The 7 Most Overlooked Opportunities For B2B Marketers In 2017 | Mike Kazi

 

 

Life is hectic when you’re a B2B marketer.

Between attending meetings, planning campaigns, and publishing endless content, you might have trouble keeping up. You barely have time to analyze your own activities – let alone find out what other marketers are doing to succeed.

In the day-to-day rush, you may miss out on chances to engage leads and turn them into customers. Here are seven big opportunities that many B2B marketers overlook:

1. Arming Your Sales Team With The Content They Need To Close Deals

A recent Seismic and MarketingProfs survey found that only 18% of B2B content marketers provide their sales teams with content in an effective manner, as well as ensure that their materials remain updated and on-brand.

Adding to Sales’ frustrations, a CSO Insights survey revealed that only 12% of reps can bring up critical sales material up on their smartphones.

If you don’t have a process to provide reps with the content they need to close deals, your sales cycles will grow longer. The more time reps spend searching for and creating content, the less time they will have to do what they do best – sell.

Equip your reps with content that supports buyers who are in the later stages of the sales process. For example, they may need case studies that provide proof that your products or services deliver results. They may also want content that contains detailed information on your offerings, such as brochures or competitive comparisons.

2. Documenting Your Content Marketing Strategy

According to the 2017 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report, only 37% of B2B companies have a documented content marketing strategy. If you’re not getting the results you want, it might be because you haven’t built your content foundation.

Publishing without a strategy is like taking a road trip without a map. You’re likely to take wrong turns along the way.

 

 

In addition to a map, you’ll also need a GPS that warns you of upcoming roadblocks and detours. This is because the most successful B2B marketers quickly adjust their content marketing strategy – and get on a better route – when things change.

3. Personalizing Your Existing Content

Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all content. Customers won’t respond unless your content speaks directly to their needs, challenges, and goals.

The demand for personalized content stemmed from the consumer world, where buyers can do everything from view customized Amazon recommendations to pick the exact produce in their organic delivery box.

Eccolo Media found that 48% of B2B buyers consume two-to-five pieces of content before they make a purchasing decision. Meanwhile, TechTarget found that 65% of IT buyers require at least four pieces of content to make a vendor shortlist.

In the B2B space, content personalization can include giving customers relevant white papers, case studies, and email content. And you don’t necessarily need to recreate the wheel to personalize all of your content.

For example, you can take one of your white papers and change parts of it – such as the case studies and introduction – to speak to a different audience.

Then, you can give leads the option to select their role, industry, or biggest challenge when they download a white paper. This gets them more involved in the process. If they know that they are downloading a piece of custom content, they will be more likely to read it. They will also get more value from your content, as it speaks directly to their needs.

4. Cooking Once And Eating All Week By Repurposing Your Content

The more content you produce, the more customers you will attract. However, you may not have the time or resources to create a large volume of original content.

Repurposing your content is a great way to do more with less, so you can:

• Get your message in front of a wider audience (such as different personas or leads who are in different stages of the sales cycle)
• Attract more leads from different channels
• Improve your SEO
• Get more value from your content investments
• Publish new content quickly

 

5. Showing Your Company’s Human Side

Customers buy from people. They want honesty. They want stories.

Stories help you connect with customers on an emotional level so that you can show your value and stand out from the competition.

The most effective content marketers apply elements of journalism and storytelling to their content. Here are three keys to creating compelling stories:

• Focus your stories on your audience’s key pains and opportunities – not on your products or services.

• Combine words and visuals to paint a picture. Use strong visuals to illustrate the emotion in your story.

• Address your weaknesses to make your brand more human. Instead of hiding your product’s flaws, put them out in the open. Customers will appreciate your honesty and be more likely to trust you.

When you bring these key elements into your content, you’ll connect with members of your audience and motivate them to take action.

6. Engaging Leads With Case Studies

The B2B Technology Marketing Group surveyed more than 600 tech marketers to find out the latest content trends and best practices. The results revealed that the most effective B2B content marketing tactic is case studies, with 44% of respondents saying that it helps them achieve their lead generation goals.

Here is the rest of the survey’s top 10 list:

1. Case studies
2. Blogging
3. Social media
4. Customer testimonials
5. In-person events
6. White papers
7. Webinars
8. Videos
9. Online articles
10. Infographics
11. Using More Than Words

Multimedia can make your content more engaging and help you connect with auditory and visual learners. For example:

• Articles with images receive 94% more views than those without images
• Videos in emails lead to a 200%+ increase in click-through rates

Here are some ways you can use media to connect with customers and motivate them to take action:

• Add photos and charts to punch up your content
• Film video case studies and use them throughout your marketing
• Turn your content into SlideShare presentations and upload them to LinkedIn
• Interview your customers about their successes in your webinars and podcasts
• Create fun and informative infographics

 

 

White House Counsoler Kellyanne Conway Made Millions As A Young Entrepreneur

 

When Kellyanne Conway joined the Trump administration, she and her husband, New York City lawyer George Conway, disclosed assets worth up to $39.3 million. Most of that wealth came from Kellyanne’s polling business, which she started back in 1995 at the age of 28.

While she was attending law school at George Washington University, Conway worked as an assistant at a firm headed by Richard Wirthlin, who was President Ronald Reagan’s pollster and strategist. After graduation, Conway recognized that there was money to be had to advise private corporations and politicians on how women vote, a large gap that had largely been unfilled at the time.

The Polling Company, where Conway served as president and CEO, focused on that demographic. The company worked with a roster of private clients that included American Express, Hasbro, and Boeing. They also worked with political clients such as Newt Gingrich, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and of course President Trump.

 

In October 2016, the presidential election had earned The Polling Company $1.9 million from the various candidates Conway had worked with. That money, $952,000, came from the super PAC that backed both Ted Cruz and Trump. Today, between $1 million and $5 million of Conway’s income comes from The Polling Company.

The couple has also earned thousands in dividends from stocks. One particular Citibank account has been valued between $500,000 and $1 million according to disclosure forms. While The Polling Company’s website states that Conway has resigned as President and CEO effective late January 2017, an investigation revealed she still retains company ownership. If this investigation proves to be true, her ownership could be considered a federal crime for criminal conflict of interest. Last week, Representative Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the company’s new CEO, Brett Loyd, requesting for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 Don’ts for Creating Questions

 

In around two decades of writing and reviewing instructional material, I’ve often come across questions that range from ‘just absolutely wrong’ to ‘what was the Instructional Designer/Content Writer thinking?’

While sometimes such instances might crop up due to client requirements, it still is our job as learning solutions providers to ensure we don’t succumb to the basic don’ts for creating questions – whether they are learning checks interspersed with the content, or the pre/post assessment questions.

(1) Not mapping to the learning objectives: If you don’t have even one question that directly maps to the learning objectives, there is something very wrong going on. Let’s work with an example here.

One of your learning objectives is, ‘Describe the five-step process for creating reports.’

Now, while there is nothing wrong in having a question that tests what happens in Step Two of this process, you should definitely not have ONLY that one question for this learning objective. Have at least one question that tests learners on the overall process – maybe have an activity to match the step description with the step number.

(2) Testing on content not covered in the solution: A very big problem area – I’ve often seen questions with content that has not been covered/taught in the learning section of the learning solution.

Let’s take the example of an application simulation solution. We all create questions asking learners to select the right hotspot to click on a screenshot to advance to the next step. This is a great way to test learning retention – but how exactly are we doing this?

Do we give learners a ‘blank slate’ and ask them to click the right part in the screenshot? Or are we giving them three/four highlighted hotspots and asking them to select the correct one?

If it’s the latter – we have a problem – unless you have taught what happens on clicking the ‘wrong’ hotspots (they might achieve something else while working in the application), this is not a good idea.

(3) Using the ‘super lazy’ questions: This could be a controversial one – so I’d like to present this as more of a personal choice/opinion. The question types here include:

– Fill in the blanks

– True/False or Yes/No

Asking learners to complete a sentence is usually not a good idea, unless the content warrants it – for example, a course on English Grammar, where we definitely should do this.

But for a large part of the adult learning content we work with, simply picking up statements, removing a few words and asking learners to identify what goes there, just doesn’t cut it. Imagine the kind of distractors such writers come up with!

While I don’t have a blanket rule for not using True/False or Yes/No questions, but again, this is more often than not a tactic employed by the lazy Instructional Designer. As I said before, if you can’t create at least three solid distractors, please revisit the learning objective and the corresponding content. This truly is not a good way of testing learning retention in most cases.

(4) Using ‘negative’ questions: An example of a negative question would be, ‘Which of the following are not examples of bullying?’. Now, if the content focussed equally on what constitutes bullying and what does not, this could be a valid question. However, if the learning focus is to know what is bullying, such questions are not a very good idea. It’s a little subjective, but with time and practice, writers can definitely learn how to create positive questions.

(5) Fabricating/cooking up the options: The options are of course a mix of the correct answer(s) and the wrong ones, or distractors.

This could very well be my pet peeve while reviewing questions – I remember reviewing a storyboard, where an abbreviation was mentioned on a content screen – it wasn’t even that important by the way to warrant a question being created on it – but that’s a different story.

Let’s assume the abbreviation was Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). So, the question was, what is the expanded/full form of the abbreviation PPE – and that wasn’t even the worst part!

The distractors had some randomly cooked up expanded forms of PPE – Primary Protection Essentials or something on those lines.

Do NOT do this. Ever.

(6) Using the ‘super lazy’ options: This is about using one of the following as options for the answer.

– Any of the above

– All of the above

– None of the above

– A and B/Only C/etc.

No – no – no.

If you are not able to create at least three options without using the above style, perhaps you need to rethink the need for that question. If you have set up a solid learning objective, the content will definitely lend itself to create at least three good distractors, without the need to resort to using such distractors. They are not only seen as ‘taking the easy way out’ on the writer’s part, they also don’t do much for the learners.

(7) Not constructing the options properly: There are two aspects to this:

– Distractors should ideally be of the same length. Avoid situations where one of the distractors is really long, and the rest very short. Usually, the longer distractors are the correct ones (sometimes, subject matter experts want it this way) and are a giveaway for the learners. Even if the longer distractors are incorrect, it just makes the screen look imbalanced.

– Distractors should be parallel – while this is a basic good writing guideline, it’s really important while scripting distractors.

(8) Timing it wrong: Asking a question at the end of Topic 2, with content that is based on Topic 3, that’s yet to be presented to the learner. Now, it would seem like common sense to not do this – but you’d be surprised at how often this happens. I understand that since we know the entire content before we even script these questions, we can easily fall prey to this problem – but let’s admit – this is not fair on the learners and is, well, just wrong.

Of course, this applies only to learning checks interspersed with the content and not to the pre/post assessment, where we test for the overall content. But a word of caution here as well, don’t mix and match stuff from different topics in one question just because it can be done.

For example, for a corporate induction solution, if you want to test learners on what they have learnt about the company’s leave policy, don’t bring in distractors from the corporate values section or the official uniform guidelines.

(9) Trying to test the learners’ common sense: This one is about either not providing clear instructions on how to answer a question on the screen, or making the instructions very complicated for the average learners.

This becomes especially true as the complexity of the question type increases. For example, instructions on what exactly is to be done for a drag-and-drop question need to be very to-the-point and easy to follow. The focus of the questions we write is to test the content – not whether learners are able to figure out complicated interactions.

This is not to say we need to avoid engaging and complex question types – I’m all for them – but as they say, keep it simple. A tactic I often use when creating a complex interactivity is to provide detailed instructions on a separate screen and then let the learners go to the question screen – where the instructions are made available through a simple PDF icon.

(10) Not having fun: The previous nine points were all about avoiding certain basic problems – and often, we struggle so much getting the basic things right, that we forget to have fun with the content.

We don’t select question types based on the content’s requirements – often, the project team asks us to limit the number of ‘templates’ that can be used as every different question type needs extra efforts (and money) from the graphics and technical teams.

We don’t think about how best we can ensure learners walk away from our content with real knowledge. If the content focuses on policies, we stick to theory. We don’t talk to the subject matter experts and see if we can create mini-scenarios based on the theory, and test whether learners are able to apply them.

We think gamified assessments are all about seeing a basketball fall in the basket or a bowling ball dropping all pins. Nothing can be more pointless than that unless the audience is children who are just discovering online learning. Respect your target audience. And have fun.

 

How Small Digital Publishers Can Grow Their Network and Save Time

 

Being a small or startup publishing company is hard. The digital advertising industry is broken. Larger companies like Vox and Buzzfeed are some of the only online publications that can hope to monetize their content effectively. Smaller niche publications often have an even harder time attracting return visitors or getting people outside of their current active users to see their content at all. Already at a disadvantage, most small publications are also understaffed and underfunded. These publications can use content marketing and search marketing concepts within their online distribution strategy to better reach their audiences and to compete with bigger publications.

Platforms as distributors

Somehow, platforms have long been both the saviors and the destroyers of the digital publishing industry. Regardless, they’ve become a necessary evil for the content distribution strategy of almost all online publishing companies. There’s no real harm in trying out different ways to reach your audience, but don’t waste your time on a platform that isn’t growing your audience or enhancing its engagement. The usual contenders being Facebook and Twitter, there are a few more platforms that can be easily utilized towards helping you to reach your audience.

1. AMP

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) project is a complex attempt by Google to make pages load faster on mobile devices, keep users on their platform, and to better engage with the publishing community. Many larger sites report a lot of success using AMP. Smaller publishers may be wary of trying out AMP on their sites, out of fear that it will further overwork their staff or that it requires an intense amount of web development knowledge. However, Google AMP is fairly simple to implement (more on how further down the page) if you’re using WordPress or another common content management system.

Companies using WordPress will have an especially easy time adding AMP to the list of ways they distribute their content. Both WordPress and Yoast have plugins available to put (and manage) your content into the AMP format. Medium is also in the process of allowing its users an easy way to designate AMP content. Here are a few things to keep in mind before publishing your content via AMP:

1. Make sure it’s in article format. AMP is meant for blog posts and news articles, so don’t try to publish products or landing pages using Google AMP.
2. Be conscious of the audience you’re publishing for when using AMP. Articles that appear in the Google AMP carousel in the SERP are usually topical and considered “news.”
3. If your site is struggling with speed issues, AMP could be a part (but not all) of the solution, as it will help your articles load more quickly on mobile devices.
4. If your site doesn’t use WordPress, implementing AMP might be a little bit harder than just downloading a plugin for your CMS. Find more out about that process here.
5. Analytics tracking should be included in your overall traffic and segmented to show how much traffic comes from AMP. Find out more about AMP and Google Analytics here.

2. Medium

Medium is another platform that can help more users to see your content and stay on the page long enough to read it. Like any platform, hosting your entire site on Medium comes with the risk of giving your content to another entity rather than your own website. This is a concern because hosting all of your content somewhere like Medium means it could make changes to the platform that you may not like, or in severe situations shut down entirely (and take your content with it). It also has limited capabilities with on-page ads. However, there are some larger publishers that have been adopting Medium as their main source of content distribution. There are several benefits to doing this:

1. Medium has a built-in audience of millions of engaged readers.
2. Most of the content on Medium is high quality.
3. Migrating your entire site to the Medium platform is actually relatively easy for both WordPress and non-WordPress sites. Be sure to keep in mind that hosting all of your content on a platform can be risky.

Another way to utilize Medium’s built-in audience is to republish your content onto the platform. Medium allows for its users to write content on their platform and then canonicalize to their own website (that’s not on Medium). This allows small publishers to pick which content goes on Medium (much like a social media platform) in order to make sure it’s targeted to Medium’s user-base.

3. Google News

Google News is a section of the search engine results page that focuses entirely on timely news content. In order for many websites to be featured in this specialized SERP, they have to go through the application process and get accepted into the Google News program. After acceptance, the site has to follow and keep a specific set of meta tags up-to-date, only posting timely content designated for the platform. Find out more about how to get accepted into Google News here.

Utilize content marketing tools

Outside of monetization, the number-one hurdle that most small publishing companies face is being understaffed and overworked. One way to remedy this is using tools that help diminish the workload involved in managing content-heavy sites. Here are a list of tools that can help small publishers cut down on their tasks:

1. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is editorial calendar software that minimizes time spent keeping track of all of the posts you want/need to do on any given day. It’s designed for both small and enterprise companies, but is better suited for smaller ones due to its all-in-one approach. CoSchedule allows you to plan your posts in advance and set a time for when to post them on social media platforms, all in a single tool.

2. BuzzSumo

Ideating different pieces of content for your site takes a significant amount of time. Utilizing a tool like BuzzSumo could help you to come up with a ton of different article concepts based on what’s trending on different social media platforms.

3. Canva

Having a small team usually means that your graphic designer is extremely busy (or nonexistent). Making quick graphics and supplementary images for your posts can totally be done utilizing Canva, without bogging down your graphics team with more work than it can handle (plus, there’s a free version).

Focus on your niche

Find your niche and build your audience. Obviously, this is easier said than done. But, it’s extremely important as a small publisher to be filling a void or taking a different perspective in the already overflowing content funnel of the Internet. Find your unique voice and the people that want to hear it. Sticking to your publication’s brand or niche will in turn build you a specialized audience. This allows prospective advertisers to better target and then convert using your content.

Don’t always focus on quantity, but quality

Similar to the last point, in addition to not overstretching your genre, don’t overstretch your posting frequency. Rather than posting more times per day just to meet an imaginary quota, it’s better to create fewer posts of higher quality. Moz did a publishing experiment that illustrates the complexity of publishing frequency and content quality. Pay more attention to what your users want rather than what you assume Google does.

Summary

Being a small publishing company is hard. Most small publications find themselves understaffed and overworked trying to catch up with much larger companies.The best way to try to compete with larger publishing companies is to keep your focus small and to use external applications. They’ll help you save time and make creating easier. Utilize all of the platforms that work for your audience — not just all of the platforms available.

 

Blood Donation Day | Mike kazi

Blood Donation Day @ KITC. The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace. Career@KaziITCenter.Com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Start a Business When You’re an Introvert

 

The business world seems like it caters to extroverts. And that makes sense: As a business owner, you need charisma to lead a team, negotiate with partners and engage with them regularly. In addition, you need to network with new people and improve your client relationships.
For an introvert, therefore, these responsibilities may seem intimidating, or even overwhelming, to deal with. Introverts tend to prefer quieter, solitary environments; but does that mean it’s impossible for them to be successful entrepreneurs?

Of course not. If you’re an introvert, you have your own strengths and weaknesses; and while you may have some extra challenges to overcome in business ownership, you’ll also have some extra advantages — if you know how to use them.
1. Choose your business category wisely.

Your first step is to choose your business carefully. Before you write up a business plan, think carefully about your idea and how it will relate to your personality and mental and emotional needs:

Play to your strengths. Not always, but often, introverts like to bury themselves in specific, individual tasks. For example, you might like to code applications at work, or, as a hobbyist, you might be an expert woodworker. In either case, you need to build a business that caters to your particular strengths. There’s almost certainly something you can do or something you know that extroverts won’t be able to match. So pinpoint it and exploit it.
Minimize interaction demand. When you start planning your business, opt for a model that doesn’t require much personal interaction. For example, you might want to avoid one-on-one consulting or training if you don’t enjoy socializing. You might also want to rely more on helpful tools to build your business than do other people.
Start small. Whatever your business is, start small. Hire only the people you need; that way, you can get used to your role gradually and avoid overloading yourself with new people and situations.

2. Find partners who’ll complement you.

If you’re strongly introverted, you’ll be better off finding business partners and employees who complement your personality and skill set. For example, if you hate the idea of making a sales pitch to a stranger and don’t like talking to people in general, team up with someone who’s strongly extroverted and straightforward, who likes having conversations.

Introversion is a collection of strengths and weaknesses, and extroversion is, too; so you’ll need a blend of both if you want your business to perform its best.

Related: An Introvert’s Guide to Communicating With Results
3. Create the environment you want.

This is your company. This is your brand. You get to define it and build it in any way you choose. Obviously, you have to consider the limits of practicality and what will work best for your business, but consider adopting policies and values that cater to your introverted nature. For example, if you prefer written communication to spoken communication, consider making your business fully remote, with all your employees working from home.

If you don’t like the idea of one-on-one sales meetings, opt for more inbound marketing strategies, to reach your revenue goals.
4. Use online networking and interaction.

If you don’t like to engage with people in the real world, maybe you can find your stride in online interactions. Instead of going out to networking events, for example, you can do the majority of your networking over social media. You can rely on emails and instant messages for the bulk of your interactions, and reserve in-person meetings for when you really need them.

There are some benefits to talking to people in person, so don’t be exclusive with online interactions.
5. Practice socializing.

While it’s definitely possible to be a solo entrepreneur, I don’t recommend it. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to socialize with other people, whether it’s partners, clients, employees or mentors. If you aren’t good at socializing, or prefer to avoid it, you’ll need to practice, to get your social game up. Conversation and interactions are skills, like anything else, and you can refine them if you spend time working on your abilities.

Start by attending more networking events, and talking to other attendees there. Also, develop new tactics for guiding conversations the way you want them to go. This may seem intimidating at first, but you’ll get the hang of it.
6. Learn to be uncomfortable.

There are a couple of important things to remember here. First, your introversion isn’t a curse — it’s a strength, if you know how to use it, and you need to be able to play to that strength. Second, no matter what, you’re going to face situations that make you uncomfortable as an introvert. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to become more comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable.

Related: Why Introverts May Be Better at Business Than Extroverts.

It’s only through discomfort that we challenge ourselves to grow, learn new things

Ten Habits Of Incredibly Happy People

 

We’re always chasing something—be it a promotion, a new car, or a significant other. This leads to the belief that, “When (blank) happens, I’ll finally be happy.”

While these major events do make us happy at first, research shows this happiness doesn’t last. A study from Northwestern University measured the happiness levels of regular people against those who had won large lottery prizes the year prior. The researchers were surprised to discover that the happiness ratings of both groups were practically identical.

 

 

The mistaken notion that major life events dictate your happiness and sadness is so prevalent that psychologists have a name for it: impact bias. The reality is, event-based happiness is fleeting.

Happiness is synthetic—you either create it, or you don’t. Happiness that lasts is earned through your habits. Supremely happy people have honed habits that maintain their happiness day in, day out. Try out their habits, and see what they do for you:

1. They slow down to appreciate life’s little pleasures.

By nature, we fall into routines. In some ways, this is a good thing. It saves precious brainpower and creates comfort. However, sometimes you get so caught up in your routine that you fail to appreciate the little things in life. Happy people know how important it is to savor the taste of their meal, revel in the amazing conversation they just had, or even just step outside to take a deep breath of fresh air.

2. They exercise.

Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a neurotransmitter that makes your brain feel soothed and keeps you in control of your impulses. Happy people schedule regular exercise and follow through on it because they know it pays huge dividends for their mood.

3. They spend money on other people.

Research shows that spending money on other people makes you much happier than spending it on yourself. This is especially true of small things that demonstrate effort, such as going out of your way to buy your friend a book that you know they will like.

4. They surround themselves with the right people.

Happiness spreads through people. Surrounding yourself with happy people builds confidence, stimulates creativity, and it’s flat-out fun. Hanging around negative people has the opposite effect. They want people to join their pity party so that they can feel better about themselves. Think of it this way: If a person were smoking, would you sit there all afternoon inhaling the second-hand smoke? You’d distance yourself, and you should do the same with negative people.

5. They stay positive.

Bad things happen to everyone, including happy people. Instead of complaining about how things could have been or should have been, happy people reflect on everything they’re grateful for. Then they find the best solution available to the problem, tackle it, and move on. Nothing fuels unhappiness quite like pessimism. The problem with a pessimistic attitude, apart from the damage it does to your mood, is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you expect bad things, you’re more likely to experience negative events. Pessimistic thoughts are hard to shake off until you recognize how illogical they are. Force yourself to look at the facts, and you’ll see that things are not nearly as bad as they seem.

Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner take steps to sever business ties as Kushner takes top White House job

 

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are expected to divest from “substantial assets” in their businesses as the former accepts a job in President-elect Donald Trump’s White House administration, the Associated Press reported on Monday, citing transition officials.

The AP also reported that Ivanka will not be taking a job in the administration.

The news came shortly before Kushner was formally announced as a senior adviser to the president-elect. He will focus on domestic and foreign policy, particularly on issues related to the Middle East and international trade.

Kushner’s appointment could be challenged by a 1967 anti-nepotism law meant to bar officials from hiring relatives, but a Kushner lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said it does not apply to the White House, citing a later congressional authorization that gives the president “unfettered” and “sweeping” ability to hire in the Executive Branch.

Kushner was expected to resign as CEO of his family’s real estate company and as publisher of the New York Observer, as well as divest from “substantial assets” he holds, Gorelick said. He will not be taking a salary in his new West Wing job.

In addition to not taking a formal White House job, Ivanka will leave her executive role in the Trump Organization and in her fashion brands, officials said on a conference call with reporters, according to multiple reports. A Trump transition spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.

Both Ivanka and Kushner were exepcted to divest from all common stock. Ivanka will now receive a series of fixed payments from a pool of projects, Politico reported .

Trump called Kushner a “tremendous asset” and “trusted adviser” in a statement announcing his appointment.

“I am proud to have him in a key leadership role in my administration,” Trump said. “He has been incredibly successful, in both business and now politics. He will be an invaluable member of my team as I set and execute an ambitious agenda, putting the American people first.”

Mark Zuckerberg reveals he’s no longer an atheist

 

Mark Zuckerberg is a true believer again.
The Facebook founder, who formerly identified as an atheist, revealed last week that religion has come back into his life in a holiday post.

He posted a short message on Facebook wishing his followers a: “Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Priscilla, Max, Beast and me!”

One of his devout fans questioned his religious views, writing in a comment, “Aren’t you an atheist?”

And Zuckerberg responded.

“No. I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important,” he wrote.

Zuckerberg’s wife is a practicing Buddhist, which he has taken interest in. He even said a prayer in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda — a Buddhist landmark in Xi’an, China — during a 2015 visit.

READ MORE FROM THE NEW YORK POST.

 

 

Employees Naturally Trust Leaders Who Show These 5 Powerful Habits

 

Organizations far and wide have for years attempted to crack the code on what makes for a healthy and profitable work culture. Well, let me save you time and money and simply break it to you here: It is trust.

We already know this to be true from several studies. For example, Great Place to Work — the global research consultancy that partners with Fortune to conduct the annual study of those “best companies” — confirms that trust is the human behavior you cannot afford not to have.

The research on those companies (Google, to no surprise, being No. 1 on the list seven out of the last 10 years) says that 92 percent of employees surveyed believe that management is transparent in its business practices. And transparency begets trust.

Author and thought-leader Stephen M.R. Covey makes his living on this. In his book, The Speed of Trust, Covey says that a team with high trust will produce results faster and at lower cost (not to mention it’s free).

5 Leadership Habits You Absolutely Want for Developing Trust

In all my years working with HR and executive teams, I have often found that these five leadership habits are difference-makers in building trust. Trustworthy leaders:

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1. Are willing to give up power.

You will find that many successful leaders give up power and entrust it to their team. They do this because they are confident in their team’s ability, since trust is freely given as a gift even before it’s earned. By giving up their power and pushing their authority down, they empower others to own decisions, thus creating a proactive leader-leader culture of success, rather than a reactive leader-follower culture.

2. Show remarkable resilience in the face of adversity.

Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Such leaders are the ones who bounce back from setbacks by self-diagnosing why the same issues keep coming up over and over. They will recover and be open to change much quicker — changing what’s holding them back, and changing what no longer serves the company. This is someone you can trust.

3. Are willing to trust and believe in the people they lead.

Bringing Stephen M.R. Covey and The Speed Of Trust back to the discussion, he says that a team with high trust will produce results faster and at lower cost. But should you first earn the trust of your people? Or does trust develop from having a belief in your people first — their strengths, abilities, and commitment? In other words, which of these two statements would you agree with?

A. Trust is something that people must earn.

B. Trust is something that should be given as a gift.

If you chose A, you’re in the majority. Conventional thinking says that people have to earn trust first, and if they violate that trust, it becomes difficult to earn it back, right? But if you selected B, pat yourself on the back. It has been found that, in healthy organizations, leaders are willing to give trust to their followers first, and they give it as a gift even before it’s earned.

4. Display humility as a leadership strength.

I’ve heard a few times from people in positions of power that humility is weak. Yet this core virtue drives against the inner strongholds that make a bad leader: pride, self-centeredness, judgmentalism, control, and impulsiveness.

Author and thought-leader Jim Collins has probably dedicated more time to researching and writing about humble leaders than any other topic in his landmark study of Level 5 Leadership. He states:

Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious — but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.

5. Are willing to seek input from peers.

Wondering how you are doing on your leadership path? Ask. It takes humility to say “How am I doing?” And even more humility to consider the answer.

Conclusion

Any company with a leadership team committed to developing a culture of trust will eventually realize that it starts with them. That is, if they’re willing to change and set the wheels in motion.

There is an absolute ROI when organizations invest in creating a high-trust culture. Great workplaces have significantly less turnover and attract employees who have a vested interest in their companies.

These factors ultimately lead to a competitive edge and enable companies to quickly bounce back from challenging situations.