?” One hundred percent of them have gotten more than what they were asking for at the start. That tells me that companies are used to people negotiating, and if women are negotiating, it must be the men who are. But some companies are trying to take these steps to fix this!

Phil: But before we get into what some companies are doing to combat this issue of gender pay equality, there are still the behavioral economics that some would argue are embedded within us – even if we don’t think we're biased…

Shane: Kim said something that I did not realize, and that plays into this whole conversation, and that’s when men and women are judged on their performance, both men AND women will evaluate the same performance from a man as better than the performance from a woman. And so when you have pay being based on performance, you can see how this causes an unfair reality for women.

Phil: You’re right, Shane. And Kim explains how some of these experiments worked to give us a better idea.

Kim: Some of it was looking at objective performance – maybe you would look at a group of people and say, “Subjectively, how do I evaluate their performance?”, and then we might look at some objective criteria like the time it took, number of errors, those kinds of things. There’s been some research where they had violin players play a piece, and when the audience could see what the gender was, they rated the men more highly - when they couldn’t see what the gender was, they rated them equally. Occasionally, some studies have actually found the women’s performance was better when you didn’t know who it was!

Phil: Harvard actually sets this test up in the classroom with a case and Kim discussed these eye-opening results.

Kim: Yeah, so this was an interesting case that they did where they took the profile of a really good networker - someone who created connections out in Silicon Valley, an actual real person - and had jobs that moved towards creating these connections with technology and venture-capital firms. They gave the case to half the students where it was a man, and the other half got a woman. Before they came into class, they had to fill out a survey about things like, “how much do you like this person”, “how much would you be willing to work for this person?” When the group that had the person as a woman was always significantly rated lower than the man. It was like, yes, they’re an effective networker, but no I wouldn’t want to work for them, and no, I don’t like them.

Kim: I think there are maybe three or four things we could do, or that I would think about doing if I was a male CEO looking at this situation. First of all, you need to have a periodic review - where are we? Let’s lay everything out by skill, effort, responsibility, and working condition, and let’s just see, are we paying people equally? Salesforce did this in 2016 and 2017, and each year, they had to adjust pay by $3M, women were being underpaid. Now, I would say on an annual basis, $3M out of $11B is probably not a bad investment, but it repeated the next year! Even in one year, they saw it creep back in, so you have to have a periodic inspection of it. The second thing is, we make assumptions about what people are interested [in] and willing to do. Maybe there’s an overseas assignment, and you look around and say, “Who should we give this overseas assignment to? Well, she’s a woman and she’s got kids, she’s not going to be able to travel.” Why are you making that choice for her? Instead of making assumptions as to who would be interested in what, open the playing field - give everybody a chance at all the promotions, let themselves select if they want that kind of responsibility or that work life. Being mindful that you are eliminating people is important. The third thing is you have to actually ask yourself who’s not at the table – the easiest thing is that we tend to support people who are like us: white men tend to support white men, white women tend to support white women. Ask yourself, do I have a diverse team? Who’s not been invited? Find those people – it’s not that they don’t exist, it’s that they don’t occur to you to invite them. Every time I step back and ask that question, I find somebody and I say, “Wow, that person is a great asset, I wish I had thought about that!” - those are little promotions that add up to bigger ones.

Phil: And lastly…

Kim: The last thing is, and back to that periodic thing, we know that the wisdom is that people respect what you inspect. Some people are really excited about the latest news out of Iceland about equal pay - and really, it wasn’t so much the equal pay, because they already had that in place, they knew it wasn’t working. What Iceland did is they put in an annual certification for employers with more than 25 employees that they have to prove that in fact, they’re paying them equally. In your own organization, set up annual inspection of the strategic outcomes that you want to accomplish, and people will perform to them!

Shane: So if we were to step back and explore what we can do is managers in an organization when it relates to these issues – we’ve talked about some different things to look out for… But where do you start?

Phil: Kim sums up some practical steps that an organization can take immediately.

Kim: The first thing is, look around and ask yourself, are we biased? If there are awards, who’s winning the awards? Are people of color or women winning awards at the same rate men are? Promotions? Leaving? Just observe! Many organizations and managers never ask the question, “Do we have a bias?” The first most important thing is to sit back and ask if we have a bias, maybe get some data and see if there are any. What helps for me is I have someone who keeps me accountable – because I know these biases are natural, my significant other will actually be objective and ask, “Now, are you saying that because of that person’s gender or race? Or is that what you’re really thinking?” So it causes me to step back and ask myself, “Am I being biased?” I don’t always like how I answer, but I like that the question got asked.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: We’d like to thank professor Kim Saxton for taking the time to chat with us about a topic that’s so important in our world… Of course, we’d be honored if you subscribed to The ROI Podcast and leave us a review on iTunes… That really helps us out and gives us some feedback on how we’re doing. And Phil, next week we’ll be continuing this conversation from a legal angle with professor Julie Manning-Magid so be sure to look out for that episode next week. Have a great day and thanks for listening!

Three simple ways leaders can grow their organization | Ep. 34

Many CEOs feel as though they've plateaued when it comes to growing a company. They quickly find they don't have enough time in a day to get done what needs to be done. Kelley School of Business professor of management, and former corporate executive, Ken Wendeln shares simple ideas that will free up your time and expand the growth without running yourself ragged. 

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

Shane: Before we start the episode, I want to share a quote from the book Time, Talent and Energy from Michale Mankins and Eric Garten, which plays right into what we’ll be talking about today. And here’s the quote: “Energy is an intangible but powerful force that enables companies to accomplish great things. Leaders who learn to boost and harness their organizations’ energy can multiply the impact of their employees’ time and talent. The key is to tap the power of engagement, inspiration, and a strong company culture.”

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: Welcome back to the ROI Podcast presented by the Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI Campus here in downtown Indianapolis. Hopefully, all of you are having an amazing day! For those of you who don’t know already – I’m Shane Simmons and my co-host is Phil Powell, the associate dean of academic programs here at the Kelley School. Phil, we’re talking about executive leadership today – and there’s tons of literature out there regarding the importance of great leadership – but today we’re really going to get specific on how leaders can measure their success and grow the organization.

Phil Responds

Shane: Today we’re talking with Ken Wendeln who’s a professor of management here at the Kelley School – but before coming to Kelley – he was an executive for multiple companies where he was very successful. And Phil, you had a great conversation with him – and we’re about to play the soundbite that I thought was very interesting – and that’s the obstacle that’s holding many organizations back from growth – which can be the CEO themselves because they’re too involved. Take a listen:

Ken: Let me give you a good example: as a sector executive, I took over a business in California. It was a small business, grew quite nicely, and I was sitting down with the general manager after we had acquired them, and he was talking about his frustration over the fact that he had not been able to grow his business beyond $30M in today’s dollars. As I watched how he operated and what he did, what we found was he was trying to do everything. Instead of him being the one who led the business, he was the one trying to run and manage it! The natural point of his inability to grow the business was himself. Eventually, he moved off to do some other thing, we put some professional managers in place who knew how to scale the leadership, how to put people in place to be able to grow the business and were quite successful. 

Phil: So, how do smart managers or executive leaders get into this new position of leadership, who’ve excelled most of their career – all of a sudden, can’t see what’s so simple? Seeing yourself as the growth inhibitor seems like it should be obvious – but according to Ken it’s not that easy and sometimes that’s the result of the lack of positive feedback.

Ken: As you as move up an organization, one of the things we find in working with our MBAs, is it’s hard to get honest feedback – even though we have performance reviews, annual reviews, it turns out that it’s hard to get honest, helpful, useful feedback on how effective are you. Without that, you do not know what to change. The habits you had, the things that may have gotten you to where you got before – which may have been a lot of hard work, a lot of doing things yourself – all of a sudden limits you because you’ve run out of time. As you move up the ladder, you need to then say, “What does the organization need from me? What do I need to do to help others grow through my leadership so that they are the ones who are providing the work, the smarts, doing the things that maybe I did in the past, but I don’t have time to do today?”

Shane: And Phil, that’s an interesting concept to think about: The routines and habits that we may have had that made us so successful – can now almost become our kryptonite as a leader.

Phil: Exactly and that’s what can get in the way of progress for an organization. As you grow into new roles within an organization, you have to learn to delegate tasks and give up control – but as Ken explained during our chat – there may be others who would be happy to take on those tasks that need to be delegated… And then your time, as the leader of the organization, can be better spent in a different area. But some people may be wondering what kind of tasks they should delegate? Ken explains that here:

Ken: Well, I think you want to delegate those kinds of tasks where you can accept somebody else’s perfection. As an example, if I’m doing presentations and they don’t have to be absolutely perfect, I can give that to somebody who will do a good job, will be more than adequate, and I’ll be very happy with. Whereas I might spend a lot more time on things in that presentation that would’ve taken a lot more time and would’ve added little value. Or, on tasks I’m not particularly good at or interested in, others may be very interested in doing that. I know when I delegate, I’m very careful about picking what can I give to somebody else, what can I accept of them, and what will they be happy with? I keep just those tasks to myself where either they’re something only I really can do, or I know I can’t accept somebody else’s perfection because it’s really important to me. 

Phil: And when you’re delegating effectively, you’re setting your organization up for growth.

Ken: Good delegation not only helps free up your time, it also helps you develop with other people because as I give other people the chance to do things, guess what? They do them well, grow, learn, and become part of the team, and they’re happy to be there! They see themselves as valuable. Delegating to others and doing it well is a trait that helps not only you time-wise, but also helps others grow in the organization. 

Phil: So tip #1 – find ways to delegate tasks. And the second tip that Ken says is critical to growing the organization and thriving as a leader is creating a conducive workplace culture.

Ken: Culture is an interesting one because people want to be part of organizations that they can identify with - their personal purpose, and hopefully the organization’s purpose, is one and the same, so we like to identify with those that we want to be with. Creating a culture that fits what your strategy [is], what customers want, but also has to fit with what your own employees want – an honest culture is not easy to create! Finding ways that you can have a place where people really want to feel valued is a challenge, particularly in today’s workforce. You look at some of the younger kids coming out through school - the millennials, so to speak - they have a set of expectations. How do we meet that? How do we align our organization to fit with what the customer wants, what our culture is, and what our employees need? That alignment, if you can do that, is tremendous because now you’ve aligned your whole purpose to all those that are stakeholders. 

Shane: So Phil, here’s my question when it comes to company culture… How does accountability fall into this? What’s the biggest mistake executives make in accountability?

Phil: That’s a great question and many people may be surprised by the answer to this.

Ken: The biggest mistake in accountability is not letting people make mistakes! If you don’t support those that you ask to do things, even when maybe they made a mistake you have to support them. They have to know that if they mess something up, that’s okay, they’ll learn from the mistake, and go forward and support you. You really want to create a culture of making mistakes, but making them quickly, and being honest about them: that’s accountability. Now people take pride in what they’re doing, and if something does go wrong, they’ll step back, learn from it, and take another stab. If you don’t do that, then people will be fearful of taking things on. I think allowing people to make mistakes, trying things but failing quickly, so to speak, and then supporting them when they do that helps to build the organization and the people. 

Phil: To sum up what we’ve talked about today – the most successful leaders know how to delegate and set the organization and the people in it up for success. And we’ve also discussed the importance of workplace culture… But if you want to measure leadership – which can seem nearly impossible to do at times – here’s a really interesting way Ken says you can do that…

Ken: Leadership is hard to measure, because what do you measure? What I found interesting is one trick from a professor I know at another school talks about the measurement is easy - just measure the energy in the room when you started and finished! What happens if I’m having a meeting or teaching a class, if the energy level is here, and I go through that 1-3 hour of class/meeting time, is the energy level higher when I left because of what I did, then I’ve accomplished something. If it’s lower, then I’ve sucked the energy out of people. Again, just like time, we’ve only got so much energy. My measure today of how well I’m doing is, was the energy left, were people more people excited, more motivated, and more interested? I started to use that as a simple measure, and it’s an easy one to look at because you can see the expressions of people’s faces, the pace that they walk in and out of the room. I think it’s a great measure, that along with being able to grow others - your talent - make others interested and excited because they’re with you, and that becomes your energy level too! 

 

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: And that’s going to wrap-up this episode of The ROI Podcast Presented by The Kelley School of Business – we’d like to send a thank you to Kelley professor Ken Wendeln for all the value he provided in this episode. I think there are lessons we can all learn – whether we are currently in a management position, or if that’s something we’d like to achieve in the future.

Shane: Don’t forget you can subscribe to the ROI podcast on iTunes and leave us a review!

 

The 2018 financial markets and proven investment strategies with Professor Rob Neal | Ep. 33

Those who are invested in the stock market are looking into 2018 with optimism. GDP growth is up, profits continue to rise and the economy's in a good place. But what changes could impact the markets in the coming year? And are the tried and true investment strategies of the old days still relevant? We sat down with associate professor of finance Rob Neal to discuss these topics.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

Shane: Happy New Year to all of you – hopefully your 2018 has gotten off to an outstanding start! And now it’s the time to think about what this upcoming year has to bring – and how you can dominate it and accomplish your goals. With this being a new year, there brings new opportunities and challenges in business – none more pressing than the financial markets. So in this episode of The ROI Podcast – we’ll be talking outlooks for the markets – and how you can maximize your returns in the stock market.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: It’s a new year and a new episode of The ROI Podcast presented by the Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI Campus in downtown Indianapolis. I’m Shane Simmons and the associate dean of academic programs here at the Kelley School, Phil Powell is next to me. How’s it going, Phil?

Phil: (Response)

Shane: Today we’re taking a look at the 2018 financial markets – and also giving our listeners some tips when it comes to investing, especially when it comes to retirement.

Phil: You know, when we look at the financial markets and where they’re at and where they may be going, I think back to the mid-2000s where we had a massive segment of growth before the markets collapsed. According to Rob Neal, associate professor of finance at the Kelley School of business on the IUPUI campus, when looking at the markets there are certain factors we look at.

Rob: When we think about what drives the markets and stock prices, usually we focus on three factors: corporate earnings, interest rates, and measures of market ratios. When we look at the earnings part, what we saw was from roughly 2014-16, that three year period, earning growth is pretty much flat, save for the S&P 500. Now in 2017, it’s rebounded, it’s up about 10% for the calendar year so far, which is above its long-term average. Our forecast going forward for next year are slightly higher, about 11%, so that’s good news for a market forecast. On the interest-rate side, the current federal funds rate is sitting about 1.25% - the expectations going forward are that we’re going to see another interest rate increase 25 basis points in December, and probably another 2 or so in 2018. That’s going to take the interest rates up to about 2%, which are still relatively low, certainly on a historical basis.

Phil: And you heard Professor Neal mention earnings as one of those three factors that really drives the markets and stock prices. Recently, we just saw productivity growth rate over the last two quarters surpass 3 percent.

Shane: And for some of our listeners out there – define productivity growth rate.

Phil: (Defines Productivity Growth Rate)

Phil: So my questions to Professor Neal was this: Is productivity growth going to be one source that could drive extraordinary earnings growth?

Rob: Any time you can do a better job of utilizing resources to produce your products you’re earnings are going to benefit. 

Rob: my hunch is if we’re successful on the corporate side of trying to keep our tax rates more inline with worldwide global averages, then it is going to have a net positive impact on productivity going forward. We’ve got some demographic changes that we are working against us in productivity and are probably scaling back our long-term productivity estimates, but from my perspective I see a lot of positive developments on the technology side. A lot of innovation going on. Internet of things developments. New censors being able to monitor workflow, and even being able to get traffic patterns to improve.

Rob: I think were on the cusp of a lot of potential innovation that’s going to have a positive impact.

Phil: So some of you out there listening may be thinking this is interesting and has a very positive outlook – but let’s not forget what happened to so many people during the crash of 2008 – losing thousands of dollars. Some may say the stock market is like the lottery or like gambling in Vegas. If you’re afraid to put your money in the stock market because of that – here’s what Professor Neal has to say.

Rob: It’s definitely NOT the same thing as going to Vegas. You might think about buying a lottery ticket. Alright, all of you listeners out there, don’t buy lottery tickets, please. Your payoff to a lottery ticket is about 50 cents on the dollar. Now if you want to blow your money, go to a casino. You can play the slot machines and your payoff there is going to be 90-95 cents on the dollar. Now if you keep on doing this, the probability that you’re going to be broke is essentially 100%. But it’s going to last a lot longer if you gamble in a casino versus doing it with a lottery ticket. Now in contrast, when we look at the equity markets, on average stock prices go up on an inflated-adjusted basis about 7 percent per year. So you’ve got that working for you. One of the big risks investors face, and we face it right now and you might think the market is expensive and you want to get out, but being out of the market long term is highly risky and it’s a guaranteed failure rate. So you’re never going to be able to grow your resources enough to do what you want to do in retirement or down the road.

Phil: And Professor Neal says one of the best financial decisions he made was during the crash of 2008.

Rob: One of the best investment decisions I made was during the financial crisis. I’m always getting calls from neighbors asking what do I do? The best investment decision I made was to do nothing. So I just stayed put. I rode it out, and for everyone else, you’ve got to understand that if you get to 7 percent annual rate of return, it’s not going to be without risk. There are going to be times when you are going to lose a bunch of money. But what you want to do is focus on where you are likely to be 30 years from now. 20 years from now. 40 years from now. And what’s the best plan for getting there?

Phil: And another tip, that may seem obvious but a lot of people still don’t do this – is contribute enough to your 401k that your employer can reach its maximum match contribution.

Rob: From a retirement perspective, this is something that everyone should do. If you have an employee match, be sure to contribute enough to get the maximum match from your employer. That’s free money and you’re never going to see a rate of return like you get on that investment. So that’s rule number one. Rule number two is thinking about an investment in an index fund, it doesn’t have to be U.S. funds, in fact, I would encourage a certain amount of global diversification. If you look at European markets they tend to look more attractive on a valuation basis than American markets do. But our historical rate of return on inflation-adjusted dollars is about 7 percent per year on the market.

(Closing Music)

Phil: Bottom line is the economy is looking pretty good next year, markets are looking good, there are always questions about it. But in terms of your investment strategy, put it in an index fund and just don’t do anything else.

Rob: put the money in, leave it. And hope for her best, based on the info we have, that’s probably the best strategy.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: So wrapping this up – it looks like going into 2018 we are in pretty good shape. And we’re looking at returns on equities to be positive, but maybe just below that 7 and a half percent average over the past 50 years…

Phil: (Response)

Shane: That’s going to do it for us. Thank you to professor Rob Neal for his insight. And for all of you listeners out there be sure to go to iTunes, Subscribe and Leave us A review – we’d love to get your feedback on the podcast. We’ll talk to you all next week!

How women can break through the glass ceiling | Ep. 32

There are more women being hired today for entry-level positions following college graduation; however, this trend isn't translating for more experienced women transitioning into executive positions. Why is that? How can women break the glass ceiling in corporate America? We talk with Nicole Mitchell with Honda Manufacturing of Indiana about this topic.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

Shane: Hey all of you ROI listeners out there… Before we start today’s show I wanted to briefly reflect on what we’ve noticed some of the most successful people do to help accelerate their lives to meet their goals. And what it comes down to is developing a vision and implementing a plan to make that happen. That’s what it comes down to… And in this episode of The ROI Podcast – we’re going to hear from someone who has some insight on how women can meet their professional management goals using the principle we discussed. Let’s get to the episode!

(The ROI Podcast Intro Music)

Shane: Hello everyone! We’re back with another episode of The ROI Podcast. I’m Shane Simmons recording solo today… I appreciate you listening to the podcast. We’ve been recording this podcast for about 8 months now – and we talk to a lot of managers, entrepreneurs and some of the greatest leaders around the country. And our guest today is going to talk about an issue we’ve dealt with as a society forever – and that’s the underrepresentation of women in executive level positions – and the trends we’re starting to see – but also how women can take action to help move them towards that direction.

Nicole: Men run the corporate world still - we see it in data, and it’s something that we can’t deny.

Shane: That was Nicole Mitchell. Nicole works at Honda within the Indiana Office of Inclusion and Diversity which works to develop inclusive strategies – well, I’ll let her explain it better.

Nicole: “Inspiring Inclusion” here at Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, or HMIN, is our slogan to create an inclusive and engaging environment for our associates; that encompasses everything from what we’re doing externally in the community and working with different populations to 1) get people excited about the automotive industry and expose them to all the interesting and innovating things we’re doing here. Also internally, making sure we’re creating equitable opportunities for development and promotions on moving up so that we have that representation.

Shane: That’s important for many reasons – but Nicole brought up a statistic that many people may not realize – and that’s only 1 in 10 senior leaders is a woman. And according to a Mckinsey Study with Lean In, we’re actually seeing more females graduates being hired within entry level positions – around 57 percent – but that’s not translating to the executive positions. And asked her why that is… Is some of it sociological? Here what Nicole’s response.

Nicole: I think not as much as it used to, women do still take on quite a bit of the household chores. However, we are starting to see a little more balance in the younger generation of males taking on some of those activities as well. You’re seeing more households having two people working and bringing in income there, so we’re seeing more balance. I don’t think that it’s necessarily that, I think it’s opportunity and understanding how to navigate the workplace to position yourself to get opportunities and be thought of. I think that’s our biggest challenge still.

And that’s what Nicole is going to help our us understand – how can women, minorities, or anyone really, put themselves into position to succeed.

Nicole: One of the big things is [to] take a step back sometimes and watch people – I’m in a lot of meetings, and before I engage some individuals as mentors in formal and informal mentorships, I take a step back and watch how people interact and see where you can find a connection point; not everyone is going to be the best mentor for you. Once you take that in and see how people are interacting, it’s about not being afraid to go up and say something, like, “Hey, I saw how you handled that meeting, I’d love to sit down and pick your brain on what I could be doing to do better in meetings”. Think of a topic - I think the mistake people make with mentoring is they want someone to come in and fix all their problems. Sometimes it starts just with a simple question, “Can I pick your brain about x?”, and it really helps somebody start to focus on how they can assist you, and everybody always wants to help somebody else. One of the biggest things is being mindful of what you’re asking to start that mentoring partnership - that’s a really critical first step.

Shane: So step 1: Find mentors… Reach out to people you aspire to be like and pick their brain… Listen, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel – often times people have already accomplished what you want to and they can help guide you… This is something that’s come up several times in our episodes and there’s good reasoning behind it. Ok, next piece of insight:

Nicole: interaction with your managers – sometimes we can be intimidated, and I have to remember that with some of our younger associates that they may not have had a ton of interaction with some our senior leadership. How do you make sure that you do have those interactions and you’re taking advantage of them? As much as we want to think that we’re hard workers and our hard work is going to get noticed, sometimes it’s also those relationships and networks. Being exposed to your managers, having interactions, even if it’s in a meeting by asking a question, those things really stand out. Those are two big [tips] that I would suggest people be mindful of and take a look at, and they’re pretty easy to start to implement today.

 

Shane: One of the points that Nicole brought up when it came to mentoring was that women shouldn’t only seek out other women to be their mentors. She says women need that balance and having a male mentor – especially one who has had success in your field – can be extremely valuable.

Nicole: But the thing that I think is great is when we can have men mentoring women, it helps break down barriers, and it really is a two-way street for learning, which excites me. Being able to share how to maneuver the workplace politics - as much as we don’t want to say they exist, they do – and men do a fabulous job on that. They can really help teach women and guide them on how to be successful, and not taking it away from who you are as a woman or as a leader, but help you understand how to leverage your strengths to be successful in a company; mentoring from the male perspective is crucial. I’ve had some fabulous mentors here, and throughout my career, that has gotten me to the place I am. Without them, I know I wouldn’t have understood how the world works with the different companies, so that’s been great. From the female, I think that they can also open the male’s eyes in those mentoring relationships on challenges that they might not have been aware of. We talked about the stat of men think we’re doing well with women in senior leadership, but being able to have two-way communication through mentoring, I really think that you can break down some of the barriers and misconceptions, and we can take steps to create that equitable environment.

Shane: Lastly – Nicole recommends Business Resource Groups within a company – so for example, Honda has what they call LAMP – or Leadership Advanced Mentorship Program. This particular program is a yearlong program and they take their members through different sectors of the company including meeting with executives to help them better grasp what it takes to be at the executive level.

Nicole: Business resource groups for companies, again, I truly believe that diversity and inclusion are two-way conversations, and having items like business resource groups and programs, like LAMP, allow us to have those two-way conversations a little more. We call them BRGs, business resource groups,

Nicole For instance, women have a tendency to say the success was a team success, which it was, but you played an integral role in the success of that team. Positioning that for yourself in your review process is an opportunity, and a good tip to get you to move forward into those manager roles. Business resource groups allow women to have some of the training and discussions around that, and a safe space to be able to acknowledge it and provide and create ways to overcome those things. BRGs are phenomenal assets to a company, and it also allows companies to ask a question like, “What are we missing?” If you have the viewpoint that women are not represented in management, versus what management may think, business resource groups are a great way to have that dialogue to say, “well here’s some things that we could do better” or you could communicate what’s happening in the environment a little more to make it more inclusive, interesting, and exciting for women.

 (Closing Music)

Shane: So to wrap things up – you’ve got to take action on finding a mentor – findings someone who can help guide you through the challenges you’re going to face. Be active within your organization, and talk to your managers – ask them questions and really show them you’re interested in taking on advanced roles. And finally, if your organization has a resource group – utilize that. Build your network, create new experiences, and stay persistent!

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Closing Comments.

How grammatical errors impact online reviews | Ep. 31

Recently published research from the IU Kelley School of Business on IUPUI’s campus shows consumer trust in online reviews is influenced by spelling errors and typos, but how much those errors influence each consumer depends on the type of error and that person’s general tendency to trust others.

----

Do you have a question? Looking to get help on a business decision? Know a great guest for our show? Email roipod@iupui.edu so we can help your organization make better business decisions.

----

Ready to take your next step? Check out if a Kelley MBA is right for you: https://bit.ly/3m2G6D5

----

Show Notes:

Shane: Happy Holidays Everyone!!! And if you’re catching this episode at a later date, we hope you had a Holiday season. Along with the time being spent with family and friends, we know this time of year is extremely important for businesses – especially retail related. And according to studies, about 60 percent of shoppers will be researching and reading online reviews before they make a purchase. But how do these shoppers know whether or not they can trust a product or business? You may actually be surprised. Let’s start the show!

(ROI Music)

Shane: We are back! Welcome into The ROI Podcast presented by the Indiana University Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI campus. The Holidays are upon us as we record this – and things are starting to wind down for the year.

Shane: We’re gearing up for the Holiday season and like many of you, I’ve got some shopping that I’ve got to get done… And I want you to think about something for a second. When you’re about to try a new store or a new product – do you do research beforehand? Do you read reviews? The fact is the majority of shoppers do, but the number of stars someone has earned doesn’t necessarily translate to trust, according to Kelley professors Tony and Dena Cox.

Tony: There has been since about the 1970s, a steady decline among Americans in trust of all kinds of institutions

Tony: As a further part of that conversation, another thing we all noticed in our own behavior as a consumer looking at online reviews, is how well or poorly the reviews were written, including spelling and grammatical errors.

Shane: And that’s what Tony and Dena decided to focus their latest research on which is how consumers are influenced by errors that are left by other shoppers in reviews.

Tony: What we did is we went online and got some actual reviews as our base stimuli, for a non-prescription pain reliever. We then altered them, so we had our control condition, which was close to what the actual review had been, and we created 2 modified versions that both had different types of textual errors. (SKIP A FEW SENTENCES) We created the error-free review, which was close to the original review, and then we had one with typos, like transposed letters and common keystroke errors, and another with genuine spelling errors. We did an online experiment where we recruited a national sample of consumers of various ages, levels of education, and so forth, and the respondents were randomly assigned to one of these reviews and asked a series of questions after reading it.

Shane: This is where things get interesting… Tony says there tend to be two types of people: High trusters and low trusters. Essentially, the high trusters can pick up trustworthiness cues in other people, and the low trusters do fairly poorly at picking up these ques.

Shane: So what does this mean for the research? Where there differences among the “high trusters” and the “low trusters” when it came to spotting these errors in the reviews?

Shane: It was the high trusters who were more affected by spelling and grammatical errors in the reviews – Tony explains.

Tony: That’s basically what we found in our research: the people who had low dispositional trust did not distinguish between the reviews in terms of the number or types of errors, but people who had high trust were very sensitive and in particular, they tended to not trust the reviewers who made careless errors – mechanical or typographical - because they associate carelessness with untrustworthiness; people are sort of loose and fast with the facts are also loose with the facts/information.

Tony: They were much more forgiving, in terms of their willingness to trust this reviewer and what they had to say about the product, of people who just had challenges and maybe didn’t know how to spell. An example would be if somebody spelled “refridgerator”, “idg”, consistently – they’re not being careless, they just don’t know how to spell that word. People who were very careless, they viewed that as a cue that they’re careless with the facts too, and less trustworthy. That was interesting to us.

Shane: So what we are seeing is two dimensions to the issue at hand – from a corporate perspective, there’s what people are saying: are they giving me a positive or a negative? And then there’s the issue if people will read the actual review, and then trust what has been written?

Tony: Right – and the way to play it straight, it’s definitely beneficial to have positive online reviews; that’s been shown, the sales’ impact to positive online reviews for restaurants, hotels, and so forth, is really significant, but the old school way of trying to get those is just delivered good customer service. The consumers who are genuinely delighted with your product, those are going to be the ones who are going to be more likely to post online reviews. That’s the old-fashioned way, and there are a lot of companies out there that will advertise, “we’ll help you gen-up your online reviews”, and companies need to be cautious of doing anything that is ballot box stuffing or putting their thumb on the scales, and really focus on delivering a great customer service. The reviews will [then] follow.

Shane So if I’m about to set up a business or take my first dive into online sales, how can I leverage online reviews to my advantage? Tony explains his big takeaway on this:

Tony: My biggest takeaway would be is one reason why high-trust consumers who tend to be more discerning when they react to careless errors is that there’s some indication that they are a signal that this may be a bogus review. As one of the experts we cited in the paper said, “Writing fake reviews is a mass production business”, so a lot of the reviews tend to be written hastily and they’re more likely to have these careless errors. This is more of a warning, if you will, to companies who may be tempted – there are 3^rd party organizations who will mass-produce favorable reviews for you to put on them on your website, or there are some companies that may encourage all their employees to go on and write favorable reviews. That kind of mass-production or attempted mass-production of bogus reviews is likely to send signals, like careless errors, that discerning consumers are going to look at and say, “This is bogus”. Not only may they discount that review, but they may have this boomerang reaction against the whole company.

(Closing music)

Shane: For some final thoughts – great business all comes down to providing an exemplary product or service, and complimenting that with the best customer service. By doing this, you are setting you and your company up for success – and the reviews and social proof – that will follow.

(The ROI Podcast Music)

Shane: It’s crazy to think that getting an online review isn’t necessarily enough. According to this research, if those reviews have spelling errors and other mistakes in them, different people can determine whether or not they trust that review – it’s just fascinating.

Shane: Very interesting research. That’s going to do it for this episode of The ROI Podcast. We want to thank Kelley School of Business Marketing Professor Tony Cox for being on the show – and sharing the research he and his wife, also a professor of marketing at the Kelley School, Dena Cox has been doing. And we’d like to remind everyone to subscribe to the ROI Podcast and leave us a review on iTunes. Have a very happy holiday and we will see you back here soon!